Some dinners

Monday - Calypso chicken (spice blend from Trinidad) leg quarters, baked sweet potatoes
Tuesday - Tofu stir fry
Wednesday - Mini meatloaves
Thursday - Potato shrimp soup
Friday - enchiladas

Busy week meal plan

I say it's going to be a busy week, but really, last week was crazy.  And yes, I know I haven't done a meal plan in ages, but shush.  Last week, I had a full daycare ALL week.  That means two extra babies every work day from about 7:45-5.  Oh, and Brian was gone from 6 AM Tuesday morning until around 10:30 PM Thursday night.  PHEW!
This week, I only have full daycare M, W, Th, half of Tuesday, and one extra baby on Friday.  BUT Brian will be gone for a wedding from Wednesday through Sunday.  Oh, and I'm running my first 10K on Saturday.  Riiiight.
So here's the meal plan!

Dinners for October 9-16

Sunday, October 9 – birthday dinner with grandparents

Monday, October 10 – shepherd’s pie (apple/brie melts for lunch)

Tuesday, October 11 – whitefish, baked potatoes and veggies, and apple cranberry pie with oatmeal cookie crust

Wednesday, October 12 (Brian gone) – frozen meal

Thursday, October 13 (Brian gone) –  Slow cooker bean soup (maybe something like this)

Friday, October 14 (Brian gone, night before race) – Spaghetti

Saturday, October 15 (Brian gone, night after race) – leftover soup

Sunday, October 16 (Brian maybe gone) – leftovers or pasties

Sick again

Wow, it's kind of been a long time since I posted.  We've been keeping busy (especially with daycare during the day) and I haven't been taking a lot of pictures.  Now, Callum and I have some nasty cold so I'm just popping on to throw on a menu for the week.

Menu for September 19-24
Monday, September 19 - Potato Leek Soup (leeks from the farmer's market!  yay!)
Tuesday, September 20 - Pasties (plus make a whole bunch to freeze for easy dinners)
Wednesday, September 21 - Crock pot chicken spaghetti 
Thursday, September 22 - leftovers (I'm pretty worn down by my second day with two extra babies)
Friday, September 23 - crock pot stew
Saturday, September 24 - Mommy and daddy to El Do.  We were going to go this week, but then I got sick..

Ending August

I know it's been a long time since I posted a meal plan and that's because I haven't really been planning.  We've been busy with cookouts, eating with family, camping, etc. and haven't been doing a lot of planning and cooking. As August ends though, we are back to our regularly scheduled programming.  Last night we had to eat up leftovers, including this awesome salad I had made for lunch: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/peach-cucumber-barley-salad-recipe-ghk0811

Now it's time to make a shopping trip and get to work.

Dinners for August 30-September 4

Tuesday, August 30 – Corn and broccoli calzones

Wednesday, August 31 – Florentine Lasagna Roll Ups

Thursday, September 1 –  Chicken Tikka Masala in crock pot

Friday, September 2 – Tortilla and black bean pie

Saturday, September 3 – leftovers

Sunday, September 4 – French toast

Avocado

I gave in a little early.  I told Callum, who was begging and begging, that he could try some food as soon as he doubled his birth weight and learned to sit.  Well, he's pretty heavy and he's been working on sitting.  He managed to keep himself upright for a good span and threw an absolute fit while we were eating, trying to grab our plates and food, so I gave in.  I scooped out some avocado, pureed it, thinned it, and we tried it out.  He liked it.  Not love, not hate, just like.  You can see it was a whole family affair and Everett really got a kick out of it...which Callum loved.

Here's Everett during a trip to the visitor center:

And here's what I have to do with Callum when he's being needy:

and what usually ends up happening:

Oh, and the meal plan!

