Monday Menu

I seem to have come down with a cold and I'm feeling very blah this morning, so I'll make this short and sweet.
I actually made my menu and grocery list yesterday, so I was able to get the shopping done right after I dropped the kids off this morning and now I won't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. :)

Menu:
Monday- ?? (yep, I planned the whole week and wasn't able to come up with something for tonight)
Tuesday- leftover enchiladas
Wednesday- pasta
Thursday- tacos
Friday- slow cooker chicken stroganoff
Saturday- pancakes, ect...
Sunday- Superbowl, maybe take-n-back pizza from Costco?


To-Do's:
Monday- Grocery shopping, drop-off at post office (both done!)
Tuesday-
Wednesday- small group (bring cheesecake)
Thursday-
Friday- kids winter program @ school, dance for M
Saturday-
Sunday- Superbowl

I need to get the the DMV this week, I'm just not sure which day I'm going to do it. Hopefully it won't take TOO long there and I'll have some time to do a little shopping in town too.

I'm such a copycat decorator

I really do love to decorate, but I seem to always get stuck on what to do. So, after browsing blogland last night I put together some Valentines decorations on my shelves. Almost everything up here are ideas that I took from other blogs, but I guess that's why people post pictures of that stuff (and tell you where to get it), right? :)

(sorry about the weird colors and shadows in the photos)


This shelf has the red vines (bought at the Dollar Store, score!) in the vase that I already posted about, as well as the Target dollar spot mailboxes (she didn't post where those were from, but I found the same ones there today, so that's what I'm guessing). I have since put the kids' initials on the front of them with red glitter glue. :) I also printed the free subway art (also on the eighteen25 blog) that I've seen tons of people using in blog land. It's a 16x20 file, but I printed it as an 8x10 so it would fit my space. The frame is one I had laying around. I would love a big chunky white frame, but I'm using what I have. :) The hearts in back are from the Dollar Store and were posted about by another blogger (that I didn't bookmark, sorry!). The gumballs in the jar are another "use what you have". In a perfect world that would be FULL of Valentine M&Ms, but I didn't want to buy 3 bags of M&Ms at almost $3 a pop. :)

This shelf is slightly more original (just slightly). The "Love" was another blogland find, which pointed me to the Target dollar spot again, and then there's more of the Dollar Store heart picks. The book is one my mom gave me for Christmas. It's a first edition copy of Four Valentines In a Rainstorm from when I was a kid. I use to love this book, and I was so excited when my mom gave it to me. Perfect to display for Valentine's Day too. :) The teapot (house) was a Christmas present from M, she picked it out all by herself. I stuck some hearts out the spout and I think it looks pretty cute up there. The green vase in back is one I've had for a while, it's from the Target dollar spot too. :) (and then there's my cookbooks that live up there...)

Anyway, just wanted to share my cute little Valentine decorations. I really like how it turned out. I may add to it, but for now I think it's fun and cute. :)

I also have my heart wreath on the door again, I love walking up to a cute door every time I get home from one of the multiple times I leave the house each day. :)

I want to live here!

I was clicking through blogs last night looking at all the fun Valentines decorations when I came across this picture (found on this blog).

I love the red vines (Matthew's FAVORITE) and that huge jar of M&Ms! I love the 3 little mail boxes. I love how bright and cheery it all looks. :)

I'm going to try to take some of those ideas and use them in my house. I will for sure be doing some red vines (and I think they would look awesome for patriotic holidays with some blue and white candy too!!), but we'll see where it goes from there.

Monday Menu, ect...

To-Do's for the week:
Monday- Grocery shopping, mail back some returns
Tuesday- maybe errands in town, maybe OMSI presentation at M's class
Wednesday- Cast party from Charlie Brown play in the evening
Thursday- dentist for me, OMSI family night at kids' school??
Friday- Dance for M, Mom's night out :)
Saturday- ??
Sunday- ??

Menu:
Monday- Pancakes with fruit
Tuesday- grilled chicken (w/o the grill) and sweet potato fries
Wednesday- trying a new one... Burger & Fries Pot Pie
Thursday-
Friday- Mom's night out, something easy for the fam
Saturday-
Sunday- Enchilada pie (just like regular enchiladas, but I don't roll them up, I just layer it like lasagna)

I'm really having a hard time with the menu lately. I thought it would get easier now that I can add dairy back in, but it really hasn't. I feel like I just need a break from it all. Planning, shopping, cooking, it's a never ending job. I know that's not actually going to happen, but it's my blog and I can dream, right? :)


Since I haven't posted pictures in forever, here are a few I took last week. I usually get Matthew a new photo mug for Christmas, but I didn't this year, so we took some pictures to make one for his birthday.
This is what I ordered...



I really like this one too, but I think that's the mommy goggles. :) I just love how N is looking at the camera. Too bad the other two weren't looking.

