Weekly Menu

I actually stuck to the plan last week.  It might have helped just a little that we ate out since the kids were gone until Tuesday. HA!  This is a new week though - and the kids are here every day and expect to be fed.

 That makes me laugh :-)  There is truth to that some weeks!!!

Anyway, here is the plan for the coming week:

Friday:  Spaghetti Pie, Green beans, and Garlic Biscuits! (This was actually planned for Thursday night but there were SOOO many leftovers in the fridge, that we cleaned out the fridge instead)

Saturday: Sloppy Joes and Fries

Sunday: Stuffed Shells, Green Beans and Garlic Bread

Monday: Baked potatoes with leftover Sloppy Joes

Tuesday:  Tacos

Wednesday: During AWANA "season" this is my float day.  I plan leftovers/kid favorites but also know we can grab something out (Taco Bell is the cheapest!) if I really don't want to cook!

Thursday: Chicken Legs in the crock pot, Mac and Cheese and Broccoli

And then, just for fun - this quote makes me laugh every.single.time.

Family Favorites - Buttered Noodles

Have you ever been to Frankenmuth and ordered the family style dinner?  If so, you have tasted those amazing buttered noodles with the cracker topping.  Oh my goodness, I could eat those all day long.  After a visit there several years ago, I started searching for a copy cat recipe to get as close as possible to that wonderful dish.  (Actually, I was looking for a squash recipe to begin with and when I couldn't find that, I searched for the noodles!)  I'll be honest, one of the keys to this recipe is buying Amish Noodles.  I found these at Meijer quite by accident the first time I decided to make this recipe:

Which, by the way, Das Essenhaus is also an amazing place to eat in Shippshawana Indiana.  Such fabulous food!  Back to the noodles.  Another reason I love this recipe is because it is a TRUE family favorite in the fact that every person in the family loves these noodles.  That is success in my book!

Ingredients:
1/2 gallon water (or enough to cook the noodles in like you normally would!)
2 chicken bouillon cubes
8 ounces extra wide egg noodles (I just use the bag of Amish Noodles shown above)
1/2 cup water
6 ounces of butter (or 12 Tablespoons!)
Ritz Crackers (and they must be Ritz!), crushed

Directions
Add 1 bullion cube to the "noodle" water in a medium put, bring to a boil.  Add noodles and set a timer for 1 min. longer than the longest time listed on the package, stir a couple of times while cooking.

While the noodles are boiling, add 1/2 cup water, chicken bullion cube, and butter to a microwave safe dish and microwave for 45 secs. - 1 minute (or until butter is melted. 

1. When noodles are done drain water from pot but do not rinse, add butter mixture and parsley. Mix well until most liquid is absorbed, about a minute.
2. Serve immediately with crushed Ritz crackers on top.

So, super easy and super tasty! 

Homemade Valentine's Ideas

Do you realize that Valentine's Day is less than a month away?  Well it is.  We do a little "Valentine's Party" with our co-op so the boys make Valentine's to hand out to each family (and extras to hand out to their close friends)  I've been searching Pinterest for fun (cheap) ideas and thought I would share a few here.

Landeelu provides a free printable and easy instructions to make these cute Emoji Valentines. 

 This is a cute idea from the gracious wife that's simple and easy.  

I have a Starburst loving kid who might like this idea from Capturing Joy.

Creations by Kara gives a simple idea using Laffy Taffy - another favorite of one of my boys. 

Passion for Savings gives a cute idea too!  

Here's another idea from The Gracious Wife that is super cute. 

So, what are we doing?  You'll have to wait for that!  I put together a Pinterest Folder with 8-10 ideas that I'm willing to help the boys with and then I let them pick.  Last year they couldn't decide so they each picked two ideas and made those.  I'm hoping they only pick one idea each this year!  Once our ideas are complete, I'll be sure to share! 

Our favorite games

My boys really enjoy games - especially Nate.  I thought I would share some of our favorite games for all of you!

