Weekly Menu

The first official Menu post of 2013 - Wow!!!  Last weeks meals turned out great and we actually ate what I planned . . other than having leftovers on New Year's Day and the Day after.  It probably helps that we also started our 2013 budget plan last week and are trying REALLY hard to follow our plan which meant no extra trips to the store and no eating out.  Here's the plan for the coming week which include a much awaited Birthday Weekend for Nate!

Monday - I actually included this last week but it was Shrimp Scampi.

Tuesday - Breaded Chicken, Parsley Potatoes, Broccoli and Biscuits


Wednesday - Swedish Meatballs, Noodles and Salad

Thursday - Lemon BBQ Meatloaf, Green Bean Casserole and crash potatoes

Friday - Chick-Fuh-Lay Nuggets, Baked Beans and Roasted Veggies

Saturday - Overnight French Toast and Sausage for breakfast.  We'll be eating out with the boys today.

Sunday - Again, we'll be eating out with the boys today as part of Nate's special weekend

Monday - Baked Teriyaki Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Asparagus

That's it - Kinda simple this week!

Food Friday ;-) - Pumpkin Crunch Cake

Pumpkin Crunch Cake
adapted from . .. a friend! 

A friend of mine posted about this recipe on facebook and raved about it so I "made" her share the recipe.  I decided to make it for Ladies Fellowship meeting - yep, make a new recipe for a gathering, that's how I roll!  While I was making it, I had my doubts but in the end, it was fantastic.  My husband said that it beat out pumpkin pie in his book and that he would rather have this any day.  I would have to agree with him.  I would compare this to a dump cake except with a pumpkin filling - soft filling and a crunchy topping - so good! 

Ingredients:
2 sticks salted butter (I actually used unsalted since that is all I buy)
1 29 oz can of pumpkin puree
3 eggs
1 large can of evaporated milk (it is the bigger can - not the half size can)
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (I used pumpkin pie spice because that is all I had!)
1 box yellow cake mix
Whipped Topping

Directions:
1.  Melt butter; set aside
 2. In large bowl, mix together:  Pumpkin puree, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg; pour into a baking dish
3. Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over mixture - over it completly with the cake mix (yes, use all of the cake mix!)
4.  Pour melted butter on top to cover cake mix, do not mix it in.  The butter should sit on top of the cake mix and yes, again, use it all.
5. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees
6.  Let cool - this is best served cold.
7. Top with a dollop of whipped topping.

Enjoy! 
 

2013 Theme Word and Topical Study

Starting a couple of years ago, I have tried to pick a theme word that I could focus on each year.  In the past, I've chosen Declutter, Simplify, and Celebrate.  Last year (Celebrate) I kinda fizzled.  I knew what my goal was at the beginning but ran into some road blocks such as lack of funds and the incredible heat this summer that pretty much left me doing very little all summer. As fall progressed, I started to think about what I wanted my Theme to be in 2013 and came across a few different ideas such as "home", "kids", "marriage" but all of those seemed to specific.  The more I thought about it the more I realized that I wanted my Theme in 2013 to be:

Family

 I think that my focus, as my kids are reaching the age where they love to do things, needs to be in creating both traditions and just "routine" for our family.  Everything from special things for birthdays to special meals around holidays to going geocaching as a family and lots of camping.  Part of this family concept also involves being intentional with both my kids and my husband.  (Maybe my theme should be "Be Intentional!!" By this I mean planning things for them; daily with my kids.  We have preschool starting and I want to be Intentional each day with my plans for both learning and fun activities.  I want to be intentional with my husband and making sure he gets little things to make his day better - maybe a gift card to Starbucks so he can stop and get a good coffee while he is working all day or keeping his favorite candy in the house to keep his sweet tooth happy.  Also included in this "Family" concept is dates - kid dates and adult dates.  We want to take our kids out individually on dates and spend time with them and Darryl and I need to go out a little more, if we can, or at least have more dates in with movies and maybe even a game or two.  It all takes planning or, honestly, it will never happen.  It's easier to sit around and do nothing than it is to get up and do something, isn't it?  My kids are just starting to get into games and movies so I want to plan a movie night once a month and also play games at least once a week :-)  I believe that by focusing on all of this during this one year, we'll build a firm foundation that we can build on in years to come. 

On to my Topical Study - a friend of mine posted on facebook looking for ideas on what to study in the coming year such as marriage, family, discipline, etc.  I realized that it is a great idea.  So I thought about what I wanted to accomplish this year and I've decided to focus on . .. . "Growing Conscientious and Obedient Kids" I think it is so easy for kids to say "please", "thank you", "I'm sorry" and so on but do they mean it?  I see a need in my own kids to teach them to think first and react second; to stop and pick a toy someone dropped instead of running by it.  I also want my kids to react to my requests and do what they are told (isn't that a novel idea??)  I feel like I'm lacking in how to get them to do this so I figured I would focus on this concept this year - reading books, looking up great ideas, instituting chore ideas and more.  I'm looking forward to learning how to parent my children better in order to help them be better children. :-)

So that is what I'm focusing on this next year.  Watch for my monthly goal posts (hahaha that is like football and I love football!!) so you can see what my goals are each month and what I accomplish as well.  

