My baby is growing up!

Liam's YaYa (Samantha, Kurt's mom) reminded me that I haven't posted any pictures of Liam here in a while. What a slacker I am! I'll have to do better!

Here is a slideshow with a few pictures from his 1st birthday party at YaYa and Papa D's house:

Tomorrow, I have a few pictures and a video from our little trip to Red Caboose Park!

Menu Plan Monday: October 25-31

I have been terrible about menu planning for the past few weeks. But I'm back. My mom is coming to visit us this week, so I called her last night to find out what she wanted for dinner while she's here. And she just kept saying to just eat what we normally eat and don't do anything special for her. So I just picked what sounded good to me! Here's what you're eating this week, Mom!

• BBQ Boston Butt Tacos (we have some cooked Butt in the freezer from the last time it was on sale) with black beans and rice, sour cream, lettuce, and salsa
• Chicken Parmesan Bake (Try this! It's so good and really easy)
• Burgers on the George Foreman, Parmesan Potato Wedges, and Burger Buns
• Ten Can Soup (This is basically Brunswick Stew...just a bunch of canned veggies and stuff, slapped together in the crock-pot. It's so easy and so good. Are you noticing a trend?! haha) and Cornmeal Buns
• Chicken Salad Sandwiches or BBQ Boston Butt Sandwiches
• Leftovers for the remaining nights

I'm rocking the links this week. You're welcome!

For lots more ideas and menu plans, go here!

Menu Plan Monday: September 27 - October 3

Before I get to my plan for this week, let me first tell you about the star(s) of the show for last week.

The Boston Butt (all 8lbs, which I got for $10!) was really good. I'll be posting a how-to for that soon. It was really easy and doesn't require a recipe, per se. Hopefully, it's on sale at your grocery store, too. It was really a lot of meat, so we ended up having 2 quart freezer bags full, even after feeding 4 adults! I forsee some creative use of that in the future (suggestions?).


And last night, we had my mother-in-law's famous potato soup with Red Lobster wannabe biscuits. It was fantastic. Really, truly. I don't think that Samantha would mind me posting the recipe for the soup, so again,  I'll try to get that up, along with the wannabe biscuits.

Meal Plan for Sept. 27 - Oct. 3:

• Sloppy Joes on homemade buns, with oven fries
• Chili and Mama's cornbread
• Taco salad
• Fried rice with chicken and veggies
• Stuffed Shells
• Honey Dijon Chicken with brussel sprouts
• Homemade Pizza

If you want to see more menu plans, then go visit I'm an Organizing Junkie. Every week, Laura hosts Menu Plan Monday. She posts her own menu plan for the week, and lots of other bloggers then post links to their own weekly menu plans. 

Menu Plan Monday: September 19-25

Over the past year, there have been many changes in our lives....namely, the birth of our sweet boy. But we've also had our share of job changes and financial uncertainty this year, too. All of these things have forced us to reevaluate how we spend our money. We've both done some serious brainstorming and soul-searching about how to cut back, but not so much that we feel deprived. It's been a difficult process. However, I am happy to report that some of these changes have made our lives easier. One change in particular has eliminated the cause of many past arguments between Kurt and me. And that is so much more important than saving money, don't you think?

So I finally decided to plan our meals. 

Before I started planning our meals, we were always trying to decide what to have for dinner. And that's part of meal planning, too. But the problem came when we waited until we were hungry to decide. If you know Kurt at all, you know that getting him to behave civilly when he's hungry is pretty impossible. (Sorry to call you out like that, babe.) So eventually, we would somehow make a decision. Then we would have to go to the grocery store, of course...at 5:30 when every other cranky, hungry person in Bellevue is at the store, too. No bueno. 

But meal planning has been oh so bueno for us. We don't argue about what's for dinner. We save money by buying only what we need. We also save money because I check to see what's on sale as I make the plan for the week. What a difference.

Oh, and one tip that has helped me tremendously. Before you start your plan for the week, make yourself a master list of your family's favorite dinners...the ones that someone is always requesting or that you make most often. My list has about 40 different dinners. When I sit down to plan and make my grocery list, I look through the master list and pick what sounds good to me! 

So, without further ado, I present our plan for dinner this week! 

(You might notice that I don't plan which day we'll have what. I just plan 7 dinners. This way, Kurt still has some say in the process.)

• Braised Boston butt, steamed broccoli, salad
• Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread
• London broil, Texas Caviar
• Potato soup, wannabe Red Lobster biscuits
• Sloppy joes, homemade buns, oven fries
• Pork tacos, rice and beans
• Ritz chicken, brussel sprouts, macaroni and cheese, and sour cream biscuits

As we make these things, I will post the recipes and maybe some pictures, too. I will also try and work on posting my own master list, for your viewing pleasure!

If you want to see more menu plans, then go visit I'm an Organizing Junkie. Every week, Laura hosts Menu Plan Monday. She posts her own menu plan for the week, and lots of other bloggers then post links to their own weekly menu plans. 

Just Another Manic Monday