Come Play With Us

MTM-Shiver Me Timbers

It is Muffin Tin Monday at our house again!

C has been quite infatuated with pirates lately...I think it all started when she watched Hook a couple months ago.  She calls herself "Captain C" and tells us to "walk da plank, Daddy!" , "Arrrr! Shiver me timbers!"  and the classic "Yo ho ho!"

So in honor of our recent love of all things pirate, we did a pirate theme MTM tonight.  I also had a little surprise for the girls for after dinner....

1.  Plank (buttered toast)

2.  Treasure (fruit cocktail)

3.  Pirate Hook (fruit by the foot and marshmallow)

4.  Pirate Ship (tomato ship with mozzarella sail and shredded cheddar under)

5.  X marks the spot (fish sticks and tartar sauce)

6.  Whales (cheddar crackers)

E ate just about every little thing on her plate.  There was just a little shredded cheese left and some tartar sauce.  Good girl!

And this one ate 10 fish sticks plus most of the rest in her tin!  Very successful dinner tonight.  

Don't forget to check out what other moms are doing over at Muffin Tin Mom's site.

Then it was time for the after dinner surprise...so I got out the Pirate's Map, so we could search for the hidden treasure chest!

Here the girls are racing around the house with the map trying to find the treasure.  I finally got them on the right track and we headed downstairs.

As soon as I turned the light on, C immediately spotted the treasure chest and was frantically trying to open it.

I am so glad I did this pirate themed night.  Sometimes I feel bad because I mostly gear this kind of stuff more towards C's interests and not E's, but E absolutely had just as much fun (if not more) than C did with everything tonight.  And I guess that is the biggest success of tonight.  It was so much fun for me to see them running around with that little map and opening up their treasure together.  

 

MTM-Snow Storm

Over at Muffin Tin Mom, there are no longer going to be official themes.  Michelle will be posting some monthly theme suggestions, so I guess I will have have to get my creative thinking hat on. 

In honor of the 14 inches of new snow over the last 24 hours, we decided to do a Snow Storm themed muffin tin today.  

1.  Snowy Trees (cauliflower)

2  Banana Snowman (chocolate chips and pretzels for details)

3. Cheeseflake (mozzarella)

4.  Snowbanks (tapioca pudding)

5.  Snowballs (grapes with sugar)

6.  Breaded Tilapia (I couldn't think of a creative snowy name for fish....so it is just tilapia)

Also a side of tartar sauce for both girls.  

E went for the snowman first, C went for the tilapia.  I was surprised that C wanted to eat her fish, since the hubs deviated from our menu plan today and instead of ham/cheese pita, made fish sticks and fries for the girls.  (I found this out when I got home from work).  But she loves fish, and ate all of her tilapia.  

Another thing to note...I mentioned before that Andy is currently laid off, thus is home taking care of the girls.  I got home from work today, and the first thing I noticed was that he had dressed C in one of E's dresses, thinking it was "one of those half-shirt, half-dress things that you wear with leggings".  We had a good laugh over that one.  It actually looked kind of cute with leggings...but he probably had a heck of a time getting that size 12mo turtleneck over C's big melon!! 

Click the link below to see lots of fun ideas!

Menu Plan Sunday

Here is our weekly Menu plan for the upcoming week.

Sunday

B: Grapes and Banana Chip Muffins

L: Fish sticks, hashbrowns, applesauce

D:  Hawaiian chicken, broccoli, rice pilaf

Monday

B:  Jelly Toast and Yogurt

L:  Ham and cheese pita, blueberries

D:  Muffin Tin Monday

Tuesday

B:  Frozen Waffles, sausages

L:  Chicken noodle soup, grilled cheese sandwich

D:  Garlic Chicken, Seasoned Couscous, peapods

Wednesday

B:  Cereal and Cuties

L:  Tuna Sandwich, fruit cup, broccoli with ranch

D:  Quesadillas, refried beans, salad

Thursday

B:  Oatmeal, blueberries

L:  Turkey Burgers, Tater Tots, applesauce

D:  Pork Loin, Sweet potato fries, salad

Friday:

B:  Frozen Waffle, yogurt

L:  Macaroni and Cheese, Fruit cup

D:  Baked Halibut, Rice Pilaf, Corn

 

Winter Fun

Just thought I would post a few pictures from last weekend and the unseasonably warm temperatures!

