Kenley's First Day of Pre-Pre School

Wednesday, September 26, 2012


Last Spring my friend April told me that she had an idea for starting a little preschool co-op for our kiddos. I am so excited that the start day is finally here! 

We have 4 little students! 


Kenley

Gracen

Emma

James



We started off with song time and the little siblings got to stay and sing with us. 

After song time, the littles went off to play with two of the mommies while two of us stayed with the big kids. We are on a rotating schedule so today was April's turn to teach and my turn to be the craft mom. Next week would be my turn to teach but I will be getting my tonsils out. :( 

Learning about the letter A through finger tracing.

Words that start with the letter A... Apple, Ant, Airplane! 

I made some little apple handouts for the kiddos with my silhouette craft cutter. I am so excited that I  have such a great excuse to use my silhouette now! 

Learning the motions to our Bible verse of the week. Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."


For our first craft we made Alligators out of the letter A.



For our second craft we did a hand print apples because I love hand print crafts! Cute little apples with worms coming out of them.


Kenley loved it and can't wait for next week when we learn all about the letter B and day 2 of Creation! 

Weekly Meal Plan 9/24-9/28 and more Crockpot Meals

Monday, September 24, 2012

Brian's Fall quarter starts today! I asked him if I could take a first day of school picture of him but he declined :). Kenley starts pre-pre school on Wednesday, so I will take tons of pictures of her first day!

Weekly Meal Plan 

Monday- Leftover Stephanie's Goulash
Tuesday- Roast Chicken (making chicken broth with bones) 
Wednesday- Southwest Soup (made with leftover roast chicken)
Thursday- Crockpot Lasagna

I have said it before but my goal is to have a crockpot meals planned for Monday's and Wednesday's because I have Titus 2 some Monday's and the pre-pre school will be on Wednesday's. This week it is working out a bit different though because I am due for another crockpot meal prep day. 

I am having my tonsils removed on the 3rd and I have heard that the recovery time for adults is 2-4 weeks so I want to use this week to get really far ahead with freezer meals. Now that we have tried all of the freezer meals I made last month, there are a few things that I will do differently this time.  

Last time I made:

For the Freezer: 
2 bags of Cilantro Lime Chicken with Black Beans and Corn (We liked! I will make again but next time I will add the cilantro at the end of cooking rather than adding to the bags) 
2 bags of Teriyaki Chicken (The sauce was overpowering. I will try these again though with a different brand of teriyaki sauce. Next time I will also,not add the additional sauce on the day of cooking and I will add the pineapple 30 minutes before it's finished cooking) 
2 bags of Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken (We liked this! Next time I will chop the peppers and onion smaller and double the sweet potatoes)
2 bags of Sausage and Peppers  (We didn't like this. I won't be making it again) 
2 bags of Savory Chicken (This was okay but I won't be making it again) 
1 bag of Stephanie's Goulash (I liked it but Brian didn't. If I make it again I will probably make it without meat.) 
1 bag of Newlywed Beef Tips (This was okay but I won't be making it again)
2 bags of Black Beans 

Day of Crockpot meals:
Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches (These super are yummy!)
Shredded Chicken for tacos. (Super yummy! 1 pkg of chicken breasts + 1 jar of good salsa, cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred and use for tacos!) 

*Next time I make all of these meals I will cut all of my veggies smaller especially my onions and peppers much smaller. 

Here is what I plan to make this week: 

A big batch of Chicken Stock with bones from Roast Chicken
A big batch of Black Beans 
4 Lasagnas (I'll post my recipe after I make them!) 
1 bag Ginger Cranberry Pork Roast (From MamaAndBabyLove ecookbook)
1 bag Cumin Cinnamon Beef Stew (From MamaAndBabyLove ecookbook)

Glow in the dark bath time!

Saturday, September 22, 2012





Our 6th Anniversary Trip

Friday, September 21, 2012

September 16th marked our 6th wedding anniversary! Originally we planned to take a trip to Arizona for our anniversary but Brian's leave request took a while to get approval and by the time the approval finally came, plane tickets had shot up. We were trying to think of local (drivable) things to do and started looking at bed and breakfasts in the San Juan Islands, one thing lead to another and all of a sudden I was suggesting that we go to a dude ranch!

I have actually wanted to go to a dude ranch since I was a little girl. I grew up reading The Saddle Club books, in one of the books the girls get to go to a dude ranch, end up getting stranded there over Christmas, and then help deliver a foal. Awesome! Those are the kinds of intense plot lines that stick with a 10 year old :). Now I wish I hadn't gotten rid of all of my Saddle Club books because I would love to reread them all!

Brian has really been wanting to get horses lately, so visiting a dude ranch was a win win!

I can't say enough wonderful things about the K Diamond K guest ranch. All of the scenery was absolutely picturesque. When we drove up we were greeted by Texas Longhorns just chilling on the lawn. As soon as we drove up I immediately regretted not bringing my big camera!



They have a baby fawn on the ranch whose mother was hit by a car so they give it bottles and care for it. It is the sweetest little thing, I never thought I would pet a deer, let alone feed it a bottle! 



My favorite part of the whole trip was in the mornings when we would go round up the horses from the lower meadow and bring them up to the upper pen. Kathy would whistle and yell "C'mon kids!" and the horses would all come running! It was so beautiful.









This feisty little horse/mule is Daisy Mae. We watched her open the locked gate, she is mischievous and reminded me so much of one of our old horses! She could totally be Doobie's younger sister! (The picture is blurry because it was taken right after she released the gate and went looking for some fun.) 

After breakfast and rounding up the horses we headed out on our first trail ride! I rode Dutch and Brian rode Apples, they were both great horses, though Dutch was a little wide for me. The next day I had to ask for a child sized saddle. :) 


It has been an awesome 6 years with this man! 

Inside the lodge was so authentic, clean, and perfectly on theme without being theme-y! Boots lined the walls for anyone to wear if they didn't bring a pair! 

 We also went shooting!

It was my first time shooting shot guns and I actually hit 3 clay targets! I was shocked! I didn't think I would hit any! Man those shot guns got heavy fast though, after just a few rounds my arms were shaking! 

They have a donkey! 

The meadow where the horses go at night



In addition to the horses, longhorns, donkey, dog, cat, chickens, ducks, pigs, goats, fawn, and llamas they have 2 alpacas! Up close their fur is just like Sadie's! 

The next day we did another trail ride and I got to ride Cody. He was such a great horse and I totally fell in love with him.  I really wanted to pack him up and bring him home with us but I don't think he would have fit in the Beamer :) 

Even though going to a dude ranch wasn't the typical romantic anniversary getaway we are both so glad that we went and enjoyed every minute of it! We can't wait to go back with the girls when they are a bit older! 
 
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