Magma thoughts is moving!

Literally and figuratively we are moving. My husband has accepted a new job out of state (things have been very crazy here lately, hence the blog fading). Anyway I want to start a new blog so that our family can be up to date on our new adventures. I don't want to do it on this blog as I've done my fair share of complaining here about people that I hope will read my blog. Anyway, I also need a new name for my new blog and am having a mind block about possible names for it. The town we are moving to is Torrington, WY. Any suggestions? Leave them below.

I'll be sure to post a link to my new blog when it is up. Hopefully in time to include the link in our Christmas letter, which I haven't even started.

Oh that funny little boy

Today's pick up at daycare was a regular laugh fest for me. I went to Bodie's room first. Lately Bodie and I have been working on his manners. He is a shy boy who takes a bit to warm up to people. When we are at school I will ask him to say hi and bye to people that speak to him first. Usually he still won't say anything. I've been reminding him that it is good manners to speak to people when they speak to you. He has really been getting better, but still needs some reminders. So tonight we were at school and as I was putting his coat on he told me that G was his friend today (and G is standing right next to Bodie). I said that was great. And then Bodie told me he was going to say goodbye to G when we left (right in front of him - I was already laughing). So Bodie turned to G and said bye and G said bye to him as well. And then hugged him! And then a kiss! Oh it was so funny. Ok, I don't think Curt thought it was as funny as I did when I told him later. Anyway, Bodie and I left and I ran right into a vacuum that was outside of his door. He told me I needed to look out for the vacuum and that I should watch where I am walking (wonder where he has heard that before). We went to Barrett's room and Bodie said bye to Barrett's teacher. As we walked out of Barrett's room Bodie told me that he'd said bye to her and I asked him if he would say bye to D who sits at the front desk at the school. She says bye to him every night and he refuses to respond. I think part of it is a little bit of a game with Bodie. He turns and looks at her and gave her a very enthusiastic wave and a bye. She was floored and said Bodie had just made her night. As we left he also said hi to G's mom who was on her way in. Hopefully he is gaining more confidence and a little less shyness.

Swimming Lessons part deux

Bodie just finished up his second swimming lesson experience. (I thought I blogged about our 1st swimming lesson experience, but I can only find a few short updates. I'll just say it was 30 minutes of frustration and crying for a month and a half). We've been to the pool a few times and Bodie usually has fun, so I was hopeful this go round of lessons would be more successful. Well things did start out promising. The first few lessons Bodie would try the tasks the teacher asked. He still wasn't too fond of trying to float, but he would blow bubbles, walk away from me, pick things up off the pool floor, etc. One weekend Curt and I were out of town and my mom took Bodie to his lesson. She said he did pretty well but the following week when I took him back his behavior was horrible. He wouldn't do ANYTHING. He stood there or clung to me the entire lesson. The following week was more of the same. I thought that week was the last lesson but the teacher told me there was one left. As fate would have it we were going out of town again, this time with the boys. I felt relieved that I wouldn't have to take him to anymore lessons. I also felt relieved not to be at the last lesson. You know, the one where the teacher tells you if your child passed or failed (and I'd guess we were in the latter category). Well imagine my surprise later that week when Bodie's report card came in the mail.

He PASSED! WTF! The teacher marked that he could do everything (including calling 911 for help...um doubtful, but ok). Actually I am glad that he passed. Part of me thinks he'd be better off in a class that parent's weren't involved in. The last week we were there a substitute teacher was running the class. She asked if he was in preschool yet. I think because of his behavior he didn't seem like he ever spent time away from me. That is the one thing that would make me nervous to have him in a class without me. He would either be very well behaved, or withdrawn and uninvolved. At least we have another year before we have to cross that bridge.

15 months

Barrett turned 15 months on Halloween. He has also had quite a growth spurt. I knew he seemed much bigger, but I just pulled out Bodie's 15 month sheet and they are the same size - except Bodie has a 1/4" bigger head.
Barrett is also growing in other ways. He loves calling out the dogs by name. Tells them "kennels" in the morning before school, and says "school" as we pull in the parking lot. He says mama and dada, but doesn't seem to have any word for Bodie. He says more and one morning told me "more nana". He loves backing up. He'll back up into anyone or anything so he can sit on your lap (or the dog's lap). He also likes to stand on his head (think inverted V). I have no idea why he does this but he never stays long enough for me to grab my camera. He loves to run away when he knows he shouldn't. We feel like he'll be a bigger trouble maker than his older brother.

Mission Deconstruction

I know of been MIA for a looong time. So much stuff going on with us right now that will provide much bloggy material in the future. In the mean time....

A month or so ago I took a week off work to get some things done around the house. Unfortunately I didn't get everything done that I wanted to, but one thing I did get done was Barrett's bedroom. When Barrett was 6 months old we moved him out of our room. We had intended on moving him into Bodie's room, but we've decided Bodie isn't mature enough to share a room just yet. So in a rush to get a good night's sleep we put Barrett into our spare bedroom. And we moved just enough stuff in the room to get the crib in. The room still housed the extra bed and all of our extra stuff. Over the past 6 months since then the room really went down hill. I kept opening rubber.maid containers of clothes to switch in and out as Barrett grew and the seasons changed. Oh it did get ugly...

I couldn't move the crib out of the room so I was pretty limited in how I could move the furniture around to rearrange things. And I really didn't have any idea what I was going to do.

It got pretty messy. But then things started finding their place.

And it got to be as good as it would get:

DipTacular

I was so excited to see that BooMama is hosting a DipTacular today. I love dips! And I made a new dip last weekend that was a hit with all the male folk at Curt's fantasy football draft. Curt tried it first and then raved to all of his friends who then tried it for themselves. It was actually kind of funny - Curt doesn't usually rave over my cooking to that extent. One guy there told me it didn't taste like he expected it to. I told him I didn't know how to take that, but he just meant that by the looks of the dip, he didn't expect it to be what it was. Anyway, here is the recipe for Buffalo Chicken Dip:

Buffalo Chicken Dip
20 oz chicken, cooked and shredded
2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup blue cheese dressing
3/4 cup wing sauce
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat chicken and wing sauce in skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Add cream cheese and blue cheese dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese. Transfer to 8x8 pan, top with remaining cheese, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. Serve with chips, crackers, celery, or whatever else you enjoy dipping.

And apparently I'm not smart enought to grab the button, so go here for more dip recipes!

I just want to wear my clothes!

