Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for Nov 22 - Nov 28)

Happy Thanksgiving week!! Normally I don't cook a lot this week other than Thursday, but this week is a little different since we're pretty much home for the whole week. And we don't have many leftovers at all in the fridge. I'm planning to cook Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but may push the Wednesday meal into next week if I run out of steam, or just don't feel like cooking that night. Last week was very stressful around here and we had a ton going on, including Adrian working over 60 hours. I ran out of steam at the end of the week so we didn't make the meals I had planned for Friday or Saturday. I bumped one to this week and one to next week, but since it's grilled London Broil, it may just wait until we have a nice enough day to grill out.

This week I'm doing a large grocery shopping and then will not be shopping again until the week before Christmas. We did pretty good with this challenge in November, only doing small trips to pick up necessitities and using up a ton of what we have. We are starting to have some room in our freezers again, although they will be filled up this week after the grocery shopping and trip to Costco. While this requires a lot of planning, I kind of like only doing one large trip each month. It is saving me time and probably saving some money as well.

Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Ravioli Alfredo (I had a craving & we had this in the freezer)
Monday - Kielbasa and Cabbage Soup - recipe from my Dad, my parents said this was delicious (carryover from last week)
Tuesday - Tacos for the boys and Cabbage Jambalaya for the adults (we have 2 heads of cabbage that we have to use this week)
Wednesday - Butternut Pear Soup and Air Fried Cauliflower
Thursday - Thanksgiving!! See below for the actual menu
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Leftovers

Thanksgiving Menu - It will be just the 5 of us for Thanksgiving as it has been for the past few years. We are doing a mix of old favorites and new dishes this year. Adrian and I both picked dishes from our childhood that we loved to make this year. We are excited for another low key holiday here at home with our little family. Here's what we'll be enjoying:
Turkey - I just roast it in the oven, nothing special, but it's always delicious!
Gravy - from a jar
Stuffing - made with saltine crackers like my mom used to make growing up
Noodles - we are making these homemade this year like Adrian used to have growing up
String Bean Almondine
Brussels Sprouts Salad
Applesauce - we have a ton of cups from the school lunches
Bread - I'll grab a baguette from Meijer
Cheesecake
Cookie Pizza - I'll grab this from Meijer too

Water Flavor - Orange. We got cut oranges from school last week in the lunches so I used them up in the water this week

Baking - In addition to what I already mentioned above, I'm making a few other things this week. Wednesday is parfait day, so I'm making these cookie parfaits that I hope the kids will like. They also asked for an Oreo ice cream cake for dessert on Thursday, but I'm going to make it for Tuesday movie night instead. We're having french toast for breakfast on Saturday and at some point this week I will make these mint brownies that I've been wanting for a while. That should keep us full and busy this week for sure!

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 11/2 - 11/8)

Monday (11/2) Back to school today, although it is a weird week. We struggled to get up and moving today after the time change yesterday (plus Adrian forgot to set his alarm), but we still managed to get everyone up and online on time this morning. Today starts the second quarter for the boys and everyone did a great job of attending all of their Zoom calls and finishing all of their work for the day. Zak had an extra call today, he is doing a friendship group with a few other 3rd graders over their lunch period. He enjoyed seeing other friends online and chatting about what makes him a good friend to others. While the boys did their school work, I worked around the house and did some baking that I didn't get to over the weekend. The day passed quickly and before long it was time for dinner and our evening stuff.

We ate an early dinner tonight and watched some clips of Cookie Monster to celebrate his holiday today. Adrian had an eye doctor appointment late this afternoon so he was done working early and home from that to help with dinner for a change. After we all ate, I headed to the church to teach my Zumba class. We had to move out of the gym tonight and all enjoyed being in the atrium area. We did Zumba shuffle and had a super fun time, other than all of the squat songs that came on! While I was there, Adrian took AJ to his Scout meeting where they finished up learning about gun safety in preparation for their camping trip next weekend. When we all got home, we watched the final episode of "Series of Unfortunate Events" and then got the boys to bed. Then Adrian and I finished cleaning up the kitchen, watched an episode of "Schitt's Creek" and headed to bed too. As always, the second day of the time change was worse than the first, but not nearly as bad as it's been in the past!

Tuesday (11/3) Happy Election Day! The boys had off from school so we all got to sleep in a little today. Adrian got up and ready and headed to work upstairs and I got ready and headed to work at the church for a few hours for the election. I worked hard trying to keep people moving in the right direction and helping out where I could with the people working the polls. It was a crazy few hours but I was thankful to be able to be there to help and see all of the people out voting. I got to see a few friends and neighbors as well which was fun. If nothing else comes out of this, I'm glad it got people out and voting and hope this continues for the future. 

