Christmas in . . .April?

I've had a project that I have needed to finish since, well, Christmas.  It was actually supposed to be done to put out as decoration FOR Christmas but between a week long bout of the stomach flu that I had back in December, winter storms every time I planned a shopping day in town and a mistake in my order when finally ordered the stuff I needed on-line . .. well, it just got done! 

It is a very simple project that revolves around the Nativity Scene - something that is the basis of my Christmas! 

 All you need is some basic supplies like glass blocks, Christmas lights and ribbon. 

And a super cute kid who wants his photo taken (oh wait, that really isn't a requirement!!)

Here's the final product!!

Like I said above, this really was a simple project.  I ordered the vinyl from MWC Vinyl Lettering on Etsy and was very pleased.  She included a full sheet of instructions on how to make the project look like the one she shared on her Etsy page.  All I had to do was add the vinyl figures to the glass blocks.  Now, if you look close you will notice that the blocks in the first picture are not the same as the final product!  When I ordered the blocks originally, I order two small squares instead of two rectangles!  I finally picked up the right blocks at Hobby Lobby just a week ago.  I also ended up ordering some white LED "wedding" lights to use instead of traditional Christmas lights.  The lights come with a switch on the strand instead of just a blog.  The only thing I haven't done is to put a frosted glaze on the blocks only because I haven't found a . . .well, frosted glaze yet.  That will help cover up the intensity of the lights.  

I'm really excited about this project because I've always wanted a nativity set but didn't want all of the little pieces.  This is the perfect solution.  I look forward to displaying it in just 8 short months HA!  

 

Homeschool Corner - Pinterest Style

I wanted to have some pictures this week of what I accomplished but I don't have photos yet.  I DID work on some of my projects though so pictures will come - hopefully next week I'll have them!

So, here is what I'm going to "investigate" this next week and either toss or create.

1. The Verse of the Week Chalkboard concept.

 2. Some printables for the boys to practice letters. 

3. The Sunflower Clock - the boys love time and I think this would make a great asset to our classroom.

4. Name Practice - good review for all of the boys.

Hopefully I can wrap up last weeks plans and also accomplish some of these and show them all next Monday :-)

Happy Easter

Today we celebrate Easter.  We begin with taking time to remember that Jesus not only died on the cross to cover our sins but he also rose again and brought new life. 

We finish our day with some traditional fun by coloring eggs and going on an Easter Egg Hunt. 

We wish all of you a blessed and fun Easter! 

"Saved the Day"

With Easter Weekend upon us I thought I'd share one of my all time favorite songs which happens to be an "Easter Song".  It is "Saved the Day" by Phillips, Craig and Dean.  The group my husband plays in also does a version of this song and I just love it!!  Enjoy (I'm off to scrapbook the day away leaving the boys and the Big D home to enjoy the day together.)

Food Friday - One Pot Meal

One Pot Meal (Roasted Drumsticks and Potatoes)
Adapted by Let the Baking Begin

I was using up items in the freezer recently and had a bag of Drumsticks in the freezer that were begging to be cooked.  I went to Pinterest and searched for recipes.  This "One Pot Meal" caught my eye because, well, it was easy.  The recipe sounded really tasting and it did not disappoint.  Not to mention that my house smelled fantastic! 

Ingredients

• 8 chicken drumsticks
• 6-8 large potatoes, cut in quarters or halves
• 5-6 carrots, cut in 1-2 inch pieces
• Kosher salt
• Black ground pepper
• 4 tsp ground pepper or 5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp paprika (optional)
• 3-4 Tbsp olive oil.
• 
  

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with foil or even better, parchment paper.
2. Thoroughly wash the potatoes & carrots with a scrubber and cut them in smaller pieces. Pat dry with a paper towel.
3. Rinse the chicken under running water & also pat dry with paper towel.
4. Add chicken, potatoes and carrots to the lined baking dish and sprinkle with salt, ground pepper and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil. Toss everything to coat.
5. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Check for doneness, if the potatoes and chicken drums are soft and easily pierced with the fork they are ready.
6. If the chicken and potatoes have not browned up as much as you would like, turn the broil setting on the oven and broil for 5 minutes. Watch carefully, or they will burn.
7. Remove from the oven and serve right away in the baking dish or transfer to a warm serving plate.

Weekly Menu - The One with Easter

Do you know what I miss?  Being able to post about food prep from the week before!  I'm waiting for all of the fresh veggies and fruit to start looking a little better and then I can finally do that again!

I really have nothing else exciting to say this week so I'll just move on to the menu!

Friday - I'm going to try the same taco recipe as last week (which didn't turn out - the roast was like shoe leather!) but use some sirloin instead.  It should be tender!

Saturday - I am going scrapbooking a.l.l. d.a.y!!  (Seriously, it's a 10-10 crop!) So I'll leave meals for the boys.  Thinking just sandwiches for their lunch and then Darryl will have options for dinner like Mac and Cheese or Hot Dogs or Soup.  I have to take stuff for a potluck/snack so I'm going to make Taco Salad and the Ham and Pineapple Cheeseball.

Sunday - Easter!  I think I know what we are doing but I'll make you wait until I do a post about Easter to share what we eat!  For dinner lately, we've been enjoying soup (just the good old canned stuff), a relish tray and cheese/crackers.  It's simple and everyone has something they like.

Monday - I never did do breakfast for dinner a few weeks ago so we'll have it tonight - Eggs, Bacon/Sausage, Hashbrowns and Toast or Waffles

Tuesday - It was a little cold last week to Grill so, if the weather holds, we'll have Chicken on the Grill, Baked potatoes and green beans.

