Weekly Menu Feb 28th - March 4th

Happy Birthday to my dear Dad (yesterday).  We'd planned a snowmobiling party for this weekend but little kids and arctic cold weather don't mix, so hopefully we'll get some warmer weather and be able to celebrate with Dad soon!

Monday - Ham Steaks, Baked Mac & Cheese, Mixed Vegs

Tuesday - Tacos!

Wednesday - Dinner at a Friend's

Thursday - Egg Bake, English Muffins

Friday - Lasagna or Manicotti, French Bread, Green Salad

Happy Monday!!!

In like a Lamb?

It's the last day of February! March means Spring and that means above 0 temperatures right?  It is currently 23* and partly cloudy.  Does that mean March is coming in like a lamb or like a lion? The 5 day forecast is calling for 30s and 40s (and a 30% chance of snow)  That's sounding pretty great to me considering it's been in the -5 to -18 range all last week.  Come on little lamb, we want to play outside in the sunshine!  Remember last summer?

Glorious Summertime.  But first I must work through Spring: planting, weeding, raking, cleaning, preparing, so I can play all summer long!

Making Store-bought into Homemade

Certain folks in this family love Hamburger Helper.  Other certain folks do not.  And then one of those folks found a nice lady (chickens in the road) that had taken the time to write out homemade (and super simple) clones of the popular box mixes.  I whipped up a batch and surprisingly enough it passed the test with flying noodles...or colors.
PS - I didn't have shells so I substituted rotini.

Cheesy Italian Shells

1 pound ground beef

3/4 cup hot water

2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups small pasta shells

1 cup stewed or diced canned tomatoes

Prepare a sauce packet including:

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 tablespoon mixed Italian herbs

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup cheddar, shredded

Brown beef, drain and add in water, milk,

pasta and seasonings. Bring to a boil, cover

and simmer 12 min or until pasta is tender.

Stir in cheese till melted, then remove from

heat and allow to sit about 5 min, uncovered.

Dinner is served!

Weekly Menu February 21st-26th

Monday, Monday, the recovery day from the weekend! I love Mondays! No where to go, nothing special to do, just a simple day starting a fresh new week!

Monday February 21st - Spaghetti with green beans and homemade bread (if I get it made!)

Tuesday February 22nd - Sweet & Sour Pork over rice and pineapple.

Wednesday February 23rd - some kind of chicken, some kind of spuds and pickled beets.

Thursday February 24th - Breakfast Bake (hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, cheese) and peaches.

Friday February 25th - Baked fish, Steamed broccoli/cauliflower/carrots and ....

Saturday February 26th - Mandarin Chicken Salad

Happy Cooking!!!

Thirty-One Gifts

Friday night I hosted a Thirty One Gifts party.  My friend is just starting up as a consultant and if you've never heard of this company before you are gonna want to check it out! www.mythirtyone.com/jle
Not only are the products useful, practical and durable; they are fabulously fun! I have never considered myself a true girly girl, but I've always had a thing for stylish bags (something my mom lovingly mentioned to my husband after the party-apparently since I was a little girl).

I own the All in One Organizer w/ Evelyn embroidered and the Mini Organizer with all my craft supplies in it.  I also have a large zipper pouch and am super excited about my recent order which includes the Albany bag, Carry-All Caddy, another All in One organizer and the Organizing Utility Tote (below,in black)!! Can't wait!!!

Donaldson Academy

Here's a few pics of our new classroom.

We did a little rearranging and added a few key elements to round out our space.  I'm sure we will be adding to it!

Getting Organized

When PreacherMan asked me to label the kids toy boxes so he knew where everything went, my love for him grew ten fold! I love to organize and have everything in it's own place.  To me it simplifies life and makes it easier to keep the house clean. 
First we sorted all the toys and put them into categories; Cars, Animals, Balls, Kitchen, Puzzles etc.  I had some extra shoe-box-size clear plastic totes on hand and they worked as perfect containers for many of the toys.  I also used some collapsible cubes for the bigger toys. A tip for the thrifty: go through your household and look for boxes, crates, bags, and cans that can be used before heading to the store to buy expensive items.
The labels on the plastic totes were incredibly easy to make. I considered doing something on the computer but I wanted to include the boys and have fun while doing it.  We used our arts/craft time during the boys' lessons to create these labels.
List of supplies:
Colored pencils- these are the easiest to use with stencils. Make sure your tip is sharp.
Recipe Cards
Stencils
Packing Tape

Next I stenciled out the categories I needed and added some graphics.  By having a picture of what actually goes in the box, the boys are able to clean up and know where their toys go. 

To ensure the labels stay on the boxes and aren't ripped off, I took two pieces of packing tape slightly longer than my cards and taped the cards on the inside of the box.  Make sure all your edges are taped down and these will hold up well to little prying fingers!