When I got home, we had lunch together and finished up a few things for school for the boys. Then I tried to wrangle some of my frantic energy into working around the house but it was really hard to stay focused on anything. I did manage to get a few things done and thankfully the day passed really quickly. I made everyone tacos for dinner and then Adrian and I cleaned up from dinner and took Rocky on a long walk before we got started on our family night. We watched AJ's pick of a movie, X2 finally tonight. We have tried to watch it a few times and always had different things come up. Adrian and I half watched it, we were too distracted with election results. The boys all liked the movie and said it was good. When it was over, we got them to bed and decided to try to distract ourselves with "Card Sharks" which barely worked. We went to bed like everyone else in the country, not knowing who our next president will be.

Wednesday (11/4) And we woke up as we went to bed last night, still not knowing. This whole year has been crazy and this election is just more of the same. We slept in a little bit since the older boys don't have any Zoom calls today and two of the kids I normally watch aren't coming over today. So we didn't need to be ready until Hailey got here around 8am. Daniel and Zak got up and ready before she got here and got started on school work soon after she got here. AJ slept in and eventually got started on his stuff. All four kids worked hard today and did a good job of focusing after the day off yesterday. While they worked on school, I obsessed over the election results and tried to focus on getting stuff done around the house.

After Hailey left, we all had dinner together before Adrian and I got ready for our evenings. I headed to the church to work for about an hour and was blessed to take communion with some friends who were meeting there. While I was at church, Adrian attended his Bible study on Zoom which he hasn't been able to attend the past few weeks. When we were all done, we started on our night routine. We watched "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" with the boys and I thought I knew the million dollar question (I did not) before they headed to bed. Adrian and I were exhausted so we decided to watch "The Goldburgs" for some laughs and then head to bed. The house is a wreck since I didn't get much done, or finish putting away all of the items we received from the school today, but it will get done eventually.

Thursday (11/5) We woke up again today still not knowing who our president is. We got up and moving on time and Adrian got AJ started at school then headed out to drop Rocky off at daycare. I got Daniel and Zak up and ready and we waited for Hailey to get here. Cameron isn't coming this week so we have a slighly lighter week this week. The kids did great with all of their Zoom calls and finishing all of their work today. They had a pretty packed day and it went late since Zak had a Zoom call at 2:30. They also managed to spend as much time as possible outside since the weather is beautiful! While they worked on schoolwork, I worked around the house and tried to organize all of the items we got yesterday from school and all of our Halloween candy.

The day passed quickly and before long it was time for Hailey to go home and for me to start getting ready for the evening. I made dinner and picked up Rocky and after feeding everyone I headed to the church to teach my Zumba class. We had a smaller group but still had a great time and an awesome workout. When I got home, we cleaned up a bit and then watched the season finale of "Press Your Luck" with the boys before they headed to bed. Adrian had to work super late and wasn't done until after 10pm. When he finally finished we watched "American Housewife" and "Young Sheldon" while having snacks and then headed to bed. We are exhausted after a very long and draining week!

Friday (11/6) We made it to Friday and even though we are all dragging, we managed to get up and moving on time. Adrian got AJ up and ready for his day and then headed up to work. I got Daniel up and started while Zak waited for Hailey to get here. The four of them did a good job of balancing getting their schoolwork done and attending Zoom calls while also playing a lot. They spent a ton of time outside on the trampoline and swing set and also played inside with magnet tiles. Zak, Hailey and I took a walk up to the school to pick up a few items for Zak in between their schoolwork today too. While they worked and played, I worked on getting stuff around the house done. We have a super busy weekend on tap so I'm trying to get as much done today as I can. 

The day passed quickly and before long it was time for Hailey to be picked up. Soon after she left, I headed out to run to Meijer to pick up groceries, drop off a prescription and get air in my van tire. When I got home, I made nachos for everyone for dinner and then we had a relaxing night together. The boys played video games for a while and Adrian and I took Rocky on a nice long walk and enjoyed the beautiful fall weather. After cleaning up a bit from dinner, we got ready for family movie night. We watched Adrian's pick of "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" since it is a Thanksgiving movie. It was pretty funny, although I was distracted with an online  Tupperware party I was attending. The boys really liked it and thought it was super funny, if a little dated. After we got them to bed, we watched this week's "Black-ish" and then also headed to bed since we're exhausted and have a long weekend ahead of us.

