Halloween

This year for Halloween, the kids got to pick out their own costumes. In years past, I have alternated years - I get to pick a coordinating theme one year, and they get to pick anything they want (within reason, of course).  So this year, Gretchen chose Queen Cleopatra, Daniel chose Anakin Skywalker, and Austin chose Darth Vader. I'm not entirely sure that the boys understood they were essentially the same person, just at different points of their lives, but oh well! They enjoyed it. Gretchen was especially excited to get to wear "adult make-up" with her costume. 

We went out Trick-or-Treating, which for our kids, means getting spoiled rotten by all our close friends. We have 4 houses that we go to every year, and this year we added a 5th, all people that we have known since before we had kids, and who always beg to see the kids on Halloween. They put together special treat bags for the kids, and love oohing and ahhing over costumes. It's nice for us, because we know that it will be a fun and safe night. We usually trick-or-treat a few of the neighbors houses at each stop along the way, so by the end of the night, the kids have definitely got full pumpkin buckets!

It's October!

Today is the first day of October, and fall is definitely in the air. I have my garden almost all put to bed for the winter - just have some more potatoes to pull out and the last of the tomatoes and cucumbers. I've been canning lots of cucumbers this year, and making lots of homemade spaghetti sauce, and now am ready to begin making lots of jam and pie fillings with the yummy tree fruits from Greenbluff. And I can finally say good-bye to the 90 degree weather! I'm sorry, but I'm not a huge fan of it being so hot I can't breathe!

This year, I am choosing to participate in a special project - October Unprocessed. It's a month to devote to eating as clean as you possibly can. I am looking forward to this challenge, and hoping I can feel some results.

Does this interest you? Follow the link to the side to get more information.

Project 365 Day 216

We visited the sunflower field today to grab some photos before the flowers started wilting and looking sad. I love this sunflower field - this is the second year that the farmer has grown sunflowers. Since it is right on the highway, tons of people visit the field to get photos taken - even some professional photographers come out with clients for senior photos and such. But I am a bit biased - I think these three are the best looking sunflowers in the field!

Activity Jar

We have a lifesaving Activity Jar at our house. Why lifesaving? Because it was born out of utter frustration and exhaustion of listening to my three devils beautiful children arguing non-stop on the drive home from the grocery store one summer day last year. As I was driving down the highway, I thought seriously of stopping roadside and letting the kids walk the rest of the way home. Yea, I know it was still 10 miles to our house, but really - the noise! Instead, I devised a plan in my head, and as soon as I got home, I put it into action, and that afternoon resulted in 2-1/2 hours - yes, that many hours! - of beautiful behavior and fun for my children. I think what they all really needed was time alone to do a project without a sibling telling them how to do it. And I needed time to actually hear the voices in my head, instead of the arguing ones outside my head!

This activity jar is great to pull out when the weather is too rainy or snowy or stinkin' hot to go outside. It is a cure for sibling tensions. It is a cure for the "I'm bored" whines. I cannot say enough good things about it. You *need* to make one for your family. Let me show you how.

Start with a simple wide mouth container. It has to accommodate a child's hand reaching in. I had found 3 of these matching glass containers at the local Goodwill one day, and loved that they were square instead of round. It was perfect for this project.

Next, get a piece of cardstock and cut it into strips. With a sharpie marker, write down as many activities as you can think of that your child(ren) can do on their own with very limited adult interaction for 30 minutes. We picked toys that hadn't been played with for a while, and things the kids loved doing, and made sure it was a wide variety of activities. My kids are very close together in age (currently, 6,7 & 8) so I didn't have to worry much about different activities for different ages - it all worked. If you have kids further apart than I do, first, you might be more sane than I, and second, you might want to use different color cardstock for each child.

Last, make your jar attractive, because it will be out for all to see. And you can impress your other mom friends at the same time, and share with them your sanity saver.

 And then you are ready for the fun to begin! We let each child pick a slip of paper, and the rule is you cannot exchange it - you have to do what it says. Then we gather the activity, put each child in a different room, and set the timer. 30 minutes of activity. And you know what? It works like pixie dust! The kids have fun, they know they won't be stuck doing the same thing for the rest of the day, and they enjoy playing with something they haven't hardly looked at for a while.

 Giant Picture Page                       Craft Project                                    Trio Blocks

Project 365 Day 168

Today was the first day of Science Camp for Austin.

