Happy 43rd Bobby!

Bobby turned 43 today!  His exciting day was filled with work, school pickup, pumpkin cake and a gift of a car disco ball....(long story). Our days may be crazy but we still make sure we take time to celebrate each other!

Meal Planning/Shopping

I'm giving my meal planning and grocery shopping a makeover.  Last month I did an awesome job tracking what I spent at the grocery store.  That's where the awesomeness stopped.  I went over our grocery budget by over $200!  I was attempting to have a big shopping trip every two weeks (so twice a month).  We would run out of perishables before then, so I found myself stopping at the store several times a week to get fruits, vegetable and milk and then finding a way to spend at least $40 at those little trips.  This month I'm trying something new.  I've made a meal plan for the entire month and I am planning to shop on Sundays for one week at a time.  I'll make sure I have everything on hand for this week's meals.  If we run out of perishables, we can hold out until the next Sunday.  Today, I shopped at Aldi's and Sam's Club.  Though I've shopped at Aldi's before, I had never planned a shopping trip around what I could buy there.  I was astounded at some of the great deals I was able to get!  I normally buy the kids Nature's Own bread due to the fact that it does not have artificial colors, flavors or high fructose corn syrup.  It runs anywhere from $1.99-$2.79.  Today, I was able to get the Aldi's brand of bread (with the same requirements) for $0.75!  There were several other deals like that including bananas for $0.30/pound.  
I am also a big fan of Google Keep.  It's a part of the G-Suite that makes grocery (and other) lists so easy and accessible.  I'll keep you updated to see how this goes!

I Needed a Break.

As you have probably figured out, our lives revolve around softball.  Practices, league games, tournaments, hitting and pitching lessons and independent practice takes up most of our evenings and weekends.  I love it.  Luckily, Molly loves it too.  This weekend, Molly played in the Monster Bash.  This is her second tournament with their brand new team.  They are still working out the kinks and there is a good mix of awesome plays and times where I shake my head in frustration.  She had a pool play game Friday night and two games yesterday.  Today they start bracket play and I decided to stay home with the boys.  What?!  I've never missed a game since she started playing but I NEEDED to.  I want to spend time with the boys who were left with my parents the last two days (Thanks mom and dad!)  I want to get my weekly grocery shopping done.  I want to decompress before another busy work week.  I needed to take a step back and I think today will be good for me.

Sports Update

Molly played in her first 10-open tournament against all A-level teams. They went 1-2-1 which is pretty darn good for this brand-new team!  She pitched two of the games (the tie and the win) including a showing of 94 pitches with 64 strikes on Saturday!  

Yesterday, Matthew had his third cross country meet. He finished 37/70 and hammed it up for the camera. 

First Meet!

Finished 115/160 with a time of 11:36 on a 1.4 mile course. 

Cross Country

Matthew is participating in cross country this fall. He will say he was forced to do it (which is pretty much true). We wanted him to try out an organized sport and felt like cross country may be a good fit. We were wrong. He really doesn’t like it. I’m very proud of him for continuing to try and sticking it out for the season. His first meet is Monday and they had pictures tonight. At least he looks cute in his uniform. 

Fall Decor is Up!

As is my Labor Day Weekend tradition, Molly and I put out our fall decor last night. She was a big help and Matthew got in on the action too, specifically sticking spider decals under our lampshades to give us heart attacks when we went to bed.