And there we have it!

Poo! In the potty! Way to go M!

Sorry about the obvious TMI nature of it all, but I am so happy!

Over a month of potty training and less than 3 "#2's" in the potty so I definitely have something to cheer about:)

Was it...the 30 minutes I had her sit on the potty (I've had her sit longer than that before!)?

Or the large sippy of "you can do it please go poo on the potty apple juice" (she doesn't normally get juice)

The applesauce?

Or the desperate prayers while I changed the laundry downstairs and the time alone on the potty? Maybe?

Let's just hope and PRAY for a repeat performance tomorrow;)

Loves me some NC grocery bargains (4/26/10)

Here's what we'll be eating this week.

I've been having computer/blogger issues this week along with lots of sickness between the girls and I. Sorry about the lack of posts friends!

Walgreens: $2.45 oop (use one RR and got several back)
2 dark chocolate bars
Stayfree
Newspaper
flossers


Food Lion: $9 oop and includes 10 more items...that I almost took back because they were not healthy! But I decided to keep them for my snacky hubby's lunches. The diapers were $0.99 (10 pack) after coupon and the pickles were $0.75 and relish was $0.09! Creamer was $1.67 no coupon! I am just addicted to the stuff.

Harris Teeter: $11.29
3 Kashi Cereals
2 organic greens (1 spinach, 1 salad)
2 Kraft sharp Cheese
1 Planter's peanuts
6 pack Coke Zero (free after coupon)
Whole Wheat Ritz
3 Dannon yogurt 4 packs
1 lunchable (free a/c)
organic potatoes (4lbs maybe) $1 marked-down
Smart balance sour cream $0.79
Whole grain Betty Crocker blueberry muffin mix (free after e-vic & coupon)
Used $1 wine tag in addition to coupons on everything but the potatoes!






Hubby and I went to Aldi and Walgreens (in addition to Dairy Queen..thanks Jamie and Justin!) on our date. Romantic, I know:)
Too lazy to get the receipt for exact totals but it was around $30 at Aldi and less than $9 at Walgreens (awesome deal...2 packs of pull-ups and 2 vitamins...an overlapping BOGO and free after RR deal on Sat. afternoon!)
Aldi was fresh produce, eggs, milk for 2 weeks, and other staples like peanut butter, pinto beans, vanilla and sugar.


Total for April was about $5 over budget. We'll have to make them up in May but I thought we did well overall!

What did you buy this week?

Menu Plan for the week of April 26th, 2010

Here's what we'll be eating this week:

Breakfasts: french toast (you eat lots of bread when its almost free!), cold cereal, fruit, whole grain toast w/ peanut butter, eggs, banana muffins

Lunches/snacks: leftovers, green smoothies, fruit, cereal, yogurt

Dinners:

Monday: White Chicken Chili,(didn't get to this last week) homemade biscuits, steamed carrots

Tuesday: Cabbage Kielbasa Skillet over egg noodles

Wednesday: Fried Rice or meatballs over rice, broccoli

Thursday: Taco Potatoes

Friday: Pizza Bites (from Rachael Ray mag-still need to make this) and veggie sticks/dip

Saturday: Hot Dogs, baked beans, salad or green beans

Sunday: Whole Chicken in the crockpot with carrots, potatoes, onions, rolls

What's on your menu this week?

Tools of Bible Translation

This week I continued work on the Helio Courier...we are hoping to be done in a few days. After maintenance the Helio will need to be flown to 10,000ft for testing. (I'm hoping to accompany the pilot!) The highlight this week was seeing the Cessna 207, destined for Cameroon, roll out the door. They are hoping to fly it to Washington state in a week for the engine conversion. Though most of our work here is technical in nature, I was reminded again as watched the 207 roll out the door that we are about much more than simply maintaining airplanes. The 207 will go to Cameroon where it will play a vital role in Bible translation.

The 207 before...

...and after.

all we need are seats!

Running and swinging the compass on the 207

Our church here in NC!

More energy!

Even though we've been having a rough week around here (Liv was up every two hours again last night...gah!) I've had decidedly more energy this week than the past month or so! Not sure which of these has done it, or if its the combo of all four, but I'm not going to mess with a good thing! My constant exhaustion has turned to a more manageable kind of tired this week:) Here's what I've been trying:

1) eating more veggies, in particular green smoothies every single day

2) taking those vitamins daily (B vitamin complex, fish oil and a multi)

3) exercise (walking more with Leslie Sansone's videos plus walks outside)

4) iced green tea and water are main main beverages and soda consumption is only once a week

Even if its only my imagination, it sure can't hurt!

