9/11 – the single most ‘remembered’ day in American history

To say that I struggle with what to say when September 11 comes around each year is an understatement, at best.  Almost every American over the age of 18 can tell you down to the minute where they were when it happened and exactly what they did following those tragic events.  Everyone in America seems to have an unmatched level of passion for the events surrounding 9/11.  This is not inappropriate considering that, for most of us; this is the largest act of violence committed in America in our lifetimes.  

I want to acknowledge the lives that were sacrificed on that day, whether they were civilians, military, airline personnel, workers in any of the buildings, or any of the countless police, fire and EMS workers that were lost.  I want to acknowledge the work that was put in by both on and off duty police, fire, EMS, military of all branches, etc. on that day and for months after to assist, rescue, and fight for normalcy.  Without that sacrifice and dedication to the job, we wouldn’t have been able to get to this point that we are at right now.  

I don’t ever talk about any of my feelings about what happened on that day that would seem controversial because I recognize that is neither the time nor the place.  I have respect for the lives lost, the families that have been forever changed, and the hard work and dedication of the people that were left, and I would never use this day to speak out of turn to cause the focus to be away from those individuals.

I would instead like to choose this entry to ask us to all ponder a simple question.  We all remember what happened that day, now 12 years, but what are we doing about it? Are we simply remembering what happened but not allowing ourselves to make a change or are we attempting to live a change based upon what happened?   Because of the strong presence of social media, the internet, and ability to communicate with the entire world with one mouse click, you will now see at least 100 references to “Remember 9/11” today alone.  You might even post one yourself.  But I would challenge us to grow as a society and realize that eventually we need to turn this statement into an “AND”.  “Remember 9/11 and _____”.  If we refuse to do that, then we are no better off than we were on September 12, 2001.  

I am definitely not proposing any solutions or ideas with this.  I would just like to use this time to think about what we should do and how we should fight to make our country better and stronger than it has been since we were all changed.  Are you comfortable being complacent in your grief as an American public or should you channel those feelings and emotions regarding this day into making your own world a positively different environment to live in?  I deliberately am not going to say that we should make it better because we did have a significant loss of life and the world is not better without certain people, but we can use their sacrifice and make the world a positively different place.  

I am definitely not advocating for anything that sounds like revenge and that is not where I would like to entry to go.  In an ideal world, we would take our tragedy, and use our memories and lessons that we learned to make our society different today than it was on that day in a positive manner.  If we are not able to get to a point where we are willing and able to take the sacrifices of those who died that day and use them towards the greater good of our society, then I would argue that those people have died in vain.  Yes, those who were lost would want to be remembered, but I believe that they would all want us to use this situation as a way to teach our children lessons about what happened.  At this point, those lessons could be as simple as religious tolerance, equality for all humans, compassion for those less fortunate, or empathy for the poor in other countries.  

Let me know how you are remembering today and how we were changed.  

Monthly Meal Planning - September

I like meal planning.  It gives my type A, list-making personality something to smile about.  I try to help my family stick to a meal plan/meal budget, but we can all do better.  For me, going to the grocery store weekly for a more frequent meal plan is the quick way to financial disaster.  Even at Aldi, there are times when I get out of there $30 over the budget that I came in with.   I got inspired by an awesome woman named Julie (mammaneedsanap) that I follow on Youtube who meal plans by the month, and I am going to give that a go for September. 

Luckily, Corry and I have been stocking up and keeping certain ingredients on hand for months now of foods that we favor, so the shopping trip for this month is not as massive as it would be if we were starting from scratch.  It is not a lie to say that thinking about spending a bulk of our grocery budget in one trip at the beginning of the month is a bit daunting.  I understand that we will still need to shop weekly or so in very small doses for things like milk and our CSA produce, but the vast majority will be purchased in this one day.  I decided to play it safe and stick with mostly meals that we have made before for this first month, however I did throw in a few meals that we have not had previously to test a few new recipes. 