The one thing I was never prepared for after having kids is the huge change that would happen in my body. I mean, obviously I knew I'd be big when I was pregnant but after the baby comes out and the weight is gone, my body is oh so different. Actually it is really just my abdominal area. I seriously still look pregnant. Pants don't fit me right at all. One size is too big, the next size is snug. I've been running but not as disciplined as I should be with my eating. I'll count calories for a few days and then not for a few days. At the weight I currently am (which is less than when I got pregnant with Barrett) I'd think all of my clothes should fit with no problems. It is so frustrating. I know you can't "spot reduce" to target specific body areas but I keep hoping that if I stick to running and keep my eating in control my belly will simmer down.

I've decided to train for the Governors Cup 15K in October. So far my longest run has been 7 miles, so I'm sure I can do 2 more to complete that race. I have good endurance, just not much speed. Last night my run was to do 6 miles - 1 warm up, 4 tempo, and 1 cool down. It went well except that a train was blocking the road around mile 4.5, which made me turn around and I ended up going 7.16 miles total (of which I walked the last .9). I also had to run along a somewhat busy road where there was no sidewalk. Always makes me a little nervous but thankfully no one ran me over.

Curt starts refereeing tonight and I had hoped we'd have our treadmill fixed by now so that I could switch my runs to the morning. He called yesterday and found out it will cost $300 for a new motor plus $100 for installation. Or we could buy the same treadmill we currently own (very nice model) "slightly used" for $499. I don't know what we are going to do. That is a lot of money to repair but I also don't want to buy a "new" one. We do belong to the gym but honestly I find it a hassle going there to run. I know with the weather turning and Curt being away from home more, I will need an indoor option soon.

Happy Birthday Baby

Barrett did it - he went and turned one, and grew into a sassy little boy when I wasn't watching. He took his first steps last night. Two short ones from me to my dad. I think my mom was very excited to witness his first steps. He couldn't put on a repeat performance for Curt but I think he'll be walking soon. He is very hesitant to let go of anything he is holding onto though. He is pretty much on 1 afternoon nap a day. Daycare was having a little trouble getting him to stop his morning nap but on Friday he started making visits to the Toddler room and, as I thought might happen, he was fine and on the go until afternoon nap. He is only napping about 1 1/2 hours though, but they told me that is typical when a baby moves into that room. I guess it probably takes a little getting used to go from sleeping in a crib to sleeping on a cot (and I still can't believe they get 12 month old babies to sleep on those cots and sit nicely at the table to eat). He hasn't officially moved up but the past 2 days they've brought him over right after breakfast and he's spent the day with the Toddlers. I'm sure he'll be official by week's end.

He has 2 words he uses a lot: "da da" and "all done". He'll pull out the "ma ma" if it is a completely dire situation. Curt thinks he has said "dog" but I haven't heard that yet. He is very good at crying and gesturing at what he wants (doesn't point yet). This morning I put him in his high chair with milk and cheerios. He was fine until Bodie sat at the table with a granola bar (soft, nutragrain type). He immediately started crying when he saw that and just had to have one of his own. I think it is so funny how someone so little can already have so many opinions. It is nice that he lets us know also.

He just started to wave bye-bye. To me it seems a little late but the doctor didn't seem concerned at his appointment a few weeks ago. I'm not sure when Bodie started waving since I am the world's worst record keeper for things like that. He loves to chase Bodie all over the house and especially up the stairs (not anymore though since we bought a new gate last week).

He definitely has a healthy appetite. He drinks way more milk out of his sippy than Bodie ever did at this age. We are done nursing now, since last Thursday. I'm glad we made it through his 1st year and honestly am not sad it is over. I had mixed feeling about giving it up but a painful cut on my nipple helped me get over any sadness I might have felt.

I hope to move the boys in the same room soon. I'm struggling with it a little because Barrett tends to go down for his naps and to bed a little earlier than Bodie. I think that Curt and I will need to make a decision on this soon and if we aren't moving Barrett then we did to do his room a little nicer (since he was just thrown in the combo spare bedroom/storage/junk everywhere room). I wouldn't hesitate to move him if I knew Bodie could go to bed with out whining every night. Right now, I don't feel like we are at that place yet.

The stats from Barrett's appointment:
Height: 30 1/4" 60%
Weight: 22lb 13.6oz 50%
Head: 18 1/2" 72%

I don't know how he doesn't weigh more with all that he eats. I guess all the crawling must balance that out (and if I remember correctly, I don't think Bodie gained much at all between 9 mos and 1 year due to being so active).

Balloon

I still need to post about Barrett's first birthday, but since I am currently too lazy to get off the couch to get the camera (whose battery is about dead anyway) I thought I'd first post about how we bribe Bodie to stay in bed at night.

We have a sticker chart and this week there are 2 rewards - a midweek balloon after 3 stickers and this weekend we will watch Lion King if he gets the rest of his stickers. So last night I was going to take Bodie out to buy his balloon, but first we had to go out to my work. As soon as I walked in the door I couldn't remember if I had shut off my space heater. A quick email to the co-workers in my area didn't yield any responses so I thought Bodie and I would drive out there for a quick check. Of course as soon as we got by my office I saw the one co-worker on my team I'd forgotten to include on the email. So I tried to get my very shy little boy to chat with her. He got as far as telling her that he was getting a PINK balloon and that was it, he went off and looked around, not talking to me or her. So we leave and are driving to a near by grocery store to pick out his PINK balloon. We've been talking a lot about having good manners and being nice to people. I explained that when people talk to him it is nice to talk back to them. And now he's not talking back to me. I tell him that if he can't talk to me we won't stop and get his PINK balloon. So then he says "Ok, what are you doing, mom?" very sweetly, as if he has just seen me for the first time today. I reply "I'm driving to the store". Then again, like a parent talking to their small child, he says "yeah, what else is going on". I couldn't help but laugh at him. We went to the store and got his PINK balloon, very exciting.

One other, unrelated funny thing Bodie said to me the other day... For awhile now, Bodie has used a very small toddler pillow on his twin sized bed. The pillow is about the size of his head, no bigger. So the other day I was out shopping and remembered I needed to pick him up a new pillow for his bed. I picked one out and purchased it. When I picked the boys up from school that night, I told Bodie that I had bought him a new pillow. His reply, "was it on sale, mom?"

Birthday Party

The Saturday after Bodie's birthday we had a joint party for the boys. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to make Bodie an airplane cake.

It turned out ok. I really hoped that I'd have had more time to prepare and draw out my plans. Instead I just cut into the cakes hoping I could shape them like an airplane. Then came the frosting. For the first time I made homemade frosting (don't think I can ever go back to can frosting again!). I kept getting frustrated because the cake kept sloughing off into the frosting. I've since learned a couple tricks that I'll use next time. Either frost a thin layer, let set, and then frost again. Or stick the cake in the freezer before frosting. Now I know.

Barrett really, really liked his cake. I knew he'd go a little crazier than Bodie did but I couldn't be prepared for just how crazy he went.

