Happy Mother's Day

I hope you all have a wonderful day!  We are spending the day as a family . . .my husband has a concert :-)

The Great Smoothie "Debate"

One of the meals I struggle with most is . . .breakfast.  I'm not a morning person so the thought of cooking breakfast is not something I enjoy unless I can cook it at like . . .noon :-)  With summer coming I thought I would try a few different smoothie options.  Things that are quick, easy and COLD!  Eating Cream of Wheat (which I do love) is not that enticing when you wake up to 80 degree temps at 6:00 am :-/  So, I've tried out three different options:

1) Yoplait Smoothies - These are found in your grocers freezer.  Of the three I tried, these are my least favorite but that isn't to say they aren't good.  The directions call for just adding 1 cup of milk - I usually add at least a cup and half or it doesn't even come out of the blender and I still have to eat it with a spoon.  I've tried the chocolate banana, Strawberry banana and Blueberry Pomegranate.  The reason these fall third is their "texture".  I find them really creamy and not as cold as I would like.  It's like I need to add ice to make them colder.  I want something that I "crave" and I don't crave these at all.

2)  Dole Shakers - These are also found in your grocers freezer.  I love these.  First of all, you don't need a blender - you add the liquid to the canister and shake!  The directions call for adding juice but I also added Coconut Water.  The juice makes it taste the best, in my opinion, but the Coconut water was good, just not as sweet.  These I crave.  Not only do I end up having one in the morning, sometimes I make one in the afternoon for a snack. So far I've just used regular Orange Juice but I think I will try these with "Trop 50" which will make them more "Weight Watchers" friendly . .. granted I don't really care to drink Trop 50 "straight-up" it reminds me of Tang!! 

3) A Homemade Recipe  -The recipe that I use is for a Tropical Green Smoothie from Skinny Taste.Com and I really love it.  It's cold and not too creamy, which is good.  I do cut the recipe in half and it still makes a full cup and a half of smoothie which is alot :-)  Click on the link above to find the recipe :-).  This is without a doubt the healthiest of the three options with the greek yogurt and spinach involved.  :-) I've used both fresh and canned pineapple and they both work perfectly.  I also still throw a whole banana into the blender since the half wouldn't keep well :-)

To be truthful, the one I still crave the most is . . .. the Dole Shakers!  I think I will keep those around for a treat in the summer.  The one I would eat for a healthier breakfast would be the Homemade Recipe.  (Can you guess which one I won't buy again??? - I still have one in my freezer that I really don't even want to use . . . )

I think I now need to venture out and try some more homemade smoothies and see if I can find a few others that I like. 

*I have no association with any company related to these smoothies - I'm just stating my opinion :-) 

Food Friday - Buttermilk Waffles

Buttermilk Waffles
adapted from . . my sister-in-law, Lynnette McMaster

This is my "go to" waffle recipe that I've used for years.  It started about 20 years ago when I would stay with my sister-in-law if my brother was out of town.  She would always make waffles and serve them with Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream for dessert while we watched movies HA!  They are so easy and have the perfect flavor.  Yum! 

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

a splash of vanilla (optional) 

Beat eggs well.  Sift flour.  Add remaining ingredients;  Stir until mixed.

Pour into waffle maker, following manufacturer’s directions

 

Weekly Menu - the one where we try to recover from going over budget HA!

So, with the ladies tea last week and needing to buy extra groceries to feed "a crowd", I went slightly over what I had budgeted.  With that in mind, I'm trying to plan this weeks menu in a fashion to come in under the grocery budget so that I can throw the extra back into our expense "account" for other things.  It's just what I would LIKE to do - we'll see if it happens.

If you are observant, you will notice that I'm shifting the menu by one day.  I'm now shopping on Thursday evening every other week so I need to have Thursday's meal already planned.

Friday - Seriously, didn't I just say we were trying to recover from last week - well it is a good thing I budget money for dinner out HA!  My husband has the weekend off so we will order dinner in for a "date night" after the kids go to bed.  I might even try to talk him into a Movie from Rebox . . .we'll see!

Saturday - We are celebrating Mother's Day today due to a concert tomorrow so my husband is cooking dinner!  The menu is  - Hamburgers on the grill and FINALLY using my new deep fryer and making french fries  (I forgot to buy potatoes two weeks ago OOPS!) and, if I get the recipe from a friend, Asian Cole Slaw.  I'm not sure what to do for desert - I'm thinking Strawberry shortcake (using strawberries I froze last summer - almost time to do some more!) w/homemade ice cream!

Sunday - As of this writing, we are all planning to go to Darryl's concert together.  That means we will go through a drive through after church and head home.  I think for dinner, we'll try Chicken Gyros.

Monday - Brats and Mac and Cheese, and Asparagus.

Tuesday - It's Taco night again but we are going to do Oven baked fajitas instead . . kinda like tacos :-) Tonight is Ladies Meeting - I plan on Taking Spinach Queso Dip, Nutella Dip and I might do those ham/cream cheese wraps just because they are also a great snack to have around home too.

