Wednesday, May 11, 2022

A Peek Into This Past Week (+ my 4 goals for this week) and more...

Kierstyn's favorite book right now is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? She knows it by heart and likes to “read” it to us! Champ got to come spend all day with us on Friday while his mom was working. (I just realized he has his hand all up ...
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Intentional finance. Intentional family. Intentional business.

A Peek Into This Past Week (+ my 4 goals for this week)

Kierstyn’s favorite book right now is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? She knows it by heart and likes to “read” it to us!

Champ got to come spend all day with us on Friday while his mom was working.

(I just realized he has his hand all up in her hair!)

It was Silas’ birthday last week so we did a lot of fun things to celebrate. We usually try to spread out birthday fun over the course of a week or so — it allows us to really savor each activity and means that the birthday person gets more celebration!

D likes to have time every day where we sit and snuggle together. He is such a mama’s boy and it’s the sweetest.

I got to go to a Mother’s Day Brunch for foster & adoptive moms at a local church and it was such a blessing!

Weekends are for baseball!

My mom and brother were driving through on Saturday on their way home from South Carolina and stopped by for a few hours. They got to go to one of Silas’ games.

We went to Cracker Barrel on Sunday for Mother’s Day and Silas’ birthday. It was our first time to go out to a restaurant as an entire family in a long time!

Kierstyn especially enjoyed the gift shop!

Jesse and I went on a late night movie date for Mother’s Day after the little ones were asleep for the night.

Silas and I went on a date for his birthday that included Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Baskin-Robbins ice cream.

The laughter and giggles and joy that our sweet D brings to our home is captured a little bit in this photo!

He’s officially a teenager… although, I’ll be honest, I’ve kind of felt like he was one for quite awhile!

Silas, it’s a gift to be your mom. I love our long talks, your enthusiasm for life, and the hard (but so good!) questions you are often asking.

I’ve seen you be stretched a lot this past year as you’ve taken on more responsibility in multiple areas of your life. It hasn’t been easy many days and you’ve sometimes felt overwhelmed and frustrated, but I’ve watched you grow and mature through it.

Your passion for baseball has been so fun to observe — and you are constantly teaching me new things about sports that I would never know otherwise!

I’ve so enjoyed watching you be strategic and intentional in growing your YouTube channel this year. Your entrepreneurial spirit, attention to detail, and how you research and learn and experiment with new things is something many people don’t naturally have a gift for. I can’t wait to see where it takes you in life!

Your care and compassion for your younger siblings, how you always have your older sister’s backs, and how you are not afraid to stand up and do the right thing even if others don’t agree with you makes me so proud as a mom.

My prayer for you is that you will continue to grow in your love for Jesus and others. God has given you many gifts and so much drive for life and I pray you always use those for His glory.

I’m so grateful that even though you are 13, you aren’t too old to be a mama’s boy. I love you so much and am so grateful to have you as my son!

My 6 Goals for Last Week

Personal/Family Goals

  • Delete 1000 photos and videos from my phone.
  • Finish cleaning out the basement storage closet.
  • Work on a craft project.

Reading Goals

Business/Blogging Goals

  • Finish video on habits for upcoming online conference.
  • Drafts done for upcoming sponsored campaign.

My 4 Goals for This Week

Personal/Family Goals

  • Delete 1000 photos and videos from my phone.
  • Finish cleaning out the basement storage closet.
  • Finalize list of 40 things to do before baby comes (since it’s only 40 days until my planned induction date and I want to help the time go by more quickly!)

Reading Goals

   
 

Gretchen’s $67 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan for 5

Aldi

1 gallon Milk – $3.19

2 Half & Half – $1.95 each

1 bag Frozen Chicken Breasts – $7.19 (Every week the price on this gets higher and higher. Ugh.)

1 box MooTubes – $1.55

1 bag Frozen Broccoli – $0.95

1 pkg Jumbo Franks – $2.19

1 Cottage Cheese – $2.19

1 bag Kettle Chips – $1.57

1 bag Shredded Cheese – $2.59

1 Peanut Butter – $1.69

1 Chunk Cheese – $1.85

1 Grape Jelly – $1.95

1 can Refried Beans – $0.88

1 bag Tortilla Chips – $1.68

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup – $0.58

1 box Chewy Granola Bars – $0.97

1 bag Red Delicious Apples – $3.49

1 pkg Hot Dog Buns – $0.89

3.19 lbs Red Grapes – $4.43

1 loaf Bread – $0.97

1 bag Sugar – $2.37

2 pkg Strawberries – $1.99 each

Total: $50.31

Harris Teeter

5 Ragu Pasta Sauce – $0.99 each, used 5 $0.75/1 Ibotta rebates – $0.24 each after cash back

1 McCain Fries – $3.49, used $1.50/1 e-coupon AND $0.95/1 Ibotta rebate – $1.04 after coupon and cash back

2 Harris Teeter Tortillas – $0.84 each

2 Vans Frozen Waffles – $1.99 each, used 2 $1/1 printable – $0.99 each after coupons

2 pkgs Ground Beef @ $2/99/lb – $6.82 and $6.85

1 Truly Butter – $1.99, used $1/1 Ibotta rebate – $0.99 after cash back

2 Chobani Yogurts – $1 each

Used $5 off e-Vic coupon sent to my card

Total after coupons: $17.56

Total for both stores: $67.87

Menu Plan for This Week

Breakfasts

Cereal, Eggs, Yogurt, Oatmeal, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, Frozen Waffles

Lunches

Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches/Strawberries/Carrot Sticks x 2, Hot Dogs/Chips/Grapes x 2, Cheese/Crackers/Fruit/Veggies x 2, Leftovers

Dinners

Eggs & Toast

Bean Burritos, Chips & Salsa

Pork Steak with Gravy (markdown from last week), Steamed Broccoli, Biscuits

Lasagna, Rolls, Green Beans

Cheese Pizza, Breadsticks

Out to eat

Baked Chicken, Rice, Steamed Peas, Fruit Salad

   
 

This Week’s $64 Kroger Shopping Trip (+ what we ate)

I was so excited about this strawberry deal at Kroger this past week — 2 pounds for $2.97! I stocked up!

I also found quite a few markdowns!

And I was happy for some cereal deals!

The peppers were also a good deal! Just $1.47/bag!

Here’s what I got for $64 total!

We’ve been eating lots of strawberries for snacks!

This is what my lunches have been looking like recently.

I had a pork roast in the freezer from a markdown a number of weeks ago, so we did tacos on Tuesday night.

And we grilled out burgers one night and had twice baked potatoes, roasted broccoli, and strawberries with them.

We went to Cracker Barrel on Sunday for Mother’s Day/Silas’ birthday. It’s been a long time since our whole family has gone to a sit-down restaurant together!

Also this past week, we had breakfast burritos for dinner. They were delicious!

And we had leftovers one night, like usual. I just set out all the odds and ends from the refrigerator and everyone makes their own plate based upon what they want to eat.