Is is October 3rd yet!

Sunday I'll be heaving a huge sigh of relief as our PTA sponsered Fall Festival will be over!
The planning and gathering has been fun, and at times exciting, but boy is it a lot of work! I feel like I've been going every day without stopping since August.

EAch time we got a positive response from a donation request, it's like we won the lottery! and seeing all the class sponsered auction baskets is incredible! The creative-ness of some them is just outstanding! In fact, one particular basket has a DONATED value of $400! And when I say donated, I mean just about everything in the basket was given by companies or by parents who had things on hand! It is something else!

Since we are in the final countdown, all the last minute tasks..and fears, are starting to service. But that happens with any large, planned event. It will be what it will be and no matter how hard we work to cross our t's and dot our i's, something will be forgotten or someone will not be happy. The bottom line is that we earn some cash for our school and the kids have FUN!

Before I sign out, I'm posting some pics from the last few weeks. I think I have A follower that will be happy to see them(Hi Missy!)




Our new family member: Cupcake Sunflower. She's a bit of a rascal as she has managed to escape twice so far. I think we've been able to seal all her escape routes so hopefully she'll stay put.

Yearly Air Show. This photo was taken from our backyard. The jet was directly over us and I just zoomed in and snapped as fast as possible. I then cropped in as tight as I could. Look closely and the pilots helmet is visable!

Another soccer Saturday!

Wyatt and our dear neighbor friend. Wyatt's preschool went to a local nursery theme park and we asked our friend and Mom along. We had a lot of fun!

Wyatt in a block of cheese. They were totally intrigued by this!

And last but not least, My Maddie. She turned 10 yesterday! WOW. I feel like I'm on the downward slope of her time left in our home. College is just 8 years away .... And that's less than the amount of years she is! LOL! Madeleine is a great girl. She is funny and silly and pretty easy going. She loves "facts" but doesn't want to read-just give her the bullet points! She does have a bit of the pre-teen angst thing going on right now, but it actually makes her comments and insights even funnier at times. Maddie is going to be an awesome young woman and it's been so great watching her grow. I love you Maddie Magoo!

Soccer Season is Underway

Maddie getting hydrated before the game.

Sophie warming up!

Most kids around here begin playing soccer at 5 or 6 years old and most will play through Jr high, if not High School. MAny will go onto play select, which I don't think we'll do for two reason:cost and talent. While my girls enjoy playing and look forward to it each season, they have only played since last year. Unless, there is a huge jump in ability, we'll stay with rec LOL Plus, there are some girls who are just plain talented, even in the U-8 area!

I never thought I'd be the "soccer mom" but I love the roll. I watched my best friend play through school(she played select) and thought, meh, boring. But boy, when it's your own child, it's easy to get caught up in the game. And I'm the unofficial photographer for both teams(not that I'm talented with sports photographer) and I'm having fun trying to capture good shots of the girls.

So a soccer field is where you'll find this Mom for the next 12 Saturdays...

Week of Sept 5th-Meal Plan

Feeling "frugal" so once again, I'm taking inventory of the pantry and freezer and really trying to plan meals and snacks around what I have and/or what I have to build on.

This week will be "normal" busy, meaning I have nothing extra on my plate. Which is good because I caught the cold that is making the rounds and I need to slow down a bit to keep from getting worse and for me that would mean a sinus infection. Hate those.

So in no particular order:

Creamy penne bake, salad, garlic bread


Grilled hamburgers , fresh fruit, chips


Grilled steaks, crash hot potatoes, fresh fruit, corn on the cob


Faux rotissarie chicken & tortellini salad


Creamy chicken taquitos, lime cilantro rice & tortilla chips

Leftovers 2x


i also plan to make an artichoke dip and a yummy dessert for Labor day.

Menu Plan Monday Aug 22

I didn't do a plan last week because Troy was gone and I was giving the kids free reign for dinner. We ate out once so I think that we did great!

This week is a little of the same. Troy is gone for a few days but I felt pretty frazzled last week so I won't be doing the "willy nilly" when it comes to dinner. I won't be serving 5 star meals but they will be planned by gosh!

Pizza with green salad

Beef Stew and homemade cheddar/garlic biscuits

Greek chicken and Rice and caprese salad

Chicken tenders and fresh veggies with potato crowns

Leftovers/ free for all

Grilled Hamburgers and corn on the cob

Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad

Hoping to make some banana muffins or bread for the kids lunches/snacks this week. Bananas seem to turn so fast these days.

Our PTA is the best!

If I do say so myself! We planned our first "Under the Stars" movie night and it was a huge success!

The plan was for our School families to come and mingle for a couple of hours while having dinner and allowing the children to do a craft and play. Then once it got dark, we started the movie. We had tons of people show up as it was getting dark and so far the response has been 100% positive! MAddie and a couple of her friends claiming their spots for ultimate viewing!

Wyatt(in green) with his best buddy!

First Day of School

Today I have a 2nd and 5th grader! Maddie is in her last year of elementary school and that has been pretty hard for me to swallow today. She is so little that I just can't see her going off to middle school next year. And in case you can't tell, Maddie is on the right in the picture above. And yes her 2nd grade sister is almost the same height! Now you know why I say she is little still!

But we are all looking forward to a great year. Maddie has an awesome 5th grade trip in the spring and Sophie has the "duck project" this year. And they are both fortunate to have spectacular teachers. Each of them will be a perfect match for the girls' temperments. Fun stuff!

Weekly Menu Plan

Week of Aug 8

This is our first week back to school. Add soccer into the schedule and back to school night, I need easy make ahead meals! Everything is either easily assembled ahead for the oven or crock pot.

Loaded twice baked potatoes, watermelon

Chicken BLT's, watermelon, chips

Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread(never made it last week)

Crock Pot Roast, mashed potatoes, peas

Grilled Rib Eye, skillet potatoes with onions, cucumber & tomato salad

Meatloaf, salad, bread

Leftovers

I'll link this to what I call "meal plan mania" over at orgjunkie on Monday morning.