Playing with Brendan and Caleb

I’m sorry friends.  I have failed as a blogger.  Work has been slightly overwhelming and most definitely stressful.  Add to the pile of work I barely had time to complete the fact I had a sick day, all day training, and a holiday in there that took 3 days out of my 10 days of work.  Yikes!

My plan is not to bore you with that though, but to pretend like it never happened and just move on.  So…

We had a busy weekend for sure!  It has been awhile since we have been that busy and it was nice.  On Friday we got a text from the Keys asking us if we wanted to meet them at Disneyland.  Although I really wanted to I knew that:

1. I had a lot of cleaning to do since I’d have a houseful of people on Saturday.

2. We’d be at Disneyland all day Sunday and that would be exhausting enough as it is without adding a Friday trip.

So I declined, but offered to take the boys off their hands if they wanted to get some alone time.  I am very happy they took us up on that offer.  The girls were SUPER exited to spend time with Brendan…although they called him Sammy most of the night which was followed by “I’m not Sammy, I’m Brendan!”  Elijah and Caleb got along great and spent most of their time following eachother around and passing toys back and forth.

 

They played and destroyed the kids rooms while Justin and I did all the boring house work that needed be done like scrubbing toilets and folding laundry (SOOO much laundry…If I wasn’t so embarrassed I would post the picture of the mountain we had to fold).

After we were done cleaning we settled the kids down with a movie and some popcorn.  At 8 we sent our kids to bed and at 8:30 Caleb asked to go to bed so Caleb and I headed to my room where I had a bed set up for him.  I decided to lay on my bed for awhile to make sure he was ok and apparently I fell asleep.  I vaguely remember hearing Scott’s voice and waking up around 10 to notice Caleb was no longer in his bed.  I got up to say goodnight to Justin and headed back to bed.

I have no idea how I was so exhausted, but I was out.  I woke up in the morning only to realize I hadn’t even gotten out of my jeans!

I’ll fill you on the Saturday festivities later.

So Sayith Tay and Jay #39

What do you want for your birthday?

Jordan: I want a person that has a kitty that is alive.  And make her pink and make her name curl like my other doggy's name (FYI she means one of those big beanie bag cats and not a real one - she doesn't like real cats very much).  And make her a circle present and have her little.  I want 2 kitties.  So I can put them in my 2 hands and then somebody can hold my pennies while I hold my kitties at Disneyland.  She'll love Disneyland.  She'll love the Disneyland rides.

Taylor: Um, Let me think.  A beautiful pony and I want flowers and some paint so I can paint.  I want Grandpa to get my paint for my birthday so he can paint my walls.  I want a pretty dress and what about an angel.  And I want an Angel and its a costume and its so beautiful   And I also want a princess for my birthday.  That's all.

How old do you want to be?

Jordan: Ok Ok Ok.  I want to be 5 because my kitty will love me.

Taylor: 100 because its the biggest number.

What should your Birthday Party be like?

Jordan: I will like a pink one.  A pink birthday cake.  And  present.  And a cupcake.  And 2 presents.  And then my toys I can play with them.

Taylor: Cinderella.

What would you put in a huge box?

Jordan: Ok Ok.  A game.  A kitty game so we can play with my kitty.  And I want a kitty in that giant box.

Taylor: Some painting buckets so I can paint myself

What would you put in a tiny box?

Jordan: Ok Ok Ok.  A tiny little doggy game with my kitty.  And I want my kitty to play with the little tiny game and there's a thing it called a geanie that's giant! And its a little real, but it wasn't.

Taylor: A little fairy.

So Sayith Tay and Jay #38

Tonight we had a surprise birthday party/dinner for Beach Grandma.  I will be posting pictures and letting the kids narrate for each one.  Enjoy:

Taylor: I'm cooking
Jordan: Its' Taylor cooking brownies for daddy.  For all of us.
What Actually Happened: Making Grandma's birthday cake.

Taylor: She is cooking.
Jordan: It's me Jordan making brownies with Taylor.
What Actually Happened: Making Grandma's birthday cake.















