FINALLY!!

Today, I got home from work to find a legal-size envelope in the mail from our foster care agency.  I got so excited that I opened it first, even before the free samples and coupon envelopes!  Sure enough, it was our official license - yay!  This was amusing to me since we have yet to actually talk with our FYS (Family and Youth Specialist) and as a matter of fact, don't even know who that is.  But no matter - when I texted B3, she got so excited that she called Pooh's (isn't that better than the Pooping Machine?!) cps worker, who said it was fine, since we have our license, to do an extended respite.  So we are respite parents for the next 7 days!  This is gonna be fun :-)

Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying making a menu for the week.  Not that we follow it religiously (as a matter of fact, I have a hard time getting P-Daddy to follow it at all!), but it's convenient for me when I'm packing my lunch and getting ready for the day.  And it helps me to think about what's in the fridge and what we have to eat.  This weekend, we made several things:  a big pot of crockpot black beans, crockpot chicken (cause Fiesta had chicken leg quarters for $0.39 a pound!), and cilantro pesto pasta.  Those things are making up a large portion of the week's menu, which appears below.  You'll also notice I added a "C" line to each - that's my attempt to think about cleaning, and to plan at least a quick pick-me-up of different areas on different days.

Monday:
B:  SCO w/ peaches, apples, and banana
L:  spinach frittata, roasted veggies
D:  cilantro pesto pasta w/ chicken
S:  applesauce, carrots, watermelon
C:  kids' BR

Tuesday:
B:  eggs, black beans, tortillas
L:  cilantro pesto pasta w/ chicken
D:  turkey sandwiches, carrot sticks
S:  yogurt, red peppers, cherries
C:  parents' BR

Wednesday:
B:  SCO w/ peaches, apples, and banana
L:  black beans w/ brown rice, avocado, boiled egg
D:  out with students
S:  applesauce, peaches, carrot sticks
C:  bathroom

Thursday:
B:  SCO w/ peaches, apples, and bananas
L:  roasted veggies, chicken
D:  pb&j sandwiches, carrot sticks, red pepper strips
S:  yogurt w/ blackberries, cucumbers
C:  living room

Friday:
B:  eggs, black beans, tortillas
L:  chicken taco salad
D:  potato nachos
S:  popcorn, oranges, jicama
C:  hallway, floors

Saturday:
B:  fruit and yogurt, cold cereal
L:  picnic:  sandwiches, finger fruits and veggies
D:  out to dinner or order in
S:  banana, yucca, cottage cheese
C:  laundry

Sunday:
B:  pancakes w/ fruit
L:  veggie frittata, ww bread; red, white, and blue fruit parfaits
D:  brown rice and lentil casserole
S:  red peppers, carrots, yogurt w/ blackberries
C:  kitchen

More menus, and an update!

First the update:  Last night, P-daddy and I had a lovely talk with the director of our agency, who has to approve all the homestudies.  She just had some residual issues to clear up, which we did successfully, and she said she'd approve and pass it on, and we should be licensed by the end of the week if no other issues arrive!  Yay - finally!

And now the menus:
Last week, we did...sort of okay on the menu front.  It was super-helpful to me to have a menu there on the fridge, so that I could look at it in the morning when I was packing my lunch, and know that I was taking enough food.  We didn't always stick to the dailiness of it, and we ended up eating meals on the 'wrong' day, but it was nice to at least have the ideas there for us.  On the weekend, not so successful, but that was more due to the fact that the PM was in the house, and he ripped the menu off of the fridge sometime early on Saturday.  Note to self:  post menu high enough the grabbing hands can't make it disappear!

Yesterday evening, P-daddy and I spent a couple hours in the kitchen, in the hopes that we can spend almost no time in the kitchen the rest of the week.  We chopped and packaged carrots and peppers for lunches and snacks, sauteed a mixture of cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage, cooked a large pot of curried lentils, made brown rice to go with the lentils,  and made spinach frittata (well, okay, P-daddy made that earlier in the day).  Then I cleaned out and rearranged the fridge so that everything would fit, and we now have most of the week's food ready to go, or at least pretty easy to prepare.  We'll have to do some cooking/prepping on the weekend, but I hope to combine that with next week's food prep to keep us out of the 100 degree heat in there!   Here's the plan:

Monday:
B:  eggs, black beans, avocado, tortillas
L:  spinach frittata, mango
D:  brown rice w/ curried lentils; cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage mix
S:  yogurt, peaches, cucumber

Tuesday:
B:  SCO w/ fruit
L:  brown rice w/ curried lentils; cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage mix
D:  turkey sandwiches, carrot sticks
S:  applesauce, red peppers, cherries

Wednesday:
B:  SCO w/ fruit
L:  spinach frittata, cottage cheese, bread
D:  carrot and potato dumplings, side salad
S:  yogurt, celery, banana

Thursday:
B:  eggs and beans, tortillas
L:  brown rice w/ curried lentils; cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage mix
D:  turkey sandwiches, carrot sticks
S:  yogurt, blackberries

Friday:
B:  SCO w/ fruit
L:  pb&j sandwiches, cucumbers, carrots, apples
D:  eat out or order in
S:  applesauce, nectarines, red peppers w/ hummus

Saturday:
B:  cinnamon rolls
L:  salad w/ tuna, tomatoes, and onion
D:  homemade pizza or calzone
S:  yogurt, cucumbers, banana

Sunday:
B:  yogurt and granola
L:  black bean and corn salad, avocado, tortilla chips
D:  MSF spicy black bean burgers, avocado, mixed veggies
S:  applesauce, oranges, carrots
Anyway, we are trying again

And the homestudy has been submitted!

Earlier this week, we turned in the very last bit of paperwork we still had pending for our foster care license. Yesterday, Kristen, who did our homestudy, emailed to let us know that it had been submitted to our agency. This means that we should be completely ready, and will be licensed ASAP! yay - we are so excited!

Sadness already...

So our contact at the foster placement agency called this morning - I thought at first it was to let me know we were still missing something, but then she told me she was really calling to let us know that she is leaving the agency! Oh no! We've really enjoyed working with her, and we've had very little dealings with anyone else, so we are hoping this will not slow us down any. Hopefully, things will move seamlessly from one person to another...I'll keep you posted!