On Meal Planning

Food is a true passion for me. Always has been. I've been relaxing on the couch watching Ina Garten any chance I get since I was 17 years old. I'm not creative in a drawing or artsy way but I can create a meal out of very little and it's one of the things I've learned to appreciate about myself because I really feel that cooking is becoming less and less popular. Which I get- I also LOVE eating out. It's so thrilling. Who doesn't want to be served a meal?!

Willa enjoying toad in a hole, a go to breakfast, lunch or dinner.

But making food for others and watching them enjoy it its so dang satisfying for me. It's been a little tough for me as we've added each kid to find less and less time available for time in the kitchen. It's something I've just had to accept...and also set aside time for.
Week nights we do simple, healthy, easy dinners. Like less than an hour prep and done. On weekends we will sometimes team up or David will take over for a meal or two and we'll do something more fun or special. He's the king of fresh, homemade soft pretzels. They are absolutely amazing. We also use our smoker quite a bit to do a whole chicken (it's easier than it sounds!) or salmon. Special occasions call for 12-hour smoked pulled pork or shrimp and grits (not on the smoker).

So how do you go from barely looking to making dinner 6/7 nights? I have a few tricks up my sleeve I've learned in the last 12 years of cooking for David and our now family of 5! I also love sharing info on how to teach your kids to eat more things. Let's start with meal planning:

MAKE A DANG MENU
I have to write a menu for the week followed by a list; otherwise I'll end up at the store guessing what I have and what I need. And I will for sure forget something if I don't have a list. So heres what you do: spend 10 minutes on Sunday, every Sunday, making a menu. Think about where you will be each night (if you have sports, work, etc) so you can gauge what kind of meal you have time for each day. I like to create the menu at a meal so we are all together and can talk about activities and ask for dinner suggestions. Easy! Getting a new special pad of paper and the perfect pen also make creating a list extra fun :) (I love the InkJoy pens by Papermate)

MAKE A LIST
On the same sheet of paper you created the menu, create a space for your shopping list. I divide my items by category so I don't have to run back and forth across the grocery store. Here's a sample of what my weekly list would look like:

It's good to always double check your pantry when making a list to see if you already have an item.

MAKE IT SIMPLE
If you are brand new to cooking or hate meal planning or struggle with getting dinner done- keeping everything simple is KEY. You don't have to make hamburger buns from scratch or fresh tomato sauce every time you make dinner. Here's some ideas and tricks:
+Double duty: If you ARE making an amazing homemade tomato sauce, double, triple, or quadruple it and FREEZE the cooled portions in ziplock bags. Lay them flat when freezing so they thaw faster when it's time to use them.
+Make half, buy half: I am all for pre-made or assembled parts of a meal. I will often make a homemade tomato sauce but purchase fresh ravioli from Trader Joes for a quick dinner. It's ready in less than 20 minutes if you boil some broccoli or add a bagged salad. Voila! Dinner is done!
+Make extra + use again: If I'm going to cook a big pork roast in my crock or instant pot, I might as well double the meat and make two meals out of it. I'll often do roasted pork and veggies one night, then take the leftover pork and use it in tacos the next night. Or on top of pizza with a drizzle of bbq sauce!
+Get Inspired: Even though I have been cooking for 14+ years I still feel like I need new ideas, and easy and fast ones. Browsing blogs or sites I love, especially Pinterest, help me find new ways of doing things or new meals. So get out there and spend a few minutes getting inspired!

POST YOUR MENU
Displaying your menu helps keep you accountable. Show your spouse or kids or roommate. Print it out and put it on the fridge. Get excited about it. That way the groceries you just bought won't rot in your fridge while you eat Del Taco 5 nights in a row ;)

GET YOUR KIDS INVOLVED
Instead of looking at making a meal as a huge annoying task, think of it as a teaching opportunity. Give your kids simple tasks (a 2 year old can rinse, dry, and shred lettuce!) and make it fun. It's important for me to let my kid learn new things (as I learn patience in teaching them) because these are life skills. It also makes them more likely to eat the dinner they helped prepare. Plus they love a new task!

