We did it!!!

I made it through my first weekend of work!!! And I survived!!! (so did Jason!!). It stinks to be back so soon, but since I crave routine we can actually begin to get settled in.

We followed the meal plan great last week!!! I'm so pleased!! We only deviated 1 night (sunday night)....not too shabby!!!

So this week....ahhh...it feels good to be doing this. I planned to do it this am before bed but that didn't work. So here it is:

Monday: Cook out burgers (Jason's firing up the grill now)
Tuesday: Brinner (breakfast for dinner). It's my chance to restock the freezer of Max's pancakes.
Wednesday: BBQ pork in crockpot and broccoli slaw salad (Jason's working and I have a friend coming to town).
Thursday: Citrus ginger chicken from freezer, couscous and glazed carrots
Friday: cookout (Jason's parents will be here watching boys while Jason's at work and I'm sleeping getting ready for work).
Saturday: Brats and perogies
Sunday: Homemade pizza (from packs in freezer)

We also stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies this week to try our hand at smoothies (both green and otherwise) for breakfasts and lunches. We need easy quick things for those meals. I'll post how that goes. We also got some recipes for some hearty healthy muffins (recipe from Jason's coworker). Those will be stocked in the freezer. I finally feel some clarity and like we're getting it together!! It feels good.

And we've walked with the boys in the stroller nearly every sunny day the last few days!! It also feels good. Our fitness regimen is being tweaked and we're gonna start tracking our workouts and (hopefully) weightloss!!!


For more menu ideas and meal planning tips check out "I'm an organizing junkie" Menu planning monday post!!

So far so good...

The meal planning is really helping out!!! 2 days and we've followed it!! Yay!!! My mini meatloaves were a success and I have some for lunch today (sent some to work with Jason too) and I have some to take to work friday. I put a roast in the crockpot this am so I'll be ready for our dinner and for Jason when he gets home from work!!

I'm hoping I can stick with this!!!

Question for anyone ANYONE out there!! I have a ton of Round steaks in my freezer stash (it's what we have the most left!!). How do I fix it? Any tried and true recipes out there? Please share!!

We went to see the Baby Elephants yesterday at the Zoo- I'm hoping to put some pics on the boys blog soon!!!

Something new....

So I thought I'd try something new this week!!!

I've piddled with meal planning and since I go back to work on friday night- I want to get serious in trying to plan our week!! I found that when I plan a week's worth of meals at one time it not only helps me feel organized and save time at dinner time, but it also helps the budget!! My plan is to get all my meals figured out sunday evening/monday morning and we'll go to the grocery on mondays when I get off work. (I have my 6 week pp appt today so we went to grocery saturday).

So here it goes:
Monday: mini meatloaf
Tuesday: cookout (weather permitting)
Wednesday: roast in crockpot with potatoes, onions, and carrots
Thursday: Chicken and couscous (from freezer- planning before Jake)
Friday: Taco roast (roast in crockpot with taco packet for shredded beef for nachos)
Saturday: leftovers
Sunday: perogies and brats (from schwans)

While I see this is beef heavy- we have to use up some beef in our freezer to make room for our next supply (we get beef from Jason's extended family- and it is that time of year again- and it's the best beef ever!!!). Last year we got a side of beef and this year we only got 1/4 because we still have quite a stash.

I'm hoping to be able to take leftovers to work friday, saturday and sunday nights. I've never been great at packing dinners so we'll see!!!

For more Menu Planning ideas check out Organizing Junkie's Blog. This post is part of her blog carnival!!!

Garden day!!!

On tuesday we decided to put the garden in. We started the process and bought the supplies on monday and got to work during Max's nap time on tuesday afternoon. We planted wave petunias in the beds and put in our Square Foot Garden (SFG). We did this last year and had alot of luck with it!!!

Well, not everyone participated in garden day!!

After Max's nap- he "helped"

First we emptied our box onto a tarp and added in another bag of peat moss, cow manure, posey power, and vermculite (Mel's mix-this stuff is gold people!!!). I totally didn't even think to take pictures of this step. We raked the mixture together until it was thoroughly mixed with the previous contents of the box. We then put it back in the box and placed the grid on top. We had enough Mel's mix to fix up 5 round pots and 2 square pots. I laid out my plan.

My wave petunias need a shot of miracle grow. I hope I have as good of luck as I did last year with them!!!

We didn't get new mulch this year- we decided it wasn't in the budget and we could just work up the current mulch.

So in the SFG we have 2 Laroma tomatoes (for paste/sauce), 2 cherry tomatoes (Sweet baby girl and another type I can't remember), 2 squares of white onions, 2 squares of lettuce, 1 square of carrots, 2 squares of marigolds (to protect my tomatoes), and 5 peppers (Garden Salsa, Golden bell, Lady Bell and 2 Jupiters).

In 4 big pots we have tomatoes (3 celebrity and 1 Big boy).

In the other pot we have a Purple beauty pepper. I also have 2 window type boxes for herbs (basil and cilantro mainly).

Jake slept through the entire thing. We was positioned under the umbrella and was loving life!!

Max was digging being outside. He loves being outdoors!! I see alot of dirt in my future!!

I think we're really gonna enjoy our backyard this summer!!!