Weekly Menu - 2025

 This is our first full week back into our routine which includes planning meals.  I'm still following the basic schedule I set up a few months ago (Crockpot on Sundays, Soup on Mondays, etc.) and it seems to work out fairly well.  I'm also still planning the entire months menu at the start of the month so I can watch for sales and such.  Joshua has also expressed interest in planning a week or two of meals so that may happen later this month.  We shall see! 

Here's are plan for the coming week:

Friday - Joshua and Nate are at my mom's so Darryl and I will enjoy dinner together.  I'm not planning to cook but I am unsure what we will do - we try to keep it as inexpensive as possible so it might just be Little Caesar's Pizza :-) 

Saturday - Some story different day HA!  BUT depending on Darryl's schedule we may use a gift card to see a movie and then get something to eat.  

Sunday - crockpot chicken and stuffing and salad

Monday - Meatball Soup and Rolls.  This was scheduled for last week but we ended up having leftover pulled pork instead of the soup. 

Tuesday - Tacos or Nachos or Rolled Tacos - so obviously something with tacos!  I'm just not sure yet which direction will go.  We really love the nachos so I'm leaning that direction. 

Wednesday - Youth Group returns.  Darryl and I enjoy soup and rolls so we will probably have that - most likely Chicken Noodle. 

Thursday - Baked Pork Chops, "Souper" Rice, and Green Beans

Traditions - New Year's Eve and Day

 Happy New Years!  It is 2025 and that is just crazy!  Who remembers Y2K and all the fear?  Yet here we are 25 years later and that is just hard to believe.  I thought I would share one last "traditions" post around what we do for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.  

Our New Year's Eve plans are normally pretty simple.  When both Darryl and I worked full time we both always worked on New Year's Eve and then enjoyed a quiet evening at home.  We did start some traditions that we still do today though.  We usually had soup for an early dinner as we would both be home by about 3:30p.  I would make two different soups (and then we would eat leftovers the rest of the week HA!) that we could enjoy.  Then, later in the evening we would enjoy all kinds of New Year's Eve snacks.  It is always fun to "graze" throughout the evening when you are staying up until mid-night!  With kids and job changes (so schedule changes) we have altered things some.  More recently our traditions are to enjoy lots of great snacks for dinner with my mom at our house.  I make all of our traditional snacks and we just enjoy them together.  My mom likes to head home early and then we just hang out together - watch TV, play games, and countdown to midnight.  Some years we set off a few minor fireworks.  

Our New Year's Day traditions are even less exciting HA!  Honestly, we don't really have anything specific.  We all enjoy sleeping in that's for sure!  I will usually make brunch and then we enjoy heading to my mom's for an early dinner.  It is nice to gather together on the first day of the year and enjoy family.  Beyond that, we just enjoy the day.  Some years we take down the tree (and some years I keep it up for another week), or spend time outside (when the weather is unseasonably warm) or go shopping with Christmas money but other years we just enjoy the quiet of the day before all the "things" pick up again and it gets busy again.  

This year will be different (a good different) because my brother and sister-in-law will be in town so we are celebrating New Year's Eve with them at my mom's house with snacks and games and then New Year's Day with a great ham dinner that my mom is making.