Cousins

M and Liv with their Crosby cousins in Indiana earlier this month. I might die of cute overdose looking at this picture;)

Menu Plan for the week of Sept. 27, 2010

I got an amazing deal on many pounds of ground beef at Albertson's today ($0.99/lb!) so I may have to change things a little to make sure we use up some of it this week.

Here's what we'll be eating this week

Breakfasts: scrambled eggs, oatmeal, turkey sausages (Jenni-0 for supa cheap too!), fruit smoothies, waffles

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

Dinners:


Monday: Meatloaf, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, veggies

Tuesday: Chimichangas, fresh homemade salsa, chips

Wednesday: Baked Pasta Casserole (like lasagne but with other noodles that are cheaper!) because the fam requested it again...but it doesn't sound good to me!

Thursday: Crockpot Chili and Cornbread

Friday: Frozen Pizza, veggies from CSA run

Saturday: Burgers on the grill, fries, misc veggies TBD

Sunday: Meatball subs or soup in the crockpot

What's on your menu this week?

Hangin' in grandma's yard

The girls are just enjoying a break from hard playing in their matching chairs.

We are blessed that my parents have a great yard (minus the raging river nearby!) for the kiddos. There is a great paved (enclosed) driveway the girls can ride bikes and drive strollers on. There is grass and a swingset. Good times.

Loves me some grocery bargains (but blowing that budget!)

I knew this was not going to be a good week for the ole food budget. My all-day sickness has required a sort of creative cooking that I haven't done much before. I cannot cook the same thing for dinner twice or it makes me feel sick. And I have to prepare 99% of the dinner meal before 8 or 9am because that is when I don't feel nauseous (so I guess I have the opposite of morning sickness??). Does this mean I have a boy this time...or TWINS?!?!? Anybody? ;)

Anyway. I went to Fred Meyer and Rite Aid. Its too tiring to go to more stores like I used to so I bought everyone I needed in one stop at Freddies and picked up some clearance food and FREE diapers at Rite Aid.


Total for Fred Meyer: $69. A little more explanation...we are now feeding 2 more adults and they are more ummm...specific on what foods they'll eat than we are so it costs more. Dunkin donuts decaf for example. This trip also picked up some "once in awhile" items like molasses, butttermilk powder, whole wheat flour and spices along with good coffee which was $30 of the total alone. Some good deals: 1 lb organic spinach for $2.50, cage free eggs for $1.50 ea, Campbell's select harvest soup for $0.25/each after coupon, $0.50 barilla pasta and $0.99 Quaker Oatmeal Square cereal which is now our new family favorite:)

Rite Aid: (my new favorite drug store!): not sure of total because I used Up rewards for most of it from last week's Johnson and Johnson deal.
Found all sorts of clearance food, including albacore tun (worked out to be 4 cans for under $1.00!), Starbucks coffee for $2.47 each (and each one has a coupon for a free tall coffee at Starbucks on it!), oats for $0.50 (clearance and Quaker), granola bars for a few cents after clearance, coupon and up reward, and better than free Peppermint celestial tea after up reward and clearance prices! It would have been even better had I printed the coupon available (not sure where now).

Huggies: 3 free (actually a money maker) after coupons, up rewards, rebate.

Enjoying a Drive-In movie one last time

in the Wenatchee Valley.

Only Daniel and I went, but the girls wanted to check out our comfy back of grandpa's truck digs. It was quite a fiasco because the only take cash so we went to 3 different places right before the movie was about to start to find cash. Then it started raining! But we stayed (mostly) dry and cozy. A little piece of history because the drive-in is reportedly closing soon.

