Weekly Meal Plan - Week 7

Monday: Ham and Broccoli Quiche

Tuesday: Spaghetti Squash with french bread

Wednesday: Broccoli Cheese Soup in bread bowls

Thursday: Lasagna with sauteed spinach

Friday: Mushroom Bean Burgers on pretzel buns with wedge salad

Saturday: Veggie Garden Pizza (make it up as you go along)

Sunday: Leftover Lasagna

And just for fun: Rum Cake

Smashing a snowball on Daddy's head.

Chilly Papa (at Chili's). I love how K's foot is up-turned.

Tight squeeze hug for Daddy.

Building a tower out of puzzle pieces.

Weekly Meal Plan - Week 6

Somehow we ended up not eating several of the meals from last week. I think we had more leftovers than I had anticipated plus I went out to dinner with the Ladies on Friday. Here is what we have for this week:

Monday: Leftover Rotisserie Chicken Wraps (this is a recipe I got from a free booklet at the local grocery store by my parents during Christmas) with corn

Tuesday: Turkey Meatloaf with roasted asparagus

Wednesday: Pico de Gallo Chicken Quesadillas (I never made these last week)

Thursday: Leftover White Bean and Sausage Saute

Friday: Simple Turkey Chili (I never made this last week)

Saturday: Leftover Turkey Meatloaf with peas

Sunday: Leftover Chili with green beans

I think since I'm accounting for more leftovers that I should be more accurate on my menu this week.
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In other news, K is doing AMAZING with Operation Underpants. She doesn't even bat an eye having to wear the undies. My cousin recommended just plainly stating that she would be wearing underpants and not giving her the option between diapers and underwear and that really worked. About 2 days before we made the switch I started talking to her about it saying "On Monday you'll be wearing big girl underpants from now on. Isn't that exciting?" Of course she would say "no" but she was smiling so it was more of a game than a tantrum or anything. I would casually mention it a few times each day and by that Monday it was no big deal at all. We've even been able to go on several longer outings with no accidents at all. I bring along her little stand-alone potty and keep it in the van and in between every few stores or parks, etc. I have her try and go and every time she's gone. Plus, she's really great about telling us if she has to go. I will ask her periodically if it seems to me that it's been a long time since she went last but if she says "no" I say "ok" and don't pressure her to go. Usually a few minutes after I ask she'll tell me she has to go. I think that has a lot to do with her desire to be more independent and make the decision to go by herself. Anyway, A and I are so incredibly proud of her. We don't have the potty chart anymore and we stopped any rewards for going too (she used to get two fruit snacks for tinkle and four for poopies). Now I just periodically give her a fruit snack pack for no reason and she seems happy with that. She hasn't even asked about them once.

We've had some really nice weather here this past week so we took advantage and went for some walks after Daddy got home from work.

There's nothing quite like a moonlit stroll with the family.

This was our first time out of the house since we went to undies so we
brought the potty with us, just in case.

She was killing me with this stroller. It might be hard to tell but she's
RUNNING with it. She looked like a crazy shopping cart lady.

The sunset was gorgeous.

And it kept getting prettier as the night went on.

Warmer temperatures + small piles of leftover snow = PUDDLES!

I love her reflection in this one.

There was lots of running.

Lots and LOTS of running.

And plenty of splashing too.

The hardest part was getting her to keep her fingers
out of her mouth after touching the water. Yuck!

Weekly Meal Plan - Week 5

Monday: Creamy rice, chicken and spinach
Tuesday: Creamy bow-tie pasta with chicken and broccoli
Wednesday: Lentil Soup
Thursday: Left overs
Friday: Pico de Gallo chicken quesadillas
Saturday: Simple turkey chili
Sunday: Probably more left overs or order pizza

So Operation Underpants is going very well. Day 1 had as many accidents as it had successes but today (day 2) there were only two minor accidents where she started going but alerted me to it and was able to finish going on the potty. I'm really proud of her. She has been doing so great with potty training. She is the one who had the interest in the beginning to want to do it and even when she was still wearing diapers she would (frequently, but not always) tell us before she had to go. When I gave her 'naked time' she never had an accident. Maybe I should have gone right to undies from diapers instead of nudie booty in between but honestly, I still think she is doing amazing. I'm sure it's a bit confusing for a kiddo to go from wearing something absorbent that doesn't matter if you tinkle in it to wearing cloth undies that don't hold liquid. I'm guessing tomorrow that she'll have even less accidents although we're going to stay home for the rest of the week to make sure she really understands.

