El Cheapo

I just got back from a late night run to the grocery store. I didn't want to go. My body is sore from the brutal class I took at the gym, my hair was still wet from the shower, it was 30 degrees outside, and I have a really comfortable bed that was calling to me in a sing song voice. I stretched my shaky legs, wound my hair into a bun, donned some sub arctic gear, and ignored my bed. Why, you ask? Because if I didn't go to the grocery store tonight when Rico is here, I would have to go tomorrow with at least two of my kids and for me the grocery store is something I want to get over with quickly and with as little drama as possible - like ripping a bandaid off really fast.
This economy has me trying to save money wherever I can and I was pretty happy with my how much I got for so little. This started me wondering just how low I could go on my weekly grocery bill and by the time I got home I had decided to try an experiment (and I jumped right on my computer to tell you all about it because I know that one thing a lot of people who reach their goals do is go public with their plans. So I'm going "public" even though that only includes the handful of you who read my blog! Thank you public!). For the next four weeks I am going to try to stay under $200 per week on groceries. Now I know this may be a little more or a little less than what some of you spend weekly, but it will be a stretch for me. Some ways I will hit my goal are obvious; no spur of the moment trips to our favorite Italian delicatessen to get really good cheese and prosciutto, no impulse buys when I'm browsing the Burt Bee's collection of soaps and lotions, and no putting expensive architectural magazines in the cart when I am waiting in the checkout line. But where else am I going to cut corners? This is where I need your assistance. Help me out and leave a comment with your favorite way to save money at the grocery store (other than the coupon game - I can't live on cake mixes and Jello pudding cups for a month!). Non related frugal tips are always welcome as well.
Hopefully I can make it 30 days and stay within my budget. It will mean I got more than a gallon of milk out of tonight's trip to the grocery store!

Flappy Jack

Today it finally warmed up a little bit and the melting snow was perfect for packing into a snowman so I told the kids to get on their snow gear. I hate mittins. It takes way too long to get a two year old to put her thumb in the right spot! Half an hour later we were all out rolling huge snowballs. Our snowman was getting pretty big and since Rico is gone until the 23rd I needed Diego's help lifting the belly. Good thing he has been doing push ups at night! Dominic wanted to use the carrot to make our snowman anatomically correct but I made him stick it in the face for a nose instead. Bella ate a lot of snow and Mia used her artistic eye to make everything look great. We were pretty happy with our creation and since Mia wanted to name him Flappy and Dominic wanted to call him Jack, we compromised with Flappy Jack. I love snowy Decembers!

Trimming the tree

I love it when the Christmas tree is up. I keep it lit all day and love looking at the lights and pretty ornaments. I keep finding Diego gazing at the tree too so I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. Decorating a tree with kids is so much fun. They remember the ornaments from the years before and say funny things. This year Dominic found a spool of red ribbon and wondered why we had red toilet paper in with all the ornaments! The tree always ends up really bottom heavy since the kids can't reach very high yet and that just adds to the charm of it. We had a fun time decorating and we hope you did too. Merry Christmas!

Zzzzzzz

It was early morning before any of the kids had woken up when Rico rolled over to cuddle with me.
"Did you hear that?" I asked.
"Hear what?" Rico mumbled.
"It sounded like Dominic breathing."
We patted the lumps in the bed but didn't find a curly headed 4 year old. Rico and I both looked towards our big mirror at the same time and this is what we saw:



I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots before Bubba woke up. Don't you love these type of moments?