Kids
Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals
Lunch Box Goodies
School lunch box goodies for the kiddos! Today the girls picked out some delicious items for their lunch. After they went to bed I made them a homemade chicken salad sandwich and put it in a pretty princess bag for them. Here’s what they packed:
- Homemade Chicken Salad Sandwich
- Fresh Banana
- Fresh Cauliflower
- BBQ Chips
- Yogurt
- Shared a Honey-bun
- Juice Bag
Always something fun to eat in the lunch box.
Intentional Living: Weekly Goals
Last week we celebrated the girls 7th birthday (a wonderful highlight to our week)! The upcoming week it full of extra activities, but hoping to make a lot of progress with my goals as well.
Here is the update on last weeks goals:
Family Goals
Spend 1-on-1 time with each child everyday- Read a book to the girls everyday
Have each girl read 1 book to myself or Jake 5 days this weekGo on our Date Night with JakeCelebrate Valentine’s DayCelebrate Brina & Karlie’s BirthdaySpend time together as a family
Personal Goals
Exercise – walk at least 5 days this week- Go to bed by 10:30 pm or earlier Monday to Thursday – with the extra activities this didn’t get done
- Finish reading When Work and Family Collide by Andy Stanley – haven’t even started it yet….
Read and listen to the next section of Desiring God: Finding Complete Satisfaction and Joy in God by John Piper (our church Community Group is going through this book together).- Packing “To Do” List – working on it
Home Management Goals
All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one dayWeekly Dinner Menu planned and written by MondaySpend 30 minutes every day picking up / cleaning the house- Dinner ready by 5:30 PM (Monday through Thursday) – had a couple later nights with appointments
- Spend time re-organizing and de-cluttering the downstairs Bookshelves / Desk / Dressers – started but not finished
Business Goals
Pay all bills that come in the mail this weekWork on ideas for upcoming blog postsSpend 10 minutes a day cleaning and organizing my deskWrite a Guest Blog Post- Finish 2011 Business Taxes – items at Accountant so waiting for them to wrap up their piece
Ministry Goals
- Email our weekly Community Group update including upcoming events on the calendar, praises, and prayer requests – didn’t get this done with all the other activities this week
Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
Stay within Budget on Groceries $40 for 4- Emergency Fund – save 3 months worth of living expenses – working on it
- Complete our personal 2011 taxes – almost done, waiting for our business taxes to be completed before finishing
- Put money aside for upcoming trips – was able to do some
- Put cash aside for 1 year of Jake’s College Classes – put some aside
Here are my goals for the upcoming week:
Family Goals
- Spend 1-on-1 time with each child everyday
- Read a book to the girls everyday
- Have each girl read 1 book to myself or Jake 5 days this week
- Go on our Date Night with Jake
- Spend time together as a family
Personal Goals
- Exercise – walk at least 5 days this week
- Go to bed by 10:30 pm or earlier Monday to Thursday
- Finish reading When Work and Family Collide by Andy Stanley
- Read and listen to the next section of Desiring God: Finding Complete Satisfaction and Joy in God by John Piper (our church Community Group is going through this book together).
- Travel “To Do” List
Home Management Goals
- All laundry for the week washed, folded, and put away in one day
- Weekly Dinner Menu planned and written by Monday
- Spend 30 minutes every day picking up / cleaning the house
- Spend 30 hour a day de-cluttering the house
Business Goals
- Pay all bills that come in the mail this week
- Work on ideas for upcoming blog posts
- Spend 10 minutes a day cleaning and organizing my desk
- Finish 2011 Business Taxes
Ministry Goals
- Email our weekly Community Group update including upcoming events on the calendar, praises, and prayer requests
- Meet a friend or family member for Breakfast or Lunch
Financial Goals
- Stay within Budget on Groceries $40 for 4
- Emergency Fund – save 3 months worth of living expenses
- Complete our personal 2011 taxes
- Put money aside for upcoming trips
- Put cash aside for 1 year of Jake’s College Classes
I think it is important to share and encourage each other as we seek to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. I want to live intentionally not just hope all my dreams and goals come true. When I focus on small steps of improvement I am able to see results as I get closer to my goals. Some weeks I get closer to the goals I have in my life and other weeks a take a few steps back (life happens, emergencies occur, people get sick). Once the goals are written down and shared it provides a guideline for what I aim to accomplish this week.
