He's Ready!

We ordered these warm up suits for Special Olympics about a month ago. They passed them out last night at basketball. Were the kids pumped!! They feel like "professional" players now!!! We had to purchase them for $25. I do believe they were going to buy for the athletes that couldn't afford it. So hopefully everyone was able to get one. They are going to participate in the State Tournaments in March. Hopefully it will work out for Danny to go. I think the kids are more excited about staying in a Hotel then competing!

Do You Meal Plan?

I finally made a meal plan last week. What a difference it makes in my life! I haven't done this for over a year and I'm not sure why. It does take a little time and "planning" but is so worth it in the long run. Especially now when I'm working three days a week. It is such a bonus to wake up each day and know "what" I'm making for dinner AND that I have all the ingredients in the house. To help you get started, this is my week's plan:

Day 1- Goulash - Betty Crocker Cookbook
Day 2- Sweet 'N Sour Pork - My family cookbook
Day 3- Taco's
Day 4- Spaghetti
Day 5-Hotdogs and Baked Beans
Day 6- Chicken Enchilada's - My family cookbook

I went mostly with what I had in the house. Next week I'll get a little more "meat and potato" meals. I only do six days as Sunday's we usually just eat left overs and have fried egg sandwiches for supper. Goulash, taco's and hotdogs were my work days. I made the Goulash and taco filling before I went to work and had the kids heat it up so it was ready when I got home. I have to plan what I want to make for work also. I kind of double up. Especially if it's a recipe I haven't tried. I make it at home first.

January

I've been meaning to take a picture of the first day of the month for about 6 months now. I always forget. It's fun to remember what kind of weather we had. I decided I'll take a picture the first week of each month. Maybe that will actually be possible. We got a bit of snow yesterday. Although this being the midwest, we could have 40 degrees by Wednesday and it could all be gone. But we do have snow today and it should be around for awhile. I can handle snow through January but after that.......I'm ready to be done.

Christmas Recap

We had a very wonderful Christmas. 12 of the 14 kids were home. It was a bit chaotic at times but the kids were great and the daughters were a huge help in keeping things in control and with the clean up chores! It really was amazing how well it went with so many people. It was so heart warming to see everyone having so much fun together.

Happy 20th Birthday Brett!

Looks like I need to take more pics of Brett. This is about all I could find. Happy Birthday!

Merry Christmas

I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Things are starting to hop around here. Two families have arrived already. My Mom and Dad should be in this afternoon and two more families will be coming in Wednesday night. A bit of chaos, but happy chaos!! I may or may not be on here the rest of the week. I've got Danny off to school and now I'm heading out shopping before the house wakes up!