Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.

Hello, and happy Sunday to you! We had a wet, rainy week with plenty of birthday excitement and a Bigfoot sighting in the mix. How about a little rewind to recap Our Week in Meals?

For those of you who are new to the blog, Our Week in Meals is where I share a little bit about what we’ve been up to over the past week — as it relates to our dinners each night. This series gives you a glimpse “behind the scenes” at some highlights from our life, shows you how I balance a busy schedule with feeding my family, and offers a few new ideas for your own weekly meal plan. Now let’s back up to last weekend…

Sunday was Mother’s Day! Our morning started off bright and early with waffles…per the kids’ request. The older two boys are on a major waffle “kick” at the moment, so I’ve been making big batches a couple of times each week and then freezing the extras for quick toaster breakfasts before school.

It was a beautiful day, so we headed out on a family hike here in Madison.

Everyone was hungry for an early lunch after the hike, so we stopped in town for a Mother’s Day meal at Mad Local. We were expecting their lunch menu, but we arrived just before 11:00 and were served brunch instead.

The kids were in carb heaven — pancakes and biscuits!

It’s hard to tell from this photo, but my meal included a slice of Texas Toast, which was topped with a farm fried egg, black beans, mixed greens, tomato, gouda cheese, and “comeback sauce” (a.k.a. barbecue sauce). It was a tasty combo!

The boys spent our entire meal staring out the window at the new ice cream shop across the street, so we treated them to dessert afterwards.

Casey ordered the “Magical Unicorn” ice cream, which he said was the best ice cream he’s ever had!???? It was described as “enchanted purple and white sweet cream ice cream, swirled with sweet-and-sour-cherry and blue-raspberry rainbows, bedazzled with star-colored lemon candy flakes.”

After their sweet treats, the kids wanted to go to the playground at the school for some more playtime. So much energy to burn…

Then we headed about an hour south to my parents’ house for dinner. Mom served grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, with corn on the cob and salad on the side. SO GOOD!

I forgot to snap a photo of my plate, but I sure didn’t forget to capture the delicious dessert. ????

After I gave the boys baths and put them in clean clothes for the ride home, Aunt Barbara pulled out Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream Sundaes to finish off the evening. Yessssss…

After a busy Sunday and a late night, Spence was ready for a quiet Monday.

We took the older boys to school, picked up a grocery order at Walmart, and then returned home for the rest of the morning. Mollie and her little guy, Miles, came over for a visit, so the boys had fun in the sandbox while we walked around the property and caught up.

Casey’s soccer practice was cancelled as a result of bad weather, which he was very disappointed about.

I chose to see the bright side of things and took advantage of an evening at home by putting on my pajamas at 4:30 p.m.????

The kids entertained themselves indoors with things like trains and Keva Planks, while I pulled together a very simple supper of Steak and Cheese Subs with salad and fries (I just use this frozen beef from Costco for a quick 10-minute meal).

The construction crew returned on Tuesday morning to continue work on our basketball court. In addition to the skid steer and dump trucks, there were also TWO different cement mixers on site…which kept this little guy very entertained.

I tested a couple of new recipes that morning, and we ran errands for Casey’s birthday supplies before picking up the older boys from school.

Spencer also helped me get dinner in the Crock Pot, since I needed an easy option that would be ready to serve at 4:30 that afternoon before we rushed out the door to soccer practice.

On the menu? Our favorite Slow Cooker Pulled Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches. Always a hit with my family!

I also shared a video of us preparing the meal on my Instagram Stories (which you can still view in my highlights here).

We had a new recipe for Southern Squash Casserole on the side, plus my favorite homemade coleslaw. I can’t wait to share this squash recipe with you next month!

Wednesday was a pretty standard day — Spence went to preschool for the morning, while I walked with Mollie and got some work done. I also managed to wrap Casey’s birthday presents in anticipation of Friday!

I’ve been trying to “shop” in our freezer for meals recently, rather than buying new items to use each night. We have a decent stash in there, so it’s fun to see what I can come up with for a last-minute dinner.

Since we had enjoyed beef and chicken earlier in the week, I decided that it was time for seafood on Wednesday. I thawed individually-frozen Mahi-Mahi fillets (from Costco), grabbed a couple of cans of diced tomatoes from the pantry, and snipped fresh basil from our garden. This easy 4-Ingredient Baked Fish with Tomato & Basil Sauce was on the menu!

