Timothy's One!!

Yesterday was Timothy's first birthday! Hard to believe he is already a whole year old! He is definitely going to be keeping me on my toes! He is so different than Joshua was at this age. He is in to everything all of the time. He cruises everywhere & has even taken a couple of independent steps!! He will be running before I know it. He is climbing onto whatever he can get to. He has started repeating a couple of words... bye-bye, no-no. He loves food & is getting over his strong gag reflex. He makes the funniest faces when he eats something new. He also likes to share with Belle :) He adores his big brother & I think he really likes to aggravate him on purpose. So thankful for such a happy, sweet boy!!

12 month stats:

22 lbs 5 oz

31 in

Disney!

We are starting to plan our first Disney vacation! We would love to hear from those of you who have been. Particularly if your youngest child was around the age of 2 when you went :) Here are specific things I am wondering, if you feel like sharing :

-how old were your kids when you went
-how long did you stay
-could you have stayed longer or do you think you stayed too long
-was there enough for the littlest ones to do
-recommendations on things that are "must see" or "don't do"

Comments are moderated on here, so I won't publish them....so feel free to share as much as you want!

The Fresh 20

The meal planning service that I mentioned in my last post, The Fresh 20, is offering a special on MooLaLa today. You can get a 3 month subscription for $7 (instead of $15). Unfortunately it isn't valid for current subscribers :( But, I thought some of you might be interested. Click here for details or to purchase.

What Happened to the Grocery Challenge??

I know everyone has been wondering about our menus & the grocery challenge. Well, I gave up after 2 weeks (as I thought I might). There were a few reasons I stopped. One being that we decided to spend the 4th of July with John's parents & they prepared some great meals for us. I didn't think it would be right to continue with the challenge if we had someone else cooking for us for almost 3 days. But the biggest reason was that I was sitting at home during the second week (after having done my grocery shopping & spending my budget) wanting to bake something to freeze but was afraid I wouldn't have enough milk for the week. I decided that it was crazy for me to not do something because I might go over my $75 budget. Maybe I'll try it again next year....Timothy will count next year so my budget would be higher :)

I did find a menu planning service that I wanted to share. It is The Fresh 20. They do "real food" menus using fruits & veggies that are currently available at farmer's markets (& of course at grocery stores). I have used it for the past few weeks. They do 5 dinner menus per week (for 2 adults, 2 kids) & the cost is supposed to be around $80. There are usually 1 or 2 that John & I don't like but there have been some good meals. They also do a good variety of meats/fish so you aren't eating the same thing all of the time. They do use the same meats during the week though. For instance, one week you may have 2 chicken meals & 2 shrimp meals. The next week you may have 2 beef, one fish & one salad with leftover meat. There is a sample menu on their website if you want to check it out.

One other thing food-related to share. You have got to try these cookies....whole wheat oatmeal chocolate chip. Best.cookies.ever. You make one batch & can freeze them. Yummy! John & Joshua both approved of these....not healthy but better than store bought!

July 4th

We spent the fourth of July with John's parents in Mentone. We didn't take a ton of pictures, but here are a few:

Joshua is still a big fan of bubbles. Too bad bubble machines don't last too long!

Seriously loves some bubbles!

I think Timothy enjoyed the swing.

This was his first time in a swing. Joshua wanted to swing in this swing too....I wish I had gotten a picture of that! He is a bit too tall but he did it anyway. We had a strap swing but he isn't too sure about that yet.

How funny is this!

Checking out some different toys.

These were our fireworks. Timothy would have been scared if we had gone to see real fireworks, & I didn't want to keep them up past their bedtimes. Of course, being in a different place, they were both up past bedtime the first night!

Our child who never naps.....crashing on the way home. He didn't even seem to mind that baby brother was screaming right beside him. Of course, this only lasted about 10 minutes & wide awake again.

Grocery Challenge Week 2

I know you are all dying to know how I did last week & what the plans are this week :)

Four of the recipes I did last week were new....that was a mistake on my part! The beef stir fry was good & very filling. The Italian Pasta Bake was great & I made two so there is one in the freezer. John was not a fan of the Spring & Summer soup....it wasn't bad. I had it for lunch the next day & I think it was better the second day. I think it would have been great in a bread bowl. I have some in the freezer so maybe I will make a bread bowl & try it again! Neither of us liked the pot pie. It just didn't seem to have much flavor. Maybe it is because I have a great chicken pot pie recipe that I got from a friend that we both love. We did do Milo's on Saturday for lunch but used a coupon so only paid for one meal. That didn't fit in the "healthy" category, but John needed a burger after all the other meals that week :) I also did a small trip to Whole Foods to get Joshua some Back to Nature crackers. I had read on a blog that they were on sale for $1.33 per box & had a store coupon for $1 off. Since Joshua goes through 2 boxes a week usually & I pay $2.99 at Publix, you know I ran out to get them. Of course, they weren't on sale at our Whole Foods. I did have the store coupon & manufacturer's coupon for $1 off, so I did get 2 boxes. I think my total for the week was around $66...don't have my receipts in front of me. Oh, I made 2 loaves of chocolate chip banana bread (1 already eaten & 1 frozen) & a loaf of zucchini bread (which Joshua ate!). I made homemade chicken stock....14 cups! I was in the kitchen a lot!

I will say that while trying to plan for this week I thought I would have to give up because it seemed hard to plan for the $75 budget! Anyway, here is the plan for this week for dinners. Breakfasts & lunches will be the same as last week.

Sunday - salmon patties, mac & cheese, green beans
Monday - chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, fruit
Tuesday - sweet shredded pork tacos
Wednesday - leftover pork tacos
Thursday - taco salad with the remaining pork
Friday - chicken fried rice
Saturday - possibly be with family for dinner so not sure yet

I bought almost everything we need for just under $60 I think....that also includes 12 containers of baby food for Timothy since he still gags on real food! The remaining items should cost less than $10 I think.

Recyclebank

Want an easy to get some great coupons? Register with Recyclebank! You take pledges to "be green" & take quizzes to earn points. Points can be redeemed for coupons or other things. I just started last week & have gotten 4 $1 off Back to Nature coupons (Joshua's favorite is Back to Nature Honey Graham sticks!). If you click on the above link & register, I will get 10 points :)