Belly Laughing!

I... LOVE... THIS... LAUGH!!! :)

The Grocery Game

I'm totally piggy-backing off my friend Lauren's recent post on menu planning and grocery shopping, so if you read both of our blogs (Marcie), sorry if it's a little repetitive!

Few of you know this about me, but I am a grocery gamer. I'll admit, I'm not as avid about it as I wish I was, but I really have a great time trying to see how much I can save each time I make my weekly grocery trip. It started out about a year ago with me setting a goal to save 25% on my grocery bill... I wasn't clipping coupons or shopping the sales sheets, I just thought I could do it on my own... wrong! When I realized that it wasn't going to happen that way I made a game plan and just now am I starting to see the fruits of my labor.

For the last few months I have observed, adapted, and revised my game plan and am loving my new system of grocery shopping! Each Sunday I take our local paper and pull all the grocery sales sheets and coupon booklets out of it (and give the rest to Kevin!), and spread out on the kitchen table with my scissors, a legal pad and pen, coupon organizer, and recipe binder - I keep a 3-ring-binder of all of my favorite recipes organized into categories (appetizers/party foods, chicken, beef, pork, fish, soups, sides, desserts, etc.). Side note: I LOVE the IDEA of organization, and I really try to be an organized person... I love putting together notebooks, and making lists and charts... it is the following through with things that's often difficult for me... but that's a whole other post for another time... So, then I make a menu chart (much like Lauren), of each day of the week. I mark the days that Kevin will not be home until past dinner time (b/c of football or golf practice, or grad school work) - and those are our leftover/clean-out-the-fridge nights. Then I plan for the other nights - I usually end up cooking 3-4 nights a week. The first thing I do is look at the sales sheet. I do all of our shopping at Kroger for 2 reasons. (1) It is the most convenient location for me, and (2) I like their Kroger Plus Card savings -we rack up so many points on our card, we get gas for 10 cents off every time we need it! I digress... back to the sales sheets... I see what Kroger has on sale that week, and then find a recipe in my binder (or online) that uses that particular food - for example, this week they have baby back ribs on sale for $2.99/pound... guess who's having ribs on Thursday night?! :) Then I check out the produce that is on sale, and plan my side dishes around that as well. The majority of the meals I make each week (everything included) are right at or under $5.00... Of course I will "splurge" (usually once or twice a week - like ribs this week) and spend around $10.00 a meal, but for the most part, I'm pretty thrifty with our meals. In each box of my menu plan I write down the main dish and each side dish (and I usually will do one dessert a week as a treat). Then in the last box of my chart I write down the ingredients that I will need to make that meal. I do that for each of the nights I plan on cooking. Then my meal chart, and each of the recipes I will use that week, go in the clear plastic cover of my binder for easy access!

I also check out the produce that is on sale that week to see if there is something that Addison is running low on... like last week, green beans were on sale $0.99/lb, so I stocked up on those and made about 3 months worth of green beans to freeze! Yellow squash and zucchini were also on sale for $0.99/lb. She won't start eating those for another month (they are 7-month-old foods), but they were so cheap, I stocked up on those, and pureed and froze about 3 months worth of each of those as well... seriously, you should see my freezer... I put Gerber to shame... we may have to invest in a separate baby food freezer for the basement of the next house. It's a little ridiculous.

Once my meal plan for the week is made it is time to make the grocery list. First, I go to my pantry and fridge and take note of the "staples" that we are out of, or close to being out of. Cereal and milk are the two biggest staples in our house... I drink skim milk and Kevin drinks 1% (he swears he tastes the difference and will not touch skim milk - whatever), so we each have our own gallon in the fridge, and EACH OF US will usually go through about a gallon-and-a-half of milk a week. Obviously we use it with cereal, and most of the time we drink it with dinner as well... And cereal... I'm not sure if I am embarrassed or proud of this fact, but I'll share it none-the-less... at any given time, we will have no fewer than 6 boxes of cereal in our pantry. We love cereal. But, we aren't cereal snobs; we eat whatever happens to be on sale when it is purchased. Again, I digress... grocery list. So, after putting the staples on the grocery list, I add all the ingredients that we are going to need for meals that week. Then I take that list and copy it into another grocery list.... did I mention that I love making lists?!... I organize my second grocery list by store aisles. I put all the produce first because that is where I start, and then I go aisle-by-aisle in my head and list each item in the appropriate section of the list - this is where being familiar with your store comes in handy!

