Hard Work Pays Off

This is the second year Emily and Matt are attending Hackensack Christian School. 

Last year went well for their first year in a new school and we were very pleased with their academic performances. We did know going into this year it would be a whole new ball game.

Matthew is now in 3rd grade (hard to believe) where the work is getting harder and more detailed. This year he has started learning "true" American History. I was somewhat concerned on how he would take to it but let me tell you he LOVES it. Every day he tells me more and more facts he is learning about the characters from history - Squanto, Miles Standish, William Penn, George Washington, etc. He loves imparting his new knowledge on me even when he isn't studying. His easiest subject but not his most favorite is math. Clearly he has his dad's mathematical mind. Matt's report card showed he is doing extremely well earning him a place on the school's "Principal's List" (their highest academic achievement list). The funniest part is that his lowest grade was in PE. What can I say he is not a "gym" kid.

Emily has now started 5th grade. This year the 4th, 5th and 6th grade teachers are teaching their strength subjects for the 3 grades and the kids are changing classes accordingly. Emily surprised us from the onset taking very easily to this system and the teacher's different teaching styles. This year we are having her work more independently. Although we help her with questions she has on homework, we do not correct her work before it is turned in allowing her teachers to see the areas in which she struggles. Dave and I do help her with studying for quizzes and tests and have helped her develop a few systems, especially in history, that help her retain large chunks of material when it comes to the  comprehensive chapter tests. We also recognize the fact that because she does struggle on the larger comprehensive tests that that grade may not be as high as her quizzes and that is okay. Our feeling is that if we see and know that she has worked hard the grade she receives will truly reflects her knowledge.....we also know when she does not put effort or time into her work and for that she does have consequences. As parents of a child with learning issues, we find that each year we are learning more about how to help Emily by being involved in some area, staying out of others but always being firm and keeping her informed on her progress. This year we are really striving to get her to understand her need to study over the course of a few days and not just the day before. We also do not allow her needs to be an excuse for not trying or lack of effort. Being in tune with her abilities allows us to be able to work with her to be successful no matter what letter grade is earned. As parents, we know when a lower grade is hard earned and when it is a lack of effort.  

Now Emily did start school sports this year and because we knew this would help her socially, we decided to be a little more lenient on our overall "grade" expectations. When she started soccer, we told her we were looking for B's. Knowing the work of 5th grade, the time for practice and games and the time left over for school work we didn't think this was unreasonable. We also thought it would help her to not put too much pressure on herself and enjoy both the sports and academics of school.

Emily's work this first marking period was amazing considering the addition of sports. She also earned a place on the Principal's List for her academic achievements. Now, we do realize that this may be only a first period achievement but we will continue to help her strive to achieve her best work. 

I don't want to say we are proud of our kid's for their grades, we are proud of them for all the work they have put in achieving those grades. Hard work does truly pay off!
As always, thanks for stopping by!

A Family Fall Saturday

Today was one of those warmer fall days that you just had to take advantage of and we did!

As most of you know during the week, I'm up at 4:30 each day in order to get to the gym by 5 and a workout in by 6. Well, Saturday is my day to sleep in and I'm happy to say that I was not disturbed and got out of bed after 8. I know, some of you are saying that is still early but for me it is 3 1/2 more hours of shut eye. 

Most Saturday mornings Dave heads to the gym by 7 and brings home bagels and coffee.  Today he was right on schedule for my rising.

After a short quiet time in the morning, I headed to the basement to start laundry and Dave to the store to by a second rake. 

I knew that the day was an "at home" day so I chose to make a Crock Pot recipe from my weekly chosen recipes. I got that started to be ready around 5:30 as we would be heading to our church tonight for movie night.

When Dave returned from the store, he and the kids got busy raking the leaves. It is funny, we have no trees on our property and our neighbor's huge oak tree was removed about 2 years ago but we still get a good amount of leaves on our lawn and caught in our shrubbery. It was fun seeing the family pitching in on a home chore. While I was taking pictures, there happened to be an elderly lady walking with her care giver (you can see them in the first picture). I said "good morning" to which they responded "good morning". I took the next two pictures and walked a short distance behind them heading to our side door when I heard the elderly lady say, "It is so nice seeing a family working together." It warmed my heart that the actions of our family made an impression on her. It is those small acts that show God's love through us. 

The kid's were good at pitching in and I didn't hear any complaints. Then again, I was mainly in the house doing inside chores of laundry, dinner prep, coupon clipping and a handful of other tasks. I think they most enjoyed the shoveling of the leaves ...... little do they know this is preparation for this winter's snow shoveling. 

