Meal Plan for Jan 30 - Feb 5

I am posting this meal plan, but just like last week's meal plan this one is a little wonky because Mr. Man and I are still in the mountains and the kids are with a friend of ours.

SATURDAY (not sure what the kids are eating but Mr. Man and I are having the below meals:
Breakfast - Biscuits & Gravy / juice
Lunch - Veggie Pizza
Dinner - Out

SUNDAY:
Breakfast - Mr. Man and I are stopping at a Ma & Pop place on the way out of town
Lunch - Pick up kids and eat out
Dinner - Burritos

MONDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - PB&J / chips / apple slices / cookie
Dinner - Au gratin sausage skillet / bread or rolls

TUESDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Burrito / orange / cookie
Dinner - Cheesy Potato Topped Meatloaf / bread / applesauce

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - PB&J / cheese stick / apple slices / chips
Dinner - Beef & Broccoli / steamed rice

THURSDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Meat roll ups / cheese stick / orange / crackers / cookie
Dinner - Oven Fried Chicken / rolls / corn / applesauce

FRIDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Meat roll ups / cheese stick / apple slices / chips / cookie
Dinner - Creamy Chicken Pasta / applesauce

Happy 10th Anniversary

Happy 10th Anniversary -- to me!!

Ten years ago today I married my husband. We have had our shares of ups and downs (don't we all?) and somehow we come out on top of it and I couldn't have asked for a better husband!

It all started in 1997 (this is always an argument because I always tell people it was 1996 but then he pulls out MY scrapbook and proves me wrong!) when I was at a church picnic. My husband and I started talking a little (click here to read more on that story). My mother-in-law (of course she wasn't my mother-in-law back then) would invite me over for dinner and "conveniently" her son would show up too. One thing led to another and soon we were spending more and more time together. It wasn't long before I was attending family get togethers with him. Although I have a large family (3 sisters and 2 brothers), my family doesn't live close so having this family to be with on holidays and such was enjoyable for me and I looked forward to them.

One morning, on a cold January morning 10 years ago, I got a call, waking me up. It was Mr. Man asking what I was doing.

Me: "Sleeping."

Mr. Man: "well, can you come over? Don't shower, just throw on some sweats and come over. I need to talk to you."

Me: "Is everything ok? Are you ok?"

Mr. Man: "Yes. Everything is just fine. Just hurry. And seriously do NOT take time to shower and get ready. Just come over."

Me: "But, can I..."

Mr. Man: (Interrupting me) "No. Just hurry."

click....

So, not sure what I was going into I threw some jeans and a sweatshirt on and headed over to his house. When I got there, I rang the doorbell.

No answer.

Ding dong.

No answer.

Ding dong. knock, knock, knock.

I hear hollering from inside to come in.

I walk in. Mr. Man hollers "Stay there. I will be right out."

Me: "What is going on?"

Mr. Man: "I will be there in one second."

Me in all my nervousness can't even "make myself comfortable", instead I am pacing and pacing around his living room. All kinds of things are going through my head, but none were of what was about to happen.

Pretty soon he emerges from the back bedroom. Not his room, but the spare bedroom - so I immediately know something is up! He is wearing a suit and carrying a bouquet of roses. Keep in mind that this guy was a carpenter when I met him, I didn't even know he owned a suit. He cleaned up quite nicely. Also keep in mind that it is 8:00 or so in the morning...

The rest is somewhat of a blur to me. I may have even passed out. But I do know he said some goopy stuff about spending the rest of his life with me. I didn't expect it at all. It was a total and complete surprise to me. I must have said yes to becoming his wife, but I have no specific recollection of that moment!

After I regained composure, he asked me if I was ready here and now. WHA?? HUH??

Mr. Man: "Seriously. Let's go get married right now. My dad can marry us."

Me: "You're kidding, right?!"

Mr. Man: "No. I'm not kidding at all."

After some talking and him calling his dad we decided to wait. We didn't get married that day, but decided it might be fun to get married on his parents 50th wedding anniversary -- which was only 19 days away.

So, yes folks, I planned a wedding in 19 days.

