24 Tuesday Mar 2015
Posted in Accomplishments
≈ Comments Off on Last Week’s Accomplishments – Birthday Parties
This was birthday party week. We collectively attended three parties plus hosted one.
23 Monday Mar 2015
The menu really isn’t interesting this week. We will have no family dinners until next Sunday as one adult or another will be out. All good reasons – business dinner, social event, haircut (yes, I do those in the evenings so as not to have to bring a toddler with me), and Little League meeting. We also have our standard Friday eggs/homemade pizza night and baseball Saturday evening which runs during dinnertime.
As such, I have only a small shopping trip to show, but one very heavy on produce.
What also worked out very well is that I needed to spend $26.50 (after sales, but before coupons) to be able to use all my coupons and this came to $26.54. Can’t do much better than that! Total after coupons was $23.93.
Saturday
Kids: Macaroni & cheese
Adults: Homemade pizza
Sunday:
Chicken & dumplings
Monday:
Chicken strips
Green beans
Tuesday:
Take out pizza
Wednesday:
Kids: Shrimp, broccoli
Adults: Take out pizza (different place)
Thursday:
Chicken nuggets
Carrots
Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza
20 Friday Mar 2015
Posted in Home, Product Reviews
≈ Comments Off on Babyproofing
You probably figured this was a done deal what with 4 older kids including twins, who team up to get into everything (or so they say). But, no. Our little guy has found his way into many places our older ones never thought to go.
So, we bought a second gate. Thankfully we were able to find one similar to our discontinued model used. This helps as the older ones all know how to work the mechanism and we want them to be able to get in and out.
We also had to remove all the stools. This one is a climber, at least to reach and grope the tables and counters. Then we removed small chairs and a few other items he’d identified as climbing aids. Thus far none of these have been toys.
Next, we put drawer locks on drawers the older ones never bothered with. Since those came in a multi-pack when we bought them way back when, we didn’t need to buy these. But, he’s defeated them and/or decided he can reach in the remaining slot and pull things out.
It is better though, and maybe the novelty will wear off.
Finally, we added a lock to the sliding closet door in their room as rehanging every shirt in there twice a day was taking its toll. Unlike the drawer locks this has been a tremendous success and one of my projects for next week will be to put everything back in that closet since I’m not pretty convinced he’s locked out AND our older ones can get in to access their stuff.
I wonder what he’ll get to next.
19 Thursday Mar 2015
Posted in Sports
≈ Comments Off on Where is Spring?
Spring officially starts at 7ish tonight. About that same time we should see snow start falling again, if the Weather Channel is to be believed. Right now the sky is grey and it just feels like snow.
Spring sports are getting underway here. I saw on the news that some of the high schools are practicing inside because their grass fields aren’t clear. Their games start in two weeks.
We need the grass fields ready by April 11. It looks like there is still about a foot of snow on grass surfaces today. Even paved surfaces that weren’t religiously cleared over the winter still have a good dose of snow/ice on them.
I did see them clearing one of the turf fields. I assume they will clear the second one also. But, we only have two available (admittedly this is better than other towns), which will not suffice once all ages get going. Wondering if/when it will melt (and dry out) has replaced wondering when that last bit of snow will fall so we break the record. Either way, I think we’re in for a very muddy spring and I hope they make the date decision for elementary sports sooner rather than later.
18 Wednesday Mar 2015
Posted in Family
≈ Comments Off on Parent / Teacher Conferences
A short post today to thank the school for thinking about those of us with multiple children. I had noticed that my kids’ teachers offered conferences staggered by 10 minutes so one doesn’t have to rush from one conference to the next, but also doesn’t have to wait the full duration of one. I learned this week they offset some of the grades on purpose for the very reason of multiple children.
A big thank you to whoever thought that up!
I also thank whoever made the switch to online conference signups this year. It is so much easier to arrange conferences for multiple children when one can look at all the teacher’s availability at the same time vs picking a time in one classroom and then going to the next and hoping for the best. My goal is to always get them all on the same day so I only have to arrange one day of childcare. That is much easier to achieve now.
