my blessed life

Welcome back to Tasty Tuesdays !   May was an incredibly busy month and I hardly did any cooking, so it's been a few weeks since I've had any yummies to share with you.  I'm back in the groove now though! If you're anything like me, you just may have some random bags of frozen fruit in your freezer and some bottom-of-the-box cereal sitting on your pantry shelf.  You know, little bits and pieces that you can't really make a whole recipe or a whole meal from.   Well, since I didn't want to waste those things ...and I wanted to use them up before freezer burn or total staleness set in I decided to use those as ingredients for some yummy breakfasts.  Our family loves those little fruit and yogurt parfaits that are so popular now at fast-food chains and they are SO easy to make at home.    Just grab whatever fruit you have in the freezer (and, of course, fresh fruit works wonderfully, too!).  I happened to have strawberries and...

Happy Monday, y'all!   I'm back from a little vacay with my family and it's time to get back in the groove around here. Today kicks off "Operation Get This House Back In Order"!  You know how things are when you get back home from a trip: there's the mess you left in the first place while you were frantically running around packing and there's the mess that you just unloaded from your car. ;)  Tell me I'm not the only one! So that's my mission this week: to get all of the "stuff" put away, get the house cleaned and looking nice, and cook us some good home-style meals. Monday:  Grilled sausages, veggies, salad Tuesday:  {Vince and kiddos going out while I attend the summer book study at our church} Wednesday:   Fish Stick Po' Boys with chips Thursday:  Baked tilapia, baked potatoes, veggie Friday:  Going out with my parents for Mr. B's birthday Saturday: {Mr. B's 8th birthday!}  Grilled Hot Dots, Pota...

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by!  Looking back over it all, it has been a really great year with lots of positive strides and so much learning.  I'm really proud of what my kiddos have accomplished this year.  It's amazing to think that they have completed 2nd and 4th grades and we're now beginning our 6th year of homeschooling (well, longer than that if you count preschool, right?).  Fifth and Third grades, here we come! I was looking over my post from the beginning of the year about our curriculum for this year and seeing what had stuck/changed/been modified.  That's always interesting to do!  And it turns out that we stuck fairly close to the plan with just a few changes. In our Biblical  studies, we ended up not using God's Great Covenant this year.  I still love it and I haven't ruled it out for the future, but the format just wasn't working for us this year.  So we continued with reading through The Bible Story...

We're all very happy to see summertime around here!!  Yes, I know that technically the first day of summer isn't until June 21st, but we all know that summer really begins when school is finished, right? ;)   So with our school work being wrapped up I thought it would be fun to celebrate with a festive summer banner (I've been just dying to hang a cute banner on my freshly painted fireplace !).   I headed over to my  Pinterest  boards (such fun, right?!) to see what inspiration I could find.  And, sure enough, Pinterest didn't let me down--I found the perfect summer banner for us (there were lots to choose from, mind you).   What do you think?  I love the way it turned out!  It makes me smile whenever I look at it:) Now we're busy working on our 2013 Summer Bucket List ( you can see last year's here ).... What fun things do you do to celebrate the arrival of summer? ***** Don't miss a thing here at...

It felt good to get back into my cooking groove a little bit last week.  It was still a very busy week around here though and I was only three for three with the meals on the plan, but you've gotta be flexible though, right?! ;)  So I've got a rollover or two to this week, but that's okay.  Just makes this week's planning easier. Also, last week I got a chance to go to my favorite store for "deals".  We live in an area where there is a large Amish and Mennonite community and they have some wonderful bulk food stores around here.  I love shopping at them!!  And there is one that has a combination bulk foods and (what I call) "dented can" store.  One half of their store is filled with (majorly) discounted grocery store items that have been slightly damaged (dented cans, smashed boxes, or simply discontinued or clearanced items).  I find the most amazing buys there!!  I like to go once a month or so to sort of stock up on things like cereal...

We made it!!   Today was our last day of the 2012-2013 school year!!  Whoo hoo!!  Can you tell I'm excited for our summer break?  Just a little bit ....heehee In our homeschool this week... Mr. B has really been finished all week long and has just been doing some reading each day.  The Princess had math to wrap up this week though and has finally completed it today--thank God!!  He has helped us through this year of math, that's for sure!   We are still finishing our history book (Story of the World, volume III) and will continue reading that through the summer until we complete it.  I also plan to have the kiddos do some math activities once or twice a week just to keep them fresh.   Some homeschool advice I have is... Please take a summer break for your own sanity's sake!  Even if it's only a short summer break, I think it's just as important for moms to be refreshed as well as the kiddos have a break.  Su...

Okay, so it's been nearly a month since I posted my menus here ....and pretty much a month since I actually wrote any out.  These past few weeks have been so.incredibly.busy.  I am actually very tired of grabbing food on-the-go.  So this week, I am being extra-disciplined and making my menus ...and making a much-needed run to the grocery store! Monday:  Navy Beans and Cornbread Tuesday:  Gnocchi and Cheese with veggies Wednesday:   Egg Rolls (for me); Sandwiches (for the kiddos) Thursday:  Not-Your-Typical Goulash with garlic bread Friday:   Homemade Pizza (maybe on the grill!) Saturday:   Grilled Tuna Melts This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.