Menu Plan

I learned early on that grocery shopping is much easier when I have a plan for what I'm shopping for.  I have done some sort of weekly menu plan since we have been married.  I used to plan out the meals for specific days but, with my weird pregnancy appetite I've recently just switched to planning what meals we will eat that week and just cook whatever I feel like that day.

Here is our menu plan for this week

Monday- Roast Beef Sandwiches with Au Jus
just deli sliced roast beef cooked in Au Jus (you can buy the packet at Kroger)  on a french loaf and provolone cheese.  everyone enjoyed this meal

Tuesday- Frozen Pizza and Salad

Wednesday - Skyline Chili with Spaghetti
It smelled so yummy while it was simmering that I had to sneak some for lunch, too!  ssshhhh!

Thursday - leftover skyline Chili on hot dogs and fries

Friday - homemade buffalo chicken pizza

Saturday - Out

So there it is.  Some days are super easy and some require a little more work.  Even if it is just a frozen pizza, I put it on the menu so I'm not scrambing for ideas.  Having a plan really helps us not eat out, focus our grocery list and in the end, saves us $!
Also, I know these are not the healthiest suppers!  Just so you know, we do eat pretty healthy for breakfast and lunch.  Breakfast is almost always Oatmeal and Fruit and lunch is usually a sandwich of some sort with some veggies and dip or soup.

Dance Class

Lucy's big gift for her 3rd birthday was dance class.  We like to get her an "experience gift" as her main present because her birthday and Christmas are so close together she can get toy overload.  We knew Lucy would love Dance Class!

 

She looks forward to class every week and loves her teacher, Ms. Mia.  Here she is doing her 'Grande jete'.  Look at that sweet pointed toe in the first picture!  Lucy does really well in her class but I think her favorite part is wearing dance clothes ;)

 

 

 

The first is a video of her grande jete and the second is their warm up dance to the "Hot Chocolate" song from the Polar Express movie.
Hope you enjoy watching our tiny dancer as much as we do!

 



15 weeks

15 Weeks

 

 

 



How far along?  15 weeks 1 day (I'm blogging this a week late)

How big is baby?   according to baby center, about 4 inches long and the size of an apple.  I measured 17.5 cm on Thursday...so that's about a week and 1/2 ahead

Total weight gain/loss: +3 lbs this month.  +6 total

Maternity clothes?  finally moved into maternity pants...ahhh

Stretch marks:   just some old ones....blah

Sleep: finally sleeping better!

Best moment this week:  Lucy and Thom finally getting to hear the heartbeat!  The baby's heart rate was around 145 this time :)  Lucy said it sounded like snow

Movement:  I'm feeling those little flutters quite often :)

Food cravings:  A-1 sauce and chinese...

Food Aversions: Spaghetti.

Gender:   we find out Feb. 28th

Labor Signs: None.

Symptoms:  just some round ligament pain

Belly Button in or out? In

What I miss: sleeping on my stomach, some of my clothes

What I am looking forward to: finding out if the baby is a boy or girl and getting to see the ultrasound!

Upcoming appointments/events:  My next appointment is February 24th and ultrasound is the 28th

 

Here is my bump picture taken before our date on Saturday :)

A little princess

Lucy has been really into princesses for a while now.  She had a princess themed 3rd birthday party and we constantly have a Disney Princess CD playing in the car. She even saw a girl who had won a pageant at the Christmas Walk and asked to go over and "hug the princess".



She'll often go over to look at our wedding pictures and talk about how Mommy was a princess at the wedding.  A few nights ago, I thought it would be sweet to let her see my wedding dress and she decided to hop on in.  She sure thought she was something special!

Her first set of wheels

We had snow on the ground for almost two weeks and then yesterday we hit 61 degrees!  We were excited when Daddy came home from work so we could take Lucy out for her first ride on her new bicycle that she got for Christmas!
I had to push her to get her started in the beginning but, as you can see, she quickly got the hang of it!  I couldn't believe how big she looked riding a bicycle!  Her only issue is that she would get distracted by other kids or cars driving by and would stop looking where she was going.  Hey, it's a lot to ask of a 3 year old!  We are still working on the pedaling backwards so she can stop but, I think we have lots of fun bike rides in our future!

To Do Lists...

I've always been a fan of lists. Even in college, I would make lists and prioritize what I needed to do. I know having a list helps me be more productive and not get so overwhelmed. I've been putting together a home management binder the past few months and it has helped immensely!By keeping track of our budget, crazy calendars and daily to do lists we've had a lot less running around in panic mode because we forgot something.

I've also been working on a morning routine thanks to the inspiration of Moneysavingmom.com and simpleorganizedliving.com!
My morning routine is looking something like this

wake up/put a load of laundry in
start coffee
put on workout clothes/brush teeth ect.
coffee and review/make to do list for the day
computer time while my coffee settles
gym

While i do my cardio at the gym i also read/listen to the Bible on my ipod.

week in review

We've had some crazy days around our house lately. Here is our past week in review

Monday-This was a typical day around here. I cleaned, grocery shopped, played-the usual. That afternoon and went to the Lighthouse for my internship. Typically, on Mondays, I go to Zumba and host a Highschool girls Bible study at our house but that got cancelled. I got to just enjoy the evening at home. It was so nice. I made tacos and we all sat around the table to eat. (We usually do sit at the table but, since our schedule got thrown out due to all the sickness in our house, we haven't gotten to do it as regularly)

Tuesday-nothing to special here. Lucy and I made cupcakes for the Lighthouse Kids. I love that she loves to bake with me...even if it does mean doing twice the amount of dirty dishes.

Wednesday-I got my stitches out of my finger after my nasty run in with a food slicer. My appointment was at 10 AM so I went out a little earlier and returned a couple of things at Wal-Mart. That evening we went to church and after the service we went to The Setter's house to have a service since Chris hasn't been able to attend since his surgery. Our pastor was sick and Thom preached. There were cookies and cake and Lucy enjoyed herself there, as always. Thom spoke of Moses taking his shoes off because God said He was standing on Holy Ground. There was nothing special about the dirt He was on, dirt is dirt. But, Moses was in the presence of God-that is what made where He was at Holy. It's not where we are at, it's who we are with. Chris didn't have to miss out on "Church" because he couldn't go to a building. God's people are the church. If our church building burned down, Oak Ridge Baptist would still exist because of the people, not the building. I'm thankful for that, that our God is bigger than a building-no building can house Him.

Thursday- Lucy had to go back to the doctor for a check up on her Bronchitis last week. She was 27 lbs. and 36 inches. We had to wait an hour before we went back and she was perfect! We got called back to the check up room and she sat up on the table like such a big girl :) She let the doctor listen to her chest (a far cry from last week) and all was well.

After the doctor, we met up with daddy and burger king and had a little lunch. :) We love lunch dates with our favorite guy.

Friday-Saturday - I attended the Lifeway Girls Conference with two of our highschool girls and another youth worker. These girls are so inspiring. They desire to be different than the culture that they are surrounded by and truly follow the Lord. They are so hungry to learn. I wish I had been like that when I was their age and I'm so glad that Lucy is surrounded by role models that are a great example of being a girl in this world, captivated by God. We had a wonderful time at the conference. I was exhausted but, it was worth it. We also visited GiGi's cupcakes-wonderful doesn't even begin to describe it.

We've been incredibly busy lately but, I'm not sure I would know how to function if we weren't :)