Hot Dogs, Stir Fry and Chili & a quick trip!

Last week in review: A little late!
The kids and hubbie have been super sick- fevers and flu like junk- no fun. They are just starting to feel better. I headed out of town for the weekend on a short two day trip to my parents house for a little mini-vaca. After that great trip to Vegas that previous weekend, for some grocery shopping we were excited to try some of the thing we bought...a few meals we had last week...

Veggie Hot Dogs with Asperagus and Home made potato chips

Hubbie bbq'd the dogs on the grill and they turned out great! 

 Veggie Stir Fry with Rice Noodles, Kimichi and Organic Miso Soup

 Quinoa Bean Chili with Corn Bread

Quinoa was a great meat substitute- two kinds of beans and onion and tomatoes- yumm

Took a nice trip out of town, back home to spend two days at my parents house- Meatless meals weren't too hard to come by- Mexican food is always a good choice- and breakfast I found a great Hash brown meal with spinach, tomato and mushrooms and egg substitute from IHOP- oh the best! Yumm. Me with my kids two kitties (Comet & Jupiter) that my parents keep for them-

Onto this weekend...we are ready for some basketball, crafting, sewing, shopping and playing!!

Road Trip Grocery Trip

Weekend Review- The weekend started Friday since the kids have no school that day- we hung out at home, did a drive by on a house for sale then checked out clothes and shoes at Target and headed to Subway for veggie sandwiches for dinner then to our daughters basketball game- they lost but it was a great game, the kids all played very well!

Saturday we all headed to our son's game, even with being hit in the mouth, cutting his lip then hit in the nose, he still got in the game and did great. Afterwards, we picked up our co-op basket of fruits and veggies and were very excited over some yummy asparagus and pineapple and mango's and less thrilled with yet another cauliflower! Hitting recipe sites online to check out yet more options for cauliflower dishes...we have really been enjoying Indian curries, so perhaps another round of that type dish..we'll see!

Being that there is not much selection of stores or items near us we have been talking about heading to Vegas to check out Whole Foods Market and some other food stores...so on a whim we decided why not, let's go! To Vegas we went...a trip to Fry's first to look around at Electronics, then to Whole Foods Market, Greenland Market for Asian foods, had yummy Sushi, rice and vegetable noodle soup for dinner then a Boba drink for desert, a drive down the strip at night so the kids could see the casino's lit up and off to home we went- and instead of sleeping children in the back seat we got loud, singing children in the back seat- very entertaining to say the least! A great family day together.

 Showed the kids the Luxor- where hubbie and I stayed after getting married

 Awesome Asian market with the biggest selection of mushrooms you've ever seen!

 Mango drink

 Kids wanted to see Vegas lit up!

And as for Sunday....family breakfast of Apple Fritters- home made by my two favorite guys-

and after, some shopping, animal cage cleaning, laundry, and a trip to the park for some family basketball practice! Another fantastic weekend.

Cupcakes, Meals & Homeschool

Weekend Review: The weekend really started Friday when our daughter had her evening basketball game. Her team didn't win but we were proud to see her get out there more than she had in the first game- you can really tell she's starting to understand the game and become more confident in playing. Saturday morning came really early when our son had his 8am game. And again, he hasn't played much during the last few games, if at all and all of the sudden, he was a different kid this game! He was out there on the court, making baskets, passing to his team mates and didn't want to go out of the game at all! It is an amazing experience to truly see your children gain confidence, have fun doing something new. I'm proud of both my kids so much. A quick pic of our #9 :)

After the Saturday game we had a great family afternoon taking a trip to the Library then played some basketball at the park nearby and rented a movie for family movie night, 'Mr Poppers Penguins' which the whole family enjoyed. A great day.

Sunday we had family breakfast of pancakes- our daughter mixes the batter and our son loves making and flipping the pancakes. This Sunday I only had to supervise- how awesome! Then we did our 'family work' together, taking care of cleaning rooms, the animals and starting laundry. And finally it was time for some fun...art, food and cooking all in one- Rainbow cup cakes- kids had so much fun with something so simple!

A few weekend meals: Another version of Indian Cauliflower Curry over rice- we just keep getting those cauliflowers in our co-op baskets!

 And this was the best sandwich ever!! I highly recommend it! Eggplant Sandwich and a side of Plantains. Sandwich has grilled eggplant, tomatoes, fresh chopped basil, feta cheese and garlic/mayo on a toasted sub roll- to die for!!

