Cookin' Day

So in an effort to reduce food spending (the weekends when hubby is home is the worse!) around here, I pulled out my menu planner and pencil for some serious planning. Our current budget is $440 a month for groceries and since I usually don't go shopping until the weekends he is home, it's chaos and daily (aka expensive) shopping which blows budget big time. So yesterday I got the bright idea to do my shopping on the weekends he works. Oh, my gosh! What a difference! (Did I mention I didn't have to bring anybody with me??) I spent a little over 200 this week (I went over by $18). Although I had cash, I swiped that old debit card when I went over. There were some things I could have done without until next shopping day, so next time I won't bring card.
Here's my dinners for the next two weeks:
Mini burgers/ potatoes / baked beans
baked spinach mostocolli/salad
pork loin/spinach marie/carrots
beans and cornbread (2)
chili
chicken and rice/salad
lasagna/mixed veggies
bbq/sweet potatoes/green beans
taco salad / yellow rice
sloppy joes / sweet potatoes
creamy chicken and broccoli
Shepard's pie

Most meals will make enough for leftovers for lunch, so that helped quite a bit toward the other meals. About $4o of it went to diapers, paper towels, etc.
Then came the fun part--I think:)
Today I made chili, sloppy joes, cooked up the hamburger and chicken for the other meals, made chicken broth, tomato soup for Shepard's pie ( I was out, it came out ok!) In all it took about 4 1/2 hrs....and I had extra hamburger and chicken for future meal or two. I felt like they must have with the loaves and fishies! I have to admit I found myself fretting over what seemed to be a small amount of food after shopping. The verse that says not to worry about what you will eat or wear came to mind. So I quickly found the thankful side of it and as always, I'm taken care of:)
BTW--my feet hurt!!

Shelbyism #210

As we were sitting at the breakfast table, Shelby was repeating to me some memories of last year. "Wow, Mom", she said. "I must have a big brain to have so many memories!"

Sunny days are here again (temp)

So this past weekend we dropped off the kids at Gmas down south and headed to the Bahamas aboard the Monarch of the Seas. Leaving black skies and tornado warnings, we headed into somewhat beautiful (it was warmer!) weather. Since we've been to the Bahamas so many times in the past, one of our companions scoured the web in search of something new. Well, we got it! We took a walking tour of the island. As we were heading from the Queen's staircase to one of the state buildings, the area where we were walking thru looked really rough. If you've been to the Bahamas you might find that hard to believe as all of Nassau looks bad. But this was worse:) We made our way to several state buildings (all state are painted pink) and discovered they were all closed (weekend), so we headed to an art gallery of a local Bahamian of whom I cannot remember his name, which was interesting, although his works were fairly dark. As we're leaving, one of our companions spoke to one of the locals who informed us we had been walking thru the "bottoms". She said it was the worst part on the island and even she did not go there unless on her way to work. Thanks to Clint for showing us the "real island" (not to mention the 5 mile walk)!
Overall we had a great time hanging out, eating (lots) and sleeping. It was so nice to be able to head to our cabin and take a snoozer anytime, night or day.
The kids I think missed us some? When we pulled up, at least 3 came out to see us. That 4th little people (Bryce) I had to find as I think he wrote us off for being away too long:)

On our way into NassauThe infamous towel animal (we had never seen the bat before)Slightly sunburned leaving Cocoa CayWe got lost some:)Of course, no trip is complete without a visit to the local PDOn the way up the staircase
64 steps and a history lesson later!

Playin' at Disney with Jillibeth!

So Uncle Jerry brought his special girl, Jillibeth to Disney this past week. Jillibeth, 4 is his only granddaughter and is obviously the first on his list. So it was no suprise so see him and her traipsing around the park for 3 days (oh, yeah, he brought mom and wife along too). So the kids and I headed on a VERY cold day to hang out at Magic Kingdom with them. Of course all know my kids don't usually meet a stranger, and in spite of probably not remembering who anybody was, it did not stop them from hugging, climbing on, and punching (Jerry's belly was too much for Aidan to resist!). Unfortunately, Jillibeth did not appreciate this. Who were we to come between her Maw and Paw?? She wouldn't even speak to Maw when Maw and Shelby held hands in line! However, after about an hour, she warmed up to the little people. Her and Shelby got some autographs from some very special characters. By mid afternoon, as we're heading to a ride, Jillibeth looks around and asks, "where's Cutie Boy?" Cutie Boy, aka Garry, from then on became her best bud:) By about 5:30 their gang had to head out for dinner reservations. My goal was to head for the gate and home, but "just one more ride" had us at the park until it closed. In spite of the cold, we had a great day.

Jillibeth had not really warmed up to us yet!

Super Paw (see the pink cape?)!

Riding the train!

Garry heard me and slowed down to take a pic, Shelby was too busy to hear me!
Poor Unca Jerry braved the one long cold line (30 min) of the day with the kids, so Shelby could chauffeur him around the track while we adults (along with Bryce and Aidan) went for warmth and hot chocolate!


Shelby really took to Cheryl:)

One last shot with Jillibeth and her "cutie boy"!

My own "Monsters of Comedy"

No trip is complete without a picture of the castle (still decorated for Christmas)

Eating our last meal of the day while waiting for the fireworks to go off. We were freezing!! Did I mention I don't own any sweatshirts nor heavy jacket???!! It was the night many parts of the Sunshine state was expecting snow. The sky was so cloudy that Disney only shot of a portion of the fireworks and what little could be seen was not that impressive.

I'm back!

Hey all, sorry for the lack of postings. We're back up and at it! Hope all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Song Bird

This afternoon, the kids were playing out back while a friend and I were visiting. We peeked out at them to see Shelby sitting on the monkey bar that swings. I asked her what she was doing. " Pretending to be a bird", was her reply. My friend then asked her, "what kind of bird are you?" Shelby answered, "a bird that sings!" But of course!?!

Semi-Homemade

Bert and I have a couple's baby shower to go to this weekend. I did get the usual Target/Babies 'r' Us registry, but I usually prefer put something together that is a little more personal. Generally, I like to make a memory box for the mom-to-be, but this weekend I just don't have the time or the energy to put it together. I did actually go to Target (for those of you that haven't been to the one downtown, ya gotta take the kids there so they can watch the shopping cart go up it's own little escalator!) but just couldn't get my act together. So, this evening I headed to Ross to browse, and I came across this little box of goodies for $5.99: (Box, 1st curl box, 1st tooth box, announcement frame, handprint kit)

Ok, but still a little generic for my taste, so I headed down to Jo-Ann's for a little personalization. So with a little ribbon, bows (glued them over the imprinted bows), a memory box poem, and reusing the announcement frame to decorate the front, I came up with a happy medium. Total for gift? 10.00!