dragonfly days

We made it through Monday.

How we spent Monday...

• Spanish lessons
• Jack read,  Leonardo da Vinci  - the whole thing!
  
• Then he started to plan and make his own version of the flying man. I have talked him down from testing it off the roof or out of the tree house and we have settled on jump off the couch. Phew, that was close. 
• baking granola and baked oatmeal cups.
• picking mulberries, eating mulberries
• watering the yard
• loving on the animals
• watched the robins visiting the yard and the hummingbird in her nest
• painted some beads
• tap dancing
• baseball practice
• more tap dancing
• watching videos of Sammy Davis Jr, Gregory Hines, Fred Astaire, and Gene Kelly. 
• making this for dinner with some leftover steak from last night. Yummy!

More importantly, we made it through Monday! Anyone want to do a happy dance with me?

 

random musings

It's becoming a Wednesday thing. :)

• I finished another layout in Project life. I am really enjoying getting our pictures printed out and part of our story down.  It feels good. :)
• Our guinea pig is about to give birth any minute.  
• Tomorrow we get to visit with the doctor about turf toe.
• Today we didn't have any appointments or classes that I had to go out for. It was wonderful. I baked muffins, made a great dinner, worked out about five hours earlier than I usually get to, we pulled out the art supplies and played. It was very nice. I need to be sure to schedule these type of days.
• My husband is starting a new hobby, more on that in a few. 
• The series of shark books we found at the library this week are very popular around here. Perfect for a shark-obsessed beginning reader.

 

Frosty the doughman

Today we had the opportunity to go to a bread sculpting class put together by one of the moms in our support group. You can't see it in the picture, butat the time Jack was making a snowflake out of bread dough. Those were baked, brushed with melted butter and then dusted with powder sugar.

You can see the snowflake in this pic as he is dusting it with sugar.

After that they made a snowman out of dough. I have no pics of that. We brought it home and baked it and needless to say it didn't last long. 

Today we were also blessed with about 20 minutes of snow. Jack was thrilled. This boy has been wishing for snow all winter.  That is all he really wanted for Christmas. When I looked out and saw the flakes, he came running. And then he applauded.  He gave the snow a round of applause. Love that.

 

scenes from the weekend 1/22

Glad to have hubby back home.

A separate cage for the piggy.

A shopping trip turned lunch out for Zac and I with a couple of kiddos.

Can you guess what he wants to start doing this year?

What most of Jack's money is spent on.

Last week was a long, hard week. Seriously. Everyone gets thrown off when hubby is out of town. So glad to be on the flip side of that. 

This weeks plans:

• bread making class for Jack
• P.E. if the weather is good, otherwise we'll just hit the library
• tap class
• endodotist for Steve-  finish one and discuss the other
• hip-hop class
• guitar- hopefully. We have to switch things around for dance.
• girls pref dance for Steve
• call sports med doc and try to get Steve in.
• Rugby
• Lacrosse, at least for Talisa.
• A day trip...maybe. I need to see if some of the angst and whinyness that has plagued our house goes away by then.

Things I hope to get done:

• another project life spread
• a system to organize project life weeks in waiting
• Apple Pie muffins via Finding Joy in my Kitchen
• movement everyday.
• some Valentine planning
• start reading, Mindset for Moms
• Finish reading,  A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.

What is on your list?

 

the big day

Today was Jack's choir performance at the festival. I couldn't believe how excited he was. Of course I took video of  the performance which filled my card and couldn't get a picture of just him. :( But it was awesome, they did so good.

Tonight we pulled out our gingerbread kit and started to decorate.

Aren't these the coolest? We found a it that made 4 dog houses complete with Snoopy and Woodstock. We love them.

Quick and easy and the we got our gingerbread fix.

 

cookies

Today we had a fun activity with one of our homeschool groups.  We learned a few easy cookie recipes for the kids to bake.  The best by far was the play dough cookies they made. No eggs, so they can eat it and very fun to get creative with.

Jack really loved doing this and I know we'll be making these cookies regularly. :)

 

scenes from the weekend 9/11

An old school map we picked up this weekend. I have no idea what I am going to do with it. It's huge adn we have a serious lack of wall space already. But we love maps and it was a steal.

The microscope. I have been searching for months for a used one at an affordable price. We saw this at a yard sale this weekend and I took one look at the price and started walking away. My dear husband, knowing how badly I wanted one, offered them half. They took it. I was so excited.  The boys played with it all day yesterday. So cool. Now to order some slides.

 

salt and pepper

A work in progress.

A $5 find that has been entertaining someone all weekend. 

We had a fun, busy weekend. We found a new to us, amazing resturant. My new favortie words are "red wine reduction sauce". Oh my goodness. We've had no internet yesterday which threw off my weekly planning and I actually had to go old school in order to do it. :)  We also enjoyed a refreshing thunderstorm. I think fall is finally here.

On the list for this week:

• yoga
• nursery for fall seeds and a terrarium plant.
• learning: Israel, water cycle,  and a new to us science co-op, Signing Time, building a terrarium.
• library
• internet fixing- our computer ahs been having some issues the past week and we have someone coming out to hopefully fix it once and for all.
• Saying goodbye to dear friends. Sigh. :( 
• fall decorating
• Soup, banana bread and homemade bread.

