Menu Plan April 1-15

It's time for another menu plan! Two weeks goes fast...I did a freezer inventory and realized we have 15 individual soup portions in there, so we will be having soup and sandwich lunches quite often this time around.  Saving that one or two portions of leftovers really adds up! I am trying to use up a lot of what is in the freezer so we can start filling it back up with new stuff.

Tuesday, April 1
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Soups and Sandwiches
Dinner: Mexi Beans, Rice, Lettuce, Tomatoes and Avocado

Wednesday, April 2
Breakfast: Eggs & Toast
Lunch: Chicken and Black Bean Salads
Dinner: Lent Dinner at Church - I'm bringing Ramen Noodle Salad

Thursday, April 3
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Chicken and Black Bean Salads
Dinner: Lasagna, Garlic Bread

Friday, April 4
Breakfast: Eggs with Veggies (Mushrooms, Onions, Peppers), Toast
Lunch: Black Bean Burgers, Side Salad
Dinner: Lasagna, Garlic Bread

Saturday, April 5
Breakfast: Chocolate Banana Muffins
Lunch: Soups and Sandwiches
Dinner: Sloppy Joes, Carrot Fries

Sunday, April 6
Breakfast: Chocolate Banana Muffins
Lunch: Soups and Sandwiches
Dinner: Chicken, Poblano Sweet Potatoes

Monday, April 7
Breakfast: Eggs and Leftover Sweet Potatoes
Lunch: BLTs
Dinner: Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Tuesday, April 8
Breakfast: Yogurt, Granola, Fruit
Lunch: Chicken and Mushroom Salads
Dinner: Leftover Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Wednesday, April 9
Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Lunch: Baked Potatoes with Ham, Broccoli and Cheese
Dinner: Lent Dinner at Church - I'm bringing Pumpkin Chicken Chili

Thursday, April 10
Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Lunch: Soups and Sandwiches
Dinner: Grill Out - Hot Dogs and Brats, Sweet Potato Fries

Friday, April 11
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Leftover Hot Dogs and Brats
Dinner: Sausage, Tomato, and Spinach Pasta

Saturday, April 12
Breakfast: Whole Wheat Chocolate Pancakes
Lunch: Chicken and Black Bean Salads
Dinner: Pizza with Sausage, Mushrooms, and Olives

Sunday, April 13
Breakfast: Whole Wheat Chocolate Pancakes
Lunch: Chicken and Black Bean Salads
Dinner: Veggie Spaghetti

Monday, April 14
Breakfast: Eggs and Toast
Lunch: Leftover Spaghetti
Dinner: Fish, Broccoli

Tuesday, April 15
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Soups and Sandwiches
Dinner: Egg and Cheese on English Muffin Bread (from the freezer)

I'm linking up to Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

What I'm Reading...

What I'm Reading:

What Makes You Come Alive. (The Art Of Simple)

Your Child's Life Is Worth 60 Seconds (Even If It Is A Battle). (Kitchen Stewardship)

Little Excuses. (The Simple Dollar)

Overwhelmed With Green And Natural Living? You Need These 5 Simple Truths. (Life Your Way)

Being His Biggest Fan. (Holy Hen House)

Creating A Pre-Travel Checklist. (Unclutterer)

What I'm Pinning:

• Pie Crust Recipe and Tips (Simple Bites)
• Banana Peel Plant Fertilizer Spray (Little House Living)
• DIY 3D Star from Cardboard (Puddle Designs)
• Crockpot Chicken 3 Ways (Wholesome Mommy)
• Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad In A Jar (Wholesome Mommy)
• Peanut Butter Double Chocolate Delight (Organizing Junkie)

Weekly Coupon Shopping

Walgreens

I wasn't planning on going to Walgreens this week, but my husband wanted jelly beans, and we were almost out of formula, so there I went.

• 2 Jelly Beans: 2/$5. Used $1/2 (March Walgreens booklet) = paid $4.
• 2 Well Beginnings Formula: $6.99 each. Used two $5/1 printables = paid $1.99 each! We've never tried this brand, but for this price, why not!
• Total spent: $8.23.

CVS

I had a $10 gift card that I earned through MyPoints, so I only spent $2.81 out of pocket for all these, and got $2ECBs plus a $0.50 SavingStar deposit and a $1.00 Checkout51 deposit!

