Busy Busy Busy

This week has been crazy. I had a wonderful time with my Yo Yo's (college girlfriends).  It was incredible.  Truly, I am blessed with wonderful friends.  I got to stay an extra day and  a half to spend with Andrea & Wes and the boys.  I had so much fun. It was nice to relax and recharge.  We all need that.  I came home and told Levi he needed to go away for a weekend with no agenda, just to be.  Hopefully he'll do that. Neither of us has done that enough. 

This week has flown by.  I found out I'm changing classes at school.  I'm sad to leave my little ones but excited at the thought of teaching the pre-K class.  I did a midnight run to Kroger and did GREAT. However, they charged me $9.79 for Charmin that was on sale for $5.99. I didn't realize it until I got home.  I took it to another Kroger and they gave me the difference. BUT, my friend from school told me if Kroger charges you wrong, you get the product free.  I emailed corporate so we'll see.

Aunt Connie & Uncle Everett flew in yesterday so we've been with them.  It is so good to be with family and we have a lot of fun with them. Looking forward to a great weekend!  I'll write more later. Have a fantastic Friday!!

I'm BACK!

I am back home. I had a wonderful time in Birmingham with such wonderful friends.  I am truly blessed with GREAT friends!!  I'll write more later. I'm pretty pooped & tomorrow is a long day!!

21 Meals

Okay so I lied....I'm going to start my 21 meal list...it will be a work in progress.

pizza casserole                        taco pie                                chicken pot pie                       crockpot roast
pizza bread                              broccoli bread                     taco salad                               fajitas  
grilled chicken, rice, veggies     steak, baked potato, salad    spaghetti                               chili
white chili                                sloppy joes                           pork chops                           

okay so that's 15....good start       

Last post.....

for the night and the week!! Tomorrow I'm leaving for Birmingham, Alabama. I am meeting 5 of my closest friends and can't tell you how super pumped I am. We are the Yo Yo Mamas...long story but we named ourselves 12 or so years ago while in college. These girls are the kind of friends that you can go weeks, months at a time without seeing and when you're back together, you feel like you didn't miss a beat. I can talk about ANYTHING with them and know they love me for me. I love that!! We are all in different situations, relationships, phases, etc of life. I cannot wait to laugh, cry, eat, sleep, laugh, talk, talk, talk, laugh, talk with them. Man do I miss them!! So, I am out of commission for the next few days. Say a prayer for the hubby (and the kiddos). They'll have a great time!! See you next week!!

SERVE & Date Night

were tonight. Our C Group (small group) decided to do one of our SERVES at the Rowlett community soccer field. We were going to serve coffee & hot chocolate to spectators. It's been hot here so we changed our plans and said we'd do water instead. Well...we ended up bringing water & hot chocolate tonight b/c it's kind of chilly tonight. We all felt a little awkward lugging our coolers full of hot water, bottles of water, and boxes of hot chocolate up between the two fields. People did give us some weird looks. We began walking to the different groups of people offering them water or hot chocolate. Okay now the looks really began. They asked how much we were charging. When we said they were free and there was no catch, they had to think about it. You could tell people were hesitant, the kids were not:) It's funny how adults and children differ so much as far as inhibitions go. We didn't mention God or Catalyst....we got lots of comments about how kind it was, lots of polite and genuine thanks. One guy looked and said, "You're just doing this to be nice?" When we answered, "Yes," he really looked confused. It was very cool. We're trying to be out in the community and love on people with no agenda. Love that!!

After dinner, we headed to Cheddars for our C Group's first ever date night. It was a lot of fun. We've got some wack-a-doodles in our group (funny how they're all men!). We had a great time and stayed out way too late (sorry Doug-5am comes SOOOO early). Thanks Brent & Corey for watching the kiddos!! It was nice to be out and enjoy adult convo...kind of:) We are loving our C Group and so thankful for them all!!!

Today's Deals

were kind of frustrating. I think if most of my coupon adventures were like today, there would be one less coupon-er. I started at Walgreens...got my deal. The girl checking me out was really nice and tried to break up my deal so I could get more stuff but the cash register wouldn't let her so I put all my diapers together. I should have been able to get 4 packs of Huggies diapers for $8.99 each. I should have been able to use 4 $2 off manufacturer coupons (found in the paper or printables). I should have been able to use the $1 off Huggies from the WALGREEN's coloring book. This should automatically become as many packs of diapers that I bought. None of the shoulds happened and I left with nothing (except frustration). The manager told me that I couldn't stack the manufacturer coupon with their Walgreen coloring book coupon. I didn't argue...I just left. Later today, i stopped by another Walgreen's and did the deal...it went perfectly. I did spend $2-$3 more because I got juice that I needed instead of a $0.45 filler item.

Next I headed to Toys R Us to try to find Hullabaloo. The store was dirty. The signs were wrong. I was standing under a HUGE sign that said GAMES. I asked an employee were the games were, he walked me back to the complete opposite side of the store. He said they clearanced the game (whatever the heck that means). I stood in line at customer service to ask how I could find the game. Another lady "butted" line with a question (HELLO, that's what I was there for). They told her to get in line, she refused so they helped her. SO FRUSTRATING!! I left my cart with my 2 $4 games and left the store. Headed to the other walgreens and got the diaper deal. I think I paid $21 for 4 packs of diapers. I should probably do the caregivers rebate and get $3 back.

Then I headed for Target to do the Up & Monster's Inc movie deal. They were out of Monster's Inc. BUT I scored 3 tubs of wipes, 2 packs of GE lightbulbs, & 2 things of juice for $6...not bad:)

Menu Monday

I was recently challenged to come up with a 21 day menu planner. I seriously can't think of 21 meals I cook. I'm thinking. I am going to try to do a menu for each week. So here goes for week 1:)

Monday- pigs in blankets, french fries, broccoli
Tuesday- polish sausage with green peppers & onions, salad, dirty rice
Wednesday- SERVE & Date Night with our small group (frozen pizza for the kids @ home)
Thursday- Monday I am out of town BUT I'm leaving food for hubby & kids
Thursday- Steamfresh meal in a bag, veggies
Friday- mini tacos, rice, & beans
Saturday-grilled chicken, rice, veggies
Sunday- OUT

Pretty good for the first one. So, I have 5 meals there...I only need 16 more for my 21 day plan....still thinking:)