Happy Monday – What’s Cooking this week and some Back to School Traditions

It’s that time… I have to let go of my Princess; she is starting Pre-K this year and she is just super excited to be one of the “BIG” kids. She went to the same school lst year as a 3 year old and mastered the Pre-K program with flying colors; so this year should be a lot of fun for her. She loves school and had been counting down the days ever since we got back from Germany. As most of you know, I’m German and love to keep our German traditions alive here in Central Florida with my kids and all their friends and anyone who likes to learn new traditions and share them with their Family.

In Germany, when you start school you get this super cool “Schultute”, which is filled wit lots of goodies and school supplies as well. It’s been a tradition for many many many years and everyone knows that you will walk to school with this HUGE oversized Ice-cream cone. Well, it was nearly impossible to find one here in the US, so I decided to make one for my Princess’s first day of Pre-K, just to get her a little more excited about our German Heritage. I actually made this Schultute (you can get the step by step instructions HERE) last year and just re-filled it for her for this year; she had no idea and  didn’t remember and was SUPER excited when she found the stuffed Ice-cream cone in the kitchen this morning. Almost brought tears to my eyes, the only thing holding me back “We have one year to Kindergarten… whohoooo at least one more year”….lol.

Another School tradition we have is to take a picture of each of the kids on the first day of school and I then add the picture from the First day of School and one School picture during the year and scrapbook it in an 8×8 book along with their end of school year report card; each kid has their own book and it’s so much fun, especially for the Teen, who is now in 11th grade, to look back and see how he looked in Kindergarten; or what he looked like in 3rd grade, all in one book. I just keep it simple and quick so I will be dedicated to complete the 2 pages each year, so far so good.

Isn’t that a super cool memory to keep your little ones life documented? It’s also very simple, since you are using a small album; I also keep each Soccer season, Christmas Season and Halloween Season in the same book; 1 page per year…. and loving it; you should give it a try.

So, the boys went off to school last Thursday for the first day, the princess is leaving today, I sure need to create some simple dinners for this week, since soccer is starting up as well and we will be quiet busy for a while.

Check out what Simple Dinner Ideas I came up with that will make us pass up McDonald or any other Drive Thru and still dish up a yummy, delicious, healthy and wallet friendly meal for my family.

Monday;               Stuffed Shells with Sausage & Spinach served with Salad and Bread
                                   (can be made the night before or days ahead) 

Tuesday:              White Chicken Chili in the Crockpot 

Wednesday:      Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce and garlic Bread

Thursday:          Crowed Pleaser Chicken & Pasta (in the Crockpot)

Friday:                 Forgotten Chicken with Salad

Saturday:           BLT Wraps

Sunday:              Mom’s day off, dinner at Mimi’s

Now you know what’s cooking in our kitchen… what’s cooking in yours? Would love to hear your plan for the week. And if you are sending your little ones off to school this week, too; I hope it will be an “easy” Goodbye for both of you! :0)

As every Monday, we are linked up with I’m an organizing Junkie, so if you are looking for even more recipes and ideas, be sure to visit over there.