MY WEEKLY MENU PLAN & GROCERY SHOPPING TRIP

Yesterday I went grocery shopping.  I had planned on going Saturday, but because Ruy was supposed to have his first soccer game of the season this morning, I decided to go last night.  The game ended up getting rained out but I was glad I went last night because it was pouring so hard and I would not have wanted to drag the kids out in that.  

Anyways...we went out last night and it was just me and the two "littles" since Ruy is gone for the weekend at his Dad's.  Grocery shopping is more fun when he's with me.  He's my big helper.  He likes to hold my list for me and cross of the items we've added to the cart and I think his favorite thing to do is to help me get all the fruits and veggies while we're at Kroger.  Liam & Alanna like to ride in the little car carts and even though these are a pain to push, I endure it because it's so much easier having them both buckled in.  This trip resulted in Alanna up in the front near me though because Liam would not stop bothering her! I keep laughing thinking about how crazy grocery shopping is going to be in a few weeks when I have Ruy walking next to me, these two strapped in one of these, and Jude in the Ergo.  I will really get the "you're crazy" looks then :) 

It was about 6:45PM when we got home.   I got the kids inside and then started my least favorite part of grocery shopping...bringing the groceries in!  Please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't like bringing the groceries in.  Our driveway is on a hill and being so big pregnant I get so sore & out of breathe by the time I've made one trip to the van.  I was on my third trip from the house to the van when I just saw the kids wagon and had the brilliant idea of loading up all the groceries in the wagon and then just pulling that down the hill, putting it at the bottom of the porch stairs, and carrying them in from there!  It worked and it was SO much easier.  I wish I had thought of that months ago.  

And here's my menu plan for the week:

Saturday: *Ruy's 1st soccer game, Grocery Shopping & Meal Prep

*Update: Ruy's soccer game got canceled & I went grocery shopping last night.

B- Me:  Muffin In A Mug with Cream Cheese Frosting (S) Kids:  Whole Wheat Banana Muffins 

*I used the recipe from the book, but used all ground golden flaxseed.  Then added some chocolate chips.  I used 4 truvia.  I used a few tablespoons of cream cheese and a few tablespoons of greek yogurt with 2 truvia and a splash of vanilla for my cream cheese frosting.  Turned out really delicious and was very filling! 

L- Cici's for our Home-School Group Start Of The Year Party (Cheat)

D- Pretzel Dogs & Cauliflower Tator Tots

*I did not like either of these recipes.  The pretzel dog dough is a little time-consuming and I didn't like the flavor at all.  With 3 kids I need quick meals.  The tator tots were easy to make but I didn't like the taste of them either.  I've tried SO many different cauliflower recipes and other than the "Loaded Fotato Soup" in the THM book, I just haven't liked any of the recipes I've tried.  Neither Alanna or Liam liked either of these recipes either so they ended up eating Cheerios for dinner.  I normally never ever let them not eat what was given to them for dinner but I disliked it so much that I didn't eat it either (which I never do so I must have really not liked it)  I'm eating blue corn chips and sour cream with salsa right now as I type this. 

Sunday: *Church

B- Peanut Butter Overnight Oatmeal (Crossover from the peanut butter)

L- Mac & Cheese, Green Beans (S)

*My own mac&cheese recipe.  I'll try to post this later this week.

D- Turkey Pepperoni, String Cheese, Smoothies, Carrots & Ranch

*We always eat a big meal for lunch on Sundays so I'm going to start serving a "snack-style" lunch on Sunday nights to keep things simple.

