I'm Back!!!

Hi friends!  It's been a million years... or at least it feels like it.  Life has been an absolute whirlwind lately.  With the new year and some changes in our family, we've made some big changes in our lives as well.

I was watching a segment on some news show a few weeks ago.  The guest speaker was challenging everyone in the audience to come up with a word that would be their focus for the year.  In my head, I saw this as a way of replacing the resolutions that I make every year, but never keep.  After some thinking, I chose the word "grow."

I want to grow in my relationship with my husband.  We are still newly married, and I want to see us grow into our roles as husband and wife.

I want the time I am able to spend at home with my son to grow.  I want to use that time to help him grow as a learner, grow in curiosity, grow as a reader, and grow into a young man.

I want my family to grow.  Because of the nature of our relationship and lives, we decided we wanted another child almost as soon as we were married.  Hopefully that happens soon for us!

I want to grow in the friendships I have.  I sometimes get so bogged down in "life" that I forget to enjoy the relationships around me.

I want to grow as a mom.  I want to give it everything I have and enjoy every moment of it.  Children grow up way too quickly.

So with that being said... stay tuned for some new posts as we start this new chapter in our lives!

Menu Plan Monday ~ July 22, 2013

It's time again for Menu Plan Monday!  This is one of my favorite parts of the week.  I love planning a menu, shopping for groceries, and spending that time each night with my family.  Naturally, there are some menus that I'm more excited about then others.  This one is one of those.  This week's menu is full of super easy, quick meals that are delicious!

Monday

Baked Crab Cakes

Geen Beans

Jambalaya Rice

Tuesday

Taquito Casserole

Zucchini Chips and Salsa

Wednesday

Whatever Wednesday

Thursday

Bacon Parmesan Pasta

*This is book club day, so I'll be making the main course and everyone else is bringing sides.

Friday

Cheesy Zucchini Pizza

Mixed Greens

Saturday

Cheese Manicotti

House Salad

I'll have a recipe or two for you this week!  Yay!

Remember to link up over at I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!  Happy eating!

What We're Reading Wednesday ~ July 17, 2013

Little Man and I joined Reading Confetti's Virtual Book Club.   This is the neatest idea and I really hope it continues beyond August.  Each month, they focus on an author.  Everyone reads a book (or multiple books) by the featured author and posts their corresponding activities.  Super fun!

This month's author was Jez Alborough.  Just by the name alone, I didn't recognize him.  However, once I looked at the book titles, I realized that I've actually read many of them!  His Duck books were read many times in my Pre-K classroom.

So, off to the library we went.  We checked out several books, including Tall and Duck in the Truck.  However, for our activity, we chose to coordinate with the book Hug.  While there aren't many words (there are actually only three in the whole book), it was fun for Little Man.

With this book, we did several things.  Because the words in the book were so short, I wanted to do something with the letters.  I made a "word work" center of sorts.  The teacher in me definitely came out with this activity!

First, we played letter slap.  We did this two ways.  First, I just called out the letter and he slapped it.  Then I called out the sound and he slapped those letters.  

Then we sorted by color.

Added in a little one-to-one correspondence...

Did some counting ...

Mixed in a little gross motor as he handed me certain letters ....

And finally worked on putting some sounds together to make simple words.

It was an all-around good time!

Happy reading!

We're linking up at Reading Confetti!

What We're Reading Wednesday ~ July 10, 2013

Guess what I'm doing today!  It involves a little bit of this ...

and a lot of this!

I have a project that I'm working on that involves a lot of this ...

While I'm super excited about the outcome, it was a rather large undertaking.  And I'm on a deadline.  It's seriously cutting into my reading time.  For you, that means two things.  First, I don't really have a book review for you today.  I just started this one on Monday and I haven't had much time to devote to it.  Second, you can look forward to a fun project post soon!

Happy reading!  (if you have more time than I do...)

A Cozy Recipe ~ Delicious Deviled Eggs

We're planning an upcoming cookout for some of the other families in the neighborhood.  With summertime upon us, it seems like cookouts are a regular weekend thing.  Is it the same way with everyone else?  One of my favorite staples for cookouts, potlucks, family gatherings, and most holidays is .... the deviled egg!  Who doesn't love a great deviled egg?

These are super simple and super delicious!  Four ingredients, four steps.  Done.

Delicious Deviled Eggs

makes 24 servings

12 eggs (hard-boiled)

1/4 c. Miracle Whip

1/4 c. dijon mustard

1/4 t. paprika

1. Peel the eggs and cut in half.

2. Mix the yolks with the Miracle Whip and dijon mustard.  

3. Fill each egg half with the mixture.

4. Sprinkle each egg with paprika.

Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Easy, right?  Happy eating!

Menu Plan Monday ~ July 8, 2013

Unfortunately, I don't have much of a menu plan for you this week.  I'll be out of town most of the week.  Little Man will be gone most evenings, so The Mister is on his own for dinner.  Based on the pork loin he made last time, I'm pretty sure he'll manage just fine.  

I have a few recipes up my sleeve that I'd really like to get posted.  Stay tuned!

I'm linking up at I'm an Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Family Fun Friday ~ July 5, 2013

So... we do family bonding a little differently in this house.  The Mister was begging asking very nicely to set up an archery target in the backyard.  This Mommy was scared to death a little nervous.  But... we tried it.  I made The Mister promise to let me watch him try it the first time.  I needed to make sure that no arrows would go flying over the fence he was as good as he said he was.  After watching him a few times, I've decided it's fine.  So how did we spend some quality time together this week?  We shot arrows!  If you'd never tried it, I must say it's fun.  It's definitely a stress relief.  So here are a few pictures of our week of archery.  

I should mention that I'm not in a single one of these pictures.  I went last.  I didn't want to be embarrassed hurt anyone's feelings by being so awesome.  I will say ... the girls took it.  We *may* have beat the men.  But it was just by a little.  Ha!  ;)

Happy Friday!