Dinners for August 1-7

Monday, August 1 – birthday dinner with Grandma

Tuesday, August 2 – veggie tart

Wednesday, August 3 – Trinidad chicken, brown rice, asparagus

Thursday, August 4 – North African vegetable stew with poached eggs

Friday, August 5 – lemon/orange fish, potatoes, veggie

Saturday, August 6 –  Red pepper goat cheese frittata

Sunday, August 7 – block party potluck

Summer Monday

We've been going going going today.  First we had to do some laundry, then ran off to storytime at the library.  After that, we made a pit stop home to grab a lunch and ran off to get a National Forest parking sticker and headed to an inland lake.  Stayed there for three hours (beautiful!) and now we're meal planning and about to go shopping.   Phew!!  Here's the meal plan!

Dinners for July 11-17

Monday, July 11 – Burgers and salad, leftover lemon pasta

Tuesday, July 12 – Summer veggie and pesto tart

Wednesday, July 13 – Moroccan chicken kabobs (So yummy!)

Thursday, July 14 –  bike ride night….cereal?

Friday, July 15 – Tuna melts on the grill, salad

Saturday, July 16 –  Quesadillas, salad

Sunday, July 17 – homemade pizza, and of course, salad (our garden has lettuce!)

Summer Dinners

It's too hot so most of these are grilled or very minimal cooking!  Now if we can just get dressed and out to run our errands...

Dinners for July 5-10

Tuesday, July 5 – Basil chicken burgers with pesto mayonnaise

Wednesday, July 6 – Confetti corn quesadillas

Thursday, July 7 –  Burgers and packet potatoes

Friday, July 8 – Lemon angel hair pasta with fish sticks

Saturday, July 9 – Moroccan chicken kabobs

Sunday, July 10 – Summer veggie and pesto tart

General family updates

Good evening blog readers.  My brain is pretty blank at the moment so this likely won't be very thought-provoking or life changing here.  Brian got back from Milwaukee on Friday afternoon, we left Everett with sisters and took Callum out for an anniversary dinner.  We got to dine next to the congressman and his gazillion children, so that was thrilling.  This weekend has been pretty full of to dos.  We now have a swingset again, much to Ev's delight, our garden is just about ready for planting, we got some new garage sale stuff, and did our weekly grocery shopping.
Since there's nothing exciting going on, I'll just give you a general update.
Brian is still working a bunch but finding time to play too.  He's been very busy at home with various tasks I find for him (build swingset, weedeating, fix rain barrel, etc.) along with his own projects like rebuilding a commuter bike.
Everett is now officially two and a half.  He still has a lot of tantrums, but is getting better at dealing with them.  He talks up a storm and says some very cute stuff.  He's working really hard right now to figure out me/my/I.  I can still see the wheels turning in his head when he's trying to figure out something linguistic.  He sort of scrunches his eyebrows and gets this look of great concentration and I have to stifle my giggles.  He's still a great helper with Callum (when he's in a listening mood).  Anytime I comment on Callum getting bigger, Everett gets very excited and asks, "Callum play my toys me?!" and I have to say that, "no, he's not quite that big yet but someday he will be."  Everett loves drawing, play dough, bubbles, tinker toys, trains, fishing, building, and riding his bike.  He is totally pottytrained and I've even contemplated not lugging around an change of pants for him (but since I overpack for everything, I still do).  He loves doing things that daddy can do and reminds us daily that he's a big boy.
Callum is 3.5 months old (and I refuse to accept it) and teething.  He is still my sweet laid-back baby, but has definitely learned how to wail when something's wrong.  It's almost always that his diaper needs changing or he is so tired, he can't fall asleep.  Most of the time though, I just smile about him.  On Wednesday morning, Brian stayed home for the morning before leaving town and we were sitting on the front porch watching Everett ride his bike.  As we sat there, Callum was relaxing in Brian's lap, watching everything, and he started looking a bit sleepy.  Next thing I know, he's fast asleep.    The teething isn't horrible yet, but he has become a drool monster.  Nuks do not solve his world's problems, which gives me hope that it won't be bad to take away when the time comes (but he still likes them when he's sleepy).  He is enormous (at least 15 pounds now) and wearing some 6 month clothes.  He absolutely adores his big brother and his little aunts and uncles. He gives them big, gummy smiles and lets them carry him around (I realized today why people gave me such terrified looks when, at age 7, I carried around my baby brother Jakey...).  Callum has never received a lot of bottles and the other day, I realized that he's not too fond of them, so I may start doing a pumping every few days and feeding him a bottle, just to keep him used to it.  I really like having the ability to leave him for a few hours (like I ever do, though) and to do that, he needs to be ok with bottles.
As for me, I'm still here.  I did my first week of day care and it was a handful.  I'm supposed to meet a guy tomorrow about two other kids, so we'll see if that pans out.  I'm not in a huge rush, but it'd be nice to have some more income.  I've been reading a lot of fiction novels and playing a lot of angry birds during nursings.  I am in love with my new phone (even though it's price dropped this week...) and so is Everett.  That boy seriously has a knack for touchscreens.  I'm also in love with my anniversary present, a woven wrap.  I need to get some pictures taken...will attempt that tomorrow.
And finally, the week's menu:

