Costco Trip- gluten, dairy, and egg free

Here is a photo of our Costco haul today.  All of this is gluten, dairy, and egg free except for the Udi’s bread and the Kind bars.  Sorry about the sunny spot- I was trying to snap the photo and get this all quickly put away because it was dinner time, baby needed to nurse, and three out of my six kids were screaming.


tortilla chips, popcorn, veggie straws, cheerios, multigrain chips, bread, frozen: chicken breasts, chicken nuggets, blueberries, strawberries, pineapples, and mixed fruit, peanut butter, juices, raisins, garlic stuffed olives, applesauce pouches, fruit pouches, protein powder, black beans, gummy kids vitamins, batteries, jam, toilet paper, body wash, cooked chicken, turkey, avocados, strawberries, pluots, and a folding wagon not pictured! 🙂

What are some of your favorite Costco items to get?

Summer Menu – Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free

When I finally buckle down and do it, meal planning saves me so much time!  For a while I was creating a new menu each week but with the baby coming I decided to make a simple one week menu that we could just repeat for a while.  This one has fairly simple meals that are family favorites and I don’t have to think too hard about making them.

I’ve planned breakfast, lunch, dinner, and an afternoon snack.  Now to be quite honest, some weeks we stick to this better than others.  Most mornings I just have the kids get up and make peanut butter toast for breakfast.  If we have leftovers I often opt to use those up and skip cooking another meal.  Of course I do things like forget to thaw the meat or avoid making dinner till the last minute, so we switch meals around if we need to.  Overall though, this is what I have on hand each week.

I also created a master grocery list to go along with my menu.  On the left hand side are things that we usually need (milk, butter, etc) as well as specific items needed for the meals I have planned.  On the right hand side are things we usually have on hand but that I may want to double check and be sure we have.  As for the Costco items, we make a big trip every three weeks or so.  I shop once a week at our local grocery store for everything else.


Both of these documents are laminated.  I hang the weekly menu on my refrigerator.  The shopping list stays in my cookbook binder.  When I am making my grocery list for the week I will refer to the laminated list and check the pantry and fridge to see what we already have and what we need.  I usually don’t need to buy this whole list at once.  Sometimes I’ve grabbed extra spaghetti sauce, etc on sale so we don’t need any.  Other times I’ve skipped a certain meal the past week so we still have items needed for that.

Last week my husband offered to do the grocery shopping for me.  I knew that we needed quite a few things so I just made a copy of the list and crossed off what we already had and added on a few random items like lightbulbs that we needed.  Yay for a mostly ready made grocery list!

Now as far as the allergens, we are free of gluten, dairy, egg, sesame, cranberries, pecans, and walnuts.  I do have eggs on my list becuase I make scrambled or hard boiled eggs for some of the kids.  Others of us eat a lunchmeat sandwich or something else at that time.  The kids eat Udi’s bread which contains egg; I eat Sami’s Millet and Flax bread (no egg, it does have a cc warning for gluten though).  We use corn tortillas, Tinkyada pasta, smart balance butter, cashew milk…. Questions about anything?  Feel free to ask!

Curriculum Choices 7th, 5th, 2nd, K…

…(and a toddler and a baby!)  Whew, its going to be one busy year!  While we aren’t even near starting school again, I like to get my curriculum choices set and planned early on so that I can set it all aside and enjoy the summer.  I like to combine my kiddos as much as possible, so a lot of this will look similar.

(top shelf: mom’s books and teacher guides; middle shelf: Lucy and Julia each have a side; bottom shelf: Esther and Isaac)

Lucy, 7th grade:

Bible – Lets Take a Walk Through an Orthodox Church, Keeper of the Light (chapter book about Saint Macrina)

History/ Geography – Story of the World 3, Daily Geography 5 by Evan Moore

Science – Abeka Observing God’s World and Health Book

Math – Teaching Textbooks 7

Reading – chapter books from Heart of Dakota lists, Progeny Press Witch of Blackbird Pond

Lang Arts – Rod and Staff English 4 and Spelling 7, copywork, Bravewriter Projects

Art/ Cooking/ Sewing – Home Art DVDs, Kids Cook Real Food, sewing projects

Other – Logic Countdown book, Duolingo Spanish, Piano lessons, game time, read alouds w Daddy, ballet

Julia, 5th grade:

