Weekly Menu

I've been really lacking motivation and the desire to plan a manu lately.  My husband is still going through dental challenges so my list of recipes is much smaller than normal which makes it less exciting to cook!  So, I recently pulled out all of the recipes I have that I can cook and am just looking at those instead of all of the other stuff I'm missing HA!

Here's the plan for the coming week.

Friday - Baked potatoes with fun toppings and Wendy's Chili (I make the potatoes and Darryl picks up the Chili! )

Saturday - Tacos!  It's easy and we all love them

Sunday - Lemon Barbecued Meatlaoves, Stuffing, Mac and Cheese and Corn

Monday - Chili and French Bread.

Tuesday - Biscuits and Gravy, Eggs, and Tator Tots

Wednesday - AWANA is almost done so it is time for one more night out!

Thursday - It's grocery shopping Day and, I hate to cook after spending hours at the store so my new favorite meal to make is . . .. French Toast Sticks, Tator Tots, and Sausage Balls (or patties if the Sausage Balls I make for breakfast are gone).  Super easy and super tasty! 

Our Week in Photos #37

This past week was Spring Break.  Well, actually our spring break started just over a week ago so I decided not to post last week and just put it all into one post today.  Enjoy!

Spring Break started on Thursday, March 29th  with a trip to our Christian Bookstore to hear an author read her books.  I like exposing my kids to literature when I can and, in this case, the author is from England so I knew they would love her accent.  (And they did!)  I wish I had taken my good camera instead of the little one . .. the photos would have been better!

After the book signing, we headed to lunch at Culvers.  We haven't been in a long time and it sure tasted good.  There is something about their greasy, buttery, burgers and fabulous onion rings!

 Josh

Nate

On Friday the 30th, my mom arrived for the weekend.  Josh had asked her to go bowling on Friday so that's what we did.  Two and half hours later we finished two games.  The lane was slow, the scoring system kept messing up, and we had 6 of us on one lane.  BUT it was fun.  I did take photos of my mom bowling but she would probably shoot me if I posted them here HA!

Friday evening we attended the Good Friday service at our church.  It was time to sit and reflect on the seriousness of the weekend; to focus on what Jesus did for each of us.  The program was great - a mixture of scripture reading and songs.

 On Saturday the 31st, we started out by go to the annual Easter Egg "Hunt" at another local church.  This year, due to the weather, they just put them all in the church basement.  I didn't get any pictures since the kids were just picking up eggs.  They still had fun.  We then enjoyed a Hot Dog lunch at the church as well.

 Once Darryl got home, the boys dyed eggs.  They are getting older so we tried a few new things (which none of them worked HA!).  But, after the eggs were dyed, they took a few outside and smashed them just for fun (yes, hard boiled).

The night ended with us all just hanging out.  We all enjoy having Nana around :-)

 April 1st - Easter! (No Foolin'!)  We woke up bright and early (there were a lot of groans in this house when I woke people up HA!) To head to my in-laws for the day.  We started at their church for Breakfast and Easter Service.  Then we went back to their house for the afternoon.  The boys picked out their own Easter "Outfits" this year - They both picked out their shirts and then said, we will just wear them with our blank pants.  Easiest Easter outfits ever.  It's not what I had in mind but they have their own opinions now so I tried to be flexible.

 This is a priceless photo.  Why?  Because the boys are sitting between their two Grandmas.  I might just have to frame this photo.

 Easter dinner was ham and rolls (for sandwiches) and lots of salads.  Followed by some wonderful pies for dessert!

Darryl's mom put together a fun little Easter Egg hunt for the boys - inside because it was chilly outside (we even had snow on the ground when we got up and snow flurries while driving to church!)

 We ended the day back at home where the Easter Bunny had arrived while we were away.  The boys got their Easter gifts and we had an Egg hunt (indoors - it is so hard to photos of them hunting inside!)

I found these really neat Bubble Mits for $2.00 at Meijer.  The boys had some fun with them later in the evening.

We really had a very enjoyable day and I'm thankful for such great memories!

