Meal Planning and a Menu Board

As I have mentioned before in other posts, I do a lot of prep work when it comes to food.  Sometimes I prepare meals ahead of time and freeze them.  I always menu plan.  I have a notebook where I write down 7 meals for the week.  That is how I create my shopping list (as well as looking for staples that are low or out). Planning a specific meal for a specific day was not working for us.  Creating a menu board of some sort seemed like a good idea to organize the meal planning for everyone to see.  I found many ideas but went with the one below.  It uses a picture frame, spray paint, clothespins, scrapbook paper and envelopes.  Our kitchen has recently been upgraded and the color scheme is red, black, and white.  I chose to paint the frame white so it would pop off of the red walls.  Each of the meals is listed on small cards and on the backs is a list of the ingredients needed to make the meal.  This way, after I choose 7 meals, I can look at the backs to create my grocery list for the week.

spray painting the frame

list of ingredients on the back of the taco meal card

completed Menu Board hanging in my kitchen

Doctor Notes

As I prepare to go to Brooke's 2 month appointment, I think about the questions I have for the doctor and write them down in my "Doctor Notebook"...

I wanted to keep track of my kids weight/height and percentile rankings through the years.  At first, when I had only Derek, I had developed a table to keep track of questions and answers I had when visiting the doctor for well baby or sick appointments.  This also helps me keep track of his illnesses.  Every well baby appointment comes with a packet information that explains the shots he is getting at that time and developmental milestones that he should have reached and should be working on. 

After three years, Derek’s folder was very thick and I now had Brooke’s appointments to keep track of as well.  So I decided to make a Doctor Notebook.  I made a section for Derek, one for Brooke, and miscellaneous information.  At the beginning of each section a inserted a table that keeps track of age, weight, height, and percentile rankings.  Now I was able to toss all of Derek’s information sheets. (I’d be getting new ones for Brooke anyway!)  Behind this table I placed the sheets that I use to keep track of questions and answers.  This way I still have information from sick appointments.  Now I am only keeping the most current information sheet on each child.

Cover to my doctor notebook 

Derek's sheet that keeps track of his height/weight/percentile rankings from the past 3 years.

Brooke's note page, yes at 2 months she has been that many times. She had jaundice.

Miscellaneous...this is a dosage chart that I received at a clinic and I keep it in here to help me know how much Tylenol and Motrin to give based on age/weight.

***Before I had kids I had made a notebook like this for my cats.  It helps to keep track of each of their weights and of Bay’s surgery and recovery.

What Are We Doing Today?

As a teacher I was used to being off in the summer and home with my son anyway.  But now that I am a SAHM, I will be home with him and his sister every day.  He will not be going back to daycare in mid-August so it’s more than 9 weeks to keep him occupied.  Preschool starts in September and is only two mornings a week.  I like to be organized and have a plan.  I decided to make a calendar that shows the different things we will be doing through pictures.  This started in May when I made one showing when he would turn three and when he was going to have his party. The calendar is on our refrigerator and we cross off each day as it ends so that he can easily see what, if anything, we are doing the next day.  I used different icons to mean different things.  Things that I indicated are soccer, story time, the beach, birthdays, camp, fireworks for July 4^th, a ferris wheel for carnivals, Giant for grocery day, and I have a school icon for when school starts.

He really enjoys looking at the calendar and seeing when things are going to happen.  It’s also a great way for him to start building calendar skills beyond just knowing the days of the week and being familiar with the months of the year.