Things that May Surprise You

I bet you think I'm normal.  Well, I am ;-)  But I thought I'd share a few things you might not know about me.

We drink as much chocolate milk in a week as we do white milk.  I usually by 2 gallons of chocolate and two gallons of white . . .then sometime in the middle of the week we generally have to buy one more of each.  My kids can even distinguish the difference and ask for "Chocolate Taste" (chocolate milk) over "Milk Stirred". . .. they check the fridge when I make them Chocolate milk to make sure the real stuff is gone.  You might wonder why I do this?  Do you have something in your childhood that you love but didn't get to have it very often?  Mine is chocolate milk.  (My dad's is actually White Milk - he loves it and grew up not getting it often so he knew that as an adult, he would always have as much milk as he wanted in his house).  Don't get me wrong, my mom did buy it periodically and we used a lot of Nestle Quik in our house but back in the day, buying chocolate milk was not high on the list.  (Plus when we did get it, we had to mix it with white milk - I'm so thankful for 1% chocolate milk!!)  Anyway, I figure as long as I can fit it into the grocery budget, I'm buying chocolate milk.  :-)

My kids have been known to say, "Mom, our house is too cold" :-) in the winter. Yep, I keep that thermostat turned down low.  I had to laugh to myself last fall as I sat in a ladies meeting with ladies from church and someone was talking about a family who's furnace had gone out the day before and it would be 2 -3 days before it could be repaired.  They were really concerned about how cold they might get and wondered if people had some electric heaters they could use . .. the low those nights/days was going to be 60 . .I keep my thermostat set at 60 at night and often forget to turn it up during the day and as of that particular time, we hadn't even turned ours on yet HA!  I do turn it up to about 65 during the coldest days and my husband turns it up to 70 when he walks in the door.  Oh, and I do turn it up to 68 when company is coming over out of the goodness of my heart.  It isn't so much that I am cheap - it is more that I HATE to be hot.  I can always put on a sweatshirt or sit with a blanket but if I'm hot, I'm miserable :-)

Carbonation is my friend :-)  Several times I've tried to become a water drinker but I just stumbling over missing those bubbles in my drink.  Imagine my surprise when I tasted Sprite Zero (thanks to my dad) and discovered I loved this Carbonated, Lemon-lime infused . .water ;-)  It has zero anything so it really is just water (at least in my book) and becomes my best friend when I'm thirsty.  Don't you worry - I drink water too.  I've found if I buy the little 8 oz bottles of water, I can down those in one swig without thinking and that makes it easy to drink water.

We are heavy drinkers in this house hold ;-)  Before I've even made it down the third aisle in the store, my cart is full.  Juice Boxes (usually 2 boxes - they are great for lunch and also for taking on the road), 2 bottles of juice, 2 gallons of chocolate milk, 2 gallons of white milk, a 12 pack each of Pepsi and Sprite Zero and, right now, 3-4 gallons of water and a 24 pack of the small bottles of water.  (We actually have a Water Purifier . .. I need to get that fixed soon) And yes, we drink all of that in a 7 day period and then some. My grocery bill would be about 25 dollars less if we didn't drink anything. 

Salty and Sweet - yum.  I love Chocolate Covered Pretzel's, Peanuts in my ice cream, muffins with my dinner, and Mr. Goodbars.  Imagine my delight when I found Chicken and Waffle flavored chips :-)  I love them - the perfect combination of salty and sweet.  Now my husband - he is not a fan of that combination in any form.  (At least he doesn't steal my treats!!)

I will never jump on the "Juice" wagon.  You know what I mean - the whole "juice fast" thing.  Yeah. I prefer to chew my food.  Really, I just enjoy my food.  Instead we are slowly (very, very slowly) trying to change some of our eating habits.  We love food in this house. . . .good tasting food.  We are working on figuring out what we really love (such as really good dinners) and trying to cut back on other areas like, breakfast.

I wrote this post several months ago and am not sure why it did not get posted.  I figured I would share it now since it is still very accurate - I had fun re-reading it; it made me smile :-) 

Food Friday - Philly Beef Sandwiches

Philly Beef Sandwiches
Adapted from Favorite Family Recipes

  So, I've been trying a ton of new recipes lately.  I've had some total failures and a few that were ok but nothing to write about until this sandwich.  First, it is beyond easy because you use sliced roast beef from the deli.  Second, the flavor is fantastic.  Third, my husband loved it :-)  Adding the cream cheese to the meat and veggies really adds a creamy texture.  There is one thing I would change next time and that is that I would use the "traditional" Cheese Whiz to spread on the bun instead of more cream cheese.  We did use the Au jus sauce that the meat warmed in as a dip and it was fantastic especially since it really is not greasy due to using the sliced beef.  

