Meal Planning

Connie came up with this system and we LOVE it! Go check out her post on it HERE. Basically you write down your dinners on index cards and post them on the fridge. If your dinner needs a recipe just clip it behind the card or print it and affix it to the back. Keep all your dinner cards in a recipe box. Gradually the amount of cards you have will grow. When it's time to plan my grocery list now I say "Husband go pick me 10 dinners." Super easy. Since we drive so far to the grocery store I can take the cards with me and plan my list on the way. Love it! Thank you Connie!!!!!

Also posted on my fridge is my home maintenance plan. It has morning, naptime, evening and weekend jobs. It keeps us in line. I have to have it staring me in the face to keep up with it, but it's working.

Here's a new snack we love. I have seen it at Whole Foods and Central Market. I would bet that Super Target has it too. My favorite thing about it is that it doesn't make a mess and she can do it all by herself.

First Campout

A few weeks ago Chris and Kenzee had their first campout in our backyard. We have been trying to work on doing special things with the kids all my themselves so that they get one-on-one time with us. Chris picked camping. We grilled hotdogs and made s'mores as a family and then Daddy and Little Kenz played go fish and read books in their tent. Chris said she went right to sleep and slept all night although he did not. :) We look forward to doing lots a real camping with our kids when they are both old enough. Here are some pictures from the evening:

Oh and this is Kenzee taking a nap in her tent the next day:

I Love the Holidays and a Bunch of Randomness

I am hoping to get back up to speed over this break. Chris has the week off and I am so excited about that. We are hosting Thanksgiving dinner here on Friday for his family. I am looking forward to it.

Big news....

....no not that.

I have been keeping my house clean. Everyday. For almost a month. It's so nice. I don't know what happened really. I just finally got control. I still have my problem areas: my closet and my laundry room, but overall it's clean. I have had time to work on organizing things and keeping myself in line. I have our home maintenance plan posted on the refrigerator. I have been able to do this without sacrificing my time with my children and I feel like my home reflects who I am now. I feel like I can breathe in it. I keep saying I, but I have to give Chris a lot of credit. He is a huge help. He is also good just to do what I ask him to do.

I am excited about putting up our tree and watching my favorite Christmas movie of all time...Home Alone.

Chris and I had a great day. The kids spent the afternoon and evening with Maimee and PawPaw. We cleaned out the laundry room and the garage and then had dinner at Red Robin and saw Couples Retreat with Connie and Levi. I thought the movie was quite funny. We so enjoyed getting out.

I have still been working out. Angela's Bootcamp has been awesome. I have made it back to my pre-Riley weight and I think I'd be content if I lost just 8 more pounds. I think next month Chris and I are going to start up P90X again.

Connie and I have been working away on Urge. We have been all over the place deciding the fate of the everchanging plot and I think we are finally there. Lots of writing to do now.

I am looking forward to seeing New Moon.

That's all for now.