Family Fun - Christmas Tree Cutting

Cutting down a Christmas tree was always part of our Christmas traditions but the last two years we weren't able to do it because of Darryl's back.  I purchased an artificial tree to get us by until we could do this tradition again.  Needless to say we were all very excited to head out to Uncle Charlie's Tree Farm . To make it nicer for Darryl - it wasn't very cold and there was no snow :-)

 Notice how beautiful it is outside?  The boys set off looking for the perfect Tree.

 Josh found it!  It was a great tree even if it was super prickly!

 Darryl cutting down the tree.  I have to give this guy props.  He doesn't have the strength he had several years ago so this took a lot of work.  He did not give up and chopped that baby down. 

 The boys took over hauling the tree back to the main house.  We did learn that Uncle Charlie's will only be around another year or two.  Uncle Charlie himself is 75 and is ready to be wrap up the tree farm and turn it into farm land. 

We had a lot of fun with the lights before Darryl put them on the tree for us. 

It was a great day all the way around!  The boys did a lot of the decorating of the tree too.  Christmas gets more and more fun as they get older. 

Weekly Menu - The one Where the Kids are Gone

The kids are away :-)  My kids had requested some extra time with Papa and Nana after Christmas but due to an impending storm (that was kinda a fizzle) and the fact that my parents were tired, even though they always so yes to those boys, we decided to put off their stay until January.  Well, it's January :-)  The boys have been counting down the days and, well, so have I HA!  What?  I enjoy a break too!  I usually get extra stuff done around the house like cleaning out stuff that Josh, my resident hoarder, doesn't see and pick out of the trash!!  I also take a break from cooking.  For real.  So, here's the plan for the coming week :-)

Saturday - Darryl and I are going on a date.  I don't know what yet but I will arrive home from the ladies seminar around 3:00 and we'll head into town for some shopping (Good Will HA!), Dinner, and maybe a movie or just enjoying a coffee shop.

Sunday -A couple at our church are doing a special meal after church so I don't have to cook - we get to eat her food HA!

Monday - Our favorite - just going to Applebees for Burgers.  They are cheap on Mondays and they are good!

Tuesday - We've been craving good Chinese food so the plan has been for weeks for Darryl to bring home Chinese food :-)

Wednesday - The kids will be home!  Easy peasey Pancakes and Sausage/Bacon.

Thursday - Back to reality.  Amish Chicken, Noodles and Green Beans.  This was on the schedule a week ago but, it was on a Saturday . . .and the boys and I went shopping . . .between two stores and the bank we were gone for 4 hours .. .i was tired. . .and forgot to take the Chicken out of the Freezer so Darryl brought home pizza.  :-)

Friday - I'm going to say I'm not sure.  I'm going to see what's left in the house - Meat in the freezer; rice or noodles or Mac and Cheese; whatever veggies . . .leftovers :-)

Spirit Filled Kindle

I love to read but trying to keep up with new reading material without breaking the budget is hard somethings. Recently I had a link for "Spirit Filled Kindle" show up on my Facebook page.  I clicked on it and have been pleasantly surprised with the free books I've been able to get daily.  I have one firm rule about free books - they have to be at least 225 pages long.  Too often I've grabbed up a free book only to discover it is "mini book" of like 100 pages.  Not worth it.  This sight offers both fiction and non-fiction titles too.  I love having my Kindle stocked with good, Christian titles by some of my favorite authors even!

Check it out! Spirit Filled Kindle 
 

What we are Eating - Chick-Fil-lay Chicken Sandwiches

Chick-Fil-Lay Chicken Sandiches
adapted from Centless Deals

I decided to try these chicken sandwiches because we love the copy cat Chick-Fil-Lay nuggets that I've made for awhile.  Well, these were a huge hit.  My husband said that it was the best chicken sandwich he has ever had and wants them for his birthday dinner so that says a lot!  

