Menu Plan - week of Sept.1

Monday - pasta with bolognese sauce, salad

Tuesday - Baked Chicken and Mushrooms, potatoes

Wednesday - meatloaf, potatoes and green beans

Thursday - Chicken Parmigiano Casserole with Fresh Basil, rice

Friday - Beef with Cabernet Sauce, potato bread, carrot & parsnip stir-fry

Saturday - leftovers (chicken parm)

Sunday - leftovers (beef)

imaginary friends

Since turning three, Love Bug has been very into imaginary play. He is always pretending to do something. Anything from flying in the sky to doing tire changes on his riding toys. He now also has an imaginary friend. It is McQueen, the lead character from the movie "Cars". He is OBSESSED with the movie and now McQueen actually accompanies us on journeys. I don't mean a little toy version of McQueen. I mean "imaginary" McQueen.

If you listen o the Love Bug playing on his own you will hear him talking to his "friend", giving him trouble and generally just playing with him. McQueen apparently even came to the cottage with us the last time I took the kids up. We went out for an ice cream while at the cottage and I forgot to ensure that McQueen was in the car when we left. Love Bug told me that I forgot him, so my step-dad got out of the car (to where Love Bug was pointing) and "tried" to get him in. It didn't work. I got out and tried to get McQueen in and it didn't work. I then opened the window on the van and told "McQueen" to jump in. Nothing was working, so I left.

The Love Bug was devastated. I just wasn't sure how long we should keep trying to get an imaginary friend into the mini-van?!? I encourage his "friend" but it is so hard when you can't see it! I explained that the good news was that McQueen is a car and he knows the way to the cottage. Later that day McQueen came back...thank goodness!!!!!!!!!! And, he has gone on many more journeys with us since then. I really try hard now to ensure he makes it back into the van before we leave now!

Menu Plan - week of August 25

I am very late in posting this. We were away for a couple of days. We had a great time, but I will leave that for another post.

Monday - steak, potatoes, asparagus

Tuesday - chicken souvlaki, rice pilaf, Greek salad, pitas and tatziki

Wednesday - leftovers

Thursday - BBQ sausages and corn on the cob

Friday - pasta with bolognese sauce, salad

Saturday & Sunday - TBD - it is the long weekend, so we'll just play it by ear!

No more mullet

So, the Missus has been sporting a mullet-type hairstyle for quite some time. It didn't really bug me because I think it is just the way the hair naturally come in. It drove my husband crazy. He was always asking me to cut it. Because she is my baby girl I wanted her to have hair that I could put into pigtails. What can I say? The Love Bug has been getting hair cuts since he was 6 months old because he was born with a full head of hair. I just couldn't bring myself to cut my daughter's hair.















Well, it was starting to look a little like a rat-tail at the back so I finally broke down. My mom cut her hair for me when we were at the cottage a couple of weeks ago. I am glad we did. It looks way better and is still long enough to put pigtails in!

Menu Plan - week of August 18th

Monday - Spaghetti Bake (Canadian Living Make It Tonight Cookbook) - New recipe

Tuesday - Pork Chops with Mustard Crumb Crust (Canadian Living Make It Tonight Cookbook), mashed potatoes & asparagus

Wednesday - Saucy chicken with tomatoes (Canadian Living Make It Tonight Cookbook) served over rice

Thursday - Deceptively Delicious Mac & Cheese, salad

Friday - Burger on the BBQ & corn on the cob

Satruday - leftovers

Sunday - eating out (I hope!)

Why? Why? Why?

Lately the Love Bug has been asking "why?" all of the time. It started a couple of months ago but has gotten crazy over the last few weeks. It is difficult to get through a book, tv show or any activity because we have to constantly stop, answer questions and explain everything. I know this is a natural phase they go through and I try my best to answer the questions. But sometimes he get me!

Last week he asked me "Mommy, why do I have to go to bed now?"

I replied "Because the moon is coming up, it is getting dark and everyone needs to get some sleep in the night."

His reply "Mommy, you can still sleep when the sun is up! Why do I have to go to bed now?"

I think I eventually came up with a reason other than "because I said so".

Menu Plan - week of August 11th

Monday - sausages on the BBQ, salad

Tuesday - chili and homemade corn bread

Wednesday - Japanese chicken, sticky rice and sesame asparagus

Thursday - marinated pork tenderloin on the BBQ, risotto , grilled veggies

Friday -meatloaf, potatoes and green beans



I am also making some zucchini bread this week. While at the cottage last weekend I bought some HUGE zucchinis at a stand by the side of the road. I'm trying to think of what else I can make with zucchini in it!

My baby girl @ 19 months

Poor Missus...we have been so busy and preoccupied lately that I have been doing a bad job capturing her milestones and funny little stories. I guess it is more important to be spending time with her and being part of the moments though.

Let's see if I can capture the character that she is!

-one of her favourite pass times is colouring. I am sad to say that I actually didn't start this, she just decided one day to tell me that she wanted to do it. She will come up and say "cower". We now have lots of markers and crayons to help her express herself artistically.

-she is already showing sign of toilet-training readiness (I think from watching her big brother). She will say "pee pee" and go running to the bathroom. We will put her on the potty, she will sit there for a minute, get up and then clap for herself. I started buying pull-ups for her to make it easier. I don't think she is truly ready to be trained yet, but she is definitely getting there and has actually gone on the potty a couple of times.

-she know all of her body parts

-she enjoys helping around the house. She will often say "mess!" then run and get a tea towel and start to clean it up.

-she is still a dare-devil and loves to climb. She can now walk up and down the stairs holding onto the railing.

-she loves playing in the toy kitchen especially when I am preparing a meal. All of a sudden I will hear a lot of noise coming from the family room, she will run and take some of my utelnsits and then there will be play bowls and plates on the kitchen table. It is so cute!

-she actually likes to help me bake now too. I will often pull up a chair for her to help mix and add ingredients.

-she refers to herself in two or three word sentences like "I hungry".

-she LOVES shoes and purses. The other day we took her to Winners and she went straight to the shoe section. She picked out shoes she liked, handed them to me and said "shoes on".

The Missus is such a sweet little girl. She has her "moments" like all kids do, but she is very affectionate and full of energy! I love watching her grow and change every day.

Relief!

Today we went to the Love Bug's appointment with the pediatric cardiologist in our area. He had an echo cardiogram and an EKG done. My hubby watched on very intently and thought the doctor did a great job with the echo cardiogram. The good news is that my Love Bug's heart and arteries look ok...thank goodness!

He still needs to take aspirin for two more weeks and we will go for a follow up appointment in two months, just to ensure everything is still ok. When we got into the car after the appointment I started to cry. I was just so relieved that nothing is seriously wrong with him. I didn't realize how anxious I was about it all until after the appointment.

Oddly enough, my brother had his big annual appointment with his cardiologist at Toronto General today too. His check-up also went well. So, I think today was actually a good day health wise for us (since it has been a pretty tough year so far).

Menu Plan - week of August 4th

Today the Missus is 19 months old. I am going to write a milestone post tomorrow. I feel like I need to do a good one since I missed her 18 month post due to the Love Bug being sick.

Here is my menu plan for this week. A couple of new recipes, but I am trying to keep it easy.

Monday - Beef stroganoff (Emeril cookbook)

Tuesday - pecan chicken, sweet potato fries, corn - one of the Love Bug's favourites

Wednesday - Homemade perogies and salad

Thursday - Chicken cordon blue (Emeril cookbook), rice pilaf and green beans - I have never made this chicken from scratch before...hopefully it is worth the effort!

Friday - leftovers - the kids and I are going to my mom's cottage for the weekend.