Saturday (11/7) Adrian, Zak and I were up early, as we usually are on Saturdays. I got ready and headed to the church to teach my Zumba Toning class. Adrian took Zak to his bowling league where we continued to improve including bowling his highest game of a 75! He bowled his 3 games for the league and then did a practice one with his new buddy Donovan. I'm so thankful for this league and how much Zak is enjoying it and learning from it!

When we all got home, we started staining our deck. We tried to keep this weekend clear to focus on this chore but that didn't exactly happen as we wanted so we made the best of it. We worked on the deck for a little over an hour and then took a break. The boys had some video game time while I got ready and headed to work at the church for a few hours. I had a great time catching up with some friends and celebrating one of them for their 60th birthday! While I was there, Adrian went to CABS to trade out our board game and then worked a little more on the deck with the boys. Then he dropped Daniel off at his friend Ethan's house for a sleepover tonight.

When I got home, we did another hour or so on the deck and are nearly done! Once the sun went down it was too hard to work out there so we grilled some steaks for dinner and got the boys fed. Then they played video games while we watched the OSU game. I tried to be productive since the game was pretty boring, but I was just too tired, so I eventually headed upstairs and watched an episode of "Jersey Shore Family Vacation" before falling asleep. Adrian watched the end of the game, put the boys to bed and then also headed to bed. It was an exhausting day but we got a lot accomplished which was the goal!

Sunday (11/8) We were up fairly early for us on a weekend so we could get started on the deck again. AJ and Zak helped Adrian finish it up while I got the kitchen cleaned up and made a salad for lunch. The deck still needs a little bit of touch ups, but we love how it looks! You can see the before and after pictures below. When we all finished our work, we got showered and I went to pick up Daniel. Then Adrian's parents came over for lunch with us before they leave for Florida next week. We had a nice visit this afternoon, enjoying lunch and some football together. When they headed out, we had the boys finish up their weekend chores and homework and then dropped AJ and Daniel off at church for One8ty.

While the older boys were gone, Zak had some video game time and Adrian and I worked around the house a bit. We got the absolutely essential stuff done, like taking down our Halloween decorations & prepping for the week, and left everything else for the week or next weekend. We picked up AJ & Daniel who had a great time playing video games with friends at the church. The rest of the night passed quickly with the boys playing and Adrian and I relaxing. We played a quick family game of "Apples to Apples" and laughed a lot before getting ready for bed. We watched a new to us show called "Raising Dion" tonight and everyone liked it! When the boys were in bed, Adrian and I watched 2 comedies from the past week and then headed to bed sore and exhausted from the busy weekend!

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 10/26 - 11/1)

Monday (10/26) Another week of virtual school starts today and it's going to be a busy one! We got up and moving on time this morning. Adrian got AJ up and ready and started on school and then headed upstairs to work for the day. I got Daniel and myself up and ready and after he was started, I had to get Zak up because he has to go to school the next two days. He headed in this morning to take part 1 of his AIR test for ELA. He was there for about 3 hours and said it was great to be in school again. He enjoyed seeing his teacher and his friends and said the test was pretty easy. I'm annoyed that he has to do this testing, but thankfully he wasn't stressed out about it so I'm just going with it.

After he got home, Zak took the rest of the day off because he has very little schoolwork to do this week. AJ and Daniel did a great job of attending all of their Zoom calls and staying on task to finish all of their work. When they were done with all of their work, we called Adrian down and we carved pumpkins for the first time ever. The boys did a great job of designing the faces and cutting out the patterns they drew, although they wanted nothing to do with scooping out the guts. That job fell to Adrian and I, and I saved all of the seeds so I can roast them over the weekend for snacks. The pumpkins all came out great and the boys had a blast. They said they want to do this every year from now on!

After I cleaned up from the carving mess, I got dinner together for everyone so we could do our evening things. I headed out to the church to teach my Zumba class. We had a great time dancing together and worked up a great sweat! Then I ran to Kroger to pick up my weekly order of groceries and Zak and Daniel helped me unload it and put it all away when I got home. While I was doing that, Adrian took AJ to his weekly Scout meeting where they learned the first half of gun safety for their upcoming campout. When we all got home, we watched an episode of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and then got the kids to bed. Then Adrian and I cleaned up the kitchen a little and watched "Supermarket Sweep" before we also headed to bed.

Tuesday (10/27) Another school day for us and we all got up and moving on time again today. Adrian got AJ up and moving and took care of Rocky before he headed upstairs to work for the day. I got myself, Daniel and Zak ready and started on our day. I dropped Zak off at school again for his second day of AIR testing and he once again said he did great. Adrian, Rocky and I were able to walk up to pick him up which was super exciting for Zak, and his principal who got to meet Rocky. The boys worked hard all day, including speech therapy for AJ and Zak. It was a long school day, but they did great staying focused and finishing everything up for the day. While they worked on schoolwork, I helped them out and worked around the house. The day passed quickly and as soon as everyone was done, I released them to play video games for a few hours.

