Weekly Meal Plan!

 Ok so I know grocery prices have gone up and I'm really struggling to get our grocery amount down each week. As a family of five we spend about $300 each week. I know I can get it lower than that but I'm going to have to get creative. I'm going to post our meal plan each week. I was hoping to get this post up earlier this week but life happens! Our meals are not set in stone that it has to be a specific night. It really all depends on what is going on and what meal will be the easiest for that night. I do the majority of the cooking so I do the meal planning! 

Saturday- Beef Stroganoff with noodles and peas
Sunday - Leftovers - we actually went out to dinner this night with my parents for Chinese. So much better than leftovers!
Monday - Pot roast in the crockpot! This is super easy and I just add brown rice and green beans. Tuesday - Breakfast - eggs, bacon and toast.
Wednesday - Butter Chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans.
Thursday - Hamburgers and fries
Friday - Take-out 

By Friday I'm exhausted and totally over cooking so we usually get pizza and do movie night if everyone is home! I try to do my grocery shopping on Saturdays for the upcoming week. I do have to usually stop at the grocery store on Tuesday/Wednesday for more milk, fruit and veggies. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can get our grocery bill down! Wish me luck. 

xoxo,
Erika 

Weekend Recap

 Good morning! Once again the weekend went by so fast! It was quite which was nice. Just a few more weeks and the weekends will be filled with sports. Mollie is playing travel soccer, Harper is playing lacrosse and Hudson is doing t-ball. So we will be all over the place. I love it though and it keeps the kiddos busy! 

Our weekend started on Friday after school. Mollie had friends over after school. Harper was suppose to but her friend was sick! After Mollie's friends left we got pizza and then we all crashed and I think everyone was in bed by 9. By Friday everyone is so tired from the week! 

Saturday morning I woke up around 7ish and no one was up yet. Harper is usually my earlier riser but she slept in. I made myself a cup of coffee and turned on Housewives of OC (don't judge) and enjoyed the quite time while reading my book (multitasking!). 

One by one everyone woke up and I made breakfast for the kiddos. Once Brett was awake I headed to the grocery store. I went to Super Walmart. It was a rookie mistake to go on a Saturday. I usually don't go to Walmart but with grocery prices being so high I was trying to see if I could save money by going to Walmart. That didn't work though because I ended up spending more money! It is what it is! After I got home I put away the groceries, which is the worst part. We then headed to my parents house to visit for a while. The kiddos played outside with their cousin and we all had lunch together!

After we left my parents we went to Home Goods in search for a salt shaker. We found one along with these two Easter mugs! I love them and luckily I didn't have any Easter mugs. More mugs to add to the collection. 

It was a rainy afternoon so you know what that means? It was a perfect afternoon for a nap. I took a nap which I haven't done in a long time in my bed! It was glorious. Brett and I were a bit lazy the rest of the afternoon. I think it was about 6 when I decided to get up and make dinner. In my defense we did have a late lunch so Brett and I weren't that hungry and the kiddos had snacked a lot! 

I made beef stroganoff for dinner which has been on our weekly meal plan a lot lately. It is weight watchers friendly which I have been doing for the last month. Done 15 pounds! After dinner, we cleaned up and got ready for movie night! The kiddos watched the new Cheaper by the Dozen on Disney+. I made popcorn for them. I showered and then finished watching the movie with them! Brett was watching basketball. After the movie it was bed time!! 

Sunday morning I was up a bit earlier than Saturday! Watched another few episodes of RHOC and then one by one everyone woke up again. Everyone was on their own for breakfast and I headed out for a walk. It was so foggy but felt good to get out there! 

After I got back from my walk we went to get the pitch back from my parents for Harper to practice lacrosse with! While the kiddos and Brett were outside I folded laundry and needed some caffeine! 

We then had lunch and I made English muffin pizzas in the air fryer. They were really good and everyone loved them!

After lunch we all had some rest time before Mollie's last soccer game. We headed to the game around 3 and unfortunately they lost but it was a great indoor season and she loved it! After the game we went to dinner with my parents! We got Chinese and it was so good. We had a nice time with my parents!! We got home around 645ish and Harper and Hudson went outside to play a bit. After that everyone came in and took showers. The kiddos went to bed around 8 and just like that the weekend was over!! 

xoxo, Erika  

Harper's Birthday Getaway

 Happy Birthday Harper!! Harper turned 10 on February 10! How is she 10? Time flies by so fast. She had a great day! Started the morning off with waffles for breakfast. She opened her presents from us and got a iPod touch and the kiddos gave her a big comfy sweatshirt and a hat she wanted! We had our family over that night for dinner and cake! Harper requested chicken broccoli ziti from Ricardi's and ice cream cake! It was the easiest birthday dinner ever! She wanted an arts and crafts party theme! We got canvas for the family to paint which was fun! It was a great night! 

The next morning we packed up the car and headed to North Conway for the weekend. We left super early in the morning and got to North Conway around 10 am. We couldn't check in till around 12ish so we drove around and walked through the town! We had lunch at Muddy Moose and got penny candy from Zebs. Once we checked into the hotel we had some quite time. We then headed down to the game room in the hotel and spent 20 dollars on playing lots of games! After the 20 bucks was gone we walked over to the outlets and did a little window shopping. Brett and the kids got some clothes at Under Armor. We then went back to the hotel and changed for dinner. We went to Barley and Salt for an early dinner since we were going to the ice castles that night. We had great dinner. They had mac and cheese for Hudson, so he was super happy about that. After dinner we went back to the hotel to get change and bundle up for the ice castles. It ended up being about an hour drive and the kiddos all fell asleep on the way there. We had to go through the Kancamagus Highway so it was lots of windy roads, kind of creepy during the night!! We arrived at the Ice Castles a bit early but were able to get in and it was busy!! We had fun walking through them, we went tubing, and got hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. The ice castles were beautiful and lots of fun for all of us! It was a busy day for us so every one crashed as soon as we got back to the hotel. 

On Saturday we all slept in till around 8. That never happens for me! We got ready and went to Peaches for breakfast. We got there at a good time because the wait started to get very long once we left! After breakfast we walked around the town again and then went on a train ride. Hudson loved it and so did the girls, but it kind of made me motion sick! After the train we got lunch. The kiddos and I got Chipotle and Brett got Dairy Queen. We walked through the outlets again, why not they were just outside of our hotel! On Saturday afternoon we had planned a sleigh ride at Nestlebrook farm. It was lots of fun! The place was really pretty, it was a bit warmer that day so everything was melting and it was very slushy!! After the sleigh ride we went to dinner to a place that I can't remember the name of!! It was really good! We ended the night back at the hotel room and watched a movie! 

Sunday morning we woke up and packed up our stuff and went back to Peaches again for breakfast. This time we had to wait about 30 mins since it was Sunday and we got there a little later than on Saturday! After breakfast we walked through the town one more time and then headed home. On our way home it was starting to snow. Our car started to not drive right. The transmission started to go! Luckily we got home and were able to get our car over to Uncle Marks on Monday. It needs a new transmission! Ugh I hate cars. We are going to get a new one though, but there isn't anything out there! 

Time to get ready for work, but I will leave you with some pictures from our weekend away! Have a great day! 

xoxo, 
Erika