ROTC Summer Boot Camp

Here is Troy at his ROTC Summer Boot Camp. They had a one day boot camp and learned different turns and commands before school started. The top picture is inside the common's area of the high school.

Troy's in the black and white shirts and that is his friend, Cricket beside him in the bottom picture.

October in the Quinn Home

Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight has the best post on October Activities...

http://dawnathome.typepad.com/by_sun_and_candlelight/2007/08/themes-and-plan.html#comment-80266367

Here are some of our families favorite October Activities:

1st - My Mimi's birthday - she will be a beautiful 83 this year

Our favorite snacks:
apples
grapes
carrots and dip
caramel apples
hot apple cider
pop corn

I am hoping to try:
a pomegranate
pop corn balls
pumpkin muffins

11Th - our anniversary - 16 years this year!!!

27Th - my daddy's birthday - 61!!!

Our church's Fall Fun Festival - they usually have a rock wall to climb, giant slides, obstacle course, sticky wall (Brenda had to cut her hair out last time - it was complete stuck!!!), ball pit bungee run and a moon walk. It's lots' of fun

Picking apples
Gathering pecans
Going to the pumpkin patch
Carving pumpkins
Dressing up for trick or treating

We are planning on reading about:
fall
leaves
apples
football
pumpkins

Favorite Dinners:
Vegetable Soup
Salmon Stew
Chili
Baked potato bar
Potato soup
Spaghetti

Favorite Desserts:
Pecan squares
Pumpkin cookies

Artie's Birthday

I did it, I did it!!!!

Friday was Artie's 39TH birthday and I pulled off the most wonderful birthday surprise. All he knew was that on Saturday, we were loading up in the car (two cars actutally) and heading out for a road trip somewhere in North Carolina about two hours away. He had no idea where we were going and tried to be a good sport about it. :-) It was the most beautiful day - the sky was so blue.


We took him skydiving!!!! It was his very first jump. This is on his list of things he had to do in his lifetime. (Now if I could figure out how to get a dinner with Terry Bradshaw, I think he could throw the list away!!) :-)


It was such a fun day. He went up 10,000 feet in a tiny little airplane and did a tandem jump with a man named Tom (who had 1900 jumps). They had a 40 second free fall at 120 miles per hour then a five minute descent once the parachute came out for the last 5000 feet.

We had a nice picnic - all planned and prepared by the girls - with sandwiches, chips, pickles and peppers, apples and caramel dip and ended it with homemade birthday cake.

You couldn't have asked for a more perfect day!!!

I love you sweetie, Happy Birthday!!!



PS. Sorry for the crocked picture, I got a new scanner from my new friend Nikki and I am still trying to figure it all out. It's great Nikki!!!! :-)

Sunday at the Quinn Home

Artie is watching football - Go Panthers!! and the Nascar race.

Troy is at his Discipleship Group

Brenda is at her Discipleship Group - they are having a scrap booking night, she just called and asked if she could stay a little longer.... :-)

Emily is cleaning her room (we weren't home yesterday, so most of our heavy cleaning didn't get done). She is trying to get finished in time to watch High School Musical (again!!) before bed.

Stephen, Bobby and Terry are outside playing in the backyard. They are covered head to toe in dirt, just like little boys should be!! Almost bath time!!!!

I am taking a much enjoyed computer break. My task bar has up:

*How to write a research paper (doing a little home school homework for mom - prep for Brenda- she will be writing a research paper on each of her grandparents this year)
*Yahoo mail - a note to myself to get all needed clothes, shoes, and book bags together for school and work tomorrow
*By Sun and Candlelight - an article about seasonal comfort drinks - this is my favorite blog!!
*Storybook Woods - a wonderful article that had a link to http://librivox.org/ - an online compilation of books read aloud - one on Emily's history books - An Island Story - is listed. She will be able to listen to her stories online now. One subject that will clean up a little reading time for me.
*YouTube - listening to Third Day's Cry Out to Jesus


I had a nice outing with Gwyn today (although it was too short!!). She was in town to visit her grandmother, who is sick and in hospice care now. We met up at the yellow mall with her mom and niece and nephew and did a little shopping. I got Brenda a cute little ... for Christmas (can't list it, she might read!!) :-) I also got Artie some dumb dumbs and sunflower seeds and then picked up some pizza. Oh, I almost forgot, I also got Emily her first picture album. We just got back her pictures from Girl Scout camp this summer (how slow am I?) - I think she will have fun cropping and making pages!!

