This is a menu that I planned for last week but, due to not having water when I thought we would, I pushed it ahead to this week. I can, thankfully, say that we now have water and I'm cooking once again. (And Microwaving and using a dishwasher YEAH!) I must admit, though, as inconvenient as it was to not have water in the kitchen, I did not mind not cooking. I could get used to Darryl bringing dinner home every night!! The boys and I are glad to not be eating PB and J and Cheese and Crackers every single day for over a week for lunch!!!
Saturday - What did I say about "full cooking"? Today we are going to visit Darryl's grandma for Christmas. She lives in a nursing home so this year, each family is taking time to visit her sometime in December. In the past we all gathered at the nursing home for a party but, lets face it, partying in the nursing home home is not that fun. Anyway, after we leave there, we are going to do something fun - either Catch Air or the free play food at the mall, dinner and then going to see a HUGE light display at the Baseball Park. It should be a fun day.
Sunday - Stuffed Shells, Green Beans, Garlic Bread and yes, Spaghetti. It's a simple Sunday dinner that I can prep on Saturday and toss in the oven when we get home.
Monday - Ham and Scalloped Potatoes, A Veggie, and Rolls. This is the leftover ham from the church dinner a few weeks ago.
Tuesday - Chicken and Dumplings (Mac and Cheese for the boys). I'll be using the left over Turkey from that same dinner!
Wednesday - Chicken Noodle Soup and Rolls
Thursday - Lemon Dump Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Carrots and Rolls
Friday - Tacos
Friday, December 12, 2014
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree
This year, I wanted to be intentional with our Christmas plans so I picked a few key things to do on various weekends, made our plans, picked out crafts and other activities, put together our Christmas Countdown with little gifts, crafts, and activities and . .. forgot to plan time to decorate our tree!!! Seriously. So last week I looked at our calender and realized that this past Friday night was the only time we really had to decorate it and have it done sooner rather than two weeks from now.
The night started with Darryl and the boys making a trip to the store because, well, we had no lights for the tree. See, last year I threw out our lights because I planned to buy LED lights for the tree. (For the record we only had one strand of lights left working by the end of the season). Then I kinda forgot that I threw them all out until, well, Friday. They boys had fun though, so really, that's all that matters.
Darryl worked on putting the lights on the tree (while the boys tried to play jump rope with them at the same time HA!). We did put up our artificial tree again this year because Darryl wasn't really up to cutting one down as of yet but our plan next year is to 1)not forgot to plan to decorate the tree (geesh!) and 2) Cut one down.
Nathan waiting patiently to hang the ornaments.
The boys hung about 95 % of the ornaments this year so yes, our tree is very bottom heavy with ornaments, but it is the most beautiful tree ever. They had so much fun deciding where to hang things and asking about special ornaments.
The night started with Darryl and the boys making a trip to the store because, well, we had no lights for the tree. See, last year I threw out our lights because I planned to buy LED lights for the tree. (For the record we only had one strand of lights left working by the end of the season). Then I kinda forgot that I threw them all out until, well, Friday. They boys had fun though, so really, that's all that matters.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
What We Are Eating - Chicken and Bacon Crescents
Chicken and Bacon Crescents
adapted from . . .well, ideas I've seen various places
In my search for some new appetizer/snack ideas I came across a few recipes that turned crescent rolls into various sandwiches. I took the basic concepts from those ideas and turned them into a sandwich with flavors that Darryl and I love. I've made these twice and we've enjoyed them both times. They make for an easy Sunday night dinner or a quick Saturday lunch.
