Freezer Meals

In mid-2009, a group of friends and I started a group called Supper Swappers.  We make meals for each other, freeze them and then swap them.  We swap most of the year, with the exception of December and a summer month or two.
Little did we know at the time our successful our endeavor would be.  And how much we would come to LOVE our meals.  They've been a blessing to us in more ways than one.  I could go on and on about the benefits of having ready-made meals in the freezer, but I won't.  I simply want to introduce to you a new blog.  Judging by comments made by others at different times, our recipes are in demand.  So, here they are.  On a new blog.  For you to use at your convenience.

Check it out.
Central Supper Swappers

Leave us comments if you try something.  Or if you're interested in starting your own group, let me know.  It just takes two or three and you'll be on your way.  Our group has seen a few come and go over the years, but right now we have 13 actively participating.   And we're all looking forward to the our 4th year of swapping.  In honor of that, we'll start sharing our recipes with you.

Pictures of the week, Sept 16-Sept 22, 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Just a neat picture of the cows and the chickens sharing the same pasture.  

Monday, September 17, 2012

My brownie mix mess, previously blogged about.  The brownies are delicious and I've already had to refill my container a 2nd time.  Yes, we've made them at least 4 times in the last two weeks!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

I did 9 more jars of pizza sauce over the weekend.  After that, the canner, food mill, containers and jars went to the basement.  I think I'm done.  If not, I can bring them up as needed but I was ready to get them out of the kitchen.  

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Our "Praying Mantis Day", previously blogged about.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Grandpa Arlin was over for the day raking and baling stocks.  The children got to ride two at a time for 45 minutes each.  

There was a bit of excitement when the neighbor's field was on fire :(  Grandpa was prepared in case something like that would happen here--he had the 4-wheeler with a full water tank.  Everything is so dry, we need some rain.  

Friday, September 21, 2012

The boys playing chess together.  They each won one game.  Emmet wanted to play Mommy but Mommy doesn't really know the game.  We played anyway and I tried to mimic every move of Emmet's.  That worked for a while.  Then I let him win.  

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Our trip to Reiman Gardens, previously blogged about.  

Sunday the 23rd

Our Sundays have been busy.  In a good way, though.  First, it was Labor Day weekend and we were at Wesley Woods.  Next, it was Sunday School Kick Off and Ephraim's Bible presentation.  The next week it was Cadet's Camp out.  This Sunday, the 23rd, we were all together and able to visit Seth's Grandparents again.  Elizabeth was anxious to see Ephraim's new Bible.  

Elmer celebrated his 94th birthday this month.  A good reason to take a 4th generation picture.

(Ephraim is getting sooooo tall.  He's up to our shoulders already!)

We were able to escort Elmer & Elizabeth to lunch.  Ephraim pushed Grandpa while Eliza held his hand.

"I will come and proclaim your might acts, O Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.  Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.  Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation,your might to all who are to come."  Psalm 71: 16-18

Caps for Sale

One of our homeschool books is First Favorites by Veritas Press.  It is a workbook with comprehension questions and activities for many favorite typical First Grade books. We're only into our 2nd book and we've enjoyed it so far.  Our second book is Caps for Sale.  It is a cute book and I urge you to check it out.  We did the activities in the book and I came up this balancing act on my own.  We have plenty of caps.  No shortage in that department.  In fact, I groan every time Seth brings home a new one.  Needless to say, I'm stashing the new ones away to give away in our Operation Shoeboxes.

 Back to the book.  I grabbed 13 caps, like in the story, and had the children balance them.  THEY LOVED THIS!    They loved helping each other.  They loved the silliness of it.  It was fun!

Ephraim :)

Ephraim was helping Eliza with her stack of hats.

Anyway, that's just a snippet of what we did on Thursday.  It is enjoyable to take time and have fun while learning.

Double Coupon Day?!

Imagine my surprise when I saw that a local HyVee was going to double coupons for two days.   Only manufacturer coupons, only up to $1 and only 10 coupons.  I immediately got out my stash and started sorting and prioritizing.  It was obvious I would need to make two trips into the store ;p

Here's the run down:

Bacon $3.77-$.75-$.75 = $2.27.  

Chocolate chips 4@2.28=$9.12 minus $.75x4= $6.12/4 = $1.53/bag

Spaghetti (normally $2.49) price matched with Fareway for $1.69-$.55-$.55= $.59

Pringles on sale for $1.50-$.75-$.75= Free x 2 

Starbucks coffee regularly $8.98-$1.50-$1.00(match)=$6.48 (cheaper than HyVee brand)

KC BBQ sauce $1.58-$.50-$.50= $.58

Brown Sugar on sale $1.98-$.75-$.75= $.38 x 2

Cheerios on sale for $1.99x4= $7.96-$3.00(Fareway coupon)-$1.50(mfg coupons)-$1.00 match=$2.46/4= $.61/box

Soups were on sale buy 4 for $3, get one free.  $3-$.40-$.40=$2.20/5= $.44/can

Ziplock were 2 for $4.78- $1-$1= $2.78/2= $1.39 each

Deodorant was on sale for $2.99.  I had $2 off 2.  $2.99x2=$5.98-$2-$1(match)=$2.98/2= $1.49each

As I'm researching my receipt, I'm seeing that it is wrong :(  In fact, I should be owed $7. I tried to be diligent in watching my items be scanned, but there are a lot of distractions and it took two cashiers to do my order.  I didn't have too many additional items other than what I had coupons for.  

