Easter 2011

Matt and I had a wonderful Easter this year.  We split up for church services (he went to his church, and I went to mine), but we spent time with both of our families.  It was so wonderful to get to spend time with our families and to be reminded of the sacrifice Jesus made to save all of us. 

We had breakfast with my family at Cracker Barrel, which was delicious as usual.  Then I headed to my church for the 10 am service and Matt headed across Chattanooga to make his 11 am service.  After church, I headed over to my in-laws house for Easter lunch and an egg hunt with the kiddos!  It was SO much fun!

Anna's (Matt's cousins' little girl) first Easter Egg!

Matt and Anna, she ADORES him, and she loved shaking the Easter eggs



Look closely at the exhaust pipe on Matt's mohter's car.  My wonderful husband decided that would be a good place to hide an egg.  Well Ash tried to get it and it got stuck there.  Granted Matt did get it out himself when he hid it and put it back...

All the kiddos (Matt held Anna because she didn't like to sit on the grass)

Ashley, Elijah, Olivia, Matt, and Anna!

I hope everyone else's Easter was as wonderful as mine!

Livi and Ash running to get eggs

Meal Plan for 3/11 to 3/15

Well this week's meal plan is not exactly normal, but here it is none the less!

Monday: Hamburgers...and they were yummy!

Tuesday: Chuck E Cheese...we took Matt's little cousins today and it was SO MUCH FUN!  But not so healthy, but hey, that's what bonus points are for!

Wednesday: Spaghetti or Tuna and Rice, bascially whichever one I feel like making tomorrow...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE!

Thursday: Vaudville Cafe (Murder Mystery Dinner Show) for Steph's birthday!

Friday: Probably we'll either have spaghetti, or tuna and rice, whichever one I don't make Wednesday!

That's it for this week...not much cooking at home, but I'm still going to try to be healthy!

Meal Plan for this week

Well better late than never I guess.  I made it yesterday, didn't post it, and we have already not followed it!  Oops!

Monday: Chicken Quesadillas - easy, quick, and delicious!  I am going to buy some wheat tortillas and try them out next time we have this.  I didn't have any defrosted chicken, but I had bought some Tyson grilled chicken strips (VERY handy to have around) so I heated them and cut them and they worked great!

Tuesday: BBQ in the CrockPot - well I made this tonight but I went grocery shopping after work (it was my early day) and Matt wanted Burger King for lunch, so I ended up not even starting it til about 3, so needless to say it wasn't ready!  But all I have to do for tomorrow is heat up the BBQ and we're all set!  We had sandwiches for lunch!

Wednesday: It was gonna be, well honestly I don't remember, but it's going to be BBQ!

Thursday: Marinated BBQ Chicken...honestly I can't believe I STILL haven't managed to make this, but somehow it just has not happened.  But I stuck the chicken in the fridge to defrost yesterday so as long as I can remember to dump some sauce in the bag tomorrow, we'll be good to go!

Friday: Burgers? - We have some buns b/c Matt like his barbeque on one, and I've got some ground beef, so why not?  Although there's a good chance we won't do this. 

Well that's it for this week.  I did make some brownies tonight that I'd like to share the recipe for...

I got this idea from HungryGirl.  It is SO easy.  The brownies do have a slightly different texture, but the taste is the same and that's what REALLY matters.  And doing it this way makes it a thousand times healthier (if you are on Weight Watchers doing PointsPlus they are only a point a piece if you make 18 pieces!), but you still get brownies! YUM!  Also, I used my Perfect Brownie Pan that I got for Christmas a couple of years ago...what a great invention!

Ok here's the recipe.

1 box of brownie mix (I used Pillsbury Reduced Sugar, which they have apparently discontinued, but they do have a sugar free version)

1 can of pumpkin

Mix the brownie mix and the pumpkin and bake as directed on the box.

Seriously.  That's IT!  I've never used reduced sugar mix before, but it really did taste the same to me, and I'm pretty picky about my sweets cause I love 'em so much!  Try and enjoy!  (FYI, if you don't like fudgy brownies, you can do this with cake mix as well and then you will have cake like brownies!)

April Goals

I stole this idea from my friend Sarah.  I think it's a great idea though.  It will be nice to be able to look back at my goals and whether or not I accomplished them!  So here goes...my April 2011 goals!

At Home:

- Get the living room "guest" ready.  Matt and I both have a terrible habit of setting things down and then leaving them there.  This creates a BIG mess!  My mom is helping me work on the living room to make it look nicer and more guest friendly, so I would LOVE to get this done in April.

- Cook dinner at least 4 nights a week (I did this last month, but it's something I would really like to continue since it's healthier AND saves us money).

Marriage:

- Do something new with Matt.  By "new" I just mean something out of the ordinary.  We pretty much do the same things all the time, and we've been homebodies a lot lately.  I've read LOTS of articles that say doing things outside of your routine helps you bond.

- Date night once a week.  I don't know if this will actually happen this month, but I love the idea, so I'm putting it here so that I won't forget!

Misc:

- Spend at least 3 nights with friends.  I know of at least one that is a given since Steph's birthday is next week!  And I guess I could count dinner with Sabrina and Tara Friday and Grayson's soccer game with Samantha Saturday, but I'm not going to!

- Get some exercise (especially outdoors) 3 times a week.  Since I've rejoined Weight Watchers, I really need to start being more active.  And I love to be outside, so both I could easily kill two birds with one stone here!


Ok April, I'm ready to take you on!!  Wish me luck!

Disney World 2011 - Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

The second day of our vacation (the full first day) was the Magic Kingdom, which to me IS Disney World.  I love all of the rest of it, but somehow, I never quite feel like I'm at Disney World til I visit the Magic Kingdom.  Afterall, it was the first park to open in Orlando!  It was a very rainy day, and it was also our anniversary, so we had a very special dinner with Pooh and his friends.  Here are some pictures!

Matt and I before going into the Magic Kingdom to watch the opening show.  It began to rain shortly after and my hair was a WRECK!

The Train Station at the Magic Kingdom entrance.  The opening show is done here.  A train arrives with Mickey and his friends, as well as a special family that is chosen each day to open the park.  I have a video somewhere that I will try to post eventually!

This is Mickey's house.  It was located in Toon Town Fair, which closed the day after we were there for an expansion of Fantasy Land.  The new Fantasy Land will have lots of new rides, but the sentimental part of me is sad to see Toon Town go.  We didn't even go by there on our Honeymoon, so we made sure to go this time so Matt could see it!

Matt after we rode Splash Mountain.  I had a poncho on but I still got pretty wet too.  Not nearly as wet as he did though!

Me and Piglet.  This was taken at our Anniversary dinner at the Crystal Palace.  We saw Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore, but we didn't wait for Pooh, because we wanted to get a great spot for the Wishes fireworks.

This is Cinderella Castle at night.  It changes colors throughout the evening and it is just breathtaking.  I must have taken 20 pictures of it!  Then the fireworks started, and Matt and I enjoyed a beautful show that was the perfect way to end our 1st anniversary!

Up next, EPCOT!