Transaction #1:

• CVS Diapers: $6.99, get $3ECBs.
• Total spent: $7.34, got $3ECBs.

 Transaction #2:

• 2 Cereal: 2/$5, get $2ECBs. Used two $0.60/1 printables = paid $3.80, got $2ECBs, plus I'll get $0.50 from SavingStar.
• CVS Paper Towels: $0.79. Used $0.79/1 coupon from CVS machine = free.
• 3 All Detergent: B1G2 Free $7.29. Used $2/2 (RP 3/9/14) and $1/1 printable = paid $4.29/3, plus I'll get $1.00 from Checkout 51.
• Used $3ECBs from Transaction #1.
• Total spent: $5.47.

Iron Craft Challenge #6: String Theory

This time the challenge was to use some sort of string.  That is easy for me, as almost all of my projects involve stitching of some sort.  And, as a bonus, I was already planning on making this Bible passage cross stitch for a couple that got married at our church this past weekend.  I played organ (my first wedding! and I didn't mess up!) and it was a lovely little ceremony.  But I digress...

I based the design off of their wedding verse, Ecclesiastes 4:12: "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."  The picture that I've always seen along with that verse is two ribbons wrapped around a cross (the third strand) so I went with something similar.

And then I had this awesome idea to flip my embroidery cloth over and draw my pattern directly on there in light pen so that I could just follow it from there.  It worked marvelously! I have done graph paper in the past, but it's really hard for me to translate the size of a full sheet of graph paper to what ends up being like 2 inches big, so this was a much better way to get the size I wanted.

I kind of winged it on the lettering at the bottom, and luckily I was a good judge of size this time, because it was actually pretty well centered.  I usually am not that good, and have to take it out and rework it.

I really love how this one turned out! I hope the happy couple likes it too.

What I'm Reading...

What I'm Reading:

Do Your Kids Need To Learn How To Program? (Life Your Way)

30 Dairy Additives You Should Know. (Don't Waste The Crumbs)

A Day Of Consumption. (The Simple Dollar)

Why Winter Is Like Early Motherhood (And Why It's Best To Surrender To Both). (The Happiest Home)

On Being A Stay-At-Home Mom. (Life As Late)

What I'm Pinning:

• Slow Cooker Tex-Mex Chicken Stew. (What Megan's Making)
• Creamy White Bean And Apple Chili (Crockpot 365)
• Homemade Tater Tots (Little House Living)
• Yarn-Wrapped Picture Frames (Mod Podge Rocks)

Weekly Coupon Shopping

Target

• Wheat Thins: $2.39. Used $1/1 mobile and $0.50/1 printable = $0.89.
• 2 Triscuits: $2.39 each. Used two $1/1 printables (no longer available) = $1.39 each.
• 4 Gerber 1st Foods 2pks: $0.99 each. Used $1/4 (printed last time I bought some) = $2.96/4.

This was part of a larger transaction. We finally signed up for a RedCard to save 5%. My husband bought the iPad Mini, which was $499.  We used 10% off Cartwheel, got 5% off for the RedCard, and got a $30 gift card back, which we used on the items above, as well as a toy for each kid.  For the iPad Mini, the total was $448.05 after tax, meaning we saved $50 just from the percentages off, plus we got the gift card back. That's about as good as you can get for an Apple product!

Other Coupon Shopping:

• Piggly Wiggly: Used in-ad coupon to get 6 Powerades for $0.49 each with $10 purchase.
• Hobby Lobby: Used 40% off 1 item mobile coupon to get a 3-drawer organizer for $10.19. (We bought two of these for Lego reorganizing, which I will be posting about next week!)

2014 Word Of The Year: Serve

One of the blogging trends I've noticed over the past few years is to have a word of the year that serves as your overall theme for life.  Those blogs, by the way, are from Sarah Mae (husband), Tsh Oxenreider (risk), Mandi Ehman (live), and Nicole Bennett (perseverance).  And to be honest, I wasn't even thinking about picking a word necessarily, but I realized that one of the things I have been trying to do is to live my life more as a servant. 

