Family Fun - The Start of a Birthday Week

We recently celebrated Josh's 7th birthday and we had a weeks worth of fun to do so.  It started with a visit to Papa and Nana's and, a special treat was that Aunt Lynnette, Braedon, Seth and Kate were there too!

 A week before this little party, Nana called and asked Josh what he wanted for his birthday lunch.  He requested Spaghetti, Watermelon, and an Orange cake.  Needless to say, Nana delivered!  That is one happy boy!

 He loved his cake - especially those Minion gummies.

 Sheer joy! 

 You might notice that he is shirtless.  That is the norm.  Josh told me that next year, I can just buy him two church shirts and no other shirts because he doesn't wear them anyway.  Seriously, I've started carrying an extra shirt in the truck because more than once we have arrived somewhere with a bare-chested Josh HA!

 Our attempt at a serious picture with Nana HA!

 Kate  . . with Josh and Nate who think she hung the moon.  They. love. her. 

Braedon and Seth are pretty high on the list too.  Breadon played hide-n-seek, cars and blocks with the boys - it was awesome. 

We had a great weekend . . .I'll share more next week!

Weekly Menu

Can you believe it is already November?  I love this time of year because there are so many good recipes that we all enjoy during this time of year from snacks to dessert to special main and side dishes.  Plus I love cooking soups and being able to have dinner cook in the oven for hours, making the whole house smell yummy.  I mean, really, there is nothing better than walking into the house after church and being met with the smell of a perfectly cooked roast!  Now, I'm hungry!

Saturday - It's Halloween!  We will head out to get some trick-or-treats (hopefully all treats!) so dinner needs to be super simple.  Corn Dogs, Chips and fruit. 

Sunday - Stuffed shells, green beans and garlic bread. 

Monday - Tonight is Gymnastics and I have practice so I always leave something simple for Darryl to cook for the three of them after the boys get home.  Either Mac and Cheese or Spaghetti. 

Tuesday - A few weeks ago I said I was going to cook a Turkey but I forgot to ever take it out of the freezer to thaw!  Well, this time I did so it will be a simple Turkey dinner.  Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, and rolls

Wednesday - Turkey and Dumplings.  I'll make either Mac and Cheese or Spaghetti for the boys since they aren't fans of the whole Dumpling concept :-)

Thursday - Turkey Noodle Soup - I always do this after the dumplings with the leftovers. 

Friday - I have a recipe for Oven baked tacos that I've been wanting to try and it popped up on facebook last week again so my plan is to try those out since we normally have Tacos on Friday anyway. 

Teaching Tuesdays - A Field Trip

A few weeks ago, we had an opportunity to go on a field trip with our homeschool group, Agape.  We got to visit a huge orchard called, Klackles, that is about 45 minutes from home.  Darryl and I had visited there about 12 years ago but have never taken the kids. 

 To start the trip out, we took a wagon ride.  We started by stopping in the apple orchard area and we all got to pick a bag of apples.  The boys loved this and picked out some fabulous apples.  I will admit, that is something I've never done and it was fun.  Plus we have enjoyed some delicious apples too!  After that, we headed to the the huge pumpkin patch where the boys each got to pick out a small pumpkin. 

 The field was HUGE!! We then headed to lunch and were free to explore the rest of the day. 

 I really can't even begin to show how huge this place was.  The boys wanted to do everything and pretty much did.  I'm not going to lie . . .I did not expect to be at the Orchard for 7 hours. . .but we were. 

 Part of our trip included a ride on a carousal.  The boys love it!

 Just a few snapshots  of the boys.  It was kind of drippy outside so I didn't take as many photos as normal to keep the camera dry :-)

The boys loved feeding the animals, jumping on a big trampoline, going through the corn maze, doing BMX bike races and more. 

The trip was a huge success. . .. and I made Darryl bring dinner home.  I was exhausted HA!

Family Fun - Our last Camping trip

At the end of September, we headed out for our last camping trip of the season.  This was a trip that we tentively planned but it was totally based upon whether or not the weather was going to cooporate.  Ironically, it was the most perfect weather we had camping all summer!  It was in the low 70's, with total sun and zero rain.  We could not have asked for more perfect weather.  We headed back to our all time favorite place, The Muskegon State Park and had a great campsite - it was in an area we had not camped in before but it is our new favorite spot. 

