Menu Plan Monday - March 28th 2011

Last week was SO hectic and I'm SO glad it's over.  Word of advice...don't procrastinate 4th grade science projects especially when you have twins!

We stuck to our meal plan pretty well.  I've been wanting to buy a rice cooker for quite some time now.  I finally bought one last Thursday and I was so excited to use it that I replaced the Apple Butter Pork Chops with a recipe from the rice cooker cookbook.  I'm sure it isn't nearly as tasty as the pork chops but it was REALLY easy to make!

The homemade english muffins and the make ahead muffin melts turned out great.  I will definitely be making them again however I will not use nearly as much mayo as the recipe calls for.

Alright, here is our menu for this week.  Baseball season is starting up so sticking to my meals may be a challenge but we're giving it our best shot!

Monday - Crock Pot French Dip Sandwiches and Linguine with Broccoli and Red Peppers (my family loves this recipe)


Tuesday - Hawaiian Haystacks


Wednesday - Apple Butter Pork Chops and Caramelized Onions


Thursday - Angel Hair Pasta with Eggplant - I'm not sure how popular this will be with the kids but a good friend of mine sent me this recipe and I want to try it out.  Besides I haven't had eggplant in a VERY long time!


Friday - Leftovers

I am also planning to make homemade bagels, Phyllo Fruit Tarts and cinnamon swirl bread at some point this week.  These are ambitious goals but I've already bought the ingredients so I'm hoping to get to them. :)

Have a great week!

It's all about green

I had grand plans St Patty's Day.  A day full of fun meals, hidden prizes for the kids, leprechaun foot prints etc but NONE of it happened.  We did have breakfast burritos with green eggs for breakfast, does that count?  I did however finish all of the shirts that I had planned on making for the kids.

How did I do it?  After watching this tutorial, I sat down with the kids and let them design their own shirts.  Gavin was so interested in playing that he just copied Hunter's (surprise, surprise).  I used Sure Cuts A Lot and my Cricut to cut the heat transfer vinyl (except for BraeLyn's where I used glitter on hers rather than vinyl).  I love trying out new things and this one proved to be fun for all that chose to participate.  I will be on the lookout for more shirt making projects because I have LOTS of heat transfer vinyl that can't go to waste!

Menu Plan Monday ~ March 21st 2011

We stuck to our meal plan and tried some new recipes last week.  The chicken stroganoff was the winner for the March Madness Crockpot Bracket.  I loved the beef and pesto but I must admit that I was feeling very guilty with each bite I took knowing it wasn't the best food choice for me.

We had another guilty pleasure dessert last week on St Patrick's Day.  I found a recipe for Brownie Covered Oreos.  I decided to try these with Mint Oreos and I also substituted applesauce for the oil and used egg whites rather than eggs.  This made them a tad bit healthier (if not, then at least I felt better while eating them).

Here is our menu plan for this week.  One note, I always substitute ingredients for the fat free versions if they are available:

Monday - Easy and Delicious Chicken

Tuesday - Apple Butter Pork Chops - New recipe for us

Wednesday - Slow Cooker Creamy Tortilla Soup

Thursday - Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

Friday - Leftovers

I'm attempting to make homemade english muffins as I'm typing this post.  The dough is rising now and I have to say I'm pretty excited to see how they turn out.  My intent is to make  Make Ahead Muffin Melts.  I'll let you know they turn out next week.

Have a great week!!

Menu Plan Monday ~ March 14th 2011

As a result of the healthy eating that I referred to in my last post, I've been on the hunt for good healthy recipes.  I have so many great sources that I've found and I promise I will share them along the way.  I have learned so much about healthy eating habits however I am still learning.  You will probably see some recipes that are not all that healthy but we do need room for a few guilty pleasures around here :)

I was motivated to start planning my meals in advance when I was introduced to OrgJunkie.com.  I've started following her Menu Plan Monday even though I haven't been posting it here.  There are literally hundreds of people that post their weekly menu plans and share their recipes.  I've enjoyed it so much that I've decided to start posting our menu each week so that I can share the recipes I've found.  I find it hard to plan weekend meals but when I do I will include those as well.

One of my new favorite things is to use my crock pot to cook.  One of my favorite crock pot sites is http://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/.  I joined in on this March Madness Crockpot Bracket therefore 2 of my recipes this week will be from this website challenge (Monday and Wednesday).  I'm not sure I would consider either one of them "healthy" but I plan to adapt them a little to try and make them a little more healthy.

