It's Carnival Time

Well, I think I've finally got my act together to be a part of the fun carnival hosted over at Bloggy Giveaways. So for my first giveaway of all time here at the Wild Boys Life, I've decided to give away a couple of sweet little kitties that I made this year.

Well, you won't get these exact ones because they were given away at Christmas, but if you want a set for yourself, just go ahead and leave me a comment with what would be your two favorite colors to have the kitties in and I will make you some custom kitties of your very own. You'll need to give me about a week to get them in the mail though so have a wee bit of patience. (It's all good though, they're worth the wait.)

Entries will close at 6:00pm PST on Friday, January 30th. I'll try and get the winner posted sometime January 31st.

If you have the time, definitely go check out all the other wonderful and generous things that are being offered during the carnival. Last I checked, there were almost 700 blogs participating. (It's not too let to join in and offer something if you'd like, also)

Menu Plan Monday

Just a regular week for us...

Monday: Leftover pizza (I teach late so it needs to be easy)

Tuesday: Panko Fried Tilapia, Polenta, steamed veggies

Wednesday: Pasta with Chicken, feta and grape tomatoes (quick and easy!)

Thursday: Mini Chicken Potpies This is one that I'll be making 4 times the amount we'll eat so that we'll have some to stock up the freezer

Friday: It's The Reader's night to plan a meal. Usually that means a themed meal such as pirates or something a bit exotic like grilled shrimp over rice pilaf. You gotta love the meals a 6 year old can come up with.

Saturday: Beef Fajitas, Spanish Rice ...I'll be freezing quite a bit of the beef fajita stuff for future use.

Sunday: Football buffet Not sure what will all be in that yet.

Things to add to the freezer stash this week:

• Mini Chicken Potpies


• Beef Fajita


• Salisbury Meatballs


• Caesar marinade for Portobella Mushrooms

If you are looking for inspiration for your menus, check out hundreds of plans (and a fun giveaway) here.

Wordless Wednesday

Menu Plan Monday

We ended up having a bit of carry over from last week because of opportunities that came up so this weeks plan is a bit on the boring side.

Monday - Leftovers from the weekend. Time to clean out the fridge!

Tuesday - Potato Soup, homemade rolls, Salad

Wednesday - Sloppy Joes, Deviled Potato Salad

Thursday - Homemade pizza - if we're feeling really ambitious, we'll be working on some Chicago style pizza instead of thin crust.

Friday - Beef tri-tip from Costco, salad, not sure on the rest of the menu yet as we have two other families joining us for dinner that night

Saturday - We'll be eating a nice dinner compliments of The Man's work. I'll be enjoying the veggie dinner of some sort and he'll be getting the meat eater's version.

Sunday - Lasagna at a friends house or a free for all at home.

I promise I'll have something much more interesting next week.

Wordless Wednesday

Menu Plan Monday (on Tuesday)

Well, I'm a wee bit tardy on the Menu Planning this week, but the goal is to have it done each weekend. I do the grocery shopping for the week on Tuesday, so our menu is off just a bit. I was going to include Monday for this week, only The Man decided to treat all the boys to a night out while I finished up my lessons. He's good that way.

Tuesday - Lasagna, spinach salad, garlic bread

Wednesday - Roast chicken, Maple Glazed Parsnips & Sweet Potatoes, Risotto, Rolls, Apple Cake

Thursday - Creamed Chicken (using leftovers) over confetti rice squares - any other leftovers

Friday - The boys take turns planning and cooking. This week is Fearless Flyer's turn which usually means Breakfast for Dinner or something else equally appealing to a 5 year old.

Saturday - Potato and Corn Soup, Bread of some sort

Sunday - Lunch - Tenderloin steaks w/ Gorgonzola, Roast Potatoes w/ Rosemary, Green beans and Portabello Saute, Lemon Pound Cake

Dinner - Black Bean and Corn Stew, Cornbread

*I also like to try and make some things to have on hand in the freezer. This week, I'll be adding some Bean Burritos.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

~Matthew 11:28-29

Weekly Report

Just a little bit of pirate school this week. Notice the glove on only one hand.

Whew...trying to get back into the routine of things after a 3 week break was a little rough, but the boys rose to the occasion and accomplished pretty much everything for the week.

The Computer -

• started into a bit of geometry type stuff for math. Angles and protractors and quadrilaterals and symmetry. Basically, a lot of math vocabulary to learn.
• Writing Tales - Started on The Elves and the Shoemaker, one of his favorite stories from our summer reading.
• Grammar - Lots of work on adjectives this week
• Latin - started in on Chapter 6 which means a new vocabulary list to learn. He keeps throwing around Latin for everything he can think of around the house.

The Reader

• Math - Finished Lessons 101 - 105 in Horizons...no biggies at all. He just flew through them
• Grammar - Working on Irregular Verbs
• Reading - Yay! Finished up with 1st grade reading. Now we're making the decision whether to continue with Rod and Staff or switch to CLE

Fearless Flyer

• Our big excitement for the week came from this little guy. He started being able to read at, am and an all by himself. Didn't think we'd see the day, but it's finally here. Yay!
• Math - He's about halfway through Singapore Earlybird. It's getting frustrated with having to write the numbers, but definitely getting better
• ETC - Writing s is frustrating, but then he gets to go back to b which is great.

Everyone

• Geography - We finished up Germany finally. It was supposed to happen before the holidays, but life got in the way. We'll be having our Germany celebration sometime next week.
• Science - Focused on forests, learning about deciduous and evergreen trees. Because of weather, we weren't able to go out and map out a small part of a forest. Hopefully, things will stay clear now for a few days and we can get that done.
• Art - absolutely nothing accomplished
• Music - Practiced piano and guitar. It was good to get back into a routine again.

After a hard day of swashbuckling, a pirate needs a nap.

Wordless Wednesday

These were taken on the first day of two weeks of snow. When it was all said and done, we had about 20 inches on the ground.

52 Books in 52 Weeks

There's a group of women over on the Well Trained Mind Boards that are taking part in a challenge of reading a book a week for 2009. I absolutely love to read so it seems like an easy challenge. Now to get a list together for the year. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

My first book is Wide Awake by Erwin McManus. I've enjoyed McManus's books before and got a great deal out of hearing him speak at a worship conference a couple of years ago so I'm looking forward to being challenged by his newest book.

If you'd like to join us on our challenge, feel free to pop on over to the Well Trained Mind boards and let us know.