Weekly Menu with links

I thought I'd try something new. I put a lot of effort into my weekly menu planning so I thought I'd share. I actually saw this on another blog but I'm not sure yet how to "subscribe?" to her Menu Plan Monday. See there are more neurotic freaks like me out there!!

Ok...onto the weekly menu:

Sunday: Slow Cooker Pepper Steak with rice
Monday: Buffalo Chicken Chili Mac
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: Poor Mans Stroganoff
Thursday: Noodle Bowl & Biscuits
Friday: Mediterranean Roast Beef Pita & CA BBQ Beans
Saturday: Chicken Cheesesteak w/ Peppers
Sunday:One Pot Pasta (penne pasta, add broccoli florets, toss with crushed garlic, olive oil, zest and juice of a lemon, salt and pepper and lots of parmesan)

start of the weekend in pictures

Update on Powdered Milk:
I mixed it, I let it chill over night in the fridge, I drank a sip and actually threw up a little in my mouth. Until times get much much worse we'll be splurging for the three-dollar-something-gallon of milk.

Friday night we had our monthly Bunco game. While all the ladies were getting together Matt hosted a cook-out for misplaced husbands and children. Here Tyler is explaining about the charcoal and how it's dangerous and we shouldn't touch it. This should link to a video of Tyler here.

And following are some Halloween themed Bunco pictures:

Dana out did herself with her decorations and food table presentaion.

here's the hostest with the mostest

head table

and it wouldn't be a true Bunco party if there weren't some derivative of the electric slide

It was a fun night and the most important part was that I had the most "wins" and went home with a net profit of $10. Yay!!

Today I made up my weekly menu and we did our grocery shopping. And Matt worked in the basement sanding and painting the bathroom.

Dinner:

Pasta with Chicken, Artichokes, Red Bell Pepper, and Goat Cheese (they want to make me pay to see the recipe but if you already have a subscription you could check it out.) It was delicious even though I substituted Feta cheese for the goat cheese.

and for dessert I wanted to use up some canned pumpkin I had so I found these Cocoa Oatmeal Cookies from one of my favorite blogs.

Tyler's quote of the day:

"Mommy, are you done trimming my finger-toes?" (he meant toe nails but I didn't have the heart to correct him. too cute.)

***FAQs***

(I really only had one but thought a FAQ section would make me seem like I'm cool.)
A dear reader of mine asked me "what the heck is vanilla hemp milk?"

Living Harvest Vanilla Hemp Milk is my latest find in attempting to follow the suggestions and fads suggested by the healthy balance blogging community. It's full of healthy thing-a-ma-jiggs, doesn't contain soy and tastes so so sweet. I'm going to go buy some of that Fiber One twig & stick cereal and use vanilla hemp milk with it and I'm sure it will be edible and even yummy.

according to their website Living Harvest Vanilla Hemp Milk contains:

800 mg Omega-3 with SDA
2600 mg of Omega-6 with GLA
All 10 Essential Amino Acids
4 g Digestible Protein
Vitamins A, B12, D, E, Riboflavin & Folic Acid
Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Iron & Zinc
40% Daily Value of Calcium
Ingredients
Hemp Nut Base (Filtered water, Whole Hemp Nut [Shelled Hemp Seed]), Brown Rice Syrup, Natural Vanilla With Other Natural Flavors, Disodium Phosphate, Xanthan Gum, Calcium Phosphate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2, Riboflavin, Vitamin B12.

should I be freaking out? are you?!

Well, as history is currently writing itself it's just not looking good folks. I mean c'mon a loss of 600 more points today?! What are y'all thinking selling in these times. Oh well, at least we're continuing to buy these dirt cheap stocks and hopefully we'll be able to realize a gain in 10 years or so. But in the mean time, I'm all about frugal living and figuring out where I can save a buck or two. My glass of wine at dinner is out the door as of now ...but my membership to Netflix...not quite yet. I did make up some powdered milk today but Matt vetoed that saying he had bad memories of a childhood friend having to drink that stuff. He said he vowed (at the age of 8) to NeVeR drink powdered milk again. We'll see what he says when the Dow drops another 600 pts.

