Simplifying...

So like I've mentioned before, my goal for 2010 is to make things easier.
The first area I felt it needed some serious simplifying was our grocery/menu list. I've tried different things in the past, such as doing a two week menu but we didn't stick much to it. I always ask Tim what he would like for dinner, and he would either say Brazilian strogonoff or ask me what are our options. Well, eating Brazilian strogonooff 3x a week is not a favorite of other members of the family. When I answered him our other options, the conversation went like this:
Vanessa: What would you like for dinner?
Tim: What do we have?
Vanessa: chicken, meat, rice, vegetables. (I went on with a few item, already frustrated because I knew where the conversation was going!)
Tim: uummmmm...(as he looked into the freezer)
Vanessa: never mind, I'll figure something...
Tim: CHICKEN (like that was helpful)
Vanessa: Timmy, get out of the kitchen!!
Timmy: But I want to help!
Vanessa: Honey, I'll just figure it out. Thanks!! (ok, maybe not that nice sometimes)

Not to mention that we were spending way too much money on groceries. We would go to the store and just grab different thing that I thought it could turn into a meal without planning.

My solution:
We had a little meeting and I wrote down about 10 meals we would like to have during the week. I wrote those in a peace of paper and hang on the fridge. We don't have assigned days like Monday is chicken, we just have meal choices. I went and bought groceries for those 10 meals plus, of course, snacks and some desserts. Each day we look at our list, pick a meal, open the fridge and grab the things we need and cook it. After that we cross the chosen meal off the list. When my list is getting low, I know I need to make another one and go shopping.

Let me tell you that this has been working out great for us. We don't argue over what we should cook, we help each other because we know what we're suppose to be making and we have been been saving on groceries and wasting less too. Sometimes I would buy vegetables and not use them, now I have all the vegetables that I buy included in the meals, so no waist.

I know most of you probably have a system like this going on, but I honestly never was organized like that and it's been great!

She's One!!

The past couple of weeks have been so crazy that I didn't even have time to post anything about my beautiful daughter's birthday!! January 7th Khloe turned 1 year old. She's so precious and fun to be around. She is a quite serious baby, but she has a sweet smile. When she likes somebody she likes to "hang out" with that person...she just sits on their lap or puts her arms up in the air asking for the person. If she doesn't like somebody thought, she lets the person know. She has a strong personality specially around her big brother. She takes toys from him and fights and screams with him when he wants to take toys from her. She started walking at 11 1/2 months and she walks all day!! She is saying a lot of little words, mostly she repeats when we talk to her. Today she said "bubble" when daddy told her she is taking a bubble bath and it was super cute. Her favorite word tought I must say is "Hi". She looks at us and says "hi" all the time and to many people when we are at a public place. It's so cute. She also can sign thank you, milk, cracker, candy, want and sorry.
On her birthday we had a busy day, but we managed to get a little cake just to sing Happy Birthday. Grandpa, Natalie and Chris came over and gave her some presents. The Saturday following her birthday was her party. In Brazil the first birthday is a big deal, so I decided to celebrate the Brazilian way as we did with Nichael. It was a lot of work and I started with the preparation months before buying things here and there. The week of her birthday was crazy busy as I finished the last things for the decorations, started making her cake and food. On the day of her party I had two friends that came and helped with the decoration. Part of Tim's family was there to help as well and that the end everything fell into place. It was just a great party for my little girl and I was happy that I could share the moment with wonderful friends and family. I know she's not going to remember, but the point is that we were happy to celebrate the birth of our child and she will know that we are very happy to have her in our family!!
HAPPY BIRHTDAY KHLOE BROOKE! WE LOVE YOU!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Goodbye Grandma!!

On January 13th my dear grandma passed away in Brazil. Her name was Odcira. She was the only grandparent I had alive. It's sad because she was living very far away, in the north of Brazil, and most of our family members hadn't seen her in quite a while, including my mom. I'm sure she knows how much we love her and how much we appreciate all she did for her family despite the distance. She raised all of her 8 children on her own and lived a wonderful and righteous life. I will be forever grateful for her teaching me the gospel. If it wasn't for her I would not be a member of the Church. She was an example for me of faith, righteousness and prayer. She was constantly singing hymns and reading the scriptures. I don't have many memories of my childhood, but the ones I have I hope to keep them with me forever. This is a picture of my grandma and my mom walking in downtown Rio. My mom said that shortly after this picture was taken they both fell on the ground and it was really funny. She said that they were just having a fun afternoon together.
Vozinha, rest in peace till we meet again...I love you!!

Simplify

So my goal for 2010 is to Simplify...to find new, more simple ways of doing things in my life that will make my life easier and it will help me have more time for myself and my family. I'm determine to find at least 1 or 2 things in a month that I can "simplify". It can be material things like how to cook a meal faster, how to clean something better, organize my computer files so it's faster or it can be the way I act, my schedule, etc..etc...just about anything that I can simplify and make better use of my time!!

I'll try to post here the things I decide to do each month and share the outcome of it..we'll see how it goes. :-)