Ingredients:
1 roll of crescent rolls
8 slices of bacon, cooked
8 chicken strips, cooked (I saute the chicken in a pan with a little oil. Salt and Pepper the chicken before cooking)
8 small pieces of cheese - I used colby jack but you could use any kind you love
BBQ Sauce
Directions
1. Seperate the crescent roll sinto 8 triangles.
2. Spread BBQ sauce on each triangle
3. Lay down one slice of cheese, one piece of bacon and one chicken strip.
4. Roll up and place seam side down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
5. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until the Crescent Roll is lightly browned
adapted from . . .well, ideas I've seen various places
Ingredients:
1 roll of crescent rolls
8 slices of bacon, cooked
8 chicken strips, cooked (I saute the chicken in a pan with a little oil. Salt and Pepper the chicken before cooking)
8 small pieces of cheese - I used colby jack but you could use any kind you love
BBQ Sauce
Directions
1. Seperate the crescent roll sinto 8 triangles.
2. Spread BBQ sauce on each triangle
3. Lay down one slice of cheese, one piece of bacon and one chicken strip.
4. Roll up and place seam side down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
5. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until the Crescent Roll is lightly browned
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Teaching Tuesdays - Week 15
Christmas is in the air around here and I've implemented my Christmas themed ideas into our school day.
Nathan is still enjoying his preschool work.
He loves doing the Sight Word Searches as we learn sight words. This was an all time favorite because it is the word "But". The boys laughed and laughed because we got to say "but". I tried to explain the difference between "but" and "butt" but they really didn't care; they just thought it was funny.
I did incorporate several Christmas themed worksheets based on things the boys have either already learned or are currently learning. All of the worksheets I used last were I found over at Kindergarten Hoppenings. She posted some really great worksheets and I really loved that they were free!
Nate takes his shirt off frequently. He tends to be hot or just busy and feels the need to remove it. On this day they were painting some ornaments that they got in our Christmas Countdown.
Josh loved the finger painting (which is funny because as a toddler, he wouldn't touch paint or play dough because he didn't like it on his hands) and, once his ornaments were painted, he then painted me several fabulous pictures. This is pretty awesome because it wasn't long ago that both boys would only color or draw in one color; but now they are finally drawing me some awesome things!
We also worked on a couple of fun Christmas Crafts one day. I try to keep our crafts fairly easy and both of these were just perfect.
The pattern for the Christmas Tree Puppets can be found over at Scholastic. They really are adorable, aren't they? The boys are new to paper bag puppets so trying to get them to actually make the puppets "talk" wasn't completely successful but they still liked them.
I found the Christmas light pattern at About Home. My original idea was to make ornaments but when I saw this pattern, I just printed it on cardstock and let the boys decorate it with Glitter Glue and Scrapbooking cut outs. I really love how they turned out!
Nathan is still enjoying his preschool work.
Monday, December 8, 2014
Make it Monday - What would you do with $100.00?
So, what would I do with an extra $100.00 that I could save by using the Dollar Shave Club to purchase razors?
1. Four of my favorite scented large candles from Yankee Candle!
2. A shopping spree at William Sonoma - A favorite kitchen store where I can always find things but seldom buy anything.
3. New charms for my Pandora Bracelet.
4. Paint and decor items for my living room.
5. A Fit bit!
What would you do with a $100.00 if you could save it by using The Dollar Shave Club?
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Things my Kids Say
* When the boys saw Darryl's new car for the first time they were beyond excited. Nate's first comment? "Mom, how could you get it without us?" and his second comment? "Dad, show me the engine!" LOL
* Nate got out the tape measure recently so he could measure all of our stuff. Why? Because he is bound and determined that we will take everything we own camping with us. He has figured out what kind of truck we need to haul it all and even wants to fit the pop-up inside the huge truck too HA!
* Nate got out the tape measure recently so he could measure all of our stuff. Why? Because he is bound and determined that we will take everything we own camping with us. He has figured out what kind of truck we need to haul it all and even wants to fit the pop-up inside the huge truck too HA!
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Family Fun - New Stuff
We've had an exciting week! Darryl and I got our "Christmas Gifts" a little early and I thought I would share!
First up is my "gift". About 6 weeks ago our dryer completely died. Now, for about 2 years it has been slowly dying but it just kept ticking. Sometime this summer I realized that it wasn't shutting off on its own when it ran for over three hours before I went to get the clothes out of the dryer. Not a big deal since I could just sent a timer to remind me to go get clothes out. Than it developed a squeal . . which became a screech . . .and then a dying cat sound ;-) Eventually, it stopped and that was the end. Since that point in October when it died, this has been my dryer . . .