I am a helper to my husband, I am a mother to my children, I am a member of my church, I am a steward of all that I have...All of these are roles that I have, and in all of them, I can live a life of service. 

This is not an easy thing to do.  After all, who wants to be a servant? Who wouldn't rather have others take care of them?  And yet, even Jesus was a servant.

When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers.  Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. - Matthew 20:24-28 NIV

What better example can I get than that?

My daily life is made up of many little tasks that, often, are repeated over and over.  It is easy to feel like I am making no progress, like there is no point to what I am doing, like everything I do is for other people and I have no time for myself.  Please don't misunderstand - time for myself is important.  But those little things, like changing diapers, cooking dinner, reading the same story again and again, those are important too.  

Lord, help me to be a servant to my family. Help me to be a servant to You.

Menu Plan March 16-31

My attempt at a shamrock in this morning's oatmeal.

Here's our plan for the second half of March.  Again, it's full of mostly easy meals that I know we like.  Aren't those the best?

Sunday, March 16
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: McDonalds after church
Dinner: Mexi Beans and Rice

Monday, March 17
Breakfast: Oatmeal with PB and Chocolate
Lunch: Hot Dogs, Baby Carrots, Fruit
Dinner: Chicken, Poblano Sweet Potatoes

Tuesday, March 18
Breakfast: Eggs and Leftover Sweet Potatoes
Lunch: Apple Bacon Quesadillas
Dinner: Stuffed Peppers

Wednesday, March 19
Breakfast: Yogurt, Homemade Honey Nut Granola, Fruit
Lunch: Baked Potatoes
Dinner: Lent Dinner at church - we're bringing Veggie Minestrone Soup

Thursday, March 20
Breakfast: Eggs & Toast
Lunch: Lunch at Friends' House
Dinner: Veggie Spaghetti

Friday, March 21
Breakfast: Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Lunch: Leftover Veggie Spaghetti
Dinner: Fish, Broccoli

Saturday, March 22
Breakfast: Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Lunch: Crockpot Red Bean Jamaican Stew (I'll make this the day before)
Dinner: Homemade Mac & Cheese, Peas

Sunday, March 23
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Leftover Red Bean Jamaican Stew
Dinner: Black Bean Burgers, Carrot Fries

Monday, March 24
Breakfast: Winter Squash Hash and Eggs
Lunch: Grilled Cheese, Tomato Soup
Dinner: Chicken and Pinto Bean Taco Salads

Tuesday, March 25
Breakfast: Winter Squash Hash and Eggs
Lunch: Turkey Sandwiches
Dinner: Chicken and Pinto Bean Taco Salads

Wednesday, March 26
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Mini Pizzas on English Muffin Bread
Dinner: Lent Dinner at Church - we're bringing Chili

Thursday, March 27
Breakfast: Eggs & Toast
Lunch: PB&J Sandwiches/Soups from the Freezer
Dinner: Eggplant Lasagna

Friday, March 28
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Leftover Eggplant Lasagna
Dinner: Eggs & Cheese on English Muffin Bread

Saturday, March 29
Breakfast: PB&J Muffins
Lunch: Black Bean Tortilla Pizzas
Dinner: Chicken Noodle Soup

Sunday, March 30
Breakfast: PB&J Muffins
Lunch: Black Bean Tortilla Pizzas
Dinner: Crockpot Beef & Broccoli (doubled)

Monday, March 31
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Leftover Beef & Broccoli
Dinner: Chicken Fajitas

I'm linking up to Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

What I'm Reading...

Kids really do grow up so fast!

 
What I'm Reading:

Raising "Normal" Kids. (Inspired To Action via Life Your Way)

How Many Birthday Cupcakes Can One Kid Eat? (Kitchen Stewardship)

My Mom Jeans. (Holy Hen House)

Who's Your Favorite Strong Female Character? (Life Your Way)

How Is Your Other Half? (The Art Of Simple)

4 Ways To Use Pinterest Secret Boards. (Gidget Goes Home)

What I'm Pinning:

• Curly Paper Flowers (Instructables via Dollar Store Crafts)
• DIY Wired Headband (Dollar Store Crafts)
• Old Fashioned Caramel Icing (Little House Living)
• 6-Minute On The Road Minimalist Workouts (The Minimalists)

Week 2 Of Catching Up Month

My big project for this week was reorganizing the baby clothes.  We already had them in bins by size, but everything was mixed together, and I wanted it sorted by boy clothes, girl clothes, and gender neutral so I could easily see what I had.  First I sorted each bin on the dining room table.

