Dinner Planner

Monday was a lovely, blustery day. I love the wind. It's fresh, clean, unpredictable, and nice and cool. I even like it when its cold wind--provided I have adequate warm clothing. XD

After picking up Everest at school, we stopped by Kangaroo Coffee because they had $1.00 16-oz. coffees and hot chocolates that day. The kids love going there. They even have "kids coffee," which is basically sugared up decaf. Then it was off the church for my staff meeting. (Don't even ask about the big hand clapper thingy in the senior pastor's hand.)




That night, I made the kids chicken noodle soup while Heath and I had pan-seared chicken and roasted veggies. Nom nom. The kids got to watch The Aristocats, a video we got from the library, and a classic Disney movie. Heath went rock climbing after the kids went to bed, which was very good for him. He's go to get out to exercise regularly or he doesn't function well. Sounds familiar...

Tuesday (today--look at that; I'm caught up!), we woke up to snow on the ground. I'd heard it was going to snow, but it was hard to believe because just Sunday, we had to turn the AC on in the car because it was over 80 degrees out and hotter inside the car. What wacky contrasts! I love this state. :o)



After getting Everest, we went to the library to pick up some holds and return DVDs. Then it was off to the grocery store. We did a major cleaning out of the fridge, chest freezer, and the pantry over the last couple days. I had clearance to restock some of our staples and get enough food to keep us from eating out for at least two weeks. I believe I have managed to do just that.

While Julie was doing her homework, I made eight breakfast sandwiches (egg, cheese and ham on an English muffin) to put in the freezer for quick breakfast. I'll show Julie how to heat them up, and she can get them ready for herself in the future. Also made eight meat and cheese sandwiches, ready to grab for lunch on the go.

Finally, I hard boiled some eggs and made two loaves of garlic bread, using a half-size French baguette split in two, butter, and crushed, fresh garlic. Those are in the freezer now, waiting for spaghetti or lasagna night. I plan on making some French bread pizzas for the freezer as well, but those will have to wait until tomorrow or Thursday.



Today, I devised a new system for choosing what we have for dinner. I wrote down a bunch of ideas that would use food we already have or that I was going to get at the store. Every dinner idea is on a sticky note. Each day of the week, someone in the family gets to decide what we're having from the choices and puts the note on the stovetop so I can prepare. Because Heath forfeited his day, the kids each get two, and I get one. The weekends are going to be a free-for-all with leftovers or whatever is around; there will be plenty!



Tonight was my choice. We had oven "fried" chicken, roasted bell peppers, and a rice/pasta mix. It was pretty delicious. Even Julie enjoyed the chicken, and she's not much of a meat person. Roasting veggies is SO the way to go. The method makes any veggie much tastier.

Tomorrow is Julie's day to pick, and she chose pancakes, bacon, and fruit salad. Should be pretty yummy!

Parting Shot
Tulips at the grocery store. So many colors and so pretty!

Happy 9th Birthday, Julie!

Here I go again. Getting behind. Will life slow down at some point prior to retirement? I really hope so...

 
Monday, March 12, was Julie's birthday. She had to go to school, yes, but she actually didn't mind much. We had done a lot of celebrating over the weekend, and that probably made up for it. Also, it didn't hurt that I had made individual cheesecakes to bring to her class that day.

 

In the evening, I got started on some taco fixings and sugared fruit for a special birthday dinner. Heath's mom came by to join us, which was a rare treat! We gave some gifts, one of which was a craft set to make a jewelry box. Perfect for all her new earrings! Julie went to bed a very, very happy girl.


Tuesday, March 13, we stopped by my mom's store after school so my mom could see Julie. Everest and I get to go by there quite a lot, but with the school schedule, homework, and an early bedtime, Julie rarely does.

When we went home, Julie suddenly decided that she wanted to move her desk to the nook we'd cleared out in her closet. That kept them busy all the way until dinner.