Lastly, I clip coupons. I do this last for a reason. I love coupons, I really do. I believe you can save a lot of money by using coupons... BUT, they can also end up costing you money as well... If I am not careful, I can be very bad about buying a product that I normally wouldn't buy, or I flat out don't need, just because I have a coupon for it! So, by clipping coupons last, I make sure to only clip coupons for the things that I already have on my grocery list! That way I'm not buying something just because I have a coupon. Now, I'm not completely rigid about this. If it is an item that I do use, but I don't currently need (like toilet paper, pantry staples, etc.), I will clip the coupon and stick it in my organizer, that way I do have it when I need it. Then I go through my organizer and toss out expired coupons (gasp!) and pull out any that I need that week. While I obviously use coupons, I really could do better... I like websites such as this, and this, and this, where you can pick and print coupons for specific items that you use, but our printer has been on the fritz for a while, and honestly I just haven't made it a priority to have it fixed (really, I know we are probably going to have to buy a new one, and I'm just not ready for that reality right now). So, while I do use coupons, I know I could do SO much better than I am.

Now when Monday (aka "Grocery Day") rolls around I have my organized list and my coupons ready, and off we go! Addison loves to grocery shop with me. She is endlessly entertained just by holding the list for me, and we (ahem, I) make up silly songs about each item we (I) put in the cart. I can't wait until she can play along.

So, like I said, I know I could do SO much better than I am with the grocery game, but at least now I am consistently saving right at 25% each trip I make. I could clip a few more coupons, or wait to buy everything I need until it is on sale, but for now, I'm pretty content with my 25% savings! Who knows, maybe after another kid or two (God-willing), I'll up the ante and shoot for 30-40% savings!!

Now, if I could just get those darn baggers to stop putting the raw meat in with my produce we'd have a great thing going!! :)

Fun in the Sun!!

Hasn't the weather just been wonderful lately?! Addison and I took full advantage of the beautiful afternoon today... I moved an inflatable ducky (it's supposed to be used in the bathtub) outside and filled it with water for her to splash around in... she had a blast!!!

And when her Daddy got home from work and came outside to see her... I think she might like him just a little bit... :)

I hope everyone is enjoying this burst of springtime as much as we are!!!

Well, we're movin' on up...

... to the east side... Well, northeast side anyway. It's official, Kevin, Addison, and I are moving to Dahlonega, and we could not be more excited! :)

Most of you know that Kevin has been working on getting his doctorate for the last couple of years, so he has not been coaching football. The Lord works in wonderful ways. We've been able to get a great foundation for our marriage, and start our family in those 3 falls when, typically, he would have been coming home late and putting a lot of time into coaching. Not that he hasn't done his fair share of coming home late and putting a lot of time into working on his doctorate (especially now that he's writing the dissertation), but it has definitely been nice having him to ourselves for a while. And, we have had a blast traveling all over the state watching his self-proclaimed "game of the week" every Friday night during those 3 falls. Anyway, I digress...

So, Kevin figured 3 years was long enough to be away from something he loves so much (and believe me, he was getting pretty itchy to get back into it!), when God opened up a wonderful opportunity for us, and we were more than excited to jump at it. Kevin has known Tommy Jones, the head football coach at Lumpkin County High School, for a long, long time. They both played football at Furman, they coached together for 2 years at Oconee Co., and their dads have been highly touted football coaches in their own rights in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties for years. So, there is a very strong history between them. Anyway, Tommy offered Kevin the Offensive Coordinator position at LCHS, and we believe it really will be a perfect fit for him. He and Tommy talk all the time about how similar they think as far as football goes, so I think it will be a lot of fun for them to coach together again. Not to mention, I am lucky enough to come away with another great friend out of the deal! Tommy's wife, Cory, and I have gotten to be good friends, and they have two of the most adorable daughters ever - Avery (almost 9) and Sydney (6) - who love Addison like their own sister. So... I have no doubt we are going to have a blast with them!!

Dahlonega was the site of the first major US gold rush and is known for its beauty. It is nestled right in the mountains of North Georgia (do I sound like a travel brochure yet?!). The campus of North Georgia College is right downtown. It has a quaint little square with all kinds of antique shops, boutiques, restaurants, and hobby stores. The Smith House is right off the square (like the Dillard house - family style dining). The Etowah River flows right through, and it is about a 15-minute drive to the north end of Lake Lanier. Can you tell I am SO EXCITED?!

