A Week of Mystery Meals....

A few weeks ago I decided to attempt a week of meals without a trip to the grocery store. It was interesting to say the least. I'd heard a friend from church mention she'd tried it and thought it would be a fun challenge. It was pretty rewarding to make meals from all the 'stuff' we had on hand. I will say that we didn't suffer too much. I had meat in the freezer, plenty of staples, and several cans of veggies. The most exciting part of the week of meals was the stockpile of mystery cans I finally dug into. A year ago (yes, a year) I was 'gifted' a huge bag of label-less cans at a white elephant gift exchange. Thanks, Andrea. Well, until now I've avoided the cans. I decided I couldn't stand to see that bag take up space in our pantry, so I started opening a few cans every day. Some mixed veggies made a nice 'side' for a meal and two cans were tomato sauce, which I used for a really great spaghetti and meatballs dinner. Here are a few other recipes I discovered and tried out that week:

Spaghetti and Meatballs - I tweaked this one because I didn't have any onions by the end of the week, but it was really delicious anyway.

Refried Beans - I found a bag of pinto beans that had been on my (or my mom's) pantry shelf for years. I decided to try making homemade refried beans. They were awesome! The recipe is actually called 'refried beans without the refry'. They cooked in the crockpot all day long! Our tacos ended up being a little more like tostadas, with fresh tortillas made from corn flour (we were out of tortillas and chips).

Breakfast Pies - These aren't really pies...and they were for dinner for us. Basically, little biscuits with sausage and eggs baked in ramekins (or a muffin tins). They were yummy and warmed up great for breakfasts the next couple of days!

One of the cans I opened was of potatoes....canned potatoes. What in the world do I use them for? I'd love any ideas you might have, as they're still in a tupperware in our fridge.

This coming week we will be going without desserts OR meat! I'll explain why in another post, as well as the recipes I find to eat 'vegitarian'. The one we ate tonight was OUTSTANDING!

4 Month Slideshow Below...

James turned four months yesterday. Today we had his four-month appointment and learned that he's 56th percentile in weight at 15lbs, 2.5oz. He's also 71st percentile for height at 25 inches. He was such a good boy for the doctor and very charming with the nurses, smiling and wiggling a lot. His second round of shots went much better than the first round for both him and me! I remained more calm and he quieted down as soon as I picked him up!

James has been rolling on his back from side to side...not all the way over yet but back and forth. This afternoon he squirmed about a foot just scooting on his back the entire time!

In the previous post, I've included a slideshow I put together on Photobucket. Since getting a new laptop in December, I haven't been able to use Picasa anymore to embed slideshows. It might be the fact that we're using Explorer instead of Firefox...anyway, I'm trying something new and really enjoyed all the options I had on Photobucket! I hope you can see it, too! Some more 17 week/4 month photos.

4 Months

16 Weeks

Here's our perky little guy...looking like he might take a bite of Ricky's ear! We've been working on a nap schedule the past two weeks. He's great at 45 minute naps and takes about three of them a day. Not a minute longer. I've gotten to be the queen of 45 minute multi-tasking sessions. Next week he'll be four months old! We go to the doctor on the 19th so I'll have stats to share then.

Lately...

James is 16 weeks...here we are at the new coffee house my mom's friend just opened up.
James with his coffee cup

playing with a crib toy I put in there to buy a few extra minutes after a nap last week...he loved it!

chewing on his hand every chance he gets!

sitting in his high chair! (just to get used to it...we haven't started solids yet...)

Happy New Year!

This past week was another fun one, filled with more time with family, friends, and 'firsts' for James!

I had my own 'first' on Monday night. My parents took us to eat sushi! I honestly wasn't crazy about everything I tried, but really liked anything that had shrimp or tempura shrimp in the middle. Some of the textures weren't my favorite, but others I liked. My sister-in-law Elizabeth is 'sushi savvy' and gave me a few pointers on eating it. I actually really liked the pickled ginger they give you to 'cleanse' your palate.

At the end of it all, I was still a little hungry, so we picked up Oklahoma Joe's french fries on the way home...aaah, comfort food. And I'm sure a major no-no following sushi!

Sushi is really beautiful. Look at the colors and presentation! They aren't messin' around...I think we tried six different things...maybe eight, in addition to some outstanding shrimp and ahi tuna appetizers.

It was fun catching up with friends on New Year's Eve, as well as New Year's day. Here are a few high school friends of mine that were over on the first. Ooh, I tried a cheese fondue recipe that was really yummy. If you have a fondue pot and want the recipe, let me know!

James' first time in his exer-saucer. It's hard to believe he's already ready for this thing! We tried it no a whim and he loves it! He'll love it more when he can hold himself up a little better. He hold his head steady, but leans on the edges of the seat. He spend a good twenty minutes in it before he got tired of it! You wouldn't believe how thrilling it is to see him discover new things...we are just having a blast with him!

Tummy time is getting easier...and this past week he rolled over for the first time. He was on his tummy, I turned away for a minute, and when I looked at him next, *poof*, he was on his back! He had a look of confusion on his face, How did I do that? He hasn't done again since then! :)

His 15 Week picture! A friend of ours decorated this t-shirt, and I just love it.

We also tried out the hand-me-down Johnny Jump-Up in a doorway between the entry hall and living room. We tried this one before the excer-saucer, actually. Hilarious. He looked SO proud to be standing up on his own. He's not really jumping yet...just standing there.

I just love how he's staring at Mark's mouth in this picture...trying to figure out how talking works! James loves his daddy.

Christmas Photos

Here are some photos from our five Christmases. First we had Christmas just the three of us. Then we had our annual Christmas "Meat-a-Palooza" (more grilled chicken that we can possibly consume) with my Uncle Paul and Aunt Mary Ann. On Christmas Eve we celebrated Christmas and played our annual Trivial Pursuit game (the men won again this year) with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Then we drove to Mark's parents' house on Christmas day to celebrate with them. I love the tradition they have of visiting the home where Mark's grandpa lives to carol. The last two years his Aunt Mary has brought handbells, which makes a really fun addition to our 'performance'. Finally on the Saturday following Christmas, we spent the afternoon and evening at my parents' house. James was a really trooper through it all! He slept great and only seemed to get a little 'maxed out' a few times.