Why Share My Goals?
- To keep me accountable
- To share a piece of my life with you as I strive to be a better Child of God, Wife, Mom, Friend, Homemaker, Entrepreneur and the many other roles I have each week
- To have my goals consistently written down so I can gauge progress more accurately
- Create healthy habits in my life
- To encourage you to share your goals with me as you continue to grown and learn
How did you do this week on your goals? Feel free to share or link to your list of weekly goals.
The picture above is one that I created for my own purposes, however, The “SMART” acronym was originally coined 30 years ago by Peter Drucker in his classic work, Management by Results
It is a risk to love…
Happy Birthday Brina & Karlie!
Happy 7th Birthday to Brina & Karlie! We love you sweet girls. It is amazing how quickly these last few years have gone by and we are thankful for the many wonderful memories we have shared. Wishing both of you many more awesome years of great times! 🙂
Recipe: Swedish Baked Potatoes
I had the family’s Valentine’s Day Dinner celebration pretty much planned out based off the items that I had in the refrigerator and pantry (steak, baked potatoes, fresh stir fry vegetables, fresh fruit salad, cherry limeade fruit punch from the girls birthday party, poppy seed french bread, and cheesecake). Since I had gotten potatoes on clearance at the grocery store earlier I wanted to do baked potatoes to go with the steak but was hoping to try a different recipe. I adapted this recipe from SeasaltwithFood and it turned out really well! Everyone in our family LOVED these potatoes (including the kids)! The girls even wanted to know if they could take the leftover potatoes to school for their lunches the next day they like them so much. The best part is they were pretty easy to do. They had much more flavor than regular baked potatoes plus we didn’t add any additional butter or toppings because they were so tender and tasty (which means they were probably healthier for us too). This one has become family favorite already!
Swedish Baked Potatoes:
- 4 large Potatoes
- Garlic Seasoning
- Olive Oil
- Sea Salt
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the potato on a cutting board and make thin slices down the whole length of the potato (each slice should go almost all the way through the potato). Put potatoes on a baking tray or in a baking dish. Sprinkle Garlic seasoning over each potato. Make sure some garlic seasoning gets down in between a few of the potato slices on each potato for extra flavoring. Spread butter over the tops of each potato with a butter knife. Brush olive oil on over the butter. Sprinkle the sea salt on top of the potatoes. Bake for 20 minutes on convection oven or 40 minutes if baking regularly (bake until potatoes are tender). When done the potatoes will be soft on the inside and the skin will be crispy.
You can put butter, sour cream, bacon pieces, and cracked pepper out as additional toppings for those wanting more flavor.
Family Activities: Celebrating Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day Heart “Attack” surprise for the girls
Our family had a blast celebrating Valentine’s Day together! Jake and I went out the Saturday before Valentine’s for a Date Night and to celebrate. On Valentine’s Day I took goodies and helped at the girls class party as well as celebrated with the family that evening. It was a fun relaxing time together. The girls loved having an extra special dinner together in the candlelight as a family. For dinner we a fun conversation as we ate steaks, baked potatoes, fresh vegetables, bread, fresh fruit salad, Cherry Limeade punch, and cheesecake. Here is a little tidbit from our Valentine’s Day celebrations:
Heart shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast
Valentine’s Day Breakfast
Valentine’s Day “love” notes on the girls bedroom door
Valentine’s Day fun for Brina & Karlie (looking from their room out to the hallway)
Brina’s Goodies’ from Grandpa & Grandma
Karlie’s goodies from Grandpa & Grandma waiting on her barstool at breakfast
Hugs & Kisses Tigers
Karlie’s Valentine goodies from her classmates. (With the word “Bushta” written across the front too, silly girl)
Brina’s Valentine envelope full of goodies from her classmates
Jake’s dinner plate – stick of dynamite with little heart notes….
You’re the bomb!
You’re the extra spark in my life!
You ignite my heart!
My heart explodes with love for you!
You light up my world!
The girls loved Daddy’s sticks of dynamite made out of rolos and love notes, they couldn’t wait for him to see them!
