Crew Cuisine

We really should eat in more often. This has been a famous saying around our house for a LONG time now. I remember as a single lady thinking that once I got married I would start cooking. When that didn't happen, I swore once we had kids I would start. Then, it was pushed back to once Landon started eating all table food. Well, that's been happening for a while and now our second child is starting to eat table food. I figured that if we didn't come up with a plan soon, our kids would consider Mickey D's and Taco Bueno a home-cooked meal! I had remembered a program on-line that someone in our Life Group turned us onto a while back. It's called Menu For The Week.com. While it's a great menu planner and has many of the features I was looking for (healthy, easy recipes, grocery lists) I found that it wasn't as customizable as I was needing. We don't eat a lot of red meat (I don't eat any) so we wouldn't be able to use almost half of the weekly recipes. Plus, there is a small fee involved. So, I came up with my own plan. Using the few recipes that we do have, I typed each up in their own Word document, including a grocery list. I created a weekly menu chart where all I have to do is copy and paste my pre-made grocery list into each day, print it out, and take it the store. While it's a little more work in the beginning, it seems to be getting the job done as we have stuck to our plan so far. Now, I'm just looking for new recipes to add to my repertoire! This is my weekly chart...

This is a sample recipe/grocery list and the one that we just happened to cook tonight! It's one of our favorites! Click to enlarge

Reid is starting to enjoy more table food with us each night! Tonight he had a little spoon practice. I forget how amusing it is to watch a baby this age try to pick up their food and make it in their mouth!

Finger-lickin' Good!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our family to yours! Here is our attempt at a few Easter Day pictures. Our boys aren't too keen on working with the camera so most of these are just moments captured during our attempt to get them BOTH to look and smile at the same time...which never really happened! :)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

Eggs & Cars

I know you're wondering what kind of post this might be about. What in the world do eggs & cars have to do with one another? Well actually, nothing! But, it does sum up our Friday very nicely! In the morning, the boys and I went to a mini egg hunt with some fellow mommies and their tots. It was supposed to be at the park, but due to the severe forcasted rain event we were supposed to see, we moved the hunt indoors. Thanks Tamara for letting us inundate your house with eggs! I'm sure you'll be finding them for weeks! This was the first year Landon really understood the concept of egg-hunting. He quickly figured out that the eggs were filled with goodies!

This was the best group picture I got! I think considering the fact that there were 8 kiddos between the ages of 8 1/2 months and 2 1/2 years, we did pretty good!Let the hunt begin!

I think Max is comparing his loot with Korben's Getting lectured by Miss Mia...
Enjoying some post-hunt goodies!
Stacey and MaxTamara, Luka and Mia
Friday evening we got to help celebrate the 3rd birthday of our sweet neighbor and friend, Luke! The theme? CARS! We had a blast!

The birthday boy!

Bounce House Fun

Luke's little brother, Jack

After we had some yummy burgers and cake, the kids did a fun little painting project!

Multitasking?

Or is this just a glimpse into the future? My 15 year old teenage son doesn't want to sit and talk with his parents at dinner, but would rather chat with his buddies!

This evening right before we sat down for dinner, my phone rang. About 30 seconds later I noticed Landon had his {calculator} phone to his ear just talkin' away. He proceeded his conversation well into dinner. Of course, I couldn't get on to him because I was doing the same thing. While I probably wasn't setting the best example, Aaron and I did get a kick out of this as he has never done this before. Every now and then he would pick the phone back up and talk a little jibberish to random people he would name. It was pretty comical! One thing I absolutely LOVE about his age is pretend play. He is starting to do more of this with his toys and it is so precious to watch!