So, that's the day in the Quinn home. Gotta get ready for tomorrow. It's my Mimi's birthday!!!

You've Come A Long Way Baby!!

Well, anyone who knows me will die reading that I am blogging about a spider web!!! :-) Hold on to your hat Gwyn, you're not gonna believe it.

Emily and I have been reading Charlotte's Web for her free reading book. For those of you not blessed to know the story of the book - Charlotte - the spider - makes a miraculous web saying "SOME PIG" in order to save her friend, Wilber, from being eaten. The newsmen get involved and come and check out the spider web.

So, while Emily and I are reading, we come across a story for her current events about this giant spider web in Texas. People are coming to see it, take pictures of it, and it's in the news - just like CHARLOTTE'S!! :-) I love it when things come together. So we have been checking out this spider web - thankfully there are no pictures of the spiders involved. That would have probably been too much for me to deal with. Anyway, Emily and I have enjoyed it all. Troy even thought it was cool.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/lake_tawakoni/ Here is more info if you would like to check it out.

Tip of the day!!

Fingernail polish remover will take black spray paint off a child's face!!! Don't ask!! :-)

Friday's at the Quinn Lovliness Academy

We have dedicated Friday's at the Quinn Lovliness Academy to grandparents. We are rotating each Friday between Bobbie (Artie's mother) and Mimi and Granddaddy's (my grandparents - my daddy's parents). We have had such a fun time. We just had our second day at Bobbie's today. The girls are learning so much from them.

At Bobbie's today they practiced making biscuits and homemade gravy and their first big pot of chain gang potatoes (a staple for Artie growing up).

Bobbie told them the story of their grandfather Arthur's life growing up as a boy (a story all in it's own - Papa Quinn passed away when I was pregnant with Brenda). Brenda is writing a term paper this year on each of her grandparents' lives - a little each week and she will learn how to pull it all together at the end of the year.

They have pressed flowers (of course some of Granny's petunias) and have some projects planned to work on next time with them.

At Mimi's Brenda cooked homemade pudding for the first time and Emily got to use the electric hand mixer to mash the potatoes. They also cooked some creamed corn from Grandaddy's garden. Granddaddy told us the story of how he married Mimi five days after he returned from the war and how it cost him $2.50 to buy her (really the marriage liscence). It was a fun day there too.

I'm so sad that my camera is broke. I hope to be able to take some pictures soon. I think I'm going through withdrawal!! :-)

Front View
Originally uploaded by shayngrin

Here's there house - isn't it cute? :-)

The Griffin Family - They Made It!!!

Our beautiful family
Originally uploaded by shayngrin

Gwyn and Shay made it. They are in language school in Costa Rica. It was so hard to see them go!! I creid for a while - just feeling sorry for myself!!! :-) I so miss them and Daria too!!!

Yeah, my computer is back up and running - time to blog!!! :-)

Emily

Emily and I went to the yellow mall Friday afternoon to get her hair cut. When we got there, Jack Ropper from News Channel 7 was outside with a big Locks of Love canopy overhead.

When we got in, we asked about the requirements and found out that Emily had just enough (6 inches) to donate. She had never heard of Locks of Love before, so it was a pleasant new thought to her that she could help another little girl who had lost her hair while she was sick. So, Emily looks cute with her short new bob. When my camera is cooperating again, I'll try and get a picture.

Kelly's Current Read

I thought I might as well show you what I'm read (really it's re-reading - again!!) right now. This is my favorite homeschool book of all time. It has such great insight to the Charlotte Mason mentality of homeschooling. Very easy to read and implement. It's good to read before starting a new school year to get some inspiration. I have many ideas planned for this upcoming year with the girls.

Brenda's New Book

Update ~~~~ Okay, Mother Teresa got bumped until later in the year. Brenda is gonna start with the Hiding Place - the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her life during WWII in a concentration camp. The Hiding Place is my all-time favorite book. I don't know why I didn't think of this first. We will study a little of Holland, Germany, the Nazis and then Corrie's family and how faithful God is. She had the most remarkable spirit about her. I am so challenged when I read her words!!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's the end of July - time for lots of new books coming in here. Brenda's first pictorial biography came in the mail today. She will begin studying the life of Mother Teresa when school starts (tied in to a study of India for geography).

