The Unofficial End of Summer

Can you believe it?  It is the Unofficial End of Summer!  My husband and I both agree that this has been one of the best summers we've had in a very long time.  The weather was actually great most of the season with just a few short spurts of really horrid hot weather.  We got to the beach a lot.  We took an awesome family vacation.  It was just a summer full of awesome memories.  It's hard to see it end but, really, we know we still have a few more weeks of wonderful weather but things will start to wind down. 

With that in mind - I'm taking a little blog break.  I'll be back on Tuesday ready to face September head on!

Enjoy your holiday!

A Little Family Fun

So, a weekend ago we were supposed to go camping but we cancelled; for various reasons like sleeping on an air mattress in a tent with two young boys; the original forecast of rain (which changed after we cancelled); our water softener needing to be replaced so we thought we could save some of our planned money for camping to go towards getting a new one put in ASAP; and something we didn't know at the time but taking off work to attend a funeral of a long time family friend.  Despite cancelling we still wanted to have lots of fun on the weekend, which we did!  The simple truth is, the boys just like to do fun stuff and what they don't know doesn't hurt them.  Our general rule of thumb is that we don't tell them of any event until the morning of that event just in case plans change - it works well and keeps disappointment to a minimum (not to mention keeping me sane - if they don't know, they can't ask questions HA!)

On Saturday, we started the day with a "retro" breakfast - Cereal, bacon, Cinnamon Toast and Fruit.

 Yes, sitting on the table, shirtless with sun-glasses and eating fruit salad.  He is one cool kid.

  My husband called it "retro" because it is what he remembers eating as a kid:-)  Then we took off to our favorite park.

From there, after playing for over 2 hours, we went to our little Chinese Buffet restaurant for dinner where, yes, Nate still eats for free.  One of the reasons the boys love it is that they get to pick out their own food.  Josh has developed a taste for many types of food so he really gets a great selection.  Nate eats "chips" (Fried wonton strips), "Crunchies" (Croutons) and Chicken Nuggets (well, the sweet and sour chicken pieces!).  Then, they even get ice cream when we are done.  What could be better??

We ended our day by attending a Back to School party put on by a local church.  They had a little petting zoo, Pony Rides, Balloons, Bouncy houses and a raffle.  Guess what? we were one of the last people entering and the first name drawn for the raffle - guess they forgot to shake the box ;-)  We won some girl scout cookies which is always nice.

The boys really had a great day.  They ended up with cute little goodie bags and a new beanie baby from the party - all free.

I will admit that it was nice to come home to our house and sleep in our own, cool rooms verses sleeping in the tent.  Not to mention a nice clean bathroom :-)

On Sunday, we enjoyed a simple breakfast before heading out to . . . the beach!!  Finally!  We haven't been in about a month because of being busy and it has been cooler until this past week.

 The waves were pretty big today - probably 4 feet most of the day.  There is a huge sandbar, though, not far from shore, so we were able to still take the boys out.  We had bought them some animal rings to use as floaties but due to the wind and waves, left them in the truck for safe keeping.  Needless to say we held on to their little hands tightly while in the water :-)

We've already talked about camping for next year.  We are really working on saving for a camper - just a simple pop-up.  I've seen quite a few go up for sale already as the summer is ending for under $1000.00 Sure they may be old but they appear in fantastic shape.  So we are hoping that we can find a great deal in the spring and can buy one then so we can use it for not only weekend camping but to camp during our summer vacation.  But, I will be working on reserving camping cabins for next summer just in case.  I have found a place down near Shippshewana that has great cabins that will be our 2nd choice if we can't get local.  We WILL camp next year.  :-) 

Food Friday - Honey BBQ Glazed Chicken

Honey BBQ Glazed Chicken
adapted from Zagleft

A few weeks ago I tried a chicken recipe from The Recipe Crayon Box for "the perfect chicken" that was, quite honestly, very good.  When I made it I thought that it would be perfect for chicken salad or any other recipe that called for precooked chicken.  Then I tried THIS recipe and now have a new "perfect chicken".  This recipe actually makes me want to eat chicken.  every night.  It was perfectly tasty and, being grilled?  Well that makes it even better!  As a side note - I did NOT use Sriracha Sauce.  I didn't want to buy a bottle of something I may never use and, since the kids eat the chicken, I try to avoid anything "hot" - plus that is not a favorite flavor of my husbands either. 

