Picker Family Pictures

Just a quick update on our family pictures...I've used Kodak Gallery to store and share our family pictures online for years, pretty much since I went all digital.  Well, Kodak Gallery closed yesterday and our account will be transferred to Shutterfly, hopefully within the month.  So, in case you were looking for a link to pictures on our blog or aren't able to access a link to Kodak Gallery, I'm aware of the changes and am patiently waiting for the transition to be complete:)

Did I Grow Mommy?

Luke and I had an afternoon date on Thursday since he was off school for MEA.  We spent the afternoon at Northwoods Orchard just north of Rochester.  Luke really likes fall, just like me.  He especially likes our fall trips to the orchard...even more specifically, he likes the corn maze:) 

This year we took on the BIG corn maze and we had a blast!  There are 12 mailboxes to find in the maze and it took us about an hour to find out way around to all of the mailboxes...now that is what I call a corn maze:)

While we were at Northwoods standing by the How Tall This Fall sign, Luke asked,

"Mommy, did I grow?" 

I'd say so, little man, I'd say so:)

Lovin' every minute with this guy!

Looking Back

On July 25, 2011, I posted Looking Forward...now I'm looking backward on all the fun we had...

End of July

• We enjoyed the Olmsted County Fair with The Riggins

• Bridge & Ross moved into the neighborhood and we can each keep an eye out for their house from the comfort of our own home and vice versa.  It is great to call them neighbors.

The view of Bridge & Ross' deck (with the two umbrellas) from our front yard.

• We had a perfect night at the Freeborn County Fair with my parents, had some good old fair food, and got to see the Beach Boys in concert.  (See my previous post for more details.)

August

• Showers & Bachelorette parties oh my!  Good times were had with Bridge & Ross and their wonderful friends:)

Bridal party at the Bachelorette Party

• We enjoyed another beautiful day in Wells for the Beckmann Family Reunion and Kernel Days.  (See album on Facebook.) 
• Our deck is here and has been thoroughly enjoyed!  (See previous post for more details.)

September

• It really happened...Luke started kindergarten...some of you may have wondered if I survived since I hadn't posted since the big day;)

• We have a new addition to the family...Ross Moyer!  He and Bridget's wedding day was wonderful and filled with so many memories. 

• MOPS kicked off and is going great.  I'm enjoying my first year of being in MOPS, but not being a part of the planning/leadership.  Such a wonderful group of ladies:)

October

• It's official...I'm 30.  No hard feelings here (see future post with my thoughts on 30)...and very much looking forward to our trip to Florida with friends to commemorate our 30th birthdays!  I do, however, have to put up with Brent's wise cracks about having an old wife until he joins the 30 year old club himself next month:)

The Deck is Here!

After seven years in our house, we have a deck!!! 

Steve Kirk did a wonderful job and we're so excited to have it complete and ready to enjoy:)

Check it out...

View from the dining room

View from the walk-out basement door

View from the backyard

The bump out on the deck will have stairs connected next year when we complete the patio that will be under the deck along the house.

We assembled our new grill tonight that will live on the deck...now we just have to find a table and chairs that fit nicely, are in our price range, and that Brent and I both agree on:)

Lovin' Legos

Luke's recent new love is Legos..."big boy" legos to be precise:)  He had his first experience this spring when he and Brent picked out a Landspeeder to build together at the Lego store at the Mall of America.  Since it was a bit more advanced, Brent did most of the building and Luke did most of the playing once it was assembled. 

Then, over the past couple weeks at daycare, he has had some time to play with their big boy legos with the other older boys.  Tracy, our daycare provider, said that the boys even opted out of watching a show on TV so they could keep playing Legos.  Now that is serious business! 

After I learned of his new love, I remembered that my parents had kept our legos from when my sister and I were little.  This weekend, Luke had a sleep over at Gma and Gpa's house and got to play legos.  They even said he could bring the bucket of legos home to play!