I got dinner together and we had an early taco Tuesday dinner before the boys and I headed out to a local park that was having a drive thru trick or treat event. The line was long, but it moved pretty fast and we were able to get to the 15 treat stations pretty quickly. We all enjoyed the drive thru format!! After collecting our candy, I dropped AJ and Daniel off at home and Zak and I headed to our Scout meeting. We learned about the flag and endangered animals together. It was a fun and interesting meeting this week! When we got home, we got ready for family movie night and watched AJ's pick of "Gremlins." The boys enjoyed it, although they thought it was a bit dated. When the movie was over, we got them to bed, watched an episode of "Schitt's Creek" and headed to bed too.

Wednesday (10/28) We all got to sleep in a little today since there are no early Zoom calls today. Adrian and I got up and moving and after he got Rocky settled, he headed upstairs to work for the day. Then I got Daniel and Zak up and ready so they would be ready when Patrick, McKenzie and Hailey all arrived. The kids quickly got thru their schoolwork today and in between work, they set up a real life game of "Among Us." When everyone was done their work, we painted pumpkins for Halloween and enjoyed some pumpkin patch dirt cake. The kids all had a great time and it was a fun way to celebrate Halloween a little early with some friends.

The rest of the day passed quickly with the kids playing and me getting stuff done around the house. Melissa picked up our food from the school for us and dropped it off to us when she picked up her kids. I got the food put away, got dinner together for everyone and then headed out to work at the church for an hour. It was a busy night there with worship practice and a few small groups meeting. While I was at work, Adrian went to his Bible study on Zoom. When we were both done, we walked Rocky and then got ready for our night routine. We watched "Press Your Luck" with the boys and then got them down to bed. Then we watched a few comedies from tonight before we also headed to bed for the night.

Thursday (10/29) We were up and moving on time again this morning, Zak was actually the first one up and showered before the rest of us got moving. Adrian got AJ up and ready and started on school then he took Rocky to daycare and started working upstairs. He actually left the house today and went downtown to his office for about an hour since they are moving to a new floor. He moved all of his personal stuff to his new office, even though he has no idea when he will get to use it. I got Daniel up and ready and we waited for Cameron and Hailey to get here. All of the kids did pretty good at staying focused on finishing all of their school work. It was a little rough today since Zak and Hailey don't have a lot of work to do this week, but we made it work.

When everyone was done with schoolwork, they played a few games of Among Us in real life, then everyone played video games together. Zak and Hailey have been playing Minecraft and have a whole server that they are developing and playing on together. While they were working and then playing, I got some stuff done around the house and tried to get a few things ready for the weekend. The day passed very quickly and before I knew it, it was time for the kids to be picked up. I ran out quickly to run a few errands and then picked up Rocky from daycare.

When I got home, our traditional Jets pizza arrived for dinner and we all quickly ate and then bundled up for trick or treat. Adrian and AJ stayed home to pass out candy while the other 3 of us headed out in the rain to collect candy. The neighborhood was pretty dead this year, not a lot of people out and not a lot of people passing candy. I think it was a combination of COVID and the bad weather. But we made the best of it and had a great time walking around anyway. Zak made it about 90 minutes and was rewarded with a giant bag of candy. Daniel walked home on his own after about 30 minutes with us. We only had about 25 kids come to our house, which is a bummer but understandable.

After we warmed up and dried off, the boys had a little bit of free time and then we all watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Well, we attempted to watch it, we ended up watching clips of it pieced together on YouTube. I'm still super mad that none of the Charlie Brown specials will be on network TV this year, it's so stupid! After we got the boys to bed, Adrian and I finished up a few things to have the kitchen ready for school tomorrow and then we watched this week's episodes of "Card Sharks" and "Superstore." It was both funny and humbling to watch "Superstore" and how they depicted the pandemic. My prayers continue for all who work in retail. 

Friday (10/30) We got up and moving today, but just barely. We all have a candy hangover after yesterday and will be struggling thru the day I'm sure. Adrian got AJ up and moving before he headed to work for the day. I got Daniel up and ready for school and let Zak sleep in a little. Cameron didn't come over today since his grandmother was in town for the weekend so we waited for Hailey to get here so we could finish schoolwork and have a small Halloween party. When Zak finally got up, he and Hailey played for a bit and then got their schoolwork done for the day. Zak and I also made two snacks together for our Halloween party, witches broomsticks and pumpkin popcorn balls. These finished a belt loop for him for Scouts as well as provided some of our snacks for lunch.