Barrett really didn't know what to think about the presents. He mostly just crawled around while I opened them and then he enjoyed crawling on top of all the boxes. His birthday is not until this Friday so we'll celebrate all over again (and all weekend as we have 2 birthday parties to go to).

We finished up the party by letting the kids swim in the backyard pool. The pool was a huge hit and the perfect size for the kids. Barrett received a water table from grandma and grandpa. I wish I'd taken a picture of him playing with it - it had to be his favorite gift. He loved splashing around and getting wet.

He's 3!

Long time no blog. Of course, life is crazy as always. This mama that doesn't like when she works 40.01 hours a week put in over 60 last week, and will probably approach that again this week. But I really need to get this blog updated (and I'm out of my "I lost my camera cord" excuse because I found it this morning). So, a few weeks ago, Bodie turned 3! It is so hard to believe that he is 3 now. As a special birthday treat we took him to visit the doctor for his well baby visit. He topped the scales at 34 lbs and is a whopping 39 1/4 inches tall. When the nurse was running down the list of questions (does he do this and that) she asked if he could copy a circle. I had really no idea. He'll tell me he draws a circle but it doesn't look like a circle to me. Thankfully when the doctor came in he drew a circle on the exam table paper and asked Bodie to draw one too, and he did! Or at least well enough to satisfy the doctor, I didn't look at it. Also, I was especially proud that when the doctor asked how dry Bodie stayed at night, I could answer "completely dry". He is completely potty trained and has been for awhile now. It is so nice just buying diapers for 1 kid again. I really hope Barrett is just as easy to potty train, but I won't hold my breath. I doubt we could be this lucky with both our kids.

After our doctor visit, we came home and gave Bodie his birthday present - a new bike!He does so good riding his bike and now when we go on walks we actually cross the street! He was always asking to cross the street but I'd never want to go on that long of walks when he rode the tricycle.

He is making the transition to the 3's room at school. This week has been spent making daily visits there and next week will be the full move. Bodie does not transition easily at all, so I'm expecting a hard week next week. I've been trying to bribe him all week with earning stickers each day he has a good visit to the 3's with a reward of watching the Bee Movie with me on Saturday night (Curt will be out working the chains at the annual Shrine game). Yesterday was probably his best visit. He had a tough time today and asked the director for his blanket (I thought this was odd because really hasn't ever had anything he needed to carry around for security) but she said after she got it for him he was really fine. I think that next week I will have to start dropping Barrett off first so that I'll have both hands free for the drama that I'm sure will happen with our drop offs in the morning. He does know a lot of the kids in the 3's since half of them were with him at some point in the 2's. That doesn't seem to be much comfort to him now, but hopefully it will be in the future.

Nite-Nite

Here is Barrett when we went to sleep last night:

Here is Bodie with his doggy friends when we got up this morning:

Now I don't like having the dogs in my room at night but I guess if Bodie doesn't object we'll let the dogs go in there if they want.

Fresh Veggies

Someday I really want to have my own garden. It really isn't feasible or necessary right now though. We have 2 dogs that, I'm sure, would help themselves to anything we decided to grow. My parents have a nice large garden though (hence it not being necessary for us to have one). Every summer they are generous enough to share a lot of their fresh veggies with us. Over the weekend we got our first crop of green beans and peas. I've wasted my share of fresh veggies over the years and I am going to try my hardest not to do that this year. So tonight I set out to just snap the green beans but ended up doing about half the peas as well. Bodie helped snap the beans and then took the peas out of the pod for me. Hopefully he'll be just as excited to help me finish up the peas tomorrow.

Happy Father's Day

We had a great Father's day. We spent the morning at a local state park with my parents and my brother and his family.

Here are the boys on the drive to the park. I love how they keep each other entertained, at least until Barrett fell asleep shortly after this shot.

Barrett wasn't very excited when we got to the park. He was still a little tired and I don't think he enjoyed his flowery hat much (it was the only one I could find that fit his head).

Barrett perked up a little on the swings. This is the first time he seemed to enjoy being in the swing.

Bodie on the balance beam.

Hanging from whatever-this-is-called. His cousin climbed up this but Bodie is too cautious to do that. And this mama is ok with that!

Bodie on the paddle boats. By this time the sun had come out and it was starting to get hot but that didn't damper our spirits. After the boats we headed back to the park area to eat a picnic lunch. I honestly can't remember the last time I ate a picnic but I think I need to find the picnic set we received as a wedding gift so we can go on more, it was a lot of fun.

Bodie also got to take his first pony ride but we didn't get a picture of that. I was feeding Barrett at the time but "people" couldn't wait for me to finish before they went. I know my mom got some shots so hopefully they turn out, since she can be a bit camera challenged.

Real words

I think I'll write a post with real words and everything. I've been meaning to post for awhile but just put it off and off and then off a little more. A little update on us...

Me and Curt - Well not too much with us. How exciting of a life can you have when you don't have time for a life :). One fun thing for me...I hit the driving range with a couple girlfriends yesterday and it was fu-un. We are planning a return trip in 2 weeks. I actually hit the ball up in the air and everything. Usually I go and skim the ball across the ground. It is nice to get a little leverage under it.

Bodie - Potty training and almost 3. Glad we are surviving both of these events. The potty training has actually been a non event. I completely credit his daycare for potty training him. We did tackle nights this weekend (no choice since we ran out of pull ups and I didn't want to buy any more). He had an accident Friday night but woke up dry Sunday morning and got up at 4:30 this morning to go. So hopefully that is as bad as it gets.

Turning 3 seems to be a little more challenging. He definitely seems to be all boy. He likes to ride his trike fast, fascinated with planes and trains, and needs to do things his way! He has bad dreams (he tells us he has a dream in his ear and asks us to take it outside). I'm not sure if he is really having dreams or just says that because I asked him once if he did and then Curt told him once he'd take the dream outside. It has become a nightly ritual to take the dream out of his ear before we leave his room for the night (and if he wakes up during the night as he just did while I was writing this).

Barrett - Our little guy who may or may not have been on the verge of baby physical therapy at 9 months is a crawling and a cruising. He is all over and into everything. Curt thinks he'll be walking by the end of the month, but I would really be surprised. I remember thinking Bodie was going to be walking for the longest time before he ever did. You never know though, he might surprise us. He also loves to eat and really does great feeding himself and drinking out of a sippy. Hopefully this will ease our transition away from the breast and bottle in the not so distant future. He babbles, loves his dogs and watching his big brother. They truly seem to be great friends and I hope that continues as they get older.