Luke digging into the bucket from my parents that I played with as a kid:)

Deck Progress

The beams are up!

But there's a bit more work to go:)

Looking Forward

I was thinking this weekend about how much fun stuff we have to look forward to so I just had to get it all out:)

This Week - The Olmsted County Fair.  I've spent my fair share of time at fairs as a kid, but we haven't gotten into going much with Luke yet.  I'm thinking this year he'll be more interested in the rides and I always like to see the animals:)

This Weekend - My sis, Bridge, and her fiance, Ross, are moving into their new house just a couple blocks from us!  We're all looking forward to having them in the neighborhood:)

Next Week - The Freeborn County Fair.  Now this is a page right out of my history book.  As a kid, I used to spend a few days with my grandparents during the "Albert Lea fair".  I've always liked this fair and they have great entertainment selection, especially if you like country music.  Admission to the fair gets you entrance to the concerts each night.  Cheap entertainment!  There are a few concerts I'd like to see this year, we'll see how the weather looks before making the trip.

August will certainly be fun-filled...

• Showers and bachelorette party for my sis
• Getting Luke ready for school
• Family reunion with my dad's side of the family.  Again, this one will be a trip down memory lane for me.  We'll be heading to Wells, MN for Kernel Days.  We used to hit this festival up every year and watch the parade when I was a kid, so I'm looking forward to bringing Luke and spending the day with family:)
• Enjoying our new deck which should be done mid-August

And, September brings many long awaited events...

• Luke starts kindergarten at Gibbs Elementary!
• Bridge and Ross's wedding - 9/17/11!
• My final year of MOPS, Mothers of Preschoolers, starting - I know, Luke's not a preschooler any more, but they let moms come even when they have kindergartners;)

October/November are a ways off, but we're in the process of planning a trip for our 30th birthdays to Florida to celebrate with friends (two of whom are also turning 30). 

So much fun to be had, now to be patient while we wait and to enjoy the moments when they arrive!

Summer Bucket List

This summer we have been more intentional as a family to make time for the special things we want to do together.  We had several reasons feeding our intentionality:

• After last summer when we had a lot of time together as a family while Brent was not working, we did some different things together that we had never challenged ourselves to doing or had never made time for
• After a l-o-n-g winter, we were reminded how fleeting the opportunities of summer can be in Minnesota
• Knowing that Luke is starting school in the fall, we (or at least I) feel an urgency to make the most of our summer-of-freedom together before the 13 years of school years officially begin
• Luke is at a great age to try new things and maybe even remember them into the future now that he's five and a half
• Life is short

So, we have a sort of informal, summer "bucket list" if you will started on our fridge of things we'd like to do together as a family this summer.  A few of them have already come to fruition while others are still on our radar.  This past week has provided us an opportunity to make a few happen with Brent and I both off work. 

Last Friday night, we made our way downtown to take in the sites of the Rochesterfest parade.  This has become a tradition for us each summer since Luke was a toddler.  It's fun to see how his perception of the parade changes through the years.  This year he was much less intimidated by the loud sounds and was more interested in collecting candy.  It was a beautiful night and we stayed to the very end of the parade this year, which was a first for the three of us.

Last Saturday, we headed to Wisconsin Dells for four days with the Pickers.  This was a monumental first:  the first, three generation, family vacation!  Thanks to the ingenuity and organizing efforts of my lovely sisters-in-law, the first time trip came to life:)  We had a great time and all had a lot of fun on the water slides at The Great Wolf Lodge, playing mini golf at Pirate's Cove, playing and riding rides at Knucklehead's, and shopping at Tanger Outlet Center.  All in all, a great, age appropriate trip for the kids and fun for the adults too.  We have way too many pics to post on the blog, but check out Kodak Gallery for our June 2011 photo album. 

