Monday Meanderings and Menu Plan Monday

I have so many plans for this week! I had a down week physically last week, and Billy encouraged me not to push it, so I got a *lot* of planning done last week, and hopefully I will be able to start carrying out those plans this week!

Bible Study
*I didn't do well here last week. I did do some sort of Bible Study every day, but I didn't get started back to the study on suffering I mentioned last week. I plan to do that starting tomorrow.

Must Do
*Make a doctor's appointment I've been putting off. (*ugh*)
*Upload pictures and burn to disk.
*Cook ahead for the freezer and snacks for the week.
*Thank You notes (*blush*)...I didn't finish these last week and I *must* this week.
*Rotate children's chore list and print new charts for month. We rotate chores on a month by month basis and I'm behind in finalizing lists for this month.

Home Blessing
*Due to not feeling well last week, I intentionally (due to Billy's direction) decided not to do the work I had planned in the dining room last week. I will be working here this week instead.
*I did *better* last week at getting the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned *right* after supper. I'm going to try to be more consistent with that this week.

Train Them Up
*Keep working on potty training with the diapered one. :-D
*Last week I posted that we needed some work in tying heartstrings and first time obedience. I tried to really focus on this last week, and we are making progress...we are going to continue focusing on this this week as well.
*We've been *easing in* to school the past few weeks...this week we are going to go to an almost complete school schedule. I can't wait! :)

Menu
Things work much better around here if we have a list of meals for the week and decide on a day by day basis which meals to use that day. We did well with our plan last week, but can I just say, "I AM TIRED OF EVERYTHING WE EAT AROUND HERE!" Do you ever have those weeks? When you just feel like you are cooking and eating the same things all the time and you don't want to look at any of them anymore? I have been there lately. This week I'm trying to break out of the rut a bit more.

Breakfasts:
First, we haven't done well with breakfasts lately. I found some great ideas for "13 x 9 Breakfasts" at 20 Years of Homeschooling a Houseful . I'm excited about trying some of them out over the next few weeks. I also found a great cookbook at the library from Better Homes and Gardens called Kid Favorites Made Healthy. We are going to be trying several new recipes from it this week as well.

*Peanut Butter Breakfast Sandwiches (I'll try to post this recipe later in the week. It is from the cookbook I mentioned above and looks really good!)
*Cornbread with butter and syrup (A 13 x 9 breakfast idea)
*Popovers with strawberry cream cheese (I have been wanting to try a popover recipe I found...and I have strawberry cream cheese that needs to be eaten. Yum.)
*13 x 9 Biscuits and Gravy (I love this idea and can't wait to see how it works!)
*Hashbrown Breakfast Bars (another yummy sounding idea from the 13 x 9 breakfast post.)
*Frozen homemade pancakes and waffles

Lunches:
Another area in which we haven't done well lately and with which I am bored stiff with all the *usuals*. We aren't going to branch out a *whole* lot here this week, but we are going to try to change it up a *bit*.

*Homemade taquitos (We love taquitos and I've been wanting to try making our own for a while. I'll let you know how it goes. :))
*Grilled cheese and tomato soup (a favorite around here and we don't do it often.)
*Homemade "Rice-a-Roni" and fruit (another favorite I haven't done in a while.)
*Spaghetti

Suppers/Weekend Meals:

*Tortellini, salad, and french bread
*Little Cheddar Meat Loaves, Easy Cheesy Broccoli and Rice (I'll try to post recipes for these tomorrow. )
*Chili Mac Skillet, Salad, Bread
*Rich Macaroni and Cheese, Teriyaki Green Beans
*Taco Salad
*Stuffed Tomatoes and Bell Peppers

Snacks/Desserts:
I'm planning to try some new snack/dessert ideas over the next few weeks...I'll post recipes and results as I have a chance. :)

*Peanutty Chocolate Spread with vanilla wafers and graham crackers
*Sparkling Stars Jello
*Peach Magic Pops
*Applesauce with Crispy Scoops
*Homemade Granola (I'm trying a new recipe this week...and Jodie and Kathy, if you read this, don't laugh! :-D)
*Lunch Box Oatmeal Cookies

*Whew* I'm not sure if it's the fact that it's bedtime or the list I just typed, but I'm getting *really* tired all of the sudden! Tomorrow I'm going to start visiting participants in Menu Plan Monday and Monday Meanderings for more menu/planning ideas. :)