Photos, Fun, and Food

Last Friday I had a really fun day!  Ava Grace and I took Chris to work, then we rand some errands.  When lunch time rolled around we took lunch to Chris and a couple of our friends that he works with and we all enjoyed lunch together.  From there, Ava Grace and I went to visit Mimi and Pap (Chris' parents).  She stayed with them and I went back to Murfreesboro for a loaded night!  I met Lauren and Megan at Starbucks for some much needed girl time.  Then, I headed to Hooter's for our end-of-season (yes, we are a little late) Fantasy Football Party!  Afterwards, we went to my brother-in-laws for a friendly game of poker! It was a fun filled day for sure!

(Grandmommy and Ava Grace reading)

While at Starbucks, Megan mentioned that she had tried one of the recipes I recently posted.  We got to talking about how hard it can be to get a good dinner on the table with our hectic schedules.  Megan reminded me that it is so much easier when you plan ahead and know what you are making each night.

 

(Dressed up for church and full of joy!)

I thought about our conversation later and upon reflection realized I am falling back into the dinner-by-the-seat-of-our-pants routine again!  I plan before I go to the store and have ingredients to make lots of things, but I haven't been planning out each night.  Very specific planning really takes the guess work out and helps dinner time go so much more smoothly!

(behold the cuteness)

So, with all of that said... I am back to my old ways of menu planning.  I have kind of missed it.  Oh!  And I love being able to click on the menu plan link on my blog when I am running out of ideas!  It's always nice to be able to go back and get menu plan ideas from the past weeks and months!

(Lily and good friend Allee on the back deck)

Menu Plan for this week:

Monday:

Roast

(Nothing like meat, carrots, and potatoes!  AG LOVED it!)

Tuesday:

BBQ Baked Chicken

Green Beans and Oven Roasted Potatoes

Wednesday:

Chicken Corn Chowder

Thursday:

Ravioli and Garlic Breadsticks

Friday:

Leftovers

Saturday:

Poppyseed Chicken, Green Beans, 

and buttered boiled potatoes 

Sunday:

Out to eat after church!

I have birthday gift cards burning a hole in my  pocket!

Speaking of church... Bentlee (my niece) decided to do Upward Basketball this year!  She is a serious select team softball player and in the past has done Upward cheerleading.  This year she really wanted to get in the game... and boy did she ever!

We made it down for her last game of the season.  She scored a smooth 26 points!  It was pretty awesome and I was one really proud aunt!

I will close with a picture of me winning at poker the other night! lol.  Yes... that is really my chip stack!  ;-)  We do tournament style Texas Hold 'Em  I won... there's something extra sweet about beating the guys.  Love it when that happens.  Chris stayed to play some more and won the rest.  It was a Hooper family sweep! lol  ;-)