Pinterest Again #2

This is what I'm working on now from Pinterest - it really is a  great place to get ideas!

We are in the process of changing rooms.  The boys will be sharing a room and I wanted to add some art pieces to their room that are for both of them - not just their "themes".  This idea comes from my board for the Boys Bedrooms and is from Words of Williams.  It's simple - a canvas, some paint, and my cricut cutting out some awesome scrapbooking paper.  I can't wait to complete it! Here is the photo of the inspiration:

It will say "Let Them Sleep  For when they wake, they will move mountains

And here is what mine looks like: 

Totally different then what I started with :-)  I used my Creative Memories software to actually create this photo print using photos of my boys, printed it and framed it.  I LOVE it.  It is perfect. 

This next idea is from the same board and comes from This Glorious Day.  I love that it uses their handprints and footprints and the verse from Micah is one of my top favorite verses. 

This is what I did with it: 

Again, I made a photo print using photos of the boys hands and feet.  I love this one too!

One last idea I want to work on right now for their room comes from Coffee Break with Liz and Kate and is the perfect idea for a night light for their room.

This is how mine version turned out.  I used a nightlight light instead of Christmas lights and really like it.

I also am working on getting our classroom together so this idea comes from my Homeschooling board and the idea comes from . . .well, it's just a picture so I'm not sure who to give the credit to on this one! I think I want to create this on a 12x12 or larger (we'll see) scrapbook type page and then hang it on the wall in our room . I'm not sure what I did but I can't write below this photo but - I haven't done this yet either.  Our classroom is done and there isn't a whole lot of room left for decor.  I still want to create this to hang on the entrance wall to the room but it took me about 4 weeks to get the things I created for the boys room correct and printed so now that I've learned a lot, I think I can get this done a little faster. 

Too Cute Not To Toot

Well, my almost 4 year old loves candy corn so when I saw this cute idea with pudding over at Yellow Origami Bird, well I knew I would want to make them!  Aren't they so cute?

Ever wondered how to make a scarecrow?  Well, check out this simple tutorial from Family Home and Life and make one for this fall season :-)

Ok, I just picked up some of these solar lights at our local store for $0.54 each to use in our landscaping - how cute would this idea be for fall though?  Check it out over at Smart School House.

Enjoy your week!

Homeschool Happenings Week 7

When I taught elementary school, I always had a "planning period" that gave me an hour (or 45 minutes) to work on lesson plans, paperwork and planning.  So even if I walked in on Monday morning without lesson plans, I knew that I could wing it until that planning period and then get the week planned.  Let me tell you, homeschool is not like that!  I figured that on Monday I could get my planning done and we'd pick up on Tuesday but that never happened.  We did do some learning this week, just not anything I planned :-)

 This week we organized cars, used dump trucks to load them up, drive them around, and dump them out. 

We also practiced lining up all of the babies, changed their diapers and got them dressed every single day - all teaching responsibility ;-)

 We read books (Josh can read this one all by himself and it is HIS book).

 Watched Happy Days with dad and took very good care of our injured daddy too.  Darryl messed up a disc in his back this past week and was in bed most of the week.  Josh took very good care of him all week and yes, spent hours laying in bed with him watching Happy Days re-runs.

The boys played in the mud and loved it.  They created their own mud puddle and stomped in the mud with their new rain boots which they love!

 We learned that M and M's DO melt in your hands, on your face and on your clothes but they sure do taste good :-)

And this little 3 year old took a very rare and very long nap on Saturday afternoon :-)

In all honesty, we had a fun week.  We did more hands on playing than we normally do, went to Friday school, played outside, and went out to lunch on Saturday before running a few errands.   I had plans to take the boys to a park on Wednesday but rain came in and changed those plans so maybe we can go this coming week.

I do plan to get back into a better routine with the kids again this week and have more class time.

