Menu Plan Monday

I've been lazy posting my menu for the past couple of weeks. Actually, I've been a very lazy blogger for the past couple of weeks as well. But I'm enjoying my summer and blogging just hasn't been on the top of my priority list.

But I decided to get my menu posted this week, so here goes.

Monday: Mexican Chicken Casserole ~ Refried beans ~ Chips & Homemade Salsa

Tuesday: Sandwiches/leftovers

Wednesday: Southwestern Ranch Chicken Salad ~ Breadsticks

Thursday: Cheddar Macaroni Beef Casserole ~ Tater Tots

Friday: Breakfast for dinner

Saturday: Homemade Pizza

Sunday: Chicken Quesadillas ~ Refried beans ~ Chips & Homemade Salsa

Hope you have a yummy week! For more menus, be sure to visit Laura's Blog!

Sooooooo Excited!

I have some news to share that is incredibly exciting! I've known about it for a while, but it wasn't final, so I didn't share. But now I can!

What is it?

My parents are moving!!!! Why is that exciting? Because after 10 years of them being two hours from me, they are now going to be living 20 minutes from me!!!!!!!

Before they moved away, they lived 5 minutes from me, and I loved it. When my Dad was transferred and they had to be 2 hours away, it wasn't so great for me. But I knew it could have been worse. At least it was within a not too terribly far driving distance. But I still missed having them close.

They've been talking about moving back for a while now, since my Dad now works closer to this area than where they currently live. But I didn't hold my breath because they kept going back and forth.

But not too long ago, they started seriously looking at houses. And they finally found one and made an offer. It was accepted and they will be closing at the end of the month - on my birthday! Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

20 minutes may not be as convenient as 5, but I'll take it! It's FAR better than 2 hours! I can hardly wait until they are here - I am so incredibly excited.

Now, we are just praying my Mom can get a transfer quickly so she won't have to stay in the other house alone during the week. It would too far for her to commute from here. And my Dad's commute is much shorter from here - so they'd be apart during the week, which doesn't sound too great!

So, if you think about it, say a prayer for my Mom that a transfer for a Full-time position is available as soon as possible!

Oh, and yes...I'm still around. I know I've not been blogging much. But honestly, I haven't been spending quite as much time on the computer lately.

I've been enjoying evenings sitting out on my front porch while Ruthi plays. (The child would live outside if she could!) It's been so nice in the evenings, and I know all too soon it's going to be too hot and sticky even after the sun goes down. So I'm enjoying the nice evenings while I can.

And, we just had some new neighbors move in next door, and I have a new friend! She and I hit it off and get along great. We both LOVE to talk and she even scrapbooks! So as soon as they get everything unpacked and settled, we are going to do some scrapping together!

It's been nice having someone right next door to hang out with and talk to. My neighbor on the other side of me is great too - we've been neighbors for 15 years. But she works full time, so she's not around quite as much to hang out with.

My new neighbor will be working too, once she can secure a job. And I know after that, it will be evenings and weekends. But until then, we are enjoying daytime chats as much as possible.

Their moving truck finally came today, so I spent most of today helping them out. Then she fed the kids and me dinner! (Chip is at the station.) We unpacked boxes until 9:00 tonight. I'll be helping her tomorrow as well.

So between enjoying some time outdoors, playing with Ruthi and hanging with my new neighbor, it hasn't left as much computer time.

And suprisingly, I haven't missed it quite as much as I would have thought I would!

So, if I'm not around much, it's because I'm enjoying my family, friends and summertime!

Happy Father's Day

Just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband who is an AMAZING Father to our children. Honey, I am so thankful our children have such an incredible dad.

I love the relationship you have with CJ and what a wonderful role model you are for him. I love the example you set for him in how to be a man, a husband and father. I thank you for what you are teaching him. And I thank you for helping me understand what is in a boy's head, because without your guidance in raising him, I would be lost.

I get misty-eyed watching you with Ruthi. The love she has for you is so amazing. I love the fact that she thinks you hung the moon. And I love the fact that you will drop everything to give her the hugs and kisses she needs. And I love the fact that you need those hugs and kisses just as much as she does. I love that you are teaching her how a man should treat a woman in the example you lead.