And succeeded!

We paid for our own wedding with a little help from my mom and from his parents. We had a nice wedding and spent about $1,000.00. We didn't have a huge reception which saved some money. I found my dress on a clearance rack and spent $80.00. My sister-in-law played the piano and Mr. Man's niece (now my niece too!) sang. It was beautiful and I have no regrets.

As has now become a family joke** -- if I had to do it all over again would I still choose my Mr. Man? Yes indeed I would!

**(one of Mr. Man's uncles, who doesn't particularly care for me, asked Mr. Man if he could do it all over would he still choose me to marry and then this uncle was shocked when Mr. Man said yes he would pick me again! So we like to joke about that with each other just for fun!)

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY TO THE LOVE OF MY LIFE

Friday Recipe - Bacon & Tomato Chicken breasts

This is so tasty and I like to serve it with steamed rice and crusty bread. The below recipe serves 2, but it is very easy to double this recipe.

Bacon & Tomato Chicken Breasts
INGREDIENTS:
3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 boneless chicken breasts
1/2 of a small onion, chopped
1/4 lb mushrooms, sliced
1-2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbls butter
2 tsp flour
1/2 c white wine
1 c chicken stock
1 tomato, chopped

In the same pan that the bacon was cooked in, saute chicken breasts and remove. Saute onion, mushrooms, garlic and butter until onions are translucent and then lower heat. Stir in flour to form a paste. Slowly add white wine and chicken stock; stirring constantly. Add tomato and cook over high until sauce thickens.

TO SERVE: Cover chicken with sauce and crumbled bacon on plate.

Our Anniversary Weekend

Since we are staying in a condo for our anniversary weekend I decided to plan a couple meals to eat IN at the condo and of course we will eat out a little too. We have the condo from Thursday night until Sunday morning.

We are leaving this evening so we will probably just eat dinner on the way up to the mountains.

Tomorrow morning (our anniversary) I am planning some pancakes and bacon. Then we plan to take our time getting ready before we head out to tour some of the shops. We will eat lunch out and then we decided we would cook dinner together back at the condo. We are doing an Alaska salmon bake with some steamed veggies, rolls and I have a cake that I made last night (A white cake with raspberry filling!)

Saturday we are eating both breakfast and lunch at the condo and then dinner out.

Sunday morning we will pack up and stop on the way back to town at a little ma & pa restaurant for breakfast.

We both are taking books to read, we rented some movies to take with us, and we are bringing some games too. We plan to just enjoy each other and enjoy the quietness and relax a bit.

I am looking forward to this SO much!

"Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind"

One of my favorite movies is The Princess Bride. It is an oldie, but goodie! On of our earliest dates (probably 3rd or 4th date) Mr. Man started quoting the Princess Bride movie for fun...how could I NOT fall in love with this man??

The quote in the title of this post is from that movie. Our favorite movie. There are so many wonderful quotable quotes in that movie! I just love it!

Anyway, Mr. Man and I have been married now for almost 10 years (we celebrate our 10th anniversary on the 29th) and have known each other 13 years. There have been some ups and certainly some downs too, but I wouldn't change what we have now for anything in the world. I think, in the end, the downs have made us stronger as individuals and as a couple too.

This man I married almost 10 years ago, is my rock, my shoulder to cry on, my best friend, a great teacher, a great father to our three wonderful kids and I trust him with everything that is in me. This man has the ability to bring butterflies to my stomach when he walks in the room - still to this day, 10 years later!

Things I know now, that I didn't know nine years ago:
*I sleep better with him right beside me.
*I love having him to share my secrets with.
*I love watching him with his kids.
*I love laughing with him.
*I married my best friend.
*I need his strong arms and hands that he provides when I am sad or scared.
*He loves me even when I mess up.
*I prefer to sit in the middle of the couch so that I can be as close to him as possible.
*I do things to make him happy even if I would rather do something else.
*He does things just for me even when he wants to do something else.
*He gives up football to be with me.
*I have experienced love at first sight.
*I have experienced the most passionate and most pure kisses of all time!