Monday:  *Practice

B- Me: Pumpkin Muffins (I can't find the recipe that I have printed out.  I'll keep looking for it though so I can post a link) Kids: Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

L- Me:Chef Salad (ham, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, tomato, lettuce, ranch dressing) Smoothie  (S) Kids: PB & Jelly, Smoothies

D- Black Bean Soup & Blue Corn Chips (E)

Tuesday:

B- Scrambled Eggs with cheddar cheese, Shake (S)

L- Grilled Cheese & tomato Soup (Crossover...from the bread)

D- Crock Pot Fajitas

Wednesday: *1st Night of Awanas

B- Me: Trim Healthy Mama Pancakes Kids: Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

L- Chicken Nuggets & homemade cinnamon apples (S)

D- Crock Pot Broccoli Soup (S)

Thursday *Soccer Practice

B- Overnight Oatmeal (E)

L- Leftover Broccoli Soup (S)

D- Crock Pot Lemon Chicken, Green Beans 

*I have to make a few changes to this recipe to make it on-plan with THM. 

Friday: *1st Night of Small Group

B- Ham & Cheese Omelets, cinnamon apples (S)

L- Turkey, Turkey Bacon, Tomato, Laughing Cow Cheese Paninis & yogurt with fruit (E)

D- Pizza & Salad (E)

Desserts:  Chocolate Zucchini Cake, Peanut Butter Chia Pudding, Pumpkin Cream Cake

Snacks: Air-popped Popcorn, Smoothies, Fruit, Nuts, String Cheese, Carrots & Ranch,  Protein Shakes, Yogurt & granola

Saturday Meal Prep*

*A few weeks ago, I started preparing some foods that we would need throughout the week to try to make things easier on me, especially with our breakfasts.  It makes a big mess in the kitchen when I make muffins or pancakes and then the kids are waiting (acting like they are starving to death while they cook) and are cranky and clingy.  Then I have a huge mess to clean up and school gets pushed back too late.  So I started doing Saturday Meal Prep and it's helped a lot.  I don't always get everything on my list done, but whatever I do get done makes a big difference.  Here's what was on my list for today and what I crossed off is what I actually gone done.  The rest I will try to finish up tomorrow.  

   

Pancakes for the Kids

THM Pancakes

Granola

Muffins (Double batch for the week)

Wash fruit, cut & package

Wash veggies, cut & package

Prepare pizza dough

Make overnight oats for Sunday

Homemade Chocolate Syrup (for kids) 

And here is what I bought at the grocery stores yesterday:

Sam's Club:

I spent $5 on the Ajax with is part of my $100 household budget (which started over yesterday) and then I spent $85 on food from my $125 weekly grocery budget.  

Kroger:

I spent $53 at Kroger.  

*So I spent the $85 from Sam's at $53 at Kroger which took me over my weekly budget by  $13 so I'm going to plan on spending $13 under my budget next weekend when I go shopping.  

 *$100 - $5 = $95 left for household items for the next 3 weeks.

Well that's it for this week's menu & shopping trip.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend!

MY FIVE FRIDAY FAVORITES

Well it's Friday night again...

I just can not get over how fast the weeks are flying by.  I mean there are only {five} weeks left until baby Jude is due!!! How ridiculously crazy is that???  I'm so ready to not be pregnant any more but at the same time I feel like I have a million things still to do before he arrives. So in a way I'm not ready and at the same time, I'm not.  I know you other mothers know exactly what I'm talking about.  

Anyways... I thought I would start something new on my blog this Friday.  I always love reading about and seeing what other moms are into, finding helpful, wearing, or eating :)  So I'm starting 

"My Five Friday Favorites" 

here on my blog and I hope that you will find some things useful in my lists.  I love getting feedback so please, leave me a little comment about anything you enjoyed or found helpful on the list!  

Ok here is my first "Five Friday Favorites"

