Alex's awesome valentine box

As he does every year, Alex came up with a really cool idea for his valentine box. He needed one for school for when they exchange valentines.. you know the drill. In years past Mark has been great about helping him bring his vision to reality :)  He has also made some pretty unique ones for Connor.

This year Alex wanted a.......... robot.

Check it out.

What's Cookin' this week at our house

Weekly Meal Plan


Sunday: Tamara's Baked Potato Soup (see below for recipe)

Monday: Spaghetti and meatballs

Tuesday:  Grilled Chicken

Wednesday: Grandpa's Beef Stroganoff

Thursday: Cheddar Beef Enchiladas (new from Taste of home freezer pleasures cookbook)

Friday: Grilled hamburgers or steak

Saturday: Homemade Pizza

I've been working on making dishes ahead of time or doubling recipes. Like when we have spaghetti, make an extra batch or freeze it. We are getting a good inventory... I want to get enough in the freezer so that at least one day a week we can pull something out of the freezer. Today I made a big batch of Spaghetti sauce so that tomorrow night Mark can pull out enough for the night and I will freeze the rest.

If we like Thursday nights Cheddar Beef Enchiladas, the next time I make them, I will make 2 or 3 and freeze them.





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Skylar and the Squirrel

Our little Italian Greyhound Skylar is obsessed and I do mean OBSESSED with squirrels. They taunt her everyday.. they jump from branch to branch.. they come down the tree trunk and stare her down, daring her to come after them. All the while she sits at the back door and watches, perched to attack at any moment. She will run upstairs and jump on the bed and look at them in the tree, then speed back down the stairs and race to the back door and stare them down there. All the while shaking, literally quivering ready to pounce. She is quite the hunter. I know it's in her blood but she is just crazy when it comes to those squirrels! It is her daily obsessions and/or entertainment. She must burn a ton of calories just quivering as she watches those darn squirrels!

I am participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabe Thursday.

"S" is for Skylar and the Squirrel.

Alex Swimming at Grandma's hotel

Grandma came for Connor's birthday and Alex spent the night with her a couple of nights at the hotel. He loved the hotel swimming pool!  As most of you know Alex is a fish and would live in the water if her could..pretty much.

Here are some pictures Grandma Susie took.

Thank you Grandma for letting Alex stay with you. From what I heard you had a great slumber party.. enjoying the breakfast buffet, watching movies and eating popcorn, and of course swimming.

What's Cookin' this week at our house

Weekly Meal Plan

Sunday: Chicken Pot Pie

Monday: Tacos

Tuesday: Sloppy Joe's

Wednesday: Lasagne

Thursday: New! Chicken with mushrooms

Friday: Grilled Steak or Salmon

Saturday: Homemade Pizza

Boys being boys... in the snow!

Do you remember the Campbell sledding hill? Click HERE to see last Valentine's day sledding.

Well this year it's been moved to Grandpa's.

The boys found a "mound" of snow and have been goofing around and snowboarding on it.

Connor turns 13!!

Connor had a birthday last week.. A big birthday. Now he's a teenager!

Grandma came to spend his birthday with him. We went out for pizza, then back home to open presents and eat cake and ice cream. All in all I think he had a good birthday.

Grandma and the Boys at Big Bill's Pizza

Alex helping Connor open his gifts

Great Grandma Dot sent Connor these yummy chocolate oreo balls

How about that cake? Mark made it :)

What I learned this week...

I learned that...

I really am thankful for my short commute to work. I was in training the past 2 weeks in another part of town and it took me 3 times as long to get there and back. I was really glad to get back to my home location.

Being a working mom has it's share of sacrifices. Let me just put it out there that I am very thankful to have a job. There are a lot of people who would take my place in a heart beat. The boys had 2 snow days this week and I really would have liked to stay home with them and just hang out. Of course Mark probably would have been one of those people who would have traded places with me in a heart beat at the end of the two days... :)

I also learned that "teenagers" can surprise you..

I was driving Connor to school the other day. He was sitting in the back seat. As we neared the drop off he took his head phones out of his ears and said "Hey Mom, it's kind of a mess back here, lots of wrappers and stuff. I will clean it up after school." I glanced in the rear view mirror just to make sure my son hadn't been replaced by an alien of some sort  :)  How sweet it is to be surprised in such a nice way!

You can head over to Sittingonanoak for more of what people learned this week or to join in.

Ice Skating

The boys have rediscovered ice skating. We have skated a few times in the past but it had been awhile. We've gone several times in the past couple of weeks to a rink that is close to home.
They have a great time. I took a video that turned out pretty good but I can't seem to get it to post! Oh well, here are a few pictures...

Here comes Alex

The

The race is on!

Taking a breather!