Thank you for loving our children with all your heart. Thank you for every minute you spend for them and everything you do for them. Watching you with our children makes me love you even more.

***************

I want to say Happy Father's Day to my Dad. I couldn't have picked a better Dad. Thank you for always loving me. Thank you for all the things you've taught me and for always supporting me.

Thank you for being the greatest Poppy in the world to my kids. They adore you and I know you adore them. They love you, and I love you too!

****************

And even though my Father-in-law won't be reading this, I want to say Happy Father's Day to him too. Thank you for raising such and incredible son. And thank you for loving me like a daughter.

Thank you for being the greatest PaPaw in the world. Your grandchildren love and adore you and I know you love and adore them too!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Monkeys, Monkeys Everywhere!

I'm still getting caught up on posting pictures from last week while the guys were gone.

On Thursday, a group of my friends got together to go have some monkey-jumping fun. There's a fabulous (and inexpensive - a plus!) place called Gorga Monkeys. It has a bunch of inflatable slides and obstacle courses.

Ruthi and I were the first of our group to arrive. It's a good thing that you can't see the big play room when you are signing in and paying. Because once we walked through the door, Ruthi took one quick look around and was off. She didn't even hesitate...she headed straight for the largest slide and began to climb. In a matter of seconds she was at the top of that slide and two seconds later, she was at the bottom with the biggest smile on her face.

I knew it was going to be a good day.

As our friends began to arrive, she got very excited. It's much more fun to play with friends!

Us moms hung out and gabbed for a while. We ate lunch and gabbed some more.

Pretty soon, Ruthi was wanting me to come play with her too. So I took a break from the mom group and headed off to climb, slide and bounce.

I felt like a kid again...on the inside.

My old, not-a-kid-anymore body was protesting quite loudly, however. But I wanted to have fun with my daughter, so I perservered. Even though I was sure I had pulled a muscle in my leg as I threw it over one of the small 'mountains' in the obstacle course. But the slide was a lot of fun.

I needed to rest, so I rejoined the moms for a while. Then I went back out to play some more, and this time Jamie and Fonda came to play too. Melissa and Cindy were happy to watch.

Melissa, Cindy and Fonda gradually left us. That left Jamie and her daughter Kylie, and Ruthi and me to play by ourselves.

And did we ever. We played and played and played. I haven't played that hard, or had quite so much fun in a very long time. I really hope I burned lots of calories!

When Jamie and I finally decided to drag ourselves out of there, I realized Ruthi and I had been there for seven and a half hours! But we had a blast.

I think we are just going to go there once a week. At $7 a visit, (mom's get in free) it's cheaper than joining a gym! Well, unless you went several times a week that is.

I took so many pictures, as you can imagine. I narrowed it down to only 16 to post. Since that's still a lot, I did another slide show. Enjoy!

Best Friends

Ruthi calls Emma her best friend. If you ask her who Emma is, she will say, "My beeeest friend!"

When the guys were away on their trip, Emma came over to spend a night with Ruthi. They had so much fun and played like...well, best friends.

When it was time to go, Emma didn't want to leave, and Ruthi didn't want her to either. It was a bit sad. But we'll be doing it again soon.

Here are a few pictures of them. (Better late than never I suppose!)

Ready for bed.


Playing with play dough (the nice, squishy homemade kind!)


Enjoying popsicles.


Playing in the sand.


A fun day for sure!

Tagged

OK, so Jan tagged me a while ago, and I haven't gotten around to doing this yet. Actually, I'm pretty bad about playing along with these things. I know I've been tagged a few times where I haven't followed through.

To be honest, most of these tags I'm not too crazy about doing which is why I don't typically follow through. But I'm going to play along with this one this time.

Here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

And this is going to require a lot of thinking, so we'll see if I can come up with seven!

1. I love to eat...just about anything. It's like I have a love affair with food. I don't eat just because I need the nourishment, I actually savor just about everything I put in my mouth. It is a passion.

2. I really need to lose weight. See #1. 'Nuff said!

3. I have wanted to be a wife and mom for as long as I can remember. It was my dream for a long time. Sure, I thought about doing other things, but this was my ultimate goal. I am very happy to be living my dream.

