My adventures with meal planning and freezer cooking.

I really love to cook.  But sometimes I am so stressed out from running after 3 little ones, and making the house a home, and breaking up fights, and drying tears, and flirting with my husband, and remembering to do this and that....that I just don't feel like cooking supper.  What happens is I make something simple for the kids and then Scott and I would order take out and eat it after the girls go to bed.  This was taking a serious chunk out of our budget and adding inches to my waistline.  A double whammy.  Yuck.....  Plus we weren't eating meals together as a family.  Something that I remember doing growing up and strive to do with our family as well.  It's the perfect time to talk to the girls and teach them about table manners and nutrition.  And the girls get a chance to tell Scott about what they did during the day.

I have been dabbling with freezer cooking for awhile now.  Katrina would come over in the morning and we would cook for a few hours while the kids played together.  Our worst day was the time we forgot to turn the oven on when making banana bread. *slaps her forehead*  Our best day was when we made 20 some meals for each of our families.  Yes, they were chicken meals.  It was seriously on sale that week.  ;)  Katrina has 4 boys under the age of 7.  We have 3 girls 7 years and younger.  So the extra meals in the freezers has been helpful.

However, I just wasn't making good use of them.  After having a meeting with my amazing friend, Steph, who is also my accountability partner.  I told her that I was going to get back into cooking meals for the family.

So on May 14th I set about getting to work.  The week before I was blessed with the grocery store having yet another sale on boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I'm pretty sure they don't like chickens as much as my husband claims I do,  he always jokes that I have it out for chickens because I buy a ton of them when they are on sale.

The week before I made a plan of what I was going to cook, gathered the recipes and made a list of what I was going to need from the store.  I knew I was going to need to go to several different stores to get all the ingredients needed.

Anyways,  here is how the day went.

The night before I put the chicken in the crock pot with some chicken broth.  I set the crock pot to low and in the morning my chicken was ready to shredd.

I crawled out of bed at 5:30 a.m.  I wanted to get a good head start before the girls woke up.  I started a fresh pot of coffee and got to work.

Here is my red recipe book.  And my homemaker binder with all my other recipes.

A view of my stove hard at work.

Due to Lexi's allergy to tree nuts I make our own pesto.

Our freezer at the end of the day.  I think I made 15 some meals that day.

Check out my new dry erase calendar for meal planning.  I love being able to move the meals around if I don't feel like having something on a certain day.  And right next to it is my favorite picture of my hubby. =)

I am so happy that I have taken back control of our kitchen.  And due to the fact that our girls eat like birds we still have meals left in the freezer.  We regularly have leftovers which works out well for lunch the next day too.

This is definitely something I am going to continue.  One of my favorite sites to frequent is onceamonthmom.com . If you have any meals that are great freezer meals please let me know.

” Mama & Me” Journal

My friend, Katrina, knows me so very well.  She sent me a link to a homeschooling momma's website, mamajennblogs.com and I have still not explored everything yet.

One thing I did find and set right to work making was the Mama & Me journal.  I knew this would be perfect for our oldest daughter.  What is a Mama & Me journal?  It is a notebook for Mackenzie and I to write letters back and forth to each other.  With 2 younger sisters around it is not always easy for us to have conversations. Plus, she is at the other house 50% of the time as well, so she will have something to look forward to that is all her own. And it serves a double purpose- she can practice her spelling, writing and penmanship.

I really hope that this notebook will help for us to keep the line of communication open.  Life can be hard, so if/when she asks some tough questions I'll have some time to ask God how I should answer her.

You only need a few things to make a Mama & Me journal of your own.

• A notebook
• Some fun scrapbook paper
• Clear contact paper

You can download and print off a Mama & Me label from Jenn's site. But I didn't have the laptop printer with me so I just wrote it on myself.

Then I took an idea off Jenn's blog that she took off Erica's site (Confessions of a Homeschooler) and wrote a letter on the first page explaining what the notebook is about.

Dear Mackenzie,

Would you like to be my pen pal? Instead of mailing letters to each other, we can keep them here in this notebook. Does that sound like fun?