When will all this happen you ask? As soon as possible! Our house is on the market now (for a good bit less than I actually paid for it unfortunately), and as soon as we can get it sold, we are heading to the mountains. We've been up there a couple times looking around at neighborhoods, and actually found a house this past weekend that we both really (really!) liked. So, we'll just hold our breath and say our prayers that the perfect people come along and buy ours. Until then, Kevin will be driving the triangle for spring practices and coaches' meetings (Loganville to Oconee for school, Oconee to Dahlonega for football, then Dahlonega back to Loganville at night) - yikes! So, we are asking for prayers that we get our house sold quickly, and can get moved and settled before football REALLY starts in late summer.

Anyway, we are so very excited about beginning this new chapter in our lives. We really feel like Dahlonega will be a wonderful place to raise our family, and it makes me thrilled to know that Kevin will be so happy doing something he loves so much with someone he gets along with and respects as much as he does Tommy.

I will keep you updated on any news on the home front (ha, get it? "home" front? - yeah, OK... that was bad). Just as soon as we can get up there and settled, we'll be expecting visitors to come hang out in the beautiful mountains of North Georgia with us... we might even go dig up some gold!! :)

Addie's Adventures With Mops and Pops

While we were on vacation last week, Addison got to stay with my parents (Mops and Pops) for 4 nights. Every time I called (only twice a day, thank you), they said that she was doing great and they were going to move away with her and not tell us where they went... needless-to-say, after not getting any sleep the last 2 nights we were gone, they met us at the door with her when we returned. (OK, not really, but I think leaving her for more than 4 days in the future will need to result in a grandparent tag-team around midweek). Anyway... Mops was thoughtful enough to document her 4 fun-filled days for me in pictures, and I thought I'd share...

Leaving for church Sunday morning...

Big girl holding her own bottle... because I'm still nursing, very rarely does she get a pumped bottle, so I had no idea she could do this... Mom said she just grabbed it and went to town on her own...

This is Hadley... Our family has been babysitting her since she was about a year old... she's 5 1/2 now... she might as well be Addison's big sister... we love her. :)

Trying on Pops' Harley hat...

And our first hugs when we got back home... :)

So... I think Addison had just about as much fun at Mops and Pops' house as we did in Cancun... And, it sure was great to get back home to her!!!

Cancun '09

Well... we are back from our very restful vacation. Kevin's Spring Break was last week and we took a little trip down to Mexico for 4 nights to celebrate our 2-year anniversary (3/31), and just take a little break from grown-up-life. Addison was very lucky and got to stay with her Mops and Pops while we were gone (only the second time we've left her overnight!), and from what I've been told, she did great.

Anyway... Cancun was awesome. We had great weather (in the 80s every day), and the resort we stayed at was an all-inclusive, so we ate way more than our share of food. Seriously, I gained back every pound I lost in preparation for vacation. Oh well, now I just start over again, right?!

We had a really rough flight down there, and then a shuttle to the hotel, so by the time we got there, I was ready to kick back and relax... When we got to the front desk to check-in, the guy asked us if we were celebrating anything special, and when we told him it was our anniversary he upgraded our room for free! Wasn't that nice?! So, we ended up with this INCREDIBLE corner room that had an extra big living area, 3 huge windows, a double-sized balcony, and views off both sides of the resort... it was pretty dang awesome... here are a few pics...

The view off of one side of our balcony... The first sunrise off the other side of the balcony...

The first full day we were down there we just hung out by the main pool and relaxed. The place was incredible...

Dinner on our second day...

On the third day we were down there, we rented a 2-person speedboat. We were supposed to go on a Jungle Tour, through the lagoon, and out the canal to the ocean where we would snorkel. Unfortunately, it was pretty windy that day so the canal was closed to boats, so we just took the Jungle Tour and went out in the lagoon. It was still really awesome!!

Our hotel from the lagoon...

Going through the jungle!

Our third night, after dinner...

The last full day we were there, we got to the pool super early, and stayed at the pool or on the beach until the sun was starting to go down... so, it is this day that I blame for my now peeling forehead... but, it was great...

There was this guy on the beach that had a chimp... crazy, I know... and he was charging people $12 each for a polaroid with him... Needless-to-say, I wasn't paying $12 for a picture with him, so I took my own...

And then, this is our last night in Cancun... My cousin and his girlfriend were down there at the same time, staying in the same place (yes, we knew before we went that we were all going to be there, but isn't it kinda creepy that we were going to the same place on vacation, and staying at the SAME HOTEL?!... weird)... anyway... we had dinner with them the first night we were there (which I don't have pictures of), and the last night...

And, while our vacation was absolutely amazing (and much needed), getting home to this might have just been the best part...

Addie says "Jump, Jump!"

Addison's new favorite thing... seriously, I can't get her out of it!