 April 2nd - Our day started with a trip to get Haircuts.  Nate is working on a very specific hair style that is reflective of a you tuber he watches.  I'm ok with that because hair is hair - it can be cut and it can grow so lets have fun with it !

 Next, we took advantage of FREE PIZZA!  Little Ceasers was doing a March Madness Free Pizza reward so we went and stood in line!  This guy had been counting down the days for the big day and didn't even take off his coat before enjoying his pizza.

 The best part was that every person in line got a free pizza so we ended up bringing home five lunch combos :-)  It was a fun experience to say the least.  (And free is always good!)

We ended the evening with getting out the slime kits the boys got for Christmas.  We did not have much success making slime, to be honest, but it was fun trying. 

 April 3rd - the boys wanted me to do Easter Activities with the kids that hang out with us each day.  Tuesday was the perfect day because it was cold and rainy (we even got some really strong thunderstorms that made us all jump with the first clap of thunder!) 

 We started by painting these wooded Easter baskets using Q Tip painting designs.  One benefit of doing this after Easter was I got everything Easter related for 50% off! 

 Later in the afternoon we painted relief paintings with bunnies.

 Our last event was Easter Bingo!  It was a lot of fun :-)

 These canvas paintings turned out totally different than I thought they would.  I thought they would draw stripes or swirls all over the back ground but all 4 kids painted a scene around the bunny HA! 

Q tips painting!! 

 April 4th, Wednesday, brought snow.  Yes. snow.  We love snow though so this was a great spring break surprise. 

 The boys wanted to step in it for fun :-)

We then dragged out all of the Snow stuff that I packed away a week ago (I know, it's all my fault) so the boys could play outside in the snow for awhile.  Funny story - all the winter coats were in the truck . .. which Darryl took to work!  So, Josh had to wear my winter coat (yes, I actually have one) and Nate's coat from last year was still in the basement.  Whew!

 Thursday, April 5th dawned bright and beautiful!  The snow was gone and the sun was shining so we took off for the day.  We started at a place called "The Critter Barn" where the boys got to feed baby goats.

 Feed grown up goats. (And watch them poop  . . .What, they ARE boys HA!

 Joshua

 Nathan

 They got to pet rabbits of all sizes. 

And hold chicks.  Not to mention the cat room.  Yes, a cat room.  There were 16 fabulous cats all in one room that we got to pet and play with!  It was awesome.  I want to say one simple truth - I'm a total city girl so I love that there are little farms like this where the boys can hold animals :-)

From there, we headed to Red Robin for lunch.  My burger was fabulous and that's all that matters.  Oh wait, there's one other thing - Nate loved their Mac and Cheese AND we learned that you can get free refills on it which made. his. day! 

We ended our day at the Annual Rock and Mineral show.  Let me tell you the truth, I wanted to poke my eye with a dull stick but these two boys absolutely loved it.  They picked out 4 egg cartons of little stones and gems (only $0.50 each carton!) and a few other treasures too.  They could have spent all day there.  I could not. HA!  Darryl even surprised us by showing up when he got out of work. 

 Friday, April 6th started with McDonald's breakfast !  (Well, it actually started with more snow but it melted very quickly!) Then, we were lazy most of the day.

I may or may not have snuggled with this cute cat in the chair with my book for a few hours :-)

And then I played some a game of Battleship with this sweet boy. 

When ended our Friday by going to see Sherlock Gnomes.  It was a cute movie and we enjoyed it but it wasn't the best movie I've ever seen either!

All in all, I think we had a pretty good week.  We had a few days where we stuck close to home and relaxed in our PJ's most of the day and a few days where we took off and had fun elsewhere! 

Weekly Menu

Sometimes I think to myself, why do I keep writing a weekly menu post?  Well, do you know what I search most on Pinterest?  Menu ideas.  Plain and simple.  Planing a menu and a grocery list is slightly theraputic for this crazy mind of mine that never shuts off.  It is one thing I can focus on, work on and finish every week.  Sure, there are weeks (more than I would like to count) that the orginal menu looks nothing at the end of the week like it did at the beginning but that's ok.

