My Monday Weekly Happenings 3.3.14

I seriously can't believe it is March already. But I am happy it is. So long February! Even though we still have snow, we got another dusting this weekend, it is closer to Spring! Closer to seeing green, flowers, and warmer temps. I can't wait to not have to bundle the kids up so much!

We had a very busy weekend. We usually go grocery shopping every 2 weeks or thereabouts. It was well over that so that was number one priority this weekend. I'm looking forward to getting back to making my smoothies for breakfast too.  We were busy working in the greenhouse and I also worked a lot in my craft room. Today, I have two sick little ones with the stomach bug though so looks like today will be mostly cleaning. Cuddling and relaxing as well, and I don't mind that at all.

On The Menu For This Week: I read about some of the recipes my friend uses for her weekly meal planning over at Addy Lou Creates from the Skinny Mom website. So I joined the Supper Club also to try out some new recipes. I love trying different recipes and it doesn't hurt to eat healthier too! I'm definitely not opposed to quick meals either. So we are going to have some a few times a week.

Monday - World's Best Skinny Lasagna and something light for the kids depending how they feel.
Tuesday -  Cheeseburgers and Tater Tots
Wednesday - Baked Potato Soup and Salad
Thursday -Leftovers
Friday - Homemade Pizza
Saturday - Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Sunday - Breakfast for Dinner

On The TV: The boys are watching Jake and The Neverland Pirates.

To Do List For This Week:
 Pricing garage sale items for the sale in a few weeks, purging some stuff to garage sale, general cleaning and laundry,

Sew.Stitch.Create. Projects for the Week: I got a ton of things done this weekend for my shop. Several orders done also. I didn't get many pictures though of what I've finished this weekend, so maybe I'll get a chance to do that today. I crochet mainly at night, so I have one order I'm finishing. Working on items to have and upcycled prop sale on my page. I have been working with some awesome photographers also, they have shared wonderful pictures of my products in use!! It seriously is so rewarding seeing my products in action. I also joined the Google+ world with my shop and am looking forward to learning about that more.

Here is one of the photos a photographer friend shared with me this weekend of my pearl tieback in action. Love it!! Photo By: Amanda Trebley Photography

Walker Farms Projects for the Week: Getting more seed started this week and transplanting plugs up. Getting more baby chicks.

The Weather:
Looking forward to warmer temps later in the week. I've seen the extended forecast has warmer temps too. Maybe this is the end of winter...or getting closer....fingers crossed!!

Pictures From The Phone:
We took the kids to the Family Fun Night at Ty's school on Friday.

Thanks for reading!
Stacy
 

-Fun In Wisconsin-

Last weekend we enjoyed a trip to Wisconsin with District 1 and 3 Farm Bureau Young Farmers. We had a great time! Scott and I have been a part of Jasper County Young Farmers since 2005 and the last District trip we went on was in 2006 to Ohio, so it was nice to go this year. There are 13 counties in these two districts together. I believe there were 51 of us on the charter bus to Wisconsin. These District trips are 3 day weekends and are nice to get away before everyone gets busy in the fields.

Our first stop was Harley Davidson. On this tour there was a lot of background information how this company got established. I'm not really into motorcycles, but the tour was neat to see all the different bikes starting back to 1903, and how they have changed. This company initially started in a shed!

Motorcycles from 1903-1947, a bike from each year. They all still run also. 

This motorcycle is #1.

300 and some motorcycles 

We then went to Miller Brewing Company.

Touring the bottling and packaging 

500,000 cases of beer at one time are

stored in the 200,00 sq. ft. warehouse. . They produce that much in one day. 

Chicago drinks 5 states worth of beer in one day- they get 40% of what is in the warehouse daily

The old caves where they stored the beer in barrels before they had refrigeration. 

That evening we ate at Branded Steer. It was excellent. I had a half rack of BBQ ribs, sweet potatoes, and a salad.

Saturday morning we started with breakfast at IHOP

We went to Reiman Publications were we watched a baking demonstration in the test kitchen. This test kitchen is one of the ones where they test recipes for the Taste of Home magazines!

We ate lunch at Sobelman's Pub and Grill. The food here was delicious as well!!

We then went to Sprecher Brewery I 'm a big root beer fan and this is now one of my favorites!! We bought some to bring back for the boys also.

Our sampling glasses we got to keep. 

Bottling and packaging 

The remainder of the afternoon we shopped downtown Cedarburg. This is a historic town with and old mill turned feed store, a winery, and several shops. I tried a Cookies and Cream mocha at one of the coffee shops, it was amazing! 