Ingredients

• 2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
• ½ cup Pickle Juice
• 2 Eggs
• ¼ cup Milk
• 1 cup Flour
• 2 tbsp Powdered Sugar
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Black Pepper
• ½ tsp Garlic Powder
• ½ tsp Celery Salt
• ½ tsp Basil
• 1 cup Peanut Oil for frying
• 4 Buns (buttered and toasted)
• Pickle Slices!

Instructions

1. Put chicken in zippered bag and pound gently with the flat side of a mallet until about ½" thick.
2. Cut each breast into 2 equal pieces.
3. Marinate chicken in the pickle juice for about an hour.
4. Beat together egg and milk in a bowl.
5. Mix together the flour, sugar, and spices in another bowl.
6. Heat the oil in a skillet to about 350.
7. Dip each chicken piece into the egg covering both sides, then coat in flour on each side.
8. Fry each chicken piece for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden and cooked through.
9. Place on paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
10. Then serve on toasted buns with pickle slices.

 

Teaching Tuesdays

We had a great week last week.  One of the great things is we went on a field trip.  For real.  We went bowling and it was awesome.  The boys had never been bowling and they loved it.

There was also a pro-bowler there and he took an interest in the boys.  He gave them pointers and let them bowl on his lane to try and get him a spare. 

We also had a snow day last week.  Last Tuesday the local public school was closed so the Munchkin was home with us all day.  The boys were having too much fun playing together so I called a snow day and just let them play.

Despite that, we did get lots of school work done.  Josh is completely done for the semester - he has nothing left to do this coming week.  We are going to focus on learning sight words and AWANA sections.  Nate finished up his December writing (yes, we didn't do it in December) and we worked diligently on his work.  My goal is to have all of his lessons done by the end of the day today.  Then we will focus the rest of the week on his January writing and AWANA review - Nate finished his first book last week and now we have to review that book. 

I mentioned last week, I think, that the boys started back into Tae Kwon Do so I wanted to share a photo of their new uniforms.

Just this weekend I printed off the registration form for Gymnastics which needs to be sent in this week; registration for T-ball which is due by the end of March and I'm making calls on some swimming lessons for the boys to start in March hopefully.  Busy, busy boys!

Goals.

I haven't posted my  January Goals as of yet.  I've been debating posting the full list now or waiting and posting it at the end just to show the accomplishments.  What I did at the beginning of January was write my goals for the year.  This list is pretty basic but lists where I want to be at the end of the year in each of my categories.  From there, I wrote my January goals.  Anyway, here is my basic list (see, I decided to post it after all)

Now, as you read these, remember they are goals . . .even I know that I will only accomplish about 25% of these even part way but it does help me to stay focused during the week and not just sit around all day :-)  Each night I look over the list and write my to do list for the next day.  For the record, I have accomplished some of these items and have made great progress in the basement HA!  

January 2016 Goals

Spiritual

1.     Do the Women in the Bible Bible Study Daily

2.    Scripture memory – Find a memory program and work on memorizing 1 verse a week (so 4 total for January)

3.    Read 4 “Soul” books – books to help make me better

Physical

1.     Walk/ride bike for 30 minutes, 5 days a week every week this month

2.    Incorporate the beginning Couch to 5K (See pinterest)

3.    Find a rotation of 5 different breakfast items that I can eat that keep my sugar in check

4.    Get Nate to eat one new food this month

Scrapbooking

1.     Finish scrapbooking 2014 (on my desk currently)

2.    Scrapbook January 2015 using project life

3.    Order one month of 12x12 pages and put them in a scrapbook

4.    Go through 3-4 (so 2 years) of photo albums and make sure they are complete

Finances

1.     Keep an excel spreadsheet with Darryl’s income/expense, money spent, bills paid,

2.    Start the Christmas Savings Program and the Kids Savings Program

3.    Put $20.00 away for Darryl’s clothes budget

4.    Make a list of wish items for the Tax Money

House Goals

1.     Work in the basement weekly sorting into my four bins.  I’m not even sure if I’ll finish what I want to get done but I just want to work downstairs 5 days a week – a little each day.

