Parker Getting Messy

I'm still not sure how much food actually gets into his mouth

Next stop bath time

10 months old and already trying to shove beans in his nose

Parker's first "man cold"



His nose NEVER stops running!

P & His Teddy Bear

Who Needs Wheels?

Parker uses anything he can find to help him practice his walking.  We were visiting Brian in Idaho last week, and  everytime I turned around Parker was pushing a dining room chair across the kitchen. 

I think we need a taller table...

Pantry Challenged

I'm waving the white flag, throwing in the towel, etc.  Normally, I kick ass when it comes to making homemade meals, but with Brian gone I don't have the energy, motivation or time to cook 3+ meals a week for one person.  Good luck to all the participants!

Pantry Challenge Week #1

I did pretty well this week, even though I slacked off until Friday.

Friday: Mexican pizza w/ salad 
used frozen bean/meat mixture from a few weeks ago and frozen homemade pizza dough
(bought shredded lettuce)  $1.99

Saturday: roasted chicken, roasted root veggies & asparagus
Used one of three whole chickens I had in the freezer
(bought sweet potatoes & asparagus-I couldn't pass up the asparagus it was super thin and we ate it for two meals)  $2.50

Sunday: family dinner at my parents I brought salad
(bought lettuce)  2/$6

Monday: Sausage & Kale soup
(bought sausage, potatoes (I was going to skip the spuds and use white beans, but my husband wanted potatoes so I used both) & kale (froze 1/2 to be used later this month) $7.50


Tuesday: Chicken pot pies w/ asparagus  I had everything on hand for this meal!
Used the leftover chicken from Saturday, made stock from the chicken carcass-overnight in the crock pot, used rice milk (not doing dairy right now) from the pantry and frozen veggies
I actually made 1 small pot pie for dinner and 3 pot pies to freeze, I know this defeats the purpose of cleaning out the freezer, but I hate making pie crust so I make up a few at a time to lessen the torture)

Grocery bill: I had to estimate the grocery bill and I'm sure I bought a few other things so lets round up to $25ish

Clean Out Yo' Pantry Challenge-Extravoganza

My sister Sarah, has a great blog about living frugally, and last week she announced a contest for all of her readers and anyone else who would like to participate.  It is a month long challenge to cook with what you already have in the pantry and freezer (click on this link for more details.)  I'm participating and will be blogging about it. 

Step #1 The pantry/freezer inventory:

I swear it's feast or famine around here! Some days the fridge is bare and other times we are stacking things like tetris blocks!

Do we have enough condiments? 

Oh, and this blog post is not sponsored by Hersey's syrup! I had an ice cream feed for my kids on the last day of school and over bought.

Jealous of our spacious pantry aren't ya!

Nope, not a cake that's what I store my homemade bread in.

Eek! I need to move some of this stuff into the freezer out in the man den.

What the hell can I make w/ 45 lbs of summer sausage and 20 cups of peaches?

Step #2: Figure out a meal plan.  Thanks to Sarah's brilliant suggestion, I already plan our meals on a weekly basis, here is a rough outline of what I have planned for the next few weeks.  Our pantry and freezer are bursting with food, so I am adding a personal challenge -- I cannot buy more than one ingredient for each recipe, and I am also trying to keep our weekly grocery bill to +/- $25.

Week #1 (March 13-19)

Sausage & Kale soup 

Chicken pot pies w/ asparagus 
Shakshuka 
Black beans & rice 
Week #2 (March 20-26)

Spaghetti w/ meatballs & focaccia (WTF!!! spellcheck suggestions for focaccia: fogyish, freakish, dogcatcher, cowcatcher & quackish)

Egg Pie w/ frozen broccoli

Mexican pizza w/ salad

Chicken tortilla soup w/ salad

Week #3 (March 27-April 2)

Orange soup AKA butternut squash, sweet potato & carrot soup

Salmon w/ quinoa & frozen broccoli 
Meatloaf w/ homemade bread & peas

Fajitas w/ Spanish rice

Week #4 (April 3-9)

Venison curry w/ rice

Hamburgers w/ salad

Cabbage & Noodles
Stirfry w/ rice

Week #5 (April 10-16)

enchiladas w/ Spanish rice

Chana Masala

Kale and white bean stew

Phoning it in...something leftover from the freezer

High Chair Hijinks

Parker loves watching the dogs play outside while he eats.



When Parker is teething he pulls on his ears...this is what happens when he is teething and eating blueberries!

My Three Sons

When people come over to our house, the dogs get super excited and run around jumping and barking, after about 10 minutes they get bored and calm down. When my parents come over, we usually toss the dogs outside before they fully calm down, so my mom thinks we have two insanely hyper dogs that bounce off the walls nonstop. I swear she thought we would bring Parker home from the hospital, toss him in the middle of the living room floor and let the dogs at him. These two pictures are to freak my mother out and show her the boys can actually be mellow.

Whatcha Doin'

Hey mom, is that a camera?

Let me get a closer look

Oh, that flashy thing is shiny!

Let me try it!

10 Months

What? You want me to sit still?

Yeah right!

What? I'm not allowed to dive off the chair?

Outta My Way!