Bittersweet Memories.

Can't sleep. It's a killer combination of James leaving in the morning and not returning until Friday and a weird ball of emotions. I'm missing my boys. My canine boys. 

We took Molly to the dog park at Shawnee Mission Park today. The last time we were there, we had 3 dogs. Neither James nor I were expecting those memories to smack us in the face, so, there's that. It was a great trip for Molly though. She loves running, playing and exploring. This trip was the most well-behaved she's been off leash yet; she'd run and then stop to watch us catch up or she'd come back and walk with us. Mo Mo truly has done a 180 in some aspects in the behavior department. The best part for her, and for us, was the lake. Girl looooooooves to swim.

Little Princess Molly even got to ride shotgun on the way home... She hasn't become spoiled at all. 

It's hard building new memories with just one pup pup. I guess the moment that I'm having the most trouble with from today is when I had been walking backward talking to Jackson and I turned around right into the butt of a dog with fur JUST like Eddie's. Color. Texture. Length. My heart stopped. And then it broke again. 

They were my kids. They'll always have a special place in this Momma's heart. 

I needed this. ❤️ 

September 5 - September 11

I typically try to plan my grocery lists for Thursday/Friday to Tuesday/Wednesday. The ad changes weekly on Wednesday so I like to stay as close to that as possible. I don't always manage that... But it's a good rule of thumb. 

This week's menu will be shopped tomorrow (9/5) and planned to hopefully last until Thursday 9/11. James is out of town so it will just be the boys and I... I don't cook as much when he's gone :/. Anyway, we'll be finishing leftovers on Friday and possibly even more leftovers to clear out the refrigerator on Saturday. I bet it will be a frozen pizza kind of day on Sunday. Ain't no shame in that!!!!!!!!!! 

On my menu this week: 

Turkey Zucchini Meatballs 

http://www.kimshealthyeats.com/turkey-zucchini-meatballs/

These sound amazing. Ground turkey is $1.99 on average so you can make double and freeze them but still only manage to pay very little. That's most likely what I'll do. A little extra work now and they're ready for a crazy night when there's little time or energy to cook :)!! Great weekend prep recipe! 

I'll probably make noodles and sauce for the boys too. Prego is on sale this week. 

I think I'll make roasted Brussels sprouts and garlic aioli to go with them {1/2 cup mayo, 1 clove minced garlic, little fresh lemon juice, pepper and maybe a pinch of kosher salt. Easy peasy}

Roasted Beet, Goat Cheese & Arugula Paninis 

http://bsinthekitchen.com/beet-arugula-goat-cheese-grilled-cheese/

Hey! James is out of town. Why NOT make a sandwich with 2 of the things he seriously dislikes?!? While the cat's away... I'll eat beets and goat cheese. Maybe some fresh strawberries too. With balsamic glaze {Hy-Vee has a brand of pre-made glaze. Less work. Super delish}. I'm drooling 😍. 

Hemp Crusted Baked Chicken Tenders 

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/hemp-crusted-baked-chicken-tenders-recipe/

I am always looking for something new and different when it comes to chicken. I also don't like to rely on bread 100% of the time. I've done this with almond meal and coconut flour too. You don't need to shop anywhere special for hemp seed either. Not sure if Lee's Summit 2 {Ward Road} has a bulk section in their health market but Lee's Summit 1 {Rice Road} and Independence 1 {23rd Street} do. If you can't get it bulk, I'm sure they have a packaged version on the shelves. The Health Market brand also has an almond flour now that is just what you need. It's $8.99-10.99, I can't remember. A small investment as far as flour is concerned but I personally use it often... Which means you might need to now too...right?!? 

... Not feeling like going through the trouble? That's fine. Replace hemp seed and almond meal for regular flour {eh, a cup or 2. No need to actually measure it}. Season well with kosher salt and pepper. Garlic and onion powder too if you're feeling flavorful. Bake as instructed in recipe. 

