December and January menus

The holiday season was beyond insane this year - full of work, full of blessings.  Here is my (very late) December dinner calendar and my (slightly early) January dinner calendar.  Christmas pics to be posted soon but I wanted to at least get these posted.

Happy New Year everyone!

November Dinner Calendar

Better late than never, right?

I created this calendar early last week but haven't had time to post it.  Enjoy, and please let me know if there are any questions!

October Dinner Calendar

Happy October!  Don't have time to post a family update today, but here's the October dinner calendar.  Our family is moving toward eating whole foods and drastically reducing our meat intake, and this calendar reflects those changes.  Also, we have chosen to reduce gluten and dairy in our diets because so much research shows that both cause inflammatory responses in the body.  We're not giving it up entirely (yet) - right now we're still eating wheat.  The wheat we're eating though, is fresh and pure - no more bleached wheat for us!  (Maybe on birthdays).

As always, feel free to email me for recipes!

Click on calendar to make it bigger!

September Dinner Calendar

School's underway and we couldn't be happier.  Summer's been lovely, but I'm ready for routine and crisp fall weather.  I love autumn - it's my favorite season of all.  It's cozy sweaters, hot cider, crunchy leaves, painted trees, and back to school.

In a couple of weeks, Michael and I will celebrate our 20th anniversary.  I wouldn't say that it's just flown by, but I would say that it's been the most incredible journey.  So much happens between ages 20 to 40.  Who you really are, your core values and beliefs, all become sharpened, better defined.  And I could not have a better traveling companion.  Life brings many ups and downs, but it's well worth the ride.

I'll post more about our 20th as we get closer to the day, and I'll give an update on how our family's doing and what our family is doing as well.  In the interim, please enjoy our September dinner calendar.  If you have any questions, or want any recipes, you know how to find me.

Until next time...

Click on image to make it bigger.

August dinner calendar

The August dinner calender is below.  August has turned into a busy month and this summer has just flown!  I can't believe we don't even have time for a camping trip.  Since August is such a busy month, we're a little heavier on the eating out side of things.  It's so hard to find places where you can feed your family wholesome healthy food that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. 

Hope it helps you other busy moms (and dads) out there, and as always, if you're looking for recipes, message me on Facebook. 

Click on the calendar to make it legible and mangia bene!

Look, up in the sky...it's a bird...it's a plane...it's SUPERDRAMA!

10:00 this morning.  Thomas comes running down the hall, Superman cape trailing in the breeze, arms straight out.

Thomas:  Why won't this fly?

1:00 this afternoon.  Thomas and Max are at a duck pond with our babysitter, Sarah.  Sarah is showing Max the ducks and has her back to Thomas for 15 seconds.  When she turns back around, Thomas is chasing the geese.

Sarah:  Thomas, stop that.  That's not nice.
Thomas:  (BIG SIGH) I never get to live my life.

Creature Comforts

I was grooming my dog this morning, and he was getting a little anxious.  Thomas tried to comfort him.

"Don't worry, Scooter.  Mommy knows everything."

I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

It's my party and I'll invite who I want to, invite who I want to, invite who I want to...

Me:  Thomas, who do you want to invite to your fourth birthday party?

Thomas:  All my friends can come.  It's Santa, Miss Jenny (his preschool teacher), Teddy ( a boy at his preschool)...

Me:  Don't you also want to invite Brock from your preschool?

Thomas:  Well, Brock isn't nice to Teddy.

Me:   How is he not nice to Teddy?

Thomas:  Because he can obey like crazy

Me:  Okay, who else?

Thomas:  Adam, Wenana, Miss Jenny, Nancy, and Brock.

Me:  I thought you didn't want to invite Brock.

Thomas:  He is nice now.

Me:  Why do you want to invite Santa to your birthday?

Thomas:  I want to invite Santa for a birthday party because crazy is crazy.

What's for dinner?

