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

Menu Plan Monday - Week of January 5th

First full week of the new year!  Back to reality with a full work week (for the husband), food accountability, and much (much) less sugar.  Boo... hiss.

This was mid-day on Thursday and the snow continued through the evening.

Jack was supposed to return to school on Thursday after a 1 1/2 week winter break, but we got a mini-snow storm that day so I kept him home despite our local district being in session (I felt the weather actually warranted closing, but they were also, strangely enough, the only local district back in session and chose to stay open.  It was just weird all around).  We've been stuck in the house a lot lately and everything is closed today due to dangerously low temperatures and I suspect they will be closed again tomorrow as well (which means no school for Jack again.  Poor kid!) and I think we're all tired of being stuck at home so much!

A little Monster Jam re-enactment.

We did have a pretty busy weekend with the boys going to Monster Jam on Saturday and more dress shopping with my sister on Sunday.  At least we escaped the house for a little bit!

It's supposed to be stupid cold here this week.  What is stupid cold, you may ask?  Highs in the low single digits with well below zero windchill.  No. thank. you.  I pretty much just want to make a pot of soup and jump right into it and live there for the next several days, but since my husband won't abide by soup more than once a week here's what we'll actually be eating:


Sunday:  Late meal for us - BBQ Pulled Pork Nachos

Monday:  Soup (from the freezer)

Tuesday:  French Dip Sandwiches (Crock Pot) with Roasted Broccoli

Wednesday:  Chicken Lo Mein

Thursday:  Leftovers/Freezer Meal

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Apps/Out


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

Menu Plan Monday - Week of December 29th

Christmas is over :(  We packed up the decorations on Sunday and while it's nice to (slowly) get our house back in order this is definitely the lame part.  It's so much more fun decorating, and planning, and anticipating than it is to find places for the new stuff or try to get the house back in order.  Boo.

Anyhoo, we have another holiday week to ease us back into reality.  Here's what we're eating:


Sunday:  Meatloaf with Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli

Monday:  Meatloaf Sandwiches

Tuesday:  New Year's Eve!  We'll be eating apps and drinking bubbly!

Wednesday:  New Year's Day!  Mark's making Chicago-style Pizza

Thursday:  Leftovers/Freezer Meal

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Out/Apps


Happy New Year!


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

Menu Plan Monday - Week of December 22nd

It is looking decidedly un-Christmas-like but Christmas is HERE!  (Almost.)  And I'm super excited!

This weekend we've had unseasonably warm weather.  All of the snow still blanketing the ground melted and it rained, and rained, and rained.  So it's muddy and flooded in areas and it looks and feels much more like spring than it does Christmas, that's for sure!  I was baking cookies yesterday with the sliding glass door open to welcome some fresh air and I haven't needed a coat all weekend with temps in the upper 50s and low 60s.  So strange.  But more importantly, cut-outs!

We also went to check out the holiday train display at the main library downtown and had some play time with friends.

Another busy week with a lot accomplished including an 8pm run to Target along with seemingly everyone else in the world (don't people ever go home?  I see that some stores are staying open round the clock right now, which I think is insane and unnecessary, but maybe I'm just out of the loop and a lot of people really do need to shop at 3am?  I don't know).

This time, Jack actually sat on Santa's lap.  He asked for, "a garbage truck, a trash truck, and trucks," haha!

On Thursday, Molly and I hung out for Jack's Christmas party at school and while fun was SO not relaxing for me (see: 20+lb baby in the carrier for hours and then when she was over that she entertained herself by walking around and getting into everything!).  Later that same night we went to see the zoo lights.  Long day!

A ridiculous amount of packages have arrived at our house over the last week or so.  I've done a lot of online shopping.  Something that hasn't arrived?  Our Christmas cards.  Whomp whomp.  I ordered them with plenty of time to receive and send them out.  I even got 7 day shipping to ensure we received them in a timely fashion.  They shipped out quickly and then nothing, nothing, nothing.  The date they were supposed to arrive by came and went and I crossed my fingers hoping that for some reason they would show up the following day, which they did not.  I finally contacted the company and they sent out another rush order for us, but I doubt we'll receive them until Chrismas Eve.  SO annoying!

After a marathon wrapping sesh on Saturday afternoon the gifts have all been wrapped!  I was so annoyed because as I was attaching ribbon to the next to last gift I ran out of tape.  Who runs out of tape?!  I can't even remember the last time I had to purchase some.  Annnnd that's probably why we ran out.  Later that night we picked up some tape and I was able to quickly finish up, but it just didn't give quite the same satisfaction as really knocking it all out at once.  Unfortunately we can't put our gifts under the tree because we have a very inquisitive baby who would never leave them alone (just like the tree that she still hasn't lost interest in).  They're making our bedroom look quite festive though and Kitty is doing her darndest to eat all of the bows.

We've already had two Christmas celebrations with Mark's side of the family and we have plenty more festivities ahead of us.  It's great spending time with family, but back-to-back gatherings really made the weekend pass quickly by.  It's Monday morning and I feel all disoriented like it should still be the weekend.  Luckily, Mark only works Monday of this week and then he'll be home for 6 days, woot!

In true Stephanie fashion it's down to the last minute and I'm still not 100% finished with Christmas shopping, but I'm really, really close so I'll take it!

Merry Christmas!


Sunday:  Family gathering

Monday:  Freezer Meal

Tuesday:  Christmas Eve!  Family Gathering

Wednesday:  Christmas!  We'll be kicking off the day with some homemade cinnamon rolls and then we'll be with family

Thursday:  Homemade Pizza

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Out/Apps


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

Menu Plan Monday - Week of December 14th

Another busy week.  Errands, cleaning, cooking, checking things off our Christmas list, school for Jack x2, play with friends x2, another round of turkey stock (this time from my parents' turkey!), another crochet project completed, another book read, an event for Mark that made for a long day for me, a cookie exchange with friends, froze 40lbs of beef, we finally got our tree up, Mark's work party (which was amazing!), and I helped a doula friend with a picture project.

This weekend begins our Christmas festivities and we're not quite ready yet!


Here's what we're eating this week:


Sunday:  Tortellini-Minestrone with Garlic Butter Breadsticks

Monday:  Chili-topped Sweet Potatoes with Broccoli - carried over from last week

Tuesday:  Pasta with Six Cheeses with Salad

Wednesday:  Chipotle Barbacoa Beef (Crock Pot) with Cilantro-Lime Rice and Sweet Corn Salsa

Thursday:  Leftovers/Freezer Meal

Friday:  Out

Saturday:  Family holiday gathering


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