I will write to you and then leave the notebook on your bed. Then, when you want to write me back you can begin writing on the next page and leave the notebook on my bed when you are done.

You can write about anything! It can be funny or serious! Just write about whatever is on your mind!  :-)

I am so excited and I hope that you are excited too!

Love,
Mom

P.S. Write back soon!  :-)

Mackenzie has already discovered it and can't wait for me to write back to her.

A great morning

Right after my last race, I mean that evening, I signed up for Race for the Cure.  I knew that this race would be easier.  It's only a 5K compared to a 8K.   I just didn't know how great of a morning I would have running it.

I got up a little earlier than I usually do.  My brother, Roy, and brother-in-law, Justin, would be at my place at 7:15 a.m.  My friends, Pati, Steph, and Julia were meeting us at the race.

We arrived right on time.  We didn't have to do a whole lot of standing around.  After everyone helped each other get our race bibs and "In Memory" and "In Celebration" bibs on we were all set.

I painted my nails pink the night before.  I figured it would help me run faster.

Our race bibs.

"In Celebration" bibs.

"In Memory" bibs

A great view of the Capital while on our run.

In the back: Justin and Roy. In the front: Steph, myself and Pati

Steph and I stayed running together the whole time.

The girls were so happy to find me at the end of the race.

I had such a great time with a great group of friends.  And we were able to raise money for a fantastic cause.  We shared a lot of laughs and jokes this morning.  I'm already looking for our next race to run.

Reflection Day Results

I recently posted about Utilizing the 31st day. Even though it was written on my calendar yesterday I forgot until Sandra made a comment saying she was excited to know what I write about.  Oops, time to reflect.

I did take some time today before starting supper to see how things are lining up in our life.

1. How is the overall pace of my family's life right now?
   Our pace is different from day-to-day, one day we have playdates and errands, the next day we are relaxing at home.  We currently don't have any outside activites that anyone is in but am hoping to find some for the summer months.  Nothing that requires a real commitment, more so a drop in type basis.  And I have a few friend things going on this month.
    
2. How long has it been since we've enjoyed a family night together?
   The last intentional family day we had was Mother's Day.  The strawberries have peaked early this year.  I am hoping we can sneak away from the daily to do's to go pick some.  Maybe after my 5K Breast Cancer awareness run on Saturday.
   
3. Does our schedule allow us to eat dinner together at least four nights a week (or however many you're comfortable with)?
   I recently moved dinner time to 6:00 here.  Two reasons- a later mealtime means the girls aren't asking for snacks right before bed.  And Scott is more likely to be home from work to eat with us.  He is a sales manager for a roofing company so his daily schedule isn't the same every day.
   
4. When was the last time my husband and I had a chance to be alone (and awake!) together?
   We get to see each other every night now that Lexi, 2 1/2, is sleeping in her own bed.  We actually have time to talk to one another without being interrupted.
   
5. Is everyone in my family (including me) getting an adequate amount of sleep?
   I would say most of us are getting a good amount of sleep.  We are making sure the girls are in their own beds on time and not staying up to play.  We do need to work on getting ourselves to bed at an earlier time and not staying up to watch TV.
   
6. Is there something that should be taken off my family's "to do" list at this time?
   No, looking to add summer activities.
   
7. How are the girls behaving?  Is there something I need to change or get back to?
   The girls are behaving pretty well.  I do need to remember daily that the big influences on their behavior are: myself (what's my mood?), food (are they eating on time and healthy), and sleep (are they getting enough).
   
8. Is there something in the house that needs my immediate attention?
   The living room wall could really use a fresh coat of paint.  I need to talk to Scott about this.
   
9. How are we eating?  Are we eating on time?  Are we eating healthy?
   I feel we are eating pretty healthy. I have started more freezer cooking and meal planning (post coming on that soon.) Which makes it easier to control what we are eating.  I do take the girls with me when picking out produce.  They are more likely to eat it when I do.  We usually eat on time, I do need to get better about everyone eating breakfast at the same time everyday.
   
