Month Long Meal Planning

I mentioned in my last resolution update I had made a month long meal plan in hopes to buying less, using leftovers better, and saving time with my incredibly busy month.  I thought I would share with you my plan and how it came to be.

The first thing I did was spend some wonderful time on Pinterest, looking at all the recipes I've pinned (there's LOTS) and once I found a recipe I thought I'd want to try I wrote down every ingredient that was needed for the recipe. 

I need to write things down to fully wrap my brain around something

Then I went through my cookbooks and added to the list meals I wanted to keep in mind.

I finished with 32 possible meals (not all made the final cut but can be used for future meal planning).

Then, I grabbed my handy Mom Calendar.  With Lynden's swimming, skating, and preschool it's already won it's way into my heart (I'm a sucker for calendars anyways).  I looked at what days were going to be slow cooker meals, which days needed an easy meal (mainly the days I work), which days we were going to be out, and which days I would be home (thus free to cook at the last minute).

 

Here's how my month turned out.

{None of this is written in stone, as things change all the time}

A Heat Breaking Story For Mothers

Once upon a time there was a beautiful woman

 

 

who gave birth to a stunning baby boy. 

 

 

Her heart swelled with joy every time she looked at her.

She was blessed when his first smile was caused by her walking into the room. 

Soon that beautiful boy grew into a toddler and started mumbling words.  Among his favourites were "daddy" and "kitty".

But the son had a funny sense of humour and refused to say "mommy".  He would say "mmmmmdaddy" or "no" when he was asked to say mommy. 

 

She had no doubt that her son loved her, but she still wanted to hear him say "mama"

 

Soon the beautiful woman was pregnant again

 

 

and joked about the new baby, a girl, saying "mommy" first.

 

 

As her daughter grew, she started to say a few words.  Her first word was "mama" and the beautiful mother was thrilled. 

 

But as the daughter grew she took on her brother's twisted sense of humour by refusing to say "mommy".  When asked she's sweetly say "daddy" and look for him. 

The peak of her "joke" was pointing out daddy, brother, grandma, and great grandma, but when asked where mommy was she looked around and (with some prompting by her daddy) shrugged her shoulders.  All while sitting on her mother's lap. 

 

The beautiful woman knows that she should enjoy this time of few words, for soon it will be non-stop "mommy".  But, in the mean time she just wants her sweet baby girl to say "mama".

 

 

 

** Update: since writing this post she's said "mama".  She says it once, laughs, and follows it up with 3 or 4 "daddy" {just so I don't get spoiled}

 

Wordless Wednesday: Mama & Son

There are only a few pictures of me with my kids (mainly because I'm the one taking the photos).  This is one of my recent favourites.

Resolution Update: Septemeber

Because September was so busy it felt like we didn't do a lot of wasting.  Granted, I think we ate out a bit more than we normally would. 

Food We Tossed:

3 pears: $1.04
1 peach: $0.26
Plums: $0.75
4 lbs potatoes: $1.20
1 Fridge Clean out: $5.37
6 strawberries: $0.54
1 Steak: $4.99
1 yogurt cup $0.33

Monthly Amount:

$14.48

It's lower than normal, but I am still not happy.  It was a lot of big items:
4lbs potatoes - I need tips on keeping them longer, they're in a cool and dark place but they seem to get soft quicker than "normal"
A lot of leftovers in the fridge clean out - I think I need to implement a weekly left over night
1 steak - this has nothing to do with me.  I don't eat beef so I didn't take the steak out to leave it marinating for a week... yep, that's what happened. 

Year to Date:

Be Careful What You Wish For

I was really looking forward to fall starting; the beginning of activities and social life. 

I should be careful what I wish for.

September started off fairly busy; preschool, skating lessons, swimming lessons, a variety of parties (5 birthday events, including Lynden's, and a baby shower), an outing to Playland, and a trip to the hatchery (thanks grandma and grandpa).  Oh yea, and work.

LOVED seeing him smile so much

funny faces on the merry-go-round

Riding the Elephants; they're his favourite animal

Lynden and Mommy