menu plan monday ~ june 3, 2013

June 4, 2013 – 5:34 pm

After a lot of rain last week (5″ in 48 hours, plus more during the week), we are having a nicer week this time around. Temps are lower, A/C is off, windows are open. All good!

Last Wednesday, the grands were over. They helped Pa make brownies. Always fun! He happened to flip a bit of dough onto Rose Red’s show, much to her consternation. But they all agreed the brownies were delicious.

making brownies with Pa

When Pa asked if they wanted sharp cheddar cheese for a snack, Rose Red asked if the corners were sharp. Thankfully, not.

eating sharp cheddar cheese with Pa

Today, I made blueberry muffins…more like blueberry cupcakes. They’ll be a nice snack later in the evening or with a cup of coffee for breakfast.

blueberry cupcakes

I used the recipe from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen blog. Made mine with light sour cream instead of yogurt, baked them at 350 for 23 minutes. I skipped the sugar syrup step and poured the lemon glaze on while the muffins were still warm.

Here’s the menu for this week. Salmon and shrimp early on, as DD brought it home from the city when she came by over the weekend. Need to use it first.

Monday
Baked Salmon with honey-mustard glaze
Garden Salad
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas

Tuesday
Spicy/Herbal BBQ Shrimp
Homemade Rolls
Garden Salad
Stir-Fry Zucchini

Wednesday
Grilled Pork Chops and Marinated Chicken
Garden Salad
Roasted Veggies

Thursday
Tacoritos
Tortilla Chips
Green Salad
Creamed Corn Cornbread

Friday
Spaghetti and Homemade Sauce
Steamed Edamame
Garlic Bread
Corn on the Cob

Saturday
Homemade Pizza

Sunday ~ Church Picnic at our house / Eveyone brings dishes to share.
Sausage/Potato Crock Pot Scroll down the page for the crock pot directions.
Homemade Rolls
Cookie Sheet Peach Pie
Steamed Green Beans

You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

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Sunday bouquet

May 26, 2013 – 1:00 pm

The peonies are in full bloom, a bit later this spring than usual.

Sunday bouquet

They smell heavenly. I hope you have peonies in your garden.

~~Rhonda

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menu plan monday ~ may 20, 2013

May 21, 2013 – 10:42 pm

The iris and peonies look beautiful right now. Here’s the bouquet from Sunday. Love this combination of colors and flowers.

Sunday bouquet

My menu is late, but I’m squeaking in. I do better during the entire week if I have a menu in place. Even if we shuffle it or change plans all together. At least we have a plan and I am prepared for those meals. Takes a lot of stress off my day.

Monday
Homemade Pizza

Tuesday
Fridge Food

Wednesday
Pork Chops
Baked Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Green Salad

Thursday
Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce and Meatballs
Homemade Rolls
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas
Garden Salad

Friday ~ my birthday!
Grilled Pork Steaks and Chicken
Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
Creamy Mushroom Bake
Corn Casserole
Green Beans
Garden Salad

Saturday
Fridge Food

Sunday
Pork Roast
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Green Beans
Crock Pot Apples
Garden Salad

You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

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happy 80th, Dad!

May 19, 2013 – 10:08 pm

This afternoon our family celebrated my Dad’s 80th birthday. It was fun to be together and to honor our Dad. The next-to-the-newest family member freely shared smiles with everyone.

Dad's birthday

The cake was half carrot cake and half chocolate cake. Carrot cake was Dad’s request.

Dad's birthday

Once they started putting candles on the cake, they decided to go all the way to 80.

Dad's birthday

Lighting all those candles was the next step.

Dad's birthday

Some of the great-grands were happy to help Great-grandpa blow out his candles.

Dad's birthday

Surprisingly, we didn’t set off the smoke detectors.

Dad's birthday

Cake was enjoyed by all.

Dad's birthday

We gave Dad a DNA kit for his birthday. One of those kits where you send in a swab and get back an analysis of your family heritage. We are hoping the results will be useful in our genealogy research. Dad was surprised and is looking forward to getting the results back.

Happy birthday, Dad! It was great to see you today. Thanks for all you do for our family!

~~Rhonda

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happy birthday!

May 19, 2013 – 11:05 am

Yesterday was our younger son’s birthday and also my Dad’s 80th birthday.

happy birthday!

Happy birthday to you both! With love from me.

~~Rhonda / ~~Mom

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irises and peonies and hostas, oh my!

May 18, 2013 – 9:58 pm

I haven’t been able to get out much this spring, but managed to today. The irises and peonies are beautiful right now. And the hostas…well, some survived last summer’s drought and are looking great…some didn’t make it. We need to do an inventory to figure out how much and what we lost.

spring garden

I really love dark irises. This is a beautiful dark purple called ‘Edge of Night.’ We have another called ‘Before the Storm’ that is even darker, almost black.

Iris 'Edge of Night'

The iris ‘Brown Lasso’ has always been short in our garden. Until this year. It shot way up.

Iris 'Brown Lasso'

‘Alabaster Unicorn’ is unusual in that it has horned beards. They come to a point instead of being rounded and fluffy like other bearded irises.

Iris 'Alabaster Unicorn'

A pretty orange one is ‘Feminine Fire.’

Iris 'Feminine Fire'

This clump was particularly pretty today. It’s called ‘Congratulations.’

Iris 'Congratulations'

Along the front of the yard, peonies and irises mix. These beds will be full of daylily blooms soon.

front border

In the back yard, the peonies mix with pink columbine for a pretty show.

peonies and columbine

The hostas look lush right now. This one is ‘Journey’s End.’

Hosta 'Journey's End'

‘June’ is a popular hosta. Mid-sized to small, it has a beautiful pattern of blue-green and gold.

