Half a Menu & a Pic

Again, all I'm using this blog for lately is meal planning.  Sorry about that!  I know it's boring. :)

Busy week!!
Monday- grocery shopping, basketball for M, dentist for R, soccer for M
Tuesday- Costco, PTCs, basketball for M
Wednesday- basketball and soccer for M
Thursday- work in R's class, basketball for M, Scentsy party (had to reschedule at the last minute)
Friday- not much on the schedule :)
Saturday- soccer game for M, bday party for my nephew
Sunday- church, work in 2/3 class, fundraiser lunch, photo shoot for my sister

Luckily next week doesn't look as crazy (yet anyway...)


Menu:
Monday- soup & bread or grilled cheese
Tuesday- Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos (double & freeze 1/2)
Wednesday- BLT salad with homemade biscuits (double & freeze 1/2)
Thursday-
Friday-
Saturday-
Sunday- breakfast


Here's a picture from the pumpkin patch yesterday.  We met up with most of our home group there, we have a lot of kids between us!  This was 5 of the 6 families (and two of those kids aren't in this pic).

Pics & Start of the Week Stuff

First, here are some recent pics...

M warming up at her softball game yesterday: 

 

Stealing 2nd. She says that's her favorite part about softball (she's also a pretty good first baseman!). :)

Today we went up to my mom's to swim.  

M looking cute when we first got there. 

All 3 of my cuties. 

Jumping in all at once (it only took 2 tries to get this shot!). :)

Okay, moving on to this coming week... Baseball is over, but we're still pretty busy. We do have a few nights open though, so we're getting there. :)

To-Do's:
Monday- grocery shopping, softball game for M (bring snacks)
Tuesday- something...
Wednesday- work in R's class, (maybe a Crab's game?)
Thursday- errands in town, dress rehearsal for M, softball practice for M
Friday- nada (maybe a(nother) Crab's game?)
Saturday- softball tournament for M
Sunday- more softball and dance show for M

Menu:
Monday- salsa chicken burritos
Tuesday- something...
Wednesday- tacos
Thursday- pizza (out)
Friday- sandwiches (maybe switch with Wednesday depending on plans)
Saturday- breakfast
Sunday- homemade pizza 

Start of the Week Stuff

It's Monday again already, these weeks seem to be flying by lately!  We have 4 more weeks of school before summer, that's going to be here so soon!  I cannot wait, but at the same time I want my kids to quit growing up so fast!  Next year will be M's last year of elementary school!  How on earth did we get there already?  I'm so looking forward to enjoying our less busy time this summer, but I'm trying to enjoy the business of right now too.  I love watching my kids play baseball, and I don't want wish this time away.
That being said, I think we're finally on the down-hill side of the super busy season.  This week doesn't feel so over the top crazy, and I'm really happy about that!

To-Do's for the week:
Monday- grocery store, volunteer tea @ kids school, NOTHING in the evening!! :D
Tuesday- guitar, softball practice
Wednesday- work in R's class, baseball practice, softball game
Thursday- Costco, other errands in town, softball practice
Friday- dance
Saturday- double header for both kiddos (at the same time, in different towns)
Sunday- church

Menu:
Monday- leftovers from last night's bbq (chicken & potatoes)
Tuesday- breakfast
Wednesday- Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos (frozen from extras I made last week)
Thursday- something with leftover steak...
Friday- homemade pizza 
Saturday- pasta with meat sauce
Sunday-


We spent Mother's day up at my mom's, and it was nice enough that we were able to enjoy the pool for the first time this season!  I'm so excited to spend a lot of summer days up there soon!!  The kids had a great time jumping in over and over again. N took some time to warm up to the water again, but by the end of the day he was jumping in right along with the big kids (with his water wings on).
Here's a picture of me with my kids up there yesterday. :)

I'm sure I'll be posting a scrapbook layout of this one soon!  I just love it and can't wait to scrap it! :)

About that p52...