Chocolate Cake!!!  I have been trying for let's see...over a year to find a chocolate cake recipe that was on plan with Trim Healthy Mama that I liked.  After many failed attempts I had pretty much given up all hope of ever finding any recipe that would taste even halfway good.  But yesterday I decided to try a recipe that I had tried to make a few months ago and hated.  I had used Stevia in the recipe when I made it and Stevia leaves such a bad aftertaste in my opinion and the whole cake ended up being thrown away.  I use the Trim Healthy Mama Sweet Blend now and let me just say...it's amazing!   I used this recipe here for the chocolate cake.  But like usual I made a few little changes.  I used 1/3 cup of golden flaxseed in place of the almond flour & I used about 1/4 cup of the THM Sweet Blend in place of the Truvia.  My oven is a lot smaller than most ovens so I baked mine on 350 for 35 minutes and it came out perfect.  I let it cool completely and then added on the whipped frosting.  I made a few changes to the frosting.  I only used 1tbs of cocoa because cocoa is so strong I didn't want to overdo it on the flavor and then I used about 1tsp of the THM Sweet Blend to sweeten it but you may need to adjust the sweetener to your liking.  It's only been 24 hours since I made it and there is only one piece left.  My husband and all three of my kids loved it so much.  Liam said it was the best part of his day!  :)  Oh and just a little side note...it tastes even better than next day after it's sat in the frig all night. 

Have you seen this video on youtube?!!!  "I Wanna Go To Chick Fil A".  Oh.My.Goodness!!! I laughed so hard the other week when I saw it for the first time.  Not every thing in it is exactly how my visits go but um yeah...I can relate a lot to this video.  Go watch it right now.  It will make your day so much better! 

Ruy's first soccer game is tomorrow and so when his step-mom showed me this adorable soccer shirt that she bought to wear to his games, I knew I had to get one.  I was a little concerned we shouldn't ever show up to any of his games matching because well matching is not really "in" for adults but we both decided Who.Really.Cares!!!  And maybe we'll start a trend.  I ordered a medium.  I'm hoping it will fit even with my huge belly.  Pregnant girl problems.

If you've been following my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know that I have a very strong love for mason jars.  I use them for a lot of things in my house but one of my favorite ways to use them is for drinking out of.  My kids have actually picked up on the love of drinking out of them too so I knew I needed some kind of lid and straw for our jars.  I found these lids & straws on amazon and they are so perfect.  The straws are super wide which is great for smoothies!  I also ordered these stainless steel straws off of amazon because I had heard they were amazing and I have to agree...they are fantastic.  I always say everything tastes better in a mason jar and know I have cute straws to go with my cute jars...Makes.Me.Happy :) 

And since fall is just around the corner, I thought I'd write about one of our all-time favorite "fall" books.  We actually read this book a year long but it's about candy apples so I saw it's fall themed.  Red Panda's Candy Apples is one of the cutest books.  The drawings in it are wonderful and the story is just so sweet and simple.  I got it from the library last September right before we went to the apple orchard and Liam fell in love with it right away.  I had to get it for him for Christmas last year along with a little red panda stuffed animal.  I'm planning on making candy apples with the kids this year because they've been asking for some since the first time we read this book.  I guess I'm a little overdo on making them but hopefully we can get it done before little man makes his arrival!

Well that's it.  I hope you all have a super fabulous weekend!

*I'll leave you with a few photos of our week.  Excuse the poor quality.  I snapped all these on my phone and not my "big girl" camera.

Playing in pjs on mommy's bed while mommy cleans the bathroom

Too big on the big girl swing.

Because sometimes you just need it.

Pushing his worm on the swing :)

Eating popcorn and watching Wild Kratts. {Keeping it real with all the mess showing in this picture} :)

Big belly...dirty mirror.  So many little finger pritns on my mirror.  I really need to clean it.

And our chocolate cake that was super delicious!

~*Lauren

LITTLE GIRL FALL STYLE

 Fall is probably my favorite season.  I love the changing of the leaves, the beautiful weather, apple-picking, pumpkin patches, & all the cute clothes!  Leggings, sweater dresses, & boots! I have been so excited about buying some cute things for Alanna for this fall.  Girls can be kind of expensive so I'm really hoping we have another girl soon so that I can pass down all her clothes to a little sister :)  I put together this little post on some of my favorite Little Girl items.  I've already bought most of these items for Alanna and can't wait for her to wear this little vest!  I bought it in a size 2T which is a little big on her since she's so petite but I'm planning on her being able to wear it for 2-3 years.  I'd love to hear what some of your favorite fall items for little girls are.  

