Circle the State with Song.....

Last Saturday, Lexi had her Circle the State with Song "select" choir performance. There are approximately 13 schools in the region that our district is in, and the music teachers from each school pick the students to participate in this "honor" choir program. The ages are from elementary to middle/junior high school. The youngest our school (maybe all the schools) picks is 4th grade and Lexi was in this choir last year also. I have put a heart around Lexi in each collage picture so you can locate her. (Remember all pictures can be clicked on to enlarge.)

This is the write up on this year's Conductor, Cristi Miller. The children already have the music and have practiced at their respective schools, but the morning of the performance they arrive at 8:00 a.m. to start practicing as the big group. The Conductor (and helpers) work with the group all day long, getting their performance ready for the 3:00 p.m. concert and it was a packed house. Lexi said she was wonderful and fun. (Click to enlarge if you would like to read about her.)
Here are the songs they sang. Nothing is as sweet as listening to young children singing. It was wonderful.

Here is a link to watch a video of The Duel. Alan was trying to hold the video at the back of the auditorium and was moving quite a bit, sorry. This was a light hearted, fun song they sang. When watching the video, the little girl on the right of Lexi is one of her friends and watch all of her expressions. Too cute!

Proud Mom and Dad after the concert.

Menu for Feb. 8 - 14 and Review from Last Week...

Be sure to visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for hundreds of other menu plans for the week. Our menu this week is:
Monday- Ultimate Chicken Fingers (new recipe), mashed potatoes, green beans
Tuesday- Velveeta Beef Enchilada Bake (new recipe), Mexican rice, chip/dip
Wednesday- Tuna Sandwiches and chips
Thursday- Taco Soup (defrosted from a previous meal in the freezer), cornbread
Friday- Slow Cooker Caramelized-Onion Pot Roast (new recipe), carrots, potatoes
Saturday - Leftovers (Roast Sandwiches?)
Sunday - ♥ Valentine's Day

Review of my new recipes from last week's menu:

Taco Casserole - What can I say but DELICIOUS! It might be one of my favorite recipes so far! I used what I had for a couple of ingredients. It asks for Bow Tie pasta and I used wide Egg Noodles and for 1 can of diced tomatoes I had diced tomatoes with garlic and onion. Lexi ate the noodles out of it.

Pizza Biscuit Bake - Lexi wanted to review this recipe for you and says it is DELICIOUS! She ate a HUGE bowl of it. I, on the other hand, thought it was just alright. We will keep it though, because Lexi loves it and I'm sure will ask for it again.

Hope you are enjoying your Monday.♥

Playing Basketball.....

Lexi is loving playing basketball again this year. It's a high energy game and she has high energy.....so a perfect fit! They don't play many games in the season and we have already had three cancelled due to weather. They will start making up the games later this month.
On Saturday Lexi will have a choir performance called Circle the State with Song, and I will show you pictures next week (probably Wednesday since Monday is Menu Day). Hope you all have a great weekend.♥

My Valentine Decorations.....

I thought I would share Valentine decorations around my home. First, how about a piece of cake while you are browsing. It is a funfetti cake mix with strawberry whip icing and sprinkles.....YUM!

These are our decorations in the living room and there are a few more from a previous post here.
This is in the hall on top of the small cabinet. I made the little Love box last year.

This is the best thing ever and Lexi absolutely LOVES it. I saw it on several blogs last year and we have adopted the tradition. We have a little metal mailbox for each of us. I didn't even decorate them. Each day I put a little treat (ex: gum, pencils, notes, candy, stickers, etc.) in Lexi's mailbox and about every other day in Alan's. Lexi also has some treats that she gets to put in my or her daddy's mailbox. She also writes little notes or makes hearts or anything else she can think of. She thinks it is so much fun to check for mail (the little flag gets raised if something is put in the box) and has a ball with surprising us, with things in our mailbox. We usually do this from Feb. 1st until Valentine's Day but the instant she saw these come out we had to start.

Hope you all enjoyed your cake and stop back by anytime.♥

Menu for Feb. 1 - 7 and Review from Last Week....

Be sure to visit I'm an Organizing Junkie for many more menu plans for the week. Here is our menu for this week: (Reminder blue names are linked to a recipe)

• Monday - Fishsticks, Kraft macaroni-and cheese, peas
• Tuesday - Taco Casserole (new recipe), cornbread
• Wednesday - Porcupine Meatballs, mashed potatoes, green beans
• Thursday - Zatarains Red Beans & Rice with kielbasa, biscuits
• Friday - Pizza Biscuit Bake (new recipe), salad
• Saturday - Leftovers /Clean out fridge
• Sunday - Leftovers /Clean out fridge

Next, the review of last week's new recipes:

Chicken Macaroni Casserole - Delicious, definitely a keeper. Easy to make and would be great if you have to take something for a Church dinner, family reunion, etc. I also froze two meals of this, and will let you know how it does when we thaw it, and use it for another meal.

Mini Shepherd Pies - YUM....we loved these and so did Lexi. I will tell you when Lexi likes my new recipes because she is a fairly picky eater. She is enjoying trying these new recipes though.

Salmon Rice Puff - YUCK - we definitely won't be having this again. We mixed in some mayonnaise just to get a portion down and threw away the rest.

Also, when we make recipes that are larger portions, I am starting to freeze portions so we can just take them out, thaw them and have a homemade meal. I saw the trick in a magazine to freeze things flat. The meal freezes and thaws faster and it takes up less space in your freezer. So, from my meal plan last week, I already have 5 frozen meals.

Hope you are all enjoying your Monday.♥

It is Snowing and Birds Gone Wild.....

Here are pictures from Southern Oklahoma after several hours of snow. There have not been many of the big, pretty flakes.....mainly small flakes. Most of the time it almost looked like it was drizzling. It started around 10:00 a.m. this morning and these were taken at about 2:00 p.m.
Also, the birds have gone wild on and around the feeder. It has been so much fun watching them. All of them trying for a spot on the feeder and about a dozen on the ground under the feeder.
A lot of this has been going on inside the house!
Also, on my post dated Thursday.....I actually posted it this morning. I did a draft yesterday and (instead of auto posting like I normally do) waited until this morning when I woke up to see if I was going to post snow pictures at the top. It wasn't doing anything at the time, so I just told it to publish post thinking it would show Friday, at about 5:00 a.m. It didn't, it posted on the draft time (which was yesterday). So, none of you actually missed the Thursday post because it wasn't there until this morning (something new to learn each day☺).

Hope you are enjoying your day. We are sure enjoying looking at the beautiful snow.♥

Etsy Love and a Mini Love Banner....

This post was actually posted on Friday morning about 5:00 a.m. Note: So far in my area we have only had rain. It didn't ice over this morning because it has been raining so hard. We do have a prediction of a small amount of snow later. Update: At about 10:00 a.m. it has started snowing. It is coming down fairly hard and is starting to cover everything.
I have to share with you some more wonderful blogs and Etsy shops. This beautiful, glittered paper mache bunny is from Get Your Martha On. She MAKES these beauties with chocolate molds and even put a tutorial on her blog. It is absolutely adorable and I just love it!

Next is this adorable vintage looking hanging card. This is from Carla at Cosmogirl's Emporium. It is cute, CUTE. She has just re-opened her Etsy shop and has adorable cuties in it. Go take a look. Also, for her grand opening she gave away a mini Love garland kit to each person that commented that day.

I made mine and hung it on the mantle. It is so ADORABLE! Thank you so much for that adorable give-away Carla!