Meal Plan Monday 6-27-11...on Wednesday!

Well, the Hob family has been out of town for a few days but hopefully I'll be able to blog a little more this week.  We will be getting our second order from the co-op tomorrow so I may be modifying a few things on our menu after we get our order...but it works out best for us if we at least start out with a meal plan!


Monday-out of town


Tuesday-out of town


Wednesday-ordering pizza


Thursday-blueberry pancakes and bacon


Friday-spaghetti with ground turkey and sauteed green beans


Saturday-pork steaks and corn-on-the-cob


Sunday-shrimp etouffee and fresh tomato slices

Family Fun

Our family will be having a lot of firsts coming up with Little Hob and I can't wait to experience them all!  Yesterday was our first trip to the pool with Little Hob.  We had the whole pool to ourselves and the whole experience could not have gone better.  Papa Hob and I are hoping to take Little Hob back today to do a little more splashing around!

Feeling the water on his feet for the first time.

Not quite sure what to think yet.

"This is GREAT!"

In the pool with Papa Hob.

Baby toes :)

Little Hob was "talking" here and telling Papa Hob all about the pool!

Everyday Easy: Featured on Friday: Mama Hob from Our Sweet Hob Li...

I am being featured on Everyday Easy today! Check it out!

Everyday Easy: Featured on Friday: Mama Hob from Our Sweet Hob Li...: "I am so excited about today's Featured on Friday! Our sister, 'Mama Hob' is sharing an awesome idea that she came up with for our sweet baby..."

One Hundred Days Ago...

Dear Little Hob,


One hundred days ago, you came into our lives and things will never, ever be the same!  You have grown and changed so much in 100 days and we can't wait to see what you have in store for us next.


You have also taught us, your parents, so much in the last 100 days.  Here are a few of the highlights....

Riding home from the hospital

• Not all babies take naps....we were not aware of this until you came along.  If we're lucky, you take a few 20-30 minute naps a day but you fight it every step of the way!

Some days, the only way you will take a nap is in your Baby K'Tan!

• Everything is new and beautiful through baby eyes.  Watching you see something for the first time makes our hearts happy. :)
• Don't put babies on their tummies right after they eat.  Really.  This never turns out good for anyone.
• You love sunshine!  Some of the times when you are the happiest is when we are out walking around the neighborhood.  You rarely fall asleep on these walks because you are so busy just taking it all in.
• Parenting is like tag-teaming your way through life.  It seems like every time one of us is taking care of you, the other is prepping whatever needs to be done next!  (Or chasing after the dogs!)

You and Papa Hob getting ready for a party!

• It is not possible to have too many pacifiers on hand.  We'll be excited if you figure out how to keep it in your mouth sooner rather than later! :)
• The first time we heard your little laugh I'm pretty sure our hearts melted.  If we could bottle that feeling, we'd be millionaires!
• There's no such thing as being discreet when it comes to you and diapers.  You don't care where we are; if it needs done, it gets done.
• We have loved watching you go from hating baths to LOVING bath-time.  This week you figured out how to get the little bath loofah/washcloth into your mouth.  Bath toys are in your future as soon as you can sit up a little better!   

Little Hob at 2 weeks old.  He was REALLY mad about something but
adorable somehow anyway. :)

• You HATE to have your picture taken.  We have been taking you to BRU monthly to get photos done and you have cried and screamed through all three photo sessions so far.  Hopefully this gets better as you get a little older because you really have a nice smile you could be showing off!
• We love to sit and snuggle with you.  You love listening to stories before you go to bed and are starting to "read" along with us.  
• You've taught us that every baby sleeps through the night eventually...it was almost magical the first day we woke up and realized you had made it all night!

It has been an absolute joy to have you in our lives and we can't wait to see what else you have in store for us in the upcoming months.

Our sweet little family. :)

Love,

Mama Hob & Papa Hob

Fruits and Veggies from the Co-Op

As I mentioned in my first post, Papa Hob and I decided to try a co-op last week in an effort to get more fruits and vegetables into our diet and maybe spend a little less at the grocery store.  I did a decent amount of budgeting research...okay maybe a little too much :)...before we did this to make sure we would be saving money by doing this and actually be able to incorporate what we bought into our menu.  


So, for the entire month of May I saved every food receipt.  At the end of the month, I took all the receipts and categorized what we bought (luckily the grocery store receipts already do this for you) to see how much we spent on meat, dairy, veggies, fruit, etc.  Like I said, I may have gone a bit overboard on the research but I wanted to make sure we made the most out of the co-op if we were going to try it and saving those receipts and adding the items up took 15 minutes for the entire month!  As it turned out, we were really lacking in the fruits and veggies department and spending way more than we should on two people eating meat should in the span of one month.  


I then ordered the food from a co-op online.  All I had to do from that point was go to pick it up at a pre-designated day/time!  For about $23.00, we got enough fruits and vegetables to last a family two weeks.  Here's what we got....

Look at all those plums!  Tastes
like summer!

Bananas

Pint Blueberries

Braeburn Apples

Black Plums

Sunkist Navel Oranges

South Carolina Large Peaches

Chiquita Golds Pineapple

Arkansas Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Romaine Hearts 3 to a bag

Red Potatoes

Large Bulk Portabella Mushrooms

Fancy Green Okra

Lots of red potatoes!  Can't wait to use them to
make rosemary potatoes tonight!

Meal Plan Monday 6-20-11

After having Little Hob three months ago, I've really made an effort to get organized and have a plan for managing things around the house.  The progress has been slow but I am getting there as far as organizing my time with cleaning and planning!  One area I wanted to improve was our meal planning.  Papa Hob and I were eating out way too often and finding ourselves wondering almost every night-what's for dinner?  I've begun to make a meal plan for each week to keep us from spontaneously eating out quite as often and to hopefully manage to make some healthier meals with fewer processed foods.  

Papa Hob and I kept all of our food receipts from the month of May and found out where we were spending the most money and what we were buying.  By far, we spent more on meats than anything else...which is understandable because meat is expensive!  We decided that we were going to try a co-op to get more fruits and vegetables into our diet.  We were shocked at how much were able to get for about $20 every two weeks from the co-op!  The meal plan this week incorporates the fruits and vegetables so that we make sure we use everything we bought.  I'll put the co-op items in bold so you can see some of the great things we got!

Monday-French toast, baked bacon, South Carolina peaches

Tuesday-grilled pork steaks, grilled portabella mushrooms, grilled pineapple spears

Wednesday-rosemary chicken breasts, red potatoes, black plums

Thursday-chicken fried rice, salad (romaine lettuce, Arkansas tomatoes, cucumber)

Friday-Zesty Slow Cooker BBQ chicken, fried okra, Braeburn apples

Saturday-steak, baked sweet potatoes, ice cream

Sunday-BBQ with the neighbors....bringing dessert!