And whatever other fun things we can fit in there. :) 

What's on your list?

scenes from the weekend

This weekend was filled with: cleaning, thrifting, old friends, new friends, lots of sun and heat, movies, sleep, and fun.

On the list for this week:

• birthday parties
• orthodontist appointments
• yoga
• lacrosse clinics
• swimming pools
• projects day (? Yes?) ;)
• homeschool planning
• back to school shopping
• Baking- depending on the weather and my air conditioner
• hubby has a day off so some more time working on projects with him.

 

What's on your list?

 

garden update

A litte update from the garden. Our first tomatoes this year! The first pepper! I'm thinking some homemade Italian is in order this week. we also have pumpkins and jack-be-littles coming out our ears. And speaking of ears- corn! Yes lots of corn this year.  The cabbages have also made it and cabbage salad is on the menu for this week. 

The flower garden is slowly changing. The early blooms are dying off and new flowers are appearing daily. Love that.

 

 

getting ready

This week is flying by and my to-do list doesn't seem to be getting much shorter. Every time I check one thing off, two more pop up.  It's all good though, it's been fun.  We are almost ready for the big wisdom tooth day. Today I even scored an ice cream maker at the store! Alex and I went shopping for soft foods.  I just have the rest of the peaches to deal with tomorrow and the apricots I bought today (ahem).

Today was the last lesson for Soul Restoration 2. I am almost caught up with all the lessons. I can't believe it is over.  The wonderful thing about these classes though is the difference they make is so big, that my husband always asks me when the next one is and encourages me to sign up. If that isn't a testimonial to how great they are, I don't know what is. 

 

 

scenes from the weekend

He can clap his hand and turn around while hooping. But according to him he can do all that and do it with blue hair!LOL.

 

On the list this week:

• baking- granola, muffins, bars
• making ice cream
• set up the kid pool
• yoga
• my birthday! Which means a family night out plus an extra date night with hubby.
• coffee and yard sales bonus date with hubby- I'm starting to feel spoiled.
• Talisa's drivers liscense...finally.
• plant pumpkins
• Soul restoration projects
• more art journaling- I am really enjoying this right now and can't get enough!
• more cleaning and furniture moving- it's that time of year. I rearranged our room last week and loved the fresh feel of it.  Now I can't wait to do more.
• more harvesting and preserving.

And whatever else floats our boat.

What's on your list this week? 

scenes from the weekend

Not many scenes to show you this weekend. It was a busy, productive weekend. Lots of time in the kitchen--pizza, chard for freezing, granola, cornbread and dinners.  We spent lots of time on the house and yard sale prep. It feels so good to be decluttering, really decluttering once and for all. I'm hoping this is the last time. There were a few hours each day spent down at the river. Jack delcared tubing the most awesome thing ever. A few hours out in the garden- pruning, harvesting and weeding. I am also trying out hanging cd's around to deter the birds.  A library visit and other errands rounded it all out.

On the list for this week:

• Just signed up for Soul Restoration 2!! It starts Tuesday.
• tennis- hopefully! We didn't make the 9 am last week.
• Yoga
• teen yoga
• dentist appointments
• a first cub scout meeting- we hope,need to double check on this.
• Steve leaves for scout camp Saturday
• running kids around- Steven has started his own handyman type business and is booked all week!
• finish up the yard sale prep
• yard sale Saturday!
• still doing the photography class. 
• baking- pumpkin muffins- a little bit of fall helps when it is 100+
• time to pack up some jackets and hoodies for a season
• kitchen- freezing kale and spinach
• garden- replanting some bare areas and more weeding
• library
• learning- finish up South Korea and start the bird study linked in the previous post.

What's on your list?

getting back to the lists

The past two weeks or so(being sick, spring break, etc) have thrown us off of our normal routines and rhythms and I am now finding myself wanting to get back to them.  So I am back to making my lists for each week in one of my moleskine notebooks, while tracking bigger goals and dreams to work on in another. 

My list for this week:

• This week lacrosse is back full force with two days of games, both out of town and daily practice. Luckily there are people who carpool. :) 
•  Jack has got a full week of lessons- tennis, drawing, and yoga. 
•  I've been bitten by the spring cleaning bug and have  a list to tackle-luckily I took a big chunk off of it today. 
• Garden- we have finished tilling all the gardens up and I need to get the flower seeds put out.
• Also I am making a list of herbs to track down for our garden. I would really like to focus on those this year. Will share those plans soon.
• A couple of gifts to tend to.
• And a party with friends planned for this weekend.
• And it is back to homeschooling this week. 
• trying a new granola recipe
• finish up the Soul Restoration assignments.

What's on your list?

 

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's day

Jack making cupcakes for dessert tonight.