I'll probably eat a salad and the rest of the Brussels sprouts with it. Maybe fries. Who knows. Not me right now. Lol. I do need to buy ketchup. Someone remind me to buy ketchup. Thanks ;). 

Here's my favorite lettuce mix for Salads. Earthbound Farm Organic's Kale Italia. 

Split chicken breasts are also on sale this week. Yes, that means you have to remove the breast from the bone. NO, it is NOT hard. I went through the trouble of finding a video for you too. Aren't I just so nice? The answer is yes. Lol http://m.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=r4r23trlLoY. It's not too hard. I usually buy lots when it's on sale and do this one whole day. That way I have lots of frozen chicken.  

Roasted Asparagus and Mushroom Carbonara 

http://foodie-place.blogspot.com/2014/08/roasted-asparagus-and-mushroom-carbonara.html

Nobody can beat a carbonara. Nobody. Me + pasta = LOVE. Not sure that I'll really do much else with this. Maybe toasted French bread rubbed with a clove of garlic. Bruschetta topping too? And wine. Definitely wine. 

DONT BUY PRE-SLICED MUSHROOMS. DONT WASH THEM. Pre-sliced mushrooms are soggier and have more water which causes your dishes to be runny. Also why you don't wash them. Just brush the dirt off with a dry paper towel. And use the stem; trim the rough looking part off if it makes your little heart feel better. 

I have some good tips & suggestions for the 'woody' parts of the asparagus too. 

*~*~*~*~*

Well, I think I'm going to call that good as far as my menu goes. We typically don't eat at home one or two nights while Daddy's away. Don't want to over do it & buy too much food. 

GREAT DEALS THIS WEEK: 

2-Day Sale: Buy $25 in meat & save $.15 off per gallon. Buy $50 & save $.30... Etc. 

Driscolls raspberries 

Split chicken breasts  $.98/lb

Hy-Vee sugar $.99 

Hy-Vee graham crackers 2/$4 with $.02 Fuel Saver {we eat a lot of these, well, the boys do.} 

Caiti's Back... ALRIGHT!!!

Oh look. I haven't even taken a look at this thing since March 13, 2014. Call me crazy but I have a hard time posting about our day-to-day... We aren't exciting enough for that. Even though I don't want this to be all about food 100% of the time, it's looking and sounding like that's where people want me to focus. I'll try to balance it all out... You know, post equally about my kids, dog, cats, husband and food. Lol. 

Jessica and I have created a shareable Pinterest food board {if you don't follow Jessica, you should. She created the board!}. We'd LOVE for you to share your food pins with us too. I generally always use a recipe as a guide and change it as needed, or as I want to {especially when it comes to garlic. How dare someone create something without it!!!!} I'll use those pins in my weekly posts. Caution: we love salads. Hope you like salad ;). That's the only thing I don't try to change up every week. Feel free to eat them 3-5 nights a week with us, or make your own damn list ;). We aren't always exciting in our food lives. 

My goal is to, once again, share my weekly menu plans and we can all make our lists from there. We don't all have the same sized family nor do you need all of the things that I need to feed two small kids, a husaband and myself daily... We eat a LOT... :). 

I always use Hy-Vee's weekly ad. Here are a few great 'how to' articles about grocery ads. If you aren't as OCD as I am and don't ever pay attention to ,or work for, your grocery store's "regular" prices, you won't always be able to point out a true sale. These tips should help you more than I can :)... 

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/the-truth-about-grocery-store-flyers/

 http://m.wikihow.com/Read-Store-Circulars

I also take the Fuel Saver ad into consideration when purchasing groceries as well. James' store just so happens to have almost, or so it feels, everything on their fuel saver program. I bought 8 gallons of gas for $.08 the other day... EIGHT CENTS!!! It's worth it people, so worth it!! Pay attention though. That $.02 off/gallon C&H sugar could still end up costing you more than the store brand. Do the math. Extra seconds save you money. And I suck at math. I promise... YOU CAN DO IT!!! ... Especially if you have a calculator on your phone. Lol 

Crockpot Calamities

Today, Eat, Play, Love presents another installment of...

