Menu Plan Monday...Err Tuesday!

The happiest countdown moment in the life of a Disney traveler has happened today! Our Magicbands arrived, signaling that it's time to get packing and loaded and go! It was a great high to the low of the fact that a long weekend of fun was over. I hope you all had a great holiday weekend. We spent it out of town but having a lot of fun together as a family.

Did anyone else wake up today thinking it was Monday? We got our trash out, did school work and even began to get ready for Cross Country when my husband sent me a text to inform me that I was completely off on days and there was no cross country until tomorrow! Oh dear, at least we are prepared for tomorrow. Since we did a lot of eating out I knew I had to get our menu in order for this week and here I am finally sharing another Menu Plan Monday on a Tuesday since it's not really Monday!

Tuesday: Mexican street corn with Quesadilla bar (Watermelon with lime and salt for dessert)
Wednesday: Grilled Chicken sandwich w/ individual Caprese salad (Ice cream Sundaes for dessert)
Thursday: Mexican Grilled Hotdogs (Hot dog topped with avocado, pico de gallo and jalapenos)
Friday: Salad bar with Baked Potato bar and Summer berries for dessert
Saturday: Mini Meatloaves with Mashed Potato toppings and cantaloupe slices for dessert
Sunday: Fettuccini Alfredo but the noodles are made from Zucchini

All dinners are being served with a pitcher of ice water and lemon slices to cut down on our carb overload! LOL! I needed a quick week of meals that could be prepared fast or in the crockpot! With Fall sports kicking off, I knew it would be a week of rush, rush, rush followed by evenings of wine, wine wine! HAHA!

 

Enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

A Thankful Heart...

Happy Thanksgiving from The Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls and our family to yours!! I truly hope that it is an amazing day full of love, fun and food for all.

Charlie the elf is back! He has built a staircase out of cardboard and snuggled up in a big black chair with a slice of pie, Hot Coffee his reindeer, Inside Out the movie and his letter to the kids. The kids are beyond excited to see him and cannot wait for the season of Charlie antics! Keep up in this main post HERE with everything he has going on this year. 

Enjoy every minute my friends!

 

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Amusement parks in the rain are the very best...lines are short and the laughs last forever!

Custom made wood toys are not only fun for learning but durable and can be passed on from kid to kid, that is what I love about handmade manipulatives, you can't beat having fun and learning at the same time! All it takes is a fraction dominoes printable or create your own, some furniture tacks, mod podge and rectangular wood pieces and you are all set!

Enjoy every minute my friends!

 

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Upcoming...

 

Those that know us, know that we are always on the road, we love to explore and visit and learn about new people and place. I truly believe that I have ants in my pants...I cannot sit still and I must always be on the move, this must be why homeschooling works so well for me. We have been planning out east coast trip for so long, I feel as though we are expecting to do too much on this trip, but I would rather have too much planned, than not enough! We plan on hitting up 7 states along with a jaunt in Canada, this should definitely be quite the learning experience! I am still finishing up the Learning While Away series I started, but wanted to let you know about this trip as well. These are both segments of the blog that will be taking up quite a bit of time and most likely be intersecting. The first series will touch about how we learn while on vacation and the second will take place on the road with more live action shots out of the classroom, not so much of the preparing portion. The second series will be called On the Road to Learning: A homeschoolers guide to hands on learning.

Last week was a total wash as we were busy from sun up to sun down, it was FAIR WEEK! As 4-H kids, they were plenty busy! I am proud to say that  of 7 projects entered into the fair, we had 7 blue ribbons and even 1 class winner! Not bad for 3 kids in their first 6 months of being 4-H members! They have high hopes for this year and I am very excited for this new branch of our life that we have fallen in love with. I plan to share more about our 4H life, but if you are interested, PLEASE message me or contact your local branch, you do NOT have to be a farm kid to join 4H!!! I was always so wrong about this group and only wish that I hadn't missed out on the previous years of this. Some parents in our group are former 4H members themselves, it's awesome!! The fair has packed up and left town yesterday, so now I am ready to get back on focus!

 

These travel segments take a lot of time, planning and research and I really want to share so much of them with you, I only hope you can bear with me as I get everything organized and try not to mix up the 2 segments I will be sharing. There are countless trips to the library, so many that our lack of presence was actually noticed in the library while in Mexico! I try not to buy what I can find at the library, and that has helped me save plenty of pretty travel pennies! This upcoming trip promises to be quite the undertaking! Not only are we driving, but we plan on stopping and seeing things in each state, from Illinois to New York with plenty of stops in between! From Philadelphia to Niagara Falls in Canada and then going home through Canada and down Michigan and back home again...oh the excitement is unbearable, but I can even admit that we are NOT ready to leave yet, too many loose ends to tie up and too many things left to plan!!

