Introducing...

...his two front teeth.

I snapped these shots this morning and stared at them for quite a bit wondering what seemed different.  Could it be those new pearly whites? These are the first pictures where you can noticeably see his brand new bottom teeth. So happily I'll file this in the "milestones" category. :-)

Meal Plan Monday

It feels like just yesterday I wrote last week's "Meal Plan Monday" and here we are again! We did fairly well with our plan last week, and this blog is doing a great job at keeping me accountable.

On the menu in the Scott kitchen this week...
I'm throwing the Minestrone into the rotation again this week since I ended up bringing ours to another family last week, and because it was it made my house smell divine. Thanks for your recipe Lori! :-)

Monday-Hamburgers and homemade fries
Tuesday-Mexican chicken and rice
Wednesday-Vegetable minestrone soup
Thursday-Pizza puffs and a veggie side(Rachael Ray's recipe here)
Friday- Early dinner out...Chic-fil-a?

Also on the menu this week, I'm going to try a few freezer snacks and breakfasts from Su Soutter's "Intentional Home" blog.  These chocolate chip pumpkin muffins look delish(and easy!), hopefully they'll taste as good as they sound. We will see, this one definitely falls under what my husband would term the somewhat questionable "wild card" category. Recipe here.

 For breakfast, I'm going to give her make ahead breakfast burritos a try. I'm awful about eating breakfast-truly. If these work out they have big potential in the house! Recipe here.

Happy cooking!

Gone Green

Green was the color of the weekend as we celebrated St. Patty's day with friends and family. On Friday we had a picnic at the park with my mom's group, complete with green rice krispe treats, lucky charms, and other festive snacks. It was quite the spread, and we all agreed-based on the cupcakes alone-that we need to do it more often!

 

 

 On Saturday we went to Goldsboro for a delicious St. Patty's day barbeque in honor of the McCunne family. Lucky for us, my sister married into the Irish and so we enjoyed another great, green spread.

My sister put together some phenomenal shish-kabobs, and the hubs did an amazing job grilling them up. The weather played catch with us all morning but it ended up being a beautiful, sunny day to eat outside at the picnic table.

Irish twins? Close, but they sure looked cute in their matching outfits!

 Bennett fits right in with the McCune boys. :-) And, he loves his Auntie! Happy St. Patricks day! :-)

Meal Plan Mondays

Last week at MOPS we took a refresher course in the Dave Ramsey financial peace plan, and I was encouraged once again to be more diligent in my meal planning. As a mom, I sometimes feel like my whole day is about "planning." It's just how the cookie crumbles. So, I'm embracing it! Thankful me, I do love a plan.

This would be a good place to pause and remind myself of last week. Last week I did not plan well. Sure, we bought groceries. But somehow, my groceries just didn't "go" together the way I had imagined(or in my case, didn't imagine). Sort of like buying clothes without thinking of the complete "outfit," my food just did not "go" together to make cohesive meals. Result-a lot of eating out, and MUCH more money spent on the fly.  It was even worse than an "I forgot to thaw the chicken so we're ordering pizza" kind of week-even then I'd give myself credit for trying! So, before the weekend I took some extra time to think through my grocery list, and hope my  planning will result in fewer last minute trips to food lion. All of that to say, it's Meal Plan Monday!

Monday-Crockpot chicken and dumplin's (Recipe here)
Tuesday-Minestrone soup and honey cornbread
Wednesday-Taco salad with spanish rice
Thursday-Chicken poppy seed casserole
Friday-Spaghetti and veggies

I'm going trying my hand at a simple homemade artisan bread recipe this week to go alongside some of these meals, and if my boys are especially good will make some chocolate chip cookies for desserts as well. Who am I kidding, for snacks. :-)

Off to crock pot!

Farewell friends

This week we said our sweet goodbyes to our good friends and pastor, the Childer's family. They are so very dear to us and we will miss them greatly! Moreover we are excited for their next adventure in life, and know they will accomplish great things in their home state of Texas.

We met the up with the Childer's family one last time at Moe's-because there's no better place to be on a Tuesday night! :-) The Ney family also joined us and we got some fun pictures before we said our final "see you laters." The above picture is also special because it's a first...can you guess which? It's Evans first time at "the kid table." He is the youngest for sure, and they sat directly across from us...but it's still a big milestone and I can hardly believe my baby is big enough to eat with friends on his own. Tear!

 Since we took a "boy" picture of course we had to have a girls one. :-) Maybe one day I'll have a girly to add to the group!

Justin and Jeanna, you have been a tremendous source of encouragement to us over the years and we thank God for your friendship. Fair warning-we will be stalking your blogs for updates and adoption news. :-) The farewell cake said it well, and I'll say it again..."The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." -Numbers 6-24

A taste of Spring

A glass of cool, sweet lemonade has been the refreshment of Spring blooming over the weekend. A small taste of sunshine and fresh air is just what the doctor ordered! It is almost 70 degrees today-the perfect temperature if you ask me. The boys and I spent as much time as we could outside this morning, and they are enjoying long naps in sandy, outside drenched clothes as I blog.

On the roster for this Spring? Baseball, birthdays, St. Patty's day picnics, Easter and more.

 

Bless you shadowless groundhog. And an early welcome to my friend Spring!