I can't wait to see what the next 10 years of marriage brings me.

Here is a quote I really like:
"In every marriage more than a week old, there are grounds for divorce. The trick is to find and continue to find, grounds for marriage. ~Robert Anderson

Our Valentine Project - Pink Flamingos

Lefty saw these cute little flamingo valentines in a magazine and he wanted to make them for his class. We made some modifications to the original instructions and we also added some candy.

First we gathered our supplies (to make one flamingo you will need the following):
*glue (we used Elmer's school glue)
*scissors
*1/2 of 1 pink pipe cleaners for the head and neck (the puffy stem kind... I can't remember what the package called them)
*pink card stock
*1 pipe cleaner for the legs (we wanted to use pink but the store was out so we did black)
*2-3 pink feathers (we bought a large bag of pink ones for about $2)
*small googly eye
*black marker
*glue dot or double sided tape (to attach the candy)
*1 piece of heart shaped chocolate candy (ours are Nestle Crunch and Butterfingers)


Then we all started crafting together. The kids did well making these, they are fairly easy but the dry time was the hardest on them.

Here is Lady Bug sketching out her design (hee hee... we already knew what we were going to do but she said she wanted an example to follow!)

First cut out 2 hearts from the pink cardstock for the body of the flamingo. I drew one on a piece of cardboard (a piece of a cereal box actually) and then we traced it onto the cardstock.

Secondly, cut one pink fuzzy pipe cleaner in two. Shape one half into an "S" shape for the head and neck (the other half will be used for another flamingo).

Glue the "S" shape onto the left side of the heart.

Now cut one black pipe cleaner in half and glue both those onto the bottom of the heart and bend to make legs. **NOTE: I tried bending them before gluing them on, but I inevitably needed to reshape them after they were glued.












Glue a couple pink feathers to the right side of the heart .

Then, glue the 2nd pink heart on top of the 1st heart.

Using scraps of cardstock cut a beak shape. None of our beaks were the same shape or size but ultimately they looked good. I folded the paper and cut a beak shape, I felt like the fold helped hold the beak onto the pipe cleaner a little bit better.

Using the black marker color in the end of the beak and glue it to the end of the flamingo's head. Also you will need to glue on your googly eye - you can do it at this point or at the end. Either way, we did it both ways!

At this point we let everything dry and in some cases had to stick a book on top so that the paper wouldn't curl.

After everything had dried, we wrote our Valentine message, leaving room to attach a piece of candy. We wrote "Happy Valentine's Day!" on the front and then did the "To" and "From" on the backside.

I used a glue dot to attach a piece of heart shaped chocolate candy to the front and they seemed to hold up pretty well.

I am linking up to A Soft Place To Land for DIY Day!

What did you do this weekend?

I had a great weekend! I hope you all did too.

I got my grocery shopping out of the way Friday evening (Mr. Man watched the kids while I went so I was in and out in no time! Boy was that nice!)

Saturday -- Mr. Man had to work so the kids and I took our time getting up and about. I baked a cake. I did laundry. I cleaned out and re-organized the bathroom closet. It looks SO good now! The kids and I worked on homemade valentine project (will post pictures hopefully tomorrow!) Our neighbor had extra tickets to a professional basketball game that night so the boys and Mr. Man went. Lady Bug and I stayed home and just had a girls night. We ordered Chinese food for dinner. We watched a Barbie movie. We had some popcorn and candy. Then we painted our nails. Perfect ending to the day.

Sunday -- Mr. Man had to work again so the kids and I headed to church then afterward came home and ate lunch together. Then we worked some more on the Valentine project. Really pretty relaxing day overall.

It was nice. I felt like I got stuff accomplished, but didn't get overworked and worn out!

