Meal Planning from 8/31-9/14

- Chicken Cakes

(recipe here)

-Marinated Chicken with broccoli salad

(same marvelous marinade from last time)

-Burgers 

-Sausages

- Roasted potatoes and sausage

(recipe here)

-Pulled pork and coleslaw

(recipe here)

-Pulled pork sandwiches

-Breakfast cups

- Burgers with chicken wing dip

(This will be the first Sunday Buffalo Bills game - so Jeremy requested chicken wing dip for it in the afternoon. Then we'll have burgers and put chicken wing dip on top!)

-Chicken parm

-Layered taco bake

(recipe here)

-Leftovers

-Chicken poppers

(recipe here)

-Burgers

We had a lot of burger in the freezer and ground chicken was BOGO at the store, so that's where I focused this time! I hope you find something new to try! What delicious meals have you had lately?!

August

Here's a look back on our month! 

Our newest family member is fitting in nicely 

and making herself at home.....

My sister gave us this bike trailer and Jeremy's parents brought it down with them back in April? We finally got it put together and out for a ride!

Muffin tin lunches are our favorite!

Lucas will rarely sit on your lap for a whole story, 

but he loves to sit and read them on his own....

When you wake up to this guy on the door, morning entertainment is taken care of! Who knew a nasty slug could be so interesting.....

OFFICIALLY DONE!!!

It's been an emotional month transitioning back to Dada working, but we survived! Happy for a 3-day weekend since there won't be another break before Thanksgiving! Happy Friday, everyone!

Meals

Every 2 weeks I sit down and meal plan. From there I build a grocery list and go shopping. Well, I got an idea the other day that I would post a blog twice a month with my meal plans for those next two weeks. Quite often I see people post on Facebook for recipe ideas. Sometimes for a specific diet or meat.  I know there is Pinterest, which a lot of mine do come from, but I know that I like to use recipes that are tried and true from someone I know and most importantly, isn't going to be using 30 different ingredients or a lot of 'cream of......' soup. (We are by no means organic, or "free" of anything, although we do the best we can with our budget, but there is just something about those soups....) So, below are the meals we've had (or will) from the 17th-31st.

- Mediterranean Gyros

(recipe here)

- Leftovers

- Marvelous Marinated Chicken 

(cooked enough for Jeremy's lunches that week)

(recipe here)

- Beef Pasta Bake

(This recipe is from a book, 

so let me know if you'd like it) 

-Leftovers

-Sausage Stuffed Peppers

(recipe here)

-Spinach Chicken Casserole

(recipe here)

-Leftovers

(supposed to be burgers but we 

have a ton of leftovers from the last 2 nights)

-Homemade Pizza

(this is just going to be a white crust with spinach, 

sausage, tomatoes and parmesan cheese)

-Swedish Meatballs
(leftovers for Jeremy's lunches)

-Sausages

-Lasagna roll-ups with added sausage

(recipe here)

-Leftovers

-Burgers

-Buffalo Chicken Tenders

(recipe here)

I also made this for my breakfasts:

(recipe here)

The rest of our breakfasts and lunches are just whatever! I don't plan too much for them. Cereal, oatmeal, eggs, bars, fruit, yogurt, carrot sticks, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, quesadillas, muffin-tin lunches....we keep it casual! 

I hope you saw something you'd like to try! I kind of had a cream cheese theme going on lol So far we are down the list to the Spinach Chicken Casserole and everything has been great! The gyros, marinated chicken, beef pasta, stuffed peppers and spinach chicken casserole were all new recipes! We are OBSESSED with the "marvelous" marinated chicken recipe! I marinated it over night and it was incredible!!! 

Lucas is 15 months!

He weighs 25lbs, 10oz (79%)

- at 12 months he was 22lbs, 12oz

He is 31.5 inches (56%)

- at 12 months he was 29inches


He loves trucks and has the cutest motor sound as he pushes them around. He also enjoys anything that his big brother is doing. He loves to read stories but he rarely sits until the end of it before he is going to get another one. He can say Mama and Dada and knows a lot of his animal sounds. He signs please and nods his head yes and no. Food is still his best friend. When something is almost gone, he wants to know there is more available and if you cut him off, his world is literally going to end. He got 4 teeth while we were on vacation, making 8 for now. There are a few more not far behind. He is scared of the vacuum just as much as Phoebe is scared of him. He LOVES her, but kitties don't usually like a little man running and screaming for them! If we are holding her though, he loves to come pet her nicely and give her hugs. She is a good girl and lets him. He is a persnickety little 2 year old, even though he is only 1 lol I'm not sure if this is second child syndrome or if he has just learned all the wrong things from his brother, but he sure keeps us busy and on our toes! 