It's been forever and a day since I posted my monthly dinner calendars.  I've been creating them, but not publishing.  I know they were helpful to some of you, so I've decided to start posting them again.  If you'd like any of the recipes, just message me on Facebook or via e-mail.  Click on it to make it bigger.

Enjoy!

Le'go my Legos...

Adam just had a birthday and as a result, he has enough Legos to carpet his room with them.  And he has.  And every day we have to tell him to clean his Legos up off his floor.

Every.
Single.
Day.

And today, I reached my Lego limit.  I gave him an hour to clean up his floor - a job that should have taken 20 minutes.  And when it wasn't done in an hour, I told him his time was up - he had taken too long, and any Legos left on his floor were now long-lost.

He cried.

A lot.

He really, really loves his Legos.

And so, trying hard to follow the example of the Lord, I gave Adam a chance to recover his Legos before I vacuumed them up FOREVER.

9:17 pm -

"Adam," I said, "Was this a hard lesson to learn?"
"Yes."  He sniffed sadly and looked at me through red-rimmed eyes.
"I'm sorry you had to learn it this way.  Is this how you want to learn your lessons?"
"No."
"You have until 9:30 to show me that you really did learn.  Get those Legos picked up."
Sobbing, he immediately turned and ran up the stairs.  "THANK YOU!  I'M SO HAPPY I COULD CRY!!!"
And, watching him go through my tear-filled eyes, all I could think was, "Me too, son.  Me too."

Ice, Ice, Baby

Adam is home sick with tonsillitis.   I had to run an errand and asked Adam if he wanted me to get him a shaved ice from our little shaved ice shack and he said, "Yes, please."  

Thomas immediately piped up and said “Wait! I have a tummy ache too!”

 A little suspicious, I asked, “Are you just saying that because you want a shaved ice too?”

"Yeah."

At least he's honest.

Have you met.... Matt?

This is Matt.

Thomas likes Matt.   How do we know? 

Because last night we were sitting at Five Guys waiting for our dinner when Thomas got up, ran out the front door, ran right up to Matt (whom we've never met before), gave him a BIG hug, and said, "I'm SO glad you're here!"

Remember how we used to pay people to babysit for Thomas?  I don't think we're going to have to do that anymore.  All you single ladies, we want you to know that Thomas is available to rent.  He's handsome, charming, and he'll help you meet cute guys.  True story.

P.S.

6/7/1012 7:59 am.

Thomas, tired from having woken up early after going to bed late, was whimpering at the top of our small two-step landing.

Me:  Thomas, come here.  Would you like breakfast?
Thomas:  I can't walk the stairs.  I can't even jump.

Thomaxisms....

The things Thomas and Max say.  I tell myself I'll remember, but I won't.  And now I will.

Every day -

Thomas:  I want to watch Fireman The Sam (his favorite show, Fireman Sam).  We don't know why he calls it that.  He just does.  It's just his Thomas brain.

 May 11, 2012 -

Thomas:  I'm just saying- if Adam doesn't watch what I want to watch he is going to his room. Forever." - words of a three year old to his nine year-old brother.

But Adam made up for it later...

May 23, 2012 -

Thomas:  Guess what? Adam maked my tummy doesn't hurt again.


May 28, 2012 10:30 pm

To our surprise, an awake Thomas comes down the stairs and declares:

Thomas:  Daddy, I don't have anything to do in my bed.
Michael:  Uh, GO TO SLEEP.
Thomas:  But, I don't know how to sleep.

And the next night, he comes downstairs again and the conversation goes like this:

Thomas:  I don't know how to sleep.
Michael:  Yes you do.  We just went over this last night.
Thomas:  But I forgot.

June 1, 2012 -

Frankie wasn't putting the TV show on that Thomas wanted to watch (Why, Fireman the Sam of course).  He wasn't happy.  His response to his 18 year-old sister (yelled emphatically),  "Frankie, you are driving me CRAZY!" 

