April 16, 2008

Virginia Tech Memorial
Hokie Stones...one for each of the fallen
We remember

Picture credit...my Dad, Thanks, Dad!

Remember To Pray

Let's remember to pray for all those that lost family and friends in the Virginia Tech tragedy. Also, remember those that were injured and the hundreds that bravely responded to the call that day on campus. Their lives were surely changed forever.
I will not forget the feeling in my stomach as I heard the news start to be reported and dropping to my knees to pray. We live about 35 minutes from Tech where Tommy graduated and I have family that works on campus and many that live close by. We will not forget!

Go Hokies!!

A Conversation With Wendy

After Wendy (just turned four) and I read a book we had this conversation....(Baby Rose was on a blanket right in front of us)
Wendy..."Why is she smiling?"

Me..."Because she is happy."

Wendy.."I love Rose."

Me..."Yes, me too."

Wendy..."I don't want a baby in my house."

Me..."You don't?"

Wendy..."We could give her away, and what would you say?"

Me..."I would be sad."

Wendy...(with a big smile)"We could give her to Nana and what would you say?"

Me...."Nana would be happy!"

Wendy..."Would you cry, Mama?"

Me..."Yes. A lot."

Pause and much thought...

Wendy..."Mama, you can keep her. I love Rose."

Healthy Snack Cake

This is an adapted recipe from The Bread Beckers Recipe Collection book. I have had their book for years and it is a great book if you want to learn to bake with whole wheat flour. In the book it is called Streusel Coffee Cake. Calling it coffee cake just confuses my kids, so I like to call it snack cake. This is guiltless cake because it is full of fiber and nutrition. You could add nuts, raisins or dates, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, or coconut...whatever your family likes. We keep it simple here! In the pictures we ate this as a mid morning snack and we ate the whole thing except for the two pieces we saved for Tommy for lunch!

4 cups hard white wheat flour(or a combination of hard and soft pastry wheat)

2 tblsp. baking powder

1 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cup organic cane juice crystals(or your choice of sweetener)

2 cups of milk (enough to make the it a little thicker than pancake batter)

*note- I often don't measure liquids, so the milk is an estimate here)

topping:

4 tblsp. butter

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup organic cane juice crystals

2 tblsp. flour

blend topping ingredients together with a fork or pastry blender in a separate bowl

Directions....Combine cake ingredients until the consistency of pancake batter and pour into a well greased 13x9 baking dish. Crumble topping evenly on top of the cake batter. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until done in the center. Shield with foil if getting too brown. Best eaten warm right out of the oven!

Join The Natural Mommy for thursday's recipe swap. I enjoy her blog because she is funny and "real"!!

Baby Fat, Baby Parts, Baby Bliss

CVS Diaper Deal!

This week at CVS, if you buy $25 worth of participating baby products, you get $10 Extra Care Bucks. Great deal for us, we have 2 in diapers full time and one wearing one to bed! Here is how I made the deal work for me...only paying $1.10 out of pocket and earning 12 extra care bucks!

transaction #1...

1 excedrin 1.99 (monthly deal)

2 cvs gel caps 3.99 each (monthly deal)

1 cvs baby wipes 2.50

1 jumbo pack of huggies 8.99

Coupons...

1.00 off Excedrin (printed on a previous receipt)

2.00 off Excedrin (manufacturers coupon)

1.50 off huggies (manu. cpn)

2.00 off Huggies (cvs printable)

CVS $4 off $20

Paid with 8.00 Extra care bucks and $.96 in change

Earned 7.98 ecb for the cvs gel caps and 1.00 ecb for exedrin

transaction #2

1 excedrin 24 count 1.99

2 huggies jumbo packs 8.99 each

Coupons...

(2) 1.50 off huggies (manufacturers coupons)

2.00 off huggies (cvs printable, above link)

2.00 off excedrin (manu. cpn.)

1.00 off excedrin ( another receipt coupon from cvs)

CVS $4 off $20 (link above)

Paid with 7.98 in Extra care bucks from first transaction and .14 cent in change!

Earned 10 extra care bucks for huggies plus 1 ecb for excedrin for a total of 12 extra care bucks earned from both deals.

Super Savings Saturday

The first four pictures are of my four orders at CVS this week. I am very pleased with these purchases. I was able to buy things that are very useful and not a lot of "extra that we already have in the closet! Here's just a quick run-down...I did four separate orders purchasing what is in each picture, but these are the bottom line totals...

Total ...$93.06

Total spent in cash...$0.76

Extra care bucks for next week...$24.00

This table full is from Kroger! They had a great sale this week that will carry over into next week also. If you buy ten participating items, you get an $5 off your bill. After sale and coupons I spent $58. Twenty dollars was for chicken and another $5 for bananas...can you believe the price of bananas?! .74/lb.!? I have ordered more coupons from the Coupon Clippers to use this week at Kroger for this sale also. I like their site for good stock up sales like this one! Read more from Crystal here.