Then I loaded the bins back up, using some cardboard dividers I made from our recycling bin.

It didn't take long at all, and I'm very happy with the results!  Plus, now I have Hannah's next size of clothes all ready to go. She's not quite ready for them yet, but soon...And I was able to check on the boys' clothes as well and make a list of what they need going into summer.  Yay organizing!

Besides clothes sorting, here's what else I caught up on this week:

• Called and signed up for health insurance, which I've been putting off hoping they would extend the deadline again.
• Transferred pictures from my phone to my computer. I still need to save photos and important computer files to our external hard drive from the past couple of months.
• Did one blog post I had missed out on earlier this year (Virtual Bookshelf Tour)

With the month about half over, I feel like I'm doing pretty well on my long list of things I want to catch up on.  How about you?

Weekly Coupon Shopping

Target

• Fresh Express Salad: $2.99. Used free coupon from mail (took off $5.99) = free plus overage!
• Baby Carrots: $1.29. Used $1/1 fresh veggie mobile coupon = $0.29.
• Bananas: $1.20. Used $1/1 fresh fruit mobile coupon = $0.20.
• Lucky Charms: $2.84. Used $1/1 printable (no longer available) = $1.84.
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch: $2.54. Used $1/1 printable (no longer available) = $1.54. (I wanted to get Alpha-Bits cereal for $0.69 each after coupons, but they were out)
• 6 Yoplait Yogurt: $0.62 each. Used $0.40/6 printable and got $0.50 back from Checkout51 = paid $3.32, got $0.50 back.
• Suave Shampoo: $2.74. Used $1.50/1 Target printable and $1.50/1 (RP 3/9/14) = free plus overage!
• Suave Conditioner: $2.84. Used $1.50/1 Target printable and $1.50/1 printable = free plus overage!
• 2 Tank Tops: $5 each. Used $3/2 Target printable and 10% Target Cartwheel (took off $0.70) = paid $6.30/2.
• Saved $0.10 for using my own bags, and used remaining $0.71 on my gift card = paid $9.60 out of pocket.

Virtual Tour Of My Bookshelves

Back in January, I read Money Saving Mom's post with her tour of her bookshelves (and it was linked up to a whole bunch of other ones).  Since both Jesse and I love to read, and we're trying to instill that in our children, it seemed like a fun idea, but I didn't get around to it.  Still, I'd love to show you (and see yours!)

Here's our bookshelf.  Yes, we only have one.  Jesse has two more big shelves and one smaller shelf of theological and sociology books in his church office, but this is all we have at our house.

The top two shelves, plus the top of the bookcase, are home to our fiction, most of which was mine, but a few are from Jesse as well.  They are in alphabetical order by author, because I am OCD and that's what makes the most sense to me.

I have really culled this down over the past two moves.  I got rid of most of the "classics" that I could find for free on my Kindle, since I still have access to them if I want to read them, but now they don't take up space.

This is also where we have a bunch of little decorative items.  Those are a little crowded for my tastes, but with three little kids, they're not safe on the bottom shelves right now.

The next two shelves are kids' books.  These are actually getting really full, to the point that we might need to purge some soon!  They are in no particular order, except that generally the bigger ones go on the lower shelf because it's taller.  As long as the books make it back on the shelf, I'm happy.

Finally, the bottom shelf has some non-fiction, devotions, pregnancy books, baby books, and photo albums.  We don't have a lot of any of these, so they're all mixed together on the bottom.

I also have a few hundred books on my Kindle, which are organized into topical headings like "Parenting", "Food/Cookbooks", and "Money".  I'm trying to get better at reading the ones I have, although I would say I probably pick up 3-5 free ones each month that look interesting.  I hardly ever pay for ebooks unless I know I'm going to read them though.

