Updating Our Menu

July is here.  Now's the time to update chores, menus, school plans and schedules for the upcoming school year.  By planning now, we'll be able to practice for most of July and August before we jump into school mode the beginning of September.  Ideally all the changes will be second nature by then, and adding school to the routine will be simple.  

We'll see how it actually works out!

The kids were very excited about updating our menu.  Just FYI, here is the thinking behind my meal plan. The post I linked to has last year's menu, and some additional information.

• We eat the same breakfast and lunch every day of the week (Mondays are the same, Tuesdays the same, etc.)
• The kids each have a day of the week.  On their day, they were able to pick breakfast and lunch.  
• Each dinner has a theme.  The kids were also able to pick which theme they wanted for their night.  
• One snack a day is planned.  (Which is a change--this year we had two, but my kids weren't eating meals really well, so one has to go!) 
• The snack is something the kids will ideally be able to do most of the prep work for.
• Jayme is responsible for cooking one breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack this year.  She picked which meals she wanted, and spread them out over four different days. Break for mom, great skills for her!
• We add seasonal or frozen fruit and veggies to round out each meal choice. 
• This menu will stay the same (with minimal changes as needed) until next July.  

Why do I menu plan like this?  Good question!  Here's some insight into my brain..

1.  Having a set meal plan saves on time during the school year when I'm really busy.
2.  I'm able to prepare a shopping list that stays the same for each monthly trip.
3.  I'm able to take advantage of savings on items I know I'll need, and don't end up with a pantry full of something we don't actually eat.
4. My theme dinners allow me to be as flexible and creative as I desire.  For instance, Fiesta Night can be as simple as nachos.  Or it can be complex with homemade tortillas turned into wonderful enchiladas.  Some weeks are crazy!  Some are less so.  I have a plan (and ingredients) for them all.
5.  I have a rotation for each of the theme nights.  These are four meals that I know the family will eat.  But...I don't have to stick to them.  I can change that part up.  But having four planned out means I'll always have a backup if I need one!
6.  I'm able to save on groceries!  This method allows me to buy what we need, stock up on what I can, and not go all crazy buying fancy ingredients that'll only be used for one specific meal.  I used to be horrible at that!
7.  The kids know what to expect.  They thrive on routine.  They also have some ownership in this menu.  After all, they are the ones who picked many of the meals.  Makes meal time less of a headache! 
8.  It allows me to commit many recipes to memory.  You try making the same thing every Monday for a year and see how naturally it comes to you after awhile.
9. This plan makes prep work easy.  If we're having oatmeal for breakfast every Friday, I need to start the oats soaking on Thursday.  I can easily see what kind of meat might need pulled out for the next night and let it thaw too. In order to make egg fried rice for lunch, I need to cook it the day before so we have cold rice to start with. Simplifying life is good--especially at this season of my life!
10.  I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them off the top of my head!

You'll notice some hyperlinks in my menu table.  Those take you to the sites with the recipes.  I might not always use the same one, but most of the time I do.  This makes it easy for me to find them when I need them. It also gives Jayme a place to turn when she does the cooking!

So here you are...our 2014-2015 Master Menu Plan!

Day	Breakfast	Lunch LEFTOVERS FIRST!	Afternoon Snack	Dinner
Sunday	Breakfast Casserole & Juice	Crockpot	Popcorn	Baked Potato Bar
Monday Ellie’s Day	Banana Bread	Meat, Cheese, Crackers & Pickles	Oatmeal cookies	Pasta*
Tuesday Jayme’s Day	Sausage patty & Egg	Mini Pizzas*	Blender Ice Cream	Seafood
Wednesday Owen’s Day	Oatmeal	Grilled Cheese & Carrots	Pretzels & cheese	Fiesta Night
Thursday Sydney’s Day	Yogurt & Jam/Honey	Egg Fried Rice	Granola Bars	Asian Night
Friday Jeffrey's Day	Scrambled Eggs*	PB & J, Applesauce	Jello	Pizza @ Grandma’s
Saturday  Simon's Day	Pancakes & Hashbrowns	Quesadillas	Cookies/Brownies & Milk *	Hodge Podge

*=Jayme Cooks!

Baked Potato Rotation:

Taco Potatoes

Cheesy Broccoli

Steakhouse Spud

Pizza Potato

Pasta Rotation:

Mac & Cheese

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Oriental Noodle Delight (Basically homemade oriental noodles, veggies, diced meat and whatever else Jayme feels like adding—she loves making this dish!)