Climbing the steps on the swingset

Oh how we missed our swings

Daddy pulling C in the sled

mmm, hot dog cooked over the campfire

 

Sliding down the BIG hill

Treat after lots of fresh air: Strawberries and whipped cream

E is really loving this!

 

MTM-Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  We celebrated all together this evening with Muffin Tin Monday, and Valentine themed dinner.  This was E's first MTM with an actual muffin tin, and she actually did quite well with it.  

So both the girls had:

1.  Grape tomato

2. Pineapple hearts

3.  Watermelon hearts

4.  BBQ sauce with ketchup 

5.  BBQ Chicken heart pocket

6.  Berry applesauce with sprinkles, served with a straw.

They both went straight for the applesauce.  That is definitely a favorite!  Most of the fruit was eaten, E was dipping her pineapple in her BBQ sauce.  Neither girl was into the chicken pastry.  Oh well.  I wasn't that into it either.  Check out more fun muffin tins here.

Here are the girls in the valentine shirts that C and I made last week.  I was glad Daddy remembered to put the shirts on them this morning!

Andy and I agreed to do only homemade gifts for each other this year.  I came home to a card that had the following poem written in it:

'Roses are Red

Violets are blue

We love you more

Than dessert.'

This means a LOT in our house!  

Andy's gift was a really great cherry cake from TidyMom.  Recipe is found here.

I made the buttercream frosting with soy milk, so E could enjoy it as well. 

Andy's comment about the cake was, "You can definitely make this again!"

 

Menu Plan

I have been doing menu planning each week for a couple months.  I have found that it REALLY helps me keep under my grocery budget of $100/week.  Usually after coupons, I am coming in around $80/week.  The other big benefit is that I don't have to spend the last half hour of my work day being distracted by frantic thoughts of what I should make for dinner that night.  

Here is my Menu Plan for the upcoming week.  

Saturday

B: Bagel Thins and fruit

L:  Lunch at Andy's parents' house.

D:  Order Pizza

Sunday

B:  Waffles and sausage

L:  Grilled ham and cheese, veggie

D:  Chicken stir fry with brown rice

Monday

B:  Pancakes from freezer, bananas

L:  Fish sticks, hash brown, fruit

D: Muffin Tin Monday-Valentine Theme

Tuesday

B:  Cheesy eggs and toast

L:  Chicken nuggets and french fries

D:  Venison chops, baked potato, salad

Wednesday

B:  Oatmeal, fruit

L:  Frozen Pizza, veggie

D:  Ravioli, salad, garlic bread

Thursday

B:  Jelly toast

L:  Cheese quesadilla, fruit

D:  Chicken primavera over fettucini, croissants

Friday

B:  Poptarts

L:  Breadsticks and sauce, veggie

D:  Takeout or "kitchen roundup"

I typically do my menu plan and grocery shopping on Friday nights, and then fill in during the week if we need extra produce or milk.  

This week I did not do a weekly trip, because I am trying to get through some of our cupboard and freezer items.  

My hubs got laid off this week, today was his last day for a couple months.  I know that he appreciates the time and effort I put into planning the weekly menus, since now he will be home with the girls, and also when he does work his normal midnight shift, he is in charge of a lot of the cooking.  He doesn't mind the cooking part, but he definitely doesn't enjoy trying to find things to make for meals.  

