Budgeting and menu planning

Many many years ago when we were a family of 2 adults and a toddler and infant I was so good at budgeting our family's finances... I did menu planning and planned out 2 weeks of meals at a time.  I made dinner almost every single night and did so in a budget conscious way with lots of stuff made from scratch and not many premade short cut items.

Many years, and two kids later we are a family of 2 adults, 1 teenage boy, 1 preteen girl and two kids... our grocery bill has multiplied by leaps and bounds and I've decided I have to go back to some basics that I've long since stopped doing.

So I'm going to start doing meal plans again... I've seen lots of places where you can buy preplanned meal calenders with grocery lists etc, but the reality is while my hubby and I would enjoy the new menu items, the kids would stage a revolt.  So here is what I have planned for the next week of meals- all meals that I know 80% of my family love and the remaining 20% each night that doesn't love it, will still manage to find enough on the table to eat.

Sat- Ward Picnic (bring 3 dozen rolls)
Sun- Taco dinner night, baking day- bake cinnamon rolls and no bake cookies
Mon- Chicken Rolls, carrots, and salad
Tues- Leftovers for the kids, Bunko night for mom, Big lunch for dad
Wed- Sweet and sour meatballs, coconut rice, salad and a veggie side (corn or broccoli from the freezer)
Thurs- Leftovers or a pre-prepared freezer item (pizza rolls, frozen waffles, etc) (we will be gone all day on an outing, and have things that night for 3 of the 4 kids so it has to be something quick.
Fri- Spaghetti, corn fritters, garlic bread, salad.

Now that I have my menu, I just have to remember to not only take my grocery list to the store tomorrow, but look at the list and get everything on it- and not a bunch of extra un-needed stuff! :)

Talents

My kids never cease to amaze me with their talents. I was cleaning out my Sunday bag and came across this. All done freehand just looking at a picture on a cell phone to copy.

Checking in

We have had a busy weekend here. 4 birthday parties for the little girls over the weekend. A band concert, church meetings, watching nba playoff basketball and cheering on our Thunder team, and one child fighting a bad cough, fever and some vomit for good measure.

Sick child is still home today, but three kids are at school and having fun with the last week of school festivities. Tonight hubby scored some tickets to the thunder game so he and I will get a fun night out.

I feel like I could make excuses and not get my workout in today, but I made sure I got it in and done with and now I don't need to worry about it until tomorrow.

Well I did it

I went and changed into the exercise clothes and turned on the DVD and I did my exercise today.

I still ate junk food, but I exercised.

It's a step in the right direction.

Not a good start

Ok. I am determined to be honest here about my exercise and eating. This week I've done squat. Nothing, nada, and eaten horribly- junk food and cookies and sweets. Posting this makes me nervous because I'm going to be truthful in this blog here. And I hope that by forcing myself to be truthful about it here- I will motivate myself to change things so I can be proud of my posts instead of embarrassed.

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day!! 

Happy Mothers Day to all my mommy friends, all my sisters, sister in laws, mother in law, and of course my wonderful mom.  I truly never full appreciated all that she did for us until I became a mom myself and I love her even more now for the years and years that she put up with me and my siblings and taught us to love, laugh, work, and play.  Thank you mom for all that you have done.  The example you were to me then and continue to be now!

I'm back...

I alluded to my bad allergies earlier this year, and then stopped posting completely... Allergies have ruled my life the past few months and I am hoping I'm starting to be past the all encompasing allergies.  I started getting allergy shots- the cluster method where you get three shots within 1 1/2 hours once a week... I got to the second week of the shots and had a massive allergic reaction to them and had to be moved down to the traditional one shot at a time schedule.  So twice a week I've been going down to the allergist to get a shot and wait 1/2 hour to make sure I don't have any reaction... and then go on with my day.  Oh and I get a big welt on my arm that hurts and itches for the rest of the day, and then just continues to itch for the next day... Fun, fun, fun... but this should be helping my allergies and hopefully next year at this time I won't have to be using a nose spray and taking allergy medicine and still battling sinus pressure and headaches... cross your fingers this will work for me! :)

We have 8 more school days left in the school year.  It's going to be hard to keep the kids on a schedule to still get up and make it to school on time each day.  The weather has been beautiful and the little kids have been playing outside every single day after school with the neighborhood kids.  The big kids are done with pretty much all the school work in their classes so they have no homework and want to get to do everything as if school was already out for the summer.

I'm starting my new exercise program and goals this week.  Jillian Michaels 30 day shred, and the couch to 5k program.  I will get myself back into a regular exercise routine and get rid of some of this excess weight so I have more energy to take care of my family!  I'm going to start posting on this blog to keep myself accountable and make sure I get that exercise in each day.