Chickfila Pictures

Here are our pictures from Chickfila today where we enjoyed our free lunch. Caleb was scared of the cow at first, but he wouldn't stop looking at it long enough to look at the camera. Eventually, he warmed up to it, and gave the cow "five."

Menu Plan Friday

Here's what we are eating this week.

Tonight - $5 pizza from Little Caesar's and free crazy bread with a coupon
Saturday - Steak (for Dave), grilled chicken (for me and A), hotdog (for Caleb), baked potatoes, salad, garlic bread
Sunday - lunch at Molly and Nick's, bringing peanut butter pie and fruit salad
Monday - pizza pasta, salad, garlic bread
Tuesday - chicken tacos, corn, fruit
Wednesday - pork and cashews, rice, carrots
Thursday - broccoli cheese stuffed chicken, noodles, salad

Cow Appreciation Day

Those of you who know me IRL and who live near me probably know that I love Chickfila. For you Canadian types, Chickfila is the best fast food restaurant ever at least in my not so humble opinion. We won't mention how often the kids and I head there for lunch, especially since Dave might be reading this. Anyway, today is your chance for free food at Chickfila. You see, it is Cow Appreciation Day. If you dress partially like a cow, you can get a free entree, and if you dress like a cow from head to toe, you can get a free meal. I'll let you guess where the kids and I are having lunch today after we meet Aunt Molly at the park. Pictures to come later.

Like Father Like Daughter

Since I got a new gas grill last week to go on my new deck, I decided to try making Baby Back Ribs, one of Dave's favorite foods. Apparently, it is one of Alexa's favorites as well. :)

One Year Stats

Alexa had her one year check up today. She weighs 19 lbs 7 oz and is 30 inches long. That puts her at the 30th percentile for weight and the 70th percentile for height. The doctor declared her tall and skinny but healthy. She has 6 teeth right now; the doctor said it looked like a molar was starting to come in. Just for comparison because it amuses me, Caleb weighed 21 lbs 12 oz and was 32 inches long at one year. She had 2 shots and did well with them. The doctor has changed the vaccine schedule a bit, so she goes back at 15 months for more shots instead of getting them all today.

I'm actually kinda glad that she is not 20 lbs yet because it is not even legal to turn her car seat around until then. The nurse did ask if her car seat was forward facing yet before she had weighed her, and I responded that I didn't think she was 20 lbs yet. I'm not sure how I'll respond at her next appointment, as I don't plan to turn her car seat forward facing until she is 2. Actually, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping a child rear facing until the limits of his seat, which is usually 30-35 lbs. Here are some links why.

Here's lots of info on why it's important to rear face to the limit of your baby's convertible seat. Usually 33 or 35 lbs. Take the time to check it out. It could save your baby's life.


The importance of rear-facing

Why You Should Consider Rear-Facing Your Child Past the Minimum of 1 Year and 20 Pounds

Our favorite link:
“Rear-facing – Unmatched Safety” A fairly comprehensive article from CPSafety.com
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/stayrearfacing.aspx

MSN Article “Child Car Seat Advice Questioned”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9916868/

You Tube Video “Benefits of Keeping Baby Rear-facing”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8mI

“Why Rear-Facing is Safest” A fairly comprehensive article from Car-Safety.org
http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html

AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) Policy
Highlight of the policy - for optimal protection, the child should remain rear facing until reaching the maximum weight for the car safety seat, as long as the top of the head is below the top of the seat back
http://www.aap.org/family/carseatguide.htm

Rear facing information from The Car Seat Lady
http://www.thecarseatlady.com/car_seats/rear-facing_seats_6.html

Why RF is Safest Even in Rear End Collisions
One Family’s Story of Being Rear-Ended While at a Stop by a Car Traveling at 60-65mph

http://myangelsaliandpeanut.tripod.com/id5.html

A childs' vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old. Before then, he/she is at great risk for spinal injury. When rear-facing in a crash, the forces are spread out among the strong carseat shell and baby's strong back. The harness holds baby down in the seat and he/she is cradled and protected. When forward-facing, the harness holds babys' body back, and his/her head flies forward violenty, putting tremendous stress on the neck.

Here's the catch...the spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches, BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 of an inch before it snaps and baby is gone. This is referred to as internal decapitation. Babys' head will be slumped over like he/she is sleeping.

It's very important to keep babies rear-facing to 1 year AND 20 lbs. (both, not either/or) at the very least. It's actually much safer to rear-face to the limits of a convertible carseat, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. A forward-facing child is 4-5 times MORE likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age...not a risk I'll be taking with my babies.

Check out this video for some great information and crash test footage...you'll see the HUGE difference: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kRP7ynNI8mI

And this one has lots of pictures of older rear-facing kiddos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psmUWg7QrC8

And here’s another great link:
http://www.childrestraintsafety.com/rear-facing.html

Happy reading!

One of My Favorite Meals

Most nights, I actually enjoy cooking. I like trying new recipes and experimenting with all different types of foods. But this is still one of my favorite recipes. In fact, I even included it in the church cookbook because I like it so much.
I often serve this as a side dish, especially with hamburgers and hotdogs. When I want to serve it as a main dish like tonight, I usually add chunks of diced ham.

The first step is to boil the noodles. The recipe calls for 1.5 cups of macaroni, but I prefer to use 2 cups, when I actually measure, that is. I do sometimes use macaroni noodles, but I have also used shells, penne, and tonight, wheels.

While the noodles are cooking, make the cheese sauce.

Then combine the noodles, cheese sauce, and ham if using in a greased casserole dish. I used to always use a square pan, but lately I have been using my oval corningware. Double the recipe for a 9X13 pan.
Then bake for 35-40 minutes.
I like to serve it with broccoli, rolls, and fruit salad.
Yumm!

80% Savings at Publix

I had some good coupons expiring today, and that would certainly be a tragedy. So the kids and I headed out to Publix for some fun after dinner. Fun for them because they got free cookies in the bakery and got to ride in the car cart and fun for me because I got some good deals.

I spent $12.99 on everything pictured above.
2 Luigi Italian Ice - B1G1F, .75/2 coupon (I just had a lemon one, and it was yummy)
1 Kraft Lite Mayo - B1G1F (This would have been an even better deal if they had the olive oil kind because I had a $1 off coupon. I asked someone to go to the back to check for it, and they were completely out. I got it anyway, though, because I needed 3 Kraft or Oscar Mayer products to use my Planters coupon)
1 Planters peanuts - $3 off WYB 3 Oscar Mayer or Kraft products
1 Publix Ranch dressing - penny item this week
2 Oscar Mayer Beef hotdogs - B1G1F, 2 $.50/1 coupons doubled to $1
2 Stacy's pita chips - B1G1F, 2 $1 printable coupons here
1 Ziploc gallon size freezer bag - on sale for $2, $.55 coupon
2 Sundown kids Spiderman gummy vitamins - $6/2 Publix coupon, 2 $3 manufacturer's coupons
1 Revlon nail clippers and 1 tweezers - 2 $2 Publix coupons, 1 $1 manufacturer's coupon
1 Publix strawberry banana yogurt (for making smoothies)
1.15 lbs bananas
2 boxes Quaker granola bars - B1G1F, $1/2 coupon
1 pack Hi-C juice boxes (no sale or coupon, but we are almost out and Dave takes these to school with his morning snack)
1 Daisy sour cream - $.50 coupon that doubled to $1