We are eating . . . .I just haven't made too much that is exciting enough to post about :-)
I did recently make corn on the cob in the crock pot . . .never again :-) It tasted . . .weird. I wanted it ready when we got home from church but, it wasn't worth it. Ick.
We are also grilling alot - steaks, hamburgers, . . .all yummy!
Otherwise, nothing new and exciting.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Teaching Tuesdays
This was our week in a nutshell last week:
Monday - We went grocery shopping. The boys were great and helped me fill the cart.
Tuesday - Darryl was home and they had a dentist appointment. No cavities and no lose teeth!
Wednesday - We went shopping for Nana's birthday. The boys had their first T-ball game.
Thursday - We loaded up and met Nana for the boys to stay with my parents for a few days.
Do you notice what was missing? Yep, we didn't do a single "summer school" item. But that's ok. When I planned our summer plans, I knew we would have weeks like this and that's ok.
Monday - We went grocery shopping. The boys were great and helped me fill the cart.
Tuesday - Darryl was home and they had a dentist appointment. No cavities and no lose teeth!
Wednesday - We went shopping for Nana's birthday. The boys had their first T-ball game.
Thursday - We loaded up and met Nana for the boys to stay with my parents for a few days.
Do you notice what was missing? Yep, we didn't do a single "summer school" item. But that's ok. When I planned our summer plans, I knew we would have weeks like this and that's ok.
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Things My Kids Say
* Our boys really love baseball (and yes, we are cultivating that on purpose. ) We tend to watch a lot of Tigers Baseball in our house right now so one day Josh told me that someday, he is going to play for the Tigers and when he plays, we can sit at home and watch HIM on TV. My response? Please, Josh, play for the Tigers :-) How awesome is that?
* Nate informed us recently that when he and Josh have wives they will all live in the same apartment. Josh carried it a little further. He said that our friend Maeve would also live with them. (He has told us he is going to marry her and plans to call the church soon. And yes, he has asked her to marry him already HA!) We asked if she would have her own room. Josh replied, "No, all three of us will sleep in one room. There will be two beds and two of us will sleep in one and one will sleep in the other. Interesting. That's all I'll say :-) hahahaha
* Darryl and I have pulled our bikes out recently. The boys found it completely amazing that I could ride a bike. They were so amazed when I got it out that they had to give me detailed instructions on how to ride and held on to my bike while I got on it. At one point the boys got way ahead of me so Nate got off of his bike, ran back to meet me and asked me if I needed his help. They are such sweet boys :-)
* Nate was on the phone with Nana recently when she told him that he and Josh were coming to their house to stay for a few days. Nate told her that they weren't coming because it wasn't on my calender and only things on my calender really happen. That is one of the downfalls of living with a planner :-) LOL He was very confused when I told him Nana was right . . .and told me I needed to add it to my calender.
* Nate informed us recently that when he and Josh have wives they will all live in the same apartment. Josh carried it a little further. He said that our friend Maeve would also live with them. (He has told us he is going to marry her and plans to call the church soon. And yes, he has asked her to marry him already HA!) We asked if she would have her own room. Josh replied, "No, all three of us will sleep in one room. There will be two beds and two of us will sleep in one and one will sleep in the other. Interesting. That's all I'll say :-) hahahaha
* Darryl and I have pulled our bikes out recently. The boys found it completely amazing that I could ride a bike. They were so amazed when I got it out that they had to give me detailed instructions on how to ride and held on to my bike while I got on it. At one point the boys got way ahead of me so Nate got off of his bike, ran back to meet me and asked me if I needed his help. They are such sweet boys :-)
* Nate was on the phone with Nana recently when she told him that he and Josh were coming to their house to stay for a few days. Nate told her that they weren't coming because it wasn't on my calender and only things on my calender really happen. That is one of the downfalls of living with a planner :-) LOL He was very confused when I told him Nana was right . . .and told me I needed to add it to my calender.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Family Fun AWANA Awards
At the end of April, the boys were awarded for their hard work in Cubbies and Sparks this past year. They were beyond excited about awards night especially because both Papa and Nana AND Grandpa and Grandma would be in attendance.
