Sorry for being so quiet.

As many of you that know me already have figured out, writing is not my strong point and, lately, I have not had the concentration to organize my thoughts.  In the last 6 months we have had a lot of changes in our house with many major ones yet to come.  Here's just a bit of a snap shot of what's been keeping me so busy.

We are expecting a Baby girl on August 8th!  While I still had some morning sickness, colds, and a tooth abcess with this pregnancy, overall I have felt so much  better than when I was pregnant with my daughter.  I can't tell you how much nicer it is not to deal with the back/hip issues and constantly being sick.  Crossing my fingers it continues. For those of you that have sensory issues, you realize pregnancy is an experience in itself that I could, and maybe should, create a whole post for.  I love having a baby, but combine it all and I am thrilled there are only a few months left.  I am going to try to post more, but with the computer triggering migraine symptoms they will be random and short, unfortunately.

Unfortunately, my dog, who we have had since I was pregnant with my daughter, developed seizures and we had to put him down.  It was a tough couple of months trying different medications and holding our breath that he would be ok.  I know that we made the right choice, but it has left a large hole in our household; especially for my daughter who thought of him as her sibling and best friend.

My husband was laid off in January from his job so has been home full time.  You would think that more would be accomplished with two adults home but somehow this is not the case in my household.

I and my daughter have also been getting some baby experience in by watching a friend's children two days a week.  I had forgotten how much I did enjoy childcare and watching my daughter learn to manage with the changing personalities of  younger children. 

With all that in the last six months, it's no wonder why I am having a hard time staying on track :)

As for the changes coming up...  My husband has received a job offer out of state.  There are still some hoops to jump through so I cannot say it's 100% done, but I am confident enough to start looking for an apartment, homeschooling options and packing the house.  Yes, this means the state I am delivering in is up in the air based on insurance issues, but I am putting my vote in for CT and staying with my own doctors.  Look for a post of all our moving questions soon!

Meal Planning Monday

This week is Thanksgiving so I am going to keep it simple. Between Thanksgiving prep and DD having a ton of junk at the parties this week, it's just not worth fighting until her taste goes back to normal. Last week I did make my own yogurt.  It is actually quite simple, but takes some practice to get it perfect. We also made crackers and Tortillas instead of bread. I am proud of myself!  I even ended up soaking the baked oatmeal. My daugther who hates oatmeal loved it, so it will be appearing on our menus now. Which leads me to think I have to redo our possible meal list soon.  We have added a few items and done away with some of our shopping list as we learned to make more from scratch.  Also, we found out my husband is allergic to sesame, so that limits the last of the crackers and other packaged items we used to buy.

Monday

Breakfast - Baked Oatmeal

Snack - apple sauce

Lunch - chicken fingers

Snack-  trail mix

Dinner-  chicken pot pie

Tuesday

Breakfast- pancakes

Snack -  crackers with pb

Lunch - salad

Snack - apple

Dinner - chili and pb+j

Wednesday

Breakfast - waffles

Snack - apple sauce

Lunch - egg salad

Snack - trail mix

Dinner - DH cooks

Thursday

Breakfast - Cereal

Late Lunch-  See our Thanksgiving meal plan

Friday

Breakfast- Pancakes

Snack- fruit

Lunch- turkey sandwich

Snack- Freebie

Dinner- salad

Saturday

Breakfast- pumpkin bread

Snack- Banana

Lunch- leftovers

Snack- apple sauce

Dinner- turkey soup

Sunday

Snack- baked oatmeal

brunch - french toast

Snack -  fruit

Dinner- free for all

Thanksgiving Dinner

While I might be a bit ahead of myself since the rest of next week's meal plan is anything but done, I thought I would let you steal all my awesome ideas in time to go shopping. Well... I think they are awesome at least. This menu is soy, maple, sesame, nut, and food coloring free.  As for any other allergy you would have to read the ingredients.  This seems like a ton of food for 8 adults and 3 kids, but my idea is that a) finding great sales, I shop within our normal budget and b) I am spending all day/week cooking anyway.  Might as well put on a nice spread and have plenty to fill up the freezer for later.

Our main dish:

Turkey, we have done this one in the past and I think we might do it again. I found that I can use 100% white grape juice and it still tastes great without all the fructose I find in the white cranberry juices.

 For sides we have:

• Sweet potato mash- We use this Twice baked potato recipie and don't restuff the skins.  Also we leave out the walnuts.

• Thankfull Rolls- any bread in this house has to be homemade and, when I saw these, I just had to try them.

• Stuffing- We made these Cornish Hens last year and I loved the stuffing so much we are making it again. If we didn't have 11 people coming this year I would be tempted to make the hens again. I have yet to figure out what fruit bits are, but craisins are a good substitute.

• Cranberry Sauce- We have always bought it in the can. Boring, I know, and I finally just read the ingredients, so I am giving this a try. I'll be honest: I have a can waiting just in case it doesn't work out.

• Roasted Vegetables - I love the oil and herbs.  It makes it feel like a special dish.

Appetizers

• Vegetable Platter with dip- green and red peppers, carrots, olives, and celery.  The yogurt for the dip will be greek or homemade.

• Hot artichoke and spinach dip with homemade french bread- This is a family favorite that gets made any time we have an excuse. It's a great way to sneak more spinach into our diet. While the artichokes are tasty, you can leave them out and still have a terrific snack.  While I normally would lean toward whole wheat, some of our family tolerate white bread better.

Desserts:

• Pumpkin Pie-  I always made it from a can.  I was tempted to cook a pumkin this year, but the price just didn't make it practical. The pie crust I have always had a problem making so we will be trying this recipie.

