What's Up Wednesday-- August Edition

It's just about the end of the month and time for another What's Up Wednesday post. 

Here is the list of questions if you'd like to join in:

Let's dive right in!

What We're Eating This Week:

We have so much leftover pizza from the party this weekend that we are eating lots of leftovers... for breakfast and lunch!

Dinner this week:
Monday:  Pesto Pasta with salad

Tuesday: Grilled Shrimp with grilled zucchini over rice

Wednesday: Crock pot turkey breast with couscous and whatever veggies I can find in the freezer.

Thursday: Tacos and taco salad

Friday: Pecan crusted chicken with roasted broccoli and potatoes.

Saturday:  Grilled ham steak, corn on the cob, and egg noodles

Sunday:  Cook out with company:  Steaks, chicken, pasta salad, salad, fruit salad, strawberry trifle cake, s'mores, etc... 

What I'm Reminiscing About:  We had lots of friends posting family vacation photos on Facebook this month and so many reminded me of trips my husband and I used to take to Maine and New Hampshire when the kids were really little.  Then I just started thinking about all of our family vacations... we've had so many good times!

Ian at Storyland in NH-- one year old

Ian in York, ME at the Animal park; just a few months old 

What I'm Loving: Fresh, homemade ice cream!  We got an ice cream maker for the stand mixer and have had a great time mixing up homemade ice cream... sweet cream and M&M, fresh peach ice cream, vanilla/ bing cherry, coffee & Dark chocolate chip, coffee/Oreo, Mint Heath, etc.   So far my favorites are the coffee/dark chocolate chip, and the mint/Heath flavors.

What We've Been Up To: We celebrated Evan's birthday party a whole month early.  He wanted to have his friends over for a swimming party and since I really wasn't sure when we'd get around to planning his party with our busy schedule I offered to throw him a very early birthday.  We went with a shark theme and he had a lot of fun (more on the actual details of the part will be coming soon!).

What I'm Dreading: Missing my sister and her family!  My older sister is the best and while we may have fought like crazy as kids we have become the best of friends in adulthood.  She convinced me to give homeschooling a try over 6 years ago and together we have explored much of our state, often getting together as frequently as once a week.  But her and her family have wanted to move out of New England for years and finally had an unbeatable opportunity to do so.  They moved this week and are now just under 800 miles away and I just know I am going to miss them like crazy but I wish them all the best.

What I'm Working On: Planning out our new school year.  I gave up on actually planning lessons and writing out our school year many many years ago after each attempt failed but I do still like to have an idea of what our days will look like when we finally do head back to school.  I am pouring over our books, talking with friends about putting together some trips and activities, and looking for lots of fun hands- on ideas to sprinkle into our days.  We won't officially start school until October and hopefully we'll finish up our books by the end of May but only time will tell..


What I'm Excited About: Fall! Living in New England fall is one of my very favorite seasons.  While I am always sad to see summer ending I do love the cooler temps that fall often brings and nothing can beat all the beautiful colors of the leaves everywhere... though I'm not sure I'm ready for it to be fall just yet... a few more weeks and I'm sure I'll be ready.

Taken last October right off the back deck

What I'm Watching/ Reading:  I read another 8 or so books this month and my favorites were Salt to the Sea and Silver Girl.  You can read about them and my other books in this post.

I watched both seasons of This is Us and began re-watching the first two seasons of Life in Pieces with my husband. We also watched the new season of Shameless and have been keeping up to date on America's Got Talent.  I also had to watch the Netflix Premiere of To All the Boys I've Loved Before since I read that adorable YA trilogy earlier in the year.

What I'm Listening To: Pandora!  We finished up both our books on CD from last month and usually we take a small break in between to just listen to music and sing along to the radio.  Whenever it works we prefer to hook up my phone and listen to a few Pandora stations we've compiled.

What I'm Wearing:  Our weather has been all over the place so I'm wearing t-shirts and shorts some days and yoga pants with long sleeves on others... one thing that remains the same is my flip flops! I will wear them right up until the first snowfall of the year.

What I'm Doing this Weekend:  Labor day weekend we have some friends coming over... my husband and I made friends with this couple in college.  Us girls were in each other's wedding and we used to go on vacation with this couple long before any of us had kids.  We have made a real effort to try and get together at least once a year.  We all wish it was more often but with 7 kids and more than an hours commute between us it's not always easy to co-ordinate schedules!  We have the best time together though and we are able to pick right up as if no time has passed.  It was starting to look like it was never going to come together for us this year when we finally settled on this coming Sunday so rain or shine we are hosting a cook "out!"

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: Our family vacation to Niagara Falls!  I can't wait to see the boys' faces and we have so many fun things planned for when we're there.  I just hope we have nice weather for all the outdoor activities we have planned and that the house we've rented is as nice and clean in person as the pictures; anyone else worry about things like beg bugs or if the neighborhood will be safe while travelling??

What Else is New: Nothing much.  All the local school kids headed back to school this week so the boys and I are enjoying lots of time at the parks, beaches, and museums.  It seems like every September homeschool groups everywhere are putting together field trips and days out and we just love it!

Linking Up With: