365 and/or Picture a Day or ....

Whatever you want to call it is going around the internets once again this year. The basic gist of it is to capture moments in your life everyday and post them someplace. Or in the case scrapbookers, you make an album full of the photos. here are a few examples:
flickr.com groups 366photos

photojojo.com

projectlife

I plan on embarking on this endevour myself. I am aiming to improve my photo skills and this seems to be a great way to do that. Most photos will be about my daily life and that of my family. Not award-winning subjects, but I hope each photo will, after a year, represent " a little bit of us".
So this is the first photo of the year taken on January 1st 2010, at approx 1201am. This was the first time Madeleine stayed up to see the ball drop. She had a lot of questions about why New Years is celebrated in such a big way. Trying to explain 'letting go and moving on' to a no-nonsense 9 year old was a little more tricky than I thought LOL

So have fun with this if you choose to take part!

We have the sickies in the house

BLAH! The girls have been out of school since December 18th. Since that date we have dealt with:

double pink eye

sinus infection

ear infection

all of the above was just one kid

Then the other kid got a stomach bug and vomited for a day.

Then the first kid got scratched bit on the face by our cat. She had a nice black eye from the scratches and two major bites in her cheek.

And now

that same kid now has the stomach bug her sister had last week.

So far the last kid and parents haven't gotten anything *cross your fingers*.

Idon't mind ending a good year with illness, but I don't want to start a New Year with the sickies!
Cross your fingers that we get past this quickly!

Menu Plan -the last of 2009!

I'm posting a day late because we left early and came home late yesterday. I made the plan on Sunday though!
go here for Menu Plan Monday.

Spaghetti

Potato and ham chowder this recipe is what I'll be using because I've never made it before.

Pancakes and fruit

Pizza casserole and salad

Beef fajita burritos (Crock Pot recipe below)

Hamburgers

And of course, Clean out the Fridge Day


Beef Fajita Burritos

This is a totally made up recipe. It really doesn't have the true fajita flavor of grilled veggies and meat but it was the first name that came to mind after eating it the first time LOL

1-3 pd Beef Roast
salsa(of choice, we like green)
cumin
onion
bell peppers(we like both red and green)
cheese
sour cream

So, basically just throw the roast in the crock pot, toss some cumin on it, and pour salsa over the roast. Cook on high for two hours and then kick it down to low for 4 hours. Once the roast is able to be shredded, I take the roast out, shred and return to juice. I then "grill" the veggies on the stove top with a little olive oil.

Using a slotted spoon, I then top a large tortilla with the beef, veggies and sour cream & cheese.

Christmas card picture

This is the picture I used for our Christmas card. I love the colors and their smiles are exactly as they are. Wyatt is sly and up to something, Sophie sweet, and Maddie a little hesitant.

Monday

YAY! Not only is it MenuPlanMonday at orgjunkie but it's Christmas week and I only have to plan a few meals!!

I usually peek over at Lauras' site before posting my menu...I didn't do it this time...can't wait to see what everyone is doing for their Holiday meal! Go check it out too!

Sunday-leftover ham with mac & cheese and carrots

Monday- hard shell tacos with refried beans and tangerines

Tuesday- fried rice with ham and steamed broccoli

Wednesday- Leftovers

Thursday-Dinner at Sisters-I'm making hot artichoke dip

Friday - late lunch at the in-laws. Bringing hot artichoke dip here as well.

Saturday-leftovers from the in-laws(they're leaving town today so they will be giving us all the leftovers from Christmas dinner)

The official countdown begins

It's the week before christmas where I realize I have forgotten gifts for 10 people and I scramble from store to store. It's also the week where my Dad calls and says " I have some money for you". That's his code for "I need to get your Mom a gift but I'm not stepping foot in a store". UGH. I am not a talented gift giver. I struggle to pick out the right thing for each person so this added stress of buying gifts from someone else just stinks.
And to top it all off, I haven't even sent my cards out yet! I made the card first(bad mistake) and then looked for an envelope. Not so smart on my part LOL. I do this every other year at least. You'd think I'd have learned by now!




Sunday-General Tso's Chicken with rice(from a mix)

Monday-Crock Pot Roast with Veggies and mashed potatoes

Tuesday-BBQ beef(from leftover Roast)

Wednesday- frozen pizza and salad (scout night for both girls)

Thursday- Fend for yourself day

Friday- Bean and cheese burritos (Santa is in the neighborhood this night)

Saturday - Spiral cut ham, mashed potatoes, green salad

Today is Menu Plan Monday over at orgjunkie . And I'm super proud to say that I am on top of this! I actually have about 16 meals planned from what I have going on in the pantry/freezer right now. Of course there are a few things I'll need to replace between the meals(eggs, milk, potatos etc) but the bulk of all the meals, I already have on hand! be sure to check all the awesome meal plans/ideas at Laura's site!

What? Snow !

Yep, we got snow here in Northern California! The kids were so excited and we now have two snowballs in the freezer. It has melted away already but there is a chance for more tonite.

We also are back to Menu Plan Monday. Love this. And I did great last week. We did eat out one night because we had one less kid and some free meal coupons. It was nice for us to spend time with just the girls. So the chili got moved to last night. Totally works for me as I now have a 2nd meal planned with the leftovers!

Sunday-
Chili & garlic bread

Monday-
Breakfast for dinner pancakes, yogurt/granola, bacon, apple slices

Tuesday-
Baked Potato with chili

Wednesday-
Spaghetti & salad

Thursday-
Leftovers

Friday-
Tortilla Soup

Saturday-
something with chicken- will look for a new recipe this week.