{Menu Monday + more craft time}

Happy Monday! What's on the menu for you this week? Here is what we will be eating at our house: 

Monday: leftovers (Ryan has to meet with his group tonight)

Tuesday: Jambalaya

Wednesday: leftovers (Ryan has to meet with his group tonight)

Thursday: Pasta with Ham, Mushrooms, Asparagus, and Truffle Oil (I am going to take a crack at this recipe, but I will be modifying based on what we have in the refrigerator. For example, we have cremini and button mushrooms instead of shittake. It looks delicious, so I am sure we will love it.)

Friday: Out

Not too exciting, but I am looking forward to trying the recipe on Thursday.

Tonight was supposed to be a special night for Caden. His school had scheduled Daddy Night, but the snow caused all activities to be cancelled. Caden was bummed out, but I told him they would reschedule it. He came home and decided he wanted to play some ABC Mouse. He loves that website. His favorite part is taking care of his hamsters and buying them things:

 

I asked Lilli what she wanted to do that would be special, and she decided she wanted to first do some painting. Nice!

She also wanted to do some painting:

  
After we were done painting, Lilli wanted to cut some paper in the scrapping room. That worked for me, because then I was able to finish two more pages for Lilli's first year album. I also had school called off two hours early today due to more snow. Yes...more snow. I am SO sick of it. Anyway, I made the best of it and got some scrapping done. Here are the layouts I finished:

Little Farmer

  

Thanksgiving

 

I especially love this one, because it highlights that we are not always able to capture that perfect pic. Look at the close-up of the family pic:

 

 

This is just a random super cute one of Lilli's face: 

 Lilli swaddled:

Lilli's Baptism:

I saved and included one of the invites I made for her baptism:

I also put together just a nice snuggling with the kiddos layout:

Not too shabby for one afternoon. I also managed to crochet another ear for the rabbit. I realized I did the first one incorrectly. That means it will have taken me FIVE times to get that darn ear right, but I did it. Wish me luck to still complete it by Wednesday!

Until later!

Barby

{Menu Monday + Valentine's Prep}

Happy Monday! What's on the menu for you this week? Here is what we will be eating at our house:

Monday: Shrimp Diablo

Tuesday: Pork Chops and Chutney (Every time I make chutney it is different. It all depends on what is in my refrigerator. I always have apples, chicken stock, and craisins in it. Sounds weird...so good! Ask if you want more details)

Wednesday: Baked Chicken (Ryan doesn’t meet with his group!)

Thursday: Leftovers (I have conferences.)

Friday: Out

Sounds good! It seems like this week is going to last forever, but we shall see.

Tonight I worked on some things with the kiddos. Caden and I put together the items for his 100th day of school celebration this Wednesday. I will share pics tomorrow :) We also started their Valentine's cards. My friend Stephanie sent the cutest Olaf (from Frozen) free Valentine printable on Pinterest. How cute is this?

 

That's the pic from online in case you were wondering about the names. Here is the link to the website. I will post a few pics of our final product tomorrow. Here is a shot of Lilli working hard on signing her name:

Caden even decided he wanted to write his friends' names as well on the cards. I was pleased. That is another reason why we are signing cards every night leading up to Valentine's Day instead of doing them all the night before. I will keep you updated! I'd show you a pic of Caden, but he decided he didn't want his picture taken anymore... Has he met me?! :)

Until later!

Barby

{Menu Monday + Candy Land)

Happy Monday! I don't know about everyone else, but I am SICK of this cold. I don't like having to wear so many layers, and I know the kids are just itching to get outside and play. No such luck any time soon here :( Anyway, here's a look at what we will be eating this week:

Monday: Lentils and rice (like my Grandma always makes! I can share the recipe if anyone wants it.)

Tuesday: Baked Chicken breasts with broccoli (nothing special)

Wednesday: Leftovers (Ryan meets with his school group, so he isn't home for dinner.)

Thursday: Spaghetti

Friday: Out

Saturday: Corn Sausage Chowder (My new menu item for the week!)

Sunday: Family dinner

This menu is centered around cleaning out the freezer a bit. I LOVE always coming up with fun menus, but sometimes we just need to clean out our cabinets and freezer a tad. I was the most interested to see if the kiddos would dig the Lentils and Rice for tonight.The verdict: they liked it!!! Yay :) They both even liked the plain yogurt. I didn't know if it would be too strong of a flavor for them; it wasn't.

Because of this terrible cold weather (and the fact that Caden still has a cold), we needed to do another calm activity tonight. I thought for a change, we would play some games. Caden, Dada and I started with a few rounds of the game Spot It:

It is so much fun!!!

The best part about this game is that there are SO many different ways to play it. Caden is pretty good at it. While we played, Lilli rode her bike.

After dinner we also played a few games of Candy Land. Caden "won" one time and Lilli won the next. I must say, I miss the way the old game looked. The newer version is still cute, but it's just not the same. I LOVED landing on Princess Lolly when I was little. It just isn't the same with the more cutesy pics, but we still had a good time. Caden set up the game for us to play:

We played the first game with just the two of us. Here is Lilli after her victory:

 

Here is what happens when Caden tries to pull one over on Dada:

TICKLES!!!

The kids ended the evening on a high note...with slime! Uncle Danny and Aunt Samantha came over, and they found the kids some slime at Target. It was a hit!

 

Have a great week!

Until later!

Barby

{Menu Monday + Cold Day #1}

I am no longer posting Crafty Sunday on Monday, so I decided to share my weekly menu on Monday. It will also give me a good time to mention anything else from the weekend I may have forgotten. That happens sometimes:)

Here's the plan for this week:
Monday: Beef Stew (I am planning to combine my friend Jessica's and Paula Dean's)
Tuesday: Baked Chicken (We will be stuck in the house all day, why not bake a chicken? Plus I can use the carcass and extra meat for dinner tomorrow)
Wednesday: Chicken and Dumpling soup (I will use my basic chicken soup recipe and use gluten-free Bisquick for the dumplings)
Thursday: Curried Rice with Shrimp
Friday: Out
Saturday: Mexican Lasagna

Usually we would have leftovers on Wednesday, but Ryan doesn't meet with his group this week for school. Yay! Wednesday is his birthday, and he requested Chicken and Dumpling soup :)

As I said before, I didn't have school today due to the cold. Caden still did. It was nice to be able to take him to school for a change:

 

We had some fun after we picked him up. I decided it was the perfect day to go to the YMCA and do some swimming. The kids were THRILLED! Here are some pics:

They got in right away! They couldn't even wait for me.

Caden' loves turning the wheels to turn the squirter on and off.

Caden was being a shark :)

I didn't take too many, because I was in the water with the kids and had to hop out to take the pics.

After we finished swimming, we dried off and played in the Family Prime Time Area:

"If I go down like this I go faster!"

Flying a helicopter

We got home and played some more. There was a lot of biking riding (of course). Dada even came home from work early, and he made a special craft with Caden:

He found the pattern online.

How cute!

Lilli took a nap, but Caden did not. Did I mention that I took a nap with Lilli :)

It was a great day!

Until later!
Barby