A Purposeful Summer

Good Wednesday morning!

The Gallery Pics are from my dinner last night. You might be able to tell I deviated from the original recipe and I baked the chicken instead of frying it. I do not like to fry. I'm not very good at it... it's a little stinky... it's a lot messy... and it's not very healthy. That being said, I LOVE eating fried food away from my house. It doesn't bother me a bit! You'll also notice I substituted mac and cheese for the caulitaters. I ran out of time... and energy.

But the carrots were sublime. I used last week's Honey Glazed Carrot recipe, and it was absolutely lovely. Also, if you put bananas beside the carrots on the plate, the honey glaze sticks to the bottom of the bananas and you get a whole "bananas foster" thing going. Very good.

I had said at one time I wanted to learn how to make a "reduction sauce" this year. It sounds so professional and chef"y" to me. I don't know if it counts or not, but when I was making the sauce to pour over the lemon chicken, I left the stove area for a minute or two, and when I came back there was significantly less sauce in the skillet than when I started. I've decided to declare it my first "reduction sauce" of the year.

That's a lot of cooking talk from a non-cooker, but as you all know, if I have a slow weekend picture-wise, you're going to be looking at a lot of photos of appliances, beagles and food products the next week. And I feel it is necessary to discuss it in great detail. Sorry. That is how I roll!

Wednesday Wisdom - Toy Story 3 will be hitting the theaters this summer. One of the most difficult parts of your children growing up is not having someone to take with you to see animated films. I LOVE animated films. I always have. And I especially love anything and everything Pixar Studios puts out there. Excellent movies. That being said, I also believe they could not have made a better choice for Buzz Lightyear's voice than Tim Allen. The pairing of Buzz and Woody would not have worked without the voices of Tim Allen and Tom Hanks. Of this, I am certain. So today, after that very lengthy explanation, I'll be sharing words of wisdom from the one and only Buzz Lightyear... better known as Tim Allen!

"Women now have choices. They can be married, not married, have a job, not have a job, be married with children, unmarried with children. Men have the same choice we've always had: work or prison."

"My mom said the only reason men are alive is for lawn care and vehicle maintenance." (I don't necessarily agree with this, but I did think it was funny.)

"Electricity can be dangerous. My nephew tried to stick a penny into a plug. Whoever said a penny doesn't go far didn't see him shoot across that floor. I told him he was grounded."

"Dad needs to show an incredible amount of respect and humor and friendship toward his mate so the kids understand their parents are sexy. They're fun. They do things together. They're best friends. Kids learn by example. If I respect Mom, they're going to respect Mom." (Not funny at all... but very, very true. I like this one!)

A Purposeful Summer

I love the word "purposeful." Sheila Keedy "gave" me this word when I was searching for an explanation as to why spending time with family was SO important to me... why I'm always looking for new, doable, age-appropriate ways to "be" with the people God has put in my life and my house... why I feel the need to share ideas with other mothers and get feedback from them. I was stumbling in my attempt to say what I felt, and she simply said, "You want your time with your family to be purposeful." YES! YES! That's it! I want it to be purposeful.

I don't want to wake up 18 years later and see that it all just slipped away... and slip away it will. Very quickly.

(Have you noticed my introduction paragraphs are HUGE today? I'll have to work on that... tomorrow.)

That being said, I'm going to share my Summer To-Do List with you today. Don't worry. I will NOT accomplish everything on this list. It is a "go-by," but having a "go-by" will help you accomplish a lot.

So far, my list looks like this:

Movies

Robin Hood - Mike, Austin and Josh
Prince of Persia - Mike, Austin and Josh
Toy Story 3 - Family
Letters to Juliet - Belinda and Roxie
A-Team - Mike, Austin and Josh

NOTE - Keep in mind, we will see some of these movies at the drive-in or at the $1 movie. We may not see them all. It is just a list of movies the kids said they were interested in watching.

Pizza and Pool - 5
Faulkner Family Game Night - 5
Faulkner Family Movie Night - 5
Tubing - 5
Fishing - 5
Bowling - 5 (www.kidsbowlfree.com)
Date Austin - 3
Date Josh - 3
Date Roxie - 3
Date Mikie - 8

NOTE - These are all activities we want to try to do this summer. On the actual list, I will mark an "X" each time we have dinner at the pool or go tubing. We may only tube three times this summer or go fishing two times, but it's a worthwhile goal.

After I put the things we want to do as a family (or a partial family), I then tell each child to list any friends they want to have over during the summer. In Roxie's case, it is usually a spend the night thing, but the guys can have anyone over they would like for dinner, X-Box, football, etc., etc. Once I have their lists, I'll tell them the beginning of each week to invite someone over on days we don't have anything planned.

Of course, our little beach trip is on the list, as well as Josh's work and football schedule and Austin's work schedule.

It gets a little trickier the older they get, but having the list helps you keep focused on what you really want to do this short, short summer... rest, relax, have fun and spend ENORMOUS amounts of time with your family and friends.

This is just a little something to get you started. Of course, your own list will be personalized for you and your family's interests. It will be more... Hmmm. What's the word? Oh, yes. Purposeful!

Have a wonderful Wednesday! Tomorrow's date is for you and your grad... some special one-on-one time before the big day arrives. I also have some really good Blog Linkage for you to read and enjoy. I just love Thursdays on A Simple Life! It's my favorite day.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda