First Friday Food Figuring

January's Dinner Menu...

Beef Dishes:

Beef Cubes
Sloppy Joes
Beef Tater Tot Casserole
Beef Mexican Casserole
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Meatloaf

Poultry Dishes:

Teriyaki Chicken on sticks
Chinese Chicken (Chicken with Broccoli and Chicken Fried Rice from scratch)
Chicken Broccoli Cups
Mini Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner
Chicken Tater Tot Casserole

Other Dishes:
New Year's Day Pork
Fish
Pork Chops

We have dinner night schedule set up... Each child has the responsibility of setting the table which includes plates, silverware, napkin and a water cup, picking out a noodle, potato, or rice (if not a casserole), and a vegetable (peas, carrots, broccoli, green beans {cut or whole}, or corn) of their choice... Dinner Night Child then with some assistance if necessary heats up the meat/casserole, prepares the rice or noodle (as applicable) and the vegetable... They also serve the food onto the plates... Finally they call everyone to the dinner table for prayer and to share the meal as a family... Sundays everyone helps with dinner responsibilities... Mondays and Fridays are Track Star Night, Tuesdays and Thursdays are Musical Princess Night, and Wednesdays and Saturdays is Writer/Illustrator Night... Comedian and Scientist will be added to the rotation once they start Kindergarten...

Time To Start Blogging Again Thursday - New Year's Day

I decided I'm going to start blogging... I've been away for a while and decided it's something I want to do again... Lots of changes have happened since I last wrote... So, I'll be spending the coming weeks catching everyone up... I hope you all are well and leave a comment so I know you are reading... Feel free to leave any questions you may have... I'll answer them when I can... See you again tomorrow...

Updates, Updates, Updates

Updates on 1st Day of School, My birthday, Our week with no TV or internet/computer by choice! and much, much more! Zooming to a computer screen near you... Stay tuned!

New Posts Coming Soon!

I will be starting to blog again soon... I've decided to continue without censoring the content... If the breech in security causes an issue... I'll alert my readers and put it on password protection... New news... Photos... Updates arriving soon!!!

The Last Day - Thursday

Today was the last day of school... It is a bittersweet time at the end of a school year... While not having to wake up in the morning many times before the sun had even come up itself will not be missed... The experience and people of school surely will... Yesterday I spent a large part of day outside... Peanut walked to a park near her school... We had a picnic, chased bubbles and I watched her tick away the minutes and hours while playing on the playground... It was hard to go home but we had to meet the bus that Monkey was coming home on... I also spent nearly all day outside today... I have pink skin to prove it... ::smirk:: Today the children had Field Day... There were 12 stations... Musical Chairs, Parachute, Limbo, Volleyball, Fox tail (not sure what that even is), Kick, Catch and Throw the Football, Horseshoe Ring Toss (2 different size rings), Frisbee Throw & Catch, Tug of War, Marshmallow Races (replaced the egg on the spoon race of our childhood), Story time and Scooters in the Gym... I spent part of the time with Peanut and part of the time with Monkey... I pushed the double jogger stroller and Linebacker's stroller back and forth across the school yard... After I paid for lunch at 1/4 to 9 AM, I headed outside and Peanut was closer so I visited and watched her first... She went through the parachute, limbo and volleyball stations... I traveled across the school yard to watch Monkey participate in tug of war, marshmallow races and story time... I met back up with Peanut at snack time... I watched her participate frisbee and tug of war... It was time then again to head across the school yard to watch Monkey partipate in parachute and limbo... It was just after 11 AM... The children gathered together and they took a whole school photo... Next, we filed into the gym/lunch room to pick up our lunches for an outside picnic... I'm not sure if I was just really hungry, it was a good lunch or a little bit of both... They served today a 'bagged lunch'... We usually have a choice between a sandwich and hot lunch dish... In it today was crustless PB & J, string cheese, your choice of milk, apple, baby carrots, and granola/chocolate chip bar for 'dessert'... After we finished lunch I watched the children play on the playground till almost 1 PM... It was time for Monkey to walk to the High School to swim... I packed up the trio and drove over to the pool and watched him swim (indoors, too cool for outdoor pool) for about 90 minutes... I packed the trio back up and headed back to school for dismissal... I started first in Peanut's room and loaded all her end of the year gear... We walked to Monkey's classroom (2 doors away; very small school) and gathered all his end of the year items... The children then hugged and said goodbye/have a great summer to all the staff and teachers as we made our way down the hall and out the door to leave... ::sniffle:: I'm soo glad we had such a wonderful year at our new school... I'm excited to start the next year... I am now the mother of a 6th grader, 3rd grader, 1st grader and pre-k child... Time sure does fly... Peanut had her last Speech Therapy session today... She has graduated! We are all proud of her hard work... They had a donut party to celebrate... Enjoy the photos below of all of today's activities... We are all going to sleep good tonight!
Peanut playing 'popcorn' at the parachute station...

