Grocery Shopping and Freezer cooking Day

Wednesdays are my new grocery shopping day and its exciting to me to go get the new deals!
Today we went to Bilo, Publix, and Aldi which took about 2 hrs total (with some potty breaks and normal 2 yr old stuff).
Here is what I got:
Iams 20lb dog food
2 Cape Cod chips
Baked Lays chips
3 Coke Zero 12 packs
4 juicy juice bottles
2 pk strawberries
2 pasta boxes (whole wheat)
1 gallon milk
trio of peppers
3 cloves garlic
2 dozen eggs
1 toothpaste
hand pump soap
4 Knorr pasta sides
Uncle Bens instant rice
bananas
jar of mushrooms
3 Pam sprays
4 pk toilet paper (penny item at Publix)
4 jars Ragu Alfredo sauce
can of corn
block of cheese
apples
TOTAL was $60 and some change
Makes the time I spend cutting coupons worthwhile! I stockpile so that is why there is multiples of things that I won't use up until it is on sale again, or something similar.

After coming home, having lunch and then putting Garyn down for a nap, I started cooking 2 new recipes for my freezer cooking day!!

I wanted to make Chicken Bacon Alfredo (recipe below) and Chicken Tetrazinni that I had seen my freezer cooking-hero make! I always see her blog and wonder what the recipes taste like and want to have the ease of whipping it out of the freezer! I am trying to not buy many processed foods, which I still have plenty of them but just laying off the frozen dinners and pre-packaged meals! However, I want the ease of not having to prepare or think about what to have for dinner since we obviously need help eating at home more.
I made four dinners plus 2 small sample dishes for Garyn and I to try these new recipes out tonight. Both were very good and I think Tyler will eat them......2 of the dinners are bigger, I doubled each recipe then put a third (a size the 3 of us can eat easily). Then I put the other 2/3 in a throw-away aluminum pan that I can give to others or use when we have someone over. I am taking one tomorrow to my friend that just had a baby.


Doesn't look like a lot, but its 2-3 homemade meals for us to have. Just these 2 recipes took up a good 2 hours with clean up and all. I will have to have a day without Garyn or with Tyler here in order to accomplish more.

Speaking of Tyler, he is loving Honduras. He says the kids are great and its beautiful there! We will both be going next year if God wants and can work it out! (which of course He can!) I have only got to talk to him once on the phone and 2 emails so the communication is limited. That has been the hardest for me. I know he is fine and I'm fine here without him, but I would like to at least be able to talk to him!

Garyn will ask about him throughout the day and I am telling him he is on a trip. He says, "He'll be back soon" which is the exact words I used the first time he asked. The cutest though was tonight when we were leaving church and talking about making cookies once home, he said: "Make one for daddy and put it on the table for him tomorrow." LOL, can't wait to tell Tyler that one! Our usual is to come home from church and have dessert or go out and get milkshakes, so he wanted daddy to be included even if he wasn't here!

Chicken Bacon Alfredo Bake
2 cups dry penne pasta cooked 2 minutes short of being done (I use whole wheat)
2 cups cooked chicken cut up
1/2 lb or so of cooked bacon
1 jar Alfredo sauce
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Put all ingredients and half the cheese in a 9x9 casserole dish and stir, top with the rest of the cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

New Happenings

Tyler is in Honduras!

He left early this morning and will not be back till Friday the 26th. Didn't know he was going? Yeah, it was a last minute decision and most people I tell had no clue! The mission trip is with our church and has been a yearly trip for like 13 years now. I think most of those years, Tyler has wanted to go! No, seriously, we have talked about it the last few years as a serious possibility and each year made excuses. God closed our mouths as soon as we tried that this year. It was an awesome moment when we both had been thinking on it without knowing the other had, and Tyler said, "I really would like to go this year." Without hesitation, I said "GO and don't worry about the details!" I think that was the second week of January. God has worked it all out fine, too!

Pray for him (and us) as he travels and meets new people. He will be doing some hard labour at an orphanage. He is super excited and I am glad. I will terribly miss him and trust that God will keep him safe, its always hard now when we think of leaving for a long time cause we now have Garyn, too, to be responsible for and to miss! Although, I am hoping to get some time scrap booking and watching girly movies!

Otherwise, I have been trying to stay focused this month. Not as productive as I would like to be, lately. I go thru spurts of wanting to cook and clean, then thru spurts of LAZINESS! Lately, I have been lazy and not worked on much of anything. It drives me crazy when the motivation just isn't there. You know what I mean?? ......speaking of cooking......

I know you all have been sitting on pins and needles waiting to here the results of the challenge...(haha).......The first 4 days were great; we ate at home 4 days in a row!... I was feeling good about it, then Tyler had to go and ruin it. I was highly frustrated, let me just tell you. He told me that he was going to eat with some coaches the next morning at a favorite breakfast spot (Lillie Mae's). I was not successful in talking him out of it; he didn't care to fail at the challenge! So it was over at that point for me. He ate that morning and that night out, the dinner was already planned and an exception, but then the next night we ate out and then Friday night we ate out for Valentines, on and on it went...

