Slacking Off..Not really.

This whole having a child in school has completely made me rearrange my schedule. Grace is going to a Christian school which takes between 30-35 minutes one way to get there. So basically I've been loading the gang into the car which in itself takes about 10 minutes, picking her up, driving home, and starting dinner. By the time everything is done I haven't had the energy to do much at all.

We strayed off our menu last week due to several things I forgot such as Grace's open house at school. We will get everything on track by the end of the year. Budget wise we are doing well a very positive thing.

I had my 28 week check up last week. Everything with the baby is fine. Still scheduled for a November 11th c-section if I make it that long. I am shooting for October :D

Meal Planning Monday

My Goal Keep my meals $10 or under for my family of 6.

M-Grilled BBQ Chicken
T- Mexican Meatloaf-Mix provided by Taste of Gourmet
W- Grocery Shopping Day will pick up a Rotisserie Chicken
TH- Homemade Corn Dogs from Allrecipes.com I couldn't figure out what to do with all my stockpile of hotdogs then it occurred to me to make homemade corn dogs
F- Zesty Slow Cooker BBQ beef from $5dinners

Ads come out today so I will busy planning my grocery list :D

A couple of Budget Helpers

First City Deals-I was able to score a Subway gift card $10 value for $5 this morning with free shipping. Looks like it is something worth signing up for to get additional deals even though today's Subway deal is sold out :(.

Get 25 Mac N Cheese recipes for Liking Gooseberry Patch on Facebook. I have always been addicted to Gooseberry cookbooks so anything free and helps me meal plan is worth sharing.

Dinner at our house!

A few pics of our dinner menu from last week.

Monday's Pantry put together. Not the greatest picture but anyway.

Our Sierra Turkey Knock from Panera(AKA St. Louis Bread Co.)

Chicken Enchilada Suizas from the Food Network

here she is Miss America

Grace's first day of Kindergarten was today. I forgot the camera, BAD Mom! But I did make her pose for a picture after picking her up.

Meal Planning Monday

Last week we did awesome on our meal plan this week it looks to be even better. We stayed on track and on budget.
My goal for my family of 6 is $10 a meal or less which leads to $50 a week if all goes well(for dinner). I am not sure I will ever get to the point of spending less than a hundred a month like some women do but I am doing the best I know how with the time I have so budgeting $100 in a two week span seems about right for us. I do not include diapers and wipe in that budget this is my food only budget.

here is this weeks meal plan.

M-Hamburgers and Hotdogs on the grill

T- Angel Hair pasta with zucchini

W-Salmon Cakes

Th-Skillet Tacos

F-Beef Cheese Noodle Bake

Meal Planning Monday

9 Monday
Chicken Enchilada
Casserole

10 Tuesday
Dominican Rice
and Beans – $5
Dinner Challenge

11 Wednesday
Turkey Panini
Apple Walnut
Salad

12 Thursday
Chicken
Enchiladas Suizas

13 Friday
Zucchini Pineapple
Bread
leftover night

14 Saturday
Teriyaki Chicken
Kebabs

15 Subway Sunday

Meal Planning sort of.

Oh the cravings this week! Will have to come back and edit when I get a hold of this weeks ads.

Turkey Sandwiches with Chipotle Mayo. I gonna try to copy Panera's and get some of that Asagio Cheese.
Served with Apple Walnut Salad

Chicken Enchiladas-Recipe from Food Network magazine maybe.

Beans and Rice-?

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Vacation Part 2

After our first day hitting Silver Dollar City we went to another theme park this one was a water park. Another hot day but it was made better by the pool and water slides.

Grace Lounging eating a quick snack.

Kerith loved the water. I think she will be a natural swimmer.

The pictures really highlight our water park visit.

A few highlights from vacation! part one

We had a fabulous time in Branson despite the record breaking heat. I mean I am from Texas I know heat but there is something about the heat of the midwest that is worse I think it has something to do with the wind. Usually in the part of Texas I am from there is a breeze or wind not here we were lucky if we had a breeze in the 90 + degree temps and heat index of 105-110f.

Grace and Jonah even rode their first roller coaster.

Jonah looks like he is terrified and it was enough that he didn't go on any more rides except for the train. I don't think he will be the amusement park type. Grace on the other hand loved it. She went on every ride there could be with her Daddy of course. Mom, Kerith and Micah sat on the sidelines and watched.

I love Swagbucks!

Oh how I love swagbucks. I admit I was a skeptic at first but that is nothing new right I tend to always be the skeptic. However I am so glad I took the plunge and joined and downloaded the toolbar. I earned $15 worth of Amazon gift cards just this month and just turned them in for two books on canning and preserving that I have been wanting in order to help me preserve our garden veggies. You also get swagbucks for people that sign up under you. But the real meat comes from the toolbar and searching for various things. It takes 450 swagbucks to earn a $5 Amazon e-gift card which is just a code you can use at checkout when you shop thru amazon.com.

Here is my referral link if you want to check it out! I think you will be happy you did :D