What's Up Wednesday

What we're eating this week...
Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with carrot casserole and steamed veggies
Buffalo chicken and cauliflower casserole
Hot dogs with tater tots
And I have sausage and ham that I might cook. Who knows! I might better start planning.

What I'm reminiscing about...
Summer! I can't believe it's over.
And the first day of school pictures. I LOVE seeing all of the kids!

What I'm loving...
The weather!!
It's finally cooling off a little. Hopefully the high 90's are gone for good.

What we've been up to...
Getting back into the school routine. :)

What I'm dreading...
Home work has not really started yet. That's not going to be fun. 3 boys with 3 teachers. That's a lot of work!

What I'm working on...
Deep cleaning my house. I think I'm going to go room by room. That way I remember to clean everything.

What I'm excited about...
FALL, football and cooler weather.
And I have new curtains for my dining room and den. I can't wait to get them up.

What I'm watching/reading...
I do not watch much television. Michael and I do watch Forged in Fire. It's a reality show about people making knives. Haha! It's interesting. And I'm usually ready while I'm watching.

I've have a bookcase full of  books I bought at our local bookstore this summer. They had a great sale - buy 10 get 10 free. These are books that I would not normally get. I'm slowly reading them and so far they have been great. And I still feel like I need at least 1 book from the library to read. I'll be posting soon on the books I read last month.

What I'm listening to...
I'm still loving my Bose speaker. It's country and christian when the boys are in school and when they are home they want Kidz Bop.

What I'm wearing...
I'm still loving my dresses. And I got 2 new longer sweater vests that look adorable with my Matilda Jane ruffle pants. I can't leave out my faithful yoga pants. We can't forget about them!

What I'm doing this weekend...
There isn't much on our calendar for the weekend.  Yeah!!! Sunday we have church and then a church social at our local splash pad. It's going to be fun! And the boys are out of school and Micheal is off Monday for Labor Day. I love a 3 day weekend.

What I'm looking forward to next month...
September will be here in a few days. Where did August go?!?
The boys have Labor Day off and then another day towards the end of the month. Hopefully we can find something fun to do those days. Luckily that's about all for the month besides church and AWANA on Sundays.  And Michael turns the big 4-0!! I'm sure the boys will help him celebrate.

What else is new...
Not much. I'm getting used to the school routine and all the boys at the same school. It's still strange being home alone each day!

Best school lunch ideas and/or tips and tricks...
I need help with this one! Jackson will eat at school most days - thank goodness! Miles and Carter are the picky ones. I do make their lunches the night before so it's not bad in the mornings. Other than that... I feel like I pack the same thing each day for them to eat. I'm ready for ideas!!

Solar Eclipse 2017

The boys were out of school to enjoy the solar eclipse. At first I thought it was crazy but it was really neat to see this with the boys. We talked about it for a little while and explained it. They were like yeah, whatever. But afterwards they could not stop talking about it. 

When I told them it was time to start watching they thought it was going to be completely black outside. Jackson said the deck was too hot so he stood ON his shoes instead of wearing them and Miles was mad because his glasses would not stay on. Carter just wanted to stare at the sun. 

A few minutes later they could really see the moon crossing in front and it was the neatest thing ever! The sun was shining but there was no heat from it. Totally awesome! I felt like I had sunglasses on and needed to take them off. There was a strange "glow" outside. 

Michael's coworker's husband posted these pictures that he took during totality. (We could have driven 45 minutes to see totality but what we saw was perfect and there was no traffic.)

Seriously... this is what it looked like near us. How amazing is it?!?

First Day of School 2017-2018

The boys started school this past Thursday. I was a nervous wreck but they were excited. I'm always nervous the first day and then I'm good.  

Jackson started 4th grade and his teacher is Mrs. Watkins.

Carter started 1st grade and his teacher is Mrs. Munn. 

Miles started 1st grade and his teacher is Mrs. DuBose.

Notice how C is trying to hold M's hand? Haha! I think he was starting to get a little nervous about going to his new school.

