Summer Plans Week 2

A week and a half ago or so I wrote about our summer plans.  Well, here it is at the end of week 2 and it's time to share some plans - what was planned and what didn't happen as well as some photos!

The plan for June 3rd-June 9th was as follows (what we really did is in red!): 

Sunday - Book club for me!  Followed by seeing my oldeset brother share his missionary update at a church in Grand Rapids. This was a fun outing - getting to see and hear my brother and sister-in-law share their hearts about their mission is always such a proud moment for me.  I totally planned to just take a quick photo with my phone but . . .the battery died just before we got to the church!  Boo! 

Monday - Haircuts for the boys!   We are going to have a picnic at a cute park afterwards to celebrate the little princess' last day of school! This was a perfect day for the park - cooler and breezy!  

 This was not technically our last day but close enough - when you homeschool, any day can be the last day right?  Hard to believe that Josh will be in 4th grade! 

 And Nathan is heading to 3rd grade! 

The park is always fun but we tend to avoid it once the summer heat hits!  Having such a perfect weather day was great.  

Tuesday - I have a leadership meeting for our homeschool group in the morning. Today went just as planned :-)  Nate came with my to my meeting to hang out with some other kids while Josh stayed the night at my mom's so he didn't have to go. (Well, he actually jus tlikes hanging out with her at the camper HA!)  

Wednesday - It's the munchkin's last day of school so I have a few fun things planned (like silly string and squirt guns!)  Well, sometimes you just have to accomplish life so today I did laundry and went to the grocery store!  I never picked up the silly string or squirt guns so instead we all stood on the porch and cheered with the munchkin got off the bus HA!  We did have some family fun tonight though! 

 Josh and Darryl eating Ice Cream and talking Minecraft. (Nate was already playing on the playground since he is not an ice cream fan)

Yep, we enjoyed some icecream from Mooville and summer drive with all the windows down :-) 

Thursday - Head to Cascade Fountain to have a picnic and play in the water fountain.  This is kind of like our "kick off" to summer! The weather has been a little cooler lately so we stitched and went to the Airport Viewing Area to have a picnic and watch the airplanes.  

Friday - A craft!  So here's the truth - even when I planned my summer calendar and put a craft on this date, I knew we wouldn't do it.  Why?  I'm getting the boys and I ready to leave for a wedding and getting stuff ready for Darryl to stay home.  Instead, we made another trip to the laundromat and then I worked on packing and getting things set at home.  I'm planning to do this particular craft at a later date :-) 

Saturday - The kids and I are heading out of town for a wedding! I'll post lots of pictures from our wedding weekend this coming week! 

Our week in photos Week #41

I debated whether to keep doing this post with my summer posts going on too but I think this a good way to include all things family.  Sure, there will be some overlapping but that's ok !!

 This past week we visited a car show.

 Played at the park (and got awesome haircuts!)

Got Ice Cream

 We love our cat - and he loves our shoes :-)

And we enjoyed a fun trip to Airport park where the boys made a new friend, played hide-n-seek, and got to see planes take off and land.  One of the best things said today from Josh: "Mom, someday do you think I will really fly one of those planes?"  Yes, Josh, I believe you can do just that (Yes, he wants to be a pilot)

Weekly Menu

This week we will be spending some time with family which makes it easier for me to cook because we will be eating out HA!

Friday - McDonald's is on the menu for tonight :-)

Saturday - There is a wedding shower that we will be attending so dinner is taken care of!

Sunday - This is a family day with everyone in town for the wedding so we will eat where ever we eat!

Monday - Wedding night!  The bride (my niece) is having pizza brought in for the wedding dinner - how awesome is that!!)

Tuesday - Taco Bell or McDonald's to keep things easy

Wednesday - The boys are attending day camp followed by VBS so the plan is easy and their top favorite foods.  Chicken Nuggets and Fries.  For the adults?  I'm not sure.  I'll go to the store on this day and figure it out based on what meat is on sale.

Thursday - Same busy day!  Mac and Cheese for Nate and Pizza for Josh. Adults - same as Wednesday - I have to figure it out.

Friday - Today is the last day of Day camp - I have a feeling I will have tired kids.  Tacos are usually a hit and they are easy.

This is a super busy week on all fronts so I have a feeling by the time we hit Friday evening we will be tired and ready to do not much of anything.

Tender, Delicious Pork Loin

I have made so many different Pork Loin Recipes from Pulled Pork BBQ to Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin to Roasted Pork Loin to Root Beer Pork Loin.  They were all good but one thing I noticed over and over is that the Pork is often dry or doesn't really shred.

(I didn't take a photo of the pork I cooked so I chose this random photo ha!) 