Bargain Meal of the Week

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

The new Hy-Vee.com is available and I have to say I like it. You can click on items as you sift through the 3 on-line ads to add to your shopping list. Also you can "browse the aisles" and essentially price check any item you need. I wish that other sites had that feature - it would make it easy to get the best deal if you plan on hitting a few different stores.

Easy Chicken Bake

1 pkg Chicken breast ($0.88/lb split breasts)

1 can cream of chicken soup ($0.67)

3 oz sour cream ($0.37)

Broccoli florets ($2.38/bunch organic)

1 package stuffing mix ($1.25)

Boil or steam broccoli until it is slightly tender (don't overcook it as you don't want it to become mushy later). Place chicken breast in pan. Mix sour cream, chicken, and cooked broccoli and pour on top of chicken. Top with stuffing mix. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Food Stuff

Tonight I took my weekly trip to the grocery store (yes on a Friday night. I feel like shopping eats too much into my weekend if I go during the day). Anyway, lately I've been thinking a lot about the food we eat and how we really don't eat healthy enough. I grew up as a overweight kid and really don't want that same fate for my boys. Each day I instruct Curt what to make for dinner (he usually cooks since he gets home from work earlier than I do) and every night this week I came home and he hadn't made a vegetable to have with our meal. Now I usually instruct him just on the main dish, figuring that he knows enough to make a veggie to have with it. Every night I found myself pulling a random veggie out of the freezer and tossing it in the microwave. Boring. Also our side dishes are really lacking. Mac & Cheese? French Fries? It just makes me feel bad to keep feeding this stuff to the boys night after night. So this week I took the time to plan a meal and a nice side dish and a veggie for each night. Ok, one night I did plan Mac & Cheese as the side, but we are having fish that night and I need a good back up for Bodie - and me since I don't eat fish :). Fish night is becoming a weekly staple in our house now (for two whole weeks so far). I grew up very picky and hated fish (still do) and, even though I won't eat it, I still want the boys exposed to it. Hopefully all of these little changes and planning ahead will help us form some more healthy habits.

Bargain meal of the week

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

According to their website there is a new Hy-vee.com coming on June 8th. It promises meal ideas and coupons so it could be worth checking out.

Parmesan Chicken II

12 chicken drumsticks ($0.99/lb or you might be able to use the chicken leg quarters that are $3.90/10lb bag)
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese ($1.50/5-8oz pkg of Kraft Naturals - $1/1 coupon here)
1 egg
1 teaspoon ground black pepper (on hand)
1 teaspoon salt (on hand)

In a shallow bowl, mix together salt, pepper, and cheese. In a separate bowl, beat egg until lemon colored. Dip chicken in egg, coating well. Roll in cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until brown.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Happy Feet

Bargain Meal of the Week

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

Sorry I missed posting this last week. I have been so busy at work and we were getting ready to head to my in-laws for a long weekend (I'll write more about in a future post). It looks like there are some good deals to be had at Hy-Vee this week.

One website I like to find meal ideas on is Once a Month Mom, where Cortney and Tricia post monthly meal plans where the idea is to do all of your cooking in one day, stock your freezer, and voila! you are ready to go. I'm not ambitious enough to cook just once a month, but on the weekends I like to make a meal or two that can go in the freezer. One that I've tried from their site is Mexican "Un"Stuffed Shells which was featured on the March menu. The recipe below makes 4 meals but you can adjust accordingly to fit your needs (I halved it and we ate one and froze the other).

Mexican "Un"Stuffed Shells

Servings: 16

Author/Source: Pamela @ Recipezaar.com #57772

DOUBLED

32 ounces seashell pasta, cooked (any pasta type will work $0.99/14.5oz)

2 pounds ground beef ($2.39/lb or substitute chicken $0.59/lb)

6 Tablespoons taco seasoning (make your own to save money)

1 cup water (free!)

2 medium onions, chopped

3 cups salsa ($4.99/66oz - can probably find a smaller/cheaper quantity at the store)

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded ($1.25)

50.75 ounces tomato sauce ($0.19/8oz)

to taste chili powder

Directions: 1. Add seasoning, water, onion, salsa, 1/2 cup cheese, tomato sauce, and chili powder to 2 pounds cooked ground beef. Mix well.

2. Stir in cooked pasta and portion into 4 8 x 8 baking dishes.

3. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

4. Cover with foil and write the following instructions: Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes thawed) or 2 hours (frozen).

Containers Needed: 4 8x8 or 9x9 pans. If you are going to thaw before cooking you can also freeze in Ziploc bags or any Rubbermaid/Tupperware type container and transfer to a baking dish before cooking.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain meal of the week

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week

Quick Tuna Salad
1 (7 ounce) can solid white tuna packed in water, drained ($0.69/5oz)
1/4 cup creamy salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip™) (Hellmann's $2.68/jar or Kraft Ranch $1.88/bottle - even cheaper with the $1/1 kraft coupons)
1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish, or to taste

Mash tuna together with salad dressing and relish in a small bowl with a fork. Serve.

Now I don't eat tuna or salad that doesn't involve lettuce, but I'm guessing this is served as a sandwich.

Whole grain white ($1.49/20oz package)
Bakery fresh buns ($1.88/8)

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Maturing

Bodie has been such a joy to be with lately. I think it seems odd to say that about your child but it has been great. The highlights:



1. Potty training. Going fantastically! On Sunday I "tricked" Bodie when we went swimming at the Y. I didn't bring a diaper for him to put on afterwards, just underwear. He went 2 times on Sunday and didn't have any accidents. He did go A LOT in his diaper at nap and overnight but I felt we (he) was successful enough to wear underwear to school on Monday. When I picked him up that evening he was still wearing the same shorts as in the morning. I assumed he'd just begged them for a diaper, but no, he didn't have any accidents. So since Sunday he has had 1 poo accident on Tuesday and a pee accident today because they left him in underwear for nap. Evidently he stayed dry yesterday during nap so they took the chance today. He also stayed dry last night but we didn't take that same chance tonight. He has yet to poo in the toilet but hopefully that will come.



2. Haircut. Haircuts have been a torturous even for Bodie since his first one almost 2 years ago. A few weeks ago we gave him one and it was great. He voluntarily got in his chair, we didn't have to restrain him, he didn't cry or scream at all.



3. Shower. Bodie has always been afraid of the shower but lately that is all he wants to do. It is nice but also not nice because he showers with me. I would enjoy my few minutes of alone time in the shower but I guess if it keeps him happy I'll let him join me.



He has also been saying some funny things. Last weekend I was giving Barrett some little bits of hamburger and he told me Barrett cannot eat hamburger, he is too little. Also last weekend I was getting the ladder down to change some outdoor light bulbs and he told me I think that is daddy's ladder, I think. Of course since he is potty training he likes talking about the poopy being in his butt and he might have also said shit the other night (another swear word that I'm completely responsible for).



