What's For Dinner {June 17th} & an *Operation Dinner* Review

It occurred to me yesterday that I've been meal planning for five years now!  I can't even tell you how much stress that has taken away in my life!  Sitting down once a week (in my case) and planning out all of the dinners for said week has not only simplified my life in that regard, but it has taken our grocery bill way down as well.  It's definitely one of my top five ways to save!  There are just so many benefits to meal planning and I am always looking for ways to make it work even better for me and my family.  That's why I was excited to find this new eBook, Operation Dinner, that gives some amazing advice on planning, shopping, and prepping meals for your family.

This eBook, by Lori Loomis of Moms by Heart, is filled with very use-able, practical tips that work in real life.  I've read lots of eBooks, blogs, etc., on meal planning, but I believe this just may be the most helpful thing I've read--and I'm a seasoned meal planner.  

Lori's book is divided into two sections: the basics and the food.  She really dives into each topic by breaking it down simply so that someone who has never meal planned can get the hang of it easily, but she also fills each section with some awesome tips and recipes that even a veteran meal planner can use. 

She gives a couple of different ways she recommends meal planning and I love her 'flexible meal plan' and intend to try it out for my family.  I have never planned more than a week or two in advance so this would definitely be something new for me.  

Her tips on food prepping and on freezing food and meals are wonderful, too!  Freezer cooking is something that I want to do more of and her advice in invaluable, especially if you're not quite sure where to begin.  

So I encourage you to check it out.  It's just $5.99 on Amazon!  {Disclaimer: I received this eBook for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.  All thoughts are completely my own.}

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Speaking of meal planning ...it's that time of the week again!  

Monday:  Hamburgers Diane, Grilled Corn-on-the-Cob, Grilled Cabbage, and Baked Potatoes  

Tuesday:  {Bible study night for me--dinner with the ladies}  Vince and the kiddos ..to-be-decided
Wednesday:  Tostadas

Thursday:  Chicken & Dumplings & Fried Squash

Friday:  Baked Ham & Cheese Sammies with Onion Strings

Saturday:  The Perfect Burgers, Baked Beans, and Red, White, & Blue Salad

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

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What's On My Summer Reading List {2013}

Summertime is not just a good time for my kiddos to pack in some reading time, but it's also a great time for me, too!  I admit, I LOVE to read, but as a wife and mama with lots of commitments I often don't have nearly as much time to read as I would like.  But summer is more of a relaxed time for me and I can enjoy having some extra reading~yea!

I've been downloading lots of freebies for my Kindle lately and getting some good recommendations from friends, so I've got plenty to keep me reading for quite a while.

There are several specific books that I really want to be intentional about reading this summer though and I thought I would share them with you today.

1. Unglued, by Lysa TerKeurst: I am actually reading through this as part of a summer book study that I'm leading for the women at our church. I'm loving it so far!  It is really speaking to me about some areas in which I am so wanting to see some personal growth.  

2. Desperate, by Sarah Mae & Sally Clarkson: I have just begun to read this book and am definitely enjoying it so far.  I love Sally's books and have read several of her others, so I was excited about reading this book she has written with Sarah Mae.  

  

3.  Shepherding a Child's Heart, by Tedd Tripp: I've heard great things about this book for a while now, but haven't had a chance to read it yet.  I always love to read godly input on how to parent better and am looking forward to this read.

4. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald: I've never read this American "classic"--or even this particular American author.  So when I heard about the movie, I thought to myself I need to check out the book first.  Now, I'm not a big fan of some of the modern American authors (Steinbeck, Hemingway) that I've read thus far, so I don't know how I'll feel about Fitzgerald.  But I do want to at least give our most famous American authors a fair shake and so this book is on my list for this summer.

5. Sparkly Green Earrings, by Melanie Shankle: I've also heard great things about this new book by the author of the blog, Big Mama.  It's a memoir and if it's half as good as her blog, I'm sure it will be wonderful.  