I'll be posting weekly menus and grocery lists here as I create them so you can get a feel for how a real family eats. It's my goal to eat 90% of our meals at home because when we do we: save money, learn new skills and bond as a family, control the quality of our ingredients, tend to eat less, and make healthier choices. Challenge yourself to making small changes here and there so you can be successful in this!

Hi, we're the Fenns

We're nearing our 12 year anniversary and it's got me thinking about how different our lives look than they did 12 years ago. Only recently have I started to feel older, much more tired and kind of like time is spinning out of control. Everyone has told me that time keeps moving faster and faster as you get older. It really, really feels that way.
I loved having this blog to keep a record of us. I moved over to instagram a while ago and have loved using that as a kind of journal, but recently felt the need to document more in depth. With baby Gray I felt lost about sleep training (even though I've done it twice before!) and wanting more and more details on how I did it. I want to document what our family does with more than one photo. I also want to share recipes and things that I love! So here I am.

I just turned 32 and my goals this year include taking REALLY good care of my skin, especially my face. They also include consistently working toward becoming a very positive parent. I didn't know how important this was until I found an amazing instagram called @simplyonpurpose. I'll talk more about positive parenting in many a post in the future I'm sure. I also feel like I'm having a mid-mid-life crisis. Suddenly I feel like I want to decide on a career. And although I do not plan on working full time probably until my kids are out of the house- I want something for me that helps me feel creative but is lets me still focus on my kids 99% of the time. Does this exist?! Who knows.

We bought a house last March and to say it was a fixer upper is putting it nicely. It was SO gross. Decades old carpet, no central a/c, popcorn ceilings, and not to mention that every wall was basically orange. Orange paint ya'll. But we saw the potential. It was built in 1956 and had a mid century ranch feel that we knew we could work with easily. It's been fun and amazing to update it- more on the house in a separate post.


David has been very busy with work and has brought on attorneys to help. I think he enjoys basically working for himself. I'm proud of the time and effort he puts into the business to support our family. He got a truck recently and is already planning off roading trips for our family. We'll see if he gets me out there :)

Jude is turning 6 in a month and he's still an old soul. He is just about reading and super excited to start school again. He's also taking piano and did a few rounds of karate which he totally loved. He's a really helpful and loving older brother. He has a one track mind just like his dad and gets on kicks where he obsesses about something. Over the last year it's been Volkswagens, Mario and video games. He grows out of his clothes every 6 months. And he has a very special sense of style. He likes funky stuff like plaid, work boots, cool jackets.

Willa is our sour patch kid. Sour then sweet. Then sour again... For example, she loves Clementine (our dog) and wants to play with her so she will lock her in a room with her. Clem hates that. Willa loves baths, animals, and me. She has a good appetite and loves brussels sprouts. Also candy. She got her first filling a few months ago and did pretty well. She loves Gray and her cousin 'baby Lidah'. She keeps up with everything that Jude does and they get along pretty dang well for being siblings. She screams like a crazy lady about the tiniest thing and it fools us every time, ha. She's all drama. I've really struggled with teaching her and disciplining her, but some new skills I've learned have been great. Patience and acknowledging the good in her have changed everything.

Gray-Gray is the sunshine! He smiles at everyone and everything. He's just entered the clingy phase with me. I remember dreading it with my other kids but this time around I've really embraced every stage. It just goes way too dang fast. He is so squishy and sweet. He loves baths and will eat ANYTHING. He's never turned a thing down. Ever. Still nursing and won't really take a bottle. Still wakes up at least once a night. Had his first haircut.

So...I'm hoping to document our lives and have this blog have more purpose. Let me know what you'd like to see- Family, cooking, style...home updates. 