While he was gone, I took Daniel & Gretchen to our local

library for a program on Underground. They learned about

cave drawings, and got to create their own using sandpaper.

We finished the afternoon off with a movie, The Croods, with all three kids.

Project 365 Day 163

It is officially summer break! The kids are out of school for the summer, 

so we celebrated with fun summer buckets full of goodies!

Bring on the fun!!

Project 365 Day 160

Today was Promotion Sunday at our church. All the kids got certificates if they moved up to the next class.

Austin earned not only his certificate, but also his Bible for completing 2nd grade. He was very excited!

Meal Plan Monday

Two weeks in a row, baby! I'm getting good at this!

Monday - Pork Chops, Squash (in my Bountiful Basket this week!), Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. I also already made Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake for dessert!

Tuesday - Cheesy Crab Enchiladas, courtesy of a cookbook challenge with my MOMS Club.

Wednesday - Ravioli Casserole, garlic bread and salad

Thursday - Mini Pizzas, customized for each person - kids love this kind of dinner!

Friday - Grilled Rib Eye Steaks and Twice Baked Potatoes - we'll try this again since we cancelled it out last week.

Saturday - Family Birthday Party at my sister's

Sunday - Soup in a Bread Bowl - my oldest loves being able to eat his bowl! He is a bread junkie!

For more menu ideas, head over to Organizing Junkie's Meal Plan Monday post for this week.

Meal Plan Monday

It has been a super long time since I've posted my weekly menu on my blog. I always have a menu - ok, almost always - but I rarely sit down to post it here and link up with Organizing Junkie. But I am trying to do better about keeping up on my blog, so here goes!

Monday - Pork Tenderloins seasoned with sage, thyme & garlic, and cooked with onion. Served with Parmesan Crusted Potato Cakes and peas.

Tuesday - Rigatoni and Meatballs, with garlic bread

Wednesday - Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, using one of the chickens we butchered last fall, served with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Thursday - Tacos

Friday - Waffles & Bacon

Saturday - Grilled Rib Eye Steaks and Twice Baked Potatoes

Sunday - Church Potluck at Small Group Fellowship

For more menu ideas, head over to Organizing Junkie's Meal Plan Monday post.

**Update** Ended up going to Golden Corral for Saturday night dinner - it was a very busy day, and my husband wanted to take the kids there for a treat. And of course, they seated us right in front of the chocolate fountain, so it made it very hard for the kids to focus on their healthy stuff before they could get the desserts! But we let them splurge on lots of dipped yummies, and a cone of cotton candy. Can you say sugar high? But it was fun!

52 weeks of RAK - Week 8

I've decided to join up with Amber at My Three Bittles and her project 52 Weeks of Random Acts of Kindness. What a neat project! Love this idea. Every Friday I will have to update as to which RAK I've decided to do. Since I just found this blog today, I'm one day late this week, but that's ok.

Let's see....what did I do this week....

Friday I was making a rice krispie cub scout hat for the Blue and Gold Banquet, and I saved out enough of the treats to make each of the kids and my hubby and after school snack, and put sprinkles on them. They thought that was pretty special!

Thursday Gretchen got her cast on, and to make her feel more special about it, and less self-conscious, I hot glued rhinestones on the wrist of the cast for a bracelet. She was pretty stinkin' proud of the bling!

Thursday James and I decided to buy a rack of day old breads from our local Franz Bakery Outlet store. That one rack filled up the whole back of our little Toyota Tacoma pick up truck. After filling our freezers with as much as we could, we still had lots leftover. Instead of feeding it all to my chickens, I started calling friends and and neighbors and gifted them with bread for their families. They were all thrilled!

I am hoping to be a lot more intentional with my RAK over the next several weeks. Kindness sure goes a long way in this dreary winter weather.

Cub Scout Hat Cake

For this year's Blue and Gold Celebration, I decided to try my hand at making a likeness of the boys' Cub Scout hat out of Rice Krispie treats. It was fun to make, and pretty easy. I formed the bowl of the hat over another bowl turned upside down, but in retrospect, next time I will make the bowl of the hat a solid section of rice krispie treats. I ended up having to put some balled up tin foil under the hat to keep it's shape. But otherwise, I was pretty pleased with the results, and it tasted super good, too!

Coffee Chat

It's been a long time since I've joined up with Rachel at Home Sanctuary for a Friday session of Company Girl Chat. I'm trying to get better at keeping my blog updated, so I thought this would be a good opportunity today.