 We first played Pictureka while visited my brother and sister-in-law in South Carolina.  Nate fell in love with this game.  When we were leaving, my sister-in-law gave it to him and he was thrilled.  I will admit that when we have a game night, I always love it when this game comes out!  It's a great version of "I spy" and really, truly, fun! 

 Blokus is a game Josh got for his birthday.  It was recommended on another blog and got great reviews.  I ordered it and hoped for the best.  The boys love it and learned it quickly.  I love this game because they are able to teach other people - they taught our little friends who come over how to play and they took it to their Grandparents and taught their Grandma how to play too!  It goes really quick - and lets admit it folks, no one likes a game that lasts hours with kids! 

 I'll be honest, this is not my favorite game BUT the boys love it.  Josh asked for this for Christmas about 4 years ago I believe.  It is a true Chess game but one side has images on the board to help with moving and you use cards that tell you which piece to move and how to move it.  It's a great way to learn the game.  I just don't enjoy it because 1) I don't like Chess and 2) it does take a while to finish a game! 

 This was another birthday game!  It had been on my list for a few years as a fun game to get and I finally picked it up for Josh.  It's fun, active, and easy to play.  It also goes fast.  The balls are similar to ping pong balls - I thought they would be hard or something and was surprised at how easy they bounce into the squares. 

This is another game from my Sister-in-Law and is fabulous for preschool/Kinders!  It's a simple matching bingo style game.  My boys will still pull this one out just fun. 

Nate pick this game up at our AWANA fair last year.  He loves cup stacking and this game didn't disappoint.  The cups are small which makes the "race" more interesting as you try to stack your cups in the order shown on the cards and be the first to hit the bell.  It is a stressful game HA!  But just so much fun! 

Origami Week 1

As I started working on my plans for Origami, I was a little stumped on week one.  I wanted it to be easy enough to have kids not get lost but still have the project be fun.  Well, I really under planned and we ended up with quite a bit of time.  That's ok, it's our third hour and kids are tired and hungry! My helpers (I have two of them but only have 6 kids - 2 who were gone week 1!) didn't necessarily help either - they got caught up  making projects from the book.  On one hand it was fine but they also made some things that I had planned for a future week - like paper airplanes - and then had kids making them as extra stuff.  Uuugg!  I felt a little disorganized this week too so I need to do better on that for future weeks!

Anyway, on this first week, I handed out their supplies and then we made the very first two shapes - a cat and and dog.  They got to add faces to their animals with googly eyes.  Then, we used water colors to paint a background scene to add their animals too. 

As I'm typing this, I realized that I left the finish products at Friday School so I can't take photos of them!  

Once we finished the projects and cleaned up, I read this book about The Paper Crane.  It was an easy read with interesting pictures.  

The rest of the hour, the students could practice making other items from their book.  

Sunday Worship - Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Beginning. and the End)

This is another song that I heard on the radio not long ago and just fell in love with  !

Our Week in Photos #3

We worked this week on finishing up our semester, had two "ice days" and started Friday School just to name a few things in our week.  Now, here's our week in photos

 We started out our week with haircuts.  I love that our stylist now washes the boys hair too.  She said that they are "Now big enough for the bowl".  They absolutely love this !! 

 The boys and I went for a walk on Monday night . . this is what we all felt like after our 20 minutes of "brisk walking" HA!  

 On Tuesday I had a board meeting - this was the "board kids" practicing our new song. 

 Tuesday and Wednesday were "ice days"  Our friends were with us both days as school was canceled.  There was lots of train circles, video games, and, well, ice! 

 Thursday brought the Homeschool Library activity.  They learned about Antartica - Snow shoe races, a snow storm experiment, and making snowballs with q-tips and styrofoam balls. 

 They still love to ride "Sandy" at Meijer . . .I'm not sure how much longer this will be fun! 

Finally, we ended our week with Friday School :-)