Patience please, Lord

"But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" Galatians 5:22-23

I am having a particularly trying few days of mothering here. Even now I realize that my troubles with potty training, discipline, and sibling love probably have more to do with what the Lord is trying to do in me than a problem with my child(ren).

In the meantime I am praying and praying some more...

And the greatest of these is love.

I'm crazy box-head...gimme some candy!

I had to laugh when my daughter was running around the house with a box on her head. Memories of college in a tiny all-girls dorm with my very mature girlfriends (lots of sarcasm here) running around singing into hairbrushes, talking in weird voices and lots of giggling about anything and everything (especially boys!) abound. One in particular was putting anything over our heads and running up to eachother's doors and yelling "I'm crazy ______-head! Gimme some candy! I have no earthly idea why we thought it was so funny (maybe an SNL skit that I never saw?!?) but at the time it sure was. So thank you daughter for bringing me back to my younger, dorkier days once again:).

M is by far a much cuter "box-head" than I was in my college days!

And like Crystal mentions, kids are far better off with less toys and more creativity as evidenced here!

Loves me some grocery bargains (NC) 4/17/10

Our menu plan for this week is here.

My total for this week was $49.80. With our new monthly grocery/drugstore budgeting, I have $59.30 left for the month.

Food Lion, Aldi, Wal-mart: highlights
produce at Aldi can be cheap! It was my first time there. I also got some diced tomatoes that we really needed for $0.55/can. Spinach for green smoothies $2, bananas at $0.39/lb and strawberries for $1.19. Ground turkey for $1/lb was also a deal for me. And the all-important chocolate chips:) Food Lion had skinless boneless chicken breasts for $1.59/lb and I couldn't pass that up. I got about 6lbs,, which should last us awhile! Red grapes at $0.99/lb and wishbone dressing for $0.90/bottle were good deals for us too. At Wal-mart I found Wheaties Fuel on clearance for $1/box and found a coupon for $1/2 in my coupon binder so I grabbed two boxes to try:). Ronzoni smart taste was $0.49 after coupon at Wal-mart and the Brie cheese was free after coupon.

Walgreens:
$2.22 oop used $3 RR and got $5 RR back! Basically the sudafed deal paid for the raisins we were out of and needed!

And finally Harris Teeter: $8.xx
2 packs of Huggies, 8lbs oranges(rang up wrong so they were free after a customer service run!) and lots of yogurt.

What deals did you snag this week?

Tools of Bible Translation

This week I continued work on the Helio Courier. We have encountered problems that have put us behind. The highlight of the week was visiting a few grass air strips with the pilots. I was reminded again of the need for proper maintenance. Flying in such conditions requires the full attention of the pilot, they do need the added distraction of maintenance errors.

A view from the bottom of a grass strip...

... a view from the top.

Avgas is very expensive in Cameroon, so we ship it to them...one of the main reason we are trying to acquire aircraft that operate on jet fuel.

M and daddy de-stress after a long day by building towers!

Menu Plan for the week of 4/18/10

Here's what we'll be eating this week:

Breakfasts: hashbrowns, french toast, cold cereal, fruit, whole grain toast w/ peanut butter, oatmeal, eggs

Lunches/snacks: leftovers, green smoothies, fruit, pretzels, hummus & crackers/veggies

Dinners: (many of this week's are inspired by Family Feasts for $75/week by Mary Ostyn, which I received in the mail this week)

Monday: Mexican Tortilla Skillet

Tuesday: Turkey Bacon, Whole Wheat Toast, Hashbrowns, orange slices

Wednesday: Fried Rice, fruit salad

Thursday: White Chicken Chili, Cornbread, green beans

Friday: Pizza Bites (from Rachael Ray mag) and veggie sticks/dip

Saturday: Chicken Strips, Spicy Home Fries, leftover veggie sticks, peas

Sunday: Spinach Cheddar Quiche (crustless)

What's on your menu this week?

Cowboys and the Prairie Princess

Just a normal day in the life of MK's.

Tis almost summer, let's talk about veggies!