Here's the thing about books.  I used to believe that A) people actually paid attention to the books on my shelves, and B) that they formed an opinion about me based on those books, so I tried to have a large collection of what I felt were "impressive" books, most of which I had not read.  At least I got them at the used book store, so they didn't cost as much, but I finally realized that no one judges me by my books.  So now I just have books that I've really enjoyed, as well as some that I really do want to read at some point.

Iron Craft Challenge #5: A Is For...

...Alphabet Animal Art!

I really enjoyed the mixed media embroidery project I did for Challenge #1 this year, so I decided to do something similar for this challenge.  A friend of mine had a baby recently, so I made this wall hanging for her.  Since her name is Esther, I chose E for elephant.

I didn't photograph the first steps, but I did a simple google image search for "elephant silhouette" and picked one I liked.  I traced that onto two fabrics, and cut it out.  I used an old undershirt for the backing.

And here is the finished product!

I did try something new on this one, which was to embellish the elephant with a 3D ear, which I made from sewing together two half circles of the yellow polka dot.  I sewed the first three and a half sides together inside out, and then attempted a hidden stitch after I flipped it right side out.  It nearly worked, although I could use some practice on that.  Since I was going to stitch it onto the elephant, it didn't matter if it was showing, but I had wanted to try it, so I did.

And finally, for your bonus viewing pleasure, an elephant drawn by my nearly-3-year-old, Matthew:

Isn't that cute?

What I'm Reading...

What I'm Reading:

Is There A Happy Medium Between Enjoying Your Things And Minimalist Living? (Honey We're Home via I'm An Organizing Junkie)

There's No Such Thing As A Big Step. (The Happiest Home)

My Thoughts On Baby Schedules And Sleep Training. Though not to the extremes listed here, this is kind of what we deal with with Hannah.  It's comforting to know there are other kids out there with sleep issues, and that we can solve them in whatever way works for us.(Andrea Dekker)

Making Time For What Matters. (The Art Of Simple)

Homesteading Supplies You Can Get At The Dollar Store. (Little House Living)

What I'm Pinning:

• Ginger, Chicken, and White Bean Soup (Raia's Recipes)
• Homeschooling 101: Creating Lesson Plans (Confessions Of A Homeschooler)
• Mozzarella Stuffed Meatloaf (Little House Living)
• Real Food Sloppy Joes (100 Days Of Real Food)
• Chicken Enchilada Casserole (Wholesome Mommy)
• Free Printable Alphabet Lego Cards (Wildflower Ramblings)

Week 1 Of Catching Up Month

If you remember from last week, I labeled March as Catching Up Month, and I had a nice long list of things I wanted to get done. I was able to cross a few things off this week (and did a few that didn't make the list, but that I had been wanting to get done also).

I cleaned out my coupon box of expired coupons from January and February.

I three-hole-punched my new organ music and added it to my organ binder.

I read Insurgent and Allegiant by Veronica Roth.  I understand why Allegiant ended the way it did, but I was disappointed in what happened.

I ordered a big bag of Great Northern Original Popcorn on Amazon, something I had been wanting to price check for awhile.  It was 12.5 pounds for $15 and change (now it's $16.95).  We go through popcorn like crazy, so this was a pretty good deal.

I wiped down our kitchen island, counters, and spice rack, as well as clearing off and wiping off the dining room table. Here's the island all nice and empty.  It's really huge when there's nothing on it...

Behind it you can see a lot of the stuff that usually goes on the island.  Some of it went back, but I actually put some of it away elsewhere, so now I have more space, which is always handy.

I still have a bunch left on my list, but I feel like I made good progress this week.  What have you been catching up on?

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.

Ingredient Freezer Cooking

Even though I make a lot of things from scratch, and spend quite a bit of time in the kitchen, doing all of the prep work is not one of my favorite things.  Still, if we want to eat, we have to have the ingredients ready to go.

If you couldn't tell by my meal plans, we generally do two weeks at a time, and I usually do the majority of the grocery shopping at the beginning of the two weeks.  That means several ingredients need to be portioned out and put in the freezer so they will last that long.  Enter ingredient freezer cooking.

Rather than getting entire meals ready, I chop the produce, split up and weigh out the meats on our kitchen scale, and label everything with masking tape.