Dinners for June 13-19

Monday, June 13 – Nachos

Tuesday, June 14 – Chicken stir fry

Wednesday, June 15 – Couscous black bean salad and Pitas

Thursday, June 16 –  Turkey and quinoa meatloaf with rice

Friday, June 17 – fish sticks and rice pilaf

Saturday, June 18 – steaks and salad

Sunday, June 19 – leftovers/dinner out

Our weekend alone

Brian figured out a use for some of his accrued vacation time.  He left Thursday for Copper Harbor with two friends to mountain bike until Sunday afternoon.  Surprisingly, everything was smooth sailing here with the boys and me.  We even went to the farmer's market on Saturday and got some beautiful romaine lettuce, attended a baby shower for my best buddy from high school, and had Sunday brunch at the black cat.
Must cut this short as Callum has decided to YELL at me, but here's the meal plan:

Dinners for June 5-12

Sunday, June 5 – salad

Monday, June 6 – stuffed green peppers (with whole wheat couscous, not rice)

Tuesday, June 7 – fish, red potatoes, broccoli

Wednesday, June 8 – tacos

Thursday, June 9 –  anniversary dinner OUT

Friday, June 10 – chicken pot pie

Saturday, June 11 – homemade vegetarian pizza

Sunday, June 12 – beef short ribs

First day of day care

Today marks the first day that I am officially self-employed.  Sproutlings Child Care will be enrolling two kiddos today (and possibly only for a week unless their mom gets notice that her job is not ending).  I think we have the house ready to go and Everett's excited to have "friends" come over to play.
Meal plan for this week gets to include lunch too!

Dinners for May 30-June 5
Monday, May 30 –  Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread
Tuesday, May 31 –  stuffed green peppers
Wednesday, June 1 – chicken noodle casserole
Thursday, June 2 – freezer dinner
Friday, June 3 – pasties
Saturday, June 4 – leftovers/eat out
Sunday, June 5 – chicken pot pie

Lunches for May 31-June 3
Monday, May 30 - grilled veggie and hummus tart
Tuesday, May 31 – Leftover spaghetti, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday, June 1 – mac n cheese with hot dogs, veggie
Thursday, June 2 –  chicken noodle casserole leftovers
Friday, June 3 – fish sticks, rice, veggies, fruit

You may notice that the effort that goes into the dinners drops off drastically halfway through the week. This is because Brian will be heading off for a guys mountain bike excursion to Copper Harbor on Thursday and I don't feel like cooking while he's gone.

This weekend's camping trip was fun but buggy. We borrowed a pop-up camper but the mosquitoes still got us pretty good. There were swarms of them. It stunk. But Ev did get to go fishing and pull lots of little fishies out of the water and then let them go again. Callum was a perfect little camper the whole time, while big brother had some issues with scary mosquitoes, scary thunder, sleeping alone.....yeah....two year olds....