Enjoy every minute of it my friends! My notebooks are bursting and my pencil tips keep breaking, I have too much to write and not enough time to plan...oh how will I ever be able to properly plan a month in Mexico? A month in Europe with 12 countries to hit up? Ahhh..the life of an adventurer...

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Learning While Away...Part 1

Recently I shared with you all about a trip I had to take out of the country. My grandmother had fallen ill and we were just not sure if she was going to make it. I flew out with barely any notice and definitely no time to leave behind a detailed lesson plan. This would be learning on a whim! A laminated map of the USA and Mexico, a ruler, some pencils and we were ready for lesson one. For this lesson we would map out the trip from Rockford, IL to Aguascalientes, Mexico, the final destination.

The first task was to map the trip as it was taken from start to finish, the departure in one color and the arrival in another color. Next, was to find the key on the map and find out how many miles each inch was, then they had to begin calculating distances. Needless to say that flying out of the country will less than 48 hours notice, often times is in the thousands of dollars, I had to keep that fee as low as possible. We ended up having to drive 5 hours to Des Moines, Iowa for a better fare.

1. The children had to calculate the driving distance from our home to the airport.
2. They had to find out how many miles per gallon our car got and how much we spent on gas.
3. They had to find out how much we spent on gas & how many miles we drove to get to the airport.

The math for this leg of the assignment was difficult for the youngest, but it gave an opportunity for the 2 oldest to teach him and show him how to do it in different forms.  Next, it was time to board the plane and travel from Des. Moines, IA on to Dallas, TX. For this part of the assignment, they had to do a little Math, Geography and Research.

1. Calculate the amount of miles I would earn on my credit card from this flight for Math.
2. Fill in a blank USA map on the states that were travelled through to get to Dallas. During this point, they also had to fill in the capitals of each state.
3. Do a little research on what is one thing that state is famous for and or what they export.
Finally it was time to head into Mexico from Dallas and Mexico too is divided into states, so this portion of the trip was an interesting learning experience.

1. Calculate the amount of miles from Dallas, TX to Aguascalientes, MX.
2. Fill in a blank MEXICO map on the states that were travelled through to get to Aguascalientes and also list their capitals. This would have to be done through teamwork and research as I knew they did not know much about the country as a whole.
3. Do some research as to one thing each state is famous for and or what they export.

After a very long 26 + hours of flying and travelling there was plenty of learning going on too. At the end of this lesson, they had to total up the miles travelled all together and all states both American and Mexican that were passed through. The states were put on flashcards for future reference and the miles were kept written on the map on each leg of the trip with the total at the bottom.

Next up in this series is a lesson in changing money and buying things. Having the ability to do the math on vacation for exchange rates is such a necessary thing, that they must test their mental math abilities.
MAPS USED IN THIS LESSON:
Blank USA HERE
Blank MEXICO HERE
Filled MEXICO HERE

Enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Menu Plan Monday...On Thursday!

Yeah, Yeah,Yeah...I know the day is all wrong, but like I said before, I have to catch up!
Seeing as how the week is pretty much over for us, I'm sharing what we had!
Monday: Fundraiser for 4H, so we had pizza and salad and other fun goodies!
Tuesday: Ham, Green Beans & Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes with Spinach & Baby Greens Salad
Wednesday: Buffalo Chicken Bake over pasta with seasoned potato wedges and served with tomato and cucumber slices.

Thursday: Our Housesitters have arrived and we are headed out for the Holiday weekend! Tonight we wait in line for our favorite author Ridley Pearson. We will be eating with friends after that!

Friday: Good Friday! Out to dinner as we are out of town and same with Saturday!
Sunday: Happy Easter! We are doing brunch with the family and then hanging out at the zoo! Brunch is usually far too filling and we skip dinner with just a late dessert to top off the day!

Buffalo Chicken Recipe:
1. Dice up your chicken breasts into whatever size you want and then put in a glass dish and cover with buffalo sauce to marinate overnight. 

2. When it's time to cook, set oven to 350* and then toss your chicken into a baking dish with sauce and then add more so that all the chicken is covered. Top with shredded cheese (We used colby jack) and pop into the oven for 35-40 minutes.

3. Wash and cut up your potato wedges (8 large potatoes) and melt 1/2 stick of butter with garlic and parsley + any other seasonings you would like. Pour butter mixture over potato wedges and toss. Place in baking dish and also at 350 for 35-40 minutes (Check for crispness)

4. While that is in the oven get your pasta water ready to begin a boil at about 15 minutes to cooking time.

5. Chop scallions to top the wedges and the chicken bake.

6. Make salad of your choice, we ate all the celery and carrot sticks for snack today, so we had to go with tomato and cucumber slices.