Meal Plan for Jan 23 - 29

This week's plan is kinda wonky because Mr. Man and I will be heading to the mountains at the end of the week to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary and the kids will be staying with a friend of ours so this is how our meal plan looks this week:

SATURDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal / toast / juice
Lunch - Quesadillas
Dinner - Mexican Pizzas / spanish rice

SUNDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Left overs
Dinner - Spaghetti / salad / garlic toast

MONDAY:
Breakfast - Pancakes / milk
Lunch - Meat roll ups / cheese stick / crackers / apple slices
Dinner - Chicken and broccoli stir fry / steamed rice

TUESDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Left over spaghetti / orange
Dinner - Ham and bean soup / cornbread / applesauce

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Meat roll ups / cheese stick / crackers / orange
Dinner - Left overs (in my house we like to say FFY - Fend For Yourself - because on days like this everyone might be eating something different to use up left overs)

THURSDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal / juice
Lunch - PB&J / chips / cheese stick / cookie / apple slices
Dinner - OUT

FRIDAY:
The kids will be with a friend of ours and Mr. Man and I will be in the mountains!

Friday Recipe - Breakfast Fruit Cobbler

I love cobbler any time, but this one is so cozy on a crisp morning. I like mine with my coffee. Mmm Mmmmm mmmm good. This is also good as a brunch item.

Breakfast Fruit Cobbler
INGREDIENTS:

2 c fresh, canned or frozen fruit (I prefer to do mine with a mixture of raspberries, strawberries and blueberries)
2 Tbls sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp water (or juice from the canned/frozen fruits)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 c quick-cooking oats
1/4 c flour
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon (or 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg)
1/4 c cold butter

Place fruits in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray (pie dish works great)
Mix together sugar, cornstarch, water and lemon juice. Pour over fruit in dish.
Mix together oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit in dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until filling is bubbly. Serve steaming hot with milk or cream.

Big scare

I got a call from Spirit's teacher yesterday morning that he was coughing pretty bad. I have this thing that the school and teachers tend to be more cautious and so I was skeptical that he really needed to go home (not to mention Spirit can be pretty dramatic and sometimes borderlines on being hypochondriac). I asked her to send him to the nurse to check for a fever. The nurse calls back a few minutes later and says he does not have a fever but her opinion was that he really needed to go home and even be seen by a doctor. Again, I was skeptical.

I finished up a couple projects at work and then stopped off to talk to a friend who works on a different floor in my building. Finally, I headed to the school. I called the pediatrician on my way to the school and explained what the nurse told me. The ped's office told me I could just take him home, get him some rest and warm fluids.

I get to the school and Spirit was in the nurse's office. He was a little white and I could tell he really didn't feel well. I start driving home with him in the front seat next to me. He reached over and grabbed my arm. He was gasping for air! I tried not to freak out, but it freaked me out!!!!!

I called back the ped's office and I start explaining the situation and the nurse there said "I can hear him gasping and wheezing can put him on the phone?" I held the phone to his ear (all the while still driving, heading towards the ped's office) and I heard her say "How old are you?" and then after he answered she asked him if he was having trouble breathing and he could hardly speak. Then she said "give the phone back to your mom." She asked me if I was closer to their office or the ER? I said closer to her, so we rushed over there.

They did some breathing treatments and tests. Turns out he just has croup. They told me that croup is usually associated with infants but older children CAN get it especially if they had it as a baby and Spirit did (that was another scary day and could be a whole post in itself involving a young baby gasping in the middle of the night and Mr. Man losing his wallet with a bunch of cash in it at the ER...)

Anyway we are home with vaporizer and had a pretty good night. He has a breathing treatment I need to do with him today but he has color back and I can tell he feels better!

AND now Lefty has a cough, runny nose and a slight fever... UGH!

All of us are home taking it easy today. Good times.

Better late than never

I know Spirit's birthday was last week, but here are some pictures from the big day of skiing and also his birthday dinner and present opening with family!


Here he is getting ready to go skiing. He's got his ski boots on, goggles on and is ready to go!


Here he is on the ski lift with his dad.




And then of course here he is skiing. This is only his 3rd time, but Mr. Man said he did really, really well and was doing some jumps by the end of the day!




