Menu for August 9-15

We repeat the same breakfast and lunch menus each week for 2-3 months or until we get sick of them. Here is our current rotation:

Monday
B: Puffy Pancake
L: Bean and Cheese Burritos, tortilla chips

Tuesday
B: Muffins
L: Sandwich, carrots, wheat thins

Wednesday
B: Bagels w/Cream Cheese
L:Fast English Muffin Pizzas

Thursday
B: Cereal
L: Hot Dogs, peaches

Friday
B: Apples and Oatmeal
L: PB Honey Tortilla Roll ups, apples

Saturday
B: Eggs, Toast
L: ***Leftovers***

Sunday
B: Pancakes
L: Soup/Salad/Sandwich

Here are the dinners I have planned for this week:

Monday: Slow Cooker Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches
Tuesday: BBQ ribs, Crockpot Baked Potatoes, coleslaw, baked beans
Wednesday: Chicken W/ Black Beans and Cream Cheese, brown rice
Thursday: Spaghetti, meatballs, green salad, green beans
Friday: **Pizza Night**
Saturday: Maui Grilled Chicken Sandwiches, Potato Skins
Sunday: McGriddles, fruit

I use Plan to Eat to do all my meal planning. Plan to Eat is a simple meal planning website that helps you keep all of your recipes in one place, and plan your meals and shopping lists so you can eat well and save time and money. It takes a little time at first to get your recipes entered, but it is well worth it. Once the initial work is done, you can drag and drop your meals, create your shopping list and you're done.

For other great menu ideas, check out OrgJunkie.

Summer Fun List

These are all the activities we want to try this summer.

I've added the list to the sidebar so I can cross them off as we do them.

go camping

go fishing

go swimming

ride bikes

go to beach

ride motorcycles

concert in the park

movie in the park

free movie

make sundaes

climb spencer’s butte

climb skinner’s butte

play mini golf

wii tournament

go to the library

go to the museum

go to the zoo

play tennis

slip n slide

go to the lake

go to the water park

have a garage sale

24 hours of reading

blow bubbles

use sidewalk chalk

water balloon toss

run in sprinklers

dine outside

go to em’s game

picnic at the park

go to saturday market

go to a car show

make rootbeer floats

make s’mores

sit by campfire

movie in backyard

stay in hotel

go gold panning

watch a parade

go to ruckus

go bowling

seed spitting contest

got to farmers market

go to vbs

sleepover at grandma’s

watch monster trucks

Books Read in 2009

* Confessions of a Shop-a-holic
* Finger Lickin' Fifteen
* LA Candy
* My Bible
* Shop-a-holic Takes Manhattan
* The Shack
* The Yada Yada Prayer Group
* The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down
* The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Real
* The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Tough

Backyard Habitat

In order to tie science in with our studies of the globe, we are looking at the different ecosystems that correlate with each country. This includes a weekly nature walk. For our first nature walk, we were to examine the habitat in our backyard. Since we haven't watered all summer, it was looking a little barren. We walked down the street to the lushly watered apartment complex and explored their habitat instead.

The goal: to become aware of different elements in your surroundings/habitat.

First we roped of an area and took a look, recording our observations.











Then we got an even closer look.

As the Orange Turns

We began our study of the world by comparing globes and maps.
The goal: to help the kids understand how the world is distorted in a flat map.

They drew the world onto an orange











then peeled it and tried to lay it flat.














And then we ate it.

My Father's World

We are using a new curriculum this year, called My Father's World. I love, love, love it. I had looked at it in the past, but the price really scared me off. Well, after a few years of doing all the planning myself (which meant being tied to stacks of papers and books on a Sunday afternoon when I'd rather be hanging with my family), I decided it was worth a little moolah to buy a teacher's manual that had done all the thinking already. I am hoping this will open up a little more time for the fun things, like crafts, cooking, science experiments, and nature walks.

I decided to use ECC (Exploring Countries and Cultures) this year. We are taking a trip around the world, studying diverse countries, learning geography, and reading about missionaries.

We watched a movie over the summer, called The Other Side of Heaven. It is the story of a missionary in the Tongan islands. It gave them a real picture in their mind of what it is like for a missionary to enter a strange culture and land and spread the word of God.

On the first day of school, Z and E filled out their "passport applications" and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their new "passports". Since we are studying North America first, they won't be needing them for a few weeks...........

Let the adventure begin!

Back to School

We started a back to school this week.

Z (3rd grade) and E (2nd grade) are still home with me.



