Photographing a Two Year Old...

I simply wanted to get a cute picture of Anna Grace. I was not asking much, just for her to look at the camera and smile. She happened to have happy, bouncy feet that made my job tricky. I am very grateful that I was using a digital camera. She is a cutie, so I enjoyed looking at the "mess ups". She keeps me on my toes!

Farmer Isaac Does it Again...

Isaac was not very happy with the way his spring/summer carrot crop produced, so he decided to plant some more this fall. He did it all by himself a couple of months ago, and I had forgotten about it. Today he came and got me to "show me something." He had "harvested" his carrots, and he was very proud!

One of Our Little Turkeys...

Olivia's Mothers' Day Out class had a Thanksgiving Feast this week. They sang songs for the families and then we ate. The older people of the church had cooked quite a feast. Olivia was very proud! She is quite a cute little turkey!

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Isaac celebrated his eighth birthday last week. I am amazed that he is that old! I gave him a choice of having some friends over for a party or taking our family to Chuck E Cheese. He chose the second option! We invited our good friends Kelly, Ben and James to go with us.

Isaac started asking in July if he could have a Nintendo DS for his birthday. We told him that it costs more than we usually spend on birthday gifts, so he would have to save up part of the money. He saved $40, which he earned from reading books and doing odd jobs around the house (Isaac usually wants to spend money as soon as he gets it, so this was a HUGE accomplishment for him). He was proud of his accomplishment, and he loves his new toy! He used money from his grandparents to buy a couple of games to go with it.

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Soup and bread night -- Minestrone Soup (I am going to try to cook more soups with little or no meat to help keep the food budget down. For this soup, I did a search for frugal minestrone soup, and combined several recipes that I found. It turned out pretty good. It is a cold and windy night, so warm soup felt good going down!).

Tuesday: Shake and bake pork chops and mashed potatoes

Wednesday: Grilled cheese sandwiches and left over minestrone soup

Thursday: Spaghetti and meatballs -- I used this recipe and made five meals worth to put in the freezer. I love having quick meals to pull out!

Friday: French bread pizza

Saturday: Pancakes

Sunday: Tacos, refried beans and rice -- This is an easy meal because I made extra taco meat and refried beans and froze them. I do not like to cook on Sundays. Everyone is ready to eat the minute we walk in the door after church!

A Few Pictures with Daddy

Mark won't be able to do the football hold much longer!
Daddy must have worn Eli out!

We are one tired family! Anna Grace still gets her

belly button when she is tired!

Menu Plan Monday

I have come across several blogs in my blog surfing that post their menus on Mondays. I have decided to give it a try. I realize that it will probably not be very exciting for anyone else, but it will help me get a little organized. I need organization as I attempt to navigate this newborn fog we are in!

Monday: Refried beans without the refry (from this blog , the children eat it really well. I follow Bethany's changes and add broth, cut the salt, add more cumin and leave the onion and garlic in when I mash it), taco rice, tortillas and cheese. I made extra beans so we can have bean and cheese burritos for lunch this week.

Tuesday: Chuck E Cheese (It is Isaac's birthday observed -- his birthday is actually Thursday, but he has Boy Scouts that day.)

Wednesday: Pork Chops in cream of mushroom soup, mashed potatoes and green beans

Thursday: My sweet friend Wendy is bringing dinner

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: Barbecue chicken, baked potatoes, vegetable and homemade bread

Sunday is my day off. That means we will either go out, eat left overs or Mark will cook (which means we will go out!)