Here is our menu for this week:

Monday - Beef and Pesto - Let me explain...this is NOT a recipe I would consider healthy because of the amount of pesto.  This is one of the recipes I picked based upon title alone because I'm a real sucker for pesto!  I hadn't seen the entire recipe until after it was assigned to me and about died when I saw how much pesto it called for but I'm still game for this challenge!  I tried to lighten the recipe up by using ground turkey instead of ground beef.  I also used light Alfredo sauce.

Tuesday - Turkey Cutlets with Parmesan Crust

Wednesday - Chicken Stroganoff

Thursday - Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde

Friday - Leftovers

I hope you find something you think you might try.  If not, check out the hundreds of others that post their menu plans over at Menu Plan Monday.  If you don't find something that you'd like to try, then I give up! ;)

My intentions were good...

I know I ended my last post very abruptly and that it was a long time ago.  I had good intentions.  I had planned on continuing on with the story of Hunter and his 2 week journey at Primary Children's Hospital but to be honest...I just can't..  I wish more that I could and I know someday I will be able to.  I find that I can verbally talk about things and be ok. most of the time but for some reason I have a very hard time putting it in writing.  It's been such an emotional roller coaster for me and I'm just trying really hard to get back to our new "normal" around here.  I'm not quite sure what that is yet but I'll make sure to let you know when I find it. :)

Hunter is doing fantastic and so is the rest of the family!  We know that the Lord's hand has been in Hunter's recovery and we thank Him for this miracle.  We also want to thank all of those that have prayed and fasted on our behalf over the last 8 months along with all of the kind words and thoughts from so many others.  We are so blessed to be surrounded by such great friends and family.  We have also met some fantastic new friends along the way and we know this is just the beginning.  We could never make it through this journey without you.

We took so many pictures of Hunter and his journey that there are just too many to share.  Here are some of the pictures we took:



Here's the latest.  We had a follow-up MRI in December that came back normal.  I had so much anxiety leading up to this and I'm SO grateful that it's over and everything was good news.  He will go back again in June for another MRI to check for regrowth or any cysts.  He also had an appointment with his endocrinologist a couple of weeks ago and we're now working with the insurance to start him on his growth hormone replacement therapy.  This is a huge step in his recovery.  Growth hormones help with so much more than actual growth.  We are hoping it will help with his energy level, muscle tone and possibly his weight.  Hunter has gained some weight as a result of the damage done during his surgery.  Unfortunately it's nothing we can control, we just do our best to eat as healthy as we can so we don't make things worse.

As a result of his weight gain, I have begun a new journey of healthy eating for our family.  I rejoined Weight Watchers in late January so that I could learn the new PointsPlus program.  I earned my Lifetime membership when I joined WW the first time 3 years ago and I'm so glad I went back.  I love the new program.  The program worked 3 years ago but it works even better now.  I love this new lifestyle change and I plan to stick with it!

Thanks again for all of your love and support!

911, What Is Your Emergency

I know I promised to update the blog more often however we had a bit of a BIG event happen to our family this summer.  This is only the beginning of a life long journey for us but I'll start at the beginning of the beginning.  I will warn you, this post is VERY long and is only the beginning to many other posts about this adventure.  I started this post over a month ago (today is actually August 20th) and have had so many reservations about posting this very private story however I've decided that blogging is going to be our method of journaling.  I've also decided that I'm going to leave the blog public for now but depending on my mood, I may change that in the future :)

Our sweet little Hunter started complaining of headaches on Thursday June 24th.  We tried to control them with Tylenol and that worked well until Sunday.  The poor thing was in quite a bit of pain on Sunday.  I decided to stay home from church with him so he could get some rest.  He got better towards the evening and we got to have a little picnic on the back porch for dinner.  It was a great night.

We decided we would take him to the doctor on Monday because he woke up at 4 am and was throwing up.  I tried to make an appointment with his pediatrician but he had moved and changed his number.  I got frustrated trying to track him down so I opted to take him to our family practitioner who also happens to be a family friend.  He thought Hunter was suffering from pediatric migraines and sent us home with a prescription for Tylenol with codeine.  He told me that if that didn't help control the pain that he'd order a head CT the next day.  He also said that in the 10 years he'd been practicing, he'd never had a child with a tumor.  Well...Hunter made it 3 hours and then started throwing up, but this time it was different.  Hunter had what I thought was a seizure (it wasn't) so I called 911. The ambulance came and they suggested that they transport him to Primary Children's Hospital.  I felt a little weird taking this picture of our son riding in an ambulance but I took it anyway knowing I may regret it if I didn't.

