Grocery Bargains (last NC edition for awhile) and menu plan!

I am cleaning out my cupboards because on Friday we're flying to Indy and then heading back to WA! We've been here almost 3 1/2 months already...hard to believe!

I spent about $11 on groceries this week and HT and Food Lion.

We only needed one bottle of dressing, but the deal at Food lion ended up making the dressing free plus several dollars of produce free too. We just needed a little produce, peanut butter, butter, salsa, cheese and eggs to make it through the rest of our time here.

Here's our menu plan to finish out our time here plus clean out those pantries and freezer!

Breakfasts: lemon poppyseed muffins & eggs, cold cereal & bacon, fruit, cream of wheat, toast & eggs

Lunches: leftovers or sandwiches, smoothies

Dinners:
Today: Homemade chicken noodle soup, leftover homemade biscuits
Tues: Sausage/broccoli/onion skillet meal over egg noodles (making this up)
Wed: Marinated Steak, mashed potatoes, broccoli
Thurs: Burritoes (using whatever leftover meat we have from the week), peas
Friday: (the girls and I will be gone but Daniel will be here and need to eat!) Homemade pizza (will prepare before hand to throw in the oven after he takes us to airport)
Sat/Sun: Daniel will eat leftover pizza, PB&J, Chicken and Brown Rice in the crockpot, and the last frozen pizza

What will you be eating this week?

Visit from the Aunties and "Mr. Bob"

We spent the last week with Daniel's youngest sister, Karol and then the weekend with Karol and his other sister, Beverly and her boyfriend Bob. M took to calling Bob "Mr. Bob". They left early this morning and we miss them all already!!


Thankfully I am going to Indiana to visit them and Daniel's parents, family and home church in just a few days.

I have the BEST family (in-laws too!) I could ever ask for by the way!

The sad goodbyes of an MK

These pictures show lots of fun in the sand, but the next day or so was the last time we got to see this group of kids. The family of 7 lived next to us for 3 months and are headed to PNG soon. Our girls and their middle three boys and oldest girl spend a ton of time playing on our deck together. Everytime we pass their door we are a little sad. Ahh...its already starting, the constant goodbyes of missionaries and their kids. I am tearing up as I write this! And then miss Gracie...only a week left with their family!

I don't like it at all! But the Lord knows why and has good purposes for all of it.



Liv and her big standing up skills

M and Si-Si, doing some intense construction. They were the best of friends, the worst of enemies somedays. But they always wanted to play together.

Maybe they'll all see eachother at some MK convention in the future and thankfully Gracie's family will be stationed near us (most likely).

Liv's 1st birthday bash

In no particular order, here is a recap of Liv's first bday bash.


Two of our distinguished party guests, Mrs. W and her lovely baby, A

The dinner: taco bar w/ rice on the side

The adorable Auntie Karol, also celebrating her birthday!

Big sis and G, eating and socializing

Vanilla cupcakes w/chocolate frosting were enjoyed by all

Birthday girl and Mommy

Nom nom nom nom....

Daniel getting into the birthday groove

Livvie going in for a birthday hug and snuggle with J

The cute birthday girl enjoying her first ever cupcake (yes, she enjoyed it!)

Menu Plan for the week of 5/24/10

Here's what we'll be eating this week (trying to clean out those pantries since I am leaving in two weeks!):

Breakfasts: M: toast w/ PB T: coffee cake & fruit W: cold cereal Th: French Toast Fri: zucchini muffins Sat: cinnamon rolls Sun: lemon poppyseed muffins & eggs

Lunches/snacks: leftovers, green smoothies, fruit, cereal, granola or trail mix

Dinners:

Monday: BBQ/Picnic at the Hangar with all the JAARS aviation peeps (bringing large pasta salad, condiments, and a lettuce, tomato and onion tray)

Tuesday: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Peas, & Oreos (I finally got an idea from my sis-in-law what she might like for a late birthday dinner:)

Wednesday: Meatballs, Saffron Rice, Mixed Veggies from Freezer

Thursday: Spagetti w/leftover meatballs, Garlic Biscuits, Broccoli

Friday: Homemade Easy Pizza and veggie sticks/dip

Saturday: Baked Chimichangas, rice, raw veggie sticks

Sunday: Whole Chicken in the crockpot(didn't do last week), mashed potatoes, broccoli, biscuits (for after church lunch with Daniel's two sisters and Beverly's dude:) Dinner: Maybe pasta Carbonara and broccoli?

What's on your menu this week?

Harris Teeter Super Doubles #2 5/23/10

$15.85

A little regular shopping (eggs, fruit, veggies, milk, icecream for Liv's party) plus some super doubles bargains.
Free:
2 Tornados (frozen roll things...haven't tried yet)
6 Vitamin Waters
Van Camp Pork N Beans
Ideal Sweetener
2 Yakisoba meals
Butterfinger (free after mailed coupon)

Cheap:
Tony's pizza ($0.17/ea)
Yoplait Yogurt
Fiber One Yogurt (both yogurt were less than $0.30)
Feta Cheese
Vanilla Almond Milk (we use for creamer and in the girls cereal sometimes) $0.49/ea
Chocolate Soy Milk...mochas..yum
Spot Shot (for a little toddler accident on the bed!)
Kashi Puffs $0.49

Happy 1st Birthday Liv!

We have lots more pictures to share, a bunch from her birthday party yesterday. Right now we're off to get the toddlers(Livvie took her first steps this weekend!) ready for church!

Box party!

I just got the line stuck in my head "party people...whoomp there it is!"