Okay, its not really almost summer. I think spring started like last week:)

But here in my neck of NC, we've had some good stretches of 80-90 degree weather, so I kind of like to think I am going to have one really really long summer this year:)

So veggies. I've been drinking lots of green smoothies. Have you? What do you think about them if you've tried them (or haven't!)? I think they start to grow on you even if you don't love them at first. That's been the case with me. Being the still-nursing mom of a hungry 10 month old I am, I get hungry every 2-3 hours. The green smoothie is a perfect solution for my mid-morning munchies (say that 5 times fast!). Plus its a better option than more coffee & carbs:).

Here's what I am really excited about: farmers markets and CSAs. I love farmer's markets and have for a long time (but not always the prices...am I am the only one that has over-priced markets in my area?). But this will be the first summer that I've been a part of a CSA! My parents are going in half-sies with a friend (and we'll be living with them part of the time as we finish our partnership development and support raising).

Have any of you been a part of a CSA? If so what did you think? Worth the cost?

The grass is always greener...

Big toddler girl M is looking longingly at the playground through the deck slats while little cruiser Liv is looking longingly at big Sis through the screen door:)

Loves me some NC grocery bargains 4/11/10

Here's what we'll be eating this week.
Its hard to believe we are already halfway done with our time here in NC! 4 months is an awkward amount of time...you just start to feel at home and then its time to start planning for the trip home! Well...its good for us to realize that no place is really our home anymore. Anyway, on to the shopping! Harris Teeter, Food Lion, CVS and Walgreens:

My shopping total for this week was: $43.72.
Harris Teeter:
Strawberries $1.25
Choc ful o nuts coffee $1.75
Sorrento string cheese (free after rebate!)
2 gallons whole milk $1.99 each
2 cans tomato sauce $0.57/ea
2 BC warm delights $0.16/ea
V8 fusion $1.00
HT natural applesauce $2.00 (huge jar)

FL:
4 lbs oranges $2.99
20 bananas (some are overripe so were $0.39/lb
1 lb hamburger
2 jars Classico (BOGO plus I had a coupon for $1.50 off beef wyb 2!)
organic prune juice $1.57 clearance, for my little one who needs help w/pottying!
Ore ida hash browns $1.25
Medium eggs $1.26
Earths Best organic baby whole grain cereal $2
2 lbs carrots $1.49
2 jars skippy PB clearance for $1.50/each
Split peas (for dinner tonight!) $0.90

CVS:
Dove conditioner
dark chocolate reese's cups
(both free after ECB's)

Walgreens:
mouthwash $1.99
pictures free!
Hair Color $1.99 (to cover my lovely shade of early grey:)
W brand childrens' tylenol for my poor sick baby (so expensive!) $6.99
Total...can't remember but I used up ALL my RR's and then some!

Total $43.72!

I also went to HT today. We're trying to eat more fruit and veggies as a family because Daniel and I both have weird health "issues" and are trying to resolve them w/o expensive dr.s visits if we can!! I spent just over $7 (after sales/coupons) and bought:
large bag fresh Spinach
Fresh Strawberries
Steamfresh veggies (2 packs...broc and peas)
Turkey Bacon
Whole Milk (daniel signed up to bring to mens' prayer breakfast!)
2 packages Flipz choc covered pretzels (free after coupon)

I also have a $5 rebate coming back for the Sorrento string cheese (found on package) and $4.50 ini ECBs to use at CVS next week. I forgot to put the free photos we got from Walgreens in the picture.

What deals did you score this week?

Menu Plan for the week of 4/12/10

Here's what we'll be eating this week:

Breakfasts: hashbrowns, french toast, cold cereal, fruit, whole grain toast w/ peanut butter, oatmeal, eggs

Lunches/snacks: leftovers, green smoothies, fruit, pretzels

Dinners:

Monday: Split Pea soup (in the crockpot!) and whole grain bread

Tuesday: Southewst Bean & Cheese Roll ups with rice on the side (didn't get to this last week, but made Chicken and Pinto Tacos instead!)

Wednesday: Pasta w/mushroom marinara sauce, garlic bread, broccoli

Thursday: Turkey Tetrazinni, green beans or Chicken and Brown Rice Casserole

Friday: Homemade pepperoni Pizza w/ salad or fresh veggies

Saturday: Grlled Tuna Melts, crackers, fresh veggies and fruits

Sunday: Leftovers (our church has a pizza night tonight so we don't need to worry about dinner)

What's on your menu this week?