Thomas is very attached to Fireman The Sam.

June 2, 2012 -

Max: C'mere! C'mere! C'MERE!
Michael: Who are you talking to?
Max (looking up at our two-story entry way to the ceiling): My balloon!

This was followed by Michael and Max jumping off a two-stair landing attempting to catch said balloon.  Daddy managed to grasp it.  Max exclaimed, "Hoo-way!"  Then he took the balloon from daddy and promptly let it go.

And, as of late... when you ask Thomas if he's done something wrong (and he knows he has) he simply shrugs his shoulders.


For example:


Today, Thomas and Max were supposed to be napping.  I went upstairs and found that Thomas had pulled every single folded blanket and sheet off of the shelves of his closet and took all of Max's clothes off the hangers and put them on the floor.  He also took all the books out of the book basket and spread them all over the floor, along with the blankets off of his bed and Max's bed as well, as Max's sheet (all while Max was still in his crib because he (thankfully) doesn't yet know how to climb out).  


Me:  Thomas, this was very naughty.  Did you do this?
Thomas:  It wasn't MY fault.
Me:  Thomas, You did this.  Max is in his crib.  Did you do this?
Thomas - lower lip jutted out, palms pointed up... shrugs his shoulders.

But here's the best part:

Me:  Thomas you know you did this.  It is very naughty.
Thomas:  I'm sorry.

Sometimes, the sun peeks through the clouds and you KNOW that they do learn.  Tender mercies.

May I have this dance?

As beautiful as Frankie looks, it is seeing how beautiful she feels and seeing a twinkle in her eyes that truly makes this day so special.

This free digital scrapbooking design generated with Smilebox

Dude, where's my car... (keys)

We're finally starting to have nice weather and Thomas got to go outside and play.  One of his very favorite outside toys is a Little Tikes car that he hasn't really been able to use this winter because the ground's been muddy and/or snowy.

We sent Thomas outside and a few minutes later, he came back in looking dejected.

Thomas:  "I can't find the keys to my car!"


Me:  "Well, would you like to use my pretend key?"

Thomas:  (enthusiastically) "Yes!"

Mimi:   (family friend who is staying with us)  "Did you look on the dashboard?"

Thomas:  "Yes."

Kristin:  "And they're not there?"

Thomas: (sadly)  "No."

A few minutes later...

Thomas:  (SIGH) "I lost my pretend key to my car."

Hey Adam, what's for lunch?

Adam is required to pack lunch the night before.  Tonight, he decided that he wanted to make tomorrow's lunch extra special.  So he packed his lunch, and wrote himself a special note.

"Eat all yer spageti for a supri (too hard to finish on this part so I'll write it one line below) surprise!"

The surprise?  Frigo String Cheese.  Man, I love this kid.

A long time comin'...

I know it's been FOREVER and a day since I've posted, so here's a quick one for today with more to come later this month...


Thomas:  "Mom, you bought new butt paste!
(He's referring to Bodreaux' Butt Paste - a diaper rash ointment)
Me:  Yes, I did.
Thomas:  "That's so kind of you."

-----

Last night we were having a lesson on how each member of our family is like the cars on a train.  Dad is the engine - it's his job to lead the train and pull everyone along.  The kids are the cars, and they help carry the load of the family, and the mom is like the caboose, making sure everything gets done on time by pushing forward.

Adam pipes up with the following observation:

"Yeah, and we all better do our part because if something happens to the engine, the caboose will have to find a new engine pretty fast."

-----

Last night, Frankie was kind enough to change a very nasty Thomas diaper for us.  She thought she had cleaned it all up but Rhea (aka Aunt Mimi, our friend who is staying with us) kept smelling poop.  She finally realized that there was some poo streaked on the couch and that she had somehow gotten it all over her pant leg.  As she went upstairs to change, Adam commented, "Everything gets ruined when you roll around in poop."

***

Until next time...