Menu for the week

Last week was crazy with VBS I never posted our menu. The next two weeks Parker has swim lessons then Crossfire camp the week after that! We are some busy bees!

Here is this week's menu

Monday - Spaghetti with sausage
with whole wheat penne, tomato sauce out of the freezer, and sausage!
I am also going to try a new Garlic Parmesan recipe in the breadmaker

Tuesday - Taco Soup
I do this in the crockpot and use ground turkey

Wednesday - Smoked Sausage with white beans Cornbread and Salad
I do this in the crockpot too....soak the beans overnight then rinse the next morning
Add chicken broth, Lawry's seasoning, salt & pepper, with some diced up smoked sausage then simmer all day...YUMMY

Thursday - Fish Tacos and mixed veggies
The quick fish stick kind that my kids love! I use soft tacos and mix up some tartar sauce with salsa to top them

Friday - Cresent Hot Dogs and Mac n' Cheese
Yes this is a quick everyone loves meal perfect for the end of the week when I am too tired to cook anything major

Saturday - Pork Chops Baked Potatoes and Broccoli
Probably going to do the chops on the grill

Sunday - going to the inlaws!

I hope everyone has a great week and click here to get MANY more menu planning ideas

VBS

It's Vacation Bible School week (it's been crazy so I totally forgot to type out my menu planning Monday even though I did menu plan)


This year I am the Croc Crew leader for Parker's class! He wanted me to be since I worked in Lyndee's room last year and I am going to take advantage of him wanting me around for as long as I can!
He was so funny yesterday when we were in the room waiting on the kids to show up "Do I call you Caryn or Mommy?" I just said whichever you want! I wasn't going to point out to anyone I was his mom or call him son in front of anyone but I overheard him more than once bragging that I was his mom!
Also they were short on volunteers so my 16 year old (very mature) sister Dorothy is my assistant and we also have two teen helpers! We have a great crew even though there are a few wild boys but what else is supposed to happen when you get boys together??
Now I just have to find some yellow (since we are the yellow team) clothing since I only have one tank top that is yellow and I can only wear that one day!

rollercoaster of a day

This has been a crazy day...the craziest I have had in awhile! Here are the days highs and lows!!

Woke up about 6:30 to my son telling me the xbox wasn't working so I got up in a panic and tried to fix it....figured out it was working just wasn't able to get on xbox live.....then spent 2 hours troubleshooting, reading forums, and even chatting online with AT&T (which I won't do again I would rather be on hold..like I was Monday to get Parker's computer fixed.....then to do the online chat that the rep takes FOREVER to respond) anyway after much frustration I finally saw on one of the forums where it was down today June 16th for maintence I could have cried right then and there! LOW but turned out it wasn't our fault

But I didn't we had breakfast, got dressed and went to meet some friends at the mall for the Malco Kid Fest movies. Lyndee hasn't done well the last two movies we took her to so my friend Susan offered to take Parker with her two boys and Lyndee and I just walk around the mall/play on the playground! It was very fun spending some one on one time with my little girl. Parker felt so grown up paying for his concessions with the Malco gift card! HIGH

Then we got home had lunch, played etc....went to Parker's Crossfire Commandos class and he landed his front flip! He's been trying for almost a month in class and at home progressing all the time but he finally stuck it and landed straight on his feet! HIGH

So we come home and had dinner and we all head outside to play/Jeff cut the yard and the lawnmower is gone! This is just insanity....first we noticed about March that our lawnmower was missing we were ticked but had had it quite a few years so ok....we used some of our tax return to get a nice one that would make Jeff's quicker and easier. Well he uses it ONCE and it gets stolen. We called the police on this one but of course nothing came of it. So after a few weeks (and the yard getting tall) he buys one from a guy at work that had two so at least we got a deal on this one. Well tonight ANOTHER one is gone!
Now let me explain part of our fence was broken but this wasn't the part facing the street (we are on a corner) but this was the part facing our neighbors house who don't have a fence other than this one we share but we had the fence replaced got a lock for the fence and got a chain for the lawnmower and chained it to the trampoline. So how the heck it got stolen is BEYOND me the lock wasn't tampered with so they must have jumped the fence and lifted that heavy thing over! LOW LOW LOW

To put the icing on the cake Jeff comes in to play some xbox, relieve some stress (still not able to get on xbox live but that's ok) he's just playing a shooting game when it freezes up and we get the dreaded red lights!! LOW

It's just one thing after another....I trust in God completely but I hate these lows I guess God gave us some highs today or we would be in a really bad place tonight!
Now I have a son that is terrified someone is going to break into our house but we prayed together and he actually fell asleep. I will see what tomorrow brings!

MPM

Ahhh Mondays....hate and love them! It's all about catching up on the house cleaning I slacked on over the weekend!

Here is my menu for this week. It's a busy week we are doing stuff with friends almost every day since the next few weeks are VBS, swim lessons, camps etc...so I am all about the quick and easy meals

Monday - Hamburgers baked tater tots and mixed veggies
Quick Easy on the grill though I did make some homemade hamburger buns by making the dough in my bread machine this morning!

