Welcome Oliver!

My nephew Oliver Jay was born this morning! Mark's sister Rachel and Oliver are both happy, healthy and at home resting. Rach gave birth at the Birthing Center and then came home late afternoon. We went over and visited with everyone this evening. The boys brought cousin Josiah and new cousin Oliver pictures they drew early in the day. And we played, talking and enjoyed our new family member. Cai enjoyed pointing out Oliver's nose.

New babies are such a joy and blessing. And I'm so grateful for the joy this baby will bring to our family.

Menu Plan Monday- August 2nd

Can't believe it's August. Where did my summer go? This month is going to be a busy one. Well to honest August will always be a busy month for us, what with two birthdays and our wedding anniversary to celebrate. This year we'll be even busier as any day now my sister-in-law is due to give birth. We are all excited about the coming new baby. In addition at the end of the month Mark's brother is getting married. As it happens with weddings everyone here is busy getting ready. So lots of exciting things this month. And this week starts it off. Cai will be turning two on Friday!!!! I'm struggling alittle that a whole year has passed by already. We'll be celebrating both Ian and Cai's b-days on Saturday since Ian's is Tuesday of next week. I offered Cai a couple of pasta dishes this morning for his birthday meal. He choose spaghetti. He is such a pasta kid. He devours any and all pasta dishes. So spaghetti feels like a good choice for his birthday. So here is this weeks menu. What are you planning this week?

Monday: Groundnut stew as requested by my dear husband :)

Tuesday: Great Green Pasta and corn on the cob

Wednesday: Dinner with some college friends who are back in the states for a visit

Thursday: Taco bowls

Friday: Spaghetti, green beans and bread - Cai's Birthday!!

Saturday: Grilled hotdogs and hamburgers and baseball cupcakes to celebrate little boys birthdays

Sunday: leftovers or Simple pasta with leftover produce

Now go check out Organizing Junkie's menu links.

Fair food, gardens, and other fun

This last week I had my best friend from high school Katie visiting us. I was so glad to have her here. Not only do I love spending time with her, but it was fun to show off my new home and surrounding area to her. The running joke for the week was that she should move to Indiana and live with us. While we would love for her to be closer, I know she loves not only Kansas but her current teaching job. So I'm left with dreams. But I'm rambling.

So this week we tried to do lots of fun things while Katie was here. Being fair week we started the week there. Monday afternoon we spend at the Elkhart County Fair. We checked out the 4H animals (llamas, cows, chickens, rabbits and pigs to name a few), 4H photography and sewing entries, rode the farris wheel, and ate lots of fair food. It was a good time for all. (And yes Mom, the boys got cotton candy)

Tuesday we played at home and went to the Farmer's Market. Then my wonderful brother-in-law came to babysit while Mark and I took Katie to Constant Spring for trivia night. We were one point off winning the final music round. Wednesday we went to the Calendar garden.

I blogged about this back in June. It was fun to go back and see the difference. And still just as breathtaking.

Ian and Cai loved the pond in the middle. And we spent lots of time splashing our feet and poking moss with sticks.

I even brought the boys' magnifying glasses so we good observe the leaves, flowers and bugs.

It was fun for a short period, although they were soon replaced with sticks. Even Aiden had fun banging sticks together his brothers gave him.

Thursday we went to Shipshewana. We visited Menno-Hof, a museum telling the history of the Amish/ Mennonite faith, and visited some cute shops in town. Friday afternoon we played at the Kennedy Water Playground in South Bend. It was a cooler day so that water was cold. Poor Cai was shivering after about 10 mins. But we still had lots of fun splashing, swimming and running through the water. Sadly yesterday we had to take Katie back to the train station so she could go back to Kansas. I didn't want to say goodbye. Having her here for a week reminded me how important my girlfriends are and that I need to be better about keeping in touch with them. I was also reminded how blessed I am to have such wonderful people in my life. Thanks sweetie for such a great week!

