Weekly Menu

Last weeks menu completly changed because we had glorious leftovers from New Years Weekend to use (My mom's famous BBQ Meatloaf and Bean Soup (Which I detest but Darryl loves HA!).  It made my menu planning and cooking so much easier!  This next week is a pretty quiet week.  The main focus is school.  Because we do an on-line program, we do actually have a semester end where there are certain things that must be done so, my goal this week is to get about 80% of everything done to make next week a little easier :-)

Here's the plan for the coming week

Friday - Ham and Scalloped potatoes in the crock.

Saturday - We have one last family Christmas so we will be eating at my in-laws.  I'm taking a salad and dessert!

Sunday - Stuffed Shells, Salad, Green beans and Garlic Bread

Monday - Chicken and Dumplings and Salad

Tuesday - Chicken Noodle Soup, Salad and Biscuits

Wednesday - AWANA night

Thursday - Sausage and gravy, Biscuits, Asparagus, and eggs.

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that we are at the end of the year.  

I'm a little behind on some things but I will catch up after the new year including the birthday celebration and Christmas!  Plus I have quite a few recipes too share too not to mention all of those goals HA! 

But for now, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, a fun and safe New Years Eve, and a great New Years Day!  We are looking forward to spending it with family! 

Weekly Menu

I always find that the week or so after a big holiday, I really struggle with menu planning mostly because I don't want to cook anymore and the budget is trying to recover from all of the holiday fun.  I like to try and keep things simple and keep the meals something that everyone enjoys so I'm not fixing anything extra :-)

So here is the plan for the coming week including New Years!

Friday - Scallop Potatoes and Ham - still using leftover Ham from Christmas :-)

Saturday - I actually think we are going to get Taco Bell for dinner.  I know, why?  After all of Darryl's dental issues of the past six months, he is finally ready to eat Taco Bell again and is craving it so, this is as good of an excuse as any to eat it!

Sunday - We will be with my moms  celebrating the new year :-) Our tradition is soups mid afternoon followed by snacks throughout the evening.

Monday - Happy New Years! My mom is cooking today which is fine by me!

Tuesday - Tomato Basil Chicken Pasta, Salad, and Bread

Wednesday - We are back to AWANA tonight so the boys and I will grab something to eat while Darryl is at practice.

Thursday - Asian Sesame Sliders and French Fries. 

I really am amazed that we are entering a new year - 2018.  Time just keeps moving faster.

Our Week in photos #25

Sorry I've missed a few posts but between lots of sickness and the busy days of December, it just has been hard to keep up!  Here's a look back at the last two weeks!

 Two weeks ago, we headed out to get our tree.  The boys got to help Darryl cut it down. 

The boys :-)  

 Having fun in the trees :-)  

 We took time to drive around to all of the homes "competing" in the Festival of Lights and check out the lights.  This house was my favorite.  It was a very fun night and we got the opportunity to see so many pretty decorations! 

 And this finally happened - a snow storm!  We ended up with about a foot of snow by the time it was done.  The kids enjoyed playing outside and they also helped a lot with shoveling! 

 Gingerbread houses!  This is a fun tradition that we all enjoy. 

 Nate's house. 

 Josh's House. 

 This is Josh's snowman that he built all by himself.  (Just a little bit of help lifting up that middle snowball!) We thought we had charcoal but actually had real wood charcoal pieces that we had to make work! 

 We visited the library to hear Santa read a story and make some crafts. 

 The boys in the Michigan State Police shirts they got as a gift from my brother :-) 

 Our pretty Christmas tree! 

 This is a picture of the picture taken at the Library.  Nate would not get a picture done BUT he did have a full conversation with Santa about Pokemon. 

 Of course we had to make and decorate Christmas cookies too! 

 At that's what has kept us busy the last few weeks.  We had to miss a few things - visiting my in-laws for a Christmas Cantata, Darryl's family Christmas, and my choir concert.  Yet, I feel like we have some great family time and we are looking forward to the festivities over the next few days.  

Weekly Menu

Sorry for being MIA - it's December.  That's all.  It's very hard for me to believe that Christmas is less than a week away.  It's also really hard to believe that a year ago we were in South Carolina for the holidays.  I feel like Thanksgiving is all about food . . .and Christmas is more about family so I'm trying really, really hard to not overplan anything.