 I called Customer Service and to their credit, they said to come in sometime and they'd make it right.  Hopefully, it's that easy.  I'm seeing that my "matched" amounts were programmed in, but the actual coupon wasn't.  I'm missing my $2 off coupons and my $1.50 off coupons.  What a pain.  But wait, if I go back on Friday, I can take advantage of the offer again.  Hmmmm.   Better see what I have left for coupons.   

LEGOs, butterflies and plants

This trip was planned over the summer.  We wanted to go to Reiman Gardens in Ames to see the LEGO exhibits that are on display for a few months.  We found a Saturday that worked for my family (minus Seth) and Amber's family (minus Jim) and mom and dad.  The morning started out at Garret's flag football game and then we drove to Ames.  After lunch at McDonald's, we made our way to Reiman Gardens.   We had 27 exhibits to see and the children couldn't wait to get started.  

Our first exhibit and it was impressive!  This Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly has 37,481 pieces!  It was impressive and this was just our first exhibit.  

Standing in front of the rose.  Emmet was pulling a Mr. Wilson from Home Improvement fame (not showing his face).

Eden & Eliza behind the Lego mosaic.

Ephraim & Emmet behind the Lego mosaic.

I think the Hummingbird was one of my favorites.  All 31,565 pieces.  Very neat.

The lily pads, koi, frog & flower are all LEGOs.  From a distance, it really was hard to tell.  

Another favorite of mine.  In fact, we nearly walked passed it, not realizing it was LEGOs.

A 13,704 piece lawn mower.  

A garden worker with a hoe.

The germinating acorn was neat.

Oh, and then they had some unique birdhouses scattered about.   I took this picture and might try to replicate it.  A birdhouse from corn stalks.

The Green Dragonfly was was impressive, too.

The Mother Bison used 45,143 pieces and the calf has 16,229 pieces.  Here's Ephraim, Eden, Alyssa, Eliza, Garret & Emmet.

And adding in Grandpa & Grandma.

A giant gnome.  

Garret, Alyssa, Amber, Me, Eliza, Eden, Emmet & Ephraim back by the hummingbird.

And then we got a group shot of all of us.

A fox and . .  

a rabbit.

A 16,383 piece bumblebee.

Checking out a board with all the types of butterflies.  

We went inside the butterfly observatory for a bit.  There were a lot of them and they were friendly!

Thanks for the memories!  It was a great time spent with family.  The children are still talking about the cool exhibits.   

Praying Mantis

Our Thursday morning started out like any other.  Usually the children are outside playing by 8am for half hour or 45 minutes.  This particular morning I was outside with them hanging up clothes.  I hear Eden proclaim "Look at this big bug!  Guys, guys, guys come here!"  Of course, we all rush over.  And there, by the chicken coop is a real, live praying mantis.  The children were ecstatic!  Ephraim grabs his bug container (a repurposed detergent container) and we put the mantis in there for a bit.  Not long, though.  Just long enough for all of us to have a close look and take a few pictures.  After a brief lecture about how to treat this creature (with care and tenderness) we pick a tree to be its new home.  

The praying mantis on the tree.  

Eliza looking right at the mantis.  

Then Ephraim decided to climb the tree and watch the mantis climb up.

Oh, here he comes!  I love this picture.  Ephraim loves nature.  He loves exploring.  He is so careful with creatures.  

Then it is Emmet's turn to take a close look.  By now the mantis is above his head.

(I may be biased, but I just love this picture.  The wonder in his eyes.  Just taking it all in).

The mantis is close to the top of the picture.  

With that excitement over, we headed inside.  I decided to capitalize on their enthusiasm and went straight to the computer for some praying mantis activities.  I found a site with lots of printables to make a lapbook of info.  We focused on where mantises live, their predators, their bodies and their environments.  Seriously, they loved this spur-of-the-moment lesson and we had a great morning!

We learned there are over 2200 varieties of mantises and they live on every continent except Antarctica.  Hmmm, I wonder what our next impromptu lesson will be about?

Pictures of the week, Sept 9 to Sept 15, 2012

Sunday, September 9, 2012

It was a busy Sunday for us:  the beginning of Sunday School, Bible Presentation for Ephraim and then our nephew Mark's birthday party in the evening.


Monday, September 10, 2012
Happy 12th Birthday to Mark!  (The party was actually Sunday night).

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A look at the book we're doing for devotions after lunch and after supper.  We're taking a look at prayer in general and also specifically The Lord's Prayer.  Ephraim does a lot of the Bible reading for us from his new Bible.  

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

It was the first night for Cadets (our boys' group at church).  They were making croissant sandwiches and a few of us ladies agreed to help.  We made over 450 sandwiches in one hour!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Hamloaves . . . and lots of them.  This would be my Supper Swapper meal for September.  It actually wasn't that hard to put together since I didn't have to cook the meat first.  Hamloaf was on sale at Fareway and I used 2lbs per family.  Unfortunately, my hamloaf never made it to the freezer--it went directly to the oven for supper!  And it was yummy!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Our Saturday cinnamon roll tradition is still going strong.  We make them so often the children enjoy helping out and I enjoy seeing them already know what the process involves.  

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Girls just helpin' out!