Bible – Lets Take a Walk Through an Orthodox Church, Keeper of the Light (chapter book about Saint Macrina)

History/ Geography – Story of the World 3, Daily Geography 5 by Evan Moore

Science – Abeka Observing God’s World and Health Book

Math – Math Mammoth 5

Reading – chapter books from Heart of Dakota lists, Progeny Press Witch of Blackbird Pond

Lang Arts – Rod and Staff English 4 and Spelling 5, copywork, Bravewriter Projects

Art/ Cooking/ Sewing – Home Art DVDs, Kids Cook Real Food, sewing projects

Other – Logic Countdown book, Duolingo Spanish, Piano lessons, game time, read alouds w Daddy, ballet

Esther, 2nd grade:

Bible – Lets Take a Walk Through an Orthodox Church, Keeper of the Light (chapter book about Saint Macrina)

History/ Geography – Story of the World 3

Science – Patterns of Nature by Rod and Staff, Usborne Look Inside books

Math – Math Mammoth 2

Reading/ Phonics/ Handwriting/ Spelling – Rod and Staff

Art/ Cooking/ Sewing – Home Art DVDs, Kids Cook Real Food, sewing projects

Other – Little Pim Spanish, Piano lessons, game time, read alouds with Daddy, ballet

Isaac, K:

Bible – Lets Take a Walk Through an Orthodox Church, Keeper of the Light (chapter book about Saint Macrina)

History/ Geography – Story of the World 3

Science – Patterns of Nature by Rod and Staff, Usborne Look Inside books

Math – Evan Moore workbook

Reading/ Phonics/ Handwriting – Rod and Staff

Art/ Cooking/ Sewing – Home Art DVDs, Kids Cook Real Food, sewing projects

Other – Little Pim Spanish, game time, read alouds with Daddy

Colin, 3 years old:

A Year of Playing Skillfully preschool (Isaac and Esther will join him for some of this)

Rod and Staff workbook 

Scheduling Notes:

*We are going to try listening to CDs at lunch (classical music, Spanish, stories, etc).

*Reading time happens with Dad before bed at night.  They go through all sorts of chapter books together.  Its definitely a highlight of our days.

*I’ve always wanted to have “game time”, but we don’t often get around to it.  This fall I blocked off a whole afternoon once a week and cut everyone’s schoolwork a bit that day in order to make it happen.  I’m excited about all of the learning that will happen during game time!  (logic, math, and so on)  Anything from Uno to Monopoly to Catan, etc goes.

* Art/ Cooking/ Sewing – we only do one of these per month. I rotate between them, and sometimes we don’t even get to them at all.  That’s ok!

Motherhood

Motherhood: A Prose Poem

My willingness to carry life is the revenge, the antidote, the great rebuttal of every murder, every abortion, and every genocide. I sustain humanity. Deep inside of me, life grows.

I am death’s opposition.

I have pushed back the hand of darkness today. I have caused there to be a weakening tremor among the ranks of those set on earth’s destruction. Today a vibration that calls angels to attention echoed throughout time. Our laughter threatened hell today.

I dined with the greats of God’s army. I made their meals, and tied their shoes. Today, I walked with greatness, and when they were tired I carried them. I have poured myself out for the cause today.

It is finally quiet, but life stirs inside of me. Gaining strength, the pulse of life sends a constant reminder to both good and evil that I have yielded myself to Heaven and now carry its dream. No angel has ever had such a privilege, nor any man. I am humbled by the honor.

I am great with destiny.

I birth the freedom fighters. In the great war, I am a leader of the underground resistance. I smile at the disguise of my troops, surrounded by a host of warriors, destiny swirling, invisible yet tangible, and the anointing to alter history. Our footsteps marking land for conquest, we move undetected through the common places.

Today I was the barrier between evil and innocence. I was the gate-keeper, watching over the hope of mankind, and no intruder trespassed. There is not an hour of day or night when I turn from my post. The fierceness of my love is unmatched on earth.

And because I smiled instead of frowned, the world will know the power of grace. Hope has feet, and it will run to the corners of earth, because I stood up against destruction.

I am a woman. I am a mother. I am the keeper and sustainer of life here on earth. Heaven stands in honor of my mission. No one else can carry my call. I am the daughter of Eve. Eve has been redeemed. I am the opposition of death. I am woman.

by Christianna Reed Maas; I found it here. (and cried, and read it over and over)