Our boys LOVE to play football every year.  They look forward to the following year the day after the season ends of the current year. 

This year is the first year that Dane is old enough to play after tagging along to games for a couple years.  He was ECSTATIC!  (that’s him in the brown with his best buddy) – LAST year…

 
We have our boys play football because:
- It teaches them Sportsmanship, Honoring Authority, Teamwork, & Skills
-It keeps them Active & Physically Fit
-They Enjoy it!
-They get to Interact with other kids outside of our church and their little private school
-It Builds Self Esteem
-I Enjoy that Time with the other moms and families

But this year they are not playing…  This was such a HARD decision for us… and honestly I couldn’t even blog about it until now because I was still just sad about the whole thing.  They got all their equipment, they went to ONE practice and that was it.  WHY?

When we signed-up we specifically asked what day the games were on (you see last year they did some Sat. and some Sunday)  Their answer was mostly Sat. a couple Sunday.  Great!  (we much prefer Sat. but could handle a couple on Sunday)  Well… turns out they changed ALL the games to Sunday’s.  Sunday at our house is church day and family day.  We have Bible Study and Youth Group at our house in the evenings on Sunday’s.  They also had our boys (we had 3 playing this year) playing at the SAME time on DIFFERENT fields in DIFFERENT towns – on SUNDAYS.  So logistically it just wasn’t going to work out.  AND… we strongly believe that Sunday should not be filled with extra-curricular sports. 

It was a very HARD decision, and it was SAD… but we as a family decided to DROP-OUT of football…  We mourned and moped.. but…

Now that it is said and done – I think we are all glad we made the decision.  We now have our afternoons from 5:15 – 7:45 free (normal practice time) AND we aren’t rushing around on Sunday.  (Or Sat. for that matter)  Practice started mid-July so it was almost like we were able to reclaim the remainder of our summer.

We did take the boys to watch their friends play last Sunday.  Our kids had fun serving as water boys, eating concession stand food, and just hanging out.  In the long run, the decision was RIGHT for our family. 

How about you?  Does your town have kids sports on Sunday?

C-

I periodically like to pick some of my favorite Etsy items and post them.  Why?  1.  Because I love supporting other Work at Home Moms (not that I know that all these sellers are “moms”.. but you know what I mean.  2. I am just plain addicted to Etsy – what can I say! 

So here are my picks this week!

Handmade Wood Shelf with Vase Key Hooks

If you’ve visited my www.themenumom.com blog then you should know why I love this…   I adore that color!  I would totally buy this if I had somewhere to put it…But I don’t… so perhaps it will go live with one of you!

Here’s what’s happening in our community this week:

Family Lunch List:
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/34470/family-lunch-list.html

Sam’s Club, Costco or Neither:
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/45886/sams-club,-costco-or-neither.html

Mama Bargains & Zulily:
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/45906/mama-bargains–zulilly.html

Egg Molds?: http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/44970/egg-molds.html

How Often Do You Have Dessert?:
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/44345/how-often-do-you-have-dessert.html

Hop in and join us!

Christine Steendahl
“The Menu Mom”

I just posted a review and opportunity to win an Easy Lunch Box from www.easylunchboxes.com  These are extremely affordable and really nice!
Here’s how you can win one:  http://www.themenumom.com/back-to-school-lunch-box-review-give-away

Christine

I’ve been out of the office a lot lately…  We’ve been busy doing things like:

Riding on rides at Indiana Beach

  
Riding in Horse Drawn Carriages @ Rockome Gardens

and

 
Playing at the Skate Park

To name just a few…

This blog has been neglected a bit (it should pick up again soon), but in the summer it is of upmost  importance to me to spend LOTS of quality time with the kiddo’s.  I am so sad that school is starting back up 2 weeks from today.  I wish summer could just go on ‘n’ on ‘n’ on…  Yet it seems summer just flies by faster and faster each year. 

I am hoping that you are having an enjoyable last few weeks of summer as well, and I promise… I’ll see you more very soon!

In the meantime, I’m off to cuddle my pumpkins.

Christine

It’s time for our Blog Frog Community Round-Up!

Here’s what’s happening this week in our community
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum
Won’t you join us?

