Weekly Dinner Menu

I'm sticking with my organized dinners...I'm really doing it. (Patting self on back.)

Monday - planned to go out, but it was too hot so we stayed in and had leftovers
Tuesday - homemade "Italian" hamburgers and oven fries
Wednesday - soup and sandwich night
Thursday - baked lemon and caper chicken, scalloped potatoes, salad
Friday - crockpot chili and cornbread
Saturday - plans to go out
Sunday - sweet and sour chicken and rice

Weekly Dinner Menu

In an attempt to be organized and avoid dinner disasters, I'm trying to make a weekly dinner menu on Sundays and stick with it. Here is this week's menu:

Monday - Pork chops, baked potatoes, salad
Tuesday - Mexican stir fry (basically fajitas, but without the tortillas) and rice
Wednesday - day off. Joe is gone so that means the kids will likely eat buttered noodles and fruit and I will eat leftovers.
Thursday - breaded baked chicken, corn on the cob, salad
Friday - Pizza night
Saturday - bonfire at the beach (hot dogs, chips, fruit)
Sunday - Chicken sausage, artichoke and sun dried tomato pasta

Speaking of food, Lauren LOVES corn on the cob and for some reason I think it is hilarious to watch her eat it...

Mini Me

What can I say, Joe and I created mini-me's. Daniel is a mini Joe and Lauren is a mini Kristi. My little twin and I even dress the same sometimes...Seriously, jean leggings on a 2-year old...might be the cutest thing EVER!

Oh What Busy Days

We have a book called "Oh What Busy Days" that I read to the kids. These days, I find myself looking at our calendar and saying "Oh what busy days!" Summer has officially come and gone. Daniel is back to preschool this week and he is also starting speech therapy -- no biggie just a little behind on his articulation. The bigger issue is that means we have to be out of the house, dressed, fed and at a different location by 9am five days a week. Ok, ok all you working moms...I know 9am is already your first coffee break. However, this is all new to us around here!

So today I tried really hard to get them back on a semi-schedule and get them eating better again (what is it about summer that makes me feel like popsicles are a good food choice??). Lauren was not happy about napping, but after talking to her dolls for an hour she fell asleep on the floor in the middle of her room. I like her protest style.

Daniel handled the "new" routine without any issues. I think that mostly has to do with the fact that his routine now includes 1 hour of my undivided attention while Lauren is napping (or talking to dolls) to help him write his letters and do workbooks, plus I read some longer books to him that Lauren doesn't have the patience for. Speaking of writing, I tried and tried this summer to get Daniel to write his name but he refused. Not that he couldn't, but he wouldn't. I'm talking refused to pick up the crayon. Not so sure about that protest style. However, literally from one day to the next he wrote his name. Check out how proud he is!

Just so we are clear, the first line I wrote, the second I wrote in highlighter and he traced it, the third line I wrote in dots and he connected the dots, but the fourth line....ahhhh yes, completely on his own! No joke, the day before this picture he refused to hold his marker.

My Little Boy

My little boy is not so little anymore! Well, for those with teenagers I realize 4 years old is still little, but I just can't believe my first born turned 4 today. Daniel is such a sweet little guy - although we have had our moments lately as he pushes my patience to the edge - nonetheless he has been and continues to be an amazing little guy. I'm able to see his compassion expanding as he comforts Lauren when she is hurt, his independence growing as he has a sleepover without a whimper, his patience developing as he restrains himself from hitting Lauren back when she hits him, and his curiosity expanding as he questions when and how his new baby cousin will be born.

Daniel has always been my timid child, taking time to warm up to new situations, but the changes I have seen in him in the past year are astounding. Last year at this time I was losing sleep worrying about how he would handle preschool, this year we are excitedly discussing the new school year approaching and wondering which of his friends will be in his class.

I'm crazy about my little guy. He will often stop in the middle of playing, turn to me suddenly and say, "Mommy, I love you all the way to the moon."

Happy Birthday Daniel - I love you to the moon...and back.

Two Years and More in Love Than Ever

Tomorrow is Lauren's 2nd birthday. I can not believe my baby is two. She is growing and developing such a little personality. I really, really hope her funny and sweet personality continues and we don't come across any terrible two's this year. Honestly, she has been such an incredibly good baby and now toddler that I feel like the shoe is going to drop soon. I have been too lucky and blessed. She does have a flair for the dramatic which I'm sure will be a pain when she's 13, but right now it's just funny. I'm so incredibly in love with this little girl!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little Lauren.

Caterpillar Craft

One of our favorite books around here is "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." It teaches kids the days of the week, counting and how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly -- genius! The other day Daniel was looking at the book and said, "I want to make a caterpillar." Oh boy, now that it's summer break coming up with crafts is up to this mom instead of his fabulous preschool.

I grabbed a few supplies (colored beads and some pipe cleaners) and made what ended up being a pretty cute craft. Daniel patiently dug through the colored beads to find different shades of green to make the caterpillar's body (using good fine motor skills he thread each bead), then made the red face, and a small piece of pipe cleaner twisted around the body for the antennae. We curved it into the shape of the caterpillar and VIOLA! Of course after he made the caterpillar we had to make a bee, a butterfly...needless to say we have several pipe cleaner/bead bugs in the house now.