I'm more excited because today looking at the Come and See book - it triggered my brain and I thought of Brenda's next bio. She is gonna read one of my all time favorite books - The Hiding Place - about the capture of Corrie Ten Boom and her family and how she never fails to love God and see His beauty in the hellish life she leads in a Nazi concentration camp.

I'm sure we will both learn a lot from these ladies who have seen more than we could ever imagine.

Good to Great

Summer reading 3
Originally uploaded by publicmind / Hans Henrik H. Heming

This is a book Artie is currently reading for work. It has some good principles that can be used in a family as well.

"Good is the enmy of great."

"Few people attain great lives, in large part because itis just so easy to settle for a good life."

"When you have disciplined people, you don't need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don't need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don't need excessive controls." (where we are working with our teenagers!!)

Level 5 Leaders - "ambition first and foremost for the company and concern for it's success rather than for onle's own riches and personal renown. Level 5 leaders want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won't even know thtat the roots of theat success trace back to their efforts. As one Level 5 leader said, 'I want to look out from my porch at one of the great companies in the world someday and be able to say, 'I use to work there."

Brenda > Kelly > Brenda and Emily

I want to pour everything I have into Brenda and Emily so that their home and family rise above anything I've ever dreamed of. Just like the president of a large corporation dreams for his company.

Created for Work

created for work
Originally uploaded by tlpgina

Artie, Troy and I are reading this new book. It just came (from e-bay) last week. So far it is excellent - although Troy hasn't quiet yet found the joy in reading it with us.

"And whatever you do, do it heartily" Colossians 3:23

Here are a couple of ideas from the first chapter...

give more than is required in your work - just like God

learn to put abundance into what you do

put your heart into your work

use your imagination

Our goal is to read a chapter (they are very small - only about 4 pages) a day and then maybe talk about it at dinner.

Mama's Movie Night

A delightful Movie. Feb.14th 2007
Originally uploaded by JIGGS

I also got a movie night this week. Artie went to bed early and I settled in and watched Miss Potter all by myself!! It was a beautiful movie!!! I loved it!!!

Emily is going to be studying Beatrix Potter in her artist study this year and we will top it off watching the movie. It seems like the little town Beatrix Potter lived in wasn't too far from Ambleside (Charlotte Mason)...then there's Phillipa in England too. It would be such fun to go and visit some day. It is such a beautiful country!!

Night at the Museum

MUSEUM
Originally uploaded by Valence

We had such a fun movie night last night. We popped six bags of popcorn (free thanks the a Harris Teeter triple sale a couple of days ago) :-) and away we went.

Dawn at By Sun and Candlelight was the first to recommend this.

http://dawnathome.typepad.com/by_sun_and_candlelight/2006/12/eight_thumbs_up.html

It was a huge hit. Ben Stiller is great. It's a family friendly movie that even had Terry laughing!! Owen Wilson is my favorite in the movie - he's a "little" cowboy who doesn't like to be man-handled.

The littles had it back on this morning when we got up.

School Book Preparations - Brenda

Mary Cassatt_The Cup of Tea
Originally uploaded by Redbud

Here is my best shot at listing Brenda's books. I'm still working on lots of her preparation. She is doing Marbleised Pre-year 7 and Keepers at Home - Year 2.

Here is her book list...


Bible

Devotional -
Mere Christianity - CS Lewis
Pursuit of God - Tozer
Pursuit of Holiness - Bridges

Bible History - Trial and Triumph

History -
Augustus Caesar's World
The Story of the World - Modern Age
Story of the Greeks
Story of the Romans

Biography - beginning with Mother Teresa
Ruth Bell Graham
Amy Carmichael
Sara Edwards

Geography - this will be a study corresponding with her biographies - beginning with India

Nature Study - School of the woods

Math - Saxon 87

Spanish - still looking

Poetry - still looking

Literature -
Pilgrims Progress
Anne of Green Gables
Little Women
Little Men
Little House Series - book 2
Shakespeare - Charles Lamb

Artist appreciation - studying Mary Cassatt (pictured - The Cup of Tea) first quarter

Composer appreciation - studying Keith Green first quarter

Memorization - beginning with the greatest commandment

Physical Science - Apologia

Science Biographies-
Einstein
Archimedes
Galileo



Keepers at Home - Subjects:

Cooking - Amish
Home Management/Cleaning
Sewing (from year 1)
Gardening - Four Season Harvest
Knitting? (from year 1)
Godly Womanhood (with Emily)
~Beautiful Girlhood
~Making my Room Special
~Spirit of Loveliness (Emilie Barnes - Emily's namesake)
~Welcome Home (Emilie Barnes)

School Book Preparations - Emily

childrens book illustration tag (Finland)
Originally uploaded by Feel like dancing_Portugal

I am beginning to get things ready for school. I can't believe it is less than five weeks til the first day!!