This particular time, I did all this:

• Chopped 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, and 1 onion for ham/bean soup.
• Portioned out ham for soup and for salads.
• Chopped 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, and 1 onion for chicken cacciatore. (freezer)
• Chopped 4oz. mushrooms, 1 pepper, and 1 onion for eggs with veggies. (freezer)
• Chopped 2 peppers and 2 onions for chicken enchilada chili. (freezer)
• Chopped 3 carrots and 1 onion for tomato soup. (freezer)
• Chopped 4oz. mushrooms for pizza. (freezer)
• Portioned out chicken for several meals.
• Chopped 2 peppers and 1 onion for fajita mix. Added chicken and marinade. (freezer)
• Made chicken broth on the stove top.
• Repackaged chicken drumsticks into a container. (freezer)
• Made granola.
• Made a small batch of carrot baby food puree (4 jars).

It took me just over 2 hours, which I didn't particularly enjoy, but now for the next two weeks, I basically have to pull things to thaw in the fridge the day before, and then dump and cook them.  That I can handle.  And that is definitely worth the time up front!

Weekly Coupon Shopping

Pick N Save
I did the majority of my grocery shopping at Pick N Save this week, since they had a deal on chicken breasts and a few produce deals.  That easily brought me to my $25 limit to double coupons, so I used a couple of those as well.  I had plans to get some cheap granola bars with doubled coupons, but the prices were higher than those listed online so I didn't get them.  Here's what I used coupons on:

• International Delight Creamer: $2.19. Used $1/1 printable (no longer available) doubled = paid $0.19!
• 4 Fresh Express Bagged Salad: $3.49 each. Used 4 free product coupons = free!
• 2 Snicker PB: $0.99 each. Used $0.75/2 printable (doubled) and submitted for 100% back on one through SavingStar = paid $0.48/2, got $0.99 back!
• Submitted for $0.25 back from Checkout51 for buying carrots.
• Got $5.00 off for some random Wrigley's promotion that was going on. I'm not sure if it was because I hit a certain dollar amount or if it was based off of products I bought, but that was a nice surprise!

Target

• 8 Yoplait Yogurts: $0.62 each. Used two $1/4 printables = paid $2.96/8, or $0.37 each!
• 2 Nature Valley Granola Bars 12pks (not pictured): $2.69 each. Used two $1.25/1 printables = paid $1.44 each.
• 5 Bananas: $0.24 each. Used $1/fresh fruit mobile coupon = paid $0.20/5.
• Red Pepper: $1.59. Used $1/fresh veggie mobile coupon = paid $0.59.

Other Coupon Shopping:

• Target: Bought 3 single Reese's Eggs at $0.69 each. Used $1/3 (SS 2/23/14) = paid $1.07/3. I love these!
• Hobby Lobby: Bought an embroidery hoop for a project. Used 40% off mobile coupon = paid $1.06.

Menu Plan March 1-15

I got some free coupons for salad mixes, so we will be having several salads over the next couple weeks.  I'm pretty excited about that, since we like to eat a lot of salads anyways.  I don't have a lot of recipe links this time around, because most of our food is pretty basic and doesn't even follow a recipe, or it's a recipe I've had for so long I know it by heart and have no idea where it came from.  I guess that is a good combination...it's at least a combination I know we'll all eat and like!

Saturday, March 1
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Hot Dogs/Soups from the Freezer
Dinner: Egg & Cheese English Muffin Sandwiches

Sunday, March 2
Breakfast: Oatmeal with Dried Fruits and Nuts
Lunch: Chicken Bacon Salads
Dinner: Black Bean Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries

Monday, March 3
Breakfast: Eggs & Toast
Lunch: Chicken Bacon Quesadillas
Dinner: Black Bean Taco Salads

Tuesday, March 4
Breakfast: Yogurt, Granola, Fruit
Lunch: Chicken Bacon Quesadillas
Dinner: Black Bean Taco Salads

Wednesday, March 5
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Ham and Apple Salads
Dinner: Lent Dinner at Church (we're bringing Ham & Bean Soup)

Thursday, March 6
Breakfast: Eggs & Hashbrowns
Lunch: PB&J Sandwiches/Soups from the Freezer
Dinner: Stir Fry

Friday, March 7
Breakfast: Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Lunch: Macaroni & Cheese, Peas
Dinner: Baked Potatoes with Broccoli, Bacon, and Cheese

