Meal Plan #2

When trying to put a meal plan together I try and stick to the following but by no means is this our holy grail. Some nights I just want to try something new or I want Mexican more than once a week, etc.

Sunday: Traditional Sunday dinner

Monday: Pasta

Tuesday: Mexican

Wednesday: Left Overs

Thursday: Salads/Sandwiches

Friday: Crockpot meal/International

Saturday: Eat Out/Left Overs

Sunday:White lasagna with Green Beans and Garlic bread.

Ingredients:
5-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup butter
1 lb. mushrooms (sliced)
2-3 zucchini (cut into chunks)
several carrots (julienne style)
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 t. tarragon leaves
2-3 jars Ragu Roasted Garlic Parmesan (depending on size of pan)
9-12 Lasagna noodles (cooked and drained)
Swiss of Gruyere cheese (I use mozzarella)

Directions:
 Place Chicken in a 4t. pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until chicken is tender, about 20-25 minutes. Cut chicken into chunks. Melt butter in a wide frying pan over medium high heat. Add mushrooms, zucchini and carrots and cook. Add wine and tarragon; reduce heat to medium and cook until most of the pan juices are evaporated. Cook vegetables slightly and then stir into Ragu sauce. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread a thin layer of sauce on bottom. Arrange noodles evenly over sauce, next layer chicken, then sauce and finally cheese. Repeat this layering at least one more time, ending with cheese layer. If made ahead, cover and refrigerate. Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven until hot and bubbly (40-50) minutes). Cut into squares and serve.   

Monday: Sausage Mac & Cheese, this is an adult version of mac and cheese and oh so good plus Grady will eat it as well which is an added plus.

Tuesday: Burrito Bowls, Chad is probably sick and tired of this recipe. It has been on rotation a few times but it is so so good. Plus I finally learned how to make the perfect rice from this recipe

Wednesday: Fave night of the week LEFT OVERS!

Thursday: Steak Salad. We bought some sirloin steak from the grocery store I also tried the Aldi brand of their house dressing and boy do you have to try this stuff. By far the best salad dressing to date!

Friday: Pizza, I have been hooked on making pizza with Naan bread lately. I will buy naan bread from the store and just use marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni's. Of course you can make your pizza's however you like

Saturday: Eating out night!

April Recap

Every year instead of new year’s resolutions our pastor talks about living by 1 word for the entire year. Of course Chad and I still did new year’s resolutions, but we also set aside the word “Change” and that was going to be the word we lived by for the year. Chad and I were in dire need of change in our lives. We had fallen into a slump that we couldn’t get out of. Most days we didn’t want to get out of bed or go to work. January, February, and March passed by and nothing was really happening for us and we started to lose hope.

This brings me to April, when things decide to happen they come in full force! At the end of March, I was approached for a new position and it was something I knew in my gut I had to take. I was in a position that I didn’t Love and it showed through my work. I pray that this change is what I needed personally and professionally. At the beginning of April Chad found out that he was going back to school!!! We could not be more excited about this opportunity and know that this is truly God and his calling for Chad’s life. Chad has applied to school before for different things but they didn’t work out. At the end of last year we were driving home from work and it was one of our normal conversation just about work and complaining. I knew my husband was not happy with where he was or what he was doing, neither was I. He works with chemicals all day and I didn’t want him in that environment the rest of his life. So, we got to talking I asked him what his passion was, which I already knew it was medicine. Chad has always had a heart for the medical field and has always wanted to go down that road but circumstances and life got in the way (AKA college days). I brought up the idea of Nursing and he was completely on board with it not really thinking about it before. We continued to talk about it in the days and weeks to come and we just came to conclusion that Nursing is such a broad field that if he goes back for his BSN degree he could do a number of things instead of being limited. We discussed about applying for school but we also mentioned that this would be the last time we would attempt. If he didn’t get in that he would look for a new job, well he got in!!!

With Chad going back to school, we took a good look at our finances and although Chad will be working throughout we decided to put our house up on the market. We have a lot of equity in our house, mind you that we were on the path of paying our house off, so we are on the market to find something where we can live mortgage free. We’ve been talking to a realtor about purchasing land, so we called her up and hired her to sell our house. I absolutely love my home, it was the first home we owned, which we got engaged in and brought home 2 babies. But I know that it is just a house and it doesn’t matter where we are, we have to do what’s right for our family. We have a way of living and we are comfortable and I don’t want to be deprived of vacations, etc. for a couple of years.

