A Few of My Favorite things

 I love the change of seasons.  The color of the leaves; leaves being blown in the wind; crunching through the leaves - it's all so beautiful! 

 Cider Mill Donuts - nothing better!  They have a crisp outside and a fluffy inside - just so yummy! 

 And what goes better with donuts than Cider!  My mom picked up both for us recently and it was so very good!  It always makes me miss my brother Kel because Cider and Donuts from the Orchard are a true favorite of his! 

The smell of a great fall candle.  Well, lets keep it real.  I love Yankee Candles but I forgot about a candle burning a few times . .. and that bothered me so I've switched to wax burners instead.  No flame to worry about!  I still love the fall smells though! 

Bible For Little Learners - Co-Op Class

I've mentioned many times about "Friday School" - it's part of the Co-Op that we participate in along with field trips, community days and more.  This semester I'm teaching two different classes and I thought I'd share about one of them today.  I know I have appreciated finding blog posts about Co-Op Classes when I'm trying to plan what I'm going to teach next! 

The curriculum I'm using can be purchased at Teachers Pay Teachers as either single units, which I am using, or as a complete bundle which would take you through an entire year (for Christian Schools or Sunday Schools). 

The file "arrives" as a zipfile that you can then use to pick and choose from based on your needs.  I love the fact that it includes the story in printed form, review questions and even a parent letter.  I've tweaked the parent letter to fit our set up but you wouldn't have to since it is pretty generic.  It also includes a song for each lesson that are fairly easy to find on Youtube as well.  There are several activities to chose from based on the size of your class and ages in your class. 

The interactive notebook is great!  At the end of our semester we have a presentation night where the teachers set up a table to show off what they class has done.  My class is creating their interactive notebook to have on display.  It's such an easy thing to do for great review.  I love that the creators of this curriculum supplied both a black and white version that the kids can color AND a full color option.  I use the full color set - if I had the kids color the whole thing I think we would still be on unit 1!!

Another awesome thing are the lesson plans. Each lesson includes a week long lesson plan for classroom teachers but also a "Sunday School" version that you can make fit into the normal hour long class, which is the one I use. 

I haven't taken a lot of pictures of the class but here is one photo of one of the projects the class did.

They used water color paints to color their paintings and we will also set these out at presentation night too.

October Goals

I'm behind on posting (and maybe writing) my October Goals.  I'll blame it on this.

What?  It's fall and it's pretty so it's distracting me!

Really, my mind has been overwhelmed lately.  So much stuff just rolling around in my noggin' and I've had a hard time focusing on getting it onto paper.  I've been working on a schedule for our days and yet it hasn't quite come to fruition yet.  I feel like I finally have our school day working so now I'm trying to figure out how to get other stuff done in the day too!

So, yesterday, I filled two sheets of paper, front and back, with everything from what I need to do today to songs I'd like to sing, to projects that need to get done.  I did what I call a Brain Dump.  No order, no list, just sprawled handwriting of everything that popped into my brain  . .. everything that's been floating around in there for weeks that I keep forgetting to do.

This month I don't have a pretty list but I do have a few "I hope's" . .

1) I hope that we can get the yard cleaned up and everything put away for winter.  (Darryl actually started on that yesterday)
2) I hope that we can get the garage cleaned up and things stored away properly. 
3) I hope to give Josh a good, fun birthday celebration, to plan Nate's birthday celebration in December, to plan our Christmas (from gift lists to activities) month, and to plan Thanksgiving.
4) I hope to have a fun weekend scrapbooking at the end of the month - accomplishing some tasks such as finishing up year 2014, filing memorabilia in such a way that I can add it to albums, updating the each of the boys albums. and putting into place a way to scrapbooking 2018 better.
5) I hope to do some more cleaning out and organizing.   

6) I hope to enjoy one last trip to my happy place while camping soon (Ok, this isn't a hope - I will be at the beach while camping AND while scrapbooking HA!)

7) And I PLAN to enjoy my favorite season!  Fall!  Pumpkins, Apples, Donuts, Cider, fall color, and more!

Sunday Scripture, Songs and Sayings

I heard this song on Saturday while driving to a scrapbooking crop.  I had never heard it before I just really liked the message of the song.

