Menu Plan August 1-15

It's a new month! I feel like this summer is just flying by!  Even though I planned out all 3 meals for the second half of July, we didn't even really look at the menu plan for breakfasts or lunches.  I'm kind of okay with that, as long as we have enough different options in the house.  Jesse and I have started tracking our food through My Fitness Pal again, which tracks calories as well as different nutrition information like protein, carbs, and fats.  It's helped us lose weight in the past, and it's time to get back into that again!

Jesse likes to have his food planned out to have pretty much the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day, but I like variety in mine.

Here's his:
Breakfast: 3 eggs, 1 banana, 1 cup milk, spinach and mushrooms (some days)
Lunch: 4oz. chicken breast, 1 cup cottage cheese or 2 string cheeses, salad mix (some days)
Dinner: Whatever I make, hopefully around 500 calories or less
Snacks: yogurt, apples, seasonal fruits

He's not big on just eating veggies like me and the kids, so I'll have to make sure to up the veggies in our dinners so he doesn't miss out.

As for the rest of us, here's the plan for the first part of this month:

Breakfasts:

• Cereal
• Oatmeal with Dried Fruit and Nuts
• Eggs & Toast
• Peanut Butter and Jelly Blueberry Banana Muffins
• French Toast

Lunches:

• PB&J
• Turkey Sandwiches
• Turkey Pinwheels
• Cheese Tortillas
• Snack-y Lunch
• Freezer Soups (Chili and Bean Soup)
• Chicken Enchilada Chili
• Tuna Sandwiches

Dinners:

1. Loaded Nachos (pushed back from last month)
2. Crockpot Black Bean and Sausage Soup, Easy Cheesy Biscuits
3. Leftover Soup and Biscuits
4. Family Dinner
5. Ribs, Roasted Potatoes, Green Beans (potatoes and green beans from church members' gardens)
6. Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats (zucchini from church members' gardens)
7. Red Bean Jamaican Stew
8. Leftover Jamaican Stew
9. Mini Meat Loaves
10. Chicken, Roasted Veggies, Rice
11. Family Dinner
12. Black Bean Taco Salads
13. Black Bean Taco Salads
14. Portabello & Zucchini Tacos, Mexi Rice
15. Chicken Fajitas, Mexi Rice

What I'm Reading...

Do You Plan For The Pause? (Simple Mom)

How Do You Get The Help You Need? Practice. (The Happiest Home)

I'm Proud Of My Stretch Marks: Body Confidence After Having Two Kids. (Offbeat Families)

August Goals

It's hard to believe it's already August!  Here's what I have planned for this month.

Personal:

• Lose at least 5 pounds.  I've started tracking my calories again, but I need to be more intentional about taking walks with the kids or getting some other sort of activity in my day too.
• Read at least 2 books on my Kindle.  I've downloaded so many (mostly free) books and I need to get better at actually reading them.

Food:

• Make snacks to have around each week.  I'm thinking things like granola and granola bars, protein bites, trail mix, and maybe even homemade crackers or graham crackers!

 Homemaking/Parenting:

• Do an overall decluttering. It's amazing how things have piled up after only a few months!
• Start teaching the boys some of the songs from the liturgy so they can sing along at church.

July Goals Update

Home:

• Hang pictures on the walls. We got most stuff unpacked right away but I didn't hang anything up yet. Done!
• Find a replacement camera and/or a smartphone (read more below). I ended up getting both. You can read more about that here.

Food:

• Try 2 new Pinterest breakfast or muffins recipes. We tried these Whole Wheat Whatever Muffins (with cherries and cream cheese filling).
• Try 2 different kinds of popsicles (I'm thinking chocolate pudding pops for sure!) We did watermelon strawberry pops with some leftover fruit from the fridge. They were simple but refreshing. And I kept forgetting to have the couple extras for snacks, so we didn't end up making the chocolate pudding ones yet.

Personal:

• Start the Unwired challenge. I've started reading the ebook, so I need to finish that and plan for my two week challenge. I finished reading the book right away, and was really pumped for this challenge.  And then I got my iPhone.  And now I spend very little time on the computer, except for when I'm uploading pictures or blogging, but I spend more time on my phone than I'd like (although still not as much as I was on the computer, so progress?).  I'm going to start setting my kitchen timer for those times when I am on there, though, so I can limit it that way.

Cloth Diapers Don't Have To Be All Or Nothing

We have been a cloth diapering family for almost four years.  That doesn't mean that we don't get our share of disposable diapers, though - you can see some of Hannah's in the picture above.  What we do, which is working really well for us, is cloth diaper half time.

When we are at home, I try to keep both Hannah and Matthew in cloth diapers.  We have two dozen prefolds (the actual diaper part) and 6 covers in Matthew's size, so he almost never runs out before it's time to wash them.  We have two dozen prefolds in Hannah's size too, but with only 3 covers and a propensity for pooping, she goes through hers a lot faster.  (For those who don't know, you can reuse a cover with a new diaper insert when it's just wet, since you just wipe it off with the baby wipe and air dry, but the poop ones are messier and have to be thrown in the pail to wash.)

When we are out and about, we use disposable diapers.  It's just easier.  And at night? Disposables.  I could put in the effort to have a wet bag and cloth in the diaper bag, and figure out just how many extra layers Matthew needs at night to not leak (several), but it's just easier to do disposables sometimes. And that's okay.  It's a balance between the two that works for us.

I usually wash the diapers once or twice a week, depending on how often we've been home.  Even with the switch back to coin-operated laundry with this move, we're still only spending $2.50 on the equivalent of a standard jumbo package of diapers, which are normally around $9.00.  We use the cloth diapers often enough that they've more than paid for themselves in those savings.  I'm saving up my Swagbucks to get a few more small covers for Hannah so she doesn't get through them so fast, although she's almost to the point that she might fit into the middle size of diapers/covers that we have, which would be twice as many as the smalls.

Do we save money by cloth diapering half time? Yes.  Do we save sanity by using disposables sometimes? Absolutely.  Cloth diapers don't have to be all or nothing, but they're an awesome way to save money, protect the environment, and those little baby bums sure look cute!

Organizing Lego Directions

Jonah has really gotten into Legos lately, and we now have several sets.  The blocks are contained in one large bin and a couple smaller cases for specific sets, which is good enough for now.  I know once he gets more we'll need some sort of system for organizing them.  I really like the idea of doing them by colors.

The one part that wasn't working? The direction booklets.  They just got thrown in the bin with the blocks.  Pages were torn out, some were bent, and a few were ripped.  I knew if Jonah wanted to keep using them, we needed a new way to manage the booklets.

Enter the 3-ring binder.  I got this small binder with dividers as part of a label/organizing basket I won last year, and I never found a good use for it.  It wasn't the right size for any of my projects, and it was actually sitting in our donations tub.  It's the perfect size for the Lego directions!

I took 5 minutes to punch holes in the booklets, and used the dividers to separate the different booklets, although that's not really necessary as long as they're in order.  Now Jonah's directions are safe from getting destroyed in the block bin, and he can still easily find what he wants to build next! 

I'm linking this up to Organizing Junkie's August Organize It! Link Up Party.

What I'm Reading...

The Art Of Following Through. (The Simple Dollar)

On Defining Myself As A Writer. (Gidget Goes Home)

Top 10 Ways To Embrace, Rather Than Fight, The Summer Heat. (Offbeat Home)

Behind Closed Doors. (Andrera Dekker)

Home Stays With You Always. (Simple Mom)