Crafting goals

This weekend was beautiful and I took the weekend off from working on my crafts. Instead I did some organizing and playing outside in the cooler weather. Hancock Fabrics was having a great sale this weekend and I was able to get the patterns for my children's Halloween costumes for very cheap. I love when they have sales that I can get a pattern for .99 or $1.99. Before going I sat down with the kids in front of the computer and we picked out their costumes. These are what they picked.

Merlin for my oldest. I am very excited about this costume, as my son loves to read about Merlin.

For my daughter,  we went back and forth for awhile about which princess she would be and I am glad that she finally decided that she wanted to be "Tangled."

For my youngest he will be a monkey, which is very fitting as I tend to call my little ones my little monkeys.

I can not wait to get started on making their costumes. The Tangled costume and the Merlin costume both require quite a bit of fabric. So the plan is to slowly work on them so that I do not end up with a fabric bill that is huge. I only allow myself the weekends to do my sewing because the week gets really busy, and I am trying to focus on some training that needs to get completed before the new baby arrives.

Menu 9/5-9/11

On this weeks menu:

Breakfasts:
Buttermilk pancakes
Oatmeal w/ homemade toast
Cheesy eggs w/ toast
Egg muffin sandwiches
Smoothies w/ toast
Malt-o-meal
Bacon, eggs and biscuits

Lunch:
Bean burritos, w/ fruit
PB & Jam sandwiches, energy bites
Quesadillas w/ fruit
Chicken salad sandwiches, salad
Hot dogs, mac and cheese, and fruit
Left-overs

Dinner:
Bacon-wrapped apple BBQ chicken, marinated cucumbers, and Oven baked Parmesan seasoned fries
Pork roast, rice, rolls, and honey carrots
Taco soup, corn bread
Orange chicken bowls
Buttermilk waffles, bacon, eggs, fruit
Stuffed hamburgers, squash, and macaroni salad
Sausage and cheese pizza

The links provided are wonderfully delicious recipes that I highly recommend.

Things to accomplish this week

Some of my things to acomplish this week include printing flashcards to start teaching my daughter, 2, phonics, go to the gym every morning and work out for at least 30 minutes, cook dinner every night (even when I do not feel like it), keep the house clean, and the laundry managed.

I recently discovered this book, Teach Your Child to Read in Just Ten Minutes a Day by Sydney Ledson. I am very excited to start working with Addyson and getting her on the path to reading. Reading is the foundation of learning and I think it is important to get her started now, instead of waiting until she goes to school. The book outlines simple steps to teaching your child to read, focusing on phonics. My oldest, Joshua learned to read using phonics and is an excellent reader. It makes a mama proud to see her third grader reading at a 5th grade level.

So far I have been doing great going to the gym in the morning. This morning, however, it took some positive self-talk to get me motivated. I was very tired and had a rough night with our youngest. Our youngest Preston has some issues with his tummy where he experiences pain frequently. We finally have an appointment to see a specialist later this month. I honestly do not know how much longer I can handle not getting a full nights sleep.

Cooking this week has gone great but I know come Friday the motivation will dwindle. It seems that it is so easy to go grap something quick, like cheap pizza, instead of spending the time to actually cook. I have devised a plan, if I can paln Friday's meals to be minimal work, maybe I can stick to cooking everyday. So Fridays are my crockpot/freezer meal days.

Ugh! Keeping the house tidy is a task all in itself, with three little one running around, the toys soon seem to over run our home. If I don't have the kids pick them up every evening bafore bed, I would swear a toy explosion had happened in the living room. I will say my husband has really stepped up lately and has been lending a hand with keeping the house tidy. How did I get so lucky?!

You can understand why the laundry would be a huge task, with five members of the family and little ones that frequently need to be changed during the middle of the day. I do not particularly love doing laundry on the weekend, so if I don't manage it during the week, it becomes overwelming on the weekend. Besides, who wants to be washing laundry all weekend? NOT ME! I would much rather spend time with my family.

Wish me luck!

Katrena

Whole-wheat tortilla=huge failure!

In an attempt to feed my family healthier, I decided that I would try my hand at making whole-wheat tortillas for our breakfast burritos I have planned for tomorrow morning. Let me just say either I did something wrong, or the recipe I had was not very "tasty," as my two-year old puts it. I think I will be on the search tomorrow for a new recipe. I am glad, however, that I have some regular store bought tortillas in the fridge that I can use tomorrow morning.

On a more positive note, I love that I am able to use chicken from dinner Sunday night in the pizza we are having this evening. Anytime I can turn one meal into two or more is always a money saver for me.

On the menu - BBQ chicken pizza. Can you say yummy? Homemade pizza crust, tangy bbq sauce, cilantro, bacon, red onion, and chicken. A delicious combination. Pizza is always a family favorite, and the homemade version is so much more healthy than store-bought or take-out. Less grease, more flavor.