For laughs ...

This is what we like to call a Luke sandwich.

Monster Trucks

Will took David to see the monster trucks when they were in town last month.  I was a little skeptical that he would like it what with all the loud noise and the 7:30 PM start time.  (Have I mentioned that he covers his ears when he flushes the toilet?)

We bought 4 tickets, but Claire didn't want to go so we stayed home and they made it a guys night with David's friend from church and his dad (who is in our small group). 

From what I was told, everyone had a good time.  And the earplugs did the trip on the noise.

P.S.  My hubby did an awesome job taking all these pics for me!

Menu Plan Monday: February 27

Menu planning the last couple of weeks has been an EPIC FAIL.  Failure in the sense that I didn't follow the menu plan at all the first week and last week I didn't even make one.  But, at least we didn't sub with fast food drive thrus.  We ended up having more leftovers than I anticipated, I pulled some soup from the freezer, and I bought a very on sale pizza at Costco (that we ate two meals from) when I had to run there for a couple of baby gifts.

Here is the menu plan for this week:

Monday: honey-glazed chicken, roasted new potatoes, green vegetable

Tuesday: crockpot ranch pork chops, rice, asparagus

Wednesday: turkey burgers/hot dogs, sweet potato fries, slaw

Thursday: I have book club. I'll make baked pizza roll and salad for Will and the kids.

Friday: crockpot beef stew, cornbread

Saturday: grilled chicken over lemon pasta with spinach, bread

Sunday: brunch for lunch, leftovers for dinner

Check out Laura's blog for more Menu Plan Monday.

Preschool Corner: Letter G

Our letter G week revolved around gumballs!  My kids love chewing gum (thanks to their grandparents repeatedly giving it to them against their wishes) so it was a fun week.

{David is 3 years, 10 months old}

Letter G (for goat) coloring sheet from here.

Letter G search.  (Just a regular word search book from the Dollar Tree.)

Working on a Picture Perfect mosiac... a Christmas gift that is also a homeschool tool.

Being silly with the turtle eye.

Gumball sorting.  I purchased a bag of gumballs from Target for $2 to use for various activities this week.  Unfortunately, they don't taste all that good.  Or maybe that is a good thing ... it keeps the kids from eating my school props!

The mini muffin pan seemed to work better than the egg carton.

Playdough is always popular with this boy.  We got our playdough mats from here.

Hard at work.  He can finally roll the playdough out himself.

We have come a long way since the beginning of the school year.

Green and Gold Glitter on G.

Working on our bible verse activities from RRSP.

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel."  Mark 16:15. 

FYI, baby brother is quite the trouble-maker in the school room.

On to our gumball activities from LOTW.

Size sorting.

Gumball puzzle.

Handwriting.

Gumball magnet page.

Dot painting ... looks like red & blue gumballs!

Letter G poke page.

Uppercase/Lowercase letter sort.

Gumball counting.

Our letter G board.  

(Letter maze pictured above came from here.  This is one of David's favorite activities.)

Some of our favorite books this week were:

The Bubble Gum Kid by Stu Smith

Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae

Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum by Lisa Wheeler

This post is linked up to these great blogs.  Stop by and check them out!

Photography 101

A couple of weeks ago, I took a photography class.  A friend at church organized the class for us with a local photographer.  Here is a group photo.

Then we practiced by taking pictures of each other (taking pictures).

Then we practiced photographing these two cuties.  B is in Claire's Sunday morning class and E takes ballet at the same studio with Claire.  I took this photo outside on a cloudy, rainy day with NO FLASH.  That was my goal with this class ... to learn how to shoot in manual without auto flash.

Another picture of two cuties (love B's pose) with some backlight to work with.

And then I came home and photographed my own kiddos ... a LOT!  This particular day was cloudy and overcast and not the best photography conditions.

This is the face Claire makes at me when she is "all done" with the photos.

And then several days later, we finally got some sunshine. 

I love seeing real smiles on my kids' faces when they aren't posing for a photo.  Glad I was able to capture them on camera.

I have a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi.  We purchased it in February 2009.  It has taken me 3 years to finally sit down and learn how to shoot in manual and the photography class was totally worth it.  All I can say is practice, practice, practice.  I hope that my kids will continue to be willing subjects! 

[You will notice I don't have any pictures of Luke.  I am not that good of a photographer yet ... that little guy is on the move all the time!]

Happy Valentine's Day!

We started our Valentine's Day festivities the weekend before at a fundraiser dance with Claire and David (Luke stayed home with grandparents).  They had a fun time I think.  They would have preferred to be dancing to a KidBop CD as opposed to the band that played.

I overheard Claire telling David that "maybe he would hear 'Party Rock' or 'Big Apple Adventure'".  (FYI-Big Apple Adventure was the theme song from VBS at our church last summer and we listen to the CD all the time!)  I seriously doubt there is any event that would play these two songs together!

Out on the dance floor with Mommy.  Everybody wanted to dance with me.  I felt special!

We went with tow other couples from church.  Will with Rocky & Carey.

David tried out a little limbo.

My friends Heather and Teri (and baby CJ).

Claire and Will dancing to "Brown Eyed Girl".  Will and I danced to this song at our wedding!

Dressed in our Valentine tees for school on Monday.  I had a hard time getting a good picture of all 3 kids!  Imagine that!

Another try. 

I caught this sweet hug on camera.

Heads together!  Luke was not a fan of this pose.

A sweet treat from a local bakery ... mini strawberry and red velvet cupcakes.  (I always take cupcakes to the kids' teachers for Valentine's Day ... like one big gourmet cupcake from Gigi's.)

David made this fun V-day picture at school on Monday. 

Claire working on a Valentine craft for her school.  She was a little sad not to have a class party this year (since we are homeschooling) but we had fun mailing some V-day cards to a few special friends (and they had fun getting a treat in the mail). 

Daddy bought us all Wii games for Valentine's Day. (I'm not a big flower person.)  Claire and I are super-pumped to play our new Just Dance games.

The kiddos and me. 

Will and the kiddos. 

Our new favorite treat!  We turned this ...

Into this.  The combo of strawberry, chocolate and cream cheese is divine.  Go here for the recipe.

We planned on staying home to celebrate with a nice dinner, wine and some Wii playing (and maybe a movie after the kids were in bed), but were offered FREE last minute hockey tickets Tuesday afternoon.  We had been wanting to take the kids to a hockey game so we jumped on the chance to go for FREE! 

Let's go Predators!

First hockey game for the kids.  Will said he never imagined that Luke's first professional sporting event would be a hockey game! 

We made it through 2 periods before we headed home.  I think the big kids could have watched the whole game, but Luke was getting fussy since it was WAY past his bedtime. 

Just to prove that I was there too. 

Happy Valentine's Day!!