Things my Kids Say

* Nate has lots of friends.  Like Johnny, Kaylen, Kylie, Jason . . . I hear him calling for them all over the house.  Some days they are missing, some days they are at work and some days they play with him. Oh, and I can't forget Kate.  Kate often eats dinner with us.  Mac and Cheese to be exact.  Of all of the friends, there is only one I know - Kate.  Kate is the boys cousin, whom they adore, so even when she isn't here, she is here in their minds HA!

* Josh is very independent (and stubborn and strong willed . .. you get the idea).  Recently he was trying to unzip a toy that holds all the dinosaurs and was super frustrated.  I asked him if he wanted help.  His response, "Don't look at me mom" (except said through gritted teeth).  Apparently looking at him is equivalent to giving him help, which he does not want.  He did has his brother to help him, which is a big step, but his brother refused. :-)

* At night, we lay down with the boys at bedtime for a little time of songs and stories.  We end the time with something the boys call "Littlebys".  What are Littlebys . . .see if this rings a bell.  "Lullaby and Good night, Go to sleep . . ." :-)  Every night Darryl and I make up words to the song based on the events of the day and sing it - the boys love it :-)

* Laying in bed tonight with Nate he said, "Mom, I love to Cuddle with you before I sleep"  How sweet is that???

*One day, while we were out, Josh was trying to talk to Darryl and I, but we were already having a conversation so we continued to talk. Then Josh said, 'You just don't even know I'm here". hahahaha We laughed so hard at that one!!! The kid has a sense of humor, let me tell you. Then, we were at a little fair and he got to ride a pony. As he rode around the ring, he bounced up and down and said, "I'm on a bumpy road, I'm a bumpy road". What a kid. 

*So Josh was playing the "guess what" game. He said, "Mom, Guess What?" I said, "What", He said, "I'm going to pull out your hair so you then you will look like dad with no hair" hahahahahahahaha THAT is classic!

* One night, while laying with Nate at bedtime, he asked me to sing songs (which is normal).  He started pointing towards the ceiling, moving his finger around like he was figuring something out . . then he would point and say, "sing this one mom" and tell me what to sing.  It wasn't until I told my husband this cute little action that we figured out what he was doing - he was using Papa's Ipad and moving the screen around to find what he wanted . . .all in his minds eye :-)

What a week ... without a recipe even.

Some weeks run more smoothly than others and some weeks are just busy!  That has been this week. 

1) Monday - Labor Day.  We spent the day at my parents house (actually, most of the weekend) before heading home. 

2) Tuesday - I started another 6 week round of school - One in Pre-K and 2 in Preschool.  I almost poked my eyes out by the end of the first morning but took what I learned and made Wednesday a much better morning.   I also had a board meeting so after spending all morning with school and unpacking from the weekend, we spent all afternoon at our homeschool location while I was in a meeting.  I was so tired by the end of the day!

3) Wednesday - Due to a back injury, my husband was home.  I don't know why, but the day was one of those none-stop days.  I don't think I sat down for more than a few minutes. 

4) Thursday - Again, my husband was home AND our water softener appeared at about 10:00 am unannounced.  That way-laid school and instead we dealt with that - which was good since we now have soft water again.  Then the boys and I headed to my dad's sibling get together for some fun. 

5) Friday (today) - is the first day of Friday School.  I think by the time the afternoon rolls around, I will be done.  I am planning to scrapbook tonight but I may be the only one signed up and, if so, I'm staying home. 

Here are some pictures from the Family Get together just for fun!

 My dad (back row, second one from the left in the dark blue shirt) and all but one of his siblings. 

 A few cousins and second cousins :-) 

We have a busy weekend with grocery shopping, maybe some canning, cleaning up the house, some scrapbooking I really want to get done, and the first Sunday of football.  Next week "should" slow down a little so I can get back into my groove!

Weekly Menu

This weekly menu post is a boring one :-)  I've been doing mini grocery shopping trips due to time so there has been very little food prep to photo or anything fun like that.  This is my first full week in awhile of regular cooking/menu planning since about July. 

Friday - I am going scrapbooking so I picked up frozen pizza for the boys - a favorite of theirs when I am gone.

Saturday - At the writing of this, I actually plan on doing some canning today depending on what I get from the farmer's market (Thinking salsa more than anything else) so I will have Darryl bring something home.

Sunday - Are you ready for some football?  Today is the first Sunday of football and our tradition is to have fun food :-)   Through the years I've learned to keep it simple so I can actually enjoy the games.  I also want to stick to things we love so on the "radar" is:  Cheese Ball/crackers, Fruit and Dip, Cheesy Bacon wraps, Pigs-in-a Blanket (Crescent wrapped little hot dogs) and Homemade Ice Cream. 

Monday - Honey BBQ Chicken on the Grill, Fried Zucchini, Baked Potatoes and Biscuits

Tuesday - Lasagna, Green Beans and Garlic Bread.  Yes, that is right, Lasagna - I have been craving it for WEEKS and it is time!

Wednesday - My husband will most likely have practice tonight so the boys and I will figure something out :-)

Thursday - Pork Chops, Mac and Cheese, Corn, and Rolls

I'm kind of running behind on planning this week so . . .we'll slee if I stick to this plan once I do the final grocery list :-)
 

Do you live in your dream home?

