POTD Jan 12 2010

Wyatt playing with his car. He has started bringing along a backpack full of toys whenever we go someplace. It's both good and bad. He can keep himself occupied when necessary but he is a loud while at play LOL. Sometimes we aren't in a place where he is loud play is appreciated.

POTD Jan 13 2010

This is Sophie holding the hand of one of her sister Scouts. This is at the end of the Brownie meeting where they sing "Make New Friends" and give each other a hand squeeze. I'm hoping that this song holds some truth for Sophie. She has yet to make a connection with anyone since starting Kindergarten last year. Well, there was one child, but she moved at the beginning of this year. I truly hope that she connects with someone like her, soft-spoken, thoughtful, silly soon.

PictureOfTheDay

So I realize I'm not going to remember to take a picture everyday. I'm ok with that. But I am taking more pictures which is part of the reason I decided to do this.


POTD Jan 11 2010

Sophie was able to pin Beau down long enough to dress her in doll clothes. She even wore the hat! The cat is more trouble than she is worth most days, but she has moments that absolutley thrill Sophie. Like tonite.


POTD Jan 9th 2010

Looks good doestn't it? I asked for, and received, an air popper for Christmas. I'm trying very hard to wean my kids off the microwave popcorn. It is so bad for you! This was our maiden bowl of health-ier popcorn. I can't wait to experiment with different topping flavors. This first bowl was simply butter and salt. The family loved it!

Menu Plan Monday

Week of January 11 2010

Love this day! Makes me feel like a got it altogether when I can post a planned menu!

Oh and my family really enjoyed the Creamy Chicken Bake from last week. The recipe is here and it is really tasty and home-y. It has found a place in our chicken meal rotation!

Check out orgjunkie for loads of ideas to help you plan your families menu!

Sunday- Beef tacos, pineapple, refried beans

Monday-Split Pea Soup and garlic bread

Tuesday- Spaghetti withmeat sauce, garlic bread, and salad

Wednesday-Leftovers

Thursday-Frozen Pizza and fruit

Friday-Stuffed Bells(didn't make it last week) with mixed veggies

Saturday-Hamburgers & oven fries

Easy week altogether. The soup and Spaghetti Sauce are being made in hopes I can glean some leftovers for the freezer. I am learning that there are days I just don't want to cook a full meal. With PTA, Scouts, etc, I really need some meals that require little to no preperation.

Picture of the Day January 5 2010.
I think Every Crafter can relate to this mess. It's all the stuff I've dug through and added to over the holidays. And now it needs to be put away. Ugh. The small table is an addition since Christmas. I was using a 6ft table and i found that I was covering everysinglebitofhorizontal space with stuff. And I'd end up working on a barely 12x12 area! I'm hoping I will control the worktop clutter with a smaller table.

Picture of the Day January 6 2010

We lost another tooth! That little bitty space on the top is where it came from. We are thisclose to having the dentist extract that tooths little buddy on the other side if Sophie can't get it out by this weekend. Like any true Mom, I bribed her with the promise of a buddy for her Strawberry Shortcake doll if she succeeds. Ten bucks for a toy vs $300 for dental work ! Cross your fingers that she can do it!

MPM January 4 2010

Sunday- Cheese Ravioli with meat sauce and salad
Monday- Chili and cornbread
Tuesday- Creamy Chicken bake w/ steamed veggies
Wednesday-Chili dogs and fresh fruit
Thursday-Leftovers
Friday-Stuffed Bell Peppers and salad
Saturday-Tacos, beans, & fresh fruit

Check out orgjunkie for more menu ideas....I'm sure there will be a lot being the first of the year and people are making resolutions about menu planning!

I spent all day Friday creating an inventory of the pantry and freezer. I also cruised the 'net

for some new recipes to try. With all of that, I was able to come up with 16 dinners based on the food I had on hand. Crazy, huh? I only needed a handful of ingredients (mainly veggies) to actually make all the meals!

I'm really wanting to focus on making better food shopping habits. December was a crazy month and I all but refused to shop after I spent almost $200 in the first 2 1/2 weeks! Our average was about $70-$90 every week and a half and I'd like to continually shoot for that(or lower of course). Planning meals of course will play a big part in that goal.

PhotoOfTheDay Jan 2 2010

So my POTD for Jan 2 is the book Twilight. I have resisted the bandwagon but succumbed this weekend when I decided to return to my love of reading. I wanted something that was interesting in topic, but not too serious. For 6.88 at Costoc, it fit the bill!

I was a rabid reader when I was younger. Part of this love came from my parents who were always reading but books were also a place to fill the time and space of life. I wasn't involved in school activities or sports and cable wasn't around yet( only slightly LOL'ing since it has a strong hold on my kids now) so I read. I would spend hours at the library in the summer. Their air conditioning was much better than ours and it let me escape from a homelife that wasn't always fun to be around. I devoured the "young adult" section by the end of 7th grade and was reading Jackie Collins, Stephen King, and DAnielle Steele by the time I started 8th grade.

I realized how far away from book reading I had gotten when my kids were shocked to see me reading something other than the internet or magazine. Wow. Shocked.

So I'm changing that adjective. I want it to go from "shock" to "interest" to " yep, Mom has a book in her face again".

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!