Meatless Monday

I dabbled with this in November and December, but I'm getting real about it now. Today though, thanks to a sudden weekend menu change, will be Mostly Meatless Monday. We're having grilled cheese pizzas, but Grant won't eat them unless there's pepperoni on them, so he's getting a bit of pepperoni on his. And Hubs will want pepperoni since we have some, which means Emma probably will too. But I'll stand firm on my Meatless Monday soapbox.

We were suppose to be having tortellini and pesto sauce, which Hubs and I enjoyed on Saturday instead. Meatless Saturday doesn't have the same ring though.

It's a New Year

In keeping with the creation of a tradition last year, we should have had a fondue dinner last night. But we got caught up putting away Christmas decorations, and the kids wanted to watch Beauty and the Beast, and next thing I know, it's 5 minutes until dinnertime and the movie had another hour.

So, to use a word my friend Nicole made up today, we created a traditionish. That is, a tradition that allows for a day or two deviance. We had fondue for dinner tonight. It was delish, although Grant chose to just spear his food like a kabob rather than dip in the cheese. Whatever, he ate.

We also discussed resolutions for 2011. Emma is going to work on riding her bike more so she can take her training wheels off, she'd like to go all the way across the monkey bars, and she's going to stay on task and concentrate at school. Grant's plan is to ride his bike and new scooter more and practice writing his name. I'd like to run 2 10k's this year and Hubs never really came up with a resolution, but did mumble something about starting to work out. We also set a family resolution - we're going to try two new things this year, one around town and one not. Our not around town one will likely be an overnight backpacking trip. Our around town one will hopefully be as simple as going to the Railroad Museum or the local art museum.

I'll call them Cinderella

I've decided it's time the kids stop living for free around here. I put Grant in charge of vacuuming the hardwood floors and Emma in charge of wiping down the bathroom. Grant missed a bunch of places, so we're going to have to work on refining his technique to ensure he vacuums the entire house instead of his current helter skelter way. Emma broke my toothbrush holder, but in her defense it is really heavy and her hand was wet. She did an awesome job of scrubbing the toilet, and I loved NOT scrubbing the toilet. We finished off chore hour by putting away laundry. There was much complaining about this task, until I pointed out if they didn't put their clothes away, they wouldn't have anything to wear. They got right to work!

So it's my plan to continue with semi regular chore hour. And to have them put their clothes away every week no matter what happens with other chores. This has the potential to be a beautiful thing.

Working together

Emma has her new princess playmobil figures and accessories set up for a royal wedding that is taking up a large chunk of the living room floor. Grant wanted in on the action so he has his new police officer, fire fighter, and knight playmobils set up along the perimeter to keep the bad guys out of the wedding.

They're both happy as a clam.