Today, we took advantage of the "cooler" weather (anything feels better after 100 degree weather) and took a hike at Oxbow Park with a stop at Zollman Zoo in the middle.  We did this last spring/summer and really enjoyed the nice trail options available and it's always fun to stop to see the animals:)  Check out a few pics from our hike:

Near the middle before we got to the zoo

Near the end when Luke was tired and Brent gave him a ride on his shoulders

P.S. I don't want to give the impression that the path is all stairs as these pictures happen to show.  These were two isolated areas.  95% of the path was a dirt trail.

Luke enjoying a very bubbly bath after a sweaty, dirty afternoon of hiking:)

It has been a wonderful week of fun together, relaxing together, and simply enjoying a beautiful summer week of vacation together.

Luke Lately

The name of Luke's game lately has been growing up before our very eyes! 

As if it hasn't been enough that we are getting mail about kindergarten almost weekly, making visits to Gibbs Elementary once for a tour and once for kindergarten screening, and taking a school bus safety class (I'll post more on this soon); Luke is simply growing into a little boy.  He no longer has the stubby fingers and feet of a toddler/preschooler.  His body is now stretching out into the a strong, lean, soon-to-be kindergarten.  I know it's over stated, but time really does fly...especially when you're enjoying every moment like we are:)

One recent event that symbolized his growth very concretely for me was moving Luke from a convertible car seat to a backless booster seat.  He's been using his convertible car seat as a booster since he turned four, but he has now outgrown the seat. His head sits higher than the back of the convertible seat, so we decided to make the change to the backless booster seat in both cars.

Luke thoroughly enjoyed the process of changing out the seats...

After I took the new booster seat out of the trunk to swap out the car seats, Luke asked if we could play in the trunk.

More posing in the trunk:)

Posing in his convertible car seat for me.  This is the car seat he's graduating from.

Proud to be a big boy in his new backless booster seat!

I was very happy to share one of our retired convertible car seats with a fellow MOPS mom whose little guy will hopefully have many days ahead of riding in his new-to-him car seat:)

I know our boy is growing up fast, but this is all the "graduating" I can handle for now;)  I have no doubt the school years will fly by too!

Backyard Progress

As I mentioned in my previous post, Brent has been VERY busy in our backyard this spring.  Here are some pictures to prove it!

The Sod Removal for the Garden ~ May 15

We must first give credit where credit is due..this wonderful sod cutter made the day far more efficient!

 Brent & Luke rolling sod after being cut by the sod cutter

 Our eager helper digging in!

Child labor you say???  But he's so happy doing it:)

  

Looks like they are racing in this one:)

My hard working men!

Proud of one of his largest rolls!

 And, no, I was not just taking pictures, I was raking the entire backyard after Brent mowed. 

 By May 15, the garden plot looked like this:

Birdseye view from our dining room upstairs

Beautiful work Brent!!!

Humble beginnings since last year when Brent built our first garden plot:

May 2009 ~ We grew a Luke!

Building our first garden box together.

This year's garden has been planted since last week and is hopefully growing well and not being washed out by all of the rain we've gotten!

Happy Growing Season!!!

Round Here

Things feel like they're taking shape around here.  This spring has been filled with many projects and lots of "transition" in the midst of it (read:  messy house, yard, garage).  I've already posted about our painting ventures and I'm happy to report that the stairwell was conquered last Saturday:) 

We've also been busy outside...actually I should clarify, Brent has been busy outside...

• Shelving installed in garage --> Check
• Fence removed from backyard --> Check
• Fence post holes filled with dirt --> Check
• Sod removed from expanded garden space --> Check
• New garden boxes built --> Check
• MANY wheelbarrows full of dirt filled and pushed from the driveway to the expanded garden space --> Check
• MANY bags of River Cobble hauled to the backyard to surround the expanded garden space --> Check

We've still got details to take care of in the garage and the garden, but it's been nice to see the fruit of our labor coming together:)

Good Old Update

It's been quite a while since I've written an update on just Luke like I used to do in the good old days of our first family blog. I'm not sure why or how our family blog as morphed into what it is today, but I think I like the change:) One thing that may have contributed to the change (from updates on Luke, i.e. his stats and what he's up to) is that as he's gotten older he has fewer well child check ups to report on and the developments of a five year old are much different from those of a five month old.

