Weekend recap

Our weekends always seem so full, but in the good kind of way. I don't mind too much since the weekdays all tend to look the same. Casey had a bit of the crud all last week and grew progressively worse by the weekend. He came home Thursday night with a fever and then spent Friday and Saturday in bed. This morning he went to the doctor and was given some antibiotics for bronchitis. So, he is home today again and hopefully will get back to school and work Tuesday. The rest of us are fine and healthy, thank you Lord!

The boys had a basketball game Saturday morning. It has been so much fun. Two boys were out sick this week, which meant extra play time for the others. Josiah was so tired by the end. His team mates passed him the ball several times and he dribbled the best he could. I, of course, did not have my camera that day! Both boys have come so far and learned so much. Next Saturday is their last game. We will be sad when it's over.

Saturday afternoon we had a nice visit with one of my girls from our youth ministry days about 10 years ago! She was down visiting some family in OK and looking at some land near here. It was so good to see her!

Sunday was great! We had some missionaries from the North Africa region visiting and sharing about their region. It was so good. I think the Lord is stirring hearts for missions in our church and that is so exciting to see. On Sunday nights the boys do RA's and Mission Friends for 45 minutes and then both have choir practice for another 45 minutes. They both are really enjoying both those classes. During that time I am in a ladies bible study called, "Me, Myself & Lies," by Jennifer Rothschild. It has been a great study so far. It is such a blessing for ladies to be able to share honestly and openly with one another about struggles and to encourage one another in our walk with God.

New recipes: part 2

Hmmm...maybe there is a reason we only eat 5 vegetables of over 200? After trying a few new recipes using some new veggies the result is mixed. The first new vegetable was bok choy. I stir-fried it with garlic and scallions and served it with salmon and rice. Casey and I both liked it, at least enough to eat it, but not enough to make it a "staple" in our family. Ethan was totally grossed out by it and Josiah said he liked it, but wouldn't eat more than 1 bite. The next new veggie was turnips. I found a few recipes for mashed turnips that had good reviews so I thought I'd try them that way. At first I really liked the mashed turnips, but eating a 1/2 cup serving was almost more than I could handle. Have you ever had foods like that? Where the first few bites are good, but then something happens it no longer tastes good after a few more? The boys each had a bite and turned up their noses. So, our first few new veggies didn't go over well. I do think I will try the turnip again cooked a different way and maybe with some other veggies. I am glad though that, for the most part, my boys like the normal veggies that we do eat, like salads, broccoli, green beans, carrots, etc. I can't complain since I know some kids (and adults) have never met a veggie that they've liked!

New Recipes

I thought it would be fun to try some new recipes this week. Last time I went to the grocery store I picked up a few things that we don't normally eat and thought that would be a good chance to experiment. Why? Well, I heard recently that there are over 200 varieties of vegetables and most people eat about 5. Our normal veggies are green beans, broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and lettuce greens. Yup, that's 5. I've also eliminated sugar and most processed foods from my diet, going on week 4 now! So, that leaves out a bunch of things that I would normally make. The boys are cutting back on their processed foods too...and Casey always eats whatever I make.

So, this weeks new vegetables are bok choy, turnips and lentils. Okay, lentils aren't a veggie, but they are new for our family. Yesterday I roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions and jalepeno and made some fresh roasted salsa. It turned out pretty good for my first attempt. For dinner last night I made a bean and lentil soup that was inspired by something called Madras Lentil from Tasty Bite (found it at Costco). Mine didn't turn out tasting exactly like I wanted, but it was still good. Tonight I will stir fry the bok choy in garlic and scallions and serve it with salmon and brown rice. Tomorrow night we will have grilled chicken with mashed turnips. One fun thing we've done (to get the boys excited about dinner) is watching a youtube video of someone making something similar. The boys are excited to try bok choy tonight because it looked so good on the video!

