Menu for the week: Feb 1-6

So this week is very busy for us, so it was an easy menu week for me to plan, and very little grocery shopping this weekend! It will be a very simple plan this week because Brandon and I rotate working the evenings this week. 

Monday- since it will just be the boys and I Monday evening, I asked them what they wanted and they said cereal! So cereal it is!! Easy enough! 

Tuesday- it will just be Brandon and the boys so that's up to them. 

Wednesday- Fish, broccoli and cauliflower with a little cheese along with fruit 

Thursday- pancakes, eggs and sausage (we actually didn't have it last week because something came up on the night we were supposed to eat it)

Friday- eat out

Saturday- we both have to work on Saturday so we will be eating at the cafeteria at work! 

Menu for this week

Here is our menu for this week:

Monday- Beef enchiladas and chips with cheese

Tuesday- Grilled ham and cheese, peas, and chips

Wednesday- Spaghetti, green beans, and garlic bread

Thursday- Brandon's night to cook for the boys

Friday- Blueberry pancakes, eggs, and sausage

Saturday-
Lunch: Peanut butter sandwich, pineapple, and chips
Supper: Sesame chicken and rice (the recipe on last week's blog was so good, we want it again!)

Have a great week!!!

New Recipe!

Here are two new recipes we have tried this week, Cheeseburger Cups and homemade Sesame Chicken. These two recipes were Brandon and kid approved!! Win win!




Cheeseburger Cups:

Found this on a FaceBook post from Tasty! 

1 pound hamburger 

1/2 cups of ketchup 

1 tbsp mustard 

2 tbsp brown sugar

Refrigerated biscuits 

Sliced cheese 

Toppings of choice

Brown the hamburger, drain.

Mix the ketchup, mustard and brown sugar in with the hamburger. 

Put the biscuits in a muffin tin, and spread them around in the tin so they make a little cup. 

Add the hamburger and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Add the cheese to the top and bake an additional 5 minutes. Add your toppings of choice and eat!

I added spinach and tomatoes with mine but the boys and Brandon just ate theirs with the cheese. 

Also, a good note to add, is that they heat up well for lunch left-overs!

Sesame Chicken:

I found a few different recipes online, so I combined them and made it with the ingredients we like.

2 chicken breast cut into cubes

1 cup of rice

3 tbsp. of honey

tsp. brown sugar

1 tbsp. of soy sauce

1 tbsp. of garlic

(I apologize if you follow this recipe-- since I tweaked a bunch of recipes I can't quite remember how much I used--so I just kept tasting it to my flavor, oppps!)

Mix the honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, and garlic in a bowl. Add to a baking a dish along with the slices of chicken. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes and serve over rice. I baked my chicken a little longer because Brandon likes it to be a little crispy. Eat and enjoy!

Weekly Menu

Each week I love planning out our menu for many reasons:

a) Keeps me organized
b) Saves us money on our grocery bill or eating out
c) I know when I get home what we are making for supper and we don't have to scramble, so it saves us time and stress of wondering what to cook
d) Planning the meals ahead of time allows more time to try new recipes
e) Provides left overs for lunch the next day

Here is our menu for this week:

Sunday:
 - Cinnamon French Toast Bake *New Recipe
- Sweet and Sour Chicken with brown rice *New Chicken Recipe
[ We usually only eat two meals on Sunday, brunch and supper since the older boys go to Sunday School]

Monday:
- Cheeseburger bites with french fries *New Recipe

Tuesday:
-BLT's with chips

Wednesday:
-Biscuits and gravy with a side of fruit [we do breakfast one night, which is probably my favorite night!]

Thursday:
-Frozen pizza [I will be at work, so this is something simple Brandon can make with the boys]

Friday:
-Take out [to help save on our monthly budget, we only eat out one night a week for a budget of $25. And when I say eat out, I mean bring it home. Three little kids in a restaurant do not mix well together]

Saturday:
-Cinnamon bites
-Tacos with chips and salsa
-Baked chicken breast with roasted garlic broccoli and a dinner roll

This week we are able to try three new recipes, so I'm very excited to see how they turn out. Lately, I have been bored with what we cook/eat. I feel like I'm always making the same food over and over, so Brandon and I found some new recipes to try through Facebook and Pinterest. I will let you know if they are any good!

If anyone has some good recipes they want to share, I would love that! 

New Years

This year I spent New Year's with my three sweet crazy wild boys. I surprised Brandon with a trip to the Rose Bowl with his dad, so this was the first year Brandon and I have spent New Year's apart since we started dating 14 years ago!

The boys and I had a nice quiet evening at home building Legos, playing games, and dancing along with the crew on TV as the ball dropped.


My New Year's Resolutions I set for this year:
- On week nights- no house work or phone/social medias until 8 pm (unless the phone is used to record memories with the boys).

I noticed on some nights I would be on my phone while the boys were talking to me, or I was in rush to get the house work done. Well I decided to change that so I don't miss out on these precious moments I have with them. Right now, all three boys want to see me, and want to spend time with me. Well the older they get, I know that time is going to decrease as they will want to spend time with friends. They are growing up so quickly, and I don't want to miss out on these moments.

So I only use my phone if I need to record the memories we are making, or we only do house work if it is the boys' night to do chores.