Wednesday - Our go to meal - breakfast.  Sausage Gravy, Biscuits and fruit.  If Darryl ends up being home, I'll cook up some potatoes too.

Thursday - Darryl will be home today so, I think I'll make him grill.  BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, corn and biscutis sounds good to me :-)

I'm also hoping to pick up some fun drink stuff.  Now, we don't drink alcohol but I do love "virgin" mixed drinks.  I saw a non-alcoholic Sangria on the food network I want to try; and I also love a good Cream Soda/Limeade drink too.  Not to mention Orange Juice, Diet Sprite and some smooshed strawberries YUM!  I try to drink lots and lots and lots of water but when I sit down on a mommy break, a "drink" sure is nice - especially as it warms up outside!

Too Cute and Pinterest Goals

I decided to do both my "Too Cute" and Pinterest Goals all in one post this month because I'm going to do it a little differently.   I'm going to first give links back to the previous goal lists which house all of the updates.  Then I'll share any new ideas I'm hoping to get done this month.

Starting with Too Cute Ideas:

I started this process in February, looking back at January's Post.  You can click HERE to see the updates.
That month went pretty well; I have two outstanding things to finish but it just requires me picking up a few things.

Feel free to click HERE to check out March. I have more ideas on this page to complete but I think they will get done in some form or fashion this month.

Then, check out April's list HERE.  Ok, lets keep it real.  I did nothing ;-)  I did print the ideas and made my shopping list but due to some events (like my birthday) in April, I ended up without much extra money in my craft budget to do anything.  Here's hoping I can get some things done in May!

Here are a few things that I'm adding to my list for what is considered, "May's Too Cute Goals" on top of finishing up some other things from those other posts. 

From THIS post, I would like to make:

And then from THIS post:

And . .from THIS post

That is MORE then enough to keep my busy.!!

Now, on to Pinterest ideas:
So, I'm not going to re-create the wheel.  Last month I did a post highlighting things I need to get done; since I already did that - you can just click HERE for a refresher :- )

Again, I'm hoping to knock some of these outstanding ideas off my list this month so I can move on to new ideas for the summer.

Too Cute Not to Toot

Mother's day is quickly arriving so I thought I would start with this cute Mother's Day craft.  It is something I only found on Pinterest (it links back to a photo) but I think it is a easy, cute idea.  It would be great for a classroom but also for a Sunday School class or Day care :-)












This idea from Crissys Crafts  is a great idea for the garden.  My kids are a little young yet, I think, for this craft but it would be great for VBS with older kids or even for older elementary kids to make at the end of the year.  I'll be tucking this one away to make in a few years.

Yes, we still have a little while until the 4th of July but I loved this simple wreath from Swell Chel.  I still have my Flip Flop Wreath to make but I'd like this wreath up by mid June . .. so that flip flop wreath needs to get up soon :-)

Here is a super cute idea for Mother's day too!  It is a card with a questionnaire to fill out as well.  The questionnaire is over at The Crafting Chicks and they give a link in that post for the instructions for the card.

Here's a cute craft that could be used for Memorial Day or 4th of July.  It comes from Multiples and More and yes, again, it is a little "old" for my kids but it will go into my idea binder to use in another year or so :-)

Happy Crafting!

April Preschool

I knew going into this week we wouldn't do much - if anything.  I starting babysitting this week again after a three month break and my main goal was get the Munchkin and Princess into a good routine and to then mold our daily routine around that.  Remember my Schedule post from about a week ago?  Well, I am following it to some point.  I am getting up at 6:00 am and getting my morning routine done so that I'm ready before 7:00.  Which is good since I've had kids up at .. 6:15 this week (that needs to change - I need that quiet hour in the morning HA!).  I am going to bed earlier but it is more like 10:30, not 9:30 BUT that is better than the 12:00 I was doing :-)

This week the boys all played outside alot, I spent a lot of time in the bathroom - with three little boys at the early stages of potty training, well, the bathroom is a popular spot.  (Man, I wish we had two bathrooms!), and I just did a lot of not much :-)  On Thursday, Darryl took the boys to his dad's for the day and that just left me home with the two I babysit.

I also spent this week planning (making lists) - planning projects, planning school stuff, planning how I will survive another summer with out dying of heat stroke :-/

A few photos of the fun we had this week :-) 

 Yes, I shared one photo yesterday but this shows how very happy the boys are to have the swings up :-)

 This past Tuesday was Parent Watch Night at gymnastics so we got to see what the kids are doing.  It was super cute to watch them do each of the various things.  One thing we noticed - the balance beam is not Josh's friend HA! 

The plan is to do more lessons this coming week but I will admit, I'm starting to get "Summer fever" and am having a hard time wanting to do school (I'm making note of this so when I plan a "real" schedule - not preschool - we can be done by the beginning of May!)