Saturday, March 8
Breakfast: Leftover Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Lunch: Hot Turkey and Cheese Sandwiches
Dinner: Chicken and Pinto Bean Taco Salads

Sunday, March 9
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Baptism luncheon at church (we're bringing a cross cake)
Dinner: Fish Filets, Broccoli

Monday, March 10
Breakfast: Oatmeal with Peanut Butter and Bananas
Lunch: Leftover Chicken and Pinto Bean Taco Salads
Dinner: Chicken Cacciatore, Side Salad

Tuesday, March 11
Breakfast: Eggs with Veggies (Mushrooms, Peppers, Onions)
Lunch: Turkey Bacon Ranch Wraps
Dinner: Leftover Chicken Cacciatore, Side Salad

Wednesday, March 12
Breakfast: Eggs & Toast
Lunch: Turkey Bacon Ranch Wraps
Dinner: Lent Dinner (we're bringing Chicken Enchilada Chili)

Thursday, March 13
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
Dinner: Homemade Appetizer Dinner - Chicken Wings and Jalapeno Poppers (and maybe chicken nuggets for the kids too)

Friday, March 14
Breakfast: Chocolate Chip Monkey Muffins
Lunch: PB& J Sandwiches/Soups from the Freezer
Dinner: Homemade Pizza - Pepperoni, Black Olive, and Mushroom

Saturday, March 15
Breakfast: Leftover Chocolate Chip Monkey Muffins
Lunch: TBD
Dinner: Chicken Fajitas

I'm linking up Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

What I'm Reading...

What I'm Reading:

An Overabundance Of Opinions: The Case For Climbing Down From The Social Media Soapbox. (The Happiest Home)

The Challenge Of "Best" Choice. (The Simple Dollar)

An Introduction To Grinding Grain For Flour. (Simple Bites)

Cutting The Ends Off Toothpaste Really Does Save Money. (Don't Waste The Crumbs)

I'm Not In The Mood. (Holy Hen House)

I Am Worthy. (The Art Of Simple)

Does Garbage Decompose? The Myth And What You Can Do About It. (Life Your Way)

What I'm Pinning:

• Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (Andrea Dekker)
• 29 Fun Shape Activities (No Time For Flash Cards)
• Easy Apple Chips (Holy Hen House)
• Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (Little House Living)

March Goals (And The Theme For The Month!)

As I mentioned yesterday, February was kind of a big fail in a lot of ways.  I'd like for March to be better.  So...this month is Catching Up Month!  I don't know about you all, but I have some catching up to do.

Here are my goals for this month.  Some of them might look familiar...

Parenting:

• Teach Jonah and Matthew v.1 of "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" (Hymn 279).
• Switch Hannah's clothes to 12-18 months. 

Food:

• Make another food off of my Intimidating Foods list.
• Decrease my sugar intake. I can track this through My Fitness Pal, so I'm going to figure out my average for the past few months and work on lowering it.

 Personal:

• Continue to do yoga at least 6 times a week.
• Read Insurgent by Veronica Roth and Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider. If I get ambitious, also read Allegiant by Veronica Roth.
• Complete at least 2 blog posts that I had wanted to do earlier this year but ran out of time.

Crafts/Home:

• Add Hannah and Micah to the birthday board.  She's 9 months and he's 6 months.
• Work on 2013 Family photo book through Shutterfly
• Order photos and redo picture frames with updated pictures.
• Order photos for Hannah's baby book and update a few things in there.
• Finish magazine holder from Iron Craft Challenge #2 in January. 

If I Get Ambitious:

• Go through the bins of smaller baby clothes, purge (again!), and add dividers to split each size into "boy", "girl" and "gender neutral". I've tried making lists, but having them visually split up I think will help me know what I have better (and no, I don't need them for anything right now, but I'd rather have everything organized).
• Mend several pairs of pants.
• Copy printed recipes onto note cards and reorganize my recipe binder.
• Go through my Pinterest boards and delete links I'm no longer interested in keeping.

So there's my list.  It's long, again, but hopefully I can run with this motivation to catch up on things, and I even gave myself a few additional "ambitious" goals.  What do you need to catch up on this month?

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