Finally, last weekend I took him shopping to pick out a new pair of sunglasses and whatever underwear he wanted. Before we went shopping he told me he wanted white underwear. I figured that would change once he saw all the choices but it didn't. He picked out whitey tighties. I'm not sure what his excitement with those are (not what his daddy wears) but I'll take it. He also didn't want any character sunglasses, he picked out plain black ones.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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Sorry for the lateness this week, work has been super busy and I'm battling some sinus issue thing. Anyway, I think the Hy-vee sales are lacking a little this week, but I think you can do Parmesan Chicken at a good price.

Baked Chicken Parmesan

1 cup corn flakes, crushed ($1.58/box)
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese (Hy-vee brand $2.49/16oz)
1/4 tsp. salt (on hand)
1/8 tsp. pepper (on hand)
1 broiler-fryer chicken (3 lb.), cut up, skinned (use breasts $0.99/lb)
1/4 cup KRAFT Real Mayo Mayonnaise or MIRACLE WHIP Dressing

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Mix crushed corn flakes, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Brush chicken with mayo; sprinkle with crumb mixture.
PLACE in 13x9-inch baking dish.
BAKE 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

9 months

Barrett had his 9 month doctor visit on Friday, and it really didn't go how I had envisioned. For the most part Barrett looks good, but the doctor is concerned about his lack of movement (he isn't crawling, pulling up, or cruising yet). Now I do seem to remember that Bodie wasn't pulling up or cruising at this point, but he was crawling. Barrett has always been very happy just being where you put him. He has never done the whole roll all over the room thing. I remember at his 6 month appointment asking the doctor if it was ok that he didn't roll over more but at that point the doctor wasn't concerned because Barrett has a certain older brother that helps get him what he wants. But I guess now it is becoming an issue. The doctor suggested we really work with him over the next couple weeks and then if he doesn't make any improvements to call and he'll send us to a pediatric physical therapist. He did say it was a good sign that Barrett pushes himself around backwards, so hopefully with some pushing from us he'll start to go forward as well. Also I should say it isn't like he doesn't try to do these things. He tries so hard to crawl. He is immediately up on all fours (for a few weeks now) he just can't get it together to move. Also he tries to pull up, but I think it has to be difficult to pull up when you are sitting on your butt, as opposed to if you crawled to something, got on your knees, and pulled up. So, hopefully if we can get him crawling, the pulling up will come. And he is getting close. He'll pull himself onto his knees, so I hope he figures it out soon.

Stats:

Length: 28.5" 60%

Weight: 19 lb 14 oz 40%*

Head: 18" 60%

* When the doctor saw he was 40% for weight he said "he is supposedly 40%" as if the nusre had mapped it wrong and then kept saying he was just under the 50%. In any event he isn't worried because Barrett looks "very solid".

Bargain meal of the week

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This week's Hy-vee bargain meal of the week.

I was walking around the hall at work today when I recipe idea came to me today. This is easy and tasty. I apologize I didn't write down the source of this recipe...

Taco Skillet

1lb hamburger, browned ($1.99)

1/2c salsa ($2.50 for entire jar)

1/4c water (free!)

12 tortillas - cut into 1 inch squares ($1.28)

1 can tomato soup

After hamburger is browned, combine all ingredients in skillet. An easy way to cut up the tortillas is to use a pizza cutter. Also I'm pretty certain I just use a package of tortillas, whether that is 8 or 12 (I think the whole wheat ones I usually buy come in packages of 8).

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

House of Germs

What a week we had here! Bodie started off last week (a week and a half ago now) running a low temp, prompting us to get calls from school on Wednesday and Thursday about him, and having him sent home on Thursday. He didn't act sick beyond a fever so we let it go and, although he was very well behaved, he kept losing his appetite and sleeping a lot. So on Monday he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with strep throat. Curt mentioned to the pediatrician that he also wasn't feeling well and the doctor had a look at Curt's throat, then suggested that Curt visit his doctor as well. Later that afternoon Curt go the same diagnosis as Bodie. Then Tuesday afternoon I started not to feel well and Wednesday morning I learned my fate was the same - strep. Barrett had been fussy and eating less but we knew he was teething (it has been going on for months now). Wednesday and Thursday his teachers called to tell us that he had thrown up (although they didn't think it was illness related) and on Thursday he was also running a fever of 101.4. So back to the doctor we went, and Barrett had an ear infection. So we were 4 for 4 this week. Thankfully we are all into our courses of antibiotics and everyone is feeling much better. Barrett was so happy today, it is nice to see him getting back to his old self. He did throw up during dinner (after coughing). The pediatrician thought the vomiting was due to a combination of not feeling well and teething. We go back on Friday for his 9 month appointment(!) so we'll talk to him about it then if it isn't better.

On the teething front, Barrett has gone from 0 to....wait for it...3! teeth in one short week. He has one of the middle bottom one and the outer top ones (like a vampire). No wonder the poor guy was so miserable.

Independence Day

Last night we were outside enjoying a beautiful evening. Bodie was standing at the door whining about something he wanted inside and couldn't get the door open. I kept ignoring him until he started playing with the PediPaws, when I had to go stop that and see what he wanted. I realized he was saying he wanted bread, so I opened the door and let him inside. I followed him into the kitchen, where he promptly turned around and tried pushing me out of the room, declaring "I do it myself". Well, OK then. I stood in the doorway while he got a chair from the dining room, pushed it to the kitchen counter, opened the bread package, grabbed the slice I'd tried giving him at dinner which he decided he didn't want at that time, closed the package, and headed back outside. I guess he just doesn't need his mama like he used to.

Bargain meal of the week

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I'm glad that an actual recipe came to mind as I flipped through the Hy-vee ads this week. But of course I cannot find the recipe, so here is my improvised version of it.

