Time to get back on track after a VERY busy summer.

First, the meal planning, then the updates.

Breakfast:

"Cake batter" overnight oats

Banana protein pancakes

Cereal

Boiled eggs and toast

Carrot cake cookies & fruit

Lunch: (Delilah/Danielle)

DIY lunchable/Chicken&Avocado

Chicken&avocado burrito

Chicken avocado bacon pasta salad

Leftover pasta salad

Leftover Thai meatballs&quinoa

Dinner:

Black bean burgers and fries

Breakfast burritos (eggs, sausage, bacon, etc...)

Shrimp tacos (marinate in lime juice and taco seasoning)

Thai Meatballs

Grilled schwenk steaks w/mashed cauliflower

Snacks:

Homemade PB2 oat bars

Coconut honey almond granola

Ok, so some updates.

This has been an extremely busy month.  We learned that Delilah was off the wait list and would be attending preschool this year!  3 days a week 9-12.  We are all REALLY excited for this new and exciting adventure.  She's got her backpack (Spiderman) and back to school clothes ready. 

Earlier in the month, Ben took a week off and we took a 2 day trip to Köln (Cologne), just us!  It was really fantastic, and really wonderful to have an adult trip.  We rode the subway the entire time and were pros at it by the end (mostly Ben).  Went to various places that had different varieties of Kolsh beer (which is famous in Cologne).  Dinner twice overlooking the Rhein River, once with a little band playing Beatles music!  Walked across the Love Lock bridge (that was the day I got 23K steps in...thanks FitBit!), and stayed in a weird little apartment.  

It really was a wonderful trip.

Köln Cathedral

Köln Cathedral

St. Ursula's ossuary (those are all human bones)

St. Ursula ossuary.  There were so many skulls like this!

Totally forgot to post last week.

It's saved in my drafts. I just never got to posting it after making it.  Oh well, whatever.  This week/weekend was more interesting anyway.

First, I am really excited that I ran at a faster speed and for longer than I ever have before.  I think I would have been able to keep going, but I got excited and forgot to control my breathing. ha!  I was quite proud of myself, especially because I HATE running.  

Another heart check up on Friday.  Back in October, the battery life had 16 months left. Then in Jan, it only had 8 months!  They were worried that I would have to have surgery in April.  Got it looked at and discovered that I still had 6 months.  Still have to have surgery this year, but it's not draining as fast.  Part of me thinks that it's due to not only eating well, but working out more and getting more physically fit.  I've always been in relatively good shape, but now I'm actually working on being fit and it's definitely helping me in more ways than just appearance!  

Went back to Heidelberg yesterday.  Instead of driving, we took the train and it was REALLY easy!  (really fun too!)  

Train was easy to do. No wonder everyone uses it around here!

Someone was a little sleepy when we first got there...

At the castle!

In front of a bakery. I love Germany.

Inside the castle grounds

A great group to explore a Germany city with!

LOVE.

Hello from a castle!

Yeah, had a great weekend. We were all pretty tired afterwards, totally worth it though.

Breakfast:

Greek yogurt banana muffins

PB/Banana chia pudding

Oatmeal with PB2&honey

Greek yogurt with honey & blueberries

Cereal, juice, and toast

Lunch:

Pizza buns with veggies

Tuna salad (with greek yogurt not mayo), crackers, and carrots

Chicken & quinoa salad

PB/J, apple slices

Leftovers

Dinner:

Stir fry chicken and spinach

Italian chicken bake

Honey apple pork tenderloin

5 Ingredient white chicken chili

Leftovers

Snacks:

Homemade Lara balls

Peanut butter granola

PB2 Granola bars

Chopped fruits

Chopped veggies

There you have it!

Menu:

Dinner:

Turkey Meatballs (all the stores have been out of turkey!)

Broccoli and Cheese soup

Pesto Ranch Chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans

Pineapple BBQ Chicken and quinoa

Chicken fingers with steamed broccoli

Pizza Sunday :)

Ranch pork chops with steamed cauliflower 

(I don't really like using the "cream of" soups, so I will probably improvise that)

Breakfast:

Pumpkin muffin and greek yogurt

Overnight Pumpkin Oats

Banana raspberry pancake

Cereal and fruit

Greek yogurt and fruit

Lunch:

Annie's mac&cheese

Leftovers

Avocado, blueberries, pecan crackers, and hummus

Noodles, fruit, goldfish

Snacks:

PB Greek yogurt dip with apples

Granola

"Pesto" dip

Fruit/Veggies

So there's my menu for the week.  It's been a long fun weekend with friends, so I'm off to bed.  

xoxo

STILL in TLF.

I have a dream that we will get an email saying our household goods arrived today.  