• Pumpkin bread- this is always a hit and I try to keep a couple loaves in my freezer for unexpected visits. We replaced the raisins and nuts with craisins.

• Homemade ice cream -mint just happens to be what my daughter has been asking for, and the kids will have a great time playing with our Ice cream ball.

Drinks:

• Tea and coffee
• Hot cider
• juice for the little ones

If you're looking for a cake, don't forget to check out my homemade cake post for a cute turkey.

For more great Ideas check out the Foodie Friday link-up.

End of Semester

As I sit here looking at the calendar, it is already the end of the semester. As of friday we had completed 47 days of school. Most days went as expected, though a couple were a bit more unschoolish than I had anticipated, but we are so happy with our decision.  It has proven to be what we expected. That was a bit of a gush wasn't it?

I was thinking we were behind, but according to our school calendar we not only have thanksgiving off, but we have a few days to play with this week also! Really, I do love school but, who doesn't like free time also. I have a good reason for loving this break.  I am taking advantage of the shortened week to learn all about Thanskgiving and some dance/music history we have been neglecting. I ccould use a week-long break to get the house back in order and figure out how all 11 family members, including two little ones are going to fit in my kitchen on Thursday. I also hope to get ahead of DD in lessons since she's always surprising me on what she accomplishes. DD takes it much more seriously if it all magickly appears in her boxes over night instead of Mom handing it to her as we go.

Ok I rambled enough.  Here was last week's fun boxes.  I am always looking for more ideas so, please leave a comment with your ideas or blog links.

We did a large amount on Veterans Day:

 Including some coloring pages, wordscramble  as well as making this poppy to remember the field so many sodiers died in.

We also did some reading because, if nothing else, homeschooling has taught me how much I do not know. This book was so well laid out I will be looking for others in the serious.

My mom was great in picking up this puzzle globe that has become a family project. Little secret: the inside is numbered, so if you get confused you can go back and check.

 

 We  read about Albert Einstein and filled out a notebook page for him. Did you know he hated high school and normally didn't match his socks? My personal favorite?  Apparently, it is believed he didn't speak untill he was three.  Our discussing him led my husband to bring home The Evolution of Physics  from the library. BTW, this is another serious of books (Who was...?) we enjoy to the point DD is begging for them on the rare book store trip.  

You will likely notice that we have not been doing any science projects lately. We are slowly working our way through the human body.  While I still love our book, and for most children the experiments would work, DD was getting frustrated because, with her sensory issues, our charts were not coming out how they where supposed to. An example being she uses more energy sitting still and her reflexes are not always accurate, so grabbing a ruler as it drops does not always get better.  Sometimes it just doesn't happen at all. Instead of pushing through and aggravating her, I took a short break from the subject and we will finish up the reading on the human body without anymore human experiments.

 Disclaimer- these are not affiliate links. I live in a state amazon no longer deals with.   I do support blogs who do use them, as far as I am concerned they put much time and there own money into running the site the least we can do is buy through their links.  But I will be honest, 90% of our books are from within our library system, for us this is the only way we can afford the variety we use weekly. We put them on hold online and when we get there later in the week they are all sitting at the front desk. Either way I hope you find some books you enjoy.

Meal planning

I had a chaotic week of no meal plan last week, and I don't know if it was that or having two cars being towed home in a week that caused us to eat out far more than normal. I do know the budget, and our stomachs, can't handle it again, especially not having to buy parts for said cars. As we slowly switch to more whole foods (I know take out is anything but food) I am trying some new recipes. This week we are experimenting with crockpot yogurt, and baked oatmeal. I am debating soaking the oatmeal but might leave that for another week.  DH also had an intolerance test done and we will be getting the results later this week, so we will see if that brings any new changes to the table. 

Monday

Breakfast: cereal with craisins

Snack: Banana

Lunch: salad with chicken

Snack: plum

Dinner: Smashed Chicken, potato and steamed veggie (this is one I grew up with: you smash down the chicken, bread and fry. It is a very yummy quick dinner) 

To Do: Make waffles and apple syrup 

Tuesday

Breakfast: waffles with cooked apples

Snack:  Banana

Lunch:  Leftovers

Snack: trail mix

Dinner: chicken soup 

To do: Make bread and boil eggs

Wednesday

Breakfast: cereal with bananas

Snack: apple sauce

Lunch: egg salad sandwiches

Snack: trail mix

Dinner: Breakfast- husband's specialty.  

To Do: make pizza pockets and yogurt 

Thursday

Breakfast: waffles

Snack: fruit bar

Lunch: Tuna fish sandwich

Snack: Veggie and dip

Dinner: Pizza pockets 

Friday

Breakfast: Pancakes with fruit topping

Snack: Yogurt -keeping my fingers crossed

Lunch: leftover pizza pockets

Snack: banana

Dinner: chicken cordon bleu with steamed veggie and brown rice- DD has been asking for weeks and I finally found some ham on sale.

Saturday

Breakfast: baked oatmeal - I keep hearing people talk about this so it is time to give it a try. I am still debating if I should soak it or not.

Snack: Yogurt

Lunch: Tuna sandwiches

Snack: Birthday party for family

Dinner:  chili and PB+J - quick and easy since I don't know when we will be home

To do : Make English muffins 

Sunday

Snack: cereal

Brunch: egg sandwiches - They are so easy now that we bake the eggs in a muffin tin.

Snack: once again we are out at a party

Dinner: everyone for themselves

Next week I get to go all out planning thanksgiving. I love having people over with all the great sales running. We have one turkey stashed with another joining it soon. What do you stock up on during the fall?