1 package chicken ($0.88/lb)

1 bottle bbq sauce ($1.28)

Put ingredients in crock pot and cook on low 6-8 hours. You can also add a package of onion soup mix or a can of pineapple (which was the recipe I was looking for). I'm pretty sure with the can of pineapple I add the pineapple and then about half of the juice mixed with a little brown sugar. But plenty of times we have just done chicken topped with barbecue sauce in the crock pot and it is very easy and tasty.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Because I haven't written enough random blogs

• Yesterday I took Barrett to the doctor for his eczema issues. We were prescribed a higher strength of hydrocortizone (which when I got to the pharmacy found out it was actually OTC). He looked a lot better tonight but of course all the ladies at daycare had their opinions of what is wrong with him: He might be lactose intolerant! He could be allergic to wheat! Definitely an allergic reaction! Maybe it is from Bodie's old clothes you took out of storage! I know that everyone means well. I'm not convinced it isn't some sort of allergy. I did stop eating citrus fruits and stopped giving Barrett mango because I thought our mess started when we both were consuming citrus frequently. However, it is been close to a month now that we've refrained and there isn't much change. We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for Barrett's 9 month appointment (!) and I'll ask the doctor then what the likelihood it is something he is allergic too. Yesterday he only asked if I noticed it flare up after certain foods, but there doesn't seem to be any pattern that we can find (because it really is always flared up).
• Last night I was in a bit of a hurry to get Barrett's crib sheet on and get Barrett to bed. When I went upstairs to put the sheet on, Bodie followed me upstairs and started messing with the vacuum (undoing the cord, stringing it around everywhere). After I got the sheet on, I turned around to see the mess and under my breath muttered that I had that all put together and he'd messed it up. I wasn't even sure Bodie heard me since I wasn't really saying it for any one's benefit, just for my frustration. Sure enough after I went down to get Barrett and come back upstairs, Bodie had put the cord on the vacuum perfectly. I can't even say how nicely it was done...probably nicer than I usually do it and much nice than Bodie ever has. Made me feel bad for being frustrated in the first place.
• A good friend of Curt's was in a bad motorcycle accident this morning. Sounds like he is going to be ok though. I guess he was "sorting out the cattle" and hit a hole in the pasture. The clutch or handlebar went into his leg, coming about 1/8 inch from his femoral artery. Thankfully his "hired man" was with him and phoned for help. The helicopter came and got him to the hospital just in time. He had surgery today and seems to be recovering. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.
• I'm heading for a girl's weekend with some friends over the weekend. I'm having some anxiety over my flying so I'd appreciate any thoughts and prayers that I'm safe. I'm very much looking forward to getting away for a few days and hope Curt survives being a single parent for a few days :).
• I feel there is more but it escapes me. I'll write more random thoughts in the future I'm sure.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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Still not overly impressed with the Hy-Vee, although I haven't been too motivated in the kitchen lately so maybe I'm just not seeing what is there. Hopefully some of the other bloggers have better ideas than mine this week.

This is one of my favorite burger recipes. You can make it with hamburger or it is good with ground turkey as well. Also, it makes a lot (8) burgers so you can cook and freeze them or plan to use them in lunches during the week.

Turkey Spinach Cheese Burgers

2 lb hamburger ($3.18)

1 10oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 envelope onion soup mix

1 cup cheese ($0.67)

buns ($0.97)

Mix all ingredients (it is easiest just to use your hands). Form into 8 patties and cook until well done. Serve on bun.

I've found that these really seem to taste better cooked on the Foreman grill, instead of our regular grill. They seem to get a bit crispy cooking on the gas grill.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

*sorry for the lack of formatting. Blogger isn't listening to what I'm telling it to do :)

Bargain Meal Recipe Updates

I want to write a quick post about a couple of the recipes I'd posted for the Bargain Meal of the Week, but had never actually tried myself. Thankfully they both turned out to be pretty yummy. Last week we made Beefaroni and Skillet Pork Chops with Potato and Onion.

I was afraid the Beefaroni would be too plain but it was great. The only changes I made was cooking a chopped onion with the hamburger and I added a lot of Italian Seasoning. It was a hit with Curt and I. Bodie seems to be in some sort of anti-pasta phase so he didn't have much, but I'll definitely make it again.

The Pork Chops were also very good. Curt made this so I know that the recipe was followed exactly...he doesn't deviate unless I instruct him to :). I guess we did deviate slightly because we only used 2 pork chops, 2 potatoes, and 1 onion. Bodie is in a pro-pork chop phase so it probably would have been ok to make a 3rd chop, but I had them frozen in packages of 2.

I can now officially recommend both of these recipes. Happy cooking!!

8 months

Barrett turned 8 months last week. I feel like I never write about him, but in reality Bodie is the one that just does so much these days. Anyway, Barrett now claps and just yesterday he started trying to wave bye-bye as we left school. It was adorable watching him concentrate on trying to move his hand just right. Then at dinner I told Curt about it and he got Barrett to do it over and over again. He isn't crawling yet, which really is making him mad. He'll push himself around backwards and also get up on all fours for a moment, so I have a feeling his time will come soon. He thinks his older brother is about the most entertaining person around. It is amazing to me to watch the two boys together. Bodie is a wonderful big brother. He knows just what to do to make Barrett laugh and also does the silliest baby talk to Barrett. I've never noticed that Curt and I do a lot of baby talk but Bodie will just take some non-sense phrase and baby talk it to Barrett. A common one while we are in the car is "you have my old car seat...you have my old car seat" which is followed by "you laughin...you laughin" all said in smiley, happy baby talk. I try to get this on camera but whenever I pull out the camera Bodie wants on the other side to see the pictures being taken.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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I feel like I've been grasping at straws recently. I guess I need to think more outside the box when it comes to this feature...

Simmering Chicken Strawberry Kabobs
1 cup lemon juice
2 (8 ounce) cans pineapple chunks, juice reserved ($0.98)
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (3 spices for $2)
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cubed
1 cup butter, melted (2 8-21oz tubs for $4)
2 tablespoons brown sugar ($1.18/2lbs)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (3 spices for $2)
24 large strawberries ($1.18/lb)

In a shallow glass bowl combine lemon juice, juice from pineapple can, salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix together. Add cubed chicken and marinate for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Preheat grill to medium heat. In a small bowl combine the melted butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, brown sugar and nutmeg.

Lightly oil grate. Using metal or soaked wooden skewers arrange chicken, pineapple chunks and strawberries on each stick (approximately 4 to 6 pieces of each item per skewer). Brush kabobs with butter or margarine mixture place on grill and cook, turning on all sides, until chicken is cooked through and strawberries are sizzling. Approximately 8 to 10 minutes.

I sort of feel like I am cheating with this since the kind of chicken breast you would use for this isn't on sale. Maybe you have a pack stored away or you can find a good price on a package in the store.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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First here is my Bargain meal of the week (then I'll have a surprise snack of the week).

We have a cookbook called 4 Ingredient Recipes that I just love. Everything we've made out of it has been really good, and with only 4 ingredients it is very easy also.

Onion Baked Pork Chops

1 Envelope Onion Soup Mix
1/3 c plain dry bread crumbs
4 pork chops, 1 inch thick*
1 egg, well beaten

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. In a small bowl, combine soup mix and bread crumbs. Dip chops in egg, then bread crumb mixture, until evenly coated.