After Heath put Everest down (and fell asleep with him), I went ahead and took Julie with me to the gym. It would be a more hurried workout, but at least she would have something more fun to do than put herself to bed. While there, I decided on a whim that because Julie had moved her desk up, we now had room for a new futon that my parents have been trying to get us to take. My dad was available to drive it over to our house that night, so we got a new piece of furniture! That night, I also got together with Legolas, though I can't remember exactly what we did...



Wednesday, March 14, was rather uneventful (as far as I can remember), except that the HOA sent a guy out to fix our fence gate. Wahoo! I also got a nice picture of Julie and her best friend M on the walk home from the bus stop.

Good grief. It's been a month.

You know, I really despise having to start off so many blog posts with, "Where did the time go?" But honestly, there must be a black hole in the space-time continuum directly above my house. How else can I explain this uncanny speeding up of time that seems to occur so regularly around here?

I wonder if it is even possible to go back and remember anything at all from the last month? At least I have pictures; maybe something will job my memory. Let's see if I recall the highlights, shall we?

Monday, January 16, 2012
The kids were off from school on a holiday that day and let us sleep in a little. When I went downstairs, I discovered that they had been "cooking," making a fruit and veggie salad with just about everything they could find. Much better than finding that they have made peanut butter Nilla wafers with chocolate chips and sprinkles, but still...it's best to ask before pulling out the knives.



Since they had the day off, we decided to go to the zoo. Well, somehow the day got way late and by time we got there, the zoo was about to close. Since we were purchasing our membership that day, the lady let us go ahead and go on. We zoomed through the exhibits we liked, then headed back to the car for the weather gets pretty chilly up there once the sun goes down.




One of the coolest things we saw were that the lionesses were right up next to the window--literally a few feet away from the glass. Pretty cool to see their beautiful faces so close up.




We wandered around the zoo shop for a little bit before heading out. Dinner was enjoyed at my mom's store that night, which was a huge help because I was exhausted.





Even though we got home late, and it was getting even later by time Julie had finished showering, she convinced me to put curlers in her hair so she could have curls in the morning.



Here's what she looked like the next day:

End of the Week Rush

We have a friend coming in from out of town on Saturday and staying for a week, so I had better get this blog caught up! With guests and normal busyness, I'm apt to lose the next seven days in the whirlwind.

Wednesday, I had to take the morning and afternoon to handle all kinds of stuff for Everest. Kindergarten registration was in the morning at the school, so I headed out solo to fill out the 10-page application to get Everest enrolled.

We had one last thing to do to complete the registration, and that was finishing Everest's immunizations. He had a couple more shots to get done. Sad! I made an appointment for him for later in the morning. The nurse was very nice, but Everest still got really upset. :o( Thankfully, my iPod was a nice distraction afterward.



Thursday, I went to Panera to meet Legolas and work on the church magazine for the morning. I'd finished by time Julie got home from school, and it was time to head over to the church to print. Printing took a strangely long time because I kept having to change toner cartridges.

Once the final sheet was folded, we zoomed over to Chick-fil-A to pick up dinner before the collating meeting. The kids were really good there. Julie even helped with the stapling. She was very productive!



Friday was spent answering emails primarily, and getting my next young writers groups dates and times pinned down. I really wanted to make it to the gym, but it didn't work out timewise. Oh well. We picked up Julie after school and went to the grocery store to get that out of the way.

Sadly, the kids were antsy and tired and just plain worn out in general, which equates to their misbehaving at the store. We survived though, and on the drive home, they decided that they were going to unload the groceries for me. They did a fine job of it, and not even the bread got smashed. :o)

I made a special dinner of Alice Springs Chicken for Heath--delicious! It's chicken with a honey Dijon mustard sauce, topped with bacon, cheese, sauteed mushrooms. NOM NOM. The kids were silly and wanted to eat their Lunchables for dinner. Ha! Everest did end up having half a chicken breast though, and he liked it a lot.



After the kids went to bed, I got started on majorly straightening up the house. Julie came down because she couldn't sleep and helped me make coffee cake and lunch sandwiches for next week. We also worked on transferring all the important info from the 2011 calendar into the 2012 one. Now we can use it--wahoo!



