Monday, May 30, 2011
Menu Plan Monday: Week of May 29th
Sunday: Dinner at my parent's while Mark cleaned our carpets
Monday: Memorial Day! Spicy Italian Sausage (local, from the farmers market!) with Broccoli Salad and Baked Sweet Potato Fries
Tuesday: Lentil Tacos
Wednesday: Burgers with Cheesy Potato Casserole
Thursday: Grilled Asian BBQ Chicken with Lime-Cilantro Rice with Pineapple
Friday: Asian BBQ Chicken Pizza
Saturday: Buffalo Ranch Chicken Wraps with Ranch Potato Wedges
I'm linked at OrgJunkie.com
Monday, May 23, 2011
Menu Plan Monday - Week of May 22nd
Sunday: Burgers with Best Ever Potato Salad
Monday: Tortilla, Bean & Cheese Casserole with Corn - carried over from last week
Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner: Spicy Chicken Breakfast Biscuit with Sweet Potato Home Fries
Wednesday: CrockPot Santa Fe Chicken with Cilantro Lime Rice
Thursday: Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches with Fries
Friday: Fish Tacos with Mango Slaw
Saturday: Leftovers/Out
I'm linked at OrgJunkie.com
Friday, May 20, 2011
The rant which must be ranted.
Oy, this weather. This weather is slowly killing me! I don't think I can take one. more. day. of icky, gray, rainy, yuckiness outside my window! This terrible weather is zapping all of my energy and motivation and keeping me locked into the Winter ho-hums despite the fact that we're actually heading toward the end of May!
And aside from the fact that I can count on a single hand the number of nice days we've actually enjoyed this year, what makes me even more bitter is knowing that we're totally missing Spring. By the time this epically gross ickiness moves out we're going to find ourselves smack in the middle of hot, humid weather.
One of the great things about Ohio is the 4 distinct seasons. Well, I should say that what USED to be nice about Ohio was it's 4 distinct seasons because last year we only had 2 seasons: HOT and COLD and it seems like this year will be more of the same.
After experiencing our last snow of Winter in APRIL, which I'm pretty sure is actually supposed to be part of Spring... after all, the saying is "April showers (showers, not snow) bring May flowers", at least that's how I learned it... we've blown through most of Spring while being deluged by rain, rain, and oh, more rain. Occasionally, Mother Nature will mix things up a bit and throw in a random severe thunderstorm with a sprinkling of hail, or if she's feeling particularly hormonal, a thoughtful 3am tornado warning; that's when the REAL party starts.
Last week we actually got a little bit of a break in the rain, but it was of course hot and humid and the forecast called for "scattered showers and thunderstorms", which should really be re-named "Don't even try to plan anything because you have no idea what I'm going to throw at you now! Muahahaa!".
Lucky for us, we ended up with some sunshine to enjoy, but with the threat hanging over our heads that a random pop up storm could happen at any minute. Thankfully, we were able to get outside for a little bit and I even carved out some time during Jack's naps to just sit outside, in the sun, with a book. Since we're going on about 7 or 8 months with hardly a peek of sun restocking our bodies with vitamin D is actually a pretty important need to consider!
It's as though my Ohio born and bred body is programmed to accept 6 months out of the year with lack of sunshine, but once Spring hits it expects to enjoy some quality time in the sun and fresh air. It is not happy with the lack there of this year and my energy levels, motivation, and mood have definitely taken a sucker punch right to the kisser.
*Le sigh*
Well, the forecast is looking...
*grumbles*
At least I can be thankful that we haven't been plagued with deadly tornadoes or flooding like other parts of the country. Go, us?
I need a vacation to somewhere sunny!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Menu Plan Monday - Week of May 15th
Sunday: Sloppy Joes with Mac & Cheese
Monday: Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos with Mexican Sour Cream Rice
Tuesday: Turkey Kielbasa with Pierogies and Steamed Broccoli
Wednesday: Tuna Casserole with Green Beans
Thursday: Tortilla, Bean & Cheese Casserole with Corn
Friday: Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Saturday: Leftovers/Take Out
For more menu planning ideas check out OrgJunkie.com
Monday, May 9, 2011
Menu Plan Monday - Week of May 8th
Sunday: Dinner with family
Monday: Grilled Steak Fajitas with 'Refried' Beans and Mexican Rice
Tuesday: Mom's night out with friends!
Wednesday: Cheesy Beef & Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower - carried over from last week
Thursday: Mark has a work function, I'm on my own
Friday: General Tso's Chicken (CrockPot) with Brown Rice
Saturday: Chicago-style Pizza - Mark's cooking!
For more menu planning inspiration and tips visit OrgJunkie.com
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
14 Months!
Jack is 14 months and officially a toddler!
He has made some major developmental strides this month, the biggest probably being that he's WALKING! That's right, Mr. Jack is toddling all over the house now!
He had been on the cusp of walking for a little while. You could see a few weeks ago that he was really starting to lead off things pretty far and it was as if you could actually see that he was thinking about it, "can I actually let go and keep moving?", but he'd usually just drop down to his usual scoot to get where he was going. Eventually, he'd gotten to the point where he'd lead off of things and then let go and just be standing by himself! If something was nearby, he'd reach for it and then continue cruising along, if not, he'd then drop down and scoot away.
Eventually, he progressed to where he was cruising along holding on to something and then he'd get to the end, let go, and take a few, very small shuffle steps to the side, but no forward motion and he didn't get very far at all.
All that changed on Tuesday, April 19th (that's right, I'm documenting the date here, because I'm not very good about keeping up with his baby book :) ) he took his first real steps. Earlier in the afternoon we were visiting my grandparents and Jack took a step or two forward on his own. By that evening, he took a few real steps back and forth between Mark and I a few times, but then it was bedtime and he wasn't in the mood for anymore walking no matter how excited we were for him to do it!
I honestly didn't expect that he'd take off so quickly after his first real steps. Jack has always been a very laid back baby and is slow to warm up to things. I think it's just part of his nature, so I expected that he'd be at the "few steps" stage for a while before he really had the desire to start walking around a lot.
Boy was I wrong about that! He woke up the following day and was all over the place! One of the very first things he did that day was walk from our couch to the TV stand (a distance of about 4 feet). I was amazed by his progress! He spent all day excitedly toddling around, VERY proud of himself, but because our family room is so small and because he has quite a few large toys in it, he was able to toddle in between resting points. So, he'd go from the coffee table to his airplane push toy to the window and was able to have breaks in between.
The day after that we visited my parent's house, which is much bigger than ours and he was happy to show off his new skill set by toddling all over the house. He was even going from room to room and quite enjoying his new found mobility. And that's all she wrote! He's an official walker now and it seems to be his preferred mode of transportation. He's quick too!
Here's a video clip from the very first day he was really walking around. You can see that he's very proud of himself:
Monday, May 2, 2011
Menu Plan Monday - Week of May 1st
We didn't do very well with sticking to the meal plan last week so we'll be carrying over quite a few things to this week.
Sunday: Chicken Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches with Steamed Broccoli
Monday: Lasagna with Garlic Bread and Green Beans
Tuesday: White Bean Chicken Chili (CrockPot)
Wednesday: Panini with Sweet Potato Fries
Thursday: Burritos
Friday: Cheesy Beef & Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower
Saturday: Chicago Style Pizza - Mark's cooking!
I'm linked at OrgJunkie.com
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