Baker Book Club

I have two new books to add to my list.

Two weeks ago the idea was to read a book with a one word title.  I didn't want to spend any money so I went onto Amazon and searched for free Christian Fiction.  I came across this book.

It's a mystery and, quite honestly, is not my normal pick of a read.  BUT it was free and it had a one word title.  It started our  slow and, honestly, confusing.  I couldn't figure out whether the main character was returning to the USA or to the Philippines  or somewhere else.  I have figured out that it is taking place in the US and it involves typical mystery things like drug smuggling and death.  I'm still reading this one and am actually getting a little more interested in it then when I first started it.

The book for this week was to be a book originally written in a different language.  I almost skipped this one until I saw the recommended book which was:

I actually already owned this book and had started to read it but never finished it.  This is a perfect time to finish it! There's a reason I never finished it though - I lost interest.  So, once I finish up the book above, Ice, I WILL make myself finish this book too!

Sunday Worship - What a Beautiful Name

This is another song that I heard the first when Darryl's group performed it.  It has such a simple yet amazing message! 

Our Week in Photos #7

At the start of the week I really thought we would get 100% back into our routine but then the next winter storm rolled in and we had friends here for three days this week.  Despite that we did do some school and enjoyed our Valentine's party at our co-op too!

 After all of the ice storms and bitter cold we've had this weekend, we got a true winter snow storm this past week.  Lots of snow, decent winter temps and time to play outside.  The boys even did a little sledding down a neighbors hill.  

 This is my view for about four hours a day - looking at a computer screen with one of the boys with a nice view outside too.  

 Nate working on School work. 

 The table set for Valentine's day.  

 One of my favorites!  It's a tradition on Valentine's Day. 

 Dinner is served!  Notice there are now roses on the table from my sweetie!  

 Each of the boys had a bag of Valentine's goodies - some of their favorite candy, Pokemon cards and a matchbox car. 

We've missed the last two weeks of Friday school due to it being canceled but today we were finally back again!  

It was our Valentine's Party too and this was our box.  It is the brain child of Nate with Josh adding all of the Valentine's touches.  I think it is pretty awesome. 

Weekly Menu

Last week through us a few curve balls that shifted our menu a bit (nothing bad, just some unplanned things).  I think this week will hopefully be a little quieter.  The weather has been FOR REAL since the end of January with snow storms, bitter cold, wind, ice, freezing rain - you name it, we have had it.  Thankfully, we have kept our power but many others went days and days without (including my Father-in-law!)  I "think" this coming week will be a little bit quieter . .. hopefully.

Friday - We are going to eat out.  I'm tired of cooking; it's Friday School day; it's Valentine's Party day; and we are squeezing piano lessons in too.  Put a fork in me, I'm done - someone else needs to make my food HA!

Saturday - Pork Loin in the crock pot, Mac and Cheese and Baked Potatoes

Sunday - Crockpot Cheesy Potatoes and Ground Beef, Rolls, and Carrots

Monday - Oven Roasted Chicken Legs, Mashed Potatoes,  and Broccoli

Tuesday - Brats, Mexican Corn Casserole, and Baked Beans

Wednesday - IF we go to AWANA, we WILL have Taco Bell HA!

Thursday - Corn Dogs and Mac and Cheese (It's Piano night!!)

I have a few new recipes while also trying to use up what's in my freezer!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Do you have any traditions for Valentine's Day?  We do but not anything super fancy.  I would say of all of the Holiday's we celebrate in any form or fashion, this is the one I do the least for of all of them. 

I feel like I'm still recovering from Christmas and all of a sudden it's Valentine's Day!  But, we still like to have a little fun.  For dinner we always have Spaghetti and Meatballs, Green Beans, and Garlic Bread.  We also have Chocolate Dipped Strawberries and Frosted Sugar Cookies (truth be told - I buy Lofthouse Cookies  . .. they are they best cookies ever HA!) Then, we just put together a small little gift bag with candy and a few small gifts for fun.  I'll share photos of that on Saturday. 

Darryl and I don't usually do anything - we've both always had to work both the day off and the day after (usually!) and now with kids - we just like to hang out with them at home.  Darryl's birthday is a week later so we'd rather go out and celebrate his birthday instead ! 

Our Homemade Valentines

Not long ago I shared a post with lots of different ideas for homemade Valentine's.  Well, I did not share the ideas I knew my kids would pick!

Fortnite is a big deal in this house so I was pretty sure they would both pick Fortnite related Valentine's and they did not disappoint.  We have worked this week on getting them ready for our Co-Op this Friday.

First up, Nate picked his Llama Fortnite Valentine's.  These go to every family in the group. I loved that this year, I could just print, cut, and staple :-) So easy! 

 Nate picked Starburst as the candy to go along with his Valentine's.  We put them in a snack size baggie. 

 Then we stapled the card to the bag.  He also picked out a second design for his closest friends.  I'll share that at the end of the post. 

Then, Josh picked out his main cards. 

 Josh wanted Heart lollipops to go along with his card. 

Again, we used baggies to attach to the cards.  I thought about taping the lollipop to the card but both Josh and I were afraid it would fall off. 

Here are links to all of the cards we used: 

Curious and Geeks supplied two different options for the Fortnite Unicorn Llama

Mandys Party Printables provides the free printables for three designs.  Josh actually used all of them - some for his whole group designs and then some for his close friends. 

This was Nate's second card he made for his close friends and it can be found at Curious and Geeks too. 

This was Josh's final choice (and my actual favorite!) and this one can be found at Swag Grabber.

So, if you are in need of some last minute Valentine's - just print and go with any of these ideas!  

Flylady

Periodically on my blog I talk about Flylady.

Flylady is a great system of decluttering, cleaning and organizing basic weekly tasks.  I started using Flylady techniques probably about 12-15 years ago.  What I have learned is the following:

1) The Flylady plan is truly a great starting place. She lays out daily and weekly plans based on the rooms in your home.
2) It's ok to change HER schedule to meet YOUR schedule.  For example, her errand day is Thursday - but if you run errands on Tuesday, make that your errand day :-)
3) Alter the cleaning tasks/schedule to fit the size of YOUR home.
4) Her daily tasks for each zone are really great - follow them if you can; alter them if you need to.
5) The key is totally to declutter first - you can't clean clutter.
6) Dig through the website and find all of the extra stuff like deep cleaning checklists :-)
7) Understand that her concept overall is that if you have decluttered and then follow her zone cleaning and basic weekly cleaning concepts, your home WILL be clean and you don't have to do deep, hard cleaning because you will be on top of all of that stuff.  Sure, you will deep clean areas in your home throughout the year (thus the deep cleaning checklists) but you will do it easily on a monthly basis instead of all in one huge chunk.
8) Read about and follow her Flylady Journal from step one - babysteps are key.

When I started this system years ago, I built my journal - I have it saved on my computer.  My morning routine and bedtime routines have changed many times based on my season of life but the over all concept has stayed the same.  I would like to say that I have followed it perfectly over the years but I tend to really follow it well for awhile and then I let it go and get out of the routines.  One of my goals this year is to get back into those routines.  Is Flylady for everyone?? Nope :-)  It might not be your style and that's ok!

There is one thing that I've never done . . .. one of her "things" is to get dressed to your shoes )So if you have to run outside you always have shoes on)  . . well, I don't wear shoes if I don't have to!  I keep a pair of flip flops by the door and, this time of year, a pair of tennis shoes, so I can slip them on and do what I need to do but I hate wearing shoes!