Time with Grandpa

Morenna & Jadyn spending some quality time with Grandpa John.
Morenna was quite fascinated with Grandpa’s magical ability to pull candy out of her ear. :-)
“More candies, Grandpa? More candies from my ear?”
April 2010

Meals for a Month

I’ve definitely joined the camp praising the benefits of meal planning. A little preparation makes for a lot of ease. But I’ll be the first to admit to you: I dislike meal planning, too. 

It takes time and precious brain cells (from my dwindling supply) to pull together a meal plan.

Some women plan completely from scratch. Others have a 2, 4 or even 6-week rotation of family favorites.

I fall into the first group. For a while now I’ve dedicated a portion of my Saturday mornings to planning our menu for the following week. Armed with the weekly ads, my menu planning cards and my links to favored recipe sites, I’ve taken 20-30 minutes to do my thing... until recently I switched things up again.

One of my highly-esteemed blogger friends finds time to menu plan on a larger scale. And so, for the month of April, I took the plunge and decided to plan out my entire menu... for the whole month. While I’m on a roll, why not? And you know what, we have a winner!

It certainly works for me.

Here’s some noted differences, however:

- Additional flexibility. I don’t have as much control over my month’s schedule as I do for the current week. Solution? I made sure to plan out meals for every single day of the month. Then as issues arose, I swapped days.

- Planning around unknown sales. Obviously you’ll never know the ad from one week to another. Solution? Enter freezer cooking and good ol’ fashion guesswork. I’ve been attempting freezer cooking for some time now, and in planning for the month, it’s really been a lifesaver. When things are on sale, I stock up in hopes to utilize the items the following month. Additionally grocery chains rotate their sales every 4-6 weeks, for the most part. So it helps to keep a mental tab on what sales might be coming up.

- More rotation. I’ve never been a big fan of meal rotation. However, I have found that planning for the month required a little more structure than normal. Solution: Taco Tuesdays Sundays and Friday night pizza.

That said, here’s what our April plans looked like:

1. Spaghetti, Salad
2. Pizza, Fruit
3. EASTER
4. EASTER
5. Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Biscuits, Salad
6. BRC Quiche, 3 Bean Salad
7. Hamburgers, Fruit
8. Rotisserie Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Bread
9. Pizza, Green Smoothies
10. Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo, Broccoli
11. Tacos|Burritos, Fruit
12. Sweet/Sour Turkey Meatballs, Veggies
13. Crab Legs, Roasted Potatoes, Veggies
14. Vegetarian Lasagna, Bread
15. Jamaican Salmon, Rice, Carrots
16. Pizza, Fruit
17. Cilantro Chicken w/ Avocado Salsa, Rice
18. Tacos|Burritos, Fruit
19. Rotisserie Chicken, Veggies, Corn Muffins
20. Vegetarian Curry, Rice, Fruit
21. Asian Chicken Orzo Salad, Fruit
22. BRC Quiche, Salad
23. Pizza, Fruit
24. BLT Pasta, Salad or Fruit
25. Tacos|Burritos, Fruit
26. Soy Salmon, Baked Potatoes, Veggies
27. Crepes, Sausage, Fruit
28. Spaghetti, Veggies, Bread
29. Rotisserie chicken salad sandwiches w/ yogurt
30. Pizza, Fruit
31. Lettuce Wraps, Fruit

BON APETIT!

Menu Cards

An Early Nap

I found Morenna sound asleep in her play box one day when I was making lunch.
So precious! March 2010.

Flower Child

Morenna’s Blue Flower
March 2010

Professional Grade

Jadyn, Punky Brewster, Gi-Gi, Pookie Bear
March 2010, 3.5 months.

Cherry Blossoms!

Morenna’s middle name, Sakura, is Japanese for cherry blossom. Matt and I chose that name for a reason; she was born on the first day of the D.C. cherry blossom festival two years ago. You may remember my friend Rachel and I packed up our newborns and headed down for pictures in the blossoms. Morenna was less than two weeks old.

Well, as is tradition, Rachel and I packed up the kids – four kids now, ages 2 and under – and headed down to the D.C. chaos to snap a few pictures. The kids have certainly changed... but the blossoms hadn’t. :-)

It was a beautiful day to go, sunny and in the low 70s. We packed a picnic lunch and sat under the trees next to the tidal basin (not too brilliant of an idea when you have two little ones interested in water and ducks, with nothing between them and the enticing waves lapping the sides of the basin).

But we all survived. Yes, much to our surprise Rachel and I survived... and we’ll probably do it all again next year. Maybe. :-)

And of course we snagged some fun pictures:

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A Wohlschlegelian Easter

He is Risen! He is risen Indeed!

Holidays for us almost always mean travel of some sort. Travels to Ohio. Travels to California.

And family. Always family.

But Easter was a bit different this time around. We snubbed our typically travelled states and headed North, instead. To Pennsylvania.

But though the holiday wasn’t spent with immediate family, it was spent with some good friends whom Matt and I consider our “second family.” And we had a wonderful time!

Both Matt and I became independently acquainted with the Wohlschlegels during our college days. Their large, welcoming family provided some meaningful comforts to us during those years. And we’ve loved feeling like a part of their family for, well.... almost 10 years (ok, 9.5 for Matt and 8.5 for me).

The weekend provided us a chance to kick back and have some fun... while our kids were otherwise engaged with some other family member for our entire visit. Yes! Did I just say that out loud?

Here are the shots from our weekend in the Keystone State:

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Turning Two

My baby isn’t my baby anymore. She’s my oldest.

Mommy: “How old are you, Morenna?”
Morenna: “Good.”

That’s close enough. :-)

She’s two. And this momma has already witnessed so many new changes in her. Like overnight. Yes, there was the arrival of a new attitude as sassy as the little high heeled dress-up shoes she parades around in. But there was more, lots more. Her curiosity in the world around her has blossomed, too.

Morenna: “Mommy, what’s that?”
Me: “Those are the cow’s horns.”
Morenna: “Ooh. Beep, beep!”

In light of this burst of curiosity, it was only fitting that we had a Curious George birthday party. She loves the “monk”, as she’s termed him, and perhaps he’s the one responsible for her newfound adventurous spirit.

We had just a few of our friends over for the celebration, along with my parents. Of course there has to be another little one present for it to be a real party, so her buddy Kavan was there, too. :-)

Here’s some captured moments:

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