Menu Monday

Well, it's the last day of October and I am ready to face a new month.  November is one of my favorite months.  Not just because we have three birthdays in November to celebrate, but because family gathers together for Thanksgiving, and this year, my Brother in Law is returning home from Afghanistan and he and his fiance will be joining us here in town for the holiday.

Tonight's meal is already in the crockpot, so it will be waiting for us after a fun round of "Trunk-or-Treating" in the parking lot of my in-law's ACE Hardware.  I also baked banana-chocolate-chip muffins for snack this afternoon.

Monday: Round Steak and Rice
Tuesday: Chicken Enchilada Soup
Wednesday: Tater Tot Casserole
Thursday: Chili and Corn Bread
Friday: Breakfast
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Pizza Night

Have a wonderful week!
~Melissa

Our First Break and other Fun Events

We certainly have had an interesting week here!  It all started on Tuesday.  The internet and our phones were down most of Tuesday because a construction crew hit a fiber optics cable line about an hour from our house.  It knocked out the entire region's internet/phones, which made work a little challenging.  We had to do most of the day's transactions off line at my in-law's ACE where I work, and our Dollar Plus store had to accept cash only.

A little after 1:00pm I got a phone call from the school that RL was in the nurse's office with a chipped tooth.  She had fallen off one of the toys at recess.  The school nurse told me it wasn't that bad of a chip but it was best to have it checked out because it was one of her permanent teeth.  After talking to RL and determined she would be ok to until the end of the day, got off the phone with her, and made a dentist appointment for 4:00pm that afternoon.

Not an hour later I got a call from the school again.  I picked it up thinking RL had gotten worse for some reason, only to find out that my 8yr old son, BC, had fallen off the spider toy at recess and possibly broken his arm.  Since we haven't experienced any broken bones here yet, I asked the secretary's opinion (the nurse had already gone home) about what I should do.  She said he could probably wait until the end of the day also, which at this point was only about 40 minutes or so.  I opted for that, instead of pulling all the kids out early and taking them all with me to the clinic.

I called my DH and asked him if there was any way he could make it home in the next half hour and updated him on the situation.  He told me he was already on his way home and he'd go with me to the school so that one of us could take BC to the clinic and the other could take RL and the rest of the gang to the dentist.

It was a long afternoon, but one tooth cap and one arm splint later we were all back at home for dinner.  Turns out RL chipped enough of her front tooth that they had to cap it to avoid further possible damage.  As for BC, they sent him home in a splint with a broken humerus bone (just above his elbow) because they needed to wait for the swelling to go down before putting it in a cast. 

The rest of the week was a piece of cake compared to Tuesday, but on Wednesday the internet was down again due to the same exact construction crew.  I think someone needs to be fired.  Then this morning I noticed that my rear right tire was low so I took it in to be looked at and get air.  Good thing I did because it had a pretty big leak and it was almost flat by the time I got there.

BC got his cast on this morning and he will have it for 4-6 weeks.  He chose Orange for two reasons.  First, Halloween is on Monday.  Second, his school colors are Orange and Black.  At least we won't lose him in a crowd!  Mom got first dibs on signing it.  I gave him a Sharpe mini to carry around with him and I'm sure it will fill up fast.

So that's my week.  I am glad it's the weekend.  I'm looking forward to an uneventful one.  Tonight I plan to take dinner to our neighbors that had their baby two weeks ago.  Other than that, I'm just going to hang out with the fam.

Have a great weekend all!

~Melissa

10 Things Tuesday on Friday

Ok.  So it's not Tuesday.  But sometimes a girl just has to stop and give thanks.  Otherwise, the events of a very trying week could consume her thoughts with negativity.  Why allow that when there are so many positive, good things to dwell on? 

1. Little man is feeling much better and so am I.  We spent lots of time cuddling this week.  Not that I would ever ask for one of my kids to be sick, but it really does bring out the "nurturer" in me.  Even when I'm not feeling well myself.

2. Fall has finally decided to show itself.  Last year I didn't get to savor my favorite season because it seems like we went from Summer to Winter overnight.  I really do love the many colors of the leaves and the warm days and crisp nights.  Not to mention the tastes of Fall like apple cider, and pumpkin spice muffins and lattes!

3. Although I am definitely not a morning person, I really have enjoyed watching the sun rise over the beautiful hills that surround us here.  We have a big picture window in our dining space that nicely frames them.  This morning was a particularly glorious sun rise with oranges and pinks and purples reflecting off of a few scattered fluffy clouds.  If only I could paint!  I would capture the image forever on canvas.

4. I've had some great dinner conversation with my kids this week at the dinner table.  I know that the days will quickly come when there will be kids missing from the dinner table due to activities and sports.  I want to cherish the moments that we spend together eating dinner as a family.  My favorite night was when we went around the table and showed our appreciation for each kid by highlighting something special about them and then giving them a round of applause.

5. We finally got half of our firewood delivered yesterday.  My garage is filled with the fresh scent of Oak.  I'm so thankful that we have two fireplaces to help heat this big home this winter.  When it does get cold here it gets really cold.  If I remember correctly from the last time we lived here, it can even get to sub zero temps.  That's without a wind chill factor.  I will say that I'm glad that those days the sun is usually shining bright.  It may not warm us, but I can face the cold days a lot better when the sun is shining.

6.  Here's a sad one from last weekend, but it's worthy of sharing.  I went to my dear friend's dad's funeral last weekend.  She was my babysitter growing up so I knew her dad pretty well.  I was so thankful that my husband watched the kids for me for the weekend so I could go and support her. 

7. While I was driving across the state to get there I had a lot of good worship and prayer time with God.  I really enjoyed the uninterrupted time (6 1/2 hours one way) in the car.  It felt like catching up with an old friend.

