Weekly Menu

Can you believe we are knocking on the door of July?  This year has just been crazy so far, hasn't it?

What do you call it when you make dinner out of what is leftover in the fridge?  We call it Friday Night Fridge Frenzy.  My kids are not fans HA!  We don't do it often because leftovers are often my lunch each day but every once in awhile, that's what happens.  Anyway, that was just a random thought HA!

I'll admit, this week, I'm tired of planning menus so we will be eating pretty simple, easy meals.


Here's the plan for the coming week:

Friday - This is our weekly "treat" night (or Frozen pizza is always a back up!)

Saturday - This is our weekly "eat at mom's" night.

Sunday - Steaks on the grill, mashed potatoes, green beans and garlic bread

Monday - Taco T-Monday :-)  We can eat in shifts easily for Tae Kwon Do.

Tuesday -Pork Chops, Mac and Cheese and Veggies

Wednesday - Breakfast for dinner (Right now it's the only way I know it's Wednesday HA!) French Toast Sticks, Hashbrowns, and sausage

Thursday - Stuffed Shells, Green Beans, and garlic bread

What I'm Reading

Reading has become a favorite thing this summer partially because I love going outside and sitting in my swing, enjoying a favorite summer drink (like lemonade), and reading in the quiet.  Granted sometimes little people join me and they don't. stop. talking HA!  Especially the princess!!  So, I sneak outside to read HA! 

Here's what I've been reading this month (well, a few might be from May - I didn't separate my stack!)

The Solace of Water by Elizabeth Younts was an amazing book.  Totally different then anything I've read and, despite being written about a different time period in history, is so very relevant to what is occurring right now.  It is not necessarily a "feel good" story - it's actually a hard read because life is very difficult for each of the characters but, rather, it is a story that is raw and very real.  I didn't want to put it down. 

 

This set of three books by Tracie Peterson did not disappoint.  Treasured Grace, Beloved Hope, and Cherished Mercy are all equally well written and carry a great story line.  The three sisters travel west with a wagon train and end up living through an Indian Massacre.  Each book focuses on one of the sisters yet their lives are intertwined together as well.  If you enjoy historical fiction, these books area  great choice.

Lynn Austin is one of my favorite authors - I've heard her speak a few times and she is just as real as she makes her characters.  If I Were You is a well written story of two friends from different classes who survive through World War II learning to stand on their own.  I loved how she shared their whole story, not just a prelude and skipping ahead years.  If you are a Lynn Austin fan, this is a must read.

The Prince Edward Island Dreams Series was another good read.  There is even references to Lucy Maud Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables.  These are easy, modern day stories to read.  I will admit that the last one, On Love's Gentle Shore,  read a little like a Halmark movie.  (If you have watched Halmark Movies, you will understand!).  Still, I enjoyed the story and liked reading of each of the characters. 

The Secrets of Paper and Ink was a book of intriguing mysteries and finding new hope.  I really enjoyed this book and felt it was well written and kept the reader involved and interested. 

 Lauraine Snelling is another one of my all time favorite authors so I decided to find a list of all of the books she has written and start with the most recent one and read them working backwards.  Half Finished is her most recent book and tells the story of a group of friends who decide to start a group for people who have UFO's - or unfinished objects (projects).  Needless to say, the group is a stepping point for trials and joys each of the characters walks through in the book.  I would not recommend this book to someone experiencing grief because it does deal with that with one of the main characters but otherwise, it' is a great book. 

The Second Half is a great story of Grandparents who are "forced" to take in their grand kids at the last moment when their son is deployed.  The grandparents help the children navigate through difficult moments and the grand kids do the same of the grand parents.  This was an easy read and didn't carry a depth that some books do but I didn't want to put it down in order to learn the outcome for the entire family.

That's all for this month!  Well, actually, I'm guessing I will read at least one more but I'll add that into July's reading.  I have two books on my Kindle and a few on my shelves ready to be read!

