Stop Plop & Enjoy

Hilton Head is absolutely beautiful. The scenery, the close proximity of all the amenities, and the variety of eateries make it great stop-plop-and-enjoy vacation destination.

Just yesterday we were able to take in the local sights, all on our bikes. The sand is packed so hard on the shore, making it a welcoming location for joggers and bikers.

This morning the hubby and I got up early and soaked in the sun while we jogged.

Anyone Seen the Sun?

Toes painted, stocked with a book, and sunglasses awaiting sun.

After many, many months of quiet land on the blog, this Momma is anxiously back and in full effect. In the immediate timeframe, I won't be picking back up with stories from our past school days, though I will recap in the coming months.

I thought that it would be more of a joy to blog about sun, sand, surf, and maybe a few things more.

Hilton Head, SC is our location of choice this year for our end of school year family vacation. A new place for us.

Everyone has a vacation style. What's yours? Are you a back country, wilderness-loving, cozy-in-cabin sort of person? How about the adventurer? Does hiking high elevations and jumping from moving contraptions fit your fancy? If you're like us, you're a mixture of both of these. When we vacation we simply love to get away from our normal routines and just relax, but we also thirst for activity. A heart pumping hike that takes us some place unimaginable or a bike ride that always ends up with a kids versus parents race.

We're hoping to do some chillaxing and  moving and shaking in Hilton Head.

There's one more item on our to do list that I can't close this blog entry without mentioning. Food. My family has acquired a growing appreciation in recent years for food. Good food. We'll be taking in the local cuisine as well on this vacation.

Relaxing, action, and cuisine. Here we come.

Cooking With a Plan... That Is Smart!

Cooking with a plan is so much more rewarding than trying to come up with meal ideas on a whim. My family has found great enjoyment in using the Cooksmarts meal planning website for our weekly meals this past month. We've made the most flavorable meals we've ever shared as a family in our very own kitchen.

Here's how we've incorporated Cooksmarts into our family meal routine. 

I set aside one day a week (typically Saturdays) to review the upcoming CookSmarts recipes. Once I review the upcoming recipes, I select the meals that I would like to cook for the upcoming week. If there are specific meals that I know that my family will strongly oppose, I search through CookSmarts archives to find a recipe that I know my family will be receptive of based on the list of ingredients and after reviewing the comments of Cooksmarts users that have made the recipe and had success with it.

Black Pepper Beef Stir Fry

Once I have selected the meals that I plan to cook, I use CookSmarts grocery list builder to check off the ingredients that I already have in my kitchen. Next, I request that the list be emailed to my email address. It’s that simple!

I’ve been taking advantage of my local grocery store’s 24-hour store hour schedule and have been getting my grocery shopping done before my family even gets out of bed in the morning. The only people that grace the aisles in the wee hours of the morning are the employees stocking shelves. I’ve found myself grabbing items that have just arrived off the truck!

Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche with Rice Crust

The one difference that I can see in dinnertime since joining CookSmarts is the excitement at our kitchen table to try something different. I can say that every meal that we’ve tried thus far has been full of flavor. My oldest has also found such joy in helping me in the kitchen. She will typically take on the starch or the salad that is part of the meal and make it all by herself using the step-by--step instructions from the CookSmart website. We also appreciate the set of Preparation instructions that are provided with each and every recipe. If I have time to prep ingredients (i.e., chopping onions, marinated the meat, etc.), I take care of doing this preparation when time permits and this cuts down on cooking time.

CookSmarts has my family’s vote for meal planning!

Not One of the Usual Meal Suspects

In an effort to expand our palettes and add new recipes to our revolving list of daily dinner meals, we've had the opportunity to have a Blue Apron experience and try several of the recipes from Cook Smarts.

We were fortunate enough to cook several Blue Apron dishes after receiving a free gift certificate from a friend. All of the ingredients required for the three meals that we were receiving arrived at our doorstop, packed with ice. The box also included detailed recipe cards, detailing every step required to prepare each meal. My oldest daughter and I worked shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen to prepare two of the three meals one evening for dinner. Our taste buds were pleasantly surprised to experience something new that didn't require the hands of a gourmet chef! 

This first pictured meal was a hamburger with a homemade aioli sauce and green bean salad. The second dish pictured was a Taiwanese Chicken and rice dish with Choy Sum. 

I would have never selected these recipes from the internet had I done my usual search online for new recipes, so it was a nice change to have a special meal on our dinner table and it not be one of "the usual" meals from our regular weekly meal list. 

While the Blue Apron experience was unlike any other at our dinner table, the price of the meals isn't cost effective when we considered how it could fit into our budget. We decided to do a little searching to see what other meal planning programs there are online that may be more cost effective. 