As I'm sure you've already heard, Luke is five! Coincidentally, his five year well child appointment was scheduled right on his birthday this year.

Luke's Five Year Stats:

• Weight - 46.9 lbs (85 percentile)
• Height - 43.5 inches = 3 ft, 7.5 inches (63 percentile)
• BMI - 91 percentile

He's a pretty big boy, like we suspected:)

Luke had a good visit with our family medicine doctor who we have seen since I learned I was pregnant with Luke. And, of course, we had the dreaded five year shots. He needed four shots, but they were able to send in two nurses who did the shots simultaneously so it seemed like two. Yeah, not really in Luke's mind! The last two times he's gotten shots (last fall and this visit) have not been fun. I'm assuming, now that he's older, he has more capacity to anticipate the shots which brings more anxiety and stress. So, Brent and I are getting our first taste of holding Luke down, screaming and flailing around. Yikes, not fun! We all survived, but it's certainly harder now that he's older, stronger, and doesn't have a pacifier to console him after the shots:( Thankfully Luke didn't complain about the shots much after he settled down and we didn't hear much about his legs hurting. He only mentioned a couple times in the days following the shots that his shot spots (what else do you call them???) were feeling better.

What else has Luke been up to as a five year old? In January-February he took a four week basketball class through Community Ed that met Wednesdays for 45 minutes. He thought it was great! He had the same, wonderful teacher he had last summer for sports camp. They learned about and practiced the basics: dribbling, passing, positioning on the floor on offense and defense, defense, and rebounding. And, let me tell you, it was a blast to watch and take part:)

The best part of each class was at the end when the kids scrimmaged each other. There were 8 kids in the class, so they broke into two teams of four and a parent would "play" on each team. You can only imagine the chaos of the first time they scrimmaged! The kids were still learning positioning on the court and had virtually no idea where they were supposed to be or where they should be going. The scrimmages got a little more purposeful each week, but my all time favorite was watching Luke play defense. He was all over the kid he was guarding! He literally looked like he was a mirror image of the kid, following every movement he made:) They finally started making it a game between the two of them to try to lose the other when they were on offense. Really quite comical:)

It was fun watching all of the kids in the class and how their personalities came out in the different skills they were learning. The one and only girl in the class was on the ball and great at rebounding. One boy had great hands and was great at stealing the ball. I wouldn't say that Luke stuck out as a "natural" in any skill, but I got a kick out of watching him learn to rebound. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, he loves watching Brent play basketball and is full of questions. So, he gets a lot about the game, but hadn't really implemented his knowledge until his basketball class. He got the idea of rebounding (get the ball after the shot), but when it came time to rebound, his natural, tender-hearted tendency took over. He would stand on the outside of the crowd of kids jumping around, waving his hands, looking busy, but he would not charge in to try to get the ball. (I'm laughing now just thinking about it:)) It was just too cute!

Basketball camp was a blast! Brent and I both got a chance to participate with the kids and both sets of grandparents were able to make it to a class to watch Luke play:)

I'm sure there is other great info to update on Luke as a five year old, but I got a little carried away with the basketball class, so I'll be sure to share more updates on Luke as they come to me. Good night all!

The Many Faces of Luke

Luke's been wearing glasses since he was twenty months old and he is now on his fourth pair of glasses. Check out the many faces of Luke:)

First day with his glasses, 20 months old

The first pair: Worn from 20 months - Nearly 3 years

These glasses finally just wore out and got too small for his face.

