Confessions of a Homeschooler Give Away!

Have you all ever been over to visit Confessions of a Homeschooler?  She is one of my favorite blogger mommies!  She is so creative and always seems to have something fun happening!  She just hit 1500 subscribers and is doing a Give Away to celebrate.  The give away is for a card game called Pick and Draw, which looks very cooool by the way!  Thought you'd like to check it out and enter the contest, I know I am.

The Best Meatloaf EVER!

So, one day last week I took a little Mommy time out.  I decided to climb into by bed and watch some tv, after flipping around a bit I decided on Paula Deen.  Haven't watched her in a looong time, but her and her son Jamie were fixin' some yummy comfort foods.  I gotta tell you, I was getting hungry just watching those two cook. Well, anyway one of the recipes that they shared was Jamie's wife Brooke's Homemade Meatloaf recipe.  Nothin fancy, but WOW is it good!!  The meatloaf itself is pretty standard but the glaze on top makes it out of this world good!!   Didn't get a picture of it before dinner but I did get one after....

These people (myself included) ate that meatloaf up in record time!  I served it with homemade garlic mashed potatoes and maple glazed carrots (just a fancy way of saying steamed baby carrots with maple/agave syrup drizzled over top).  I was really looking forward to leftover meatloaf sandwiches for lunch the next day.  But as you can see that didn't happen!

We took a family vote and it was decided that this was my new meatloaf recipe!  Hope you all try it and love it as much as we did. 

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan Monday


Nothin' fancy this week.  we are having Lasagna for my Hubby's birthday dinner.  I think the kids are going to make him a cake this year - they are so excited about doing this!  I am trying a new recipe on Friday, Bruschetta Chicken, that sounds very yummy!

Monday
Breakfast: Waffles w/ fruit
Lunch: Homemade pizza w/ fruit
Dinner: Mac and Cheese w/ Dogs and broc.

Tuesday
Breakfast:  Oatmeal w/ bananas
Lunch:  PB & J's w/ fruit
Dinner:  Breakfast Night - Pancakes, Eggs and Bacon

Wednesday
Breakfast:  Cereal
Lunch: Turkey and Cheese w/ Fruit
Dinner: Chilli (from the Freezer) Mac w/ Cornbread

Thursday
Breakfast:  Waffles and Fruit
Lunch:  Grilled Cheese w/ Tomato Soup
Dinner: Lemon Pepper Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Gr. Beans

Friday
Breakfast: Eggsw/ Toast and You guessed it!  Fruit
Lunch: Brown Rice and Mixed Veggies
Dinner:  Bruchetta Chicken w/ Pesto Noodles and Veggie

Saturday
Breakfast:  Kid's Choice
Lunch:  Egg Salad Sammies with applesauce
Dinner:  Thinking about ordering Chinese Food since we studyed China this week

Sunday
Breakfast:  Cereal
Lunch: PB & J's w/ fruit
Dinner: Lasagna w/ Homemade Bread and Salad
Dessert: Home Chocolate Cake w/ Homemade Candles

Oh yeah, I almost forgot Humpty Dumpty and I did some baking yesterday.  We made Giant Breakfast Cookies from Heavenly Homemakers and they are a W O W!!  I doubled my batch and after I took the first bite I thought Oh, NO!!  The kids aren't going to like these!  I thought this because they are not very sweet like a cookie normal is.  I liked them, they are like a nice natural sweet.  To my shock and JOY!  the kids loved them!  Praise God! 

She also has a Breakfast Cake recipe that I might try next week.  She is awesome by the way, if you haven't checked her out I suggest you do. :  ) She has some awesome recipes.  After I read her post about the 500 lbs of wheat she bought I was hooked!

We also made Banana Banana Bread and it is a yummy one too!

Ring-O-Links Giveaway

Last week when I was unpacking that huge box of goodies I realized that Educator's Outlet had accidentally sent me 2 of the Ring-O- Links. When I called the company to tell them my problem, they explained that they had not charged me for the extra set, told me I could keep it and do with them what ever I wanted with it.  Soooo, I thought it would be a fun little idea to offer it to one of you.

If you would like a chance to win a set of Ring-O-Links 1)You Must Publicly Follow Living Sola Gratia and 2) Leave me a comment about your favorite hands on math activity, 3) Be a US Resident.  I will run the contest until 3/14/10. Please be sure to include your email so that I can contact you.

We Got Mail!

Just like most people we love getting mail! Especially, when it's goodies that I've ordered and have been impatiently patiently waiting their arrival. 

I found out about this educational supplies/games website on one of the mommy blogs I read.  The company is called Educator's Outlet.  They might just be my new favorite place to order from.  I restricted myself to the Blowout Closeout Section only.  I still can't believe all the goodies that I got!  Did I tell you that I only spent $42 and that INCLUDED my shipping!  Yes, $42! 

It was lunch time and I was checking my email and saw an email that FedEx had delivered my package (I have begged the FedEx and UPS men to NOT knock on my door because I have 3 dogs that go nuts and sometimes wake up my sleeping children).  So I, ran to get it casually went and got it.  HOLY SMOKES! I could not believe how big the box was! 

This is what we got (minus the dog)!  When I ordered these things, I guess because they were sooo- cheap, I didn't think they would be full size games. 

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  The Space Explorer Floor puzzle is great.  The older 3 kids have already done it twice. It comes with an info sheet about the different planets.  The planets are all labeled on the puzzle, so after they put it together I'd ask them to find Earth, the Moon, the Sun, Mars, etc...  ($2.25)
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  Dr. Green is a small green house with seeds and dirt pods included.  My kids CAN'T WAIT to do this one!  ($2.25)
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  Ant Town is an ant farm.  It has 3 small containers that connect.  It also has an ant sucker upper, I am sure there is a proper name for it, just don't know what it is. The kids can't wait for this one either.  If anyone has any extra ants hanging around please send them to us, we will pay the shipping.  ($1.75)
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  Memo Spell is a memory spelling game - looks pretty cool but we haven't gotten in to it yet. ($1.50)
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  Math Lotto is a math game that I think all my kiddos can use.  The math problems go up to multiplication, which is great because I have a hard time find stuff for Little Miss Muffet to do. ($4.50)
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  Round Up is a game where you have to keep the wolf from getting your sheep.  Thisis one of those use your brain kinda games.  It will probably go in the workboxes next week for an end of the day treat! ($1.25)
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  Ring-O-Links are super cool!  The links come with cards that direct the child to do activites like sorting, counting and adding.  The kids love this one.  As an added bonus, when they are done counting and sorting they can connect the links together and play jump rope! ($1.75)
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  Alphabet Animals are individual animal puzzles that spell the name of the animal - great for workboxes. ($1.75)
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  The last one is Animal Kingdom, haven't really looked at this one yet but it looks cool.  I think it is like checkers, with a food chain twist. ($1.38)

We also got 2 Spell Bounds ($4.00 each) - they are long spiral books that have 8 spaces for letters that the kids can use to spell out words.  My plan is to let them each do their spelling words on this one day a week instead of writing them. I am very excited about these.

We got lace & trace pictures ($.88), these huge buttons with laces ($2.00), and this Mosasic Peg a Picture Board and Pegs ($2.00), Humpty Dumpty loves these.  

At first Humpty Dumpty was not happy with me for taking a picture of his unfinished project.  But, once he was finished he was more than happy to share his art work.

For the girls I got these bee's wax candle kits, where you make your own candles.  At first, I did wish the wax squares were a  little bigger but once they started playing with them and the fact that I only paid $1.25 for each kit I changed my mind.