Homeschooling???

I've had all four kiddos home for two+ days this week (it's Wednesday right now).  The girls are usually home and the boys usually at school.  However the boys are fighting a nasty cold and John Paul has had a very low grade fever.  They are pretty energetic and really not suffering too much.  (A friend pointed out that I'm pretty lucky and should be thankful. So true!)  Anyway, since they aren't too bad, but can't be at school due to that pesky low grade evening fever, I decided we'd do school at home.  We've been busy doing math and reading as well as some art and science too.  I took the girls to story time at the library this morning and took the opportunity to check out a handful of art books.  They are currently recreating masterpieces :)  For science, I cheated and let them watch a science video I picked up.  Math this morning was doing some graphing with Legos--pictographs and bar graphs--and math facts.  I studied to be a teacher, I taught for a few years before having kids, I've occasionally thought about homeschooling, I've decided that I'll keep sending them to school :)

Stella

Weekly Menu

Saturday--Meatloaf, Green Salad, Mashed potatoes, Okra fritters
Sunday--Risotto, Grilled Chicken
Monday--Mini Chicken Meatball Soup
Tuesday--Spaghetti with marinara sauce and sausage, salad
Wednesday--Greek Orzo Stuffed Peppers--sub quinoa for orzo, chop bell pepper and mix it in, serve with green salad
Thursday--Egg Stuffed Baked Potatoes (these were a HUGE hit last week!)
Friday--Cheese and roasted veggie Pizza, salad

Weekly Menu

Saturday--Sweet and Spicy Beef with Noodles sub rice for the pasta
Sunday--Egg-Stuffed Baked Potatoes, GF/CF Waffles
Monday--Veggies and Noodles with Thai Coconut Curry
Tuesday--Meatloaf, quinoa, salad  and since it's Fat Tuesday I'll make Chocolate Strawberry Truffle Pie or Chocolate Raspberry Fudge Cake for dessert
Wednesday--grilled fish, Smashed Chickpea Salad Sandwiches on this wonderful bread
Thursday--taco pizza
Friday--grilled fish, soaked brown rice, salad

On My Plate

Okay, I said I hopped to get on more this week, but I've failed to follow through, because, well, I've got a lot on my plate. Ha, don't we all! :)  So, here's a super fast run down of what I'm juggling: 4 kids, refinancing the house (Jaime's really done most of the work on this one), cleaning the house, teacher conferences, laundry, dishes, cleaning the house, Downton Abbey, 4 kids, researching schools to go back to school, reading too many books at one time, cooking, 4 kids, cleaning house.  Did I mention 4 kids and house cleaning? :) 
Some of the above reasons are perfectly important and take priority over blogging.  One that doesn't, did you catch it in the list? Downton Abbey.  I'm hopelessly hooked!  I stayed up until almost midnight last night watching 3 episodes in a row!  You can watch full episodes on Netflix and PBS. 
Check out this little girl, our Stella Lulu!  She's getting so big so fast, 8 weeks today.

And, I must be doing something right...check out this little mama! :)  She's even got the sway down!

Penelope has pretty much given up her daily naps, but a couple times a week I can catch her having some down time. 

Alexander having an after school snack of popcorn.
Things are good and crazy...love it!

Weekly Menu

We are actually going to have a bit of winter this weekend! No snow or anything crazy like that, just some good cold days.  So, I had to plan accordingly...warm foods :)  I'm looking forward to a calmer week next week.  This week has been just a little hectic (I do enjoy life that way sometimes, but I also need to have the down time to organize my thoughts and have time to think straight again).  We've been making some pretty big decisions here and shaking things up.  More to come on that in the near future.  I'm hoping to spend more time on here now that some decisions have been made. I'm quite excited for the future!


Saturday--Beef Soup and GF/DF potato dumplings
Sunday--Meatloaf, salad, veggie (shredded carrots, onions) rice
Monday--Creamy Avocado Pasta
Tuesday--Baked Potato Soup (onions, garlic, potato, bacon, chicken broth, Mama Chulula sauce, cheese to top)
Wednesday--Grilled Fish, Quinoa, Sweet Potato, and Kale
Thursday--Beef and Cheese or "cheese" Enchiladas, salad, beans
Friday--Sweet Potato and Kale Pizza (add bacon?)

And, not to forget Valentine's Day, I'll be making something yummy from this list from Chocolate Covered Katie, I just can't choose!  I made the chocolate frosting shots last week and was in heaven. 

Weekly Menu

It's a rainy day here today (I'm grateful for it because it's been so long without any). I'm finding myself wanting soups and Mexican food and some good coffee :)  Ahh, comfort.  And a good book.  Heaven for sure.  Instead I've got a sleeping baby, a happy 3 year old, a mug of water, and my laptop.  Happy either way :)  So, to balance my current cravings with next week's schedule and nutrition, this is what I have.


Saturday--BBQ Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potato Skins, baked beans, salad
Sunday--Philly Steak and peppers and flat bread, quinoa (loosely based on this recipe) cook meat, onion, peppers together. serve with bread and/or quinoa, top with cheese or "cheese"
Monday--Black Bean Burgers, oven fries, salad
Tuesday--Chipotle Chocolate Chili (sub ground beef for turkey)
Wednesday--Caramelized Honey Dijon Chicken on salad greens with avocado, onions, bell pepper; rice
Thursday--Acorn squash, bacon, onions, garlic, arugula/spinach pasta
Friday--Taco pizza--refried beans, salsa, lettuce, avocado, cheese or "cheese"

Also, we did go to BRGR Kitchen and Bar last week.  It was fabulous and I've been mentally writing my post about our experience there and how wonderful and knowledgeable they were...now I just need to get it up here.  I promise, it will come.  In the meantime, if you need a great restaurant to eat it, definitely give it a try.  My son who regularly chooses NOT to eat burgers happily ate his and we all enjoyed the sweet potato tater tots.

Busy Week

It's been a very busy week and it's only Wednesday
so far I've...
been spit up on way too many times to count
been pooped on
begged for a few moments to take a shower
taken a shower--actually one everyday :)
been to the park twice (yes, in January and February in Kansas!)
gone for a couple of walks
made food for my family
nursed Stella
shopped
cleaned
snuggled
washed, sorted, and folded laundry
read
gone to story time
visited the library twice
hugged
played Monopoly Deal several times
played storytelling game
driven
organized
prayed
talked
texted
and now, blogged :)
I'm sure I'm missing a few things, but these are what come to mind as I spend 1.2 minutes reflecting on the 3 days of this week.