Calling all busy moms with hungry kids!!!

Updates and Apologies
So, sorry for the delay, but need to push my little contest back a week ... last week we were crazy busy with VBS at our church, then friends here from out of town, and 4th of July preparations then celebrations and just for fun, mid week my 11 year old needed a quick trip to the ER for stitches ... life is never boring here. But with all that going on I did not get much of a chance to blog, so I will try to do better this week and will pick a winner on Sunday July 11th.

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Do you know what you are making for dinner tonight? Do you know if you have the right ingredients on hand? I have more often than not found myself at 6pm looking in our pantry, in our fridge and in our freezer trying to figure out what I can quickly make. Poor planning, I know. We are a busy family ... meal planning (along with laundry folding) has long been a short coming of mine. But the kids do get hungry ... every night ... and I find my self wishing I had planned better, so instead of a last minute meal scramble we could sit down and enjoy an evening meal together.

But the good news???
I think I have found a solution to my meal planning problems:

Dine Without Whine


Are You Ready To Make Family Meal Time A Priority?

The best way to make family meals a reality is to begin menu planning. You can look through recipes, decide what to make, and create a grocery shopping list with the ingredients you need. An average home manager spends about 1 1/2 hours a week on this task.

Don't Panic! I know what you're probably thinking. "Menu planning sounds awfully important, but I don't have an extra hour and a half each week to devote to this!" That is okay... I have found the menu planning experts! Let them plan your menu for you each week. Their weekly menus feature:

Main Dish Recipes For Dinner Every Night Of The Week

Suggestions & Recipes For Side Dishes

Brunch Ideas For Saturday & Sunday

Two Dessert Recipes To Be Used Anytime During the Week

Access to the Members Only Bonus Area - featuring e-books & tools you are going to LOVE

PLUS:

Each menu will include a grocery list (categorized by aisle) that includes all the necessary ingredients to prepare the recipes in the weekly menu plan. All you have to do is cross off any items you may already have on hand - add breakfast, snack or lunch items you may need and you're ready to shop.

What a blessing to know that a fellow blogging mama has decided to use her talent for organization and nutritious foods to help those of us who struggle with meal planning. Christine aka The Menu Mom has created fantastic menues and corresponding shopping lists!!! I printed my very first menu and shopping list this weekend! And am hoping to share over this week with all of you how much I am enjoying using Dine Without Whine. Maybe even share some pictures of the yummy meals we make and I'm hoping a picture of my family sitting down to dinner together!!!

Christine has several membership options listed on her site, something to fit everyone's needs. But for one of my lucky bloggy friends Christine has a free membership waiting. If you would like a chance to win a Dine Without Whine membership please visit her sample menu and then leave a comment here to let me know which one of her recipies you are most excited to try. If you have any menu planning tips you would like to share with me, please feel free to leave those too. On Saturday evening I'll use www.random.org to draw a winner from all those who leave comments on this post.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Completing Him Challenge - Week 2

I love the idea that Courtney came up with for this summer. Please join us over at The Women Living Well Blog to share in this challenge with us.
This weeks challenge is simply to Remember. Remember the day you entered your sacred vows. If you are a blogger, please post pictures from that day and share your story. Then link up over at Women Living Well


Hard to believe its been 17 years! Did we really ever look that young? Our kids laugh when they see our wedding pictures. We were just talking last night about what if someone would have told us when we got married that 17 years from now you will have been pregnant 7 times and have 5 children, or that you will homeschool your children, or any number of other things ... our life is so different than what we imagined and we are ever so grateful that God is in control!!! I'm so blessed to know and love this man! so proud to be his wife! And as much as I enjoy thinking about our future together, I can't help but wonder how different it will really turn out from we are imagining today.

Completing Him Challenge - Week 1

It's Week #1 of the Completing Him Challenge, hosted by Courtney over at Women Living Well.

Proverbs 5:18b&19 tells husbands "May you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer - may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love."

The challenge this week is to remember those dating days ... those days of courtship before you were man and wife, back when he first captivated your heart and you captivated his. Share pictures or stories from your dating days. So here are a few of our dating memories:


As you can see (by the prom attire) we were indeed highschool sweethearts. Its hard for me to believe that this picture was taken over 20 years ago. There are a lot more photos from those days ... but I just have to find time to scan them in. We have 5 kids now, so time is something I'm a bit short on.




This picture was taken at his graduation party. He graduated 2 years before me ... this was such a bittersweet day for me. Happy and proud for him, yet I knew it meant having to say goodbye soon as he was joining the NAVY. Long distance relationships are tough, but God knew what He was doing. We grew closer through letters and occasional phone calls. Those were most certainly not easy years, my heart ached for him every day. I remember wondering if something that hard was really "worth it" ... was it worth the loneliness till we could be together again? We were engaged just after I graduated and married the following summer. If I could go back in time I would tell my then teenage self to hang in there because it is so much more than "worth it". I could not have even imagined the life and blessings that God would bring our way. I still thank my hubby for making me his wife, for waiting through those lonely times till we could be together.

Completing Him Challenge Begins

This summer I am joining in with Courtney from Women Living Well in her Completing Him Challenge. Here's a short video describing the challenge:



I want to be the woman my husband needs. Do you? I know we love our men and sometimes in the mundane routine of life we forget to nurture and care for them.

Would you like to join me? Click here to visit Courtny's blog