Menu Plan Monday - Week of 4/29/13

It is finally getting to be spring out here! Some days it is even t-shirt weather! We have been spending a lot of time outdoors, going on walks almost every day, and today we even played outside a bit (by playing outside I mean chasing the kiddo from the front yard to the backyard and back again lol). Jeff even mowed the lawn (with his new pretty lawnmower). So I broke out the "spring" MPM banner. So snazzy!!!


Monday:  Jen Hauler's Pizza Casserole

Tuesday: Crock Pot Parmesan Garlic Chicken

 Wednesday:  J. has night school - leftovers

Thursday: The Best Pork Chops You will Ever Taste

Friday:  leftovers

Saturday: leftovers


Sunday:  homemade pizza! (just realized it is Cinco De Mayo! Maybe I will make something Mexican)

Breakfast of the Week: 2 Weeks in a row! I have been wanting to make my own oatmeal (E. L-O-V-E-S it), and I actually looked at the oats in the store last week and wasn't sure what kind to buy. Well, this week I ran across so many recipes for baked oatmeal and instant oatmeal, so I am just going to buy both types and go with it! LOL Some recipes I might try:  Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Baked Oatmeal, DIY Instant Oatmeal Packs, or /and Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Dessert of the week: Never made any of last week's desserts, but I did make cat shaped cookies for the grilled cheese party :)  I need to use up some frosting, so I will probably just make some cupcakes!


Extra of the Week: These Soft Pretzel Buns have been calling my name since I saw them last week. Must make this week!!

Find more menus at Org Junkie :)

Facing Your Fears (Even When You Don't Know You Are About To!)

not my pic... but this is what the traffic looked like!

 On Saturday, I drove  to NJ to visit some friends from high school. We all have kiddos now, and we have recently reconnected. Last month they came out to visit me, so it was my turn to go out there. We had a wonderful time - took the kids to Liberty Science Museum, and everything was great...

Except I had to drive through Manhattan. Let me say that again. I had to drive. Through. MANHATTAN. Not only that, but I had to cross three lanes of traffic! NYC traffic! I mapped out the route beforehand, and it looked like I had to drive 2 blocks, straight, in some neighborhood. No biggie. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Nope, the GPS says to stay to the right on the bridge. Ok, sure, I'll stay to the right in this narrow lane of this bridge - even though the lane is outside the bridge and over the water! But wait, in 4 blocks I now have to turn left! What?!?! Attempting to cross those lanes of traffic, where nobody will let you in so you have to find a crack in the traffic and wedge your way in - that was the scariest part, and I almost got in an accident, thankfully I didn't. That was followed by a right and a left and a couple more until I finally reached the Holland Tunnel. Insane.

And I had to do it all again on the way home.
(But it was a more direct that route that time).

I want to clarify - I LOVE driving. I prefer to drive. I am not afraid of driving in any U.S. city - except for Manhattan. I have driven in some of the biggest U.S. cities - Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, even among the older folks in Orlando - but just watching the way people drive in NYC made me never ever want to attempt it.

Sometimes you don't have a choice - you look ahead of you and BAM there are your fears, and you are hurtling at them full speed. You just have to take a deep breath, say a little prayer (or a bunch of little prayers!) and just get through it. You might make it to the other side a bit more stronger and less afraid - and maybe even with muscle aches from tensing your body and gripping the steering wheel so hard!

I survived one of my biggest fears.
What are you surviving today?

...just don't get me started on the toll booths...

Here is a pic of my kiddo in NJ... he makes me want to be braver and bolder :)

Big G Retro Gift Pack WINNER!

Congratulations to HELEN T! you are the winner of the Big G Retro gift pack! YAY!!! I have e-mailed you, you have 48 hours to reply.

Thank you to everyone who entered!!!

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 4/21/13

This week I have eggs and sour cream to use up, so that is guiding my menu. I feel like I never have anything to make yet I am always trying to use things up??