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day AKA Our Christmas

We had a wonderful New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and . . .our family Christmas!!  Our Family Christmas was one of those things that was moved due to illness.  The only day that worked due to my husband's schedule was New Year's Day and really, it worked better then we thought it ever wood.  I even prepped the boys on New Year's Day and let them know that we would be celebrating Christmas the next day.  Of course they were excited about gifts :-)

Like most people, my husband had to work on New Year's Eve Day so the boys and I hung out at home.  It was actually the very first day in over three weeks that I felt completely almost healthy.  I cooked, cleaned and finally organized the classroom,which has been in disarray since Thanksgiving. As I mentioned in my Menu post earlier this week, I was trying something new this year for dinner hoping to start a new tradition - I made two kinds of soup. Italian Wedding Soup (Meatball Soup) and then Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup, which was a new recipe.  I'll be sharing that one in the weeks to come - it was fantastic.  After dinner, the boys took baths with some new body bath paints  they got for Christmas and then we played until bedtime.

Darryl was playing monster and was hiding behind the couch . . .this is the view of the boys running to the couch just before they run away screaming HA!

After the boys went to bed, Darryl and I wrapped their Christmas gifts and then did our normal thing on New Year's Eve - we ate snacks and watch the countdown shows.  I made a "new" recipe called "Loaded Potato Chip Dip" only to discover that it is the same thing as my Bacon dip ;-)  I also made fruit dip to go with pineapple and strawberries and we had cheese and crackers, fudge and truffles.  It was all so yummy! We did manage to stay up until midnight but knowing the boys would be up by 7:00, we headed to bed not long after mid-night.

New Year's morning, the boys did not disappoint - they were up at 7:00 on. the. dot.  :-)  We got up and fixed a wonderful "Christmas" Breakfast.

We had Sausage Gravy and Biscuits, Mini Cinnamon Rolls, Fruit and Dip and Orange Julius to drink. After we finished eating, Josh helped me clean off the table and get everything in the dishwasher.  When we were done he said, "Can we open presents now, mom?"  Obviously he had an special motive in helping me ;-)

The boys had so much fun opening gifts one at a time - Josh had to take photos of everything.  I mentioned to Darryl that I think by the time he is 15 we will be buying camera equipment for him for Christmas.  Between Josh and I taking photos, poor Nate always has to wait to open his gifts so we can get the perfect shot.

 This picture makes me laugh out loud.  Nate was making funny faces while we took photos.

 Yes, that is an MP3 player for a 4 year old.  Josh loves . .LOVES music and this is a BIG hit.  We have music loaded on it and he loves to listen to his "Phone that plays music".

 The Crayon banks are something the boys picked out back in October when we took them to Toys-R-Us to go "window shopping".  They loved them when they found them and asked for money right away to put inside their banks.

 I like to get a photo of each of the boys with their Christmas gifts but they both wanted to be in the photo together so we squished everything into one shot.

 The boys playing with a big part of their Christmas gift from us.  The castle is another favorite item the boys had picked out AND have asked for since we took that trip to Toys-R-Us.  We also got them the Ogre, Dragon, and other little pieces to the castle so they had a full set to play with and it is so awesome - even better then we thought it was when we got it.  They played with it together and individually throughout the entire day.

 Josh listening to his new MP3 player.  :-)

 A last minute gift was the piano's - they were on clearance at Walmart for $7.00 each and I knew the boys would love them. 

 I originally had planned a big "Christmas" dinner for the afternoon but after the big breakfast, snacking throughout the morning, and well, not wanting to cook, I put together a fun, simple late lunch.  I had taken leftover ham out of the freezer to use today anyway so I cut up the ham and served it with cheese, crackers and pickles on a "snack tray".  Then we had leftover fruit an dip, bacon dip, and sweets from the night before plus some chips and dip.  It was the perfect New Year's Day lunch.  I will have to remember this for next year! Later in the evening, the boys had some Mac and Cheese while Darryl and I just had leftover soup from Monday.

One last photo.  Josh's "special" gift was his MP3 Player.  This is Nate's "special" gift - something just for him.  It is a Dinosaur box that turns into a play mat and it is so cool.  Here, he is playing with it as a mat but the four sides have zippers so when you are done, just zip it all up and it makes an awesome storage box for all things dinosaurs :-) It is so fun watching him set up his "friends" and play.  Sometimes, because the boys are so close together, we forget that Nate is "only 3" and even then just barely three.  He is still a toddler and loves to just play with toys and have fun.

The boys played all day and it was fun.  The boys requested to take an early bath so they could play with their new body soap paints and bubble bath soap (Umm Nana . . they LOVE it all, just saying!).  Once they were out and in PJ's (again HA) they actually started asking to go to bed.  I was a mean mom and forced them to stay up.  What?  It was only 5:00!!!  They were not going to bed 2 1/2 hours early because I did not want to be up at 4:00 AM!!  We pushed them until 7:15 and finally let them go to bed and yes, they were asleep about 45 minutes earlier then last night (it took them forever to go to sleep Monday Night!)