Tools of Bible Translation Part 5

This week I began work on a Helio Courier...an aircraft unique to JAARS. We continue to operate this "ancient" aircraft because of it's amazing STOL (Short Take Off & Landing) ability. The Helio has served Bible Translation for many years, but is slowly being replaced with aircraft that run on less expensive turbine fuel.

Performing an inspection...

96in dia propeller...yep 8ft

A major part of the Heio's STOL ability... movable leading edge slats

Taxing presents a challenge, because you can't see directly in front.


Beautiful day at the airport


Though my work week was great, the highlight of my week (rather, the thing I chose to highlight) was church today. The Pastor finished his series on the temptation of Jesus. Interesting that obedience to the Father led our Savior to the cross, not around. If the disciple is not above his master...

Yay for Swagbucks!

I am so excited! I just made my first order with Swagbucks on Amazon.com!

Here's what I got, and am only paying $6.70 out of pocket...

"Family Feasts for $75 a Week: A Penny-wise Mom Shares Her Recipe for Cutting Hundreds from Your Monthly Food Bill"
Mary Ostyn (her blog is Owlhaven and the other book I read of hers was great)

and

"Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds Ultimate Collection"
I have never used this, but lots of lovely ladies from my church have recommended this. I (used to) love to run, but have found it almost impossible to do it consistently w/o running in the dark( not safe). I did it for awhile at our last house when Daniel wasn't working and could walk w/ the kiddos on the track while I ran. So...I am hoping to walk with this video while the girls sleep 3 times a week and see how that goes.

PS, thanks for those of you who have signed up and are using Swagbucks through my affiliate link! I've gotten a good number of points that way! If you want to sign up I am going to add the link on the blog sidebar:). Its says SEARCH & WIN. Thanks!

*PS today is MEGA swagbucks day and I won 100 bucks earlier today!

My little snuggle-bug

Liv is waaaayyy more of a mama's girl than M ever was. All this time I thought we were just awesome at instilling an independent and flexible spirit in our child (because M always loved going to church nursery etc. and didn't cry when we left) but lo and behold that's just her personality! Needless to say, Liv does cry, and does not like to go anywhere w/o her mama:) But we do it anyway because its good for her AND us.

She is getting her first tooth and is cruising on furniture. She wants to play with anything her sister does (especially when her sister has it!) but the feeling is mutual. Oh and especially big sis' potty chair. We've had a few hand in the pee-pee incidents...oh my.

Her first word has been uh-oh, for the last few months. Finally she's added one more.."hi"! She now practices when she sees strangers here at the JAARS campus or at the grocery store. Its pretty adorable:) She's 10 1/2 months old now by the way.

The big sleep-drool pictured here. And yes, our babies sleep on their tummies after a few weeks...by then the swaddling just made them both angry! ;)

Chicken and Pinto Tacos w/Jalapenos!

I made a quick (ish) taco filling last night that we loved! In an effort to help my terrible memory remember how much we loved this combo, I am going to try to write it down here:)

Chicken and Pinto Tacos w/Jalapenos!

Corn tortillas, warmed
3/4 cups chicken, chopped
2 cups pinto beans, cooked
1/2 onion or more chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced tiny
2 tiny zucchinis diced tiny
1/2 packet taco seasoning or equivalent homemade
garlic & chili powder to taste
shredded sharp cheddar
Oil, TBS or so for skillet

Heat oil in frying pan or skillet. Add rest of ingredients and heat (actually it would probably work better to do the oil, onions, zuchinni and jalapeno first until tender and then just warm the chicken and beans and spices. Roll up filling in corn tortillas and top with shredded cheddar and salsa, s. cream as desired. I would say this was relatively healthy by most standards too:) We served with a little brown rice on the side and carrot sticks/dip.

Yum!

Reading and Showing off Easter duds

Reading with daddy and blowing raspberries

Hey! Whatcha lookin' at?

Showing off the cute dresses from our friend Gracie's Mimi and Papa!