Since Zak and Hailey had a light week, we waited for the older boys to have their lunch break and we all had a small Halloween party for lunch. We enjoyed the snacks Zak and I made, mummy hot dogs, apple straws and of course, candy! The kids had a fun time eating the different foods and hanging out on their lunch break. After lunch, Hailey and Zak played Minecraft for the rest of the afternoon since they had a light week of schoolwork due to testing. AJ and Daniel worked hard to finish their schoolwork and then also had some video game time.

When Hailey left, we all had an early dinner together and then got ready for a busy night. Zak and I headed out to a few local trunk or treats, one that we walked thru and two that were drive thru. While we were out, the older boys' friends came over and they all played Dungeons and Dragons together. They had a great time, although Adrian said it was hard to keep them focused. He doesn't have much experience with kids and the full moon, ha! When their game was over, the kids headed home and our boys had a little more video game time before bedtime. Adrian and I cleaned up the kitchen a little, then watched some comedies on our DVR before we also headed to bed, exhausted after a super busy week!

Saturday (10/31) Happy Halloween!! We were up and moving early today since we had a busy and fun day planned. I got ready and headed to the church to teach my Zumba class to a small but awesome group of ladies. While I was there, Adrian took Zak to his weekly bowling league where he continued to improve. When we all got home, the boys got their costumes on and we headed out as a family to go to two different drive thru trunk or treats in the area. We had a great time collecting candy and looking at all of the trunks. Then we stopped to pick up a few treats from my friend & got home to find out we had been "boo-ed" by another friend so we had a ton of treats to enjoy!

We were going to head out to a few other trunk or treats, but Zak decided that he had done enough and would rather just hang out at home. So they played video games for the rest of the day while Adrian and I hung out downstairs. We played a game of "Suburbia" and I lost again. I really like this game though and we are planning on getting it for Christmas. Then we played our October game of "Pandemic Legacy" and we finally won again! We got really lucky with our set up and were able to win this month pretty quickly and easily. In between games, we relaxed, watched an episode of "Schitt's Creek" and walked Rocky a few times. 

After a quick dinner of leftover pizza and air fried wings, Adrian settled in to watch the OSU football game. I got a few things done around the house and then enjoyed some time just chilling and playing games on my tablet. We let the boys stay up until midnight, although we both struggled to stay up that long with them. When the football game was over, we watched another episode of "Schitt's Creek" and took Rocky on another walk in an effort to stay awake. When we finally went up to put the kids to bed, we followed right behind them. Thankful we will get an extra hour of sleep tonight!!

Sunday (11/1) We were supposed to get an extra hour of sleep last night but instead we had a power outage and had AEP here at 4:00 in the morning. Ironically, I was up for just about an hour while they worked before they finally restored it and I fell back asleep. Thankfully, we all slept in late this morning so I still got a lot of rest and feel great for the week ahead. We had a nice breakfast together and then Adrian and I got started on our giant to do lists for the weekend. We pretty much worked all day with a few breaks to watch some of the football highlights.

The boys played video games for a while this morning, then took a break around noon to do their normal weekend chores and finish up some homework. When they were done with everything, they went back to video games until dinner time. They were excited to see our first snow this afternoon! Zak wanted to go out and jump on the trampoline in it, but we wouldn't let him go in shorts so he didn't do it. Adrian made us all delicious calzones for dinner to celebrate National Calzone Day and everyone loved them, except Zak. After an early dinner, I drove AJ and Daniel to One8ty for video game night there. Unfortunately I had the time wrong and they missed most of the time, but had fun while they were there.

When we got home, we took Rocky for a quick and cold walk before starting on our night stuff. Adrian and I finished up a few more things around the house and the boys finished up cleaning up their bedrooms since they couldn't do them earlier. Then we started our "thankful" pumpkin for the month before watching an episode of "Series of Unfortunate Events." When that was over, the boys headed to bed and Adrian and I had some snacks while watching the Cowboys game. 

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for Nov 15 - Nov 21)

Last week was much like every other week this year and was filled with last minute changes. My mom got here Tuesday night and was going to head to my brother's on Friday when Adrian and AJ left for their campout. Then the campout cancelled and she decided to stay here until Saturday. She also wanted to treat us all to pizza one day so we decided to order more from Marco's for the fundraiser day on Thursday. It was all fun things, but it did switch our meals around a bit. My mom was interested in trying one of our butterkin squash, so I made this turkey meatloaf stuffed squash using one acorn squash & one butterkin squash. It was just OK and we all agreed that butterkin is better roasted with some cinnamon & brown sugar. 