I am going to start with Emily's books (second grade). Hers are a little easier for me to get all together than Brenda's.

Emily will be doing Ambleside Year 1 and Training Your Daughters to be Keepers at Home - Year 1.

Here is her book list...


Bible - I am stilling deciding on the child's version we will use

Bible History - Trial and Triumph

History -
An Island Story
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Viking Tales (maybe?)

American History -
Benjamin Franklin - Ingri D'Aulaire
George Washington - Ingri D'Aulaire
Buffalo Bill - Ingri D'Aulaire

Geography -
Paddle to the Sea - Holling C. Holling
Tree in the Trail - Holling C. Holling
Seabird - Holling C. Holling

Nature Study - The Burgess Bird Book

Phonics - Hooked on Phonics

Math - Saxon 2

Spanish - still looking

Poetry -
A Child's Garden of Verses - Robert Louis Stephenson
Now We Are Six - A.A. Milne
When We Were Young - A. A. Milne
Oxford Book of Children's Verse - Iona and Peter Opie

Literature -
Aesop's Fables - illustrated by Milo Winter
Tales from Shakespeare - Charles Lamb
The Blue Fairy Book - Andrew Lang
Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling
Parables from Nature - Margaret Gatty

Free Reading -
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire

Handwriting - Getty & Dubay - Book B

Artist appreciation - studying Beatrix Potter first quarter

Composer appreciation - studying Keith Green first quarter

Memorization - beginning with the greatest commandment



Keepers at Home - Subjects:

Cooking - Rachael Ray (Emily's favorite)
Rubber Stamping - (Brenda will be teaching this)
Sewing
Gardening - Square Foot Gardening
Knitting?
Godly Womanhood (with Brenda)
~Beautiful Girlhood
~Making my Room Special
~Spirit of Lovliness (Emilie Barnes - Emily's namesake)
~Welcome Home (Emilie Barnes)

~ The King's Daughter

Carowinds

Welcome to...
Originally uploaded by ~Living the American Dream~

Sunday, Artie's work sent all their employees and their families to Carowinds. We had such a good time. We meet and had lunch provided for us - hot dogs and hamburgers. I got to meet a lot of the people I hear about every day from Artie's office.

We split up - Troy and Brenda went to ride the Borg (a 1 1/2 hour wait) and Artie and I took the littles to the Nickelodeon rides. Everyone had such a good day. Stephen, Bobby and Terry rode their first roller coaster and first bumper cars. Terry was the funniest!!! He was terrified on the roller coaster and loved it - they rode it four times!!

We spent most of the afternoon on that side of the park - Troy and Brenda came and rode the little cars with us. We all met back up in the water park. The littles played in the wave pool. It was a great day!!

My camera is still acting up, but I found some pictures on Flicker of our favorite things.

This was the littles' favorite ride - Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion

You ride in the mystery machine throughout the mansion and shoot ghosts and Scooby snacks.

Carowinds 14
Originally uploaded by flip.angle

Artie and I rode the Lazy Town Copters with all the littles

Carowinds (6)
Originally uploaded by teri_brooks

Here's Artie's favorite ride of the day - Danny Phantom's - Phantom fliers

carowinds_2007-36
Originally uploaded by kycz

Emily and I rode Granny's favorite ride - the Needle.

Carowinds 2005!
Originally uploaded by Travis Hellstrom

This was Troy and Brenda's favorite ride - The Vortex

VORTEX-CAROWINDS-070707
Originally uploaded by VAN JOHNSON PHOTOGRAPHY

We finished up the day with a nice meal at Taco Bell. The children were exhausted - not to mention Artie and myself!! :-) Thanks Comfort System!!

$1008 worth of groceries for $145!!! - Triples Coupons at Lowe's Foods

I had my best ever one day shop and best triple sale shop too this past weekend!!! (the picture is from the first shop on Thursday - sorry the picture isn't the best - there was a bad glare from the window)

Thursday, Brenda and went to Lowe's Foods in Gastonia (about 40 minutes away). We each did 6 shops (you could only do 20 coupons per order - so we went through 6 times) - for a total of 12 shops.