Jude at 3 years, 10 months

Jude is our little cautious boy. We've discovered that he's very wary of new things, but with a little coaxing (and sometimes forcing) he realizes that these new things are (usually) fun and worth giving a try. Just yesterday David got him to go down a pool slide for the first time and after that we couldn't keep him off of it. He can also swim! I wouldn't say he's 100% pool safe yet, but he can definitely get around and get to the side if he needs to as well as pause to take a breath. It just happened one day! I LOVE watching him accomplish new things. It makes my heart feel like it's going to explode (in a good way).
Jude hates getting his hair done, doesn't like brushing his teeth and can't clean anything without some help. He does love helping. If something is getting fixed or baked, he's there!
The boy loves tools. All day long, tools go in his jean pockets or in his tool belt. He organizes them and knows where they all are. He's always measuring things, leveling things, and unscrewing every knob in the house.
Jude had his first half-semester of preschool in the Spring and LOVED it. I cannot express how much he loved it. He really thrives in organized activities. He's a super good listener and loves painting and creating things. He was so ready for school. His teachers are amazing. It's been one of my favorite things ever to see him in his element when I visit him at school for parties.
Right now he still loves Mighty Machines ( a show that is literal filming of construction sites, recycling centers, factories, etc) and goes through phases with other shows. We still watch a lot of Monsters, Inc.
We've read through 3 Roald Dahl books and are on The BFG since it just came out in theaters. We read a chapter a night and he's getting better at listening and following along with the story.
He still says "anything" instead of nothing. Like "Jude, whats wrong?" Reply: "anything!"
He says biz-cuz instead of because and has a hard time saying 'girl' and 'world'. They come out like "grill" and "woy-ld'. It's super funny and cute. Other than that he's pretty articulate for a 3 year old, I'd say. I think he's an old soul like me. Ready to grow up faster than he should. He talks often about "when he's a dad and can drive a van." He cannot wait to drive.

Jude at 3 Years Old

Jude will be 3 in a week! I feel like it was JUST his second birthday. We are so excited to celebrate another year with our little man who weighs a mere 30 pounds :)
Jude is really into helping, fixing, taking apart and trying to put back together ANYTHING. We were at Disneyland last month and we turned around and he had taken apart a sprinkler in a planter at downtown disney. He took my electric hot chocolate stirrer and took it apart to get the batteries out. He has this little set of tools that he carries everywhere. He sleeps with them. His "hammer, schrewdwiver, wench, webel" are his most prized possessions. In the morning he comes out of his room with them either in his toolbox or his Mickey car all ready for the day. He loves wearing basketball clothes, or anything that looks like it has something to do with a sport. He has a soccer shirt from Mexico and basketball shorts and baseball pajamas. He's kind of over footie pajamas now that he knows he can sleep in his basketball shorts and it makes me a little sad :(
Jude is a great swimmer and is almost independent in the pool. He can jump in and swim to me without any help. He loves it. He is also into the beach and jumping over waves for hours.
Jude still loves to eat meat-chicken, turkey, salami. He really loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He asks for toast with butter and jelly every day, or oatmeal because I let him put sprinkles in it one time and now he knows he can get sprinkles for breakfast. He still doesn't really like eggs but will try them from time to time. He's really good about trying things. He gagged trying a big piece of broccoli and I couldn't help but laugh. He also gagged on butternut squash soup multiple times. I am proud of him for trying more than once! His favorite veggie is cucumbers and he likes to munch on a whole carrot. He's also into helping me bake zucchini bread. He also likes macaroni and cheese now. Pasta and sausage is probably his favorite. Or pizza. And mcdonalds or in n out hamburgers.
Bed time has become more of a struggle now that he can get out of bed. We do bath, read a couple books, brush teeth and get in bed. He milks every part of it as long as he can. And he often gets up a few times after we've put him to bed. I got an alarm clock that turns green in the morning when he can get up, but I don't think it's made a huge difference. I hope he grows out of the getting out of bed stage soon :)
Jude is such a good boy. We are so proud of everything he does. He makes us so happy and makes us laugh. He 's a really good big brother and really loves his sister. He's so smart and works hard to learn new things.

