This week will be a mixture of working double-time and taking time off, if that even makes sense. I want to “go to the trouble” to make some of our favorites since we’re on Thanksgiving break this week and not traveling. But I also want to have brainless meals so that I can relax while we have game days and movie nights. It’s the best of both worlds!

Just for fun, I thought it would be fun to share some of what we’re eating this week. As I’ve already shared, we’ll be feasting on Thanksgiving day with all the traditional food. Here’s a breakdown of my plans for that day.

The rest of the week, here’s some of the food we’re planning to eat:

• Soft Pretzels (I promised Asa I’d make these while he was home.)
• Stir-n-Pour Bread (Having this on hand is super convenient!)
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins (Perfect for a simple breakfast that smells like the holidays.)
• Quick Mix Pancakes (Because we all love these.)
• Creamy Chicken and Rice Casserole (We actually already devoured a huge pan of this.)
• Chili (Easy and perfect for this time of year.)
• Hamburgers and Homemade Fries and Sweet Potato Fries (No explanation needed. We all love this meal.)
• Triple batch of Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip (I already made this up so we can pull it out for quick meals of Nachos and Spicy Mac and Cheese.)
• Take and Bake Pizzas (Mom’s night off!)
• Spaghetti

I’ve got a fridge full of fruits and veggies to go with our meals:

• Green beans
• Peas
• Mixed greens and fresh spinach
• Raspberries
• Blackberries
• Applesauce
• Apples
• Clementines
• Oranges
• Bananas
• Red Pears
• Pineapple
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Cucumbers

We’ll also be enjoying Hot Cocoa, Coffee, and Homemade Apple Cider (recipe on the way!). What is it about sipping hot drinks this time of year? They taste good all the time, but they are extra good during the holiday season!

Need some Chocolate Whipped Cream for your coffee??

Are you making/eating any special food this week?

We interrupt our Getting Ahead for the Holidays series with a cat update, as well as a few other tidbits about my week.

Wiggams exhausts me. I still love her, but she’s on my naughty list right now. If you recall, she had her kittens last weekend. Her mama instinct did not kick in. It became a full time job to try to get her to stay with her kittens. We got down to only one sweet surviving little kitten. We fed the baby ourselves, worked to keep it warm, tried to teach Wiggams to be a mama. We thought she was getting it. There were some good moments. But little Lionel died this week too.

Good grief, I didn’t expect to get attached or be so sad over kittens. Nor did/do I have time or energy to be a mama cat. I made an appointment to get Wiggams spayed next week. I sure am thankful we got some sweet pictures of the kitten while he was healthy.

In happier news, Matt is finally as old as I am. I’ve got three months on him, so it’s always a fun day when he catches up to be my age again. Malachi had a blast making Lego displays for the birthday table. The tall red and yellow tower actually contained one of Matt’s gifts. Impressive, huh?

We had a huge birthday brunch of waffles, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and fruit with all six of us plus some of Asa’s friends from college. We enjoyed this one hour window of time we could coordinate all of our schedules to be together on Matt’s birthday. Fun!

Lastly, I have to share my current favorite book.

I very highly recommend The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom. I’m slowly reading through this for the second time, and being reminded once more to look at people through the eyes of Jesus. Here’s an excerpt from Amazon:

Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch watchmaker who became a heroine of the Resistance, a survivor of Hitler’s concentration camps, and one of the most remarkable evangelists of the twentieth century. In World War II she and her family risked their lives to help Jews and underground workers escape from the Nazis, and for their work they were tested in the infamous Nazi death camps. Only Corrie among her family survived to tell the story of how faith ultimately triumphs over evil.

This book is powerful, educational, and extremely faith building. It’s been a good read for me right now. I should probably read it every year until forever to help me keep life in perspective.

Read any good books lately?

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Hi!

I miss you. How are ya?