By the time they loaded Hunter in the ambulance he was doing really well.  He was talking with the EMT and was not in much pain.  We arrived at the hospital and while they were moving him from one bed to another, he had his "seizure" again.  The ER doctor ordered a CT scan.  I was able to go in with Hunter during the CT and he was such a tough little guy.  Eric arrived shortly after the CT scan and the doctor came in the room.  I think I knew at that point that we were about to be thrown into a dream.  You could see it on his face.  He asked us to come down to the consult room and I think that was the longest walk down any hall and the hall wasn't long.  The world was in slow motion and I wanted the world to stop...I couldn't handle any bad news.  Bad news didn't happen to us.  He shut the door and broke the news...

Hunter had a brain tumor

He couldn't tell us any details about the tumor because they needed to do an MRI to determine more about the tumor.  Of course this left Eric and I assuming the worst.  We had a rush of several different emotions right at that point.  I was in so much shock at the initial delivery of the diagnosis that I couldn't even cry.  I felt like I was in a dream...when was I going to wake up?  These types of things happened to others...not us. The emotions set in soon thereafter and I'm sure you can imagine....I couldn't control my thoughts, emotions or anything else for that matter.  It is hard to put into words the types of things we were feeling.  All we could do was sit there and hug and try to comfort each other and try to understand how this was happening to our Hunter.

The doctor left Eric and I alone for a bit to let it all sink in.  The first thing we did was pray together.  We prayed harder than we've EVER prayed in our lives.  This in itself was an emotional experience.  We both felt very comforted by the Lord and we knew that we would have the love and support HIM as well as so many others.

We finally got control of ourselves and the doctor came back and asked us if we wanted to see the CT scan.  He brought us out and showed us the tumor and all I remember thinking was "how can he survive this....that tumor is HUGE!".  The tumor was 4 cm (about the size of a golf ball). My emotions rushed in again.  The doctor asked us if we wanted to tell Hunter or if we'd prefer that he do it.  There was no doubt in our minds that we should tell him.  By the time we were done talking with the doctor, they had already taken him to get his MRI.  He was so scared and in so much pain when we first got back there.  They couldn't get him to hold still long enough to do the 45 minute procedure.  It was then that they finally gave him his first dose of morphine and that made a world of difference for him.

This is when Eric and I took the time to call our parents and start breaking this terrible life changing news.  Again, I can't begin to put into words how difficult this was for us.  It was so difficult to even say the word "tumor".  We just took a deep breath after each phone call and pushed on.  It didn't take long before we had a room full of family there to support us.

A doctor from the neurosurgery team came in to talk to us.  Eric and I moved to another room where she could pull up the MRI on the computer.  She went on to explain that they thought the tumor was a craniopharyngioma.  She also said that these types of tumors were benign.  This was the best news we had received all day.  We felt a huge amount of relief but it was short lived.  She went on to explain that this type of tumor is usually attached to the pituitary glad and that there was a good possibility that it would be damaged during surgery.  Neither Eric or I understood what exactly the pituitary gland did in our bodies except for controlling growth.  We were quickly educated and then realized that life for Hunter was going to be so different going forward.  He is going to need daily meds and growth hormones for the rest of his life.  We still found it in ourselves to be grateful because we knew it could have been so much worse.

We were finally able to take some time to talk Hunter about his diagnosis.  We explained everything in as much detail as we knew.  He was so strong and understanding.  He didn't even seem to be scared about anything we had discussed.  His strength was amazing.  He seemed at ease with the diagnosis which was very comforting to Eric and I.< We then started to prepare ourselves for the 6 hour surgery that would happen the next day.  It was a VERY long night.  We tried to make the best of every moment with him.  We tried to be strong and not show emotion in front of him but it was difficult.  Amazingly though, Hunter stayed strong through every moment and seemed so strong and upbeat.

We moved out of the ER and up to the Neuroscience/Trauma Unit where Hunter spent one night before his surgery.  It was nice to be out of the ER where we could have family and friends come and see us more freely.  We had many visitors that came to show support for us as well as Hunter.  We captured a few pictures that night but didn't get nearly as many as I would have liked.  It was difficult to remember to take pictures while we had everything else on our minds.