Well, it has somehow gotten to be almost 3:00 a.m., and we've got a busy day tomorrow. I should probably get into bed. Of course, there's currently a little sleepy-eyed, bedheaded boy stretched out on my side. He came in a few hours ago, very, very tired-looking. I had him get into my bed, and he was asleep within 15 seconds. Literally.

Parting Shot
This is Everest's "famous guy," as we like to call him. It's the same stick figure that he draws every time he draws a stick figure. So cute!

Dates of a Different Sort

Saturday, we woke up to find that the kids had gotten up early and decorated a bunch of the gingerbread cookies. They did a surprisingly great job! I've been tasking Julie with decorating the rest of the cookies for the last few days.




That afternoon was reserved for dates of a different sort than we usually do. My mom wanted to take Everest to go Christmas shopping, Heath wanted to hang out with Julie, and I wanted to help my dad in the garage with some handyman jobs he needed to do before Mike and Kate arrive with the now-extremely-mobile little 2-year old T-bug.

Everest had a great time with Nana, and Julie and I both had a fun time with our daddies. Everest and I didn't get back home until after 6:00. I got him fed and put to bed pretty quickly. He was exhausted. Heath and Julie went to get some dinner at Culvers, and the three of us had dinner together.

It was a busy, busy day, but tons of fun. My dad let me raid his garage for bits and pieces for Etsy robots, so I'm looking forward to creating some new ones sometime soon!

Parting Shot
I thought this was a nice touch with the icicle-style lights at the bottom of the tree. Not something I've seen before.

Rollercoaster Days

Thursday, I met Legolas in the morning at Panera to celebrate my first day of vacation. Unfortunately, I still had a couple things on my to-do list, so I just did those for work anyway. Ah well. It was nice to hang out with a friend anyway.

Everest and I hung out in the afternoon, and when Julie got home, we all did some crafts together. Julie learned how to make paper reindeer at her Student Council party, and Everest wanted to make one too. He ended up making a snowman as well.




Before dinner, we got out the gingerbread cookie dough, then cut and baked them. The kids got started on their showers while I made some burritos for dinner. It was a pretty quick trip to bedtime, though they did fight sleep a little bit. Slowly but surely moving it back.





Puella came over for a bit in the evening to chat while I made the cake pop spheres to continue the Christmas baking. We're really doing it in sections this year, rather than all at once. It's been nice though.

Friday had a pretty bad middle, but the morning and evenings were great. After dropping Julie off at school, I met with my friend Katie who is visiting from California. She keeps a blog over here that I love to keep up with. It was really nice to catch up with her and talk about parenting, marriage, kids, and everything else.

When I got back, Everest and I had a pretty sleepy, lazy afternoon. I made us some lunch of tomato sandwiches and oranges, and we watched a lot of episodes of Busytown Mysteries. Once Julie was home, we headed over to the church to get all the bulletins printed for the next two weekends. That is when it became apparent that bedtime could not come soon enough.

It was probably a lack of sufficient sleep and too much sugar that drove them over the edge, but their behavior was quite atrocious. They were cranky with achy tummies from having too much candy. (Everest snuck some in the morning; Julie ate a bunch at her class Christmas party; not to mention that I wrongly allowed them to eat her gingerbread house to keep them busy. Eep. My bad.)



We came home, and the kids had to play separately while I made spaghetti for dinner. Heath came home just as everything was done cooking. We ate, and the kids had to go to bed immediately after they were done. That got them snoozing by 7:15 which is a sure sign that they really were overtired. They had very little trouble falling asleep, even though they were lying down in bed at 6:30.

Heath went rock climbing, and I spent the rest of the evening folding laundry and watching Dirty Jobs. It was nice and relaxing actually; that show always cracks me up. My Muse girls came over around 9:00, and we are currently sitting here at the kitchen table, all of us working on our various things, and listening to John Williams music on Pandora Radio. It's been a nice night. I always love to hang out with my girls.