Me? Well – I’m wonderful, relishing in all the goodness of our weekend. Our company is wonderful. Graduation and all the celebrations were wonderful. I loved it all so much and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

However, I am so tired I can’t finish my…

(sentences)

Just ask my family. I’ve been saying the dumbest things ever since the graduation party ended yesterday. I’ve been giggling over pretty much nothing. And today I drove us across town to Malachi’s piano mini-recital only to realize that once we were inside the building – I had taken us all to the wrong retirement home. So just picture me completely brainless and loopy. That pretty much sums it up.

We’re eating leftovers, playing games (that I’m definitely not winning), and visiting with the four guests that are remaining after all the hubbub of the weekend. It is awesome and I love it!

I have pictures to share, so as soon as I find my words and a smidgen of energy, I’ll be back. Happy Gratituesday!

I was just talking to a friend of mine about this wonderful set of bowls (with lids!!). I was going on and on about how much I use them, how much I love them, and yes, about how I have two sets of them. #ilovepyrex

Now wouldn’t you know, I found them on sale for a great price at Amazon. So now I’m going on and on about them to you, letting you know how much I use them and love them. I won’t buy a third set because I do have my limits. But in case you need some – here they are!

Pyrex Smart Essentials 8-Piece Mixing Bowl Set W/Colored Lids – $15.99

It’s the lids, friends. The lids are what make these so awesome. The bowls themselves are great too. But the LIDS!!! Oh so very handy. #pyrexgeek

This post contains affiliate links.

It’s been almost humorous how difficult it’s been to get online while I’m out at church camp with my family! I’ve been too busy to write anyway, but shucks, I’ve missed hanging out here with you. :)

Would you believe the one other time I finally got internet access, my laptop started acting up? I almost cried, but that seemed silly. So I took a nap. I needed that more than anything. (I’m on a borrowed laptop right now. Internet is slow, but it’s working…at the moment. I’m typing quickly so as to hopefully not lose my chance to touch base with you.)

Matt and I have been helping in the kitchen this week, assisting the amazing head cook as we feed around 140 people three meals a day. It has been so much fun – and super exhausting too. I am shocked that so many of my muscles ache from standing all day, lifting heavy pans, and in general working harder physically than I have in a long time. I feel rather wimpy, but I hear I’m normal – at least when it comes to having achy back/legs/arms/feet/shoulders when cooking all day a camp. Kudos to those of you who do this type of work all the time. 

It’s possible that I’m also a little bit sore from playing a game of Ultimate Soccer with all the campers a few nights ago. I’m proud of my bruises, and I still officially stink at kicking a soccer ball – but it sure was a load of fun. I thought you might like to know that while I completely whiffed the ball (missed it entirely. twice. while everyone was watching), and wasn’t fast enough to get to the ball many times over (but who’s counting?), I actually scored a goal for my team. You may have heard me scream with excitement. I think my boys were proud…and very shocked. Heh.

Speaking of soccer, you know Matt must be dedicated to serving this week at camp since this meant he missed being able to watch the semi-final World Cup games. We did look up the game scores on our phones. Dude!! What happened to Brasil? 

Well, that is the end of my scattered thoughts for the evening. Yay for finding a working computer and an hour of online access – at the same time. Hopefully I’ll be able to check in with you over the weekend.

Now you tell me about what you’ve been up to this week. I may not be able to get to a computer much, but I can read your comments through the email on my phone. I’ll welcome the fun breaks to read about what you’ve been doing!

Don’t forget, Wednesday is the final day our Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve Curriculum is being offered at $15 off! You will love working through this with your kids. This curriculum is chuck full of great ideas for learning and serving together. Get more details about this great resource here.

The following coupon codes are valid through Wednesday, May 14. Hurry to grab this, and you’ll be well on your way to a great summer of learning and serving with your kids!

Downloadable Version
$45.00
$30.00
Use the coupon code SUMMER15

Printed Version
$68.00
$53.00
Use the coupon code SUMMERPRINT15
(price includes entire 183 page color printed kit and shipping costs) U.S. only.
Contact me if you’re interested in having a book shipped outside the U.S.!

 Visit Heavenly Homemaker’s Shop to find more great downloadable products to help you in your homemaking and parenting efforts.