(Photo credit to Kristin Knudson)

January 2010, nearly 4 years old

Second pair: worn from 3-4 years

These glasses were a fun replacement for the first pair. I thought they brought a different personality to his face with the rectangular frames:) But, when we saw the doctor last year he recommended larger frames so Luke had a larger range of vision.

June 2010, 4.5 years old

Third pair: worn from 4- nearly 5 years

These were the larger frames we chose that seemed to fit his face better. But, this month, the doctor recommended rounder glasses, again to provide a larger range of vision through the lenses.

January 28, 2011

Fourth Pair

We went with Silhouettes this time. You choose the shape of the lens and the color for the nose and ear piece. The lens are rimless so the glasses should "grow" with Luke by simply replacing larger/wider lenses as his face grows. One very nice feature of these glasses is the flexibility of the ear pieces. I can't remember what material they are made of, but they can be bent and go right back to their intended shape!

Now, to adjust to another new face of Luke:)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I look forward to it every year...and...every year it has to come to an end. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year to me is the week between Christmas and the New Year. I may be 10 years out of high school, but I still march to the tune of the school calendar. And, the school calendar is on winter break between Christmas and the New Year:) This year I was blessed with the opportunity to be off work beginning at 5pm on 12/21, returning for one day on 12/27, and then off again until 1/3! It was wonderful!

We celebrated Christmas and my Grandpa's birthday in Albert Lea the evening of Christmas Eve with my mom's extended family. It was especially fun this year because everyone was able to be together for the first time in years:)

Christmas morning we headed back to Rochester to host the Picker family Christmas celebration. It was our first year hosting and we had a lot of fun! The cousins wore each other out with lots of playing and wrestling as usual. And, it was fun to have another little one joining the crew now that Annalise is walking every where:) Greg, Cally, Brent, and I even got time to play a new game Greg got for Christmas after the kiddos were in bed!

Sunday, we headed to my Grandpa's farm outside Wells, MN for my dad's extended family Christmas celebration. It was nice chatting with Grandpa and having four generations gathered together.

The week between Christmas and the New Year was also filled with family time!

Monday, Luke spent the morning with Greg, Cally, Mekhi, and Annalise and the afternoon with Grandma Nancy while Brent and I worked for the day. Luke even got Mr Pizza for lunch (one of his favorites) thanks to Greg and Cally:)

Tuesday, I began the remainder of my "Christmas Break":) We spent the day with my Grandma, Uncle Larry, and Cousin Jamie who came from Albert Lea for some shopping and lunch at Michael's. It was great to have them in Rochester and to get even more time together after the holiday:)

Wednesday was Luke day of dates. He and I had lunch together at Panera and he and Daddy went to the Rotary basketball tournament to watch a couple games that evening. Luke loved watching the games with Daddy since he's used to sitting with me watching Daddy play; and Brent got to experience Luke's many questions through out the game:)

Thursday began with great intentions...but then I locked my keys in the car while parked in the mall parking lot...nice, I know. Many thanks to Ruth for bringing us home, then Luke and I shared an afternoon relaxing and watching Home Alone 2. Luke saw the Home Alone movies for the first time this Christmas and he thinks they are great! Once Brent got home, we headed to Riggin's (aka Evan and Eli's house according to Luke). The boys ran, wrestled, and played the night away while we got to chat and relax after a wonderful dinner.

Friday, we were supposed to head to Faribault for the Kester family Christmas, but the weather called for freezing rain and sleet. Brent asked that we stay in town instead of chancing the drive home in the weather expected later in the day. We didn't end up getting as much ice as expected, but I was still grateful not to drive on the ice we did get. Since Luke and I were staying in Rochester, we had Chinese (another one of Luke's favorites) for lunch with Grandma, Grandpa, and Bridget; then we came home and slept it off with an afternoon nap:) We had a quiet New Years Eve together once Brent got off work. We had Panera for dinner (yeah, not much cooking going on this week either), played Life (Luke's first time and he won!), and Brent and I watched The Other Guys (truthfully, I watched it since Brent fell asleep). I was expecting to ring in the new year alone, but was surprised to find my peanut still awake in his bed at midnight! I wasn't complaining, it was nice to start off the new year together! I guess that afternoon nap really refreshed him:)