Menu Plan Monday- July 26th

My apologies for not posting last week. I just kept putting it off and then the week got away from me. This week I'm excited to say my best friend from high school (although I think I should rather say best friend whom I met in high school being that she is still one of my closest friends) is here to visit. I drove to Chicago to pick her up at Union Station, as she rode the train in form Kansas. She'll be staying with us till Saturday which I'm so excited about. Don't know what all we'll do this week but I'm looking forward to showing her around Goshen. So the menu this week might be changed and adapted as we go depending on what we do throughout the week. Tonight we are heading down to the Elkhart County Fair to eat fair food. :) I'm looking forward to the grease and sweets. Especially since I'll be missing the KS state fair come Sept. So here is this weeks menu plan. What are you planning to eat this week?

Monday: County Fair food

Tuesday: Spaghetti with Eggplant and Walnuts

Wednesday: Veggie Rice Bake and corn on the cob

Thursday: Chicken Cacciatore and fresh green beans

Friday: homemade pizza

Saturday: Eat out

Sunday: Leftovers or simple pasta

Don't forget to go visit Organizing Junkie. Lots of menus and ideas over there. :)

Menu Plan Monday- July 12th

Gosh I wish the weeks would slow down. Especially the weekends. They seem to fly past. Last weeks meals got all messed up. But as I have learned sometimes it's just better to go with the flow of things even if it messes with my previous laid plans. And sometimes I forget to look at the calendar when I make my menu. It's a bad habit I really need to work on. Last night is a good example. Rachel's Bread, a local bakery, was having a customer appreciation picnic. I had the invite hanging up on the board and had written it down on the calendar and yet seemed to forget when I was writing the menu. But all worked out. We went to the picnic and the food was amazing. Well worth it even if Mark and I were exhausted from our earlier trip to the lake. This week I have made sure to check the calendar. So here it is, this weeks menu.

Monday: Peanut noodles with snap peas

Tuesday: Goodbye dinner for Dora

Wednesday: Black bean, zucchini, and tomato quesadillas

Thursday: Garden Chowder

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Simple supper (pasta or other dish using up what is in the fridge)

Head over to Organizing Junkie's site for more menus.

Chain O Lakes

I love how despite my hopes of spending part of our summer out at the lake, it took out of state extended family to actually get us to go. This morning was spend at Chain O Lakes with Mark's folks, his siblings and his Aunt and cousins who are in visiting. It was glorious to say the least. We canoed across one lake and down one of the channels that connect the lakes and then back. Then we played in the water and the sand. Finally enjoying a picnic lunch and more sand and water play before coming back to my in-laws to watch the World Cup final game. I have to brag about our canoeing. We had hoped that one of the boys would sit in their grandparents canoe, but both wanted to come with us. So we had Ian and Cai sitting in the middle of our canoe and I had Aiden in a carrier on my back. While the boys were not sure at first about being in the canoe, once we got going they really enjoyed it. We had fun finding flowers and dragonflies as we paddled along. Sadly we didn't see any turtles or frogs along they way but we did keep our eyes open. Everyone had a great time out at the lakes and now we're all back and relaxing. It's amazing how tired I feel after a morning of sun and water. I hope we can make time to go again before summer is over.

Menu Plan Monday- July 5thWell

Well last week we didn't get to all the meals. So I guess I'll bring them over to this week. We were invited to my in-laws one night, and then Friday we went out to eat during First Friday downtown. Saturday I ended up making pizza b/c I didn't have time to prepare chicken as it was still frozen. And then last night we had a cookout with Nathan's hotdogs to celebrate the 4th! It was lots of fun. So here is the plan for this week.

Monday: Spaghetti with Tomato and Basil

Tuesday: Baked chicken with Pesto pasta

Wednesday: Burrito Bowl

Thursday: Slow Cooker Enchiladas

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: leftovers

Sunday: Breakfast

What's on your menu? Be sure to go visit Organizing Junkie.