My Puppies

Nikki is the youngest of our 2 dogs...about 1 1/2 yrs old. We got her from a couple who offered her up on craigslist when she was about 6 months old. She's a Sharpei/Basenji mix...sharpei being a Chinese watchdog and a basenji is an African watchdog. She's very playful and enjoys running around the yard, pouncing on Sprinkle and following me around the house!

Sprinkle is the oldest of my 2 dogs...she's 2 1/2. We got her from the pound when she was 10 weeks old and she is a sweetheart! She's blue heeler mix and rare colored for that breed...usually blue heelers are blue w/white spots, but Sprinkie is white w/blue spots. She likes to play fetch, herd the boys and Mom around and just have fun!

Life Speeds Up

Well summer is coming to an end and with it the slower pace life. I've volunteered or will be volunteering for at least 3 things this fall and the planning meetings have started. I've volunteered to be the Treasurer for my MOMS (Moms offering Moms Support) club and we had our first board meeting this morning. Next week we will be having the chapter meeting to keep everyone up to date on the upcoming events. We also had to plan our Founder's Day Picnic (our major membership drive), so if anyone reading this is a mother and you need someone to talk to there are chapters all over the country, so you might look into joining.

The Leader's meeting for our Cub Scout Pack is next week and that will also be focused on starting our membership drive, along with some internal problems (mainly trying to find a couple of good Leaders to take the place of Leader's who've had to leave...and believe me will be missed!) I'm Achievement Chair right now(which is a monthly commitment), but I may end up helping with a den or two (weekly commitment), which is okay...I'll miss it if I don't get to help.

School registration is next week. 2 schools this year: elementary AND middle school! (Insert whimper here!). I might join 1 or both PTA's, but that depends on Scouts and how busy I am there, especially since husband wants me to participate in the Committee meetings for my Oldest son and his Troop (these meetings usually land on Bunco night though, and I won't give up Bunco for anything!)

Signed Youngest up for another year of gymnastics this morning. Wednesday afternoons this time since he'll be in school in the mornings. Oldest has wrangled a promise from me, so he gets to play football this fall too.

Man...I knew I was going to be busy, but writing it all down here...YIKES!

Mohawks!

We are allowing the boys to have some fun with their hair and at the same time express their personalities. I insisted last night that the hair that hasn't been cut since before school let out had to go! Both boys were not happy with the idea, but my Oldest asked if he could have a mohawk when we cut it. I thought about it and agreed that they could have mohawks for a week! Then their heads will be shaved, and hopefully it will grow long enough before school starts in 3 weeks for a proper haircut. I'm calling this their transitional haircut!

School supplies, New routines, and Nerf guns

The Husband and I took the boys to get their school supplies this afternoon. It was strange this year shopping for 2 instead of just the Oldest. He starts middle school this year and the Youngest is in 1/2 day Pre-K. School won't start for another 3 1/2 weeks, but I always enjoyed shopping for school supplies as a girl and I've carried that over with my boys (although now I can get them the things I wish I had!). We had fun.

This week I finally got around to cleaning out the storage pit that should have been our Dining Room. The table is clear and it has led to a new routine...the routine of: Eating around the Table! I've wanted to do this for a long time, but we had our old computer sitting on the table. After we eat my Oldest cleans off the table, scrapes the plates, puts up the food, and rinses the dishes while I'm washing (we don't have a dishwasher!...Or as my Husband says..."I have a dishwasher...she's right there!"). My youngest gets to wash off the table and push the chairs back under the table. The three of us are done quickly (usually while my Hubby is hiding in the Bathroom!) They seem almost happy that they can be helpful.

This summer I bought soft nerf guns for the boys and the shoot-outs are on! (I should have bought 3 since my Hubby seems to enjoy this game immensely). There is some fighting, but overall they spend a lot of time playing the game and having fun! The only rule is: NO SHOOTING MOM!

A Very Productive Day

I am so proud of myself and my boys today! We had a very productive day and got a lot of things done.

We journeyed to the Library this morning with Grandma and exchanged our books and movies for new ones. Little Dude got to choose 4 movies and I choose 10 books to read to him. He signed up to read 50 books this summer and will get a medal when he finishes. We are up to 31! The Oldest finished Book #4 out of 5 he signed up for (he reads longer chapter books) so he picked up another. He is reading the Book of Three series by Lloyd Alexander. We also found a biography on Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody for him to read. I rented The Young Rider TV series shown between '89 and '92 and told him that the Hickok and Cody characters in the show were based on real people.

We came home and Oldest son carried half the junk clutering our Dining Room into the Garage, while I re-arranged and vacuumed. Now we can start eating in the Dining Room again! Oldest and Youngest then took to their room and between the 3 of us we got that bulldozed.

We attended a MOMS get together this afternoon that included sprinklers, water-guns and ice-cream sundaes. That was super fun!

Tonight we will have cheese ravioli with meatballs and garlic bread and watch some TV.

Yeah Us!

A simple chore

I spent the day yesterday doing a simple chore, that when done leaves me wrung out and exhausted. Now you might be asking "What chore did you do that left you in such a state?...was it mopping?"...NO, "was it dusting?"...NO, "was it cooking?"...closer, but NO. I spent the day yesterday coming up with my families menu for the next 2 weeks! You're standing their scratching your head in confusion, aren't you?

This simple chore is not as simple as you might think. It requires a lot of correlating of schedules, reviewing of recipes and the families likes and dislikes, and then poring over the freezer and pantry to see which ingredients will be needed for the upcoming shopping trip.

The production of the menu begins the same every time. I write down 14 evening meal ideas that sound good to me or that I know are family favorites or that I found in the most recent cookbook that I've been perusing. I make sure that I don't put in too many hamburger or chicken recipes, and maybe sprinkle some recipes with odd ball ingredients like hot dogs or clams or pepperoni.

The second step is to use my planner and add in all of the activities planned for that week. Then I find the recipes that are the easiest to prep and prepare and put them on the days we have evening activities. The rest of the menu ideas I disperse throughout the rest of the menu, keeping in mind that I cannot have the same meat/starch back to back. Once the evening meals are set, I come up with 4 lunch ideas and 4 breakfast ideas that I put down for the 2 weekends and my menu is complete.

The third step is to make up my shopping list. I write down all ingredients needed and then I mark off those that I have around the house or are staples. I then take off that list the ingredients that will not keep for 2 weeks and put those down on the shorter list for the shopping trip next week. Throw in bread, chips and lunch meat for my Husband's lunches, and ramen, hot dogs and fries for my kid's lunches and I'm done for another 2 weeks!

Menu planning=stressful
Shopping=stressful
Not having to think about meals for the next 2 weeks=Priceless!

Swimming Pictures

"Wheeeeeeee........"

......SPLASH!

"Ring around the Rosie"...water style.

Trying to learn the beginner stroke.