Mom and Dad with Hunter

Kenadee and Hunter sharing "slushies" :)

My mom (Nana) and Hunter

Eric's Mom (Nancy) and Hunter

My Dad (Papa) and Hunter

Wendy (step-mom) and Hunter

My mom had the opportunity to talk with Hunter alone and she later relayed this story to me.  She asked him what his favorite part of the day had been. He said his very favorite so far was the MRI.  I believe this was his favorite because it was the first time he was given morphine and the opportunity to sleep well.  He must have felt so at peace.  His second was the ambulance ride (always a cool thing for a child).  His least favorite part was when he made me cry.  This absolutely broke my heart when I heard this.  For any of you that know Hunter, he is a pleaser.  He will do anything and everything to make sure that you are happy.  He puts everyone before himself.  Of all things that he had been through this day, the fact that I cried was his least favorite.  I hope to be partly this unselfish sometime in my life.  He truly is an amazing human life and it's amazing to think that the Lord entrusted us to be his parents.  I feel so unworthy.

It was getting quite late but when his brothers and sister got to the hospital, he asked if he could explain why he had to stay at the hospital.  He went into great detail about what was wrong and what they were going to do to help him get better.  He once again showed his amazing strength.  I was attempting to take a picture of Hunter by himself when I accidentally started shooting a video.  Here is Hunter explaining in not such great detail what he was doing at the hospital but I still thought it was priceless.

Eric along with my dad were able to give Hunter a beautiful priesthood blessing.  This was a very moving experience for everyone in the room.  I was reassured privately that Hunter would make it through surgery and that his life on earth would continue.  Later that evening my dad gave both Eric and I a blessing.  Once again I was reassured and given the strength I would need to make it through this experience.  My testimony of the priesthood grew by leaps and bounds this night.  Maybe this was what I was to learn through this experience?  This is yet to be known as I'm sure we have more lessons ahead of us but I have felt Heavenly Fathers hand all along the way.

I took the opportunity to sleep in the hospital bed with Hunter that night.  I found myself just watching him sleep.  I couldn't sleep.  All I could do was lay there and stare at our 9 year old son that was suffering, wondering how life would be in 24 hours and beyond.  I found myself asking why this was happening to such a sweet boy who ALWAYS put others before himself.  Why was our family chosen to go through this?  I was then reminded that all things on this earth are the will of the Lord.  All things are given to us to help us grow and be stronger however I needed to make the choice to push through...and I did.

I finally decided to get up and start doing research on the type of tumor Hunter had as well as the neurosurgeon that would be performing the surgery.  I love google....the info I was able to find was very reassuring.  I learned that Dr Douglas Brockmeyer had a family himself.  He had his own children. He played football in college.  He went to Harvard.  He hiked Mt Everest.  He was an overachiever by my standards and I loved that about him.  He was human with human emotion that had the ability to understand what we might be feeling and going through.  These findings helped me feel better about him as a person.  I know this didn't speak to his abilities as a neurosurgeon but it made me feel better regardless.  I also found information about him as a surgeon.  He had written a book.  He had invented a device along side another doctor to help heal the spine.  He had also written a publication along with several other doctors about different approaches to removing a craniopharyngioma.  Lastly, we were told by several other doctors that he was one of the best in the world.  I felt an overwhelming feeling of knowing that he had the ability to successfully remove this tumor from our little boy and return him back to us safely.

BraeLyn's First Dance Performance

Tonight we were able to go watch BraeLyn's very first dance performance.  She has been counting down the days until she was able to "dance on the stage".  She was also excited to get to wear makeup.  She quickly learned that it's not all that fun; she wanted the mascara off shortly after putting it on!

~* This was taken before her 1st performance while we were waiting in the choir room *~

~* This was during her 2nd dance *~

~* Getting her trophy.  The dance studio even put their names on each of the trophies *~

Lots of family came to support her and afterwards we went for ice cream at Iceberg.  I wanted to get more pictures with the family that came but I was lucky to get this one with the two of us.  She is holding her trophy and the beautiful flowers that Papa and Grandma Wendy brought for her.  

She danced so hard and was so tired that she fell asleep half way through her ice cream cone.  I wish I would have taken a picture but I didn't.