Happy Monday!

I will admit that I tend to dread Mondays on Sunday nights, but when the day actually comes it is never as bad as I thought it would be. I guess it is a little different now that I am a mom, weekends aren’t actually days off, just a break from my paying job.  Last week went well for meals, not so great at remembering to take pictures though. I only snapped a picture of one meal but I took some of the cupcakes I made for Laurel’s birthday dinner and the cake I made for her birthday party. The more I have to use my phone to take pictures, the more I really want a good camera. I have started a savings jar, but it will take a lot of time before I get there but I am hoping that the kids are still little!

Ham, cheesy potatoes & rolls

Lasagna Rolls

Cinderella Cupcakes

Inside of the cake!

 My boys and I have a lot of fun, they are both little hams like their mom. Aiden says the funniest things all the time i.e. "Mom, we have a terrible situation. There is sand in my bubble gun and it is ruined." I am convinced that Connor is short for concussion, because that kid is always hitting his head. He has perfected climbing on the couch, so the amount of heart attacks I have every day has tripled and I spend half the day making sure he does not fall off. Here are pictures of my silly, adventurous boys and our daily life shenanigans.

Okay so here is the meal plan for this week:

Monday: Crockpot Honey Garlic Chicken (new)

Tuesday: Ground Beef Burritos

Wednesday: Cajun Shrimp Pasta

Thursday: Cheesy Chicken Broccoli & Rice

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: Mozzarella Stuffed Meatball Subs (new)

Sunday: Cheddar Ranch Chicken (new)

Have a great week!

"Be cheerful no matter what: pray all the time:thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

What Is Your Life's Blueprint?

I have come across a lot of people in my life that have felt like they were not enough, that what they were doing in life was not making a difference. I admit that I have felt this way at times, which is why in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, I wanted to share something he said that really resonates with me.  In October of 1967 King gave a speech to a Junior High School in Philadelphia called What Is Your Life’s Blueprint? Here are some of my favorite excerpts:

Number one in your life's blueprint, should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness. Don't allow anybody to make you feel that you're nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.

Secondly, in your life's blueprint you must have as the basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor. You're going to be deciding as the days, as the years unfold what you will do in life — what your life's work will be. Set out to do it well.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great essayist, said in a lecture in 1871, "If a man can write a better book or preach a better sermon or make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, even if he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door."

And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Don't just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn't do it any better.

If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well. If you can't be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. Be the best little shrub on the side of the hill.

Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.

So whatever your job is, do it the best you can. Put your heart and soul into it and don’t let others define your worth. If you are giving the world your very best, that is more than enough. J Whether you are a stay-at-home-mom(or dad), a lawyer, a policeman, an accountant or a shoe shiner, whatever you do, do it the very best you can. 

My Most Important Job :)

Meals for this Week

Music Time with the Sanders Symphony :)

Last week I did a pretty good job of sticking to my meal plan and getting everything done, until Saturday hit. The boys and I ended up being out of the house for most of the day, we did not get home until after 7:30 which did not give me enough time to make Lasagna Rolls. We opted for some quick and easy Mexican instead. On Sunday, we hosted the Rotters and Rucker for dinner and games, We had smoked pork loin, loaded mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus with parmesan, a spring salad(provided by the Rotters), rolls and for a dessert a key lime pie(also provided by the Rotters). Dave made some fantastic fruit mojitos which topped off the night as our signature drink. After dinner, we played a rousing game of Taboo and had a wonderful time.

All my meals last week turned out really well, here are a few of the highlights( I forgot to take pictures of tuna casserole and fish sticks):

This week was a little different, Monday was our anniversary, er go no post yesterday and we went out to dinner at Bubba Gump. David had never been there, and the restaurant is right on the water, so it was really great!

I made Crab Rangoon with homemade sweet & sour sauce for our lunch.