So, I'm kind of slacking on keeping track and posting my pictures these days, but I am still picking up the Nikon more often.  I decided to try a p52 with my Nikon because although I loved doing p365 on my phone last year (so much so that I'm doing it again this year), I found that I really didn't use my real camera much, and my photog skills were getting rusty.  My goal with this p52 has been to push myself with the Nikon and grow as a photographer, and I think it's working.  I don't think I'm going to be posting a weekly photo anymore, but I will still share when I get something I love, whether it's with my iPhone or my big girl camera. :)
I'm also scrapping this year again (something I took a break from last year with the p365).  I still scrapped last year obviously, I just worked on getting caught up on past years.  It's fun to be able to scrap current stuff again when I want to.  Here's a page I did with photos I took last weekend, got them scrapped before I even got them posted individually. :)

full credits here

Start of the Week Stuff

Whew.  I'm tired!  We had one of those weekends where you really need a couple days to recover from it when it's over.  Saturday we took the divide and conquer approach. Matthew took M to her 3 tournament games an hour away, and I kept the boys and took R to his baseball game.  We had record-breaking tempters, and the boys took full advantage of it.  They were in their swim trunks by 9am and asking for me to set up the slip-n-slide.  We did the water table, kiddy pool, and after switching some hoses around I got the slip-n-slide set up for them.  After about 10 minutes of that running I realized it was going to completely flood the yard if it was on much longer, so I turned it off and pulled out the big blow up pool that we got when we lived in Redding.  I got it set up for them to play in for a bit and then headed to R's baseball game.  After the game they played in the pool some more and then we headed to meet Matthew and M at church.  When we got home at almost 8pm it was still 82° in our backyard, so the kids swam while I made a quick dinner. 
Sunday we left the house at 7:30am to head back down for more softball.  It was the elimination part of the tournament, so we didn't know if we'd be there for one game, or all day. They won their first game, then had to wait for another game to be played before their next game.  They won the next one because the team they were playing had to forfeit.  After that they had to wait to for another game to see who they would be playing in the championship game.  They did great and ended up winning the whole thing, which was so awesome!!  
This was my first experience with my kid competing, before this season they've never really kept score or had it count for anything.  It was so nerve-racking watching them play, way worse than those close Giants games!  
Anyway, we didn't get home until 7 last night and we were all exhausted (except N, who napped in my arms on the hard bleachers during their last game). It was a fun weekend, but I am not feeling ready for this week at all.  Luckily it's not looking like it will be quite as busy as the last couple have been.  

Here are a couple pictures from the weekend:

In the pool at 8pm

Right after winning the tournament
(M is on the bottom, second from the right)

To-Do's:
Monday- grocery shopping, baseball game
Tuesday- guitar, softball practice
Wednesday- work in R's class, baseball practice
Thursday- dentist for R, softball practice??
Friday- dance
Saturday- baseball game, two softball games, grand opening of the new showroom at Matthew's work
Sunday- Mother's day :)

Menu:
Monday- something quick & easy
Tuesday- crock pot pineapple chicken sandwiches
Wednesday- BLTs
Thursday- Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Friday- homemade pizza 
Saturday- 
Sunday- guys BBQ at my mom's

Couple more

Just a couple more of the boys wrestling from tonight. :)

Back to School

No regular weekly post this week. The kids started school and I'm having a super crazy week.

Menu (that I've made up as I go):
Monday- pasta with meat sauce
Tuesday- homemade pizza
Wednesday- leftover buffet
Thursday- crock pot salsa chicken
Friday- more salsa chicken
Saturday- breakfast
Sunday- ?

To-Do's:
Monday- holiday (I should have done more to get ready for the week, but I didn't)
Tuesday- 1st day for the big kids, errands, errands, and more errands in town, 1st day of 2 different pick-up times for the older kids, and guitar lessons for R. I think I spent most of the day in my van.
Wednesday- 1st day of preschool for N, a few errands, soccer for M, play practice for M
Thursday- A here
Friday- A here, birthday party for the big kids
Saturday- soccer game for M
Sunday- church, N's birthday party

So, a super crazy week. Having them start school after a holiday weekend really threw me off, I was not ready (we didn't even have any bread for sandwiches the first day). Now I'm just trying to throw together N's birthday party by Sunday (again, not at all ready for this!).
Busy summer, busier fall. lol

Anyway, here are their first day pictures. :)

M & R's first day-

My big 4th grader-

Nervous 2nd grader-

N's first day-

School's Out For The Summer!