Yellow Tights// Brown Boots// Fur Vest//  Topknot Headband// Chambray Dress

Happy Fall Shopping!!!

WEEKLY MENU PLAN & OUR WEEKEND

Friday we took a field trip day and headed to the Children's Museum with my best friend and her group of girls.  She has four girls ages 12, 5, 3, and 5 months.  And then I have an 8, 4, and 1 year old.  We are quite the crew when we go out anywhere together.  Our kids all play together so well and we just always have such a good time when we are together.  

We spent two hours at the museum and then since the museum is inside of our outdoor mall, we headed to H&M afterward to look for some much needed fall clothes for the kids.  I was able to find several things that I've been wanting so I was really happy & excited about that.  After 40 minutes in the store though all our kids were ready to get going.  They begged us to let them go into Build-a-Bear so we agreed and then took them to Starbucks to get a smoothie as a treat and then let them run around outside on the little play area the mall has.  My kids were all really excited about their drinks and Ruy especially thought he was getting very spoiled.  I had a gift card...I don't normally spend that kind of money on treats for the kids.  Usually they get $.89 cones from Chick-fil-a.  They had blast running around and were SO worn out by the time we headed home around 3.  

Liam was not too excited about this picture.

Saturday was grocery shopping day.  I grabbed a small bag of chocolate covered raisins while we were there to help keep the kids happy.  Ok...maybe I bought them for me too!  We went to Kroger & Sam's Club and made it out of both stores with minimal crying, whining, fighting, or begging to get out of the cart.  I didn't need a ton of things so were weren't in either store for too long.  But regardless we were still worn out by the end.

Here's what I bought:

Kroger 
*The french dressing is for my husband.  He likes to dip his pizza in it.  It's not on plan with Trim Healthy Mama so if you follow THM and know of a French dressing that is on plan...Please!  Let me know!

*I was bad and bought sugar free creamer.  I know it's not very good for you but sometimes I just need it.

*And the Cheerios were a total "splurge" for the kids.  We haven't had cereal in over 6 months and Liam was begging me for it, so I gave in.

Sams

Saturday ended with baths & snuggles & books.  I had to get a picture of these two in their matching "Very Hungry Caterpillar" pajamas.  Ruy is over the whole tight fitting pjs thing so no cute matching pjs for him :)

Sunday was church.  I went outside right before we left for church to take a picture of Alanna and both the boys got jealous and had to jump in with her.  When your kids beg to be in a picture, you don't think about it... you just gladly take them :)

 She is so in love with her blankie or as she calls it "badie" (Not sure how you would spell that but she says it with a long a...feel free to tell me how you would spell it lol) .  And I'm pretty in love with her little pigtails. 

And this was Liam's drawing of me.  I think it's a pretty close resemblance.  What do you think??? :)

And that's about how our weekend went.  I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend.

Here is our menu plan for the week.  I am already not doing so well with the "cheat" meals the past few days.  I need to get back on track quickly!

Sunday-

B- Scrambled eggs with cheese & yogurt with truvia, peanut butter & chocolate chips (S)

L- Spaghetti (meatless), salad with blue cheese (S - From the blue cheese dressing)

D- Ham & Cheese Quesadillas with sour cream & salsa (S)

Monday-  *Make homemade bread

B- Me: Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (Cheat) Kids: Cheerios with honey

L- Eat Out (Cheat)

D- Bean & ChickenBurritos (E, S, or Crossover...depending on how many beans you use and toppings)

*These were really good.  Alanna especially loved them.  Use mozzarella cheese and Greek yogurt to keep them an E.  I used cheddar cheese and sour cream for a Crossover. 

Tuesday- Doctor's Appointment

B- Scrambled eggs with cheese, fruit (S)

L- Me: Turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato sandwich, fruit (E). Kids: PB & Jelly Sandwich, fruit

D- Lasagna Casserole (E) 

*I'm using ground turkey in this and Dreamfields noodles.  

