Our week in photos Week #41

I debated whether to keep doing this post with my summer posts going on too but I think this a good way to include all things family.  Sure, there will be some overlapping but that's ok !!

 This past week we visited a car show.

 Played at the park (and got awesome haircuts!)

Got Ice Cream

 We love our cat - and he loves our shoes :-)

And we enjoyed a fun trip to Airport park where the boys made a new friend, played hide-n-seek, and got to see planes take off and land.  One of the best things said today from Josh: "Mom, someday do you think I will really fly one of those planes?"  Yes, Josh, I believe you can do just that (Yes, he wants to be a pilot)

Weekly Menu

This week we will be spending some time with family which makes it easier for me to cook because we will be eating out HA!

Friday - McDonald's is on the menu for tonight :-)

Saturday - There is a wedding shower that we will be attending so dinner is taken care of!

Sunday - This is a family day with everyone in town for the wedding so we will eat where ever we eat!

Monday - Wedding night!  The bride (my niece) is having pizza brought in for the wedding dinner - how awesome is that!!)

Tuesday - Taco Bell or McDonald's to keep things easy

Wednesday - The boys are attending day camp followed by VBS so the plan is easy and their top favorite foods.  Chicken Nuggets and Fries.  For the adults?  I'm not sure.  I'll go to the store on this day and figure it out based on what meat is on sale.

Thursday - Same busy day!  Mac and Cheese for Nate and Pizza for Josh. Adults - same as Wednesday - I have to figure it out.

Friday - Today is the last day of Day camp - I have a feeling I will have tired kids.  Tacos are usually a hit and they are easy.

This is a super busy week on all fronts so I have a feeling by the time we hit Friday evening we will be tired and ready to do not much of anything.

Tender, Delicious Pork Loin

I have made so many different Pork Loin Recipes from Pulled Pork BBQ to Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin to Roasted Pork Loin to Root Beer Pork Loin.  They were all good but one thing I noticed over and over is that the Pork is often dry or doesn't really shred.

(I didn't take a photo of the pork I cooked so I chose this random photo ha!) 

Well, I figured out a secret on total accident.  Recently Meijer had a sale on Pork Loins - buy 1/get 1 free - which is a great way to get meat at a great place.  I wanted to throw a loin in the crock pot for dinner but didn't have any of my normal stuff.  What I did have was Apple Juice.  I placed the pork in the crock pot (using a crock pot liner for easy clean-up), then added salt and pepper for seasoning.  I then pour about 1 cup of Apple Juice in with the pork.  Six hours later (on low) I had perfectly tender and super flavorful Pork.  With about an hour left, I took the pork out and sliced it (like the photo actually) and it just wanted to fall apart!  I placed the slices back in the crock with a little BBQ sauce and let it cook while I made the rest of dinner!  YUM! 

Steven Curtis Chapman - Remember to Remember

Steven Curtis Chapman released a new song recently and I love Steven Curits Chapman's music! 

Enjoy!

June Goals

I'm afraid to even write this.  Why?  Because in May I had amazing goals planned.  Then our well went down . . . .then our power went out . . .then Darryl had Dental surgery . . .then Darryl's back went out.  And guess what?  May was done.  Geesh.  May can stay gone.

Just like I planned our summer plans (which we know will not all happen!), I have some goals for the summer.  Summer is when I try to check of lots of things from my "list" since we don't have school taking up most of our day.  We are really laid back in the summer, quite honestly, so if I don't write some things down on paper that I want to get done, all I'll get done is a bunch of reading and swimming (which isn't really bad, is it?)

Since June is the 6th month I decided to focus on 6 main things I want to get done this month.

1. Deep clean the Bathroom and Kitchen
2. Find ways to supplement our income - sign up for Shipt, look into online teaching and a few other work at home options that I've researched.
3. Two trips a day (Basement) - let me explain.  I have to head to the basement twice a day to empty the dehumidifier so each time I go to the dreaded abyss, my goal is to bring something up that needs to go out to the trash or to charity.  Since I'm walking up the stairs, it makes sense to carry something up!  Sometimes this will mean actually taking 15 minutes to empty a shelf or organize something and that's ok because that means my basement will be all clean by the end of the summer.

4. Scrapbook - Complete 10 - 2 page scrapbook spreads and go through 4 scrapbooks to make sure they are complete and updated.  (Making notes of anything that is needed)
5. Read 8 books this month - they can be anything - fiction or non-fiction - I just need to read because I love reading :-)
6. Schooling related items - Return the boys hardcover books that need to be sent back in a timely matter; complete 4 lessons for the class I'm teaching in the fall.
Bonus item (because a bonus is always good!) - Clean and organize the garage.  The boys are going to help with this one since a lot of what is in the garage belongs to them!!