This week is my last full week of cooking healthy before taking a few days off for Thanksgiving. I'll be sure to pop on next week to share what I'm making for Thanksgiving, but it won't be a full meal plan. I will only cook the first 2-3 days of the week next week, then we will eat leftovers to clean out the fridge before Thanksgiving and again after. This week I'm using up the last of our produce from our CSA except for the apples, potatoes, squash and onions. I will actually have to start buying produce for us very soon. We are blessed that we will still get some produce from the school, including frozen veggies like corn, string beans & brocolli, plus apples, pears, bananas and oranges.

Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Air Fried Chicken Wings and leftover Cabbage Salad
Monday - Various fast food to celebrate fast food day!
Tuesday - Tacos - beef for the kids and chicken for the adults
Wednesday - Greek Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Kale
Thursday - Chicken Soup and Air Fried Brussels Sprouts - carryover from last week
Friday - Kielbasa and Cabbage Soup - recipe from my Dad, my parents said this was delicious
Saturday - London Broil and Roasted Beets & Sweets

Water Flavor - It's a mash up this week for the water. I have half a lemon from last week, an apple that half rotted and then I'll fill the rest with an orange. I like the apple and citrus combo so I get a little sweet with my tart.

Baking - I'm making these cranberry applesauce muffins again for Adrian and I for breakfast. We loved them last time, but didn't realize they needed to stay in the refrigerator so we lost a few to mold. I'm also making these cookies for the boys in an effort to use up some of the cereal we have from the school. And finally I'm making peanut butter fudge to celebrate that holiday on Friday. 

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for Nov 8 - Nov 14)

Last week went by in flash! I was exhausted most of the week between the time change on Sunday and being super busy with work at the church for the election. Plus the stress of not knowing who won the election and just normal life happening. I did the best I could to continue to follow the meal plan I set up and pretty much did until Friday. I actually changed the plan earlier in the week when I realized Friday was National Nacho Day & we all had nachos that night for dinner. Then on Saturday, the weather was so great that we felt like we should bump the planned meal and grill out. We made delicious steaks on the grill and I made some french fries to go with them.

This week is another strange one, which seems to be the case most of November and December. This week my mom is coming on Tuesday for a few days. Adrian has Wednesday off for Veterans Day so we'll be going out for our monthly wine tasting and picking up dinner on our way home. Adrian and AJ will be gone all weekend for a camping trip. I am doing the best I can to eat well but most of this week will be easy meals and leftovers. There is just too much going on for me to cook big meals. I'll continue to keep up with our CSA produce. We got our last delivery on Friday so whatever we have is all we have until next May. I have a ton of squash and potatoes to use up over the next few months, and also a ton of frozen veggies from the school lunches. 

Here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Leftovers or frozen lunches
Monday - IP Pot Roast with Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts
Tuesday - Buffalo Chicken and Potatoes with Air Fryer Cauliflower
Wednesday - Out to eat at a new place by us, Talita's
Thursday - Chicken Soup with Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts
Friday - Leftovers or frozen lunches
Saturday - Leftovers or frozen lunches

Water Flavor - Orange again this week. We continue to get oranges in our school lunches and no one eats them so I'll be using them in my water. I may also make fresh squeezed orange juice at some point, but I still have some of that to use up from the school before I get that creative.

Baking - I'm loving making blender batter for our breakfast items! This week I'm trying peanut butter bread for the adults. I'm also starting to use up some of the cereal we get from the school and I'll be making these breakfast bars for the boys.

Other - Sunday afternoon my in-laws are coming over for lunch so we're having sandwiches and I'm making this Asian Salad to use up some of my cabbage and carrots. We are also celebrating vanilla cupcake day on Tuesday, but instead of baking I decided to buy the cupcakes from Meijer this time. On Thursday the boys will be getting Marco's Pizza for dinner since it's a fundraiser for Daniel's school. And on Saturday, it's National Pickle Day so I'll make Air Fryer Pickles for everyone to try.

Keeping Up With...2020 Goals (Oct Recap)

Wow, I can't believe October is over, the month really flew by! It's so funny how this year has gone, the first two month flew by, the next 3 months felt like years and then it started picking up again. I know for us, October is always busy and this year was no exception. We purposely loaded our schedule up with tons of outdoor activities this month and did them all. Adrian and I both feel we'll be staying home a lot more in the upcoming months between the cold weather and COVID so we decided to do all we could do in October. We fell behind a little on the housework, but decided we don't care because we'll have plenty of time to catch up on that over the winter.