It made me very thankful for a great washer that spun the clothes out very well. Hanging them to dry wasn't a huge issue except that our clothes have been crunchy, crinkly and wrinkly! You might wonder why I didn't send out a plea for a dryer when mine died. Well, here's why. 1) We've had two dryers since we moved into this house 11 years ago and, between the two, they equaled about 30 years of age. 2) I didn't want someone's hand me down because they got a new dryer - I wanted a new dryer. Nothing fancy, just new. The Lord worked it all out and on "Black Friday" we went into Menards and found a great deal - an even better deal than we planned to buy when we had looked at them the week before. My dryer is not fancy by any means but it's bigger and better than what I had AND it makes our clothes fluffy and soft once again :-)
Second up is Darryl's "gift". Over a year ago, our second car died. Like the dryer, it had died a slow death over a period of about 4 months. We knew it was going and then, well, it died. Buying a second car was not an option until we paid our truck off and then we wanted to wait until Darryl went back to work after surgery before we even considered the option. About 3 weeks ago, he did some leg work on the front end so we knew what we could purchase and then, he started looking. He knew what he wanted and we both agreed that he couldn't "settle" because his last two cars were just that - "settling" for something because we needed a second vehicle "now." Well, here's his new "baby"
It's a 2005 Buick Lasabre with about 111,000 miles on it. It's "loaded" (well, for 2005!) with Leather seats, heated seats, climate control, and more. He's exactly what he was looking for and will comfortable fit the whole family so we can easily use it to help save on gas mileage as well as just to keep the miles down on the truck. I love the fact that I have a vehicle in the driveway again all day - I may not go anywhere but I could if I wanted to :-)
First up is my "gift". About 6 weeks ago our dryer completely died. Now, for about 2 years it has been slowly dying but it just kept ticking. Sometime this summer I realized that it wasn't shutting off on its own when it ran for over three hours before I went to get the clothes out of the dryer. Not a big deal since I could just sent a timer to remind me to go get clothes out. Than it developed a squeal . . which became a screech . . .and then a dying cat sound ;-) Eventually, it stopped and that was the end. Since that point in October when it died, this has been my dryer . . .
My sad dryer :-(
It made me very thankful for a great washer that spun the clothes out very well. Hanging them to dry wasn't a huge issue except that our clothes have been crunchy, crinkly and wrinkly! You might wonder why I didn't send out a plea for a dryer when mine died. Well, here's why. 1) We've had two dryers since we moved into this house 11 years ago and, between the two, they equaled about 30 years of age. 2) I didn't want someone's hand me down because they got a new dryer - I wanted a new dryer. Nothing fancy, just new. The Lord worked it all out and on "Black Friday" we went into Menards and found a great deal - an even better deal than we planned to buy when we had looked at them the week before. My dryer is not fancy by any means but it's bigger and better than what I had AND it makes our clothes fluffy and soft once again :-)
My nice, new, shiny dryer!
Second up is Darryl's "gift". Over a year ago, our second car died. Like the dryer, it had died a slow death over a period of about 4 months. We knew it was going and then, well, it died. Buying a second car was not an option until we paid our truck off and then we wanted to wait until Darryl went back to work after surgery before we even considered the option. About 3 weeks ago, he did some leg work on the front end so we knew what we could purchase and then, he started looking. He knew what he wanted and we both agreed that he couldn't "settle" because his last two cars were just that - "settling" for something because we needed a second vehicle "now." Well, here's his new "baby"
The car is a nice dark blue :-)
It's a 2005 Buick Lasabre with about 111,000 miles on it. It's "loaded" (well, for 2005!) with Leather seats, heated seats, climate control, and more. He's exactly what he was looking for and will comfortable fit the whole family so we can easily use it to help save on gas mileage as well as just to keep the miles down on the truck. I love the fact that I have a vehicle in the driveway again all day - I may not go anywhere but I could if I wanted to :-)
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