Tyler's first fish

Tyler got a fishing pole for his birthday. Today he finally caught a fish! Brena was so proud of him she wanted to show off his fish. The fish swallowed the hook. T.J. is trying to save the poor thing right now. The last time a fish swallowed the hook T.J. couldn't save it in time, so it died. Then he gave the kids a science lesson on dissecting a fish. It was very interesting and all the neighborhood kids were enthralled with it.

We finally heard.....

Hawaii, here we come! We are SUPER excited. We don't know yet when we will be leaving but we think it will be June/July. Anyone want to come see us?

Tyler is 6!

My little boy is 6. We were all excited and told him we would take him to Disney World for his birthday (because he could get in for free and so could one of us). We thought that would be a great treat and a really good deal! So what does he say??? "I want to go to Chuck E Cheese, I'll go to Walt Disney World next year for my birthday." WHAT???!!! Are you serious? We told him, no he won't go next year because we won't be anywhere near WDW. We(I) tried to talk him out of it. Brena was mad at him because "she wanted to see the princesses." I guess he has been to WDW too much? I didn't know there was such a thing. So, we went to Chuck E Cheese. Brena forgot her madness when we got there. If you want to see some adorable pictures of this sweet boy when he was a baby, click here. All I have to say is this boy is the sweetest boy ever. He has a heart of gold just like his Daddy. If I could be promised any child I ever had would be like Tyler, I would easily have 10 kids :) But, I have Brena (who I love DEARLY) and realize all kids are different ;-)

T.J. goes to Alaska

T.J. got to fly his plane up to Anchorage, Alaska. He left on Friday and got home early this morning (2:30 a.m. and then was back at work at 8:30a.m.!). He just barley missed the volcano erupting yesterday.

The plane. They got some snow while they were there.

Anchorage

T.J. hard at work ;-)

T.J. called me Friday night when they got there and was complaining it took them 10 hours to fly up there. I told him think how lucky you are! 10 hours is it?? To fly all the way from Jacksonville to Anchorage?!! Do you have any idea how long it would take a normal person to go to the airport, get there early, go through security, wait to board the plane, get on the plane, get off and transfer somewhere else, etc. etc.??? Seriously, how awesome would it be to just go hop on your plane and take off?

Quaker stock-up

We are set on granola bars and quaker snacks! Target is awesome!!!! If you buy 5 Quaker items you get a $5 target gift card. I had LOTS of quaker coupons. But, even if you don't have any, you can print as many as you want online. Just click on the link below to find it. I had to go spend $10 of my next weeks grocery budget tonight on this deal because it was ending tomorrow and I just found out about it. Here's what I got:

(15) things of Quaker - granola bars, oatmeal, rice cake snacks, etc.
(2)mini loaves of bread (FREE after target q)
(1)bag cheetos to bribe kids (.24cents after target q)
(1)gallon milk
strawberries .97cents!!
Total oop for all above: $10.76!!!! And I have $1 left on a target gift card.
So 20 items averages to .54 cents an item. I saved $40.02.
This makes me excited :) Yes, I'm a coupon geek! If you need more details click here. Thanks Money Saving Mom!

Next quilt is.....

I figured I better start on the quilt I am planning on giving to Tyler's teacher at the end of the year. I can't believe Kindergarten is almost over. She loves green and St. Patrick's Day. And she's Irish. So...it's a green Irish Chain quilt :) I really had wanted to get it done for St. Patrick's Day (yesterday) yeah right. But I think it will be nice to give it to her at the end of the year too.

St. Patty's Day

We didn't catch any leprechauns. But we think some invaded our house. They came in through the fireplace and left a trail (and a mess!) to the kids' rooms. There we found a treasure trove of candy. Brena couldn't stop talking about it all night.

I don't know why Tyler can't do a normal smile for any picture!

