It may be 8:30pm, but it’s not too late to share our menu plan for the week! I’m going to try to get better about meal planning. I tend to go through phases where I’m really good at planning our meals out and then I get lazy which = stressed out at the last minute about what we’re going to eat. So, I’m linking up with Rachel for Menu Monday!
Today I’m going to link up with one of my favorite blog-friends Sarah from Life {Sweet} Life. She is starting a new series called The Proof is in the Pin where you can share your successes and failures from actually trying something you saw on Pinterest.
When I was looking through my pins I realized a lot of my favorite ones have been food-related so I thought I’d make this the recipe-edition. Here are some of my favorite Pinterest “recipes!”
Pin #1: This “OMG Chicken” is also known as “Melt-in-your-mouth Chicken” and has become one of my favorite chicken recipes. It’s super easy, super tasty and we almost always have the ingredients already on-hand. The recipe is here - http://theenchantedcook.blogspot.com/2011/10/parmesan-crusted-chicken-hellmanns-mayo.html
All you need is mayo, yogurt or sour cream (sidenote: I do NOT like mayonnaise, but we have it on hand b/c Matt likes it. That’s all I had the first time I made this recipe and I still LOVED it!), parmesan cheese and italian bread crumbs! I also usually sprinkle a little garlic salt into the mixture for added flavor. It’s super easy and comes out tender and tasty every time!
Source: theenchantedcook.blogspot.com via Brittany on Pinterest
Pin #2: Zesty Italian Chicken
This one is not nearly as healthy as the last one, but it is tasty and easy! I usually throw in zucchini or asparagus, or any other favorite veggie that I have on hand to add a little nutritional value. Another minimum ingredient dish – just chicken, cream of chicken soup, cream cheese and a packet of zesty italian dressing mix. And I love anything that I can toss in the crockpot!
Source: the-girl-who-ate-everything.com via Brittany on Pinterest
Pin #3: Pumpkin Muffins {We add chocolate chips}
This is one of those pins that if you haven’t seen it already, you are either living under a rock or you’re not on Pinterest. It is SUPER easy (can you tell we like easy around here?), health-ish, and DELISH. I seriously can’t keep these in the house when I make them. Just a box of yellow cake mix and a can of pumpkin is all you need!
Source: bigredkitchen.com via Brittany on Pinterest
Enjoy! And head over to Sarah’s blog to check out everyone else’s Proof is in the Pin links!
Well, we survived! Today was Hadley’s first day of preschool/Mother’s Day Out (the school calls it “younger preschool” but it’s essentially Mother’s Day Out).
Matt came with us this morning for drop off (I think he was worried I wouldn’t actually leave), so that helped to have an extra distraction in the morning. She got a little sad when we first got there and she saw all of the kids around here; I think it was a little intimidating. She did really well at drop off, though (more than I can say for myself), and Matt and I headed back to the car. Unfortunately, we had forgotten her nap mat at home, so I had to run home to get it and bring it back up to school. I left it with the receptionist so that Hadley wouldn’t see me, but her teacher saw me (over the half door) and gave me a thumbs up. However, you can see into her classroom from the walkway to the parking lot, so I spied on her for a quick second on my way out and could see her crying and grabbing the teacher’s hands trying to get them to the door.
I spent my free time catching up on the DVR, crying and doing a little retail therapy. Sitting around the house made me so sad and I could hardly keep my eyes dry, so I decided to shop away the tears. :) It was definitely nice to be able to take my time in a store, but I did miss my shopping buddy. I grabbed some lunch and headed up to the church for pick up a little early (I got there almost 45 min early and enjoyed a quiet lunch in the car while I waited for an acceptable amount of time to pass before I went inside).