Hosta 'June'

‘Blue Cadet,’ with columbine, grows near the back door.

Hosta 'Blue Cadet'

‘Thunderbolt’ is a rugged hosta that should attain a clump size about twice what it is now.

Hosta 'Thunderbolt'

‘Squash Casserole,’ shown here under a Japanese maple, is one of my favorites. It is a vigorous grower in our garden and holds its pretty gold color all summer.

Hosta 'Squash Casserole'

The hosta ‘Fried Bananas’ is another nice gold one. Here it shares a redbud tree with a clump of Sweet William.

Hosta 'Fried Bananas'

If you’re local, drive through or stop by, and enjoy the irises and peonies. They will be done blooming and the garden will move on to daylily season before we know it.

front yard

~~Rhonda

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a car for dd

May 14, 2013 – 4:24 pm

Well, the time has come…our youngest daughter is taking driver’s ed and has her driver’s permit. She’s been practicing driving with her Dad and her sisters. How time flies…

We didn’t really plan to get a car for her right away, but a great deal came up and we took advantage of it. The car was owned by one person who must have just driven it around town for the past 19 years. It’s in great shape and has only 31,000 miles on it. It will be a great car for DD to use around town. All that shopping she’ll be doing for me, you know…

She was very surprised!

a "new" car

And she loves the color.

a "new" car

I am so not ready for her to be driving around town on her own! But that time will be on us before we know it.

~~Rhonda

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menu plan monday ~ may 13, 2013

May 14, 2013 – 3:53 pm

I hope you had a good Mother’s Day. We had fun here, with all our children home, with the exception of our younger son’s wife. She’ll be visiting the area at the end of the month. We enjoyed the long weekend with our son home from Seattle. My Dad joined us for dinner and the afternoon. He was entertained by the twins, who love their Great-Pa.

visiting with Great-Pa

DH’s mother will be 96 in a few months. She enjoyed having everyone come by to say hello and visit for a bit.

Mother's Day

visiting Great-Ma

And there were lots of bubbles after lunch.

bubbles on the porch

Here’s the menu for this week. We’ll see my dad again next weekend when he celebrates his 80th birthday.

Monday
Fridge Food…lots of Mother’s Day leftovers

Tuesday
Chef Salad with ham, chicken, and bacon

Wednesday
Tacos / lettuce from the garden, tomatoes, cucumber, beef, cheese, sour cream, salsa

Thursday
Pork Chops (We bought half a pig from my niece and her husband…lots of pork on the menu for a while.)
Grilled Potatoes and Carrots with Rosemary
Steamed Sugar Snap Peas

Friday
Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry
Rice

Saturday
Homemade Pizza

Sunday
Grilled Pork Chops
Mashed Potatoes
Biscuits
Corn on the Cob
Steamed Green Beans
Garden Salad

Birthday Cake and Ice Cream to celebrate my Dad’s 80th birthday. Happy birthday, Dad!

You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

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the twins

April 30, 2013 – 8:59 pm

Since I’ve been missing in action lately, I thought I’d prime the blog posting pump with a few pictures of the twins. They do add a lot of fun and joy to our lives!

Rose Red is a bit taller than Snow White, as you can see. This is just after haircuts. The last time she had a haircut, Rose Red looked in the mirror and said, “It looks like someone else’s hair.”

tall twin, short twin

Gotta love their little helping hands…and feet…They were helping Pa make the bed. When they got done, they snuggled in under the covers with pillows propping them up and read books for a while. The bed was as messy after, as it had been before!

helping Pa make the bed

Pa loves to take them on bicycle rides when they are here. Their Christmas bikes went to their house. These were given to us by a friend and we so appreciate them! Thank you, Dacia!

cycling with Pa

Rose Red twirled into the kitchen and proclaimed, “I came fancy today!” Indeed! A full length gown, a big red hat, blue shoes and red and white striped socks…pretty fancy!

"I came fancy today!"

Snow White drew a picture of herself having a dream. In her dream, she was floating in the ocean, dreaming about hot oatmeal. I asked her if her daddy made hot oatmeal for her breakfast. She said, “No! I don’t like it!” Okaaaay….

coloring pictures for Ma

Our own little girl isn’t so little any more. Here she is with her dad, ready to attend prom with some friends.

prom

I have to remember that the twins will grow up that fast, too. ::sigh::

~~Rhonda

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menu plan monday ~ april 29, 2013

April 29, 2013 – 3:59 pm

The lilacs are blooming. This bouquet has lilacs from starts from my mother’s, from my mother-in-law’s and from my maternal grandmother’s gardens. The fragrance is wonderful.

lilacs

This week, we celebrated our oldest daughter’s birthday, DH had two visitations to attend, I went north to visit with my Dad and sister, then she and her husband were here on Saturday while DH and my sister’s husband took part in a nearby bike ride. It was a cold wet day and the bike ride was not as much fun as it would have been with better weather, but they did enjoy the ride. Sunday our older son and our granddaughters were here for Sunday dinner. Always fun to have them over. We missed our daughter-in-law who had to work that day, but we hope to see her soon.

I have not felt the best the past few weeks and missed a couple of Menu Plan Monday posts. But I’m getting better and the menu for the week is as follows.

Monday
Fridge Food / lots of leftovers from yesterday…

Tuesday
Roast Beef in the Crock Pot
Homemade Buns
Garden Salad

Wednesday
Chicken Divan
Green Salad
Rosemary Bread

Thursday
Mongolian Beef with Broccoli
Rice

Friday
Ham and Beans
Cornbread

Saturday
Homemade Pizza

Sunday
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Quick Spaghetti Sauce
Homemade Rolls
Corn on the Cob
Edamame
Garden Salad

You will find more menus and ideas at Menu Plan Monday.

~~Rhonda

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