2014 Summer Bucket List

It is getting to be that time of year again.  The kids are finishing up with school and if you are like me, you’re wondering what am I going to do with them all day long?  Last year my family started a new tradition of doing a summer bucket list.  I came up with it by myself and told the kids what we were going to do each day.  While my kids enjoyed this I could tell that they wanted to be involved more.  This year I decided to let help pick what to put on this list. Each day they are going to take turns choosing what we are going to do.  They loved this idea so much and cannot wait to start working on checking things of our list.  Below is the list that my kids and I came up with.  Hope you enjoy and find some inspiration for your own family.

SUMMER BUCKET LIST 2014

1.     GO TO THE ZOO

2.     GO TO AN AMUSEMENT PARK

3.     HAVE A PICNIC

4.     PLAY RED LIGHT/ GREEN LIGHT

5.     PLAY HORSE OR PIG

6.     HOPSCOTCH

7.     WATCH THE SUNSET

8.     EAT ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST OR DINNER

9.     MAKE PLAY DOUGH  recipes are from Motherhood on a Dime

10.                          MAKE HOMEMADE POPSICLE recipes from tipnut

11.                          FLY A KITE

12.                        CATCH LIGHTENING BUGS

13.                         GO STAR GAZING

14.                         PLAY IN THE RAIN

15.                         SPOT SHAPES IN THE CLOUDS

16.                         MAKE CAMPFIRE FRUIT AND SMORES CONES from kids activities Blog

17.                         GO CAMPING IN OUR BACKYARD

18.                         BUILD A SAND CASTLE

19.                         HAVE A WATER BALLOON FIGHT

20.                         GO TO A BASEBALL GAME

21.                         GO BERRY PICKING

22.                         GO ON A HIKE

23.                         VISIT A FARMERS MARKET

24.                         DIET COKE AND MENTOS ERUPTION found at Science Kids

25.                         DIY SLIP AND SLIDE from Inner Child Fun

26.                         DIY BUBBLES from Homemade Bubble Solutions

27.                         HAVE AN OUTDOOR MOVIE NIGHT

28.                         MAKE HOMEMADE ICE CREAM

29.                         MAKE LIQUID SIDEWALK CHALK from smashed peas and carrots

30.                         HAVE A FAMILY GAME NIGHT

31.                         GO ON A TREASURE HUNT

32.                         RUN THROUGH THE SPRINKLER

33.                         MAKE SOLAR SMORES from Spoonful

34.                         GO SEE FIREWORKS

35.                         DIY WATER BLOB from Clumsy Crafter

36.                         GO TO THE MOVIES

37.                         MAKE TRIPLE BERRY NO-DRIP POPS from Kraft Recipes

38.                         MAKE A TOILET PAPER BIRD FEEDER from Homeschool Antics

39.                         GO ON A SCAVENGER HUNT

40.                         MAKE A MILK JUG BALL CATCHER found on Lakeshore Learning

41.                         DO AN ICE EXCAVATION ACTIVITY found on Gluesticks

42.                         GO BOWLING

43.                         WATCH THE SUNRISE

44.                         MAKE AN OUTDOOR TENT FORT

45.                         MAKE A BACKYARD WATER PARK

46.                         MAKE TRAIL MIX

47.                         GO TO THE PARK

48.                         PLAY MINI GOLF

49.                         VISIT A CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

50.                         SWING IN A HAMMOCK

What are you doing this summer?

Thanks for stopping by!

Christina

Menu Plan

Menu Plan for the week of Feb 3 – Feb 9^th

 
 First of all because of my food intolerances I have become for the most part a virgin diet for life person.  For those of you who do not know what I am talking about you can read more here.   Basically I try not to eat Dairy, Gluten, Eggs, Corn, Peanuts, Sugar, and Soy.  I personally have problems with Dairy, Gluten, Sugar and Soy.  So my menu is sometimes different for breakfast for myself, then what I make for my kids.

Breakfasts for myself I will be having either Protein Shakes or Oatmeal.  The oatmeal is Gluten Free, Dairy Free old fashioned oats.    I eat this with cinnamon, Sugar free vanilla coconut milk, and fresh fruit on top.

