A Month Of Meals {November}

I will admit it this past month I didn't make all of the meals I had on my menu, but it wasn't my fault. I blame all of the people who kept bringing us yummy meals like my Mama and Brent's Mama. Good thing is I can use most of the items I had bought for last month's menu for this month's so nothing goes to waste. I still did pretty good following my menu and once again that is the great thing about menu planning you are never scrambling for a meal and if something comes up you can always save that meal for another day.

When I started planning for this month I had to make sure I account for the week of Thanksgiving. Brent will be out of town the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving and then I have to save some room for any leftovers. I am pretty excited about Brent going out of town even though I won't be able to sleep because I get to make something Brent would eat, but us girl's will enjoy White Chicken Chili. I am also making some Cream of Whatever because he promises he will eat anything as long as it doesn't have any yucky cream of nasty soup in it. That means casseroles people and of course chicken pot pie.

Now on to November's menu.

I am really excited about this month. It is finally cooling off down south and we can finally start making yummy soup to warm us up. I gave myself a challenge this month to only cook Crock Pot or Freezer Meals and I believe I have come up with some pretty good stuff. 

We have hit the store and for the low low price of $168.44 we are ready to do some cooking.
I am sure you are dying to know what I got for my money so here is my list. Next month I want to start using  dried beans instead of canned beans. I have never soaked or cooked with dried beans, but it's like everything else I do. Once I try it I can do it.

Grocery List
8 bell peppers
1 bag yellow onions
1 bag baby carrots
1 bunch celery
1 bag Idaho potatoes
1 lb. ground turkey
1 pork shoulder
1 roast
stew beef
rotisserie chicken
jar enchilada sauce
evaporated milk
non fat dry milk
chicken broth
liquid smoke
lipton onion soup
chili powder
2 cans mixed veggies
2 cans great northern beans
green chilis
shoepeg corn
2 jars Prego spaghetti sauce
mexican rice
homestyle noodles (egg noodles)
macaroni noodles
frozen ravioli
pie crusts (forgot)
shredded colby jack cheese
shredded montery jack cheese
shredded cheddar cheese
shredded mozzarella cheese
milk
sour cream
frozen hash browns
frozen broccoli
frozen green beans
eggs
pizza crust
pizza sauce
pepperoni
jiffy corn bread

Extras
Baby Tylenol
Cheddar Popcorn
Honey Ham
Honey Turkey
Canned Peaches

I will have to do another post with all of my recipes because I am too darn tired from cleaning to keep going tonight. I spent all day taking apart and cleaning black mold out of my dishwasher. I will spare you the pictures, but imagine a fuzzy plant literally growing inside my dishwasher door. I am still so grossed out right now and high from the cleaning fumes.

Keep On Walkin

Yesterday we walked.

We walked for anyone who has beaten cancer, who is battling cancer right now, or lost their lives to cancer. I pray they develop a cure for this damn disease and . I pray no one else I know ever has to suffer this awful disease. 

I spent Friday evening making our t-shirts , an awesome pink tutu, and I bought some crazy socks and went to bed a little emotional thinking about the reason and the person we were walking for.

It still feels like yesterday Mama called me while I was driving to tell me she had been to the doctor after feeling a rather large lump and they were 99% sure it was cancer, but a biopsy would confirm it. I remember almost holding in my tears as we both quickly hung up with an I love you so much and I will call you in a little bit. These last 7 months have gone by so slow yet so fast. Chemo is finally done, but we have surgery and radiation to look forward too.

This is why we walk. Dressed in pink. Freezing our buns off. Because we all love someone who has been touched by this awful disease. We walk because we have lost someone to this awful disease. We walk because we have hope that someday no other family will go through this.

It was so amazing to see our friends and family come out to walk and those who could not be there, but donated to the cause were there in spirit.  We arrived around 7:30 and huddled together waiting for the "Race" to start. We made our way to the starting line with our Littles bundled up in their strollers and the we were off. It was amazing seeing the hundreds maybe thousands of people walking with us. As we walked through neighborhoods people were cheering us on, playing music, handing out water, and passing out bubble gum. Some people had even decorated their yards to help celebrate. We may have had a few minutes of screaming from a certain Little Lady and Daddy and I might have gotten a really good work out carrying 20 something extra pounds, but it was worth it! The smile on Mama's face when we all crossed the finish line was the whole reason we were walking.

I made each one of us a shirt. Mine said Save a Life Squeeze a boob. Brent's unfortunately turned out to be a women's shirt, but it was my best creation. It said Save a Life Grope Your Life. And Mckinley's of course said Save The Ta Tas F Cancer!!

Sometime I forget how hot my hubby is! You know your jealous!!

Snuggled up and ready to race

 The Race Crew!