Our total bill before coupons was $711.68 we only paid $89.57 - a savings of $622.11!!!! What a shop.

Artie and I went back on Saturday. We went through 3 times each and our total was $297.08 before coupons. We paid $58.94 - saving $238.14!!! Artie was so funny. He couldn't do anything but laugh at the register!!! :-)

So our family total for the triple sale was $1008 worth of groceries for $145!!!! WOW oh WOW!!! :-)

There is another triple sale coming up this weekend (Thurs - Sat) at Harris Teeter. I usually go to the store in Shelby. It is only about 30 minutes from our house. I pack up the coolers to keep the cold items in and head out. Brenda will probably go with me and help out. Wow, if I had learned to shop like this before I was married - we would be way ahead financially where we are now!! Better late than never I guess! :-)

Swimming at the Griffins

What a pool full!!! 9 kids and 4 grownups!! Notice how Gwyn and I avoided the camera!! :-)

Emily and Terry

Bobby had just had stitches in his pinkie toe - Artie and Shay wrapped his foot in a Wal-Mart and then taped it up with duck tape!! A man and his duck tape - what a match made in heaven!!

Terry got more and more comfortable as the day went on.

Camping

We had such a fun weekend camping.
 

The sun set was very pretty the first night there. Artie, Marshall, and Ryan got most of the tents set up before we got there. I brought all the children a little later (we had been at Emily's Girls Scout program in Spartanburg - Artie left and went straight to the camp and I went home and got the other children and finished packing the car)

We stayed busy playing all weekend. Brenda's baiting someone's fishing line - she's definitely her daddy's girl - didn't get that from me~~~~ My Papa Troy would have been proud!!

Bobby had a lot of fun swimming in the lake. He would just get off in his own world floating in his life jacket. He reminds me a lot of Troy when he was younger.

Troy spent most of his weekend playing with Ryan. They canoed all over the lake and swam all the way across a couple of times. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but my camera wasn't cooperating.

Stephen had a good time swimming and fishing in the lake. (Adam is canoeing with Troy in the background)

Emily fishing. She said she had a good time even though she didn't catch anything this trip.

Terry caught his first fish, then he caught a snapping turtle and then another fish. All right in a row - every time he threw his line in the water. The other children were all screaming!! It's amazing any fish stayed nearby. Stephen and Bobby also caught their first fish - but my camera didn't want to take any more pictures~~ 10 children kept the dock pretty active all weekend. I'm sure the fish were ready for a break after we left!!

Artie and Emily, Terry fishing, Troy and Adam coming in from canoeing.


Cassie, Brenda and Emily always have a good time together!!!

High Blood Pressure

Boulder, Colorado
Originally uploaded by Barrybar

I spent the day in bed yesterday - checking my blood pressure. It is way up and is messing me up. My head is swimmy, I'm dizzy. Anyone have any good tips? I think I am going to have to end up going back to the doctor and having my prescription updated.

Beacon Drive-In

Beacon Drive-In
Originally uploaded by CozCoz

Yeah, Friday we got to go to the Beacon. It's one of the things I miss about living in Spartanburg.

When my mama and daddy were dating - they use to go to the Beacon on Friday or Saturday nights. It was the place to be. My daddy lived within walking distance in Park Hills.

It's such a fun place and they have the best food. We all got chili cheeseburgers and french fries. Troy told the little boys they were fixing to eat the best hamburgers in the world - I don't think they were disappointed!!

I miss seeing Mr. White there, but the man that served us was very kind. He was inviting a little boy in front of us to Bible school the following week.

Today at the Quinn's

Fresh Corn
Originally uploaded by disneymike

Today was Emily's first day at Girl Scout Camp!! She will go all week. I have such good memories of GS camp. She is at Camp Mary Elizabeth - me and my mama spent many camping trips there!! :-)

Troy took Stephen and Terry swimming with the church. Stephen can swim under water now.

Bobby wasn't able to go, he still has stitches in his pinkie toe (sliced it last weekend on Troy's truck's windshield wipers - 5 stitches). He is going to see if they will take them out tomorrow morning.

Brenda spent the day getting ready for a beach trip to Charleston tomorrow. She is going with a friend from church. They are gonna stay a week. She has washed her clothes and has almost everything laid out to go. If I could just get her to clean her room before she leaves.