The girls have pretty dresses from their grandparents to show off too, but Liv has been beyond cranky and under the weather so as to keep the crankies to a minimum I haven't put them on for a picture:)

Loves me some NC grocery bargains 4/4 shopping

If you want to see what we'll be eating this week go here.
Harris Teeter Triples: $4.63

I made one last trip to the triple coupon event at Harrs Teeter after I thought I was done. One last trip for freebies was great, but we were out of necessities (peanut butter, bananas and coffee filters are necessities in this house don'tcha know?!). Someone from JAARS has lent us their car indefinitely so I was able to go on Tuesday.

Coffee filters were on clearance for $1.07 for 200 which is enough to last us the rest of our trip here and then some! I used a Skippy coupon that tripled (not the most amazing deal but $1 for PB when you need it is okay). Free tortillas, rice, cups, yogurt, coffee, tea, cheap pineapple, cake mixes, Mayo & baked beans rounded out that trip.

HT, Food Lion, CVS: $32.55

Food Lion, Harris Teeter and CVS(after coupon prices):
Harris Teeter:
Birdseye frozen Veg: $0.30 to free each
Breakstone Sour Cream: free
Pinto Beans $1.29
Onions $1.97
Smart Balance Butter $0.75
Can't believe its not butter (less than $0.50, can't remember)
Dixie Crystal sugar 4 lbs $1.50
Potatoes 5 lbs $2

FL:
Ham $8.15
Snuggle Fabric sheets: free!
6 cans veggies $2
Bananas $2.50 ($0.50/lb)
Kraft Shredded Cheese about $0.75/each
Crystal Light $1
3 5 lb Gold Medal Flour ($0.95 each after peelie and sale!!)
12 Kool-Aid $1

CVS:
CVS brand Shampoo Free after in store coupon
Folger's coffee $1.74

Total for the week $37.18

I am trying to be better about keeping track of my spending accurately, so I am keeping track of it here. I tried writing it down, but I lose the paper! On a Word doc, but I forget to write it down! So maybe this will be better. We are also going to try a monthly grocery/drugstore budget instead of weekly this month.

Menu Plan for the week of April 5th, 2010

Here's what we'll be eating this week:

Breakfasts: french toast, cold cereal, fruit, whole grain toast w/ peanut butter, oatmeal (unless its too hot all week...high 80's today!, Panera Raisin bread and eggs

Lunches/snacks: leftovers, PB banana smoothies/green smoothies, dry cereal/raisin mix, fruit, yogurt, pretzels, granola bars

Last week was the first week in a long time that I actually made everything on the plan! I was happy about that, but I have not carry-over this week to "cheat" with! A little more work for me and this week's plan is feeling a little tired. We'll see how it goes!

Dinners:

Monday: Pasta Carbonara (utilizing some leftover ham), Italian bread, green beans

Tuesday: Southewst Bean & Cheese Roll ups with rice on the side

Wednesday: Roast Chicken in the crockpot with Carrots, potatoes and rolls (save the bones/carcass for broth)

Thursday: (easy night!) Chicken noodle soup in the crockpot with leftover rolls

Friday: Homemade pepperoni Pizza (we had frozen pizza last week)

Saturday: Cheesy ham egg noodle bake with greens (making this one up with inspiration from a Rachael Ray recipe...thanks Jamie!)

Sunday: Chili and Cornbread (crockpot chili) or grilled cheese with leftovers

What's on your menu this week?

Tools of Bible Translation Part 4

This week was spent making repairs to a Cessna 206 for the flight department. In the following weeks, this airplane will be used to prepare pilots for overseas work. My week was a little hectic, so I only had time for one picture. Two highlights this week: Walking home from work I realized how blessed we are to be here in NC. All at once I was reminded again that we are here because many of you faithfully pray and give to us. Thank you! Second, we ordered the Rosetta Stone to begin learning French. More on that in the coming weeks...

Troubleshooting "excessive play in the rudder system"

Thursday family recreation

A long weekend for us here at JAARS: everyone gets Good Friday off. Its in the 80's here too, so I think we'll spend lots of time outdoors this weekend! The apartment was HOT tonight so we went outside to play after dinner:) M found a huge stick and a tiny ball...so she and daddy had a "ball" playing:) I even played chase for awhile!


Daddy and M taking a break from chase in our parking lot


Liv, a "mama's girl" and her mama


My little climber jr.


Giddy at the fun M is having with her daddy


No touchie-touchie the grass. The "tri-pod" crawl.