Saturday was our Beckmann family Christmas celebration at my parent's house. Unfortunately Luke woke up with a sore neck and an upset stomach. He spent the day on the couch at Grandma and Grandpa's while we played games and he occasionally got sick:( We really were a sorry crew...my dad felt a migraine coming on, Luke's stomach was sick, and my sister was on crutches after a sledding accident the week before. Despite all of the issues, we really had a nice day together playing games, eating, and opening gifts. Luke was a sorry sight as the gift opening progressed. He started out pretty excited and into opening gifts (though only a glimmer of his healthy self), but as the event went on, he gradually lost energy and enthusiasm. By the end, he was pulling on the paper while Brent held the gifts for him:( Poor guy!

During the night I had a paranoid-Mommy-moment and called the nurse-line to be sure Luke wasn't showing signs of meningitis or something horrible with his symptoms. The nurse recommended he see a doctor on Sunday to get a strep culture. I then had my ah-ha-Mommy-moment as I remembered that the last time Luke had strep, he also threw up!

Sunday morning Luke and I slept in then we all headed to the Mayo Express Care for Luke's throat culture. The nurse was pretty confident it was strep, but we had to wait until Monday morning to confirm. We spent the day at home relaxing before heading back to the real world on Monday. The day may have been "forced" relaxing time with Luke sick, but a day of snuggles never goes without gratitude in this house:)

So, I write to you now in the aftermath of The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, but I don't say that begrudgingly. The Christmas celebrations were the perfect end to a blessed 2010 and we eagerly anticipate many things in 2011: Luke turning 5, Luke starting kindergarten, Bridget and Ross's wedding, family visiting from out of state for the wedding, Brent finishing his MBA, and who knows what else! We also have some immediate changes beginning this week: Brent beginning his new job as a manager at the Think corporte office in Rochester and me training a new job share (who works the second half of each week while I am off)!

A new year always gets me thinking of the possibilities too...Could this be the year that we add another sweet little one to our family? What does the year hold for our family and what awaits us in 2011 that we have not even considered?

It's easy for me to start to wonder, and even worry sometimes about the year to come, but then I remind myself that the One whose birth we just celebrated is with us through it all and preparing us for what we see as the unknown future. He is loving us, guiding us, encouraging us, and waiting with us every step of the way. For this I am eternally grateful, this year and for years to come!

Meal Planning Update

So, the beginning of November, I blogged about my first attempt at meal planning for the entire month and I promised an update. It has been going SO well and has truly blessed our family! Of the goals I had for the process, I feel like we've met them all!

• Save money on groceries - CHECK (Stayed within budget for November!
• Save on stress of meal prep each day - DOUBLE CHECK!!! (I've so appreciated this one personally)
• Save money on eating out - CHECK
• Trying more of the new recipes I accumulate - CHECK
• Making more of the recipes we love - CHECK
• Saving on trips to the store - This was not on my original list, but I've really liked this one as I really dislike grocery shopping

You may wonder how I try new recipes and make more recipes that we love. Well, we're doing both! I probably do about half new recipes each month and the other half are from our tried and trues. I'm helping myself in this process by taking the suggestion of a friend who has a recipe book that she keeps for just the recipes her family has approved of. I'm not completely done compiling my favorites book, but I've at least started and it's been very helpful! It's been fun to talk about with Luke too. I told him we were making this favorite book and now he tells me which foods we eat that we should put in the book:) SO cute!

I've had some people ask about my "process" for making my meal plan. First of all, let me say that this is a very young process, if you can even call it a process...but here's an overview:

I print a blank calendar of the month to start fresh. Then, I get an idea of what recipes we'd like to have on the meal plan for the month (this is where I draw from new recipes I want to try and from the favorites book). Next, I compare our family calendar (of things we have going on) to the blank calendar.

