Cute grocery helper, menu plan & sleeping with the Eeee-fant

I had a supa-cute helper with my grocery shopping and put-away today (big sis was in on the grocery shopping too). Louis gave the pop bottle a good lick-down before I put it away.
We're just about eating out of the pantry now, so I just picked up a few things for around $15 from Harris Teeter, Target (had some returns anyway), and from the food run here at JAARS(bananas, yogurt and broccoli). Menu is below.

Monday: Fried Rice (Daniel and I love this, the kids do not. So sad)
Tuesday: Spagetti, bread, green beans (we all like this okay, not love, but its cheap, easy and relatively healthy:)
Wednesday: Taco Soup...LOVE! esp with fresh avocado....mmmmmmmm and cornbread
Thursday: Fried Chicken and Mashed potatoes, broccoli
Friday: french bread pizza (ran out of flour, don't want to buy more!)
Saturday: Mac n cheese in crockpot?
Sunday: Shepherd's pie or leftovers

And...
Louis finally gave up the weeping and gnashing of teeth to snuggle down with his arm around his beloved blue Eee-fant. If only sleep was something mommy could get more of these days (not trying to complain here but c'mon, between Liv's night terrors and Louis waking up 1-2 times a night I am up half a dozen times. No wonder I can't remember my own name half the time:)

Edible Playdough

Word to the wise: this stuff is not tasty like a cookie. But the girls had fun and I managed to through away the BIG cookies after they ate the small ones without their noticing. A fun activity for a cooped up day:)

Liv and Louis hanging out

Livvie loves those rare moments she gets to spend alone with little brother!

Calling Louis, are you there? Hi Sis!

Loves me some Harris Teeter/menu plan

Fun times shopping at Harris Teeter this week. Reasons I love Harris Teeter:
#1: 20 double coupons per day. No multiple transactions, no waiting until double coupons come out.
#2: BOGO sales are often super cheap. Each item is actually 50% off.
#3: Balloons and free cookies for the munchkins. Love it.
#4: Awesome customer service. I have had almost no bad experiences with cashiers/customer service there.
#5: Winetags. These are $$ off coupons hanging on wine bottles (no you don't have to buy the wine!). I got $2 off any deli meat and got some really good pepperoni for $1.
Love H.T.! This week was a bigger trip (last week was only about $25) so I spent about $45.

Some of my favorite bargains this week: free Blue Diamond Crackers, cheap almonds, $0.14 hormone, antibiotic free eggs, cheap frozen fish, canned and frozen veggies, $0.15 whole grain Meuller's pasta. Our fridge and freezer are full!

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

Breakfast: toast, eggs, fruit, chocolate chip banana bread

Lunches: Leftovers, sandwiches

Dinner: Monday: Tacos and taco salad

Tuesday: Chicken in the crockpot, mashed potatoes, Peas

Wednesday: Fried Rice

Thursday: Fish, Mashed potatoes, corn

Friday: Homemade Pizza, frozen veggies

Saturday: Homemade Hamburger Helper (a new favorite!)

Sunday: Clean out fridge, leftovers, TBD

Free Pumpkin!

We were able to get a free pumpkin that had a little icky spot so I thought I would let the girls have fun with it before cooking it:) And fun they had. Of course they ended up with marker all over their hands and shirts, but thankfully most of the markers were washable!



After the fun was had I washed the pumpkin and we've enjoyed pumpkin soup, pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and puree in the freezer:)

Menu Plan

Our two family visits (first Daniel's folks, then mine) are done now:(. We miss them already! We'll still be eating though, so I had better figure out some meals!

Sunday: Beef stew in the crockpot with rolls, banana cake
Monday: Had: tacos with all the fixings, spinach salad
Tuesday: Spagetti, meatballs, rolls with pesto, salad
Wednesday: Whole Chicken in the crockpot w/ carrots. Mashed potatoes
Thursday: Stir fry w/chicken, rice
Friday: Homemade pizza, cheese sticks, veggies
Saturday: Snack or fun food night, or leftovers.