That evening we enjoyed dinner at Buca Di Beppo.

Sunday on our way back to Indiana we stopped at Mars Cheese Castle. They had fabulous fresh cheese bread. We purchased a loaf, some cheese curds, and cow cookies for the kids.

The Jelly Belly warehouse was next. Here, we rode in a train around the warehouse and learned about the production of jelly beans. They then had a Jelly Belly store where we can purchase the jelly beans and some other candies they make. We also could sample their different flavors.

We had lunch at the Brat Stop and finished our trip at Gurnee Mills with some shopping around the mall and Bass Pro.

It definitely was an enjoyable trip and we hope to go on the trips in the years to come. We were excited to get home and see the kids. We picked up Pizza King and had our cheese bread, Sprecher root beer, and pizza for dinner. The boys were excited for their Jelly Belly hats, jelly beans, and cow cookies we brought home to them. :)

My Monday Weekly Happenings 2.24.14

Well it's basically Tuesday now! We got home late last night and I didn't get much done other than unpacking. Wanted to enjoy time with the kids since being gone all weekend. This weekend (Friday- Sunday) we enjoyed a bus trip to Wisconsin with the Young Farmers group we are a part of. It was a District 1 and 3 trip, that included couples from 13 counties. The group goes every year in February or March, but we haven't been since 2006, so we were looking forward to going! It was a nice getaway before getting crazy busy in the greenhouse. We toured places like Miller Brewery, Harley Davidson Museum, and Sprecher Brewery to name a few. I will do a blog post later this week about our trip.

The Weather: Last week we had some wild weather with heavy snow, then a lot of rain and warmer temps, ice, then fog and snow again. Looks like this week we are in for some really cold temps again. I hear the polar vortex is coming around again. Lovely! I was just getting excited I could see the dead grass under all the snow. Even if it is brown.

On The TV: Nothing, the kids are all tucked in bed and I'm working in my craft room.

On The Menu For This Week:

Monday - Spaghetti and Meatballs
Tuesday - Beef Enchiladas
Wednesday - Biscuits and Gravy
Thursday - Chicken Breast and Pasta Salad
Friday - Ty's School Carnival
Saturday - Crockpot Broccoli and Cheese Soup
Sunday - Fiesta Omelets with Bacon

To Do List For The Week: baby shower planning, trip to the fabric store, working on orders, working in the greenhouses, market stuff, and the general house work and laundry.

Sew.Stitch.Create. Projects for the Week: Crochet and sew custom orders. Some of my favorite things to do :) Shipping prop beds out. Hope to come up with a new idea for a wood prop also to be built.

Some of my completed projects from last week:

Newborn baby girl set and owl hat

Super Hero snack bags

Walker Farms Projects for the Week: The new chicks will be arriving this week. Getting things started in the greenhouse, lettuces, spinach, green onions, etc.

Pictures From The Week:

Making a mess with her yogurt ha!

Old Mill turned Feed Store in Cedarburg, Wisconsin from our trip. Love old buildings!!

Thanks for reading!!
Stacy

Cheesy Ham Hashbrown Casserole

I love casseroles and this is one of my family's all time favorite meals. It's easy and you can just throw the ingredients together and walk away from while it's in the oven. We eat this often and it is a good go-to dish to take to family gatherings.

Casserole Ingredients Needed:

24 oz. hashbrowns - shredded or homestyle (we like shredded best)
16 oz diced ham
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
16 oz sour cream
1/4 cup onion
1 stick of butter melted
pepper to taste

Combine the above casserole ingredients together in a large bowl and mix well.

Transfer to a 9x13 casserole dish 

Topping Ingredients

2 cups cornflakes
1/2 stick of butter melted

I like mine extra crunchy so sometimes I tend to add more cornflakes

Mix the cornflakes and melted butter together, then add to the top of the casserole. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

So simple and easy. The best part is that there isn't a huge mess in the kitchen to get a tasty dinner!
Enjoy!!

My Monday Weekly Happenings 2.17.14

Another week of February over in a blink of an eye! This passed week I enjoyed traveling to Indianapolis to attend a blog workshop meeting. Hearing other talk about their blogs gives inspiration! The boys both had great times at their Valentine's parties at school.

The Weather: I think Mother Nature thinks we want more snow! Although we truly were due for a good cold winter, I think it's safe to say most are ready to say goodbye to this white stuff! We had a few inches of snow on Saturday evening and are getting more today. School let out early due to the 6-8 inches and strong winds we are expecting. It was a nice drive home! Our road drifts pretty bad and is basically drifted shut in spots in less than 2.5 hours of the snow storm. The temperatures are kind of all over the place for this week!

