Monthly Menu Planner

I decided this year that I would be on top of the whole dinner every night thing. It is supposed to be cheaper, right? Well, this year I'm going to see if it actually does save us money to eat at home.

I decided I needed a way to organize and remember what we were going to be eating every day. So, I spent plenty of time on Pinterest.com trying to find some great menu planners. I found plenty of them, but none that I felt would completely meet our needs. So, I made my own.

I started out with a plain old cork board. It was this ugly brown color. So, I painted it black.
Here is the cork board all ready to be painted.

Here is my finished Monthly Menu Planner:

Days of the week


The whole board. I left lots of space so I could fit Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner on each day.
I finished it in time to try out the last two weeks of January. It worked out fantastically. I knew before hand what I was going to make for dinner. No more hours of debating our meals. Yeah.! This last Sunday I spent nap time putting together February. I have my whole month planned out. Fantastic!

Late Night Snack

There is just nothing like blue Rice Krispies before bed.
I made them so gooey that we couldn't cut them. We had to just scoop it out.

10 Resolutions I Don't Have to Set to Begin 2012

10. Get More Sleep (With 2 kids and midnight feedings? Yea Right!)

9. Become a Better Homemaker (I don't need to have brunch like Mrs. Jones)

8. Read the Books I Bought 2 years ago (but they look so good on my shelf all pretty and new)

7. Make More Money (I think I enjoy playing with my toddler in our pajamas too much)

6. Save Better (I save just fine. I'm sure it's the banks fault there isn't enough in my account)

5. Follow the Presidential Debates (They aren't really going to do what they say they are anyway)

4. Keep My Oppinion To Myself (I don't think so.)

3. Spend Less Time on the Internet (cut off my interaction with people who say more than "mine-ses"? I don't think so)

2. Give Up Junk Food (Food tastes too good. Maybe next year)

1. Lose Weight (if I work hard, I could be the next Biggest Loser contestant)

Birthday Seasons

This morning, while contemplating the shortening distance between my current age and 30, I was remembering the different ways that my previous birthdays have been celebrated. The swimming parties, the decorations my parents put up, the mornings that I was awakened early to go out to Village Inn for breakfast with friends, and the flowers and note found on my doorstep from a friend on the other side of the world.

Then I started to think about all the fun things I wanted to do for my little ones. The decorating, the party themes, and the activities. All fun things for my special little veggies.

And after that, my birthdays to come. They seem very uneventful. There aren't any mile stone birthdays left. Nothing big like 12, 16, 18, or 21. I guess there are seasons to Birthdays. My season for the fun exciting birthdays has past. And the season to celebrate the little ones is here. They get the attention. They are the ones that need the attention and special treatment.

I hope that my Sweet Pea and my Green Bean have as many great memories of their birthdays when they get to be my age.

Dairy Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have spent more time than I would like to admit on Pinterest in the last few weeks, but I have found a lot of great recipes. I found a two ingredient recipe for pumpkin cake that I liked but improved on by using a spice cake mix instead.

Any way, if you have ever made that two ingredient cake, you know that the batter is really thick. The last time I made it, I thought "I could make this into cookies instead of cake and it would probably go farther than the cake." So, I decided that I would make Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I used:
One box of Western Family Spice Cake (it has no dairy in it)
1/4 bag of Enjoy Life Mini Chips (also Dairy Free)
15 oz can of 100% pure pumpkin (yes, pictured is a 30 oz can. I used half of it)

Mix it all together in a large bowl.

Spoon out onto greased cookies sheet.



Bake for 10-17 minutes at 350 degrees. The time all depends on the size of your cookie scoops. Really, I just watched them closely.

They turned out great and didn't last longer than two days. The story of baked goods in our house. (I might have been the one to eat most of them. SHhhhh.)

10 SURPRISES of 2011

10. Surprise, I'm pregnant again!



9. Surprise, I didn't qualify for health insurance. (in case you didn't know, pregnancy is a pre-existing condition)

8. Surprise, Sweet Pea has been watching all along and decided to just get up and walk.

7. Surprise, Sweet Pea blew out her candle at her 1st Birthday and we didn't even have to show her how.



6. Surprise, we are having a BOY!! (we thought we were going to have another girl)



5. Surprise! If we tell Sweet Pea she can kiss the boys, she is the aggressive one. (we are going to have to watch out now. oops!)



4. Surprise! Kiddie Pools are not for Kids.



3. Surprise! 4 People, 2 kids, 1 family. 0 JOB. What to do?

2. Surprise! Now we have to move back to Orem to live with the Grandparents.

1. SURPRISE! My Hubby gets a job only 3 weeks after being laid off. YEA!!

Fruit Christmas Tree

I saw a picture of a fruit tree on Pinterest and thought that it would make a perfect addition to our dinner on Christmas Day. So this is what I came up with.

1 Foam Cone
Toothpicks
Seran wrap
all different kinds of fruit.

The foam cone that I used flaked ALL OVER, so I covered it first in seran wrap. Then I poked all of the fruit onto it. So much fun. Oh, smart girl here didn't know that if you put salt onto your apples, they wont brown. So, if you choose to use apples, then try salt too.

This was easy peasy. Try it sometime.

OH The Joys Of A Toddler. . .

There really are no words.

Christmas Season

This Christmas season came and went so fast. There wasn't time for everything I wanted or usually like to do. A move just puts a wrench in things. But we did have an enjoyable Christmas anyway.



I took my Sweet Pea and Green Bean to see Santa at the University Mall. Sweet Pea liked to look at Santa but she did NOT want to sit on that strange mans knee. I ended up being in the picture and she sat on my knee. So funny considering one of her two favorite movies this Christmas was The Santa ClausE. Maybe next year.

We also went out to this tree lot . . .


all to see this fantastic person. . .
Mater is so fantastic. My Sweet Pea thought that he was great, but screamed when I left her next to him to take a picture. Funny funny girl.
Christmas Day after church.