Menu Plan- Week of August 31st

Another week of meals. Menu planning is going really well. I don't fret about what I am going to cook at 5:00 and dinner is normally ready early.

Dinner Menu
Monday: BLT's
Tuesday: BBQ Ribs, Potato Salad, and Corn
Wednesday: Spinach Lasagna
Thursday: Grilled Whitefish with Avocado and Cherry Tomato Salsa
Friday: Grill Out Night


Garden News:
We had a super heavy frost this morning. Some of the plants are looking pretty sad.

First Muffin Tin Monday

The kids had a great time with their first muffin tin Monday. The theme this week was Circus.


I made lions, popcorn, fruity Cheerios (for circus rings), and peanuts.

Menu Plan Monday- Week of August 24th

Monday
B: Breakfast Sandwiches
L: Chicken Salad
D: Nachos
Tuesday
B: Cereal
L: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Basil Soup
D: Veggie Stir Fry with Rice
Wednesday
B: Breakfast Skillet
L: Veggie Soup
D: King Ranch Chicken
Thursday
B: Cereal
L: Seven Layer Salad
D: Southwestern Pasta Salad with Fish or Shrimp
Friday
B: Bagels and Smoothies
L: BLT's
D: Pizza Night

Menu Plan Mondays- Week of Augst 3rd

Monday and Tuesday: Green Bay Trip

Wednesday:
Breakfast- BB Muffins and Smoothies
Lunch- Turkey Sandwiches
Dinner- Spicy Chinese Tacos

Thursday:
Breakfast- Egg Mc Muffins
Lunch- Spaghetti (Company Visiting)
Dinner- Loaded Baked Potatoes

Friday:
Breakfast- Cereal (Hot or Cold)
Lunch- Fried Rice with hopefully FRESH peas
Dinner- Cuban Chicken Salad Pitas

2 Months of Updates!

I sure am behind on updating the blog. We sure must be enjoying our summer.

A quick recap:
JUNE:
Work:
Jill started her new job at the USPS (The Post Office). It is a great job and an opportunity I could not pass up. Dustin's keeping busy with his job too.
Garden:
We planted the garden. We decided to go back to raised beds which we had in Marquette. We mulched between the rows to keep the weeding to a minimum. It is growing well. We have eaten lettuce and radishes so far. Peas should be ready this week.
Birthdays:
Dustin turned 29 (Time to start thinking about his 30th Birthday Party :-)
Jill turned 26. For some reason I am beginning to feel old. Maybe it's the 3 kids but 26 just seems old. We also attended Jason and LeeAnne's little guys birthday in Petoskey one weekend.
Summer Fun:

We took a camping trip (One of our goals this summer) on Lake Michigan. We had a wonderful time. We even went swimming in June. We had a wonderful 4th of July as well. Lots of fun activities including a pancake bar, for breakfast. We played a round of golf as well which was a blast and something we hadn't done in years. We attended the orchestra in Manistique.
The Kids:
Dylan is getting so big! He is 11 weeks old and such a blessing. He sleeps through the night and is starting to coo and laughs out loud.
Derek is enjoying being able to be outside, picking bugs, fruits, and even dinosaur bones. He is starting to get excited about school.
Jenna tags along with Derek outside and is learning to count. We are still working on Potty Training.
Picking Fruit:
Jill went and picked strawberries at a local farm, the berries were pretty small. We have went blueberry picking a couple times. The kids love to go too. Derek is a great picker and Jenna is a great eater.
The raspberries are amazing this year. We have 60 quarts of berries put up in the freezer. I have to start making some jam.
Grace and Michelle went and picked cherries so I was able to make 8 pounds of cherry pie filling as well.
Denkins' Family Camping Trip:
16 members of the Denkins Family took a bike ride (motorized) camping on the Indian River. They had a wonderful time, minus the rain and bugs at night.

Welcome Dylan!

