Such Service

As soon Dave walks in the door, the kids jump to serve him. Don't worry, no forced child labor here; they started doing this on their own. Caleb likes to log me off the computer and log Dave on. Alexa gets his bag, which sometimes contains his joystick to play hockey with. But the funniest is Alexa running for the pantry to get Dave a bottle of whiskey. It's almost as big as she is. Occasionally Caleb gets in on the action and goes to the garage to get a Coke to mix it with. I love seeing them get so excited when Daddy gets home!

Works For Me Wednesday: Kids' Lunch Trays

I grabbed two kids' trays, one with blue bears and one with purple monkeys, from the Dollar Spot at Target one day on a whim. I know they put the dollar spot right up front just to tempt people like me, and it works. While I have bought useless things there before, I love these trays. The kids eat off of them almost every day for lunch. They have four sections and are deep enough to hold soup. They hold the perfect amount of food for my kids. And for some reason, I find it easier to decide what is for lunch when I am thinking up four little bits of things to fill the sections. Even a tiny bit of leftover vegetables or soup from dinner is enough for one section. Anyway, here are some pictures of lunches the kids have had recently on their trays.

Tomato soup, saltines, cheddar cheese and blueberries
Bologna and cheese sandwiches, grapes, wheat thins, and hummus
Quesadillas, sour cream, salsa, green beans, and peaches

Baking Again

For some reason, I felt like baking again today. Perhaps because we stayed home all day, and I will go crazy if I don't do something.

I started with English muffins from this recipe. We like to have English muffin sandwiches with fried eggs and cheese on Saturday and/or Sunday mornings, so we go through a lot of these. So, I thought I'd try making some myself. Or with my helpers. They each have their own kid size rolling pins that my mom bought them.


I also made these soft pretzels. Although I must admit that I brushed them with melted butter, not water, before sprinkling with salt. Yummy!

Baking Day

My family loves having homemade baked good around. The kids devoured a loaf of pumpkin bread last week, and Dave likes to have treats for his lunch box, especially his favorite chocolate chip cookies. It's a good thing I enjoy baking! Here are the two recipes I made today.

ABC muffins (Apple-Buckwheat-Cinnamon)

This recipe makes 1 dozen muffins.

1 c unbleached white flour
1 c buckwheat flour (I used regular whole wheat flour)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/d c honey
1 egg
1 c cider or milk (I used milk)
1 c finely chopped apple

Mix together dry ingredients. Add honey, egg, and cider or milk. Mix only until dry ingredients are moistened. Gently fold in apples. Pour into well-greased muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Dave's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since Dave is really the only one around the house who eats these (well, the kids would, too, if I would let them, but I try to feed them healthier snacks), this recipes makes the perfect amount, about 18 cookies.

1 stick butter or margarine (butter is better, but margarine is cheaper)
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/8 c self-rising flour
1 heaping cup chocolate chips

Cream softened butter (or margarine) and sugars. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and beat just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes.

Errands Galore

I grabbed my stuff and the kids and went to run my errands this morning before the rain started. I just threw my hair in a ponytail and didn't put on any makeup, but fortunately I didn't see anyone I knew. Unless you count the librarians who know us by name because we are there 2-3 times a week. Or the Publix cashier that checks me out every Monday morning. But I digress. Here's the errands we did today.

#1 - Dry cleaner
I FINALLY got around to dropping off Dave's suit jacket to be cleaned. Those of you who see him wearing it every Sunday would probably not like to know how long it has been since I have taken it to the dry cleaner.

#2 Starbucks
You see, the drive through for the dry cleaner puts you out right into the line for the Starbucks drive through. Well, if you turn right rather than left that it. So, I just had to grab a tall vanilla latte. And it's rainy, dreary day so perfect for a little coffee pick-me-up.

#3 CVS
As we were driving to CVS, we passed the library. Caleb said, "You gotta keep looking for CVS. That's the library. Can you find CVS?" I assured him that I could manage to find it since I go at least once a week. Here's what we got.

Unfortunately, my total was high today, $3.32. This is because I only had a $15 ECB and a $10 ECB. I really prefer having more smaller ECBs than two larger ones. And now I do after this transaction, so that it good. And we will actually use everything pictured except for the Excedrin (which was a money maker with a CRT from the card scanner), so that is good, too.

#4 Library
We returned Caleb's school books from last week and got a few new books and 2 Arthur movies.

#5 Blockbuster
I just had to drop off Fireproof that Dave and I watched on our date Saturday Night

#6 Publix
The kids happily munched on sugar cookies as usual while I shopped. I spent $25.18 and saved $39.09, which is 61%. Here's what I got.

4 Dole Apple fruit bowls - $.63 each (I had a raincheck from last week)
Boars Head Beef Bologna - $1.73 (for Dave's lunches)
Whole wheat pita bread - $1.29
1 package Oscar Mayer beef hotdogs - $2.00
1 package Publix coffee - $.01
8 boxes Reduced Fat Wheat Thins and Triscuits - $.63 each (4 are for Molly)
1 head Romaine lettuce - $1.79
2 Granny Smith apples - $1.66
3 bottles Lysol toilet bowl cleaner - 1 was $1.00, and 2 were $1.25 (I used 1 printable and 2 insert coupons)
1 container Sabra hummus - $1.00
1 box Cutrite wax paper - $1.63
1 box TGIFridays buffalo wings - $1.99

As always, you can check out Fiddledeedee for more Publix savings.

And here is Alexa "helping" me put away the groceries when we got home. She was playing with the boxes of crackers like blocks.

Menu Plan Monday

Tonight - Chicken squares, green beans, fruit
Tuesday - Pork fried rice, salad, rolls
Wednesday - Bacon wrapped apple bbq chicken, oven roasted potatoes, broccoli
Thursday - Bird's Eye Voila meal, cheese rolls, fruit
Friday - $5 pizza
Saturday - Hamburgers, hotdogs, hash brown casserole, applesauce
Sunday - Pot roast and some other stuff

Date Night

Dave and I enjoyed a date night last night while Molly and Nick babysat the kids. If I remember correctly, our last night out without the kids was in September when we went to the Braves game, so it was about time. We dropped the kids off at Molly and Nick's house around 5:00 and then went to Chicago's for dinner. Dave had a rib eye steak, and I had shrimp and grits. Yumm! We finished off the meal with triple chocolate cheesecake. Then we went to Barnes and Noble and browsed awhile. I got a few cookbooks and 2 newspapers for the coupons. We went to Blockbuster and checked out the movie Fireproof. I popped some popcorn (not the microwave kind!), and we enjoyed watching an uninterrupted movie. After the movie, we had great fun loading the dishwasher and emptying the trash because life must go on, even on date night. This morning when we saw the kids at church, they were excited to see us for about 3.5 seconds, and then they went back to the Sunday School rooms to play with the toys. Apparently they didn't miss us too much.