Chicken, Peas & White sauce over homemade noodles

Seafood Rotation

French Bread Crab Sandwich

Shrimp Broccoli Delight

Tuna Patties (or Salmon) with mashed potatoes and peas

Baked fish with baked potato and broccoli 

Fiesta Rotation
Enchiladas

Tacos or Taco Salad

Nachos

Crockpot Mexican Casserole

Asian Rotation

Egg Drop Soup

Lo-Mein with homemade oriental noodles

Egg Rolls(wrapper recipe)  or Potstickers with rice

Mandarin chicken over brown rice with sautéed cabbage

Hodge Podge is basically mom's choice!  Whatever I feel like making, or leftovers or whatever.  Simon is still too young to pick meals, so I also picked for him! (Benefit of being mom!)

I'm looking forward to getting into the groove with our new menu plan!  What works best for your family now for meal planning?

Flip Flop Failure!

Let me start by saying that I LOVE flip flops.  I seriously wear them almost every day in the summer.  They keep my feet cool.  They are easy to take off (because shoes really just aren't my thing for long periods of time).  And they are easy to slide back on when I need them. 

I used to always struggle with flip flops breaking.  The middle piece would pull out and I wouldn't be able to wear them.  Then I found a great tip online that you can use a bread tab to hold them in.  Now I never travel anywhere without a couple of those in my purse. 

But...bread tabs can't fix everything!  I had a little mishap while pushing Owen's wheelchair and the huge cart at Costco.  I kind of ran over my own foot with the cart.  And managed to slice my flip flop horizontally.  

I managed to finish shopping and checkout, but of course I didn't bring an extra pair of shoes into Spokane.  So after loading the car up with groceries and kids, we went to Wal-Mart.  While getting out of the car there, my last bread tab broke.  On the shoe that wasn't broken.  

So now I'm pushing two carts at Wal-Mart with all the kids, trying to get to the shoe section (all the way in the back of course!) and trying to keep my shoes on my feet.  I must have looked like a sight!  

I've never been so happy to buy a new pair of flip flops in all my life!  That was a crazy few moments!  But Praise the Lord, I made it!  If it weren't for that whole, "No shoes..." rule, I totally would have just run in barefoot.  (Smile). 

Ever have a complete flip flop failure in public?

Celebrating a Maggie Milestone!

Wow!  I had to take a picture because I couldn't quite believe it myself.  After nine months of daily milkings, Maggie FINALLY stood still and let me milk her all the way out into my milk pan. 

Her mama, Epi, has been standing still for milkings for the past two years.  But not Maggie.  She thinks it's much more fun to kick.  And dodge.  And try and put her foot into things. 

After losing too much milk to a misplaced foot or kick at the beginning of her milking career, I began always milking her into a smaller container.  She still danced around and kicked, but when I had to dump the milk and start with a new container, it wasn't ALL the milk.

Once the pigs arrived at the farm, I began milking her into a five gallon bucket.  She can't get her foot up that high to get inside, and she started to calm down.  We also switched to a locally ground grain that is super fine, but really nutritious with peas and other local crops.  It takes a long time to eat a little bit.  Which helps to keep her still. 

Since we lost water all day Friday and half a day Saturday (pump went out), I had enough milk for the pigs, and wanted to keep all of the milk on Sunday.  However, I forgot to bring the smaller container out to the barn with me, so I decided to give it a try.

And Maggie stood there and let me milk her.  No kicks.  No dancing.  Just a good girl eating her nummies.  It was a huge blessing! 

I'm not sure if it'll continue or not, but at least now I know she CAN do it.

Just wanted to share this Maggie milestone. 

Another Saturday....Pic Round Up Time!

Whew--can you believe it's already July?  This year is officially half over and we're on the downward swing.  It'll be Christmas before we know it, and then we'll be ringing in a new year.  Wow! 

Sunday, June 29

Read a blog post this morning and heard about a fancy Italian dessert that was supposed to be super simple to make.  Had never done it before, but had all the ingredients for the non-dairy free version, so I threw it together.  Went super quick and sat up in the little custard dishes while we were at church.

 Not everyone loved their Panna Cotta, but I will make it occasionally. I enjoyed it and so did Owen and Simon (though his didn't have the delicious honey on top...) It looked really pretty.  

Monday, June 30

 Talk about giving Mommy a heart attack!  I walked into the kitchen (which had the gate left open...) and discovered this little guy cruising around on big brother's wheelchair.  Our house isn't really square (one of the "perks" of living in such an old place!) and he was naturally just rolling along the floor. 

Check out that grin!

Tuesday, July 1

Hmmm...I really need to figure out how to take better pictures when bright sunlight is streaming in from the windows...

