Project Life ::: November 11-17, 2013

Another week of Project Life to share! I had very few photos this week so this is a mishmash of about three days all smashed together into something that flows together. I think. : )



On the left:



All the photos on this side of the layout (with the exception of me making lunch) were from the weekend prior. I had taken a bunch of photos on Sunday for a random 10 on the 10th project and there were several I wanted to use, but didn't want to add in an additional insert. It was providential that I was short of ton of pictures this week. This side chronicles a last minute date night on Saturday and the rest are shots from Sunday.

On the right:



Again, short on pictures.

• a group photo from a field trip to the Nashville Children's Theater to see Schoolhouse Rock with our homeschool group.
• a sweet picture of N2 and E reading together. The big girls are so good about reading to him when he asks ... and he asks a LOT. This boy LOVES to be read to. Our little bedtime routine together where I have one-on-one read-aloud time with him is quite ridiculous in its length. (But we love it).
• The last game of the season for B's soccer team.
• Dinner with friends on a Saturday night

A rare photo of myself in the album. I am working on doing better at this, but I am the one that takes most of our pictures. One of the girls snapped this attractive (not) shot while I was making lunch. Of the several shots that she took, I decided that this was the lesser of many evils and stuck it in, multiple chins and all.



I made a note of a book that I had just finished. T suggested that I read this book - it was one that he had read and it popped up on his/our radar when we saw a preview for the movie that came out.



(He is getting so big.)

And there you have it in a nutshell. All of the journaling cards from this week are from the November Studio Calico kit, I believe. And I used a Simple White template from Tracy Larson for the journaling card photo inserts. There's a good mix of "real" camera to iPhone shots as well. For the lack of pictures I had to work with, it turned out to be a pretty well-rounded week.

And that's all she wrote. : )

Project Life is a product and a system created by Becky Higgins and available on Amazon.com, DigitalProjectLife.com, and many major craft retailers. It can be anything you want it to be. You can view all my posts about Project Life here. I'm always happy to answer questions about how Project Life works for me, if you have any. Affiliate links used where available.

Currently : December 2013 Edition

waking early. Right now it's the only time of my day to be by myself and I crave it.

finishing another week of Project Life this evening right before dinner. Maybe I'll get to share it later this week? I put in an order pics from Thanksgiving and am determined to get those journaled and DONE before the weeks get by me too fast.

watching Pioneer Woman on Amazon prime when I find twenty minutes to get on the treadmill.

walking (speaking of) slowly on the treadmill with a little running thrown in after taking about three weeks off.



shopping for a REAL Christmas tree this year. Can you believe that I've never had a real-live tree before at Christmas? I'm so sold. There is no going back now. I come from a long line of fake tree people but I have crossed over now.

loving the smell of said real tree. Truly, I was a little worried that the house would smell like a giant bad car air freshener, but it's just perfect.

appreciating the words in this post from Vita Familiae on simplifying advent. This year is s.i.m.p.l.e around here and I'm enjoying less stress about it.

unpacking from a full few days away for Thanksgiving with my side of the family. Four days of lots of romping around outside and up mountains makes for a lot of laundry.



planning and putting dates in my 2014 calendar. The stripes and the daily layout sold me.

anticipating taking the boy out for a Christmas lights drive in a few weeks. This is his year to notice them and the wonder in his voice is my new favorite thing.



working, or I should be, on some school plans for the spring. Time to look at where we are headed in our history and pick some read alouds to go along. We read some GREAT books this fall as we learned about the middle ages, knights, and the Renaissance. I could have stayed there a lot longer.

liking him. And looking forward to the next few weeks. All the date nights we haven't had over the last year will be made up for in spades.



cheering on N2 as she and I tackled getting a few teeth extracted at the dentist last week. A little medicine to relax her, a little happy gas, and we both survived.

listening to the sound of computer clicking. The house is blissfully silent right now.

eating lots of spaghetti squash. My favorite fall veggie right now. Lots of mandarin oranges as well. Trying to pack in the veggies so that I can squeeze in a few favorite holiday treats along the way.

contemplating a post on all the eating and the losing of the weight and the running and all that jazz. We are coming up on the one-year mark from when I started this "project" and oh, what a year it has been.

reading should be a whole post on its own I suppose! The girls and I are in the middle of Little Women right now. On the top of my foolishly high reading pile is Mariel of Redwall (book 4 in the Redwall series), A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens for the Reading to Know bookclub), The Greatest Gift (by Ann Voskamp), and The Question by Leigh Bortins. Lots of variety, that's for sure.

ordering Christmas goodies. Soon, I hope. We go fairly light for Christmas with our kids. The past two years we have gone the route of family gifts or have gotten them all the same gift and it has been great. While they still put together a little Christmas list, it helps keep it from becoming a regurgitation of a toy catalog and their list of what they want to do for others becomes the mile long one. I love that.

wanting to make a batch of my Grandad's peanut brittle and my Grandma's Chex Mix. Need to do a little recipe searching for the peanut brittle one.

playing lots of Uno and Skip-Bo with the kids and the rest of my family this last week on our little Thanksgiving trip. I'm not a card/game player, but it's so fun now that the girls all really get how to play.



drinking coffee.

clearing out kids' rooms. I have one that has a hard time keeping things put away and picked up so I'm hoping that elimination will be a key to success for her.

looking forward to a haircut this weekend. Sad, but true. It's been over a year since I've had a haircut and it's time.

celebrating my niece on Sunday - she turns 16! (Not. possible).



wishing you a good rest of your week!