(I CAN DREAM)

I'm so tired of being in temporary living.  I want our stuff to get here and be in our own house.  I want to unpack, go to IKEA again, and get my house set up.  I want my kid to be able to play in our yard and play with more toys than just the ones she's had for the last month and a half.  SIGH.  

Ok, so here's the plan for the week:

Breakfast (these are typically the same each week)

Nutella pancakes 

boiled eggs and toast

Cereal

Yogurt

Fruit

Lunch:

PB&Honey

All beef Hebrew National + veggie

Pasta salad

Leftovers

Dinner:

Crunchwrap Supremes

Grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup

Chicken fingers and pasta salad

Breakfast quesadillas

Teriyaki fried rice

So that's my plan.  I'm gonna have to figure out one more thing, because we definitely had the breakfast quesadillas already and the week JUST started.  They were really good though!

Yesterday was Easter, and it was a nice day.  Delilah got a nice little stash from the Easter bunny, and we had a relaxing day.  Went over to the Merlin's home for dinner.  Love them, they are so easy to be friends with.  

Family Easter picture. I might actually get this framed.  It's a pretty cute shot!

Delilah's little stash from the Easter Bunny.  Let's not kid ourselves though...she's gonna get a couple pieces of candy...the rest will be eaten by me and Ben.

First Easter egg hunt, and she filled her little basket.  Didn't have any issues with crazy parents or kids.  Delilah was VERY pleased with herself.

We went to Outdoor Rec and got a nice hiking backpack to carry Delilah around in.  Now, Ben is all about camping/hiking. I don't mind hiking...but I'm not a huge fan of camping. 

I think that's all for now.  I'm gonna go take a shower and get ready for the day.  I got a Bare Minerals starter kit this weekend, and I have been having fun playing with it.  First time wearing makeup aside from just my eyes/lips.  

My week.

All the meals for last week were a definite success.  I think the only thing I would change would be doubling the quinoa patties.  They were good, but didn't make a whole lot...and my husband can definitely eat at dinner time.  

I'm making my new store list/meal plan this morning.  I'll try and link what I'm making to the list on here.  I think that'll be much nicer than just a list, right?

Breakfast:

Yogurt

Pancake bites

Boiled eggs

Fresh fruit

Cereal (a FAVORITE)

Lunch:

Honey&PB sandwich

Roll ups

Apples w/ melted pb, crackers, and cheese

Leftovers

Pasta w/ sauce

Dinner:

Chicken fingers and sweet potato fries (Was going to make this last week, but we had a fun trip to the ER yesterday...more on that below)

Homemade pizza

Chicken burrito bowls (big hit here!)

Oven fajitas

BBQ chicken sandwiches

All sound good!  I think I'll do the BBQ sandwiches tonight.  I've already got cooked chicken that can easily be drained and shredded and mixed in with some warmed BBQ sauce for an easy meal tonight.  Something easy for a Sunday evening.  

Now for the ER visit info:

Delilah woke up from her nap yesterday, and everything was going completely normal...until she fell face first into the hard wood floor of our hotel after slipping.  I immediately picked her up and comforted her, and when I looked down, she was covered in blood.  I remained calm (I'm not really sure how) and ran to get a towel and icepack.  She wouldn't let me near her chin.  Ben was out getting supplies for the car, and I texted him to come home immediately.  I was able to remove her shirt, but I still couldn't get a good look at the injury.  At this point, the blood wasn't flowing, just the occasional drip.  Ben got home, and to get her calm, they started watching Frozen.  At this point, I was able to kinda slide up and look at her chin.  WHOA.  Yep, we gotta go to the ER.  That's gonna need stitches.  

So we got in the car and made the drive.  When we got there, we got seen right away...unfortunately, Ben and I had the task of holding a lidocaine soaked gauze to her chin.  For 15 minutes.  I had an idea of how strong my daughter is, but after holding her arms and head for even 5 minutes was a strain.  Eventually, the numbing worked and things got a bit easier after that.  She kept telling Ben, "No, Daddy, stop! Let's go bye-bye!"  It was heartbreaking.

Doctors came back in, and we had to wrap her up in a blanket to keep her from flailing.  Ben held her knees, I held her arms at her chest and stayed near her head so she could see me.  As she was getting stitched up, she kept saying, "Mama, mama, I need you!"  Holy crow.  I felt like my heart was actually shattering.  It was quick, only 5 stitches, and everyone was telling her how well she was doing.  

I comforted her as soon as they were done, and I had brought her Hello Kitty bandaids (because normal ones are "ugly" according to Delilah).  We got home, and ice cream and Disney movies were on the agenda.  She was brave, I was brave.  It was awful.