So grab your beverage of choice, and join me.....

Today was a good day. I joined a new prayer group today, Moms in Prayer, and I think I am really going to enjoy it. It is very small, just three of us, and I only just met the women today, but I can already tell that they are strong prayer warriors, and now how to pray for their families. I am impressed with the organization of how to pray during our weekly meetings, and will incorporate it into daily prayer for myself and my family. The opportunity to just gather with other women to pray over our kids is a powerful thing, and I'm very glad that I found this group. And very glad that my friend Kate at Parker People posted on Facebook about meeting up with her Moms in Prayer group, which prompted me to research one in my area. I'm glad I did.

I was able to gift a lot of people with bread today. I know, that seems like a strange kind of statement! But yesterday my hubby and I decided to buy a full rack of breads from the local Franz Bakery Outlet Store. It was only $25, and the bread products completely filled the back of our little Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. It was more than I had imagined! We came home, and filled our freezers with as much as we could fit, and it didn't even look like we had made a dent! So I took 3 bags and 1 box of bread to our 4H meeting last night, and everyone was thrilled to take home free bread! And then I went to our neighbor's house (they have 5 kids) and had them take whatever they wanted. Then I took the remains to my bible study group, and had them fill bags with bread. And I still have 2 big boxes and 1 bag of bread left to take to church on Sunday. We certainly got our $25 worth, and we were able to bless others, too. I think we will be doing this once a month.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon preparing food for the Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet for the boys. A big veggie tray, a pot of chicken and veggie rice, and a tray of cookies. I also made a Silent Auction cake - it was a cub scout hat molded from Rice Krispie treats, and then frosted in the colors of the cub scout hat. It turned out super cute, but unfortunately, this Cub Scout pack is not big on Cake Auctions like other Cub Scout packs are. Mine was the only cake in the auction, and everything else was either specific cub scout items or outdoorsy type things. So I bought my own cake back, just so I would know that it would earn some money, and we brought it home to munch on ourselves. I think the boys were happy about that - they get to eat all the yummy rice krispie treats!

It was a busy day today, and my poor husband has caught the nasty cold that I have been suffering with all week. Of course, just when I am starting to feel better, he starts to feel worse. We are both looking forward to tomorrow, because we have absolutely NOTHING scheduled!! It is a day of complete rest and play, something our whole family needs after this busy and crazy week. I hope you all take time to just rest tomorrow too! Thanks for joining me today!

Project 365 Day 53

Tonight our boys had their Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet to celebrate the anniversary of Cub Scouts. The theme for the night was Everyday Heroes. Austin's Den chose police and fire for their heroes and each boy created their own 3D Collage. Daniel's Den chose Family for their heroes and each boy decorated a memory box with pictures of their family members. Daniel also displayed Daddy's old cub scout shirt/patches that Grammy Pammy turned into a pillow, and showed off Mommy's old Girl Scout sashes with her old badges, just to show that scouting is part of their family history. I made a Cub Scout hat out of rice krispie treats and frosted it for the Silent Auction. It was a fun night!

Project 365 Day 52

 Gretchen got her cast on today! Of course, bright pink.

And when we got home, we blinged it out by hot glueing rhinestones

for a bracelet, plus random other stones onto the cast.

Best looking cast ever!

 James' mom, Grammy Pammy, sent us a couple of late

Christmas presents to open today.

James had an old 1958 set of books, Through Golden Windows.

She was able to find two more sets, and sent each of the kids their own sets

to add to their personal libraries. Pretty cool, and they loved them!

Project 365 Day 50, part 2

Girl Scout Thinking Day

Our Troop chose Zimbabwe as our country. Each girl learned how to bake 

Sweet Potato Cookies at a troop meeting and then had to 

make a batch at home with an adult and bring them to 

Thinking Day to earn their Cookie Baking Fun Patch.

Gretchen getting ready to make a shaker from one of the countries, 

although I can't remember now which one!

Trying to get 15 little Daisies to all look at the camera nicely 

together is impossible, with a certain redhead being one of the craziest!

Project 365 Day 50 part 1

Today was not a stellar day for me. This cold is kicking my rear, we were late leaving the house for school, and then with the new snow on the roads, my car slid right into the ditch. The good part was that my neighbor happened to drive by, and she went back home and got her tractor (yes, we were that close to home!). She was able to pull me right out!

