Saturday, November 4, 2017
Our week in photos #19
We had a great week. It started with a weekend away for me and, well, ended with a trip away for me. Throw in a little Halloween fun and it was a pretty good week of fun!
I, of course, enjoyed a great weekend away scrapbooking and chatting with friends.
Josh's pumpkin - an Enderman.
Nate's pumpkin - a three headed Wither (from Minecraft also) This picture shows two of the three "heads".
We also got our first snow!
And yes, Josh is outside without a shirt. Before you judge . . this is tradition. I think there is a photo from almost every year where, on the first snow, Josh runs outside without a shirt. It's almost like a right of passage HA!
This photo was not planned. Our two friends showed up in these Halloween shirts and the boys have the same ones so we had to get a photo with all four kids. Such a cute photo!
Halloween night really was a great night if it was a little chillier than we would have liked.
We ended the night at our church for their indoor "trunk or treat" so the weather did not really matter. Josh's face is just killin' me HA!
I ended the week at a birthday party for an old family friend - Alice (she's the one sitting). She turned 90. It brought together some dear friends. Jeanne Turk (back left), my mom (middle), and Mrs. Basler (Back right). All pretty special people in my book.
Finally, Darryl took the boys to Friday school today since I was gone and I'm so glad he did. When I got home Josh said, "Mom, I made you a pie". This is the pie he made today in his baking class. I love that he's learning to bake!
I didn't get to share this last week - but the rhino and turtle on the left are both projects that Nate has made recently in his class. I love all of the experiences they get at Friday school!
Friday, November 3, 2017
Weekly Menu
Last weeks menu ended up being a menu made of leftovers. We had left over chicken and noodles from Sunday and then leftover Roast, Potatoes and Carrots. It made cooking easy :-) Here's the plan for the coming week
Friday - I'm going to be out of town so I'm leaving Darryl in charge of dinner. I'm thinking he's grab some McDonald's.
Saturday - Spaghetti/Ravili w/meatsauce and garlic butter biscuits.
Sunday - Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, and Green Beans
Monday - Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup with soft rolls
Tuesday - Cheesy Leftover Ham and Rice Casserole with Broccoli and crescent Rolls
Wednesday - Sandwiches between the Library and AWANA
Thursday - LEFTOVERS! Yes, I'm cooking a big ham on Sunday which means using the ham in some meals throughout the week. Tonight, we will 'clean out the fridge' with what was served all week!
Friday - I'm going to be out of town so I'm leaving Darryl in charge of dinner. I'm thinking he's grab some McDonald's.
Saturday - Spaghetti/Ravili w/meatsauce and garlic butter biscuits.
Sunday - Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, and Green Beans
Monday - Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup with soft rolls
Tuesday - Cheesy Leftover Ham and Rice Casserole with Broccoli and crescent Rolls
Wednesday - Sandwiches between the Library and AWANA
Thursday - LEFTOVERS! Yes, I'm cooking a big ham on Sunday which means using the ham in some meals throughout the week. Tonight, we will 'clean out the fridge' with what was served all week!
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Blue Apron - My Thoughts
Unless you are living in another country (that's for my brother, Kel), you have most likely heard of Blue Apron. Blue Apron is a meal delivery service. Yep, you read that right - you can have meals delivered to your home weekly. Recently, a friend had some free "trials" to give away and I was able to get one so I thought I'd share the good, bad and ugly :-)
When you set up your account, you can choose your delivery date (I picked Wednesday). The box arrives and it is all pretty and fun looking!
Inside the box are two beautiful recipe cards (well, 2 in my case because I only got 2 meals for 4 people with the free trial).
The food is enclosed in this insulated bag inside the box with dry ice in the bottom.
All the ingredients are packaged and labeled for easy use.
Each paper bag is labeled for the meal that it goes with and the meat is well packaged also.
This is meal one - BBQ Chicken Sandwiches with cole slaw and roasted potatoes.
The beautiful recipe card.
This is what was inside the bag. They supply everything you need except olive oil and salt and pepper. All of the ingredients are premeasured which makes it even easier to cook dinner.
This was the final dinner. All in all, it was pretty good.
Now, here are my opinions:
1) Over all, Blue Apron does a great job with packaging, directions and overall ease of use of their product. The fact that you get all of the ingredients premeasured is a bonus.
2) They use a high quality of ingredients but not necessarily the best cuts. For example, for the BBQ chicken meal, it was boneless, skinless chicken thighs, not breasts. I personally find the boneless thighs kind of slimy (I like bone-in thighs but they are "dryer".
