Time to Get Cooking!

So, as I am procrastinating making dinner why not write this blog post about our cooking meeting. Maybe I will get inspired! 

Monday's meeting was fantastic! Ali did an awesome job and had great handouts with tips, recipes, menu planning, and more. If you didn't make it to the meeting or you didn't take your handouts home, don't fret, you should get an email soon with the handouts attached. I highly recommend reading them!

The meeting started with a great mentor moment from Bunny. She reminded us that our husbands need a "stroke" every now and then. I found her talk to be very fitting for the cooking meeting because as they say, "The way to a man's heart is his stomach." And that couldn't be more true for my Nick. His love language is food and cooking him a meal is definitely a way to show him he is appreciated. 

Since Ali did such a great job with the handouts, I am just going to share a few tips I picked up at the meeting. 

- Publix will cook your fish or shrimp for you! You pick out what fish you want and they will cook it while you finish your shopping. 

- Crockpot liners save you from the dreaded cleanup. 

- Publix will roll their pizza doe out for you! 

- Tuesdays at Fresh Market is $2.99 a pound chicken breast and ground beef

- Let kids help pick out veggies at the grocery store and help cook them so they are more likely to eat them. 

- Start a small garden to get kids interested in eating things from the earth 

- Sharpen your knives often with a 2-stage sharpener 

- Don't over think it! 

There are plenty of nights my kids get breakfast for dinner or Mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and a frozen veg. that I steam and sprinkle some cheese on so they try a bite or two. On those nights I just have to find another way to "stroke" my husband's ego! 😝

I picked the below flyer up from Publix today. I am definitely going to try it out next week! 

Time to get cooking,

Jessica 

This is a gift, not a burden.

Vanessa did such an awesome job at the photography meeting! I was very impressed by her excellent teaching skills. Her handouts were great too! Since she was so thorough, I am just going to share some pictures I took during the meeting and then highlight a few things that Jan said in our always inspirational mentor moment. 

Our awesome photography teacher for the day!

Eager students soaking up the knowledge. 

Everyone learning more about their cameras.

Now,on to my take aways from Jan's mentor moment...

It is always nice to hear that parenting is hard. I know that it is, but sometimes I get stuck on the idea that maybe I am the only one who it is THIS hard for. One of my favorite things Jan said was, "Parenting is hard, you aren't doing anything wrong." This hit me, because I am always thinking, what am I doing wrong? What should I be doing different? Am I not disciplining them enough? Am I disciplining them too much? And the list goes on and on. It is great to be reminded that we are doing the best we can and it will never be perfect because parenting is just HARD. 

Another quote that hit home was, "This is a gift, not a burden." This was my mantra this morning as we were running late trying to get ready for school. My three year old was laying by the toilet screaming and crying because he couldn't decide if he wanted to use the stool to pee or not use the stool. "This is a gift, not a burden. This is a gift, not a burden! This a gift, not a BURDEN!!!"

I wish now I would have gotten my camera out, set my ISO for inside light and snapped that precious moment, but I was too busy trying not to loose my sh*%!

Just trying to hold it all together,

Jessica