The $64,000 Question- What's for Dinner?

Holy buckets ! It's been awhile! I would like to tell you it has been because I am so busy with amazing, wonderful adventures.

I would like to say that I am going to have a million exciting stories to share with you because of the above mentioned adventures.

But that ain't gonna happen! 

I have been on spring break. This year's spring break has consisted of netflix and my pajamas. I seriously have left the house long enough to take Chickadee to work and I went to the grocery store today. That's it. Other than that, I have traveled no farther than my mailbox.
It has been Wonder-mous! (I just made a new word) :)

From scrolling down, I noticed that I haven't written a post since Valentine's Day! That's like a month and a half ago.
When I was in my first grade room, it seemed like I never had a spare moment- yet I was taking pictures of all the great centers from my friends, I shared their writings, and I couldn't wait to get home to write about it and share with you.

I still want to share- but I am seriously on robot mode all day long! I don't see how middle school bloggers have time to document their day. One group comes in, we do our lesson, they leave and another one comes and I start over (and I'm not even middle school -yet).

So I thought to myself, "Self, there has got to be something I can share!"
And there is.
It just isn't school related.
But that's okay, right? (I think if we were to scroll through all the Squirrel posts we would see that the non school related out number the others!)

Anyway, I was doing a little Spring Cleaning....
(not really, the broom slid too far between the fridge and the wall and I had to really lean back there) and I found a magnetic holder with these "dinner cards" that we used to use when the Littles were "little-er" and there were less of them.

First I will show them to you:

Now I will throw in the disclaimers-
These were made FOREVER ago- long before I  was trying to make stuff pretty with fonts and printing stuff out on cute paper! I had  laminate badge cards because when Mr. Little used to pretend to "be something" we would make him a"worker badge"- I had never even heard of TPT or printing my own centers- these were for a 3 year old's amusement! (I will have to dig out his "worker guy badge" from his construction worker phase)! There, that explains the ugliness- but I promise to make up for it in usefulness!

Here's what I did.
We started getting in a "rut" with dinners. Ugh- the Dinner Rut. You know, when you add leftovers to the fridge and there are still leftovers in there that were of the same thing- but they are still recognizable??  So I wrote down all the dinners I could think of that we normally had at home, with the help of a 3 year old and an 8 year old. Now this was not counting any new recipes that a friend might share, a page I may have ripped out of magazine at the Dr's office (yes, I am that person), or something that I totally made up on the fly.

On each little card, I wrote what the dinner was and what the basic ingredients were. Before I went grocery shopping, I would get the cards out and the Littles would each choose one, the Mr. would choose two and I would choose two. It was very easy to check and see if I had the ingredients or if I needed to add it to the grocery list. I would add the the "dinners" to the regular calendar on the fridge, and then place those cards "face down" in the magnetic holder that was next to the calendar. When it was time to go shopping again, I would not include the ones that were "face down" when I let the Littles choose. This way we avoided having the same meals all the time! When we got through the stack, we turned them around and started over.

I had a flashback when I found these of all the time I used to have. Which is ridic! Cause back then I had younger kiddos, one on the way, and I was with Kindergarten. I guess I was more organized back then because I HAD to be. They were creatures of habit. We were on a schedule.
And now- not so much. I do plan (a lot less) when I shop- but not like I did. We may have to jazz these up (make completely new ones) and start using them again- they did make life a little easier!

The Mr. also passes the grocery store on his way home from work now. So it is very easy to have him stop to get something that I may need to complete a meal. (Sometimes he picks up the whole meal) We like to think of it as "Living European" because of all the fresh food and semi-daily trips. We like to think that, but it's not true. It's more like "Bad Planning".

And I swear, they wake up in the morning asking me "What's for dinner?" Littlest Little is still at the school with me, so he will ask between classes- "What's for dinner?" And I can always count on a text from the other two before I make it home with that all too familiar question....you guessed it, "What's for dinner?" The Mr. has learned not to ask.... he just comes to the table when I call them.

I have to tell you that I feel better because I have shared something- I mean seriously- when I started this post, Blogger opened with little box that said "Click Here to Remove Cobwebs"!

I am going to add it to my List of Things That Are Super Duper Important to make sure that I am here more often!

Hope you are enjoying your Spring Break (or are getting ready to)!