Weekly Menu

 I feel like we have been running a crazy race since the middle of August and it is just now starting to slow down.  That means super limited time to blog, upload photos, and be creative.  Next week is our last week with "extra" stuff for awhile so hopefully I can get a little more time to get caught up some things (Like sharing our vacation!)  This past week is the first week that we've had some semblance of a routine for school and we still have one more week of running club.  THEN we can really buckle down and accomplish all we need to each day.  

With holidays coming and a trip for a wedding in the plans we are also cutting back on the "splurges" such as the weekly Friday night take out night and/or Sunday Night pizza.  Those nights were great fun but also hitting the pocket book a little more than we like so we are going back to those early "COVID" days of eating at home HA!  

I actually pulled up my menus from last year at this time and used those for some inspiration for the coming week (and future weeks!) 

Friday - So after what I said above, we are still getting dinner out - Taco Bell with a goal to keep under $20.00 :-) 

Saturday - Dinner at my mom's (finally!)  It's been a few weeks due to vacation and just being so busy last week! 

Sunday - We are going to live dangerously (HA!) and attend a pot luck at our church.  I'm planning to take Taco Salad and Veggie Wraps.

Monday - Soup, Ham and Rolls

Tuesday - Dr. Pepper Pork Chops in the Crock, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

Wednesday - Stuffed Shells, salad and Garlic Bread

Thursday - Roasted Pork Loin, Baked Potatoes, and a salad

Weekly Menu

 Our vacation was wonderful and I have lots of photos and stories to share but this week we hit the ground running almost the minute we got back and have not stopped yet.  We also didn't eat anything I had planned because well, what I said above - we have not stopped all week.  I'm looking forward to next week that will *hopefully* be much quieter so we can get normal school work done and maybe accomplish a few things around the house.  

Here's the plan for the coming week:

Friday - Our normal take out/eat out night.

Saturday - Normally we go to my mom's but we have family photos scheduled early eavning so we will eat at home.  I'm keeping it simple - Chicken Noodle Soup, 7 Layer Salad,  and Yeast Rolls

Sunday - Tortellini and Sausage Soup, left over salad,  and French Bread

Monday - Amish Roasted Chicken, Green Beans, and Noodles

Tuesday - I have a "Mom's Night Out" with our co-op so Darryl and the boys are kind of on their own.  Not really.  Keeping it simple again, baked chicken (probably bbq), Mac and Cheese and Fruit. 

Wednesday - Baked tacos and chips and salsa

Thursday - Beef Stroganoff, Noodles and Broccoli

There's the plan - now we will see if it all works as PLANNED!  

Weekly Menu

 Can you believe it is already November?  How crazy is that?  The last few months have just plain flown by and I am ready for things to slow down for the last few months of the year so we can settle in and enjoy the holidays.  As we start November, I start to pull out some different recipes and plan more "comfort" food meals - those cold weather days are perfect soup days or days to have the oven on for hours to slow cook something and make the house smell so good!  I'm slowly shifting into that gear :-)  

Here's the plan for our coming week which includes a very busy weekend! 

Friday - Yorkshire Pizza, Chips and Dip.  We are starting to cut back some on eating out so tonight we are eating in!  I've made this pizza before and we really liked it - this time, though, I have to make two because Josh wanted his own HA!

Saturday - Today is "Josh's Day" - for birthdays the kids pick two restaurants and two activities to do as a family - So we are heading to 5 Guys for Burgers for lunch before going to Dave and Busters and Sky Zone.  Josh then picked Mexican for dinner.  We are also planning a stop at Baker Bookhouse for Josh to look for a new Bible -- something a little more grown up and less kid style. So a fun, busy day! 

Sunday - It's Halloween!  And Church . . .and Choir . .. and a youth activity.  Yes, a busy, busy day!  We had several meals that did not get made last week so I'm starting with those!  Meatballs in the crock pot for an easy dinner when we get home.  To keep it simple I'll have a salad, chips to go along with the meatballs (we have a joke in this house that there is "always chips" to go with a meal --- and it is true LOL)  

Monday - Carry over from last week - Crock Pot Fajitas, salad, and chips and salsa.  

Tuesday - Tuesday is our busiest day of the week with lots of running for piano lessons.  I usually do crock pot meals but tonight I'm going to make Meatball Soup and French Bread.  The soup is "soup"er simple (see what I did there?) but is one of our favorites. 

Wednesday - Spaghetti and garlic bread.  We actually had this not long ago but it's a family favorite of three out of the four of us (not mine HA!) and it makes for an easy dinner on Wednesday nights before Nate heads off to AWANA.

Thursday - Finally, it's another soup night. Not long ago I picked up some soup packages by Bear Creek and so far the two we have tried have been really good.  I'm going to use the third one tonight (A veggie soup).  I tend to add a few more things to them to build them a little.  I'll add some veggies and maybe some cooked ground beef.  I'll also make yeast rolls and use up any salad fixings in the fridge.  

I'm hungry just typing this up for the coming week!  