Monday:  Crescent Pizza Pockets

Tuesday: Creme Fraiche Quiche (no bacon :( )

 Wednesday:  leftovers

Thursday: Leftovers, maybe something from the freezer, maybe something else quick. No inspiration here. Maybe hot dogs, some kind of corn dog casserole?

Friday: Pizza! We have a free one from Papa John's.

Saturday: I am having a grilled cheese party, thanks to House Party! Should be fun!

Sunday:  leftovers

Breakfast of the Week: Yup I rarely make breakfast but this week I am going to make Sour Cream Banana Bread

Dessert of the week: Going to make use of the Easter candy and make either Carrot Cake Coconut Cookies (modified so that J. will eat them!) or Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies

Find more menus at Org Junkie :)

Big G Retro Cereal on Sale This Week

This week Target has the Big G Retro cereals on sale for 2/$5. Use this $1/2 General Mills cereal coupon and your final price is $2 each!

Don't forget to enter my Big G Retro Prize Pack Giveaway - it includes a Target gift card!

 

Menu Plan Monday - Week of 4/15/13

What a crazy few weeks this has been! Thankfully the insanity of Easter, 2 birthdays and my parents visit is over, and things have settled back to normal. I will admit that I kinda missed cooking, but eating out and clearing out some of the freezer was nice too!

Monday:  Chicken Ranch Tacos

Tuesday:  Crock Pot Tater Tot Casserole, using sweet potato tots

 Wednesday:  leftovers

Thursday: Easy Italian Pasta Bake

Friday:  Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Saturday: The kiddo and I will be gone all day, so it is leftovers for dinner.

Sunday:  Leftovers!!


Dessert of the week: We have sooooo much Easter candy left (plus some Girl Scout cookies), so I am not making anything!

Find more menus at Org Junkie

I Refuse to Believe it!

Toys R Us has a great birthday club - balloon, crown and in store announcement

Nope, no, no way, ut uh. My baby is not 2 years old!!! It has been a week since Baby E.'s 2nd birthday, and I am still in denial!! My parents were here for a week and a half (yay!), and everyone we invited RSVP'd Yes. A couple had to cancel last minute, but our house was still full! It was a fun day, but it was insanity, and next year we will have a quiet dinner and possible weekend trip.

The theme was the Pixar movie Up, since E. loves balloons, the color blue and the word up! The pic below was my attempt to get a pic of E. with a handful of balloons. The blurry figure is my brother.

Up! This kid does not stay still... he was trying to jump

Successful day.... here is to my funny, wild, sweet and loving boy... Hope this next year is awesome!

A few more pics.

CAKE.

I tried to make a rainbow cake, but I messed it up so we got a Mickey cake from BJ's

Tried Bakerella's Upcakes... failed there too

Used a helium tank for some of the balloons

My sister in law did a great job decorating! Adventure scrapbook paper, stencils, some streams and balloons taped to the wall

Goody bags - Up book, packet of Goldfish crackers, Adventure notepad, travel card game and bubbles

One last picture of the happy birthday boy!!

Win a Big G Retro Gift Pack

Check out the cute retro packaging on thee Big G cereals! Yup, Big G has once again gone retro on their cereal boxes,  and this time they have teamed up with Hasbro, offering a $5 coupon on Clue Vintage, Scrabble Vintage, Parcheesi Vintage or Risk Vintage board games at Target! But before you head to Target, don't forget to print your $1/2 Big G cereal coupon! Hurry, though, these packages are only available for a limited time. and check out these General Mills specials at Target.

Check out this great gift pack. It includes:

• 2 boxes of participating Big G Retro cereal
• $10 Target gift card
• 1 Hasbro Parcheesi Deluxe Vintage board game 

I am so excited to try out Parcheesi. We are huge board game fans here, but Parcheesi is one game I have never played.I love how these Deluxe vintage board games come in wooden boxes - they are compact and will last a long time.

Want to win one of these gift packs for yourself? Enter here!





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 Disclosure: The prize pack, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.