Stopping to Smell the Sunflowers!

 "They are HUUUGE!"

 "This is the Daddy flower, this is the Mommy flower, this is the baby flower..."

 "They smell like flowers!"

I love Eli's fashion sense!

Eli was "helping" me in the garden a couple of months ago.  His help was getting a little overwhelming, so I handed him some sunflower seeds to keep him busy.  As weeks went by, we would look at them every once in a while, and then we forgot about them.  I noticed them again today, so Eli and I went out to check them out.    He was very proud of his sunflower crop!

My August Meal Plan

I have been in a meal planning mood lately.  It probably has something to do with the fact that we are starting school and I know my back to school brain fog will hit soon!  I am also in the mood to stay within our grocery budget (which seems to get harder all the time!).  While I was in "the zone", I decided to go ahead and sketch out my meals for the month of August.  I reserve the right to make some changes if I am in the mood, but this gives me a basic plan.  I already have all of the meat in the freezer, so grocery shopping should (theoretically) be a little easier!  I decided to do a blog post about my plan so that I will not misplace it, and so that my links are handy.

Week 1
30  Roast beef with carrots and potatoes
31  Chicken fajitas with refried beans
1  Parmesan Chicken in the crockpot
2  Sloppy Joes and oven potatoes
3 Homemade pizza
4  Breakfast

Week 2
5  Sandwiches and pretzels
6  Chicken and rice soup with bread bowls
7  Taco Pie
8  Lemon pepper chicken with pasta
9  Pork chops with macaroni and cheese
10 Homemade Pizza
11 Breakfast

Week 3
12  Sandwiches
13  Chicken Cacciatore
14  Enchilada Rice
15  Chicken Tetrazzini
16  Beans and Rice
17  Pork roast and mashed potatoes
18  Hamburgers, baked beans and potatoes

Week 4
19  out
20 homeschool party-- take desert
21  Quesadillas and refried beans
22  Garlic chicken with bowtie pasta
23  Grilled chicken and veggies
24  out-- birthday party
25  Hamburgers

Week 5
26  Sandwiches
27  Black beans
28  Tacos
29  Sweet and Sour Chicken with Rice
30  Spaghetti and meatballs
31  Homemade pizza

Sidewalk Paint

Eli was a bit bored with watching the Olympics the other night, so I decided to mix up some sidewalk paint.  I just poured some water, cornstarch and some food coloring in a muffin tin, and we had paint!  The girls soon headed out to paint with him.  Since then, I have mixed up more paint twice.  The children have had fun, and I can cross one more thing off my summer bucket list!

First Day of School!

We got a great view of God's creativity this morning!

 The kids were not thrilled to pose for this picture!

 Yum!

 Refusing to look at the camera!

 Our smiley first grader!

 Welcome to Third Grade!

 My Class

The joy of an open window and chocolate milk!

Today was our first official day of school.  We have been doing math the past two weeks, but today we declared that school is officially back in session!  We made our third annual trip to town for donuts (the breakfast of champions!)  I am thankful for the privilege to be my children's teacher!

An Olympic Celebration!

 Superman made an appearance at our celebration!

 The hamburgers got a thumbs-up!

There was some hair straightening going on around these parts!

We had our own little family night Olympic Celebration last night.  We had an "American" meal of hamburgers and coke, and we topped that off with an Olympic cake.  We spent the rest of the night watching the opening ceremony.  We especially enjoyed the parade with all of the athletes from the different countries.  We are doing a geography study of Africa, Asia and Australia in our homeschool this year, so watching the parade was almost like getting a jump start on school (OK, that is a stretch!).  Our Olympic Celebration was a success and we are all excited to cheer on the USA over the next couple of weeks! 

Bailey's Birthday Observed

Bailey had a scrapbooking party the week after her birthday.  She decorated her own cake and cupcakes for her friends.  There were lots of giggles and smiles.  Praise God for birthdays and good friends!

Nature Walk!

 Eli's Deer Imitation

 Isaac's turtle remains

 A Writing Spider

Finding a creek to splash in was on my summer bucket list.  We sort of checked this one off this week.  We explored the creek that runs near our house, but due to the severe lack of rain, there was no splashing going on!  In fact, there was not a drop of water to be seen.  The children did have a great time exploring the creek bed.  I have to admit that I was on the constant look out for snakes (I am trying to learn to be more outdoorsy!).  Thankfully, the only wildlife we spotted was a dead turtle and some writing spiders (and a cute little Eli deer with antlers).  I love adventures with my family!

$5 Fun

 Who needs a water bottle, when you have a water balloon!

 Brotherly Love!

 Refueling

 Sweet Smiles

Run!

Eli got his daddy while he was refueling!

We were blessed with a visit from our good friends, the Stuarts.  They are living in Thailand, so we treasure the time we get to spend with them  On impulse, I bought a $5 pack of water balloons, and they were worth every penny.  They were a hit!  The kids (and dads) had a great time with some water warfare!

Garden Fun/Digging for Treasures

I really like gardening... in April and May.  I have to admit it is not my favorite thing to do in July.  The heat, the bugs, preoccupation with planning school, and many other things rise up to distract me from my love of gardening.  I pretty much start trying to pretend it does not exist.  But, almost everything is more fun with friends, and gardening is no exception.  I had lots of help digging for potato treasures.  Praise God for friends!

Clouds!

We had a spectacular sky show tonight!  We were also blessed to get a bit of rain.  God's handiwork is amazing!