A Sea Of Pink!!

Not very happy, but Fig Newtons help a little. Her poor hands were so red and cold, but she wouldn't let me cover her up.

 Boob Scarf!!!

Kinda blurry, but still cute

Finally happy once the hat was off. We had to carry her for about a mile because she was screaming. I guess it counted it as an extra work out carrying an extra 20ish pounds.

Go Karen and Rusty!!

 Do It!

 Stroller Buddies

 WE DID IT!!!

Love You Mama!!

Pre K Days {Mr. M and Monsters}

{Weekly Wrap Up}

This week we met Mr. M and learned all about Monsters! This went great with last weeks lesson learning about things that are Real and Pretend. Monster are Pretend of course!

We made Monster M's (My Own Creation)

we read Go Away Big Green Monster, retold the story on our  Smart Board, and then each student made their own colored monster and they had to write the whatever color they colored their big monster all by themselves. I was SO proud of how well everyone wrote their color words!

(Printable for monster found Here. It was originally created for a felt monster, but I whited out the directions and created my own craft)

We also read Where The Wild Things Are and made our own  King of The Beasts. Then everyone told us what they like to do when they feel wild.

A super simple craft I came up with to assess my kids cutting skills was a zig zag monster a curved monster and a straight lined monster. I also wanted to see how they followed directions so instead of coloring first I had them cut out, glue, then color their monsters. Simple yet fun

We rolled dice and counted  Monster Eyeballs

We counted Monsters and glued the number into the box. (My Own Creation)

We followed a Monster Glyph and made Shape Monsters. If you are wondering if the dots on the monsters legs are part of the decoration it is actually something I cam up with to try to help my kiddos learn how to accordion fold. I had planned to have dots on one side and stars on the other, but when i tried to copy then double sided it came out all wonky so instead of having them fold dot to dot then star to star we used dot to dot then backwards (this whole sentence is starting to not make any sense).

Non monster related. Everyone worked with Mrs. Cathy and made their own tiny paper bag pumpkin/jack-o-lantern to add to our oh so precious Fall Mural

Now that we have had our fill of Monsters and I have completed all of my Parent Teacher Conferences I think I am finally ready to celebrate Halloween next week. I found some cute stuff on Pinterest and my Awesome Room Mama is making it happen. I just don't like filling my babies with only junk so instead of a party with just candy and cookie we will be having a lunch with mummy hot dogs, pumpkin fruit cups, and white chocolate dipped banana ghosts. Don't worry we will have candy too.

Wordless Wednesday or The Weird Places My Child Hides Stuff

Pre K Days {Fall Mural}

I think this might be one of my most favorite murals so far. Mrs. Cathy and Mrs. Emily have been working their booties off the past few weeks putting this together. I don't say it enough, but my Assistant, Co Teacher, or whatever you would like to call her is AWESOME!

We have Toilet Paper Roll Bats

 

Foot and Hand Print Crows

Tissue Paper Corn

Sunflowers with Real Sunflower Seeds

And what's a Fall Mural without some cute Owls

Mrs. Cathy also made these precious hand print Spiders and Spider Web

We have been busy little bees the past few weeks! Now if I can just make it through next week and our Halloween parties I think I acn last until Thanksgiving break!

Toddle Along Tuesday

Today's Toddle Along Tuesday topic at Growing Up Geeky is Obsession

And no it's not just an awful smelling perfume it is also what my child has for my sling!

I bought a few different slings and wraps before I had Mckinley and after trying them out I fell in love with my Maya Wrap. I got it used off of Spots Corner for about $25, but it has been priceless over the last year, 

It isn't very pretty and I would love to have a new one someday maybe in a pretty blue or cranberry color, but I wouldn't trade my brown and green Maya for anything. It actually allows me to snuggle with my wriggly independent Little.

No matter how ugly it is I always get compliments on how neat it is or how happy Mckinley seems in it when we are shopping. I swear it is like natural baby Prozac because Mckinley's whole body seems to relax when she is in it. 

Now on to the obsession. I have to hide the darn thing because if Mckinley sees it she screams and tries to put it on me which I lovingly oblige because any chance to cuddle with my girl is ok in my books. The only problem is she won't let me sit down while she is in the sling and after standing for 7 hours at work I am ready usually ready to sit and relax when I get home. So I hide it and usually keep it in the car or the closet, but every now and then I forget and I can hear her coming down the hallway clicking the rings on the floor.

Like I said it really doesn't hurt my feelings that my Baby Girl wants to be close to me so I am not going to complain. 

Thank you Maya Wrap for giving me a little more cuddle time with my precious girl.

