Hello Monday!

Hi friends!!

Happy Monday!!

How was your weekend??

Our's good! I was flying solo with the kids- Aaron was out of town on a men's retreat in Kansas City, Missouri! He got back super late last night and left super early this morning for work- so I am crossing my fingers we get a chance to actually talk to each other tonight! HA!

The kids and I had a fun donuts and park playdate Saturday morning with friends and then knocked out grocery shopping at Walmart and Aldi. 

We ended our day with blizzards in our Halloween jammies at Dairy Queen!! James has been working on having good behavior at school and his latest reward for getting 5 "happy faces" in a row was a blizzard party for the whole family! 

Sunday morning,  I surprised the kids with mini pumpkin waffles!

Whitney shared about this adorable pumpkin waffle iron she got from Amazon and I had to get one for our house! 

 I made protein waffles using our favorite Aldi protein pancake mix (it's just like Kodiak Cakes) and added some mini chocolate chips!

I also got all of the kids' lunches prepped for the week and was so happy to have it DONE before we went to church!

I got my act together and put together a meal plan for this week. I always have a loose idea of what we're eating every week- but I don't always plan out a good menu plan. Either way- my hubby and kids are always fed (HA!)- but I definitely feel way more organized and put together when I plan out actual meals and pick out a couple recipes to make!

Here's what I have planned out for us to have:

Sunday: Chicken nuggets, steamed broccoli and mac ‘n’ cheese

Monday: Burgers, green beans and sweet potato fries

Tuesday: Cheese quesadillas and pork carnitas bowls

Wednesday: Meatball subs, parmesan cheese pasta and steamed broccoli

Thursday: Pork carnitas tacos, brown rice, black beans and steamed corn

Friday: Pizza!!

Saturday: Nuggets and Hot dogs for kids- A & J date night!!

Sunday: Easy Crock Pot Chili, grilled cheese and side salads

Click HERE for the recipe I am using for the pork carnitas- it's from Skinnytaste and it looks SO good!

Also- I shared how I made my easy chili in last Friday's blog post- you can find it HERE! Spoiler alert- I just followed the ingredients on the back of the McCormick's chili seasoning packet and cooked it in my crockpot!

Okay friends. Are you ready for the week??

I shared some weekly goals last Monday and thought I would share again what I am hoping to focus on this week:
1) Continue working on making healthy choices with my nutrition. Last week was REALLY good for me and I want to keep that momentum going! I have a tendency to get very "snacky" as the temperatures get cooler and it gets darker quicker at night- so I want to keep that under control!

2) Complete all household chores that NEED to get done. I haven't been the greatest on sticking with my cleaning schedule. My goal is to get a chore or two done each day- and STAY ON TOP OF IT- so when the weekend comes around- I can be more focused on hanging out and having fun with my kids!

3) Don't get overwhelmed in isolated, stressful moments. Overall, I would say I deal with stress pretty well. Where I really struggle are in situations like when everyone comes home from school exhausted and hungry and 3 of my 5 children start throwing massive tantrums. Or when Aaron calls and says he won't be home for dinner- which means I am flying solo for dinner, baths and bedtime. Nothing that is a BIG deal at all- but I have a tendency to get overwhelmed, cranky and it's just not pretty. HA! 

Aaron has a pretty big work thing happening on Friday morning and we are coming off of him being gone all weekend. I know this week is going to feel a little extra bananas and I am making it my TOP goal- to BREATHE. Own the mantra: Hard is NOT the same thing as Bad.
And to just do the next.right.thing!

Hope you have the BEST day!

Linking up with Heather, Johannah, Tanya and Lindsay!