Letter J

Updated with the pictures from the week! Yay, I found my cartridge!

So, I'm WAY behind on posting our letter of the week projects! I'm planning on posting both today, if I have time. We took 2 weeks off, one for when my sister came home and we took a mini-vaca and then this past week I took off to get my planning finalized for our pre-k year. Basically we're doing the same letter of the week but I'm adding more things, which I'll talk about later.. you know, when I have time!

Well, I was SO disappointed when I got on the desk top to find that I hadn't yet uploaded the pictures from weeks J and K. So, I go to look for the memory card.. and it's gone! GONE! I have a feeling I might find it later considering I'm pretty sure my youngest little guy walked off with it.. and if so I'll just come back and upload the original pictures. I had changed the memory card out in my camera to upload pictures from Eli's party. I'm just thankful that I had already gotten the pictures from our trip to TN and Eli's birthday party uploaded! I would much rather have those than our crafts! So, this morning I got out most of what we did and took pictures of them.... We started off the week with a Letter J clip art collage. We talked about all things that start with the letter J!

Our first letter J project was a J covered in Jewels! Confessions of a Homeschooler has some great alphabet printables that you can cut out and use in crafts!

We also did a Totally Tots letter craft- Jaguars! We picked up a book at the library and read all about Big Cats!! Especially jaguars!

This was a fun craft! I drew out the simple shapes for Luke and then he practiced his cutting. He cut most of them out by himself, but asked me to cut out the circle and the red rectangle! Then he glued them all together to make a Jack in the Box. It was a great way to practice cutting and review shapes and colors!

Here is Luke working on his Jellyfish! We learned some interesting facts about jellyfish this week! I don't have a finished product picture but it was easy to make. Cut a large circle out of wax paper. Use glitter glue on one side of the circle and then fold in half. When dry hole punch holes alone the folded edge and tie curling ribbon to hang down for tentacles!

We also had some fun with Jelly Beans! I put some jelly beans in a jar, a very small jar, and we all guessed how many there would be! Then we counted them. I think there were close to 80 in there. Then we tasted them and guessed what flavor they were! Luke and I both agreed pop corn flavored jelly beans are gross! We also read a book about counting jelly beans!

This verse is one of my favorites that we've memorized so far!

"I will rejoice in the Lord, I will Joy in the God of my salvation." Habakkuk 3:18

What JOY there is in knowing Christ! And how exciting to be able to share that joy with my boys!! We talked about the difference between worldly 'happiness' and the joy we get from knowing God!

Well, that's all I can remember. I'm sure we did more.. but without pictures, I just can't remember.. it's been almost a month!

Yummy Treat: Homemade "Starbucks" Frappuccino

I found this recipe over at Women Living Well and tried it out yesterday! YUM! I love Starbucks but we don't go often. It is a very special treat when we are able to pick up a coffee out! Well, when I found this recipe I had to try it... and then try it again today.. ahem. I'm promising not to try it again for a while! Here is the recipe:

Mocha Frappuccino

3/4 cup chilled, double strength coffee
2 TBS sugar (Courtney's calls for 3 but I've found that 2 is good for me! Always trying to cut back!)
3 TBS Hershey's Syrup
2 cups milk
2 cups ice

Pour all into a blender and blend until smooth. This makes two servings!

Today, I left out the Hershey's and it was yummy! I think my hubby would like this one best! He tried the mocha one yesterday and liked it! We don't have a blender but we do have a stick immersion blender and it works fine! You can also sub caramel syrup for a Caramel Frappuccino. Use decaf if you want!

I made 6 cups of coffee, with a full scoop (for 12 cups) then just chilled it a pitcher in the fridge. This will last about 3 days. We use a 1/3 measuring cup for a full 12 cup pot of coffee. My mom taught us this... and it kind of makes me wonder how others measure out their coffee.

I highly recommend you checking out Courtney's blog. I really love it! She writes a lot on marriage and how to love, respect and submit to our husbands the way the Bible teaches! I've watched many of her videos and she is such an encourager too! She's also a homeschooling mom!