I did pretty good making progress on most of my goals for this year during this month, even if it was super busy. I think the only ones I didn't make progress on were the ones around the house. I've been reading a lot because Zak needs to read for 20 minutes most days so I read when he reads. My weight continues to go in the wrong directions and while I'm frustrated about it, I know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it. Honestly at this point, my goal is more to maintain for the next 2 months and then start over fresh in 2021. Next year that will be a huge focus for me! I will be reducing my other goals and expectations and really focusing on my weight and my health as I start the second half of my 40's.

I also am really trying over the next 2 months to finish everything that has been on my on-going to do list. For a long time it just kept getting longer and I rarely crossed anything off it. This year I have actually been making some progress and finished things that were on there for over a year. Unfortunately as soon as I finish 1 things, 2 more things go on the list so it's an ever growing list. But my hope is to catch up on everything over the next 2 months and then pick just a few places to focus each month next year and avoid this large and growing list!

Here's how I did on my goals last month and my thoughts on a few of them.

• Lose 25 20 pounds - I gained another 1 pound this month for a total of negative 1 pounds lost so far this year. See above for my thoughts on this. 
• Exercise for 20 minutes every day - I exercised all 31 days this month, 285 days so far this year!! I did really good with this goal, especially keeping up with walking Rocky each day. I'm convinced this is why I only gained 1 pound this month. It could have been so much worse!
• Finish 12 exercise related calendar challenges - I did all 31 days this month and finished another month! I'm proud of myself for keeping up with these this year, but won't be doing them again next year. It's a lot to keep up with and it's stressful when I fall behind. 
• Do 30 40 60 Bible Plans in the You Verse app - I finished 9 plans in Oct, and have finished 58 so far this year. 
• Read "A Little God Time for Women" - I've read all 305 days so far this year, I'm on track to finish this goal too.
• Read 20 books - I've finished 11 books so far this year.  In Oct I finished "How to Steal a Dragon's Sword" which was a quick and fun read! I'm finishing up one other book in November and then will try to read the last 3 books in this series to finish my year strong.
• Read the 12 How to Train Your Dragon Books - I finished 1 book in October and 9 books so far.
• Read "Feminine Mystique" - I read 11% in Oct have read 53% so far this year. 
• Write 45 35 meal plan blogs - I did 3 posts this month, 29 blog posts so far this year. 
• Write 52 weekly summary blogs - I did 6 posts this month, 44 blog posts so far this year. I caught up on all of my posts for this year and should be on track to do all 52 this year!
• Write 12 4 9 goal recap blogs - I've done 7 so far this year so this goal looks doable. 
• Pay off $5,000 of credit card debt - We paid off $650 this month, $3,750 so far this year. We're on track to hit this goal!
• Renovate the boys' bedrooms kitchen - We got the paint bought to paint the kitchen and stain for the deck, but were too busy to do anything this month (see above). We are staining the deck in November and then we'll be done with house renovations for this year. We'll reevaluate for Jan.
• Finish my daily to do list every night - I did this about 20 days in October. Again, this was something else that I did not keep up with while having so much fun this month. I'm planning to be back on track in November! 
• Watch 50 70 movies - We've watched 57 movies so far.  Our October movies were "Goosebumps," "Goosebumps 2," "Beetlejuice," "The House with a Clock in its Walls," "Back to the Future," and "Gremlins."
• Go on 12 dates with Adrian - We've gone on 9 dates so far this year. This month we had our annual Columbus Day date! It was shorter than usual since the boys had virtual school but we still made it work. We went for our October wine tasting at Cooper's Hawk then out to lunch at Shake Shack. We came home and napped on the couch and then played a few board games. It was a fun day!
• Sub 80 days in the schools - I've subbed 21.5 days so far since January.  Unfortunately this goal is on hold until schools reopen, or possibly next year.  It's looking like next year since the boys will remain virtual until at least Jan. That is where my focus needs to be this year.
• Go to 6 Zumba jam sessions - I did another virtual jam this month for a total of 3 virtual jams so far this year plus a ton of mini jams. I enjoyed checking out a new to me jammer this month & am thankful to Zumba for gifting me a free jam for my support of the jam program over the years.
• Clean out master bedroom - Done!!
• Play 1 game with Adrian each week - I have done this all 44 weeks so far! 
• Play Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 with Adrian once per month - We have played 10 months so far. We lost both of our games for September (which we played in Oct), just barely. This is the first time we have lost a month and just moved on to the next one. We started out both times thinking we would lose quick, then managed to do great and were one turn away from winning each time. Then we played our actual October game and we won very easily! We have 2 months to go to finish this season.
• Play Machi Koro Legacy with the boys - We have played 9 months so far and are having a great time playing this game as a family!! Zak won again this month and it was by far our best and most exciting month so far. We are eager to finish up next month and play our designed game in December.
• Have 6 9 nights out with friends - I've had 8 nights out so far. This month I went on another morning coffee run with my girlfriends. We went to Cup o' Joe after Zumba one morning, it was so much fun!
• Go on an awesome family vacation to the Outerbanks - We have decided to cancel this trip due to the uncertain nature of travel right now. We debated about doing something else as a family but decided to just stay home for the summer instead. Adrian is taking a week off in July and we'll do a few day trips but that's all we have planned for the summer now.
• Do 100 fun family things (one thing each week during school & one thing per person each week over the summer) - We did 89 fun things so far this year and obviously this is a little different right now.  We are still having fun, it's just a different kind of fun right now.  This month we did: campout at Falling Rock, at home drive in movie, ice cream at Ice Cream Rollery, Monster Mash, D&D night (x2), Van Buren Acres, ice cream at Hayman's Dari Bar, Jersey Dairy, trunk or treat (x4), trick or treat, donuts at Krispy Kreme, pumpkin carving, Halloween party with friends (x2)
• Go on 2 family camping trips - Same as with vacation, we went back and forth and decided not to do this but instead save our money and energy for a few fun day trips and invest in one or two big vacations next year.
• Deep clean the whole house - Done!!  We only have the basement left, but that is on hold until we renovate the kitchen.