For my kids they will be having:

Cereal x4

Oatmeal

Pancakes

Waffles

Dinners:

Brown rice pasta with a homemade meat sauce

Chicken Taco’s in the crockpot with homemade taco seasoning and served on brown rice tortilla

Pork Stir Fry

Salad with grilled chicken

Tuna Noodle Casserole this is a no recipe experiment.  I am going to use brown rice pasta and coconut milk in place of the cream soups.  I will post pictures later in the week with the results.

Out

Chili

Thanks for stopping by!

Christina

Menu Plan and a Virgin Diet Update

       I know I have not been on my blog in a while.  This summer has just been a majorly chaotic one.  I guess that, that is partly my fault.  I try to  keep our summer pretty busy with activity so that the kids will not be bored.  Because of this my blog and sometimes the house work seems to have suffered.  But to me the important thing is my kids and enjoying this time while I have it. 
       Now on to my diet update.  Well I can happily say that I have finely made it too stage two of the diet.  This is the testing phase.  Last week I tested eggs and found out that I do not have any problems with them.  Starting today I am supposed to be testing Soy.  Now I am not a huge fan of soy.  I sometimes like a little soy sauce with my Chinese food, or I sometimes like veggie burgers.  But that is the extent of it.  I originally was not going to even test soy, but while I have been on the diet I have started reading labels and soy is in so many things, that I ended up realizing I needed to test it.  That being said brings me to my menu.  It is not quite a complete menu.  I have only found two things that I want to make that are legal with the diet.  I am supposed to test for 4 days, so I still need to figure out two more.  If anyone has any ideas, I would more than welcome the suggestions.


Week of 7/16/13 - 7/22/13

My breakfasts are still just protein shakes.

Kids Breakfasts

Cereal x3
Waffles x3
Smoothies with Blueberry muffins


Dinners

Boca Veggie Burgers
Baked Soy Lemon Chops from all recipes (except instead of the vegetable oil that the recipe calls for I will be using extra virgin olive oil)

Non Soy Items

Baked Herb Lemon Chicken from Andicakes
Brown Rice Pasta with Meat Sauce
Grilled Chicken Salad


What are you eating this week?

Christina

Menu plan 6/10 - 6/16

I restarted my diet today, so I am back to two shakes a day.  The breakfasts below will be what I will be feeding the kids. 




Breakfasts

Cereal x3
Oatmeal x3
Eggs with Fruit and Turkey Bacon


Dinners

Homemade Chicken Tacos on Brown Rice Tortillas with Mexican Style Quinoa from
 Lynn's Kitchen Adventures
Lime Marinated Steak from Budget Savvy Diva
Brown Rice Pasta with Sauce
Thymeless Lemon Halibut from The Virgin Diet Companion Cookbook
Grilled Chicken Salad
Chili Lime Chicken Skewers from The Virgin Diet book by JJ Virgin
JJ's Herb Rubbed Pork Tenderloin Roast from The Virgin Diet book by JJ Virgin

The Virgin Diet update

1^st of all I want to start by saying that I am sorry that I have missed the last two weeks of menu planning.  With Princess off for the summer I have been trying to rearrange my schedule.    I am working on trying to find a happy medium, so that I can do everything I need to do.  So far our summer has just been mad chaos, which has caused me to not have enough time to work on my blog.  Hopefully in the next few weeks here I will have ironed out all the kinks and be able to get back to posting regularly. 

               Now on to my diet update.  So far on TheVirgin diet, which for those of you who do not know what this is, it is an elimination diet.    Anyway back to my point, so far I have lost 15 lbs in 3 weeks.  I have been learning a lot from this diet.  For example before this diet I did not realize how much stuff corn and soy hide in.  I now know they are in a lot of what I was eating and I also know that I am almost positive that I have intolerances to both. 

