Traditions With a New Twist

We have the holiday tradition of decorating gingerbread houses and have always had fun doing them, usually spending that time with other friends or family. The past several years we decorated them the weekend after thanksgiving, thus having some of them for decorations during the Christmas season. This year we weren't able to do them that weekend and it looked as if we may not do them at all. They didn't seem all that excited about any of the usual craft making holiday traditions that we have had. Our boys aren't as into holiday tradition, memory making as I am, or so I thought. The week before Christmas they started asking about our gingerbread houses and when were we going to make them. Then my 8 year old nephew started asking and so my sister and I decided to get together the Friday before Christmas and decorate away. My two older sons, 16 and 13 decided to make a WWII scene with bunkers and boats and soldiers. They made templates, mixed, rolled, cut and baked gingerbread, enough for everyone. We ended up with a very large WWII scene, three houses and a Christmas tree of gingerbread between all of the cousins. They all had great fun and it was a lot less work for me, now that the boys are old enough to do the baking themselves.

Thoughts of Thankfulness

A few things/people I am thankful for:

My Salvation.

My hardworking and loving husband.

Our strong marriage.

Children who are learning to be what God wants them to be.

That my mom is cancer free!

Hunkering Down

Husband just went to the store to restock our pantry in preparation for the next storm. We are supposed to get snow again this afternoon/evening thru tomorrow morning. Sometime tomorrow it is supposed to warm up and turn to rain - but in the meantime we need to be prepared. I know it seems funny to people who get snow all the time, but the Puget Sound area is pretty much paralized when we get snow. We get so little snow that people don't know how to drive in it and it always seems to surprise the DOT, so that the roads are not ready and it always seems to hit during rush hour. My mother, who is in her 60s and a diabetic spent 4 hours on a bus in 20 degree weather on Monday evening. Her normal commute would be about 1 hour and 20 minutes. To further complicate things around here, there was also a Seahawks football game in Seattle on Monday and it let out at about 9pm. The freeways were gridlocked and it took some people 7 + hours to get home, there are stranded cars littering roads and now, as the roads are finally getting cleared off, we are supposed to get another snow. Our dear daughter had to commute to work today, about 40 minutes away from home - thankfully she has a place to stay down there should the snow hit before she comes home tonight. I am thankful that I don't have to go anywhere and can just stay home and enjoy the beautiful snow. I guess snow can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

Tis the Season

Yesterday, after worship service, we went to get our Christmas tree. Our family has the tradition of going to a you cut tree farm to cut a tree and we usually wait until a couple of weeks before Christmas to do this, but our schedules this year dictated us doing it this weekend or not everyone would get to go. It had been snowing a little in the morning on our way to church, but then it turned to rain and by the time we were heading out to get our tree, it was fairly pouring. While we were walking around the tree farm the rain started turning white and by the time we were leaving with our tree, it was snowing very hard. We were all very excited, you see we don't get much snow around these parts and so it is almost like a holiday when we do! After we got home, the boys played out all evening even though we only had about an inch. This morning when we woke up, there was about 8 inches and the boys have been out all morning. It is beautiful! Our backyard is still untouched, except for a few footprints along the side fence where boy #2 went to knock the heavy snow off of our little tree for me, we already had a branch break off of our rhododendron in the font yard from the weight of the snow and we didn't want the new little trees to get damaged. We are in a winter wonderland!

Black Friday -

It has become an annual event for my daughter, my sister and myself to go shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving evening we plot out our route for the next day and then we get up early in the morning and work our route. Fred Meyer is usually our first stop - they always have socks half price, plus many other items that we might want to purchase on sale. This year we were at Freds before 6 am - and there were quite a few people - but it wasn't too bad. They were prepared with all checkstands open and the lines moved very quickly, plus they serve free donought holes and apple juice and there is also a Starbucks in it, so we were set. We moved on to the new Target store and it was fairly empty, I guess everyone went on to the mall store. After that we went to the outlet mall not far from us and got a couple of good deals before bringing daughter home so she could scoot off to work. Sis and I headed to the new Kohls store and that was chaos, it was my first time in it and I couldn't believe how long the lines were - we just toured the store and then left and headed back to the outlet mall. The mall was now VERY crowded, but sis was able to make a couple of purchases and then we headed back home for lunch. We don't take the shopping too serious and have fun with it. When all was said and done, I had made some needed clothing purchases for my boys and sis had done a bit of her Christmas shopping - it was a pretty good day.