Our family calendar printed from Google

I figure out which nights I have more or less time to make dinner, then I plug in the foods with prep time that works well. (Obviously our schedule changes through out the month, but it gives us somewhere to start and then we're flexible as the month goes.) I also try to consider which recipes have ingredients that are perishable that I may already have on hand and when they expire (i.e. I had some half-and-half left from a recipe in November that expired next week, so I plan to make a pasta with half-and-half this week so I can use what I have left.) Again, obviously this does not work perfectly, but it does lessen my trips to the store and the food I waste, which I feel good about.

Our completed December meal plan

I would love to tell you that this is the end of the process and that all of the meals magically appear each evening warm on our table, but, trust me, this process takes some prep work...Brent joked last night as I had recipes/recipe books strewn about on the floor trying to decide which to make and when that I looked like I was studying for an exam:) But, in my opinion, it's worth it in so many ways!

So, after the meal plan is established, I make a HUGE grocery list of everything I need for the recipes. This month, it was a page and a half long hand written with two columns! Once I compare the list to what I have on hand, it gets a bit smaller:) This next part is just a sign of my obsessive compulsive tendencies, but then I type the list so it is organized by areas of WalMart. This helps me as I'm shopping to be sure I don't forget anything. (P.S. Brent thinks my list is great!)

I'm sure you're thinking by now that this process must take me forever! Honestly, I did all of my meal planning last night, grocery list and all, in just a couple hours. Then today, I compared my grocery list to the WalMart shopping list on pocketyourdollars.com (I learned about this site from a community ed class this fall from the lady that started it...she has a very inspiring story). I mainly use printable coupons since I don't get the newspaper to get all of the coupon inserts (which are also referenced on the site above). I saved about $15 on our grocery trip today (about 4% of our total bill). I think that's pretty good, since I don't invest much time into the coupon aspect.

At the end of all the work above, the grocery shopping still has to be done....my least favorite part:( I have to admit though, the grocery shopping is far less annoying because I know I've done the prep work to make it easier, and I know that I will not have to come back to do a huge trip like this again for another month! Good incentive:) I was VERY blessed this month to have Brent along for the trip...thankfully, because we had two carts full (including large paper products like paper towels, TP, etc). Yep, we're one of those families with two carts:) I am also incredibly blessed to have a very patient son who has always enjoyed grocery shopping (truly, he used to get excited to go when he was a toddler:)).

The end product is a VERY full kitchen! For those of you that have been at our house, you know we don't have a lot of cupboard space and I do not have a pantry, but I make use of every cubic inch, as you can see below:)

Our snack basket full of some of our favorites: granola bars and pop tarts

Our make-shift mini-pantry, with above snack basket

Our one and only food cupboard (other than the mini-pantry above)

Our filled fridge

Our filled freezer

I'm sure you have some questions, like don't I have to go to the store through out the month for some items? Sure do, but the trips are much faster and much cheaper. I'm anticipating that this month I'll need to make another trip just for items I need for Christmas since I'll be bringing food places and hosting. I also utilize Kwik Trip for milk, potatoes, and bananas that they sell cheap. You may also be asking how much we stick to the schedule? We stick to it pretty well, but, as I mentioned above, we adjust as needed. Last month there was only one meal from the entire month that we didn't make and it was more of a fall back meal anyway (stuff we usually have on hand). I also plan in days for left overs and grab-and-go meals like Smart Ones or sandwiches when we are on a tight schedule. Last month I only planned one evening for us to pick up dinner, which was because we had to be somewhere very quickly after work and wouldn't even have time at home. I have one day like that in December that I'm anticipating too. But, we have certainly saved A LOT on eating out!

I think that about covers it for now....this got longer than I expected and Luke is asking that I get done too:)

Happy Meal Planning!