What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm loving . . . that I got to go scrapbooking for the majority of the day on Tuesday.  I got a lot done and got a break from my normal, every day routine.

I'm loving . . .rainy days . . or nights.  I would love a rainy day, actually, but I'll settle for listening to the rain in the evening.

I'm loving . . . my new hair . . three colors . .. something new for me but so much fun!

I'm loving . . . that my fantasy team is doing so well :-)  I'm such a proud owner!

I'm loving. . . that both of my boys make very funny facial expressions - they are getting funnier by the day!

What are you loving today? 

Too Cute Not To Toot!

Check out these great ideas I found out in blog land this week :-)  So much cute stuff . . .where do people find the time!

This is a really great game idea for the fall from A Little Tipsy.  It is super simple idea that could be played inside or outside.

The Diary of Dave's Wife shares this great printable for Halloween - right now it is free but get it while it's hot because it will move to her Etsy Shop eventually!

Last year I found lots of wreath ideas and, eventually I hope to have a wreath (or two) for each month so when I saw this one - I loved it.  It is easy and inexpensive - check it out over at Alderberry Hill.

This idea from Holiday Snobs is super cute.  It wouldn't really work with the way my house/porch is set-up now but someday, maybe I can use it!

I love this idea for my dining room - yes, I have a ceiling fan over my dining room table but we need it otherwise, in the summer, we could not sit in that room.  BUT I hate the light fixture - this would make it so much better :-)  Check out the simple idea over at A Turtles Life for Me.

How about some food ideas?  Don't these Candy Corn Cheesecake Mousse's (Mice, Mouse? how do you say that?) from Glorious Treats look yummy!

I really love this pennant idea from A Step in the Journey not only because I like the "Fall" idea but because she gives a super simple tutorial on how to make the banner that you could use for any holiday or special occastion!

Check out these cute (and easy) Candy Corn blocks that you can make !  Sassy Sites makes it look so fun too!

 

I saw this idea for a desk over at Ana White Homemaker and thought it was perfect.  One of my boys has a very small room and, as he grows, I've thought already about how to make the best use of the space.  This desk would be a perfect solution :-)  The plans for building the desk are included in the post :-)

That's it for this week :-)  Hope you got a little inspired!

 

My Garden

You may remember that way back in the spring, before the putrid hot, humid days of summer that almost killed me, or at least caused me to melt into a puddle of sweatiness, I planted a garden.  It is something that I had wanted to do for a few years.  Just a few things that we could use as they ripened, nothing big and nothing that was a ton of work.  I planted my little garden (very late because . . well, I'm like that) and then, waited for it to grow. 

Here is what is left of my garden - just the small little thing that it is :-)  I'm sure you are wondering what I grew, right?  Well, this is what I grew according to my kids:  tatoe's, hots, yunions, and . . . bananas.  Yep, you read that right.  Allow me to clarify.  "Tatoe's" are . . .tomatoes.  I grew cherry tomatoes, which the boys LOVED to pick and full size tomatoes.  We tried to teach them to wait until they were red but . .. they were just too excited.  There are tomatoes all over my yard . . . hard and green but they were picked with love :-)  "Hots" are Jalapenos.  Darryl told the boys not to pick them because they are "hot" so therefore they become "hots" and yes, they still picked them, carried them to me and would say "momma, hots!"  "Yunions" are . . .onions.  They loved pulling them out of the ground.  Just last week, Josh came walking in the kitchen carrying two "yunions" and promptly threw them in the garbage HA!  Finally, bananas.  So, the banana's grow on vines and are long, a little prickly and taste a lot like cucumbers but don't tell my kids that :-)

A few things I learned. 
1) You need to water your garden especially when you get no rain for a long time and it is really hot.
2) Tomatoes will take over your garden.  Next time, we will stake them for sure!
3) Eggplant will not grow if the Tomatoes overtake them.
4) I should probably weed more often. 
5) Next time, I should plant it earlier so that the veggies actually get ripe before we have frost again (or my kids pick them)

Am I happy with my garden?  Absolutely because I had one main goal and that was to get my kids interested in what was growing outside.  They constantly were asking to pick "tatoes" so I think I succeeded.  I look forward to next year when I can do some things differently but also so that they can learn more how to pick things and maybe, just maybe, they will eat the veggies instead of throwing them away!

The kids LOVED the big tomatoes so much they HAD to pick them to show me!

Tot Time - Apples Apples week 2

Before sharing what we did this past week, I want so share some really cute ideas that you could use with your kids.  The would make great Rainy Day or Saturday activities too! 

This is a super cute counting game just right for the season from The Princess and the Tot.  The best part?  She supplies the printable!  (Yes, another adventure basket activity we will be doing in October!)

The Princess and the Tot also shares some great ideas in a post about the letter "D" - I really like the color matching activity she shows using the Dot-to-Dot markers.

My kids were at my parents part of this week so we didn't get through as many of the items from Apples unit so I am going to carry it over to next week and skip the Leaves unit for now. 

Today I had planned to pick back up with some of our Apple pages but, my kids found some games I had hidden  put on the shelf so we played with those instead.

This game is called "Colorama" and there are a bunch of different ways to play.  Today, I just let Josh match up the shapes to the board.  He matched color to color too so it was great!

This game is called "Lucky Ducks" and the point is that the kids are to pick a duck (they move around in the water) and if it matches the shape that they are sitting in front of, they keep the duck, otherwise they put it back.  The first person to 3 wins.  Granted, they just liked putting the ducks on and then slapping them across the room!

Nate figured out Colorama - he could match shape to shape but didn't worry about color. 

This is Nate trying to play and Josh saying "Mine, Mine, Mine" Yes - we are in THAT stage!