 

Ingredients

• 2 c. beef broth
• 1 pkg onion soup mix
• 1 lb. Black Angus rare roast beef (regular roast beef works great too, just make sure it's from the deli and thinly sliced)
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1 large white or yellow onion, sliced
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• sliced provolone cheese (2 slices per sandwich)
• 3-4 hoagie rolls

Instructions

• Bring beef broth and onion soup mix to a boil. Add roast beef, reduce heat, and simmer for about 5-10 minutes. In the meantime, in a large skillet saute onion and green pepper.
• When beef is done simmering, drain juices (you can keep the juice if you want to make an "au jus" dip.. I tried this a couple weeks ago when I made these at my sister's house and it was awesome). Add roast beef to skillet along with about 4 oz. of cream cheese.
• Spread remaining cream cheese on each hoagie roll. When the cream cheese in the skillet is all melted, generously portion beef mixture onto each hoagie roll.
• Top with provolone cheese and place sandwiches, open-faced on a large baking sheet.
• Broil on high for about a minute or until cheese becomes bubbly and bread becomes slightly toasty. Remove from oven and serve immediately.

Weekly Menu - The one where we have plans

We had originally planned to go camping this weekend but multiple things have made us change plans.  Things like the weather (rain is forecasted again), the thought of sleeping in a tent with a 3 and 4 year old, sleeping on an air mattress when my husbands back is still recovering from a bad spell a few weeks ago.  I think you get the idea.  So, we are still doing stuff this weekend but are taking advantage of a hotel instead.

Friday - My husband and I are ordering in tonight.  We haven't done this in awhile and I am so tired of washing dishes.  The kids will have mac and cheese.  Why?  Because, if they could, they would have it for lunch and dinner every single day.

Saturday -We'll have brunch before we take off for the day.  I just pinned a recipe for Hottenanny or Oven Pancake so I'm going to try that with bacon and sausage (more for the kids), and some fruit. The rest of the day we'll be gone :-)

Sunday - We'll be gone today. 

Monday - Chicken Cordon Blue Casserole.  We have gotten away from casseroles in this house but this one looked easy and good.  With some green beans and biscuits it is a comfort mean for sure :- )

Tuesday - Country Fried Steak, mashed potatoes w/parsley gravy, corn and rolls

Wednesday - Darryl has practice so I think I'll try a waffle recipe I saw on pinterest using muffin mix and add some sausage to "round" it out.

Thursday - Chick-Fil-Lay nuggets, tater tots and fried zucchini :-)

I'm not planning on baking anything this week - I'll just pick up some cookies at the store.  After getting back from camping, I'll really just want to get stuff put back together and not worry about baking!

Wednesday

Periodically I run out of things to talk about :-)  I know, hard to believe but it is true.  I had planned to get a lot of crafts made this month but so far, I've managed to have one in process and I'm also working on trying to get the boys vacation scrapbooks done.  I AM enjoying pre-season football very much but I'm not looking forward to a week of hot, humid weather that includes some 90 degree days.  I'm ready for fall - shoot last week we had fall like temps and I LOVED it.  What that in mind, I thought I'd share a photo of some place I'd love to be right now. 

Seriously, in a hut, that sits in the ocean . .. yes.  That would be perfect right now.  I could handle 90 degree days if I could  enjoy that view all day :-)

Enjoy your day! 

Too Cute Not To Toot

This first idea featured on  Sugar and Dots is a perfect addition to my birthday plans for the kids.  I've mentioned a birthday board before and the concept of a week of birthday fun . .. I'm slowly (very slowly) gearing up to get it ready to start with Josh's birthday.  I think this idea will be added to one of the days.

Thinking along the lines of Birthday and Christmas (don't hate me HA) decor, I saw this fabric garland over at Lucky Star Lane and just adore it.  There is not a tutorial but it should be pretty easy to make using the appropriate themed fabric :-)

My goal right now is organization so when I saw this idea over at The Thompson Tales for corner shelves I wanted to share it and remember it!

I fell off my wreath band wagon after I made my spring wreath.  I didn't mean to but I just had a hard time getting supplies - it's no fun when you live 40 minutes from the nearest Hobby Lobby!  I'm ready to make a new one though so when I saw this cute pumpkin wreath from Watch Me Daddy it inspired me to start over.  For the record, I kinda need a wreath to get me through until I can put up a pumpkin wreath . .. .

Speaking of needing another wreath . . .I saw this one from The CSI Project and think it would work great especially if I use Sunflowers instead of "spring flowers".

Happy Crafting!