The end product turned out great and was more fun to make than I'd imagined but maybe that's just my OCD getting it's fix. 

Weekly Menu February 14th-19th

Wow last week flew by!!! Thankfully I took the time to plan out a few more weeks meal plans so I'm not behind in that aspect.

Week of February 14-19

Monday February 14 – Creamy Seafood Pasta, Fish Cakes and Caramel Brownies

Tuesday February 15 – Hamburgers, Applesauce, Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday February 16 – Roast Beef, Carrots, Potatoes, Rolls

Thursday February 17 – Breakfast Night

Friday February 18 – Yorkshire Beef, Fruity Jello

Saturday February 19 – Something with chicken...I think

Happy Valentine's Day! 

I have a Theory...

I used to think that people who had very large families (6+ kids) were being unfair to the older siblings who inevitably ended up caring for their younger siblings.  This week a thought occurred to me. Perhaps God intended for families to be large in the effort to educate young women (and men for that matter) on how to care for babies and other young children. If you think about it, how many first time mom's admit to having very little or no experience with babies.  Yep, that would be me. I didn't have a clue. And I was the youngest so either my parents should have had more children or exposed me to babies.  Right? I suppose that's the problem with my theory...what happens to the youngest child? Besides being spoiled... Oh well, it was a interesting thought at least.

Weekly Menu February 7th-12th

It saves me so much time (and anxiety) to prepare a menu ahead of time!  Feel free to ask for recipes to share with your family.

Monday February 7th - Chili-Sketti, Cornbread, and Carrots.  Chocolate Sheet cake for dessert!

Tuesday February 8th - Chicken Cordon Bleu, Scalloped Potatoes, Green Salad and Rolls

Wednesday February 9th - Swedish Meatballs with Rice and Gravy, Rolls and Beets

Thursday February 10th - Breakfast night! Not sure what exactly yet but definitely something w/ eggs

Friday February 11th - Date night with the Milkman!

Saturday February 12th - something simple as the boys will be at Grandma's for the weekend.  Maybe leftovers.

Happy Monday!!

Homemade Pinata

Last year I decided to make a pinata for Sugar's 3rd birthday.  It seemed easy enough when I had done it in elementary, surely I could handle it as a mom of 2! Let's just say it was not as pretty as first imagined and a whole lot more involved than I remembered.  This year I was determined to make life simple and buy a pinata.  That is until my almost 4 year old asked if we could make a homemade pinata.  I just couldn't say no. =)

So with a bit more wisdom I began the project a a few days earlier than I had the year before.  Who knew you would need at least 3 days to let each paper mache layer dry? I did and I felt confident that this time around the process would go much smoother and quicker than before.
The paper mache part did go quickly and without event.

And then this brilliant mama decided to go all out with the decorations. (I'm starting to hate brilliant ideas!)

The party was Dinosaur Train theme so in a effort to make things "simple" I decided to make the pinata a dino egg.  After 7 1/2 hours of decorating I simple gave up with the tedious job off tiny pieces of tissue paper strategically placed and covered the rest of it in pink.  Pink makes me smile.

And so did watching my son happily beat on that dinosaur egg at his 4th birthday party.

And just for kicks...his train cake:

Homemade doesn't have a price, it's priceless!

Kidisms

I love my kids.  Especially when they are so entertaining!!
A while back we were driving to church early Sunday morning.  On our way we passed the local airport.  The Milkman advised Sugar (3 1/2 at the time) to "keep your eyes peeled and you might see a big jet!" Super exciting right?? Uhm no! Sugar replied in the most serious voice,"Dad, don't peel my eyes! I will just keep them open."

I also love when my son compliments me.  For example, I was curling my hair (which can be a rare sight these days) and into my bathroom appears Sugar.  "Wow mom! You are pretty like a girl!" Thanks honey but please don't use that line on your future wife.

And from the same Sugar who loves to play hide and seek...I jumped out from my hiding place and yelled "Boo!" After he ceased his shrill screech; he looks at me, grins and says, "Mom! You scared me outa crap!"

Yep he's a keeper.

There is something strange happening in my freezer.  I put the ice trays in full of water and they come out like this:

What in the world is causing THAT???

Welcome!!!

Cast of Characters:

PreacherMan-my goofy, loving, hard-working, outside the box man!

Sugar - my silly, sensitive, stubborn oldest son

Spice - my daring, delightful, determined youngest son

Princess - my darling, sweet, precious baby girl

Mad County Mama - crafty, creative, adventurous Montana girl

Plot:
A passionate family living a life guided by a Biblical compass and dedicated to the Glory of the Lord. There's a little bit of everything in our kettle and everyday it gets stirred up with different concoctions of fun.