Ingenious kids

It has been really hot the last few days. The kids were out playing water gun fights, the next thing I knew they had dragged the sprinkler under the tramp for even more water fun.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom! How lucky am I that my Mom and Dad happened to be here on my Mom's Birthday??!! I gave her the quilt. She of course said she loved it. We have had a fun week...too busy playing to remember to take any pictures!

I stippled it with variegated thread - it look awesome on the back.

I love this back!

Brena having to get into all the presents!

My Mom's just like me - it's hard for us to keep our eyes open in pictures!

$50 Weekly Menu

This week I spent $50.82 on groceries. I was ok to go over $50 because last week I didn't spend my $50.

Commissary trip $33.20:

Publix trip $6.67:

Target trip $ 2.27 and to read more details about this go here:

Costo trip $8.68 not pictured but I got my usual: 2lbs cheddar & 2 lbs Mozzarella.

Here's what the rest of the groceries were:

(3)Motts applesauce

(6)Cream of Chicken soup

(1)Cream of Mushroom soup

(1)cream of tomato soup

(1)bag goldfish

(1)bottle suave body wash

(2)boxes Banana Nut Cheerios - they great!

(1)Cascade rinse aid

(2)Hellmann's light mayo

(2)Mentos gum

(1)strawberries

bag frozen broccoli

(1)yo-plus yogurt

2lbs butter

whipping cream

half n half

4lbs chicken breast, boneless skinless

Parmesan cheese

5lbs flour

ricotta cheese

jumbo shells

stove top

pie crusts

cream chicken soup

cream mushroom soup

(2) packs mini pringles chips

5lbs potatoes

head of broccoli

white onion

yellow onion

snow peas

garlic

I have my parents here, so 2 extra adults eating. I really wanted to stay within my $50 budget. I had gotten a 20lb Turkey for $9 right after Thanksgiving, so that certainly helped! But, here's what we ate (just dinners listed):

Sunday: White Chicken Lasagna - this recipe was SOOOO good, I'll have to post that later

Monday: Turkey dinner with all the fixin's

Tuesday: leftovers

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: Dad wanted to take us out, he was probably afraid I would have made him eat Turkey again, which I would have!

Friday: Spinach Manicotti

Saturday: Spanish Spaghetti

Cinnamon Rolls

T.J. got a call about 3pm Wednesday afternoon that he was flying the next day to Pensacola. And when he has a flight there is lots of preparation that goes into them, so he was hurrying to get all his charts, maps, and flight route planned. He had to be at the base at 4:30am! So he had to wake up about 3:45am. It was his first real flight in the P3 and he says he did really well, I'm so proud of him!! But he hasn't been able to catch up on his sleep until this morning. I kicked the kids out of our room and shut the door so he could sleep and decided to make some cinnamon rolls for him and the kids. When he woke up he was pretty excited to see them! The recipe is from my Mom and they are super fast and easy. I started making them about 8:30, and we were eating them by 9:15. Yeah, 9:15 is some major sleeping in at our house ;-) Here's the recipe:

Quick Cinnamon Rolls

1/3 cups sugar, 3Tbs yeast, 1/2 cup oil, 1 1/4 cups warm water. Mix until dissolved; cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Mix in 2 beaten eggs to the yeast mixture. Add 1 1/2 tsp salt and 4 1/4 cups flour. I mix this in my kitchen aid for abut 5 minutes until I have a soft dough. Roll dough into rectangle shape. Brush with 1/4 cup melted butter, sprinkle with 1 1/2 T cinnamon, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 cups nuts (3/4 cup raisins optional). Carefully roll dough, seal edges, and slice. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and let rest 10 mins. Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes. Frost with glaze while still hot. Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar 1/4 cup hot water, 1 T soft butter.

Making (a tiny bit) $$$ @ Walgreen's

If you ever wonder why in my pictures of my weekly shopping trips there is never any milk, this is why. I don't pay for my milk. I use the money I make at Walgreen's and CVS to buy it.

