Family Fun - Nate's Birthday

Nate was very excited for his birthday to arrive. He had it all planned in his head.  We picked out his cake from Meijer (which we didn't eat on his birthday because we weren't hungry HA) and he wanted mac and Cheese for Lunch even when I tried to convince him to go out to lunch.

 He loved my sunglasses.  I love his shirt!  Hard to believe this little cutie turned 6!

 Nate had 6 balloons to pop - each with $1.00 inside. 

 Darryl showed him how to throw the balloon at the tree to pop it and Nate thought it was awesome!

 After dinner, Nate opened his gifts from the family.

 He got a giant stuffed bear, legos, games and . . .. .

Avengers dress up gear!  The Hulk and Captain America!  Nate had specifically picked these items out and every time we went to the store he would look at them.  He was very excited :-)

Weekly Menu

I don't have anything exciting to add this week :-)  I'm thankful VBS is done and Baseball is winding down.  I love all of the fun and excitement but I'm also reading for normal evenings with the family. I'm planning on getting the boys back into Tae Kwon Do as a refresher course in July so that will add to our Monday's but one night is better than three :-)

Here's what's on the radar for the next week:

Friday - Ham and Cheese Pockets and Mac and Cheese

Saturday - My mom will be here for the weekend so I think we will do burgers on the grill again along with a pasta salad and Fruit.

Sunday - We are taking off for the day.  The plan is to head to the beach unless we change our minds HA! But, with that in mind, I'm planning a picnic to take with us to the beach and then we will eat dinner somewhere, with our sun-kissed faces and sandy feet, along the way home. 

Monday - BBQ Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas and Mexican Beans and Rice

Tuesday - Cheesy Bacon Pull Apart Breakfast Biscuits and Fruit Salad

Wednesday - Seven Layer Southwestern Salad

Thursday - Pulled Pork Sandwiches and Broccoli Grape Salad

Grace Filled Living

I came across an article recently on a blog by The Humbled Homemaker 
which I just so related too.  

I'm not a perfect homemaker - I'm far from it.  I don't enjoy cleaning but I enjoy a clean home.  It seems like as our family has progressed, it's gotten more difficult to keep up with the every day tasks.  When I was single, my house not only looked clean, it smelled clean.  It was easy to keep up with everything and I always felt like my apartment was a haven.  Then, I got married HA!  It started out "good".  Our first apartment was tiny and easy to keep up with and our second apartment was brand new with two bedrooms and two bathrooms - it was nice to have the space and with both Darryl and I working to clean it, it was easy to keep that "haven" feeling.  Buying a home added a new deminsion.  The good thing was that it was just the two of us and we had TONS of space.  We even had an empty room and the basement - next to nothing was down there!  Eventually kids came into the mix followed by "stuff".  Somewhere along the way, it's because almost difficult to move in our home at times with the stuff that ends up everywhere and along those same lines I find it difficult to want to keep things up because it takes so much work to organize everything.  In reality, it usually comes down to discipline and, well, money.  I have lots of great ideas on how to organize stuff so it will stay that way but, I work to not spend money on additional storage items which means my ideas are on hold.  Now, this isn't a "woe is me" post at all because we made the decision for me to stay home with the kids, which is the best decision ever, but it also meant we had to tighten our belts and let some things go.  Anyway, all of that to say, this article almost comes straight from my mind (if only I could write like that!) and I really like the ideas that she gives.  Some I've done and some I'm working on but it is nice to know that I'm not the only one!
 

What We are Eating - McMaster McMuffins

McMaster McMuffins
adapted from . . .My Dad

My dad "created" these wonderful breakfast sandwiches that he often made for my mom or for anyone staying at their house.  I always loved when he made me one!  

Ingredients
Sausage patties
Cheese slices
butter
English Muffins

Directions:
Using your hands, flatten the sausage patties until they are about the size of the English Muffin (this helps them fit on the muffin AND cook faster)
Cook the sausage patty.  While those are cooking, toast the English Muffin.  Butter the toasted muffin, add the cheese and the sausage patty and Enjoy!! 