The Dinner that almost wasn't . . . .

This year we decided to use the roaster oven to cook our turkey, thus freeing up the oven to cook other items. This roaster oven is a family heirloom, it was my grandmothers and it has been around as long as I can remember - 40+ years. Well . . .this was the year it decided to bite the dust. Our turkey was only partially done at 5pm, the appointed dinner time, so we had to quickly shift other things out of the oven and put the turkey in and so we had dinner at 7pm instead of 5 pm. It did turn out well in the end and all 14 of us had a wonderful dinner and it was one that we won't soon forget.

YUM

Today was try a new recipe day on my menu rotation. We had Salsbury Steak and it was delicious! This recipe was one that my husband emailed to me several years ago and I had never tried it. He found it on the internet in 2001, but I do not know where he got it.

Salsbury Steak

1 egg
1 can french onion soup
1/2 C. dry bread crumb
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of pepper
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 T. flour
1/4 C. water
1/4 C. catsup
1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. prepared mustard
chopped parsley

Mix 1/2 c. of the soup, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Add beef and mix well. Shape into 8 patties. Brown in skillet for 3-4 minutes. Remove patties to plate. In the skillet, stire together flour and water until smooth. Add catsup, worcestershire sauce, mustard and remaining soup and bring to boil. Stir 2 minutes. Return patties to the skillet with the sauce. Simmer 15 minutes. Serve salsbury steak with the sauce and enjoy!

Our whole family enjoyed this one!

Whats for Dinner?

I am not someone who enjoys planning menus and cooking and therefore continually struggle with getting it done. Unfortunately for me, it is a necessary chore. Having a menu planned helps us to save money and also much frustration during the week. Years ago I came up with an outline that helped make the chore of menu planning easier and also provide a variety of foods during the week. For some reason I got away from using the outline and decided to try to go back to it. Here is the new outline that I just finished working on:

MONDAY: Fish: Salmon (2), Salmon Patties, Pizza Fish, Tuna Wedge, Tuna Melts, Tuna Noodle Casserole

TUESDAY: Beef: Meatloaf, Steak, Hamburger Patties, Spanish Rice

WEDNESDAY: Soup: canned or White Bean, Lentil, Minestrone, Vegetable, Chili

THURSDAY: New Recipe

FRIDAY: Chicken: Italian Parmesan Chicken, Chicken & Veggies (Prism pg 199), Chicken & Rice,

SATURDAY: Kids Favorites: Taco Bake, Sloppy Joes, Pasta & Meatballs, Frito Pie, Garlic Chicken, Ala mom

SUNDAY: (crockpot): Roast, Pork Chops, Creamy Chicken, Stew

Using the above outline for ideas and considering our activities for the week, here is this weeks Menu.

Menu Plan

Monday: Tuna Melts with Peas

Tuesday: Spanish Rice with Green Beans

Wednesday: Chicken Soup, Canned and Rolls

Thursday: Salisbury Steak, Boiled Potatoes, Broccoli

Friday: Chicken & Rice, Carrots

Saturday: Youth Rally

Sunday: McDonalds?

Stop by Organizing Junkie's Blog for more Menu ideas.

Homeschool Carnival Week 42

Homeschool Carnival 42 is up at Homeschool Hacks and it attempts to answer many questions that you may have concerning homeschooling. It looks to cover a great variety of topics - something for everyone.

What have we been up to???

