Tummy time

"I'm getting good at holding my head up!"

Just hanging out on the Boppy

"Did you just take another picture of me?"

"Let's see if I can fit my fist ALL the way into my mouth. Yummm..."

It's gonna get crazy...

Last week we got word that Joe's terminal leave got approved- meaning from August 11 until September 7 he is technically still in the Navy but on leave/vacation time! Yay! Lately Joe has been working a lot, often not getting home until very late (for example, tonight it's 8:30pm and he's still at work. Boo.) So we are especially excited that in a few short weeks, submarine work life will end- permanently!

In the meantime, we are preparing to transition out of the Navy world that has influenced our lives since the very beginning of our relationship four years ago. In the beginning of August, Chad and I are going to Maine to visit family for a week. Then we return and prepare to move all of our stuff to Oklahoma! Joe will be driving both cars from Washington to Oklahoma and supervising the movers and cleaning up our apartment. I'll be flying with Chad to Oklahoma and taking care of him. Once we get finished with that, we're all going to Minnesota to visit Joe's family and friends. Then he will pack up all his belongings there and drive them back to Oklahoma in a U-Haul.

For right now, our things will be going into storage as we look for work, decide if Joe will be going to college on the GI Bill, and decide where to live.

It's going to be a busy August, we appreciate your prayers!

The $50 School Supplies Challenge!

The bargain shopper is back! This summer I wanted to challenge myself to get as many school supplies as I could for $50. I will be giving these to Children of the Nations to support the education of orphaned and destitute children in Africa and the Dominican Republic. While I was volunteering there I heard about some teachers who brought pencils to the children in Malawi. Upon receiving them, the children immediately broke them in half! The reason? Now they had two pencils instead of just one. I hope to encourage that same spirit of resourcefulness and love for education.

I have to say, I love finding a great deal and stretching dollars as far as possible. It's fun! I think I could have gotten even more for $50, but having Chad makes shopping a little more time consuming so I limited myself to shopping at 3 stores (Staples, Walgreens and Walmart.)

Some of the highlights of what I got:
20 one subject notebooks for $0.15 each at Walmart
25 composition books for $0.50 each at Walmart
60 pens for $1.14 at Walgreens

60 pencils for $1.74 at Walgreens

Almost every item I bought was $1 or less!

What's for Dinner?

For the past several months, I have been in a pretty good routine of planning out what we have to eat each week. My general goal is to make a plan for what we're eating for either the next week or two, then create a grocery list based on that and go shopping. 

This has really helped me because I no longer scramble at dinnertime trying to figure out what I'm making and if I have everything I need to make it. As a result of this, we eat out less often. I can plan to use my crockpot during the day so meat is ready at night. I can switch up the meals I've planned for the week if I want to. I have a list of the meals we like so I can refer to it and not have to remember all of them each time I'm planning a menu.

This is what's cooking this week... I know you are so curious.

Breakfasts- Blueberry muffins, homemade banana bread

Sunday- Spaghetti w/Meat Sauce, Fresh Green Beans

Monday- leftovers

Tuesday- cooking day: Cottage Cheese Chicken Enchiladas, Ritzy Chicken Casserole (I'll freeze some of this to use for future weeks)

Wednesday- Joe has duty, I'm off the hook!

Thursday- leftovers from Tuesday

Friday- simple dinner- like frozen pizza or something microwaveable

Saturday- Grilled pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, broccoli

Another idea I may start implementing soon is to have a theme for each day of the week, like pasta on one day, stir fry on the next, soup/salad etc.

What works for you when you are preparing meals for your family?

If you're interested in Menu Planning, check out this post on Simple Mom, which inspired my post here today.

Two month photos

The two month checkup and countdown

Chad had his two month well baby checkup yesterday! He weighed in at 12 pounds, 1.5 ounces and measured almost 24 inches long. He also got his first round of vaccines (poor little guy! He did really well, considering.) 

Our little guy has been smiling and cooing more and building up leg strength. He is working on rolling over (and gets especiallly close when he's mad!)

As Chad turns two months old, Joe and I are counting down! Two months left until Joe's five year Navy enlistment ends. His official last day is September 7, but we are hoping he may be able to take leave before that so we can have time to move. Our prayer, hope, and plan is that Joe will be able to find a job in Oklahoma so we can be near family.