3) The price point is a killer. The two meals that we received "retail" at about $72.00. So that is two meals for a family of four. Blue Apron says you feed each person for about $8.99 a piece. Well, honestly, I can feed my whole family 3 times a day for $8.99 a piece, not just one meal. It is not designed for a family who lives on a super tight budget.
4) So would I ever use it again? I might at some point just for fun - maybe with a coupon :-)
Now, here's my little disclaimer. If Darryl and I were "DINKS" (Double Income, No Kids) I would totally take advantage of a program like this. In order meals for 2, you can get 4 meals for about $60.00. That would mean 4 meals totally ready to cook when I walk in the door and no shopping. (We'd eat out the other three HA!) I'd also use this if I was single. Why? Ordering 4 meals for 2 people means that I would either have 8 dinners or 4 dinners plus lunch the next day. Talk about making life easy!
Overall it was a good experience, it just doesn't fit into our budget or life right now.
You might notice I only talked about one meal. Well, the second meal sent to us was Salmon and Kale. Neither item is a food that either Darryl or I like so I didn't end up cooking it.
This was the final dinner. All in all, it was pretty good.
Now, here are my opinions:
1) Over all, Blue Apron does a great job with packaging, directions and overall ease of use of their product. The fact that you get all of the ingredients premeasured is a bonus.
2) They use a high quality of ingredients but not necessarily the best cuts. For example, for the BBQ chicken meal, it was boneless, skinless chicken thighs, not breasts. I personally find the boneless thighs kind of slimy (I like bone-in thighs but they are "dryer".
3) The price point is a killer. The two meals that we received "retail" at about $72.00. So that is two meals for a family of four. Blue Apron says you feed each person for about $8.99 a piece. Well, honestly, I can feed my whole family 3 times a day for $8.99 a piece, not just one meal. It is not designed for a family who lives on a super tight budget.
4) So would I ever use it again? I might at some point just for fun - maybe with a coupon :-)
Now, here's my little disclaimer. If Darryl and I were "DINKS" (Double Income, No Kids) I would totally take advantage of a program like this. In order meals for 2, you can get 4 meals for about $60.00. That would mean 4 meals totally ready to cook when I walk in the door and no shopping. (We'd eat out the other three HA!) I'd also use this if I was single. Why? Ordering 4 meals for 2 people means that I would either have 8 dinners or 4 dinners plus lunch the next day. Talk about making life easy!
Overall it was a good experience, it just doesn't fit into our budget or life right now.
You might notice I only talked about one meal. Well, the second meal sent to us was Salmon and Kale. Neither item is a food that either Darryl or I like so I didn't end up cooking it.
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
November Goals
October got away from me and instead of writing goals, I just had some "hopes". I accomplished a few but October was just plane busy. Our routine got thrown out of whack with Camping, I fought a migraine for 3 days and then Josh's birthday fun. We started this past week with one main goal in mind- get back into our routine . . well actually tweak it some more so we get more school work done each day. . . and with my own goal of, well, sticking to my very specific goals for November. This time, as I write my goals, I'm more focused on what I can truly get done each week - thinking about what I'd like done by the end of the month and divide those items into weekly "bites". This is also the time of year where there are some fun things that need to be in our personally and family schedule so making time for those things is so important!
Scrapbooking
This is top on the list only because I just came home from a retreat and it's top on my mind! It would be easy to say "I want to be current by . . ." but in reality, with the holidays coming trying to find time to scrapbook at home is hard. I'm trying to steer the goals a little more toward being ready to start scrapping in January.
1) Totally organize the photos on my hard drive. They are in about 4-5 different places so I need to do a few key things
a) Sort each years (by month) photos into their own folder. Sort and delete photos at this time.
b) Upload the photos into snapfish
c) Make a written of plan of how to order all the photos I need starting in January. I need to finish 2014, 2015 and then do 2016 and 2017 while staying current in 2018 WHEW!
2) Take time to put any page protectors I have on albums that miss them and then count to see what else I need to order starting in 2018. Also, figure out how many album covers I need to get all of my current pages into albums. Then, figure out approx how many I need to do all years until I'm current.
3) Gather up my digital pages that I've printed so I know where I need to pick up. This is a HUGE priority for 2018 - to get the pages printed and in an album so that those first few years of Nate's life are finally in an album :-)
4) BONUS: Yes, I have one bonus item. I'm planning my own "weekend retreat" at home where I'd like to be able to scrapbook. I'm hoping that I use Thanksgiving weekend to finish all of the photos I currently have printed and get them on pages.
The House
I'm serving up Thanksgiving at our house. With that in mind there are a few things I'd like to accomplish over the coming weeks.