Well, I figured out a secret on total accident.  Recently Meijer had a sale on Pork Loins - buy 1/get 1 free - which is a great way to get meat at a great place.  I wanted to throw a loin in the crock pot for dinner but didn't have any of my normal stuff.  What I did have was Apple Juice.  I placed the pork in the crock pot (using a crock pot liner for easy clean-up), then added salt and pepper for seasoning.  I then pour about 1 cup of Apple Juice in with the pork.  Six hours later (on low) I had perfectly tender and super flavorful Pork.  With about an hour left, I took the pork out and sliced it (like the photo actually) and it just wanted to fall apart!  I placed the slices back in the crock with a little BBQ sauce and let it cook while I made the rest of dinner!  YUM! 

Steven Curtis Chapman - Remember to Remember

Steven Curtis Chapman released a new song recently and I love Steven Curits Chapman's music! 

Enjoy!

June Goals

I'm afraid to even write this.  Why?  Because in May I had amazing goals planned.  Then our well went down . . . .then our power went out . . .then Darryl had Dental surgery . . .then Darryl's back went out.  And guess what?  May was done.  Geesh.  May can stay gone.

Just like I planned our summer plans (which we know will not all happen!), I have some goals for the summer.  Summer is when I try to check of lots of things from my "list" since we don't have school taking up most of our day.  We are really laid back in the summer, quite honestly, so if I don't write some things down on paper that I want to get done, all I'll get done is a bunch of reading and swimming (which isn't really bad, is it?)

Since June is the 6th month I decided to focus on 6 main things I want to get done this month.

1. Deep clean the Bathroom and Kitchen
2. Find ways to supplement our income - sign up for Shipt, look into online teaching and a few other work at home options that I've researched.
3. Two trips a day (Basement) - let me explain.  I have to head to the basement twice a day to empty the dehumidifier so each time I go to the dreaded abyss, my goal is to bring something up that needs to go out to the trash or to charity.  Since I'm walking up the stairs, it makes sense to carry something up!  Sometimes this will mean actually taking 15 minutes to empty a shelf or organize something and that's ok because that means my basement will be all clean by the end of the summer.

4. Scrapbook - Complete 10 - 2 page scrapbook spreads and go through 4 scrapbooks to make sure they are complete and updated.  (Making notes of anything that is needed)
5. Read 8 books this month - they can be anything - fiction or non-fiction - I just need to read because I love reading :-)
6. Schooling related items - Return the boys hardcover books that need to be sent back in a timely matter; complete 4 lessons for the class I'm teaching in the fall.
Bonus item (because a bonus is always good!) - Clean and organize the garage.  The boys are going to help with this one since a lot of what is in the garage belongs to them!!

I'm hopeful that this ideas will help me plan our days a little better (as I'm sitting in my chair doing "computer work" right now!) and accomplish a few things.

Eggs in a Cup

Breakfast is a struggle isn't it?  I know that there are some of you that cook full breakfast almost every day for your family and that's just amazing.  That's also just not our family.  My kids are not breakfast eaters - a bowl of cereal makes them happy and that's usually more at about 9:00 or 10:00.  I, on the other hand, like a breakfast that will last me throughout the morning yet I don't actually like cooking breakfast. 

One day when I was walking through the store I saw these:

They were on sale so I figured I try one.  I picked up the American Scramble which has Bacon, Cheese, and Potatoes.  Basically, you add an egg to the cup, mix in the items that come in the cup and cook it in the microwave.  It is perfect.  It tastes great and is simple to do plus there is no clean up since you throw the cup away.

A week or so later, these showed up in the store:

They were on sale so I picked one up to try.  The difference with the Jimmy Dean brand is that it includes 2 eggs in a small cup, sealed, ready to be poured into the container and heated.  This makes it even more convenient because you don't even need eggs in the fridge - just this cup of goodness.

The regular cost of each of these items in my Meijer runs about $2.89.  Periodically they are on sale for $2.50.  That adds up fast if you want to buy one for each morning!!  I've recently challenged myself to cut our grocery bill down so spending $15.00+ on these little egg cups a week seems excessive! 

I realized that I could probably do this same concept at home for less money and guess what?  I did.

Photo Credit

This seems like such a simple idea but I am true recipe follower (Nope, could never, ever do "Chopped" HA!) so it was a little bit of a light bulb moment when I decided to try this on my own.  So, simply, take a coffee mug and add two eggs.  Whip them with a fork until well scrambled.  I then put it in the microwave for 40 seconds.  Next, I added about 1-2 Tablespoons of shredded cheese and 1-2 Tablespoons of breakfast meat (I used leftover sliced sausage links because that is what I had on hand).  Mixed it well again and cooked it for 55 seconds more.  Next time I'll only cook it for about 45 seconds because it was a little dry.  BUT it was super easy and good.  Plus, on average, it is about $1.14 a cup.   That is a great savings!