MTM-Go Pack Go

GO PACK GO! Was heard around our house all weekend.  Daddy taught C this little cheer so we could all get pumped up to cheer on the home team for the Super Bowl on Sunday.  We all know the outcome, and here in our little home in Wisconsin, we are still celebrating.  

Our Green Bay Packer (Green and Gold) Muffin Tins:

E's Plate: 

1. Starfruit

2. Pineapple

3. Guacamole

4. Muenster Cheese

5. Green Beans
  

C's Plate:

1. Steak Sandwich

2. Star fruit

3. Pineapple

4. Cucumber 

5. Green Beans

6. Guacamole and Fritos

E LOVED the guacamole.  She ate all of hers, plus a whole bunch more.  She also ate all of her fruit.  She wasn't into the beans, but ate all her cheese and a little steak from my sandwich.

C ate some of everything.  She is getting better with sandwiches, and at a few bites of hers.  She at a little of the guacamole, but not a lot.  Everything else she ate almost all of.  She also asked for some muenster cheese just like little sis.  

I am going to try to remember to take the after pictures, but Andy is so quick about cleaning up the dishes after we eat, I keep forgetting!  I know, it is a good problem to have, right?!

Go here to see lots of great Muffin Tin Meals from this week!

 

A First

On Saturday night around 2 am, I woke to the sound of a little girl whimpering by the side of my bed.  C had a tummy ache and said she had to throw up. 

Maybe this doesn't seem unusual to people, but in the entire 31 months of her little life, she has never, ever gotten out of her bed after I put her in there.  She has been in a toddler bed for quite a while, so she could get out if she wants to, but she always stays put until we come get her. 

About a month ago, she threw up in her bed sometime during the night, and then just slept on the other side of the bed till morning when I came to get her. 

I have been telling her that if she needs to go potty at night time, or if she doesn't feel good, she should come and get me. 

So when I woke up to her, whimpering, trembling, scared, and not feeling good next to my bed in the middle of the night, my heart swelled with pride, and broke a little at the same time. 

I feel like this happens to me a lot with my daughters.  On one hand I am SO proud of them when they do something independent for the first time, but on the other hand my heart breaks too, because it is one step closer to them not seeing me as their everything.  I am sure I am not alone in this and it is something that every mom goes through.  I asked Andy if he feels that way about stuff like this, and he said, not really.  He is just proud of their new accomplishment. 

I am not really sure what I am getting at with this post, I have just been thinking about it a lot since it happened.  I told her how proud I was of her for being brave and coming to get me in the dark, and we talked about it again the next day.  She seemed proud of herself and told me each step of what she did:  "I started to throw up in my bed, so I get out of my bed, open my door, open Mama's door and come and get you.  Then you take me to the bathroom and get me my bowl to throw up. You tell me it's ok." 

My babies are growing up. 

Valentine's Stuff

C and I talked earlier this week about how Valentine's day is a special day to show the people we love how much we love them, even though we show it every day.  I asked her if she had any ideas of how she would like to show her daddy and E how much she loves them.  She told me that she would like to make her daddy a cake, and that she would let E play with her barbies.

I picked up a little wooden heart picture frame for a dollar at Michael's on Tuesday, so C painted it and put some glittery heart stickers on it for her daddy for Valentines.  I have to get a picture of the girls to put into the frame for him.  

I am interested to see where daddy decides to put this spangly picture frame :)

We also made some really cute Valentine's shirts for the girls.  I had picked up a couple plain long sleeve shirts at Target on clearance. We used fabric paint and painted on some paper heart shaped doilies, and then pressed them onto the shirt to make a lacy heart print.  

I was supposed to wash the shirts first, but didn't, so hopefully it holds up to a wash.  I meant to take a few pictures of the process, but was didn't really manage that because of trying to keep the paint from getting EVERYWHERE.  

So here is the final product.

C's:

She looks so proud of herself!  Here is E's shirt:

I will share a picture of the girls in their V-Day shirts coming up!