Here is the birthday dinner and present opening. {Don't mind the sticker on his forehead, apparently Lady Bug had given him that sticker and we couldn't convince him, until we were almost all done with pictures, to take it off!}

Miscellaneous

This weekend Mr. Man and I finally got the last of the Christmas stuff put away and were organizing the shelves and furniture back to the way it was "pre-Christmas". We decided to rearrange a cluster of pictures I have at the top of my stairs and as we put things up and stood back and looked deciding whether or not the cluster looked good or if needed some "tweaking", here comes Lady Bug--

Lady Bug: "I know guys, we can hang this picture up here. How about right here?"

Me: "What is that?"

Mr. Man: "ummmmm, it's a picture of her friend from school, Joshua"

Me: "You want to hang Joshua's picture on our family wall?"

Lady Bug: "Yes. Why not?"

Mr. Man: "I don't think his picture belongs right there. Can we find a place in your room?"

Lady Bug (very disappointed):"Well, I guess so."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It feels so good to finally have the Christmas stuff put away and we are getting back to routine. Only took us 2 weeks into January to get there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mr. Man and I have been {slowly} working on remodeling our bedroom, I would love to have that project completed too, but so far it isn't progressing very quickly. My goal is by Spring to have it done! Other things have just been ahead of that project priority-wise. Sadly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am getting SO excited for our anniversary weekend coming up at the end of the month! We will be going to the mountains - just the two of us -- yay!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have lots of things to get done today so I guess I better get to it!

Meal Plan for Jan 16 - 22

SATURDAY:
Breakfast - Pancakes / Bacon / Juice or milk
Lunch - Pigs in a blanket / Fruit
Dinner - Ribs / corn / mashed taters / cheddar biscuits

SUNDAY:
Breakfast - Cinnamon rolls / milk
Lunch - Sloppy joes / fries / applesauce
Dinner - Chicken with Lemon Butter sauce / pasta / salad

MONDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal / juice
Lunch - Meat roll ups / fruit / crackers
Dinner - Spaghetti / garlic toast / salad

TUESDAY:
Breakfast - Breakfast sausage balls / juice
Lunch - Left over spaghetti / fruit
Dinner - Left Overs (in my house we like to say FFY - Fend For Yourself - because on days like this everyone might be eating something different to use up left overs)

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal / juice
Lunch - PB&J / chips / fruit
Dinner - Hamburger Rice Skillet / applesauce

THURSDAY:
Breakfast - Pancakes / milk
Lunch - Meat roll ups / cheese stick / crackers / fruit
Dinner - Tuna Noodle casserole / peas / fruit

FRIDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal / juice
Lunch - Meat roll ups / cheese stick / crackers / fruit
Dinner - Burritos

Friday Recipe - Chicken with Lemon Butter Sauce

I found this recipe when I was dating Mr. Man and he loved it and would ask me to cook it for him a lot. One time he asked me to cook it for his mom (so you know he liked it!)

Chicken with Lemon Butter Sauce
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 c olive oil
1/2 c dry white wine
1 Tbls fresh parsley
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp dried crushed red pepper
6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces
3/4 c bread crumbs
3/4 c freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/4 c butter
2 Tbls fresh lemon juice

Mix 1st six ingredients in a large bowl. Add chicken; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat broiler. Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in a separate bowl. Discard marinate. Add chicken to breadcrumb mix and toss to coat. Broil chicken until cooked through, turning frequently, about 8 minutes. Melt butter and mix in lemon juice. Drizzle over chicken.

Crazy schedule

With all that I have on my mind right now:

January 28 - 31 -- Mr. Man and I are in the mountains celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary

February 6 -- Lady Bug's 5th birthday party

February 14 -- Valentine's day

March 1 -- Mr. Man turns 50

April 27 -- Lefty turns 8

Mr. Man wanted to talk about a road trip this summer. I couldn't think that far ahead this morning. He almost sent me over the edge. I mean all the planning for the above events is all I can do right now....don't ask me to think about planning a road trip for 5! YIKERS!!! Let's get through the other stuff first!! He has been thinking about it, obviously quite a bit too, he has some pretty distinct ideas of where to go and all that, but I just couldn't contribute to the planning today. I think I kind of hurt his feelings about it!

