Monday Meanderings and Menu Plan Monday...Whew!

I can't believe that it has been over a week since I have posted here! I had all kinds of thoughts to post last week, but wasn't able to spend much time at the computer. Hopefully I'll do better this week!

We are going to be *out and about* much more this week than usual...and I'm really trying to (a) be diligent to get done what needs to be done during the time we *are* at home, and (b) have a good attitude about all the *running* we will be doing. :-) Other plans for the week:

Bible Study
I'm still working on the Bible Study on suffering...hopefully I'll get some more of my notes posted this week. (I think I said that a couple of weeks ago...*blush*) I also want to go back and refresh my memory on Jeremiah 29:4-14. I memorized this a few years ago, and I have decided I need a refresher on it.

Must Do
Our *out and about* must dos this week include a drs. appt., homeschool group school pictures, co-op (only two more weeks!), and a field trip to the Nature Center on Friday.

1. I need to decide what everyone is wearing for school pictures Thursday. This means sorting through fall clothes, as I have this thing about school pictures needing to look *fallish*. (*rolling eyes at self*)

2. Before I go to bed tonight I *must* get an email out with all the final details about our field trip Friday. My brain is not in *field trip email mode* at the moment, so that will be a challenge. :)

3. Speaking of field trips...Homeschool group newsletter articles are due Thursday, and I need to finalize some details on some upcoming activities and get my article in.

4. Upload photos...I seem to remember this being on my *last* list! I promise I *did* do it...we've just had a birthday party and some other *photo ops* since, and I've filled it up again. :)

I know there is more...but honestly, with the extra stuff we have going on this week, that is probably going to be plenty, when we add in the *usual stuff*...school, Wednesday church activities, house cleaning, laundry, and cooking.

Home Blessing
Two main priorities here this week...*more* work on the dining room/school room (there always seems to be more and I would *really* like to finish getting the wallpaper off the walls in here and start priming!), and cleaning out the playroom. (Maybe if I say it really quietly we won't really have to do it??) The playroom is a disaster area, and to make matters worse, some children I know went looking for who-knows-what and got into the out-of-season and hand-me-down clothes I had stored away in the bottom of the closet in there. Ugh. I just try to keep reminding myself of how nice it will be when it is done, and what a good opportunity this is to do a LOT of decluttering. (This would be a great time for me to get in on one of those de-cluttering challenges I've seen here and there on the Web where you weigh everything you get rid of...:-))

Train Them Up
We are still working on the character quality of obedience. I found a great post here on measuring obedience. We are incorporating this in our activities and discussions this week. We've been doing much better with first-time obedience, but now we really need to work on the *attitudes* behind it.

Potty Training...I just don't know. This child was telling her 6 year old sister the answers to her phonics lesson earlier today...but is no closer to being potty trained now than she was when we started. I'm wondering if she is going to be the only child I've ever heard of to be reading chapter books while still in diapers. *Sigh* We're going to do what we can this week, but being gone every day won't help. Hopefully next week we'll be home more and be able to *focus* on this again.

Menu Plan Monday


First things first. The *smiley queen* LOVES Laura's new smiley face MPM graphic! :-D (I'm lost without my smileys on Blogger...if there is some easy way I don't know about to get smileys for my blog...I'd love to hear about it in the comments!)

Now...menus for the week. I've been posting a week of meals, rather than assigning them to a certain day, but with this week's outside activities, I've tried to think ahead to what will work best when. We'll see how that goes. ;-)

Monday--Rotini with Chicken and Cream Sauce, green beans, and french bread
Tuesday--Tater Tot Casserole, Slaw, and Corn
Wednesday--Honey Mustard Chicken, Easy Cheesy Broccoli and Rice
Thursday--Breakfast for Supper
Friday--Grilled Chicken, Twice Baked Potatoes, Salad

For more menu ideas, check out Orgjunkie's Menu Plan Monday . Monday's Meanderings can be found at Less of Me~More of Him .