I would say we are done with Christmas but we aren't.  They actually have one more gift but we are waiting for it to be delivered (We got them each a Home Depot Kids Tool Box with tools - they love to help!).  We'll wrap them up and give them to each of the boys once they arrive.  Plus, we still have to "make-up" Christmas with Darryl's mom - we still have to set a date for that one.  For now, though we are done and the decorations will start to come down . .today :-)

Happy New Year!

Can you believe that it is the last day of 2012? Wow! I'm always amazed how quickly October-December speed by compared to the rest of they year.  I just wanted to take time to wish you all a Happy New Year today and plan to take tomorrow off from blogging.  No worries - there are lots of posts in the works and I have my blog plan laid out for the next two months already :-)

So, with no further words needed . . .. .

Weekly Menu - Trying to Recover from a crazy few weeks

Yes, this post is a day later than normal but I wanted to get the Christmas posts up :-)

I don't even know why I planned a menu the last two three weeks.  Between sickness, birthdays, Christmas and the kids staying with Papa and Nana . . well, it all went down the tubes.  We haven't been actual grocery shopping in about 2 weeks - I just had my husband stop and pick up a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread as needed.   I actually went to the store yesterday, my mom brought the kids home and graciously said I could take her car and get groceries while she hung out with the boys at the house.  I am so thankful to not have to go in the evening :-)

This next weeks menu is more like a week +.  I don't really plan to go to the store again until a week from Monday.  So this will be a big list!

Saturday:  Simple !!  We'll have Spaghetti and Garlic Bread.  The boys love it, it is super easy to make and, after grocery shopping, I always hate cooking a big meal.

Sunday: Roast, Carrots and Noodles after church .  Comfort food at its best!  Then will have a frozen pizza for dinner.

Monday: New Years Eve!!  Before kids, Darryl and I had our traditional evening of snacks.  Tons and Tons and Tons of snacks.  Since having kids, we just haven't figured out a good New Years Eve plan.  So this year, this is my plan.  For dinner we are going to have Meatball Soup and Broccoli Cheesy Soup along with some bread.  I know, two soups for 4 people?  Well, I've been wanting to make some soup to freeze for my lunches so this is perfect.  After the kids go to bed, we still like to have snacks so the plan is to make Loaded Baked Potato Chip dip and Chips, Fruit and Dip and then cheese and crackers. I also plan on having some goodies made - Christmas Truffles, Peanut Butter Fudge and Cake Batter Cookies. I might make a crock of Hot Chocolate so we can have Hot Chocolate and a treat before the kids go to bed for something fun.

Tuesday: New Years Day AND Our Christmas - We are finally celebrating Christmas with the boys today.  For breakfast we'll have Sausage Gravy and Biscuits, Cinnamon Rolls and Orange Julius'.  Then for our "Christmas/New Years Dinner" we are going to have a Ham, Stuffing, Bacon Cheese Potatoes ,Gravy, Green Bean Casserole and then goodies left over from yesterday.  Now, to keep it real - first we were going to have Turkey for dinner but . . .I forgot to take it out of the freezer so then I figured we would just do a whole chicken since it thaws faster but . .. after going to the store, my fridge is FULL and I have no place to put a chicken (or a turkey, for that matter) so I'm going to pull out the Ham that I froze from Thanksgiving and we will eat that :-)  Less work for me anyway!

Wednesday: Time to get back to normal ;-) HA  Breaded Chicken Thighs, Parsley Potatoes, Broccoli and Biscuits

Thursday: Cabbage Rolls, Crash Potatoes, Green Beans

Friday : Swedish Meatballs, Noodles and Salad

Saturday: Chili and Homemade Bread

Sunday: Pork Loin, Salad, Mashed Potatoes after church and then Chili Dogs (using left over chili) and fries for dinner.

Monday: Baked Shrimp Scampi, Savory Rice, Broccoli and Garlic Bread

WOW!  Lots of food and cooking.  I plan on pre-making a lot of the food for Monday and Tuesday so that I can relax some.  If needed, I'll cut things out so I'm not a crazy cooking lady HA! 

Christmas Day 2012

Christmas Morning - such a wonderful day, isn't it?  We were thankful that the boys slept in but once we were all up, they were more than ready to get the day started.  Breakfast was wonderful - prepared by my dad and Darryl.  Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Toast, and Orange Julius.  The boys waited patiently as all ate ;-)

First up were the stockings!

Finally, it was time for what these two little boys were waiting for  . . presents!!!

Such a fabulously wonderful day.  The boys not only loved getting their own gifts, they loved giving Papa and Nana gifts and watching everyone open each present.  They were patient despite being so excited!!

We also had great visits from family - My Uncle Dick and Aunt Barb stopped by for a bit and then my niece Alicia and her husband Alex came over for dinner and to visit.  It really was the perfect day.

Later that evening, Darryl and I packed up and headed home.  The boys decided they wanted to stay at Papa and Nana's house for a "few more sleeps" :-) 

To think, we still have two more Christmas Celebrations - we are doing our own Christmas with the boys on New Years day and we still have Christmas with Darryl's mom - which we missed due to illness.  Not sure when we will "Make that up" :-)