February Meal Plans.

I figured since I went to the trouble of creating these full meal plans each month, I might as well start sharing them. Now I realize that the meals are all extrememly healthy, or exactly what I want to encourage families to eat. However they are a mixture of healthy and family favorites. So that's what you get. Now I've got to figure out how to insert the correct kind of document into the blog to share it with you. This should be fun. I hope that this all worked out. As the week goes on I will link some of the meals to the recipes that I use for them so that you have access to that. Enjoy!

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Snack	Dinner
Wednesday,          February 1	Oatmeal	Peanut Butter and Honey	Granola Bars	Sloppy Joe's , Corn on the Cob
Thursday,          February 2	Biscuits	Peanut Butter and Honey	Hummus,      Veggie Sticks	Rolled Hot Dogs
Friday,                February 3	Cinnamon Toast	Peanut Butter and Honey	Gold Fish, Fruit, String Cheese	Chicken'n Rice Green Beans
Saturday,               February 4	Cereal	Quesadillas	Gold Fish, Fruit, String Cheese	Pancakes      Bacon                 Fruit Salad
Sunday,                February 5	Oatmeal	Mac and Cheese	Trail Mix	Meat Loaf Broccoli         Sweet Potato
Monday,             February 6	Muffins	Peanut Butter and Honey	Trail Mix	Chicken Tenders Green Peas      Rolls
Tuesday,            February 7	Cereal	Peanut Butter and Honey	Granola Bars	Princess O's
Wednesday,                February 8	Cinnamon Toast	Peanut Butter and Honey	Trail Mix	French Dip,       Green Beans
Thursday,          February 9	Oatmeal	Peanut Butter and Honey	Gold Fish, Fruit, String Cheese	Pizza
Friday,               February 10	Cereal	Peanut Butter and Honey	Granola Bars	Hamburgers,   Tater Tots, Crudites
Saturday,             February 11	Biscuits	Grilled Cheese	Trail Mix	Orange Chicken, Rice                    Stir Fried Veggies
Sunday,            February 12	Pancakes	Hot Dogs	Jello	Chicken Helper            Peas                  Crescent Rolls
Monday,             February 13	Muffins	Peanut Butter and Honey	Jello	Pork Loin,     Roasted Veg
Tuesday,           February 14	Oatmeal	Peanut Butter and Honey	Trail Mix	David's Choice
Wednesday,           February 15	Cereal	Peanut Butter and Honey	Gold Fish, Fruit, String Cheese	Leftovers

Football life lessons Hodepodge.

1. The NFL playoffs were held this past weekend and this year's Superbowl lineup will feature The New York Giants versus The New England Patriots. How do you define 'patriot'?

Someone who has great love for their country and what it can accomplish and then is willing to become an involved part of making that happen. I think that the military members are often patriots, but not always. I think that politicians can be patriots, but I think that it is getting harder and harder to find one.

2. What's something in your life right now that feels like a 'giant'?

Hmmmm, Food. I have gotten back into some really unhealthy eating habits, and switching back is hard. I don't even like these foods but I continue to eat them, it is strange and disturbing.

3. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think back to being 18?

I thought I had it all figured out, I knew where I was going and what I was doing, thank goodness I was wrong.

4. Coconut-mashed potatoes-vanilla ice cream-mayonnaise...which white food would be the hardest to give up?

Mayonnaise, 100% the hardest. I do love coconut, but I can do without it if I have to. I am not a fan of mashed potatoes in general and neither of my children eat potatoes (one won't even touch french fries) so giving them up wouldn't be a problem. And honestly ice cream isn't my thing.

5. Describe an incident or a day you remember as the coldest you've ever experienced?

The time in my life that I remember as being the coldest I have ever been was while I was student teaching in England. The other student teachers and I were living in some unused dorms on  RAF Mildenhall, they had almost been abandoned, there was very little hot water, the heaters in the rooms only worked marginally and I was in the last room in the hall right next to the outside door that didn't close all the way. I slept in long underwear and sweats under about 10 old green wool ARMY blankets. It was horrible.

6. You're hosting a brunch...what's your favorite dish to prepare and serve?

Quiche. I adore quiche, I usually have most of the stuff on hand to make it, there is just something about that eggy-cheesy goodness all surrounded by a pie crust that is wonderful. If someone else is cooking, I love a good eggs benedict, however I am not a fan of the canadian bacon version.

7. How do you combat negative thinking?

I am generally pretty good at telling myself that negative thinking will not help, it usually makes the problem worse. I like to take a good look at the situation and try to find a solution rather than wallow in how unfair is it.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I'm loving the 365 (+1) challenge with photographs that I started. I don't know if my pictures are any good, or if they are getting better, but it sure is fun to take them.  

365 Photo Challenge - Day 4

P-nut working on her handwriting.

365 Photo Challenge. Day 3

First Day back at school after the break. Super excited!

New Year, New Hodgepodge

1. What are three words you would use to describe your 2011?  Fun, Comfortable, Unremarkable. Those make my year sound sort of boring, but it wasn't. It's just that this is a year that wasn't marked by a move, a deployment, or a baby in our life so it was sort of without any major event and I am totally ok with that.

2. Do you like shrimp? What's your favorite way to have it prepared? I love shrimp.... when it isn't overcooked. I love it any way, fried, in scampi, in an angel hair pasta with fresh garden tomato and garlic. Pretty much in any way I can get it. My husband isn't a big fan so I don't really make it at home, but I probably should.

3. Is your house de-Christmased? If so when did you tackle that job? If not, when will the decorations come down? Yes. It actually stayed up longer than usual this year, we were out of town until the middle of the week after Christmas so it stayed up until then. Usually DH and I take it down on Christmas day while the girls play with their new stuff. Why so fast? Well I put it up on Thanksgiving day, so it's been up for a month, and my birthday is 2 weeks after Christmas and I like to have some transition time in between.

4. Do you like to watch scary movies? No. Not at all. DH does, so this bugs him. But I don't like movies in general and scary movies seem to be a waste to me.

5. ice skating~sledding~skiing~snowboarding~of the four listed which wintertime activity do you most enjoy? Sledding or Ice Skating. I haven't Skated in years though so right now I would say sledding. I do have some interesting and awkward memories of going on ice rink "dates" as an early teen.

6. Did you have a childhood hideout? Describe it. My neighbors had this amazing apple tree that was perfect for climbing in their front yard, it wasn't hidden so much as our favorite place to play. It had two branches that were perfectly shaped to be horses. We played on it for hours.

7. What's a place or space that motivates you? Motivates me, hmmm. This is the hard one. I don't feel like a place or space motivates me. Hmmmmm. I'll think about this one for a while, but I am not sure that I will come up with something.

8. Insert your own random thought here. I am participating in the 365 photo challenge this year, and I am totally excited about it. I love the idea of photo-journaling what goes on in my family throughout the next year. I am really hoping that I end the year with not only a really great visual reminder of what happened, but also I am hoping that I improve my photo taking skills. (Link to the 365 Photo Challenge)

365 Photo Challenge. Day 2

This is my favortie picture from the day. I took a lot of my family ready for the South Carolina Bowl game, but this one wins for the best.

365 Photo Challenge. Day 1

Today was nail day at our house. So we have all the newly painted fingernails. Mommy in Gun Metal, AJ in Saved by the Blue, and P-nut in Buffy the Violet Slayer.