Back again

I'm back!  (Did you notice I was gone?  No?  Didn't think so, but that's okay.)  My sister was here for a week, and we had a BLAST!  It was fun to have some girl time with her.  My parents were here the week after that, and that was also a fabulous time.  My family it totally awesome, and I love 'em!  The only things that could have been better is if my brothers could have made it out (missed you guys!), and if Dave could have taken off work.  I will post all about our adventures soon.

Even though I didn't post my menus for the past few weeks, I did make them.  I am a negligent blogger, but I've come to live with that fact.  I can also justify my behavior with the fact that I blog way, WAY more than I ever journal, or ever have journal-ed (unless you count middle school, when I felt the need to write about boys, at least once a week - I was a little boy crazy).  At any rate, I will carry on.  Here is the plan for this week:

Monday (today): Tostadas

Tuesday: Creamy Pasta Primavera (I'm going to make a double batch, and freeze some), baked sweet potatoes, salad

Wednesday: Ham & Cheese Quiche (my sil, Katie, made this for Easter yesterday - it was sooo good, and easy too!  It's going on my freezer dinner list), green salad, fruit salad

Thursday: Tasty Pork Ribs, salad, rolls

Friday: Baked Chicken Parmigiana (this is seriously so good, and easy!  it tastes like it came from a restaurant), salad, green beans

Saturday: something easy or leftovers

Sunday: Dave cooks

Monday: Chili (I'm also making a double batch of this to freeze), cornbread

Menu Plan Monday

Menu Plan Monday again this week!  I had a nasty cold last week, so all our dinners were quick and easy.  I should even admit that a take-out pizza was in there one night.  Desperate times!

 At any rate, I didn't ever make it grocery shopping, so I didn't have the ingredients to make most of what was on the list, anyway.  I'm feeling much better this week, so we'll try again and see if I can't get these dinners cooked!

Monday: Shepherd's Pie - my version uses seasoned taco meat, instead of plain ground beef.  I know it sounds weird, but my kids love it, and it's a good way to use up the extra taco meat I always have

Tuesday: Tropical Lime Chicken, couscous, salad

Wednesday: Tasty Pork Ribs, crash potatoes, salad

Thursday: Chicken quesadillas, guacamole, black beans

Friday: Breakfast: egg sandwiches on english muffins, smoothie, homemade granola squares

Saturday: Church dinner

Sunday: my sis is here!!  Dave cooks

Monday: Oven fried chicken, salad, biscuits

Bathing the dog

We've had a lot of precipitation around here lately.  A huge (for around here, anyway) snowfall, and some pretty rainy days.  Scout gets pretty stinky when he gets wet, so we gave him a bath.  The kids had fun shampooing, rinsing, drying, and brushing him.  Scout thinks his life is the best when he gets a bath.

 

 

family home evening

we try to have an evening every week that we spend together as a family.  usually we have a song, prayer, activity of some sort, short lesson, and dessert.  as a side note, the kids have only wanted to play hide 'n seek, as our activity, for the longest time.  we branched out last week, though, and played rock band. chris can seriously rock out on the drums!  back on topic... the kids love family night.  they regularly pull out all their stuffed animals and dolls to hold their own.

Menu Plan Monday

Another week of menu planning!

I did really well this last week with sticking with what I had planned.  The Clam & Potato Chowder was delish.  The Crash Hot Potatoes were a definite keeper, and so was the Beef Stroganoff.  Yum!  Here's my plan for this week:

Tuesday: Tasty Pork Ribs (slowcooker), crash potatoes, salad, squash

Wednesday: Tropical Lime Chicken, couscous, salad

Thursday: Breakfast: omelets, toast, smoothie

Friday: Chicken quesadillas, guacamole, black beans

Saturday: Easy or Leftovers

Sunday: Dave cooks

Monday: Taco Salad

Valentine's

Our Valentine's celebrations this year were pretty low-key.  Christopher had a party at preschool the Thursday before.  I was in charge of it with Stephanie, another mom.  It was fun to put together, and I think the kids had a good time.  We did a little craft with a foam picture frame and foam hearts and letters.  They got to decorate sugar cookies, and play a few games.  It's always fun to get to be in Chris's class with him.  I didn't get any pictures (of course! :D) - it didn't work out with keeping track of Naomi, and keeping up with the parts of the party I was in charge of.   The kids all had fun, though, and that's what's important.

Our Sunday was pretty typical of most of our Sundays.  We got ready for church, went to church, came home, relaxed, spent time together, had dinner, put the kids to bed.  Naomi has been done with mandatory afternoon naps for a few weeks now.  She was having a hard time going to bed at night, so she's started having quiet time instead of nap time.  It does take a bit of adjustment, though, to drop that nap.  Things had been quiet in her room for a while, so I went in to check on her.  It doesn't look very comfortable to me, but she had a pretty good nap in that chair.

This year I got the kids two new board games for Valentines.  I've been wanting to get some new games for them, so this was a good excuse.  Dave made steak and pasta with a mushroom sauce for us for dinner.  It was delish!

The Saturday after, Dave's parents watched the kids for us.  We dropped them off at 5, and they got to spend the night.  They had a blast!  Chris didn't want to come home the next morning.  We took advantage of being kid free, and got some Panera.  We took it to the park, and ate while watching the lake.  We took a stroll around the lake at a very leisurely pace.  I can't remember the last time we walked somewhere together slowly.  It was peaceful and fun.  We went and saw a movie after that.  It was so fun to get to spend the whole evening together, uninterrupted. 

Menu Plan Monday

I have been planning a weekly menu since I first left home to go to college.  It's something my mom has always done, as far as I can remember.  I can't imagine making dinner without planning a weekly menu first!  I don't necessarily stick to the order I arrange the dinners in, and I don't always follow my menu completely.  Some days I wimp out and do something quick and easy.  But, with a menu planned out for the week, I know I have the ingredients to cook healthy, delicious meals for my family until I the next time I go grocery shopping.  I also keep some staples constantly stocked, which makes it easier on the nights when I'm improvising, which usually because what's on the menu just doesn't sound good that night.  When that happens, I usually just move that meal on to the next week, since I know I already have all the ingredients for it.

I follow this site called "I'm an Organizing Junkie", where she lists her menu for the week.  Everyone who participates links up, and then you can see what everyone's menu is for the week.  Kind of fun.  I have been, in my lurker fashion, just reading without linking.  But, I've been wanting to have a way of documenting my menus to keep track of what I've been cooking.  It seems like it will be easier to keep track of the recipes that work, so I can use them again.  For this reason, I have decided to start participating in Menu Plan Monday.  Here's my menu for this week:

Monday: Clam & Potato Chowder (from one of my low cholesterol cookbooks - I'll let you know how it is), leftover homemade bread, green salad

Tuesday: Crockpot Chicken (whatever strikes my fancy - bbq sauce or potatoes or orange sauce), Crash Hot Potatoes, green salad, green beans

Wednesday: Beef Stroganoff, green salad, roasted acorn squash

Thursday: Chicken tacos

Friday: Spaghetti and Meatballs, spinach salad, squash (Naomi loves squash!), garlic bread

Saturday: Leftovers or something easy

Sunday: Dave cooks - aren't I lucky??  He likes to cook, and always makes really yummy dinners for us.  Yesterday he made Bunny Chow (Indian food that he used to have in South Africa) with homemade bread.  Yum!

Monday: (I go shopping on Tuesday, so I always plan Monday's dinner too) Pan seared chicken, rice, green salad, green beans

Baking List: Thick, Chewy Granola Bars