It is always nice after a day of  housework (and to be honest a little napping on the couch in the sunshine), to know that a hot meal is being prepared in the Crock Pot and dinner decisions do not need to be made.

Tonight I decided to make Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini that I found through Pinterest at the website Keeley Mcguire. This is such a simple meal with the sauce cooking for 6 hours and the tortellini and cheese going in for 15 extra minutes at the end of the cooking process.

Let me tell you this was absolutely yummy!! Everyone gave it a big thumbs up and I will be making it for our company that is coming at Thanksgiving time.
As always, thanks for stopping by!

A Comfort Food Favorite

Tonight's dinner was a take on the classic comfort food favorite Chicken Pot Pie.

Because of the amount of "work" needed to make this meal, I chose to make it tonight seeing this is the only night Emily has no basketball practice.

I found this recipe for Cheddar Bay Biscuits Chicken Pot Pie through Pinterest at the website Seeded at the Table. 

There are several steps to this recipe as I stated previously. First, there is the prepping of the chicken. Earlier today I poached several chicken breasts in broth and then shredded it using my Kitchen Aid mixer. I chose to shred the chicken to make it more palatable for Emily who is a bit of a chicken "snob". When I brought the kids home from school, I started the remaining steps which included prepping the veggies and making the sauce. While that was cooking, I made the biscuits that would top the "filling" along with the garlic butter that was put on top of the biscuits for the browning process.

Yes, it tastes as good as it looks. Emily believe it or not gave it a thumbs up - I think the biscuits won her over. Matt liked it but wasn't thrilled with all the veggies - carrots, peas, corn and the ever awful potato. He picked out his favorites - peas and corn. I was able to keep it in the oven on a "warming" setting so that Dave was able to eat when he came home. He gave it a thumbs up.

There is a slight downside to this recipe for our family.

This is the portion all four of us ate for dinner. Being a non-leftover eating family, this poses a bit of a problem. Next time, I will definitely half the recipe. Oh, and don't be concerned I didn't throw the leftovers away, I will try and get one more meal out of it. 

Seeing I've made new recipes the last two nights, I'm going to give the family a break tomorrow night and make some pita pizzas but I'll be back using the Crock Pot Friday night. 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Cookies and Cashew Chicken

Today was my day to get back into cooking mode when it comes to our evening meal. 

Well, I was so inspired by the thought of cooking the meal I decided to make today also a "homemade, from scratch cookie baking day". I admit that I usually use cookie mixes just to make things go a little faster. 

Okay another confession, I've had the ingredients for these Pumpkin Scotchies cookies on had for several weeks but just haven't been inspired to bake. Today's cold, flurry flying morning put me in such a mood. I found the recipe for these cookies off Pinterest from the website The Girl Who Ate Everything. They are very yummy and perfect for this time of year. Love the combination of pumpkin and butterscotch!! 

Of course, I made these while the kids were at school and sampled a few (just 2) to make sure they were edible. When I went to pick up Matt who waits with me at the school for Emily's hour and a half of basketball practice, I surprised him with two of the cookies, which he gave a big thumbs up!!! Emily tried one when she came home...also a thumbs up!! Dave has yet to try them but if he approves there is a batch waiting to accompany him to work tomorrow. This recipe made a lot of cookies....too many for us to eat. 

All this cookie excitement did not distract me from my mission to make dinner. I decide to make the Crock Pot Cashew Chicken recipe I found also through Pinterest at the website  Daydream Kitchen. 

The cooking time is for 3 hours on low so I assembled the ingredients and turned on the Crock Pot just before heading to the kid's school. I heated some rice to serve the cashew chicken atop. So, the rating are thumbs up from me and believe it or not my "chicken snob" Emily. Matt was a so so mainly because he didn't like the cashews. Fortunately, my Crock Pot has a warmer setting so I was able to feed Dave this same meal just a little while ago when he came home from work. He gave it his approval so it looks like we have another recipe to add to the family binder. 

As always, thanks for stopping by! 

What on the Menu? is back!!!

Woohoo!! I finally got my act together when it comes to dinner. Well, at least for the next 8 meals.

Sunday night I pulled recipes from my "to try" folder to be made during the upcoming week. Monday morning I made my list, shopped my pantry shelves for items already on hand then headed out to the food store. 

