Meal Plan Monday #2

 Happy Monday! I can't believe that tomorrow will be October. This is one of our busiest month of the year. I feel like the next three months are super busy! I did my meal planning this past Saturday along with grocery shopping since my hubby was home. He came with me and it was a huge help! We did pretty well sticking with our meal plan last week and stayed under my $250 budget! I do shop at Aldi's and still somehow spend a fortunate there, but with a family of 5 it is what it is right now! So let's see what we are having this week: 

Sunday: Steaks tips, mashed potatoes, and corn
Monday: Chicken sandwiches & mac and cheese (fresh fruit) 
Tuesday: Forgotten Chicken and steamed broccoli- trying out this recipe that I found on Pinterest - Forgotten Chicken
Wednesday: Meatloaf with rice and green beans 
Thursday: Grilled sandwiches with fresh cut veggies
Friday: Pizza night

This week we have to stick with the meal plan as it's a bit of a crazy week and we have something going on each night. So for the nights we have to get out of the house quickly I chose something quick to make so we can either take it on the go! 

What is your quick easy meal to go? 

xoxo, 
Erika 

Day In The Life - Monday Edition

 I love reading other day in the life blog post so I figured I would do one! I picked this past Monday for no particular reason. So let's go because it was a busy one. A little behind the scenes is that I'm a working mom of three kids, 13, 12 and 7. My husband is in law enforcement and works a lot! So a lot of the running the kids around falls on me and I wouldn't have it any other way! So let's go.....

My alarm went off at 5:30 and my two oldest were starting to wake up as they go to school around 7 am. First thing first is to take the dog out and feed him. Then I make breakfast for my girls. I usually sit for a few minutes and look through my planner and see what is going on for the day. I love my Emily Ley Simplified weekly planner. It's the only one I have found so far that I use every day, but that is for another blog post! 

Once I checked my planner it was time to get my coffee going and make lunches for the kids! 

Our mornings are pretty chaotic. After making lunches I empty the dishwasher and help the girls with doing their hair. They get dropped off around 7 and that is when my little guy gets up! He doesn't have to be at school till 8:15. He will have breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, and pack his bag. I do have to say he pretty independent on getting himself ready for the day! 

I'm always the last one to get ready for the day. Once I drop off the girls at school I come home and shower or do my hair depending if I showered the night before. I do my skin care and brush my teeth and figure out what I'm going to wear. I'm in a between state right now with my clothes as I have lost a some weight. I really need a whole new wardrobe! This outfit was perfect for today! 

It was finally time to drop off Hudson at school. He likes to get in line early so we usually have time to chat before he goes running into school. Love that he loves school! 

I literally work only a few minutes away from home, so after dropping off Hudson I went a grabbed a coffee from Dunkin and then headed to work. It was a busy day for me. I'm an HR Manager/ Credit Manager for a lumber company. Today was filled with completing payroll and timesheets, meeting with a new employee, dealing with customer issues, doing payments, and updating reports. 

Most days I work through my lunch as I leave around 2 to go pick up the girls from school. Today was leftover pot roast with veggies and dip. Super simple and yummy. 

I left work at 2:00 to go get the girls from school. The pick up line wasn't bad today! I got them home and they had a snack and started homework. I grabbed the mail and switched the laundry. Before you knew it was time to go pick up Hudson at school! After I got Hudson we had to drop off my oldest at an appointment and then had to go to Walgreen's to pick up a prescription. 

While I was at Walgreens I picked up my favorite protein shake and had it for my afternoon snack.

We headed back home and went outside to play for a bit. Hudson is playing football right now so everything is all about football! He loves it. 

After we played outside we had to go pick up Mollie but 

while we waited for her Hudson and I read a book!

 

The girls had field hockey practice tonight so we had an hour or so to waste some time! 

I made some pumpkin muffins that are coming to the blog I think on Thursday while also cooking dinner and starting to decorate my mantle for Halloween. Dinner was super easy tonight! I tried to clean up the kitchen for the most part before heading out to practice so that when I came home we could do showers and get ready for bed. 

While the girls were at practice we went to the playground and then sat in the car to watch a movie. It's starting to get dark so early! 

We got home around 7:15 and everyone jumped into the shower and grabbed a snack. 

Hudson went to bed around 8 and the girls put themselves to bed around 9:30 as they are exhausted from the school day and getting up so early. 

I finished cleaning up the kitchen, burned a candle, did my skin care and worked on my blog for a bit before heading to bed to read for a bit! 

Once the candle is lit for the night the kitchen is closed! 

I hoped you enjoyed our day in the life post! I loved doing it! If you want more day in the life follow me on Tik Tok! 

Have a good night

xoxo, 

Erika 

Back to School Dinner

Back to School Dinner has become a tradition in our household. Every year the night before school starts we sit down as a family and recap our summer and what we are looking forward to the new school year. There are a lot of excitement and nerves when going into the new year that I like to make a special night for the kids. It isn't anything crazy and over the top as you can see below! I always make a favorite comfort meal. This night we had meatballs and spaghetti. 

I ended up not buying anything extra for decorations and just used what I had around the house. 

I love using the craft paper on the table and I just added markers and crayons. We played a few card games and filled out a Back to School Questionnaire that I had created on Canva. I was trying to find one online but couldn't find what I was looking for. It was super fun to create and I just love Canva. 

Here is a link to the questionnaire if you want to use it for next year!

 Back to School Questions

We read Splat the Cat - Back to School, Splat while the kids filled out the questionnaire. It was a cute story! 

The kids look forward to this tradition of ours every year! Even as my girls are now older they still have fun doing it and my son who is 7 loves it! 

Do you do a back to school dinner? Leave a comment if you do! 

xoxo, 
Erika 

 

Meal Plan Monday

 Happy Monday! Another weekend has flown by with it being full to the brim. I'm starting this series on my blog to keep me accountable and to hopefully help budget better when it comes to grocery shopping! I try to make our meals as simple as possible. So you will definitely see us having the same thing from week to week. If I'm going to try a new recipe I will do that on the weekends when I have more time in the kitchen. 

So here is the meal plan for this week: 

Sunday: Pot roast with potatoes and green beans
Monday: Taco night/quesadillas 
Tuesday: Air fry pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes and corn
Wednesday: Butter chicken with rice and green beans
Thursday: Pizza and salad night. 
Friday: Leftovers or Breakfast night 
Saturday: Take out or go out to eat! 

Leave a comment of what your favorite go to meal is on a busy night. I'm always looking for more ideas! 

xoxo, 
Erika