2.    Make a brainstorming list of things to do in the spring/summer in the yard

3.    Room by Room deep cleaning

a.    Kitchen – Each day go through one cupboard or deep clean one appliance

b.    Dining room – Go through every item and clean stuff out, get paint to do touch ups, clean up homeschool stuff and organize the piano better and rehang some of the wall art that is hung off center

c.    Living Room – Clean out the filing cabinet, dust, clean stuff out that we don’t love, cobwebs, ect.

d.    Bathroom – Just clean the whole stinkin’ thing

4.    Go through Lego Catelogs and put into binders and then put new ziplock organization into a crate for easy project redos

All about me

1.     Purchase new clothing item (approx. $20.00) such as socks  or a new shirt

2.    Buy me something each month (Focus is chapstick, pen and paper)

3.    Paint my fingernails weekly

4.    Paint my toenails

5.    Send Kate a birthday card on time

6.    Pinterest

a.    Each week print/read/do 10 items in my January focus (so two a day).

7.    Learn How to put my make up better – find You tube videos to teach about mary Kay Foundations

The Family

1.     Plan Summer activities

a.    Parks

b.    Activity

c.    Food item

d.    Craft

2.    Plan a family outing – January – take the boys shopping with their money and go to Red Robin (Gift Card)

3.    Get Family photos done this month

4.    Plan Darryl’s birthday fun

5.    Purchase kid item – January find new rain boots for each of the boys at the best price possible

6.    Put the boys fish tank together and let them each pick out some fish

7.    Find some swimming lessons

9.    Create a Routine/chore chart for each boy with $ incentive

10.  Purchase and mail Kaleb and Erins gift

11.  Map the trips we want to take

12.  Research some kid cooking classes.

13.  Watch for Tickets for the Circus in March and the Motor Cross (or whatever is in march)

Reading and Music

1.     Make a list of books I want to read from Pinterest and what I already own

2.    Pick out a chapter book to start reading to the boys

3.    Build an older library for the boys – pick up 3-4 books.

4.    Practice one piano song this month (well, actually two, one to play in January and then start working on one for February)

5.    Purchase “How Can it Be” and practice it to sing

6.    Review the “must” sight words with the boys and make sure they are on target for all areas in school

Joyful Thanksgiving

1.     Find one book that relates to this in my life (40 days of Joy?) and read it.

2.    Find resources on how to discipline, teach and train using verses and Biblical examples

3.    Have the family learn 4 verses talking about Joy and/or Thanksgiving – work on them at dinner.

8.     

Family Fun - Christmas Parade

Over the past few years, I've tried to be very intentional when it comes to Christmas and the activities that we do.  One of the wonderful things of living in a small town is things like an awesome Christmas Light Parade.  We have never attended because it has either been rainy or so unbelievably cold that we didn't want to go!  This year was perfect though - it was clear, only just below freezing, and we actually felt like going!  The boys were beyond excited because the Munchkin and Princess had talked about it so they planned on finding each other and, guess what?  They did! 

 The evening starts out with caroling around the tree.  The city puts a HUGE tree right in the middle of town - it sits in the middle of the intersection for the entire holiday season and it is amazing. 

 The start of the parade. 

 The boys loved seeing all of the the trucks decked out with lights.  Not to mention the candy.  I had no idea they threw out candy so we did not bring bags - my coat pockets were saggin' down to my knees.  I swear, they got more candy then they did at Halloween!

 The three friends -Josh, Nate and the Munchkin.  Sometimes I think we all forget that these boys are really best friends - they have been together since the Munchkin was 12 weeks old.  Crazy.

My attempt at a photo of the boys in front of the giant tree.  This is real life.  That's all. 

Once we left the parade, we went to McDonald's for a treat . . which in our family means Chicken Nuggets and Fries HA!