Ingredients

• 4-5 chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup stone ground mustard
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1/4 cup orange juice

Instructions

1. PREPARE THE MARINADE
2. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and marinate the chicken for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
3. Preheat the grill and grill the chicken for 7-8 minutes per side or until no longer pink.
4. Remove from the grill and serve.

 

Weekly Menu - the one where summer ends

Ok, last week was thrown on the window, at least the menu was.  With trying to save everything for that wonderful Water Softener, I barely went to the store; only to get what we absolutely needed and I shopped every few days to make sure we used what I bought.  I have no photos or interesting stories.  Oh wait, I do.

Do you know what that is?  It is the most disgusting thing I've made in a long time.  I decided to make a Hootenanny for breakfast on Saturday (aka as an oven pancake).  What a disaster.  It was saturated with butter, about 1/8 in thick, raw and gooey, and just plain gross.  I won't even give a link because I don't want to hurt the person who posted the recipe, but wow.  Nastiness.

On to a new menu!

Friday - Honey BBQ Chicken, Sweet Corn, Fried Zucchini and Rolls. 

Saturday -  My mom is cooking tonight ;-)

Sunday - My mom is cooking again - she is so nice to cook for us!

Monday - Labor Day - spending the day with family and letting them cook!

Tuesday - I have to cook again - BOO!  I also have a board meeting this afternoon so to keep things simple, we are having tacos.

Wednesday - It is just the boys and I so I'm going to try those Waffles using a muffin mix that I didn't make last week. 

Thursday  - Burgers on the grill and Tater Tots. 

That's it.  A pretty simple menu if you ask me especially since half of it, someone else is cooking :-) 

The Things My Kids say

Ok, I'm cleaning out my "drafts" folder and came across this post that apparently never posted.  It is from summer 2012.  I laughed out loud as I read some of these and was reminded of WHY I should be writing stuff done - I had already forgotten some of these awesome things. 

I thought I would share some of the fun things my kids are saying/doing - I know it makes me laugh to read posts like this on other blogs plus, you start to realize that YOUR life is normal :-)

Nathan - he likes to hand me stuff and say, "You please hold this for me mom" and walks away

Nathan - He loves to play catch . . He throws whatever he is holding (a cup, a matchbox car, a drumstick) and as it sails through the air at your head, he yells "CATCH" and then laughs when it hits your face.  He doesn't quite understand that you should yell catch before you throw!!

Joshua - The other day, we were all going to go in the pool.  Joshua informed me that he wanted to put on his own swim suit and underwear - he told me I had to go outside for him to do it.  I went out and sat in the pool and waited and waited.  Finally, Josh came walking out, buck naked, carrying is shorts and said "Mom, I can't do it - they keep getting all backward on me." LOLOLOL 

Nathan - I asked him what he was doing downstairs.  He said "Nothing mom" . . .scary words coming from someone who just spent 15 minutes in the basement. 

Nathan - When asked where a marble was he was playing with . . his response was "In my tummy" AHHHHH  (We think we found the marble on the floor so all is good)

Joshua - Joshua made me breakfast the other morning.  It consisted of 4 slices of plain white bread.  I hate plain white bread but he was so proud!  I managed to hide two pieces and then toasted the other two and made some eggs.  He also "made eggs" by putting water in a pan.  It was all good until he took one of my pieces of toast and dunked it in the water.  As it got all mushy and was falling apart, he shoved it in his mouth and said "Yum, this is good". I almost threw-up.

Joshua - when we drive over bridges, he looks out his window and yells "Hello down there" LOLOL

Both Boys - For Easter, we put a pair of flip flops in each of the boys Easter baskets thinking they would enjoy them in the hot summer.  Well, they did not want anything to do with until a week or so ago when they walked around carrying their "Cric Crocs" and asking me to put them on.  Yep, Cric Crocs . . .and their other summer shoes, can you guess?  Are just plain old crocs HA!