4. I watch way too much TV. I'm slightly obsessed with several shows. I won't even begin to list the shows I enjoy. The list is very long. Thank heavens for my DVR - I can watch my shows in less time now!!

5. I just now had a very deja-vu moment. Is that how you spell it? I'm not going to try to look it up, so if it's wrong, don't judge me!

6. I worked in children's ministry for 14 years. Then Ruthi was born. I planned to take a 6-8 week break. My break ended up lasting over 3 years. Through the years I've taught kids from 3 years old to 6th grade. Now I am back teaching 3 year-olds again. I never thought I'd be teaching 3 year-olds again!

7. I have a huge procrastination problem. I tend to put most things off for far too long. I don't know why I do it. This is probably why I never get around to doing most of these tag things. But this one is done. And now my brain hurts from trying to think of things!

And this is where I'm going to totally wimp out. I hope the tagging police don't come after me...but I'm not going to specifically tag anyone. If you are reading and want to play along, then let me know so I can read yours!

After Their Date

My sweet hubby is such a great dad. He has started taking Ruthi on "dates". His schedule is a three-week rotation. Every third Wednesday he takes Ruthi on their date.

Today was their third date. And she REALLY looks forward to this. She gets so excited. They go get lunch and then go to the park. He has some back-up plans in case of rain, or when it just gets too doggone hot to go to the park, but for now this is perfect.

When he took her the first time, she wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Even though she was terribly excited to be going somewhere with her daddy, she seemed a little unsure as to why mommy wasn't coming too.

Her uncertainty quickly faded. And now she counts down the days to their dates.

I absolutely love this. It makes my heart flutter to see how excited she gets to be able to go out with just her daddy.

And when she comes home to tell me about it, I can't stop smiling.

Today they came home and she was beaming. And I knew she was tired. She rarely takes naps anymore, but I knew she really needed one...especially since we have church tonight.

She didn't want to admit she was tired, and certainly didn't want to give in and go to her bed.

So she had a nap with her daddy instead. And this...these little moments that I get to capture...totally melt my heart!

Spoiled

So, the guys are away on their canoeing/fishing trip, and Ruthi and I are hanging out at home. Actually, Ruthi's little friend came over yesterday and to spend the night and they are playing happily right now.

Since they hubby is in a canoe, he obviously had no reason to take his laptop with him. So before he left he told me he was going to let me use it as long as I don't download anything and don't change anything!

My computer is running quite slowly because there is a LOT of stuff on there. And it locks up on me all the time. So using his, which is MUCH faster is a very nice break!

It has been so nice, hanging out on the couch, with my feet up, surfing and reading blogs to my heart's content. And when Ruthi wants to go out and play in her sand box, I can now take this wonderful machine and sit on the front porch with plenty to do while she plays to her heart's content! And, since this computer is so much faster than mine, I can blog hop much quicker and do everything I usually do on the computer in a fraction of the time - so much so that I've even played some online games with my all the extra time I've gained! LOL! Yes, I'm definitely getting a little spoiled!

This is making me want to work very hard and make lots of money so I can save up for one of these of my very own!

The only downside at the moment is I don't have access to my photos, so I can't post any from here. And I really don't want to go to my slow computer to upload any at the moment!

And though I am really looking forward to my husband and son coming home, I will miss the luxury of the laptop! But I'd much rather have them home than a lifetime of laptop use!

Menu Plan Monday

This week it is "just us girls" as my guys are away on a canoeing/fishing trip. So I'm keeping things pretty simple and easy.

I'm not assigning meals to specific days this week, we will eat whatever it is we are in the mood for on that day. Here are our choice:

Spaghetti
Hot Dogs with Mac & Cheese
Chicken Strips & Tater Tots
Peanut Chicken Salad
Pizza

And for the weekend, I haven't decided just yet. But I'm sure the guys will be ready for a "real" meal! We'll probably grill burgers on Saturday since we didn't do them last Saturday.

Also, just for fun I'm going to try this recipe for homemade doughnuts. However, I clicked on her link to the original recipe to convert it to a smaller batch. I don't NEED any doughnuts, but I certainly don't need 18!