Monday, August 31, 2009

What's Cookin'

So back to menu planning. Much easier to plan dinner when I know what's cookin' ahead of time. We've made a few impulse trips to restaurants the last couple of weeks so its time to plan again!
Mon~Grilled cheese, watermelon
Tues~Italian meatball subs, salad
Wed~Spaghetti, cheese filled garlic breadsticks, veggie, peach cobbler
Thurs~Beef Lombardi, corn, carrots
Fri~Beef Enchiladas, tortilla chips, carrot sticks
Sat~Leftovers
Sun~Teriyaki pork roast, rice pilaf, carrots
Mon~Labor Day-will probably be making deviled egges, Caramel cake, and bean dip to take to various get-togethers
Tues~Chicken tenders and fries, or leftovers
Wed-Sat~camping in LUDINGTON!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Walgreen's Photo Deal

Wow, Walgreen's has been having great photo deals lately! Thru Aug 26, type in promo code FUNDAY to receive a free 8x10 collage print ($3.99 value).

Monday, August 17, 2009

Giveaway Heads up

Go here and enter to win a Crayola Creativity Pack from Andrea@Mommysnacks. This is one of the first blogs I started reading when I was looking for help with coupons, deals, etc.

Walgreen's Photo Deal

Use coupon code PENNY at Walgreens.com to get 25 prints for 25 cents. This deal is for today only. Also, if you are a first time Walgreen's photo customer, get your first 25 prints free.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Simple Gospel

Just listened to this sermon on the centurion's servant (found in Matthew 8:5-13). I also read Matthew Henry's notes on this passage and was struck by the following (emphasis added):

The servant got a cure of his disease, and the master got the approval of his faith. What was said to him, is said to all, Believe, and ye shall receive; only believe. See the power of Christ, and the power of faith. The healing of our souls is at once the effect and evidence of our interest in the blood of Christ.

And echoing Dr. Murray's closing prayer, "Help us to make sure we are children of the King."



Saturday, August 15, 2009

Berlin Fair 2009

In July, we went to the Marne fair with the boys and their cousin Adrienne. Noah loved all the big tractors and animals. Adrienne and Andrew loved riding the carousel.

Cousins on the big tractor.

Noah wearing his leash (I love that thing!).

The funniest looking llama I've ever seen.

Noah with Daddy on the carousel.

Adrienne and Andrew on the carousel.

Joel's First Haircut

Before pictures...




and after.


He wasn't too happy!

Ludington 2009

We just returned from our camping trip to Ludington, and although we are tired (and dirty!), we had a good time. We realized that camping with three little boys is not for the faint of heart! But we had a good time away from home and now I am doing laundry in preparation for leaving again on Tuesday for our church's family camp. Here are some pics from this past week:

Noah at the beach. He wasn't feeling the best and he just sat and watched everyone in the water. Then he laid down on a towel. Poor baby.

Andrew had tons of fun in the sand until he turned around and clunked heads with another little boy.

Playing in the sand.

We took the boys canoeing and although, they weren't thrilled, they did end up enjoying the trip. I don't think they'll be asking to go again, though.

I was very surprised that Andrew smiled so well for this pic. He was terrified about getting into the canoe, and kept pointing to the shore and asking if we could get out and walk! He settled down once we got going.

Chris, rowing like an Indian. Andrew was not impressed since this rocked the canoe.

My dad, grimacing because Noah was using his hair as handles.


We went on a hike with my mom and dad when they came up to visit and here is Noah sitting in a tree.

Joel learned how to pull himself up on this baby fence while we were camping. Since we came home, he's pulled himself up on the pack and play and crib.

He didn't seem to mind face planting into the sand. There was sand everywhere! I swept the tent and shook the bedding out everyday, but the boys still woke up with sand all over the place every morning!

Noah, Kaimira and Joel. We went to watch the sunset every night at the beach with most of Chris's relation who were also camping.

Andrew at the beach~he had tons of fun with all the kids his age.

If you've been around Noah for any length of time, you know he tends to hold the last bite of food in his mouth until it dribbles down his chin or we dig it out. We thought we had him fooled by feeding him applesauce, but apparantly, you can hold applesauce in your mouth too.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

Rite Aid deal BOMBED

So I was going to try and earn $17 buying 9 battery powered razors. However, I went to 2 Rite Aids and was only able to buy 4 so I didn't reach the number for the deal. I was able to sell the razors on ebay, but still was not able to make up the cost of buying coupons, etc. So I learned my lesson. No more crazy ideas!
I bought coupons for CVS this week and that deal worked out ok, but I still had to go to two CVS's to get the number of products I needed. I went out first thing Mon. morning since I knew that they run out of sale items quickly. The first CVS had none of the products and I was informed they wouldn't be getting anymore until Saturday. The 2nd CVS only had 4 left. I needed 5, but was still able to do the deal by purchasing a different product. However, now I have $10 ECBs I need to spend in the next month or they expire. I think I'm done doing these kind of deals unless they are at Walgreen's. I seem to have better luck there.

Meijer Deals TODAY

Some decent Meijer deals today:
40 oz bags of chicken for $4.49
6 pk of 24 oz Pepsi for $1.99
Meijer mac and cheese $.25

Iced Coffee~Delicious!




Here's a recipe for great iced coffee from my friend Suzanne:

1 cup boiling water
4 tsp instant coffee
4 tsp sugar or Splenda
4 tsp chocolate syrup or caramel (I think any flavoring would work)
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
1 cup milk

Mix everything together and pour over ice. Makes two generous servings.
I'm enjoying a glass now with caramel icecream topping as the flavoring. Super delicious!

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Some deals

This week 5 lb bags of chicken are on sale for $8.99 at Gordon Foods. Buy 6 bags and use the $5/$50 purchase and spend about $48 on 30 lbs of chicken. This averages to about $1.64 per lb which is a great deal for chicken. Also, we were able to fill our freezer up which was running a bit low.
At Aldi's this week, milk is on sale for $1 a gallon! Limit 5.

Monday, August 03, 2009

What's Cookin'

Mon~Sloppy joes
Tues~Roast beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, beans (bringing the leftover roast beef camping for philly beef and cheese sandwiches. Yum!)
Wed~Beans with smoked sausage (trying out a crockpot recipe from my new cookbook)
Thurs~Burgers, oven fries, carrot sticks, cantalope
Fri~Mommy's gone, boys get pancakes and sausage
Sat~Dinner at grandpa and grandma's
Sun~Meatloaf, baked potatoes, corn

Next week we will be gone camping to Ludington. I am SO EXCITED! Looking forward to vacation. I'm sure the boys will have a blast. We will be eating burgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken, etc. The third week of August is church family camp where I will not have to cook (YAY!). I lowered the food budget thinking I would not be buying groceries for basically two weeks in August, but I have bought some extra stuff for camping, so we'll see if I can stay in budget. I did pretty well in July, especially considering I was way over in June and took it out of July's budget. So no meal planning posts for a couple of weeks. I can hardly believe its August already!

The Boys: Picture day

Alice took some pics of the boys again today. They aren't the most cooperative of customers, but she got at least one good one of each of them.

Noah, the serious one


Joel's hair...I mean, Joel, the baby.

Smile!

One of Andrew with a natural smile. He's the hardest nut to crack.


Mommy and boys.

3 boys in a wagon

Noah, Joel, and Andrew.


Brothers.