Weekly Menu - the one with the Holiday that means summer is half way over !

Holy craziness . . it's July.  For Real.  What is up with that?  It's time to slow summer down a little so we can enjoy it a little more!  This week brings some busyness but it also brings some great family time so that is ok too.  Here's the plan for the coming week:

Friday - Pizza.  I'm done cooking for the week.

Saturday - Today we have a family gathering with a handful of my side of the family  There's a big cookout planned so I'm just bringing a salad and dessert and whatever I think my kids might like!

Sunday - Dinner is out today after a crazy busy day yesterday.

Monday - We are heading to my in-laws for dinner.

Tuesday - It's the 4th of July!  Steaks on the grill, baked white and sweet potatoes, cheesy green bean casserole, and garlic bread

Wednesday - Heading into town with my mom for dog training.

Thursday - This is one of these weeks where I'll wait until Thursday and see what we have left.

Flowers

My aunt posted a photo of her Day Lillies that had been munched on for lunch by some deer.  Which made me think of the story behind my Day Lillies.

Many years ago, my Uncle and Aunt (My dad's brother) handed out Day Lillies to all of the siblings because they live on "Day Lilly Lane" (Or something to that effect).  After several more years, my parenst needed to thin out these amazing Day Lillies so they passed some out to me.  They have totally filled in the fence line in my back yard and I love them!  Everytime I look at them I'm reminded of that gift and it is even more precious now then it was before.

Memories are a good thing.  They are precious.  Store them away, take photos, and live life filled with love.

A few of my favorite things

I used to enjoy sharing a "Few of my Favorite Things" but then I noticed that they were all based around food HA!  Recently, though, I've been noticing that I have some new favorite things that I thought I would share.

Yes, a mop.  I read a great review on this mop and bucket and finally picked one up a few months ago.  It sat around in the box until this past week.  It's easy to assemble the mop and the instructions are clear and easy.  The spin pedal works perfectly and my floor is super clean!  I actually want to mop the floor!  To make it even better?  My kids want to mop because it's actually kind of fun! 

I love my blue-tooth portable speaker.  I use it with my ipad and my favorite Pandora stations to fill the house with music.  I love that I can turn Pandora on and then carry the speaker from room to room while leaving my Ipad somewhere safe.  We also enjoy it in the evening.  Instead of turning on the TV, I turn on our favorite relaxing musical "station" and let that play quietly while we enjoy the peacefulness of the evening.  It calms everyone down before bed. 

My new lamp.  (Ok, this isn't the exact lamp but it is super, duper close!) We lived in a dark living room for a few years until this past April when we finally bought this new floor lamp.  (Plus another smaller one!)  Now, our living room is filled with light and I just love it!  

The cool temps!   Yes, it is June and yes it was in the 60's today!  I just love it :-)  I know hot, humid weather is coming but for these few days, I will enjoy the cool, dry temps.

I've found a planner that I love and I also love the price.  It's big enough to write everything in need to write in it; I love that it is spiral bound and hard cover; I love that it is over half the price of the "big name planner" I used to buy several years ago.  This planner goes from August-August so I just pre-ordered by 2017-2018 planner and can't wait until it arrives in early July!

So, there are a few of my favorite things! 

The Tiny Home Craze

Tiny Homes.  We've all seen them, watched the shows and, if we are honest, wondered "what in the world are they thinking!".  Lets keep it real.  I live in a "tiny home".  No it isn't on wheels; nor does it have a loft that I have to crawl into to go to bed but it's still tiny for our family of four.  I'm always trying to figure out how to make more space.  This year, (as I think I've done every single year for the past 4 years) I'm trying again to minimize our space and our stuff.  I'm working toward not just cleaning out the things we don't love and use but also trying to use our space more effectively so that stuff always has a home.  I think that is one of my biggest goals this time around - homes for things so that when something comes in, we all know right where it goes.

I came across this post from Snail Pace Transformations and really liked it.  The concept of having less is a really great thing but just because I have less doesn't mean I want to be part of the tiny house craze :-)

Something Yummy - Strawberry Rhubarb Brown Sugar Crunch

Strawberry Rhubarb Brown Sugar Crunch
Barefeet in the Kitchen

(Sorry for the blurry photo - I took this is with my phone . . .and after we ate 1/2 of it!) 

This time of year, strawberries are everywhere so when this recipe for something with strawberries and rhubarb popped up - it was took good to not make.  I love that the crunch is on the bottom and the top because the best part is the crunch, really.  The next time I make it, I would probably add a little more brown sugar to the crunch because it isn't super sweet.  

Enjoy! 

Ingredients:
Fruit Filling:
2 cups shopped strawberries
2 cups thinly sliced and chopped fresh rhubarb
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup orange juice

Crust Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place the fruit in a mixing bowl.  Add the white sugar, cinnamon, salt and cornstarch.  Stir to coat and add the orange juice.  Stir again and set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients and then add the melted butter. Stir to combine.  Press half of this mixture into a buttered 9 x13 pan.  Pour the fruit over the bottom crust and then sprinkle the rest of the dry mixture on top.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crust turns golden brown.  Serve warm from the oven or let cool completely and slice into servings.

Scripture Sunday

Our week in photos (with a few words thrown in)

This is what we've been up to this past week

Sunday
Father's Day!  I didn't take a single photo but we did celebrate Darryl with "whatever you want to do" day HA!  We went out to his favorite restaurant, then got ice cream and ended our day with a bike ride.

Monday

- We went to swimming lessons, followed by a trip to a local park in the afternoon before going grocery shopping.  The day ended with the last baseball game of the season.  Two major accomplishments today:  Nate learned how to swing on his own AND Josh hit the ball AND scored a run!

Tuesday

 Joshua

Nate

- More swimming lessons!  (Sorry for blurry phone photos but I didn't have my big camera!) When swimming lessons started Josh said "I will never jump off the diving board.  Ever".  Well, today he did!  I think it helped that Nate jumped first and he couldn't let his younger brother "win"!  The rest of Tuesday - we all crashed.  For real.  You know you've been running like crazy when both kids sleep past nine, again, and after lunch, everyone "retires" to a comfortable place and plays quietly on ipads, watches TV, or reads.  I had originally planned a trip to another park but between just needing to stay home and be lazy and some pretty heavy cloud cover, we just were . . .well, lazy!

Wednesday

 - More swimming today with more diving board fun today too!

 - We attended a Library Event - Stormy the Magician entertained the kids today and yes, the boys are sure they figured out most of his tricks HA!

- The highlight of our day was getting to see our very special nephew/cousin, Braedon.  We haven't seen him in about a year and a half and we have missed his dry sense of humor and sarcasm :-)  The boys have a slight hero worship of him and they had fun doing all kinds of exercise competitions with him after dinner.  

Thursday

No photos today but we did some fun stuff: 

- Another day of swimming lessons

- Fun at Nana's pool - it hit 91 degrees today which was so odd since we've had beautifully cool weather for a week! 

- A family drive around town after dinner with Josh giving directions

Friday

- We went to the library to get the beads the kids had earned for reading this week.  They are making necklaces with beads - each bead equals reading time.  They are hoping to fill up those chains over the coming weeks! 

- We also spend time in the children's area of the library reading books, doing puzzles and playing with toys. 

- Nana's back in town so we enjoyed a nice dinner with her and just hung out at the house for awhile!