Weekly Meal Plan - Week 4

Hey look, for once I'm on time with my meal plan! This past weeks grocery total was a record low for us so that was cool and from the looks of my grocery list for this week it's going to be another cheap trip to Kroger. Yay!

Monday: Alphabet Pasta with Great Northern Beans, Italian bread and broccoli

Tuesday: Spinach salad with strawberries and walnuts

Wednesday: Leftover creole with brown rice

Thursday: Asian chicken stir fry

Friday: Lentil soup (recipe from This Week for Dinner)

Saturday: Creamy bow-tie pasta with chicken and broccoli (recipe from allrecipes.com)

Sunday: Creamy rice, chicken and spinach (recipe from allrecipes.com) - I'm trying to use up some cream cheese with these last two recipes

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Everything else is going well here. My parents are coming to visit soon so we're all very excited about that. K is doing wonderfully. Everyday she talks more, asks more questions, gets taller... I'm getting ready to start her in 4T clothing. This girl is going to be taller than me in a matter of years. =D  Her tushy is basically all healed although it's still red and splotchy. I'm hoping this will fade over time and isn't going to be a scar. We're looking forward to spending some time with friends this week. Even though we had some rough weather last week we were still able to go to the mall playground, Toys R Us to visit the toys, and to Barnes and Noble to play with the trains. She's filled another potty chart so I have some trains on order. We're going to have to figure something out because if she continues going potty as much as she is, we're going to end up with WAY too many trains. At what point do you stop giving rewards for potty training? Also, does anyone have a suggestion on how to get a kiddo to wear underpants? She does great if she isn't wearing anything on the bottom but she doesn't want to wear underpants. I don't know if they feel uncomfortable to her or what but I don't have any ideas. I'm hoping someone else out there might have a suggestion, please!!!

Weekly Meal Plan - Week 3

So here it is already Wednesday and I still haven't posted my weekly meal plan. However, I do have one good excuse, we lost our power last night for several hours right when I was beginning to write my post.

Somehow our plan last week didn't exactly go as, well... planned. I'm not sure how but we had a lot of meals still left over to make this week from last week. So, here's what we're doing this week:
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Tuesday: Chicken Pesto Pasta. I was supposed to make green beans too but I didn't get them done in time so unfortunately we didn't have a vegetable last night

Wednesday: Soft tacos with chimichurri rice and corn

Thursday: Trader Joe's Asian style chicken with chicken fried rice and peas

Friday: Alphabet pasta with great white beans and green beans and Italian bread

Saturday: Sloppy Joe's and broccoli

Sunday: Spinach stuffed shells with Italian bread and broccoli

Monday: Sausage creole with multigrain rice pilaf and red pepper
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Here are a few pictures that I've taken recently:

It's a little blurry but I still think it's cute.

She decided she needed *a few* more friends to sleep with the other night.

Buzz and Woody are in Time Out. I'm not sure what they did though ;)

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Below are some plastic place mats I got in the Dollar section of Target and they are GREAT!!! We use washable Crayola crayons on them and a couple sheets of stickers and they keep K quiet and busy for quite some time. These are great for use in a restaurant or during church (which is where we use them most often). Both mats are double sided so it can take her quite some time to color all four sides. The only glitch I've noticed with them so far is I gave K some older cheap stickers one time and when I peeled them off it took a bit of the red coloring off. It isn't that big of a deal and she doesn't seem to notice or mind. They had at least one other design at our Target and I might get it. They are an inexpensive way to keep her happy :)

This is the one that had some of the red come off with the stickers.

Weekly Meal Plan - Week 2

I'm sorry this is late. I should have had this posted yesterday but really, Sunday afternoon would have been best. Unfortunately that didn't happen but here it is, nonetheless. I've taken out the breakfasts and lunches because I'm guessing they aren't as interesting as the dinners.

Monday: Leftover Italian Beef sandwiches (yummy Portillos!)

