Weekly Menu

Life is busy right now.  It seems as if the hours are filled and trying to fit in everything during the day just isn't possible.  The main reason that this post gets done is simply that we have to eat and in order to eat I have to plan!  I find it hard to believe that we are into November and Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away.  For now, though, I'm just focused on the coming days.  We are still trying to eat a little healthier but I've made some gross meals (usually lunches) lately so I'm tweaking it some and making sure that dinner is something we really truly like - it makes eating rice cakes with peanut but for lunch a little easier ;-)

Saturday - Fish, CousCous, Broccoli and spaghetti (for the kids - fish is not in their wheelhouse of food HA!)

Sunday - Pork Tenderloin, Mac and Cheese and Carrots.

Monday - We have a field trip so we will be eating on the road as we head for home.

Tuesday - Amish Baked Chicken, Mashed potatoes, corn and biscuits

Wednesday - Homemade Beef and Barley Soup and Garlic Sticks

Thursday - Chicken Wings and Fries

Friday - Sloppy Joes and Chips

Saturday - Darryl is on his own as I will be busy scrapbooking!!

Weekly Menu - Changes!

It's weekly menu time but I'm going to highlight some changes.  As this posts, I'm still enjoying some wonderful non-cooking time and I'm loving my break but, as we get ready to get back into the groove in the coming weeks, Darryl and I want to focus on eating healthier and changing some of our habits.  We have young kids and realize that we need to work on being a little more healthy on a daily basis.  Now, don't get me wrong, we still enjoy the good comfort food and have some fun food but if we can make these changes it will be good!!

The other thing is my new grocery store night is . .. Friday.  I know.  That's so exciting.  I was trying to go to the store during the day with the kids just to keep the nights free but it was really impacting our school time so it's back to evening shopping and Friday is a free night right now.

Here's the plan :

Friday - Monday - We are still having fun :-)

Tuesday - Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Steamed Broccoli, Brown Rice and Salad.

Wednesday - Grilled Steak Salad, Raspberries, Minestrone Soup and whole wheat rolls

Thursday - Pampered Chicken, (a new recipe that I'll share if it is good!), Broccoli, Couscous, and grapes

Friday - Mustard Crustard Fish (I'll see what looks good at the store), Brown Rice, Honeydew Melon, Asparagus, and whole wheat rolls

Doesn't it all look yummy?  I think the biggest change is just eating "fresher" and no mixed dishes like cassaroles OR pasta!

Weekly Menu

I keep thinking I will have more time to write - I even made a list of blogs to write but, days are busy right now with school, co-op and other fun things going on.  At least we are still eating ;-)

This coming week we have lots of exciting things so it makes my planning so much easier!

Friday - Josh has requested Pizza and since, we won't be eating at home on his actual birthday, this is his birthday dinner.  I don't mind not cooking :-)

Saturday - Today is Josh's birthday so we are out for day to celebrate him!

Sunday - Tacos for lunch.  Darryl is working so something nice and easy.  We are meeting my mom for dinner to celebrate Josh (of course)

Monday - The boys are at my mom's for a few days.  As much as I don't like cooking when they are gone, I do plan on cooking something simple - Chicken and veggies most likely.

Tuesday - I'm not cooking HA!  Darryl and I need a date night :-)  We don't have many choices so it will probably be just Applebees or me meeting him somewhere if he works late (as he does often).

That's my week :-)  After this we have plans for some family fun at a family wedding.  I won't have to cook again until after Halloween :-)

Fall Fun

This past week we actually did have fun.  We had some really nice weather early in the week so we took advantage of it.  During the cold, snowy days of winter, we can double up on some lessons while we are stuck inside!

On Monday, after Live Lessons were done, we had to go to the laundry mat.  We then went to lunch and I surprised the kids with a trip to one of our favorite parks.  We only go to parks in the spring and fall when the weather isn't hot!  This wooden park is so much fun and to make it better, we unexpectedly ran into two other families from our home school group who have kids that my boys know well.

 Nathan running through the park. 

 Monkey Bar Fun 

 Brothers

 Joshua

 Nathan

On Tuesday, we took China to a dog wash station at a car wash.  She had gotten really sick on Monday and needed a bath worse than ever.  With the weather nicer, I figured that this was the time to check out this dog wash.  I was pretty impressed.  The water was warm, the sprayer had lots of soap options (just like a car wash!) and there was even a dryer.  It was all going great until I started the dryer.  My arthritic dog did a backflip out of the bathtub and landed on her feet.  My heart about did a backflip out of my chest!  Geesh China :-) 

We love our sweet pooch!! 