Taylor: We're about to eat it
Jordan: Cake.  It's Grandma's cake so we can blow out the candles ::blows:: like that.
What Actually Happened: They decorated her cake and put on globs and piles of sprinkles

Taylor: We're saying surprise for Grandma.
Jordan: Grandma's birthday.
What Actually Happened: The kids decorated letters to put up for decorations.

Taylor: You're about to cook.
Jordan: Beach Grandma's birthday was fun.  Grandma's birthday was...
What Actually Happened: Getting ready to make dinner

Taylor: You're about to mix it.
Jordan: It's me making dinner.  It's grandma's birthday today.
What Actually Happened: Me (only me) making chicken lettuce wraps for dinner)

Taylor: It's us about to eat cake, but we're first smiling on the picture.
Jordan: Its me saying CHEEEESE.
What Actually Happened: Picture after dinner (and right before cake).

Taylor: He's eating a cake. C C C C cake
Jordan: Buddy eating.
What Actually Happened: Elijah just shoved an entire piece of cake in his mouth.

Taylor: Jordan's almost done, but she's gonna eat it.
Jordan: It's me eating the cake and buddy eating the cake.
What Actually Happened: Jordan diving in for a second piece of cake.

Weekly Meal Plan

This week is all about chicken.  Really that’s the only good priced thing on sale so all the recipes this week are centered around that.  Most of them are ridiculously easy too because not many additional ingredients are on sale for a good price.

Important Note: This plan is based on a budget of $200 for 2 weeks worth of food.  $150 is for dinner and breakfast with $50 being set aside for lunch items (not included here). 

SALE INFORMATION

	Staters	Ralphs
Apples		0.99
Boneless Chicken	1.99	1.97
Peaches		0.99
Lettuce		0.99
Bone in Chicken	1.19
Ground Beef	2.59
Pork Spareribs	1.99
Cucumber	0.79
Cheese	2.5
Lunchables	0.88
Ragu Sauce	0.99
Sour Cream	1.49
Pasta Sides	0.75
Watermelon	0.19
Pineapple	0.79
Pears	0.99
Seedless Grapes	0.99
Strawberries	1.5
Progresso Soup	0.99

MEAL PLAN

Important Note: Some items will not be included on shopping list since they were bought in bulk or purchased on sale previous weeks.

	Breakfast	Dinner
Monday	3 Yogurt Fruit	Chicken Alfredo 2 lbs Chicken 1 lb Pasta of choice Frozen Spinach Lettuce (Salad)
Tuesday	6 Packs Oatmeal Fruit	Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches 3 lbs of Chicken 1 Bottle BBQ Bread Watermelon
Wednesday	Cereal Fruit	Eat at Church
Thursday	6 Packs Oatmeal Fruit	Teriyaki Chicken 3 lbs chicken White Rice 1 Large Onion 1 Large Bell Pepper
Friday	Cereal Fruit	Parmesan Crusted Chicken 2 lbs chicken 1 Jar Sauce 1 lb Pasta of choice Salad
Saturday	Apple Pancakes 6 Eggs	BBQ Crusted Chicken 3 lbs chicken 1 bag BBQ Pork Rinds (or Spicy Rinds) 1/4 batch of BBQ Chicken Rub Salad
Sunday	3 Yogurt Fruit	Balsamic Marinated Chicken 3 lbs Chicken Balsamic Vinegar Oil Honey

SHOPPING LIST

Note: Total “required” items to prepare meals (not including the items I already had) totaled $56 which means I had about $20 “extra” to spend on sale items to stock up for later.

It’s a great time to stock on “sides” (pasta sides and rice-a-roni on sale for a great price) and also soup (Soup and Grilled Cheese dinners are great for winter) and Pasta Sauce (even alfrado is on sale!)

Ralphs		Staters
Boneless Chicken x10	$20.00	Bone in Chicken x6	$8.00
Lettuce x2	$2.00	Frozen Spinach	$2.00
Apples X4	$4.00	Rice	$3.00
Peaches x2	$2.00	Sauce X4	$4.00
		Pasta Sides x5	$5.00
		Yogurt	$5.00
99 Cent Store		Grapes x2	$2.00
Bell Pepper	$1.00
Onion	$1.00
Pork Rinds	$1.00

Total: $60