Rockford performed Young MC’s “Principal’s Office” in the sixth-grade talent show.

My sister-in-law and her husband wanted to spend a night on their own for their anniversary — which was actually in February, but this was the first weekend we could make it work — so we had a number of kids in the house. By which I mean:

  • One 15-year-old boy.
  • One 13-year-old girl.
  • One 11-year-old boy.
  • One 7-year-old girl.
  • One 5-year-old girl.
  • And one 5-year-old boy.

    The cats did not enjoy the extra activity, but the rest of us did. Rockford and the 11-year-old did some long-overdue landscaping, and the 13-year-old spent most of her time entertaining the seven and the fives. Meanwhile, the 15-year-old and I spent some quality time together, which may have involved sitting on couches in the living room with our books.

    It was a surprisingly relaxed weekend.

    This week the kids are going to be performing in our homeschool co-op’s talent show, which promises to be entertaining. I’m not sure what any of the other children plan to do, but Poppy is going to recite a few things and Pete will be doing an interpretive dance to the “Ghostbusters” theme song. In other words, it’ll be a must-see event.

    And … the menu plan! Here it is!

    Monday: Sesame noodles

    I used to make sesame noodles pretty frequently, and then they kind of fell off my radar. The Pioneer Woman’s Simple Sesame Noodles recipe is pretty similar to the way I make mine. I like to add shredded carrots, too. I put the carrots in the colander and drain the noodles over top of them to cook them just a little. These are great cold, too, so I like to make enough to have leftovers for lunch the next day.

    Tuesday: Baked ravioli

    I’m not generally a brand-loyalist, but our usually grocery store only has a few brands of frozen ravioli. I didn’t go to our usual grocery store this week, though, so I’m using generic ravioli. I don’t think it’ll make much of a difference.

    Wednesday: ???

    Wednesday is talent show night, and I’m not sure what we’ll be doing for dinner. It’ll either be something out or something very simple. Like cereal.

    Thursday: Honey Dinner!

    The National Honey Board was one of the sponsors of the Blissdom Conference, and they were giving out recipe booklets. So I figured why try one honey-based recipe when we can have four or five?

    Friday: Pizza

    We tried a new, local pizza place last week, and the people there were so friendly that it might just be our new go-to for pizza night.