Menu-Plan Monday (on a Wednesday)

 

A week of vacation followed by a holiday weekend has thrown me off my game a little this week, so pardon my tardiness!

 

On Saturday, we got our first CSA box for the summer.  It contained green kale, red russian kale, swiss chard, sweet potatoes, green onions, lettuce, broccoli and strawberries  Yummy!

 

 

Here are a few meals I plan on making with our goodies.

 

grilled salmon and spicy Asian stir-fried swiss chard

 

sausage and red russian kale soup with tomatoes, chickpeas and herbs

 

easy garlic chicken, steamed broccoli and baked sweet potato fries

 

tilapia, sauteed kale with garlic and onion, baked sweet potatoes

 

ginger cilantro baked tilapia, wild rice and roasted veggies

 

Can't wait to try it all out!

Pirate School

I wanted to do some fun "school" activities over the summer.  I planned out 4 theme weeks to spread throughout the summer, but we went to the pool so much that we only go around to one theme.

 

And the winner was ... PIRATES.

 

I found these cute Jake and the Neverland Pirate printables (both preschool and Kindergarten) to use and planned a few "fun" learning activities too.

 

 

Found these foam pirate ships at Joann's.

 

The pirate treasure dig was a big hit with the boys.

 

 

 

 

Found that wooden pirate masks on clearance at Joann's.  The kids colored them.

 

I know what you did this summer: Summer Fun (Part 3)

You can read about Part 1 and Part 2 by clicking the links.

 

Hanging out with friends.  Luke is quite smitten with Miss Waverly.

 

 

Claire and McCall.

 

Neyland and David.

 

Luke loves to sit in baskets.  We cancelled our newspaper so our newspaper basket was empty and he hopped right in!

 

 

More bowling!  It is free, so why not!

 

 

You really can't see it in this picture, but David bowled a 114 in the first game.

 

Of course, it's a lot easier to score this high when you are bowling with a ball stand and bumpers!

 

 

My cute niece struck a pose!

 

We banged on the piano quite a bit this summer.

 

 

And there was quite a bit of napping in the car.

 

Will took a guys trip with his bible study group to Pickwick Lake in Savannah, TN.  They ate some catfish and played a little golf.

 

We spent A LOT of time at the pool this summer.  I finally managed to get my camera out there once.  This was at kids' night one Wed. night.  The girls are making tie-dye shirt.  My kids loved this and their shirts turned out really cute.

 

Claire and her pool buddy Maggie.

 

We also spent 5 long night without air conditioning upstairs (which is where all of our bedrooms are).  The AC finally bit the dust (it was 21 years old) and while we priced new units on Sunday, they couldn't come install until Thursday morning.  It was 93 degrees in our upstairs that last day.  The kids enjoyed "camping out" downstairs for the week, but I was glad to have the AC back up and running!!

 

Remember when Claire went to Camp Wonderfully Made earlier this summer?  Well, they have a 4th week of camp for underprivileged children and invite the earlier campers to help with camp during the 4th week.  So, Claire and I got together with about 6-7 other moms and their girls to make lunches, crafts for the campers, and have a time of fellowship and devotional together.  We then took lunch to the campers and ate lunch and played games with them.  One of the moms made these cross shirts as a special treat for the girls who volunteered to help.  We really had a fun time!

 

Volunteers.

 

 

Lunch at camp.

 

Claire and her buddy Adelaide.

 

Claire and me.

 

Claire and Mrs. DeeAnn (the camp director).

 

Finally, we had a pool day with some "old friends" and had so much fun.  I always hate it when we wait late into summer to do something and then we wonder why we didn't do it sooner (and now summer is over).

 

The itty bitties.  Luke and Samantha.

 

 

The pool snake was a big hit with the big kids.

 

 

Will and the boys.

 

 

Claire modeled her cute swimsuit for me.

 

After the kids got bored with the pool, they did some riding on the mule.  Mr. Matt was a great chauffeur!  Luke would not get off of that thing!  All the kids loved it.

 

The End!

Amazing Wonders Aviation: VBS 2012

Another VBS has come and gone.  This was our only activity for July and it literally did me in for the month!  The kids had a blast and I really did have fun too.  I helped teach a first-grade class (which was actually rising second graders), Claire got to move up with the big kids to the main auditorium for worship, etc. and David and Luke spent another year in the preschool dept.

David in front of his room.

Claire on the first day.

My first-grade class.  We had 37 kids the first day, including two sets of twins and a set of triplets.  Welcome to crazy town!

Claire and David on Day 2.

There's Luke in a picture too!

Luke in front of his classroom.

Claire in front of her classroom.

Our kids had recreation and snack first thing in the morning.  My teaching partner Jennie and her oldest, B.

More fun in rec.

Some fun time in the classroom.

Day 3!

Claire and her teacher ... Mrs. Jennifer (she is also her Kindergarten Sunday morning teacher).

Last day!  (I must have missed the Day 4 photo.)

The big kids and me.

Family photo!  Thanks Mrs. Sandra!

David and his favorite church buddy, WK.

Awesome worship (and I love the plane hanging on stage).

Last day of rec was a little crazy with the big ball.

My teaching buddies.  This is the 3rd year we've worked together.

Pizza party for workers at end of last day.  Claire and Avery.

Claire, Kathryn and Avery ... favorite church friends.

Here are a few art projects the kids did.

This picture of David cracks me up.  I love it!

Pilot Luke!

Luke at VBS.  His teacher made a photo album for him.

Luke's class.