Nate was so excited to go up on stage for his awards.
Nate got an award for completing his book during the year and also because he was graduating from cubbies and heading into Sparks.
They also sang some of their favorite songs and it was so fun seeing how animated he was on stage.
Josh on stage - he gets very serious (and slightly nervous) on stage.
Josh received an award for finishing his book (it was also noted that he reviewed his book as well because he finished it so early in the year).
The Sparks also sang their favorite songs and I love seeing Josh singing!
Once the awards portion was done, everyone went to the gym where they had the kids play a game all together to get the parents a chance to see how the game time worked and then, they served ice cream.
Such a fun night after a great year and now, the boys are so excited because they will BOTH be in Sparks this fall and they LOVE being together :-)
Such a fun night after a great year and now, the boys are so excited because they will BOTH be in Sparks this fall and they LOVE being together :-)
Friday, May 15, 2015
Weekly Menu - The one without kids
Friday - I will be attending the conference most of the day - dinner will be determined when we eat. Pizza? Taco Bell? Whatever we grab?
Saturday - The same as above
Sunday - We are in Traverse City so we will be eating there.
Monday/Tuesday - I WILL cook one of these days. I'm thinking that Darryl will grill; probably steaks. And then, I just heard of a new restaurant in the next town over that is supposed to have great burgers and fries so I think we might try that one night. It is more of a "pub" so we don't really want to take the kids. (Or we will both be craving our favorite Mexican place OR we'll try a new Italian place that is right next door to the Mexican place!)
Wednesday - The kids come home today and we are going to celebrate my mom's birthday. As of the posting of this menu, I have no idea what I'm cooking yet :-)
Thursday - T- ball Practice :-) Two weeks ago, I made breakfast for dinner and I discovered that the boys were extremely hungry at about 9:00 at night (yep, they got out of bed and asked for food.). So, something a little heartier - Chicken and Fries/Tater Tots. I'll make Chick-Fil-lay nuggets for most of us and cook frozen nuggets for Nate since that is what he loves.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
A Kindle Verses A Paper Book
You all know I love to read. Books are like good friends who don't talk back :-) For years I struggled with moving to the whole "E-Book" concept because, to me, nothing could really replace that feeling of a real book in my hands. But, then my parents got me a Kindle for Christmas a few years ago and I discovered that there really are some benefits to the whole e-book concept. Eventually, I emptied my bookshelves and sold all of my "real books". I still go back and forth with what is really the best way to read so I thought I'd throw down some pros and cons of an e-reader just for "fun"
Pro - I can get e-books very inexpensively I have a $20.00 a month budget for books. If I search I can find free books or books for $0.99 each - even new releases by my favorite authors at times. This means I can get tongs of books. I usually "spurge" on one or two books that go with a series I'm reading but otherwise stick to the cheap books. If I was buying real books - that $20.00 might get me two books a month.
Con - I never have any idea what I'm reading. When I read a paper book, I see the cover, the title, the back of the book every single time I pick it up. I can remember the author and the title because of this - it is always in front of me. With an e-book I never have any idea what I'm reading HA! I never see the cover of the book and never read the back of a book.
Pro - It's so easy to take my "book" anywhere I go. Not to mention that I can "load" it with a handful of new books to read so no matter when I finish a book I always have a new one to read. This is nice for traveling. I used to take a grocery bag full of books with me anytime we traveled . . . now I just put my kindle in my purse and go.