Willa at 7 Months

Willa turned 7 months old and within a week started sitting up perfectly and cut her first two teeth! She's content to just sit and play, at least for a while. She still prefers her mama to hold her :)
She wakes up 1-2 times a night. I haven't been super vigilant with her sleep training because we're rarely getting her down at the same time every night. She takes 2-3 naps a day- usually one in the morning about an hour after she wakes up and then another around 12 or 1 with Jude. That nap is normally 2 hours or more. If there's time she'll take a quick nap before dinner so she can last til 730 for bed.
Willa loves baths and absolutely loves swimming in the pool.
She smiles at Jude whenever he smiles at her.
Even after covering her in sunscreen she's managed to get a pretty nice tan.
She loves her pacifier and uses it to sleep.
She loves real food and stares at us whenever we eat.
She's tried most vegetables and fruits now as well as beans, oats and yogurt.
She needs about 3 hours between naps now and pretty much refuses to nap in my arms at church.
She's pretty ticklish but it takes a lot of work to get her to laugh hard.
She's started taking toys out of a basket and has a lot of fun with that process.
She loves to pull hair.
It's so different having a baby that is so attached to me. I thought I would not like it very much since Jude was so easy going and went to anyone and was content for long periods of time. Willa will go to anyone but is always scanning the room for me. I have to say that I actually don't mind her attachment to me. Sometimes it's a little draining but I love that she loves me so much. She also still won't take a bottle so if we get the opportunity for a date we wait til she's in bed to go. Willa has definitely taught us patience and that we have so much love to share with both her and Jude.

Jude at 2 years, 10 months

Jude is officially potty trained! Since September we've been talking about the potty and getting rid of diapers and he showed NO interest. We tried bribing, begging, reasoning, but he would NOT sit on the potty long enough to go. Finally last week he was in the bath and started saying he had to pee so we got him out and he actually peed for the first time in his little frog potty. Since then he's had only a few accidents and even took to pooping pretty dang quick. He got a new bike to celebrate.
He also did swimming lessons with my mom for two weeks during this same time and can swim pretty well. I think by the end of the summer he'll be swimming completely on his own.
Some of Judes favorite things are:
 tools
 watching tv
books
riding his bike
 going for walks (especially to the trash with dad)
stuffed animals
cleaning his table and vacuuming
having mom or dad play with him in his room
kissing willa
hitting willa
pushing the little shopping cart at trader joes


He says a few funny things too. Instead of "vanilla" he says "nil-a-va". And David saw a coyote right near our house the other day and Jude keeps talking about the "hi-cote-EE".
His favorite foods right now are sandwiches- turkey sandwiches or peanut butter and jelly. He still loves meat and fruit, especially salami and grapes.  He has to eat his meals at the table, but every once in a while I let him have a non-messy snack on the couch while watching a show. He likes to say, "can I have a snack on the couch?" He's a really big helper and a pretty good listener, most of the time. He tries to "fix" or put together every thing in our house.
David took him to the movies two months ago for only the second time and he LOVED it. He sat the whole time and was great.
Since transitioning him to a toddler bed he likes to get up and try to come out of his room every couple of nights. It's exhausting. We lock the door from the outside, and he knows that, but he still tries to come out and ends up crying or knocking on the door so loud that we have to go put him back to bed. I don't even know what he wants- usually I think he just can't fall back asleep.
Jude is growing SO fast and is so fun and cute. I can't believe how big he is. He learns new things every single day and it's so fun to watch him discover everything the world has for him. It's hard for me to watch him learn lessons the hard way or get hurt, but I guess it's just a part of life. I am trying really hard to think of what we can teach him so he's happy and healthy. We love our Jujube.

March 2015

The first few months with a newborn always seem to be kind of a blur. I'm so tired from not sleeping and chasing a toddler around. We spend a lot of time at the park and with grandparents. Jude is growing so fast. It's so fun that we can now have full on conversations with him. And he has a memory about what we do and see. 

Right now Jude is into basketballs, still. Any ball really.

We're going to sign him up for a little soccer class through parks & rec and he talks about it all the time.

He loves nursery at church. They have an outside area with cars and a basketball hoop so he's in heaven.