Tomorrow is the official last day of school, but we won't even be in California by the time school starts, so last day pictures were taken this morning. Goodbye 1st and 3rd grade!
I realized after the fact that I didn't have them stand in the same spot on the porch, so you can't really compare their height, but it's still fun to see these side by side.

All 3 of my babies (none of which look like babies anymore, sob!).

M, first day/last day of 3rd grade.

R, first day/last day of 1st grade.

Last day of school!!

N wanted one by himself too. I can't believe my BABY will be going to preschool in the fall!!

More pics from our walk

Here are some more pictures from our walk this morning.
I couldn't believe N walked almost the whole way on his own, his little legs must be tired now!!

My Little Man

Just a couple cute shots of my little 2-year-old. It was surprisingly warm yesterday so this favorite outfit of mine got another chance to be worn. Of course I just had to snap some pictures while I had the chance. :) Enjoy.




*A funny little note that doesn't really have anything to do with these pictures:
I decided today to try again with making his pacifier be only for naps/bedtime. He asked for it after nap today and I told him I put them up and they were for sleeping only now. He looked at me and smiled and said, "You teasing Mommy!". Sorry Buster, I'm not teasing.

N Turns 2 (brought to you by Pinterest)

Pinterest in the greatest thing ever! Okay, well maybe not ever, but it's pretty awesome! I pretty much did all of N's birthday party from ideas I found on there.

I went with a camping theme, mainly because I thought it would be fun and unique, but still easy enough to do. I loved the idea of a red wagon theme, but I couldn't find much out there, and everything I did find looked like it would take a lot more money to pull off.

The cake: This was a mix of a few different cakes I saw on Pinterest. I wanted to do two trees, but I ran out of green frosting and barely got that one tree covered, so that had to do. I love how the campfire turned out though!

The food and decorations: I had the kids collect some sticks and pine cones when we were camping last month and just stuck them in jars I already had (gotta love free!). I added some tags from a digi scrapbook kit I bought when I made the invitations with string I already had (that was my idea, one of the only things I didn't find on Pinterest, lol).
I also made a little "Don't feed the bears" sign and put one of the boys' teddy bears next to it (another Pinterest idea), and grabbed the lantern from our camping stuff.
For food I made a s'more trail mix (mini marshmallows, chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate), and golden grahams cereal), and then just did goldfish crackers, and watermelon. I also put out the rest of the giant marshmallows that I bought for the party favors.



I didn't take a picture of the favors (although I still could, I have a ton left!), but I did giant marshmallows, graham crackers, and mini Hersey's bars with a tag that said "s'more fun for later". I thought they turned out super cute!

Okay, on to some party pics of my birthday boy! :)

N loves marshmallows, and once he figured out he could reach the bowl he kept picking them out of there. He was too cute, so I didn't stop him. I love how he has one hand shoving them in his mouth and the other hand still grabbing them from the bowl!

On his very tippy toes!

He was so cute opening his presents this year! It makes me excited for Christmas (now I just have to figure out what to get him).

He loved being sung to!


He started off trying to use his fork like a big boy...

But quickly went with the quickest and easiest way to get that cake into his mouth!


It was a fun little party! N loved being outside and running around with all the kids!

Summer Recap

Well, Labor Day weekend is over, and so is summer for us. I'm sure we still have plenty of warm sunny days ahead, we usually don't get our nicest summer weather until September and October around here, but as far as the vacations and schedule-less days, those are behind us until next year.
I think we did really well on our summer list this year!

Luckily my kids consider those popper things you throw to be fireworks, and the slide at the pool in Sunriver was good enough to cover our "waterslides" activity, they're not too hard to please. :) I only changed one thing, and that was the Crabs game. Their season is so short, and we figured a Mariners game was probably a bigger deal anyway. Of the things we didn't do, almost all of them were desserts I was wanting to make with the kids, and although I was super excited for Cars 2 to come out at the start of summer, once I read the reviews I wasn't so excited to see it. We'll catch it when it comes out on video. About those toys that needed cleaning out... that probably shouldn't have been on there, but I did get to some of them, and I think the rest will get done now that the kids are back in school (just as soon as I finish up the 1000 other things I haven't gotten to yet). :)

As sad as I am to see this summer go, I am looking forward to getting my house put back together. I think we spent the whole summer either getting packed up to go somewhere or getting unpacked from somewhere. I've had two suitcases sitting at the foot of my bed for the last 4 months and it will be nice to get them put back where they belong for a bit.