               This diet is not easy by any means.  Especially when you have to have food you cannot eat in the house for the rest of your family.  It takes a lot of will power.  You have to really want to improve your health to do this diet.  For me, my health was the whole reason for doing this.  I had been suffering from stomach issues since I was a teenager.  Maybe even before that.  Through the years I have had pretty much every test possible run on my digestive tract.  I have been diagnosed with countless things.  But shortly after every diagnosis the symptoms have always come back, sometimes with extra symptoms with them.  I had come to a point where I had just accepted this as just part of my life.  Just something I had to deal with. 

                     Then one day I was researching the internet and came across information about food intolerances.  I started talking to my mom about it and she found JJ Virgins page here.  She got the book and started talking about it.  I knew it sounded like something I needed to try, but was not sure I wanted to spend the money.  In the meantime my mom started the diet.  Once I saw the changes that were taking place with here I knew for sure that I was going to give it a try.  So I bought JJ Virgin’s book, read it and went and bought the supplies for the diet.  I have to say it really has been amazing I have had more energy than I have had in years.  (And I do not even get to sleep through the night thanks to little man.)  My skin is clearer.  And the best part I have not had any stomach problems in 3 weeks.  This was something I had been dealing with prior to the diet on a daily basis. 

                       Now I have had to restart the diet twice, and am going to have to restart it for the 3^rd time on Monday.  But I know with a little perseverance I will figure out what all had been causing my problems.  And for me that is an amazing thing.  To be able to know that I may not have to deal with my issues that I thought were just a part of my life.  If any of this sounds like something you have experienced or if you just want to know more please feel free to check out JJ Virgin’s page here.  

 

Christina

Menu Plan for 5/20/13 - 5/26/13 and Diet Update

   I have only been on The Virgin Diet for 6 days now and I have already come to some conclusion about my family and my health.  First of all I definitely have some kind of intolerance.  I will find out what I have the intolerance to in a few weeks.  The results in these 6 days have been amazing.  I feel so much better.  My stomach has not bothered me for 6 days.  I had skin problems, alright I had adult acne, but that has started to clear up.  And I have so much energy more than I have had in years.

   If any of you out there have stomach issues like IBS, I would highly recommend you check out JJ Virgin’s The Virgin Diet.  It really does help.  You can check out her site or buy her book click here.

    Now back to my conclusions my 2^nd and 3^rd conclusions where that I have been feeding my family way to much processed food, and that I have not been feeding them enough fruits and vegetables.  So that is changing in our household.

   Below is my menu for the week.  For Breakfasts you will once again see that I have two different plans for my kids and for my hubby and me.  For dinners we will all eat the same thing.

 

BREAKFASTS
For my husband and me it will be protein shakes all week.

For the kids

Cereal with fruit x3
Oatmeal with fruit x2
Scrambled Eggs with Turkey Bacon and Fresh Fruit
Waffles with Fruit

DINNERS
All of the dinner recipes this week are from The Virgin Diet Companion Cookbook by JJ Virgin

The 5 minute “Insane Man Hunger” cure
Slow-Cooked Coconut Ginger Pork with Broccoli and Brown Rice
Leftovers
Lemon Rosemary Broiled Salmon
Paleo Turkey Bolognese
Marinated Chicken Kebobs with Grecian Salad
One Pot Southwest Chicken Breasts

What is your menu plan for the week?  Feel free to leave a comment!  I would love to here from you!

Christina

Menu Plan for 5/13/13 - 5/19/13 and The Virgin Diet

    I have had some stomach issues for a very long time now.  I have had all sorts of tests run on me and all they have really come up with was a gallbladder malfunction that I had removed and IBS.   For a while I accepted that I just had to deal with the pain and issues I was having.  But recently I stumble upon information about food intolerance's.  Then my mom told me about a book titled The Virgin Diet by JJ Virgin.  She teaches you in this book about food intolerance's for the 7 main foods and also about why they are bad for you.  I have to say after reading her book I am convinced that I have food intolerance's.  On Wednesday this week I will be starting The Virgin Diet on my quest to see if I really do have any intolerance's. So my menu plan is going to be a little different for the next couple months.  If you want to know more about the book or this diet you can check out the website here.