 I don't wanna hear anymore
Teach me to listen
I don't wanna see anymore
Give me a vision
That you could move this heart, to be set apart

I don't need to recognize the man in the mirror
And I don't wanna trade Your plan for something familiar
I can't waste a day
I can't stay the same

I wanna be different
I wanna be changed
'Til all of me is gone
And all that remains
Is a fire so bright
The whole world can see
That there's something different
So come and be different
In me

And I don't wanna spend my life stuck in a pattern
And I don't wanna gain this world but lose what matters
And so I'm giving up everything because

I wanna be different
I wanna be changed
'Til all of me is gone
And all that remains
Is a fire so bright
The whole world can see
That there's something different
So come and be different
In me

I don't want to spend my life stuck in a pattern
I don't want to gain this world but lose what matters
So I'm giving up everything because

I know, that I am far from perfect
But through You, the cross still says I'm worth it
So take this beating in my heart and
Come and finish what You started
When they see me, let them see You
'Cause I just wanna be different, yea

I wanna be different
I wanna be changed
'Til all of me is gone
And all that remains
Oh is a fire so bright
The whole world can see
That there's something different
So come and be different

I just wanna be different
So could You be different
In me

Our Week in Photos #16

 As summer has slipped by and we slowly get back into our school routine we are more likely to be found at home than out and about so, our week in photos are not quite as exciting!

On Saturday, I took the boys to our local theatre to see a movie they wanted to see.

I will admit, this Lego movie is one of the most boring movies I've seen HA!  My kids loved it.  They laughed out loud and at one point Nate yelled out as he jumped out of his seat. "RUN RUN RUN!"

Sunday brought church and I had a choir concert right here in our home town!  It was nice not having to drive 45 minutes or more to a concert.

Most of our week looks like this:

And the cat enjoys life:

And we are invaded by stink bugs.

I signed Nate up for a math activity at the Library called Crazy 8's Math.  It is an 8 week program for kids in K-2nd grade.  Josh is a little bummed he can't participate but he gets to spend time at the library with me so that's almost the same HA!

 Nate is in the top of this photo . .. 

And he is in the bottom right hand corner of this photo :-)

And this is one something he created with two other kids. 

Finally, a few photos from Friday School! 

 In their Stem class, the boys made these fun creatures.

And Josh decorated this cake in his cake class - learning how to use a piping bag! 

Weekly Menu

I did manage to slowly shift my "groove" in meal planning last week to incooporate the need for a soft food diet for my husband, one semi-picky kid and one kid who is micro picky has "distingishing" tastes ;-) HA!  We ate a lot of Mac and Cheese and soup for a few days until I could figure things out.  So, this week, I'm trying to have a slightly better plan.

Friday - Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, and Breadsticks (ok I only have two left and they are really for the kids HA!)

Saturday - I'm going scrapbooking all day so the boys will be well cared for between Nana and Darryl.  I'm sure they will get their favorite fast food for dinner :-)

Sunday - After church we'll grab something to eat before my book club.  We then have a small group gathering on Sunday night I'm planning on attending.

Monday - Amish Poor Man Hamburger Steak - this is a new recipe but it looks really good.  Baked and Sweet Potatoes in the crock pot and asparagus.

Tuesday - This is the light night for "Dinner out with Nana!" Can't believe she's heading for home!

Wednesday - We have to squeeze dinner in between Math club and AWANA.  I'm thinking taco bell since it is mornally quick eating.

Thursday - The boys have choir practice on Thursday nights now so dinner has to be either early or late.  I'm thinking Tacos are always good for nights light this.  We can eat before practice if we are hungry or after practice if we aren't.

Lunches - and a recipe

 First, I wanted to share a simple recipe that I used for several lunches last week.  It is a Pesto Pasta salad. 

Very simply, you boil pasta (bow tie is probably the best but I had a few boxes of medium shells in the cupboard so I used some of that).  Add some cherry tomatoes, halved, and some fresh mozzarella (I got the small little balls of fresh mozz - my favorite!!).  Mix in the pesto and boom - a perfect salad.  Next time, I would add some black olives and feta cheese to add just a little more flavor.

Now, here are some more samples of my lunches (You can stop reading if you don't care HA!)

 This is my go-to Chicken Salad served with some peppers, celery with cream cheese and a roll with butter. 

 Pickle Roll-ups (with pickles and cream cheese), peppers and celery, an orange and crackers.  

 I started using leftovers since my fridge was full - Left over pulled pork, a salad, and an orange. 

 More leftovers - Baked Potato with bacon, cheese and sour cream and a salad. 

Finally a tortilla pizza with a salad.  The sausage balls were a bonus because they had just come out of the oven and I love them so much! 

The past few days I've been focusing on using up leftovers in trying not to waste food.  Next week I want to plan more of these really good lunches though!