But he sure is cute and we sure do love him!

Seth is THREE!

He weighs 33lbs 9.6 oz (68%)

- at 2 years he was 29lbs 4oz

He is 37.25 inches tall (42%)

- at 2 years he was 35 inches 

His favorite things still include Paw Patrol, going to the Zoo and playing with his Zoo animals, reading stories and being outside. He will play with anyone that lets him no matter where we are. He is super good at imaginary play and you will often find him taking his Paw Patrol on a mission (typically includes some zoo animals, too) He loves to help with anything. Whether I'm cooking, vacuuming or Jeremy is working in the garage, if you ask him to help and give him a job (especially if he gets to stand on a stool) he thinks he is big stuff. 

A lot of the time he is trying to get away from Lucas and play on his on, so that Lucas doesn't mess up his display of Paw Patrol or animals --- but then I'll turn around and catch sweet moments of them loving on each other. He will go from watching Lucas get in trouble and then calling me to make sure I know he is being good --- or else coming to Lucas' aide to try and get him to stop crying. Brothers! 

We started potty training him in March 

and he was fully trained, nights and all in May. 

Speech is going very well. He's come a long way just in the last few months. I haven't sat down to think about how many words he actually knows now, but I don't think that's what really matters. Now he actually wants to try and truly does. He has so many more consonants instead of everything being a 'b'. He got a new therapist last week and hasn't seem to skip a beat. We are very proud of him and continue to pray for his journey. I remind myself often that God loves him even more than I do and He already knows and holds his whole future in His hands.  

This was actually before our trip. He had his first cleaning appointment at the dentist! He has one trouble spot where plaque builds up, but we just floss and brush a little extra there and the dentist thinks he will be just fine, especially once he loses his baby teeth. 

And sometimes in life, 

you just gotta be a baby kangaroo and dance it out! 

I can NOT believe it's been 3 years since I became a Momma! Time has never gone by so fast.....but I'm loving the ride (most days hehe) 

Since we've been home...

As soon as we got home the boys grabbed their toys and got busy playing together! They sat at the table for a good long while with just those toys! I think they were happy to get out of the car and be with each other. We often heard from Seth in the car that he wanted Baby...

They love stretching like Dada.....

My boys <3 

We had an unwelcome guest too close to our home...

When it rains day after day after day, 

you make a fort under the kitchen table.....

Which means you get a picnic lunch!

We welcomed a new member to our family. Phoebe! She has made herself right at home and is the best cat. She loves to snuggle and is very gentle with the boys. She has gotten used to the boys and their noise, although she still runs from Lucas when he squeals at her. She is the first pet for Seth, Lucas AND Jeremy! 

And of course, we had to go to the zoo again before school started back up! Seth wanted to go back to Bompa and Beba's zoo with the Cheetah, but he settled for ours.......

We were super excited to see the baby lions out!

(can you spot the baby snuggled with Daddy?)

You all must know what our favorite animals are because I'm pretty sure I post the same pictures every time we go! I'm not sure I've ever seen a giraffe lay down before though.....

We did visit the gorillas, but the Daddy was inside and difficult to see and the Mommy and Baby were outside, but in a different part of the exhibit so I wasn't able to get a picture. The baby is getting bigger and super cute. There's another pregnant female, too! 

We got to ride the carousal. I didn't bring my phone on because I figured Lucas would act like he did last time and I'd just have to hold him. But of course, he rode there all by himself with the biggest smile on his face. Then we did the choo-choo! 

They both picked out a new animal to bring home to our collection. Seth confiscated both since it took Lucas approximately 25 seconds to fall asleep after we got in the car! 

School has started. Other than being without air conditioning for 24 hours, we are adjusting well! The boys ask for Dada all day, but we haven't had any major breakdowns. Seth just wants to know when we can go to the zoo again LOL