Happy Birthday Nana!

Dear Nana,

We want to wish you a very happy birthday!  We hope you have a fantastic day!

Love,

Elizabeth and Caroline

Life Lately

Well... life lately has been pretty crappy.  

Elizabeth, Caroline, and Ben have been sick most of the week 

(fevers, coughs, and runny noses) and so we haven't done too much.  

Today was a busy day (that I will get into later) and it kinda went to crap.

 For dinner on Monday night, I made chicken enchiladas and Mexican rice.

I loved the whole meal, Ben liked the enchiladas.

This is definitely a repeat recipe.

 Monday, this girl was happy!

 Tuesday, no one felt good, so we spent most of the day in jammies.

 I love watching Elizabeth play with Caroline.

It makes my heart happy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

 For St. Patrick's Day, I made corned beef, carrots, and potatoes.

Also super easy.

*I can't stand corned beef and I only make this on St. Patrick's Day for Ben

Wednesday morning.  Both girls are sick.

 Thursday, Caroline broke out her Gamecock gear from Dana.

 I think she is proud to be a Gamecock :)

Friday, the first day of Spring, it snowed at our house.

Today has been an interesting day.

It started with me going to physical therapy and Ben keeping the girls at home.

I then ran some errands and came home.

All that was fine.

When I got home, Ben was getting the girls ready to leave.

See, they were going to leave the house for several hours while I completed a video taped interview about Spring. 

At 1pm, four people from Chicago showed up and interviewed me for 3 1/2 hours about Spring.  What I do to get my house ready for spring, wants scents I use for Spring, just a lot of questions about Spring.  We then went to two stores where I shop frequently and I walked them through how I choose what I choose.  It was a great experience and I hope to do it again one day.  

So now you ask yourself, where did it go to crap?

Well, remember how I said Ben was taking the girls for several hours?  This hours-long trip was during nap time.

So...

-Caroline refused to eat lunch (at first)

- Caroline refused to fall asleep (take a nap) in her car seat

- Elizabeth refused to eat her lunch (at first)

- Elizabeth kept taking off her socks at the mall playground and Ben told her she couldn't 

(I tell her she can, so I understand why she was confused)

- Elizabeth tackled a girl at the mall playground.  Yes tackled is the word Ben used.

Ben very nicely e-mailed me these pictures from today:

 Selfie with Caroline

 Then she made this face.

  Elizabeth playing.

When we were all back home, we headed to Church for the fish dinner.

The price in the program said $20 for families (or $8 for adults and $5 for kids).

The sign at the table said $25.  

We had only brought $20.

We "discussed" this with the high school girl collecting money for a long time.

I finally found $1 in quarters in my purse and handed her $21 for two adults and 1 child.

Then Elizabeth refused to eat any of her dinner.

Then Elizabeth refused to sit in her chair.

Then Elizabeth screamed.  A lot.

We left after Ben and I ate as fast as we could.

So...

I wanted to stop by Rita's Italian Ice on the way home and get my free Italian ice.

(Because today they are giving away free Italian ice)

We got off the highway an exit early.  Pull into the shopping center, up to Ritas.

And it is CLOSED.

They have not opened for the season (even though their website says they are open)

So... That has been our week.

I am hoping everyone is feeling better tomorrow and 

back to being their happy (eating their meals) selves.

Happy Friday!

Workout Wednesday

We dropped our gym membership in February because of my ankle injury.  I didn't want to be paying for something for months that I wasn't going to be able to use.  So... Ben and I have been working out at home once the girls go to bed.

Since mid-January, I have been doing inversion and eversion ankle exercises.  I have also been doing an ab workout that I will go over below.

 My legs before my workout.  

Notice the difference between the resting position of my right ankle and left ankle.

 My right ankle is really lacking in extension and flexion.

:(

 My eversion exercises.

My inversion exercises.

I have also been doing the following ab routine (30 of each):

-crunches

- oblique crunches (30 each side)

- pulse ups

- bicycles

- vertical toe touches

- Russian twists

I do this two times through, every day.  It takes about 10 minutes.

The routine is supposed to include:

- v-ups

- cross body mountain climbers

But my abs are not strong enough for those yet (thank you c-section)

Crunches

Oblique crunches

pulse ups

bicycles

 vertical toe touches

Russian twists (I use an 8-pound weight)

Try the ab workout for two weeks, it will change your core!

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Birthday Great Grandmother!

Dear Great Ga-Ga,

We want to wish you the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!  We love you so much and we hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Love,

Elizabeth and Caroline

Playground Fun

It was on the warm side today; so Elizabeth, Caroline, and I headed to the playground.

 Elizabeth found some purple flowers on the ground

 She climbed the ladder

Sat at the top of the playground

Time to slide!

Now Elizabeth is telling me she doesn't feel good so I am guessing we will be sticking around the house for a few days.  She had a low fever this afternoon so we will see how she feels tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

Week in Review

We have had a really busy week around here (hence, the no blogging) so I wanted to catch you up on the goings-on around here.