Tuesday: Chicken, spinach, tomato & mozzarella cheese
This is a recipe A invented and it's super simple yet very tasty. You can make your chicken anyway you like it. Tonight I sprinkled both sides of the tenderloins with Montreal Chicken Seasoning and then grilled it up on the Foreman Grill. While that is cooking, halve grape or cherry tomatoes, as many or as few as you want and then add them to a skillet over medium heat with about a tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Let those soften up just a bit and then add half a bag of baby spinach. Cover the skillet and let that wilt. When your chicken is done, cut it into bite size pieces. Add the rest of the spinach and let that wilt as well. When all of the spinach is added and wilted down, add the chicken and a handful of mozzarella cheese. Stir that around until the cheese starts melting and then take it off the heat. The cheese will continue to melt a bit. Spoon it on your plates and enjoy!

Wednesday: Lipton Onion Soup Baked Chicken (I have an extra packet of the stuff) with mashed sweet potatoes (I never made them last week)

Thursday: Nachos made with Zesty Cheese & Bean Dip, black olives, salsa, sour cream and Tostitos Natural Yellow Corn Chips

Friday: Chicken Caprese - a Rachel Ray recipe recommended by my wonderful friend

Saturday: Chicken Pesto Pasta (I never made it from last week) & green beans

Sunday: Soft tacos made with Quorn and leftovers from the nachos and Chimichurri rice from Trader Joe's

There we go. Hopefully all goes to plan. The only day that might go awry is Sunday because we're (hopefully) going out with some friends we haven't seen in forever but I don't know what time of day and if it will involve eating so we shall see.


This is most likely what I'll be making on Monday of next week since I already have the stuff (can you tell I went to Trader Joe's this week?)

Monday: Asian Style Chicken Stir Fry and Chicken Fried Rice from Trader Joe's

I think I have one other rice side dish that I'll be making next week with some chicken dish since I have a bag of frozen chicken breasts and most are so huge that I cut them in half for us so they last pretty long.

Well I'll make another update next week. Hopefully I'll get it out a little earlier but if not, start with that Trader Joe's stir fry ;)

Weekly meal planning - week 1

A and I are trying to be more organized in the new year. He's taken on our finances and I'm doing meal planning. I originally found the idea at this website (Living Locurto) and in large part at this site (This Week For Dinner). Supposedly meal planning helps save money since you have a definite plan and helps you lose weight since you are writing out everything you eat.

Part of the idea for this week is using up food from the last time I went shopping. I figure everyone can benefit from new meal ideas so here is our weekly meal plan for this week:

Monday
B: (A-grapefruit, strawberries), (J-pear), (K-strawberries, blueberries, banana)
L: (A-leftover Chinese, watermelon), (J-bagel w/ butter), (K-string cheese, hot dog bun, carrots; she ate lunch while in the shopping cart today.)
D: Slow cooker beef stroganoff & broccoli spears and yellow squash

Tuesday
B: (A-grapefruit, oatmeal), (J-orange, oatmeal), (K-blueberries, apple, cereal)
L: (A/J-split a Progresso soup and half grilled cheese), (K-half grilled cheese & tomato soup with corn)
D: Turkey in cream sauce & mashed sweet potatoes

Wednesday
B: (A-grapefruit, strawberries), (J-orange, strawberries), (K-strawberries, peach, waffle)
L: (A/J-leftover stroganoff & broccoli), (K-noodles, carrots, hot dog (she wasn't a big fan of the stroganoff))
D: Sundried tomato pasta salad with chicken & peas

Thursday
B: (A-grapefruit, oatmeal), (J-orange, oatmeal), (K-blueberries, banana, cereal)
L: leftover turkey & sweet potatoes (Hopefully K likes this. If not, she'll have grilled cheese and carrots)
D: Uno's Pizza (deep dish pizza to commemorate the fourth anniversary of our first date) & veggie medley

Friday
B: (A-grapefruit, waffle), (J-orange, waffle), (K-peach, waffle, apple)
L: leftover tomato pasta salad & peas
D: Chicken pesto pasta & corn

Saturday
B: Waffles, bananas, applesauce
L: leftover pizza & veggie medley
D: food on the road (after Toy Story 3 on Ice - Yay!)

Sunday
B: (A/J-scrambled eggs, bacon & toast), (K-peach, blueberries, cereal)
L: leftover chicken pesto pasta & corn
D: (A/J-spinach salad with warm bacon dressing), (K-hot dog with bun, carrots, string cheese)

We always let K try our stuff and occasionally we're surprised by what she likes. However, we always have a back-up plan :)

All of pasta is whole wheat as are the hot dog buns ;) I'll post our plan next week, hopefully on Sunday instead of Monday in case you're looking for ideas. Feel free to post any recipes or meal plans you have going on!