11*11*11

My boys getting ready to put flags on the graves of veterans.

Happy Veterans Day to All! Take time today (even though it is almost over) to think about the freedoms we enjoy, and those who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect them.

Why can't boys ever just take a nice picture?

Very fuzzy but they were looking for the marked graves to place the flags

What's for lunch?

My 9 year old is a sweet, quiet boy. He doesn't cause problems at school. And yet, he seems to be the one that always gets picked on!! Why is that?!

He came home from school one day and said, "Mom, people keep stealing things out of my lunch!" Apparently every time he looks away, he finds things missing.

But the final straw came the other day when he came home and told me, "Mom, someone took my lunch container, and kept shak ing it and putting it upside down!" I was so upset. Imagine if I was actually good at making Bento lunches. I would be pretty ticked off that all my hard work had been ruined by some little juvenile deliquent...I mean some young child at school who doesn't know better. He then added, "You know what else? They were GIRLS!" So I imagine that it was more to get his attention then anything. My husband's response to all this? "Quit making him such cool lunches."

My lunches are nowhere near as cool as the ones you can see over at What's For Lunch and I could only find one current picture...and it is from Halloween! Oh well, I will have to better this week (:

Even though Halloween is over, this is the lunch I made for them

Winner Winner

We have a winner (: I had planned to pick the winner at 6:00 but thanks to grumpy, stinky little boys, I had to wait until now. So without further ado...the winner of the free item coupons is

Anna Lory

Congratulations Anna. I am 99% sure I have your address but just in case will you send it to me?! Thanks dear.

For those who didn't win, don't worry. I have 3-4 giveaways coming up soon. So stay tuned and keep coming back for more!

garlic chicken puffs

Saturdays around our house are known as "Appetizer night".

This is also the day that I use up any leftovers.

The kids love being able to have a variety of items to choose from... mozzarella sticks, chicken nuggets, pigs in a blanket...

My husbands game also fell on Saturday night so I decided to make something yummy for him, while he watched.

I saw a post on Pintrest for these Garlic chicken puffs, and realized that I had written the recipe down before (:

Unfortunatley, they were gone before I even got a chance to snap a picture! So here is the direct link from Tidy Mom!

menu planning

I was in Wal Mart the other day, when I found this magnetic dry erase board.

I had an idea for it, and so far, it has been working pretty well.

It is now my menu planning calender.

5:00 is the bewitching hour at our house. My husband isn't home from work yet, kids are getting hungry, we are doing homework, and getting ready for any activities...it is just crazy.

So now when I meal plan, I do it by my calender. For example:

Mon & Tues are pretty quiet days around our house. We do have family night on Mondays but unless we are going somewhere, it is not a rush. So I will plan something more "time consuming" for dinner.

Wed & Thurs are very busy. We have evening activities and run around like crazy. My boys also get out of school early on Thursdays. They are just busy days and leave me tired. So on those days I use my crockpot, a freezer meal, or something rrrreally easy like soup & sandwiches, hot dogs...

Fridays are a total relax day. We are all kind of doing our own thing and so it is usually a pizza night, leftovers or kids pick their own.

Saturdays are...well whatever works.

Sundays we don't get home from church until 4:30 so I try to do a crock pot meal or a freezer meal. We are all starving by the time we get home & no one wants to wait very long!

So I have started using this board to plan my menu's. Ben & the kids check it every day to find out what we are having. Even though I don't follow it perfectly, it is nice to have it down. I can also use my previous ideas if I am having a hard time figuring out what to serve.

I told the kids (and my hubby, of course) that if they have any requests to write them down. Well one day as I was walking by, I found a lot of the things I had written down, replaced (in my kids handwriting) with McDonalds or Panda Express.

Everybody is a comedian (;

Review & giveaway

Aren't those cute? I love the snowflakes!

Ahhh the holidays. They are rapidly approaching.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. A beautiful place to live. With views of mountains, a river, tall pine trees and beautiful colors. Every season is represented in it's finest. Summers were spent in the warm sun. Fall was met with many colored leaves to be raked. Winter was cold with snow and chilly temperatures. Spring brought rain and later warm weather.

The perfect place to grow up. Sniff, sniff! I miss it!

Being military we have spent the holidays in Virginia, Guam and now California.

Doesn't Guam just scream winter/ Christmas?

We lived on Guam for 3 years and not one of those Christmas's rrrrreally felt like Christmas. We wore t-shirts & shorts, spent afternoons on the beach...I would start cranking up the A/C so that we would have to bundle up!

Whether you are in a tropical climate, or in an area with snow up to your roof tops, there are just certain things that remind me of the holidays. Baking, snow, Christmas trees...and yummy smells.

I am a big candle girl but they are not always safe to leave around with children.  That is where Renuzit Air Fresheners come in!

I was given two of their new holiday scents to try out. They are very easy to use, just simply peel the back off the gel disk, and slide it into the holiday holder.

I have been using the winter berry!

Every time I walk into the living room I get a whiff of the yummy smells (:

The generous people at Henkel have provided me with 3 free item coupons to share with my readers. So you can try it for yourself! So... how do you enter?

1. Leave a comment on this blog sharing what your favorite scent is (whether an air freshner, Scentsy, candle...whatever)

2. If you are not already a follower on Facebook, do it now and that includes an extra entry.

3. If you are not a follower of my blog, follow now for an extra entry.

****While I recieved the Renuzit air freshners to try out, all opinions are my own and I was not compensated for this review.****

girl in a whirl

The child who gets dragged EVERYWHERE!

Yep that is me. The girl in a whirl. Half the time I feel like my life is on fast forward. Things are crazy & busy and I just can't keep up.

While I love every single one of my children, and wouldn't give them away for anything,  the down side to having so many kids is keeping on top of all of their schedules, activities...

For example, activities that have requirements are killing me! 2 of my boys are in Cub Scouts and I am constantly trying to figure out (last minute of course) what can count for what." Hmmm, we went to the zoo one day, maybe that can work under such and such patch". Yeah. Let's not even mention the fact that half of their badges are in a ziploc bag just waiting to make it on to their shirts.

School work is another one. Making sure every day that all of the homework is done, reading logs filled out, all announcements have been looked at... I know that I am letting things fall through the cracks.

It is a good thing I love my car, because we are always in it!

So here is the thing, I know the answer to my problem. I need to get organized. I need to have a routine. The kids need to have a routine. It is putting it into practice every day. When I am tired. When I am grumpy. When I would rather be reading my book.

image taken from http://www.pintrest.com/

I totally need some help. Please all you organizing guru's, HELP ME!!