Linking up with:

 

Things My Kids Say

*Recently I took the boys out to lunch at a new Mexican Restaurant here in our town.  Amazingly, it's cheaper than Taco Bell.  Anyway, Josh was dipping his chips into the salsa when a piece of cilantro got stuck to his chip.  He said, "Look mom, it's Lawnmower Sauce, it has grass in it".  I seriously burst out laughing.  How creative is that?

*I've noticed Josh saying something lately and it makes me giggle.  Anytime things "drip" (I.e., his eyes watering so they are "dripping", Fruit Loops escaping his bowl so they are "dripping") he says "I am DRIPPING with sweat" HAHAHAHA  I wonder how many times he heard THOSE words this summer?

*Nate is my future engineer.  He loves to take things apart . As a matter of fact, he has recently taken apart every single pen on my desk, a music box, and . . there was something else I can't recall.  These are famous last words.  "Mom, I'm fixing your ____ (fill in the blank . . pen, music box, etc).  For the record, he is very good at taking things apart.  The putting together side of things is not going so well yet :-/

**The other day, the boys showed me that one of the dinosaurs had fallen off of Nate's wall hanging.  I asked them if they had pulled it off or if it had fallen off on it's own.  They replied, "We can't even reach it mom so it fell on it's own."  Later when I asked them if their blankets hit it, they said, "Well, the blankets flew in the air and it just fell off." HA!  Nice - creative play is good, right?

**I had a bowl of peanuts and candy corn.  Josh, loves candy corn so he was eating it when he said "Mom, look at this, this is different candy corn (pointing to the peanuts) and it is icky."

I'm sure my kids have done/said some other funny things but for about two weeks I was pretty sick and kind of out of it so I didn't really listen well ;-) 

Things My Kids Say

*Recently I took the boys out to lunch at a new Mexican Restaurant here in our town.  Amazingly, it's cheaper than Taco Bell.  Anyway, Josh was dipping his chips into the salsa when a piece of cilantro got stuck to his chip.  He said, "Look mom, it's Lawnmower Sauce, it has grass in it".  I seriously burst out laughing.  How creative is that?

*I've noticed Josh saying something lately and it makes me giggle.  Anytime things "drip" (I.e., his eyes watering so they are "dripping", Fruit Loops escaping his bowl so they are "dripping") he says "I am DRIPPING with sweat" HAHAHAHA  I wonder how many times he heard THOSE words this summer?

*Nate is my future engineer.  He loves to take things apart . As a matter of fact, he has recently taken apart every single pen on my desk, a music box, and . . there was something else I can't recall.  These are famous last words.  "Mom, I'm fixing your ____ (fill in the blank . . pen, music box, etc).  For the record, he is very good at taking things apart.  The putting together side of things is not going so well yet :-/

**The other day, the boys showed me that one of the dinosaurs had fallen off of Nate's wall hanging.  I asked them if they had pulled it off or if it had fallen off on it's own.  They replied, "We can't even reach it mom so it fell on it's own."  Later when I asked them if their blankets hit it, they said, "Well, the blankets flew in the air and it just fell off." HA!  Nice - creative play is good, right?

**I had a bowl of peanuts and candy corn.  Josh, loves candy corn so he was eating it when he said "Mom, look at this, this is different candy corn (pointing to the peanuts) and it is icky."

I'm sure my kids have done/said some other funny things but for about two weeks I was pretty sick and kind of out of it so I didn't really listen well ;-)

Weekly Menu

After I posted last weeks menu, I totally changed it ;-)  I decided to use up some meat we had in the freezer this week instead of buying more so that changed some of this weeks recipes.  I'm also working on creating more of a monthly menu.  Let me explain.  I've gone through my recipe binder (which is HUGE quite honestly) and weeded out some recipes that I haven't made in at least a year.  I then went through and pulled our top 15 favorite recipes and those have gotten plugged into an every month rotation.  That leaves 15-16 days a month for other recipes, new recipes, and eating out.  This will make planning so much easier.  It will also make shopping easier because I can stock up on the things for those 15 favorites whenever I see them on sale and only have to shop for the odd things instead.  I would also like to end up with 12 months of menus that I can then reuse next year.  I know there will be new recipes I try that we won't like so there will always be room to move things around :-)

My basic plan is this:  Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays will be Family Favorites (those top 15).  Mondays and Wednesdays will be for other recipes we like but we don't need every month.  Friday and Saturdays are for new recipes or eating out depending on what we are doing on the weekend.  Since we eat our big mean normally on Sunday afternoons, Sunday evenings will be "fun".  I would like to rotate some of our favorite appetizer recipes two Sunday nights and then the other 2-3 will be pizza (sometimes homemade sometimes out) or some other treat.

