Managing Monday!

Today I am working on this weeks meal plan then the kids and I are putting together a list of some of the things they want to do this summer, counting down the days until school is out (3!!)

This week for dinner we are having

Pork Roast~gotta love the crock pot on busy nights!

Tacos~Also good for busy days since the chicken is done and in the freezer

Spaghetti~I try to do 1 meat free meal a week
Meatball subs~using leftover sauce
Salmon~Since hubby will be out of town, he doesn't like it but the kids do!
And I just bought andouille sausage for the first time, not sure what to do with it yet!
And Pizza out on Saturday

I have to know ahead of time what we are having the whole week or I
think we would be eating pb&j every night!

There are soo many good meal planning sites that helped me figure out what worked for us!
Once a Month Mom has great recipes and a plan to do the majority of the cooking all at once.  I don't cook ALL at once, but we do buy ground turkey, and chicken in bulk and I cook a bunch of that all at once and package it into meal size bags for the freezer.

A Year of Slow Cooking has a TON of crock pot recipes! I LOVE the slow cooker, some days we can be out of the house from early in the morning until dinner time and there is no time to cook dinner.

There are some cute meal planning forms here!

How do you all meal plan?

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Organzing Friday's!

Things are slowing down here (yay!) and I have all kinds of drawers, cabinets and so on that could use some attention! I am trying to get back in the habit and starting with the kitchen drawers. I have a tiny little major obsession with sprinkles, so much that they have taken over almost 1 entire drawer.

There are all kinds of random cupcake/cake stuff in there but I think it is mostly sprinkles!

 I decided since I was going to empty it out anyway I might as well do all the drawers and move some stuff around, like our silverware, I think it needs a new drawer and I have random stuff in some drawers that would probably be better somewhere else, and I am sure I have a few things I can get rid of! I am hoping to empty at least 1 drawer for just summer things! Chalk, sunscreen, sunglasses and that kind of stuff, as close to the backdoor as we can get!

Then while I was working on a new spot for the sprinkles and stuff in the pantry I realized how unorganized it is. There is a huge bag of lunchbox stuff, lunchboxes, containers, baggies, all that kind of stuff and it was hard to get to so then I started on that and it ends up being a a whole process of moving, purging, tidying and sorting!

See the plaid big bag on the bottom left? FULL of lunchbox stuff!

SO embarrassing how bad it WAS in there!
So much better now!

and the white cd boxes from ikea on the top is where I moved and sorted EVERYTHING from the sprinkles and stuff drawer!

Lunchbox drawer before

all kinds of randomness..

After

 

No more rushing to find a container lid or baggie!

I was able to get 1 entire drawer empty to make a summer drawer, now to find all the sunglasses and other backyard summer stuff!

And I purged my huge stack of cook books!  I worked at a bookstore for a while and with the employee discount on their clearance books I was getting a bunch for just a couple of dollars. I don't want to keep the whole book for just a couple of recipe's so I picked my favorites and copied them down or found them online and have a stack to donate!  More room in the pantry even after I added all the sprinkles and stuff!

So glad I could get this done today, feels better in the kitchen already! Next week I need to re organize the closet with all our cd's and stuff again! It's only been a few months but it hasn't been kept up very well. I will probably work on it a little each day next week because I don't think Friday will be enough time to do it all since that is the first day of summer break and the kids have a HUGE list of all the stuff they want to do!

Off to enjoy the sunshine the rest of the day!

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Something I wish I was better at as a wife was making sure things were mellow and clean (enough) and happy when hubby gets home. But honestly, some days that just seems impossible.  There are a bunch of great ideas HERE on how to welcome our hubby's home.

Some things I do are

~Having a drink ready for him when he gets home. Water, coffee or whatever he likes!

~Sometimes if dinner is going to be late or take a while, or be after a t-ball game,

 I try to have a small snack ready.

~Happy kids make a huge difference! Can't MAKE them be happy, but they usually pick up on our attitudes. Being cheerful even if we are doing the 10th load of laundry that day or cleaning up all the toys we cleaned up 10 minutes ago AGAIN. Being grumpy about it just doesn't help.

And who wants to come home to a grump?

~The one I am for sure most guilty of is having kid shows on when he gets home! We don't let them watch many cartoons, most days that is the only one, but I am sure coming home and hearing Yo Gabba Gabba is not his idea of peaceful. Having the TV on a channel hubby would enjoy,

or turned off and the radio on instead would probably be better.

This is what I am working on, making it a routine and something I put effort into.

There are 6 days of school left here and I can't wait for it to be over! The big kids and I are working on a list of all the things they want to do this summer. So far visiting Grandma and Grandpa's cabin and eating otter pops seem to be the most popular with Ramsey and Carsyn is SO excited for school she is already talking about pencil shopping!

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Birthday Sneak~ Cupcakes!

I REALLY want to share what Finnley's party theme is.. but I can't, yet!  I can share a picture of my test run cupcakes. I know I have 4 months to go but 3 of those 4 months are THE hottest of the year and I am not about to be baking when it's 90 degrees out! So I want to perfect it now!

I think the first try may have been just right.. think I need to tweak the frosting a little more though! And since I was working on taste, and I don't want to give away the theme.. they will be much better looking on party day!

I just made a regular vanilla cake batter and swapped the oil for maple syrup! Then used my regular butter cream and added a few tablespoons of maple syrup so it' more of  a glaze and it's topped with some crumbled tiny pieces of bacon. I know, kinda weird but also really good!

Have y'all seen this Pajama and Pancakes Birthday here?

Or this one?! They made the table a BED!! I think they are calling it a Night Owl Party! So cute!

There are a few elements of those 2 parties I am hoping to incorporate! 

I should have a few more sneaks soon, waiting for some packages in the mail, and working

 on a few crafts for the party!

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