Menu Plan Monday - Week of February 23rd

We had a nice little weekend.  Saturday we were able to get outside and enjoy some nice weather with temps in the 50s and lots of sunshine!  We took Jack around the block a few times so he could practice riding his bike.

Sunday it was back to cold (and I hear unseasonably cold temperatures are on the way.  ::thumbs down:: ).  I had a meeting with a potential doula client - hopefully I'll hear (good) news soon!  I got some things checked off the list for Jack's birthday party this weekend.  My baby is turning 4 on Friday!  I can't even.  He just needs to stop growing up so fast.  I also whipped up some of these individual baked oatmeals to have on hand for breakfasts (this non-morning person who has to feed little people every morning is a big fan of utilizing the freezer to provide nutritious breakfasts!) and we closed out our weekend by watching the best Walking Dead I've seen in a while.

Annnd now it's Monday.

Lots to do this week!  Here's what we're eating:


Sunday:  Vegetable Beef & Barley Soup with Crusty Bread

Monday:  Cheesy Beef and Pasta with Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Tuesday:  Freezer Meal with Vegetable/Salad

Wednesday:  Leftovers

Thursday:  Homemade Pizza

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Out


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday - Week of February 16th

Lovely little weekend.  We saw some more snow, but nothing too heavy.  Saturday morning I had my third and final prenatal meeting with my doula client and now I'm officially on call for my first birth!  Excited, nervous, all the feelings, basically.

After our appointment I ran some errands and I'm reminded why I do my best to avoid shopping.  I really don't enjoy it.  I'm a much better online shopper where I don't have to go out in public and deal with everything that entails.  Not only did I strike out with the purchases I needed to make, but I also spent an incredible amount of time standing around Walmart waiting.  First, for 20 minutes at the customer service desk which was manned by a single employee on a Saturday afternoon (Gaaah!) to make a return, and then in an insanely long checkout line that despite being labelled "express" was anything but.  I think I have some slight emotional damage lingering from that whole experience.

You know on American Horror Story: Coven when the characters each went and experienced their personal Hell?  Yeah... this right here is mine. 

Sunday my family came over to entertain the kids so that Mark and I could enjoy a much-needed date!  We saw Monuments Men (it was great!  Mark has a not-so-secret man-crush on Matt Damon.  I don't blame him.) and then enjoyed a kid-free dinner.  We had such a nice time!  And the kids had fun at home with Nana and Papa and Uncle Tommy. *Sigh* I really needed that.

We ended the night with cheesecake and The Walking Dead once the kids were in bed.  Perfection!

Pretty light this week as far as cooking goes.  The enchilada quinoa bake I'm making on Monday will yield tons of leftovers so in addition to lunches I plan to utilize them on Wednesday when Mark won't be home for dinner as well as on Thursday when we'll be short on time because I have a meeting to attend.  During this season of my life I am beyond thankful for simple meals that are cheap, easy, and feed us for multiple meals!

Plenty to keep us busy this week.  The temperature is supposed to warm up considerably and I'm super looking forward to it!  Here's what we'll be eating:


Sunday:  Out!

Monday:  Chicken Enchilada Quinoa Bake

Tuesday:  Sloppy Joes with Zesty Potato Wedges

Wednesday:  Leftovers

Thursday:  Leftovers/Freezer Meal

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Apps


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday - Week of February 9th

Menu Plan Monday on Tuesday.  Clearly I'm not on top of things.

We had a (much needed) relaxing weekend!  Mark even brought me coffee in bed one morning and later that day he and Jack went to see Frozen at the movie theater.  Jack had such a fun time and says his most favorite part of the outing was the popcorn, haha!  I got some quiet reading time while Molly napped.  Good things all around.

Sunday things happened (laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping, house stuff).  We were under a level 1 snow emergency for a time Sunday afternoon.  This weather... I can't even.  I know everyone and their mother is complaining about the cold right now, but seriously I think I might just shrivel up and die if I don't get some fresh air and a good amount of sunshine soon.  I NEED it.  I'm already looking forward to that burst of energy/productivity I will receive come spring, which really is just a return to my non-winter self.  SUUUUUUN!