I served the fish and sauce with pasta, and we tried these shortcut zucchini noodles for some added veggies. The zucchini spirals can be found in the frozen section, and you just have to pop them in the microwave for a few minutes to cook.

Spencer and I spent a rainy Thursday morning baking cupcakes for Casey’s birthday.

Casey was very specific about what he wanted: chocolate cupcakes with mini Hershey bars on top, as well as Strawberry Cupcakes with jellybeans on top. Okie dokie! 

While the cupcakes cooled, we headed south to Charlottesville to check a number of tasks off our to-do list.

We visited the car wash because my vehicle desperately needed a vacuum and scrub-down of the interior, and then made our way to Costco. Spence insisted that we needed this massage chair,

while I insisted that we needed this new Magnolia cookbook. I won!

At that point we were both hungry for lunch, so we stopped next door to grab Qdoba on the way home. Burrito bowl for me, and soft tacos + chips + guacamole for him…

Keith was lucky enough to go to the Caps’ hockey playoff game up in D.C. that evening, so he wasn’t able to join us for dinner. Instead of spending much time in the kitchen, I grabbed a rotisserie chicken from Costco, a loaf of French bread from Costco, and cut up some veggies on the side. Everyone was happy!

Casey turned 7 on Friday! He started the morning before school with gifts and his favorite treat — a Strawberry Frosted Donut!

My parents came by for a visit with Casey that afternoon, which included more gifts and some chocolate frosted brownies for an afternoon snack. This kid was livin’ the high life on Friday!

Even though it rained all day, that didn’t stop the boys from playing outside…and finding every puddle possible.

Casey requested pizza for dinner, which made my job EASY. Keith picked it up on his way home from work!

Our Saturday morning plans were cancelled, as the soccer fields were too wet for games.

Instead, we watched the royal wedding, constructed new Lego sets, and took care of house chores before heading out for Casey’s birthday adventure.

The Monster Truck, Bigfoot, was in Orange that afternoon, so the boys had fun watching the show as the truck smashed cars and spun out in the mud.????

We then drove up to Culpeper for a round of bowling before dinner.

Casey voted on Chili’s for our final destination. I realized that I’ve been enjoying their fajitas since I was in high school.???? Maybe it’s the nostalgia, but they still hit the spot!

We made it home in time to watch the Preakness before crashing in bed for the night. Such a fun (and exhausting) week of celebrating!

Need some help planning your family’s meals? When you join Simply Mailed, I will send you 3 quick-prep dinner recipes and a grocery shopping list each week (for about $1 per week!!!). This super-affordable service takes the stress out of dinner, saves you time and money, and brings your family together at the end of the day. There are even options for smaller households of just 1 or 2!

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. I may earn a small commission for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial, and/or link to any products or services from this website.

blair

Hey, I’m Blair!

Welcome to my farmhouse kitchen in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. Inspired by local traditions and seasonal fare, you’ll find plenty of easy, comforting recipes that bring your family together around the table. It’s down-home, country-style cooking!

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Square overhead shot of hands serving a chicken pot pie recipe with biscuits
Overhead image of a bowl of chili mac on a dinner table with cornbread
Hands serving a platter of sheet pan sausage and potatoes

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Comments

  1. Hi Blair: Is there a way that I can view your weekly recipes without all of your photos, and without the related stories? I love your recipes, but your blog is using up my allotted gigs every time I click on, so It’s not so CHA CHING for me!

    1. Hi, Angelina! I totally understand. As far as the weekly update posts go, I don’t have a good solution to skip over photos and text to just get to recipe links. On the actual recipe posts, however, I have a “Jump to Recipe” button at the top each post. By clicking on the “Jump to Recipe” button, you can skip over the photos and text and just get directly to the recipe itself at the bottom. That should avoid as much data usage because you’re not loading the entire post. Hope that helps!

  2. Angelina, if you subscribe to Blair’s email list, she does share links to some of the recipes from the week, if that helps!

    1. Don’t they look amazing?! With 3 sticks of butter, they’re bound to be delicious! 🙂