1. Decorate - I have some fun fall decorations (I totally missed Halloween) that I'd like to put out just to make it a little more festive. I might try to make some paper banners to use as some simple decor but only if I feel like it. I'd also love to have the boys make some fun crafts (maybe one each Saturday until Thanksgiving) IF I can find ideas I like and we have the time to do it.
2) The Desks - The boys desks and my desk have blown up since the start of the school year so it is time to do some cleaning up, cleaning out, and setting up a little better. This was on my list last month and I never got it done.
3) A Room a Week - This is the idea that I work in a room a week following the whole flylady concept - 15 minutes at a time. (I usually do 30 just because when I'm trying to declutter, 15 just isn't enough!)
a) The bathroom - week 1
b) The Master - week 2
c) The dining room - week 3
d) The living room - week 4
I know what I want to get done in each area and don't feel the need to list it all here :-)
4) The basement - my goal is small. To spend 30 minutes a week cleaning up and cleaning out. In reality, as I clean some stuff out, it will get easy to organize and then easier to clean. There are few larger projects like re-sealing the floors that will wait until the cleaning is all done.
Thanksgiving
I figured that since I'm hosting and this is part of my November, I might as well add it to the plan!
1. Plan the menu which includes the week of Thanksgiving meals (I try to keep them simple), breakfast on Thanksgiving morning (easy for everyone just to grab as they wake up), and, of course, the main meal.
2. Put the leaf in the table the third week of the month so it's ready to hold all of the good food :-)
3) Put together the plan so food is made prior to the day off Thanksgiving (i.e. - there are some things that can be made the week before or even a few days before and frozen or sit ready in the fridge
School Related
1. Fall Semester Co-Op - The semester wraps up in two weeks but I have some huge organizational tasks to do before the end related to all of the work the kids have done this semester. So, I need to have all of the kids folders and projects ready to hand out on the last week. (Originally there was a presentation night scheduled that I was holding onto things for but it was cancelled)
2. End November totally current with the boys. We got behind in October a little which is not a big deal. I want to work towards having all of the monthly journals, math assignments and just regular work current (or even better ahead!)
3. Sign up for next Semester Friday School. Registration is at the end of November and this is top priority to make sure I stick the funds aside to pay for their classes (it's minimal).
4. Plan one of my two classes I'm teaching - I signed up to teach two classes again. One of them I already have the book for so I'd like to copy all of the pages I need and plan a true lesson plan for that first class.
5. Plan December activities. I love having fun crafts and Christmas related activities to do in December but in order to get those done, I have to plan in November. I'd love one craft to do each week/weekend as well as some fun gifts for the grandparents.
6. Do some research on different options for next year - Darryl and I are not as happy with the online program as we were in years past. Darryl has also recognized that teaching two kids seperatly takes up more hours than we have - verses being able to teach them together in subjects like Bible, History, Science and other basics.
Nate's Birthday/Christmas
Every year at Christmas, I start out planning to stay in budget but then I start to see more and more fun things and blow the budget. This year I'm really focused on staying on plan! Plus Nate's birthday is important too!
1) Nate's birthday
a) Order is birthday shirt by the third week in November to ensure it is here on time
b) Help him decide the two things he wants to do on his "day" as well as his choice for lunch and
dinner
c) Pick out and order/buy his birthday gifts this month. Also, stick aside the $ for Josh to shop for Nate's birthday when it is closer (it's a small amount but I just want it in an envelope, put away)
2) Christmas
a) Set up our Suess Countdown door hanger. I need to pick up a few small (key word) items each week so that I have at least the first 10 days prepared. I can do the rest in December each week.
b) Plan our Christmas activities such as tree cutting, attending a live nativity, seeing the huge Christmas light display, driving around our town to see what we can find in decorations,
and more.
c) Plan the Christmas shopping list which includes us shopping for the boys but also the boys shopping. Budget, budget, budget!
Planning Ahead
I love the plan ahead. To think about ideas and plans for the future - in the case most are for the following year.
1. Research
a) There are some memberships at local places that I'd like to research. I've heard that our public museum membership and zoo membership both offer reciprocal monthly memberships which means that if you have membership, each month there is some place else to visit for free. I think that's something we could benefit from
b) Plan my own "private" scrapbook retreat. My consultant couldn't get our normal place for our late winter retreat. I "live" for those two weekends away a year. So, I already have some ideas so I'd like to put it on paper and budget for it just to see if I can make it happen.
c) Plan what I want to do for Darryl's birthday in February.
d) Plan camping trips and so we can start reserving them as the dates come up
e) Darryl and I would like to possibly plan a vacation with the boys down to Tennessee with the boys this next summer/fall. I'd like to put it on paper so we can budget and start saving for it.
f) We'd also love to hit up Mackinaw and Chicago with the kids since they ask to go to both places. I'd like to figure out how inexpensively we could do both and try to make it happen.
g) PLan our "spring break" trip - we started this last year by taking a trip during spring break to the other side of the state where we also celebrate our anniversary of our engagement. It was a great little getaway.
h) Plan some field trips with the kids - I'd like to try and plan something once a month with the kids as a family . Some things happen naturally but there are some places I'd like to visit too.