6. The Original Homeschooling Series, by Charlotte M. Mason: This is a freebie I downloaded recently and really want to read.  I have read about Charlotte Mason's educational theories, but have not yet read any of her personal works.  Her ideas intrigue and challenge me and I'm looking forward to learning more of what she believes about education.

7.  Educating the Wholehearted Child, by Clay and Sally Clarkson: This is a re-read for me.  In fact, I try to read it each summer before we go back to homeschooling in the fall.  I always glean nuggets of wisdom from this amazing book (my very favorite homeschooling book) and learn something new each time I read it. It's a great refresher course for me as a homeschool mom!

So there are the top 7 books on my proverbial nightstand this summer.  Hopefully I'll get even more than this read, but you've got to start somewhere, right?

I'd love to hear about what you're reading this summer!  Leave me a comment telling me what you recommend~maybe I'll have to add some to this list!

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The Chocolate Fountain Birthday

This past weekend was Mr. B's 8th birthday.  This year will be remembered as the year Mr. B didn't want a birthday cake--or cupcakes!--but asked for a chocolate fountain instead.  

(I'm pretty sure he was inspired by the popular pictures of this bird).

And, no, I didn't let him lick the fountain.  However, he did sneak a straw later on and proceeded to suck up some of that dark chocolate goodness from the bottom of the fountain!  What a stinker! 

(Did I mention that he threw up by bedtime? hahaha)

It was a delicious idea though and we enjoyed dipping strawberries, kiwi, bananas, and angel food cake into it...mmmmmmm!  And it didn't seem nearly as fattening as cake:)

So, yes, Mr. B had a birthday and is officially 8 years old!  So hard to believe that my baby is that big now!  He is a constant source of entertainment and keeps me on my toes by the minute.  I love him dearly~he's my favorite little boy in the whole wide world.

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Talking About Apologia

We just recently completed our third year of using Apologia's Exploring Creation... series for elementary for our science curriculum.  And we love it!  We first began using this (as a family subject) when The Princess was in 2nd grade and Mr. B was in K5--and I wish I had discovered it even sooner.

We began first with Exploring Creation with Astronomy, then the next year moved on to Exploring Creation with Botany, and this year we began zoology with Exploring Creation with Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. Next year we'll begin Exploring Creation with Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day.  

There are many reasons that I like Apologia. Just a few are: 

1. It is biblically sound and has scripture throughout the lessons as well as points to the intelligent design of creation.
2. It has fun and relevant activities and experiments suggested throughout the book.
3. It digs in deep to a particular subject and you learn so much.
4. It's a subject that works well for multiple grades, thus allowing us to do this together as a family.

I know sometimes there are concerns about spending a whole year on only one topic, but we find that we enjoy really diving in and learning all that we can about that topic.  It gives us a whole year to do special projects, take related field trips, and do more activities that relate as well.  And having a longer time period to learn about the topic at hand gives it more of an opportunity to really "sink in" and take root.  I love it when the kids can still recall things they learned in astronomy over 2 years ago and in botany over a year ago.  

The corresponding journals can also be fun, although we haven't used them every single year.  We did use the journals for astronomy and flying creatures--each time the kids shared one journal and I divided the pages and projects between them.  We made our own botany journals however and that was fun, too.  Sometimes the journal pages can seem like "busy work" though and the kiddos get weary with them.  I don't want them to dread them and am considering doing a year without any journal.  I think that may also give us more time to do the extra activities and experiments suggested which would be a lot of fun for us all.

Some of the related activities that we enjoyed this year were:

• visiting and learning about the wild birds at our local nature center
• making our own bird feeder
• having a feeder set up for a viewing station
• looking at slides of flying insects on our microscope
• having pet crickets for a while to study

This week you can check out the Apologia Year-End Round Up with lots of other Apologia users over at My Joy Filled Life.  Sarah will be posting all week about how others are using Apologia.  Drop by and check out what others have to say about it!

