First day of Kindergarten

Today was a big day for Brooke.  Brooke started kindergarten today.

She did great getting up, eating breakfast and getting ready. Trey and I both took her to school today and walked her to her class. We made it to the room and put her backpack in her cubby. Brooke then grabbed me. No tears, but I could tell it wasn't going to be an easy goodbye.

Several girls were playing in the corner of the room. One girl came over and asked me "is she nervous?" I said "yes, just a little bit. Then she said " come on. You can play with me." Brooke still didn't move, but I was so impressed with that little girl. I walked Brooke over to the group and the little girl and teacher finally convinced Brooke to let go of me and play.

When Trey picked her up, he said she had a huge smile on her face. I am so proud of her, but wish time would slow down. 

The little girls demanded to eat out!

So we let them.



They may "eat out" for lunch also.

Last night was our version of the Friday Night Fish Fry. Except for us, it went a little heavier on the shrimp than the fish. We accentuated with Fries and Onion Rings, and added some broccoli. We also had fresh corn on the cob. And by fresh, I mean it was still in the field on the stalk Thursday morning. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Lastly, and a little bit of product endorsement, we had some hushpuppies that I found at Kroger. They are called Country Select Hushpuppies. Not what you would find at a seafood place on Tybee, but pretty good.

WE ATE OUT!!

Now, it's not what you think.

Before we get into tonight's story, a quick word about last night. We had breakfast for dinner. I really think the girls would do this every night if I would agree to it. We had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, hashbrowns and biscuits and gravy. Every thing was really really good except for the gravy. I just don't know how to make good gravy.

As for tonight....we ate out.

BUT THE STREAK CONTINUES!

Our preschool, Oconee Preschool Academy had a barbecue to celebrate their 20th anniversary. We are very blessed to have found OPA, and went out there to celebrate. It was the traditional barbecue buffet: sandwiches, chips, cole slaw, cookies and pickles. It was great.

Tomorrow.....FISH NIGHT!

Meal planning update

Good Morning

Haven't blogged in a couple of days, but the quest continues. We still have not eaten out since May16. Sunday night was a perfect example of what we would have done a few weeks ago. We hosted our church small group. On those nights, we feed the kids before we start at 5:30. This week we prepared Voila Chicken Fajitas. Voila is a bagged meal which has the meat, seasonings and all.

Now, in the past, we would have gone to get something after small group. This week, we cooked up some chicken wings we had in the freezer.

Monday night was spaghetti and meatballs with some garlic toast. Spaghetti is spaghetti, no picture.

Last night, Cheri found a recipe on Mommy Octopus called Crockpot Chicken Quesadilla.



It was very simple. Chicken, a block of cream cheese and a can of Rotel. After it crocks for a while, stir it up, shred the chicken and prepare quesadillas. We paired it up with some whole kernal corn. Good meal.

Tonight is breakfast night. The challenge of breakfast night is that everyone wants something different. We'll see what makes the cut.

More Italian!

Tonight we did the Meatball sub casserole. It was very good. Cheri got the recipe from Julie's Eats and Treats, and man, it was good. Easy to make. We combined it with some mixed veggies and cut peaches.

A preview of tonight's meal....

Friday Night Pizza night

Tonight was a simple pizza night. Homemade.

We got the kit at Aldi to make 2 pizzas. One was Pepperoni, the other a half and half with one side cheese and the other pepperoni and onion.

We also had a mini salad bar and everyone could make their own salad.

While it wasn't Pizza Hut or Mama Sid's, it was still a good and filling meal.

Check back for tomorrow, as there is still some shuffling of the menu going on for the weekend.

Trey

End of Pre-K

Last week, Brooke completed Pre-K.  It is hard to believe she will be starting kindergarten in a few months. 

As Trey mentioned yesterday, tonight was leftover night. No exciting dinner pictures to share. On the menu for tomorrow night, homemade pizza and salad.

We're having Meat Loaf for dinner!

Tonight was Meat Loaf night in the Bliss household. I told Cheri that I was cooking it food network style. By that, I mean with A LOT of spice. Have you ever noticed that when you cook in your own kitchen you tend to be very conservative adding flavor, but on TV, they add a little meat to the spice? Tonight my meat loaf definitely had a zip....and even Anna Grace, not the best eater, had a second helping.

I'll say this, we are a week and a half in, and it seems to be getting easier, not harder.

Answering a couple of questions...first, the no eating out includes lunches. Also, we will eat out if someone else is paying.

Tomorrow is leftover day, so not sure if we will have a picture tomorrow.

Crockpot Tuesday

In preparing our meal list for the next few weeks, we tried to come up with different crockpot recipes for Tuesday night dinner. I like to go to the 5:30 Zumba class, so a crockpot meal makes it easier to eat as a family when I get home.

I found a crockpot recipe last week that we tried out tonight. I found the recipe on   Mix and Match Mama. I love this blog and have tried a few of her recipes.

Tonight we had Chipolte Corn Chicken. You can find the recipe here.  I was a little concerned it would be too spicy, so we use little Chipolte this time. It was very delicious and easy to make. This will definitely be on our regular rotation.

Cheri

The End of Eating Out....a (roughly) 60 day journey

Sometimes the best or the most satisfying things that you do come out of conversations you don't expect to have.



Last Saturday, we went out to eat. We usually don't hit the restaurants on Saturday because on the east side there aren't enough seats to keep there from being a long wait. Of course, that is when the students are in town, but with the spring semester over, its not so bad for a little bit. We also go out to eat after church most Sundays, however due to some other commitments, that was not going to happen last weekend.

We decided to go to La Fiesta, one of our favorites. The one bad thing about la Fiesta is that Audrey can no longer order off of the kid's menu. So, we go...of course we get drinks and cheese dip and then get the bill.

$48.

We get home and start a conversation about going out to eat less. And I propose to Cheri that we just don't eat out the entire month of June. Kind of a "restaurant fast" That was not good enough for her, she counters with starting now. So I can't let her have the last word, and propose not eating out again until we go to the beach.

In Mid-July.

Figuring it up, it is right about 60 days of not eating out. Easily longer than we've ever gone. The only thing left is to figure out how we are gonna do it. The first thing we decide is that we HAVE to have a plan and a menu. Too many of our eat out nights are because we were going to wing it when we got home, or we just didn't want to cook. So, enter the menu calendar. We set up a calendar and just started filling in dates. It really ended up just being any meals we could think of, but putting them in writing makes it more concrete...THIS is what we are having. The next thing we decided on were some emergency meals. What do you do when the chicken isn't thawed out. Spaghetti and hotdogs to the rescue.

So we started. We have a reservation the day we get to Savannah at Our Lady and Sons. That will be our next meal out. So far we have had Hot Dogs, Ranch Chicken, a crockpotted Boston Butt, Shepherd Pie, the much needed leftover night, Barbecue at a party we were invited to, Hamburgers, CrabLegs and Ribs. Tomorrow is another crockpot creation, Chipolte Corn Chicken.

So what do we plan on accomplishing? Well first, saving money. Secondly, and maybe even more importantly, a sense of pride that we CAN do this.

We have not blogged in six months. I, personally, can not remember the last time I wrote a blog entry. But I plan on chronicling this, both for you, but maybe more for us.

Until tomorrow....


Trey