BREAKFASTS
I will be drinking a protein shake for breakfast every morning starting Wednesday.  I will give you the menu plan for my kids breakfasts.                                

Kids
Oatmeal with fruit x3
Cereal with fruit x4


DINNERS

Breakfast for Dinner
Out
Lemon Pepper Chicken
Herb-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin Roast from The Virgin Diet book by JJ Virgin
Spaghetti Squash "Pasta" with Meat Sauce form The Virgin Diet book
 Grilled Salmon
Chili Lime Grilled Chicken Skewers from The Virgin Diet book

Menu plan 5/6/2013 - 5/12/2013

I usually love this time of year, but for us so far this spring has been kind of lackluster.  Summer will be here soon, which if you are like my daughter Princess then you just cannot wait for it.  When summer comes my menus will be changing.  I will be doing a lot of stuff that I will not need to cook on the stove or in the oven.  I also am getting ready to start doing some freezer cooking, so that will be changing my menus in the next few weeks. 


BREAKFASTS

Oatmeal with Fresh Strawberries and Bananas X 2
Cereal X2
Homemade Blueberry Muffins and Smoothies
Scrambled Eggs
Out - I do not cook on Mother's Day


DINNERS

Hot Dogs with Corn and Salad
Mexican Lasagna
Spaghetti and Homemade Meat Sauce
Crab Cakes with Rice and Salad
Homemade Pizza
Grilled Tuna with a Teriyaki Sauce and Grilled Veggies
Out

Menu Plan for the Week of 4/29/13 - 4/5/13

    It has been kind of hectic around here lately.  So I have been trying to keep our menu plans as simple as possible.  Here is our menu plan for this week. 


BREAKFASTS

Cereal x2
Waffles
Pancakes
Smoothies with Cinnamon Toast x2
Scrambled Eggs with Toast



DINNERS

Meatballs Sandwiches
Ground Turkey Tacos
Pasta with Sauce
Skillet Tuna Casserole from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures
Upside Down Pizza Casserole from Food.com
Out
Chicken Enchiladas

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Menu Plan for the week of 4/21-4/27

   I am working on spring cleaning this week, so I decided to keep this weeks menu very simple. 

BREAKFASTS

French Toast
Smoothies and Cinnamon Toast
Cereal x2
Oatmeal
Scrambled Eggs, Turkey Bacon, and Toast
Homemade Waffles


DINNERS

Salmon Burgers, and Salad
Crockpot Sesame Chicken
Beef Barbecue Sandwiches
Breakfast for Dinner
Turkey Loin Roast With Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Homemade Pizza Night
Crab Cakes with Salad

Menu Plan for 4/14 - 4/20

Here is my menu plan for this week.  I do not assign the food items days of the week because I have found that not having a set day really works for myself.  You can do your menu with what works best for you.  I know that for some people that would be assigning days of the week to each food item.

 

BREAKFASTS

Cereal

Waffles

Cinnamon Toast and Smoothies

Oatmeal             

Eggs and Toast

French Toasts   

Buttermilk Pancakes recipe from the What Megan's Making blog

 

DINNERS

Grilled Steak, Mushrooms, and Asparagus with Brown Rice

Crockpot Salsa Chicken from the Taste & See blog

Meatloaf and Mac and Cheese with Broccoli

Ravioli’s and Salad

Goulash and Green Beans

Homemade Pizza Night

Grilled Tuna, Rice, and Brussel Sprouts

Menu Plan for the week of 4/7/13 - 4/13/13

  On top of the very emotional time that my family is going through right now, we seem to be passing around some kind of stomach bug.  I am not sure that this week will work out like I have planned, but here is what is on our menu.


