Monday Menus- Hunger Challenge

Our church is doing a Hunger Challenge all this month.  This week is beans and rice week. Our family is having beans and rice for dinner every night.  The girls and I will be having it for lunch too.  We may add a breakfast in there too, but that will be hard.  The boys are going to have a hard enough time with no snacks and just rice and beans for dinner.  They like rice and beans, but this is a lot. 

"Today, three billion people will eat rice and beans as their only meal. Not because they want to, but because it is the only food available or all they can afford. For this week’s challenge, you and members of your family will join 28% of the people in the world for a “common meal” of rice and beans. "  This is from our church's website.

Here we go: Monday
Rice and beans- haitian style

Tuesday and wednesday- we get a family to sponsor us so we can now afford some flatbread with it .
Rice and beans
tortillas

Thursday-
Rice and beans
tortilla -1 per person per day
peppers

Friday- someone in our family has gotten a job, we can now afford 1 piece of chicken for our family to share.
Rice and Beans
tortilla
peppers
chicken breast

Costumes-WFMW

We use what we have for costumes at our house, and rarely buythem.  Occasionally we will buy pieces that can be used again.This past year, we were Princess Leia, Troy Palamalu (with wig), a basketball player, and a pumpkin.  Amy is really too old to dress up, but comes along for the candy.  Our neighborhood has no other children, so ours each get a bag of candy, gifts or money at each house!

In years past we have been:
smores
the statue of liberty
an ice cream cone
scarecrow
a multitude of sports characters
an indian
a nurse
a doctor(scrubs are cheap at goodwill)
lots of princesses
dinosaur
a knight
Harry Potter
Elastagirl from the incredibles

My favorite story of Halloween was when Andrew wanted to be an African American football player- I think it was Edgerrin James,a Colt.  He said, "I look just like him mom".  I replied that "you have different colored skin is all."  and He said "Oh mom, no one ever looks at that anyway!".  Ahh, the innocence!

Monday Menus

I am beat.  A weekend Junior high girls retreat kicked my tail!  Joe and I are starting another 10 day cleanse, so we will not be eating a lot of this food.  Protein and vegetables for us!

Monday
Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo(CC dinner)
salad
bread

Tuesday
Chicken on the grill
salad
fruit

Wednesday
Chicken Pot Pie
fruit

Thursday
Philly Cheesesteaks (Market day kit)

Friday
Pizza or soup

Monday

This was how I spent most of my day Saturday.  Aaron won the state meet for Middle Schools in our state.  This was his goal since last years race when he finished 35th.  He worked hard this past year and it paid off!  What a joy to watch him run. What a cool friendship these two have started.  They realized that they were competting with each other at all of their joint meets.  They exchanged numbers and text each other all the time now.  They have had matching shoes for this race !

We also had football, and soccer Saturday.  Luckily it was an absolutely beautiful weekend to be outside. 

Ann's soccer game on Sunday was fun to watch, we snapped a team picture since over half the team was gone on picture day! (now I can't figure out how to turn it-ugh)

On to Menus:

Monday: Pizza Casserole- pasta dish for the night before the night before a race (we are learning these CC tricks!)

garlic bread

Tuesday:

Turkey sausage, mac and cheese, fruit

Wednesday:

London Broil on the grill(sale piece of meat)

salad

Thursday:

Chicken and rice bake

fruit

Friday

Chili

How to have more peace in the backseat!

With 4 kids and often our neighbor in the backseat, it seems we were always having squabbles over who gets to sit where and by who.

To solve this we numbered popcicle sticks and assigned a number to a seat.  Whatever numbered stick they pull out is assigned to that seat.  It was amazing how they learned to work together to get to sit where they wanted too.  "I get car sick", "I don't mind sitting in the back" replaced the fighting, they traded around. 

Now we just have to say, "pull a stick" and they figure it out peacefully.  I still keep them in the glove box though.

We originated this on a trip to the Grand Canyon.  We had been driving a lot with 5 kids and the  fighting was horrible.  After a quick trip to the DQ, with each of them getting a dilly bar, we used their used sticks and created this system!
Good Luck!

This boy...

I love watching him run.  God has given him a gift. 

We talk a lot about using our gifts for His glory.  How do you run for His glory?  He has found a few ways.  Brings tears to his mama's eyes.

He has won every race this season.  He waits at the end of the chute and encourages all of the finishers, not just his teammates.

He suggested they pray before the race as a team.  They have different boys pray each race.  These are 13-14 year old boys, they astound me! 

He is a peer facilitator at his school and is with a boy with a traumatic brain injury, confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak.  Aaron pushes him around the school and loves to make him laugh.  He is considering asking if he can run with him on the track to see if he would like it!

I love watching God work in my children's lives, it brings me so much joy.

Monday Menus

Busy weekend of birthday fun with my baby turning 10.  Someone told me when my kids were real little the quote:  "The days are long, but the years are short."  I find this to be so true.  Seems like yesterday I was complaining that I couldn't leave the house with my brood.  I would be so happy to not leave the house for days on end now!  Seasons of life, this season will pass too quickly too and they will be grown up.  I am trying to savor these moments and make good memories for my kids.  I want them to look back and say "Mom loved God first, and she loved me well".  Hard, weary work.

Monday
Chili in the crock pot
We have a Cross Country meet, and it is going to be chilly outside. My chili is so basic, but the kids love it. 

Tuesday
Grilled flank steak
Grilling season is coming to a close, so I want to get some more in before it gets too cold
Big salad

Wednesday
Shredded chicken tacos (crock pot)

Thursday
Leftovers

Friday
Pizza or out to eat.
My recipe for Chili:

1/2 pound lean ground beef
1/2 pound ground turkey
1 large can tomato sauce
1 large can of water
1 envelope chili seasoning
3 cans of  beans, 1 pinto, 1 kidney, 1 black
Cook in crock pot all day
Serve with cheese and fritos.