Menu Plan Monday - August 9, 2010

First Day of School! I love getting back into the swing of things. Bryan took all of the children hiking yesterday so I could prepare for today. He was joined by several families from church. The group ended up being around 8 parents with about 30 children. I bet the wildlife headed for the hills!

We've discovered the 6lb. can of Bakers & Chefs Nacho Cheese at Sam's Club. It's super-cheap and really makes those bean nachos disappear fast.

Be sure to check out the Tomato Soup recipe. It's a huge family favorite. A large pot (dinner & leftovers for lunch) only costs around $2!

This week we will be enjoying:
Monday  - Nachos

Tuesday - Country Brunch Skillet, Sweet Potato Casserole

Wednesday (AWANA planning meeting)- Meat & Rice Casserole

Thursday - Baked Potatoes Supreme

Friday - Bible Study

Saturday - Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese

Our menus for last year can be found at our website. Breakfast menu is here; lunch menu is here.

Find more menus at:

Whoo Hoo for Swagbucks!

I just earned my 15th $5 Amazon gift card through Swagbucks! That's $75 in free Amazon shopping fun! I know Bryan is up to around $50. We average 1-3 gift cards per month. All for just surfing the web. Don't miss out on the fun and prizes. Sign up! For my original post on how Swagbucks works for us, click here.

County Fair Fun

We're all spending much time rocking in the corners and babbling incoherently in an attempt to recover from our week at the fair that was proceeded by several weeks of preparation and several months of meetings.
I was amazing again at what my children, as well as the children in our county, were able to produce. When I was their age I was just trying to coordinate my eyeshadow, clothes, and shoes (right, Megs?).


Since this was our fist year with animals at the farm, we spent much time in the barns. Ripley's stall was right next to one of the cow aisles. I was impressed - these children work HARD. (Also impressive was the size of those cows!)

Cowgirl Emelie with Skips Special K Ripp

Preparing to run the barrels

Meghan with Ghirardelli during his agility run. The rabbit project leaders called Delli "a star with natural ability!"

Delli in his Hawaiian shirt for the costume contest (or as Meg calls it, "The Rabbit Humiliation Contest")

Bryan trying to drum-up some business outside the Lemon Shake-Up stand

Meggie with her floral arrangement that will be going to the State Fair!

I had a wonderful photo of Ted with his blue-ribbon picnic table that he made for his woodworking exhibit, but it's been lost in the transfer process. I'll post one soon!

Grrrrrrrr......

Due to the amount of SPAM comments I've been receiving lately (those folks in China love my blog!), I've had to enable comment moderation. I'm sorry that you won't be able to see your comments until I approve them, but I'd hate for any of my younger readers (or anyone,for that matter) to find their way to something inappropriate!

If you have suggestions on how to stop the SPAM, please let me know!

Thanks!
Lainie

WFMW - Preschool (and beyond!) Character Curriculum

One of the things I am most excited about for this school year is the Character Concepts for Preschoolers Curriculum that I purchased from theLearningParent.com.



We will be using the character part of the curriculum during breakfast so that everyone can learn from it. In fact, we couldn't wait and have been enjoying some of the books and the CDs since they came over a month ago.



After listening to the CD story on "obedience" on time, Brigitta (5) started quoting "We obey cheerfully, immediately, and thoroughly!" The younger children especially love Crossroads of Character: Learning to Make Wise Choices (they just call it the "cousins" book.)


The same Bible verse and character definition are repeated through the history story, Bible story, flashcards, and "Cousins" story to the memory work is effortless. I love that the Mom's Guide schedules everything out for me along with field trip suggestions, recipes, arts and crafts and more! By the end of the year we will have learned 12 character qualities, their definitions and supporting Bible verses.

I'll be using the preschool components with Heidi (3) mostly to have some one-on-one time with her in the morning before the busy-ness of our school day starts. The set comes with a workbook and flashcards, and the mom's guide has suggestions for history and science reading.

Back to our Happy Place!

We just told the children a couple weeks ago that we were going to head back to Disney World again this year. They were completely blow away!

Bryan started the conversation by telling them how we need to save money and that we wouldn't be using our free Six Flags passes since the overnight hotel stay would cost too much. The children braced for some bad news...

Then Bryan told them that the biggest reason for our need to be frugal had to do with the number "72" he'd posted on the wall -"Because that's the number of days until we leave for Disney World!" The place erupted!

What the children didn't know is that we had booked the trip while driving around the Magic Kingdom parking lot (while Bryan was trying and failing to get into bus parking) last September!

Booking it then enabled us to snatch up the same great deal we had list year - namely, free food and lots of it! This makes it cheaper to spend a week at "The World" than going just about anywhere else.

To date the children have given up boxed cereal completely, enjoyed more beans and less meat, and tried to be creative with their own finances, all so we can have "another dollar for Disney." Can't wait!  

Menu Plan Monday - August 2, 2010

I tend to forget the blissful ease of sandwiches and salad when the weather (and the kitchen) are warm. With a pound of lunch meat only $2.50/lb. at Aldi, it's a very economical way to feed the family!

This week we will be enjoying:
Monday (Bryan Night Meeting) - Baked Mac 'n Cheese, Ham Sandwiches

Tuesday - Chicken Enchiladas

Wednesday (AWANA planning meeting)- Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garlic Bread, Salad

Thursday - Black Beans, Cheese & Chips

Friday - Bible Study

Saturday - Sour Cream Salad, Baked Sandwiches

Our menus for last year can be found at our website. Breakfast menu is here; lunch menu is here.

Find more menus at: