April Catch Up

I have learned several things over the past 3 weeks, here are a few.
1. There are not enough hours in the day.
2. The use of turn lanes (what they are or how to use them) seems to have evaporated.
3. Freezer meal cooking is saving my sanity AND my bank account.
4. Do not take a single day for granted. Take time to hug your loved ones and tell them how much you care about them.

The past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind of insanity. We are finally getting into a good solid routine with me going to school. The homework for the 3 classes I am taking is more than I anticipated at times but I really am enjoying it. I have ended up with 2 fabulous partners in Biology which is really helping!

Here we are performing one of our fun experiments.

Spring sports are also in full swing. I have to get pictures of the older kids yet (one in track and one doing flag team for marching band) but here are the younger two!

Danielle playing catcher (Fastpitch)

Tyler after a very muddy wet game on the soccer field

Our middle school youth group held "old fogey" night. My oldest daughter and I hit up Value Village for some old lady gear and borrowed a walker that was sitting at my parents house. Here is a picture of her before and after!

As I stated above, freezer meals have saved me so much stress, time and money this month it makes me VERY thankful I got started again! As I clean the kitchen after dinner, I pull a meal out of the freezer for the next night. Dinner takes only a short time to prepare with very little effort and mess. With our crazy schedule having these on hand keeps us from grabbing dinner out which can get very expensive. I am getting ready to put the finishing touches on another cooking session for May. The kids are even getting into it now, looking thru the book and picking recipes they would like to try.

On a "closing" note, I would like to ask for prayers. My oldest daughter and I will be joining a mission team on a 5 day mission trip to Esperanza in Canada in May. Please pray for our team that we will be able to to successfully be the hands and feet of Christ. That we will have a safe journey and that lives will be impacted in a positive way! This mission trip is what my daughter has chosen to do for her 14th birthday which has made me a very proud mom :)

April Freezer Meal Plan

I am still working on my April freezer meal plan. I would like to do a large batch of both main dishes and sides. I am going on incorporate some help for this session with the kids and maybe a couple of friends. Of course, the friends will be rewarded with a meal to take home!! :)

Right now I hope to make:
Three Cheese Manicotti-3
Taco Kits-3
Lasagna-4
Chicken encheladas-3
Twice Baked Potatoes- 15 individual
Breakfast burritos- 15 individual
Quiche in a bag-3
Pie crust- recipe makes 20
Chicken Parmigiana-3
Pecan crusted chicken strips-3
Cashew Chicken Stir Fry-3
Mozzarella meatballs-6
Broccoli Beef Stir Fry-3
Steak Skewers with blue cheese dipping sauce- 3
White sauce butter balls- recipe makes 28 individual
Biscuits- 3 dozen

I may add to this I am not sure yet.

April Menu/Meal Plan

This may end up being tweaked a bit once we get the fast pitch game schedule for April. My goal was to do another freezer meal cooking session before school starts but it doesn't look like that will get done, and that is ok. I will do it in a couple of weeks before our next freezer meal swap.

On the nights I have indicated Freezer Meal I will pick something the night before from what we have on hand to thaw overnight in the fridge.

April
1- Pizza rolls (mom was out kids cooked)
2- OUT
3- Burgers & fries
4- Chicken Pot Pie
5- Spaghetti, french bread, salad
6- Freezer Meal
7- Freezer Meal
8- Out we will be spending the day in Seattle
9- Subway after church (we get the $5 footlongs only no chips etc and bring them home to eat. We can add sides at home)
10- Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies
11- Freezer Meal
12- Tacos, rice
13- Freezer meal
14- Freezer meal
15- Saucy garlic chicken, noodles, salad
16- Grilled steak (or turkeydogs for the younger kids), beer baked white beans, blue cheese slaw
17- Salmon w/ Brown Sugar and mustard glaze, rice, veggies
18- Italian sausage rigatoni, garlic bread, salad
19- Taco
20- Freezer meal
21- Freezer meal
22- Freezer Meal
23- Subway after church
24- EASTER- ham, make ahead mashed potatoes, marmalade candied carrots, marinated cheese topped salad, cool coffee gels and cheesecake
25- CORD/leftovers
26- Encheladas
27- Freezer meal
28- Freezer meal
29- School carnival
30- Kids choice

April 1- No fooling!

I had a good laugh at some of the April Fools jokes that people came up with this year. And even more so at some of the people that believed them! I was lame this year and didn't pull any pranks or jokes.

I took time today to move one step closer to my oldest son driving. I am having such a hard time accepting that he is old enough to drive. I keep reminding myself that my parents had to do a lot more "letting go" when I learned to drive. We had to drive an hour each way to get pretty much anywhere including to work. Yesterday I put his truck in my name and got him new plates. My parents gave him an old pickup they had sitting around which will serve as a great first vehicle for him. This week my mom is taking it to have tires put on it and then we will move forward with him getting his license. **GULP**

A high school friend had coordinated a fundraiser scrapbooking crop for her daughters preschool. I spent time putting together page packets to take and work on. If you are not sure what a page packet is, you take your pictures and pick the paper and embelishments you want to use for those photos and put them together. When you get to scrapbook you just pull out that packet and assemble the pages. By putting in the time to make the packets it cuts down on the amount of things you need to carry with you to the crop. Also, I was able to put 23 pages together!!