I'm thankful for washing machines and that we don't have to wash our clothes by hand.
What's something you're thankful for?
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
9/15/15 - TEN ON TUESDAY
Baking - Devon and Naomi busted out a batch of zuke cookies for us. I love all cookies, but those are one of my favorite kinds!
Haircut - Silas has had a braid on the top of his head for a long time, probably three years, and decided to chop it off recently. Of course, we had to document the occasion with pictures and, being Ws, it got a little silly.
Laughter - What are some of your favorite things to read or watch when you want to do a lot of laughing? I'm looking for some books and movies to meet that need. Suggestions?
Niagara Falls - We checked out a book from the library several months ago about Annie Edson Taylor called Queen of the Falls. We knew nothing about her, but the book was by Chris Van Allsburg, an author and illustrator that we enjoy and it was the first non-fiction book of his we'd ever seen. (Sidenote: He wrote Polar Express and Jumanji, in case his name doesn't ring any bells, although my favorite book of his that I've read is Two Bad Ants.) Taylor was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and did so on her 63rd birthday in 1901. We hopped on YouTube when we were done with the book and found this video about daredevils who have gone over the falls since then. It's just under eight minutes long and pretty interesting.
Patriot Day - Our homeschool group made cards and filled gift bags for our local police and fire departments last Friday, then split up to deliver them. The kids thought it was pretty neat that the city posted a picture of one of the officers having fun with the basket on their Facebook page.
Relaxing - I opened the back door to find this one day. So cute!
School - The plan was to get four weeks of work done in July and August, a sense of structure on days we needed it and wiggle room for the rest of the school year, but, for a variety of reasons, that didn't happen. We started a couple of weeks ago and things are going well so far. Here's what the start of the year looks like.
I love how neat and tidy it is! We've never had a designated school room and can't image we would even if we had a room to spare, so this is how things are organized in our current home. The top picture is an unused counter in our laundry room where everyone's IGs and books for the day are lined up. The bottom picture is the built-in shelf where we keep all of our books. Unused books were stored in totes in our last two homes, but we have the space to keep them out now.
Swifts - Friends invited us to watch the swifts roost seven years ago and we went back for another round a couple Sundays ago. We spent time playing soccer, sliding down the big hill, and chatting with friends we unexpectedly ran into while we waited for the birds to arrive, then watched them roost as the sun went down. Evidently our kids' propensity for making silly faces hasn't changed since the last time we went.
Think Past Yourself - I recently decided to work my way through the alphabet, spending two weeks on each letter, and looking for ways to bless someone whose first name starts with whichever letter I'm on. The little Ws are also in on it and I've posted about it on Facebook, so other friends have been taking the challenge as well. It's fun!
To Be - I love this thought-provoking post at Money Saving Mom, If Our To-DO List Was a To-BE List. I love making lists and find them helpful, but I think it's important to put more thought into who we are than into what we accomplish.
Haircut - Silas has had a braid on the top of his head for a long time, probably three years, and decided to chop it off recently. Of course, we had to document the occasion with pictures and, being Ws, it got a little silly.
Laughter - What are some of your favorite things to read or watch when you want to do a lot of laughing? I'm looking for some books and movies to meet that need. Suggestions?
Niagara Falls - We checked out a book from the library several months ago about Annie Edson Taylor called Queen of the Falls. We knew nothing about her, but the book was by Chris Van Allsburg, an author and illustrator that we enjoy and it was the first non-fiction book of his we'd ever seen. (Sidenote: He wrote Polar Express and Jumanji, in case his name doesn't ring any bells, although my favorite book of his that I've read is Two Bad Ants.) Taylor was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel and did so on her 63rd birthday in 1901. We hopped on YouTube when we were done with the book and found this video about daredevils who have gone over the falls since then. It's just under eight minutes long and pretty interesting.
Patriot Day - Our homeschool group made cards and filled gift bags for our local police and fire departments last Friday, then split up to deliver them. The kids thought it was pretty neat that the city posted a picture of one of the officers having fun with the basket on their Facebook page.