It has been so long since I posted anything here and there are so many things swimming around in my head. Our 5 weeks of chaos is about over - drivers ed. class is done and boy #1 successfully completed his course. He now must get more drive hours in and will also have to have his permit for at least 5 more months before he can take the drivers test for his license.

Boy #2 has been playing football for the local middle school and has thoroughly enjoyed it. He has one more week of football, including two games and then the season will be over. It has been a good experience for him, he has learned much about the game and about working together on a team. The school has been geat about working with us as homeschoolers and the other players have accepted our boy as a teammate.

Boy #3 has finished his second session of swim lessons and successfully passed to level 3. He will start level 3 in another week and he attends lessons two evenings a week. He has worked hard and it is paying off.

It has been a crazy, unusual time in our lives - but it was well worth it.

Auto shop - Homeschool Style

Our family is embarking on a new adventure. We have purchased a 1965 Mustang Coupe in great need of restoration. It was one of our goals for the boys to learn how engines and other automobile systems work prior to their graduation from our homeschool and now we have a hands on way for them to learn. The first step, as we see it, is to completely strip out the interior and see what we have to work with. Two engines and a rebuilt transmission came with the car and so we have something to work with there. This project will be a fun way for our boys to learn all about automobiles - from the inside out and to spend quality time with dad. I will post pictures periodically as things change.

What a Tackle!

In the middle of the project:

After the project was done:

This project became a family project. Our dining room chairs desperately needed recovering. The old country plaid was beyond cleaning and starting to get holes on the edges. The project involved removing the seats from the chairs and then removing the old fabric. This was a huge undertaking - the manufacturer used a kazillian staples which were not easy to remove. While the chairs were apart, two of our boys helped clean the wood frames with Murphy's Oil Soap and my husband made sure they were tight. After removing the fabric, my husband beveled the edges of the plywood and then I cut out batting and fabric that was left from when I made our curtains several years back. After recovering the seats, my husband scotch guarded them and reassembled the chairs. All three of our boys helped with this project which took the better part of Saturday and a couple of hours on Sunday afternoon. I forgot to take the before pictures of the really ugly seats.

Thanks to 5 Minutes for Mom for hosting Tackle it Tuesday! Check out their blog for more completed projects and inspiration to Tackle it, whatever your "IT" is.

A Day Late

Here is my menu for this week:

Monday: Beef Taco Bake (easy dish and everyone loves it)

Tuesday: White Beans and Ham Soup (starting up soup days again)

Wednesday - Chicken Parmesan

Thursday - Dinner out at King's Buffet (to celebrate my birthday, which is actually on Wednesday - but our daughter is off on Thursday and I wanted her to be able to join us.)

Friday: Pizza Fish (this is a Prism recipe that we haven't had for a long time)

Saturday: We are going to visit the Museum of Flight - maybe soft tacos when we get home or maybe fast food.

Sunday: your on your own

I am still working on our breakfasts. Coffee Momma if you read this, could you post your breakfast cookie recipe? I have some Canadian Bacon in the refrigerator and so I will probably do some sort of breakfast casserole this week. Last week we did baked oatmeal, pancakes and scrambled eggs, strawberry & yogurt smoothies with instant oatmeal, waffles and the old standby: cold cereal. I found a website called Mr. Breakfast that looks interesting, I hope to have some time to investigate it more fully this week.

Thanks to Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Be sure to check her blog for other great menu ideas!

Laura over at I'm an Organizing Junkie hosts Menu Plan Monday. You should go check it out. You might find some fresh recipes to spice up your menu.

I had a busy weekend, mostly away from home and thus my menu got planned late. Here is what I have so far:

Monday: Tuna Noodle Casserole (it had been ages since we had this and everyone liked it)

Tuesday: Chicken Noodle Soup (out of the can - with home made muffins)

Wednesday: Grilled Burgers for the Kiddos, Steak and Potatoes for mom and dad

Thursday: Stuffed chicken (was on last weeks menu, but we substituted a different chicken dish as we didn't have all the ingredients for this one)

Friday: Baked Salmon, Brown Rice and steamed veggies.