We also played an ABC matching game but I didn't get any photos. 

After lunch, Josh and I went outside while the little boys napped.  I took my Bible and Notebook outside to have my devotions.  Once I had written down my verses for the day, this is what happened:

Isn't that awesome?  Josh took my Bible and sat on the porch for a good 30 minutes just going through it page by page.  I told my accountability group today that as much as I like to have my quiet time be ... . quite, I also think that having my devotions in front of my kids, where they can ask me what I'm doing, take my Bible, and even draw in my devotional journal is a way to teach them by example.  How else will they know that I spend time with God daily if they don't see it?? 

Weekly Menu - September 24

Hello once again!  Been a crazy few days so I'm kinda scrambling to get this posted!  I had wanted to post a link to my actual menu and to recipes but . . .well, I just want to get it up for you to see :-) 

Saturday - Today was my Mother-in-law's 70th birthday party so we all went out to eat at a great Italian place . . .well the food was great, the service was lacking . . .but the family time made up for it!

Sunday -  Chicken Thighs, Mac and Cheese, Peas, Biscuits for lunch; Paula's Chicken Nuggets, left over dips from the family party (that we didnt' use - long story).

Monday - Just the kids and I so Buttermilk Waffles, Sausages and Low Fat Grape Salad

Tuesday - I will be gone all day Scrapbooking but I'm leaving Amish Breakfast Casserole and Overnight Coffee Cake for my mom to cook for the family.  Plus there were be Grape Salad left.

Wednesday - Stuffed Shells with Cheese, Garlic Bread, and left over salad or veggies depending on what we have left from the week

Thursday: Chicken Alfredo Pizza, Pillsbury Breadsticks

Friday: A friend of mine is scheduled to deliver her baby at the end of the week so we are planning on visit the new little bean as well as attending Art Prize so we will grab something quick and cheap to eat!

That's it this week - a little boring, actually!

Weight Watchers Saturday

I would like to say that I had huge success this past week but, well, I had kinda success :-)  I did not follow my lunch plan on Monday or Tuesday - on Monday, I ate a big breakfast and then did not eat lunch because I was full.  Tuesday, my kids came home so I just threw a couple of pizzas in the oven and we ate those instead.  BUT, I did actually make recipes I had planned.

On Wednesday, I made the BLT Lettuce Cups and Fruit Salad and posted the recipes HERE.  They were both fantastic and I'm finding that I'm craving that fruit salad/drink.  We ended up using the rest of the bacon for dinner on Wednesday with pancakes.

So, on Thursday I made the Thai Chicken with Pineapple and it was fantastic!  I will be posting that recipe soon - probably next Friday so be watching for that one!  My husband ended up eating the rest of that on Thursday afternoon so . . I settled for left overs on Friday :-)

This next week, I said I was going to focus on breakfast.  I didn't end up making the Pumpkin Muffins this past week so I am going to make those this weekend and use them for breakfast. 

My lunch plan this week is:
M, W, Th- Salad with spinach dip and crackers
Tuesday:  I'm going scrapbooking all day - diet is forgotten. HA
F - I usually make the kids pizza so I'm going to try a recipe for a Wabash Pizza and see if I like it.  I figure I can freeze the extra breads and it will carry me through for weeks. 

Neither of these recipes were on my original list but are recent posts on Gina's Skinny Recipes and they looked so good so I figured I would try them this coming week.

Sorry for this kinda chaotic post - running out of time today to get it posted :-)

Recipe Friday - BLT Lettuce Wraps and Salpicon

I had thought I would have a couple of really good recipes to share with you this week but . . .I had some not so great things this week so I'm going to share two recipes I used for lunch this week! 

Isn't that pretty food??? 

Salpicon
adapted from : Gina's Skinny Recipes

This a delicious fruit salad that leaves you with a refreshing drink when you are done.  The best part is that you can use any fruit combination that you want to.  I would suggest that you add the Sprite about 5-10 minutes prior to eating it so that the flavors have a moment o blend.  I would suggest using watermelon every time because of the liquid it gives off plus at least one or two other fruits that have a lot of juice like pineapple or a good orange.  Also, you can reduce the amount of fruit and just make enough for 1 person :-)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups diced apples, I used green and macintosh
• 1 1/2 cups diced strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups diced watermelon
• 1 1/2 cups diced banana
• 1 1/2 cups diced papaya
• 1 1/2 cups diced orange
• 1 1/2 cups diced fresh pineapple
• 1 1/2 cups grapes (red and green)
• 1 1/2 cups diced kiwi
• 6 1/2 cups Sprite Zero

Directions:

Dice all fruit to equal size 1/2 inch pieces. Refrigerate until ready to serve. When ready to serve combine with sparkling soda and place in a large pitcher or punch bowl. Ladle into cups and serve with a spoon.

BLT Lettuce Wraps
Adapted from: Gina's Skinny Recipes

These surprised me.  I kept wanting to change the ingredients but decided to stick with the recipe the first time and it was pretty much dead on.  I do think that next time I might not put the shredded lettuce in the lettuce cups - that's a lot of lettuce!! 

Ingredients:

• 4 slices lean bacon (pork or turkey) cooked and chopped
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 tbsp light mayonnaise (I like Hellman's)
• 3 large iceberg lettuce leaves
• fresh cracked pepper

Directions:

Carefully remove 2 large outer leaves of a head of lettuce. If you rip or tear one, just save it for the 3rd leaf you need to shred. Shred the 3rd leaf and set aside.

Dice tomato and set aside in a bowl.

Combine diced tomato with mayonnaise and fresh black pepper.

Place lettuce cups on a plate, top with shredded lettuce.

Add tomato...

Then bacon and roll it like a wrap and dig in!