Con - I can't remember what books I've read and never re-read them. When I had a bookshelf full of books (or two . . or three bookshelves!) I had them all organized alphabetically by author (and yes, I had a spreadsheet of every book I owned!). Every January, I would start back at letter "A" and reread just about every single book on my shelf throughout the year. If I got the latest book in a series, I would reread that entire series before I read the new book. It was awesome. Now, I really am clueless what books I read last week, let alone last month. I have not figured out anyway to categorize the books on my kindle to keep series together or to put books I've read in a certain spot. I wish it had bookshelves . . . ..
Pro - Storage is easy. I do miss having bookshelves of books in my home. I think they add character to a house but, I really don't have a place for bookshelves full of books so not needing to store them is a good thing.
There's a short list for you :-) I really do love my kindle but I do find that I like reading non-fiction, "self help" (for lack of a better word) books as paper books. I feel like I get more out of them when I can turn back three or four pages easily and re-read something I didn't quite understand. I find on the Kindle, it's hard to move back a few pages to read something again. I also like being able to mark up a book that I'm reading to learn from so having the paper copy sure is nice!
Now, I think I'll go read !!
Pro - I can get e-books very inexpensively I have a $20.00 a month budget for books. If I search I can find free books or books for $0.99 each - even new releases by my favorite authors at times. This means I can get tongs of books. I usually "spurge" on one or two books that go with a series I'm reading but otherwise stick to the cheap books. If I was buying real books - that $20.00 might get me two books a month.
Con - I never have any idea what I'm reading. When I read a paper book, I see the cover, the title, the back of the book every single time I pick it up. I can remember the author and the title because of this - it is always in front of me. With an e-book I never have any idea what I'm reading HA! I never see the cover of the book and never read the back of a book.
Pro - It's so easy to take my "book" anywhere I go. Not to mention that I can "load" it with a handful of new books to read so no matter when I finish a book I always have a new one to read. This is nice for traveling. I used to take a grocery bag full of books with me anytime we traveled . . . now I just put my kindle in my purse and go.
Con - I can't remember what books I've read and never re-read them. When I had a bookshelf full of books (or two . . or three bookshelves!) I had them all organized alphabetically by author (and yes, I had a spreadsheet of every book I owned!). Every January, I would start back at letter "A" and reread just about every single book on my shelf throughout the year. If I got the latest book in a series, I would reread that entire series before I read the new book. It was awesome. Now, I really am clueless what books I read last week, let alone last month. I have not figured out anyway to categorize the books on my kindle to keep series together or to put books I've read in a certain spot. I wish it had bookshelves . . . ..
Pro - Storage is easy. I do miss having bookshelves of books in my home. I think they add character to a house but, I really don't have a place for bookshelves full of books so not needing to store them is a good thing.
There's a short list for you :-) I really do love my kindle but I do find that I like reading non-fiction, "self help" (for lack of a better word) books as paper books. I feel like I get more out of them when I can turn back three or four pages easily and re-read something I didn't quite understand. I find on the Kindle, it's hard to move back a few pages to read something again. I also like being able to mark up a book that I'm reading to learn from so having the paper copy sure is nice!
Now, I think I'll go read !!
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
What We Are Eating - Simple Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes
Simple Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes
adapted from Cupcake Diaries
This was a super easy recipe to make because it starts with a box mix :-) The cakes match their name - they are the perfect blend of Strawberry and Lemon!
adapted from Cupcake Diaries
Ingredients
- 1 box lemon cake mix, plus ingredients to make
- 24 cupcake liners
- 1 c. unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 c. strawberry preserves
- 3 c. powdered sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 24 strawberries, to garnish
Instructions
- Bake cupcakes according to package directions. Remove from cupcake tins and place on wire rack to cool.
- With an electric hand mixer, beat butter till smooth. Add powdered sugar 1/2 c. at a time; add vanilla extract and strawberry preserves.
- Place frosting in a piping bag secured with a frosting tip (I used a Wilton 4B tip). Gently squeeze the frosting on each cupcake in a circular motion starting from the outside rim and working your way into the center. Top with a strawberry to gar
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