2. In lightly greased 13x9 inch baking or roasting pan, arrange chops.

3. Bake uncovered 20 minutes or until barely pink in center, turning once.

*I have never used 3lbs of pork chops when making this recipe, and it probably wouldn't qualify as a Bargain Meal if you did (at least with the Hy-vee sale this week). I just use the amount of meat I need, which would be 2 or 3 pork chops (Bodie seems to love pork chops lately).

Bonus Snack Recipe...I love this recipe, and could eat it all day long. I am thinking of making it for Easter Sunday since I gave up pretzels and crackers for Lent (seems like an odd thing to give up but with a 2 year old in the house I was always mindlessly munching on things like that).

Pretzel dip recipe

3 pkg. 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1 stick butter
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch Original
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese (dry)

Empty cream cheese into large bowl. Wash cream cheese containers, dry thoroughly, grease with butter and dust with coarse ground black pepper**.

Beat above ingredient. Press into containers. Serve with pretzels.

For best results: if dip has been refrigerated, let set out for 5-10 minutes before putting it on a plate - it comes out of the container better when it's not really cold.

**Or to make things easier just mix everything into 1 larger container, no need to grease or put pepper down first.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Click on the image to go find your Bargain Meal of the Week!

Again, I am not overly impressed with the deals this week.

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce

1 (16 ounce) package dry penne pasta ($0.99)
8 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced ($0.99/lb)
1/2 cup Italian dressing ($1.99/package - Ken's brand)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese ($2.99/7-8oz package)

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place the penne pasta in the pot, cook 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the tomatoes, Italian dressing, basil, red onion, and Parmesan cheese.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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I am pretty unimpressed with they Hy-vee deals this week. Hopefully that means that next week will have some great ones.

Beefaroni
1 pound ground beef ($1.99/lb)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese ($1.79)
2 (15 ounce) cans tomato sauce (Hunt's tomatoes $0.88 each - I think it would be fine to substitute 1 or both cans of sauce for tomatoes, depending on your preference)
2 tablespoons butter ($0.58/lb)
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked elbow macaroni (use one of the Hy-vee pastas on sale for $1)
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Crumble the ground beef into a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until evenly browned. Drain.

While the ground beef is cooking, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add macaroni, and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain, and stir in butter. Transfer to a large casserole dish, and mix in the ground beef, tomato sauce, and Cheddar cheese. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the top.

Bake uncovered for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until heated through and bubbly.

For more Bargain Meal ideas, head over to $5 dinners.

Classy

Late yesterday afternoon I got a call from daycare saying that Barrett had thrown up twice and needed to go home. So I went to pick him and Bodie up for the day. After Curt got home, about an hour later, I started to make dinner and discovered I'd forgotten the spaghetti part of our spaghetti and meatballs. While I was at the store buying spaghetti, I decided to look to see what kinds of alcohol sales were going on, given it was St. Patrick's day and all. So I found what I thought was a good deal on a 20 pack and bought it. As I was walking out of the store I ran into Barrett's teacher. She said "I know what you're doing tonight". Great. One hour after picking up my sick kid from school I am caught buying a large amount of beer. Real classy.

What is it?

Unfortunately I think Bodie has inherited mine and Curt's lack of creativity or imagination. Yes, he does crawl around the house meowing like a cat but that is about it.

This was the painting Bodie brought home yesterday. I asked him what it was and he first said "I no know" then told me it was a butterfly...

This is his hand print, which crazily enough looks like his hand... (other kids' looked like a puppy or a birthday). Sorry about the sideways picture...

Here is the best one. The kids did some sort of painting which looks like they put paint on the paper and folded it in half to create a design. Then the teacher asked them what it was and all of the pictures hung with their caption. Bodie's didn't have one. His teacher told me she kept asking him what it was and he wouldn't answer. Something popped in my mind right away, but I'm curious to know what any of you think it is...

Bargain Meal of the Week

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First of all I have to brag about the awesome whole chicken deal I scored at Hy-vee last week. For the past few weeks I have been trying to use my $0.59/lb whole chicken rain check from early February but they've been out of chickens each time I go in. Thankfully they had 2 in stock last week and I picked the larger one for my purchase (5.04lb @ $1.79/lb). Evidently Hy-vee was having a "Meat Sack Sale" which scored me 20% off my purchase ($2.60 - which is more that 20% but this was the only meat I bought, so I'm not sure how that worked but I'll take it). Then the girl was trying to calculate how much to credit me for using my rain check, and finally settled on $6! So I bought my chicken, originally costing $9.02, for a mere $0.42! Or just over $.08/lb. Can't beat that!

At first look of the Hy-vee ad, I immediately knew I had to use my Mother-in-law's potato soup recipe. It definitely isn't the most frugal to make, but with the deals this week it is definitely a better bargain than any other time this winter (and at 8 degrees this morning it is sounding really good).

Cheesy Potato Soup

8 slices bacon, crumbled ($1.99/package Oscar Mayer brand)
1 pkg frozen hash browns ($0.98 Lynden Farms brand)
4 cups water
2T chicken flavored bouillon granules
1/2 c margarine
12 slices American cheese ($0.88 Kraft singles)
1c green onions
2c sour cream ($0.99/16oz)
2c milk ($1.18/half gallon)
1t salt
1/2t white pepper

Prepare bacon in skillet over medium heat. Drain and crumble. In a large stockpan combine hash browns, water and bouillon granules. Cover and place over medium low heat until hash browns are thawed and crumbled. Add bacon and remaining ingredients. Stir until well blended. Cover and cook over low heat about 20 minutes (always seem to take longer than this for me) or until potatoes are tender. Do not allow soup to boil.

For more Bargain Meals of the Week head over to $5 dinners.

More Potty Training

What isn't more exciting than a post about my son's peeing habits?! Saturday morning I thought we would try an "underwear day" and see where Bodie might be again with potty training. The underwear went on and I put him on the potty chair about every 20 minutes. Well about 2 minutes after "trying" he had an accident. Curt put him back on the potty, gave him some apple juice to maybe propel him to pee (but he didn't) put clean underwear on him and sent him on his way. Bodie came upstairs to help me clean and had another accident. I carried him downstairs and put him back on the toilet. I really talked up the positive reinforcement, telling him how I knew he had tried to make it to the potty (he hadn't), next time he'd do it (really had my doubts), and that it would be ok. He got a skittle for sitting there and then I asked him if he wanted to get up and put his underwear on. He told me that he needed to go potty, and just sat there. And sat there. And sat some more. Finally he wanted some more apple juice and I obliged (he doesn't normally get juice at home so if it works to help get him potty trained he can have it). He drank his juice and started getting very fidgety. Oh, I could tell a big moment was coming. Would he pee in the potty chair? You betcha he did! But it wasn't the great moment I thought it would be. He screamed and cried as he peed. Oh boy! You would think that peeing was the most painful thing he had ever done. Now, normally if this happened I might think he had some sort of infection, but since it didn't happen until he peed on his chair, I think it just scared him, really bad. I tried to find information on "toddler scared of peeing" and google asked if I meant "toddler scared of seeing". Hmm...no thanks. Anyway although I couldn't find any credible information on it, I did see some message boards where parents had the same problem, so I guess Bodie isn't completely abnormal. So, he's peed. He actually sat on various toilets in our house for about a 2 hour span trying to pee in all of them, and screaming each time any pee came out. Even saying to us "you need hold my hand" when he had to go.

