Friday Favorites: A Fabulous Week

 We had a fabulous week! 


Alec was feeling well enough to attempt school on Friday.  I made sure to drop him off so I could drop off Motrin and a medical form from our doctor in case he needed some added pain relief.  He had a wonderful day exploring plumbing.  They made one large E shaped configuration of pipes that they hooked up to water-- all 5 of his joints held up without a single leak! Then they worked on soldering some small copper pipes that they could bring home.  


I fully admit that I was not 100% on board with him going to school but I am just LOVING how excited he is every single day.  He talks the whole way home about everything he's learning and I am so impressed with each of the two projects they've been doing in all their shops so far.  

While Alec was at school the other boys and I tackled three subjects before meeting up with a few other homeschooling families for a hike.  It was so great to see our friends and meet a couple new families too.  We had perfect weather for a hike.  


We saw so many salamanders; I was starting to get afraid I would step on one!



My mother in law brought some pizza and french fries for us for lunch and met us at our house after we were done hiking.  

For dinner we cooked up burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob and a tray of raw veggies with ranch dip. 

Ian headed to work Saturday morning with his grandfather to help build a patio for some family members.  My husband and I headed to the hydroelectric dam to clean out the powerhouse.  

In the afternoon, Evan went for a ride in the Ranger with my husband while Alec and I worked on his math; we couldn't work on much since he reached the next testing level and they have to be done at school but he is just flying through the concepts!  If we're reading the program right (and we think we are!) he's more than 40% of the way through algebra 1 already (as of posting this he is more than 1/2 way done this year's math requirement).  


We offered dinner out before heading to BJ's for our bi-monthly grocery stock up & Alec was the only one to take us up on it.  We ate at Outback then went shopping at both BJ's and our regular grocery store.  

Once we got everything put away, I spent my night watching Love, Guaranteed.  It was a cute enough movie that I managed to stay awake until the ending!  


We had a lazy morning on Sunday!  Ian headed off to work with his grandfather but my husband and I laid in bed watching TV until 7:30.  I then made 2-ingredient bagels while he cooked up omelettes.  We also made a huge salad and cut up all the fruit for the week. 

After breakfast we all worked together to clean up the basement, clear off all the summer furniture from the patio, and stack wood in it's place.  

In the afternoon Alec made a raspberry flavored version of a dirt cake; just for fun!  While I made a chicken Parmesan casserole for dinner.  Ian and my husband headed out fishing and we had a later than normal dinner. 


We served our casserole with some pasta, sauce, and salad then all enjoyed Alec's dessert. It might not look like much but it is delicious!


I was supposed to have my pre-op appointment on Monday but they decided I could just "meet" over the phone which I was completely fine with.  I had been dreading that drive into the city.  I quickly ran Alec to school and got the other two boys started on their schoolwork before settling down with my notebook and phone call.

By the time I was done Ian was gone to work with his grandfather to build the patio they started this weekend.  Evan and I went hiking after lunch then picked up Alec after school.  




In Precision Machining Technology Alec made a dog tag with his name, school, and graduation year on it. 



For dinner we made Philly cheese steak sloppy joe sandwiches with french fries/butternut squash fries & salad.


Ian headed to work with my husband on Tuesday and with Alec off at school that just left Evan and I to do schoolwork.  It's amazing how fast we can blow through 4 or 5 subjects when it's just the two of us. 


 I pulled together a chicken, broccoli and rice casserole for dinner.  I also made a squash casserole to put in the freezer for later.  


We went for a nice long hour walk/hike through the local state park before lunch.  



Alec took the bus home for the first time.  He had studied Sustainable Architecture and they got to design their dream home.  He was telling me all about it and told me that for sure this will be one of his top three shops to try again (when this round of exploratory is over they pick their top three favorite shops to spend more time in).  

Sharing a quick picture of the backyard and library he picked to go in/around his house; they had to give architectural reasons for why they picked each photo they settled on for the different areas of their home.




Ian had driver's ed immediately following work so my husband took him and picked him up which made for an incredibly long day for them both for the next few weeks he'll be gone from the house from 6 am- 8:30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  

First thing Wednesday morning I put together our easy white chicken chili recipe in the crock pot making sure to use chicken breast meat so it's only 3 WW points per serving. I then dropped Alec off at school and headed home to start school with the other two. 

We cleaned the downstairs, cleared all the garden decorations out of the yard and by the time I knew it it was already time to pick up Alec again.  He had automotive technologies today and made a portion of a break line; they had to bend the ends of the pipe to make a type of flange and added the threading on for a screw.  



He made the decision to return to karate since his ribs weren't hurting.  He was told by everyone to take it easy but I don't really think he did.  Luckily he was only a tiny bit sore on the way home.  


Ian headed to work on Thursday with my husband and, after dropping Alec off at school, Evan and I did just a bit of schoolwork before meeting our friends at the Revive The Roots Farm for a cob oven pizza class.  We had toured this permaculture garden last year at this time (see this post) and had talked about going out to try cooking with their cob oven.  The class was fabulous and the pizza was amazing!! I'll have a full post up about our day this weekend but here is a sneak peek.






Alec came home from his day in carpentry showing off the 3-d wooden puzzle he had made. 


I made BLT sandwiches & salad for dinner but I was still so full from our pizzas that I skipped dinner.  After everyone was done eating my husband and I went grocery shopping since my mother in law had offered to bring and pick Ian up from driver's ed.  

