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A heartfelt THANK YOU to all that were near and dear this past week…
Monday, December 1st, 2008 | Uncategorized | 7 Comments
This past week we had a family emergency when Hannah’s appendix ruptured and we had to spend six days at the local children’s hospital. We were overwhelmingly surrounded in love and prayers from friends and family both near and far. As a family we all felt, and especially Hannah, very very loved. Thank you for standing with us and petitioning the Lord on Hannah’s behalf for her health and saftey this past week.
A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) Essays, “Friendship”
The long awaited pictures from the Masquerade Ball!
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 3 Comments
This post was a long time coming….but hopefully you feel its worth it 
I had to collect images from 2 of my cameras and from the cameras of my little sister and 2 other friends (hence the lack of continuity in file names).
We had a magical day with all our friends, please enjoy the video by clicking below. It will take some time to download for viewing, feel free to get a cup of tea while you wait, but if you can’t possibly wait to see the video you can also click below and scroll through the images used in the video.
Thanks for looking!
Chore Charts
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
I’ve had people asking me about my kids ‘morning chores’ and ‘evening chores’ that I reference in our ‘day in the life’ posts and schedule posts. Here they are for your downloading pleasure, feel free to alter these to your needs and use freely. One file is what I used before my kids knew how to read (picture chart) and they got mini stickers to put in the boxes. The other chart we used after they could read and they liked putting check marks in the boxes. That one is printed so you can cut the paper in half sheets and I would usually print a week or two work and staple them between two half sheets of their choice of cardstock.
The charts they use now are pretty much the same as the ‘readable’ charts mentioned above but in a graph format (several days per one page and practice reading graphs in the process. When I find that file on my computer I will add it here.
Click these links to download. Enjoy!
Meal Planning Binder….
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 7 Comments
People have been telling me lately how organized I am. Anyone who’s known me closely for any length of time is welcome to chuckle along with me at these comments I don’t typically classify myself as an organized person. I generally operate in a lot of clutter, chaos and ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ kind of adventures- however, because I know this of myself I have created organization within my chaos as a means of keeping sanity. I call it ‘post it notes on steroids’. At the inspiration of a very good local friend, Heather, I have put together our own ‘meal plan binder’ and it has been working out beautifully!
Start with a blank calender and begin plugging your favorite recipes into the blank slots. I decided that our family only really needed to plan and buy for 5 dinners/week due to the inevitable leftovers night and one night out either with family, friends or at restaurant (also a good night to try out a new recipe if we happen to be home instead). To make my recipe brainstorm easier I started by designating some ‘theme’ ideas for example:
crockpot/oven recipes (1 per week):
chicken enchiladas
Veggie Sausage Soup
Italian Chicken legs
Cranberry Chicken
Taco Soup
Shepherd’s Pie
fresh (1 per week):
Jamaican Jerk Chicken Salad
Chef Salad
Shrimp Cocktail and salad pack
asian chicken salad
pasta salad with Chicken/apple salad sandwiches
tomato/basil fresh rolls
stove top/BBQ or oven (1 per week):
creamy orzo with chicken and mushroom
chicken and apricot couscous
paella
turkey burgers
chicken picatta and pesto pasta
BBQ chicken pieces with garlic greenbeans
stir fry (1 per week):
chicken and brocolli fettucini alfredo
chicken stir fry and fresh rolls
fajitas
beef and brocolli with fresh rolls
stir fried rice
peanutty noodles with tofu and peas
easy/fun (1 per week):
homemade pizza
spaghetti or lasagna
baked potato bar
homemade mac and cheese
corn dogs
burritos
Next I got myself a binder and some pocketed subject dividers and started organizing this all in a central location. Note that as you will see in the pictures and attached files, I have not finished weeks 5 and 6 yet. Each divider is a weeks worth of dinners, with all recipes printed and in page protectors. Each weekly pocket holds the master grocery list for that week of dinners, items divided by quantity/item/recipe name so that it is easy to edit out a recipe or multiply it for bulk cooking. Also note that ingredients are organized by dept of the grocery store (my grocery store in the order I walk it, you’ll have to alter it for your own grocery store and habits) and there are extra blanks in each ‘dept’ so you can add items to your list throughout your week (aka we are out of bananas and yogurt for breakfasts). Once the binder is all compiled (or at least one week at a time) you can start using it and rotating through the weeks. The more weeks you have then the more variety you have.
Just last week we had lasagna scheduled (which is something I always cook in bulk). I bought extra ingredients and in the end had 9 lasagnas on my counter to put in the freezer. With a 6 week rotation of menus- that is 1 year worth of lasagnas! If I pick 1-2 freezable recipes per week to make in bulk I will have a stocked freezer and quick meals on hand for 6month-1year!
I hope all this information is helpful to others- I know it has been wonderful for our family Enjoy!
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