A good homeschool day

Today has been one of those days where homeschool has gone very well. We don't have too many bad days anymore, but today was just a really, really good day. Ethan breezed through all his work, including extra math work. I thought I would sign him up for a month long trial at a math website for extra practice. He sat down, did the placement test and then spent the next hour in "practice" so he could fill in his graph and get another quiz!
Josiah has been doing great too and today he asked me for the next book to read in his little reader series. He was on "B" and so we went over that together and sure enough he was ready to go on to the "C" book. I said that I wished grandma could see how well he was reading and he said, "why don't you take a picture." Smart kid! So, we pulled out the "C" book and the camera. I am posting the video below of him reading the page. It was the first time he had looked at it and I think he did an excellent job! Days like today make me so glad to be homeschooling my kids!

Well, after trying all afternoon to load the video, it still wouldn't work...so, I'll try to post it on Facebook instead.

SNOW!

Well, we have had an exciting day here in Texas...SNOW...and lots of it! It started snowing at 3 am and is just now winding down at 11 pm! About 10 inches total here...more snow than FW has seen ever in one day!
So, we had fun during the day, building snow forts and having snowball fights. Casey's classes were canceled and so was worship team rehearsal for the night. Then, we found out that classes are canceled tomorrow too! There was much rejoicing!
Now, we are hearing what sounds like fire crackers going off, but it's not. It's the sound of tree branches (large ones) breaking and falling to the ground. I took a picture of the one that just fell across the lawn from us. The snow is really wet and heavy. So, I'm hoping we don't lose power! The electricity has flickered a bit, but hasn't gone off...so I'm typing fast so we can shut everything down for the night.

Fun, full weekend with family

My mom and aunts flew in to spend the past weekend with us. It was a busy, but fun time. We spent all day Friday at the zoo. It was a bit chilly in the morning, but it had warmed up a little by the afternoon. You know you've worn the kids out when they start asking, "Can we go home now?" For dinner we went downtown to Cantina Laredo. I have to say that it is my favorite place to eat downtown even though it is the ONLY place we have eaten at downtown! Why mess with a good thing? Unfortunately, I had the beginnings of a migraine and it only got worse as the night went on. The only other eventful thing that evening was the show my mom put on while we were walking to the restaurant, let's just say that she doesn't always see well and there were planters on the sidewalk...
On Saturday we went to the boys basketball game at the church. After the game we went to the Stockyards. It was a bit chilly...okay, it was cold and windy. We saw the long horns saunter by in the "cattle drive" and then went to Riskey's for some good barbecue. We spent some time shopping and visiting stores and the museum and then decided it was too cold and we were too tired. That evening we ordered pizza in and visited and played games.
On Sunday we went to church and then to lunch at Chef Pointe Cafe. Everyone ordered something delicious from that gas station/5 star food place. After lunch we went bowling! That was a lot of fun. Aunt Patty pretty much creamed us and Aunt Cheril pulled ahead of Josiah by one or two points to not finish at the bottom! Ethan had two strikes and Josiah had one...and we all were glad the bumpers were up or our scores would have been much lower! Casey took the boys home and the gals went out to do some more shopping. Phew! What a weekend!
It was a great time and now we are looking forward to our next visitors...we don't know who it is, but after all the fun I just described I'm sure someone will want to come visit, right?

Company coming!

Well, I guess since I haven't posted in over a week that means we are pretty much back into a routine of ordinary days. The boys are really doing well in their school work lately. Josiah is excited and enjoying school again and that is so wonderful! He is starting to read and put words together. He gets so excited. Today he was working on a page while I was upstairs and he came running up the stairs yelling, "Mom, I did it! I read this whole page of words!" Yay! Those are the kind of things that make me so glad to be homeschooling.
We are all anticipating the arrival of grandma tonight! The day has finally arrived. My mom and my two aunts are flying in tonight and will be here till Monday. I'm sure this weekend will be anything but ordinary.