Anyway. I need to go pull up the "gonkey game!" for Everett on our new snazzy tablet that we got for our anniversary from Bri's parents. Now to decide if I want my new phone to be another android device or go for the iphone...

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

We're back from Grand Rapids, the laundry is done, the house is picked up, the pets are fed, the plants are watered, and we're ready to get back to our regular routines (plus accepting day care enrollees - eek!  Have to make some calls back for messages left last week....).

We're going to try and get out in the intermittent sunshine today for a walk and do our grocery shopping.  After so much eating out this week, we're trying to avoid a bunch of meat and grease-filled foods, so our meal plan reflects that.

Here it is:

Dinners for May 22-29

Sunday, May 22 – homemade vegetarian pizza

Monday, May 23 –  French dip sandwiches

Tuesday, May 24 – Barley Casserole

Wednesday, May 25 – Grilled vegetable and hummus tart  (make extra hummus for Friday)

Thursday, May 26 –  leftovers

Friday, May 27 – Tabbouleh and Pitas with hummus

Saturday, May 28 – Breakfast bake for dinner

Sunday, May 29 – chicken pot pie

Mother's Day and Meals

I had an excellent mother's day with all my boys yesterday.  Even though Everett "ruined" the surprises, it was still the nicest mother's day I've had.  On Friday morning, as soon as he woke up, Everett ran to me and said, "mama!  make card you!"  Surprise #1 blown.  :)  But it was a much cooler card than I expected.  I'll take a picture later.  Sunday morning, as soon as I came downstairs (I slept in with Cal), Everett told me, "mama!  got flowers you.  County Market!"  Surprise #2 blown.   Oops.  They were still beautiful.  We went to the black cat for breakfast and worked on our new fence for the rest of the day.  We stopped and dropped off cards for grandmas and then had dinner of pizza from The Alley and fresh pineapple with Brian's parents and grandma.
I loved spending the day with my two little boys (even though I do that everyday) and my one big guy too.

Meals for the week:

Dinners for May 9-15

Monday, May 9 – green chicken nuggets, rice

Tuesday, May 10 – meatloaf and red potatoes

Wednesday, May 11 – black bean burritos

Thursday, May 12 –  leftovers (Garage sale set-up tonight)

Friday, May 13 – pizza and pineapple  (Garage sale tonight 3-7)  - get rump roast out for tomorrow

Saturday, May 14 –  French dip sandwiches

Sunday, May 15 – chicken pot pie

Meals for May, well, the first week at least

All's going well.  Brian's working on building me a fence, Everett's totally potty-trained and being very polite (and a handful, but you know...), Callum's sleeping well and is over the horror of getting shots.  I really need to get back into running (I've been too sleep deprived to drag myself out of bed at 6 am) and sign up for a membership at the gym (we figured out if we pay for a full year, it's only $15 more/month than Brian currently pays and both of us will be able to go).  We also finally got our tomatoes and peppers started (a bit late....oops!).

I officially have my daycare certificate now and just need to get signed up for county subsidies and food reimbursement and then I'm good to go.  I've come up with weekly themes and now I need daily routines and activities.

Here are the meals for the week!

Dinners for May 2-8

Monday, May 2 – Shepherd’s pie with leftover roast and frozen veggies

Tuesday, May 3 – Tofu and veggies in jalfrezi sauce with naan

Wednesday, May 4 – roast chicken, smashed potatoes, veggies

Thursday, May 5 – green chicken nuggets, rice

Friday, May 6 – local fish and fries

Saturday, May 7 –  leftovers, eat out, pizza, etc.

Sunday, May 8 – veggie pasta bake

2 months old!