I tried to get video today of Tyler's stutter. He was having trouble getting his words out right up until the time I started recording. Then he just talked normal and I didn't like the sound of my voice so unless you come to visit me you'll never see/hear that video. =)

For dinner I made my Everyday Food magazine's recipe of Emeril's Seafood Mac-n-Cheese.
With all the whole milk, cheese and pasta, it's not the best For you but it sure tastes good. It made enough for Matt and the kids to have for dinner tomorrow since I will be next door at the monthly Bunco game. Dana's hosting for the first time. (she took the last 4 days off from work to prepare!! So if you remember when I freaked out about my turn to host, now you know I'm not alone.)

And to close here's Chloe desperately trying to get some attention and ultimately the greatest reward of all....Wet Cat Food.

Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day

We got our first rain in over a month today and although we really needed it I don't need to like it. Maybe it was the rain or maybe it was my shrinking jeans but I dragged my flabby bum down to the basement and did a 2 mile jog on the treadmill. I watched the Daily Show while working out so I burned a few extra calories from laughing so hard. He's my hero and between his show and Stephen Colbert's show I don't really need to get my news from any other source.

After school and after a quick lunch at home we headed out to our new Wednesday playgroup. We originally planned to meet at the same park we were at last week but due to the inclimate weather we had to change our plans. Instead we went to Jumping Jelly Beans to bounce, run and play for a couple of hours. Lauren, Tyler and Sebastian played together and for the most part neither I nor the other "Miss Christine" had to do much to help out. Even on the gigantic slide, all three kids were able to climb up to the top and slide down on their own. There were a lot of laughs and screams of joy as the kids flew down the slide. After an hour and a half my two kids quickly wound down. Tyler kept rubbing his eyes and face and Lauren actually laid down in the middle of the bouncy palace and sucked her thumb. It was time to get our shoes on and head back home for a quick nap.

At 5pm and after an hour and a half nap, I woke Tyler up. Groggily he went downstairs and I opened Lauren's bedroom door to help her wake up. She was completely out so I just left her door opened. When I went back upstairs 15 min. later I found her sleeping in Tyler's bed. ***a.k.a. her old bed*** Later when I asked her why she laid down in Tyler's room she said she didn't. She had no memory of it.

Here they are after waking up a little more. I was able to snap the picture during their natural laughs and smiles.




Dinner was leftovers and then I headed out to my ladies Impact Group (basically a Bible study group) and Matt did the bedtime routine with the kids. He said it went fine and even gave them baths all on his own. He's such a good Daddy but I didn't need to tell y'all that.

Mommy, I want something else.

This actually sounds very pathetic and whiny...so make sure you read it correctly.

Mommeeeeee, I wannn sumtheeeeen elllllsssse.

I hear this about 10 times a day from Tyler. It simply means he is bored or he wants to do something but wants me to suggest it. It's pretty cute...annoyingly cute but cute none-the-less.

He's also picked up a stutter within the past couple of days. It just seems his mouth is struggling to spit out what his brain is wanting to say. He'll repeat a word over and over or just the first part of it before getting it out. Don't worry, I've already scoured the internet looking up this issue and it appears to be perfectly normal for a 2-3 year old. He has started talking so much more within the past few months...it's quite amazing.

At school today Lauren's class had a visit from a police officer. They got to see the police officer's car, hear the siren and also see a police 4-wheeler "with lights on it." (in true Peachtree City golf cart fashion, the police also patrol the golf cart paths on 4-wheelers.) I asked her if the police officer was a boy or a girl. She laughed and said, "silly Mommy, you know all police officers are boys." So we got to chat that women can also be police officers and when she grows up she can be anything she wants to be.

And while I'm waiting for the presidential debate to come on tv let's chat about the economy. We're starting to get a little worried here. We track our brokerage accounts and stocks in Quicken and have been watching them plummet for the last week or so. We have our safety net (3-6 months of salary saved in an easily accessible account) but we would really love to not have to use it. I'm starting to look for ways to save money where I can. How are all of y'all dealing with the poor economy. Any suggestions on how to save money?

OK, now go watch the debate, get educated and VOTE. 4 weeks to go.