What are you eating? Anything new (I think we're in a rut!:)

Handsome boys in orange

Daddy and his little man.

Sunny day playground bliss

Happy 4th Birthday Marianna-girl!

Yes, her birthday was yesterday. These were taken at her first "father-daughter" birthday date. She had a blast eating icecream and spending some quality time playing with daddy.



She's my sweet girl who loves babies, wants more than anything to get married and be a mommy when she grows up! She's learning her letters and sounds and loves to help all the time. We love you big four year old!

Pushing Louis in the stroller

Marianna loves to help, and pushing Louis in the stroller is one way she helps a lot. This is our apartment in the background.

Olivia is just getting to be big/strong enough to push louis sometimes. Notice her cutie piggies.

Here we are going on a bear hunt. And Daniel is being feisty so yes I am sticking my tongue out at him. He definitely deserved it. And yes, I have my white trash mocha in hand...every good bear hunt is made better with one. Especially white trashy if you drink it out of an old peanut butter jar:)

In other family news, Olivia has "hand, foot and mouth disease". Really not as bad as it sounds, but I learned that when your child has lots of cold sores in their mouth and refuses to eat for several meals in a row, there might be more than stubbornness there. Oops.

We also had a dinner guest here tonight who spent 3 months in Cameroon earlier this year. It was cool to throw hundreds of questions his way..he was excited to share too, so it was good all around. Saw lots of pictures of the city we'll be living in and the people who are there. Fun!

Menu plan for first week of Oct. 2011

I have a fussy baby chewing on my arm and am ready to menu plan! I've made it two weeks with only tiny shopping trips (to make up for huge ones when we first moved here!) so the meals are getting a little boring. Some things are repeats that I bumped from last week when we were unexpectedly given some friends' extra food and got a few things for cheap from the day old bread store (which also has other stuff like produce or chicken salad in a cooler these days).

Sunday: Bean dip with chips/cheese
Monday: Chicken, Rice and Broccoli Casserole, whole grain bread, butternut squash
Tuesday: Quesadillas
Wednesday: Spaghetti, green beans, garlic bread (probably meatballs and a nice dessert too since we're having company)
Thursday: Soup and Bread or Fried Rice
Friday: Hot Dogs, veggies
Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner

Lunches: leftovers or pb&j, or grilled cheese

Breakfasts will be toast or yogurt, french toast, eggs, fruit, banana bread

What's on your menu this week?

Happy 5 months Louis Nathaniel!

Biggest sister Marianna and Louis share a special bond. He really lights up when she is around. She is like a second little mother to him and for a 3 almost 4 year old is really caring and responsible with him. Louis loves his sisters!

Louis gets lots of opportunities to be carried-- even by his sister. Marianna has been slowly getting more comfortable carrying Louis (sometimes w/o mommy knowing it right away!) She generally does a really good job but sometimes gives us a mini-heart attack:)

Here is Louis, after eating. Rubbing his belly...nom nom nom.

Here is Louis after I scare him by taking a picture (see above:) What a startled boy!



Attack of the killer bunny mask. Or rather the bunny craft mask that was cute at one time but has since lost a few pieces:)

Practicing some pre-crawling moves.

Our big boy is five months old and 14 1/2 lbs! He is still a scrawny fella though, I think mostly because he is so long! He wears 12 month clothes because his torso is super long. He is only 25th percentile for weight, but top of the charts for length. Head circ. was about average, so he is growing well. We're planning to start solids when he's 5 1/2 months old like his sisters did, with mostly fruits and veggies but still nursing full time. If he doesn't steal table food from my plate first that is!

We love our Louis!

How is it Saturday already!?

I have some picture posting to catch up on!

Having fun at one of the JAARS playground...Liv is getting to be quite a good runner.

Marianna is able to "pump" herself on swings and toys like this. Makes life much easier for mama!

The volleyball court hear the hangar is full of great sand for sandcastles...lots of entertainment there! Just wish it didn't stain clothes! I am going to try a homemade oxiclean recipe out this week by the way (peroxide, baking soda, water).