Happy Birthday Darryl!

Today is Darryl's birthday

Our schedules are busy today with work, Friday School, and a birthday party the boys are attending but we still want to honor this great guy!  

He brings laughter and humor into our home.  He has the ability to make the boys laugh uncontrollably at times.  He is super talented (we love hearing him play guitar!).  He works hard so that I can stay home with the boys - long hours, two jobs and is always tired! 

I'm so thankful that he is ours! 

Happy Birthday to my hubby today! 

Weekly Menu - 1 day early

I'm slipping this post in a day early as there is something else I'll be sharing tomorrow :-)  This past week went close to the plan.  Darryl and I ended up with an unplanned kid-free afternoon this past Saturday as the boys went to a friends house so we went out to an early dinner together at our favorite Mexican place (that the boys actually don't like so we only go when they are gone!) It was a nice, unexpected treat for sure!

So, here's the plan for the coming week!

Friday - Today is my husband's birthday so we will be celebrating with him.  The boys have something that want to do with him so we will probably eat out just before that based on timing :-)

Saturday - This is up in the air.  We are hoping to go out for the day for Darryl's birthday which would mean we would eat out (Probably Olive Garden since we have wonderful gift cards!) So, we will see.

Sunday - Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Veggies, and Crescent Rolls

Monday -  Tacos.

Tuesday - Chili Mac 5 way (in order words - served with cheese, onion, spaghetti . . .ect) and rolls

Wednesday - The boys and I will most likely eat out . . if there is AWANA

Thursday - It's Piano night so I think my plan will be leftovers (Meatloaf, tacos, and Chili) I'll make sure and have corn dogs and chicken nuggets as backups!

And just like that it's March!

Food Favorites - Roasted Chicken Legs

Periodically I come across a "recipe" that is a total home run and yet it is so simple it's almost not a recipe.  A few weeks back, chicken legs were on sale so I picked up a few packages, divided them up and froze them.  I shared one recipe a while back for Teriyaki Chicken Thighs (Legs) that is a long time favorite recipe.  Well, when it was time to cook up some more chicken legs I wanted a super easy recipe. So, I just looked up a recipe for roasted chicken legs and came across an amazing concept.

This is so simple!

Cover a sheet pan with aluminum foil (I wasn't thinking when I made this most recently and used parchment paper, which isn't the best to use in a high temp oven).  Lay the chicken legs on the foil and drizzle/rub with olive oil.  Sprinkle with your favorite seasoning (I use Nature's Seasoning).  Cook for about 40-45 minutes at 425 degrees. 

Your house will smell amazing!  The skin gets crispy and the meat is so very juicy and flavorful! 

Origami Week 3

This semester of Friday School has thrown us some curve balls in the way of weather.  We missed two weeks in a row because of snow and ice so this really is just week three!  I guess this is why I don't plan all 8 weeks in advance HA!

Friday was our Valentine's party so I wanted to start with a couple of Valentine's themed Origami ideas.

So, first up we made these adorable lollipop covers from Skip to my Lou. 

I used up some of my Valentine's Scrapbooking paper that I've had forever and bought a bag of Heart Lollipops.  It was a fun little craft.  They could each make three total so they left one for our display table and got to take two home.  I wish I would have checked how many Lollipops were in the bag - I would have bought two bags so they could have made more. 

Then we made these great hearts from Extreme Paper Crafting. 

These Celtic Heart knots look fun and they were.  They look pretty too.  

Once we finished these two items, I had printed off some Valentine's activity sheets and the students got to just have fun with those.  Our class was shortened due to the party anyway so it all worked out! 

We only have three weeks left and I have . .. three projects I really want to get done so hopefully we can get those done!! 

Baker Book Club

I have two new books to add to my list.

Two weeks ago the idea was to read a book with a one word title.  I didn't want to spend any money so I went onto Amazon and searched for free Christian Fiction.  I came across this book.

It's a mystery and, quite honestly, is not my normal pick of a read.  BUT it was free and it had a one word title.  It started our  slow and, honestly, confusing.  I couldn't figure out whether the main character was returning to the USA or to the Philippines  or somewhere else.  I have figured out that it is taking place in the US and it involves typical mystery things like drug smuggling and death.  I'm still reading this one and am actually getting a little more interested in it then when I first started it.

The book for this week was to be a book originally written in a different language.  I almost skipped this one until I saw the recommended book which was:

I actually already owned this book and had started to read it but never finished it.  This is a perfect time to finish it! There's a reason I never finished it though - I lost interest.  So, once I finish up the book above, Ice, I WILL make myself finish this book too!

Sunday Worship - What a Beautiful Name

This is another song that I heard the first when Darryl's group performed it.  It has such a simple yet amazing message! 

Our Week in Photos #7

At the start of the week I really thought we would get 100% back into our routine but then the next winter storm rolled in and we had friends here for three days this week.  Despite that we did do some school and enjoyed our Valentine's party at our co-op too!

 After all of the ice storms and bitter cold we've had this weekend, we got a true winter snow storm this past week.  Lots of snow, decent winter temps and time to play outside.  The boys even did a little sledding down a neighbors hill.  

 This is my view for about four hours a day - looking at a computer screen with one of the boys with a nice view outside too.  

 Nate working on School work. 

 The table set for Valentine's day.  

 One of my favorites!  It's a tradition on Valentine's Day. 

 Dinner is served!  Notice there are now roses on the table from my sweetie!  

 Each of the boys had a bag of Valentine's goodies - some of their favorite candy, Pokemon cards and a matchbox car. 

We've missed the last two weeks of Friday school due to it being canceled but today we were finally back again!  

It was our Valentine's Party too and this was our box.  It is the brain child of Nate with Josh adding all of the Valentine's touches.  I think it is pretty awesome.