I am not changing the way that I meal plan/build a shopping list/etc; I am just planning for more meals upfront.  I will include recipe links when I have them and will do recipe posts on the ones that I don't have yet.  I will also keep up the practice of not planning a specific meal for a specific day unless we have produce that is going to spoil soon, etc.  We are less likely to stick to a plan, for some reason, if we are "forced" to have a certain food on a certain day. 

Here are our meals for the month:

Salsa Chicken & Spanish Rice x 3
Breakfast Casserole
Grilled Steak & Chicken, grilled sweet corn & fruit salad x 2
Chicken Chili x 2
Spaghetti x 3
Tuna Salad (kids will have something else not decided upon yet) x 2
Baked tacos x 3
Pulled Pork & side dish
Spinach, Alfredo, & turkey pepperoni pizzas
Grilled chicken salads
Sandwich & Homemade Soup (cream of chicken with wild rice & chicken noodle) x 2
Chicken Spaghetti x 2
Red Beans & Rice
BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

I need 28 dinners total for the month of September.  This is technically 25, but I gave us three dinners eating out in case we are out later than expected or feel like a treat.  Most of these recipes are 'diet' and I will include the nutritional info on them in the recipe post if I have it.  If not, I will include the portion(s) that we are having so you can get a general idea.  I need to shop at three different stores to get all of the items that we need - Target, Aldi, and Walmart or Albertsons.  Target's shopping trip was a bit distracted because of diapers, a new skirt for Grace and a few other random items but we did manage to get $10 worth of grocery items.  Aldi was where I spent the bulk of our money and it amounted to $111 and some change, which wasn't bad considering that consisted of a large volume of meat.  I still need a buy 2 items from the list that they don't sell at Aldi and they didn't have for some reason at Target.  All in all, our budget this month for groceries should be less than $200, which is pretty good for a family of five.  Next month that will change because we won't have as many items on hand and we will have a different menu (hopefully).   

Have you ever done a monthly meal plan?  What did or did you not like about it? 

52 in 52 #11 - Car Seat ICE Labels

Over and over again, I have seen this pin on Pinterest. 

The basic idea is that if you and whoever is capable of relaying information in an accident are knocked unconscious or (God forbid) killed while driving, that emergency personnel will be able to have information re: your children that will be important in assisting them.  Since they won't be able to tell you their pediatrician's name and phone number or if they have any medical issues, this will be a suitable substitute. 

Each example of these labels online are a tad bit different, but it really comes down to what you think is going to be important in an emergency.  Below are my choices for my cards for my children:

• Child's name
• Child's DOB
• Parents with dates of birth
• Insurance Information
• Medical condition(s)
• ICE contact - not the parents
• Pediatrician

I decided to include both of the parent's names and DOBs since I don't know who will be driving the car at the time.  It is important to remember that your ICE contact, in this case, should be someone who isn't either one of the child's parents in case both are in the car together.  Ideally this should be a related third party who would be capable of providing the remaining information on the parents and children.  We chose my mother for this role since she has this information, is their grandmother and likely would be close in proximity to where ever we are. 

This pin is definitely something that you don't want to think about but it would be essential in an emergency.  What items would be on your list? 

Meal Planning 8/20- 8/25

The week back from vacation is always tough.  You have just spent several days not worrying about working or bills or what is for dinner.  And now you are back... sigh.  I guess that now is as good of a time as ever to start posting meal plans, grocery lists, and recipes again for weekly meals since I have been slacking on those. 

As a reminder, I always make a list of the meals that I want to have during the week but I never assign a specific day to a specific meal because that will ultimately go awry somewhere during the week and then my whole attitude towards meal planning will be thrown off. 

I write down the meals that I would like to have/make for the week like this: 

Then I take a separate sheet of paper and make a list of all of the ingredients that I will need to make any of these meals to see if I have any of the ingredients that are needed ahead of time so I don't repurchase items that we already have in stock.  As I find that item in my pantry or freezer I cross it off the list like this: 

 

 

Then, lastly, from that list I take all of the remaining items and write them down with an idea of where I am going to buy that item next to it like this:

 

                                              

 

Normally I try to buy the bulk of our items at Aldi because they are significantly less expensive especially when it comes to produce and usually dairy items.  If I have to go to Walmart, that is usually a last ditch trip where I have to buy name-brand items or something that doesn't exist at Aldi. 

