The last couple weeks since Dave returned home has been busy, in the best way! He got home the week before Christmas then had to work until Christmas Eve Eve. He took his Gmat the saturday before Christmas too (and rocked it!). We had a nice Christmas Eve dinner and church service on the 24th. We were traveling to MD to spend some time with my family early the 27th, so we wanted time to eat all the leftovers. Christmas day was amazing of course. My girls are the perfect ages for Christmas. We made sure to try to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Alyssa knew the story of Jesus and his birth and that Christmas is about spending time with your family and friends. She obviously was excited about Santa and presents, but we tried not to make that the main focus.
Each kid got 2 presents from Santa and a stocking plus 2 more presents from me and Dave. They had plenty under the tree to make their eyes light up. I don’t see the need to get them 20 presents each especially when they don’t need a single thing truthfully, you should see our playroom! We have had to start a “one in, one out” toy policy because its maxed out, and it’s a big room. Plus all of their Grandparents spoil the heck out of them!
Dave received my latest crocheting project, a beard hat. I made 4 of them for presents this year and they were a hit!
On the 27th we went to MD for 6 days, returning home late on the 1st. We got a couple nice date nights thanks to my mom and my dad and stepmom. We were only home in NC for 1 day, to unpack and then repack because we were off to Disney world!
We spent 4 days in Disney world and 1 day in Sea World. We stayed at a Disney resort and ate amazing dinners each night. We didn’t use the Disney meal plan. Instead we ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches in the room as we got ready each morning and I packed us lunches of turkey and swiss sandwiches with hummus, raw green beans and carrots, apples, granola bars, and string cheese.
We are adventurous eaters so we wanted to try a variety of cuisines for nice dinners out. We had Greek, African, Norwegian, and authentic Mexican. All 4 were amazing! We stuffed ourselves silly each night (well, I did at least), but still found room for some dessert after we put the girls to bed. My mom came with us and stayed with the girls at night so Dave and I could have a couple more date nights. We had 9 months to make up for afterall!
The girls had a blast!
Until a character tried to get anywhere near Cassidy…
and I’m terrible because it made me laugh every time.
Finally on Saturday life was back to normal and it felt just as good as all the traveling and excitement. We made Greek yogurt pancakes and eggs in the morning, cleaned up a little, went to Lowes, made lunch, hung out while Cassidy napped, ate some homemade spaghetti and meatballs with broccoli for dinner, then headed out to a birthday party. It made it extra pleasant that it was 78 degrees out and we were in shorts! We have 5 little kid’s birthday parties to attend the rest of January, I am going to go broke!
After all the amazing Christmas food and Disney world eating, I was actually so happy to be back to home cooking. We stopped at a whole foods on the way home (we don’t have one close to us unfortunately) and stocked up. I also started up another vegetable and fruit box last week. Each week I pay $45 and get to fill my box with whatever I want from the list using my allotted points. This week on Tuesday I will get all this delivered to my doorstep:
1 lb raisins, 8 oz mushrooms, 1 lb green beans, 2 green peppers, 1 head cabbage, 4 lbs sweet potatoes, 1 head lettuce, 2 lbs butternut squash, 1 bunch bananas, 4 apples, and 6 tangelos.
All organic and about half of it is local.
This weeks meal plan will look something like this
Dinners:
Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cornbread stuffing, green beans (Thanksgiving since Dave missed it)
Grilled fish, sautéed cabbage, quinoa risotto
Grilled chicken leg quarters, roasted sweet potatoes, leftover stuffing, salad
Pasta with grilled chicken and veggies in a homemade herbed cream cheese sauce
Homemade pizza topped with peppers and mushrooms
Ham and bean soup with greens from my garden
Thanksgiving leftovers one night
Breakfasts:
Turkey Sausage, Egg, and cheese sandwiches x 2
Banana Oatmeal with chai seeds and peanut butter x 3
Greek yogurt pancakes
Cranberry oatmeal scones
Lunches will be a combination of:
Butternut squash soup
dinner leftovers
Plain greek yogurt with cut up fruit
smoothies
salads
grilled cheese with fresh organic whole foods bread and organic sharp cheddar
Workouts were few and far between, maybe 5 total over 3 weeks. But we probably 50 miles walking in Disney over the 5 days. We did a killer circuit workout friday afternoon though and a 3.5 mile run outside with the double stroller on Sunday. The circuit left Dave and I sore all over the next day!
Fuel My Family 