Taking a Break

Well, I have been more and more neglectful to this blog, and I just don't know if I'll continue it or not. Facebook has replaced my online time and I've just been too busy to do both. So, for now I'll just say I'm taking a long break from blogging until I decide whether to give it up all together or not. If anyone still reads this, I hope you are doing well! If you know me and are not already one of my Facebook friends, feel free to look me up on there :)

Menu Plan Monday

Finally, I am jumping back in to Menu Plan Monday. I have skipped WAY too many weeks, and dinner time has been chaotic and thrown together because of it!!!

I'm trying to use up some things that have been in the freezer awhile (tenderloin, popcorn chicken), things that are taking up space and I'm tired of looking at (bag of bean soup mix), and a few things that are about to go bad if not used (potatoes, celery, etc).

Sunday: Bean soup, crescent rolls and popcorn chicken type stuff

Monday: Chicken breasts/potatoes/celery/cream of mushroom soup dish in the crockpot

Tuesday: Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin (can't think of the exact name of dish, but it is one from the Biggest Loser cookbook that is super yummy!)

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: Cub Scout weenie roast at den leader's house

Friday: Date night (boys will both be at my nephew's sleepover party, woohoo!)

Saturday: Steaks and/or burgers on the grill...if Joe gets our new grill in time (the old one finally gave out completely).

Mother's Day Recap, Flowers, Etc

Brendan ended up getting pink eye, and couldn't go to the Raingutter Regatta or meeting to get his awards, but I'm sure his leader will get them to him later.

Mother's Day weekend we went to a BBQ with Joe's side of the family Saturday, and then met part of my side of the family on Sunday for lunch.

(L to R: cousin Amber, aunt Ginger, Grandma, Mom, sister Jill, me)

(My mom with all 4 grandsons)

(Adam twirling my hair as usual, haha)

(Joe took this picture of me & the boys when we got back home on Mother's Day)

Some of our flowers and plants are blooming in our yard, although not as many came back this year, it seems. Here are a few that did come back...

(I LOVE the hostas plants, but several of these did not come back this year either)

Then Monday night I met my sister Jill and family, Mom, Dad and step-mom at Red Lobster to celebrate Jill's graduation- she earned her Master's Degree, CONGRATS JILL!!!!

This Friday night Brendan has a sleepover birthday party at his good friend's house, then when we pick him up on Saturday morning we'll be heading to go camping the rest of the weekend.

Then next Thursday is Brendan's last day of school already! Only 4-1/2 school days left, he is very excited!

MS Walk, Cub Scouts, Camping, and Catching Up

Wow, have I been bad about updating the blog! The dog ended up not sticking around once we went to work that Monday, and we haven't seen him since.

Last weekend we participated in the MS Walk like we do every year. It was windy, but good weather otherwise.

Afterwards we enjoyed a visit with grandparents. Then Sunday I worked at the local Earth Day event.

This coming weekend is Brendan's Cub Scout Pack meeting and Raingutter Regatta. He should be receiving several belt loops, arrowpoints, beads and Wolf Badge at this meeting...he's been working on requirements like crazy!

We've also decided to take on the Missouri State Parks Camper Award challenge. Basically it is a little challenge they have set up, for families to camp in 5 different Missouri State Parks, and you get your card punched at each place, and when you complete it you get a certificate and patch. While Joe and I don't really care about the certificate and patch, we thought the boys might get a kick out of it, and it will get us back out camping as a family which will be fun. Since we already took our "big" vacation in March, we figure doing 5 small camping trips this spring/summer would be fun since we can't take another vacation. Joe and I have been to several of the MO state parks already, but we booked ourselves at a few that we haven't been to so that we can see something new too :)

And I am still in disbelief that Brendan's last day of school is 3 weeks from today!!! Holy cow, where did this school year go?! He'll be diving into summer school and summer camps in just a few weeks- yikes!

Our Visitor - Making Himself at Home

Well, it appears that we may have been adopted by a stray yellow lab. One showed up yesterday, and since we've seen a yellow lab by the neighbor's house before, we just thought it was theirs. Turns out it isn't, and the neighbor said he's asked everyone else around here too, and no one claims him. The poor dog is so skinny, his ribs are showing. He is starving for attention too. He's a very nice dog, and he seems to really like playing with the boys (and they love him too). He slept on our porch, right up against our door last night, and he's been here all day so far. We really did not plan on having a dog, but I can't just watch him starve to death. So we are feeding him, and petting him and giving him some attention that he has definitely been lacking. It is so sad that people just dump dogs in country areas like ours. He does have a collar, but no tags and it is obvious no one has been taking care of him for quite awhile. We will be calling a vet to have him checked out, see if he's micro-chipped and belongs to anyone, and make sure he is healthy, etc. Then we'll figure out what to do from there.

Easter Recap

Hope everyone had a nice Easter! We started the celebrating out with a family movie night to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3-D at the theater on Thursday. Then Friday night we took the boys to a Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt. Here's Adam with the Easter Bunny at that event:

Brendan found one of the "special" shiny eggs, which won him a baseball signed by the players on Mizzou's baseball team. He was pretty excited about that!

Brendan also made it into a picture in the newspaper.

Saturday we colored eggs at home.

And on Easter morning we had an egg/candy hunt for the boys at home:

Late afternoon on Easter we headed to Joe's sister's house, and enjoyed visiting with Joe's side of the family. They even set up an egg hunt for the kids while we were there.
Both boys also had fun playing with their little cousin, William. Here's Brendan hugging William, although William doesn't look too sure about it...

This coming weekend will be another busy one, with Memoranza on Saturday and working the Earth Day event on Sunday, plus all the usual weekly cleaning and laundry and such.

Visiting the Capitol Building

We've been busy with several things lately, including trying to help Brendan finish up a bunch of Cub Scout requirements for his Wolf Badge, Arrow Points, belt loops, etc. One requirement was to "visit an important place". So, since we are not too far from Jefferson City, and the Capitol Building definitely qualifies as "an important place" we decided to take the boys there last Sunday. It was a chilly and rainy day, but ended up being a pretty good little family day out. Brendan and Adam actually enjoyed it more than I expected.

Joe and I have both been to the Capitol before, but it has been a long time. I know we went there as a school fieldtrip when I was a kid, but I'm not sure if I've even been there since then. The inside is neat, especially up around the ceiling area.

Here are the boys standing in front of the Governor's office:

We looked through the museum there too.

This was just one of many requirements Brendan has been working on. He should be receiving his Wolf Badge and Arrow Points very soon!