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Monday, April 30, 2012

Meal Planning Monday : April 30

We seem to be moving at break neck speed these days.  I just have realized I've really slacked off on taking pictures and that means I'm missing some cool things the kids are doing.  I am going to really try and get my act together and get back in the swing of things!

Despite the mayhem this past weekend, I did manage to sit down and meal plan for the week.  It isn't a fancy menu, but it is a plan - and that is what we are aiming for these days.

Monday:  Black Bean Soup (Moosewood) and Cornbread
Tuesday: Pimento Cheese Burgers (yum!!)
Wednesday: Roasted Carrot and Potatoes with Chicken (or turkey if it gets defrosted!)
Thursday: Ordering Pizza - a rare treat!
Friday:  Big Salad with grilled tuna and other yummy stuff

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Walk around the yard














Everything is blooming really early this year and it has kind of messed up our purposeful color combination and staggered bloom time plantings.  So right now lots of things are in full bloom - even though they shouldn't be for about 3 weeks!  It looks great right now - but is probably going to be pretty barren in a few weeks.  So I walked around and snapped a few pictures of things that were open.  It had rained over night and many still had droplets on them, which made them look pretty cool.

Now if I could just the web page to put them on the way I wanted to - I'd be all set.



Monday, April 23, 2012

Meal Planning Monday : April 23


Another crazy week - and I had let the meal planning slip, so I am trying to get back into the swing of things.  Nothing fancy going on this week, just trying to make use of what we have and eat at least semi-healthy.

Monday: Soft Tacos and make 2 loaves of bread for the week and some Preschool Crack (ok, Bunny Bait) for the kids to take for snack week at school

Tuesday: Pasta w/ sauteed sugar snaps, red peppers, walnuts and lemon ricotta cheese
Wednesday: BBQ Ribs in the Slow Cooker, fried okra, and corn
Thursday: Loaded Baked Potatoes
Friday: Left overs or homemade pizza

This weekend I'm hoping to get a turkey breast thawed and cooked so we can munch on that for a few days early in the week.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Rainy Day

It has been raining most of the weekend and the kids are going absolutely stir crazy.  This, of course, leads to melt downs, tantrums, and general destruction of the house.  At one point the boys wanted to go outside and play so badly that we simply had to give in and let it happen - even though it was rainy and 48 degrees.  We warned them it would be cold, that they needed a jacket, and shoes. 
No luck.  Out they all bolted half dressed and full of energy.  This little outing lasted about 15 minutes before they all returned shivering and requesting dry clothes and warm snugs under a blanket.  But while they were out Doug snapped this picture of Reece - mowing the pavement - in the rain - in his jammies - barefoot.  Apparently, we are "that " kind of parents...

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Planting Tomatoes and Dinner with the Brothers

Gabe planting tomatoes with Daddy

All the boys eating together at the kid table.
 Spending a nice day outside is always fun.  Gabe planted tomatoes to snack on with Doug and we finished up by having dinner outside.  The boys all wanted to eat together at the 'little table.'  Good times.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Let me tell you a secret...


It is so fun to watch the boys figure out new things - like what is funny, what is silly, what a secret is, etc.  We were doing an 'everybody wash your hands' event before going to dinner and the cutest thing happened.  Gabe went over to Grayson and told him to he had to tell him something. 


Then he leaned in and whispered (as well as a 3.5 year old can) "Grayson, I'm telling you a secret!"  That WAS the secret, but still, pretty darn funny.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Worn Out...

I don't know why this insists on loading upside down!
Today Doug took the boys to work in Berryville and wore them out completely. 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Beautiful Flowers

Gabe has become our dandelion control system this spring.  He has taken to picking every little yellow flower that opens up and bringing them to me with the instruction to "smell the beautiful flowers, Mommy!" My kitchen is now full of them, and yes, I literally sneeze every time I enter the room.  But really, who could resist this:
For you, Mommy!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Meal Planning Monday - a day late! April 10

We have really fallen off the meal planning wagon the last few weeks.  I have resolved to get my act together and do a better job.  I hated that each day we had no plan - which meant Doug and I ended up eating crap a lot. 

So - with that said, this week we are having:

Monday: Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Tuesday: Ham (left over from Sunday) and Cheese Frittata w/ salad
Wednesday: Pasta with sauteed Broccoli Rabe
Thursday: Navy Bean Soup (made in crock pot overnight with ham bone from Tuesday)
Friday: Homemade pizza with prosciutto, ricotta, and asparagus

Linking to OrgJunkie where MPM lives

On a much happier note, I have continued to purge from our overcrowded/outdated closet.  I am happy to report that I have gotten rid of three large totes of clothes - about half were mine and half were things Reece has outgrown.  It feels great!  I have been trying to get Doug to do the same, but he is just not as willing.  He has managed to get rid of all of 3 articles of clothing.  That's it - even though there are things on his side of the closet he has not worn in over 5+ years.  He just won't part with them.  I fear it is his pack-rat gene kicking in.  I'm not sure what to do about it - but I am going to keep at it.  I am finding the process really liberating and I feel great getting rid of things I have been packing up/pulling out and not wearing for several seasons now.  I figure once I see what I have that I am actually wearing I will be ready to look at getting some new clothes - which is exciting, as I have been pregnant twice in the last 3.5 years - so my clothing options have been pretty limited!

Sunday, April 8, 2012

The Easter Egg Store


Today the boys decided to play "Easter Egg Store."  They worked together to get the wagon where they wanted it, then flipped it over.  Then Reece and Gabe retrieved the little chairs and brought them to wagon - where Gabe was selling and sharpening the eggs on the wheels.  (?? I don't know, this is what he kept telling me.)  When they ran out of eggs, they picked more.  Apparently, my kids have Easter eggs growing on our maple tree - because that is where they went to get them.


Saturday, April 7, 2012

Trampoline Hair


This weekend was pretty dry - and Grayson suffered from some serious trampoline hair.

There was so much play and outside time that around 2:00 Grayson simply gave in to the need for sleep and laid down and fell asleep on the trampoline for over an hour!


Thursday, April 5, 2012

Kool-Aide Easter Eggs

This year we decided to dye Easter eggs for the first time.  I saw a blog post on how to use Kool-Aide to dye your eggs and decided to give it a try. 

The kids were super excited (we've never done it before) and I was excited that it didn't make my whole kitchen smell like vinegar.  All we had to do was mix a packet of Kool-Aide with 2/3 cup of water and dip them.  The color developed really fast and we even mixed some colors to try and make new colors.  (This only worked on some colors - like yellow and blue did make a nice light green - but we never managed to get a nice lavender.)