Our Weekend and a Preview of the Week

Friday night I made chicken fajita nachos and a delicious corn/avocado dip for dinner. Yummy! I have made this dip twice and added some of the last of our home-grown tomatoes from the garden to the recipe. Basically, you open and drain a can of white corn, chop up a large avocado or two small ones, add 1/2 diced purple onion, chopped tomato, a little salt and pepper and the juice of one lime. The original recipe came from The Pioneer Woman. Most of her recipes are terrific and this one was as well. I hope there is still some for my lunch tomorrow. If not, I will have to make up a quick batch.

After dinner, we had a quick visit from Lauren, James and the babies. A time of talking and playing with the little ones and then they were back in the van for the drive home. Saturday, Lauren drove back up with Eli and two of her friends to meet Devin for some girl time. At home, I cooked a little for the freezer--several flavors of chicken strips, shredded chicken for quick fajitas, and chili. Did a ton of laundry, went through all the clothes in my closet and eliminated many...I am getting ruthless about clothing...If I haven't worn it in one season out it goes (unless I was pregnant, that is!). Now my closet is only half full and I do need to shop for a few new outfits. I love shopping for bargains, but have found that bargains don't necessarily mean that I have a nice wardrobe. I may have to spend more that a couple of bucks for a new top. Looking online yesterday, I found very little that I liked and what I liked was way out of my spending range. And have you noticed that the rugby shirts from the 70s and the ruffles from the early 80s are back? I have read that if you wore a style once, you shouldn't wear it when it comes back again. I don't think you'll see me in rugby, ruffles or flannel plaids or any combination of the three!!

Saturday was also our wedding anniversary.... 26 years!! Jeff could write a book on marriage to a difficult woman!! He is a very patient husband and I am so very thankful that God puts us together and has been the glue that has KEPT us together all these years. I look forward to the next 26 years. A couple of years ago, Jeff started planning a trip to New England for our 25th anniversary, but instead I was within 2-3 weeks of delivering our surprise baby, Caedmon!! What a great 25th anniversary gift he was!! Last night we enjoyed a great dinner at The Olive Garden (with Caedmon). We have eaten there several times and have never regretted our choice. I had the shrimp and chicken carbonara after filling up on breadsticks, salad, stuffed mushrooms and fried ravioli. I took a couple of bites of my carbonara and then had it boxed up to bring home. When we got home the children were watching the Netflix movie that had come in...Jimmy Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner. This is the movie that You've Got Mail was based on and it was good. Jeff and I watched the end with the children and then, after they were in the bed, watched the beginning.

Today we went to church, had lunch and came home to a nice, quiet rainy afternoon. I even got a short nap while some of the older children watched Caedmon. I caved in to Aaron's request for chili cheese tator tots for a Sunday night dinner. However, he was in the bed with a migraine due to something he ate at lunch and didn't feel up to eating!! Not sure that I will do this dinner again. He can just get some as a special treat from Sonic! Soggy tator tots are just not that appealing to me, but then crispy ones aren't either!! After dinner cleanup and baths, Kaelan and I played a game of Scrabble Apple then it was time for devotions and bed for the children.

This week we will continue with our Bible study, catechism, English from the Roots Up and math schedule, but we will be catching up on our reading of Carry On, Mr, Bowditch, The World of Columbus and Sons, and Martin Rattler. We also need to start a biography of Jim Elliott and catch up on our history , geography and individual reading and writing. We have a trip to town Tuesday afternoon, church Wednesday evening and our homeschool support group's fall cookout Friday night. I have been gathering door prizes for this event and have some great gifts. I can't wait to see who receives them. It's been almost as much fun as Christmas!!

Hope you all have a blessed week!