With that said this is the plan for next week:
Monday -Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Baked Brown Rice, Roasted Green Beans with mushrooms, Balsamic and Parmesan 7-Up Biscuits

Tuesday - The Best Chili, French Bread.  I'm going to a ladies meeting for church tonight and am going to make Chicken Salad Roll-ups.  I haven't made these in a long time so I hope they are as good as I remember!


Wednesday - Chicken Pot Pie,

Thursday - Ham and Cheese Quiche, hashbrowns, Easy Banana Bread

Friday -Spaghetti (I will be scrapbooking all day so I'm leaving something easy for my husband to feed the kids and they all love Spaghetti)

Saturday -Apple Stuffed Pork Chops with Herb Gravy (a new recipe), Bacon Cheese Potatoes, and Sauteed Cabbage with bacon.

Sunday - Lunch will be Tortellini Soup (this is one that can be put together the night before and then cook while we are at church) with homemade Garlic Bread.  I'm going to do some fun snacks for dinner - Sausage Ball Puffs (These are great because you can mix a bunch up, freeze them and just make what you want), Holiday Bacon Appetizers (again, a make ahead recipe), A sandwich like appetizer that I have no idea the name of HA!

The extra things this week are:
*Wild Plum Chicken Salad - several years ago when my husband and I were in Gatlinburg, TN on vacation, we ate at the Wild Plum Tea Room and I fell in love with it.  I've wanted to make this recipe for a long time :-)   This is what I plan to eat for lunch a few days this week.
*A banana, strawberry, banana, granola roll-up for breakfast - something new to try that is easy but I think will be filling.
*Pumpkin Pie Granola (Figured I might as well make my own!) 
*Pumpkin Seed Snack Mix
*Fresh Apple Cake
*Peanut Butter Cookies

Food Friday - Caramel Apple Crisp for Two and Show Us Your Life

I haven't linked up with Kellys Korner for her Show Us Your Life series in quite awhile for two reasons.  One, it didn't apply to me and two, I would forget even when it was a topic that applied to me!  Well, the next several months are all topics that I want to participate in :-)  This weeks topic is Tailgate Recipes.  I have several recipes posted on my blog that are great for tailgate parties.  Here are links to a few of my favorites:
Bacon Crescent Rolls AND Warm Bacon Dip
Donut Muffins AND Little Fruit Pizzas 
Baked Teriyaki Chicken (Use Wings!)  
Beef Drip Sandwiches 
Chili 


This weeks recipe of choice is a great dessert to serve when you are watching football at home.  The recipe is just perfect for two or you could always double (or triple) it and serve it to friends. 

Caramel Apple Crisp for Two
adapted from Hils Blog

I made this for dessert just a week ago and have been craving it ever since.  I love that it is a serving size and the ice cream topping adds the perfect sweetener and flavor to the apples.  We ended up dumping them out of the ramekins to eat them only because they were too hot to hold on to but if we had been patient and let them cool more, they would be great served right out of that dish.

Caramel Apple Crisp for Two

Ingredients:

2 medium apples, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoons quick-cooking oats
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 to 2 heaping tablespoons Mrs. Richardson's Butterscotch Caramel Topping
Cream or Ice Cream (optional)


Directions:

Place apple slices in two small, greased ramekins.  Spoon Butterscotch Caramel topping over the apples.  In a bowl, combine flour and brown sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add oats and cinnamon.  Sprinkle over apple slices and caramel.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until tender. Serve with cream or ice cream if desired