(For those keeping up - we still haven't heard from Brian. Gaffney High School called today about Brian's registration and I had to tell them he wouldn't be there in the fall.)

I spent the day packing lunches, taxing everyone around to their different activities, sweeping, washing dishes, stopping by the store (twice - got some good deals at an Eckerd's that has been bought out by Rite Aid), cooking a little supper (Artie grilled), and cleaning out a desk drawer.


Tonight's Dinner

Grilled chicken with smokehouse BBQ sauce
Corn on the Cob
Caesar Pasta Salad

Artie and I are fixing to watch Freedom Writers - I hope it's good. Gwyn recommended it. I don't like Hillary Swank (she has a problem with gender roles I think - acting like a boy, boxing, just not my cup of tea) - so it's already got one strike against it.

I love Bible School!!!

I love Bible School. My children love Bible School, but I love Bible School too!!

This only happens once a year. For 3 1/2 hours a night, for five night - all my children are out of the house at the same time!! They even eat dinner at church. This is the only time ALL YEAR (even during school hours with homeschooling - some one is always here) that they are all doing something at the same time away from home. I can count the number of times I've been alone in the last 16 years!!!

It is so quiet in my house!!! Artie and I eat out every night of BS.

Sunday was Artie's pick - but he couldn't make up his mind - so I picked Long John Silver's. It's in with an A&W and set up like an old time soda fountain. They had oldies music playing. I kept telling Artie - I know this song - it was on my Donnie and Marie album or my Kristie and Jimmy McNichol album or me and my friend Allison use to sing this on her front porch. :-) After dinner I worked on some homeschool things for the upcoming school year. I still have to order Brenda's book and got a good list ready.

Last night we enjoyed the air conditioning at Bronco's Mexican Restaurant. We just had a new one open here in town and it was the first time we've eaten there. I didn't eat lunch saving up my WW points for dinner!!

Tonight I think we are eating at Sub Station II and then tomorrow and Thursday are Artie's picks again.

Yeah!!

Gywn found my homeschool notes I lost!!!! I left them at a book sale at Restoration Church. One of the secretaries held on to it and was trying to find out whose it was. That is such a relief!!!! I have so many plans in there!!!

Now, time to get to work on our plans for the upcoming school year!!!

Our Favorite Summer Meals

Fresh Fruits & Vegetables 2
Originally uploaded by invisibleElement

I love the different seasons!! I love change and making things different. I love looking forward to things and making family memories.

We have different things we serve at different times of the year. We don't grill much during the winter and we don't have salads and things from the garden. Likewise - we don't serve spaghetti (sometimes at a birthday if it's requested) or chili or stews in the summer. My family looks forward to their favorites coming up each season. Keeps their love alive. They sit in the summer and say I can't wait for some of your chili mama or in the winter - I can't wait till we can grill out some hamburgers with garden fresh tomatoes on them. It keeps the food fresh and not boring.


Here are some of our summer foods -


Grilling:

hot dogs
hamburgers (my all time favorite summer meal)
hamburger steak
pork chops
ribs
steaks
chicken

Summer dinners:

A big salad (using things from the garden)

A big sandwich - a loaf of french bread - sliced lengthwise and loaded like a Dagwood then sliced for individual slices

Subs

Tomato and bacon sandwiches (tomatoes from the garden)

Corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, and sliced cantaloupe. (I don't get away with many meals without meat - but this one is okay cause it's so summer-y)

Chicken Taco Salad - great served cold

Pepperoni pasta salad

Tuna salad

Chicken salad

BBQ sandwiches



Sides:

Veggies and dip

baked beans

coleslaw

macaroni salad - want to find a good one

potato salad - not much

boiled eggs

deviled eggs



Drinks:

lemonade

sweet tea



Desserts:

I want to learn how to make homemade ice cream this summer!!

ice cream

ice cream cones

Popsicles

Italian icee

strawberries and whipped cream

strawberry shortcake

watermelon

jello

milkshakes



From the garden:

fresh made salsa




Meal Activities:

picnic at the park

picnic at the lake

when it gets really hot - sometimes we will put a video in, turn fans on everyone and watch a movie during dinner on a blanket

hobo lunch - I love this one - I fix the littles a lunch - Pb&J, carrots, a little Debbie, chips or something - tie it up with a bandanna and hang it on a stick. - little boys and sticks with a lunch on it - it doesn't get better than that!!


