Friday, May 4, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 38)

Hello! I'm back from a wee blogging break. The break wasn't intentional, it just kinda...happened. At first I was busy getting ready for a trip to Chicago for my adorable little niece's 1st birthday. Then we were there for 6 days. Then I was in recover/return to real-life mode. And by that point I had several ideas for posts and just didn't know where to start. So, today I decided to just dive right in. And what better way to dive back in than with 7 randomly scattered thoughts?

1) It seems that I change Joseph into a new outfit every time he's about to eat (don't ask me why). Then as soon as the meal is over the clean outfit is no longer so clean. You would think I'd learn not to bother changing him until after each of his meals, but I guess I'm a little slow on the uptake...or maybe it's just that I love doing extra laundry.

2) My niece (and Goddaughter!!) had her 1st birthday a couple weeks ago. Joseph and I headed to Chicago for her birthday weekend and had a wonderful time. We really enjoyed visiting with my sister and brother-in-law and their kids. We also got to see my younger sister, Alyse, and my parents as well as a couple of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was great visiting with everyone.
Happy 1st birthday, sweet Clare!!!


3) Speaking of my adorable niece. Check out this video of her....getting around. We have yet to figure out what to call it. It isn't a walk, and it isn't a crawl. And we can't seem to think of a good way to describe what she's doing. If you think of a good name for this please let me know.


4) It's May. You know what that means? It means I'm 1/3 of the way through my New Year's Resolution! That's right, people, I've stuck with my resolution for 4 whole months. How are you doing with your resolution? It's not too late to get back on the bandwagon.
I will say I greatly enjoyed my first day of sweets on Easter day. And (confession) I kinda sorta...adjusted my resolution to include all 8 days of Easter (although I didn't decide that until the last 2 days). So, I got 3 days of sweets instead of just one. And it was mainly so I could eat the delicious cookies I made on Easter day.
But, now I'm back to no sweets until Joseph' birthday. You better believe I'm counting down the days.

5) I've recently begun planning out our meals a week at a time. Before I did this I found myself at the grocery store at least 2-3 times a week (sometimes more). Although I often end up switching around what days we eat what it has gone pretty smoothly for almost a month now. It has been especially useful in planning when to try new recipes. I've been able to try two new recipes so far (thanks Pinterest!) and revive a couple old ones that I haven't used in a while.
I've also been able to cut down on our consumption of spaghetti and breakfast for dinner (not that we don't love those dinners!).
Before I began planning out our meals I would often realize at 6pm that my husband would be home soon and I needed to get crackin' on dinner. This usually meant I hadn't given one teeny tiny thought to what we would be having and thus wouldn't have thawed (or bought) any meat or other ingredients. This meant we were having spaghetti or breakfast for dinner...or if I really couldn't get it together we might order Chinese or grab some Chicken Out. This has only happened once since I began menu planning and that was in the couple days after we got home from Chicago and I hadn't had a chance to go to the grocery store. I am very pleased with how the menu planning in going, and am looking forward to (hopefully) staying this organized.
Perhaps I'll even join in on the Menu Plan Monday linkup one of these days...

6) I still can't get over Joseph's cuteness. He's walking even better now. He can take 10-12 steps at a time and tries to walk pretty much every chance he gets. He definitely wants to be able to walk at all times, so I'm pretty sure he's going to master this whole walking thing soon. Until then, he'll continue crawling and climbing to get where he wants to go...
Nomnom. The dishwasher is my favorite!
What? This drawer wasn't made for babies?
7) Today is my dad's birthday. Happy birthday, dad!!!
Sorry, mom. I realize that's not the best pic of you, but dad and the babies look so cute!

Have a great weekend, ya'll! Go visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more quick takes!

2 comments:

Jessa @ Shalom Sweet Home said...

Hi Betsy! Greetings from the Holy Land! I found your blog through Conversion Diary's 7 Quick Takes. Your kiddo and your niece are too cute, and I'm pretty sure that's a Russian folk dance move she's doing. (You know, like this kind of dancing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OANzLIuxhNo#t=1m53s. hehe :)

My husband and I also plan our meals a week ahead, and it saves so much time and money! We plan ahead to make lots of extra to take to work for lunch. We love that if you spend ten minutes thinking about a menu once a week, you don't have to think anymore, just cook what's on the schedule for today! :) I'll be trying a few of your vegetarian recipes in the future too!

Have a great day!

Betsy @ Adventures of an Amateur Housewife said...

Hi Jessa! Thanks for stopping by! Two of my favorite vegetarian recipes are black bean cakes and sweet potato quesedillas (unless you include salmon as vegetarian, then I'd have to include the salmon as well). I'm a sucker for mexican food :)