Tuesday - A1 Chili and cornbread
in the crockpot you know it's Crockpot Tuesday

Wednesday - Steak dinner for my niece @ my parent's house
It's a "welcome to the world" party my parents have thrown for each grandkid and we all bring a disposable gift

Thursday - meatball subs with Italian green beans
This is at the request of my son since he ate a whole one last time I made them
I have some meatballs frozen from a previous spaghetti and meatballs so I just warm up with some tomato sauce then put on a sub bun with mozzarella cheese and toast until the bun is toasty and the cheese melts

Friday - Tacos
Ground Turkey Taco Bar with all the fixins

Saturday - Domino's House Party
I ended up winning a house party for this night to try all the new American Legends Pizzas so we are having a few friends over to eat pizza for free!!

Sunday - Father's Day
We are having lunch after my niece's baby dedication at my sister's house then dinner at the in-laws




Well there is my crazy busy week of meals....view MANY more recipes here

Experiment Days 4&5

I am a slacker with my blog so I am just now doing this!

Day Four I finally broke down and spent some frivolous money it was raining and the kids were having big time cabin fever so I took them to lunch and to play at McDonald's. I was good though and only spent $6 to feed us all so all in all not too bad! We stayed there over an hour and let the kids burn off all that energy!!

Day Five This was payday so I had bills to pay which is the norm and doesn't count for this part of our experiment. Also we ended up buying the new Dave Matthews album I am honestly shocked we made it from Tuesday to today NOT breaking down to buy it! (it's awesome btw) I am VERY proud of my hubby for going to Best Buy and coming out with just the CD/DVD which was on sale this week. I know he spent time looking around making his "if we win the lottery list"

I also bought our weekly groceries tonight at Walmart (I usually buy the majority at Aldi but I had quite a few coupons this week) and only spent $33 for the week!

All in all I think we did pretty good....we are sticking to our "Do I want to buy this or a house" motto and hopefully the extra nickel and diming will get better and better

Experiment Day 3

Ok it's Wednesday now and it's been hard...the kids wanted out of the house and usually McDonald's playground would be perfect for lunch. I thought about packing a lunch and going to the park but it's gotten SOOOO hot around here that we have to do parks early in the morning.
We had a fun picnic in the floor on towels and watched a movie not burning off energy but still fun!
I did wind up spending a little money today seems when we eat all our meals at home (and my son having ANOTHER growth spurt) I might have to start buying 3 loaves of bread a week! I had to run to Aldi for milk and bread but I see that more of a necessity not a luxury.
Also the new Dave Matthews Band CD came out yesterday and Jeff and I both want the CD soo badly but we have resisted but I am sure Saturday Jeff will be going to buy it while it's still on sale this first week out!
So another successful day!

Experiment Day 2

I know I am posting twice in one day but I never got to it last night!
I did spend money today but it was a necessary thing. I sell my monogrammed stuff along with things the kids have outgrown on ebay and I had 10 packages to mail! The way I am justifying this is: I used my PayPal Debit card so it came straight out of my paypal account AND the people paid me to ship their items so I think I am FULLY justified spending this money!

Since Parker had Crossfire class tonight he was begging me to go to Sonic for half off drinks and I said NO! Shocker I know but I am sticking to this!
We did go over to my parent's house today for lunch and to hang out! My mom, sister and I made cupcake bites!!
Jeff once again spent nothing.....his lovely wife (haha) packed him lunch again last night!

Experiment Day 1

Ok I am late in posting but here is how day 1 went! We stayed home all day as to not be tempted! Cheating kinda sorta but still I didn't spend a dime! Plus it was great we just stayed in our pajamas all day (except the kids putting on their swimsuits to play in the sprinkler/water table)
I did a lot of cleaning all those seasonal things I put off, we played games, played outside quite a bit, watched a movie, and much more!
Jeff made it through the day too...didn't even stop for coffee I am so proud!!

Menu Planning Monday

It's menu planning time again....along with our experiment of spending no money this week we are eating every meal at home plus packing Jeff a lunch to take to work everyday! I wind up getting lazy some nights to pack it for the next day and so he drives thru somewhere for lunch but not this week!!
This week could easily be called Quick and Easy Family Favorites

Monday - Fish Tacos Salad
Very easy cook fish sticks in the oven then put in a whole wheat tortilla with lettuce, tomato, tartar sauce, salsa.......so many options

Tuesday - Mexican Chicken in the crockpot
Chicken breasts topped with can of diced tomatoes (I get the kind with jalapenos also), can of corn, can of Mexican beans I top with low fat sour cream and serve with multi grain tortilla chips
This kids will eat this one sometimes but usually I make them "character" soup from Campbell's

Wednesday - BREAKFAST
My hubby and kid's favorite meal
Scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and homemade biscuits (ok not really I use bisquik but it's better than the canned ones)

Thursday - going out to eat with my grandparents
They have been dying to see their great grandkids so are are all meeting up at Piccadilly
At least there are no dishes to do!

Friday - Hot Dogs and Macaroni & Cheese
This is just a quick and easy meal that I can pop the hot dogs on the grill while the kids play outside

Saturday - Smoked Sausage and White Beans
Another crockpot meal

Sunday - It's My Birthday!!!!
My side of the family is taking me out to eat! I picked a local place called Mr. B's that has the best fried Shrimp in Memphis...funny part is I don't eat Shrimp but both my boys and both my parents LOVE it PLUS they have fried pickles along with a Celestial Chicken that melts in your mouth so it's OFF my healty living for that one day!!!


Get TONS more menu ideas at one of my favorite websites