Fort Sum'thin

The weather was so nice and sunny that we played outside for 3.5 hours yesterday, blew naps off, washed up, headed to church at 5, then afterward, the kids fell asleep by 8:30.  I rocked them both and sang silly songs to them, an obviously treasurable moment, as their legs seem lankier day by day.  They basically drape across me now instead of furrow into my lap.  Bittersweet!

 

 

Before the hubby and I retired to bed, we realized the heater wasn't working...so we layered the kids' beds with extra blankets, ours too, and went to sleep with one ear open.  The heater never kicked in overnight and when we woke it was 67-68, not bad at all, thank God!  I am really thankful for yesterday's day out in the sonshine, because today's is more like this....pickup, put up, repeat.

 

 

Nonetheless...the blessing of having a little boy...when your heater goes out in KY in late Feb and you have a preschooler at home, you have no choice but to make a super duper fort!  That's what we do anyway!  See that little chestnut hair peaking out?  He's the king of fort sum'thin.  It now looks like a gigantic stack of pillows for him to jump into over and over and over. 

Here's to spring arriving early and for mild weather, too!  And here's to turning over a new leaf for us all.  I did 15  freezer meals this weekend, and plan to do about that many more within the  next couple weeks.  It took me about 6 hours and the end result will save HOURS of time and calories.  I had to literally force myself to do it because I was not in a "plan ahead" kind of mood!  It had been nearly 2 mos since I had frozen meals.  When I did it then, nothing tasted freezer burnt (per my very picky husband) and I'm hoping for the same fresh taste with each meal this time too.  I LOVE having my afternoons free for playing with the kids.  It is so good for us, since little girl is now in big school. 

I prepped: 
1 veggie pizza toppings (mostly bc the carrots and broc were teetering on being bad).
1 meatloaf (gr chick)
2 jerk nacho toppings (peppers, rub, cilantro, lime)
2 philly cheesesteak
2 taco meat
2 spaghetti meat
2 chicken marbella (this is an amazing recipe, though a nontraditional combo of ingreds...see the recipe here I got the recipe years ago from a friend who has a Christian radio talk show!  I had it at her house and had to have the recipe.  It's now one of my favorite meals!   
1 chicken burger patties
1 tater tot casserole
1 bbq chicken w/ gr peppers (for pizza actually)

Still left to assemble,:

2 chicken divan
2 ritz chicken

The ritz chicken doesn't require hardly any prep so I'm thinking about waiting to assemble it day-of.

I did the math.  It cost me $2.52 per person for 19 meals.  I'm pretty happy w/ that!  I will have my southern meals on a dime :) like pinto beans and cornbread, and that will bring the month of March's cost per meal down even more.  This is the first time I've done the math, and I won't always, but I wanted a point of reference.  Since I've been a stay-at-home mom for 6 years, I like to shave pennies off when and where I can!

Okay, clock's a tickin', and I have laundry to fold, repaired (yay!) heater fans to pick up, and the funniest and most fun little boy to spend time with today!  I will leave you with one final thing, the best thing:  scripture.

I have recently memorized....

Isaiah 25:1
Oh Lord, you are my God, I will exalt you and praise your name.  In perfect faithfulness, you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago. (emphasis mine)

This verse is a real thirst quencher to my parched soul.  Everyone have a good Monday!  Tomorrow is a work day for me.  Luckily, both my kids are in schools that I am happy with, which makes it so much easier for all of us!  And since I cooked all those meals,  we can rebuild fort sum'thin for at least 15 afternoons in a row!