Yeah for doubles!

Our camera is in a box in our new house's shed somewhere (and I am not living there!) so pictures of deals will be scarce for awhile. But I did use two doublers at Albies today--yay! Starbucks frappacino drink for $0.39 after doubles and free activa yogurt. YUM!

Menu Plan for the week of June 30th, 2009

This is exciting (or at least that's what I'm telling myself:)! I wholly back in the saddle for menu planning. The not so awesome part is I am now on my own-no mother, no mother in law, no nobody helping me with girls or with the chores. BUT!!! I am back with my wonderful husband again. And that is happy news. We are once again on the same side of the state in the same house! Unfortunately its not our house-we're house-sitting again-with FIVE crazy pets. Its a blessing to have a place to go while the house is being finished. So...I spent $45 today on groceries and it will last us for two weeks. I had snacks, cereal, milk, eggs, cheese and beans already to work with along with a couple canned goods. I will need to buy fresh fruit in a couple days when we finish grapes and cherries that my parents gave us.

Tuesday: cooking now! Spagetti with marinara meat sauce, cooked carrots, corn

Wednesday: Beans & Rice, spinach

Thursday: Cheese and Spinach Frittata

Friday: Beef and Bean Tacos with all the fixins'

Saturday: Tuna Melts, carrots (church potluck today--will bring snack platter and a dessert maybe?

Sunday: BBQ saucy chicken, sweet potatoes (from mix), corn

Monday: Crunchy Rice Casserole

Tuesday: Chili, Cornbread, pea/carrot mix

Wednesday: Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole

Thursday: Mac N Cheese with Hamburger/peas

Friday: Buy costco pizza maybe?

Saturday/Sunday-haven't gotten this far yet:)

Coffee Cabin with Uncle Jon and Gramie Kathy

My hometown has the coolest little coffee shop that has two places for kiddos to play while having your cuppa joe. I've been there several times while here-and my most recent visit with my friend Denaye and kiddos(in real life and bloggy:) was sadly undocumented. We had 5 kids under school age and managed to keep from burning the place down! ;) (although my daughter was probably close to it by the end--I think she has a long was to go before sharing is part of her vocabulary.) It was fun to catch up with our friends!

Here are some pictures of an earlier visit with my brother (uncle Jon) and grandma Kathy.

Baby O, in more content days with Grandma.

Would you fly with these two pilots at the wheel?


A rare moment of relaxation.

Post VBAC recovery

So I know I still haven't posted O's birth story. The problem is its already half written, but saved on a laptop on the other side of the state. Sorry about that. And it will be kinda long (44 hours doncha know;) so I don't want to re-write it.

But I do want to say that this is the first week (1 month has passed) that I feel noticeably better. The second week after giving birth I actually felt worse that right after, but I did move the first week post-birth and moved boxes and such that week so that probably explains that business.

Aside from a few problems that give me grief I am starting to have more energy and don't feel like my insides will fall out after walking around for a few minutes. I am looking forward to walking more soon (and losing the *ahem* 27 pounds of pregnancy weight I need to lose. Fun times. Veggies, fruit, water and lots of protein here I come!

In a few weeks I plan to start posting meals and menus from my weight loss journey but for now I am slowly eating more veggies and trying to cut back my sugar habit. Before pregnancy, sugar was no biggie. During and after-terrible sugar cravings. But I intend to cut way back in the next few months. But for now..pass the dark chocolate m & m's :)

Maybe she's really two months old?... and family news

Baby O is 1 month old! But maybe we were wrong and she's really already 2 months old. Why do I say that? Today she rolled over from her tummy to her back. And its not the first time. Plus she was almost 10 pounds at birth---so maybe we were wrong and she's really supposed to be two months old;)! I think she'll have blue eyes and dark brown wavy hair (sister has straight brown hair and brown eyes). I have green eyes (everyone else in my family has blue) and Daniel has brown eyes (his family has some of both). We'll see how those genetics play out:)

I'd post more pictures but I'm having technology issues again.

The girls and I are still staying with my parents in Eastern WA and will be here for another week. We will be house-sitting for some friends from church for the first three weeks in July and then ready or not-we'll be moving into our new house!

I am so excited to set up our new little house and finally get into a routine with some consistency again. The moving and not seeing daddy much has taken a toll on M's behavior which is no surprise. But we have been blessed in having other places to stay and so many people from our church and our families to take care of us.

We just got a reminder email from Wycliffe about the 2 week training on Partnership Development is coming up this September. We are planning on attending that training in Orlando and it will be exciting to start moving toward the mission field in a more active way.

Daniel is still working hard at his job at the airport and on the house. The bathroom is getting close and a lot of drywall is up in the house. They removed a beam and some low ceiling in the back of the house and its opened it up quite a bit and it looks much bigger. I can't wait to see the finished product.

What is your family up to? I haven't kept up to date with my blogging buddies, so I would love to hear from you.