2) New Year's Eve/New Year's Day - I'd like to plan some fun for the change of the year. We tend to do a lot of sitting and fighting to stay awake HA!
There's the plan. Now, I can take this list and divide it up by week and hopefully finish at least half of it!
Scrapbooking
This is top on the list only because I just came home from a retreat and it's top on my mind! It would be easy to say "I want to be current by . . ." but in reality, with the holidays coming trying to find time to scrapbook at home is hard. I'm trying to steer the goals a little more toward being ready to start scrapping in January.
1) Totally organize the photos on my hard drive. They are in about 4-5 different places so I need to do a few key things
a) Sort each years (by month) photos into their own folder. Sort and delete photos at this time.
b) Upload the photos into snapfish
c) Make a written of plan of how to order all the photos I need starting in January. I need to finish 2014, 2015 and then do 2016 and 2017 while staying current in 2018 WHEW!
2) Take time to put any page protectors I have on albums that miss them and then count to see what else I need to order starting in 2018. Also, figure out how many album covers I need to get all of my current pages into albums. Then, figure out approx how many I need to do all years until I'm current.
3) Gather up my digital pages that I've printed so I know where I need to pick up. This is a HUGE priority for 2018 - to get the pages printed and in an album so that those first few years of Nate's life are finally in an album :-)
4) BONUS: Yes, I have one bonus item. I'm planning my own "weekend retreat" at home where I'd like to be able to scrapbook. I'm hoping that I use Thanksgiving weekend to finish all of the photos I currently have printed and get them on pages.
The House
I'm serving up Thanksgiving at our house. With that in mind there are a few things I'd like to accomplish over the coming weeks.
1. Decorate - I have some fun fall decorations (I totally missed Halloween) that I'd like to put out just to make it a little more festive. I might try to make some paper banners to use as some simple decor but only if I feel like it. I'd also love to have the boys make some fun crafts (maybe one each Saturday until Thanksgiving) IF I can find ideas I like and we have the time to do it.
2) The Desks - The boys desks and my desk have blown up since the start of the school year so it is time to do some cleaning up, cleaning out, and setting up a little better. This was on my list last month and I never got it done.
3) A Room a Week - This is the idea that I work in a room a week following the whole flylady concept - 15 minutes at a time. (I usually do 30 just because when I'm trying to declutter, 15 just isn't enough!)
a) The bathroom - week 1
b) The Master - week 2
c) The dining room - week 3
d) The living room - week 4
I know what I want to get done in each area and don't feel the need to list it all here :-)
4) The basement - my goal is small. To spend 30 minutes a week cleaning up and cleaning out. In reality, as I clean some stuff out, it will get easy to organize and then easier to clean. There are few larger projects like re-sealing the floors that will wait until the cleaning is all done.
Thanksgiving
I figured that since I'm hosting and this is part of my November, I might as well add it to the plan!
1. Plan the menu which includes the week of Thanksgiving meals (I try to keep them simple), breakfast on Thanksgiving morning (easy for everyone just to grab as they wake up), and, of course, the main meal.
2. Put the leaf in the table the third week of the month so it's ready to hold all of the good food :-)
3) Put together the plan so food is made prior to the day off Thanksgiving (i.e. - there are some things that can be made the week before or even a few days before and frozen or sit ready in the fridge
School Related
1. Fall Semester Co-Op - The semester wraps up in two weeks but I have some huge organizational tasks to do before the end related to all of the work the kids have done this semester. So, I need to have all of the kids folders and projects ready to hand out on the last week. (Originally there was a presentation night scheduled that I was holding onto things for but it was cancelled)
2. End November totally current with the boys. We got behind in October a little which is not a big deal. I want to work towards having all of the monthly journals, math assignments and just regular work current (or even better ahead!)
3. Sign up for next Semester Friday School. Registration is at the end of November and this is top priority to make sure I stick the funds aside to pay for their classes (it's minimal).
4. Plan one of my two classes I'm teaching - I signed up to teach two classes again. One of them I already have the book for so I'd like to copy all of the pages I need and plan a true lesson plan for that first class.