WFMW - Cutting and storing onions

This isn't a post on how to cut an onion without tearing up and crying like a baby. I always forget the tips and tricks on that one and I end up bawling like a baby when cutting! BUT, this is, however, how to keep the onion fresher, longer if you cut into it but don't use the whole onion. I don't always use a full onion in my cooking thanks to some finicky little children who don't like onions. Mr. Man and I do (him more so than me) so I will cook with onion, just not as much (so that my kids will eat the meal without a bunch of complaining).

Here is a little trick I learned many years ago from somewhere (not sure where) to cut into the onion starting at the end opposite the roots. This way the roots will help keep the onion fresher longer.

See that stringy end on the right, well that is the rooty end of the onion.

I cut the tip of the onion (opposite of the root) and then peel back the layers.


Cut whatever you want to use of this onion, then wrap tightly and store in the refrigerator until you need to use some more onion. This will keep the onion fresher longer. I don't really know why but it works.

OR, if you don't want to try that, another thing I do sometimes is to just dice up the whole onion and then freeze in a baggie what we don't use (this tip came from SIL!) This way I don't have to worry about wasting any part of the onion. They thaw pretty quickly, so the next time I need a bit of onion I can pull out the baggie from the freezer.

BOTH of these tips work for me!!!

Click HERE for more tips, tricks and helpful ideas!

Spirit turns 9

NINE years ago today I gave birth to my first child. It was an easy labor, compared to some stories I have heard. I woke up at 2:00 am and my water had broke. We got to the hospital about 3-ish. The doctors and nurses warned us that we were in for the long haul, that this was my first baby so we were probably looking at 24 hours or so. I was told to "relax the best I could" and try to rest. Ya right. I was nervous and scared and in a little pain. Looking back, the pain wasn't so bad in comparison to some things, but after every contraction I was throwing up. That was not fun. I asked for the "drugs" as soon as they were able to give them to me (in my mind I was thinking 24 hours of barfing doesn't sound like relaxing or like much fun). If I had known that I wasn't going to be in labor for 24 hours I probably would have just suffered through the barfing.

I had a midwife for this pregnancy which I loved. She was awesome and so gentle. Except that she wasn't able to be there to deliver -- thanks to that whole 24 hour nonsense. At 6 or so they gave me an epidural and the throwing up stopped - thankfully! I was sick of barfing, seriously sick of it! Then at about 8:45 am I called the nurse into my room to ask what would be my next move? She informed me I would probably feel like I needed to have a bowel movement, so I told her that is exactly what I was feeling. She sort of rolled her eyes in disbelief, saying something about there was "no way" because I couldn't be dilated enough. She had me lift my legs and sure enough. The rest is blurry to me. Mr. Man says the next thing that happened was the nurse getting on an overhead page saying something about needing a doctor Stat! An intern doctor made it and was helping me along and then finally a doctor made it in.

It got a little traumatic and I had no idea what was happening, but could see a panicked look on Mr. Man's face so I knew things were scary. They put an oxygen mask on me and then kept staring at screens and telling me not to push. The doctor looked at me and said "I'm just gonna push the baby's head back in and tickle his head. Ok." --- being a woman in labor I wasn't thinking rationally so I said "you're NOT pushing him back IN. He needs OUT."

Apparently the baby's heart rate was dropping too low so they pushed him in and Mr. Man said he could see the heart rate go back up.

Anyway, eventually we tried again and with just a few pushes he was out. It was a beautiful thing!

He still is a beautiful thing. He has a great, tender heart and I love watching all the love he has for people.

Today Mr. Man took off work and we pulled Spirit out of school so the two of them could go skiing. I made cinnamon rolls (Spirit's request) for his early breakfast and tonight I am making Beef Stroganoff for dinner (again, his request).

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Thank you notes

I grew up writing thank you notes to everyone who ever gave us anything or did anything for us. I have been SO bad at making my kids do this...BUT this year I am going to try harder to teach them to be thankful - which I know they are already, but they need to let the giver know how thankful they are.