M (7th grade) and B (6th grade) headed out to middle school.

Marathon of Fun

On Labor Day, B and I had planned to work around the house. However, I awoke around 6 AM with the inspiration to throw our plans out the window and just have a little fun. So, we loaded up the kids and headed out to the coast. On the drive over, we asked each person to choose something they would like to do, I wrote it all down and stuck it in the visor of the car. It was our last day of summer bucket list and we weren't coming home till we checked everything off the list!

M wanted to rent a sandboard






























B wanted some clam chowder at Mo's





























Z wanted to do some letterboxing

BJ wanted to get some saltwater taffy














E wanted to see the Sea Lion Caves

I wanted to hike the Hobbit Trail

and we all wanted to play on the beach

One Year Flashback

My friend Rebeca issued a challenge to go back one year into my photo folders. This is what I found.

Brad made coffee ground beards for the kids. In case you are wondering, left-front is Bailey making his "six pack abs" to go with his wolverine beard. That was fun, Rebeca!

Roll It Up

This is how the menfolk in our family store their pants. We roll them up and stick them in the drawers in rows like this. They can pull out the exact pair they want without rifling through the drawer and messing everything up. When they were younger, I would roll up a t-shirt, underwear, and pair of socks inside the pants. Then they could just grab a roll and be all set for the day. The bigger they have gotten, the more they like to choose which t-shirt to wear with which pair of pants, so only the pants are rolled now. I do pack for trips using the outfit in a roll concept though.

Check out other great tips here.

Look What I Made

Crepes. They always so seemed so intimidating. So difficult. So impossible. Last night I tackled them.......................and I did it! The first few were a little thick, but eventually I got the hang of it and ended up with 9 perfectly edible crepes. The ones I made were intended to wrap around a savory chicken/broccolli filling. I can't wait to sweeten them up and try them for breakfast next week.

A House of Fools

You had to be on your toes around here today! BJ got industrious yesterday. He looked up a website full of April Fool's pranks and shared lots ideas with his siblings. Here are some of the "jokes" I observed today.

* A cup full of paper confetti strategically placed over the door
*Salt on the toothbrush (They got me with this one!)
*Gatorade replaced with colored water
*Clothes, towels, and even bath mat removed while boy taking shower
*Hiding cell phone
*Disconnected computer mouse
*Changed mouse movement to slow
*Changing the time on the clock

Knit Wit

I finished another hat this week. I am officially addicted to knitting. I've had to make a file on my computer for all the knitting patterns, websites, and blogs I stumble across. There is even a collection of yarn forming in piles around my house. For this hat, I learned how to make the pom poms and add them to the top as well as the tassels. I also figured out how to put that stripe in all by myself. I'm really missing watching TV while I knit. I tried to knit while reading a book. It didn't work out so well. I had to tear out a bunch of rows AND re-read several pages. I guess multi-tasking cannot be applied to everything.

Princess Polish

B was painting E's fingernails on Sunday.
She wanted them to look just like a princess.
Bright pink with blue sparkles, in case you've never seen princess polish in person.
As he was finishing up, he says to me, "Would you like your nails painted too?" "Pick a color."
As I sat down, I said, "you choose".
I guess he thought I was a princess too,
because my nails are bright pink with blue sparkles as well.

The TV Is Still In A Coma

It has been THIRTY days since we shut off the TV. I read somewhere that it only takes 30 days to form a habit. So, by that reasoning, we should have fully formed the habit of not watching TV by now, right? NOT!

This has really been a struggle for me. I have found that I am trying so hard to keep busy and fill my time that I am completely exhausted. I miss just zoning out, relaxing in front of the TV, letting *it tell me what to think.

I've overheard the kids discussing old episodes of favorite TV shows that they remember. We all cringe when anyone talks about a show we missed or asks what we thought about the latest episode. Or the worst was, last night, my mother in law says she has to get home to watch Celebrity Apprentice. UGH, stab straight to the heart. The thing is, she didn't give it a second thought. The only time it has impacted her was when the kids were at her house and couldn't turn the TV on. This thing that is constantly in our thoughts has not impacted anybody around us.

That is the biggest lesson we have all learned. How we take for granted things that a lot of people do without. I will be able to draw on this experience in teaching my children compassion for all those in the world who have less than them. Also, how to face temptation and turn away from it, just as Jesus did. I guess that was the anticipated outcome of all this. It is so much more difficult to deprive yourself of something that is right in front of you, tempting you, calling you, than to learn to make do without something that is not available to you.

