Valentine's Garland

Valentine's Day is a week from today! I decided to do a little V-day decorating: A Heart Garland!

 I used this simple picture tutorial I found on Pintrest

 All you need is paper (I used cardstock) scissors, and a stapler

 Sweet little hearts!

Looks like my draping skills need a little work but I think it adds a pretty addition to our dining room. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Meng Menu

Sunday: Calzones, salad

Monday: Chili dogs, baked fries, apples

Tuesday: Chicken fajitas, refried beans

Wednesday: Roast beef, baked potatoes, green beans

Thursday: Pork chops, sautéed kale, rolls

Friday: Parmesan baked chicken, pasta dish, broccoli

Saturday: Bacon and eggs, fruit salad 

I work on Mondays and Wednesdays and don't get home until around 6pm. Aaron has been working until 6pm too so I have been needing to plan dinners that can be prepared quickly after I get home, or meals that cook while I am at work. On Wednesday, I am planning on slow-roasting a beef  roast in the oven and cook the potatoes in the crock pot (just wrap in foil and place in crockpot on low for 4-6 hours, depending on the size of the potato). Should be a super yummy meal! 

How do you plan for dinner on busy nights without resorting to a frozen meal or take-out? Please post your ideas or recipes here or on Facebook! 

"A Daughter Times Three": A fairy tale

It's here! My 2nd short story has been published in Gallery of Worlds, a quarterly e-zine. Click here to read!

"A Daughter Times Three" is a fairy tale--complete with talking animals, a long-lost prophecy, and a magical birthday.

Here's a sneak peek:

Annaka cried harder. She would never be happy again. Mama didn’t remember—how could she? Tomorrow everything would change. She was eleven and three hundred and sixty-four days. Tomorrow she would be Twelve.

Tomorrow she would lose the gift of speaking to the animals.

While my intended audience for this story is children (after all, children still believe in all the magic that the fairy tale offers) but the deeper themes of friendship, loss, and the courage it takes to grow up should appeal to readers of all ages. 

If you read it--to yourself or to your child--please let me know what you think! After all, authors make their "livings" on the feedback from their readers. 

Meng Menu

Sunday: BBQ pork sandwiches, baked fries, apples

Monday: Fried Rice

Tuesday: Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans

Wednesday: Shepherds pie, rolls

Thursday: Zuppa Toscana soup, rolls

Friday: Chicken broccoli alfredo

Saturday: Calzones, salad

Here's our menu for this week! I haven't gone shopping this week but I'm pretty confident that I'll be under budget. Chicken is on sale this week and I am using left over pork from last week for two meals. Plus I already had the fixings for the calzones. Looking forward to some yummy meals this week!! 

Milk jugs + balls = FUN!

Today is freezing and rainy--what to do? 

How about a fun game of catch with milk jugs? This turned out to be the perfect indoor game!

I found the tutorial here via pintrest

After a few snips to the bottom of two milk jugs (washed thoroughly of the lingering sour milk smell), I put duct tape around the edge to provide a little bit of stability. Add one soft ball and we were ready for some wild fun! 

Micah: a good model of the milk jug catcher but so not photogenic 

Of course, the OBJECT is to catch the ball in the milk jug. But it is more fun to wildly throw the ball up in the air and then block your brother from catching it!

 Yeah! I BLOCK YOU!!!!!

 (I love how hard Benji is laughing here!)

 Benji: I am READY!

 I caught it!!!!

We played with the basketball for about 45 minutes and then moved on to a small bouncy ball which fit through the open spout. 

Catch it! Catch it! 

We also tried pennies and marbles. The boys are now currently using their milk jug catchers as large scoops to carry their cars. 

The scoops were also used as telescopes, megaphones, and robot hats. 

This is a multi-purpose toy! 

Who knew a couple of milk jugs would be so much fun? 

Meng Menu

Sunday: Fried Fish, cheese grits, steamed veggies

Monday: Pizza braid, salad

Tuesday: Ham steak, roasted potatoes, green beans

Wednesday: Frozen meal (thanks Stouffers), rolls

Thursday: Baked Ziti, salad

Friday: Crockpot BBQ Chicken, baked beans, fruit salad

Saturday: Chicken, rice w/ gravy, broccoli 

I've been a menu slacker. In fact, I've been a blog slacker. Not much going on in my life that is blog worthy, I guess. I head back to work tomorrow and I've just been doing a lot of reading at home, hanging out with the boys, etc. Pretty low key at the Meng's house this past month. 

I've been trying to include more fish in our menu. We had baked salmon from Sams for the past two weeks which was super yummy but kind of expensive ($14 for two dinners). I bought some frozen catfish tonight for $8 (we'll get two dinners out of the bag) and fried it. Umm....can you say "yum"? I just kept eating because it was so tasty even though I was full. Plus the boys loved it (they loved the salmon too!). Frying the fish probably isn't the healthiest option but it was so darn good!

The baked ziti is a new recipe this week and the BBQ chicken is a repeat recipe (both found via pintrest). Hope these ideas help you plan your menu for this week. 

What do you do when it won't snow? Go carpet skiing!

Aaron has been bemoaning the fact that we have no snow in Virginia right now. It is pretty sad actually. Even more sad for my poor husband because he LOVES to ski. 

And he has turned our boys into ski lovers as well. 

So what do you do when you LOVE TO SKI and have no snow? 

Carpet skiing (and sledding!), of course!

(It was dark when they started so these pictures are not the best)

Here are the boys, saucer-riding down our "slope," constructed by Aaron off our picnic table. The carpet was a craigslist find. 

Happy husband! The "ski run" is short, but better than nothing, right? 

Whee!! Action shot!

The boys actually skied down it too but I didn't get any pictures of that (Aaron held on to them from the back). They have the cutest little baby skis ever! And a helmet that they LOVE to wear! 

So, when winter refuses to send you snow, go carpet skiing instead! 

PS. It rained lightly the next day and made the "run" even faster!

When a bird takes a bath....

...it's so darn cute!

 Luna loves to bathe. 

And we love Luna! 

MICAH! Those are NOT band-aids!!!!

When your child is in the bathroom too long, it a good idea to check on him.

Aaron was mortified. 

I was laughing so hard I was crying.

Aaron firmly informed Micah: Those are NOT band-aids!!!

Meng Menu

Sunday: Frozen Pizza, cesear salad

Monday: Grilled pork loin, rice, green beans

Tuesday: Creamy chicken and rice soup, garlic bread

Wednesday: Salmon, baked potatoes, salad

Thursday: Grilled chicken, baked beans, jello salad

Friday: Breakfast bake, jello salad

Saturday: Garlic parmesan chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans

Holidays are over. Sad. Back to normal, right? There is something nice about getting back to a routine though so here is our menu for the week. 

Grocery shopping was great! I spent $100 at Kroger and today I plan to go to Sams to try and buy some Salmon (there is a great frozen brand that we love). So in all, the total will come to around $110 or so. 

It almost looks like this is a summer menu with all the grilling I have on the lineup. Aaron's willing to do though and I'm a-ok with that! I love grilled meat!

How are you getting back into the routine? Planning a menu? Cleaning? Putting Christmas decorations away? Writing out your family's activities on your 2012 calendar? 

Happy New Year everyone!