The last week seemed to fly by thanks to Nora’s birthday celebrations, Grandparent’s Day at Nora’s school, Thanksgiving break, visiting with family from out of town, and spending more time with Dave home from school.
It was SOOOOO nice having Dave home for a few extra days this past week. For the first time ever, he got Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off from school — and although he will have a shorter Christmas break to make up for it, we definitely all enjoyed his extra time at home for Thanksgiving.
My goal for Thanksgiving break was to “catch up and work ahead” — on everything from cleaning, organizing, and freezer cooking, to blogging, a few personal projects, and wrapping up a bunch of landscaping to-dos that sat for a while as we enjoyed a bit of snow!
Dave had a long list of to-do’s as well — and for the most part, we accomplished everything on our list. However, neither one of us were able to actually work ahead on anything.
I’m sure we could have accomplished more if we really wanted to, but we enjoyed several lazy afternoons playing outside, several late nights with company, and even a few “late” mornings as our kids let us sleep in past 7:00am for THREE days in a row!
I suppose all the extra holiday stuff just wore them out. In fact, Nora even took a voluntary couch nap on Friday afternoon!
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Here are a few projects I worked on last week:
- Reorganized the kid’s play area under the stairs and turned it into more of a crafting / coloring area instead of a play room (since they have the play room upstairs now)
- Ordered several gifts online thanks to special holiday deals and sales.
- Did a bunch of extra baking to make Nora’s birthday treats and Grandparent’s Day snacks for her preschool.
- Did a mini kitchen purge and came away with 3 paper grocery bags full of stuff to donate.
- Set up our new kitchen table just in time for Thanksgiving dinner! (my brother-in-law painted it for us with a professional sprayer).
- Opened a bank account for Nora so she could deposit her birthday money!
- Hosted our first Thanksgiving!
- Canned 40 quarts of applesauce with my mom. (here’s the process we use)
- Did several hours of yard work — raking leaves, splitting and transplanting perennials, and working on the shed.
- Washed all the sheets and surprised Dave by FINALLY giving in and buying a set of flannel sheets for our bed (he’s only been asking for 10 years now!)
- Tried 3 new recipes. They were all tasty and simple, so I’ll hopefully be sharing them here on the blog in upcoming months.
- Put up a few Christmas decorations — the Christmas tree on our main floor, 2 small trees upstairs for Nora and Simon, our new Little People’s Nativity, and a few other VERY SIMPLE decor items throughout the house.
- Finished the last episode of Call the Midwife on Netflix (I pounded out all 4 seasons in the last 3 months — SOOOOOOO good!)
- Worked on my November photos for our 2015 photo album — and worked on finishing Nora’s photo book now that I have the photos from her birthday.
Our Menu Plan:
MONDAY:
- Cranberry Pork Roast (recipe coming later this week)
- Loaded baked potatoes
- Steamed broccoli
- Roasted carrots
- Rolls
- Applesauce
TUESDAY:
- Wet burritos
- Chips and Salsa
- Lettuce Salad
WEDNESDAY:
- “Rainbow lunches” for the kids (see photo below)
- Pancakes for dinner
- Sausage
- Fruit
THURSDAY:
- Thanksgiving dinner (read more about all the recipes I made in this post)
FRIDAY:
- Chinese takeout for lunch
- Chicken Tortilla casserole for dinner
SATURDAY:
- Leftovers for lunch
- Burgers on the grill for dinner
- French fries
- Lettuce salad
- Sliced apples
SUNDAY:
- Lunch at my parent’s house to celebrate a few family birthdays
- Pizza for dinner
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Here’s to another week… Happy Monday!
Tracie Nall says
Andrea – I love that you tried 3 new recipes and look forward to you sharing them on your site. I have very picky eaters, so I appreciate a momma who is willing to try something new but uses basis ingredients. I am making a Tuscan White Bean and Sausage Soup this week, sneaking in some Butternut Squash and Spinach…I will let you know how it goes. On a different note, can you tell me which of the Personal Planners you u currently use, the particular style. Thanks so much! And htank you for continuing to share you life with others via cyber world.
Andrea says
Thanks Tracie — I love trying new recipes so whenever I have a little extra time (like when Dave is home for Thanksgiving) I always try a few new ones!
Denise Z says
Tracie–If you haven’t made Andrea’s “Semi-Homemade Baked Beans” , do yourself a favor and give them a try! SO easy and SO good! We’re pretty picky about our baked beans, and love these. Hubby asks for them often!
Andrea says
Thanks Denise! We love those baked beans too… here’s the recipe: https://andreadekker.com/semi-homemade-baked-beans/
Andrea says
Hi again, I realized I forgot to tell you about my planner in my previous comment. I use the A5 planner size — it’s perfect for me right now!
Ashley Gaver says
I’m still loving these posts!! I’m so motivated by you!
Andrea says
Thanks Ashley!
JoDi says
Flannel sheets are the BEST! I think you’re gonna love them!
Andrea says
so far, so good. I didn’t think I would like them — but they are much warmer than our other sheets! I don’t even think we’ll need to use our heating blanket this year!
Denise Z says
Would love to know which flannel sheets you chose (and why) ! I need to replace ours and I know you did your research–and will have good reasons for choosing the ones you bought.
Andrea says
Hi Denise,
These are the flannel sheets we got: http://amzn.to/1QSUFGB
There are some negative reviews saying the sheets are too small — but we have a very “thick” pillow top mattress and had no trouble getting the sheets on. I’ve washed them twice now and there is no pilling at all – and they are SOOOOOOOO soft and warm.
However, the main reason I went with this brand was because they were one of the few brands that offered a plain white option 🙂
Katie says
I can’t wait to see the cranberry pork roast recipe. I’ve been wanting to try something like that!
Abra says
I have been watching “Call the Midwife” and love it, too! After reading your post, I was reminded I should finish watching the latest season. I went to Netflix and see I already watched the last episode without realizing it! Haha!
Andrea says
I know… it just sort of ended. I heard that a new season is starting on PBS this December — I’ll have to look into that!
Abra says
Thanks, I will have to look into that, too!
Kathy C says
I just purchased the Fisher Price nativity and set it up in the grandkid’s play room. They don’t have much exposure to the Christmas Story so I am hoping to be able to tell them a bit of it. The first thing my step=grand-daughter did was take the food out of the donkey cart and hauled Baby Jesus around instead! Oh well, I love how the set is made for little people to play with and enjoy.
Cara says
I would love to see a picture of your new table!
I’m amazed by how much work you get done in a day! I wish I could find that in myself!
Andrea says
Cara, this is a WHOLE WEEK — not just a day! I definitely couldn’t do all of this in a day 🙂
Emily says
So how can I convince you to drive to Kalamazoo and help me purge my house?? Your productivity amazes me!! 🙂 Glad to hear you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Love to see Mr James getting so big in his bouncer!
Andrea says
haha — well, if we didn’t have 8 children between the two of us, I’d come in a heartbeat!
julie says
That last photo made my day — so cute!!!
Andrea says
yay — Simon’s smile has a way of making my day too 🙂
Michelle says
You seem so much happier these days. What a charming family you have! Happy for you and prayers for blessings for you all.
Paulette says
LOVE LOVE LOVE Call the Midwife!! That Simon is SOOO Adorable. 😉
Jamie says
Ah! I’ve been binge watching Call the Midwife and my evening productivity has taken a major hit 🙂 The only good thing is that I’ve been staying completely caught up on folding laundry while I watch!