2021 Weekly Photos #36

 A look back at our week! 

Saturday - I was able to enjoy a much needed scrapbooking retreat.  It actually started on Friday night but was only 15 minutes from home so I was able to come home to sleep :-)  

This was the view for the entire weekend.  It was so calm and relaxing! 

Nothing better than working with photos.

Sunday - We started with snow!  Then we had church and Nate had an event at his youth group. 

Darryl joined our praise team at church and it was such a blessing to hear him play again.  Since leaving Alive and losing his hearing in one ear, he hasn't played as much.  This was a great opportunity for him to step back into it again. 

Monday - School!  Nate also got to go to a birthday party with his best friend.  The benefits of homeschooling - you get to have over nighters during the week! 

Tuesday - Nate was at his friends for the morning still.  Then came drum lessons and piano lessons! 

Wednesday - Nate got to go with his youth group to deliver things that were collected for Treasures for Troops. 

Thursday - Just school.  

Friday - Our final day of co-op AND our presentation night AND Josh had a youth activity!  Pretty busy day.  

Nate took this fun shot in one of his classes today :-) 

 This was one of the speakers from last week in Nate's class that he really enjoyed. 

Our presentation night is a great way to showcase the work the kids did in class: 

Josh worked on this Dotz Art in his Art class with my mom.  All of her students loved her and her class. 

This was my Landforms class. 

And my Simple Machine's class

Josh loved his knitting class.  Actually I think all of the students loved it! 

Josh and Nate were both in Outer Space.  

The whole group on stage singing the semester song! 

Josh actually skipped Presentation Night because he had a guys youth activity.  They went out to Culver's for dinner and then did an Escape Room.  He said he had a great time :-)  

There's our week! 

Weekly Menu - it is Thanksgiving week!

 Isn't it just crazy that Thanksgiving is this next week?  I'm not quite ready for that yet. School this year has really taken up much more time which is totally fine but it means that other things are getting pushed to the back burner.  I AM ready for a nice break though!  

Here's the plan for the coming week:

Friday - Tonight is our semi-annual Presentation Night for our Co-Op so most of us will be eating there while another one has a youth activity that includes dinner. 

Saturday - Dinner at my mom's :-)  

Sunday - This is a carry over from last week - Swiss Steak, Mashed Potatoes, and Green Beans. 

Monday - Chicken Drumsticks, Amish Noodles, and Corn

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Ribs, Crash Potatoes and Broccoli

Wednesday (AKA Thanksgiving Eve)  My "tradition" is to always having something totally different than Thanksgiving for dinner and to try not to make it too heavy. So we are going to do breakfast - Amish Breakfast Casserole, a breakfast bread, blueberry coffee cake and asparagus.  This will be nice because leftovers of the casserole and bread are great for a simple breakfast on Thursday morning. 

Thursday - Thanksgiving!  My mom is cooking this year so we just get to enjoy eating!  

2021 Weekly Photos #35

 I did not get my normal photo post up on Saturday but I wanted to still get it posted!  It was a busy weekend!  Here's a look back at a week ago!!

Saturday - A quiet day at home to get some projects done!

Sunday - Church, Football and youth group! 

Monday - Josh and Nate had haircuts.  This was my view . . ..I was kicked packed in a super comfy chair and may have even had a little time of "just resting my eyes" HA! 

Tuesday - It was a beautiful day so while piano lessons were happening, I took a little stroll and enjoyed the beauty of fall. 

Wednesday and Thursday - We did a lot of school :-) 

Friday - Our Co-Op ! 

Nate loves his Grateful Hearts class.  

It was another fun, busy week! 

Weekly Worship - TobyMac - Lights Shine Bright ft. Hollyn

A week or so ago this song played on our way to our Friday Co-Op and it was great!  It is not my normal genre of music but it's a great Friday Morning song and the message is fabulous too! 

Weekly Menu

 Last week I mentioned that I tried the curbside pickup for the first time.  I can say that there are pro's and con's to the whole system.  It is not something I would use often but it is good for in a pinch or when things are busy. 

Pro's: 

• It's a great way to control your budget since you can see exactly what you are spending before you spend it
• It's fast and easy once you know the system/how to search for items
• It's great to just park and pick up - saves so much time
• You don't pick up extra food not on your list
• You can add things to your list up until the day you are picking up your order

Cons:

• If  the item says it is out of stock on line, you can't add it "just in case" it gets restocked
• If the item says it IS in stock so you think you are getting - but it goes out of stock, you have no idea until it doesn't show up in your order
• Substitutions -- I put "no substitutions" because I didn't want my shopper adding something more expensive instead of what I picked.  
• Expiration dates - The gallon of milk I got expired 2 days later. 
• If you remember things you need after mid-night - you can't add them
• Missed items - my shopper missed quite a few things.  I know she missed them because I needed them and went back into the store to get them . .. they were all stocked.
• You don't know what isn't purchased until you get home AND try to make dinner HA!  I couldn't find a way to see what was not purchased on line but knew quite a bit was missed because my total was $40.00 less then expected. 