 

As you can see, this week our meal plan is as follows:

• Baked Tacos
• Stuffed Shells and garlic bread
• Salsa Chicken and Spanish Rice
• Grilled Chicken/Steak and Twice Baked Potatoes or Baked Potato Casserole
• Spaghetti

What's on your menu for this week?  

Corry's Birthday Weekend Celebration

We didn't initially plan this trip to celebrate Corry's birthday, but it lined up perfectly with his 40th birthday this year.  Our friends that we met through NTTE wanted to go camping and it was decided that we were going to visit Lake Murray State Park near Ardmore, OK. 



 We decided to leave Thursday night, which was Corry's birthday, and head up there after work.  Luckily, it didn't take us that long to get up there, get set up and relax with our friends.  We stayed in the Rock Tower area of the park and it was awesome!  The first night there were very few people there and we got awesome camping spots right on the water.  The area was very quiet and the spots were spacious and ideal for a larger camper, which you don't always find in a campground.   This was our first time to camp at this state park and we definitely will return.  They have several hundred campsites in the entire park and awesome amenities like an ATV area, fishing, swimming, play grounds, etc. 

 

 

As I have mentioned several times before my children absolutely love camping.  I will admit that I am stressed for days before a campout that at least one of my children isn't going to sleep well at night, isn't going to eat what we are serving, is going to fall out of a camper and injure themselves - wait... too late on that one.  Needless to say, my children would live in the wild if I would allow them to.  They love being outdoors and have no problems just wandering around playing with bugs and dirt.  By the end of the evening, they are both so worn out and dirty that they really should be hosed off before going to bed but they couldn't even stand up long enough for that. 

 

 

 

Because we now have Grace living with us, we had a different sleeping arrangement this time than we normally do so we could give her the most comfortable sleeping placement possible.  We moved Isabella to the table bed and let Grace have the fold down couch bed.  It works out fine, especially because Isabella could sleep on a log, I think, if she was tired enough.  Most nights she sleeps so well that she ends up with awesome bed-head like this.  We called this her 'I went to prom last night' hairdo.  Silas slept amazingly well in the 'baby-jail' situation that we have set up for him in the bunk house portion of our camper since it gets dark and mostly soundproofed in there.  Our friends have children that are older than Isabella and Silas, and they have so much fun with their children.  They love other kids and are starting to not freak out 'stranger danger' style around our friends.  

 

Of course because it was actually Corry's birthday, we definitely had to get a cake.  And, of course, because we were ordering a cake I contacted Heather from A Sweet Fix bakery to make it.  She went so above how I thought this cake was going to turn out.  Everyone was amazed and oohed and ahhed over how awesome it looked and how great it tasted.  It was rich and chocolatey and delicious.  Corry agreed that this was definitely the best tasting cake that we have ever had from her.  I know that I have talked about her and her business in several blogs before but definitely if you are in the DFW area and in search of an amazing cake, you have to check her out.  This cake was an amazing chocolate inside and chocolate buttercream on the outside.  I know that buttercream is not what she normally deals with but it is always excellent.  She made these awesome donut shaped cookies that my kids loved as well.  She really goes above and beyond what I could expect every time that we order a cake from her.     

 

 

 

All in all we had an excellent weekend with family and friends.  My parents came up to bring the cake and celebrate with us.  We also met some very nice new people while we were camping who had some very sweet children.  I definitely could not have asked for a better weekend for my husband's birthday. 

 

What would be your ideal birthday weekend celebration?    

   

52 in 52 #10 Homemade Yogurt Melt Snacks

I have seen this pin like 9,000 times on Pinterest.  My kids were never that into the yogurt melts when they were younger, but they love yogurt now so I figured that perhaps this would be a less messy way to indulge their taste for yogurt.  I don't know what it is about yogurt but I can barely eat yogurt as an adult without getting it everywhere so you can imagine two toddlers and the mess that comes after them trying to eat yogurt on their own. 