Please share your summer meal ideas....

Using up my grocery stock!!!

So, here I am talking about stocking up my freezer and pantry and now my stock's down - but it sure came in handy. Last Friday night my billfold was stolen from inside my car in my carport.

It was totally my fault - Artie told me all the time not to leave my billfold in there - but somehow I never really understood he meant it. But guess who isn't leaving anything in the car now?

So, Friday was the day after Artie's payday and I had all my grocery money in it from the week. All gone!!! I could have gotten more money out of the bank - but really felt like it was my fault and I needed to try and do the best with what I already had in the house without buying more.

I've made it through the week now and am ready to plan some real meals for this week!!

Planning Our Meals

Four weeks ago
Originally uploaded by helenjane

So, my meal planning has changed a little over the years. I started with a calendar and a piece of paper. I would see what was going on that week - note it on the calendar and then plan what we wanted to eat around that (our four meals plus one new to try). :-) My grocery list was pretty similar each week.

As I grew in my cooking, I began to learn to get the store sale papers each week and see what was on sale. If it wasn't on sale - we didn't eat it!! :-) It help my learning experience to find new meat on sale(besides my favorite hamburger) and then find some way to cook it. My learning kinda hit a wall as far as planning was concerned. My meals were still growing, but I didn't change my method of preparation for years.

Months ago, I had a revelation. I had been sweeping my living room and there were a few pennies and a dime in the dirt pile. You have to understand my house - when I sweep (a multi - times a day event) - the dust pan is always overflowing!! We make a lot of dirt!! I never would get little pennies out of the dirt pile. As I was sweeping I was reminded of the story of the widow woman in the Bible who was rejoicing when she found her lost coin. Then I thought about the verses about keeping account of your herds and how God was a God of order. It wasn't honoring to Him or Artie (who works so hard for us) for me to sweep up money and throw it in the trash. Basically it was laziness. I could justify - it's just a penny - but wow, they add up. I decided I would be more faithful about the money God and Artie gave me to work with. I started collecting every penny I found. I began finding them everywhere. Some days I would have more than a dollar in my pocket at the end of the day.

It was that same time that my eyes were opened to couponing. I use to coupon - saving maybe $5-8 a trip - years ago. That's not what I'm talking about. I am COUPONING!!! In one weekend at a triple sale I saved over ....$550!!!! It has been amazing to me and everyone who has watched the process. I have found so much to buy with those little pennies I had been throwing away. Bread for $.29, spices for pennies, sugar for $.19, the list is endless. That's not even counting the many many things I've been able to get totally free.

Now, for the first time in our marriage, my freezer is full from stocking up when I can get things very cheap or better yet, free. My grocery bill has dropped from $300 a week (for everything - paper products, cat food, diapers, health and beauty supplies) to $200 a week for 8 people. I didn't get a bunch of money and go and stock up. I am adding to my stock each week as I'm watching my grocery bill go down!!! It's amazing to me to watch the growth and the money savings all at the same time. I think God smiles when he looks at my growing pantry. It feels very Proverb 31ish to me!! :-)

So, now my planning consists of getting my little piece of paper and my calendar - seeing what is going on that week - and then going to the freezer and writing down the meats I have in there. I plan meals based on what I already have and then just get the few items I need to round it out.

Meal Planning

meal planning
Originally uploaded by Jenblossom

I am working on some meal planning notes for a Yahoo group I am a part of, so I though I would do some of my thinking out loud here.

I have always planned my meals from the day I got married. I was so excited about the first meal I cooked for Artie. I can't remember everything I cooked, but I know there were several dishes including a pasta salad and some other side dishes. It looked so pretty and fresh. Artie sat down at the table and just looked around waiting for me to bring the rest of the food. He thought it was some kind of joke. I was broken hearted at his disappointment. He couldn't believe I would serve a meal with no meat!!!! What was wrong with me? Wow, what an eye opener - he expected meat at every meal. I hardly ever ate meat and had no idea how to cook it!!!

I had four meals I could cook and we rotated them each week (or really every four days)...

1. Hamburger Helper (which has many different varieties!!) :-)
2. Tacos
3. Cubed Steak
4. My mama's spaghetti

(Notice it's almost all hamburger meat!!! I had no idea how to cook any other meat!!)