I'm hopeful that this ideas will help me plan our days a little better (as I'm sitting in my chair doing "computer work" right now!) and accomplish a few things.

Eggs in a Cup

Breakfast is a struggle isn't it?  I know that there are some of you that cook full breakfast almost every day for your family and that's just amazing.  That's also just not our family.  My kids are not breakfast eaters - a bowl of cereal makes them happy and that's usually more at about 9:00 or 10:00.  I, on the other hand, like a breakfast that will last me throughout the morning yet I don't actually like cooking breakfast. 

One day when I was walking through the store I saw these:

They were on sale so I figured I try one.  I picked up the American Scramble which has Bacon, Cheese, and Potatoes.  Basically, you add an egg to the cup, mix in the items that come in the cup and cook it in the microwave.  It is perfect.  It tastes great and is simple to do plus there is no clean up since you throw the cup away.

A week or so later, these showed up in the store:

They were on sale so I picked one up to try.  The difference with the Jimmy Dean brand is that it includes 2 eggs in a small cup, sealed, ready to be poured into the container and heated.  This makes it even more convenient because you don't even need eggs in the fridge - just this cup of goodness.

The regular cost of each of these items in my Meijer runs about $2.89.  Periodically they are on sale for $2.50.  That adds up fast if you want to buy one for each morning!!  I've recently challenged myself to cut our grocery bill down so spending $15.00+ on these little egg cups a week seems excessive! 

I realized that I could probably do this same concept at home for less money and guess what?  I did.

Photo Credit

This seems like such a simple idea but I am true recipe follower (Nope, could never, ever do "Chopped" HA!) so it was a little bit of a light bulb moment when I decided to try this on my own.  So, simply, take a coffee mug and add two eggs.  Whip them with a fork until well scrambled.  I then put it in the microwave for 40 seconds.  Next, I added about 1-2 Tablespoons of shredded cheese and 1-2 Tablespoons of breakfast meat (I used leftover sliced sausage links because that is what I had on hand).  Mixed it well again and cooked it for 55 seconds more.  Next time I'll only cook it for about 45 seconds because it was a little dry.  BUT it was super easy and good.  Plus, on average, it is about $1.14 a cup.   That is a great savings!  

Summer Week 1

The other day I shared the idea behind our summer plans.  We've completed week one and here is what it looked like, what we actually did and a few photos along the way.

Here's what the plan looks like for this week and what we did in red!: 

Sunday - Church and a picnic!  Do you have any idea how hot it was last weekend?  We did go to church but we hung around home most of the day.  The boys and I did head to the pool after dinner to swim. 

Monday - Memorial Day!  It was so hot!!  We knew the pool would be emptier today so we headed to the pool around 1:00 and enjoyed swimming in the heat.  Then we had a cook out at our house (well, I cooked on the grill but we ate inside!!).  

Tuesday - The LAST day of school Whoo Whoo!  The boys finished up lessons. Tonight the boys and I headed to the pool.  We ended up with the pool to ourselves for a good hour which is one of my favorite times - we pretend like it is our own pool ! :-) 

Wednesday - The boys each have a live lesson today that they will attend and my goal is to take our "Last day of school" photos.  I decided to wait on the photos until after they get their haircut on Monday :-)  They look a little shaggy HA! 

Thursday - Cleaning day!  The boys room is first on the list and I hope we can get it all done today.  We usually do a big cleaning once a year where we pretty much empty everything out of their room, clean and try to organize things better in their room.  I want to get this done before the two extra friends are here all day, every day for the summer :-)  Well . . .Darryl was home.  Trying to clean the room with "fun dad" at home just doesn't work!  This might get pushed until the Munchkin and Princess are gone at some point this summer on vacation.  Josh also stayed at my mom's camper overnight. 

Friday - A trip to Mooville for Ice Cream after lunch :-) We also need to sign up for the Library summer reading program today too.  Josh chose to stay with my mom at the camper - since he is the one who really loves ice cream, we'll save this for another day.  (He got ice cream at the campground so does that count??) We will sign up for the Library program one day next week when we are out and about! Both boys ended up spending the night at the camper - a Friday night without kids! 

Saturday - There is a Classic Car Show in Ionia that is FREE.  I'm not really a car fan but the boys seem to like them.  The weather is suppose to cool off by this weekend so walking around downtown shouldn't be too bad. Now before you think we didn't almost nothing as planned - we DID go to the car show! 

 I want a pink car :-) (Darryl would say no HA!) 

I really am not a car enthusiast but it was cool to see the different cars.  The boys were most interested in looking at the dates of each one and found one that was manufactured in 1928.  They were also impressed that there was one from 2017 - a Ford Mustang - so I had to try to explain whey our 2006 Trailblaser did not count as a classic car 😁 I think thankful that our "little town" puts this event on - that small town feel is kind of nice sometimes.