So, here's the basic plan for the next week

Friday - Today is Nate's birthday.  It gives me a fabulous break because lunch and dinner will be served up by his favorite places to eat (As of this writing it is Olive Garden and Red Robin but that is subject to change at any moment)

Saturday - My mom arrives today and, break #2 - she is bringing dinner.

Sunday - Christmas Eve!  I have a couple of things in mind.  We always enjoy snacks on Christmas Eve but out church Candlelight service is late - 7:00 - and they serve snacks afterwards so I'm aiming more for some "light lunch" type of foods to have late afternoon.  Stromboli, Meatballs, Cheese and Crackers, Fruit and Dip, and Christmas Cookies.  I plan on taking some Roll-ups and cookies to church too.

Monday - Christmas Day!  First up is breakfast - tradition is eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, cinnamon rolls and fruit.  Later in the day is Ham, Cheesey Potatoes, Fruit Salad, Creamy Pea Salad, Green Bean Casserole, Mac and Cheese, Baked Beans and Rolls.  Of course there will be dessert.

Tuesday - Two optoins are on the table - total leftovers or going out for dinner.  I haven't decided which direction I want to take it yet HA!

Wednesday - Two optoins once again - doing something with leftovers (Like pancakes, eggs and ham) or Taco bell.  Seriously.  Depends on how many leftovers we've eaten.

Thursday - This is totally up for grabs.  Tacos? Spaghetti? I'm not sure.  I'll decide on Wednesday and make sure I have the food in the house in time for dinner!

Our Week in Photos #24

What a fabulously fun week of Christmas fun!

Saturday was a busy day with Christmas program practice, some fun Christmas activities, and a concert

 We stopped at Denny's Farm Market for some fun.  Josh enjoyed seeing Santa again :-) (I didn't make Nate pose for a photo this time HA!) 

A local potter had a Christmas Ornament decorating station set up.  The boys loved painting their ornaments  To make it better, all of the ornaments were hand made by the artist  So cool! 

 A stop at the grocery store meant a photo shoot with Sandy the horse (and a chance to win $100!) 

Finally, the boys sang in a concert with the Local Choir.  It was fun to see them on stage having fun singing. 

On Sunday,  the boys had their annual church Christmas program.  They have been rehearsing for months and it is always so fun to see the final program. 

 I loved Josh in his little sheep hat!

This guy, Nate, begged for a bigger part!  He had the whole play memorized and was secretly hoping the guy playing the lead would get sick HA! 

 One of my favorite photos - they love to sing!

 The final bows.

 On Wednesday, we went on a Field Trip with our on-line school to the movies and got to see the movie "Wonder".  Wow.  What an amazing movie.

 Finally, on Friday night we went to a "Bethlehem Village" - it was put on by another local church.  They did a interpretive dance of the Nativity - it was really quite impressive.

 The boys were able to create a neat ornament for the tree.

 And of course there were animals. :-)

And I love this donkey :-)  If I had a farm, I'd have a donkey.  (Not really - but I wish I could live next door to a farm that had a donkey  . . and a cow.  So I could see them but not have to clean up after them HA!)

That's our week! 

Weekly Menu - the countdown to Christmas

I'm working on putting our Christmas menus together.  All of the different events and activities that require food all coming to an end on Christmas day with dinner!  BUT, before that happens, we still have to eat dinner for a few weeks.  I'm working really hard to plan meals around events so that we don't spend money we don't need to spend on eating out.  (Even when it would be so much easier HA!)

Here's the plan for the coming week.

Friday - We are going to a Bethlehem Village that is set up by another church in the area.  They will have food (like chili) available so I'm just going to make Tacos - it's easy and "light" so if we want food later, we won't be stuffed.

Saturday - Today is Christmas Tree day!  Before kids, we always had lots of snacks to eat while decorating.  I've learned that with kids, they just want dinner HA!  I want something easy!  So . .we are going to grab something while we are out (Now, that's easy!)

Sunday - The boys and I are going to my mother-in-laws church for her Christmas program and then eating dinner at her house.  Sunday evening, I'm going to try a new pasta dish!

Monday - Tortillini and Sausage Soup.

Tuesday - Chicken Enchiladas

Wednesday - Tonight is Awana so I'm planning on the boys and I eating out :-)

Thursday - Chicken in the crock pot, potatoes and veggies