That was it. That was all I could cook. We ate those four things and then one new thing. After we ate the new meal - we would vote if we ever wanted to have it again or throw away that recipe. They were a "keeper" or a "thrower". There was only one night that I remember that we actually had to throw the whole dinner out - it was a corn chowder - I've never made it since. So, slowly, the list of things I could cook grew. I got pregnant two months after we got married and was extremely sick. I couldn't even be in the same room where meat was cooking - there was a chicken commercial (we're having "chicken tonight, chicken tonight") and every time I ever heard that commercial I threw up. That lasted the full nine months of pregnancy. So it was a very long process with my learning!!!! But, I don't think my family has had to suffer too much. I have come a long way in my cooking. I'm not ready to be in any type of cooking contest, but if you sit seven hungry children down at my table - I can make them and their daddy happy!!! (most nights)

Help!!!

I have lost my planning notes with all homeschool plans for next year!!!

Only me!!!

Tonight's Dinner

Tonight we are having Zatarain's Yellow Rice with Smoked Sausage fried up and added in (of course sweet tea will be served as always!!). Brenda is cooking dinner for us. /this is her first time cooking this dish - she likes making new things!! We used to eat the Jambalaya, but it was a little too hot for the younger children. I hope this will be a little better tonight.

The Zatarain's (we are using 3 boxes) is from my first triple sale at Lowe's Foods. It was free. The smoked sausage was on sale at Bi-Lo this week for $1 after a coupon was added to the sale price. So.,.. 8 of us are eating dinner for $1 tonight!!! Wow, Artie will love this meal!!!

New School Books

I love when the mailman comes with packages. We got in two new school books for next year: Keeping a Nature Journal by Leslie and Roth and Paddle to the Sea by H. C. Holling. I am excited about the nature journal book. I've never been very good about drawing or journaling or being outside!! ;-) School teaches so much - even to the teacher. I'm going to start my own nature journal this year with the girls I think. There are journal examples for each season. Brenda and I have already both been drawing from the pictures inside.

Paddle to the Sea is one of the books Emily will use for her Geography. Brenda used it and loved it. It is a story about a boy who sends a little toy boat with an Indian inside down through the Great Lakes on a journey to the ocean. I am planning on Brenda being the teacher for this subject for Emily - it will help reinforce the things she learned and I think they will like working together.

I Love Girl Scouts!!

thin mints (drool)
Originally uploaded by sgoralnick

Emily has had so much fun in Girl Scouts this year. She sold Girl Scout cookies (thank you to all who bought some - she sold over 100!), walked in parades, visited a nursing home, earned a bunch of badges, dressed up like Cinderella for a tea party, had a cook out and played on a water slide. The list just goes on and on. It brings back so many fun memories of my mama and me when I was in Girl Scouts. She was the leaders helper and involved in everything I did. I hope Emily will have as many good memories as I do.

Emily;s troop is ending next year. I hope we can find another good troop for her!! I really wish we could find a troop for Brenda - this year there weren't any troops for her age in our town. There are lots more opportunities for younger girls here - but much more fun things to do the older you get. I wish more girls were involved here. We'll just have to wait and see....

Planting Time

Red Shoebox: Sweet corn
Originally uploaded by zosiablue.

I am so late this year with my garden. The freeze on Good Friday threw me off. I just got my corn planted today. The garden is growing more each year. Last year we planted our first corn and planted about 4 stalks. It was so yummy, but only enough for one meal.

Today I planted 51 stalks. I hope it is as good as last years!!!

My new try for this year is strawberries. I hope they do good, the children love them so!!

We have also already planted 30 tomato plants, one banana pepper plant, one cucumber plant, and some carrots (with more to come).

I am still hoping to get some spinach in before it gets too late!!

My Current Favorite Lunch

panini_640x480
Originally uploaded by Emo Squid.

Lean Cuisine Panini

I eat each side of the sandwich by itself - makes it seem like more. It is very yummy and only 7 points.

I am doing Weight Watchers again and my day is pretty set right now. I have Special K and skim milk for Breakfast - 3.5 points and then my sandwich for lunch with a peppermint patty for a little chocolate snack. What kind of day would it be without a little chocolate? It's only 1 point. That leaves me with plenty of point to eat a normal dinner with the family at night and sometimes enough for some ice cream for a late snack.

...Guess what I'm doing around my lunch??? You guessed it - More LAUNDRY!!! :-)