Potty training.....

.....country style.

God bless!

Multitude Monday

Endless blessings here.....

816. Charlie sooooo excited about starting "school" tomorrow.....
817. .....Mama excited too

818. Buckets of tomatoes from our garden
819. Buckets of green beans too
820. Potatoes all dug up.....
821. .....Hubby's help with the potato digging and weed pulling

822. Dirty kids.....very dirty kids
823. All 3 of them in the bathtub together.....splashing around
824. Sloppy wet bathroom floor
825. Two mornings in a row of uninterupted quiet time with The Word
826. Cute little morning interuptions who snuggle in and join me

827. Grilled burgers over an open fire and friday night bonfires
828. Visiting with friends we haven't seen in awhile

829. Fall nights and open windows
830. Changing seasons, new schedules, new projects, new adventures

Have a blessed week!

Randomness...

Randomness...

1. My kids can both melt my heart and disgust me all in the same day. Yesterday, Charlie asked to lead the prayer at breakfast and asked if she could vacuum for me...melt my heart. Then later that afternoon, she wiped her nose all over her hand and preceed to lick the snot off her hand...gross.

2. Last night, we saw a fox walking out across the back pasture. A moment later, we saw the cow come running and chase the fox away. Cool to see how protective she was of her calf.

3. I realized I haven't taken a single photo in the last week and I don't even feel bad about it.

4. Charlie has been whining to have the training wheels taken off her bike. So, Joe took them off a couple of days ago and she wouldn't go near the bike...didn't even want to try. We ended up putting them back on for now.

5. Joseph is crawling all over the place. It is so fun to watch and I'm thinking it's time to put gates up at the stairs.

6. Joe and I got to go out on a date Saturday night. Thanks grandma LuAnn for watching the kids...especially the crabby baby that would not take a bottle. And she kept the girls overnight too...what a blessing!

7. I'm sick of picking green beans. It always seems like a pain in the butt this time of year, but am always glad come the middle of winter. We are going to dig up the potatoes over the weekend. My tomatoes are finally starting to turn red...if only the chickens would leave them alone.

God bless!

Menu Plan - Week of 08/29/11

I've sort of menu planned for awhile now, but in the last month I've started planning in alot more detail. I made myself a spreadsheet with spaces for daily planning/prep. work, breakfasts, lunches, suppers and snacks. I still don't plan snacks, but have a general idea at the beginning of the week what is available for snacking.

It has helped a ton. I don't need to rush around and figure out something for the sitters to feed everyone for lunch and my afternoons go a lot smoother when I already have supper planned and half together before the kids are whining that they are hungry. I also am better able to specifically plan with/for leftovers.

Monday 08/29
Breakfast - eggs, smoothies
Lunch - hotdogs, fruit
Supper - burgers on the grill, sweet corn, coleslaw

Tuesday 08/30
Breakfast - granola, yogurt, peaches
Lunch - pancakes (from freezer)
Supper - chicken stirfry, brown rice

Wednesday 08/31
Breakfast - eggs, bacon
Lunch - chicken salad
Supper - beef stroganoff (from freezer)

Thursday 09/01
Breakfast - oatmeal
Lunch - leftovers
Supper - spaghetti, garlic bread, sweet potatoes

Friday 09/02
Breakfast - cereal, smoothies
Lunch - leftovers
Supper - homemade pizza

Saturday 09/03
Breakfast - french toast
Lunch - sandwiches
Supper - steaks, salmon on the grill, green beans, salad

Sunday 09/04
Breakfast - muffins, fruit
Lunch - tuna melts
Supper - vegetable and lentil soup, bread, salad

Have a blessed week!

Out and About

We love a good county fair. We have been to a couple this summer. Just last week the kids and I ventured to our local county fair for the evening.

First stop.....the tractors. Their dad would be proud!

This was moments before Charlie leaned forward and almost knocked the whole thing over.

 

Joseph chilling listening to The Kingery Family singing some bluegrass ans gospel music.

Last week was busy. On Friday, we visited one of our favorite apple orchards for their opening day.....

Fall Harvest Orchard.

On Saturday, we picked up Travis and headed to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market. We came home with a bunch of goodies.....flowers, popcorn, honey, kale, lettuce, blueberries, brussel sprouts and more.

On Sunday, we headed to Joe's parents for brunch to celebrate his birthday. The food was wonderful as always. My sweet mother-in-law made a special meal just for me.....things I could eat.

The kids practiced driving the gator. Charlie is already pretty good at steering, but now Joe is teaching her to run the peddles too.

 

We relaxed in the shade and visited......talked about solving the world's problems.

Babies ate and babies slept.

Kids played in the slip-n-slide.

Sunday night, we had some great friends over for supper. We ate outside, kids rode bikes and we chatted the night away.

What a blessed life we have.

God bless!

Cori Turns Two

Recently, we spent a Sunday afternoon celebrating Miss Cori's second birthday. A bunch of our family and friends were able to join us. The weather was perfect and it is always great to be able to get together.

She didn't have much to say, but had no problem ripping into her presents. She was blessed with a bunch of new clothes, a new doll and baby bed, some other random toys, and cute new shoes.

Her baby brother helped with the cleanup.

Her cousin, June (3 weeks old), was the youngest to attend the party.

Her cousin, Allyson (4 weeks old) was also there...but I don't have a photo.

She wasn't too sure about blowing out her candles. Joe ended up doing it. We ended the day with chocolate cake and ice cream and angel food cake with fruit and real whipped cream.

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate. We are blessed!

God bless!