On Wednesday we had the opportunity to meet with my brother, Kel and sister-in-law Debby as they were passing by heading to Ohio.  It's a rare treat, since they live in Brazil, to get to share coffee together so we really enjoyed the visit.  

 The boys love their Aunt and Uncle especially because they speak Portugese :-) 

We did actually get some school work done too.  I've figured out that how I currently have the school day laid out is not working.  So I'm making some changes which will roll out the first week in November.  I'd do it now but we have this week to get through and then we have a week off.  Instead, my goal is to just finish their lessons by the end of the week!!  

 This board keeps me sane.  It lists their Live Lesson Times, Be-Weekly call dates, and due dates for special assigments.  Granted, I just remembered at 9:35 pm on Sunday that Nate was supposed to record a book this weekend. Oops!  We will work on that first thing Monday morning!

Nate was working on some school work but did not want his picture taken! 

Thursday we spent at Thursday school and Friday, we had errands to run and Nana came over for a couple of days!  It was an extremely busy week with things like swim lessons and AWANA too.  

But . . .we had fun! :-) 

Weekly Menu - The one I haven't planned

It's only October and I'm already tired of cooking HA!  No, really, I just haven't had the time to really sit down and plan the next week.  I'm also finding it hard to have time to do a fully grocery shopping trip so have been going for 2-3 days at a time recently.

So, here's what the next few days look like:

Friday - My mom is coming  - Darryl's bringing something home for us all to enjoy

Saturday - We will eat at home . .. but might order in.  Boy do I wish we had a better selection of resturants!

Sunday - Darryl's working and I have book club so the boys and I will grab something for lunch and dinner - I think I have stuff for quasidillas . . .so we'll make those.

Monday - This is one of those "running" nights.  I have a hair appointment; the boys have swimming.  So, I think I'll just have stuff for tacos and everyone can eat when it fits in to eat.

Tuesday - Thursday  . .. well I haven't planned this yet.  :-)

Fall Fun - October 3-9, 2016

Do you know what I realized as I was writing this post?  I didn't take a single photo.  I'm still trying to get into a better flow with our day.  I feel like we are literally tied to the table from 9:00-2:00 and I don't like it.  So, here's a bullet list of what we did this past week:

* Monday = School and swimming.  The boys truely love swimming so I plan on trying to keep that going for now.  I finally have a new bathing suit ordered so we might fit in some free swim time after their lessons in the coming weeks. We had a treat too as my in-laws stopped by inbetween dinner and when we left for swimming.

* Tuesday = School. That's it.  Just school

* Wednesday = School and AWANA.  Darryl had practice so it was just the boys and I so we treated ourselves to dinner before I had to take them to AWANA.

* Thursday = Thursday School Co-Op.  This day is busy and tiring.  The boys love their classes (especially their Art Class) Darryl was also home today but was running to Dentist and Doctor Appointments.

* Friday - The boys have TKD and then my mom came over for the afternoon/evening.  We enjoyed dinner and just family time.

Our weekend was much quieter then the last few.  The boys and I went to the store to window shop for their birthday's and Christmas.  This is a great way for me to see what they are really interested in and I'm always surprised by what they pick verses what I would have picked for them. We also enjoyed dinner at our favorite Mexican resturant followed by ice cream :-)

Weekly Song - Even If

I shared this on my Facebook page on Saturday:

It's hard for me to fatham that it was 5 months ago tonight that my dad enter Heaven; almost 6 months ago since he was silenced. Reality is really in that 5 month marker because during those last 4 weeks prior, we still had him even though he wasn't who he always was before. We still had the warmth of his hand and, well, hope for a miracle. Reality hit when the hope we had left was the simple hope in Jesus that someday we will be re-united in heaven. It doesn't take away the pain; it really doesn't even make it less because the ache of missing his wisdom, his laugh, his voice, his encouragement . . .that ache is still deep. The loss of hopes, dreams - it is all difficult to grasp. I've said before that music speaks to my soul and this is one of the songs we chose for my dad's funeral because, quite honestly, we all begged God to bring healing and he chose not to . . so Even If the healing doesn't come, He is God and He is good.