So, here's in the plan on "paper" for the coming week

Friday - Zuppa Soup and Crescents.

Saturday -  Stuffed Shells and Garlic Bread

Sunday - Whatever is in the fridge.

Monday - Chicken BLT Tacos (well, I'll probably have regular Taco meat for most of the family but I want to try these!) Beans and Rice.

Tuesday - Creamy Parmesan Chicken Carbonara, Salad, and Garlic Bread

Wednesday - I still have the excuse of AWANA for just two more weeks to eat out with the boys!!

Thursday - Meatloaf, Mashed potatoes, and Roasted Zucchini

Weekly Menu

Welcome to Easter Weekend.  A few months ago my kids asked why the date for Easter changes so we looked it up (thanks Google!) and read all about the reason why it changes all willy-nilly every year.  Despite knowing the reason behind it, I still say that when Easter comes early, it's just too early!  I don't have time to prepare for it - it needs to be in the middle of April to give me time to recover from the other Holidays! HA!

No matter, there are still 7 days in a week and I still have to plan for 3 meals and snacks every single day holiday  or not! So, with all of that deep thought, here's the plan.

Friday - My mom is arriving today for the weekend!  Sloppy Joes, Baked Beans, Mac and Cheese and Chips and dip are on the menu

Saturday - On the docket today is Easter Egg Hunts!  My mom offered to "Cook" dinner tonight and I won't ever turn that down! 

Sunday - Easter Sunday!  We are all heading to my in-laws for the day.  My in-laws church has an awesome full breakfast followed by a great service and my mother-in-law sings in the choir.  We are going to have a slightly non-traditional dinner - Ham Sammies with salads, chips and dessert.  Trying to keep it easy but still super yummy!

Monday - I'm packing dinner tonight.  The boys have choir and then Tae Kwon Do with only an hour between so lunchables will be our friend tonight.

Tuesday - Crock Pot No Cook Manicotti, Garlic Bread and Green Beans

Wednesday - It's spring break week so there is no AWANA . . .I know I should technically cook but . . I never cook on Wednesday night!

Thursday - Tacos :-)

Our Week in Photos #35

Here's to another fun week!

St. Patrick's Day is one of our favorite holidays.  The "Leprechaun" hides treats all over the house (Rolo's) and "he" does it very sneakily so that two curious boys don't see him.  Let me tell you, that poor Leprechaun has his work cut out for him because those boys are always watching!  Here they are writing him a letter.  Nate's words were, "Mom, I'll know if it is you by the handwriting on the note the Leprechaun leaves.".  Well, when they got the note Nate said, "Wow!  It's NOT you mom - his handwriting is so squishy and he makes his letters backwards HA!  WHEW!

 The cat was trying to catch the leprechaun too HA!

 We spent the afternoon at a local cafe making hula hoops!  For real! 

 Josh and his hoop.

 Nate and his hoop.

 We love St. Patrick's Day shirts!!!  The boys and their finished hoops :-)

 They were both naturals - Nate has some serious hip action and can keep is going for quite a long time!

 Darryl had some fun playing with the hoops when he got home from work too.

 Our annual dinner of Stuffed Cabbage, Crash potatoes, Rainbow Jello and Green Mac and Cheese :-)

 Josh found a recipe for "snow" on a science youtube channel he watches so he made it.  And they played with it for two days.

 My house smelled fabulous from teh cream rinse used and there was a light dusting of baking soda all over the dining room but - they had tons of fun with it and lots of legos!

 Thursday night was the final night of the bowling league.  What a great program this was!  The boys had a blast and picked up some skills too.

Since it was the last night, they got free pizza, t-shirts, trophies AND they turned on the "glow bowl" lights for extra fun!

 The boys decided to create and sell artwork.  Josh is holding the "For Sale" sign.  Amazingly they sold some - a total of $9.00 worth.  A neighbor bought some . . ..

and Darryl might have bought some too HA!