Wednesday- Watching a friend's kids & First night of Awanas

B- Me: THM Pancakes with yogurt & berries (E)  Kids: Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes

L- Me: Chef Salad, yogurt with fruit (S) Kids: Mac & cheese, fruit

D- Chicken Rice Soup

*Switching the noodles out for brown rice. 

Thursday- Maternity Pictures

B- Pumpkin Overnight Oatmeal (E)

L- Snack-y-lunch (String cheese, turkey pepperoni, Pretzels (for the kids) I'll probably have toast with jelly) (E)

D- Chili (E)

Friday-

B- Ham & cheese omelets

L- Homemade chicken nuggets, apples & peanut butter (S)

D- Homemade pizza, salad (E) 

Snacks:

Our snacks will be fruit, yogurt, nuts, cheese, smoothies/shakes, muffins.  

THE BEAUTY OF SIMPLE

Happiness comes in the simplest of ways to children.  A rock, a stick, a flower.  Rolling in the grass, playing with mud, digging in dirt, sand, chalk, bubbles.  They really don't need a lot to make them happy.  They are so sweet and innocent.  Life is just so simple and beautiful for them.  I think sometimes us adults over-complicate things and try to give kids so much "stuff" that it drowns out the simple.  It drowns out what really matters. 

My kids are so good at reminding me that I need to just sit back and relax a little bit and enjoy the beauty of life...the beauty of simple. 

This sweet moment didn't last long.  Liam tried to hug & kiss Alanna and she wasn't having it so she slapped him in the face! :)

My 1st time getting all of Alanna's hair into 2 pigtails!  I.Love.It.

Her favorite spot to play at out in our front yard. 

HELLO SEPTEMBER

It's the first day of September and I'm pretty excited about it because I know that means cooler weather is quickly approaching.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Summer, but with being so big pregnant I'm ready for cooler weather.  Plus, I love all the pumpkin things that come with Fall and all the fun family activities that we do in the Fall.  

So to welcome Fall and all it's beauty & say good-bye to hot lazy Summer days...

I took some pictures of the kids tonight. 

Let me just say a few things about this little photo session I did with the kids. 

1. Kids do not like having their mom drag them to the park for pictures.

2.  It is really hard to be 33 weeks pregnant and drag said kids to the park...along with a wagon, a blanket, a diaper bag, 3 water bottles, a cooler bag of watermelon & the kitchen sink.  Just kidding about the kitchen sink but you moms know what I'm talking about :) 

3.  I should probably have chosen a cooler night to take these pictures on.  We were all dripping in sweat within a few minutes of being outside. 

4.  It is really hard to take pictures of three kids when you have a specific vision in mind for your session.  Snapping pictures of your kids playing is so much easier. 

5.  Watermelon is a great way to get your kids to hold still for about 1.5 minutes. 

and 6.  I think I will not ever try to take posed pictures of my kids without assistance from my husband or a friend ever again LOL.  It's so hard...at least not when I'm huge pregnant that is. 

Anyways...I left thinking that I got nothing out of the 86 pictures that I took in the 5 minutes I was shooting, but once I got to editing them I was pleasantly surprised that I got a few really sweet shots.  

....And this pretty much sums up what it's really like trying to take pictures of kiddos :)  Never.A.Dull.Moment!!!

Ruy's Jeans-H&M sold out //Similar Here //  Alanna's dress- Target sold out//  Alanna's Bow  // Liam's Jeans - H&M sold out//  Boys' Rain Boots- Goodwill

I love my little munchkins so much.  They are all growing up way.way.way too fast & sometimes it's actually painful to think about.  I want to wrap them up and keep them little forever.  

Ok...I'll stop my emotional "Mommyness"! 

This was a great Summer.  We did so many fun things and are leaving Summer with a lot of really great memories! We are all so excited about Fall though and all the changes it will bring to our family.  Jude will be here in just a few short weeks and all of us can't wait to kiss and snuggle with him.  

So I'll end this wishing you all a Happy September First & hoping you are all as excited about pumpkin candles, muffins, lattes, & pies as I am :)