Menu Plan, March 21-28

Spring is definitely here, and I'm pretty happy about it! Having grown up in Florida, I'm ready for some warmer weather. My mom is coming into town on Thursday and we're going to take the kids and spend Friday and Saturday with my Grandma--an exciting week, indeed!

Here's what's on the menu at our house this week. What are y'all fixin'?

Breakfasts:
Scrambled eggs, smoothies
Baked Oatmeal, scrambled eggs (x4)
Banana Pancakes, scrambled eggs (x2)

Lunches:
Sandwiches (grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly or banana)
leftovers
snacks (crackers with cheese, fruit, veggies)

Dinners:
Monday~Crystal's Lasagna Casserole, salad, bread machine buttery rolls
Tuesday~Country fried steak, mashed potatoes, salad
Wednesday~Layered Cheesy Enchilada Casserole, fruit, beans
Thursday~Chili, cornbread
Friday and Saturday~Grandma's house
Sunday~dinner with my in-laws

Sweet baby smiles

I *finally* caught my little guy smiling on camera! Isn't he just precious? His personality is just as sweet as his little pudgy face, too. What a joy he is! :)

No greater joy

When my children are grown I want to be able to say with the Apostle John, " I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." He may not have been talking about physical children, but it certainly applies. As a mama, my main purpose in life is to see that my children grow up to serve the Lord. In addition to daily family worship, weekly church attendance, and discipline when necessary, there are a couple of tools we have found that we really love and are using to help teach Katie (and eventually Benjamin, too!) biblical truths.

The first is a set of CD's produced by Songs for Saplings. The CD's go through each question in the Children's Catechism and put them all to music. Katie loves listening to them and I love that they are helping to plant the truths of Scripture in her heart so young.

The other tool we have begun using is a simple children's catechism called "First Catechism." Since Katie is so young, she only knows the answer to the first question ("Who made you?"). We've been working on the second ("What else did God make?") and she can say it with some help.

What do y'all do to impart Scriptural truths to your littlest ones?

Menu Plan, March 14-20

Here's what we're planning to eat this week. Just out of curiosity, do y'all plan out your menus for the week? Even though I rarely follow my plan perfectly, I find it's so helpful; when I have a plan, and make a grocery list accordingly, at least I know I have ingredients on hand for meals for the week.

Breakfasts:
Cold cereal
Apple and cranberry baked oatmeal, scrambled eggs (a 9x13 lasts us 4 days when I serve it with eggs!)
Cheesy potato pie

Lunches:
Pinto beans, cornbread, cabbage
Yogurt and fruit smoothies, peanut butter toast
Leftovers

Dinners:
Monday~Beef Stew, Irish Soda Bread
Tuesday~leftovers
Wednesday~chicken pie (a recipe from my aunt--I may just have to post it for y'all!), steamed veggies
Thursday~Chili, cornbread
Friday~leftovers
Saturday~homemade pizza, salad
Sunday~dinner at the farm

Katie Turns Two

Katie turned 2 on February 26. This is her birthday letter from this year--I meant to get it up on her birthday, but I got sick!

Dear Katie Lee,

I guess I'll probably say this every year, but it just doesn't seem like it was all that long ago that I held you in my arms for the very first time, and yet February 26th has rolled around again. It has been quite a year! You've grown and changed and learned so much. Being around to watch it every day has been such a joy; I wouldn't trade my job as your mommy for anything in the entire world.

Over the past year, you have really transformed from a baby into a little girl. You talk a lot (!), have all your teeth, and wear 2 and 3T clothes. You are also learning to be a great helper for Mommy. You throw things away, grab items from around the house, put your clothes in your drawer (good thing they're pretty much all wrinkle free {wink}), and help empty the dishwasher. You also love to bring in a bag when we're bringing groceries in. And, you really don't want anyone to help you with it!

Just after your first birthday, we found out you were going to be a big sister! Watching you fill this role since Benjamin was born has been really neat. You can him "Muh-nuh-nuh." You're so sweet to him, showing a great deal of concern when he cries ("Mommy, Muhnuhnuh 'rying!). You love to help me care for him by getting his pacifier, finding clothes for him, and turning the music on on his play mat.