Menu Plan for Mar 30 - Apr 1

Monday

Breakfast: Puffy Pancakes
Lunch: hot dogs, peaches
Dinner: Hawaiian Chicken, egg rolls, rice

Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Chicken Nuggets, corn

Dinner: Burritos, bean, rice and cheese squares

Wednesday

Breakfast: Oatmeal

Lunch: Bean and cheese burritos

Dinner: Grilled chicken, hasbrown caserole, green beans

Thursday
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, toast
Lunch: Dee-licious soup

Dinner: Grilled chicken, fettucine alfredo, salad

Friday

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs

Lunch: Mac 'n' cheese, corn
Dinner: Small Group (taking bacon/sausage)

Saturday

Breakfast: Pancakes

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: Hamburgers, fries

Be sure to visit orgjunkie for hundreds of other menu plans.

Menu Plan for Mar 24-29

Monday

Breakfast: Puffy Pancakes
Lunch: hot dogs, peaches
Dinner: wrestling banquet (bringing coleslaw pasta salad)

Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Bean and cheese burritos

Dinner: Grilled chicken, fettucine alfredo, salad

Wednesday

Breakfast: Pancakes

Lunch: Quesadillas, apple slices

Dinner: Potato Soup, salad, bread

Thursday
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: Chicken Nuggets, corn

Dinner: Spaghetti, salad, bread

Friday

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs

Lunch: Mac 'n' cheese, corn
Dinner: BBQ chicken wings, coleslaw, baked beans, tator tots

Saturday

Breakfast: Pancakes

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: Hamburgers, fries

Be sure to visit orgjunkie for hundreds of other menu plans.

Haircut

BJ had managed to "miss" the last several times Dad did assembly line clipper cuts for the boys. He kept telling big stories about how he was letting it grow, and it was going to be so cool. The longer it got, the worse it looked. Therefore the more I was put off. However, I believe in choosing one's battles and for me it will never be hair. It just isn't that important. If they want to rebel with their hair, fine by me. As long as there are no piercings or tattoos, we are good.

Eventually the glorious day came, he declared "I think I'd like to get my hair cut. I'm tired of it".
Yippee!! go ask your dad for a haircut.
"Let's do it this weekend when I have more time" was the reply.
What?! Didn't you hear the boy? He wants a haircut!
Well, the weekend came and went, and the one after that, and even the one after that. Now, I have no intention of hubby bashing here. He has been busy, so I took things into my own hands. I drove the boy straight to the nearest Great Clips and PAID to have his haircut.

Afterward, BJ says, " That was weird. Nobody else has ever cut my hair before. She messed with my collar and then she kept touching my head!"

Uh, duh.

Yada Yada Prayer Group

I've stumbled upon a new series of books, The Yada Yada Prayer Group. I love, love, love them. Prayer is a part of my spiritual life I've really wanted to focus on. These books have given me a great deal of inspiration. They are about a group of very diverse ladies (an ex-con, an ex drug addict, Jamaican, Honduran, South African) who are thrown together at a ladies conference and decide to form a "prayer group" . They make me laugh. They make me cry. They make me praise God for all the blessings in my life.

We Killed the TV

Well, we put it into a coma, anyway.

B and I talked about what the family could give up for Lent this year. We decided giving up watching TV would be an ideal sacrifice. Not only would we experience self-denial, but we hoped it would have the added bonus of getting us to spend more time together as a family.

The kids and I had already made the big step (and it was big for us, believe me) of leaving the TV off until 4 PM each weekday. We called it Happy Hour when we could turn the TV on. Anyway, I decided that since we weren't going to be watching the TV, it would be silly to be paying for it. So, I called and canceled the cable, unhooked the boxes and returned them. No going back now.

I haven't really missed any of my "must see" shows.
Well, maybe American Idol.
The hardest part has just been trying to think of something else to do.
The kids have drug out some board games that have been accumulating dust. We went for a walk down to the wetlands one night. I've been working on some crafts and reading. We had all been doing really well.
Until last night.
I stumbled.

Z and E were hanging out with their uncle. BJ had gone over to a friend's house. M was at youth group. B was sick in bed asleep. I had absolutely no idea what to do with myself. I didn't have to make dinner for anyone, so grabbed a sandwich at Subway after dropping M off at church. I returned home to a quiet, empty house and was at a total loss. I turned on my laptop, and watched the new Celebrity Apprentice, the 2 HOUR premiere. Does that count as watching TV? Yeah, I know.