Menu Plan Monday

Head over to Laura's site for more menu links!

I will actually start with the past Saturday since that is what is on my menu board :)

• Saturday - Grilled skewered shrimp, grilled "packet potatoes & onions" (you know, the sliced ones in the foil on the grill w/ some butter), salad.
• Sunday - Mother's Day BBQ - butterfly pork chop burgers, appetizers which I will share recipes for, corn on the cob provided by MIL, german potato salad provided by my mom, tossed green salad provided by BIL & girlfriend, fresh strawberries & blackberries, mint brownies.
• Monday - Buffalo baked chicken, roasted red potatoes, veggies
• Tuesday - Roast beef in the crock pot, mashed potatoes, cauliflower
• Wednesday - Grilled salmon, salad, buttered wagon wheel noodles
• Thursday - whatever I scrape together for the kids, most likely leftovers!
• Friday - Homemade pizza
• Saturday - Kids are going with FIL & wife for the evening, I'm making FG take me out!

All in all, I had a great weekend and great Mother's Day! Friday night FG and I went to see Ironman while MIL played with the kids. Saturday was pretty relaxing despite spending all day cleaning the house. Sunday I slept in a little bit, FG and DS made me breakfast in bed, DD climbed in bed with me while I watched Indiana Jones on TV. Then I spent the rest of the day in the kitchen until our family arrived at 4 pm. We played games, drank some wine and had a nice dinner with too much food! It was a beautiful weekend too. Today is much cooler but I'll be wishing for it by the end of the week when we are supposed to reach near 90 degrees!!! Here we go again, from winter to summer in an instant just like last year!

I did well with Mother's Day gifts this year too. I got MIL a concord grape vine and my mom a raspberry bush. My grandma had raspberries in her backyard and they yielded a ridiculous amount of berries every year. My mom used to have some but they had to be torn out when they had my dad's workshop built. MIL used to have a concord grapevine at the house FG grew up in. When she and FIL got divorced and she moved to her new home she thought she had another vine but it wasn't a concord like she thought. So I know she's missed having one and making jelly. They were both very excited. FG was surprised I remembered the concord grapevine. As many differences as MIL and I have, I do still care about her and recognize that she is the mother of my husband and the grandmother of my children. So I do put thought into gifts for her as well. FG knows this about me yet he still seemed somewhat impressed that I remembered it. (FIL and MIL didn't divorce until FG and I had already been married a few years - they played a silly game of Chicken and they both ended up losing :( FG and I promised we would never get that stubborn with each other after watching it all unfold.)

I got the usual sweet homemade gifts from my kids. They were so excited to share them with me too. I told both of them that I was such a lucky mom to have both of them as my kids. I really am. DD is still onery but she's also still 3. DS, especially now that we know there's a reason behind so much of his behavior, has the sweetest, biggest heart. He makes me laugh daily at the amazing things that come out of his mouth. DD is full of love and kisses and a GIANT imagination! I spend a lot of my day seeing things that aren't there, just because she sees them and asks me to participate. Even though it's a lot of work and I feel like we are the ones who "glue" it all together, I'm glad we had the whole family over. I hope I feel the same way in a couple of weeks when I'm doing it all again with the FIL side! Ok, I'll post recipes in a separate post this afternoon.