menu plan

these pictures don't have anything to do with my menu for the week...

i was surprised to open the mailbox and see a big envelope with "surprise!" written on it.
inside was a monogrammed pottery barn towel from my mom--what a sweet surprise. thanks mom!

lately i have been buying books like crazy. i know. one thing i do not need is another book in this house. but when i don't want to spend a lot of money, but still want to be in a store--half price books it is! these were all $1 each! haven't started any of them, but i love to open my cabinet or look on the bookshelves and see piles of books just waiting to be read! i have a problem--i know.

and now... on to my menu.
i was a little late posting this so it actually started last friday.

friday
southern chicken roll-ups
homemade mashed potatoes
green beans--this recipe
crescent rounds

saturday
homemade pizza

sunday
chicken enchilada soup--this recipe
but i made a few changes:
pureed a can of canellini beans
put 15 oz. can of green enchilada sauce
can of rotel instead of tomatoes & jalapenos
only 1/2 tsp. cumin
used 1/2 c. milk & 1/2 c. half & half
used less corn tortillas
used more chicken broth
i cannot even tell you how good this was!

monday
artichoke chicken
sauteed spinach
garlic bread

tuesday
chili--trying this recipe. we'll see how it is!
cornbread

wednesday
wild caught sock-eye salmon over mixed greens & vinaigrette dressing

thursday
lentil stew-for chris
chicken pillows & organic mac n cheese--for me & mckinlee

what are you having for dinner this week?
i am always looking for ideas!

SNOW DAY!!!

we were so upset this morning when we woke up and there was no snow. it was just nasty, drizzly rain. we went to our morning meeting and when we came out, it was snowing and beautiful!
it was the perfect day for watching football, scrapbooking, reading, taking a nap and watching the nanny (depending on who you ask!)

whenever it snows, i always take some pictures of this crepe myrtle. i just love the perspective and the glimpse of the rest of the street.

here's mck heading out for some fun--she had quite the outfit on let me tell you!

the series of cartwheel pictures...
they crack me up!

collecting snow for snow ice cream

one of the few times i actually like this tree in our front yard--when it's covered in snow!

cosmo ran out the door, took a few steps and ran right back in the house!

of course you have to make snow angels

something warm to drink

love those red cheeks!

here's my snow ice cream. have you ever made it? so yummy. you just mix lots of (clean) snow, sugar, milk, vanilla. add some mini chocolate chips and it's delicious!

love this one of her jumping and the scarf flying up in the air.

so we're all hoping that it will be too bad to go to school and work tomorrow--but we'll just wait and see!
in other news...
we're trying to take a picture of us at the start of each month this year--with the exception of me my subjects are not too willing! mck hates this one because she hates smiling with her mouth open, but i love it and it's my blog. so there.
(we had just finished our family worship evening--we usually all climb on the bed, snuggle up and study.)

have a good week!
tomorrow i am posting my meal plan (riveting reading, i know.)

what i wore wednesday

well the last time i was at my sister's, we both decided we weren't going to do "what i wore wednesday" posts anymore--too time consuming and it just made us want to buy the cute things we saw other people wearing.

well, apparently, she made a decision i was not aware of! evidence here :)

so i found these three outfits that i had never posted and decided to play along.
i am going to take a little break, though, from taking a picture each day.

tunic: walmart
tee: target
scarf: walmart
leggings: ?
knee high socks: target
boots: kohls
ring: posh

a close up of the socks and boot. i just love that little bit of sock peeking out!

now that i see this, i really don't like all of this together. suggestions?
skirt: j.jill from goodwill
tee: target
sweater: ?
scarf & earrings: michele busch
boots: jcp

i was going for the lisa leonard look here--did i get anywhere close??

lacy tunic: target
sweater: target
leggings: jcp
boots: goodwill
necklaces: posh
flower: michele busch

linking up at the pleated poppy and jewelscapes.

vacation is over. sniff sniff.

we've been having so much fun, i don't want winter break to be over.
but it is and it's now a whole new year. man i love a fresh start. i am trying to work on exercising more and drinking more water. i've already done my workout today and have drunk about 30 ounces (for me that is huge since i'm not a big water drinker)!
here's a little glimpse of what we did the second week of our vacation...

chris has been off this whole time and it's been so nice.
we've been really focusing on reading the bible everyday as a family.
here are chris & mck in front of the fire after we read some in psalms (mck's choice!)

cosmo always knows when we're packing to go somewhere. last week when we went to waco, i found him numerous times in my duffel bag!

when we got to the thursday night meeting mckinlee and abby were so cute in their black & pink i had to take a picture!

on wednesday, maria had some of us over for a craft day to knit and crochet. i've only knitted a tiny bit and never crocheted. we were supposed to leave with a dishcloth and a cute flower attached to it. i got through half the flower & then maria finished the rest (i think i was slowing everyone else down!) and i got maybe one fourth of my dishcloth done!
here we all are.
(monica, the dark headed girl in the pink shirt is an AMAZING crocheter--wish i had taken a picture of the things she's done!)

maria's daughter, bianca, was attached to me today. she kept following me around and bringing me her doll to put to sleep and asked for her mom to take a picture of us! so cute.

here i am trying to tune everyone out and finish a row by myself!

mck working away

this took me hours to do. sad, isn't it? i do love the colors but it's turning into a triangle.
i keep telling myself it's only my first one.

saturday was a kid's party given by the sweetest, funniest sister in our congregation.
they played games...

more games...

bible pictionary...

and ate lots of yummies!

all of us moms had a fun time too!
me & brenda

margarita & patricia

mindy, abby, april & valarie

christina (she's the one that had the party & she doesn't even have any kids!), margarita & me

this little project kept mckinlee busy for hours.
she made tabs from my tab punch from all my scraps and wrote down all the books of the bible.

then she attached them all to her big bible to help her find the books faster.
it turned out so cute.

in other news, my project life for 2009 is almost complete (except for a few pictures i'm waiting on) i always do the previous year so that's why i'm still on 2009.

this is the binder for 2009. i ordered this last year from becky higgins blog.

here's the completed first page.

here i am with my new kit that came this past week. yay!

and here are the pretty insides!
(it's not too late to start your own project life. this year there are 2 designs and they're both awesome! go here for more information.)

friday night we took mckinlee to see tron: legacy
here she is with dad before we went in.

here chris and i are in our 3d's.
(chris & mck loved the movie. it was just ok to me. i'm not really into all that video game stuff. we were going to see tangled, but i kind of felt bad that chris would have to sit through a princess-y cartoon, so i suggested tron. then i had to sit through all that! i told chris he owes me a good romantic comedy after tron!)

so now we're back to school, work and our daily lives.
i will have to post some of my organization endeavors soon!