Peanut at the limbo station...

Peanut being creative at the limbo station....

Peanut at the volleyball station... Her's the green ball about the go over the net... They were divided girls vs boys... The goal was to have fewer balls on your side then the other side... Two rules... No kicking the ball... No throwing under the net (has to go over or through a hole in the net)...

Peanut becoming passionate about winning at the volleyball station... ::smirk::

Monkey and his best 'girl' friend (pink skirt), J, in his class at the tug of war station...

Up close photo of Monkey and J at the tug of war station.... Her mom told me she insists on wearing skits all the time and even refuses thermals/leggings in the winter... ::smirk:: She likes her knee socks the best! She owns pants but never chooses to wear them...

Monkey at the marshmallows races station... He is at the moment of this PIC winning against his friend N...

Now Monkey going backwards at the marshmallows races station...

Monkey doing the crab walk at the marshmallows station...

Peanut having her snack at the snack station aka Horseshoe/Ring Toss Station... I rarely ever catch my shadow in a picture... I usually very careful about that... Shows how excited I was... ::grin::

Peanut and her best 'girl' friend, S, at the frisbee station...

Peanut at the tug of war station... Mrs. O the gym teacher helping out a bit on the end...

Monkey playing 'popcorn' at the parachute station...

Monkey is now playing 'sharks and lifeguards' at the parachute station...

Monkey at the limbo station... He actually made it and didn't fall on his knees... Impressive!

Monkey using his creative skills at the limbo station...

Monkey at the pool... He will take his first series of swimming lessons this summer... The pool went from 4 ft to 12 ft deep...

Mr. J, 3rd grade teacher, giving monkey a swimming lesson...

Mr. J helping monkey back to the side after his swimming lesson...

Wordless Wednesday

Trio Tuesday

Linebacker had speech this morning... I then picked up Monkey to have the first two of four teeth pulled... He did very well... We were both very nervous... He has had a few negative dental experiences (dentist not procedure, we switched dentist)... It was wonderful that now he has a positive experience under his belt... Little Guy and Big Boy had their last physical therapy session today... They have come a long way from before they were rolling to rolling, crawling, sitting up, pulling to a stand and cruising furniture... The physical therapist will call in the fall to see if they need another consult and possibly restart therapy... We expect them to start walking soon... They will be up and running before we know it, I'm sure... If all goes well they won't need to restart therapy again...

Morning Monday

I was busy this morning but a very quiet afternoon... Little Guy had his weight check up... He is now 16 lbs 7 oz... That's a gain of 1 lb 4 oz in 28 days... Go Little Guy! Linebacker had his 3 year well check... He is doing wonderful... He is growing good... We talked about his plans for the summer and what his education plans are for fall... I answered another online survey and made $3... Woo hoo! It is good to have a quiet day today because the rest of the week is going to be BUSY... Only 3 more days of school left...

Sitting Saturday

The world didn't end as predicted... On to more important things... Little Guy and Big Boy now will sit themselves up and not fall over smashing themselves into the floor without making any effort of catching themselves... They don't sit for long... I'm so proud that they can now go from crawling to a full sit and then back to crawling again... They are also cruising furniture now too... Stay tuned because I'm sure 1st steps won't be too far off into the future... I also started answering survey's to bring in a little extra cash for myself each month... It isn't much but every little bit helps...Little Guy

Big Boy

Fatigue Friday

Let's say the burning the candle at both ends caught up with me this morning... It manifested itself in the dropping a glass bowl of 2 lbs of hot taco meat... It shattered instantly when it hit the floor... I cleaned up the mess... I went to the store and bought more hamburger... I finished my Taco Casserole... I had planned to go out and do a few things but decided to take it easy most of the day until later in the afternoon when I put a check in the bank, installed the license plates on the van with registration stickers then return the dealerships generic plates to them... I also payed a couple bills... I mostly tried to rest and regroup...

Terrific Thursday

Linebacker had speech this morning... I took Little Guy in for a follow up to his perpetual drippy nose... We are trying a different antibiotic... Peanut had speech this afternoon and then we went to school to watch her musical performance... The kindergarten and 1st grade preformed "The Bear Went Over The Mountain"... Peanut had a speaking part and was part of the general choir... She did a wonderful job! She was a rabbit...

Wordless Wednesday

Tricycle - Tuesday

For Linebacker 3rd birthday also recieved a 2nd hand tricycle... Here are a few pictures from this afternoon of him enjoying it... I also went to the Dentist and he had Speech... It was otherwise a very quiet day...

Linebacker's 3rd Birthday - Monday

Linebacker's 3rd birthday... He had Hardees DQ Icecream Cake... He are the pictures from his party... A few of the presents I don't have him unwrapping because my camera was out of space and only had a few shots left... ENJOY!

We also had our family picture taken for the church directory... I will share that as soon as I have a copy...