We hope everyone has a happy healthy 2016!! Cheers!

Starting to building ALL the Lego's we own!!! [Or I should say Mom- is starting to building all the Lego's the boy's own ;)]

Getting ready for our slumber party with glow sticks Santa left for us!

Love these three boys so much and their smiles!!

Sledding

On the morning of Christmas Eve, it started snowing! The boys and I were so excited we couldn't wait to get out and start sledding! So after making monster cookies for Santa, we decided we'd hit the hills north of town for some sledding fun! It was so much fun, and such a great way to get in the Christmas spirit! Here are some action shots of our afternoon fun!



What pretty scenery!

Oh Christmas Tree

One of my favorite parts about Christmas is the tree- I love decorating my tree every year and seeing the presents all tucked in underneath it. The Christmas tree just adds that homey feeling to your house. :) This year, I was only able to decorate about 3/4 of my tree since we have an army crawler around the house. Benny loved getting into the presents and trying to pull the ornaments off of the tree. The older boys were very good about pulling him back once he got close to the presents. They were also very good about moving the ornaments higher and higher each week.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve night was spent at our home with our boys. This is is the first year we were able to spend Christmas Eve at our house, and it was so nice. We made homemade chicken noodle soup for supper, attended the 7 pm church service (which was a fantastic service), opened presents, and then waited for the arrival of Santa. It was a very nice night spent with my family. I love watching the magic of Christmas through the boys' eyes. Christmas as a parent with little kids is so much fun!

Our chicken noodle soup with bread!

Heading to church

Matching PJ's

My Gift

 I received an early Christmas present from my husband! A new heavy duty camera!! I'm so in love with it, and can't wait to figure out what all the buttons mean ;)

I have always been interested in photography since high school, so Brandon decided he was going to buy me a camera to capture our moments with our family and hopefully take pictures of other people and their families.

Here are a few snap shots I started working with, and I'm excited to capture more in the near future! 

Christmas Traditions!

I have to say the Christmas season is so much better being a mom. I love watching the magic of the season their my kids' eyes. Everything is so exciting to them and you can't help but smile. My favorite part of the season is carrying out our Christmas traditions we have developed with the boys. Here are some of our traditions we have molded to our family since Brody was born 5 years ago.


Our gingerbread house! May not be the prettiest, but we sure have a lot of fun making the mess!

For the past four years Zon the Elf has been traveling from the North Pole to our house to report to Santa about the boys' behavior. We get so excited every morning when we wake up to see what this mischievous elf is doing. In the picture below he was being held hostage by G.I. Joe's.

One of my favorite traditions... finding matching PJ's for the boys and I. My mission for next year is to try to get Brandon to partake in the fun :)

This is a tradition that I have carried on from my childhood to my boys. My Papa Keith would take us over to Dakota City to visit these lights, and I had so much fun making memories with him I wanted to pass it down to my kids. The night we went it was very cold, so Brody and I were the only ones to brave the cold weather.

Brody wanted to take a picture with Baby Jesus

 

Here is another tradition I carried out from my childhood onto my boys, the Advent Calendar. Each day the boys look forward to opening another little square to eat the little piece of chocolate inside and read the little story.  

And lastly, for the pat 4 years on Christmas Eve morning the boys and I spend quality time in the kitchen baking cookies for Santa. This year they picked Monster Cookies to make for Santa. I love spending time in the kitchen with these boys!

I'm very excited for next year's traditions because Benny will be able to participate in most of the activities.

It's a New Year!

Hello friends and family!!! It has been since July 2014 that I have made my last post! First, of all, I want to apologize to everyone for that, and part of my New Year's Resolution is get back on track with blogging. I was asked at a family Christmas, if I still post to my blog. Sadly, my response was, no----but--this got the wheels turning that I need to start blogging again (Thank you Aunt Nene!) I love blogging and reflecting on the memories I have made with family and friends, so my goal is to get back on track!

Wow! Where do I begin with everything that has gone on since July 2014?!?  The reason I stopped blogging in the first place is because I found out I was pregnant in July of 2014 with our third little gift from God. When I am pregnant, I get pretty sick and I do not have a lot of motivation to get off of the couch. Plus with taking care of two other littles, my energy level was at an all time low! I got in the habit of going to bed when I put Brody and Brayden to bed, so I didn't have any energy to keep blogging. It was so much easier to just lay in bed and fall asleep...oooppsss!

The news of our third little baby brings me to this picture: On April 8, 2015, I received the best birthday gift- a third little boy! I guess Brandon is going to have to step it up on my next birthday gift because I don't know how this one can be topped :).

Bentley Keith joined our crazy little family and life has not been the same since then! We love every minute of having three sons (even if it is crazy and hectic--wouldn't change it for the world)

This picture melts my heart--so much love shown here!

Since April, our lives have been full of non-stop adventure with these three boys and is full of so much love! Sometimes it isn't always pleasant, or what we like to call learning experiences for all of us, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

So much has happened in the past year and half since I have blogged last, it would be nearly impossible to catch everyone up on our life's happenings, so I shared the biggest news that has happened since then (Bentley Keith joining our family.

Thank you for stopping back, and I'm so excited to get started again!!