This Week's Meals

Here's what we're eating this week:
1. Turkey roast, baked potatoes, veggie
2. Spaghetti and garlic bread
3. Chicken breasts, brown rice, carrots
4. Pork chops, mashed potatoes, veggie
5. Spinach Pasta Casserole

It Doesn't Take Much . . .

. . . to entertain Raina and Remy. I got a shipment from diapers.com yesterday, and they spend the rest of the afternoon playing with the box, decorating it with the stickers that came in the Disney DVD Club offer in the mail.

Menu Planning

Now that we're past Ollie being born, the holidays, weekend visitors, and MOPS moms bringing us meals for a week, I'm getting back into planning meals for our family. It helps with both time management to know ahead of time what's for supper and budget wise to avoid getting a bunch of groceries, but still having "nothing" to cook. We went to Super One with my well-planned list, and have meals planned out for the month of January. I generally plan 5 meals for the week, and then we often have Friday night pizza and either leftovers or something simple the last day of the week. Here's what we had last week:
1. Lloyd's BBQ sandwiches with potato salad (homemade with leftover baked potatoes) and mixed veggies
2. Beef stirfry with brown rice (made with leftover steak and frozen Chinese vegetables)
3. Chicken, baked potatoes, green beans from a MOPS mom
4. Easy Creamy Tomato Pasta (from the Saving Dinner cookbook) with salads
5. Dijon Maple Chicken (also from Saving Dinner) with roasted cauliflower and paprika, baked sweet potatoes and Stove Top stuffing

And for the week ahead:
1. Cheeseburger Pie with fruit
2. Chicken Tortillas with veggies
3. Beef stew and biscuits (a frozen meal from a MOPS mom)
4. Black Bean Soup and corn muffins
5. Roast, carrots and potatoes

Bon appetit!

Reflections on 2008

What a year of changes 2008 was for our family! Here are ten highlights of our year:

10. Barry and I celebrated our 10^th anniversary on July 11. It's hard to believe it's been ten years already, and hopefully we have many more years together.

9. Jackson turned nine years old in May. He started fourth grade, where his teacher tells us students become much more responsible for doing their own work. He's doing well, and has made some good friends since moving to Silver Bay.

8. In August (the eighth month) my family came and spent a few days “up north” with us. They rented a cabin on Lax Lake, and the cousins always have fun fishing, playing outside, and having the relatives together. We appreciate the time we spend together as it's not so easy to get together with everyone spread out more than we have been in the past.

7. Lucky number seven. Well, I don't believe in luck, but I do believe in Providence. God has been with us through a year that came with job changes, a move, a new business, a new baby, and all the challenges that came with those changes.

6. We are now a family of six! Each of us is in a different stage of life: Barry is the main provider for our family, and works many hours toward that end. I am the stay-at-home mom who manages the household and kids. Jackson is the elementary school kid, Raina the preschooler, Remy the toddler, and Ollie the new baby.

5. In May (yes, the fifth month) we opened the North Shore Mercantile. It's been a big learning experience, and a lot of fun getting to know some of the people who have become regular customers using the WiFi access or looking for another piece of furniture to fit in their second home or cabin. We're very pleased with the direction the store is going for our second year in business in 2009.

4. Raina turned four in June. She started preschool, going three mornings a week at the local school. We've been a little surprised to hear that she doesn't talk a lot in school, because she sure can talk our ear off here at home! She loves to hold Ollie (even though he's not a girl), and is happy to direct the play when playing with Remy.

Also, Ollie is baby #4. He's been pretty laid back so far and fits right into the family. It's exciting to have a newborn again, and to watch all the cute faces he makes, and to see how tiny his hands, feet, ears, etc. are, even though he was almost 9 ½ pounds at birth. I also can't believe he can sleep through some of the noise in this house!

3. Three boys! Coming from a family with three girls, I think raising three boys will be a little different. Then you throw a girl into the mix, too! It will be interesting to experience our family dynamics as all the kids grow up.

2. In February, we moved to Silver Bay. Barry had been up here for the month of January, and we ended up moving during some of the coldest days of the winter. Living in a small town has been an adjustment. I've had to get used to planning errands rather than quickly running to Target or Cub Foods when I need something. Yes, there's a grocery store here, but the prices are quite a bit more expensive than shopping at a bigger chain. I also miss thrift store shopping at Goodwill or Savers in St. Cloud.