Saturday: Youth Program Dinner at church

Sunday: Your on your own - usually burritos or sandwiches.

I am also trying to work on our breakfast menu. We have fallen into the rut of boxed cereal most mornings, which is less than healthy and also expensive. Last week I got up early and fixed baked oatmeal one morning, scrambled eggs one morning, Fruit smoothies & whole wheat toast once and plain old oatmeal once - we still fell back on cold cereal the rest of the time. What kind of breakfasts do you fix for your family?

Taxi Mom

I never thought that I could be described as such - but alas it is so. Our family went from over a year of almost no outside activity to CHAOS! It started with son #2 wanting to play football. We went ahead and let him go out for the local middle school team. He has practice every weekday from 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm. Son #3 is signed up for swimming lessons that take place every Tuesday and Thursday for the next four weeks at 7:00 pm. Now son #1 is taking Drivers Education classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm for the next 5 weeks. So this is how my afternoon goes:
Leave the house at 2:15 pm and drop son #2 at the Middle School for football practice. Return home at about 2:45. (luckily everything is pretty close). Leave home at about 3:35 pm to take son #1 to Driver's Ed. Return home about 4:15. Leave home at about 4:50 to pick up son #2 at the middle school. Return home about 5:15pm. Leave home at about 5:45 to pick up son #1 at Drivers Ed. Return home at about 6:15. (on Wednesdays we will leave from Drivers Ed to go to bible class) On Tuesdays and Thursdays - Leave home at 6:50 to take son #3 to Swim Lessons, return home about 7:45 pm. Hopefully I will be able to stay on top of all of this - add to it, parent meeting for football, and scheduling drive time with the Drivers Ed school. Swimming stops in 4 weeks, drivers ed in about 5 weeks and football at the end of October and then we should be back to our normal hum drum schedule.

Homeschool Carnival Week 37

Don't forget to jump over to Principled Discovery for this week's homeschool carnival. I haven't had a chance to delve into the posts yet but it looks as if it covers a full range of topics.

Tackle it Tuesday

BeforeAfter

On 5 Minutes for Mom they have a Tackle it Tuesday encouragement post each week. The idea is to pick a project that needs doing in your home and then to do it. On Tuesday, blog about the project when it is done. The project that I picked is to clean up the floor along my side of the bed. This area tends to catch all of the mess that has no real home or that is in process for some other project. I was able to get the area cleaned up and even dusted the furniture. Over the weekend we shampooed all of the carpets in the house.

Frito Pie

This recipe is so EASY! My family loves it.

Ingredients:
Chili (canned or homemade)
Fritos - Original or other (we like the chili cheese)
Shredded Cheese

In a 9 x 13 or larger pan - Cover the bottom with Fritos. Over the Fritos add your Chili - you want enough to fill the pan and then top with the cheddar. For a 9 x 13, I use about four 15 oz. cans of chili. Bake for 30 minutes at 350. We usually serve with a green salad.

Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie started Menu Plan Monday. I think this is a great idea, hopefully it will help me to keep planning menus. Having a menu plan helps with the budget as well as keeping the dinners on time. My husband works swing shift and so we have to get dinner by 12:00 or 12:30 pm., which can be a challenge as we are also homeschooling our three boys and have very busy mornings. Here is my menu for this week.


1. Frito Pie
2. Stuffed Chicken
3. Quick Chili Rice Casserole
4. Tuna Wedge
5. Beef Stroganoff

Around the blogosphere

The folks at Wittingshire always have beautiful photography from around the Pacific Northwest region and currently have a wonderful tribute to Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter - the post is dated Sept 5.

The Common Room family have a couple of funny posts about their new puppy - the probably Irish Wolfhound, Donovan here, here and an adorable picture here. That family is so much fun!

Athena in a Minivan has a great video that you must watch!