Good start, bad ending! Oh well, we haven't tried again, not sure it can happen with that hubs of mine. He just loves his food out!

Well, nap time is almost over, I'll update more on our week alone soon.......

Pictures are of Braxton, Maddox and Garyn at the Creative Discovery Museum one day. Braxton and Maddox come over on Fridays while their mom is at school.

Challange, here we come!!

I wanted to let everyone know that we have been given a challenge and are taking it!
The Challenge: No eating out for a week!

If you know us, we eat out too much. In the 4 years of our marriage it has been something discussed a lot. The problem is we both enjoy it; yet Tyler could eat out every meal, every day. I do get tired of it and HATE the expense of it. Tyler is sooooooo picky and while he has gotten a ton better, we still go back and forth about what to cook. SO...

The lovely Cobble couple have heard and seen the many times we have chosen to eat out instead of at home this last week. They eat at home basically every meal and while I do envy that, I don't envy the cooking and cleaning! However, I AM UP FOR THE CHALLENGE!

I will keep you posted! Do you think we can do it???
Also, please tell me we aren't the only ones who eat out a lot.......how often do you eat out??

February Goals

February!!! Can you believe February is here!!!! Well I am excited to start a blank slate with new goals.
Here is how January played out:

Fun:
Do something with some friends or family that we don't normal see much, i.e. game night or dinner out
Completed this!! Yea! We had a 4 couples over and their children cause Garyn needed a play date, too! We played cranium which is awesome; we will be planning another one soon!
Plan more girls luncheons for Sunday school
Complete!! Planned and attended 2, one lunch and one dinner....great fellowship!
Be better about dates with Tyler, just the two of us, we tend to just bring Garyn so that we don't have to worry about a babysitter
Completed! We went to 2 movies in one day!! Afterwards we went and ate. I would like to try twice a month but once is a start

DIY/Crafting:
Start scrap booking again, I am so behind & there is a monthly group at church that I think I am going to start going to!
Paint Garyn's calender set he made at Home Depot with him, will tell more about this later
Completed both of these! The calender I posted on & the scrapbooking I started just this past weekend! I didn't make it to the church group but am still going to try and check it out this month! I loved getting 3, yes only 3, pages done and having a plan for finishing all of our summer activities soon!
Home:
Finish taking down Christmas decorations, been procrastinating, I know Completed: Just took down the Christmas cards today, I just couldn't stand to throw them away so I have come up with an idea that I will share soon.
Paint bedroom Uncompleted: I was informed by Tyler that it was really too cold to do any painting. I thought it wouldn't matter since its in the house, but I didn't put up a fight and will do this another month
Paint/stain kitchen cabinet door (left over from this)Uncompleted: same reason as above
Clean-up basement, in some way, not trying to overwhelm myself here Half done: I did some usual maintenance cleaning, like sweeping mopping, but nothing like I wanted to..:(

Cooking:
cook a meal at least 3x a week Complete! It was not a hefty goal but if you know us, it was more than we do normally. I didn't cook as many different or new things as I would like though.
do a freezer day Uncompleted. I will do one in February!

Wellness:
do something fitness-ish at least once a week, i.e. Wii Fit, stationary bike; gotta start somewhere
I just can't even lie and say I did it once a week! I might have played Wii a couple times but never broke a sweat, however, Tyler has been working out and I have been very supportive! Does that count?


The boys playing at our game night. We had 6 boys between 20 mos and 4 1/2! Talk about a rowdy crew!

Overall I felt pretty good about what I accomplished and felt driven to complete them so that I could blog about what was done!

February Goals...

Fun:

Another game night!
2 dates with Tyler that are semi-planned, including Valentine's weekend
Eat with a couple that I have not seen or done something with in a long time

DIY/Crafting:

Finish the summer scrapbook that was started in January
Label Garyn's toy bins, finally
Do coasters from wedding shower, yes wedding shower! blog post to follow

Home:

Work downstairs getting items ready for consignment sale

Cleaning (new):

Do one deep clean each week~ I began this in the middle of the month of January & includes: cleaning out the fridge, cleaning out under the couches/beds, straightening our clothes closets...

Cooking:

Continue to cook 3x a week and do one new recipe each week

Do a freezer day!! I will accomplish this!

Health/Wellness:

Workout one day a week at least!!!

Eat at least 2 veggies a day, this is for the whole family! Tall order for Tyler

I must say I had a lot of fun in January being intentional with my time. I spent a lot more time with friends and family that I don't usually plan time with. I also got focused on family time/traditions with Tyler and Garyn. It is exciting to be productive and enjoy it!

I have also been more intentional with God which is most important! I have been better about praying for others and making it a priority to follow God's will for me in all of my daily goals. One family that has been heavy on my heart and inspired me so much is some friends of ours in Knoxville. Their little baby Ansley was born with microcephaly and was given a grim prognosis based on medical standards. Through prayer & God's grace, she has amazed doctors. Please read her story and let yourself be amazed as well.....http://countingalljoys.blogspot.com/

February here I come....