Our day at the 'circus'

A circus exhibit at the museum. Kids were pretty wild about it.






High wire act. #1 didn't find his balance as easily as he thought.


Little miss flew up and down the wire.


#1 did many flips on this.

Took #2 a few tries to figure out how to flip

All wanted a picture with mr. stone man

menu plans

I don't know about you but I love to look at other peoples ideas about what to eat. I'm big on stocking up(the few trips the better!) and making ahead. Last week I browned up all the ground meat I'll need for the next month. Today and tomorrow are baking days-made a batch of butterhorn rolls and 2 loaves of french bread today. Tomorrow making hamburger buns and pumpkin bread. I usually try to premake a couple meals that I can pull out on busy day too. This helps us eat better(not so tempting to fast food and is healthier for us!) and helps my sanity in trying to get a meal together with a little more speed.

Anyway since my mom had asked for meal ideas for when we visit next thought I'd go ahead and post what's on the menu for the next 2 weeks.

Breakfast
Steel cut oats
Quinoa
Brown Rice (all three of these are served with milk and fruit)
pancakes/waffles with bacon and juice
muffins or pumpkin bread with yogurt
Egg casserole with fruit


Lunch- not big on lunch planning usually leftovers or PB & J
leftovers
pb & j or lunch meat sandwich with veggies
humus and veggies
guacamole with chips and fruit smoothie
salmon turnovers and fruit or veggie
mac & cheese with hot dogs/sausage

Dinner
Roast, potatoes, carrots, green beans, apple sauce and rolls

Taco salad

Chicken soup and rolls

Chicken & rice casserole, apple sauce

Chili Mac and Peas

Pizza with salad or fruit(usually have this on Friday nights)

Pasta with white sauce, veggie and bread

Grill burgers, coleslaw and potato salad

Beef Stroganoff with peas and apple sauce

Tamale pie with salad and fruit

Taco soup

Snacks - don't always have but options are:
chips and salsa
smoothie
popcorn
string cheese
homemade cookies(love to eat but not often inspired to bake!)

creative writing

Fridays are usually days that the older two write letters to whom ever their heart desires. This past week we have been reading some Psalms so instead of our usual letter writing they were asked to write their own Psalm. So I have my daughters to share. Would be happy to share my son's as well but he has misplaced it. I try my best to organize the boy and I have hopes that all my hard work will some day pay off in that area.....until then.

Oh thank you Lord
that we have games

Oh thank you Lord
that I have a family

Oh thank you Lord
that I have four brothers

Oh thank you Lord
that I have a Bible

Oh thank you Lord
that I have you!!!

by #2
age 8
2/26/10

Here is a song I wanted to add....it's been stuck in my head all week.

painting wars

Left with the warning "only paint on the paper" I looked up from helping the older kids with something to see the paint brushes flying at each other.
I guess they were using some restraint as they only got each others back. #4 was a disaster when finished as he ended up painting with his hand. But they had fun and the paint didn't end up on anything inside so all is good.



A beautiful visitor we had today.

picture fun

James brought home a new camera so I took a closer look at it today.


#1 took some time from a good book to smile for us.



First pictures I took.....love the blue eyes and lips and teeth and thighs! Baby's are so sweet!




Some that James took on Saturday.



The Busy Boy

The Cuddle Boy


The Drool Boy




Goofy Girl

news from the homefront

Biggest news is Daddy's home!! Friday was a long day with the question 'Can we go get Dad now?' popping up constantly. Kinda like the kids asking 'are we there yet' as soon as you leave the driveway. But we made it through the day and he actually arrived an 1/2 hour early!!
Had a nice weekend getting reacquainted and a lovely Sunday afternoon at the beach. Ah, just going to the beach and soaking up the sun, the blue waves and white sand......soooooo relaxing.

Alas, the man had sad news about the computer...it is truly toast. Computer shopping is in the works.

Planning to do some baking with the little kids today. Have to work on keeping them fully engaged. Yesterday they were playing nicely downstairs, or so I thought. When I checked on them they had water in every play kitchen item that they could find. #4 and the carpet were soaked! Not sure if they were trying to have tea or create a water park;)

Hello from the land of no computer. Waiting on my computer man to come home and fix.
In the meantime I am happy that I have this niffty phone that I can play with.

Kids spent hours riding bikes with some friends yesterday-they were in heaven as we don't have bikes so it was a real treat for them.
#1 was the second child to loose a tooth in the 'great tooth race' of 2010.
Baby boy is almost sitting up by himself. *sob* They grow up in the blink of an eye!
P.S. I need to remember that when oldest sobs I don't want to do anything(and we are trying to get some school work done) this too shall pass before I know it.

Planted some new flowers in the garden so it is beautiful right now. Also talked with the neighbor and I think they are going to trim/tear out an annoying overgrown bush that is invading our space. That will be a blessing.