Weekly Menu

We had a great weekend with my brother and sister-in-law!  We did not end up going camping but we did do some fun things on Tuesday and kept the rest of our week simple.  I've been avoiding the grocery store because our local Meijer just did a complete overhaul of their grocery area and everything has moved.  I know when I do a big shopping trip it will take a lot of searching and back tracking to find what I need!  I can only put it off for so long though!

Here's the plan for the coming week:

Friday - My mom is coming for dinner.  I'm going to make Chicken and Dumplings and Apple Crisp.

Saturday - The Beset Authentic Beef Enchiladas.  I have a fabulous Chicken Enchilada recipe but not a Beef Enchilada recipe - I'm hoping that this one is super tasty!  Salad and Beans.

Sunday - Zuppa Tuscana (one of our favorites!) and French Bread

Monday - Tacos.  We are always "two ships passing in the night" so Tacos are an easy meal to eat at different times.

Tuesday - We have various things going on today which means I won't be home much.  I'm going to just plan leftovers - Enchiladas, Soup, and Tacos.

Wednesday - My mom takes the boys to AWANA now so, honestly, I usually grab something.  Sometimes with Darryl if he is home otherwise I just treat myself to something simple - Subway, Taco Bell, or whatever I have a coupon for!

Thursday - We are trying a new soup recipe tonight - Crack Chicken and Rice Soup.  It sounds really good and is different than other soup recipes that I currently have as favorites.  My kids are not big soup eaters (especially when they have "weird" things in them so I try to keep good old Chicken Noodle on hand.  At least one of my kids will eat that :-)

Weekly Worship -- Jesus is Mine - Jordan Kauflin & Matt Merker

A friend of mine shared this on their facebook page - it's such a pretty song and so simple.  I've never heard it before - I love new music :-)

Our Week in Photos #35

We had a super busy, super fun week!

 On Sunday my brother and sister-in-law, Kel and Deb, made a quick stop at Biggby's to meet us for coffee . .. well, actually to pick up a double stroller to take to my nephew and family :-)  We always love meeting up for coffee though! 

 On Monday, it was warm enough to swim so, we did!  We had to squeeze it in in between my mom's haircut and some school testing but we wanted to swim!  (Josh did actually get in a after I put my camera away!)  We love the pool (or at least I love the pool!! ) 

 On Tuesday we went on a field trip to a fairly local Cider Mill/Orchard.  It also has the most amazing petting ZOO with some awesome animals.  Oh, and I asked the boys for nice smiles and that face is what Josh gave me HA! 

 My mom, Nate and I ended our evening by going swimming - we only lasted about 45 minutes though - once the sun goes down, it gets chilly (even for me!)

Wednesday - Nate had some testing, our friends had a 1/2 day so we went to the pool for about an hour and a half!  It was a great day for swimming!  The boys then had piano lessons AND AWANA started on Wednesday night!  It was a super busy, fun day!

 On Thursday we had our annual field trip to Uncle John's Cider Mill with Connections Academy.  The boys got to meet their teachers and see some friends.  The weather was perfect.  (One year we went, met the teachers and left because it was raining; Another year we went, met teachers, suffered through the corn maze and left because it was 95 degrees and humid!) 

 The boys were interviewed for a TV segment.  When it airs I'll have to try and share a link!

 There just happened to be a sunflower field there so I finally got our annual sun flower photos -  I was sure I had miss our photo op since our local field was plowed under in August. 

 We ended Thursday at ANOTHER field trip to see a Ninja Warrior!  It was so cool and the boys got to run a small Ninja course three different times. 

(In case you were wondering, the boys were SUPER sore on Friday HA!) 

Speaking of Friday - we had Friday school! 

This was one of our busiest weeks of the fall.  As we start moving towards October and the colder months, things slow down and most of what we do will be . . .School!!!! 

Weekly Menu - One last camping trip

When we camped last time, we decided to squeeze one last camping trip in this summer and it really was "squeezing" it in around lots of things.  Not to mention my brother Kel and sister-in-law Deb will be in town AND it is Halloween Weekend at the campground!  So, busy, busy, busy!

Friday - Stuffed Shells - a carry over from last week.

Saturday - My mom is cooking because my brother and sister-in-law are in town.  I hear we are having Ribs.

Sunday - Again, my mom is cooking - this time I hear it is steaks on the grill!

Monday - Tacos!  :-)

Tuesday - We are camping!!!  After unloading and setting up, we are going to get our favorite pizza from Bernie O's Pizza!