1. Remy turned one in February. He's really changed in the last year and is starting to talk a lot more. He's quite the little daredevil, and loves to try to figure things out. Whenever Barry is fixing something or has his tools out, Remy is right there watching. Needless to say, he loves the play tools he got for Christmas.

So there you have some of the highlights of our 2008. I wonder what 2009 will bring?

Visitors

We had lots of company this weekend, starting with Barry's sister Lisa and her family. They cooked us a great meal on Friday night, and the kids had a blast with each other.
My whole family came up on Saturday to have our Los family Christmas. The kids had fun sledding, swimming and opening presents. It was nice to see everyone again!
A few pictures I "stole" from Auntie Lisa:

Ollie's Birth Story

If you haven't heard by now, Ollie Max was born on Wednesday morning, Dec. 24 at 1:20 a.m. He was 9 lb. 7 oz. and 20.5" long.
I had an appointment at the clinic in Duluth on Tuesday at 3:15 p.m., and I had a feeling the doctor might want to send me to the birthing center, so I brought our hospital bags and Barry with me. My mom was with the kids (thanks mom, and Abby, for all your help!).
While I was in the exam room waiting for Dr. Stank, I heard a pager go off and someone ask, "What should we do with your patients Melissa (or Dr. Stank)?" Apparently she had been called to the OR for a c-section. When she saw my chart and that I was overdue, she quick stopped in to check me and found I was 3-4 cm dilated. She said if I was okay with it, she'd send me upstairs to break my water and get things going.
We checked into the birthing center around 4:30 p.m. and at about 5:30 she came in and broke my water. Since I was admitted I was only allowed clear fluids, so Barry got to eat my hospital tray of food while I ate Jello and drank apple juice. At this point, I was having some contractions, but nothing too strong or close together. I was still talking with Barry, and slowly dilating to 5. Then they decided to start me on a low dose of pitocin.
Around 10 p.m. the nurse started the IV, and shortly after the contractions were very strong and 2-3 minutes apart. Finally after 3 hours of this (around 1 a.m.) I was ready to push. Ollie Max was born after 20 minutes of pushing. Another drug-free VBAC! It was a little longer and harder than I was expecting, especially after Remy's birth was so easy, but it still went well.
Barry went home to sleep, and after the nurse brought me some peanut butter toast and cranberry juice at 3 a.m. (I hadn't eaten since lunch) I rested while Ollie was in the nursery.
Since it was Christmas Eve day, I wanted to go home so I would be home for Christmas, and the doctors agreed to let me go. We got home around 6:30 p.m. and had frozen pizza for supper.
Barry's parents came over around noon on Christmas Day and brought ham and chips for lunch. Not exactly your traditional big Christmas meal, but good enough for me!
Ollie has some nice dark hair--more than any of the other kids had--and chubby cheeks. He's starting to get the hang of nursing, and sleeps a lot. We're very blessed to have him!

Busy Day

We had a busy day away from home today, starting with a doctor's appointment at 9:30 a.m. in Duluth. Everything's looking right on track with the baby; it's about 7 pounds and is head down. I'm even 2-3 cm. dilated, so things are moving in the right direction! While I was at the clinic, Barry took Remy and Raina to a McDonald's play area and the Marine Museum in Canal Park.
When I was done at the clinic, we took a tour of the birthing center. Now we know where to go and what to expect when the time comes.
For lunch we went to Little Angie's Cantina in Canal Park for Mexican food. I'd been hungry for decent Mexican for awhile, and I got to have enchiladas, rice and black beans--very good!
Then Barry had to go to Menards (fun, fun!).
Finally, we made it up to "the hill" where I went to KMart with Remy and Barry went to Best Buy with Raina. We went to Target together, then Barry stopped at Office Max for a couple of things. On the way out of town, we replenished ourselves with McDonalds shakes and french fries.
It's a challenge shopping with kids because 1) it's nearly impossible to keep presents a secret, 2) Remy continually kept taking his shoes and socks off, and he likes to throw things out of the cart, 3) Raina likes to dawdle and look at everything she walks past. We got a good start on our Christmas shopping, but I think the rest will be done online. Target has free shipping until December 6!
So, a busy but productive day.