Meal Plans Week of 1-10-10

We're approaching mid-January already.  Funny how Christmas seems like it was so long ago already.  Another busy week here.  Today Justin will be at church most of the day for worship team, deacon duties and evangalism cmt.  I don't have any church duties today (for once!).  I may be doing some afternoon working out today, though.  My innards told me I just was not allowed to do an early morning workout today...I'll leave it at that :P  Monday is Meijer and Justin has council.  I might go to church in the evening as well to work on putting up some new nursery forms.  But I might do it some other morning this week.  We'll see how things are going on Monday.  Tuesday I have a playdate at a friend's house.  Wed. is my other potential nursery day.  Otherwise I could do some shopping...lots of birthdays coming up in Feb.!  Justin has a missions cmt. meeting, so dinner will be early.  Thursday Justin actually starts class.  Rebecca and I might visit my grandparents if they aren't busy and we're all healthy.  Friday is MOPS.  Saturday Justin might have a dinner thing for work...just a few guys for recognition of their great work on one of his projects.  Spouses are invited too.  The date hasn't been finalized yet, but if it is Sat. we'll be going and I have to find a baby-sitter!

In addition to the errands, meetings, etc. I have some baking to do.  I have yet to try my mixer!!!  Maybe I'll actually get around to baking bread this week (no time last week).  I do have to make a batch of graham crackers and sugar pecans for our Taste of MOPS on Friday.  And I might make some more dried fruit since we don't have much left...mainly apples and apricots.  I would at least like to make some more raisins.

On the personal front, Rebecca is really doing well with time outs and learning rules!  If I say she's doing something she shouldn't (and she knows it) she'll say "sit down, stay there" and go to her time out spot on her own :)  And she is maturing enough that she can control herself a bit more.  If I ask her to do something/not do something you can see her pause and think it through and decide to listen to what I said.  She is also doing very well with nightly toy clean up.  She doesn't even need supervision sometimes.  I'll be doing something and ask her to go clean up her toys...and she goes right to the living room and starts putting things in the toy bins.  You can tell she's proud of herself for doing a good job.  It's fun to see her grow up and mature.  And it's always much more fun to get to praise her for doing things well instead of scolding her for doing what she shouldn't.  I have to say we are very blessed to have a very good little girl.  And we let her know very often how great she's doing, how proud we are of her and how much we love her.  She really picks up on it.  This last week for the first time out of the blue Rebecca said, "I love you Momma"...no prompting, not in a goodbye or nighttime situation or anything.  Just randomly.  So sweet.  The best paycheck I'll ever get.  I love my job :)

Rebecca did use her potty for the first time this week too.  She actually sat down and peed right before her bath (not all of it made it in the potty, but that's ok :).  She seemed kind of surprised by it.  It was cute.  We're still not putting a lot of effort into this.  Just talk about it, explain it and see where it goes.

Last week I also managed to do a lot of post-Christmas cleaning.  I cleaned the living room and organized the craft corner.  I put away the last few Christmas decorations.  I got Rebecca's big girl room back in working order (made beds, got rid of Christmas bags/boxes, put away toys).  Justin finished painting her toy box, so we got that upstairs and it's already filled :P  I organized all of her toys this week...got some of her new ones out, put old ones away, downsized how much was in the living room.  I also cleaned in the basement.  I went through my pantry and checked dates on cans, etc.  Now I know what needs to be used up.  I organized our bag collection (Meijer, Target, etc.) and downsized.  I rearranged/swapped toys in Rebecca's play area.  I put her new stationary bike down there so she can bike when I do.  I got through several weeks worth of ironing and some clothes folding/putting clothes away.  I went through a bunch of stuf in our office closet that had been piling up.  And I did a little clean up/organization in the kitchen.  It sure feels good to have my house somewhat back in order!

On to the meals:

S - (church, LEC) - crockpot pizza soup and cheesy garlic bread (lunch); salad (me), leftover balsamic chicken (Justin) (dinner)
M - (dry apples, Meijer, council) - chicken nuggets, homemade french fries, roasted veggies
T - (playdate, dry grapes, meatless) - carrot souffle, peas, applesauce
W - (make pecans, make graham crackers, make bread, missions cmt, early) - beef vegetable soup, whole wheat bread
Th - (make wheat thins, class) - misc. leftovers and salad
F - (MOPS) - chicken florentine artichoke bake, beans, pears, bread
S - (out for dinner) - out to eat in Holland with Justin's work