Mom's Dinner Menu - Week 2

I have found that being a busy mother and wife who during the week is out of the home until usually 6:30 pm - 7 pm at night because of my work schedule, requires that I come up with another strategy for dinner planning. Anyone that knows Travis and I would be able to attest that we are incredibly busy and that dinner making can be a bit of a challenge. At first Travis offered to handle all the dinners... Obviously due to my new plan, the original didn't turn out so well. Love you babe, I know that the kids can be more demanding...

So I have turned to weekly menus and am now using my crockpot and my #1 love to help me with this weekly "project". Hello Ree Drummond. You are my new best friend.

If anyone is not aware of The Pioneer Woman, then let me introduce you. Ree Drummond is one of the most multi-talented women I have seen in quite awhile. Her website and books offer WONDERFUL cooking tips and receipes and she is a talented photographer and homeschooling mom. ILUVHER!http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/

We even share an affinity for my favorite dog... the basset hound. Watch out Charlie, you're on the verge of being replaced in the Palmer home if you jump/dig one more time!!!

This weeks menu consists of the following:

Monday: Coq Au Vin and Buttery Noodles - PW

Tuesday: Country Beans and Corn Bread - PW

Wednesday: Chicken Enchiladas - My receipe

Thursday: Cajun Meatloaf - PW

Friday: T-bone Steak and Asparagus - Travis specialty

Saturday: Lazy Chiles Rellenos and Corn Tortillas - PW

Sunday: Turkey Dinner - MINE MINE MINE

The thing that I am absolutely LOVING about this new schedule is that most of the meals I can either do in the morning in the crockpot (country beans) or prep ahead of time and leave cooking instructions for Travis. Like the enchiladas, meatloaf and chiles rellenos.

As a side note, since I am still not a fan of waking up at 4 am in the morning to make Travis his breakfast, I have made this morning a weeks worth breakfast burritos that he can warm up during the mornings. They are frozen in foil packages and were super simple and quick to make. Very easy, healthy and a little "i love you" from me to him and I still get some shut eye :)

Ingredients:

5 eggs

1/2 a package of pork sausage - hot

5-6 whole wheat wraps
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste

** if they were mine, I would have added sharp cheese to this mix and green onions, but I cook per request of the hubs

Here's photos from this morning :)

End result are happy boys!

Valentines Day

What a sweet day for our family... it started with Travis planning a surprise picnic for me and the boys at the park. He packed a lunch of fried chicken, pasta salad, grapes & cheese, rolls and chocolate covered strawberries! YUM! It was delish!!!

We played frisbee with the kids and it was super cute to see Rylan trying to throw the frisbee to Braden. It was a beautiful day here. It was sunny with a blue sky. The grass was green and the park was empty except for our family and a couple others. No pics - sorry! Since it was a surprise lunch, Mommy didn't know to bring the camera. But, all in all I must take a minute to brag on my hubs - he's pretty romantic and thoughtful with the things he plans for me and the kids. Valentines Day always marks when we first started "seeing each other". This year was our "fifth anniversary". Love him!

That evening was time for our family tradition of Valentines Day Dinner. This Valentines Day Dinner Menu consisted of Stuffed Steak with Asparagus, Creamy Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Carrots. It was Mommy's turn to cook this year... It was YUMMO!

Mom & Dad had time to polish off a bottle of wine after kids were in bed... Sweet times!

Mommy didn't get a lot of time to put together the table this year, but everyone still got a special treat...

I found these cute marshmellow treats for $1.00 at Walmart!

The frogs were my favorite :)

Brudders

The meal... it even tasted better than it looked. Not bad, right?

Love it!

The crazy husband...

Cry baby Rylan... what's new!?

Daddy thought it would be funny to make faces...

Which of course leads to everyone making funny faces...

Love my boys :)

Mama loves the grape!

Arizona Rain

Today is BEAUTIFUL here in Surprise, Arizona. The weather is cool, the air is damp and there are enough clouds/sprinkles to warrant potato soup for lunch and snuggling on the couch while reading books and watching movies.

I am thankful for this little time that we get to stay home as a family and enjoy the beautiful weather God's blessed us with today! It's so rare that us Arizonians have learned to cherish any rainy weather.

