When the Green Bay Packers play Monday night football, it's a special night. We love to put on our Packer clothes and have the game on both TV's. Downstairs, the boys are actually playing football while watching. Upstairs is for those who really want to watch. Tonight we had my mom over to watch with us, while my dad was out of town. When George saw Nama coming in the house he said to her something like this, the Packers are playing tonight, but there are going to be bears..... Meaning that we were playing the Chicago Bears, of course.
There are a few things about watching football, however, that I don't like. Commercials for one. They are terrible. Beer commercials, previews for sensual, scandalous, TV shows. Male erectile dysfunction ads, and birth control ads, which just make me sick. We try and mute the TV during them, or at least have the kids close their eyes and turn their heads. There are lots of teaching moments while watching a game. When a player pushes another player down or fights, we make sure to talk about how that is NOT the way to treat people. Sometimes you do see a player who helps up the opposing team player, that's always nice. I make sure to express how cool it is to help up another player after throwing them and tackling them to the ground....it's a nice gesture. 
Ears of corn (thanks Janel for inspiring me! These are super awesome!)
Eyeballs stuck on forks
Eskimo Pie ....easy enough! 
Elephant Ears (although my kids thought they looked more like Earmuffs.....that works too!)
oh the possibilities......
"E" books from the library. Last year Lindsay introduced me to the wonderful service that our library provides. I get on the library web site and select the books that I want. They will pull them off the shelves, rubber band them together, stick my name on them, and have this pile of books waiting for me on a shelf to pick up. Easy. As. Pie.
During snack time we have been looking through the dictionary at all the words that begin with our letter. We shout out words we can think of. Just another way to increase their vocabulary and introduce them to big words. 
It's kind of fun to see how many letter of the week words we can use in our everyday speaking.
My very talented friend Janel, took our pictures this weekend. When we were out feeding their chickens this summer, I noticed how beautiful their red barn was. So I asked her if she wouldn't mind us coming out to their house to have our pictures taken in front of it. Not only was she willing to take our pictures, but she had us over to watch the Huskers and made us a fantastic dinner of two kinds of chili and cinnamon rolls.
And then here are a few that Janel took. Thank you Janel for being so willing to take our pictures and work with my children! You are amazing!
We go to the Vacek's every Thursday after school for piano lessons. Kim made a great "D" snack for us. Dirt. A huge cup of good ol' dirt. Gummy worms and all. It was Delicious!!
At last! My fancy pantry! Full of these lovely glass jars. I told TJ last weekend that these jars make me happy. They do. They really make me happy. It's kind of like having a newborn....let me explain. When I bring a new baby home, I find myself purposely walking in front of the mirrors in our home so that I may glance at me holding the new squished up baby high on my shoulder....just to make sure they still look new. So with that said, I find myself wandering over to the kitchen, many times a day, and taking a quick glance at my jars. Yep, still there, still looking lovely.
We've been saving our wine corks ever since we've been married. That's a lot of bottles of wine, good thing its been nine years......
He found CD shelves at ShopKo. They were that nasty orange color. So he sanded them all down, spray painted them black, cut some of them, and stacked two shelves on top of one another to make floor to ceiling shelves.....for me. I was thoroughly impressed. 
Thus, my inspiration for my open pantry shelves in my kitchen! Oh joy! 