Relaxing - I opened the back door to find this one day. So cute!
School - The plan was to get four weeks of work done in July and August, a sense of structure on days we needed it and wiggle room for the rest of the school year, but, for a variety of reasons, that didn't happen. We started a couple of weeks ago and things are going well so far. Here's what the start of the year looks like.
I love how neat and tidy it is! We've never had a designated school room and can't image we would even if we had a room to spare, so this is how things are organized in our current home. The top picture is an unused counter in our laundry room where everyone's IGs and books for the day are lined up. The bottom picture is the built-in shelf where we keep all of our books. Unused books were stored in totes in our last two homes, but we have the space to keep them out now.
Swifts - Friends invited us to watch the swifts roost seven years ago and we went back for another round a couple Sundays ago. We spent time playing soccer, sliding down the big hill, and chatting with friends we unexpectedly ran into while we waited for the birds to arrive, then watched them roost as the sun went down. Evidently our kids' propensity for making silly faces hasn't changed since the last time we went.
Think Past Yourself - I recently decided to work my way through the alphabet, spending two weeks on each letter, and looking for ways to bless someone whose first name starts with whichever letter I'm on. The little Ws are also in on it and I've posted about it on Facebook, so other friends have been taking the challenge as well. It's fun!
To Be - I love this thought-provoking post at Money Saving Mom, If Our To-DO List Was a To-BE List. I love making lists and find them helpful, but I think it's important to put more thought into who we are than into what we accomplish.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
MENU: 9/10/15 - 9/16/15
We tried two new recipes that we liked enough to make again, but that we need to tweak a bit before sharing, and one that was a hit. We also made two unplanned recipes, a double batch of zuke bread (ate one as a snack, froze one for later) and sour cream pancakes for breakfast one morning.
NEW RECIPES
* toasted coconut pound cake - I love coconut and this cake was delicious!
ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* Grate and freeze more zukes.
* Roast, puree, and freeze pumpkin.
* Make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like we do once or twice every week.
BREAKFASTS
* egg & veggie scramble
* yogurt streusel muffins/smoothies
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x4
DINNERS
* sweet & sour meatballs (make-ahead meatballs from the freezer)/mashed potatoes
* tomato, feta, and barley salad over spinach
* crockpot beans & rice
* French bread pizza/orange & raisin green salad
* do-it-all salmon (Silas & Tim's catch)/rice/balsamic roasted brussels sprouts
* tacos - seasoned meat from the freezer, crockpot beans, and some other toppings served in a tortilla or bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice
* leftovers
NEW RECIPES
* toasted coconut pound cake - I love coconut and this cake was delicious!
ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* Grate and freeze more zukes.
* Roast, puree, and freeze pumpkin.
* Make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like we do once or twice every week.
BREAKFASTS
* egg & veggie scramble
* yogurt streusel muffins/smoothies
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x4
* sweet & sour meatballs (make-ahead meatballs from the freezer)/mashed potatoes
* tomato, feta, and barley salad over spinach
* crockpot beans & rice
* French bread pizza/orange & raisin green salad
* do-it-all salmon (Silas & Tim's catch)/rice/balsamic roasted brussels sprouts
* tacos - seasoned meat from the freezer, crockpot beans, and some other toppings served in a tortilla or bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice
* leftovers
SNACKS & DESSERTS
* cupcakes from a boxed mix
* produce
* popcorn with seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )
* cupcakes from a boxed mix
* produce
* popcorn with seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )
** This post contains affiliate links and we're grateful when people use them. **
9/10/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY
I'm thankful for the warm days and cool nights of fall (or the edge of fall, as the case may be).
What is one thing that you're thankful for?
What is one thing that you're thankful for?
