How our week in food went

Well it went fine, except for the lack of pictures I thought I would be able to post ;-)  So since things got a bit busy and we had a few little surprise messes this week I thought I would just give a recap on how our menu went.

The food prep was pretty minimal during the week.  Although I really need to get a handle on getting it done earlier in the evening and not at 11 PM at night!  I made beef stew for the first time ever.  It went over well for about half of us.  The other half picked out the meat and potatoes to eat and left some of the best parts (the broth).  Wednesday's meals were not as listed due to a few factors.  For one, I tried to bring a snack with me to the doctors appointment to hold the boys and I off till we got home.  However snacks are no good to you if they are left at home on the piano.....So I had to stop by and grab some lunch.  I would have just run to the store to grab something healthy, but I had two sleeping boys in the van and my blood sugar was crashing.  There would have been no way to accomplish that without becoming very, very sick or passing out.  So I went to Chik-fil-a.  A friend of mine offered to watch the girls.   I thought I would bring pizza over for lunch for them all. However they all ate by the time I got there.  So we celebrated Jed's tube removal with a pizza dinner and cake.  Totally not on the menu :-)  By the weekend I was worn out from a few happenings and didn't get around to making out my menu for this week.  So we had unsoaked granola this morning.  I really need to sit down later today and make up a menu so that we can get back on track with NT eating. 

Poor Jed had a bad morning.  Screaming, and LOTS of it.  Not even at anyone!  He just kept breaking down over any little thing.  He dropped one of his toy trucks as he was walking along and he lost it.  Small things like that just set him off.  It was looking like it was going to be a long day, but he seemed to have calmed down some.  I gave the boys some spray bottles filled with (very) diluted window spray.  I gave them some paper towels and told them to wash the windows.  I am pretty sure every window and then some have been hit by the boys.  It kept them busy for quite a while. 

This is our last week of 'summer vacation' before we start up with school.  I hate for it to be spent cleaning and organizing, but that is what happens when the children refuse to take care of their things.  So to make it easier on everyone I am taking trash bags (only because we are lacking boxes) and putting pretty much everything in it that are on the floors.  With the exception of books and school items they were using in their playtime.  I figured if it is on the floor they must not care about it.  They have been told repeatedly to pick it up, so this is not a surprise to them.  I also went through the boys room and cleared out a lot of stuff.  Any toys that have a lot of pieces I put up high in the closet so that they can't dump all the boxes out at once.  This has made a big difference in clean up!!  Jed really enjoys sorting things, so at clean up time he can pick up all the toys himself.  I have to say I am bummed that we didn't do more or accomplish more over our summer break.  It hit me hard the other day.  We really need a lot of things to change around here.  One being that the girls really need to become more self motivated and self directed than they are.  Having to stand over them while they are cleaning to make sure it gets done leave me without any time to do the things I have to do.  Not to mention that they are sorely lacking in effort.  A clean room to them is that the very middle of the floor is visible.  Never mind all the things on top of the bookshelves, or the end tables, or around the outskirts of the room.  Sigh. 

I am hoping a new routine will get things to go more smoothly.  I have been relying a bit too much on cartoons of late to keep them from all tearing down the house.  I will most certainly be getting rid of those, plus getting rid of the 'twaddle' books.  The books they have been reading have been better than in the past, but they are still going to find it hard to switch over to "living" books with the book diet they have been ingesting.  One step at a time.  I just need to keep remembering to persevere and keep working towards our goal. 

Ok, enough rambling for the day!  Off to clean, organize and prepare for next week!