5. Plan December activities. I love having fun crafts and Christmas related activities to do in December but in order to get those done, I have to plan in November. I'd love one craft to do each week/weekend as well as some fun gifts for the grandparents.
6. Do some research on different options for next year - Darryl and I are not as happy with the online program as we were in years past. Darryl has also recognized that teaching two kids seperatly takes up more hours than we have - verses being able to teach them together in subjects like Bible, History, Science and other basics.
Nate's Birthday/Christmas
Every year at Christmas, I start out planning to stay in budget but then I start to see more and more fun things and blow the budget. This year I'm really focused on staying on plan! Plus Nate's birthday is important too!
1) Nate's birthday
a) Order is birthday shirt by the third week in November to ensure it is here on time
b) Help him decide the two things he wants to do on his "day" as well as his choice for lunch and
dinner
c) Pick out and order/buy his birthday gifts this month. Also, stick aside the $ for Josh to shop for Nate's birthday when it is closer (it's a small amount but I just want it in an envelope, put away)
2) Christmas
a) Set up our Suess Countdown door hanger. I need to pick up a few small (key word) items each week so that I have at least the first 10 days prepared. I can do the rest in December each week.
b) Plan our Christmas activities such as tree cutting, attending a live nativity, seeing the huge Christmas light display, driving around our town to see what we can find in decorations,
and more.
c) Plan the Christmas shopping list which includes us shopping for the boys but also the boys shopping. Budget, budget, budget!
Planning Ahead
I love the plan ahead. To think about ideas and plans for the future - in the case most are for the following year.
1. Research
a) There are some memberships at local places that I'd like to research. I've heard that our public museum membership and zoo membership both offer reciprocal monthly memberships which means that if you have membership, each month there is some place else to visit for free. I think that's something we could benefit from
b) Plan my own "private" scrapbook retreat. My consultant couldn't get our normal place for our late winter retreat. I "live" for those two weekends away a year. So, I already have some ideas so I'd like to put it on paper and budget for it just to see if I can make it happen.
c) Plan what I want to do for Darryl's birthday in February.
d) Plan camping trips and so we can start reserving them as the dates come up
e) Darryl and I would like to possibly plan a vacation with the boys down to Tennessee with the boys this next summer/fall. I'd like to put it on paper so we can budget and start saving for it.
f) We'd also love to hit up Mackinaw and Chicago with the kids since they ask to go to both places. I'd like to figure out how inexpensively we could do both and try to make it happen.
g) PLan our "spring break" trip - we started this last year by taking a trip during spring break to the other side of the state where we also celebrate our anniversary of our engagement. It was a great little getaway.
h) Plan some field trips with the kids - I'd like to try and plan something once a month with the kids as a family . Some things happen naturally but there are some places I'd like to visit too.
2) New Year's Eve/New Year's Day - I'd like to plan some fun for the change of the year. We tend to do a lot of sitting and fighting to stay awake HA!
There's the plan. Now, I can take this list and divide it up by week and hopefully finish at least half of it!
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Halloween!
Happy Halloweeen! I feel like it is a little anti-climatic this year since the boys have already Trick-or-Treated three different times! Once at my mom's campground in September, once when we camped in October and then just last week at our local Harvest Fest but THIS is the real thing! Where we suffer through wind, rain, freezing temps - whatever the weather throws at us all of the sake of candy that, quite honestly, my kids will never eat. It will sit in their candy buckets in their room for an eniter year when we will throw it out and start over HA! (For real!)
So here are my cuties! Nate is Godzilla and Josh is Enderman from MineCraft. I
If you want to see what they were in the past, check out this POST I shared just a short while ago where I went back to find pictures of them from each year since year one! So much fun!
Monday, October 30, 2017
A Few of My Favorite Things
I was able to enjoy some time away this past weekend which always brings me joy. That made me think that I should share a few of my favorite things again.
Lake Michigan. I was able to be on the shares of Lake Michigan this weekend and that brings a peace to my soul. The color, the sound, the magnitude of it all.
The colors of fall. This years colors have been much more muted due to the weather pattern but I was able to see a few beautifully colored trees while away this weekend.
This represents some much needed time away enjoying scrapbooking. The middle building is where we scrapbooking and eat! The two cabins on the outside are our sleeping locations - two beautiful little homes. If it was just Darryl and I, I could live in one of those homes and be perfectly happy :-) Especially since they are a 2 minute walk to Lake Michigan!
This photo popped up on Sunday - One year ago we were in Texas to celebrate my niece's marriage. These two ring bearers are just too cute. I can see here how much they have grown in one year. That's just crazy!
Sunday, October 29, 2017
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