 Tuesday afternoon with my baby

 Wednesday we loaded up the car and went to chick-fil-a for lunch.

We now go through the drive thru and then park and eat.

It is so much easier and it is still super yummy!

 Someone loves applesauce...

 And Chick-Fil-A nuggets

 Thursday morning selfies.

My neighbors do a preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays and we hosted this week, this is a picture of us before everyone came over (and before Caroline took the worlds longest nap)

 Friday morning selfies.

My big sister from my sorority, Laura, came over with her son, Graham, for lunch and catching up.

They just moved to the area and I had such a great time seeing both 

of them and watching the kids play.

 She grabbed the phone as I was snapping the picture and this is what came out.

She is a selfie pro.  :)

 Friday night we stopped by my cousins' house to drop off dinner.
My Aunt Leslie was visiting because Jessica had her baby (yay!).

 My girls with their Great Aunt Leslie!

 Saturday morning, I got up with this nugget

 Big sister joined us about an hour later

 Once Ben came downstairs, Elizabeth decided it was time to climb

 Ben is good at multitasking

 This girl...

not smiling for the camera

 I went to get a massage and while I was gone, Ben decided to make something delicious...

Saturday afternoon we celebrated Pi Day with two homemade pies.

Ben made custard pie and three-layer chocolate pie.

So yummy!

 Jim, Anuja, and Samara came over for Pi Day

Samara and Caroline had a ton of fun playing together

Ben and Caroline AND Jim and Samara

 Saturday night, Ben showed me how to make pizza

(dough and all)

Sundays are my shopping days.  I get everything we are going to need for the week and I am blessed to have a husband that stays home and keeps the girls entertained while I run around town shopping all the best deals.

I went to a few stores today for our groceries, baby items, and FREE Easter candy-

 Aldi, Harris Teeter, and CVS

At Aldi I got: 

(1) gallon of milk ($2.69)

(1) 16oz bag of baby carrots ($0.49)

(1) bag of salad ($0.99)

(1) bag of chocolate pretzels ($1.69)

(1) 3-pound bag of onions ($0.79)

(1) 5-pound bag of red potatoes ($1.29)

Total spent: $7.94

*Aldi does not accept coupons.  However  all of the items are significantly less expensive at Aldi than any other grocery store around (I compared Trader Joes, Harris Teeter, and Giant)

 At CVS I got:

(3) bags of Pampers diapers (on sale for $8.99 each)

(1) box of wipes (on sale for $2.99)

(5) Snickers eggs (on sale for 99 cents, and buy one get one free)

(1) bag of plain M&Ms (on sale for $2.50)

Total spent: $12.94 (I also got back $10 ECB)

Total saved: $36.16

*I had coupons for everything.  I had $10 in ECB, $4 off any $20 purchase at CVS.

I had (3) $1.50 off diapers coupons, I had (2) $1 off any (2) snickers coupons.

I had $1 off one bag of M&Ms,

 and on the shelf was a coupon for buy one bag of M&Ms, get a free egg.

 

At Harris Teeter I got:

(5) bags of cheese

(1) package of turkey sandwich meat

(3) boxes of Mott's gummy snacks

(2) bottles of Vanilla

(1) package of sandwich thins

(1) bag of sugar

(3) cans of red enchilada sauce

(1) bag of tortillas

(2) jars of ragu

(2) pillsbury crescent rolls

(1) package of butter

(1) carton of orange juice

(1) carton of lactose free milk

(1) one-pound of strawberries

(1) package of Mexican rice

(1) package of chocolate chip muffins

Total spent: $37.75

Total saved: $34.71

*The cheese was on sale, buy 2 get 3 free.

The turkey meat was regular price.

The gummy snacks were on sale for $2.  I had $1 off coupon.

The vanilla was on sale $1.99/bottle.  I had $1 off 2 coupon.

The sandwich thins were half price and I had $1.10 coupon.

Sugar was regular price.

Enchilada sauce was buy 1 get 1 free.  I needed 3.

Tortillas were regular price.

Ragu was buy 1 get 1 free.  I had $1.25 off 2 coupon.

Crescent rolls on sale 2/$4.  I had $1 off 2 coupon.

Butter was half price.

Orange juice was on sale for $2.50

Milk was on sale for $3.00

Strawberries were half price

Mexican rice was regular price

Chocolate chip muffins were on sale for $1

Total spent for the week: $58.63

Total saved for the week: $70.87

Our dinner meal plan for the week:

Sunday- Homemade Cheese Pizza

Monday- Chicken enchiladas, Mexican rice

Tuesday- Corned Beef, carrots, and potatoes

Wednesday- Pasta and meatballs with salad

Thursday- Breakfast (Muffins, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon)

Friday- Skillet meal

Hope you had a great week and weekend.

Happy Sunday!