Monday stuff (on a Tuesday)

Sorry, I'm all thrown off from this 3 day weekend. :)

Things are starting to finally pick back up after the Christmas break, I think we'll be back to our full schedule this week (until t-ball/softball season starts in the spring).

To-Do's:
Monday- playdate and Matthew came home early :)
Tuesday- grocery store, post office
Wednesday- Costco, (other errands in town??), small group
Thursday- ??
Friday- dance starts back up for M
Saturday- ??
Sunday- church

So, things shouldn't be too crazy buys for the next few months. I do need to go to the DMV sometime soon to renew my license before it expires on my birthday next month. I tried to make an appointment, but apparently our DMV doesn't take appointments?? I'm going to have to take N with me too, SO not looking forward to that!!


In food news, I've given N more cheese and some yogurt (which he LOVES) and he's doing fine with it, so I think it was just a coincidence that he got a tummy bug right after we gave him cheese last week. (I also finally tried peanut butter and he LOVES it!!) So, I'm now trying to remember everything I haven't been able to cook in almost a year. I know I want fettuccine alfredo with chicken and roasted broccoli and cheese muffins, but I'm trying to ease back into it and those things are super cheesey.

So, the menu for the week: (will come back and fill the rest in later)
Monday- pasta with meat sauce (got bumped from last week)
Tuesday- BLTs
Wednesday- Nachos
Thursday- pesto pasta w/ chicken
Friday-
Saturday- taco pie
Sunday- ziti

Monday Menu

Well, I have some great news... I gave N cheese yesterday with his snack and he has not spit-up at all from it!! I'm so excited that he finally seems to be able to tolerate some dairy! I'm going to pick up some baby yogurt today to try next I think. :)

Menu:
Monday- Personal pizzas (with cheese for all!)
Tuesday- Taco skillet pie
Wednesday- ??
Thursday- Hot dogs and garlic fries
Friday- Chinese chicken salad
Saturday- Pasta
Sunday- Mexican chicken something...

To-Do's:
Monday- drop off carload of clutter at good will, grocery shopping
Tuesday-
Wednesday-
Thursday-
Friday-
Saturday-
Sunday-

Look at that, nothing planned all week. Woohoo!! I'm sure I'll be doing stuff, but it's nice to not have a bunch of stuff already booked on top of the daily stuff. Dance starts back up for M next week, but I think things should stay pretty mellow until T-ball/Softball season starts in the spring. Of course February will be crazy anyway, but that's just a given in this family.

Back to blogging

Sorry I've been away so long! My wonderful mother-in-law (and her husband) brought up their old computer right before Christmas and Zack got me all set up. The only thing we couldn't find and get back from my old computer were my photoshop actions. I'm having to learn to actually edit my own photos (lol), but other than that I didn't loose anything.

We had a very busy Christmas season and there's no way I'm ever going to blog about everything we did, so I'm not even going to try.
I took quite a few pictures of our advent stuff during the month and I'm working on a scrapbook page (woohoo, I can scrap again!!) with all of the pictures, but here's a couple for now...

Making ornaments (which they LOVED)

cookies...

"Crunchy the snowman" with their cousins...


N had his 15 month appointment while I was without a computer too. He's still little (other than his huge head!), but he seems to be on a curve now and not dropping more, so that's good. He was 19lbs, 14ozs and 29.5" long.
He's talking SO much now, and I love it!! He picked up on the word "cool" and loves to say "Mama cool", "Daddy cool", "Kizzy cool", and "RyRy cool" among other things. M had to work really hard to get him to say she was cool. I also taught him to say "Awesome" and it's pretty funny to hear. He says "Ahh Hum".
He knows so many of his body parts now too, and will point to and say them when asked.
He's climbing on things, throwing, kicking, and running like a crazy boy now.
I can't remember what age the other kids did this stuff, but I feel like he's super smart and athletic and doing everything super early, like he's a genius or something. lol I'm just amazed at what he does every day and I'm so enjoying this age. :)
He's still nursing, we're just doing twice a day now, and I'm planning on weaning him in another month or so. I would love to keep going, but I would also love to get away for a night with just Matthew, so I think for my sanity he'll need to be weaned soon.
I've started eating some dairy and he seems to be handling it well. I've been eating mostly cheese and chocolate, but have had some dishes (and holiday treats) with milk and butter too. He's spitting up a tiny bit again, but nothing much. I've tried to give him grated cheese and he freaks out whenever I put it near him, not sure what that's about, but he won't even touch it. I guess I'll have to cut some up in cubes for him.

Here are a few pictures of him from the last couple days...

He's obsessed with wearing my heals now

Last night after nursing he decided to lay down and watch some TV with Daddy :)

(that's our new couch too, by the way) :)

The little climber himself

(ignore the wires and bad set-up, it's temporary until we get a cabinet or something for right there)

I think all the Christmas photos are on Facebook, so I'm not going to repost them all here.

So, I'm back online, and hopefully I'll be better about blogging now! Happy 2011!