The previews showed the best parts of movies of course and there were lots of questionable parts as usual! Lame. And I slept through the entire 2nd movie! But it was fun anyway for the experience:)

Menu Plan for the Week of Sept. 20th 2010

We are eating lots of fresh foods! Most of the meals will be made in the crockpot since I can get them going before 9am when my "morning" sickness starts (and continues ALL DAY LONG:)

Here's what we'll be eating this week

Breakfasts: scrambled eggs, baked oatmeal, zucchini chocolate chip muffins

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

Dinners:

Sunday: Had bday feast of crockpot chicken and lots of sides

Monday: Italian Pasta Casserole, corn on the cob

Tuesday: Taco Soup!

Wednesday: Homemade Baked beans in the crockpot, corn on the cob, hot dogs

Thursday: Tator Tot Casserole and some veggies from CSA (TBD)

Friday: Homemade Easy Pizza, carrots and tomatoes with homemade ranch dip

Saturday: Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken and Mashed Potatoes, veggies from CSA

What's on your menu this week?

Fresh Foods and more

We've been enjoying an abundance of fresh produce here. My parents have a garden (an odd one...many varieties of squash/pumpkin gourds that we aren't sure where they came from!), a CSA subscription and neighbors that keep bringing bags of fruit or veggies over. If I tackle cooking/baking in the morning before morning sickness gets bad I can make some good stuff! After that everything sounds terrible:(.

This past week I've made crockpot applesauce, mexican casserole (with fresh homemade salsa and extra tomatoes), homemade spaghetti sauce, pumpkin muffins, zucchini chocolate chip muffins and pictured below: pumpkin soup and curried collard greens!
Yum! The collard greens were a little spicy and too tough for my taste but the pumpkin soup was a hit with everyone. We could've tripled it no problem. Here are my little ones enjoying grilled cheese and pumpkin soup:


And the girls enjoying fresh whole tomatoes from the garden on the porch!

Thankfully we get new things to try from the CSA every week and I am thankful for allrecipes! Without fail, every time I make something (even things I love!) the next day or so it sounds awful to me. Anything I've cooked in the past couple days/weeks makes me feel sick to think about so you won't see a lot of repeats on our menus for awhile! Babies are so worth the nausea though;).

Half Week Menu Plan

Going for a lot of crockpot meals since very little sounds good right now and mornings are best when dealing w/ food and morning sickness!

Here's what we'll be eating this week

Breakfasts: scrambled eggs, toast, green smoothies (for me with eggs on the side), oatmeal, whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes

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

Dinners:

Sunday: n/a

Monday: n/a

Tuesday: n/a

Wednesday: Had homemade spaghetti sauce from crockpot over spaghetti and green salad (used up a bunch of ripe tomatoes from mom's garden!)

Thursday: Pumpkin Soup and London Broil (from freezer)

Friday: Easy Mexican Casserole with rice on the side

Saturday: Mediterranean beef soup

Sunday (planning for this now because we'll celebrate M's bday today!) Lasagna in the crockpot (or something else in the crockpot during church) and kitty cake!

What's on your menu this week?

Going to "Africa" in our own backyard

Traveling has become a way of life for us and is seeping into M's playtime. Today she spent all morning toting as much stuff as she could possible hold in a dolly stroller and her purple suitcase around the house. Then while playing outside (in my parents' backyard--we're back in WA!), she decided to play "Africa" in the bushes. Here are the pictures.




By the way, does anyone have any morning sickness tips they want to share? Eating little and often helps but I never had anything like this all day all the time nausea with my first two pregnancies.

Read My Shirt: Big News

Coming in May 2011:


We'll be a family of 5! And yes, we may end up with a French citizen if you are keeping up with our mission plans:)

We're alive and well, really!

Sorry for the lack of posts this last week and a half! We have lots to share, but have had a crazy time graduating from ICC, trying to clean and pack and then drive across 4 states to Indiana! We are now in Indiana and having a great time meeting with people and spending most of our time reconnecting with family and old friends. Thank you for your prayers and patience as we try to find time to do it all!

Please pray for us especially as we will be sharing FOUR separate times this sunday at Daniel's church. We are grateful for the opportunities and it will definitely stretch us!