One of the girls plates for Valentine’s Day Dinner with the family
Our Valentine’s Day Dinner table
Be My Valentine decoration hanging from the ceiling fan over the dinner table
Conversational hearts center piece
Valentine’s Day Dinner table
Brina & Karlie worked hard on their Valentine’s Day Cards!
A stack of love notes for Jake to take with him on his next trip……one note for every day we are apart!
“I Love Jacob” written in hot pink lipstick on the mirror (the girls wanted to know if it would clean off the mirror or be permanent)
Heart balloons with love notes attached and flower petals to make the room more romantic
It was a wonderful Valentine’s Day with our family! We had a great time decorating, talking, celebrating, and enjoying our time together as a family. Thankful for days when we can relax and celebrate our love for each other. Although, we spent time this week to focus on our love it is important that this isn’t just a once a year activity. Taking the time to celebrate our love regularly is just as important.
Lunch Box “Love” Notes
Earlier this week I shared about our “Love Bug” Notes and received several emails regarding where to purchase similar notes so I decided to share a little bit more. Here are some fun ones:
Includes 105 colorful cards and over 100 silly stickers for help you brighten your child’s lunch.
The book over 75 includes tear-out notes with Bible Trivia.
Just tear out a silly riddle to make lunch enjoyable for your kids.
Example – “What’s the funniest place to eat lunch? In the laugh-eteria!
Remind your child of God’s faithfulness with over 75 tear-out notes that you can put in their lunch box. Each note includes a verse.
Hugs in a Lunch Box for Ages 5-7
Age specific lunch box notes to send with your child.
If you have some Amazon Gift Certificates from Swagbucks these would be great to add to your basket! Do you send lunch box notes to your kids? How often and do you usually write your own notes or send pre-made ones? If you have a great “lunch note” book that you have used please feel free to share a link below!
Be My Valentine: “Love Bug” Notes
Little ladybug “love” notes in the girls school lunches
The girls love getting surprises in their lunch boxes. I found these adorable ladybug notes (aka “love bug” notes in our house) and waited until I had a coupon to buy them at our local Hallmark store. It is my intention to send a special note or treat with the girls lunches at least once a week (on a good week I do it 2 or 3 times). In a time pinch I put these fun bugs on their sandwich containers or random places in their lunch.
Fun note to remind the girls we love them
Not only do these notes brighten the girls days it also encourages them to read. The notes are cute and it only takes a minute to add them to their lunch box.
Karlie’s Note – Buzzing by to say….. Consider yourself HUGGED! Squeeeeeeeeze
Karlie has been known to keep her “love” notes in her lunch box for weeks. She gets so excited about the little notes that sometimes when I ask her how her day went the first thing she tells me about is the “love bug” she found in her lunch.
Brina’s Note – A little buggy told me you’ve been working really hard. You should feel so proud!
Brina loves getting these notes in her lunch so much that she has a baggie full of them in her “special” drawer at home. I know the girls appreciate these small reminders of our love.
I love having these on hand to add a little bit of variety to the special surprises.You could pick up these or something similar at your local Hallmark store or find some online to print off or make up some of your own to print off. What type of goodies do you put in your kids lunch boxes?
Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals
School Lunch!
The girls are good at helping put together their lunches. They know that we get a protein, fruit, vegetable, dairy, drink and snack. Here’s what they had today:
- Peanut Butter & Homemade Strawberry Jam
- Fresh Tomatoes
- Pita Chips
- Yogurt
- Applesauce or Yogurt Raisin
- Cheesestick
- Bottled Water and Reduced Sugar Juice
- Sugar Free Cherry Jello
- Protein Bar or SoyJoy Apple Granola Bar
Lunch Box Goodies
Happy Valentine’s Day: Every Love Story….
I am thankful for an amazing family. My husband is the love of my life. Today is a great day to share just a few of the reasons why I love my man so much! 🙂
- Jake encourages me to continue to grow and learn.
- Jake cooks delicious meals
- Jake loves me for who I am
- Jake cleans and pitches in around the house
- Jake works hard to provide for our family
- Jake is my best friend and my life partner
- Jake is the leader of our family
- Jake is generous and kind
- Jake is considerate
- Jake is an amazing Daddy to our girls
- Jake is the spiritual leader for our family
- Jake spends time with our family
- Jake can make me laugh
- Jake knows how to make me feel loved and appreciated
- There are many reasons why I LOVE YOU JAKE!