On My TV: Nothing right now. I have been watching the show The Lying Games on Netflix after the kids go to bed and I'm working on my crochet orders.

On The Menu For This Week:

Monday - Cheesy Ham Hashbrown Casserole
Tuesday - Crock Pot King Ranch Chicken
Wednesday - Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes
Thursday - Cheeseburgers and Pasta Salad
Friday - Eating out
Saturday - Eating out
Sunday - not sure yet.

To Do List For The Week: Working on playing catch up with getting laundry put away. I can always keep up with getting it washed pretty good, its the folding and putting away that easily gets put until later.

Sew.Stitch.Create. Projects For The Week: I need to make a fabric run for a burp cloth order. I love fabric runs!! Of course because I always find more that I went in just to get. I can get lost looking at fabric! Don't tell your husband you'll be in and out when he plans to wait in the car for you. I think an hour was too long :) He just laughed though, so its all good.

Here's some things I finished this week:

Hat with flower and matching fingerless gloves

Farm print bib and burp cloths


For this week, I hope to finish a colorful goat hat, make a newborn owl hat, and newborn diaper cover with matching hat. I am almost caught up on orders as well.

I recently put a few items in my ETSY shop, my husband has made me some wooden props, and they are doing well. Looking forward to adding more items as time allows to get things made.

Walker Farms Projects For The Week: Getting ready for new chicks, and start seeding early spring produce.


Pictures From This Week:

Today during the snow storm

 

The Farmer In Him

On Friday's L doesn't have preschool, so he spent the afternoon with my brother yesterday. They spent the majority of the time working on things in the shop. The plan was after I got off work and picked up T from school, we would be by to pick L up. Then swing by my in laws to pick up B on the way home.

Before we left the boys wanted to help do chores. That's perfectly fine with me! I want them to have every opportunity possible to help out. Plus it's calving season for my brother and parents herd, so they were excited to see the baby calves again. L is a true farm boy, and couldn't wait to "take the strings off the bales" as he would say with his slight twang in his voice. Every chance he can he wants to be helping and says "we have work to do."

We headed out to feed and water the cows and saw a new calf just born. We had missed the birth by probably only 5 -10 minutes. Growing up I remember it was always so exciting to see calves and foals be born. Especially with the horses, as they were up at the house during foaling time, my dad would wake us up first thing in the morning, "We had a filly this morning" or "We had a stud colt this morning" and we would hurry out to see and see what kind of coloring we got (we had paint horses). Or on occasion, even the middle of the night, a calf or foal was being born right then and we were able to watch. I hope my kids get to witness it sometime as well.

We needed to get the cow and calf into the barn, coming from work, heels aren't too helpful in the cow pasture in snow. So I grabbed a pair of my brother's bibs and boots and helped get the other cows and calves moved around to bring in this next one.

L was full of questions as always.

"What's that hanging from his belly?"
"That's the umbilical cord."
"What is a 'bilicord' for?"
"Well its how the baby gets food when its inside the cows belly."
"Oh, Ill have to tell Grandpa I saw that!"

"Why's the cow going that way?",  "What's that gate for?" "What's this, What's that?" So inquisitive he is!

He is truly our little farmer and so interested in everything. He is so willing to work and help out! He couldn't wait to give the cows each some slabs of hay. He would throw up a slab, it'd come back down, and he would keep trying until he got it into the pen.

"Why do the cows drink so much?" "Why do some have horns?"

At this time, we don't have any other animals at our house other than the chickens and our dog, so I love any extra agriculture experiences that they can get. L is definitely one that will take up any offers and I am so glad he does. I love seeing the little farmer in him!



Have a great day!
Stacy

Handmade Valentine's Giving

Valentine's Day is this Friday! (Ahh it seems like we just celebrated Christmas!) So, this means school parties and excitement for the kids!
This year I wanted to find some online printables for Valentine's cards. In previous years, we have bought the box ones from the store, but this year I wanted to do something different. The kids always enjoy helping and I can't pass up a time to be a little crafty.
I found a blog that had put together a post with 75 of the best Valentine's Day free printables. You can find it here. Another blog had a variety of printables for all seasons also. We used this one here. I showed the boys some options and let them decide, below is what they settled on.

T adding pencils to his maze card.

Supplies needed for L's candy planes

The finished planes for 10 preschoolers :)

Our finished products!

 So if you are still in need of Valentine's cards for your kids' school parties, try some online free printables. It's fun to have something a little different and a great opportunity to do some DIY as well!

Thanks for reading!
Stacy