We are working on our Christmas thank you notes now and hopefully I can get them done before Spirit's birthday hits and we have to start those too! (Since his birthday is tomorrow, I am guessing I am in deep doo-doo!) NOW, I understand why I have been so bad at getting thank you's out, we are hardly done with Christmas thank you's and have to start thinking of Spirit's birthday thank you's!

During the Christmas gift opening I tried to capture the kids opening and showing off their gifts and then the days following I took pictures of them wearing the clothes or playing with the gifts. Then I printed them out using my color printer in 4x6, instead of cutting it down to size I just left it on the full page (i didn't use glossy photo paper, just a higher quality white paper) and had the kids write their thank you on the bottom.


BELOW is a picture of Spirit writing his thank you's (this was taken while he was writing the 1st thank you, the smile wasn't as big by the 6th thank you note because his friends were outside playing and I made him sit at the table to write these!)

[Unfortunately no pictures of the actual thank
you notes, my camera is sick and I
don't know what is wrong with it.
Sometimes it won't take the pictures,
sometimes they are blurry and sometimes
it flashes but then won't store the picture! :-(
So, I tried to get a picture of these thank you notes
and not one would turn out... sorry!]

Meal Plan for Jan 9 - 15

SATURDAY:
Breakfast - Breakfast fruit cobbler
Lunch - Beenie weenies
Dinner - Hawaiian meatballs

SUNDAY:
Breakfast - French toast
Lunch - Quesadillas
Dinner - Beef over noodles

MONDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - PB & J / chips / cookies / fruit
Dinner - Pork Chop Casserole / Peas

TUESDAY: (Spirit's 9th birthday)
Breakfast - Pancakes
Lunch - Meat roll ups / crackers / cheese stick / fruit
Dinner - Ravioli / garlic bread / salad

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast - Cereal
Lunch - Meat roll ups / crackers / cheese stick / fruit
Dinner - Ranch chicken / salad / fruit

THURSDAY:
Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - PB & J / chips / cookies / fruit
Dinner - Breakfast for dinner (probably waffles)

FRIDAY:
Breakfast - pancakes
Lunch - Meat roll ups / crackers / cheese stick / fruit
Dinner - Pizza

Friday Recipe - Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole (easy)

This is a simple dish that is prepared in the microwave. It is such a good side dish and goes with many things.

Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole
INGREDIENTS:
1 (10.75 oz) can of cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 (8 oz) jar processed cheese spread
1 c uncooked instant rice (MUST be instant)
1/2 c milk
dash of pepper
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped broccoli
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 c chopped celery
1 (2.8 oz) can French's fried onions

Combine soup, cheese, rice, milk and pepper in a microwavable safe 2 qt casserole dish. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 12-14 minutes, stirring half way through. Add in remaining ingredients and cook for another 5 minutes (or until broccoli is tender) Sprinkle onions over the top and microwave for 1 minute more.

Emotionally all messed up today

Last night the elementary school sent home paperwork for us to fill out to send Lady Bug to kindergarten this fall. WHAT???

I have been on a roller coaster emotionally ever since. On one hand we have been talking about this day for over a year because although my van needs replacing it runs ok most days so we decided that we would wait until Lady Bug was no longer in daycare (at $800/month) and we would use some of that money towards a new car payment. But now that the day is actually here I am sad. My baby is going off to kindergarten. She is still such a baby, she can't go to school, can she??

As I dropped her off at daycare/preschool today I was teary eyed. I am not ready for her to go to kindergarten. I guess, the reality is that she WILL go to kindergarten and I have until August to get ready for it!

New Year, new me??

Eh, not so much.

I am not dieting. I am not exercising any more than I did in 2009. I am not trying to be more organized or any of that. But, one thing I started that is new to me this year is along with my regular journaling, I am trying to keep a "Family Memory Book" also for 2010. I want to document all the things we do as a family and then put it together in a binder or a book at the end of the year. I was inspired by this article and decided I could easily do that. I made up some pages on the computer and stuck them in my 3-ring binder I use for my journal. I printed off calendar pages that I can jot down our events. Then I also made a "Daily Happenings" page and there I can put in the date of the important events and mark down what we did, who was there with us, etc. Then I also did a Summary page and at the end of the month I will go in and sum up/ highlight what happened each month and my feelings about how the month came together.