10. How are Scott and I relating?  When was our last date?  Are we on the same page?
    I feel we are relating well.  Our last date was on the 19th for our 5 year anniversary.  He is really, really busy with work now.  So being on the same page is going to be difficult at times.  But I know we will be fine.  Just have to slow him down from time to time and make sure we communicate.

Nuggets of time.

I'm still working on developing a set time where I sit down and read my Bible uninterrupted.  With 3 young girls keeping me busy, a house to look after and a husband to love I don't see that happening any time soon.

I am finally getting some good sleep, minus the crazy dreams that keep waking me up.  The energy that I am gaining from good sleep habits is amazing.  I am back to exercising on a regular basis and have such a renewed spirit.  

While I have energy to play with the girls and finally keep up with the housework, there are times during the day the girls just want me to sit with them while they are watching toons.  I feel so happy that they are just happy sitting and cuddling with me.  They just want me next to them.  I have found this cuddle time to be a great time to get some reading in.  

So I grab my phone.

 Isn't my phone pretty?  My husband let me pick it out for my 30th birthday this year.

I found a nice Bible app that I downloaded for free.

 

 It has all sorts of options that I haven't even checked out yet.

Right now I am reading in the book of James.

 

 I really like the highlight feature.  It makes it so much easier to come back and find the verse that stuck out at me.  And I can highlight in all the colors of the rainbow if I want to.

I know that in this season of my life I may not be able to sit down with God's word for an hour at a time, or even a half hour at a time.  I do know that I can get in little nuggets of time to read through a chapter or two. 

I always have my phone with me.  Now I can always have my Bible with me too.

I was not paid or compensated in anyway for this post.

Utilize the "31st day".

Back in March I was able to go on a great trip to Illinois with one of my best friends.  We spent the day in Normal, Illinois at the Hearts at Home Moms Conference.  You can read about my experience here.  Before the trip Katrina and I had a good plan to each read the same books and then talk about them on the way down there.  Well, as you know life gets in the way and neither one of us finished either book before the trip.

I just recently started reading The Mother LOAD by Mary M Byers.  (One of the books we were suppose to read together.)   Early on in the book she talks about meeting our need for balance.  Since the start of the year I have been taking a day of rest, a day off from the usual housecleaning and homemaking that I do.  But was introduced to a new concept that I want to try out.  To Utilize the "31st day" of the month.  To take this day in January, March, May, July, August, October and December, set aside some time and ponder the following questions:

• How is the overall pace of my family's life right now?
• How long has it been since we've enjoyed a family night together?
• Does our schedule allow us to eat dinner together at least four nights a week (or however many you're comfortable with)?
• When was the last time my husband and I had a chance to be alone (and awake!) together?
• Is everyone in my family (including me) getting an adequate amount of sleep?
• Is there something that should be taken off my family's "to do" list at this time?

A few questions I want to add are: 

• How are the girls behaving?  Is there something I need to change or get back to?
• Is there something in the house that needs my immediate attention?
• How are we eating?  Are we eating on time?  Are we eating healthy?
• How are Scott and I relating?  When was our last date?  Are we on the same page?

I think I would really like to make this a regular part of making sure the house is running smoothly.  To assess and see if there are changes to be made to the way things are going and come up with a plan if needed.

The 31st of May is coming up soon.  I have already written on that day as Reflection Day.

ABC Scripture cards

My friend Katrina came across this amazing website called I Can Teach My Child.  With having come to the conclusion that we are going to homeschool our 2 youngest children, a post coming on that soon, I am always on the lookout for websites and blogs to help me along. 

On the site I found a link for ABC Scripture cards.  What I love about these cards are that we can work on recognizing the letters of the alphabet while learning a scripture that is easy for the girls to understand.   I have also had Mackenzie, age 7, and Kennedy, age 4, draw a picture of what they believe the verse to mean.

 First I printed out the cards and laminated them.

Then I cut the cards apart, used my corner cutter to round out the corners of the sharp laminate, punched a hole in the corner and put them on a ring that used to hold hair ties.

Checking them out.

Showing them off.

She likes them.

What are your ideas for getting God's word into the hearts and minds of your kids?