Lemon Chicken (What we are eating Wednesday)

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This recipe is an old favorite that I haven't made in years.  I had pulled chicken out of the freezer to make Chick-Fil-A style nuggets but didn't really want to go to the work of frying chicken.  So, instead, I went through my "Chicken Recipes" file on the computer and came across this one that I had never printed for my recipe file.  It didn't disappoint - was just as good as I remembered and was easy.  The chicken always comes out moist because of the chicken broth it cooks in and has good flavor from the lemon juice and brown sugar.  I do not place the sliced lemons on the chicken nor do I use lemon zest - instead, I just use real Lemon Juice from a bottle.  I also dribble some lemon juice over top the chicken after putting the brown sugar on top of each piece.

Lemon Chicken

2 large lemons

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1-3 tablespoons oil

1 cup chicken broth

2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon paprika

3 tablespoons brown sugar

8-9 chicken breasts

Grate and reserve peel from one of the lemons, then cut lemon in half and squeeze juice over chicken, thoroughly coating each piece.  Combine flour, salt and paprika in small bag.  Place chicken, a few pieces at a time, in bag and shake to coat completely.  Heat oil in large frying pan over medium heat.  Add chicken and brown well on all sides.  Transfer chicken to 9 x 13 pan and sprinkle with reserved lemon peel and brown sugar.  Cut 2^nd lemon into thin slices and arrange over chicken then pour broth over chicken.  Cover.  Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.  Serves 4-6 people.

The "Drawer" Project

What exactly is the drawer project? Well, let me tell you! 

Very simply, the drawer project is something I work on every summer. I try to go through every single drawer, shelf, and bin on the main floor in order to clean them out, organize them, and make sure we aren't stashing junk! 

I try to accomplish this in the summer because school takes up a ton of time from September-May.  I always feel like if I start the school year with a clean, organized house, I can keep it that way until about February HA!  Then I start stashing and shoving things away!!!!  The nice thing is because I've been doing this for a few years, it's usually a quick daily project with the exception of the boys bins.  Those take a little work to clean out because one of my kids is a slight hoarder!  

I am starting in the living room because it is pretty easy :-)  My goal is to finish it up this week so I can move on to another room next week.  

Once the living room is done, I'll move on to the Master Bedroom because I can usually get through the whole room in an hour!  Then, I'll move on to the rooms that take longer - the kitchen and the boys rooms.  Leaving some easy rooms for the end - the bathroom and dining room!  I'll try to remember to take some before and after photos as I move through :-)  

The basement is it's own "drawer" project :-) 

I still have to pick up two shelving units the next time I'm at Menard's along with some clear bins that fit on those shelves and then I can work more on organizing 

The great thing is that I have a friend doing a fundraiser garage sale that she does every year for a group she works with in Africa.  She usually does it in August which means I can continue to make "donation" bins and then give them to a good cause.  

Summertime Week 1 -- Looks and Links

This summer has required some planning.  For the past 4 years, use of the campground pool has kept us busy every afternoon so I never felt like I needed to limit use of electronics.  Not to mention we had other activities that took us out of the house various days of the week.  This year, though, I knew that I would need to do some intentional things or there would be a lot of TV and X box going on!  I'm not opposed to either - it's summer time after all  -- but I'd like the kids to step away for a bit each day.  There is a theme each week that pertains to what we do in group time in the afternoon.  The morning has some review/individual time. 

This weeks theme is: Oceans

I introduced the schedule to the kids as follows:

-- 10:45-11:45 - Individual Time
-- 1:30-3:30 - Group time (This time varies depending on our activities)

Here's week 1:

Individual Time:

I purchased packets for review for each of the kids.  Each day there is a work page that covers math and language art skills that they have to complete.
First Grade
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade

These packs are awesome because I don't have to do the work.  It's just a matter of printing off the work pages and putting them into a notebook.  It also includes the teacher pages for easy correction.

Besides the review page, the three oldest have to practice Multiplication facts and take timed tests each day.  The first grader is practicing adding and subtracting.

All the kids are also supposed to read for 15 minutes each morning.

Josh and Nate are supposed to practice piano and complete a handwriting page in their book until the book is complete.

Keeping it real:  The review page took each of the kids between 25-35 minutes to complete on Day 1.  Since individual time is only hour it is a tight fit to get everything done in that time frame.  I'm hopeful that as the weeks progress they will get faster :-)
2. By the second day they were MUCH faster and were able to finish everything in the hour plus even have a few minutes left to find something else to do.