K-4 - Adding in some fun

Welcome back to another installment of our K-4 homeschool fun.  It won't be long and I'll have to change the title to Preschool AND K-4.  I'm slowly gearing up for adding to more boys to the mix each day and, let me tell you, those two boys can't wait!   This week I've added to new things for everyone.  One, I added a morning snack time.  I got tired of feeling like I was feeding three boys for 4 hours every morning so instead, we have snack time at about 10:00 every day.  This is a planned snack.  This week we had Pop-tarts on Monday because the boys love them, Chips, Salsa, and grapes on Tuesday, Cheese cubes with pretzels "handles" and raisins on Wednesday, Chex Mix on Thursday and Pudding Cups on Friday.  I try to make sure that there is at least one thing each boys likes each day.  This has really helped out with keeping kids out of the kitchen all morning.  Two, I added a fun activity each afternoon.  It takes a little more planning on my part but that 3-4 o'clock hour seems to be the "bored" hour for the kids so this helps give them some guidance and gets them back into playing. I'll share pictures each week of what we do.

First up though, here are some photos from this weeks lessons.

 Every morning Josh and I start with his Daily Notebook which includes things like the date, writing his name, working in telling time, the weather, numbers, letters and shapes.  Right now I am trying to get him to do this on his own AND trying to get it to take only about 15 minutes instead of the 45 it takes him now!

 

Now on to our fun activities for the week, not that school isn't fun!.  Monday dawned a cold, grey, rainy day which messed with my first, outdoor plan but, the day was saved when the people I babysit for arrived with a HUGE container of playdough.  Six pounds of it to be exact.  Monday afternoon we got out the play dough and cookie cutters and got busy.  The boys played for 2 hours and we had to "make" them put it away at dinner time.  It was a huge success especially when Darryl came home and played with them. 

On Tuesday, we celebrated the Munchkin's birthday with decorating cupcakes.

 The boys made me laugh.  Josh decorated his cupcakes to the "nines" with frosting, sprinkles and peanut butter chips; took one bite and said, "Lets save the rest".  Nate, half decorated one and then said, "I don't like frosting and sprinkles" and only ate his other plain cupcake. Silly boys.  Oh, and Josh brought friends to the party - see the bear sitting next to him?  There were 3 others on the other side of the table ;-)

Yep, slave labor helping to clean up after sprinkle fun with cupcakes :-)  Actually, they asked to vacuum and I was not about to argue!

We also made Peanut Butter TP bird feeders.

 So, Nate, who I thought would love this project, just ate all of his peanut butter then had me actually make his bird feeder.  Josh, who I was afraid wouldn't like getting messy did the best and made his own feeder. 

 The boys found places to hang their feeders in the tree and now we'll see if the birds eat them!

Notice the peanut butter face? HA  He didn't eat his peanut butter until he was done make his feeder but he still ate a lot!  (Neither of the boys ate dinner . .. they had enough protein from the PB to last a week, I think)!

On Thursday, my husband was home from work so we took the day to work in the yard.  Our "fun" activity was just that - the boys helped, played and took lots of Popsicle breaks :-) I finally gave in on Friday and got the play dough back out since the boys begged every day to play with the "clay". 


Currently all of our homeschool curriculum comes from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Devotions, Quiet Time, God and I time = Discipline in a good way

Twice a year I start looking at how to get my quiet time back into my schedule.  It is not easy to make time to have daily devotions when you have a very active 3 and 4 year old in the house, let me tell you!  A few months ago, I tried getting up at 6:00 - figuring I would be able to get ready and have my quiet time before the kids got up.  That worked for one day and then my 3 year old started getting up at 6:30 . . .then 6:15.  I'm not sure if he heard me up or what but that took the wind out of my sail so I started getting up at 6:45 and just getting ready for the day.  Some days he sleeps until well past 7:00 and some days he is up with me.  With that said, I'm really feeling the need to get back into a Bible Study as well as reading my Bible daily.  I need it for me - for growth, for encouragement, for conviction.  I need it for my kids - to see me reading my Bible, to prepare me for the battles I fight throughout the day, and to help me keep my attitude right while raising two boys!  Not to mention that getting up at 6:00 is not my favorite thing but, I'm leaning back towards getting up at that time again and this time, embracing the fact that my kids will see me spending time in the Bible even if it cuts my time short some days because they have needs first thing in the morning (Chocolate Milk and Pop-Tarts just can't wait!)

The time is the easy part, right?  What will I study?  The top pick on my list right now for a Study is a book I started probably 2 years ago and then got to busy.  Well, I need it now.

I am picking this book back up because I am finding that it is easy to be negative all day long.  My perfect kids are pushing the limit right now and, before I can move to books on raising Strong Willed Children, I need to get my attitude in the right place :-)

From there, for Bible Study, I am waiting for Good Morning Girls to publish their next Bible Study which starts in September.  I think it will post this coming week.  I love the SOAP study (Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer) and have some new ideas for the observation section thanks to my dad - thinks like looking for all of the verbs, finding lists, picking out the nouns and more.  Things to help me focus on God's word.  I have other things to add like scripture memory, prayer time, and even journal time for my boys - I've wanted to start journals for each of my boys since they were born and here they are creeping up on ages 4 and 5.  No time like now to get started, right?

I'll let you know how I do once I get started!!!