Meal Planning Sucess....

Well sort of!!

When I woke up yesterday, I knew that the first thing I had to was plan the meals for the rest of the week and go grocery shopping while I had a chance. The problem was that once my kids woke up they would want to come with me.

Its not that I cant handle the kids coming, its just that the littlest one is at the horrible tantrum age,and although I can handle ignoring her (throw yourself on the ground in the middle of the store until you get candy) routine, everyone else in the store can't! What is it about a child screaming bloody murder on the ground that makes everyone glare at you in disgust like your some sort of lousy Mom. Of course you have the ladies that empathize with you and give you words of wisdom, and then there are my favorite ones (mostly little old grouchy ladies) that make fun of the kid by pointing at them and calling them a little brat! lol True story!

Regardless...I was out the door and child free! Unfortunately this meant that I didn't have the time to make a meal plan before I left, so I was going to have to wing it.

I loaded my cart full of the groceries I needed to make a few choice meals and headed for home. I felt confident that this week was going to go well with my cupboards filled with all the new groceries.

Sadly....

I still lack one key factor in meal planning...called execution!!

This is what is going to haunt me if I don't get it together. You see, when I left yesterday to see Jacob Eclipse (The best movie ever), I didn't make anything for the hubby and the kids to eat while I was gone. Shocking huh? Don't get me wrong....I had intentions to slow cook some french dip so that they could eat dinner while I was gone but I just simply ran out of time.

Put down your pitchforks....as soon as the movie was over at 7:00 I rushed home quick and once home, I made things right......

Hot Dogs Anyone??? lol

It was quick, it was easy and best of all, it wasn't eating out!!

Tonight will be better! It's 8am and I've already have planned whats for dinner. Of course its Girls night out for me, which means I will be eating Cafe Rio,everyone else however will be enjoying tuna Casserole

Day one.....

and it was an AMAZING day....

You know....One of those days that from the moment you wake up, things just seem to go your way!

Nothing extraordinary happened, but more importantly nothing bad happened either...the kids didn't kill each other....I wasn't driven to the brink of insanity by their bickering, and the house actually got somewhat clean! Yes it was an AMAZING day!
After being really inspired by all of the support and encouragement I received about my quest to be a better Mom so of course I was really excited to get started this morning on this new adventure. First thing...I sat the kids down and told them the news...."Kids, we will no longer be eating out"

Their first response surprised me a bit, when they asked, "Does eating at the Cajilgs Neighbors count as eating out?"

"Well.....I hope not!" was my reply!! I mean....it is homemade....so of course its okay, right?

After we all agreed that pigging out eating at our neighbors was okay....the kids were excited. They even said they wanted to help me do our meal plans.

Of course, there was no time for meal plans right then....I told them we would do it later, and told them that if they wanted to go to the pool the house needed to be within fire code Clean!

Who knew that this tactic would be so successful....the kids were off actually cleaning away doing the task I assigned them! It was such a tender sweet moment, that I may have even had to wipe a tear or two from my eye. It was Heaven.

So after they finished it was off to the pool we went!!

and besides a few....

I'm Hungry, I'm Board and Hungry,Mom,getting food from the snack bar isn't eating out,But.....Moooooooooooom I'm Hungry!!

It was great!!

It wasn't till we were on the way home that it hit me.....

Here it was almost 5:00, I barley had any groceries in the house, I had 4 hungry kids in the car and no plan of attack!!

"Why do I do this to myself" I thought as I drove home...passing our usual fast food fixes. Why didn't I prepare earlier in the day when I was so pumped up and ready to succeed???

I arrived home, looked in my freezer and shook my head in shame as I looked at a jam packed mess!! lol I pulled out some frozen hamburger and decided on making tacos!

Let me just tell you what a proud moment it was when after only 20 minutes my kids were eating a delicious edible, somewhat healthy meal!!

I thought, I can do this!!

I will not fall into temptation.....I will do this!!

Yes...it was an AMAZING day!!

Let me introduce myself.....

Who am I?

I am just an ordinary Mom trying her best to be SUPERMOM but failing miserably.

Now I'm sure all of you who know me personally might feel the urge to comment something on the lines of "You are not a bad mom!" or "What are you talking about, You are SUPER MOM" ,but the cold hard reality is that I am not, and I never will be! Of course we all like to think of ourselves as a good parent....and I know that there are certain aspects of being a parent that I have really mastered,such as sending the kids to bed, keeping them occupied or screaming! Yes, I have definitely mastered screaming!

Now I've actually been feeling like this for a while, but it's just been lately that I have came to the realization that I cant just continue to sit by and watch as my kids grow up kicking, shouting, shoving....(and that's just in Sacrament meeting!) Its time I do something about it, especially because you know what they say...Children are usually a direct reflection of their parents! Yikes!!

So on my Quest to be a better Mom, I've decided it would be best to document everything on here, if not for anything else but sheer entertainment! Of course I'm sure there will be bumps in the road and will be times that I just plain give up, but one thing is sure, I love my kids and I am GOING to get them under control if it's the last thing I do!!

Where do I start?

Of course there's me not being able to control my children, but I failed to mention all of the the zillion other things that make me a LOUSY mom like avoiding housework and cooking!! lol

Lets save Housework avoidance for another day and talk about cooking.....

You see when you stay as busy as I do, it's simply impossible to cook!!

Yeah,yeah...I know this is a crock of crap, but you see....this is what I have been telling myself to make me feel better for the past 12 years!!

Do I know that eating out 5-6 days a week is un-healthy for my Children?

yes!

So first up on my to do list is forgoing eating out.....

Let's just be clear...it's not that I am a bad cook, I just don't know how!! I will be honest, there are only a handful of things I know how to cook and yes Spaghetti is on the top of the list.

So.....this is my plan of attack, except special occasions, we are no longer eating out! I will no longer say what do you want for dinner, referring to where should I stop on the way home tonight??

When I was at one of my friends house eating lunch a few weeks ago I noticed a calendar hanging in her kitchen with what they were going to eat planned out on it! I was so jealous....What a Super MOM!! That's right Becky Childs Betty Crocker...I'm talking about you!!

In order to accomplish this goal I am going to need lots of help, sooooooo I am asking all of you readers (If there are actually any of you out there)to please give me some tips and easy (**Emphasis on EASY) recipes to use!!

Although I don't currently own a Crock Pot I am totally willing to go get one first thing tomorrow!!

No Pain, No Gain...Right??