Author: Sarah Marshall

{Menu Plan Monday} Back in the Swing & Hello Mornings

{Menu Plan Monday} Back in the Swing & Hello Mornings

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

I’ve had a couple days of glorious alone time while Keith and Brooke took a Daddy/Daughter road trip to Michigan to visit family and go to Brooke’s first Tigers game!!

It was 2 days of doing whatever I wanted…breakfast while watching Saturday morning Food Network, caught up on episodes of Parenthood and Private Practice, spent Sunday morning serving with the church children’s ministry, fpKids. I watched movies that Keith would never want to watch with me!! Sidenote – Being Elmo was AMAZEBALLS! I am totally inspired by him!!

But its Sunday night and while my cuties are enjoying the last night of their trip, I’m giving in to the fact that real life starts again tomorrow. And as I’ve said before, one of the best ways for the workweek to feel less chaotic is to have a menu plan ready.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this one doesn’t completely change as the week goes on but its a starting point.

Monday: Crockpot Chicken & Rice ( a pinterest find)
Tuesday: Panini Night has been a good fit for Gymnastics nights so far
Wednesday: Beans n’ Rice Burritos
Thursday: Taco Night
Friday: Leaving this open
Saturday/Sunday: I think we have a party at Keith’s boss’ house one of these nights, the other night will be Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole.

I’m also trying to gain a little more control over my time and not always feel like either a chicken with my head cut off, a failure or both.

So I’ve accepted the Hello Mornings challenge for Fall.

HelloMornings
The basic premise for Hello Mornings is that you “wake up FOR your kids, not BY your kids”. Its really just about getting all your ducks in a row and taking care of you before the focus shifts to everyone else. For some, this time will be for bible study, exercise, or planning ahead for their day. While you don’t HAVE to participate, there is a Bible study offered with which everyone can follow along. For this challenge, the study is Kept: Secure in His Hands Whatever I Face (A “Quench” Bible Study)

For me, I plan to use this time to do the group Bible study and when classes start again, I will use this as study time as well.

One important part of this challenge is accountability. So teams are created and we will encourage each other and share what we are experiencing and learning throughout the challenge. We update on Twitter or Facebook and can also use Instagram to connect with other participants using the #hellomornings hashtag.

I’m really looking forward to this and it will be a challenge because getting up an earlier than I HAVE to is not my strong suit. Wish me luck!!!

Do you get up before your family? What kind of things do you try to accomplish before everyone is up?

Happy S’mores Day

Happy S’mores Day

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

I just love that someone arbitrarily created National Days to celebrate just about everything on the planet. And today might just be my favorite!!

National S’mores Day!!!

If you’re a Pinterest follower of mine, you may have noticed I have an entire board devoted to the sweet marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers. In cupcake form, as a dip or on a stick, if tastes like a s’more I’ve pinned it.

Although many of the yummy recipes and brilliant ideas I’ve pinned have been more show than execution, I actually made this recipe for a Memorial Day party at Keith’s boss’ house. Everyone LURVED them and they were pretty easy. My friend Aramelle made this S’mores Dip that looks so good it should probably be illegal.

So you’re also probably not surprised that I was all over this National S’mores Day stuff. We don’t have a fire pit or anything so we made do with our grill. And we modified our s’mores with a little peanut butter cup action in lieu of chocolate bars.

Brooke took one bite of a s’more and was done with that. However, she still enjoyed toasting up the marshmallows. I don’t think she ate of those either now that I think about it. Weird girl…oh well, more for me!!

Did you get toasted (I mean, marshmallows!) today? Any s’mores recipes to share so I can keep building my “I Want S’more” board?

Too Much and Not Enough

Posted on by Sarah Marshall

Last week was an exhausting week for me. I had a big project due at school on top of other work for another class. We registered Brooke for gymnastics and stayed afterwards to take advantage of open gym on Monday. Tuesday we had long standing dinner plans to be there for opening night of Chuy’s. The 45 minutes we waited outside was worth it…the food was a amazeballs. I also went to the gym two of those nights and met a blog deadline.

By the time 11:55 Friday night, the moment my assignments and homework were due, rolled around I was exhausted.

And I missed my family. Yeah, I saw them every night…for awhile. But no sooner had the dinner dishes been taken to the kitchen, to be cleaned by my saint of a husband, I’d be off. On the nights I wasn’t stationed at the dining room table with a textbook, I was at the gym working on my Couch to 5K training. I felt like I was constantly rushing Brooke around and pushing her away and by the end of the week, her behavior reflected it.

I began to wonder if it was worth it. Yes, getting this degree in Early Ed is the first step to working in a field I am actually passionate about. Yes, for my health and sanity, I needed to get physically active.

Everyone says to moms, “You have to do something for yourself”.

“Make sure you get Me Time.”

“Get out of the house once in awhile”

I always thought that maybe I was doing it wrong by not spending more time doing things like girl’s night outs and days at the spa. But one week of doing things for me and I’m exhausted.

I’m hoping it will get easier. I think it will. My class load this fall will be smaller so there won’t be as much schoolwork to juggle. I’ve recommitted myself to menu planning so the period between me walking in the door after work and out the door to the gym doesn’t have to so hectic. Brooke will get used to Daddy putting her to bed by himself sometimes and I’ll get used to missing a bedtime here and there.

And I’ll have to remember in the long run…it will be worth it.