I haven't taken any pictures yet, but will do that later and post.  Today, Callum is two whole months old!  I noticed the other day that two months is definitely the age when newborns disappear and babies emerge.  Cally doesn't look so much like a wrinkled, red little squirmy thing anymore.  Now he's got some pudgy cheeks, big eyes, and a great smile.  My newborn is gone already!  Before I know it, this little guy is going to be running around alongside his big brother.
Here are some pictures from Easter yesterday:

Meal plans weren't exactly as planned last week.  At all.  But you know.  Here's this week's plan:

Dinners for April 25-May 1

Monday, April 25 – grilled tilapia, wheat couscous, salad

Tuesday, April 26 – sweet potato burritos

Wednesday, April 27 – frozen pizza, pineapple, veggies

Thursday, April 28 – honey chicken stir fry

Friday, April 29 – black bean burgers

Saturday, April 30 – leftovers

Sunday, May 1 – beef roast, potatoes, carrots

Meal Plan

In baby news, Callum is totally recovered from his nasty cold (I still have it).
In toddler news, Everett is entirely potty-trained (excluding the occasional accident, of course).
In general news, our gorgeous weather went away and we got a dumping of snow on Saturday.  Stupid snow.  Mid April is NOT the time for snow and freezing cold temps.  It upsets me.
I did finally get out for a run this morning.  Boy were my lungs not ready for that.  My legs felt totally fine but I had to slow down and walk 3 or 4 times because my lungs just weren't ready for that much work.  While I was gone, Brian managed to get a shower and take care of the boys (who both decided to wake up right before I left).  I got home and made breakfast and went to take a shower and came downstairs to Everett rampaging and Calllum covered in cream of wheat and desitin....yeah....I'm going to try and keep my runs limited to the time when the boys are still sleeping.
Last week's meals were a little bit different than planned, but hey, that's ok.  Since the weather was still gorgeous last Wednesday, we cancelled the idea of frozen pasties and instead grilled hot dogs.  Instead of fish sticks on Friday, we went out and used our gift certificate to El Dorado.  We even shared a fried ice cream between the three of us who eat things other than milk.  Saturday we had a birthday party and Sunday we had burgers at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Here's this week's plan:

Monday, April 18 – roast chicken, potatoes, rolls

Tuesday, April 19 – leftover chicken stir fry

Wednesday, April 20 – pasties and salad (mama to The Alley for volleyball party)

Thursday, April 21 – sweet potato burritos

Friday, April 22 – tilapia fillets, wheat couscous, veggies

Saturday, April 23 – beef roast, potatoes, carrots (we'll see....not sure we want such a big meal before easter)

Sunday, April 24 – EASTER

Meals for the week

Making sure the blog holds me accountable.
This week our meals differed a bit from the original plan.  Saturday through Tuesday were according to plan, but then we mixed things up.  Because I didn't remember to marinade the chicken for kabobs, we threw a freezer manicotti meal.  Then we moved lentil stew from Friday to Thursday and had the chicken kabobs on Friday.  We moved yesterday's enchiladas to today and saved the chicken dinner for next week.
Here's this week's plan:

Monday, April 11 – spaghetti, meat sauce (leftover browned hamburger), asparagus, garlic bread