Wednesday - Camping!  Steak Kabobs, baked potatoes, and salad

Thursday - We are coming home from camping!  Corn Dogs in the freezer for a quick dinner!

Our Week in photo #34

I totally missed last week!  As I mentioned previously, we got sick in this house with a crazy cold so I was out of it all weekend!  I'll catch up today though!

We started school on Tuesday, September 3rd.  Hard to believe we have a 4th and 5th grader!  Normally we go swimming the first day of school but the weather did not cooperate!  The boys also returned to piano lessons and we managed to squeeze in about 15 minutes at the park for something fun on the first day!

 Nathan

 Joshua

 On Wednesday, September 4th the boys both got braces.

 Joshua's smile "before" 

 Nate's smile "before" 

 Josh's smile "after" 

 Nate's smile "after" 

On Friday, September 6th we started Friday School!  It was a busy day so I didn't get many photos but I did get this one! 

 The boys are excited to be back with their friends! 

Apparently I didn't take photos this week HA!  Oh well.  This was our second week of Friday School! 

 Josh's "school" photo - 5th grade

 Nate's "school photo" - 4th grade

Weekly Menu

The start of the school year is still kickin' my behind.  Well also the fact that we have been busier than normal and we all got hit with a pretty bad head cold so we have been just trying to get the bare minimum done.  Crazy, I know!  The good news is that we eat at home more :-)  I'm actually enjoying cooking a little more (well, except for the days my head was so stuffed I couldn't breath!) so that makes eating at home a little easier!  This next week is a little busier than normal though so I have to do some planning to keep us on track!

Friday - I am not sure :-)  Maybe stuffed shells or maybe Darryl will "cook" :-) (For real, Darryl will probably pick something up on the way home :-) )

Saturday - Crock Pot Fajitas.  This was on the menu last week but it's the one meal I didn't get to so I'm sticking it into this week!

Sunday - Stuffed Shells and garlic Gread

Monday - Slow Cooker Pork Loin Roast, mashed potatoes and green beans.

Tuesday - We have a field trip that will take up most of our day so dinner has to be simple - Turning leftover Pork Loin into BBQ pork is perfect.  Add Mac and Cheese and applesauce and life is good.

Wednesday - Tonight is the kids first night back to AWANA.  I try to keep it simple - corn dogs, frozen pizza ect.

Thursday - The boys and I will be gone all day on two different field trips.  So, again, dinner has to be super easy and ready to eat when we get home.  Tacos it is.  I'm actually to prepare everyone on Wednesday so all we have to do is eat it up when we get home on Thursday.  After a long day, if I don't do this - we will 100% eat out.  :-)

Weekly Menu

Sorry for being absent this week - the first week of school always brings about a new routine which means that blogging takes a back seat for a few weeks.

This week I really focused on making sure we ate "in" and not "out".  Eating out had become easy this summer especially on nights Darryl worked later.  I made a menu and stuck to it.  Plus we were super blessed by my mom this week with meals making it even easier!  I am also thankful that this year the boys have piano lessons during the day verses during the dinner hour!  It makes it so much easier to plan meals :-)

Here's the plan for the coming week.

Friday - It's the first week of our co-op.  I was going to throw something in the crock pot (because I hate cooking after a day of Friday school!) but I have an eye appointment sending me to Grand Rapids during the dinner hour.  The boys will be at my moms and Darryl and I will mostly be on our own since I don't think the timing will work for us to meet up :-)

Saturday - Creamy Parmesan Orzo with Chicken and Asparagus.  This is a new recipe that looks really tasty - hopefully it's as good as it looks!

Sunday - It's Football Kick-Off!  I've said this before but Darryl and I used to do all kinds of snacks on this day but since having kids (or at least kids at the ages they are) I find that they eat at normal times so having snacks all day doesn't benefit anyone!  Instead we will have sloppy joes, baked beans and Mexican dip and chips.  Still, good Football food!

Monday - Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken with potatoes and carrots and homemade biscuits.  Nate goes back to Tae Kwon Do tonight which means we eat in shifts so a crock pot meal is perfect for that.

Tuesday - Stuffed Shells with Cheese, green beans and garlic bread

Wednesday - Chili Dogs (with left over Sloppy Joes), Chips and potato salad

Thursday - Did I mention how much I love not having piano lessons on Thursday night?  Well, I do love it.  Crock Pot Fajita's is on the menu tonight.  I kind of forgot how much I love Fajita's until I made them for camping back in August.  This is a different recipe - hoping the crock pot does wonders for it :-)