Do You Can?
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/43033/do-you- can.html

Christmas in July – Gift for You
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/42700/christmas-in-july—gift-for-you—only-until-july-31.html

Spaghetti Sauce Recipes
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/42499/spaghetti-sauce-recipes.html

What’s for Dinner
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/26247/whats-for-dinner-.html

Low Tax / Tax Free Back to School Shopping
http://www.theblogfrog.com/581761/forum/43031/low-tax—tax-free-back-to-school-shopping.html

Christine Steendahl
“The Menu Mom”

With it being the end of July, we thought it would be fun to celebrate with some Christmas in July! Therefore, I have put together a special gift for you – our Christmas Made Easy Guide, To-Do List, Christmas Menu & Shopping List. (Yes, I know Christmas is five months away… ) However, we sell this program for $14.95 at Christmas time, so why not grab it now – FREE? Just save it on your computer (the files will only be active until July 31^st) and then you will have it come December. Here are the files:
http://www.menuplanningcentral.com/xmasjulygift.html

You’ll also find a special surprise offer here as well:
http://www.menuplanningcentral.com/halfoff.html

Hint: Back to school is just around the corner – it’s time to get organized in the kitchen, and this will help – BIG TIME!

Enjoy!
Christine Steendahl
“The Menu Mom”

We took a few days off – totally unplugged… okay, I had my cell phone and checked email once a day… but I didn’t respond to anything unless it was uber important (which was like 2)…  We went to family camp – I kind of went kicking and draggin my feet – you see the kids would miss their first few days of football practice, they would miss their swim team party, it is a lot of work to pack up, Matt’s parents would be leaving earlier if we went… so many things on our plate, so many EXCUSES…  Funny how life gets in the way sometimes.  But we went…  And now I’m glad we did – we needed time away to recharge, worship as a family (It was church family camp – and since Matt is a pastor, he doesn’t get to just sit back and worship and listen to teaching very often), let our kids meet new friends, and just have an all out relaxing time. It was good.  (well minus the walk-in clinic visit I had to make for a allergic reaction rash I ended up with… but that’s okay – I got medicine and all is good)

Now we’re back to reality – the phone hasn’t stopped ringing, there are piles of laundry everywhere, mail covers my kitchen counter, I have 1023 unread emails to attend to (after I have already waded through many) the kids rushed off to guitar lessons and football practice, and the evening brought stress as they announced that all football games have been moved to Sunday instead of Saturday – which is not really okay with us…   (but that is probably a whole other blog post.) 

But life is good…  

Christine

P.S.  Yes, if you are a Dine Without Whine Member, I know my assistant accidentally sent out the same menu as last week today.  I emailed her tonight, and hopefully she will be able to send out a new one very soon!  So sorry about that! 

How is everyone?  My in-laws are visiting for the next couple weeks – they arrived on Saturday.  We are having a nice time together.  Matt has taken a few days off work to get some projects done around the house and on his car and our camper. 

The boys had their last two swim meets Monday and Tuesday.  I was sooo proud of them!  They really showed a lot of improvement the last couple meets.  We now have 3 whole days off from any sports involvement before football starts!  What a nice break huh?

We actually won’t be attending the first week of football practice though because we’ll be at family camp (which I have considered not attending for many reasons, but that’s a whole other story)…

We went swimming with friends today and all out enjoyed the HOT weather we are having.  We also came home with two new kittens.  They are so friendly and happy, but our other kitty seems to have disappeared (after spotting the new ones overtaking her outside house).  Hopefully she will be back soon and learn to share her territory with the babies. 

Tonight my mother-in-law and I went shopping for a bit.  Walgreens has some good back-to-school deals this week (did I just say that… “Back to school”???  Can’t believe it is time to think about that!  WOW!

Tomorrow (or I guess today – it is already 1 a.m.) we are heading off to our county fair for some good old fashioned summer fun.  If we get there before noon it is only $5 for our entire car load!  HMMMM wonder if we can fit all 8 of us into our big ol’ Suburban!  (It’s designed to hold 7)…  We told the kids no rides since we just did rides at Indiana Beach when my parents were here, but grandpa told them he is paying for rides… so we’ll see…  It is supposed to be extra HOT with the heat index possible over 100 so it should be just lovely miserable.  My goal is to be outa there by early afternoon and then return in the evening for the demo derby.  Gramma volunteered to stay home with Annika, so that sounds like a good plan to me!  Hopefully we can meet up and sit with some friends for an extra fun time! 

Okay, I guess I really should go to bed.  I hope you are having a great week!

Christine

P.S. Have any of you heard of YUM Magazine?  If so, what do you think of it?  I was contacted by them this week, but had never heard of them.  I need to go find an issue and check it out!  Apparently they have a new Kids YUM Magazine coming out this month as well…

I have six aprons and three binders left- That is IT!  Thanks so much for those of you who helped me out!

I decided the easiest way to sell the last few was on ebay.  So here are the links to the auctions – RUN if you want one!

Aprons: 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330449715534 

Binders:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330449717829 

Good Luck!

Christine