We are so thrilled baby Dylan has arrived! It was an great delivery and he is an amazing baby. Such a blessing.

Dylan's Birth Story by Mom



On Sunday morning, May 17th, I woke up to contractions every 5 -7 minutes. It was a perfect morning to go into labor because my parents had Derek and Jenna for the night. I woke up as I couldn't sleep through the contractions and took a shower. At about 6:00 I woke Dustin up and he made a yummy breakfast. Still feeling all right we decided to take a walk to Grandma Helen's where the family was having breakfast. Dustin recently bought a new motorcycle so we wanted to take a ride after breakfast, I thought it was a good idea as I just wanted to rest. Grace and I ended up watching a movie. About noon, I was on my ball when I stood up and my water broke. This was strange for me as with Derek and Jenna, they broke my water right before I had them. So, I called Dustin and he came right home, and we packed up and headed for the hospital. The ride seemed pretty short and my contractions weren't too bad. We arrived at the hospital at about 2:00 pm, on the way from the car to the OB floor, my water continued to leak, and I was soaked when I got to the OB floor. We were able to go right into a room. I was 4 cm when I arrived, and 25% effaced. I was still feeling pretty good at this point. I was hooked up to the monitor and the baby was doing great and I was contracting every 2-3 minutes. I decided I wanted to take a walk, and let gravity do some of the work. We walk up and down the halls a couple times. At 4:00 pm, I was dilated to a 5 and got into the tub. It felt great, but did slow my contractions down a bit but I was ready for a break. At 5:00 I was dilated to a 6 and was in a little more pain. At 6:00, I really was ready to be done, I was starting to get really tired and the contractions were closer together and much more painful. I was dilated at this point to an 8. I am sure I got very loud at this point, Dustin says I kept repeating "no no no" and DUSTIN. At 7:00 pm, I was fully dilated and was able to push. I pushed through 2 or 3 contractions (7:05) and he was born! I went from a very unhappy crazy lady to the happiest women ever. I was thanking the doctors and nurses, and had all ready begun to forget the pain. It was such a relief to have him out. He seemed so big when they laid him on my belly. He was 8 pounds 3 oz. and 20 inches long, the biggest of all of the babies. He had perfect apgar scores. He came out looking perfect. He is really cute (all the nurses reassured me not all babies are cute, but he was pretty cute). It was wonderful to have him during the day, and not lose a nights sleep. This delivery was easier then Jenna's with no drugs! I did it. Dustin even told the doctor before hand I didn't want any drugs so they just let me talk about them until it was too late. Dustin went and got us Jimmy Johns at about 8:30, and we enjoyed relaxing the rest of the night. They took out my IV at 11:00 and we were able to sleep by 11:30. Dylan was up once in the night to eat and then went right back to sleep. Yes, we do have perfect children.
The next day, I woke up and showered. James and Grace came to visit about 10:00 and then Dustin went to Menards with them and had lunch. Dylan and I just chilled, took a nap and visited with Hooper and Carol. My parents came up about 6:00 and then about 8:00 Dylan had his newborn screening. Michelle came to visit about 9:00. At 9:30 it was quite and relaxing. Dylan was up about 2:00 and then slept until 7:00 am. We were both ready to go in the morning. We were able to get discharged at 10:30 and took Dylan to Target and I did some grocery shopping and then went to Union Grill for lunch. Dylan slept the whole time and all the way home.
Derek and Jenna have been wonderful with the baby. Derek is full of 100 questions and Jenna says baby about 1000 times a day.
We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Waiting for Baby Denkins

10 days left until my due date. I can't wait! I just want this little guy to come out happy and healthy. I am having some issues with a high protein level so we are monitoring the baby. We had a non stress test which he passed with flying colors. I am having contractions but nothing painful. I am actually looking forward to them increasing intensity.
The weather is starting to look beautiful. We have been able to be outside with the kids and walk around the field in the morning.