CROCKPOT CALAMITIES

{dun dun duuuuun}

Jackson's first soccer practice is tonight and I have quite a few other things on my plate so I thought I'd give the ole crockpot another go. 

Tonight's dinner is Crockpot Fajitas. 

We shall see how it goes. Stay tuned ;). 

Guilty Little Pleasures

I have an addiction. 

I am addicted to silly television shows. And by silly, I mean AMAZING. I am addicted to amazing tv shows. 

If you aren't up to date on your amazing television shows, I HIGHLY recommend that you stop reading now. I was born with the gift of gab... I can't stop. So you should. Lol. 

*** SPOILER ALERT FROM THIS POINT FORWARD*** 

I am going to start with The Following. This show creeps me the eff out, especially since I watch it while the boys are asleep. Every little creak and noise that our house makes causes me to jump out of my skin. I am also a gigantic chicken. 

Any guesses as to how long it takes before he FBI finds out that the leader of the Joe Carroll case is actually a FOLLOWER of Joe Carroll? This show just has so many twists. Now it has crossed my mind that what's-her-face is is actually a legitimate member of the FBI and that her wife is a Follower and she doesn't know. But then I go back. She's a follower. I think that Joe takes advantage of Emma and possibly even kills her. He obviously isn't interested in a relationship with her.  Guess we will see. 

Okay, now the best shows on television. 

HOLY GREY'S ANATOMY BATMAN. Let's just skip right to it... KEPNER AND JACKSON ARE MARRIED?!?!?!?!? I am thrilled. Thank you Shonda and your amazing team of writers for making this happen. #TEAMJACKSON. 

What do you think will happen as a result of the complaints to HR? I don't think I am as concerned about them. They give Oh an out, since she'll be written off without dying. She and Hunt can't have a relationship and she totally messed things up with Ross.  I think that the writers want us to think that Edwards filed the complaints against Avery since that's the scene that leads into the emergency board meeting... I think it's Ross. Those complaints were filed toward Yang, fueled from Hunt being a dick as a result. Do you agree? What do you think? I want to know!!! 

Last, but certainly NOT least... SCANDAL! {I can already see Kerry and the stylists trying to hide her bump... She used to wear gorgeous blouses and she never took off her coat this episode...}

Okay, Gladiators, what did you think? I am so interested as to how Liv found out about the new VP candidate and Mellie's relationship. That woman totally deserved a swift kick in the story line ass. 

I think that I might be starting to change my mind about Liv's relationship with Fitz. Abby hates him but I was holding onto the idea of Liv and Fitz... I wanted Vermont for them! I wanted Liv to make jam in their kitchen. I WANTED THE SAPPY ENDING!!! Then Jake comes back and Fitz sees that they are reconnected for appearance purposes. Liv fell for Jake before she knew what he was up to initially. Now I think she'll fall head-over-heels for his complete honesty. I see him promising her that he won't fall down the same path as her father by being an open book.  I don't think Jake would be dishonest with her intentionally... But I can see this falling apart too. 

Maybe I'll have some more ideas as to what will happen next week after a good night's sleep... I need to think more about what will happen to Sally, James and Quinn... Sooooo many things to think about!!! 

I am so excited for a Revenge and The Good Wife to start again. #TeamEmily. 

Good Night :)! 

Bloggity blog blog.

I epically fail at this blogging business. I'm not even going to TRY and pretend that I'll commit to this... I can't make any promises. One post at a time, one post at a time.

James and I took Jackson on a super special date today. Cooper stayed at my Dad and Jen's house so we could have some special time with Jackson, all by himself. We stopped and grabbed Wendy's after we dropped off Cooper and we took our lunch to the train tracks to see the caboose. The little stinker goes "so we're going to eat our lunch and the train is going to come and pick us up!"  He is so smart. At that point we told him that IS his surprise. It was the best!! James and I both loved spending that special time with our oldest boy.

