Jun 2

May’s Tasty Treats

May brought a lot of tasty treats my way. Some I made, some I didn’t, and some were from my garden. May was a very tasty month indeed.

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To kick off the month I made some No Bake Cookies. These are great for lunches and snacks too.

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My family loves Chocolate Bundt Cake. I remembered to get a picture of the very last piece, before it was reduced to this…

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Nothing but crumbs.

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I made some Vanilla Cupcakes from scratch. The cake is sweet and soft.

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They turned out great. I sent a few in Thade’s lunch-box too.

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I made another batch of Homemade Donuts. I made a few of them with Powdered Sugar, they tasted just like funnel cakes.

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For Mother’s Day I decided to make myself a Pig Pickin’ Cake. It is a three layer cake, and it is one that I hadn’t made before.

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I was excited to use my “new” Cake plate too.

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The Pig Pickin’ Cake turned out great! I am going to make this again this Summer. It is cool, and super tasty.

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For a Summer surprise for the kiddos we made a little trip to DQ to stock the freezer. I should have bought more Dilly Bars though, they were a big hit with everybody.

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I made several batched of Rice Krispies Treats this month. These are great for after-school snacks and lunch-boxes too. My hubby likes them too, a batch doesn’t last too long around our house.

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I made lots of batches of chocolate chip cookies too. This batch was a combination of Milk Chocolate Chips, and Mini Chocolate Chips.

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For breakfast for dinner night I made Monkey Bread. It is an oldie but a goodie.

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The best take-out of the month was Ribs! The Zarda Ribs guy was set up at a local grocer, and we got two slabs. They are delicious. I have got to learn how to make Ribs.

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I made a few homemade Pizzas, and set up a buffet in the kitchen. The veggie one is still my favorite.

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I made a few batches of Homemade Breadsticks too. I love them, and Thade really loves them.

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These Chocolate Chip cookies were one of the best batches that I have made. I only used Mini Chocolate chips, and they turned out perfect.

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I picked Snow Peas twice from our garden. They are growing well.

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For a light dinner for me, I steamed the Snow Peas, then shocked them, and served them over a bed of rice. I added a little soy sauce too, it was amazingly good.

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I got one Raspberry before the birds did, and it was delicious. I love fresh raspberries.

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I also only got one tiny Strawberry before the dog got to it. Mia loves strawberries, she is an odd pup.

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The weather is already getting a little warm, so I made the boys some Pink Lemonade Popsicles. They really liked them, and it makes for a tasty cool treat.

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When it was Memorial Day, we had an indoor-a-q. I grilled Hot Dogs, made Hamburgers, and we had a Cherry Jell-O Cake for dessert. Jell-O Cake is one of our favorites.

We’ll see what happens in June. The kids have been helping me out in the kitchen.

Jun 1

June’s Monthly Menu

Hello Summer, and hello easy meals! I’ve got everyone home, and I can’t seem to stay out of the kitchen. I have a tasty dinner menu planned for June, and a lot of dirty dishes in my near future.

  • 6/1/2012: Nacho Bar
  • 6/2/2012: Bacon, Pancakes, and Fresh Fruit
  • 6/3/2012: Panko Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Cherry Pie
  • 6/4/2012: Spaghetti, Homemade Breadsticks, and Salad
  • 6/5/2012: Tostadas, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/6/2012: Chicken Burritos, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/7/2012: Chicken Chow Mien, Rice, Chow Mien Noodles, and Sugar Dumplings
  • 6/8/2012: Beef Burritos, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/9/2012: Muffins, Scrambled Eggs, Breakfast Ham, and Fresh Fruit
  • 6/10/2012: Chicken Noodles, Mashed Potatoes, and Homemade Bread
  • 6/11/2012: Panko Chicken Cutlets, Spaghetti, and Green Beans
  • 6/12/2012: Tacos, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/13/2012: Crispy Chicken Sandwiches and Chips
  • 6/14/2012: Chicken Burritos, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/15/2012: Nacho Bar
  • 6/16/2012: Bubble Bread, Bacon, Scrambled Eggs, and Fresh Fruit
  • 6/17/2012: Panko Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, and Chocolate Bundt Cake
  • 6/18/2012: Quesadillas, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/19/2012: Soft Tacos, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/20/2012: Hamburgers and Chips
  • 6/21/2012: Crispy Chicken Sandwiches, Pasta Salad, Chips, and Cherry Pie
  • 6/22/2012: Tacos, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/23/2012: Biscuit Sandwiches, Cinnamon Rolls, and Fresh Fruit
  • 6/24/2012: Beef Stew and Homemade Bread
  • 6/25/2012: Chicken Chow Mien, Rice, Chow Mien Noodles, and Sugar Dumplings
  • 6/26/2012: Tostadas, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/27/2012: Panko Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Corn
  • 6/28/2012: Chicken Burritos, Tortilla Chips, Homemade Salsa, and Cheese Dip
  • 6/29/2012: Nacho Bar
  • 6/30/2012: Pancakes, Bacon, and Scrambled Eggs

I hope to take a road-trip to Aldi and restock the pantry for Summer too. Better make some shopping lists and get to it.

May 31

We’ve Reached That Point

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Well, we hit that point of Summer break a little earlier than I had expected… You know that point, it’s the one where all the kiddos are bored and completely sick of one another… Oh yes, one week in, and we hit it. This is going to be one very long Summer.

May 30

Mother’s Day

I know this post is a little late. Like I’ve said before May was a blur, and I’m just now catching up.

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Thade made me a sweet card, a coupon book, and flowers too.

Dylan made an adorable card, and had a few flowers for me too. I love those boys.

Agnes sang “Happy Birthday” to me all day, which was really cute.

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The kids woke me up extra early with another gift. They got me the Hunger Games trilogy, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I love my little family.

May 29

Sneaky Summer Reading

After the school year was finished, and all of the required reading programs had ended, Thade was burned out… I want to keep him reading this Summer, but to keep him interested, I have to be a bit creative.

I have a few tips that have worked for me so far.

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I’ve started reading more… This is good for both of us. When he catches me reading, he has a million questions about what I’m reading, what characters are involved, how many more chapters I have, and so on. It usually peaks his interest, and he’ll go choose a book to read too. Right now he is reading through the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series at night, and I’m reading the Hunger Games.

I have stashed books all over the house. I have bins of books all over the living room, and shelves covered in their room. I’ve started a collection for Agnes too. I encourage him to take a minute and read a quick book to his siblings. He’ll pick a short one, but it doesn’t matter. His brother and sister love to listen, and seeing a cool big kid read encourages them to want to read too.

I also encourage him to read beyond his school grade… Thade is an advanced reader, and I’m really proud of him for his accomplishment. This also leads him to become bored easily when he is assigned something that he can breeze through. Last school year he would get in trouble with the librarian for trying to check out a book that was above his grade level. I say read what is required at school, and read what you love on you own free time. This rebellious attitude towards reading makes him want to read longer chapter books, and he keeps pushing himself to jump up another level in reading too.

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One of my favorites is to let him read all of the menus, junk mail, magazines, coupons, and fliers that come our way. He loves to properly enunciate the punctuation marks, and scream when it is in all caps. It is hilarious, but his enthusiasm is adorable. The local fliers are much more entertaining when you have an eight year old reading them to you. It sneaks in everyday reading and understanding too, and he thinks it is just fun.

Do you have any tips to help keep kids motivated with their Summer reading?