The weekend was busy with birthday parties and football. Last night was our traditional family "Movie Night" which consists of desserts and soda and movies (one for the kids and one for Mom & Dad of course). This weekend's debute for the kids was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - very cute. Mom & Dad saw Paranormal Activity - Mommy was NOT A FAN OF THIS MOVIE! And to be honest, Mom had her nose buried in a book for the majority of the movie...

Life is good. Boys are great. Back to normal life tomorrow...

Happy New Year!

We started off New Year's Eve just hanging out as a family. Mommy and Daddy watched a few of their favorite movies up stairs and the kids got to watch 102 Dalmatians down stairs. Braden was determined to stay up this year so he could bang pots and pans at midnight. He was also curious about why we watch a "ball fall". He thought we were going to play baseball in the middle of the night - really funny...

We ended up all falling asleep and woke up at 12:15am - just missed it by a hair. Next year we'll try again.

As we wrapped up 2009, it's been a blessing to see how God has worked all things together for good. There have been so many tiny blessings for us as a family and we are entering 2010 with grateful hearts. Back one year ago, we started our hunt for a new home. It was so frustrating as every time we'd find a house that we thought was perfect for us, God would shut that door immediately (we got beat out of 8 houses!!!). Finally we found a home on Yucatan. We prayed and prayed and prayed and took a step in faith that if this was our home, that God would make it happen. Our offer got accepted and 6 months later, it was this house and elementary school that had a major effect on Braden getting to attend school in our home. Had we "gotten" any of the other houses that opportunity for Braden may not have been possible. We also were blessed with neighbors that have been absolutely wonderful friends to us and the kids.

And while no one can say for sure what will happen in this coming year, who knows... maybe a new addition to the family is in store...

New Pictures

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

And it's definately the most busy time of the year here in the Palmer house. Mommy is still trying to get the Christmas cards out...and yes, you read correctly it's currently the 19th of December. Oh well, better late than never, right?!

Right now Devin and Sarah have been staying with us as they came home from Alaska last week. The boys have had a blast spending time with them. They are really busy meeting up with everyone - we've all missed them so much.

Last night Ryan and Karen and their kids also came over to spend the night - thank goodness for square footage in this home!!! Us adults had an absolute blast playing with the Karoke option on our cable. We were up until 1:30 am watching Travis sing Lady Gaga (my P-P-P-Poker Face) and Karen giggling until she may or may not have possibly peed her pants. Who knew that the word "spoken" would take on such a hilarious meaning... I tried - I really really did - to capture these moments on video but Travis refused to allow me to share this hilarity with you all, so sorry... Great times, wonderful memories.

The boys are adorable - will that ever change? I doubt it. Rylan has been caught up with the term "oh geez" lately and is in a naked phase. Never had we had such a hard time keeping clothing on a child. Braden is so smart and is really concerned about "days" lately. Every morning he asks how many days in the week will he get to go to school, how many days will he be away from school, how many days until Christmas, how many days until he's home, how many days until his birthday, etc. Whew! This week Rylan and Mommy went and had lunch with Braden at school. Rylan loved getting to hang out with the big kids and Braden was an allstar cuz his mommy brought him Wendy's for lunch!!! Last night we took the boys to visit the infamous Santa at the mall. Rylan was terrified but Braden proudly took charge of the moment and let Mr. C know that he would really really really like a remote control car and fishing pole for Christmas. Rylan however was not at all interested in going anywhere near that strange man with the beard. Guess there's always next year!

Next week Travis will be home with Rylan all week having "boy time" and then Mommy gets her turn the following week. Can't wait.
Blessings to you all and you will probably, hopefully get our Christmas card by the New Year!!! AGGGH!

Thanksgiving Feast 2009

We had Thanksgiving at our place this year - Travis was so excited! We celebrated on Saturday which was also Travis's 36 birthday. Some of our family wasn't able to make it - you were missed! On Thurday (the actual Thanksgiving) we took a family picnic to the park. The boys both were asked what they were thankful for and the answers were as follows:

*Rylan is thankful for bean bags and ice cream

*Braden is thankful for our family, our friends, our house and food

It was a beautiful weekend!

Sharing soda - too cute

Family Picture Time!!!

The adult table

The kids table

Uncle Cody teaching Rylan the ropes

Olive fingers!!!

The spread and the family

And how could we forget, the holiday cheeseball on the right...