This was by far one of my favorite summers ever and we made lots of fun memories.

We kicked it off in May with a trip down to see the Giants with the kids. Looking back I'm so glad we got to go early in the season before everyone ended up on the DL, we actually got to see Buster play this season!

At the Giants game with Nana and Zack

The boys and I visiting my dad who was also at the game

The next weekend was Memorial weekend and we headed over to Redding. We were going to bring the boat, but the weather was still so yucky that we decided not to. We did a kayak tour of Wiskytown lake on Saturday morning and then spent the rest of the weekend hanging out and relaxing with Matthew's family. Lots of fun, food, and games.

In June we were swamped with softball, t-ball, dance, worship practice, and end of school year activities for the beginning of the month.

the kids last day of school

We headed back over the Redding and the lake the weekend the kids got out of school. More boating, relaxing, eating, and games that weekend.

The next weekend my mom and I headed down to Santa Rosa for a shopping weekend. We had a blast and definitely shopped until we dropped! I found lots of new clothes for myself, and my mom bought me a new purse and wallet that I love!! It was so much fun to get some one-on-one time with her, and we decided to make it a tradition.

We also did some fun projects...

In July we spent some days up at my mom's swimming in the pool.

Matthew and I went down to another Giants game and weekend away for our Anniversary. We went to a game on Friday night, and then spent all day Saturday watching movies and eating yummy food. We went out to one movie, and watched 3 more in our hotel room. It was very relaxing, something we don't get to do together very often!

We came home Sunday and then got ready to head over to Redding on Wednesday of that week (Matthew had the whole week off). We hooked up with the rest of his family and then headed up to Sunriver for the family reunion.


When we got home from that my cousin came to visit, and we spent a couple days up at my mom's hanging out with her and swimming.

In August we went camping with Matthew's family at the lake.

When we got home from that weekend we got ready to head up to Seattle for our biggest trip of the summer. Lots of family, fun, and relaxing were had there.

We got home from Seattle with one week left before school started and I spent the whole week just trying to get back to "normal" life.
One week of school and then we headed back over to Redding for one last boating weekend.
We celebrated the August/September family birthdays (including Mr. N's 2nd birthday) on Saturday and then spent Sunday at the lake.

It was a nice way to cap off the summer.

I'm feeling very bitter-sweet about it being over. I wish we could do this all year long, but at the same time I'm ready to have everyone back on a schedule and not have a toddler sleeping in a pac-n-play at the foot of my bed every weekend. I just hope that next summer is as much fun as this one was!

Start of the Week- 1st Day of School Addition

That's right, my babies went back to school this morning, meaning I got to go to the grocery store with just one kid in tow (things I never thought I'd look forward to before I had kids). lol

Here are the standard photos I took before we left this morning:

R's first day of 1st grade

M's first day of 3rd grade (this is the first year ever that she's worn pants for the first day of school. I could not talk her into a skirt or dress, she's in love with her "super skinny jeans" *sigh*)

All 3 kidlets (ages 8, 6, and almost 2)

N had a bit of a hard time when we got home this morning. I think he forgot what it's like to take them to school and be here with just me. Hopefully it won't take him too long to adjust.


Menu for the week:
Monday- crock pot salsa chicken natchos (which I totally forgot to put in until just now, luckily it only took me 4 minutes from start to finish, including washing my hands 3 times because I'm a freak about raw meat)
Tuesday- BLTs with garden fresh tomatoes, yum!
Wednesday- crock pot chicken quesadias
Thursday- something with squash (I've found a few recipes on pintrest, just not sure which I'm going to try yet) and something else (lol)
Friday- ??
Saturday- Mexican potluck, bringing 7(ish) layer dip
Sunday- ??

To-Do's:
Monday- school, grocery shopping, soccer practice for both kids
Tuesday- shopping in town with my mom (and only one kid!)
Wednesday- soccer for M
Thursday- nothing at the moment! :)
Friday- Redding
Saturday- Family party
Sunday- lake! :)

That's it for now. I'm off to start exercising again while N is napping (I quit during the summer because I hated having the older two kids sit and watch me). lol