Pre K Days {Mr. Q Queen, Kings, and Fairytales}

{Weekly Wrap Up}

Last week we met Mr. Q and learned all about his letter and Fairytales. We learned that a Fairy tale usually begins with Once Upon A Time and is not a real story , but is pretend or not real.

We read 3 different stories in 3 different ways. 

We read There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, retold the story with our own old lady, then everyone made their own old lady and described if they were the old lady what they would swallow.

  

Next we used pictures to tell the story of the Three Little Pigs. I think this was the most fun I have ever had telling a story and the kids seemed to like it even better than just sitting and watching me read from a book. After we told the story each student constructed their own houses out of hay, sticks, and bricks. I wanted them to try to write each word, but we ran out of time and being another short week we never had any extra time to finish so Mrs. Cathy wrote the words for us.

Last we watched the video of the Disney version of Jack and The Beanstalk and we traced our own hands inside a giants hand to see which was bigger. 

We made Quail Q's

Found the Uppercase letter on Magic Coins and colored in the matching letter on our Magic Castle.

Made King and Queen Crowns

And we worked on putting the letters of the Alphabet in order. 

Once again I am absolutely exhausted after another short week. Some days I would almost rather not have short weeks. they seem to make my babies crazy and I always feel so rushed trying to get everything done that I want too. I suggest we just save all of these days and take another week off for spring break or we extend fall break. 

We actually had Open House today and I am even more exhausted after talking to prospective families plus my current students and their families. 

I guess the one upside to this week was really starting to use my Smart Board. It is still a work in progress, but my morning routine is up and running and I love being able to use it for our Morning Message  and I should soon have our Weather Graph on there as well. 

Now I am off to sleep to make up for our impromptu co sleeping with Mckinley this past weekend at the lake. 

You Are What You Eat

And after this week I truly believe that. My dear sweet husband keeps bringing me home "treats" of the sugary kind and I am feeling the affects today. I am tired (that might be because a precious little lady woke me up at 4 and I went to bed at 2), sluggish, and yucky! 

So I am teaming up with  Green Moms Network to bring you my first giveaway hop! The You Are What You Eat Giveaway Hop will be a great opportunity to give our readers a chance to win some great healthy food treats! 

Dates: November 2-12, 2012  
Price: FREE!
Prize Requirements: Min $20.00 prize value; natural, organic or healthy foods, cookbooks, kitchen gadgets - anything related to eating healthy  
Hashtag: #WhatYouEatHop

We are working on putting together a great grand prize for this hop and will announce the details once we have them. There will be bonus entries on the grand prize Rafflecopter for readers who enter each of the participating giveaways (as long as you share the grand prize in your post)! This will help everyone get more exposure for their giveaways! While it’s not required that you post about this giveaway on your blog, it would be greatly appreciated if you wrote a short post about the hop and shared it on Facebook and Twitter so we can make this event a huge success!

And be sure to join the Green Moms Network Facebook Group to keep up to date!

1. Please fill out this form
2. Add your blog to the linky.
3. Grab the button.
4. Help promote! #WhatYouEatHop
5. Join the  Green Moms Network Facebook Group .

Thank you and we look forward to a wonderful event!

Lake Life

I usually do most of my blogging on Saturday, but we were spending some quality time with my family at the lake house this weekend so it got postponed for a bit. I love not being connected to anything or just a few days. I might not have had my computer, but I did have my sad little camera  and I of course took a million pictures of my precious girl!

We left around 5:30 when Brent got home on Friday and someone napped until we arrived around 6:30 so she was ready to PARTY all night long!

This is what happens when you rip your ponytail out! Mohawk Baby!

 I think we need to buy her her own tiny dog or her own tiny dog bed. I am going to go with the one I don't have to feed.

Somebody is diggin all of those teeth. My girl loves her some corn especially right off of the cob.

Yes my child likes to play with cable cords and she wouldn't do anything else unless it was wrapped around her shoulders.

I was super excited when the Little let me give her some pigtails! Guess who will be rockin this style everyday from now on.

We spent a lot of our time outside throwing leaves and yelling at the dog.

The Dog

Someone lookin like her Nonni

Not happy about having to come inside

This girl loves her daddy.

Swinging with Jen Jen. This is what she does when she wants a kiss.

It was so nice to just relax with the family, not worrying about cleaning, and trying to rest. Someone wouldn't sleep in the pac n play and ended up in the king size bed with Mama and Daddy which was awful! More power to anyone who bed share, but I am definitely not cut out for out. My back still hurts from being pushed to the edge of the bed. Remember it was a king size and I literally had to hold on not to fall off because a little body kept squeezing up next to me.

I actually have a few giveaways coming up soon so be looking forward to an awesome new baby product and some skin and body care.

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend and don't forget to sign up for the  Race next Saturday.