Friday Faves

Happy Friday!  I'm ready for the weekend with some fun plans in the works and Thanksgiving break on my mind.  We had a busy week - school, work, meetings, cooking lots, seeing friends, tennis for Olive, gave the boys haircuts, saving all the elf on the shelf ideas, ordered some Christmas jammies and making some lists for the holidays.

The best parts of my week were:

1. Samples at Sams

We LOVE going to Sams on Saturdays, trying the samples and stocking up on groceries for the week.  The holiday samples have been so yummy.  One week we got ot try all the holiday desserts and the next we got to try Thanksgiving dinner samples.  Yum yum yum.

The tuxedo cake was a family favorite.

2. SO proud of Fletcher!  This guy switched schools this year and is doing so well!!  He's setting goals, working hard, making great grades and making friends.  It's so fun to see him thriving and bumping into him at school every day.  My class thinks he's the coolest and he loves helping out in my room before school starts.

3. Stay tuned for a little mudroom update.  We don't have a coat closet so we are making our mudroom a little extra functional now that it's coat season.

4. Thanksgiving crafts at school are my favorite!  Look at these cute pumpkin pie slices.

5. Sunrise!  I'm loving seeing the sun in the morning and not leaving home in the dark.  We have had a drastic drop in temps and some really pretty sunrises this week.

6. Mr Mittens.  He's loving cozy blanket season.  I have been reading some interesting things about tuxedo cats.  It turns out that they love the spotlight and are never far from you.  It seems to be true so far.  Mr. Mittens is interested in everything we do.

7. Packing lunches.  The kids are loving these lunch ingredients.

Hope you have a great weekend!  I'll see you back here next week :)

Fall Break Wisconsin Favorites

I'm finally getting around to recapping our Fall Break favorites from our trip to Wisconsin.  Kevin surprised us with fun plans and a really great room.  It was a lot of work to leave right after work on a Friday, but we did it and we were so thankful to have a full week off of school.

We pulled into the resort at 12:30am and were so excited to wake up to this view!  It was chilly and the fall colors were beautiful.  We spent a lot of time on this pretty patio.

There were pumpkins and mums everywhere!

Kevin upgraded our room reservation an we were all impressed with this beautiful spot!

One of my my very favorite things to do is to grab local cheeses and make cheese boards for us to enjoy in our room.  We grabbed Bucky Badger cheese from Walmart and loved it.  I could eat this meal all day every day.  We even brought home cheese from Wisconsin this time.

We would 10/10 recommend this Wisconsin cheese.

The Fall leaves were so pretty!

Kevin found some new things for us to enjoy in Baraboo, WI.  We love to go to Ski Hi apple orchard there and he was determined to find us some new favorite spots.  Mission accomplished.  The town square is darling.  Head to the used book store, the boutiques and antique shops.  The town is the home of the original Ringling Bros circus so everything is circus themed.  It's quirky and cute.  We loved it!

The Village Booksmith was a dreamy bookstore.  The kid's section was huge and the books were really affordable.  We all came home with treasures.

We did arts and crafts together.  The kids made ornaments and fun things.

We had the best day at Devil's Lake state park.  It's beautiful all year round.  A quick hike on a new trail was a great way to spend the day.

One big breakfast at Camp Social with cheesey potato casserole that I dream of.

Kid's Club is always a good time.

We enjoyed some shopping.  It was CHILLY and I loved it.

The big kids did the ropes course and I watched Leo climb all over this fun maze.

We're counting down the days until our next trip to Wisconsin!

Birthday Weekend

My birthday was on Saturday and we spent the weekend doing all of my favorite things.  I was treated to all of my favorite things at work on Friday, saw my favorite people, we shopped and ate my favorite foods.  You couldn't ask for a better birthday!

We couldn't wait to eat this yummy tuxedo cake from Sams.  We sampled it a few weeks ago and decided we had to come back and get one for my birthday.

Birthday dinner at my parent's house.  Adult table with a delicious meal by mom.

Kid's table.

My birthday is the 16th and my BIL's birthday is the 17th.  My sister made this cake and we also had cheesecake and s'mores.  No one left hungry.

My dad has been working hard to build a fire pit at their house.  This was the first time we got to use it.

Kevin got me a beautiful Fall bouquet!  My very favorite kind - tons of variety and colors.

Birthday paper goods are always my favorite to put together.

My assistant surprised me with my favorite drink and I got treats all day from people at school.  Some teacher friends had lunch delivered for us, another made my favorite dessert cheesecake for our whole team and the kids were cute with surprises all day.

Leo wanted to help me open gifts.

We met friends at the playground.  Our friends brought doughnuts, fancy coffee drinks and good conversation.  It was so much fun!

Jacque is the best!

We headed to Sams to do our usual Saturday shopping because everyone still needs to eat.  We bumped into school friends and grabbed all our favorite foods.  The samples were flowing, we grabbed soft pretzels for lunch and it was just fun to be together.

I got lots done around the house, finished some projects like a closet overhaul, had fun with my family and the weather was perfect.  It was a great birthday weekend!

Burger Bowls

I made burger sliders for dinner Sunday night and I couldn't wait to eat the leftovers for burger bowl lunches.  I love the fresh sliders you can buy from Sams for under $15.  They easily serve one big dinner and several lunches.  They aren't cheap, but they are SO much cheaper than going out with your whole family for burgers.

For dinner, I gave the options of a Hawaiian roll bun or a small tortilla shell or plain.  We all picked a different way to enjoy our sliders.  It was my favorite meal of the week and it brought me so much joy to have it for lunches 3 days this week.

Burger Bowl must haves:

2 slider patties cut into bite sized pieces

sharp cheddar cheese

bacon

dill pickles

lettuce

purple onion

tomatoes

sliced up tortilla shell

ketchup, mustard & fry sauce

*grilled onions & A1 were also family favorite toppings

I love fixing a big dinner and having leftovers to enjoy at lunch all week long.

Would your family enjoy these burger bowls?

Quality Time 5 Different Ways

I have been working hard to spend quality time with every member of my family.  

This was easier when I was a stay at home mom.  I had much more free time to devote to taking care of everyone.  Now that I'm teaching full time it is trickier.  I have to be very intentional to notice what is important to each person in my family and then make it a priority to make them feel loved and special when we are together.  That means doing things when I'm tired.  Making after work to do lists and packing my weekend with quality time opportunities.  Not getting as much sleep as I should and asking for help when I need it.

Here are a few examples of quality time with my crew:

1. Bedtime chats and snuggles

2. Stocking the pantry with their favorite foods

3. Quality time together running errands - sometimes my errands and sometimes theirs

4. Errands to pick up favorite treats

5. Snuggles while we watch their favorite show

6. Having mom nearby

7. Fixing their favorite meals

8. Date nights

9. Keeping up with laundry so they have all the clothing options

10. Reading a book together

11. Paying attention to the Amazon links they send me and their shopping needs

12. Keeping close tabs on their school calendars to make sure we don't miss anything

13. Helping organize their bedrooms

14. Picking out their clothes for the week so that there is no thought required each morning

15. Helping out in my classroom

16. Strolling around the mall

17. One on one time with me

18. Bike rides

19. Cooking together

20. Saying YES to spontaneous requests - sleep overs, play dates, outings and plans.

It has been a fun challenge to figure out what each person in my family loves and needs in this season of having two busy working parents and kids ages 11, 8 and 4.  I challenge you to do the same!