Group Time:

Monday - Our friends were gone today so the boys got a free day.

Tuesday: We started our fun about Oceans - this is not in depth teaching by any means but rather just some fun info and activities.

I found some great "theme packs" at Education.com so I purchased a one month membership so I could download everything.

From the packet we completed a Ocean Salt Evaporation experiment, an Ocean Animal crossword puzzle and they started coloring book marks. (For the record, we worked on the bookmarks for three days and Josh and Nate are STILL not done HA!  They are going for perfection!!)

Wednesday:

We completed the Ocean Zones work sheet found at Simple Everyday Mom.  She has several great ideas for ocean studies included on this page.

We also did a color by number worksheet about Ocean Zones but I can't locate the link for that at the moment.  Here's a photo:

Finally, we completed a craft from our theme pack - a port hole.  It was a super simple but fun craft and they look really cool.

Thursday:

First we did an ABC order page about Hammerhead Sharks which can be found HERE.

Then we did this really cool Ocean Math Activity.  The kids had to roll dice to build their ocean scene and then do some math problems using their scene.

Friday - Our Friday schedule only includes the individual time in the morning (just enough to pull them off electronics for a bit) but the bonus this week was that our two friends were gone so the boys got a free day :-)

I think week one went well.  They don't love the individual time because my boys feel like it is "School" no matter how many times I say it is review HA!  But, they have told me they really enjoy the group time activities.  On average, we are spending about an hour in group time

Weekly Worship - David Dunn - Starting Now (Official Music Video)

I've not really heard of David Dunn before but came across this video in searching the Top Christian Videos of the week. He's got a really gentle voice making it easy listen too.  I think I might have to search for more of his music. 

Weekly Photos 2020 #23

Here's a look back at our week

Saturday - We had a great day.  We had a peaceful day at home before heading to my mom's for a fabulous dinner.  After dinner we came back home and did yard work.  Darryl I worked on cleaning out the "back corner" and then we had a huge fire to burn some stuff.

 Nate cut up our Christmas tree so we could burn it.  

 This is the back section we are working on - I'm horrible at taking before photos but this already looks 100% better! 

Josh was our fireman - he had the hose ready to go! 

Sunday - It was another peaceful day.  It ended with an great visit with my brother Ken, my sister-in-law, Lynnette and my niece Kate.  They made a quick, unexpected trip home for a funeral and stayed the night at my moms so we got in a quick hour or so visit.

Monday - We had an unexpected "vacation day" as our little friends came in the morning but them left because the princess wasn't feeling great.  I always treat those unexpected days as "bonus" days and the boys get the day off.  We also got a new "toy".

This is an echo dot.  It was on sale for $1.00 and I have been wanting something to play music in the kitchen for years.  I've tried a radio - it's fuzzy; I hate streaming; and said I'd never get one of these things.  BUT for that price, I got it.  The kids love it.  I keep reminding them that it is mine - to play my favorite radio station .  

Tuesday - We finally started our summer plan today.  The kids did not love the "school review" part but seemed to enjoy the theme.  My mom came for dinner and we burned some more stuff!

 The kids working on one of our Ocean themed worksheets

 The boys got the sprinkler out and had fun in the water for a while in the afternoon. 

 We had lots of brush to burn - Nate was helping to get it all burning. 

 Nate was also our fireman tonight. 

 It's looking even better!  We just have a little more to burn plus a couple of holes to fill in and it will be done.  

 Our bird nest - the eggs have hatched and the mom is sitting on the edge of the nest to feed them.  We are waiting to get a photo of the babies when she isn't on the nest. 

Wednesday: We did more individual and group time.  We also got photos of our baby birds!

Thursday - I went grocery shopping and we did our normal activities (I even heard these words, "I really liked our group time today HA!).  We then surprised the boys and headed to the Lakeshore for Pizza, Swimming, and a Sunset.  It was a great night!

Friday - We had no extra friends here today so we enjoyed a quiet day.  I did some organizing, Darryl set up our Roku (to test it out) and we just tried to stay cool!

It was really a good week.