Li'l Swimmer

Caleb had about 2 weeks of swimming lessons in late July/early August. It started out like this:


















(Sorry, Ms. Laura, I know that's not the most flattering picture for you!) He learned how to blow bubbles in the water and had to conquer his fear of going underwater.

He never cried, but he did whine "I want Mommy!" a few times during the first lesson. But I think even the first lesson he ultimately enjoyed.


















By the second week of lessons (this time with Ms. Tabby), he was really having a good time. He's not a natural swimmer by any means, but he made good progress. He still tries to "swim vertically," as you can see in the picture below, and he doesn't want to put his face down in the water.


















But he'll do it when coerced. Here he is getting a toy from the bottom of the pool.


















And here he is on his last day of lessons. I'm not sure who was prouder--Caleb or me!


















I wish we had time for more lessons, but scheduling things in August is just too hard for me. Next year I'll be sure to get him in lessons in June!

"More Jesus!"

This morning Isaac was walking around saying, "More Jesus! More Jesus!"

I finally figured out that the Bible song CD he'd been listening to had ended, and he wanted it started over. Ha!

*************

Things have been very busy for me lately, but I hope to resume blogging in earnest!

Menu Plan Monday

On Sunday night, Scott filled the grill with turkey burgers and enough chicken to last us a few days! Yea! This is an easy week full of favorites!

Monday: Chicken quesadillas
Tuesday: Chicken caesar salad
Wednesday: Spaghetti and mozarella meatballs (using ground turkey)
Thursday: Meatball subs
Friday: Homemade pizza with mushrooms and peppers

I'm also baking this week: chocolate chip banana bread, Rice Krispie treats, homemade bread

I have no idea what the weekend holds, so I'm not even planning that right now! :)

Retail Therapy: My Walgreens Run, 7/23

Things have been very depressing around here. I might post more about it later, I might not, but let's just say that in the past 2 months we've had some major turnover in the staff in our children's ministry. I know that God is sovereign and that He is holding us all in His big ol' hands, but it is still hard.

So..........

Today I decided I needed some retail therapy. I know that most husbands would get scared to hear that expression from their wives, but Scott doesn't worry. My version of retail therapy is going couponing to see what kind of deals I can get!

I was going to go to Staples, but after a Facebook post from Mandy, I decided that Walgreens was the place to go this week. With two young boys, I can't justify going from store to store in the summertime in Texas--it's just too hot. So I have to choose just one store to hit.

Here's what I got at Walgreens today. I spent $2.03 and got $9 back in register rewards.


















Bic highlighters: FREE ($.49 for a 5 pack, plus used a $1 off 2 Bic items coupon)

Excedrin: $4.99 OOP*, or FREE after RR (B1G1 at $6.99, used 2 $1/1 coupons, got $5RR)

Tylenol: $3.99 OOP, or $.99 after RR (on sale for $4.99, used $1/1 coupon and got $3 RR back)

Pilot G2 pens: $1 OOP, or FREE after RR (buy a 2-pack at $1, get $1 RR)

Kleenex: $.73 each (on sale for $.89, buy 3 and use the $.50 off 3 coupon)

Scotch tape: $.39 each

Pencils: $.29 for a 10-pack

Papermate pens: $.19 for a 10-pack

As I've explained before, the beauty of Walgreens is the RRs. You end up getting so many RRs that you rarely end up spending "real" money. For this trip, I used $3 in RRs that I already had, plus a $3 off coupon they sent me in the mail (I got lucky--a new Walgreens opened up right down the street, so they sent out some coupons), and a giftcard I had $6.22 left on from some rebates. So, I ended up only $2.03 OOP. If I didn't have the RR, Walgreens coupon, and giftcard, my total would have been about $11.53. I got $9 in RRs back, so I was happy with that.

Don't forget that RRs don't really expire, so don't freak out at the expiration date when you get them. I have had no problems using "expired" RRs.

*OOP = out-of-pocket

Recipe: Frittata

For Monday night's dinner, I made a frittata. I know, I am always making breakfast foods for dinner, but I love them! I have made frittatas a few times before based on this recipe from Tyler's Ultimate on Food Network. I feel like I've finally tweaked it and "healthified" it enough now, so here's a copy of Tyler's recipe with my changes. It really turned out well! I wish I'd thought to take pictures...

Ingredients

• 6 egg whites, 4 whole eggs
  
• 2 tablespoons milk (I used 1%)
  
• 1 cup grated cheese (I usually use 2% cheddar, but any cheese is fine)
  
• Kosher salt and ground pepper
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 4 small potatoes, peeled and diced (about 3 cups)
  
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced (I love the baby bella mushrooms)
  
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cheese, salt, and pepper until foamy. Set aside.

3. Heat olive oil in a cast iron or other oven-safe pan over medium heat. Add the onion, potatoes, and mushrooms and cook thoroughly.

4. Pour the egg mixture over the top. Pull the edges away from the sides of the pan with a spatula so the eggs flow to the bottom of the pan.

5. After the frittata is about halfway set, transfer the pan to the heated oven. Bake for 10 minutes until puffed and golden.

6. Cut it up like a pizza, and shower slices with with grated Parmesan. Serve with some low-fat sour cream or plain yogurt if you'd like.