Project 365 Day 49

Gretchen sporting her new hard splint and wrap that the doctor put on her today. We had a well-child check already scheduled for her and Daniel, which ended up being very convenient! He took a look at her x-rays, and it is indeed broken enough to need a cast. That appointment is on Thursday, so until then, its the wrapped splint and sling. He also found ear infections in both ears, the right one worse than the left. So 10 days worth of meds for her.  She's up to 3'7-3/4" and 40 lbs. Daniel is at 4'1/4" and 40 lbs. Daniel also has his very first loose tooth, which he is super excited about!

Project 365 Day 48

No photos today. It was quite a day today. My cold is coming on full force, which is never fun. Gretchen had a really hard time going out in public today with her arm in the sling - she is so self-conscious about it and what people will say. She was sure all her friends would laugh at her. I ended up going to her Sunday School class with her today instead of listening to Pastor Kurt's sermon. But it was good to go with her, and make her feel comfortable, and show her that her friends were there to help her. And I got the chance to watch her teacher in action. She is blessed to have a great Sunday School teacher, who knows the word, and knows how to get it into these kids' hearts.

James took the kids to the Monster Truck Show again this year. He and three other dads got together and took all their kids. Such a big thing for the kids - they loved it! And it gave me a few hours of quiet time at home, which was much needed. I was able to get lots of preparations done for the upcoming Girl Scout Thinking Day on Tuesday.

We then went to our Small Group Fellowship meeting at a friends house, and enjoyed yummy food and great conversation. But Gretchen wasn't doing well at all, and ended up cuddling with me on my lap the whole night. Her poor little elbow was really swollen and her ears were really hurting her. I'm so glad we have an appointment already set up with her regular doctor for tomorrow. It's supposed to be a yearly well-child check for both Gretchen and Daniel, but he'll be able to check out her arm and ears and get her some relief I hope.

Project 365 - Day 36

Today I learned how to crochet a 3 layered flower. I love how it turned out! I am envisioning several of these made in lots of colors to make hair pretties for my daughter Gretchen, who just turned 6. And I think I will make some for my older niece Aimee, who will be 12 soon, and my newest niece Gracie, who was born in November. They were much easier than I thought they would be, and didn't take much time to make. Perfect for working on while the kids have their baseball practice, cub scouts, or even while listening to the sermon at church. I always need to keep my hands busy in order to really soak in what is being taught to me.

Here is a link to the first video of the lesson I took. There are three videos. I really enjoyed them.
Layered Flower - Crochet

Project 365 - Day 33

Butterfly 6th Birthday Party

We celebrated Gretchen's 6th birthday today with a butterfly theme.

We had quite a lot of mostly 6 year olds - and they can make a lot of noise!

Our good friend Karen made her butterfly birthday cake and it turned out super cute!

Project 365 - Day 31

Daniel's birthday is December 29 - right in the middle of the school Christmas break. So of course, we totally forgot to take birthday cupcakes to his classroom! Finally, a little over a month later, this mommy got her act in gear and took cupcakes to school.  He loved them! Happy belated birthday my sweet 7 year old!

Project 365 - Day 30

Gretchen asleep with all her dollies lined up next to her.

Sweet dreams my ginger princess!

Project 365 - Day 8

Today is our 19th Anniversary - what a journey we have been on!

19 years ago today, this is what we looked like:

And this is what we look like today:

And the flowers my sweet hubby brought home for me:

We had a wonderful evening out while our neighbor Beth watched the kids.

Dinner at Outback Steakhouse - yummy!

Project 365 - Day 7

We got 8-10" of snow overnight - yikes!

All my plans for errands and activities went out the window.

Instead, I stayed home to plow - I spent 3 hours on the tractor

moving snow out of the way!

Project 365 - Day 6

Happy Sunday! The text from today's sermon:

1 John 1:1-4 (The Message)

1 ^1-2 From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.

^3-4 We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

Notes from today's sermon:
1.  Share from your experiences
2.  Have a willingness to share - be intentional. Be willing to defend your faith.
3.  Have the motive to share - verse 3
4.  We receive a reward - it makes our joy complete.

Project 365 - Day 5

First day of basketball camp

Project 365 - Day 4

Well, this isn't my photo, but it's from Pinterest.

It is what I decided to make for dessert tonight.

It was a huge hit! Definitely will do again, but

will let it sit in the freezer for an hour or so before eating.
 Here is where I found the recipe:
Nom Nom Blog - recipe