Anyways, Sydney feeding Simon and the dog.  It's Simon's turn! (And yes...the spoon is backwards.  She was putting food on the handle for some reason.  Maybe because it was a bigger spoon than Simon usually uses...who knows!)

Wednesday, July 2

My thirsty baby!  I was giving him a bath in the sink, and he figured this neat trick out! His diaper was nice and full a few hours later...

Thursday, July 3

We camped in our yard for the first time ever.  It was fun.  We played football, roasted some homemade marshmallows, and just relaxed by the fire burning nicely in the fire pit.  Ellie wanted to show off her cute sleeping bag (that I believe used to belong to her Aunt Katie and then big sister Jayme...).

Next time...we'll bring out Simon's playpen.  He doesn't like snuggling when he's trying to sleep! He and Owen and I ended up going inside at 3:30 or so to finish out the night so we wouldn't wake everyone else up.  Still a fun night, and looking forward to trying it again soon!

Friday, July 4

No pictures--just a lot of fun with the family and friends.

Saturday, July 5

Another picture of Simon.  Apparently he was a camera hog this week!  He climbed in the dog crate.  Isn't he cute?

I hope you had a great 4th of July!  "See" you next week!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day everyone!

I hope you have a fabulous one. 

We are going to enjoy a relaxing day, and then head over to a BBQ/Potluck at the house of a family from church.  We're looking forward to it! 

Whatever your plans are, please remember to spend a moment thanking the Lord for the USA. 

Happy 4th!

One for You...and One for You!

Sometimes I don't always listen closely to what my children are saying when they're playing around me.  Tuesday was one of those days.  We were eating yogurt, and Sydney had gotten down.  I was feeding Owen and not really paying attention to much except keeping his hands out of the yogurt. 

That is, I wasn't paying much attention until some of the words Sydney was saying started to come into focus in my mind.  And then I twirled around and caught her like this:

She was saying, "Bite for Simon" and giving him a bite of her leftover yogurt.  Then she said, "Bite for Cinders" and proceeded to feed the dog (through the baby gate!) a bite. With the same spoon. Yuck! 

Of course neither the baby nor the dog complained much.  And I know that Simon has chewed on dog toys before.  But it still hit my gross nerve!

Then Simon realized he could get the yogurt to his mouth a lot faster if he didn't wait for the spoon.  His hands worked just as well, thank you very much.  So he proceeded to get a  bath.  Which he didn't mind too much either.

Kids and dogs...you never quite know what's going to happen next! 

Broody Baldy

Okay.  I'm normally a total procrastinator when it comes to getting eggs in the fridge.  We gather them after quiet time, and it just seems like the rest of the afternoon and evening rush by.  With my eggs sitting patiently on the counter, waiting until morning.

Not yesterday.  Yesterday I was really on top of things.  I cleaned the eggs and put them in the fridge right after I got them.  And I wish I hadn't.

You see.  I discovered this morning that one of my Black Australorps has decided to get broody.

Baldy, sitting on her eggs.

 And if my eggs had still been sitting on my counter, I could have picked out my brown and green eggs (from the Australorps, Partridge Rocks and the Americana) to place under her.  Instead, they were in the fridge.  Rats!

But I was able to place 6 eggs under her today, and I'm hoping to get three more tomorrow.  Right now she is on 2 brown, 1 green and 3 white. 

The white eggs come from my Blue Andalusians.  They are beautiful, hardy birds.  They forage really well.  But I don't like them.  They are a light breed, really flighty and hide their eggs all over.  I want more of my heavy birds.  So hopefully I'll get another green and two more brown eggs tomorrow.  

Either way, I'll leave her on the six she's on at the minimum.  In 21 days (give or take) I should have some more chickens in the coop.  Which is such a blessing.  I'm down to 12 right now (11 hens and a rooster).  Well, 12 hens if you count the one that makes her home in a lilac tree instead of the coop.  No matter how many times we catch her and throw her in the coop at night, she sticks to the tree.  So I let her stay there now.  Some things just aren't worth fighting!

And in case you're wondering about her name...

We had a hawk attack the flock last year, and even though we scared it off before it dined, we thought this bird was a goner.  Her head feathers were all plucked out.  And she was...BALD!  The kids named her Baldy at that point. 

You'll notice that her feathers have grown in quite nicely.  And to be completely honest...I'm not even sure which of these birds is the true Baldy.  But she is the one who went broody last year (when we didn't have a rooster around, so she couldn't hatch any), so I'm guessing.  And we pretty much call all of our  Black Australorps Baldy anyways now.  So it works!

I'm really looking forward to keeping track of Baldy's progress over the next few weeks.  I'll let you know how it turns out!