I would strive to live more simply.  For real.  Several years ago, my theme word for the year was "Simplify".  I focused mainly on eliminating things from the house that we didn't use, love or need.  It took me all year to go through every nook and cranny in this tiny house.  It felt pretty good.  The past few years my theme words haven't been as impressive and, some days, I feel like I'm getting swallowed up into all the things I think I need to be doing to "fix" areas in the house.   I recently read an article at Holy Spirit-Led Homeschool on this very topic:

Really, the ideas talked about in the article are not anything new but sometimes we all could use a refresher.  No, my home is not my dream home in any form or fashion.  It was supposed to be our starter home, which we would sell after 10 years (so . .it should be on the market . . now!).  Instead, it has become our Home. The place where we raise our kids, laugh, and have fun.  We have done a lot of work in this house to turn it into a place that works for the four of us and still have some projects to do but slowly, it is becoming the almost perfect house.

Too Cute Not to Toot .. Or Not

For awhile I was close to a month ahead on most posts.  Well, there is a downside to that . .. I tend to forget that I need to write more ;-)  So . . I have nothin'!

We do have a very busy week - a board meeting today, a small family reunion, scrapbooking one evening, grocery shopping fit in there somewhere and practice for my husband.  Not to mention starting school with all three boys for another 6 week session.  Crazy times! So, with that in mind,  I'm extending my Labor Day break one more day.  A fresh post will be up on Wednesday!

The Unofficial End of Summer

Can you believe it?  It is the Unofficial End of Summer!  My husband and I both agree that this has been one of the best summers we've had in a very long time.  The weather was actually great most of the season with just a few short spurts of really horrid hot weather.  We got to the beach a lot.  We took an awesome family vacation.  It was just a summer full of awesome memories.  It's hard to see it end but, really, we know we still have a few more weeks of wonderful weather but things will start to wind down. 

With that in mind - I'm taking a little blog break.  I'll be back on Tuesday ready to face September head on!

Enjoy your holiday!

A Little Family Fun

So, a weekend ago we were supposed to go camping but we cancelled; for various reasons like sleeping on an air mattress in a tent with two young boys; the original forecast of rain (which changed after we cancelled); our water softener needing to be replaced so we thought we could save some of our planned money for camping to go towards getting a new one put in ASAP; and something we didn't know at the time but taking off work to attend a funeral of a long time family friend.  Despite cancelling we still wanted to have lots of fun on the weekend, which we did!  The simple truth is, the boys just like to do fun stuff and what they don't know doesn't hurt them.  Our general rule of thumb is that we don't tell them of any event until the morning of that event just in case plans change - it works well and keeps disappointment to a minimum (not to mention keeping me sane - if they don't know, they can't ask questions HA!)

On Saturday, we started the day with a "retro" breakfast - Cereal, bacon, Cinnamon Toast and Fruit.

 Yes, sitting on the table, shirtless with sun-glasses and eating fruit salad.  He is one cool kid.

  My husband called it "retro" because it is what he remembers eating as a kid:-)  Then we took off to our favorite park.

From there, after playing for over 2 hours, we went to our little Chinese Buffet restaurant for dinner where, yes, Nate still eats for free.  One of the reasons the boys love it is that they get to pick out their own food.  Josh has developed a taste for many types of food so he really gets a great selection.  Nate eats "chips" (Fried wonton strips), "Crunchies" (Croutons) and Chicken Nuggets (well, the sweet and sour chicken pieces!).  Then, they even get ice cream when we are done.  What could be better??

We ended our day by attending a Back to School party put on by a local church.  They had a little petting zoo, Pony Rides, Balloons, Bouncy houses and a raffle.  Guess what? we were one of the last people entering and the first name drawn for the raffle - guess they forgot to shake the box ;-)  We won some girl scout cookies which is always nice.

The boys really had a great day.  They ended up with cute little goodie bags and a new beanie baby from the party - all free.

I will admit that it was nice to come home to our house and sleep in our own, cool rooms verses sleeping in the tent.  Not to mention a nice clean bathroom :-)

On Sunday, we enjoyed a simple breakfast before heading out to . . . the beach!!  Finally!  We haven't been in about a month because of being busy and it has been cooler until this past week.

 The waves were pretty big today - probably 4 feet most of the day.  There is a huge sandbar, though, not far from shore, so we were able to still take the boys out.  We had bought them some animal rings to use as floaties but due to the wind and waves, left them in the truck for safe keeping.  Needless to say we held on to their little hands tightly while in the water :-)

We've already talked about camping for next year.  We are really working on saving for a camper - just a simple pop-up.  I've seen quite a few go up for sale already as the summer is ending for under $1000.00 Sure they may be old but they appear in fantastic shape.  So we are hoping that we can find a great deal in the spring and can buy one then so we can use it for not only weekend camping but to camp during our summer vacation.  But, I will be working on reserving camping cabins for next summer just in case.  I have found a place down near Shippshewana that has great cabins that will be our 2nd choice if we can't get local.  We WILL camp next year.  :-)