Recap

Ready - Set - Photo! Here's a pictorial mini recap of us...enjoy. 

It's winter...winter means snow...snow with kids means playing outside....they love it:) I'm not a huge cold weather fan so I'm the mom out there with 20 layers on and waddling around! Hey - at least I'm out there!

So, we've established it's winter already. We obviously need hats in the winter. My boys like to pick out yarn and then I make them hats! It warms my heart to see their excitement when they are complete...it's the little things right? 

In other news - this baby is CrAzY! Always into something and making us laugh (or pull our hairs out...totally dependent on my mood) 

Good thing he's so stinkin' cute - cause he's always into mischief! 

My smiley baby...he's a charmer and he knows it! 

We're homeschooling E and J - E in the big Kindergarten and J is rocking preschool. I looked the other day and we're already over halfway done! How did that happen? Not to sure...I feel like I blinked in September and now it's almost February. I'm pleased to say we've stayed on track with our curriculum and are actually AHEAD of schedule! Woot. Translation: Summer Break will be visiting early this year - total score. 

My big boys are rockstars with school - both are super smart (I'm sure I'm biased but what mom isn't...) E is reading well and excelling in math! J has his letters mastered and conquering all the other fun preschool concepts! Oh academia how I love thee....for reals. :) 

Speaking of my students - Mr. J turned the BIG FOUR over Christmas break! He's my Christmas baby (12/27) and I always strive to make his birthday extra special since it's packed right in with all the Holiday ho-ha's. He loved his special cake with his fave berries on top! 

SEVEN years ago right now...I was probably freaking out about some tiny details for my soon-to-be wedding! I've been married to this stud for SEVEN years this Monday - when planning our wedding and looking at dates I discovered the perfect date...02-04-06. Inner math geek (who am I kidding - OUTer math geek) was so stoked for this date! Easy to remember, all even numbers, blah blah blah. 

Aren't we cute? Awwhh. 

My hair is long and I dip dyed my tips purple and loved it -- sadly this was like 2 months ago so I have since trimmed off almost all of it....translation: I better go get some more dye and do it again. Obviously. I've taken on the hobby (or rather necessity) of trimming my bangs and hairs...I've even tackled layers and they weren't horrible! I won't claim they're good but I'm totally cool with non-horrible. HA! It's a way I can help the budget - plus I feel so empowered with those sheers...

So, there's a mini-recap. Have fun? I did. 

In other news: I've had 3 people tell me that my last post (menu plans) actually helped them! Hooray - it wasn't a total waste of time! Stay tuned for this weeks menu plans...that reminds me I better go start dinner for tonight. 

Food in Review (week 1)

Here's my menu plan that we just finished eating this week - enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I don't always make everything from scratch. Sometimes we eat pizza. Whew. Glad I got that cleared up* 

Saturday: Pumpkin Pancakes with Bacon

Using this MIX - can't get much easier! Add some whipped cream on top...Mmmm

photo from amazon website 

Sunday: Fiesta Lime Rice Stuffed Peppers

Thank you Pinterest. I get a lot of my recipes from there. Here's the delicious insides that I put in par-boiled green peppers for dinner. 

photo from recipe website 

Monday: Basic Chili with Cornbread

I don't have a link or pic for this...it's waaay too easy. 

Ground Beef+Crushed Tomatoes+Red Beans+Onions+cumin/chili powder/garlic+CROCK POT = Dinner is served. 

I went ALL fancy and threw some shredded cheese in my cornbread muffin batter - boom. 

Tuesday: Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake

I've been meaning to try this one from my Pinterest board for a while - I'm glad I finally did! Yummy. Here's the recipe - do it. 

photo from recipe website 

Wednesday: Sausage Pizza Bake

This is one of those go-to deals for me...super easy...super cheap...crowd pleaser. This time I browned up some mild Italian sausage in place of the pepperoni and added in black olives. ENJOY!

Thursday: Quinoa and White Bean Fritters with Broccoli 

Oh. My. Word. These were AWESOME! Seriously. So stinkin' healthy (well, minus the frying in oil part) and sooo yummy! Here's the basic recipe - I changed up the seasonings a bit and used regular flour - still PERFECT. Perfect I tell ya! 

photo from recipe website 

Friday: Take and Bake Pizza

Don't act surprised...I already warned you I don't cook every night! Thank you Target for your deli-take-and-bake goodness. It saved me some time:) 

Saturday: Quinoa Fried 'Rice' and Egg Rolls

I had some leftover cooked Quinoa from the fritters so I made some fried 'rice' of sorts...sans rice. It actually worked out pretty well! All my kids and hubby gobbled it up - always a good sign. Great way to use up leftover Quinoa! Here's the link for that basic recipe. I tend to add my own flare to things - so should you. 

photo from recipe website 

And that brings us current - it's Saturday night and I have my menu set for next week. Lots of goodies on there! 

I didn't even think of treats - I bake a lot...maybe I should add those too? This past week I made pumpkin muffins, banana bread, cream-of-wheat cookie bars (score!) and jello fruit snacks (fail.) 

Maybe I'll add those recipes in sometime...food for thought...ha I'm witty....or tired....you decide. 

Bloggin' Back Burner...

So...as you may have guessed blogging took a little time off from my priority list the past few months - ahem - almost year. Ah well. Life goes on. I'm sure you weren't crying at your computer screens at the lack of new reading material.

Anywho - I figure now is a great time to get back into it. I always enjoy a stroll down memory lane and this blog is a great place to do that.

I had this crazy idea (wait for it....it's CrAzY!) -- I spend a lot of my time with food...menu planning, grocery lists, food shopping, food prep, food consumption (yum) and food clean-up (bleh.)

I'm going to (try to) record my meals and link to the recipes that I feed my crew with. That way if I'm ever in a rut for menu planning I can look back a few weeks and *tA-Da!* I have them at my fingertips! Clever eh? I thought so.

Plus, I LoVe to see what other mama's feed their families -- so maybe my listing will start a domino effect and I can stalk - I mean observe - other meal plans too....deal? deal.