We started potty training Grady in April, we used the farmer’s almanac as a guide and I don’t know if it works or not but it took us about 4 days and he was officially potty trained. This is HUGE and so glad I don’t have to change 2 bottoms anymore. I will give a more detailed post on how we managed this later.

April also marks my birthday month. So the Friday before my birthday we had dinner at my parents which we told them our news. Of course, when I said we had news they immediately thought I was pregnant. Geez, but they are so excited for Chad and good thing because I will more than likely be asking them for help more often when he officially goes back.

Chad and I also had our first official night away from baby girl. We drove to Pawhuska, Ok and ate at the pioneer woman’s restaurant for the first time. We stayed at a bed and breakfast, it was so nice to chill just the 2 of us and reconnect. I know it’s important to spend time with just you and your partner but I get mommy guilt especially when I only see my babies for a few hours a day during the week. I will say that I wasn’t too impressed with the food. We went there for dinner and I have heard that their breakfast is better. I did pick up some Cinnamon rolls for our Mother’s Day brunch.

At the end of April I had the honor of hosting a baby shower for our dear friends. You know I love to plan a good party so I was really excited when they asked me. I’ll try and do a blog post on this event because well it just needs its own post!

Boy was this a long blog post! April was exactly what our family needed and we could not be more excited about our future.

Audrey - 8 months

I do not know if I could love this little girl more than I do, I am completely obsessed with her. She is turning into my little BFF and I love it!! I hope to always have a close relationship. I might be a little biased but she is perfect in every way.

Sleep:

Audrey is still getting up about 1 time at night which I feed her and normally she will go right back to sleep. We switched from the Merlin suit to just a sleep sack and the first night she slept until 3 am. Ever since she was born she’s been a side sleeper but could quite do that with the Merlin suit so I’m sure she is loving being able to be on her side again. She has also started sleeping on her stomach and loves it! Her brother was always a stomach sleeper and I believe that babies just sleep better that way. We also give her a blanket at night for security. She loves the fuzzy blankets as it is a type of security for her.

Eat:

Dang does this girl like to eat. We are at 3 meals a day and he would much rather eat solids than breastmilk. We also introduced the sippy cup of water which she is still trying to get used too. I’ve made 1 round of baby food and already need to make another. She still doesn’t have any teeth so we haven’t done any baby led weaning yet. We also started giving her some teething wafers and they are her favorite things. They are also a life saver when it comes to keeping her entertained while cooking dinner. Baby girl LOVES to eat and gets super excited when she sees food also gets pretty fussy when its taking too long to give her the food.

Development:

We are a scooting machine, we still can’t officially crawl on all 4’s but she gets going pretty fast scooting. She’s also starting to grab and play with bubba’s toys so that’s a whole new ballgame learning how to share with sissy. She is a wiggly worm and doesn’t sit still for long at all. Bath time and diaper changes have started to become chores to say the least. 

Easter 2018

In true Bethany form this post is coming a bit late but oh well. This year was Grady official first year of east egg hunting. I totally had a “mom fail” last year and scheduled a trip around Easter and the day we were coming back was the day everyone was doing Easter egg hunts. This year we tried something new since my sister is moved back to Oklahoma.

We attended an Easter egg drop on Saturday morning and boy was it a blast! So much fun for kiddos of all ages including my husband and myself. A helicopter dropped hundreds of eggs and then Grady with his cousin hunted as many as they could. After the hunt we went to my parents for a little brunch. And then opened Easter baskets. My mom always does an amazing job with everyones Easter baskets, total envy. My mom got the kiddos beach towels, swimsuits, sunglasses, etc. pretty sure I got the hint that they will be swimming this year.

Sunday morning we made it to church to the early service. I didn’t want the kiddos to open their Easter baskets before church but of course Grady saw his and as soon as we took it away it was a full on melt down. Audrey decided to take a little nap after church and as soon as she woke up we opened our Easter baskets. I went a little over board this year, I remember when I was little having the same Easter basket year after year so I decided to purchase pottery barn baskets as an investment. And let me tell you they were sure investments. They come in 2 different sizes and I originally ordered the big baskets but they were by far way too big as Grady could have sat in it. I had so much fun filling up their baskets this year and if I say so myself I’m pretty proud of them.

A cold front came through Sunday morning so it was pretty chilly all day. Chad’s parents came over to our house and brought the Ham while I made the sides. I don’t know why we just started doing this, it made life so much easier on all parties. We had cheesy potatoes, shaved brussel sprouts, ham, and green beans with an Apple crisp for dessert. It was my first time making shaved brussel sprouts and it sure will not be my last.

This past Easter was by far my favorite!