Homeschooling

I have been reading books about other families experiences with homeschool and came across a great paragraph that was stating that this one family removed their 8th grade daughter from the public system and they wanted her to have the freedom to choose what she wanted to learn and when she was asked, she could not think of anything she was interested in. The Mother realized that with so many years in public school the daughter had become accustomed to someone else telling her what she was going to learn. The family decided to give the daughter three months of nothing- letting her take a break to de-school. Then one day, on her own the daughter came to the parents asking to study more about a subject and letting them know she was ready to learn.
I think about this story as I recall our frustration with our daughter last school year when we homeschooled and how it was like pulling teeth to try and get her to choose something to study. Our son, who had only been in a year of preschool was full of interests. Our daughter knows next year she'll be homeschooled, which she is thrilled, excited and can't wait for. So, even being a long time ahead we've started talking and making conversation about interests to pursue in schooling. I had such a proud moment the other day when she came to me and told me since she loves American Girl, and has read books about Felicity in the American Revolution time period, she would like to study and learn more about that era and everything about it- more about the American Revolution, more about girls and womens roles during that time, what their clothing was like, about Williamsburg where Felicity is from- everything. Amazed, proud, excited- Such great feelings I have- I am ready for it to be next school year already too and be home schooling my children.

Food, Sewing and Crafts

Weekend Review- Monday creeps up on us so very fast! We are preparing a delish dinner of Cauliflower/Broccoli Curry Soup with some Garlic Bread and a big salad- yumm! This is our second cauliflower dish this week as our co-op basket came with a head last week and one this week as well. Last week we did Indian Cauliflower over Rice with Buttered Pea's and Carrots:

Our other successful meal of the week was some cheese tortellini with onions, tomato and a creamy sauce and of course some garlic bread and salad.

Our weekly co-op basket of wonderful fruits and veggies this week:

My daughter and I found a simple flower sewing tutorial on line and made some simple flowers with bobby pin backs for her hair- and I've stolen them one day to wear too :)

Then my daughter and I spent some time taking an old dress, planning out a long skirt for her and taking an old t-shirt and refashioning it to a skirt as well.

 

Then after a nice family breakfast of french toast and some family 'work' (chores) of room cleaning and taking care of all of the animals we spent some time crafting...melted crayons into Valentines!

And my son had fun with a bunch of crafting scissors we found making hearts.
It was a great weekend spent together along with a fun movie night of 'Real Steel'- awesome our son LOVED it! And a morning basketball game, can't wait for next weekend, until then, Hello Monday!

Basketball, Meals & Family Work

An exciting weekend as the kids both played in their first basketball game. Its the first time they've played basketball- they each did really great considering there was only one practice before the first game! Proud that they tried their best with something new and are both excited to learn more.

 And my wonderful hubbie did great coaching his first game with the kinder-1st grade team!

A few weekend meals: as we continue on our meat-less meal journey- We had a pasta dish with sauteed mushrooms and broccoli with buttered brussel sprouts on the side.

 This dish was quick easy and filling- barley, black eyed pea's and veggies with some multi grain bread loaf on the side.

 And my son's lunch he wanted to show off for school- His sandwich roll with avocado, cucumber, spinach and olives then he has an orange, sunflower seeds and a natural fruit leather with some crackers on the side :)

We also had a great weekend trying something new- We are working towards 'working' more as a family and doing 'family' chores. So besides all of us getting in the kitchen and cooking up some pancakes together, sitting down eating together we all went into my son's room first, helping him clean, communicating together, asking questions on where belongings were stored...then moved onto my daughters room again cleaning together, all of us putting her things away, working together to make her bed and tidy up. After rooms were done we all went and took care of our animals- rabbits, guinea pigs and the dogs- feeding, cleaning cages, watering- it was a nice experience- took us less time- we worked well together, we spent time together, and we got things done faster. Great family teamwork! It was a wonderful weekend!

The 4-H Show Weekend

Thank goodness today is a holiday and we all get to rest up after such a long fun weekend! It was all about 4-H this weekend. Our daughter showed her rabbits for the first time and also her cavies, one of which has been shown the other had not yet. She had a great time. She really works so hard and we couldn't be more proud of her! She grows so much each time we see her show, as a person, in confidence and in knowledge.

Weekend pictures:

Hectic as all get out!

This week has been full of ups and downs and not so much sleep with a 6yr old having nightmares to tons of overtime at work, 4-H practice, starting up coaching kindergarten-1st grade basketball- things have just been hectic. The weekend is bringing big happenings with our daughter going to her first smallstock show of the year for 4-H, she's entering two rabbits and two cavies and is extremely excited.

She also recently got a baby girl bunny- "Kiwi" who is a Black Satin. We've been playing around with her hair and new hair ribbons so she can figure out what hair-do she wants for her show as well.

Thankfully someone up 'there' knew I needed a break because I got a morning cancellation for work and am able to breathe until lunch time! Coffee and the computer and then some de-stress with baking- nothing big just some easy muffins- blueberry for my boy and chocolate chip for my girl.