If you're a homeschooler, too, I'd love to hear if you use Apologia and what you think of it--or tell me about what science curriculum you do use and why you love it.

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A Great Idea For This Summer

Still looking for some great {learning} activities for your family this summer?  Here's one for you: Around the World in 60 Days from ThrivingFamily.com (a part of Focus on the Family).

Around the World in 60 Days takes you through 27 countries on six continents over the course of the summer.  Each day your family will be learning new things about those countries and also learning how to pray for the people in them.  They can "stamp" their "passport" each day as well to show their progress on their "travels".

This is a wonderful way for your kiddos to learn geography and how to be more missions-minded at the same time!

Click here to download the free resources: the map, the passport, and the itinerary for your trip.

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Our Summer Fun List {2013 edition}

Since we officially wrapped up our school year a couple of weeks ago, we've been compiling our Summer Fun List for this year.  We enjoyed having last year's posted on our chalk board so much that we wanted to do it again!

This year's list includes (but is not restricted to):

• go geocaching
• visit a new park
• go camping
• go bowling
• play board games
• visit Land Between the Lakes (often!)
• picnic
• go swimming (often!) ✔ 
• stargaze
• visit a museum--or two ✔ 
• make crafts
• go hiking
• go biking
• play mini golf
• read!! ✔ 
• go to a drive-in movie
• have sleepovers 
• build a fort
• write letters to far away friends & family
• go to a baseball game
• make homemade ice cream
• visit the zoo
• tour a restaurant--or three
• create art
• have a water fight ✔ 
• eat at Lambert's 
• have lots of playdates ✔ 

You can see that we've already been able to check-off a few activities--but that doesn't mean we're finished with those!  We plan to enjoy all of these activities--and more--as much as possible throughout the summer!

What about you?  Does your family make a summer fun list--or something similar?  I'd love to hear what you've got planned!

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"Postcards" From Our Family Getaway

(so glad to be at our destination, having dinner at Branson Landing)

After a couple of very busy, hectic months we were more than ready for a family getaway last week!  It wasn't a very long trip--and it wasn't exactly restful--but it was a much-needed change of pace for us and we had a great time.  

We went to Branson, Missouri for a couple of days of fun and then even dropped in on our hometown for one night for a quick visit with family and friends.  

Here area  few (or maybe more than a few ..ahem..) snapshots of our trip.

(Branson Landing, watching a beautiful patriotic water and lights show 

while eating dinner at Cantina Laredo)

(headed into the Titanic Museum--so interesting!  We had a great time here!)

(If you're ever in the Branson, MO or Pigeon Forge, TN areas, 

we definitely recommend this museum!)

(Of course, we couldn't pass up Dixie Stampede!  Vince and I had been

there a couple of times and we knew the kids would LOVE it--and they did!)

(This was the perfect meal for Mr. B: eating without any utensils

and getting to yell and stomp as much as he wanted:)

(Our kids LOVE to swim!  Sometimes I think if we just rented a hotel room in 

our hometown for a few days so they could do nothing but swim they would 

be perfectly contented.)

(We spent a day at Silver Dollar City, riding roller coasters and every water

ride my kids could find, and eating lots of yummy food!)

 

(I was so happy to be able to meet up with my lifelong friend--

Nancy from There Is Grace--and her sweet kiddos.)

(We even got to go to one of our favorite places: Andy's Frozen Custard!)

(The kids were SO excited that their kids meal at the restaurant that night

came with a free go-cart ride!)

(Before leaving the Branson area, we drove up to Springfield so that

the kids could see my alma mater.)  

(Our last evening of the trip we were able to visit our home church in 

Fort Smith, AR, and see some friends--good times!)

(Before leaving town we met my aunt at 

our favorite bakery for some donuts...mmmm.)

It was a great week!  Of course, we were tired when we got home and there was lots of laundry and housework to do, but it was worth the time away.  And Vince has promised our next getaway will be more relaxing ;)

*****

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