Weekly Menu

 We are actually still enjoying a few more days of vacation but it is time to plan for the rest of the week!  In September I created a menu for the month.  While I didn't stick to it exactly it sure made meal planning easier - especially when I actually looked at it before planning the week! I've done the same thing for October.  I also tried to adjust it and make changes based on what I actually cooked so that I can "hopefully" save it and use it in future years to make it easier to plan.  (That was a goal I had this year and I'm finally getting to it!)  Tuesdays have become my "Crock Pot" day.  We have music lessons throughout the day including in the evening so I knew I needed to plan for people to eat in shifts and for easy prep - I can place everything in the crock pot during the day and it will be ready for an easy dinner whenever folks need to eat! 

Anyway, here's the plan for the week

Friday-Monday - My mom is still in charge of planning

Tuesday - Sausage and Tortellini Soup and French Bread

Wednesday - Baked Tacos and Chips and Salsa

Thursday - Chicken Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy and Corn

Next week things will return to a little more normal :-) 

2021 Weekly Photos #31

 Here's a look back at our week!

Saturday - My mom and I went to a ladies conference at a local church.  It was an enjoyable day with a great speaker!  

Sunday - Church and Football.  It was "promotion" Sunday at our church for Sunday School where they introduced the Sunday School teachers and the classes.  We all enjoyed our new Sunday School classes! 

Monday - School!  And Running Club. 

Running club has been a good experience for Josh.  They start with a game time to warm up and just play outside together before running the 1/2 mile track.  

Tuesday - I made some changes last week and moved Josh's drum lessons to Tuesday which means all the music lessons will be on one day (Drums, Piano and Guitar lessons . .. which have not started yet . .) This means that once Running Club is done Tuesdays and Fridays are the only two days we have to go places! 

Wednesday - School - a full day!  Nate started his last year of AWANA tonight as well. 

Thursday - This was my  . .. School -Grocery Store-Packing-Get ready for Friday School-Get ready to leave day WHEW!  

Friday - Our First day of Friday School!  Plus Darryl and I picked up our rental car and loaded up! 

Weekly Menu

 This week will look completly different!  Darryl and I are going to enjoy a trip away for our 20th Anniversary (which was in August) while my mom hangs out with Josh and Nate!  So - I'm not cooking!  I am so looking forward to a long break from cooking, clean-up, planning, dishes . .. you get the idea!  On normal vacations, I also plan breakfast (just simple things like cereal and bagels) and lunch so we can enjoy a nice dinner out BUT I told Darryl that this time, I don't want to even plan lunch because I am the one that has to prepare it and clean up!  I'm hoping to pick up some bagel's from a Panara Bread for the week for breakfast but otherwise, we are going to find some neat brunch/sandwiches places for lunch and then enjoy dinner!  

The plan for the week is simple

Friday - Eat out - need to keep it easy as we get things ready

Saturday on - My mom is planning!  

And done! 

2021 Weekly Photos #30

 This past week was our first week back into our school routine.  I didn't take a lot of photos but here's what our week looked like. 

Saturday - Darryl and I headed to town to do a little shopping as he needed some new clothes.  We enjoyed an amazing lunch at The Cheesecake Factory - we haven't eaten at CF in over 2 years so it was a nice treat and we did not even get Cheesecake (we were full!!).  We also enjoyed a fun trip to Trader Joes for some fun treats before ending our day with pie from Grand Traverse Pie Company. 

Sunday - After church, we were able to watch the first half of the Lions game before heading to a family birthday party for Darryl's dad.  We met at a park . . .. and it poured HA!  Good thing there was a pavilion!  His dad turned 81 and all he wanted for his birthday was for his kids (2), grandkids (4) and great grand kids (2) to be together.  That was an easy feat since we all live an hour apart :-)  

Monday - First day of school!  We spent our morning doing lessons and it went well.  Josh was supposed to go running club but it stormed.  He and I still headed to town to do some clothes shopping - specifically for "church" clothes/"wedding" cloths that are needed this fall.  

Tuesday - Second day of school!  Another busy morning of school lessons.  After lunch we headed to piano lessons.  It was so great to be back to piano.  The "boys" (I'm saying that for Josh because he said he was going to start reading my blog) really enjoy their teacher and excel at the piano.  Well . .. . when it was nearing the end of lessons I went to start my truck and it was dead!  Thankful their piano teacher's husband was there and offered to jump my battery and, again thankfully, we finally got it to start.  

Wednesday - Third Day of School!  Whew!  Another busy morning of school.  Josh had his first drum lessons on Wednesday morning and really enjoyed it.  Following that he and I headed to town for Running Club.  It was a great first day of running. Wednesday evening was the first night of youth group at our church, which Josh attended (yes, he had a busy day!) .

Thursday - Finally, basically a full day at home, kinda.  We focused on school all morning.  Nate went to his friends house (he and his friend usually get together once week when possible) but Josh needed to finish up school since he missed a few afternoons this week. 

Friday - As is the norm, we do not do school on Fridays but we do have our co-op!  Today was our open house and Nate started back to TKD.  Fridays will be long days starting next week between the Co-op all morning and Nate's TKD in the afternoon!  

As you can see, we had a busy week.  I've done a little shifting to give us 2 (and eventually 3) full days at home by moving drum lessons to Tuesday so all music lessons will be on one day.  That will give us Wednesday and Thursday at home most weeks (and Mondays when running club is done!)