We happened upon the Cook Smarts Program. With Cook Smarts, you are provided with a weekly set of recipes. If you do not like a specific recipe for a certain week, you can search through their archives to select one that suits you and your family. Once you've selected a recipe to your liking, you have the ability to generate and be emailed the grocery list with the ingredients necessary for each recipe. So far we've tried two recipes from Cook Smarts. 

This first meal was Chicken Thigh Kabobs with a cucumber salad (the pasta shown was the 3rd Blue Apron meal that we received). The second meal was a Chicken Udon Noodle Dish with Broccoli. Both meals were very good and definitely worth a repeat. 

You can join the Cook Smarts Program for $6 a month, receiving weekly recipes, gaining access to their recipe database, and having your grocery list sent to you as you shop for your ingredients for each meal. My family has always enjoyed gathering around the table each day. It is the one moment out of the day where we get to break bread together and share the ups and downs of our day, laugh a little, and eat till our hearts content. It is a nice treat when there's something new on the table to add to our conversation. If either of these programs are not a fit for your family, doing some searching online and reading through the comments on recipes will help you find new meals that you can bring to your family's table. 

(For a look back at a previous blog entry on meal planning go here)

Venturing Out Just a Little

I'm venturing out a little beyond knitting scarves and hats. I found some nifty knitting dvds at the library that teaches the viewer step by step. I'm hoping that I can pull off making the second mitten!

MY FIRST MITTEN AND DISH CLOTH

School Time

Lea - 4th Grade

It's a new school year and we're drawing to the end of our first week of school. This year I have a 4th grader, a 6th grader, a toddling almost two year old, and my 10th grader that joined us back in January. We had a sweet first week of school, breaking in our new schoolroom in the basement and adjusting to our new surroundings. I selected the Sonlight Curriculum for a second year for the girls after having such an enjoyable year last year in the subjects of History, Reading, Science, and Writing Composition. I've actually stuck with the same curriculum selections for grammar and vocabulary as well as the girls were very receptive to the selections from last year. If ain't broke, don't fix it! (excuse the sloppy grammar)

My 10th grader is breaking away from the pack this year, working more independently in all subjects in his own space in the dining room. We're trying out a new schedule for him as I plan to develop his own schedule each week that he can separately work on each day. He works with me one-on-one in Math, as I teach him varying Math concepts, and he works independently on practice problems for reinforcement.

Love - 6th Grade

The goal for my toddler is just to keep him busy while he's underfoot, doing his toddlin-thing while we do school. God has been so overwhelmingly gracious to me as Trey still takes two naps in the day, which allows me the opportunity to have long, quiet, uninterrupted stretches of time with the kids for certain subjects that require my undivided attention.

This place that God has brought me didn't come easy. The journey was long and challenging in that the path wasn't handed to me in a step-by-step book. We've arrived here simply on faith. God burned a desire within my heart, and he developed a fuel of faith to take a step one day at a time to realize what He had planned before I was ever created.


No day is easy, but everyday is a blessing. As my girls mature and grow, God is cultivating a friendship through our relationships as Mother and Daughter. I can't put a price tag on the moments that we get together, our hidden jokes, our silly moments, or the times that we're blessed to reconcile matters in a loving way when conflicts arise (we get lots of opportunities to practice reconciliation!). God is faithful and His love for His children is evident in the way He blesses a heart that desires to honor Him.

Milestone

My hubby and I celebrated 15 years of marriage a few weeks ago. I couldn't let the opportunity pass without reminiscing a little about that 19th of August in 2000. It was a day in my life of walking from one era of life, singlehood, into the arms of the man that God designed and formed to be my husband. God has a plan for every aspect of our lives. Nothing is out of his control. No moment in our lives is a mistake or a mishap. As I danced a little jig as the sun rose on that beautiful day, I had no idea what God had in store for my life. For my husband's life.

What I do know is that God had an idea. He had a beautifully, well thought out plan for each of our lives. This plan has played out in a way that though we're not the same people that we were on the day that I walked an aisle and took my man's hand, we committed to loving each other until death do us part. The journey has gone so fast. It's as though we've blinked and fifteen years has passed us by and we're in a place of still changing and growing more into the image that God is moving us to become. God has used life experiences, our children, and simply our own personal differences, to draw us together to become more... One.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Co 3:18).

 

I'm thankful that fifteen years ago, my hubby didn't just say 'yes' to me, he also said 'yes' to commitment. Yes to the struggles that may lay ahead, yes to moments of not understanding me yet still willing to hear me out, and yes to our love no matter what that love may entail.

 

For better or for worse.

 

May our love be an image that shines forth the Lord's glory.