I am hoping that if I can do this for several years that we will enjoy reading these over the years. I think it might be interesting to look back and see what we did, who was there, how often we may have gone to a special place, etc.

Some Christmas pics

Ok, ok, ok - I know it is already January, but nevertheless here are some pictures from Christmas!

Here are the boys being lazy after hoopla of Christmas. They were watching a new movie.




Here are the boys really excited and checking out their gifts.

Here is Lady Bug showing off ONE of the Barbie things she got!

2010 roars in with a BANG!

It all starts with Thanksgiving. Then we jump to Christmas and move right on in from there to New Year celebrations. For some it all settles down from there for a bit, not in my house though. We go from the New Year celebrations to a week and a half break and then it is Spirit's birthday. After that we get a 2 week break before Mr. Man and I celebrate our wedding anniversary. After that we have 1 week before Lady Bug's birthday. Phew! Finally after that we get a full 3 weeks before we celebrate Mr. Man's birthday. From his birthday we get a month and a half break before Lefty's birthday. Then it seems like forever and a day before my birthday.

This year is a milestone for Lady Bug - she will turn five, a milestone for Mr. Man - he will turn fifty, and a milestone for our marriage - we celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary!

The point I am making here is I have been shopping and preparing for Spirit's birthday the last couple of days and frankly I am tired. I wish that after Christmas I wouldn't have to be in the stores (which are still crowded with people doing returns and shopping the clearance items!) I am ready for a break from the hustle and bustle of everything. IRGH. In addition to Spirit's birthday I am working on our 10 year wedding anniversary plans and also Mr. Man's 50th birthday celebration. I am feeling very "celebrated" out right now!

It will be a good year but busy! A good busy though. I am only complaining a little bit!! Hee hee.

Meal Plan for Jan 2 - 8

The holidays are over and the kids will be heading back to school Monday! YAY! oh shucks. As a result of this awful event joyous event, our meal planning is back to normal. We won't be eating out or attending parties or even eating on the run as much! Phew! I love the holidays, but sometimes the chaos that comes with it is more than I can handle!

Here is this week's meal plan in my house:

SATURDAY:
Breakfast - monkey bread / juice or milk
Lunch - sandwiches / chips / fruit
Dinner - Hawaiian meatballs and rice

SUNDAY:
Breakfast - cereal / milk
Lunch - Quesadillas / apple slices
Dinner - Beef Stroganoff (Spirit has been requesting this for weeks) / applesauce

MONDAY:
Breakfast - cinnamon toast / milk
Lunch - Meat roll ups / fruit / crackers
Dinner - pork sandwiches / applesauce / corn (these are Mr. Man's specialty so I am off the hook for cooking tonight!)

TUESDAY:
Breakfast - cereal / milk
Lunch - PB&J / chips / fruit
Dinner - Spiral sliced ham / broccoli rice casserole / rolls

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast - cereal / milk
Lunch - meat roll ups / crackers / fruit
Dinner - Spinach and Cheese Ravoli / salad / garlic bread

THURSDAY:
Breakfast - cereal / milk
Lunch - meat roll ups / crackers / fruit
Dinner - Burritos / spanish rice

FRIDAY:
Breakfast - cereal / milk
Lunch - PB&J / chips / cookie / fruit
Dinner - Pizza

Friday Recipe - Monkey Bread

I know there are lots of recipes out there for this, but here is the recipe I have been using for years:

Monkey Bread
INGREDIENTS:
2 cans Grands biscuits
1 c sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 stick butter
1/2 c chopped nuts (optional)
1 c brown sugar

Combine cinnamon and sugar in a large resealable bag. Cut each biscuit into quarters. Shake in a bag with cinnamon and sugar. Arrange in a 9x9 baking pan (or a bundt pan) that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Melt butter and mix in brown sugar, bring to a boil and lower heat, cook 2 minutes. Mix in nuts. Pour over biscuits, lifting edges so that the mixture can reach bottom of pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.