Wednesday - Darryl has a stomach scope today so my mom will be at the house.  Whats for dinner depends on when we get home.  Probably a fast food run will be in the works.

Thursday - So, tonight is the first night of Soccer.  My plan?  To make sure the boys eat a good snack at about 4:00 (soccer is at 5:30) and then I think we'll grab something on the way home after soccer. 
 

A Fun Filled Family Saturday

This past Saturday, all the stars aligned and we actually had a family fun day!!! Darryl didn't have to work on Saturday and we didn't need to go out of town so we decided to do some fun things (and accomplish some things too!) Darryl will be having back surgery sometime in May so we really were hoping for at least on more time to do something Fun with the kids.

As always, I made my list (and checked it twice HA!) so we knew what we wanted to do.

We started out with lunch at Grand Traverse Pie Company.  I will admit, this was a selfish move on my part because I've been craving their Turkey Reuben but I really thought the boys would be ok with it because they serve Mac and Cheese (The blue box).  Well, the Mac and Cheese didn't "taste" like I make it so they just nibbled on that and ended up eating the pickle and chips that came with the sandwiches Darryl and I got.  Oh well, at least I got my piece of pie for dessert ;-)

From there we headed to a place called "Catch Air" that I had heard quite a bit about it.  We were hoping that it would entertain for a couple of hours if we were lucky.  Well, three and half hours later the boys agreed to leave but only because they were hungry HA! 

 The whole "Catch Air" place is padded and geared for kids 10 and younger.  Even parents have to take their shoes off before entering the play area.  One side has a huge castle that, really, doesn't look like much until you get inside then it is full of stuff from ball rooms to tunnels to trampolines and slides.

 It was nice because a lot of it is adult height so as you run behind your kids you don't have to bend over the whole time!

 Nate having a blast!!!

 See this photo of Nate running?  Well, this is I saw most of the time - the back of him as he ran away to something else.

The other side of the place was a huge blow up slide and maze. 

 Josh was all smiles from the moment we walked in!  He loved it.

 Periodically they have dance parties where they turn off the lights and turn on "disco" lighting and big bubble machines and the kids dance.  It was awesome.

The boys had so much fun playing together on the slide.  The both came home with "rug burns" on their elbows from rolling down that thing.  The other thing that as nice about this place is the whole center is open with small kid tables and big foam blocks for the parents to sit on along the walls.  We would play for bit with the kids then sit back and watch them run around and play.  They have already asked to go back and trust me, we will. 

From there, we went to dinner at Smash Burger.  If you have never been, you should go!  Their burgers are awesome (I always get an Olive Burger) and I just love their Smash Fries. 

After dinner we had a few errands to run including picking the boys up some soccer shoes.  Our last stop of the night is always a big a hit!

 Yep, Krispy Kreme.  The "HOT NOW" sign was even on so we got to get hot, fresh donuts to try for free too.  Of course, we always buy some too.  Josh LOVES Krispy Kreme donuts. 

 Josh and Darryl :-)  (Yes, Josh is into taking funny photos again.)

Josh and Darryl having some fun with donuts!

 This was my favorite thing - a Mango/Passion Fruit Frozen Drink.  I love that ice cold slushy feeling and it even tasted really good! 

 Now, this is also a favorite place of Nate's but not because of the donuts (he is not a big sweet eater) but rather, his treat is to watch the donuts as they go through the process.  He watches from beginning to end and tries to figure the whole thing out.  He did tell me that he wants to be a donut guy when he grows up. (And then on Monday he told me he wanted to be an acrobat . . .. so I think his options are wide open!)

Darryl and his boys. 

Then we headed home . .. . to something totally not expected.

 No power :-(  Apparently, while we were having fun in the city, a HUGE storm swept in from the Lakeshore and did tons of damage.  Our only "damage" was that my swing was blown over but we really didn't see anything on the way home so we just figured it was minor. 

 Scardy Dog who was home during the storm .. .

The boys had a rare treat.  They got to stay up until they basically fell asleep which was about 9:30.  Some things I was thankful for:
1) Our IPads.  Even without internet the boys were able to entertain themselves with some games we had on them.  It helped keep their anxiety down and calm them down for betime.
2) The shortwave radio Darryl has had for ever.  He was able to tune into the Tigers game :-)
3) My Kindle - it is so much easier to read with that in the dark then while trying to hold a book and a flashlight!!!
4) Flashlights that actually worked ;-)

Around 9:15, Nate put away the game and crawled up into my lap.  He said he was tired, curled up, and fell asleep about 30 seconds later.  As I put him to bed, Josh came in and said he was tired and crawled into bed.  I really figured the power would come on during the night but it was still out when everyone started stirring at 6:30 so Darryl called into the power company only to find it that it was not expected to be back on until Monday night.  We packed up and headed to my parents for at least the day.  What they did not realize was how bad the storm was in their area.  As we drove closer to their house, we saw horrible damage with trees uprooted, (huge, huge trees) pole barns blown down and more.  Thankfully, they had power even though just a few houses down did not. 

The photos above are from the cemetery that is behind my parents house. 

We enjoyed a great day at my parents (Darryl and I even got to go out to lunch without kids to our favorite Coney Place!) 

Power was restored by about 4:00 Sunday afternoon so we headed by home that evening.  You don't realize how much you miss things like running water and lights until you don't have it HA!

So, our family fun day turned into a family fun weekend.