(and to Mariana, you might not be able to watch the US presidential debate in Brasil but go ahead and start up that blog so I can hear more about your life. I'm sure I'll pick up portuguese no problem.) =)

she's a little sensitive

Even though Tyler begged me, "Noooo, don't go get Lauren, Mommy, okaaaay?!" We still went to pick her up after school. In the car-pool line I hung her LAUREN name tag from my rear-view mirror and crept up in the slow and delayed stay at home mom manner. One after another, the kids were led into their PTC golf carts, various minivans and even a few gas guzzling SUVs (like our own.) Finally, the teacher led Lauren up to our car and then walked her right passed and tried to hand her off to the car behind me. I thought this was sort of funny...since the car behind me displayed the name "Adrielle" but Lauren didn't think it so funny. In fact, she burst out in terrified tears and could hardly contain herself as the teacher led her back to my car and apologized profusely.

We had to have another talk about why we don't cry in the 4-year-old classroom but we also came up with some witty responses if this situation ever were to happen again. Such as..."My Name is Lauren, Can't you Read?!" no just kidding... Next time we'll just say..."Hey that's not my lame mini-van, my car is that big red one which is obviously using more of the earth's resources than any car should". Either way...we don't need to cry because although they may lead her to the wrong car there's no way they will put her in it.

And that concludes the "just barely interesting" and yet, most interesting part of our day.



Here are a couple of pics from bedtime story time:

And if you're interested...I made the Chicken Cacciatore w/ Polenta from the latest Everyday Food magazine for dinner tonight. It was good although Matt said he would have preferred chicken breast to chicken thighs. Me too I suppose, but darnit, chicken thighs are a heck of a lot cheaper. Oh well.

Enjoy your Monday y'all.

did y'all miss me?

Sorry I just disappeared but we took advantage of one of Matt's business trips and called it a family vacation. He had a conference in Guntersville, Alabama and we all stayed at the Lake Guntersville Lodge for a couple of days. It was so much fun to get out in the country. And I mean Country...as in Dukes of Hazzard style country and more simply meaning no internet nor cell phone coverage. We had a good time playing outside at various playgrounds and also taking short hikes around the lodge. It totally sparked a desire to go camping. This may happen sooner rather than later since the weather this time of year is absolutely perfect for camping.

Following is a picture diary of our trip...

wearing Mommy's "bling bling" glasses while we load up the car.

on the road again...I can't wait to get on the road again. (oh sorry that was a song my Dad liked to listen to but....anyway here we are on the road.)

Tyler's bed (a.k.a. sleeping bag) at the lodge. He was so tired by the time we got to bed the first night that he actually laid down himself and went to sleep on his own.

our view from the balcony. Lake Guntersville in the Tennessee valley.

Lauren and Tyler enjoy the early morning cool breeze on the balcony.

And now we head to the playground:

even Mommy had fun on the "turny thing"

We came home in time to get a party together to watch the Oregon Duck v. USC game which was to be broadcast on ABC. After making all the calls, getting everybody over to the house and the cook-out all set up...we found out THE GAME WOULDN'T BE BROADCAST ON TV IN OUR AREA! Big bummer; but as I understand it, my Ducks for some reason lost so it was alright I didn't get to see it. Instead, we just hung out with friends and everyone had a good time regardless. Here's a pic of Lauren all ready for the game.

And today, Sunday, we invited Tera over to come play while the Daddy's watched football. (Matt actually worked on the basement for half of the day but was able to find a couple of hours to watch some football.)

Here are the sweet little angels dressed as princesses

and here is the group (Joshua came over to play too) The favorite thing to play with, as of late, is our cars. They get to punch and push and pull all the buttons and levers they like but they all understand the ONE RULE we have in Daddy's car.....Do Not Touch The Emergency Brake. So far so good...and the trees in the line of fire thank us for that rule.

looking tough as they eat granola bars

looking sweet as sugar as they eat their granola bars

and pretty much...here in the South they don't really care. Driving ages are simply meant as guidelines. [wink, wink]

For dinner tonight we invited Tera, her brother Tyler (Big Tyler) and Mr. Mike over to eat. I made the kids spagettios and chicken tenders and us adults had Spinach and Prosciutto Lasagna. Delish all the way around.

And now I'm trying to get caught up on e-mails and Tivo'd shows. Enjoy your evenings.