Yes, that's embarassing, I know. But that's the kind of enlightening, spiritually enriching music I liked to listen to as a teen. Don't be jealous of my coolness.

I digress..

Here are some pictures of the fun times the girlies have been having. Between good ole boxes and this supa cool tent game thingy Daniel's parents brought out for us (that I forgot we had until now!) the girls have been having one ongoing party!

The funny part is watching Liv try to get the balls that are on the other side of the mesh wall. It keeps her busy for a LONG time.

Cheap thrills, baby:)

Problems arise when they want to be in the SAME box. They are smiling now but 2 minutes later...not so much.

Snuggles

The other day I overheard M saying to Liv "wanna snuggle?" It was pretty much the cutest thing I've heard. And later they were trying to "snuggle" on a pillow together. Liv didn't get the concept of snuggling with sis entirely...she was used to sucking her thumb and twirling mommies hair vigorously. Sister did NOT appreciate the hair twirling.

Snuggling is something they both very much like to do in various forms, here are some pictures to illustrate:

The "just woke up" snuggle.

Yes, Daniel has a shiner in this picture, and no I did not do it;) I think he said a tool or a part got him while working in the hangar:)

M's perpetual bed...she is constantly making herself, her stuffed animals or her family a bed by dragging out pillows and blankies from various places.

Loves me some HT super doubles! 5/19/10

My first Harris Teeter Super Doubles trip is below, total $6.25

Favorite deals/freebies:
44 oz. classico sauce free!
Vitamin Waters free!
Lunchable free!
Puff's plus w/lotion free! (I have a nasty sinus infection or something...so these are very necessary!)
McCormick Vanilla $0.99 (totally out...so a good deal for something I need!)
Ortega Refried Beans/hotsauce $0.50 for both (for Liv's bday taco feed!)

Other deals:
Mozzarella Cheese for pizza night $1.40
3 bottles BBQ sauce $0.19/ea
Kashi Puffs (to mix in with our sugary cereals:)$0.49
Yakisoba meals free
Splenda granulated $0.89 (out of sugar so this will do for awhile)
Uncle Bens Brown Rice $0.65

We found someone to let us store some things (including non-perishable foods) for a month and a half until we come back here for another month of training in August. It will save us a ton of money for food and on baggage (since each bag costs $$ to check w/most airlines!) fees to leave some things here...yay!

Goofy girls and even goofier faces

M and mommy having some fun with the camera yesterday:




The funniest part was trying to get her to copy some of my silly faces. Her imitations were priceless (and usually not even close:). My girl is growing up!

Stuffed animal zoo

We received a bounty of stuffed animals for the girls from Daniel's growing-up home church in Indy when we arrived here. The girls have gotten some serious mileage out of these animals. Here are some examples of the fun they've been having:

On the chair together, just snuggling (and wiggling)


In M's room, where she brought ALL the stuffed animals in 2 by 2 and surrounded little sis.


The big Liv smile:)

After we leave the majority of these will become the property of other "JAARS" kiddos. There is a free thrift shop on campus that JAARS members can use that we will donate them to.

Menu Plan for the week of 5/16/10

Here's what we'll be eating this week (and what we bought this week too):

Breakfasts: M: turkey bacon & banana bread T: cream of wheat or French toast W: cold cereal Th: Toast & eggs Fri: oatmeal w/all fixin's Sat: lemon poppyseed muffins & eggs Sun: cold cereal (quick for church)
Lunches/snacks: leftovers, green smoothies, fruit, cereal, spinach-artichoke dip & crackers

Dinners:

Monday: Baked Chimichangas (from freezer), southwest salad

Tuesday: Baked Ziti, broccoli, green salad

Wednesday: Sausage Bean Ragut biscuits & salad


Thursday: Cheesy Hamburger Mac and peas

Friday: Homemade Easy Pizza and veggie sticks/dip

Saturday: Make Your Own Taco Bar and Cake/Icecream for Liv and Daniel's sis's birthdays!

Sunday: Whole Chicken in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, cooked carrots

What's on your menu this week?

Loves me some NC grocery bargains (5-14-10 edition)

Food Lion and Harris Teeter this week for about $35.

We only needed eggs, milk, salt, yogurt, butter and produce this week. I picked up a couple of coupon deals to save for next time we are back here (cookie mixes, muffins mixes, flour and Hamburger Helper.)
A few good deals:
5# potatoes $1 (reduced rack)
grapes $0.99/lb
flour-free after peelie coupon doubled and instant discount at HT
GG frozen veg $0.50-$0.60 each

We'll be eating from the pantry for the rest of our time in NC (less than 3 weeks for me). I'll be buying milk, produce (but not much...I have 11 packages of frozen veggies in the freezer and some canned fruit!) and frees for the stockpile. No more cheap frozen food meat...gotta clean out that freezer/fridge!

What good deals did you score this week?

The BIG kid playground

A work crew came through a couple weeks ago and put the long-awaited BIG kid playground back into a functional state. The billion or so MK's that use these playgrounds have been getting their use out of it since!!

Probably shouldn't have eaten that sand...

Goin' my way?

Our little cruiser...heading for trouble

More driving fun

Most evenings you can find Daniel pushing the girls on the swings for a loooong time while mommy gets the dishes done:) Works well for both of us...mommy gets some quiet and productive time and daddy gets to spend time with his girls.

And we're back!

Blogger was accidentally blocked here at JAARS for the past week and a half, so sorry for the lack of posts! I have lots of pictures to share:)

More sheet forts

Another cooped-up day, more sheet forts and fun with sheets.


Gotcha!

Crazy sheet head...gimme some candy?