Hope everyone had a fantastic day sharing the love. :) 

Sept 13 2010

I'm back to menu planning this week after a week of, "I have no idea" as an answer to what's for dinner.  I've really been enjoying the time and $$ saved by menu planning, not to mention that my freezer has also been enjoying the benefits. This week karate starts for Jack so Tuesdays and Thursdays need to have meals either in the crockpot or from the freezer.  Also with karate and tennis I want to make sure that he has a little more protein in his meals and snacks on those days. So here's this week's plan:

Breakfasts:

• Mon- pancakes & fruit I slept in and daddy did breakfast so it was cereal. 
• Tues- oatmeal & fruit
• Wed- pumpkin pancakes & fruit
• Thurs- Eggs and toast
• Fri- muffins and fruit

Lunch (Jack):

• bagel and cream cheese
• chicken strips and corn
• pb&j  with yogurt
• mac & cheese
• quesadilla

Dinner:

• lemon pepper  chicken on the grill with corn
• Sloppy joes- crock pot
• Burritos
• lasagna from the freezer
• park-potluck
• bean & rice bowls with cornbread

Snacks-

• granola bar with milk
• peanut butter balls
• muffins
• scones
• mini cheese and carrot balls with crackers

Freezer:

• pumpkin scones
• breakfast bars
• raspberry buttermilk bread

July 8 2010

Today I took care of revamping a busy problem area, my message center in the kitchen. When the planets are aligned right, this is where kids put their papers that Zac and I need to look at and where the old calendar used to be. My dry erase calendar was not erasing so well anymore, so I took it and went at it with some chalkboard paint because it would still make a great chalkboard for Jack to use.

I also painted the frame red, used to be white. Barely dry and he went to work drawing on it. above it you can see our in/out paper holder. I revamped it with some red spray.

Up above we have my new calendar for the kids. I found this at a yard sale and thought it was so cute I had to have it. :) So the plan is that the kids write their activities for the week up there so that I know who is going where, because life with 3 teens is getting just that crazy. I'll also put up there what I have going that might interfere with them getting rides, etc. This will mainly be in use after school starts. 

Above that  is my happy thought board. :) I'm really trying to be a more optimistic, positive person and I really want to be an example of that to my kids. So this is my happy thought board. Ideally I'll change the saying every day or every other day so that they see it on their way out the door in the morning. Just something too get everyone's day off to a good start.  It's just a press board square covered with orange chalkboard paint.

While I was working on all this, Zac had his own project.

 

And Jack, who is patiently ;) waiting for the chicks to come, had a project of his own.

He's making signs to put on the chicken coop.  Awesome!

And my favorite pic of the day:

July 7 2010

The reading is really starting to go. He's been sounding out words on signs, packages, and everywhere else. He really enjoys getting his LEGO magazine in the mail.

I've been enjoying my new read.For the first time in my life I made homemade bread. Artisan bread doesn't count here. Now I can check that off the list. :)     And yes we will be making it again, it was very good. 

May 24 2010

Today Jack and I started learning about oceans. First we collected our beanie babies and ocean toob toys together to talk about what they were and read more about them.  I love the Dr Seuss learning library!

Next up we started working on our ocean mural, more pics to come later in the week.

Then Jack played chef and made an ocean treat to eat. Although he only had a few bites, it was way too sweet!

It consisted of vanilla pudding with blue sprinkles for water, crushed graham crackers for sand and gummy fruit fish. He had fun making it though!

Along with the books in the picture above we also read Mr. Seahorse by Eric Carle.

And this morning he is waiting ever so patiently, not, for me to help him on the ocean mural again.

March 1 2010

Today has been all about books!

For Jack's school today we started reading some of our Dr. Seuss books. They have a great reading passport on this site. There are also some fun games there, which he spent time on today.  I have some fun things planned for tomorrow for Dr Seuss day. :) If only I could pull off the green eggs and ham and actually have him eat it.

We also did a quick library run on the way to pick up Talisa. Real quick and I forgot some of the books I was going to pick up. Oh well.

 

I went to Costco this afternoon and found this. Oh my. I can tell it will be another favorite. I love my Everyday Food magazines and books. 

Feb 26 2009

The last week in pics:

Yummy apple-plum muffins using my standby fruit and veggie muffin recipe. This time with flax and granola added. Yummy and healthy.

 

Lots of painting and hands on activities. With the colder weather this week we've been climbing the walls. So I tried to do a lot of hands on activities. It helped. Play dough, painting, building and baking.

Now I'm coming clean, on my little itty bitty blog, kind of. The past month has been long and hard health wise. Uncertainty and lots of waiting led to lots of thinking. In fact we are still waiting.  Thinking about the kind of life I have and the kind of life I want. Thinking about the kind of example of living that I am setting for the kiddos of a carefully though out life, but not necessarily fulfilled and lived fully.  So after my latest doctor appointment this past Monday, I made a decision. A decision to stop passively living my life and actually start living. Something along the lines of not putting things off for the right time, and start doing things despite what other people think.  I want to be able to say I lived my life fully. It seemed like I needed a stepping off point. So I decided to do something that I had always wanted to do. So without further ado...here it is...

 

I got my nose pierced. I have always wanted one. And really if everyone else is punching holes in my body I wanted one that I wanted to have, not just needed. ;)