In the past several months, you have also begun picking up the concepts we've been trying to teach you. You know nine of your colors (red, pink, blue, green, yellow, black, white, purple, orange) and you can count to 7. You're also starting to identify letters. You know the answer to the first question in the children's catechism and we've been working on teaching you the second. Most Sundays, you sit through church quietly without us needing to take you out--this is such a blessing for us! We are still working on teaching you to obey the first time we tell you something, but you've certainly shown a lot of improvement over the past several months.

One of the hardest things for me over the past year was when you decided to wean at 16 months. I'm so thankful for the time we had breastfeeding and I'm thankful weaning was very non-traumatic for you since you initiated it. The timing was good, though I do still miss that special time snuggling with you. You're a very busy girl! You sleep about 11 hours at night and take a 2-3 hour nap most afternoons--and you really need it with all the energy you burn the rest of the day!

Katie, I am so thankful the Lord gave you to us, and I'm looking forward to many more years of being your mommy. My prayer for you today and every day is that God would grant you repentance and faith at a young age and that you would ultimately grow into a woman who lives for Him! May He grant me wisdom to live my days out as a godly example before you.

Love you more than words can say,

Mommy

Kroger Cartbuster Sale (&Giveaway!)

Through the end of this week, the Kroger family of stores is running one of their largest promotions of the year, their Cartbuster Savings event. Several popular brands have come together to make the sale happen, including a couple of my favorites--Muir Glen organics and Cascadian Farms. I've taken the opportunity to stock up on organic pasta sauce and organic breakfast cereals--you can find coupons for both brands on coupons.com for extra savings. Another great thing about this sale is that a lot of store brands are marked down as well, making for some good deals on already lower-priced items.

In addition to the great sales, Kroger is giving away 1000 items every day through their e-coupon program on their website. At 3pm each day, they coupon for a free item is posted here and the first 1000 people to add it to their card get it. The first day of the promotion, I got a coupon for a free bottle of Tide laundry detergent! They have also given away free Pampers (I was bummed out to miss out on that one!) and ice cream.

The Kroger family of stores and General Mills/Nestle/Proctor & Gamble through MyBlogSpark were kind enough to send me a $25 gift card to check out the sale, and they have provided a $25 gift card for one of y'all as well! 

In order to enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post. Feel free to earn extra entries by posting about this on your blog or twitter, subscribing to the Covenant Homemaking RSS feed, or following me on twitter (@mrsmurch). Just leave a comment for each additional entry, and a link where applicable (ie, your blog post or tweet). The giveaway will be open until this Saturday evening.

I can't do it on my own

Thank you all so much for your patience during my recent 'hiatus.' I really just needed to step back for a bit and refocus.

Last week, I woke up Monday morning ready to tackle everything. I pushed myself and the house stayed quite clean all week, I was able to work while the children's naps overlapped, and I was totally exhausted (and grumpy) at the end of every day with an achy back. By late Saturday morning, I was sick in bed with a (really painful!) breast infection, complete with a fever. Then I had to stay home from church Sunday because it was so painful when Benjamin latched on. I spent the weekend in bed nursing Benjamin and taking Vitamin C and raw garlic trying to avoid antibiotics. Thankfully, it worked and I'm completely better.

When I was reading articles on breast infections, almost all of them had one thing in common: breast infections are an indicator that you need to slow down. That taught my a valuable lesson. More than my family needs a spotless house, they need a healthy wife and mom. Taking care of myself is essential if I'm going to take care of them. And, if they need me to be healthy physically, how much more do they need me to be spiritually healthy? I can't be the wife, mother, and homemaker I need to be on my own. I need the strength and grace of God to get me through each day. I need to saturate my mind with His word and bring my family before Him in prayer. When I was pushing myself just as hard as I could last week, I didn't 'have time' for the Scriptures because I 'had too much to do.' I have learned a valuable lesson--I don't have the time or strength to not make that a priority.

This week has been much better. I'm spending time reading Scripture in the morning when I nurse Benjamin. For cleaning, my priorities are to have the kitchen clean and the clothes washed and the other tasks, I'm just fitting in as I'm able. And instead of working while the children are napping at the same time, I'm trying to relax and instead do my work in bits and pieces throughout the day.

At the end of the day, at least we have healthy food to eat (and none of it rotting for lack of washing the dishes!), clean clothes to wear, and happy hearts. God has truly been gracious unto us.