On Saturday, the boys had two things they wanted to do.  One, see the submarine that we always look at across the channel and two, go to the beach.  We did both :-) 

 Now, funny story.  Years ago, I had the opportunity to go in the USS Silversides Sub Museum but didn't because I had heard how extremely small and tight it was inside.  So, I offered to stay in the truck while Darryl took the boys to "save money" (on the cost of admission).  I enjoyed about 2 hours of quiet, relaxing in the truck, with a nice breeze on a sunny day with my book.  I may or may not have taken a good 45 minute nap too.  Meanwhile, Darryl got to enjoy the confinement and heat inside that sub with two very excited boys HA!

 Head below deck on the sub.  Darryl really is great at this kind of stuff because he loves History and gets the boys excited about history too. 

Nate in one of the walkways.

 Josh standing in one of the actual doorways.  Yes, it is his size but grown men climbed through that door way . . .Darryl had to bend in half to get through ;-) LOL

 Laying on the bunks - they loved this.

Once they all emerged from their tour we headed to a local Ice Cream place.  (Darryl said that they only thing that kept him going was the thought of ice cold ice cream HA!)  Josh always gets a Sponge Pop Popsicle and Nate always gets . .. .Water.  For real.

After ice cream, we headed to a great beach area - it is the public beach and we could park almost right next to the water.  The boys loved swimming in the water and I loved sitting on the beach.  Darryl got a break and relaxed in the truck by himself for a bit after his escapade on the Sub.  I got the better deal since I got to enjoy the beach :-) 

We had some great campfires, enjoyed S'mores and just had fun being together.  We are already looking forward to next summer and camping once again.

Weekly Menu

So, I took a few weeks off from the blog.  Our school program really was eating up all of my time and, well, I just haven't been creative in any form or fashion.  I'm hoping to get back into it even if just a few days a week.  It's hard to believe it is already the end of October - we wrapped up a birthday and have holidays and another birthday to look forward to in the next two months.  I've been without a lot of inspiration lately for cooking, again driven by school eating up most of the minutes of my day, but I'm trying to get that inspiration back.  We are in a rut for lunches partly because my boys have specific foods they love but I've noticed that we are eating those for both lunch and dinner throughout the week so it is time to get creative again and encourage my kids - one picky eater and one not picky eater - to try new foods.  I picked out some recipes from my "recipes I've made and would make again" folder in Pinterest so lets see if they are as good the second time around!

Saturday - Today is "Celebrate Josh" day for his birthday.  He gets to pick our resturant for dinner.  I'm expecting Smashburger, Pizza Ranch, or Jets Pizza ;-)

Sunday - I have a Choir Concert day so dinner is easy for Darryl - Mac and Cheese, Chips and Sandwiches

Monday - The boys have gymnastics so dinner is later than normal and also needs to be ready to go on the table when we walk back in the door.  Sunday Swiss Steak will be ready to come out of the oven!  Bob Evans Mashed Potatoes, Corn and Rolls!

Tuesday - Amish Baked Chicken, Amish Noodles and Beans

Wednesday - Chicken Carbonara, Salad, and Garlic Bread

Thursday - Pork Chops, Mac and Cheese, Applesauce and Biscuits

Friday - Fish Tacos, Chips and salsa, Rice and beans

Weekly Menu

This past week we ate out of the fridge/freezer/pantry.  I went to the grocery store and spent a total of $40.00 and that included cat litter, shaving cream, and razors for my husband. The down side of that is as we hit this week, things are getting bare :-)  I still have some stuff to use up though, so the menu will be based still on cleaning out what we have :-)

Saturday - I'm planning on Darryl grabbing some pizza.  I've heard Jets pizza has $10.00 one item pizzas right now so I'm hopeful that is true!

Sunday - Darryl is working.  I'll be honest, when he works on Sunday, the last thing I want to do is cook for the boys and I after church.  So, we will probably grab something on the way home.  Later, we'll have corn dogs and chips

Monday - Tonight the boys have Gymnastics and I have practice so dinner is . . well, crazy.  I need to have something that Darryl can fix quickly for him and the boys after they get home.  Mac and Cheese is always a good go to food ;-)

Tuesday - Double Crunch Chicken, fried rice, and carrots. 

Wednesday - Ready . . .I have a turkey to cook :-)  That's right!  It won't be long they will be on sale again and I'll pick up a couple so I figured I'd better get the one cooked that's in there!  So, Turkey, baked sweet potatoes, corn and biscuits.

Thursday - Turkey Noodle soup and homemade bread. 

Friday - tacos :-)