Too Cute Not To Toot

I recently set up a playroom in the basement for the boys (which they loved for like 10 minutes but have not been back down there since so I'm rethinking some things) so when I saw this idea from Fancy Frugal Life for some wall art, I couldn't resist sharing.

This idea is awesome from Juggling with Kids and will be a fun craft to do with the kids in October.  Messy, maybe, but the end product will be great.

I love these chairs from DIY Project Network and they would be easy to make. 

Honey Bear Lane gives a great tutorial for making this simple rug.  I'm not 100% sure where I would use it but I sure do like it.

One last Idea that I really want to do this fall since all of the solar lights are going on sale.  Check it out over at My Home Look Book .

Happy Crafty!

K-4 - Week 6

Welcome back to another account of what we do in school :-)  Lets keep it real.  We started out a little rough.  We did not have school Monday or Tuesday.  Monday I wasn't feeling it and on Tuesday, the boys really wanted to play outside so I let them.  We got back on track on Wednesday though.  I'm really not worried about it - we will get through everything we need to get through without a doubt.  Here are some photos from our week - both school and fun related.

 On Monday, Nate pulled out Lincoln Logs mid-morning and proudly stated that they were out to be played with by Daddy later.  After dinner, this cabin is what Darryl, Josh and Nate built and yes, all three worked on it.  I think it was a great lesson in teamwork. 

 Last week I mentioned that we have snack time now.  The boys jump for joy when I say, "It's snack time!"  I have a couple fun, plastic dishes that I like to use.  The one above came from Wal-mart for $1.00 and I have a round one that I also got for $1.00.  This was snack on Tuesday - Grapes, Strawberries, Trail Mix and Goldfish.  With three boys eating it - it goes fast.  On Wednesday, one of the items we had was Peanut Butter Sushi.  It's simple - just take one slice of bread, cut off the crust and use a rolling pin to roll it as thin as a pancake (removing the crust is a must to do this).  Spread a thin layer of Peanut Butter on the bread and roll it up tightly.  Cut it into small rolls.  My kids LOVED it and asked for more but we were out of bread!

 Love these boys!  For the record, it was pushing 90 degrees today and yes, Nate was wearing a sweat jacket WITH the hood on a.l.l. d.a.y.  It made me sweat!!!

We did actually do some work this week :-)

 Have I mentioned that I love these $1.00 sheet trays?  Well, I do :-)  They are perfect magnet, play dough, glue, cupcake decorating boards.  Josh is working on putting together a Number Puzzle from our curriculum.  When I printed the game, I laminated it and added small pieces of magnet to each piece so he could line them up on the board. 

 While we were doing school, Nate worked on putting some stickers in his dinosaur book.  He is counting the sleeps until he starts school too.

 A very proud student of his work.  He loves school.  Loves it.  Even on days I would drag me feet to do class, he bothers me reminds me that we need to do it.

 On Thursday, we worked with a geoboard for the first time.  The goal was to make the #1, and upper and lower case A's.  Josh mastered the number 1.  Then he and Nate worked on putting all of the rubber bands on the board which is great for fine motor skills.  I will be ordering two more boards so that each of the boys has one to use for class.

 

Week 6 ended for us on Friday. My plan is to take this coming week off from structured class and use the time to prep for the next 6 weeks for all three boys.  The problem is that, as I mentioned, Josh loves class.  I think what is going to happen is that we will still do our daily notebook and I'll have some review stuff to do as well as any worksheets we did not finish in the first 6 weeks.  In the future, if the boys keep this interest, I may do a unit study during our "off" week where all three boys can work together.  Maybe some lap books or something more self directed.  

This week we did not do any "extra" activities in the afternoon.  The temps/heat index climbed high enough to be uncomfortable so we tend to not do much.  At least one afternoon we ended up in the boys room while the Munchkin and Princess took naps where it was cool thanks to the A/C unit.  It is hard for me to want to do anything at 3:00 in the afternoon when it is hot and humid.  As the temps start to drop in September, we'll pick back up with the activities.  The boys really enjoyed them the previous week.