On Sunday I wasn't even going to say the word potty, as the events of Saturday seemed pretty trying for him. But he was insistent and asked to go potty 3 times during the day (still screaming but seemed to get better with each try). The biggest accomplishment though came yesterday at school. I told his teacher in the morning what we'd been through over the weekend, just in case Bodie started screaming in the bathroom there. And when I saw the daycare phone number come up on my caller ID at work, minutes after sitting at my desk I was afraid (but it was Barrett's teacher calling for a quick question). When I returned to pick Bodie up after school I asked him if he'd gone potty and he gave me a look that seemed to say "I don't really want to talk about this right now Mom!" But his teacher jumped in and told me that HE DID GO PEE. ALL BY HIMSELF. AND DID NOT SCREAM!!! She said he looked a little scared when he came out of the bathroom, and made a little mess, but did great! I'm not sure when we will really start pushing him with the potty training. I'd like to see him go without screaming a few times and then we can work towards the actually training. At least we are making some progress though.

Bargain Meal of the week

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Last week Christine asked for links to the Hy-vee online ad. I apologize for not including links in my posts. I wish I had a good excuse but the truth is I'm just lazy. I'll try to work on that.

If you access the Hy-vee ads on line here (I had to type in a location to get this to work so you'll need to refresh with your own location) you can see there are two ads - View Ad and View Online Ad. This clears up a lot of questions for me because I'd often get confused in the store when I'd see a sign advertising an Advertised Price and I didn't remember seeing that price in the ad.

Sale Prices are indicated next to the ingredient.

Skillet Pork Chops with Potato and Onion

2 tablespoons vegetable oil ($2.48/entire bottle - not sure how many Tablespoons that is)
4 pork chops (1/2 inch thick), trimmed ($2.49/lb)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese ($0.17 Hy-Vee Brand)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced ($0.30 for Russets)
2 medium onions, sliced ($0.23)
3 cubes beef bouillon
3/4 cup hot water (FREE!)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Coat the pork chops with flour, and place in the skillet. Brown about 4 minutes on each side.

2. In a small bowl, mix the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle 1/2 the Parmesan cheese mixture over the pork chops. Layer chops with the potatoes. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese mixture. Top with onion slices.

3. In a small bowl, dissolve the beef bouillon cubes in hot water. Stir in the lemon juice. Pour over the layered pork chops.

4. Cover skillet, and reduce heat. Simmer 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender and pork chops have reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

For more Bargain Meals of the Week head over to $5 dinners.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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I've discovered that Hy-Vee has an "exclusive on-line ad" so I am actually using that one for my deal today. I found this recipe at All Recipes, my go to site for finding new recipes.

Potato, Broccoli and Cheese Soup (I've provided pricing on the sale items)

2 cups chopped onion ($0.34)
2 tablespoons margarine
2 1/2 pounds peeled and cubed potatoes ($0.94)
5 cups boiling water (free!)
4 cubes chicken bouillon
3 cups fresh broccoli, cooked and drained ($1.67 per package, which I'm guessing is more than enough)
salt and pepper to taste
3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese ($3.00)


In a large stock pot saute onion in butter. Add potatoes, water and bouillon cubes. Cover, bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
Remove tough outer skin of broccoli stems and cook broccoli. Once cooked add to soup.
In a blender or food processor puree half of the soup and return to stock pot. Season with salt and pepper.
Add cheese and heat soup through until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

This would make a great (meatless) Lenten meal, if you like options other than Fish (which I certainly do!).

A One Sided Conversation

Yesterday morning, Bodie to Barrett:

"What the matter Barrett? You tired? You need go back bed?"

Barrett was just sitting in the living room, not making a peep. Not sure why Bodie thought something was wrong with him.

Morning at the Museum

On Saturday morning Curt, Bodie and my dad took a trip to SAC Museum. We've been trying to find things for Bodie to do on the weekends to get rid of some of his winter energy. He is interested in the airplanes that fly over our house daily so we thought he'd enjoy seeing them up close. He had fun, but Curt thought he was still pretty young to really enjoy it.

This one is kind of dark, but Bodie is "driving" a flight simulator.

Curt said this was Bodie's favorite part. Probably because it was something "hands on" that he could do.

Bargain Meal of the Week

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I have 2 ideas based on 2 different sales ads I have seen.

I'm not sure if the Thunderous Thursday deals are Hy-vee wide or local (Eastern NE) but if you have these deals available you can make yourself a Mexican comfort meal. Growing up these were called Walking Tacos but my husband calls them Texas Straw Hats.

1 lb hamburger (weekly flyer $2.79/lb - 90% lean roll)
Fritos (Thursday sale $1.68)
Cheese (Thursday sale $1.19)
Lettuce (weekly flyer 3/$5)
Taco seasoning ($0.33)

Simply brown the hamburger and add seasoning according to package directions. Spread Fritos on plate and top with meat, cheese, and lettuce. You could also add corn (Steamfresh is advertised in the Thursday sale as $1 per package or $1.18 in the weekly flyer - cheaper if you have coupons). You could also do this a more healthy way by spreading the lettuce on your plate first (taco salad style). The Thursday flyer also advertised Michelob products for $4.25/6 pack and if you buy 4 you qualify for a $15 rebate, which works out to $0.50/6 pack. I think beer makes a nice edition to a Mexican meal!

From the main flyer this week I have a recipe for Garlic Mushroom Chicken Melt:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves ($0.99/lb)
1 envelope Savory Herb with Garlic Soup mix
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained ($1.00)
1 T olive or vegetable oil
1/2 c shredded mozzarella or Monterrey Jack Cheese ($2.48 or $0.62 for this recipe)

Preheat oven to 375. In 13x9-in baking or roasting pan arrange chicken. Pour soup mix blended with tomatoes and oil over chicken. Bake, uncovered, 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Sprinkle with cheese and bake an additional 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Serve with a side of rice (Minute Rice on sale for $1.88/box) and Steamfresh veggies ($1.18).

For more Bargain meal of the week ideas visit $5 Dinners.