7. Your pasta and all the oven goodies should finish at the same time. Turn off the oven and leave your potatoes to crisp up as you finish with the chicken bake.

8. Get a large bowl to serve out of that will also allow you to mix in. Toss in some of the pasta, then some of the chicken, some of the pasta, some of the chicken. Continue to layer but make sure it's only the chicken going in, NOT the sauce.

9. With what is left of the sauce, add in flour a little at a time to make a thicker sauce to pour over the entire bowl that you have layered. Begin to mix it all together and then top with scallions!

10. ENJOY!

Enjoy your weekend my friends!!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Sunday School Post #8

Happy Sunday my friends! It has been a busy weekend with birthday celebrations and fun, so I apologize now for the very late post! I am busy preparing for the month of April in our classroom, with Easter and Spring bringing so much fun and excitement. Here is a calendar I found online HERE and then jazzed up a bit, this is perfect for using in our classroom to look up information in the morning during our prayer time.

Stopping in to a preview sale at the library got me striking it rich when I found my very own copy of The Book of Virtues!! I love sitting on the floor of a book sale and going through each and every box as I create piles and then sort through my piles to make stacks and then realize I have spent more than I intended and of course far more time than I ever thought was possible. A book sale is like a rabbit hole for me!

This past weekend took us out of town and of course exploring a new church! This is St. Peter's Church in Geneva and not quite new to me as I grew up at this parish and even was the first class to graduate in this church. I love taking the kids to a piece of my history. Visiting new churches is so much fun for not only the adults but the kids as well, they all seem to do something different for children. Here, they have special children's bulletins, complete with scripture verses and activities along with the readings of the day. They have 1 version for younger children and 1 for older children.

Our Love Dare for Children/Couples challenge still goes on and we are enjoying every part about it still. I recommend this to anyone that just wants to strengthen the bond they have with their spouse and or children. Both books are sold seperately and both go into so much detail!

I absolutely LOVE this labeled Paschal candle that I found online HERE. I printed it out in black and white, so that the kids could color it as they read each part of it!

Time for some Little Flowers Girls Club updates! Look at those cute buttons, I found them at Joann fabric and I think they would look so cute sewn on a sash! My daughter is going to put 3 on her sash and I plan on offering them up to the girls in our group in the future for a craft!

I just took my Leader Guide to Office Max and had it unbound and then hole punched for under 5.00 and now I can just slip it in a binder! This allows me to use tabbed dividers with folders in between each virtue, where I can stick ideas, worksheets, prayers and anything else I need for that particular meeting. I love being able to organize it just a bit more than it already was!

I also picked up some baseball trading card sheets to hold Holy Cards that I will need for this wreath. I have mentioned HERE, that we put our prayer cards on binder rings. That works best for us, because we love the portability of it all, but this works great for being able to view what I need and find it quickly. Some of the cards I even have multiples of, if the girls need 1.

This is my special gift to my Little Flower. I am collecting medals of each Saint we are studying in Wreath 1 and making her a charm bracelet that I will gift to her when the wreath is through. I plan on adding in crystal beads, rose charms and a variety of other things to chunk it up and make it looks sensational!

Our next meeting is on Tuesday and we begin with Virtue #1 and our first Saint is St. Catherine of Siena. This is the print out I THINK I will have for the girls (I have changed it 100 times!) and I plan to share the full meeting in next weekend's Sunday School post but wanted to share what I had so far. From the print out, they cut out each section and then create their own 'St. Page' as they listen to a story I read from a children's saint book. The page includes a Saint Coloring sheet, picture of St. Catherine, a print out of the Memory Verse and a prayer and reflection sheet. These can all be found using a simple Google Search.

Once again, over at Office Max you can have your Little Flower Member manual unbound and coiled for less than 4.00 and now it's easier to use and it looks so much nicer!

I absolutely love this quote!! Enjoy every minute my friends!

All posts in the Sunday School meme can be found HERE!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

This Moment...

In this moment I am...

~Sipping Jasmine Green tea
~Reading Panic by Lauren Oliver

~Nibbling green grapes
~Smelling a Country Apple candle
~Thinking of blog ideas for tomorrow

In This Moment, I am...

~Laying with my feet in my husbands lap
~Laughing to myself about something silly I heard earlier
~Printing out work for tomorrow
~Preparing for my book club by going over We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

~Wishing my kids were awake so we could all snuggle!

In This Moment, I am thinking of my favorite book store of all times...Town House books in St. Charles. Definitely stopping in for a visit this weekend.

Enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!

Wordless on Wednesday...

Disney obsession is something we just can't quit!

Get creative with your snacks! Green twizzler grass, pretzel stick tree trunk, mandarin orange palm tree...

Playing Charades as a family

Enjoy every minute my friends!

   Follow Me On Facebook!
   Follow Me On Pinterest!