Tuesday Tip & Review

Of course just planning out your meals is the BIGGEST tip I could ever give but here is a tip that will help save a little money. Pick one ingredient from a favorite meal and use it several times. This won't always work but it does pretty often for me. For instance, this week I wanted to try Parmesan Chicken Subs. They turned out great but did take me about 40-45 minutes to prepare & cook. I used chicken tenderloins, which did help on the cook time of the chicken but I still couldn't get it done in the 25 minutes they said! Anyways, this chicken sub calls for spinach. And since you can buy spinach pretty reasonably (a little over 3 $) in large bags, I thought I'd just find another recipe that uses spinach. So, tonight we'll be having Turkey Sausage and Spinach Pasta, which calls for quite a bit of spinach. Then we will be having ham and veggie omelets later and I'm planning on saving a handful or two to throw into our omelets. Instead of the pasta and egg dishes I could have planned a spinach pizza or spinach lasagna rolls. I love spinach salads too but the Hubs prefers it cooked! It's healthy and can be put into many dishes.

From that same chicken sub meal, I also used about 1/2 cup marinara sauce. So, what do I do with the rest? Make spaghetti! The pizza & lasagna rolls would work here too! You can also freeze jarred marinara/pizza sauce. I can't tell you how many times I've made a pizza and only used a little sauce, only to put it in the fridge and then have to throw it out later! Just make it a habit to pour it into a freezer bag in 1/2 cup increments!

Edited to add- While making the Turkey Sausage Pasta last night, I was reminded that I'm also using the turkey sausage in 2 meals this week! We'll be having turkey sausage in our spaghetti, too! The 16 oz of turkey sausage was $2.88, I believe, not too bad to get two meals out of it! I browned it all with garlic and halved it. Then, I froze the one half to throw into the spaghetti sauce this weekend!

By putting a little thought into your meals, you can save a little. And a little here and there adds up!

Menu Plan 8/23

I have recently been working on a daily schedule for the boys and I. I love the idea of a schedule and I can't tell you how many times I've written one up. I've just never found one that works for us. So, I made one up about 3 week ago and have been tweaking it since. I also talked with the Hubs about things like dinner, bath, and family time, since he's home with us then. Since we will be homeschooling next year, I want us to be use to a routine. But I also want flexibility and I do think you can have both! That is one of the benefits of homeschooling and being at home with your children. I wanted the Hubs involved in our schedule, particularly the evening part of the day! I have a desire for things to run smoothly (ha, that makes me laugh!) and for things to be orderly (ha, again) when he gets home. I know if I do my part during the day with the boys and the house, things do go easier in the evening! There is less 'to do' and more time for us to spend as a family!

So, the reason I say all of this is that in my attempt to schedule I asked the Hubs what time he would like dinner to be ready and he said 4:30. And I'm happy to do that for him! It really will work out well for us! It will give us more family time in the evening and will hopefully result in the boys an earlier bedtime! Then the Hubs and I will have more time together too! I just have to plan better and start dinner earlier. My attempts at a 4:30 supper start tomorrow! And because of this I've been thinking about and searching for quick, healthy meals. I love to cook, but I don't want it to take up so much of my time in the evenings! I was talking to some friends over the weekend and we all agreed that it's difficult to cook a healthy meal with real food quickly. So, I'm on a mission to find quick, healthy real meals in 30-45 min time range. I'm trying 3 new recipes this week! Two are suppose to be 30 minute meals and one is a slow cooker meal! And you know, I am so ready for fall. I love it for so many reasons but one of them is that I can use my Crock Pot more for soups and things like that! I will let you know how they turn out and if they were time savers! I'm also assigning my meals to particular days so that I know what I'm cooking on what day. I'm hoping this will help me save time as well! But like I said, I'm flexible... if my mom wants to cook for us one night.. I'm okay with that! ;)

Monday- Chicken Parmesan Subs, Carrot Sticks with Ranch Dip

Tuesday- Turkey Sausage and Spinach Pasta, Fruit Salad

Wednesday- Veggie & Cheese Omelets, Fried Potatoes and Onions

Thursday- Creamy Chicken and Potatoes, Rolls

Friday- BBQ Pork Chops, Green Beans, Corn on the Cobb

Saturday- Spaghetti, Salad

Sunday- Leftovers/Sandwiches

Check out orgjunkie.com for tons of menus and recipes and chivetalkin.com for great real food menu ideas!