Monday, September 7, 2015
FUN WITH THE PSEUDO-INLAWS
Two Sundays ago we spent all afternoon at Max Patterson in Gladstone with our bonus family. It rained all morning, but stopped in time for our picnic and was sunny by the time we left four hours later. It was great to eat, play games, visit, and goof off on the playground with each other for a while!
Thursday, September 3, 2015
MENU: 9/3/15 - 9/9/15
Oh, we tried so many new recipes last week! Plus Devon and Naomi made an unplanned batch of zuke cookies and I made cucumber sunomono, chocolate chip peanut butter bars, and apple & cranberry green salad for a potluck with extended family. We'll start things off with links to the new things we tried, then jump into the things we'll be eating over the next week.
NEW RECIPES
* Holden veggies - A rainbow of seasoned veggies that can be served over rice, on haystacks, or eaten plain.
* peach & chicken green salad - I used some Zaycon chicken from our freezer stash, peaches from a local orchard, and a few other things we had on hand for this salad. I thought it was tasty!
* eggplant parmesan - I hate eggplant. Always have. And then a friend's kid snuck some in one of my garden harvest bags, another friend suggested trying this recipe ... and I liked it enough to have seconds! Miraculous.
* coconut peach cobbler - We used more of the peaches I mentioned earlier to make this delicious dessert.
ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* I stemmed a ton of kale, sent it through the food processor, and popped it in the freezer.
* I'll be grating and freezing a bunch of zukes.
* We'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like we do once or twice every week.
BREAKFASTS
* egg & veggie scramble
* nutty fruity granola
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x4
DINNERS
* spicy pesto chicken/corn on the cob/roasted broccoli
* rice, kale, & eggs
* lentils & rice
* new recipe/rice/garlic green beans
* beef eldorado/apple & cranberry green salad
* tacos - seasoned meat from the freezer, crockpot beans, and some other toppings served in a tortilla or bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice
* leftovers
NEW RECIPES
* Holden veggies - A rainbow of seasoned veggies that can be served over rice, on haystacks, or eaten plain.
* peach & chicken green salad - I used some Zaycon chicken from our freezer stash, peaches from a local orchard, and a few other things we had on hand for this salad. I thought it was tasty!
* eggplant parmesan - I hate eggplant. Always have. And then a friend's kid snuck some in one of my garden harvest bags, another friend suggested trying this recipe ... and I liked it enough to have seconds! Miraculous.
* coconut peach cobbler - We used more of the peaches I mentioned earlier to make this delicious dessert.
ADVANCED COOKING (These aren't always planned, so they'll often be things I did the previous week.)
* I stemmed a ton of kale, sent it through the food processor, and popped it in the freezer.
* I'll be grating and freezing a bunch of zukes.
* We'll make peanut butter and crockpot beans, just like we do once or twice every week.
BREAKFASTS
* egg & veggie scramble
* nutty fruity granola
* doughnuts at church
* oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, homemade peanut butter, maple almond butter, raisins, dried cranberries, fresh or frozen fruit, huh-koe-pee milk, and/or energy mix as optional toppings x4
* spicy pesto chicken/corn on the cob/roasted broccoli
* rice, kale, & eggs
* lentils & rice
* new recipe/rice/garlic green beans
* beef eldorado/apple & cranberry green salad
* tacos - seasoned meat from the freezer, crockpot beans, and some other toppings served in a tortilla or bowl, as a salad over a pile of greens, or with mound of rice
* leftovers
SNACKS & DESSERTS
* new recipe
* produce
* popcorn with seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )
* new recipe
* produce
* popcorn with seasoned salt (kernels from the WinCo bulk department that get popped in my Lodge Dutch oven, but you can see my thoughts on both the wonderful Dutch oven and the fantastic West Bend Stir Crazy in this post. )
** This post contains affiliate links and we're grateful when people use them. **
9/3/15 - THANKFUL THURSDAY
I'm thankful to live in a time and place with so many options for school, allowing people to choose the best fit for their child(ren), family, and season of life.
What's one thing that you're thankful for?
What's one thing that you're thankful for?
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