So, really, it was ok.  I did have to go back to the store the same day and finish my shopping.  It did change my dinner plans because I had planned chicken for dinner and did not get my chicken; I switched to baked tacos and realized I also did not get taco seasoning.  (I did have enchilada sauce in the cupboard though and ultimately made the best enchiladas I've ever made AND did it on a total whim HA!) I think if I ordered again I would say "ok" to substitutions but put notes on anything specific that I wanted to make sure they didn't substitute something weird. 

Now, after all of that - here's the plan for the coming week. 

Friday - I have a scrapbooking retreat I'm heading to (but it is local so I get to sleep at home!) so I'll be eating there.  The three males in the family will get take out of their choice. 

Saturday - I'll be, again, scrapbooking but the plan is for the the guys to head to my mom's for dinner still :-) 

Sunday - I'm back home :-)  There is still scrapbooking but, since it IS local, I've decided to head to church with the family and attend choir.  We enjoy our church :-)  Plus Football.  Anyway, lunch is Grammy's Swiss Steak (not my grammy - just the name of the recipe HA), Mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans

Monday - Chick-Fa-Lay Nuggets and French Fries

Tuesday - Chili 5 Way (Spaghetti, Cheese, Sour Cream, Onions, and Fritos) 

Wednesday - BBQ Cups and Fries

Thursday - Crispy Orange Beef and Broccoli with baked rice

Zach Williams - Heaven Help Me (lyrics)

2021 Weekly Photos #34

 Welcome to another week!   

Saturday - Today was "Josh's Day" which is something we do for the kids birthdays.  They get to pick lunch and dinner out and two activities.  

We started with lunch at Five Guys.  Amazing hamburgers and fries!! 

Josh's first stop was Dave and Busters.  This was something new for us.  It got mixed reviews - it was fun but Josh said it went to fast for the price.  (Which I would just say it was expensive HA!) 

Josh won the jackpot twice on the big wheel. 

Josh's second stop was Skyzone - which is an old favorite.  An hour and half of jumping wears everyone out! 

Dinner was supposed to be Pizza Ranch but when we got there it was closed for dining due to being short staffed.  So, Josh had a back up - Mexican food!  It was super yummy (and I actually was craving Mexican since it was his original first choice HA!) 

Sunday - We started our day with church and choir practice and ended with Halloween Festivities! 

Nate started out by going to his youth group for a trunk or treat.  Our plan was to return before the event ended and get shots of him in "action" but . .. unbeknownst to us a storm hit and they had to end the event early!!  UUGG!  So, no photos in action but he told us he had lots of fun for the first hour. 

While Nate enjoyed his activity, we enjoyed a treat from Biggby! (Thanks to my brother Kel who put the idea in my head HA!) 

After Nate's youth group activity, he went Trick-or Treating!  He loved it.  He and I walked it all while Josh and Darryl walked for a bit and then went back for the vehicle and followed us around. 

Monday - I let my kids sleep in HA!  We kinda needed a day after our weekend.  They had some school work to do while I cleaned and did grocery shopping.  I also started cleaning up the yard for winter. 

The pots are cleaned out and the decor is put away! 

Tuesday - Music lessons and school kept us busy all day! 

Wednesday - I had a dentist appointment for a cleaning.  We did school all day too :-)  We've also been enjoying some walks for "PE". 

We enjoyed the neighbors leaves for some fun photos (And my kids may or may not have laid down in the road for the leaves HA!) 

It took a long time for our leaves to start to change -- I even was sure that the leaves would fall and never change BUT last week we got our cold night temps and we finally saw some color!  Then, we had snow flakes on Tuesday so all of these leaves might be covered up soon! 

Thursday - We had a quiet day at home trying to wrap up school for the week! 

Friday - Co-Op Fun all day :-) 

Josh working on his Dotz painting in art class. 

Nate in Grateful Hearts.  A missionary spoke in class today.  Nate just loves this class so much! 

Nate's Grateful Hearts class collected "Treasure's for Troops" - he's pictured with his sign and lots of things he picked out to donate. 

Nate also enjoys gym class - especially 9 square.  He's all the way to the left in the corner. 

So, that was oru week!  It was fun and busy.