Simple Things Sunday

A special few days away with family for Thanksgiving.



Linking up with Rebecca.

Project Life :: October 28 - November 3

Project Life for the week of October 28 through November 3. We are just four or five weeks until the end of the year and I have a little backlog of weeks to get caught up on before the end of 2013. This is one of the weeks that I've managed to catch up on while we've enjoyed a few days of Thanksgiving break.





On the left:

This is probably one of the few times that you will see me do this type of layout but the left side is all from one day. The reason: I took a day off of tutoring at Classical Conversations and had the chance to observe in N1 and B's class for the day. I love tutoring CC each week, and N2 is in my class so that means that I get to see lots of her. : ) However, that means it is hard to just be "mama" and sit in on the other girls' classes and watch them do presentations. I tutored B's class last year, but I've never been in class with N1 before so that was a real treat. All these photos are from that Tuesday - watching their tutors teach, watching our amazing pre-K tutor go over the science experiement with the little kids, and watching N1 and B do presentations. I had promised that the week that I was off, we could take our instruments for presentation and it was so fun to see them talk about them and share what they have been learning.





On the right:



A few miscellaneous fall shots that I loved on the top. The bottom row is all from an event at our church on Saturday night. T spend a huge chunk of time this fall working with the youth at our church, putting together a youth band. Their first performance was the opening service of our annual Missions Conference and they knocked it out of the ballpark. It was so fun to see these kids take some of the worship songs that we sing regularly and put them into their own arrangements. And T was most definitely in his element - teach and music combined - and you could tell everyone up there was having a blast.



The bottom right photo flips up to reveal a closer group photo and some journaling, but I didn't photograph it.

Supplies used:
Project Life Kraft kit I used the digi version.
Martha Stewart file folder labels (found at Staples)
Badges and sticker on the bottom right photo from my monthly Studio Calico kit

iPhone photos v. real camera: all photos are iPhone with the exception of the bottom row on the right layout. I actually broke out my point and shoot for a few pics.

Hope you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving week. : )

Project Life is a product and a system created by Becky Higgins and available on Amazon.com, DigitalProjectLife.com, and many major craft retailers. It can be anything you want it to be. You can view all my posts about Project Life here. I'm always happy to answer questions about how Project Life works for me, if you have any. Affiliate links used where available.

Simple Things Sunday

I stole a few moments and played the piano this afternoon for a while. Realized how very rusty I am, but what a gift to enjoy music and be able to fumblingly play a little on a cold Sunday afternoon.

Linking up with Rebecca.

Thankful Daybook

I made the mistake of looking and it has been May since I've done a daybook. I love this snippets of what has been going on here and miss the record of things that have happened. Here's to catching up a bit...

Outside my window...

It has been a cold, wet, drizzly day today. Pretty perfect for November. Although I wouldn't have complained if I'd seen some afternoon sun. I do love a grey day - perfect for blankets and comfy clothes. Especially when it's our family pizza and movie night and we're hunkering down for the evening.

I am thinking...

That I need a teacher's inservice day. A day to look at the calendar and map out the next few months. Trying to figure out to make it happen ... may mean a movie day for munchkins but I'm sure that won't be a problem for them. : )

I am thankful...

that we have reached our holiday break. Almost every activity has wrapped up for the year with just a couple of exceptions and I'm reveling in the chance to get caught up on lots and lots of things. My list is probably overambitious, but it's been such a busy fall, I can't help myself.

In the kitchen...



Nada. It's pizza night tonight so no cooking for me! The photo above is from the Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake which I made last weekend for a dinner. There is something about making a cake from scratch that I kinda like.

I am wearing...

Black maxi skirt, light pink tshirt, darker pink hoodie and slippers.

I am creating...

Some plans for December. Lists of Christmas books I need to reserve at the library.

I am going...

to hopefully get a bundle of errands crossed off my list tomorrow. Our schedule this year means that I don't have much time during the week to get out and run errands, grab a few groceries, etc., so tomorrow is catch-up day. I've realized that one child has no tennis shoes to speak of and another doesn't have a winter coat so that plus the few groceries we need will fill our afternoon.

I am wondering...


I am reading...