Jackson didn't admit it but he loves having his brothers at his school. He was telling them all sorts of things to do and not to do. It was sweet!

Luckily we found a park quickly and headed in the school. Everyone walks their kids in on the first day. It's hectic! 

One last picture before heading in!

We made sure the boys found their rooms and then they get to sit in the hall until a certain time. I felt horrible about leaving Miles. He looked pitiful!! 

Carter got to his class and sat down. He wouldn't look up at us. :(  I did get a quick hug from both boys before Michael and I left. This is the first time they have been in separate classes so I was worried about how they would act. Thank goodness they were okay with it. 

I didn't get a picture of Jackson at this class because it's so uncool for your parents to walk you to class in 4th grade. 

When I got to school to pick them up they were all smiles. We enjoyed after school snacks and they talked and talked and talked about their day.

And they were ready to go back. The only bad thing was they didn't get to play outside because it was too hot! 

Our school district is closed today for the....

Here's the path of the eclipse. It goes right thru South Carolina. We are going out to see it this afternoon with our approved glasses.  It's going to be neat!

Recipe Club

It's Recipe Club day and I'm super excited! I can't wait to get new dishes for us to try. 

Here we go...

Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl by Peanut Butter Runner

I HATE sweet potatoes

 but I wanted to see if I could make them some way that was tasty. This isn't bad at all. I put a spoonful in a bowl of oatmeal and it was good. It's not bad by itself either!! I guess when you add a banana and pumpkin pie spice it has to be good.

Next up is...

Enchilada Stuffed Sweet Potato by Living Loving Paleo

I like Mexican food so I thought this might be good to try. 

Michael liked this and I thought it was just alright. I ate it (twice!) but it isn't something I want each week. The enchilada part made the potato tolerable. 

Moving on to something good...

Carrot Souffle from Don't Sweat the Recipe was AMAZING! 

While we were in the mountains we had carrot casserole at a restaurant and fell in love with it. Last week I decided to find a recipe and make it. Well, 4 of the 5 of us like this so I say it is a winner. And Miles needs to get with the game. It almost tastes like dessert!  

Lastly...

Southwestern Quiche by Plain Chicken

I love quiche. This one has sausage and rotel so you can make it as spicy as you can stand! It's always a win when you get several days of leftovers. :) 

Most of what I cook comes from Pinterest! What did I do before? 

Thanks for the link up ladies! 

this and that for July

For us to be out of town for 11 days this past month we surely were busy the other 21 days!

We celebrated the 4th early with my family. We always have a great time. 

The fidget spinner faze is almost over. Thank goodness!

Michael tied this little swing to one of our trees and all the boys have had so much fun playing with it. 

This picture cracks me up every time I look at it. It was the 4th of July and it was starting to storm. Jackson was shocked about the loud thunder, Carter was scared of the thunder and lightning and Miles was just flat out MAD he would not do fireworks. He declared it the worst 4th ever. Hahaha! We did them the next night when it wasn't storming. 

Miles was upset about something else. Who know what - probably not playing his tablet. I like to take pictures when they are mad so I can show they how silly they were acting. 

I needed extra seating so we brought in the bench from our porch table. I have fallen in love with it and I can't wait to get a farmhouse table for my dining room.

We tried to stay cool.

We had some friend over to play. Again - the bench was super handy!

We jumped in the pool as much as possible!

Miles likes to take selfies with me. The other two can't stand it! 

I'm THAT mom who makes them do school work during the summer. 

Summer hair do...bed head. All day. Every day. 

We did summer reading and took AR tests at the library.

We played in their favorite tree at my mom's.

Buzz cuts for the win! 

More library time after hair cuts.

I drooled over outdoor fabric for my porch furniture!

They had fun playing with the toys in Wal Mart. Miles fell on his rear right after I took this picture! Haha!

Jackson rode his bike alone to Boom and Pops for the first time! He was super proud.

This boy enjoys his food. Big's is a local place at McLeod Peach Farm. They have the best food.

I survived taking all 3 for well child visits. 

And I'm loving my new Bose Bluetooth speaker. It's perfect!