8. The funeral was in my home town so I got to stay at my mom's house.  While I was there I visited with my Grandma, who lives just down the hill.  I loved waking up in the morning to hug my mom and have a cup of coffee with her.  My sister joined us on Saturday and she and I went to see a movie together Saturday night.  That's something we haven't done in years!  It was wonderful to visit with my family, even though it was only for a couple of days.

9. While I was away, my neighbor had her baby!  I am waiting to go take a peek because I know how difficult the first week home can be.  I will eventually put together a meal for them and a basket of goodies for their other two children, but for now, they have family taking good care of them.  I am so thankful that God put us next door to them.  We've already become good friends.

10. We're going to try out our Pastor Friend's church again this weekend.  We've checked out a few other churches in the area and none have really been for us.  LIFE Church is very lively and they are seeing lots of people come to Jesus every week.  They have a really good kids' program and great worship.  I love to listen to the Pastor preach because he has a lot of passion for God's Word and how it applies to our lives today.  I hope that we can finally get plugged into a church that is right for our family.

Well, that's 10!  I sure do have a lot to be thankful about!  It's like I always tell my kids: When you're having a bad day (week), just be thankful!  Find something positive to think about and that will make it easier to walk through any trial that comes your way.

To quote the wise prophetess of the book of Judges, Deborah, during a difficult time of her life, "March on, my soul, be strong!"  (Judges 5:21b)

Have a great weekend all!
~Melissa

Menu Monday

Last week was a good menu week!  Everyone liked the dinners I had planned.  The sweet and sour meatballs was a huge hit.  I had a friend request the recipe so I'll just share it here.  I actually got the sauce recipe from a friend in a "freezer meals swap."  We got together with 5 other couples and each of us made our recipe for all the other couples.   So the meatballs and sauce are freezable, but make the rice fresh.  The meatball recipe I used is just a simple recipe from All Recipes.

Sweet & Sour Meatballs
Ingredients for meatballs:
2 T. Olive Oil
1 (20oz package) ground turkey
1 egg beaten
1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with the olive oil, and place it in the oven while preheating.

2.In a medium bowl, mix together the ground turkey, egg, and bread crumbs using your hands. Using an ice cream scoop if possible, form the meat into golf ball sized meatballs. Place about 1 inch apart in the hot baking dish. Press down to flatten the bottom just slightly.

3.Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, then turn them over, and continue baking for about 5 more minutes, or until somewhat crispy on the outside. 

Ingredients for sauce:
1 (20oz) can pineapple chunks
3 T. vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
approx. 1/3 cup water
1 T. soy sauce
3 T. Cornstarch
1 large green pepper cut into 1 inch pieces
1 onion cut into chunks
1 clove garlic

In a large skillet saute onion and garlic. Add the green pepper and cook for a few minutes.  In a bowl, combine the pineapple juice with enough water to make 1 1/2 cups. Stir in the vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce and cornstarch. Add to the skillet and stir till thickened. Add the meatballs and pineapple. Simmer until the meatballs are hot and the green peppers are tender-crisp.  Serve over rice.

If you are going to freeze this, cool sauce completely and then just store it in a gallon freezer bag or a freezer safe container.  When you are ready to eat it, I recommend thawing it in the fridge over night.  I have never tried putting it directly from the freezer into the skillet.

And now, on with this week's menu!
Monday: Parmesan Chicken with rice and veggies
Tuesday: Italian sausage skillet with Penne Pasta
Wednesday: BBQ Chicken sandwiches (from last week because my in-laws surprised us with pizza one night)
Thursday: Turkey bacon paninis
Friday: Spaghetti
Saturday: Breakfast
Sunday: Leftovers!

Sometimes I end up doing leftovers mid week if our fridge is starting to fill up.  It's just nice to have a menu in place so I know that I have the ingredients and I don't have to think about what I have in the cupboard come dinner time.

I'm going to have to make some banana bread (oh darn...) this week because we didn't eat all our bananas in time.  I might even add a few mini chocolate chips if I'm feeling like a sweet treat.  There are also a lot of pumpkin recipes floating around out there this time of year that I wouldn't mind trying. :)

Have a good week everybody!

~Melissa

Our Student of the Month

I am so proud of my girl RL!  She has made quite the positive impression on her teachers and the staff at her school in her first 30 days there!  Each month they vote on a student of the month for the individual grades and RL was the first one to get the award for 5th grade. 

Here's what the teachers and staff had to say about her:  The Bulldog of the Month in fifth grade is a quiet, sweet student who is considerate and very helpful to those around her.  She works hard and is succeeding in all subject areas.  She can always be found doing the right thing and making good decisions.  She is new to Berney this year and is a delight to have in class.  Congratulations to RH!

Way to go RL!  We love you very much!

RL Holding "Berney" the School Mascot

Menu Monday

Whew!  It's been a hectic day, and I am posting this as I wait for the rice to cook up for tonight's dinner.  We are actually having last week's Sweet and Sour Meatballs tonight, because we had a couple of sick days in there last week when I had to alter my menu a bit.

Here's what I'm cooking this week:
Monday: Sweet and Sour Meatballs over rice
Tuesday: BBQ Chicken Sandwhiches
Wednesday: Stew in the Crock Pot
Thursday: Breakfast - French Toast with extras for the freezer
Friday: Steak and Potatoes
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Stroganoff

I'm still experimenting with muffins for snacks but this week I want to try pretzil bites also. :)

Last week's juice making session was fun, but I didn't get as much apple juice as I would have liked.  It turns out that it makes great apple cider though, so that's a bonus now that we are getting into fall weather.

Have a great week all!
~Melissa