Tuesday, April 12 – steak on grill, baked potatoes, frozen veggies

Wednesday, April 13 – pasties and salad

Thursday, April 14 – butter chickpea curry over rice, naan

Friday, April 15 – fish sticks, leftover rice, salad

Saturday, April 9 – whole chicken dinner

Sunday, April 10 – leftover chicken stir fry

Sleep and Potties

Since both boys are currently napping (but only slightly overlapping so I'm still awake....), I thought I'd whip up a blog post.  Another reason I am not currently asleep is because Callum was a darling and gave me 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night!  It was fantastic!  We had a walk to the park/lunch at our house playdate today and Everett was exhausted by the end.  He lost his ability to share toys or hold himself together.  But despite all that, he managed to not have a single accident.  What's that?  I didn't mention that he's potty-training?  Oh yes.  My little bug is using the potty (for #1 only) consistently now.  It all started when Everett went to hang out with grandma for the day on Saturday (I was sick with a nasty cold - thanks Christy! ;p) and worked on potty training with his puppy potty over there.  It was hit and miss that day and Sunday.  Suddenly, he figured it out.  He's been steadily improving all week.
On Wednesday, we had playgroup and I popped him in a cloth diaper (bum genius 4.0 with velcro closure), but we went to the bathroom every 10 minutes (he was telling me that he had to go that often) and he stayed completely dry, including on our walk to and from the center!  The diaper I happened to grab was perfect for this because I could keep undoing the velcro, popping the diaper off, hoisting Ev up onto the potty, and then could re-apply the still dry diaper, pull pants back up, and be on our way.  He's still wetting his diaper at naptime, but who cares!  Today he hasn't even been going as often and still remembering to go when he feels the urge.  You could not find a more proud mama!  He's wearing his new "unders" at home and elastic waist pants, and he insists on going into the bathroom alone and doing his thing (now if only he would listen and not attempt to dump his potty into the toilet on his own....).  We've even managed to get one poopy in the potty, but he just hasn't been going as much.  After that one instance, I was so excited that he got super excited and we had to call daddy at work right away (poor Brian.  :D).  Ev's consistently had a dirty diaper in the morning when he wakes up (disposable) and I'm wondering if he's holding it in more or just doesn't have to go as much (because that boy used to poop A LOT).
Anyway.  Yes, I am amazed and beyond pleased that he has taken this "big boy" thing and run with it, right into the potty training department.  Another thing that I am extremely pleased with?  Ev's big brother behavior.  He still doesn't like it if other kids get too close to Callum and is very wary of other adults (besides mama, daddy, and grandparents) holding him.  I noticed that whenever one of my friends was holding Callum at playgroup (which was a lot, since I was running to and from the bathroom every 10 minutes), he would eye them a bit, sidle up to them, and rub Callum's head for a while.  He is just super protective of his baby and (almost) always rushes to help if baby brother is crying and needs a nuk.  He tries to give him toys and loves to make sure Callum has his Thing 2 bear anytime Everett has his Thing 1 bear.  (Auntie C brought back two bears from Universal Studios that are wearing red Thing 1 and Thing 2 shirts).
In non-potty or sleeping or baby news, I am finally getting my day care certification stuff done.  I need to get a couple more papers to the certifier and she needs to do some background checks for Indiana.  AND, I got a phone call from a prospective client!  My buddy Monica gave her my name because she doesn't have enough openings and she called me yesterday.  Two kids, ages 3 and 5, full time, and one needs some daily therapies.    Yikes!  But it would definitely make me feel like I am working and doing something with my education background and doing some good in the world.  So I'll be keeping in touch with her about my certification status and we'll see where things go.  Another friend of mine who used to do day care has also offered to let me look through her old stuff for daily plans, weekly themes, and activity ideas.  So this ball is actually starting to roll.
AND, since I ran out of household budget a week or so ago, I haven't been allowed to go shopping.  It was actually really cool though.  Our fridge is quite sparse and we've been eating down what we have.  Much more cost-efficient and generally good for everyone and the planet.  We haven't had to throw away much except some mushrooms (because I really don't care much for mushrooms).  So I had to make up a shopping list for tomorrow and to do that, I also needed some dinner ideas.
So here's my dinner menu for the next week and some change!

Friday, April 1 – pizza and pineapple

Saturday, April 2 – slow cooker vegetarian chili/soup (freeze half, some  for lunches) & corn muffins

Sunday, April 3 – roast in crock pot (get roast out of freezer)

Monday, April 4 – shepherd’s pie with leftover roast

Tuesday, April 5 – fish on grill, baked potatoes

Wednesday, April 6 – honey chicken kabobs

Thursday, April 7 (mama to ElDo) – leftovers????

Friday, April 8 – lentil stew

Saturday, April 9 – slow cooker enchiladas (get beef out)

Sunday, April 10 – whole chicken dinner