We try to spend special moments with him every day but this is really the first time that we've taken him out alone. I am so proud of my Jackson James. The conductor {that is what they are, right?} stopped and talked to him on the way to Union Station. They talked about the different types of train cars that passed us on other trains and he told her what the majority of them were and what they carried. Our daily car conversations proved informative when he told her what red, green and yellow signals mean to trains, just like they do to cars. I am amazed by him. Jackson James is the greatest!

And on a COMPLETELY different topic... The battery in our smoke detector is going off yet AGAIN! I feel like we just changed the batteries in these a few weeks ago.

Cooper Joseph is almost 11 months old now. I can't believe it!! He's in 12-18 month clothes and tonight I put 2T/3T socks on his feet... And they FIT. Actually FIT.  I love, love my little Momma's boy! ❤️ He is just so sweet.

Can't forget to mention the oldest Mister in my life. James is doing great :). Lol. Definitely my polar opposite in the "social media" department. Ha! Could "polar opposite" be an understatement? It would be fitting, for sure!

So much has been going on in my world lately... And I'm not 100% sure how to go forward with some things.  Maybe a different post for a different day. Overall, I am doing wonderfully. Loving staying home with my two Little Misters! They are my world... The littlest keepers of my heart!!

Here, there, and every where.

Today I have found myself wanting to make multiple Facebook status updates about completely insignificant and random stuff. That's why I created a blog, right? I sure think so.

We took the boys to feed the bison and the elk today but they weren't anywhere near the fence to we loaded up the car and headed to Longview Lake to feed the fish. Jackson absolutely loves watching all the fish swim all over each other in a frenzy to get to the food before the other. :) <><

James and I did a bunch of yard work this afternoon. Our poor landscaping in the front yard was so neglected; the bushes were either overgrown or dead. They took a LOT of work. My poor arms hurt so bad that even typing this is using muscles that I forgot were there. Can anybody say wimp?

Cooper will be three months old on the 9th {which so happens to be my wonderful Mother's birthday!}. Its so hard to believe that he is already getting so big. He is an amazing baby; so calm and sleeps SO well. Now if only I could get myself into a better sleep routine... :/. I absolutely love how his face lights up when Jackson talks to him. They are the cutest together and I'm trying especially hard to cherish the cute moments because I know there will be times when I want to banish them from being around each other in order to keep the peace in our house. Okay, so maybe that's a tad over dramatic but they will fight and it won't always be all smiles and sweetness. Right now it is though, so lets focus on that again, shall we? Jackson is the sweetest to his baby brother. He'll talk to him and Cooper will smile and his eyes get so big and wide. If Jackson is playing and starts singing or making fun noises, Cooper will turn his head and look around trying to find him. I love watching them together. They are my world. I love them.

Jackson is also getting to be so big. Hard to believe that my oldest baby is 2 1/2. He is so incredibly smart and his imagination is a killer. I am amazed by his ability to remember events and talk about them months later, like they just happened. He's saying his "ABC's", counting forward to about 15 and backward from 10. Numbers used to be his thing but now he's on the letter kick. Not quite sure where he "should" be on that one, but I love where he's at!!! I know know more about Thomas the Train than ever before. He can name every train and tell you about the Island of Sodor. Whether he is actually able to understand what being "upset" or "angry" actually mean is a mystery because I only seem to be able to get through when I tell him that "I'm going to be cross like Sir Topham Hatt". Cross is a word he understands. Thomas makes Sir Topham Hatt cross often. I love listening to him sing the theme song.

OH, songs. He is definitely into the stage where he's starting to sing catchy lines from songs that he hears on the radio. It slays me every time I hear him singing "I don't care. I love it. I don't care!"

Just imagine a cute little toddler singing it. If he wasn't so stubborn I would probably have it on video. But I don't because he stops whenever my phone is out. Yes, I've tried tricking him. Don't believe me? Why don't YOU come over and try tricking him into singing this song for you. I've even busted out the "M&M" bribe. The kid is not falling for it. He's too clever.

He also just woke up... That ends this. Good night!