6 dove deodorants @.99each (The darn store only had 6 - would have been even better if they would have had 8!)
1 Colgate max fresh $3.29
3 Vaseline lotions 2 @$2.69, 1 @$2.61
1 gallon milk $2.79
Total oop: $9.48 (I used a Walgreen's gift card, not money from my pocket)
Got back in RR's (to use like cash) - $13.50
Total profit: $4.02
I guess if you buy 8 dove things you will get back a $10RR! But because I could only buy 6, I only got a $6RR for it. RR stands for Register Rewards.

$50 Weekly Menu

Another good week. This week I spent $46.31 on groceries.

Publix trip pictured above (with cheese from Costco):

(4)packs yoplait dora yogurt (these were free plus .84cents in overage)

2.2lbs grapes @.99cents/lb

strawberries $1.67

10 boxes pop-tarts - I HATE pop tarts, TJ loves them. He eats them for breakfast and lunch. I think they were like .16cents a box or something like that.

Total oop:$5.28 - total savings of $39.15 or 88%

Total for cheese: $2.54 - I had a $1.75q

Commissary trip pictured above:

(1) box lasagna noodles

5lbs flour

2lbs brown sugar

(3)pringles mini chip bags

(3)Ragu Alfredo Sauce

Tostitoes Tortilla chips

buttermilk

18 eggs

16 cheese slices

bag frozen mixed veggies

pouch pepperoni

4 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast

deli ham

wheat bread

16 tortillas

grape tomatoes

cucumber

jalapeno pepper

squash

onion

baby bella mushrooms

cilantro

lettuce

broccoli

2lbs carrots

4lbs bananas

Total oop: $38.49

Our menu was this:

Sunday: Creamy Chicken & Rice Bake, jello, stuffing, homemade wheat bread

Monday: BBQ Beef Sandwiches (leftovers)

Tuesday: Chicken leftovers from Sunday

Wednesday: Dinner @ a friend's house

Thursday: Ham Stromboli (made this for a recipe group for church) fed my kids Hamburger Helper (Tyler's been begging for it) TJ ate a free sub from Quiznos

Friday: Pizza, salad

Saturday: Shepard's Pie

Slowly but surely

I'm plugging away at Black & Bright...I got so caught up in it I forgot to pick up Tyler from school today! It's early release day every other Wednesday. The school called and said they had Tyler at the front desk, I was thinking he was sick. Nope, it was early release and they were wondering if I was coming to get him. Wow. I felt pretty bad. Tyler didn't seem to mind. He was sitting there with about half the neighborhood kids.

I didn't think it could get any colder!

I didn't think our house could get below 63...we hit a new record at 61. No heat for us! I think we had every blanket we own, which is a lot, on all our beds last night. For previous post on this click here
It's also amazing to me how on Saturday we were sitting at like 80 degrees, and in a day it can drop 30+ degrees. I guess that's Florida for you. My friend said her husband (who lives here) woke up the other morning (when it was a cold one) and said "I want to move to Florida." That really made me laugh!

Tyler's classroom

I actually get to work in Tyler's classroom quite a bit. I am grateful to all my friends and of course my wonderful hubby who watch Brena while I go volunteer. I usually either forget my camera or don't have time to take any pictures while I'm there. Today I finally got a free moment to take some pictures. This whole week they are celebrating Dr. Seuss. Today we did Cat in the Hat, on Thursday they will be making green eggs & ham. This is Tyler, his teacher, and the teacher's assistant.
This is just Tyler and his teacher.

I helped the kids make hat in the cat parfaits. We were supposed to layer jello & cool whip 3x to make a cute cat in the hat parfait. Well, we thought we had a big tub of cool whip leftover from another event that hadn't been opened, so I just brought in the jello. When I got there and opened the cool whip to get started, the cool whip was green! So, we scrambled and found some marshmallows to take the place of the cool whip. It wasn't as cute, but the kids still gobbled it up!