Last night for dinner I pulled meatloaf mix from the freezer and made our family favorite mini Italian meatloaves. They were served with mashed potatoes and corn. A yummy meal with all the ingredients already on hand.

When choosing the week's meals, I focused on ones that would work well with Emily's new basketball practice schedule. Three of the meals are made in the crock pot, which I LOVE!!!

Here is the list:

• Crock Pot Cashew Chicken
• Cheddar Bay Biscuits chicken Pot Pie
• Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
• One Pot Cheesy Chicken Pasta
• Crock Pot Cheesy Italian Tortellini
• Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina
• Cheeseburger Pasta

Looking forward to trying some new recipes and I promise to keep you informed on the success of these meals.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Get Out Your Checkbook

Last week was a very busy week for me making a new bulletin board at my church. Normally, I would post a "sneak peek" picture on Facebook to spark interest but not this time. Because of the content, I had to be "mum" about it and let me tell you that was hard.

The majority of the boards I do at my church do not coordinate with a specific sermon series or themed event. Of course, God always uses them in the capacity He chooses to effect those who see them. 

The week before last, I was suppose to get working on putting up a new board for the main hallway. I knew the board I wanted to create (it was an idea off a graphic I saw) but was lagging in getting started. Little did I know that God was keeping me from starting on something that was not a part of His timing. I received a call from my friend Debbie, who works at the church and is my co-creator in the making of these boards, and she told me of a financial challenge that was going to be put out to the congregation.  She felt that a coordinating bulletin board regarding the challenge would be a great idea. In the middle of our conversation, I knew why God was having me lag on getting the other board started.....He had a better plan. We met later that week and formulated the idea for the board.

Okay, so the financial challenge that has been set before the church congregation is to pay down the church mortgage of $80,000 and build up capital by tithing an extra $20 a week per family for the next 6 months. 

Immediately when I heard this idea, a big personal check came to mind. We brainstormed from that idea and came up with the concept of a board that looked like a person's bill paying session and a check written for the $20.

Here is a picture of the completed board.

So, let me give you a run down of the board and all the elements that were made. 

The first element made, which is my favorite, is the checkbook. 

The outer part of the checkbook is a black display board that would be used for science projects, etc. I cut this to fit the standard size piece of white foam board being used for the check "stack". On top of the white foam board, I place the check which was created freehand on a sheet of 2 sided blue poster board. The one side looks exactly like a check and the other is the royal blue color used at the top of the check where the perforation would be. The check is being written/coming from "Your Faithful Steward Sojourner on Earth Heaven Bound" and is made out to "God's House". On the top of the checkbook flap, a "post-it" has been place with the verse Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." As I said before, the check is my favorite element of this board.  

The next element is the note pad ledger. I used a piece of left over foam board from another project. What I like about this piece of board is that the surface is paper and not glossy like most foam board giving it that true paper look. It also makes it a lot easier to erase pencil marks from.  Also, to make it truly look like a note pad, I put two lines of black artist tape at the top mimicking the binding/perforation part of the pad and wrote "mead" in silver sharpie. Of course, I put the purpose of our challenge at the top of the "note pad" and then made a ledge sheet portion for the date paid, amount paid and balance. This will allow the congregation to see the progress that is being made on the challenge. I did not do all 24 lines for the 6 months of updates because the board would be too busy.....so when we do run out of lines I plan on putting a piece of paper/card stock over the ledger portion with a ripped top so it looks as if a portion of the page has been ripped exposing another page to continue the ledgering. 

Now when it comes to note pads and notes, I'm a doodler so we only felt it was appropriate to include a little doodling on this note pad. As Debbie and I were talking about this, it came to mind that most of my doodlings tend to be bulletin board driven. Jokingly I told her that I should doodle a picture of the bulletin board I had intended to put up. Well, I did exactly that and let me tell you that board doodle is so appropriate to the theme of this current board. It is a picture of a moving box and on the outside of the box is Philippians 4:19 "And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." God will supply that $20 extra dollars a week or the "need" that has to be met via that $20 we give to Him. 

I know I have post it notes strewn all over my "home central" area where family paperwork is done so it seemed appropriate to include some on the board. These are just pieces of 8 1/2 x 11 paper cut into 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 squares with written messages on them. 

Now you can't write a check if you don't have a pen, so using a left over piece of the paper style foam board I cut a replica of our church's ballpoint pen. Using a Copic marker in red and a silver sharpie, I colored the pen appropriately.