Menu Plan: Week of July 20

Breakfasts
Steel-cut oatmeal with flax meal, honey, and banana
Cereal
Oatmeal squares
Pancakes

Lunches
Leftovers
Burritos

Snacks
Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
Grapes
Apples
Carrots
Graham crackers
Yogurt
Cheese and crackers

Dinners
Monday: Frittata, toast (from homemade bread), OJ, coffee
Tuesday: Grilled turkey cheeseburgers with sauteed onion and mushrooms
Wednesday: Pasta salad, fruit
Thursday: Leftovers/fend for yourself
Friday-Sunday: Traveling to Oklahoma to see in-laws, so no meal planning!!

Sunday: A Good Time Was Had by All

Sunday morning
We managed to all get to church without too much bickering. I have a personal belief that Satan attacks Christians with extra vigor on Sunday mornings. It seems like he tries to do everything he can to stop folks from making it to church. He makes the bed extra comfy so you want to snooze longer, makes the kids want to sleep in just on that day of the week and no other day of the week, makes your coffee taste extra good so you forget what time it is, then gets you all in a rush so that you are on edge and start snipping at your family.

Well, okay. Maybe all of that only happens to me. :)

But anyway, we all got to church relatively well on Sunday morning. I was running late and my coffee did taste extra good, but we didn't bicker, and the kids even behaved pretty well while we were getting ready. I got to church and soon welcomed in a little over 20 third grade girls to my classroom. It was "Story Sunday," which we do once per month in the summer. Someone from the church comes to talk to the kids and shares his or her testimony. This week, a wonderful lady named Francie came and spoke. She made a couple of points that I thought were just fabulous.

She talked about how when she grew up, she was in a church that didn't really encourage personal Bible study. She knew a lot about God, but she didn't really know God. To give an analogy, she asked the kids, "How many of you know who George Washington is?" They all raised their hands. "Okay, but how many of you know George Washington?" Of course the point is that we can study a person and learn a lot about him, but still not really have a personal relationship with him. God doesn't want that! He invites us to know Him personally.


Sunday afternoon
We came home, ate lunch, and got the kids ready for a nap. I put Caleb in bed, and while Scott sat down to rock Isaac to sleep, I grabbed my coupons and reusable bags and headed to Kroger. Oh, the joy of bargain shopping without kids! :)

Kroger has their Mega Deal event going on here in North Texas through Tuesday. If you buy 10 participating items, you get $5 back. So basically you get an extra $.50 off per item. Combine that with coupons, and you have some good deals! Even without coupons, there were some good deals. I got 70 items yesterday and spent $75.21. I saved $106.32. I could have saved a larger percentage, but I did get some splurge items: $4.99 for a big bag of organic raisins, $7.99 for Huggies, $2.99 for organic yogurt, etc. But here are some highlights:

Smart Balance butter (tubs or sticks) $.94
(on sale for $1.99, buy 10 and get it for $1.49, use a coupon for $.55 off that is actually IN the store right next to the butter)

Simply Potatoes $.99
(combine a bag of the potato and onion Simply Potatoes with some eggs and cheese, and you have an easy, quick weeknight meal!)

Chex Mix $.49
(on sale for $1.99, buy 10 and get it for $1.49, use a coupon for $.50 off one which Kroger doubles to $1 off)

Irish Spring soap 3-pack $.99

Quaker Snack Cakes $.49

Listerine Mouthwash $.49
(on sale for $2.99, buy 10 and get it for $2.49, use a coupon for $2 off--no longer available online)

Kleenex $.83
(on sale for $1.49, buy 10 and get it for $.99, use a coupon for $.50 off 3)

Kraft cheese $1.49
(not the best price ever for cheese, but good for the cubes and snack packs that are also included in the sale)

I also splurged on some VitaminWater. I really like this stuff! They are regularly about $1.25 or more, but you can get them for $.50 each during this sale.

One note on these mega-deals: make sure you count your items! You have to get them in exact multiples of 10 to make the most of the deals. I got 60 participating items, and I triple-counted them all before I got to the checkout. I'm sure I looked pretty funny, standing in the toothpaste aisle shuffling all the stuff around in my cart and muttering "1...2...3...." to myself. ;)

I see from some bloggers that Kroger is running another very similar mega-deal next week, so many of these deals may continue through next Tuesday.

********
When I got home from Kroger, I expected Caleb to be up (he rarely naps) and I was going to pick him up and take him with me on a run to Market Street for a few more grocery deals. But when I got home, it was a picture out of The Napping House--everyone was asleep. Caleb had actually fallen asleep, and Scott had dozed off while rocking Isaac in his chair.

So I let them sleep for awhile as I put away the groceries. At 5:00, I woke everyone up. They all decided to go to Market Street with me, so we made a family evening of it. We haven't been to Market Street in several months, but this week they had a few good deals in their ad, and they sent me a $5 off a $25 purchase coupon.

They have a little eatery area there, so we decided to eat there as a treat and then shop. It was good stuff! Scott had a yummy panini with fruit, I had a chicken Caesar salad (with fat-free dressing), and Caleb had a piece of pizza (part of a $1.99 kids' meal). I had brought along an avocado and some snacks for Isaac, so we were all set.

After we ate, we set out shopping. Market Street is not a place I'd shop every day--their prices are just too high, in general--but it's fun to visit now and then. It's cheap, air-conditioned entertainment for the kids as they point out all the different items. They have "little carts" for the kids, which Caleb adores. They sell flax seed and steel-cut oats in bulk at a good price, too.

We spent $24 and got a good bit of stuff. Then we came home, I bathed the boys, and it was bedtime. All in all, a good day!