When I got there she was playing happily with a giant bowl of play food. I was so relieved to see she wasn’t crying when I got there. Her teacher said she did really well overall, although she did acknowledge that she was pretty sad in the morning. She said once they went outside she perked right up and had a good afternoon (and even napped a little!). If only their day could start with going on the playground! I packed a pretty big lunch for her so she’d have options (she is the PICKIEST eater right now), and she did pretty well on it! I tried to pack things that I know she always likes so she got cheese, ham, pretzels, grapes, apples, a squeeze pack of applesauce and a pumpkin muffin. She ate the cheese, most of the fruit and pretzels and her applesauce so I’m glad she at least ate while she was there!
I made little note pads for her teachers and Hadley was really cute giving them to her teachers this morning when we got there.
This was her “report card” for the day. I really wish they had filled in how long she slept for, but all they said was that she did sleep for a bit.
And her first piece of art! I know we will have thousands of these over the years, but I’m pretty sure this one will have a special spot in the baby book (at the very least) or a frame!
She didn’t eat her pumpkin muffin for lunch, so we had those for a treat when we came home to play.
All in all, it went pretty well! Although I will say that I’m pretty nervous for Thursday because she’ll know what’s coming. I’ve heard the second and third times can be a lot harder than the first day! Praying for peace from the mom-guilt of leaving her there and a tear-free (or at least less tears) next day!
Just a quick update. After all of my worrying in my post yesterday, we ended up keeping Hadley home from the first day and plan for her to start on Tuesday.
She’s had “tummy troubles” since last Thursday – so a week now – and the school’s policy is that a child needs to be fever, vomit and diarrhea free for 24 hours before coming to school (or else they will send them home). We didn’t want her not feeling herself in a strange place, and we also didn’t want to go through the stress of the first drop off only to get a phone call that we needed to come get her because of her tummy.
So, thank you for the prayers; if you wouldn’t mind hanging on to them through Tuesday we would appreciate it! ;) Here’s to hoping little miss is feeling better by Tuesday and my anxiety over it all doesn’t kill me by then!
Call it pregnancy hormones, call it overreacting, call it mother’s intuition; call it whatever you’d like – tomorrow is a day that I am anxious about.
Tomorrow is the day that I will drop Hadley off at Mother’s Day Out for 5 hours. She will have art, music, snack, playtime outside, reading time, lunch and (Lord-willing) naptime all without me by her side.
When I initially signed her up, I was in the trenches of the first trimester. I was throwing up at least 5 times a day and could hardly get off the couch when I wasn’t getting sick. Hadley hated when I was sick and I felt so guilty not being able to play and interact with her as much as I knew she needed. Not knowing how long it would last, in an effort to ease my mom-guilt, I signed her up at a local church to have play-time twice a week. At the time, I was convinced that it was absolutely the best thing for her. She has always been a social butterfly. She has always loved to play outside and meet new people and explore new places.
Then we found a house to buy and sold our house. And a slew of strange people have been in and out of her house, sometimes with us here, sometimes not. And we walked through a number of other houses. And talked about packing our things and moving them to a new place. And even though Hadley can’t really communicate with us, she knows something is going on. And ever since then, she hasn’t wanted to leave my side. Not even Matt can comfort her. Things that used to excite her like meeting someone new or the doorbell ringing suddenly send her into a panic and she cries and clings to me. Tantrums happen at ever corner and she just seems sad.
My bubbly, silly, outgoing little firecracker has turned into a clingy, shy, emotional momma’s girl. And it’s tearing me up that we’ve committed to leave her at church for 5 straight hours, twice a week. Yes, I know I could just pull her and not go tomorrow. But we paid a deposit to sign her up and it seems like such a waste to not at least give it a try. At least for tomorrow.
I’ve told her teachers that we have a lot going on at home, and to please just call me if she gets upset/inconsolable. I would say that I’m praying it doesn’t come to that, but really, I’m praying for whatever is best for her. Whatever outcome that is. And I’m praying that I can be strong for her tomorrow. Because if momma loses it, I know exactly how she’s going to react.
So tomorrow, we’ll gather up her backpack, lunchbox and napmat and put on our brave faces. And if you have a moment tomorrow, please pray that God would show me (clearly) what the best decision is for Hadley.