The only item cut with the Cricut was the title "Paying Down Building Up" which we done in the appropriate "accounting" colors of red and black. They were shadowed in ivory so they wouldn't blend into the brown background. 

This board is a longer term board than normal so I may add one or two other small elements as the months go by..... we'll see.

I really enjoyed making this board and am looking forward to seeing the progress that is made in meeting the challenge of paying down the mortgage and building up capital. May God bless those abundantly who give cheerfully for the purpose of further His Kingdom. 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Dinner's on the Table

My meal planning/cooking "schedule" has been so off lately.

I only got Emily's soccer schedule somewhat under control where I could plan meals, when it ended and a week later basketball season started. With a short practice time (3:15 - 4:30), I find myself staying at the school with Matt every weeknight with the exception of Wednesday. Thankfully Matt and I do use that time to get his homework completed. However, if I don't have my act together prior to school pick up and practice dinner becomes a rushed mess!

In the midst of all this craziness, I did make a few meals that turned out somewhat successful and have been added to our family menu planner. 

The most recently successful meal was Baked "Fried" Chicken. I found this recipe at the website bakerette. The meal was very easy to make the longest part being the soaking of the chicken in the buttermilk, which was only for 30 minutes. I used Smart Balance butter to make it a little more "healthy". It truly did have that "fried" chicken flavor. Emily is my chicken "snob" so if she likes it I know that it is good. Well, she liked it. Matt was the only one that wasn't all that thrilled with the meal but it is worth another attempt to see if I can get him to give it a thumbs up. What was also nice about this meal is that it was easily reheated for when Dave came home a little later that evening and it didn't dry out. 

One of the pluses to this Pesto Chicken Alfredo casserole is that it makes two portions one of which can be frozen. I found this recipe at the website Amanda the Virtuous Wife. We did eat the one portion which was fantastic. Out of that portion, we still had enough leftovers for another meal. This meal tastes good enough even to serve to company. We have yet to eat the frozen portion, so I cannot advise whether or not it truly does freeze well. Everyone gave this meal a thumbs up with the only ingredients being left on their plates the diced tomatoes and spinach - I try to get those veggies in there but they always push them aside. 

This is another freezer-friendly pasta casserole I made. I found it at the website Money Saving Mom. It was very easy to make. Instead of ground beef, I did opt for using sweet Italian sausage which in my opinion gave it a kick of flavor.  In the future, I would half this recipe for our family as the 9x13 casserole portion fed us for one night, two of us for leftovers and we still had more left. Being not a big "leftover" eating family the better option for us would be to do a half recipe. 

The final recipe I want to share is slow cooker Honey BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (no picture taken) which I found at the website Uncommon Designs. We had company over for dinner one Saturday and I served these sandwiches. I myself am not a big BBQ fan but my husband is so I gave it a try. They were very yummy. I served it with coleslaw and potato salad. Definitely a good option for a football party. 

Well, there you have it the few recipes I've made lately. I'm hoping to get my "meal planning/cooking" act together and use the crock pot a little more now that basketball season has started. 

As always, thank you for stopping by!

Autumn Trees - 3rd & 4th Grade Projects

For the kid's second arts and crafts project, we continued to stay with the tree theme but used a different method.

I found this idea on Pinterest at hello little one. The basic premise is that you have the kids draw a tree shape and then they dot paint them using Q-tips. These are two sample trees I made for them to use as reference material when they were creating their trees. Each child drew their own style of tree and then chose their painting process. The only requirements were that it had to be a tree and they had to do the leaf portion in the dot method. For the trunk, they could either dot paint it or use the Q-tip as a "paintbrush."
Our first class was just the painting of the tree. It is important that the leaf section is painted first saving the trunk for last. This helps avoid the smearing of the tree trunk paint all over the paper.

Here is a picture of the 3rd grade's painted trees (the top 3 trees, against the chalkboard, are my samples): I so love how each tree shows each child's individual personality. Ah, the beauty of art! 

This week I worked with the 4th grade completing their trees by giving them a sky and ground/grass. The requirements for this portion of the project were that the sky needed to be dot painted and the grass brush painted with the Q-tip.

Here are the 4th grade's finished trees: (the tree at the top of the second picture was the sample tree they could reference when competing this portion of the project.)

I was so pleased with their projects!
Once again, their individually shined through. Quite a few of them chose, on their own, to make "patterns" of color in their skies.
Next class we will be making small cornucopias for the Thanksgiving holiday.
As always, thanks for stopping by!