For dinner on Sunday I made the pretzel bread linked below and we made grilled cheese panini with the bread + beer cheese and it was just as amazing as you're thinking.  Lucky for me, I have another loaf stashed in the freezer for a later time!

Here's what we're eating this week:


Sunday:  Grilled Cheese Panini on Pretzel Bread with apples and veggie sticks

Monday:  Jalapeno Popper Chili (Crock Pot)

Tuesday:  Buffalo Ranch Chicken Wraps with Ranch Potato Wedges

Wednesday:  General Tso's Chicken with Brown Rice and Broccoli

Thursday:  Leftovers/Freezer Meal

Friday:  Happy Valentine's Day!  Out

Saturday:  Out


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday - Week of February 2nd

Another busy weekend in the books!

We were finally able to have Molly's 1st birthday party after having to postpone last weekend due to weather.  Yep, last weekend it was cold and we got like 8 inches of snow.  A few days later we had lows of -25 degrees and then this weekend it was 52 degrees.  Mmmkay.  That's Ohio for you.

Anyway, very busy Friday preparing for the party.  Saturday morning I had another prenatal meeting with my doula client, which went great, then home to frost cupcakes and load up for the party, then off to set up and by the time we actually had the party I was beat.  Hopefully I'll be able to share a few pictures later this week.  Sunday I was going to rest after the busy few days I had, but of course there was plenty of things to keep me busy so it wasn't all that relaxing.  Although, I can't complain too much considering Mark did the grocery store run for me while he was out getting a hair cut.  He rocked the couponing while he was there, stopped by the library to pick up my holds, and brought me a McDonald's sweet tea.  Niiice!  Even if I was at home doing laundry at least I was able to wear yoga pants all day :D

My house is still a mess.  Am I the only person whose house is a mess for days after a birthday?  The kitchen is of course in shambles and it always takes me a few dishwasher cycles to catch up on dishes, and there's the decor to figure out what to do with, and the new birthday gifts that need a home.  I'm supposed to be hosting a play date on Wednesday so I'd better start getting the house back in order!  We're also anticipating a snow storm Tuesday night so we might not be hosting a play date after all.

And now that Molly's party is behind us I'm rolling right into planning mode for Jack's birthday later this month.  Don't get me wrong, I love celebrating my babies, but I will be very, very happy once all the party planning/preparation/hosting is out of the way until next year!

Here's what we're eating this week:


Sunday:  Apps for the Superbowl

Monday:  Leftovers

Tuesday:  Mexican Black Beans (Crock Pot) with Cilantro-Lime Rice

Wednesday:  Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Thursday:  Leftovers/Freezer Meal

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Out/Apps


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday - Week of January 26th

I'm glad we're at the start of a new week.  We kicked off last week with Molly getting a stomach bug on Sunday.  She was fine the next day, but Jack and I caught the bug on Wednesday and Mark followed suite on Saturday.  We were extremely lucky that the virus we had was extremely mild, especially as far as stomach bugs go, but it was enough to leave us feeling really badly for a day and then pretty poorly for a day or so after that as we recovered.  This was all leading up to Molly's first birthday party which was scheduled for this past Sunday (yesterday).

By the time we reached Friday I pretty much had done nothing to prepare for the party.  I had to run out in extremely frigid temperatures (we're talking below zero windchill) on Friday evening to finish up some party errands.  On Saturday we got a surprise snowstorm.  They were predicting snow, but there's a big difference between the 1-3 inches they were forecasting and the 6 inches we ended up getting.  First the snow was going to end in the morning, then early afternoon, then a little later.  It ended up snowing pretty much all day.  Meanwhile, I'm waiting at home to run more party errands, most importantly grocery shopping so I can get started on making food.  I eventually braved the roads (which still weren't great even after the snow stopped and the plows had a chance to clear the streets) to grocery shop and got started much later than planned on food prep for the party.

