Football playin'... Part 1

Here is our football series... now that the season is over, we're taking a look back at how we got here.  This was Jango's first year to play, and he loved everything about it.  He was on the "70 lb" team.  Meaning they are all 6 and 7 year olds who can't weigh more than 70lbs.  This is a huge deal, and they even take the boys in without their parents to weigh them, and we have to provide birth certificates and then they get their own ID cards that have to be shown before each game.  (Thankfully the coach kept up with these cards, so we didn't have to).  So here is our journey through our first year of tackle football... in three parts.

 We had to go to a big warehouse to get his uniform.  I was worried it would be too heavy, especially that big helmet, but he just LOVED wearing it.  He wore it around the house for a few days after we got it.

Right after his first practice... sweaty, but loving it!!

 Here we have some random shots of practice throughout the 4 months we practiced... 

 throwing and catching... 

tackling and running with the ball (yes, he did fall right on his face after this picture was taken)...

 more throwing... they also did LOTS of running, but there are no pictures of that... 

Next Part will be getting his jersey and playing in the games... YAY!

Groceries... Groceries... Groceries... Part 1

**Not any pictures in this one... sorry, Momma! ;)
Okay... I'm not going to say that I don't grocery shop, because that would be crazy.  Of course, I've been grocery shopping, and I go grocery shopping once a week (usually Saturdays).  I just don't know how to grocery shop effectively.
I've always hated coupons because I felt like I was buying things that I wouldn't normally buy just because I could save a couple of cents on it.  So I've mostly ignored them.
I'm not super organized when it comes to getting them all cut up and arranged in "department" order, and there are just so many that I don't EVER use.  So I've mostly ignored them.
I never know what it means to "wait for double days" or any of those other things that couponers say.  So I've mostly ignore them.
BUT I'm finding that there are LOTS of things that I want to go and do and LOTS of things that I want to experience, and I want my kids to experience, and almost all of those things costs money.  In addition to the fact that we believe God is calling us into adoption, something else that costs money.  SO the time has come to look through every option I have, and no longer can I "ignore the coupons".  So I'm starting a series about how I'm going from a grocery shopper to a GROCERY shopper! :)
I've done a few things so far to get this going.

1. Found two phenomenal websites that I've devoured every bit of information from in the last two days.... houses cleaning... what house cleaning??
Anyway, here they are:   Once a Month Mom, where you can get a specific menu almost every month and pick and choose your recipes and then get to cooking!  There are so many different ways you can use this website, and they are all fantastic!  I'll be talking more specifically about this as I start the actual cooking.
The other site is: The Grocery Game, where they have some kind of database that searches out the stores closest to you and gives you lists of the best deals for each week of the year.  They use the coupon inserts in the Sunday newspaper to get the best deals, and there are even some items that are FREE each week.  I'm blown away by this.  Things that I actually USE that are FREE!  Not things that I wouldn't normally buy, but I buy them because I have a coupon... NO, they are useful, and FREE!  Okay... did I say I'm blown away?? This one actually costs money, but if it does what I think it's going to do for us, then it will still save us WAY more than it will cost.  It also has a 4 week free trial, which I'm taking advantage of right now, so there will be more posts about this coming up.

2. I scoured... umm... scowered... umm... skowered... umm... searched my house for coupons, and didn't find many.  I did find a 25% off a food processor (just what I had first on my wishlist), so I used that today and came home with my dream machine!), and I found a couple of trash bags (which we needed) and one for ziploc bags (which I'll need for the Once a Month Cooking)... all-in-all, I saved $18.50 on things I would've bought anyway without the coupons!

3. I searched online to find out WHERE all these people are getting their coupons.  It turns out that they still get a NEWSPAPER... IN PAPER... NOT ELECTRONICALLY!??!  I couldn't believe this was the real way that people got coupons.  So I searched for the best Sunday paper to get coupons from.  I ended up with a lot of choices, but because I live where I do, I decided to go with just the Sunday edition of the Washington Post.  I might get a little smarter while I'm using my coupons also!  My subscription for the paper was $30 for the year. Not bad, but I am keeping up with all these things I'm buying to get started saving to make sure I'm getting my money's worth out of it all.  I know this isn't the only way to get coupons, and I did find LOTS of coupons online, and I'm using some of those as well.  The inserts in the papers just fit better with The Grocery Game lists, so that's what I chose to primarily use.

That's what I've done so far, but I feel much smarter and much more motivated to see how much money we can save on groceries.  As I learn more, and become a GROCERY shopper, I'll bring y'all along to watch.  It should be interesting... Our first stop... a grocery store named Harris Teeter (yes, those of you in Arkansas, that is actually the name of a grocery store).  I'm going in a couple of days to "scout it out"... I know, crazy... I'm intimidated by big grocery stores that use big words I don't understand.  I'm going to get one of their "VIC" cards and just walk through the store and absorb... definite comments coming after that trip!  Stay tuned!

We are Wolf Scouts!!

Jango is a wolf scout this year.  That pretty much means he's in the second grade and he does "boy" things with other second graders! :)  One of the activities for a wolf scout is participating/watching a flag ceremony.  So we met a few other wolves and watched the ceremony at the nearest flag pole to us.  It was at 5:00, the most beautiful time in the day now with the time change.  So enjoy these shots of our beautiful flag... and some cute little wolf scouts...

They have a cannon!!

They SHOT the cannon!!

 And I certainly couldn't be outside at this time of day and not take pictures... 

so enjoy these beautiful pictures God painted today!!

Boys can make cards too!!

The boys' Sunday school classes at church were making cards and wrapping presents to send to deployed troops.  The boys had a great time making the cards, then Boba and I wrapped a few gifts before we left. It was nice to be able to do something as a family for other people.  

 Making their cards... just peel and stick... so easy!

 Writing Merry Christmas inside and showing the final product!

 Got a little break to run around and eat pizza and salad... YAY!

He was concentrating so hard to tear the tape.  He was a great taper!!

Our church is also going to be a host church for homeless people in the area.  Men at one time and then Women another time during the winter season to keep people from freezing outside.  I remember as a kid wondering why homeless people didn't freeze in the winter.  I grew up without seeing one homeless person (or I just didn't know they were) until I was in high school and took a trip to Washington D.C.  We have been trying to come up with a plan for how to help these people, and I think we've settled on gift certificates (Jango wanted to carry around blankets with us, but we usually ride the metro into the city, and that just wouldn't work).  Please pray for these people, especially as winter and the holiday season approaches.

An Art Center... Really!!

Boba used his money to buy a small notepad and a pack of water colors when we took a recent trip to an art center in Laurel, MD.  It's a nice store with a TON of things in it.  So many "artisty" things that I have no idea about.  I looked at a few things and wondered how in the world they would be used.  

Outside the store, after his purchase!!

His purchases... 

 Some samples of his work... He's selling them pretty cheaply if anyone would like one  :)

Brownies this time!!

So I saw the easiest "hidden food" recipe I've ever seen.  Take a box of brownie mix, instead of the oil and egg, use a pureed can of black beans.  Then bake it just like normal.  My first "bean brownies"... they were great!! The boys had no idea, and they really liked it!!

I got the recipe here... 

Doesn't sound good at all... and yet...

it looked great... 

was moist and cakey... (totally made that word up!)

The boys each ate two and asked for more... 

 On another note... this is what my view was out of my back door this week.... these pictures don't do it justice, the colors are just so bright.... beautiful!!