He falls and hurts himself almost every day. He's always running around and being crazy. 

He still loves fruit snacks and candy of any kind.

He's started trying more things food-wise which make me happy. He used to love vegetables and then decided he didn't love them, but in the past month he's been trying things and liking them. He ate a bunch of broccoli the other night and he still loves cucumbers and carrots. 

He eats a ton of applesauce. He also loves butter.

He still loves meat- chicken, steak, salami, turkey and ham.

He doesn't like potatoes still, but usually will try them.

He wants nothing to do with potty training. I can't even get him to sit on the potty. He likes the idea of wearing big boy undies though.

Last month we moved him into his toddler bed so Willa could take his crib over. The first few days were tough, but once we didn't put him back in the crib he figured it out. Sometimes he'll get up in the middle of the night (which scares the crap out of me) but he's learning to stay in bed. I think it's time to shorten his nap so he's able to sleep better at night.

Jude loves stuffed animals, cars, animals, puzzles, books and his lawn mower.

He's good at matching things together and cleaning up after himself. He LOVES vacuuming.

He loves watching videos of himself.

He can shoot and make baskets in my parent's big basketball hoop when it's lowered to about 6 feet.

He is in a pajama wearing phase and wants to wear them all day long.

He likes to say 'That's mise' as in , That's mine. I think he learned it from nursery...

He also says things that we say to him like, "remember this?" and will hold something random up.

Or, "I know, it's hard" when he can't do something he wants.

He loves the move Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Turbo, Curious George and Handy Manny.

He doesn't like when we sing. The other night we were having Family Night and David and I sang "As I Have Loved You" and he just started crying. He gets embarrassed with attention.

Jude wears a baseball hat pretty much every day.

He loves Willa and likes to make her smile. He kisses her every morning when she wakes up and says "good morning Willa-baby"

We love Jude more than ever!

Willa turned 4 months old on March 14. She was waking up OFTEN at night and between 2-7 every hour and a half. We finally moved her to the crib in a different room and it helped. Then we started sleep training. I'm not ready to make her go all night without eating- waiting til about 5 months which  is when I did all night with Jude. Sometimes she still wakes up a lot and sometimes only once or twice. She's over 13 pounds and 24 inches long. She's actually really similar to Jude in a lot of ways, but I don't think she's as smiley and content. She really likes and needs to be entertained. 

She can roll from back to tummy pretty good now.

She likes the pacifier and uses it for sleep.

She's laughed about 8 times.

Her hair is still pretty dark but a lot thinner than when she was born. 

She doesn't like riding in the car but is getting better.

She naps every 2ish hours and the naps are usually about 60 minutes long. (3-4 a day)

We love having Willa as part of our family! She makes us so happy.

At the ER with Dad (they were there til after midnight) for a hurt arm/wrist

His little sling. It ended up being fine, but he had multiple x-rays and doctor visits.

David made himself a dart board for his bday.

David turned 35 on March 4. He went to Vegas with fam/friends.

She loves bath time, but not AFTER bath time.

David came home with a new red, white and blue hat. The next day at Target Jude saw this hat and wanted it. I didn't realize til I got home and saw David's that they were almost exactly the same.

At the car wash with dad on Saturday morning

I have to say that I absolutely LOVE dressing Willa for church.

Jude falls asleep in sacrament a lot because it's at 1130. One sunday he slept through sacrament and most of gospel doctrine with David. When he woke up and david took him to nursery he didnt want to go in, but wanted to peek in, so he pulled the chair over himself and spied on everyone.

Sunday walk on the trail

The day she didn't want to sleep without me holding her

THE cutest!

January

On December 30 David received a job offer for his first job as an attorney after interviewing at only 2 firms! We were so excited. We didn't really imagine that we'd be able to stay in southern california so easily. The job is in Orange and he really loves it. He started the next Tuesday after receiving the offer. We moved a week later to Yorba Linda.

Big bear celebrating Cori's 30th!

We blessed Willa on January 4 in Corona