BREAKFASTS

Out
Cereal
Waffles
Cereal
Eggs
Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits
Pancakes and Sausage


DINNERS

Chicken Noodle Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Pasta and Sauce
Chicken Tenders and Homemade Oven Baked French Fries
Breakfast for Dinner
Crockpot Enchiladas from Life As Mom
Homemade Pizzas
Turkey Burgers from allrecipes.com

Menu Plan for the week of 3/24 - 3/30

    I know that I have been doing my menu plans on Mondays, but I decided this week I would post it today.  I wanted to be able to have at least 3 days in the menu.  Starting Wednesday of this week the kids and I will be away for a week and a half.  Princess will be on spring break from School.  We are fortunate enough to have a free place to stay at the beach.  My grandmother generously opens her place up too everyone in our family.  I will still be posting from her house, but I do not know what we are going to be eating. Anyway here is what I know we will be eating for the 1st part of the week.

    Breakfasts
      *Bagels
      *Cereal
      *Waffles


Dinners
  * Ground Turkey Enchiladas
  * Crock Pot Italian Cream Cheese Chicken from the Heavenly Homemakers blog.
  * Barbecue Meatballs from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures blog.

  I will post the rest of the week once I get to the beach and know what else we will be eating.

Menu plan for the week of 3/18 - 3/24

   Here is my menu plan for this week.  I promise pictures will be come later this week along with some recipes. 



BREAKFASTS

Pancakes
French Toast
Oven Baked Egg in a Hole
Cereal
Oatmeal
Strawberry Smoothies and Apple Brown Betty Muffins from the eat at Home blog.
Fruit and Yogurt Parfait



DINNERS

Chicken Tenders, Homemade Mac and Cheese, and Broccoli
Beef Enchiladas
Pasta and Sauce with Salad
Crock pot Sesame Chicken
Homemade Pizza Night with Salad
Turkey Breast Tenderloin
Beef Barbecue Sandwiches - recipe to come later this week with pictures.


SNACKS
Chewy No-Bake Granola Bars from Money Saving Mom's blog
No Bake Chocolate Cookies from Come Together Kids blog

Beer Bread

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day I decided to make Beer Bread. I searched the internet for recipes and I found one on allrecipes.com. You can find the recipe here. The recipe does not specify what type of beer to use so I choose Yulenging. But you can use whatever you would like. The bread is very good and I would highly recommend it. Below are a couple of pictures of how the bread turned out.

Birthday Cake Fiasco

 For Princess's birthday yesterday I decided to bake a cake.  Now for those of you who do not know me this is a big feat.  Well the problem is that I am way to ambitious.  I wanted to make this three layer castle cake for her.  The problem with that is that I am not a cake baker.  I can bake breakfast cakes and cupcakes.  But if it has to come out of the pan forget about it.  They either crumble, break, split down the middle, or lopsided.  
   Regardless of my history of cakes, I set out on a mission yesterday.  I was convinced that yesterday was going to be the day that everything fell in to place for me.  I was going to bake this beautiful cake that was going to match the picture in my head.  Well that lasted all of ten minutes.  In the first 10 minutes I messed up one of the cake batters by measuring out to much water.  But with some quick thinking I was able to fix the problem.  When the cakes came out of the oven, they looked great.  I thought for sure everything else would go fine.  Nope not even close.  The one cake started crumbling when I tried to take it out.  It was stuck to the bottom.  So I tried all sorts of stuff.  But the more I tried the more it crumbled and fell apart.  No amount of icing was going to fix this fiasco.  My other 2 cakes were lopsided, but did not crumble. I decided to throw the crumbled one out and forged on.  The end result looked like a lopsided shack.  But to my daughter it was beautiful, because Mommy made it for her.  But needless to say, after this I will no longer be baking cakes.  Below is a picture of the Castle / Lopsided Shack.

Menu Plan for the week of 3/11/13 - 3/17/13

Here is my menu plan for this week.

Breakfasts
Cereal
Chocolate Chip Muffins from Tammy's Recipes
Freezer-Friendly Baked Oatmeal from Money Saving Mom
Pancakes
French Toast
Scrambled Eggs

Dinners
Oven Roaster Chicken
Turkey Loin Roast
Slow-Cooker Sausage Pepper and Onion Sandwiches
Princess's Birthday Dinner Homemade Pizza and Salad
Grilled Lemon-Fish  from Kraft foods
Out
Turkey Tacos from The Happy Housewife


Pictures coming soon!