We had quite a successful run at the library today. And my Thanksgiving reading plans are quite optimistic. And laughable. : ) Seriously, though. I need to do a book post soon! We have read some really great read-alouds this fall and I don't want to forget them.

I am hoping...

For a restful break next week from school. I've been running on empty for a few weeks now (a couple little people have gotten in a bad habit of getting up during the night for random reasons) and I need a break from that. Or a nap. Or both.

I am looking forward to...

a Christmas tree. We are getting on this year. A real one. We've made-do the last two years with a mini tree - with a cruising 1 year old, then a 2 year old boy, it seemed the thing to do. But I so missed a bigger tree full of lights. Please don't hear that as a complaint because it was the season of life we were in ... but I'm excited about a big tree this year.

I am learning...

Lessons in where I am and am not spending my time wisely. Changes are afoot, but implementing them. That's where it gets hard!

Around the house...

Not too shabby, but the first two days of our break next week will involve some detail work in a couple of the kids' bedrooms. Nothing bad, but just some straightening and organizing that I can't get to and do school and feed people and mop the kitchen and ... so on. : )

Clicking around...

Teaching from a State of Rest
A Ministry of Openness

One of my favorite things...



This dude. He keeps me on my toes.

A few plans for the rest of the week/weekend:

Errands on Saturday + work in the kitchen. Church Thanksgiving service + potluck on Sunday. And I believe Monday is going to be a day of rest (+ laundry).

A peek into my day...



Photo added on Saturday.  A few kid-requested kitchen treats.

Jelly Telly Post :: Psalm 121

I have a new post up on the Jelly Telly blog today. A little bit of stream-of-consciousness writing and what I've been thinking about in light of one of my favorite Psalms.

Lasagna Soup

 
Today was our last day of our Classical Conversations tutorial for the fall. (Insert loud cheer here!) The last 12 weeks (or so) have been full, full, FULL, but I think over all we have finished well. I knew I would be tired today after our last day so I'm not sure why I picked this soup to make for dinner instead of my normal crockpot Tuesday plan. However, I'm so glad I did! I was cold all. day. long. and it turns out that cooking something hot and scrumptious slowly over the stove when I got home was just what I needed today. I wish I remembered exactly where I saw this recipe the first time ... maybe life {in} grace? ... so I could give credit.

Lasagna Soup
My edits are in parenthesis; most things I left out were because I didn't have the ingredient.

for the soup:
2 tsp. olive oil
1-1/2 lbs. Italian sausage (I used Italian turkey sausage)
3 c. chopped onions.
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (left this out)
2 T. tomato paste
1 28-oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes (used regular diced)
2 bay leaves (left out)
6 c. chicken stock
8 oz. mafalda or fusilli pasta
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:
8 oz. ricotta
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

additional cheesy yum:
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add sausage, breaking up into bite sized pieces, and brown for about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

 

Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Do not over cook or let soup simmer for a long period of time at this point, as the pasta will get mushy and absorb all the soup broth. You may even want to consider cooking the noodles separately, and then adding some to individual bowls before ladling the soup over them. This would be an especially smart move if you are anticipating any leftovers. Right before serving, stir in the basil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

 

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper. To serve, place a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and ladle the hot soup over the cheese.

 

Source (these were notes from the original recipe)Adapted from  300 Sensational Soups by Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds, as seen in the February-April 2011 edition of At Home with Kowalski's magazine from Kowalski’s Markets .

 
My notes: this was DELICIOUS. The cheese mixture made the soup in my opinion and was well worth the calories. The only thing that I think I will do differently the next time is used crushed tomatoes instead of diced. I have several that will eat tomatoes without complaint as long as they can't see the big chunks. Though there weren't any complaints, I think I'll get an even better response without the chunks.

Enjoy!

10 on the 10th :: Sunday View

Catching up after one was at camp all weekend.



One came back from camp to show me how she learned to highlight things in her Bible.



Thinking about the week. And coffee.



Sunday night is breakfast for dinner and the one night where I am agreeable to being a short order cook.



About to get messy in here.



Plotting.



Crashed.



Working (and playing).



What I should have been doing last night.



What I did instead.

Simple Things Sunday

Sometimes breaking out the leftover Halloween candy is the best way to get us through our memory work on a week that has been seriously topsy-turvy as far as a complete lack of schedule. 

Linking up with Rebecca.

Hello November

Hello November.

Hello to leaves everywhere.

Hello to boys (and girls) enjoying those last few moments of daylight on cool afternoons before the sun sets so early.

Hello to cozy evenings inside, listening to music and learning together. (He’s walking her through the sheet music to the Hallelujah Chorus as they listen).

Hello to cozy suppers. (And cozy lunch leftovers).

Hello to plans and thoughts on paper.

Hello to evenings under the blankets with a good book (or several).

Hello to thankfulness and family and remembering … all things that come to mind as part of November.