17 Tuesday Mar 2015
Posted in Accomplishments
≈ Comments Off on Last Week’s Accomplishments
We’ve got the little guy better contained again (and the novelty is starting to wear off for him) so I was able to get more done.
And, while I can’t really take credit for this:
16 Monday Mar 2015
We decided we were tired of winter and would BBQ this week. Of course, that day ended up being snowy, but we persevered and had our first BBQ of the season Sunday. The chickens and packs of ribs in the BJs photo are for that.
We’re also hosting a birthday party next weekend so I’ve started accumulating the necessary items including the drinks in the Wegman’s photo.
But, we also have many nights when an adult is away this week and next so the week itself is a hodge podge.
Saturday
Kids: Leftover braised pork
Adults: Homemade pizza
Sunday:
BBQ chicken
BBQ ribs
Baked beans
Cinnamon apples
Biscuits
Salad
Grapes
Monday:
Kids: Macaroni & cheese
Adults: Chinese take-out (we ended up eating in last week)
Tuesday:
Take out pizza
Wednesday:
BBQ leftovers
Thursday:
Shepard’s pie
Green beans
Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza
13 Friday Mar 2015
Posted in Groceries
≈ Comments Off on Deal of the Month
I thought I got a really good deal on ice cream earlier this month (1.5 Qts for $0.74). But, then this cheese offer came along.
The cheese was regularly $3.99 each. But, it was on sale for $3.00 each. Then there was a coupon in the circular for $2.11 off one, a coupon in the flyer the grocery store sent in the mail for $1 off two, and an electronic coupon on the store website for $1.00 off 2. As you can see in the photo I paid $2.00 for one (really the second one) and they paid me $0.11 to take the other (really the first one with the big coupon) for a total of $1.89 for two cheese blocks. And, all were store coupons. If only there were manufacturer’s coupons on this item!
I put both blocks of cheese in the freezer since I already have plenty on hand. But, this was too good to pass up.
I’m going to have to think more about grocery shopping on Thursdays. The e-coupons come out Wednesday night and the past two weeks they’ve had one coupon for an item that was on sale the previous week, which of course doesn’t end until Thursday. So, if you go on Thursday you can double up as I did here. But, my younger two are both home with me on Thursday which makes it a less desirable day to go shopping. Hmmm.
12 Thursday Mar 2015
Posted in Home
≈ Comments Off on 50!
It was gorgeous yesterday. I had the younger two out with two of their friends much of the afternoon. Plus there was a lot of melting so I’ve got pictures now of things emerging from the snow.
The driveway (where it was snow blown but not shoveled) …
The kids picnic tables …
The bench …
The bushes (I’m assuming they’re fairly mangled under there.)…
It was also the first night in a long time it didn’t go below freezing overnight. But, we’re supposed to be back in the cold again for the rest of the month. Today is much colder and very windy. Nights are going below freezing again. And snow is forecast for the weekend. Will we finally break this record so we can all stop talking about it?
11 Wednesday Mar 2015
For over a month now there’s been a yellow balloon stuck in a tree about 300 feet behind our house. It’s not on our property, but its not much closer to anyone else and we probably have the best view.
It’s finally starting to warm up and we need the ice/snow pack to get there over an otherwise marshy area with its fair share of poison ivy. So, we sent the older four boys on a mission to get it this week.
For reasons the adults couldn’t figure, they set off with a sled, a full-size snow shovel, and a jump rope. Unfortunately, upon arriving they discovered that the balloon was about 12 feet up an unclimbable tree. But, it was determined that it was tangled on a single small branch. When they came back to report, Dad sent them back again with the pole saw. Success!
I’m happy to report that the balloon has made the trash. The branch is cut, but back in the woods. Most importantly, we’re not left looking at an out of place yellow blob.
Busy in the Burbs 
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