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for Oct 25 - Nov 7)

 

We have been super busy around here so I missed a week of blogging about what we're eating. It was kind of a mixed bag last week anyway, with some easy meals like take out pizza and leftovers and some delicious meals to use our produce. I decided to combine the past two weeks into one post to share all of the recipes that I used over the two weeks. We had a great time celebrating Halloween last week, we did a few trunk or treats, a few parties with friends and our neighborhood trick or treat in the rain. There was a lot of junk food and candy this week, and everyone enjoyed it all!

This week starts November which is typically the calm between the storms of the holidays for us. We are always super busy for Halloween and Christmas so we spend November catching our breath. We also are busting at the seams with food so I did a fill in shopping trip last week and I'm planning not to do another one until the week of Thanksgiving. We will be eating what we have here, plus we have one more CSA delivery and we are still getting the meals form the school district. We should have more than enough food to get thru the month.

Adrian and I are also really trying to refocus on eating healthy. It has been such a struggle this year! This time of year is always hard, but I'm hoping we can pull it together for a few weeks. The scale has been inching up this past year and I hate it! I am hoping to do what I can so it doesn't go up any further for the next 2 months, maybe even lose a few pounds. And then really hit the ground running in January. I always tell people not to wait until the new year and I'm trying not to do that, but it's also such a crazy time in the world so I'm giving myself some grace.

Here are some of the highlights of what I cooked last week:
Taco Zucchini Boats - for the adults on Taco Tuesday 
Napa Cabbage Salad with Asian Pork
Air Fried Salmon
Air Fried Broccoli
Dirt Cake - for one of our Halloween Parties
Witches' Brooms - with Zak for a Scout requirement and a Halloween Party
Popcorn Pumpkins - with Zak for a Scout requirement and a Halloween Party
Mummy Hot Dogs - for one of our Halloween Parties

And here's what we're eating this week:
Sunday - Calzones
Monday - Spaghetti Squash Skillet with Air Fried Cauliflower
Tuesday - Chicken Enchilada Stir Fry for the adults and Tacos for the kids
Wednesday - Pasta with leftover sauce and Kale Chips
Thursday - Sausage & Squash Stew with Air Fried Brussels Sprouts
Friday - Buffalo Chicken & Potatoes with Kale Chips
Saturday - Pot Roast with Air Fried Brussels Sprouts

Water flavor - Both weeks I did orange water because I have a drawer full of oranges from the school. Only Adrian eats them and he only eats like one per month, so I'll be using them for my water for a while.

Baking - I'm making a healthy banana bread for Adrian and I to have for breakfast this week. I also found pumpkin in the refridgerator so I'm going to make pumpkin chocolate chip bars for the boys. I'm also roasting pumpkin seeds from the pumpkins we carved last week. I did two batches last week and flavored them with chipotle seasoning & chili lime seasoning. This week I'm doing curry roasted ones and sesame soy ones.