Sunday we were expecting a little bit more snow, but to the tune of 1 inch additional accumulation.  When we woke up the forecast was reading the same, but what we were seeing outside was at least an inch of snow already on the ground and plenty more on the way.  Thanks meteorologists.  I can always count on you to get it wrong.  9 times out of 10 they're forecasting the Snowpocalypse and hyping the crap out of it only for us to end up with little to no snow.  The ONE time I really need it to not snow and they grossly underestimated what we were going to get.  SUPER.

Anyway, by late morning on Sunday we were under a level 2 snow emergency and especially considering that about half of our guests were coming from outlying counties and some from out of town we couldn't have people on the roads on our account so we had to postpone the party.  Sure wish I would have known about this sooner so as not to have had the hectic 2 preceding days that I did :/

At least Jack got to play in the snow.  He was pretty psyched about that!

Needless to say, we didn't have a relaxing weekend and the party is still looming.  At least I have more time to prepare?


Sunday:  Molly's party Leftovers

Monday:  Chili

Tuesday:  Bourbon Chicken with Easy Fried Rice - carried over from last week

Wednesday:  Homemade Pizza with Salad

Thursday:  Leftovers/Freezer Meal

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Out


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday - Week of January 19th

Busy week last week with 2 play dates among other things.  I tried to work on tasks for Molly's party, but didn't make much progress.  I'm hoping it will magically come together between now and Sunday.

I'm working with my first doula client!  Very exciting.  We had our first prenatal meeting this weekend and I'm really looking forward to working with this couple.  I hope they feel the same about me.

We seem like we might be fighting off some sort of sickies in our house right now (probably courtesy of venturing out into public this time of year, ugh...).  I'm crossing my fingers and toes and hoping that we don't all end up sick.  Nobody wants that!

Here's what we're eating this week:


Sunday:  Parents' house

Monday:  Homemade Pizza with Salad

Tuesday:  Homemade Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese

Wednesday:  Bourbon Chicken with Easy Fried Rice

Thursday:  Leftovers/Freezer Meal

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Out


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted be OrgJunkie.com

Menu Plan Monday - Week of January 12th

We're just chugging right along, aren't we?  Already heading into mid-January!

Temperatures reached -40 degrees last week.  Negative. 40.  That's Fahrenheit.  I haven't slipped into using Celsius to describe temperatures.  I honestly can't even fathom the level of cold we experienced.  I happily just stayed in my house where it was warm.

Luckily, our house was warm.  Situations like this make me extremely thankful for our small, single-story house.  I know many people who were having trouble keeping the temperatures regulated in their house due to the extreme cold, but we were nice and toasty.  The furnace ran more than usual overnight, but during the day it hardly ran at all, per usual, because the sun heated up the house.  Win!  Also, (thankfully!) no trouble with our cars either.  Or, no trouble with Mark's car as I didn't go anywhere thankyouverymuch!  I also know quite a few people who experienced car trouble from the cold and I know that AAA was really backed up with 12+ hour wait times.  Yikes!

We did perform a little experiment.  Mark was telling me about how it was cold enough for boiling water to immediately evaporate due to the extremely cold temperatures.  I couldn't fathom this so we tried it.  And it worked!  It was kind of crazy to see and really interesting.  It looked like this:

Jack's school was closed on Tuesday (see insanely cold temps), but he was finally back to school after a 2 1/2 week break on Thursday and he was really excited to return!

We had a play date on Friday and I got invites for Molly's 1st birthday party (seriously?!) out in the mail.  The fact that this is all happening very soon kind of snuck up on me.  So. much. to. do. between now and her party!  I also met with a prospective doula client this weekend :D

We've got a pretty busy week coming our way!  Here's what we're eating:


Sunday:  Leftovers

Monday:  Mom's Night Out!

Tuesday:  Homemade Pizza

Wednesday:  Chicken Tortilla Soup (Crock Pot)

Thursday:  Leftovers/Freezer Meal

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Apps


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com