August Grocery "Budget"

I say "budget" because I don't really have a set number that I strive to be under. I just spend the least amount possible and trust that it will be good enough! :)

This includes groceries, toiletries, diapers, etc. Anyways, here's how August went...

I spent a total of $212.74 this month. Higher than last month, but this included shopping for Ashley's bridal shower and 5 weeks worth of shopping, whereas July only had 4 weeks of shopping.

My total before savings (including store promotions and coupons) was $515.60.

That brings my total savings for the month to $302.86. So even though I spent more this month than I would have liked, still not too shabby.

Meal Plan Monday

Monday
Tacos
Refried Beans
Chips & Salsa

Tuesday
Slow-Cooker BBQ Pork Sandwiches
Roasted Red Potatoes

Wednesday
Hot Dogs
French Fries

Thursday
Quattro Formaggi Agnolotti - fancy name for filled pasta I got on clearance, haha!

Friday
Baked Potatoes w/ Chili

Saturday
Chicken Salad Sandwiches

19 Month Update

Well, it's been 2 weeks since Bailey had her 18 month checkup with Dr. Bob (she was actually 19 months at the time of the visit), but I still wanted to share her stats and what is going on with her these days.

She weighed 27 pounds, which is between the 75th and 90th percentile. She was 25 pounds at 12 months, so she's gained less than 2 pounds in the past 7 months so I was glad to hear that our little chunk has slowed down a little bit. :) I'm sure that has a lot to do with being so active and also cutting way back on nusing as well.

She was 31 3/4 inches tall, which is almost to the 50th percentile. I'm still waiting on her to shoot up because Anthony is definitely tall and I'm above average for height, so where did this short little girl come from??? :)

Luckily, she didn't have to get any shots at this visit, since she got "loaded up" last time. Probably a good thing since she started to cry a little bit as we were walking back towards the exam room... I'm thinking she must have remembered being there and getting shots last time. So hopefully, since this checkup was a good experience, she won't be sad next time we got there.

Dr. Bob said she looks great and he was really happy with her stats and her development!

I swear, this girl just amazes me every single day. Just a couple of weeks ago, on a Wednesday night, we were getting ready to leave church. Bailey came outside with my mom and saw me, but Anthony wasn't around and she said "Where Daddy go?" and it just kind of blew me away... my 19 month old making a 3 word sentence! And her new thing now is to answer the question herself... "Where Daddy go? I don't know". Haha!

Our persistence at using "please" and "thank you" is paying off big time, as she is VERY polite and all the time saying those words as well as "bless you" when someone sneezes. It just melts my heart to hear her say "Thank you Mommy", which is how she always says it to me.

She is usually very well behaved and we don't have to punish her very often. I am working on teaching her about "obeying", and doing so right away. It's so funny to hear her say "obey". I'll say "You need to obey Mommy" or "You obeyed Mommy, good job!" and she echoes back "obey?" like she is processing what that means... so cute.

Recently Zoe taught her how to "scoot" down the stairs at Mom's house (we don't have stairs in our house) so that is her new thing, and is she ever fast at it! Though I'm just waiting for the tumble to come sooner or later. She LOVES Zoe and wants to do anything and everything that Zoe does.

I am finding that I absolutely LOVE this age. She is old enough to really play with and take her to do fun things but she is so sweet and definitely still has some "baby" in her so I feel like I am getting the best of both worlds right now. I cannot begin to tell you how extremely blessed I feel to have Bailey as my daughter. And to think, before time began, this was God's plan... really, there just are no words to describe it.

Meal Plan Monday

I don't know what happened last week, I really can't remember, but my plans got all changed up and we didn't have 3 of the meals we were supposed to have. I do know we didn't go out to eat any last week, so that is good! Anyways, here's this week's plan, which was pretty easy since I just pulled from last week a lot!


Monday
Corned Beef (found this on Manager's Special at Kroger!)
Potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage

Tuesday
Spaghetti w/ Sausage (didn't have this last week)

Wednesday
Makeover Nacho Beef Bake (didn't have this last week)
Chips & Salsa

Thursday
Hot Dogs

Friday
Chicken Spaghetti (once again, didn't have this last week)

Saturday
Hamburger Helper or Chicken Salad (from yesterday's leftover chicken)

Ashley's Bridal Shower

This past Sunday, I (along with LOTS of help from friends) threw Ashley a bridal shower after church. We did it right after church, so we had a sandwich bar for lunch, as well as pasta salads, potato salads, chips, cupcakes, and dump cake. It turned out really well and was a lot of fun. Wanted to share some pics from the afternoon. Didn't really get any action shots, which I am sad about, but at least I can remember the spread. :)

Wordless Wednesday - "Hug Ernie"

Last Day of Summer

The last Friday before Anthony had to be back at school, we went to Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton and then to eat at Chili's for our "last sha-bang" (how do you spell that?) of the summer. I LOVE that park and really wish the Staunton and Waynesboro parks were switched so we were closer to this one. :)

Got some really cute pics of Bailey while we were there and wanted to share them.


"Cheese!"



























































When I see this picture, it reminds me of a "senior picture" type picture. Bailey, you are only one! You are too young to be posing for senior pictures!

Harris Teeter Doubles, Round Two

I hit up Harris Teeter again today because my mom had a $10 off catalina that she wasn't going to be able to use so she gave it to me. Here's what I got.... thanks to the next Vanna White for her help with my purchases......

