Hot Air Balloon Festival

I love me some hot air balloons!  We recently had a festival and woke the kiddos up early to go see them off!  We weren't there as early as last year (thank goodness!  Last year we made it before most of the balloons!) and actually made it just in time to see the first balloon taking off!  There seemed to be something off, because quite a few of the balloons had a hard time getting out of the park without hitting the trees (the middle is all open field, but it's surrounded by trees!)!  The kiddos all got a helium filled balloon, which they loved!  "J" didn't like the sound of the fire inside the balloons and "A" wasn't so sure he wanted to touch one, but all of the kiddos had fun in the end!  Even more fun, was that after it was all over and we'd come home, we were finishing up breakfast and heard a hot air balloon!  We opened our front door and saw one flying over our neighbors' house, then it went and landed at the school next door to us!  We cleaned up breakfast and headed over to see it again!  DH was able to help pack it away!

Catch Up

Last week I was at a wedding, with my camera (just for fun), and there was no photographer.  Turns out he'd gone to the wrong temple, about an hour away.  So I turned into a wedding photographer thirty minutes.  Not that I'm anywhere near professional or even want to be. Being a portrait photographer was a dream that I dismissed years ago.  But it would have been so sad to not have any pictures around the temple!

"S" is due in less than 10 weeks (9 to be specific).  That is just CRAZY!!!  I don't have a full menu done for the month, but I'm working on getting some meals into the freezer, so that when October comes, we'll be stocked and ready to go (or not go.  ANYWHERE.)

I thought "N" was an easy potty-trainer.  Then "A" was trained (trained here meaning that he tells us when he needs to go, no matter where we are) in 5 days with only 2 accidents (none of which were at night).  Now "J" thinks that she's ready to be trained and is training herself!  She tells us when she wants to go and we take her and 95% of the time, she really does something!  She's wearing pull-ups, though, because she doesn't always tell us.  And she hasn't woken up dry for quite some time.  "S" is going to have quite the challenge keeping up with his siblings!

DH changed jobs and is really enjoying the company.

Our A/C works.  Hallelujah!  (That week of 100 with minimal A/C was HOT!!!)

I'm working on making a plan for our first "official" year of homeschooling.  So far, the plan is to not have a plan, just do some basics and have fun.

July 2012 Menu

july 2012

This month I didn't go with a theme.  I went with my favorite summer meals.  Then added in suggestions from DH and other things that sounded yummy but not too difficult (or hot!).  I really, REALLY like doing my menu by the month.  I don't always follow it, but it's so nice to know that I have a plan (or at least had one at some point!).

Introducing...

Spot Nick.  He's our new Jersey Wooly/Mini-rex mixed rabbit.  The kiddos love him.  I love him.  DH loves him.  He's learning to love us.  We've had him for just over a week.  He loves to explore our backyard (with supervision.  I think he'd love to eat our garden and might be able to go through or under the fence.  He's small!)  

June Menu

With the heat of summer coming (not as much as my brothers have, of course), I decided to base our monthly menu around salads.  So, DH and I made a list of salads and I plugged them into the calendar.  Monday's are greens (lettuce is in the salad), Tuesday's are pasta, Wednesday's are whatever, Thursday's are creamy and Friday's are greens (again).  The last week of June I'm gone to girl's camp and DH said he'd take care of it, so I haven't planned anything.  And there are a few days when we don't have a plan and that's because I know that something will change (it already has, in fact.  Multiple times!) and we'll shift what we have.

June 2012
Here are some salads ideas that didn't make it into our menu, but might still get used, either this month or a different month:

• Grilled Chicken Salad
• Cobb Salad
• Chicken BLT Salad
• Antipasto Salad
• Cucumber salad
• Potato Salad
• Mandarin Orange Salad
• Spinach Strawberry

Have I Mentioned...

How much I love yard sales?  This morning I was on my home from volunteering with Bountiful Baskets and passed a yard sale sign in the neighborhood.  I'm a sucker for yard sales and thought I'd do a drive-by.  I noticed they had a 3-wheeled scooter.  "A" has been wanting a scooter.  I decided to stop and if it was in decent shape and $5 or under, I'd buy it.  Turns out, they had 2 scooter - a pink 2-wheeler and the 3-wheeler.  Each for $3.  Ummm, yes!!!  I didn't have cash on me, but the girl was nice and held them for me while I drove home to get money.  Both of the older kiddos were thrilled with their scooters.  "J" was quite disappointed that there weren't three.  

Flowers of California

I love the flowers in California!  I love that they grow all over the place!  I love that they're so colorful and beautiful!  Too bad they won't all grow here.

It's A...

BOY!

And I'm still hoping for 10-11-12.  Just for the record.

May 2012 Menu

May 2012

So, I meant to publish this at the beginning of the month.  We're not quite at the beginning, but we're not the the middle yet!  I decided to plan our menu this month around the cookbook Our Best Bites.  It looked to have a lot of real people food in it and things that my family would eat.  So far, we're doing good.  I've had to make a few changes (our oven stopped working - but not the stove-top).  And Sunday's somehow didn't get planned, but we haven't starved yet!  I put links in to the recipes that are on the website and the others, if they're good, I'll try to post on the recipe blog.

Really? (a slight rant)

Today we took a picnic to a nearby park with some friends.  We let the kiddos play for a bit, then we sat down to eat lunch.  Not long afterwards, 2 school buses pull up and students (1st or 2nd grade) start pouring out.  The teachers and parent volunteers lug big coolers full of sack lunches, the students eat their lunches (because the teachers say they have to before they can play) and then the students go at the playground with excitement.  Now, I have no problem with any of this, except:

WHY WOULD THE TEACHERS PLAN A FIELD TRIP TO A LOCAL PARK WHEN THERE ARE WAY BETTER THINGS TO DO ON A FIELD TRIP?  DON'T THEY HAVE A PLAYGROUND AT THEIR SCHOOL?  REALLY?  A FIELD TRIP TO A PARK?  REALLY?

I know this picture has NOTHING to do with the rant topic above.  But we are all of us enjoying strawberry season.  YUM!  A box of strawberries is only good for one meal around here.  And nobody gets as many as they want.