It was a busy week but a good one! 

Linking Up With: On the Edge



Comments

  1. So happy for your Alec! Doesn't make you happy when your kids are happy? I think it is one of the greatest feelings...that movie sounds so cute...I think I will watch that tonight- thanks for sharing! Have a great weekend :)

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    1. I love when the kids are so happy because yes, it really does make me happy too!

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  2. Oh my gosh so much cool stuff!!! Very impressed with all that Alec has made. And how cool to have a pizza oven class. Matt wants to build a pizza oven in our back yard, and I am on board.

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    1. He has been really impressing me with all he's made! That pizza oven class was amazing and will go down as one of our favorites for sure. I'm pretty sure I could be totally on board with a pizza oven in my backyard!

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  3. Glad Alec was feeling better to get back to school. The weather looked PERFECT for the rest of you to be out hiking!!!!

    Sweet of your MIL to bring lunch.

    I haven’t seen that movie; I will check it out.

    Those casseroles look delicious!

    Your weeks looks like it was absolutely great! Have a good weekend!!

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    1. I was so relieved he bounced back so quickly! I had been warned it could take weeks for him to be back to normal.

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  4. Alec is soooo talented! Great hiking weather. I want a pizza oven. Have a super sweet weekend!

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    1. He really is! They are getting to make so many neat projects. That pizza oven was amazing... my son and I have not stopped talking about.

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  5. Glad Alec is doing better and it's really cool to see all of his projects!

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    1. I love that each of the classes tries to make sure he has something to take home to show us. It's been a fun way to feel included.

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  6. All the food looks delicious! It just gave me a cozy feeling seeing all that firewood too. Happy weekend!

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    1. I've been tempted to make a fire in the fireplace already! But we didn't stack nearly as much wood this year as we have in the past (since we have to cart much of it back across the yard the past two years) and I'm now afraid we'll run out if I use it! LOL.

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  7. Ahhh all the food pics look so good! Glad to hear Alec is better!!!!

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  8. Looks like you all had a fun hike and the all of that food looks and sounds so good. Have a happy Friday and weekend.

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  9. Joanne,
    Beautiful pictures of nature as always!! All that food looks so darn good too!!
    Thanks so much for dropping by and for taking the time to comment!!
    have a great weekend!!
    hugs,
    Debbie

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  10. I love that two-story library 'nook'! It sounds like your kids are having so many great experiences, especially Ian working with his grandfather and father. You have such a beautiful area to hike, your pictures have motivated me to get out this weekend!

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    1. I too loved that two story library! I would love to have something like that.

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  11. What busy but fun week. We haven't been hiking in a while!
    www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com

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    1. I'm trying to squeeze in as many hikes as I can before surgery.

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  12. All of your recipes from this week look sooo Good! Happy weekend!

    Patty
    Goodbetterbestfood.blogspot.com

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  13. I'm glad things are going well for you and with the school. And oh, your casseroles look fabulous!

    Thanks for checking out my new blogger post on Marmelade Gypsy. I'm frustrating about accessing old posts too. I have only figured out one way do access specific blog posts by previous years. (and you'd have to add the "archive" gadget to your layout) I have the archive gadget on my sidebar so I would go to "2013' and then all the months would come under that and I would click 'November" and then I could see a list of all the posts in November 2013. It's clunky but it works, it just takes more time. If you are looking by specific labels, you can do that at the top of the post page. Or often if I know what was in a post, I would google Marmelade Gypsy Paris or Christmas and the posts pop up in Google. I tried the search bar on the post page and got all sorts of weird stuff popping up that didn't seem to match the search term. I don't know that this would help, since it means adding the gadget which may affect the look of your blog unless you put it at the bottom, which is more inconspicuous.... but it's something.

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    1. I found that for quite a few weeks my search bar seemed useless but now it's back to working properly so I can find older posts as long as I know what posts I'm thinking of. I just know there are so many posts that I'm just never even going to remember I wrote so it will be hard to find them. I"m hoping Blogger continues to tweak (like they did their picture resizing!) as they get feedback from people.

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  14. Philly cheesesteak sloppy joes. I need that recipe. I love all your food photos. They make me hungry. Ha. I really hope our smoke clears here so we can get another hike in. I love how you guys always get outdoors. Have a great weekend!

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    1. The link for that will be on the blog tomorrow! I completely stole your "recipes we've been making" post idea and that is one of them.

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  15. looks like you have had a busy week. stay safe, enjoy your weekend and thankypu for visiting my blog this week.

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  16. What a marvelous school you found for Alec. We don't have anything like that around here. He is doing some amazing projects. I don't know how you maintain your weight with all of the lovely food your kids make.
    Blessings, Dawn

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    1. It really has been a phenomenal start to the school year for him. I hope it continues that way! I have a hard time maintaining my weight with all the foods the kids (and myself!) are always cooking up. If anything I have really learned eating in moderation this past year and a half using Weight Watchers.

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  17. It looks like you had a really fabulous week, for sure, Joanne! I am so happy to hear that Alec is thriving at school. You must be so proud! And now I really want a Philly cheesesteak anything! Thanks for joining my link party.

    Shelbee
    www.shelbeeontheedge.com

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    1. I am both proud and so relieved! I mean, I thought he'd do well, but it's a relief to know I was right. I'm pretty good with a philly cheesesteak anything too!

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