Alright so I am going to turn over a new leaf, as some say, and I am going to *attempt* to plan out meals. Not that I don't enjoy running to the grocery store or nearest Super Target as the oven preheats to grab those couple ingredients I didn't bother to check on beforehand. I always wonder if the cashier is thinking "Hmm wonder what y'all are having tonight" as my jars of marinara, couple of onions, and loaf of garlic bread go sliding down the.....conveyer belt? What is the name for that slidey thing - is it really just a mini conveyer belt? If someone knows the name please tell me. Oh dear, I just got the feeling that it is super obvious and everyone knows but it temporarily slipped my mind. Oh well, moving on. I figured if I posted our plan it would keep me slightly more accountable...maybe. Click on the meal below and it will lead you to the original recipe!
Monday: Mini Meatball Sandwiches
Tuesday: Stuffed Mexican Chicken Shells
Wednesday: BBQ Beer Chicken
Thursday: Oven Baked Tacos - these are so good I have to resist making them every single week!
Friday: Hopefully convince my hopefully-not-too-tired husband to go out somewhere! If not, there's always a good PB&J :)
If y'all have a good recipe, pass it along! Happy Monday!
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Adventures, Part 2.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 "'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the Lord."
So our new life chapter adventures have begun! It all started with a freaky cold front blasting through Bryan, TX on the day my dad, husband, and assorted friends were loading the Uhaul, bringing sheets of rain and 45 degree weather. It was off to a great start! Our first day of driving was accompanied by that same cold, dreary rain aaaalllll the way through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and into Alabama. And obviously with that cold, dreary rain came a flat tire on the Uhaul a couple hours outside of Birmingham where we had plans to join our dear, sweet friend Aimee for dinner. And obviously with that flat Uhaul tire came the wait for the repair guy to show up on the side of the highway, a man we affectionately named "Billy Bob". Take the initial image your mind creates when you hear the name "Billy Bob" and there you have him. But the Lord was teaching me valuable lessons on that side of the highway...be thankful for a seat inside a warm, dry truck, be grateful for time-killing activities such as Pinterest, and don't make time-sensitive plans on a long move.
Fast forward three days and we made it to sunny and cool Virginia! Needless to say the kitties were happy to get out of the truck, although they did do surprisingly well with a dog kennel and a makeshift foil-lasagna-pan-litter-box. There was a slightly tense moment along the way when Mumford began whining, something that sweet special-needs kitty doesn't do often, and was making it clear he needed to use the little boys' room asap. Me, backwards over the seat, setting up that lasagna pan on the truck bench all while moving at 70 mph and being warned not to get any litter on the leather...quite the sight!
It was such a blessing to have my parents with us and we got all unpacked, set up, and settled in just a few days. This left us some time to explore the area, including making a trip to Washington D.C. and seeing some of the monuments! One of my favorite sights had to be the elderly man jamming on a bench wearing nothing but some cut up denim shorts, shorts we had to search for before realizing they were actually there. Unfortunately, I did not get a pic to share the glorious sight. I did manage to snap a few of some other sights, although not quite as colorful...
Speaking of adventures, we decided to go for a run along one of the Civil War battlefields in Fredericksburg. It was an absolutely picturesque day, cool in the shade, warm in the sun, with sunlight streaming through the woods around us. Here's a glimpse of our run...
Pretty nice, right? Well we decided right then and there that we would make a goal to run every single battlefield trail in the area. So we went the very next day to the Battle of Chancellorsville. A bit of a longer run which had me slightly worried since I have put on my running shoes oh let's see.....twice....since we ran our 10K...in February. But the day before had been so beautiful we decided the longer route would definitely be worth it. And so we set off, not realizing that the incredibly strong storm the night before would leave entire trees laying across the badly marked path as well as puddles of black mud which I swear was quick sand (picture the scene in the woods in The Princess Bride). Let's just say it was not the picturesque run of the day before as we picked our way through the woods to get around the completely blocked path, through the prickly things, through the Princess Bride mud, under giant branches which left a gash on my shoulder since apparently I have no depth perception. But in the end, still fun and still amazed at the beauty of God's creation :)
Oh and as for our goal....yeah those are still the only two we have run...
Alright next adventure....fabric flowers! I saw this tutorial on Pinterest forever ago and have been itching to try it out, I just never had time while I was teaching. Well now I've got nothing but time so my dream of fabric flowers finally became a reality! I found some random fabric scraps on sale at Hobby Lobby, picked up a straw wreath (unfortunately not half off but I had no patience to wait another week so I reluctantly paid full price...something I swore I would never do at Hob Lob!) I also found some wide burlap ribbon and, glue gun in hand, attempted to make my own flowers. Turns out they are super easy to make! Just kinda twist and fold to get your center going, secure it with hot glue, then twist/glue in a circle-ish pattern. Now I am obsessed and have to resist the urge to glue a fabric flower to everything in our apartment. One picture frame already fell victim to my obsession...
Here it is on our front door...I love the contrast with the red!
Anyone want one? I got tons of the gray, white/gray and yellow fabrics left and loads of time :)
Here's the link I found that gives you a step-by-step tutorial:
Monday, April 22, 2013
Adventures, Part 1.
Hebrews 13:15 "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."
Well, needless to say the three weeks after Spring Break were, to put it delicately, insane. Not only were we preparing to move, living among floor-to-ceiling boxes, adjusting to their presence so well that I feel a slight emptiness now that they are all gone, I was also preparing for my last few weeks of work. Throw travels every weekend in the mix, along with two 4-day weeks back to back and an accreditation team scoping out our school and it was...crazy. In all the busyness I neglected this little blog like I neglected doing dishes and making home-cooked meals...
But now that I have some time on my hands I want to show what we had been up to the last couple weeks of school. We were knee-deep in an awesome space unit in Science. The kids had a blast and were soaking up information and facts like nobody's business. Here's a look at some of the space adventures we embarked upon...
We learned all about the moon and made these fun moon facts. The kids used liquid glue to make designs on a gray construction paper moon (they were making craters and mountains like we learned about). After the glue dried they colored over their moons with white and gray crayons. The resulting texture was so cool and each moon was so different! Then they wrote a paragraph with at least 5 moon facts they learned.
We also wrote fiction stories about an adventure in outer space. This was an awesome opportunity for the kids to be creative while applying everything they had learned about complete and descriptive sentences in Grammar. Then we made what has to be my most favorite thing ever....little astronauts with plastic Starbucks lids as helmets! We found a clip art astronaut body on line. Then I took a close-up pic of each kid making an excited face (the first kid opened his mouth as wide as it could go...and each successive pic featured the same look haha). They decorated their astronaut suit then glued their face in the helmet. Our first grade aide hot glued the clear plastic lid on for the final touch. The kids absolutely loved seeing their funny faces beneath a 3-D astronaut helmet. And Starbucks gave us all the lids for free!
After learning all about the sun, we made these little sun craftivities to hang above their cubbies in the hallway. It was pretty simple and they had a lot of fun making them! The kids wrote one fact about the sun on each of their triangular rays, glued them to a paper plate, and covered the plate with squares of red, yellow, and orange tissue paper.
We also made these cute, quick stars to hang in our classroom. The kids wrote how they could be a "shining star" to others and decorated a little star with glue and glitter. Oh glitter, how I love thee and abhor thee at the same time. You lend such fun to any activity, and yet I find you all over every surface within a 6 foot radius for a month.
Click on the link below for the template:
On my very last day of school we learned all about space food that astronauts eat on missions into outer space. I prepared a power point with all kinds of info from NASA's website, including pics of food floating in mid-air, that we read through together. Then each kid transformed into an astronaut ready to sample "space" food. I had prepared three baggies per kid - each with a couple tablespoons of mysterious powder (in actuality it was pink lemonade mix, chocolate pudding mix, and instant oatmeal). They also received Dixie cups of water to rehydrate their dehydrated space food. On a chart the students had to record the state of matter of each substance in the beginning, their observation, what happened when they added water, and the state of matter of the substance in the end. Then came the best part...eating it! Not many kids ate the oatmeal which I expected...it looked pretty gross all mushed up in a baggie. The pudding and lemonade, though, were huge hits!
Click on the link below to download the chart!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)