2 boxes Carnation Instant Breakfast (this is what Anthony has for breakfast everyday)

2 boxes Aunt Jemima mini pancakes

2 boxes Aunt Jemima waffles

1 package Mission tortillas

2 packs Activia yogurt

2 packs YoCrunch yogurt

1 box Kellogg's fruit snacks

1 bag Uncle Ben's Ready Rice

2 packs Wholly Guacamole

Total before Savings: $45.93

Total VIC savings: $4.64

Total Coupons: $37.45

Total Savings: $42.09 or 92%

Total OOP: $3.84

I just LOVE Harris Teeter and not only because they do super doubles and super triples. Let me count the ways...

1- Generally speaking, the cashiers are coupon friendly. I did have one bad experience there, but every other time, they have been great. They don't question me or make me feel like I am a crook for using coupons.

2- They have free cookies for kids.

3- They have yummy samples, also good for entertaining Bailey while I shop.

4- They have free balloons for kids.

So basically, to sum it up, they are helpful and accepting of couponers, AND they have food to occupy Bailey while I shop. :)

Meal Plan Monday

Monday
Cheeseburger Meatloaf
Mashed Potatoes

Tuesday
French Toast

Wednesday
Probably food on the go or at Mom's house... I am working at Staunton Foods food show today so it will be a LONG day for me.

Thursday
Spaghetti w/ Sausage

Friday
Chicken Spaghetti

Saturday
Makeover Nacho Beef Bake - Thanks Dawn! (hopefully, planning on going to a Mark Schultz concert w/ Vicky, so dinner this night could be up in the air)

Harris Teeter Super Doubles

Had a really good day at Harris Teeter for super doubles today.....

Here's what I got...

2- Mystic pizzas

4- Martha White corn muffin mix

1- Kellogg's Disney Princess fruit snacks

2- Lysol toilet bowl cleaners

2- Tornados

2- Wholly Guacamole

2- Welch's grape jelly

1- Peter Pan peanut butter

1- Carnation Instant Breakfast

2- Coffeemate creamers

1- Chips Ahoy

1- Breyer's YoCrunch

2- Tollhouse cookie dough

2- Oscar Mayer hot dogs

Total before VIC savings and coupons: $72.34

VIC savings: $22.72

Doubled coupons: $45.11

Total OOP: $4.51

Total Savings: $67.83 or 94%!!!

Have I mentioned that I love Harris Teeter??? :)

So busy..

Well, as you can see, I've been slacking as far as the blogging goes lately. I've been working some @ Staunton Foods, wedding planning with my sister Ashley (less than 6 weeks away now!), and trying to soak up these last few weeks of summer with my husband and I feel like I am SO busy right now. I never knew a SAHM could be so busy! So just wanted to let everyone know that I fully plan on getting back into blogging better as soon as my life calms down.

Hopefully, things will be better 2 weeks from now. Then, Anthony will be back at school like normal, and the food show will be over, so I'll be done working. On second thought, that might not be true since then it will be less than 4 weeks from the wedding, and there are still so many things to do! Anyhow, I'll get back into it sometime. :)

In the meantime, you can at very least still count on meal plans from me. :)

Meal Plan Monday

Wanted to throw in a few comments before I share our meals for the week. When I was in VA Beach last time, visiting with Amanda, she mentioned that it looks like we hardly ever have any vegetables with our meals. It definitely looks that way from my meal plans, but we DO have vegetables, I just don't plan those ahead of time. I just find whatever we have available when the time comes to make dinner, as far as veggies go. :)

Also, the reason I never have a plan for Sunday is because Sunday is a "free-for-all" day for us, if you will. Actually, for the past couple months, someone in our lifegroup brings food every week, so we usually are not hungry when we get home. Even if that's not the case, we just eat whatever we can find on Sunday nights. Oftentimes something from the freezer... pizza, bagel bites, pizza rolls, something along those lines. I know, healthy, right? :)

On to this week's plan... minus vegetables and Sunday. :)


Monday
Anthony has freshman orientation at school, so I'll be at Mom's for dinner :)

Tuesday
Bacon, Eggs & Toast

Wednesday
California Club Pizza (Pampered Chef recipe)

Thursday
Girls Night Out @ The Melting Pot
Pizza or CFA for Anthony & Bailey

Friday
Tacos
Chips & Salsa

Saturday
I'm going to a wedding in the afternoon, so probably won't be making a real meal, and this is the day before Ashley's shower, so I most likely will be busy making desserts for the shower!

Meal Plan Monday... Late Again

Can't believe it's August already!! We were gone to VA Beach this past weekend again so I'm late with the meal plan since we just got home last night. Had a great time with family, got to meet our new nephew Jack, and my best friend, Amanda's new baby Maribel. I got to spend LOTS of time cuddling her and even got to be there for her first real bath! These new babies are giving me major baby fever! :) We also went to Busch Gardens on Friday and Monday and of course had lots of fun there. On to the meal plan!

Monday
Chipotle burritos. Yum.

Tuesday
Hamburgers

Wednesday
Grilled Chicken Spinach Pesto Pasta

Thursday
Pizza & Breadsticks

Friday
Sausage w/ Peppers and Pasta

Saturday
Chicken Breast Supreme