I served these with a couple of eggs over easy and fruit.
 

Books To Read

This is the stack of books that is currently staring me "in the face".  I pulled together books from years past that I had ordered and planned to read but either never got to or started and never finished.  As much as I love my Kindle/ebooks because those books take up less space, I have found that some books are better read the "old fashioned way" if you want to actually learn from them.  These books are only "learning" books - books about things to help me become a better person.  This doesn't even include the list of fun reading books I'd like to get to! 

I've created a Pinterest Board to attempt to track the books I read throughout this year.  I've found that without my rows of bookcases and all of my books in alphabetical order by author, I tend to forget what I've read.  The board is a great way to be able to look back and see what I loved, what I didn't and even what authors I've enjoyed.  It's also a great way to track a series too. 

So, what are some of the books in that stack?

1. One not in the pile is "Longing for Paris. I've started this one and am already enjoying it.

2. Stripped by Lina AbuJamra.  This is a book written by a long time friend of mine.  She also has a new book out, Resolved, that is on my list to purchase.

3. Taming the To Do List.  I've had this one for awhile and, as a person who is always writing to do lists, I'm hoping to game some control over the need to always have that list!

Those are just a few in that stack.  I love to read but I also find that I let other stuff get in the way of my reading.  My plan is to spend more time reading this summer.  Maybe while accomplishing some of those items on our summer bucket list from yesterdays post -  I can read while the kids play!

Summer Bucket List

Do you have a summer bucket list?  We do . . or maybe I should say I do for us :-)  This summer, all 4 kids (my two and the two I watch) are old enough to do some "field trips".  Earlier this year, I was working on some pretty good plans for the summer.  I got a little sidelined so I'm working this week on regrouping.  One of my goals to take off and do things one or two times a week. 

Summer Bucket List Part 1

Parks

 We have some great parks with in about a 30 -40 minute drive of our house that I'm going to attempt to get us to.  One of them includes this awesome bridge along with a creek they kids can play in and lots of play scapes too.

 This is one of our favorite parks with the huge wooden playscapes and lots of shade trees. 

 Not to mention Mooville.  Not only do they get to play, they get ice cream too! 

There are also some other great parks on my list plus stops at ice cream shops along the way too.  

Summer Bucket List Part 2

Activities and Water

 We have a state park not far from our house so I'm planning to take the kids to the lake this summer.  I'll be honest, it's not my favorite beach but it is a beach with water so the kids will enjoy it.  As a family, we'll try to make it to Lake Michigan as much as possible too!

 Water parks!  I love splash pads because there is not standing water or deep water and they are clean! 

 The zoos.  We have 4 zoos within fairly easy driving distance.  I don't enjoy going to the zoo in the heat so I'm going to watch for some cooler days and try to enjoy a few of them this summer.

 We love Catch Air.  I love it because it's cool and contained so the kids can just run.  The kids love it because they can just run.  

There are also free movies to see, mall playlands to enjoy (because free is always good!), and a picnic or two to the airport viewing park.  

 So, depending on the week and any other events in the week such as Vacation Bible School or family visits, I'm hoping for a park day and an activity day.  Some parks, like Mooville, are also "activities" and sometimes we might just go 10 minutes down the road to a local park just to get away from the house.  

My Playlist

In the Playlist post I shared last Sunday, I shared a song by Steven Curtis Chapman.  This article in WorshipFuel shares more about that song so I just wanted to include the link in case you would like to read the article.

One of the songs that was sung as a worship song at my dad's funeral was "It is Well with my Soul."  When I saw the song listed on the program the day before while reviewing it with my brothers, I told my brother Ken that I did not want that song used because it was not well with my soul and I did not have peace about what was going on.  He didn't listen to me and left it in the program but, for the record, I did not sing it.  Well, a friend of mine shared this version of "It is Well" with me recently and it has slowly grown on me.  It has some pretty powerful words about the simple fact "Through it all, it is well".