Trip to the Zoo

A few weeks ago Ruby and I got to go to the zoo with our friends Kristyn and Nora. The girls had a wonderful time seeing all the animals and playing on the play ground. Ruby didn't care too much for the giraffe upclose but loved the elephants and the tigers. She actually "meowed" at the tiger.

The giraffe was inside eating which made him very up close and personal.

Baby elephant or "elya" as Ruby calls him

Kristyn and Nora outside the elephant area

Ruby would not look at the camera because she didn't want to take her eyes off the elephants!

Monday Meal Plan

Monday- We are eating dinner with our community group and I am making a butternut squash dip with bread. It only has garlic, pesto, cheese, and butternut squash and is delicious.

Tuesday- Lemon Herb Roasted Salmon with roasted vegetables and brown rice

Wednesday- Kitchen Sink Soup with salad

Thursday- We are babysitting from 6-8 so we will probably have vegetable stir fry with chicken

Friday- Lentil and Chicken Stew with cornbread

Saturday- We have a wedding

Sunday- Chicken and Rice Casserole I have actually had this on the meal plan for a couple of weeks but haven't made it. got the idea from my friend Kathleen

Some new recipes

My faithful followers (all 5 of you ;) ) probably noticed that I didn't make a meal plan this week. Yeah, I just wanted to take a week off...didn't really feel like it.

I did try some new recipes this week though.

I finally made some homemade cinnamon rolls for Brian (on Valentines Day)

We went to a potluck on Sunday and I had to come up with something last minute so I made spicy mexican style zucchini casserole. It was a hit at the potluck especially since one guy there was on a gluten free diet and this was one of the only things he could eat.

Today I am sort of making Kitchen Sink Soup. I mostly just took this idea and ran with it. I am not following a recipe at all. We will see how it comes out!

Trying to Win Some Diapers

So, I am trying to win a few diapers and if I blog about the site then I have more of a chance. :)

I have started reading the Nature Moms Blog and today she had a great article about which diapers are the "greenest". You should check it out!

Thankfulness

I am so thankful that we have had some beautiful sunny days here in the past week. Ruby has been battling a virus so it has been a nice break to get out and at least go for a walk.

Meal Plan Monday

Just a quick disclaimer...I think this week is going to be boring because I didn't put much time into planning. I am trying to use what we already have in the kitchen so I didn't buy much at the store this week.

Monday- Leftover Autumn Soup that I made last week. This turned out great by the way.

Tuesday- Having a guest over to dinner and I think I will make this balsamic chicken and pasta that I made a few weeks ago.

Wednesday- We have a class at church so something quick like leftovers.

Thursday- Spicy Tomato and Lentil Soup with baked sweet potatoes

Friday- Good ol black beans and rice with spinach

Saturday- Valentines Day so hopefully we will go out somewhere

I got tagged

So, I got tagged by my friend Kathleen. All I had to do is go to my 6th picture folder and post the 6th picture in that folder. So here you go:

 

This is Ruby at my parents house this past Christmas...chewing on an ornament. :)

I am tagging Gretchen, Lorie, Sarah, and Sara

Happy Birthday Jessica

 

Tomorrow one of my best friends and Ruby's adopted Auntie is celebrating her 30th Birthday. Thought we should send her some love here on the Louisville Laffin's Blog! Happy Birthday Jessica and welcome to the club!
This picture is when Jess first met Ruby...Ruby was only 2 weeks old.

Our Favorites

I thought it would be fun to talk about some of our recent favorites

- PBS is a recent favorite. We turn it on everyday around 10:00 and watch Sesame Street for a few minutes before nap time. We also can catch some clips on http://www.pbskids.org/

- Ruby has been loving this box that Brian got her at Aldi

- Brian got this study bible for Christmas and it has been so helpful as we have been reading through the old testament

- This is the cookbook that I got for my birthday from my brother and sister in law Tina. It has been great with helping me figure out how to cook seafood. I highly recommend it.

- Brian's new favorite game (although we don't own it) is called Ticket to Ride (but we call it the train game)


- Space heaters and electric blankets

- I think Ruby's favorite book right now is


-We have re-vamped our budget and have finally found something that works. This has lessoned stress on our marriage which is awesome. Mostly we got some ideas from a financial counselor (i guess that is what he was doing but maybe not his exact title) at church and put them into practice.

-Peanut Butter with Chocolate Chips


-One more thing (actually adding this after I posted it once)...this is a great website that I have forgotten to look at but today pulled it up. Great craft ideas for kids. It is called the Crafty Crow and I think you will like it...well if you like crafts, and kids, and maybe not all my male followers out there (daniel ems i know you are reading this :) )

Monday Meal Plan

Monday- Roasted Autumn Vegetable Soup (this is another recipe that I can post if anyone wants it). It is a squash soup with parsnips, onion, and herbs.

Tuesday- Fish Tacos and corn that I didn't make last week

Wednesday- Sloppy Buffalo Joes (made these before but this time I am going to use chicken breasts and put them in the crock pot) with pickled slaw salad (this is an awesome cole slaw that is in my Rachel Ray Yum-O cookbook, couldn't find it on the web...if you want the recipe let me know.) and maybe green beans

Thursday- Roasted Bell Peppers Stuffed with Quinoa (and I am going to add lentils). Thanks to Brian's' mom who gave us some frozen bell peppers

Friday- Cabbage and Andouille Chicken Sausages

Saturday- Linguine with a shrimp cream sauce (from my seafood cookbook) and spinach

Sunday- Baked Potato, Broccoli, and Chicken Breast (in the crock pot)

Review from last week: I LOVED the Lentil and Chicken Stew (although I accidently put celery salt in it and it didn't call for celery salt). We will make that one again. The vegan pumpkin pancakes didn't turn out but that was my fault. We didn't totally stick to our meal plan last week due to getting sick and snowed/iced in but we did manage to make these awesome iced pumpkin cookies that we recommend.

On another note...Whole Foods peanut butter was recalled this week.

Guess what happened to me last week when I ate Whole Foods peanut butter...got horribly sick. I assumed it was the peanut butter but was in denial...I just kept thinking "surely not Whole Foods" but alas, yes, Whole Foods was struck. So, even without my peanut butter (i of course threw it away as soon as i got sick) or my receipt, I still got a refund. That was nice..so, don't eat your peanut butter from Whole Foods, take it back.