Here is the meal plan for this week:

Monday: Bubba Gumps Anniversary Dinner

Tuesday: Glazed Ham & Potatoes

Wednesday: Lasagna Rolls

Thursday: Birthday Dinner for Laurel- Homemade Mac & Cheese & Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Friday: Chicken Pot Pie

Saturday: This is up in the air because Laurels birthday party is that day, but more than likely it will be something I can throw in the crockpot.

Sunday: Ribs & Sweet Potatoes

Hope all of you have a great week! I will try to get more posts up this week of the boys and desserts :) 

Meal Planning Mondays

Chicken & Cheese Flautas! So Yummy!!!

Welcome to Meal Planning Mondays!! I love to be in the kitchen, it is my own personal brand of therapy.  Food is one of the ways I show love, the way I convey my affection for those around me.  I have been meal planning on and off (mostly on) since college and I find that it really keeps me from spending all my money eating out. Plus, it takes the pressure off trying to come up with a meal that day, which tends to be a struggle for me since I have very little input from others on what I should make.  I love things that make my life easier, that allow my family to eat better, save money and spend quality time around the table. My Monday posts probably won’t be very long, just a rundown of what we are having for the week and maybe a recap of how the meals went the previous week.  I try to make a new dish at least once a week, and then have the rest of the days be recipes that I have had success with in the past. I do meal plan on the weekend, but I am flexible with those days because I know that we might have plans or company and changes will have to be made. If you are interested in any recipes, tips or tricks, let me know! I am going to try to post my feature dessert of the week on Fridays, so keep your eyes out for that!

Here is the line-up for this week:

Monday: Chicken & Cheese Flautas with Spanish rice

Tuesday: Tuna Casserole

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Pizza

Thursday: Broccoli Cheese Soup in Bread Bowls

Friday: Panko Fish Sticks & Oven Baked Fries

Saturday: Lasagna Roll-Ups (new)

Sunday: We have dinner with our friends on Sundays, so we usually come up with a meal during the week and split dishes to make. This past week we had ham, macaroni & cheese, broccoli, sweet potato casserole & rolls. It was so yummy! Having Sunday dinners is such a fun tradition to have, I encourage everyone to try it out!

Happy New Year

There is something special about a new year, it feels like a reset button has been pushed, almost like you have a chance to do everything right this time. New beginnings, like the smell of the your surroundings after it rains. It smells like possibility, it feels like a promise of something better. I cannot wait to see what 2016 has to hold for me and my family. I have several resolutions including doing a better job of keeping up with this blog. Let me give you a quick update on the boys.

Aiden has recently moved into a twin sized bed. We got some Star Wars bedding for it, so we are both pretty excited. We are working on learning to write his name, he can spell it but we have not mastered the writing portion yet. His vocabulary continues to grow, he described his bed as "wonderful" and "incredible" yesterday. He also has quite a sense of a humor, and is constantly cracking me up. He is wearing 5T these days, and prefers eating a lot at breakfast and lunch instead of at dinner. 

Connor is running a million miles per hour. He climbs on everything, and gets into everything. My favorite thing about his behavior lately is that he has become more cuddly and into giving hugs. He gives hugs to everyone, including the dogs. He says Mama, Dada, Dog and Up. He also has a banshee scream/squeal that could break glass. Connor is finally starting to gain some weight, which is not too surprising because he eats anything he can get his hands on. 

I have been busy taking care of the boys, working at my job and making an insane amount of caramels! They have been in high demand this holiday season. I am hoping to post a lot more of the food I make this year and different things I make. It was great hanging out with my family over the holiday season, but I am happy to be back home. 

Here is a quick photo roll of the holiday season, I am missing a lot but please enjoy what I do have!

Hanging out at Uncle Adam's Eagle Ceremony

Christmas Tree Shopping & Tree Trimming

Christmas Candy Making Day

Risky Business with the Boys :)

Christmas Morning!

Candlelight Pavilion 

Mission Inn Christmas Lights