2014 Meal Plan Monday Favorites

Happy 2015!  How was your New Year?  Mine was very low key.  Ryan spent the early part of the evening attending the ISU basketball game with friends while Rowen and I hung out with a neighborhood friend and her kids in their bounce house!  It was a total hit...we might have to look into getting one!

After Ryan returned home from the game it was lights out for Rowen and for me, too!  I barely made it to 11:00 before I passed out on the couch...does that mean I'm getting old?

The rest of the weekend was spent running errands, doing a few house projects and seeing a movie with my sister!  I hadn't seen a movie in months so when she suggested going to the new Flix Brew House for dinner and a movie I instantly jumped at the chance!  It was so much fun!  There was a full dinner menu, complete with drinks and desserts to choose from.  We dined on Lime Chicken Quesadillas and sodas while watching our movie...loved it!

Speaking of dinner...

With this being the first Meal Plan Monday post of 2015, I thought I'd go ahead and share my 10 favorite meals out of all the Meal Plan Monday's I've posted!  I've been blogging for almost a year now (crazy) and these Meal Plan Monday posts continue to be one of my highest and most requested on the blog, so thank you! 

These 10 meals are meals that were easy to make, kid friendly, and delicious!  If you haven't had a chance to try any of these I highly recommend you do!  YUM!

Caprese Lasagna Roll Ups 

Baked Chile Relleno 

Crockpot Onion BBQ SmackedChicken 

Beefy Mexican Lasagna 

Buffalo Chicken LettuceWrap 

Slow Cooker Creamy RanchPork Chops 

Hawaiian BBQ Quesadillas 

Ramen Noodle Stir Fry 

Cheeseburger and FriesCasserole 

Bubble Up Pizza 

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Org Junkie

Christmas 2014 Recap

Christmas is over.  I’ve already taken down my tree and packed away all my decorations.  So sad.  However, it was a lovely one and I’m happy to recap it for you!

I had to work Christmas Eve morning (the joys of saving all your vacation time for maternity leave), but managed to sneak out early that afternoon to join the rest of my immediate family at my parents' house for some snacks and then Christmas Eve service at our church!

After church, we headed back to my parents’ for dinner and then presents!   Santa aka Grandma, Grandpa , Aunt Sarah and Uncle Shawn were very generous this year and gifted Rowen much more than she needed…

After changing into our PJs and playing with gifts we headed home to bed, but not before setting out cookies and milk for Santa.  Oreos…Santa (ahem, preggo mommmy’s) favorite!

Christmas morning was much more special this year; I absolutely loved watching Rowen unwrap all her gifts and enjoy each and every one of them like it was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen.  Everything from Disney coloring books to a new art easel was opened with such excitement and joy – I now have a whole new perspective of Christmas morning and I love it!

Later that morning after an hour or so of playing, sipping coffee and munching on cinnamon rolls, we packed up the car and headed to the lake to spend the rest of the day with Ryan’s family (in our Christmas jammies).  

There were many more gifts to open including Rowen’s new Elsa costume….

After presents, there was a delicious meal to consume, wine to drink (yes I had a little) and board games to be played.  So much fun! 

We arrived home just in time for Rowen to hit the hay and for Ryan and I to hit the couch for some Christmas jammie lounging!   

Friday was a stay at home day.  Rowen played all day while Ryan and I organized.  We were lucky to receive a ton of new items for our kitchen, so I tasked Ryan with putting it all away (loving my newly organized kitchen) while I tackled the playroom and all of Rowie’s new toys. 

Saturday was then spent at my grandma’s house with my aunts, uncles, cousins and family from Kansas City!  Grandma made us a soup and sandwich lunch, and then we opened more gifts! 

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas filled with family and fun!  Have I mentioned I’m sad it’s over?  Waahhh…

Meal Plan Monday 12/29

Can you believe Christmas is over already?  The reality hit me this morning when I went through the Starbucks drive through only to be handed a plain white logo cup.  WHAT?  No more fun, festive red and green cup o' joe...just plain white?  Bah, not sure I'm ready for that!

Anyways, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!  I will be doing a Christmas re-cap tomorrow, but for today it's business as usual, which means Meal Plan Monday...check it out!

Monday:  Slow Cooker Cheese Tortellini

Tuesday: Chicken Flautas

Wednesday:  Not Cooking - NYE!

Thursday:  Homemade Sloppy Joes

Friday:  Three Cheese Zucchini Stuffed Lasagna Rolls

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Org Junkie

18 Week Update

So in lieu of meal plan Monday this week (we aren't really planning anything due to all of the holiday madness) I thought i'd bring you my first "bumpdate".  

Before I do though, I'd like to start by saying that I hate being pregnant.  The first time around literally almost killed me (pre-eclampsia) and so far this second time around has been anything but glamorous due to headaches and morning sickness that just wont quit. No offence to all of you ladies out there who "love(ed)" being pregnant...but you are crazy! There is nothing fun about this. Period.

Anyway...trying to make the best of it considering I am not even half way through yet so here goes...

How far along? 18 Weeks

Baby Size: A bell pepper

Total weight gain/loss: 4-5 lbs 

Maternity clothes? Slowly but surely digging it all back out.  Had to buy some new stuff since most of my other clothes were for the summer months.

Stretch marks? Nope!

Sleep: I sleep well no matter what!  Luckily, never in my life have I ever had a sleeping problem so I refuse to start!

Best moment this week: It’s almost Christmas – excited to celebrate with family!

Miss Anything? Festive holiday drinks that I can’t have.

Movement: Yes, little flutters

Food cravings: None.  Still feel sick most of the time and don’t really have much of an appetite.

Gender prediction: Seriously no clue.  Last time around I was 99% sure I was having a boy and it turned out to be a girl, so I am just steering clear of all guesses.

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender in a couple of weeks!

Differences this time around: This bump is growing a lot faster than the first time!

Adventures in potty training a 2 year old!

Potty training.  

Two words that used to make me cringe.  Before last weekend Rowen was not a big fan of the potty.  Every time we asked her to try to sit she’d throw a mini hissy fit.  Well, I knew it was time to do away with diapers, but I needed to figure out a way to engage her and get her excited about trying to sit on the potty.

So…enter our Elf, Lonnie!

Last Saturday morning, Rowen woke up (like any other day) to go run through the house looking for her Elf.  Only on this particular day she happened to find him in the bathroom, on the potty, with a gift from Santa!  I knew instantly just by seeing the look on her face that I had her right where I wanted her (insert evil laugh here).  Haha!

This conversation then followed:

Rowen: “Lonnie is going potty!”

Me:  “Yes he is and look, he brought you a gift from Santa!”

Rowen (as she’s tearing into the bag): “New books!  Can we read them?”

Me:  “Sure, but Lonnie says we can only read these books if we are sitting on the potty, deal?”

Rowen: “Deal!”

And so it began…

The rest of the weekend was spent hunkered down in the house with Cinderella undies, lots of liquids and salty snacks!  We set a timer, and every 30 minutes when it went off she sat on the potty while reading her new books.

To keep her excitement we also implemented a potty chart (you can find that here) with stickers and M&M’s.  She loved the idea of getting a sticker and a “treat” for every time she went potty!

Those first two days were pretty rough (five accidents total).   I was scared to death to keep going especially because the next five days that followed were daycare days, but we were in too deep to quit so on we went!  Our daycare provider has been wonderful about sitting her multiple times a day to try to potty.

It’s been a week since we started and she’s been doing GREAT!  The accidents are getting fewer and fewer (the other day she didn’t have ANY)!  She’s still having a hard time telling us exactly when she has to go so we still use the timer, but I think she’s close and has even graduated to using the regular potty (with the help of her Little Mermaid potty seat). 

The next step is figuring out how to train her outside of the house while we are running errands, going out to eat, library visits, etc…that will be interesting!  If anyone has any tips on this please let me know, I am eager to hear!

For now though we’re just taking it one step at a time and saying, “hooray for big girl underpants!”

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