The basic idea of this pin is very simple.  Dump a container of yogurt into a plastic sandwich bag, cut the tip, squeeze dime-ish sized dots onto a foil lined baking sheet, freeze and then enjoy.  Sounds simple.  I went into this however with apprehension because I have been burned by pins

that appear easy before. 

Homemade Yogurt Melt Snacks
Prep time: 10 minutes
Freeze time: 2 hours

1 container flavored yogurt
1 baking sheet
aluminum foil
plastic sandwich bag

Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Decide which yogurt flavor you want to make your snacks out of. 

 

Empty the yogurt container into the plastic sandwich bag and cut a *small* hole in one of the tips.  I quickly learned that what I first considered a small hole was vastly too big. 

 

Drop dime sized dollops of yogurt onto the baking sheet.  Be careful to not put them too close together unless you want them to run together and become bigger 'dots'. 



 

 

Freeze baking sheet with yogurt dots for at least 2 hours.  They will probably be frozen through sooner than that, but I think that it works better if they are SUPER frozen.  Once they are frozen through, you can gently scrape them off of the foil and store them in a plastic bag or container in the freezer, like this:

 

 

 

Now, since you are flash freezing your melts they will start to melt once you remove them from the freezer so unless you live in Antarctica, this is not a good "on the go" snack.  Mine also are starting to break apart a bit every time they are handled in the freezer.  I don't know how to rectify that problem.  However, they do amuse children and are super easy to make.  I haven't purchased the packaged variety of these snacks in over a year, but I would definitely be willing to say that these are cheaper than the ones that you can purchase at the store. 

 

Give this a try and let me know how it works out!

 

-Sara 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My husband's birthday

My husband's birthday is today.  We are celebrating his birthday this year by doing two of his favorite things: being off work and camping.  We don't normally do a lot for birthdays for each other, but I do have a few things planned for him this weekend.  I would like to celebrate his birthday this year by talking about three of the things that I love best about him. 

He is a hard worker. 
My husband works 6 days a week at a mostly thankless job to help ensure that our family is always taken care of.  When he comes home, he takes care of the 'man' jobs around the house like mowing, fixing things, or installing things whenever those are necessary.  He rarely complains about how much or when he has to work.  He has always had a strong work ethic and has never been one of those people who was happy with going to work sometimes and doing a half-ass job.  He is amazing and this is one part of him that I love to death. 





He is an amazing father.
Having four children is no easy task.  Having two teenagers and two toddlers under 3 is definitely difficult sometimes, and he handles it like an absolutely pro.  He is always there for his children.  We recently had a situation with our eldest daughter Grace and when she asked to come home he drove 6 hours that next morning to go and pick her up.  As a parent, I think that you always want the best that you can provide for your children, but he really does work hard to provide the most that he can for them.  He is always willing to get down and play with the children and even though he doesn't think that he is sometimes, he is an excellent teacher, especially with his kids.  One of the best things that I love about him related to his children is how much he compliments our daughters and really tries to build up their self confidence.  He calls our daughters "beautiful", "gorgeous", etc every chance that he gets and I really think that is important.  Whether or not you believe it, I am a firm believer that your relationship with your parents has a defining effect on your relationships when others in the future.  It really is important to him that his daughters are self confident.  I think that people say this a lot, but I really do feel like he is an amazing example of a great father. 

He is an excellent husband.
The same way that he is always complimenting the children, he is always complimenting me and that is awesome.  More importantly though, he puts up with me and all my issues with relationships and parenting.  Sure we fight and have our battles, but he is the most understanding and forgiving man that I have ever met.  He says the sweetest things to me when I don't feel good and he is quick to help me when I may not even know that I need help.  He will always and forever be one of the best things that has ever happened to me. 

There are a lot of things that I love about Corry but these are definitely some of the most important things to me about him.  Happy birthday, Corry!  I love you more and more everyday and I will love you forever and always.