Picture blitz

Because I am lame and took eight years to get these up, I'm putting lots out there at once. I blame my parents' echnology problems, but you don't care about that, do you? You just want PICTURES!

Menu Planning in my parents kitchen and other randomosities

Cute pictures are soon to come!

We took a bunch on the beach before leaving (with my parents) to come to their house. The girls and I will be here until the end of June at least while Daniel works on our house. The plan was to relax and let my family take care of us but my mom found out she's planning food/flowers for a church funeral this weekend. So...for now I am helping with food planning/cooking and a few other household chores which is okay. My mom wanted me to use up what's in her pantry and not to stockpile too many "deals". I have such a hard time shopping that way now! But I did it. First I made a list of meals that used primarily stuff they already had and supplemented it with a few deals that were really cheap. Here are the meals we came up with for the next week or so:

Steak, instant mashed potatoes, green beans

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Steak (for dad), fettucini alfredo (jarred) with shrimp, garlic bread, salad

Homemade Mac N Cheese with Ham bits in it, peas

Beef Enchiladas and some sort of veg on side

Baked Spagetti (meal from church friend), cooked carrots, bread

Beefy Noodle Soup, cornbread

Chili (canned with added beans and ground beef), cornbread, carrot sticks/dip

Tuna Melts, carrot sticks

Snacks: carrots, granola bars, yogurt, cereal

Breakfast: Cold Cereal, Carrot Pineapple Muffins with cream cheese filling (made these this morning-very good and lots of nutrition in these little guys)

I won't mention that the super healthy snack I am eating right now happens to be frozen cooked chicken nuggets:) I know-not so great.

My mom did take the girls and I out to a very healthy lunch today though-a place in Wentachee called Cellar Cafe. We had a huge Romaine Salad with strawberries, almonds, parm and asparagus (like the one I told you I wouldn't like Karen;)! and it was pretty good. We also had a smoked salmon wrap and bbq pork and bean soup and they were really good. I generally don't like fruit in my salads but the whole meal was yummy and very healthy. We needed it to balance out the McDonald's we ate on the way over on the ferries:)

Pure bliss is...

two babies sleeping at the same time:)

Wait...what am I doing blogging--its mommy nap time! ;)

Finding routine among the chaos...

The two girls and I are about to move again (in with my parents until the end of July) but things are feeling more settled down finally. Daniel and friends are making good progress on the house renovation-some of the drywall has gone in, the bathroom is getting close to being functional (we hope) and Daniel will be living there when the girls and I move to my parents.

Our "Little Bit" as I've nicked named baby O, is doing well. She was weighed today and was 10lbs 1 oz (2 1/2 weeks old). She is eating and sleeping well-no not through the night but I don't expect that yet. I am just hoping for a good 4 hours in a row one of these nights:)

My mother in law was here for a week (we miss you gramie Karen!), which helped a bunch with healing. My fears for the midwife were unfounded-she said I am healing well but gave me some ideas and a prescription for my "issues". I am still trying to take it easy. Since baby girl was so big and they had to use a vaccuum to get her out in the end, I am pretty sore. So exercise has to wait, but I am up taking care of the basics again. I am going to make these Pigs in a Blanket (homemade blanket) for dinner and laundry and dishes are getting done. Other than that I am nursing, changing lots of diapers and trying to be consistent with a give big sis lots of attention. Overall I am having fun getting to know my new little one and learning to be a mom of 2!

We *heart* our gramies

Gramie Karen is here from Indy to take care of us. Thank goodness! My recovery isn't going like I'd hoped, so its been a blessing to have her here. I've spent most of the last week laying down or sitting and still am not healing super well. A trip to the store leaves me in lots of pain so I am going to the midwives for an early post-partum check up tomorrow. I think I know what has happened, but I won't speculate here until I know for sure.

Here are some pictures from Gramie Karen's time here.

Gramie and the girls

M at the beach wearing her auntie's dress-so cute!

Gramie brought this sweet cherry dress/nightie with her and its perfect for the hot weather we've been having. Oh and M now likes to wear her hair in a "piggie" on top--she looks so precious with her piggie tail sticking straight up!

Another picture of the cute cherry wearer:

All of us at the beach having a hot dog picnic, which O cried most of the time. Gramie Karen has become the expert in Moby Wrap Wearing since I am off my feet most of the time. O hollers for 5-10 minutes and then falls into a deep sleep.

My girls

A few random pictures of my girls from the last week or so...

Doula #1 and the moby wrap

I am determined to use and master the moby wrap! I just have to make the time to learn. Here is a pic of M, O and I with the doula that attended the first 24 hours of our labor. She was full of great ideas for healthful living before and after giving birth and gave us delicious organic greens, banana muffins made with whole grains (all other than wheat) and organic strawberries. I love learning about natural living! Someday I hope to incorporate more of that into my family's life.

Is it just the way we are standing or am I a giant in this picture!? :)

Yowza-what was that!?

Got a kick out of this picture, thought I'd share:)