Here is Ajax’s first attempt at finger painting. He was a bit tentative as he doesn’t really like his hands dirty, but he did ok. I put his art on the fridge.
Month: June 2010
Freezer cooking
I’m slowly getting on board with this freezer cooking thing. Mentally I was signed up months ago, but the actual physical execution of the thing is coming along more slowly. Today the weather has been a bit weird, it will go from sun to dark clouds and rain in minutes and the tornado siren has been going on and off, along with the weather man excitedly pointing out funnel spottings (some a little too close for comfort). What a crazy summer.
Since we’ve been stuck indoors I’ve kept busy and made calzones. Dave and Ajax played and watched UP while I made the dough and during one of Ajax’s naps I made the actual calzone. We now have almost two dozen in the freezer! I also just learned that you can actually freeze smoothies, so I picked up some plastic freezer cups and we now have four smoothies ready to go! I have pork shoulder going now in the slow cooker for pulled pork sandwichs and that too will go into the freezer. Have I mentioned that I LOVE my chest freezer? I do.
Ajax has been pretty bummed about being stuck in the house, but I did buy him some finger paints and we may bust them out after his nap… I’ll let you know how that goes, lol.
Sunday Shopping Day
Well it is of course Sunday and that means my shopping day. I got up early this morning and left before Ajax got up and hit up – Meijer, Rite Aid and Kroger. I’m a maniac! I didn’t snap a picture of my Meijer trip, but I spent $43 and saved $50 (this is more than I had planned on spending, but I’ll be in D.C. next week for a conference and wanted to make sure there were quick dinners/snacks in the house for Dave, Dara and Ajax).
Rite Aid –
Purchased – 4 packs of Stayfree (buy one get one free), 4 John Frida hair care products (4 for $20), 1 pack of Pampers (clearance price – $5.99) – in total $34. After coupons I paid $8.67 and received $10 toward my next purchase. So I made $1.33. This would have been a bigger money maker had I not bought the Pampers, but ya know – gotta have ’em!
Purchased – 1 family pack of Luv ($15.99), Coppertone suncare ($8.99), Natural Instinct hair dye ($7.99), Crest toothpaste ($2.99). My total was $35.96. I used the $10 from above and coupons and paid $10.82. I got $8 back and Rite Aid will mail me a check for$4.99…. so I made $2.17 with this transaction.
Kroger –
Purchased – 2 Gillette body washes (buy one get one free), Batman bandaids (awesome… and on clearance for $1.59), and Nexcare medical tape ($1.04). In total $11.61, after sales/coupons I paid $1.12. Since I took back bottles from our BBQ ($9.70), I actually paid nothing out of pocket and got money back. Cool.
Little Gardener
Today I finally got my tomato plants some much needed support. They were getting too tall and toppling over. We went to two different stores, but no one had those silly tomato cages (which I had considered buying earlier in the season, but thought they were a waste of money… this is my first attempt at gardening remember), so we ended up buying stakes and I zip-tied the heck out of those plants. Ajax tried to help but ended up stomping on some of our green pepper plants and then almost tripped on the string I used to section off the garden, lol. Dave ended up taking him to play on his play area and watch from a safer distance.
Ajax finally got another tooth in (grand total = 7 teeth!). So hopefully he’ll be in a better mood and sleep a little better. He’s been a bit of a pistol, lol. Something Dave and I have also been talking about, is how incredibly loud Ajax is. We used to think that all babies/kids were just loud and that that was the normal volume for all kids. Recently however, we’ve been hanging out with a LOT of other kids Ajax’s age (or there abouts) and we are realizing that our child has no control over the volume of his voice. I know he’s Italian and all, but it’s a little ridiculous. For example today at Meijer Dave and Ajax went to look at some things and I was to catch up with them. Well I had no difficulty in locating them because I heard Ajax throughout the store! (I have even had cashiers say- so you’re the one making all that noise!). What a little personality.
Frannie
Ajax is all about animals right now. At my parent’s farm there are horses, cats, and dogs. Ajax kept taking my hand and making me walk him toward the horses. He just wanted to be held and pet the horses. His favorite horse seems to be Frannie, and he kept wanting to feed her apples and grass. He would also point at the barn cats and say, “kitty.” Luckily he couldn’t actually catch any of them since they were too fast for him (they have claws and would not appreciate being grabbed).
Father’s Day in Detroit
This weekend was fun and exciting, not so much with the quiet and rest which we had planned, but oh well!
Saturday we finally got our house, yard and garage back in order from the BBQ last weekend. We also put a major dent in the mountain of laundry that had been piling up. My parents were then nice enough to watch Ajax for a few hours so that Dave and I could have a date night. We did dinner and a movie (The A-Team), while Ajax and my folks went to a BBQ with family. Ajax had a blast with his cousins and loved playing with their toys. Kids always love other people’s toys better.
Sunday we headed to downtown Detroit for the Detroit River Days, a large summer festival along the river. It was a beautiful day and the crowd wasn’t that large. Ajax had chicken shawarma and part of an elephant ear for lunch. He also took his first ride on a carosel and loved it (I had to kind of drag him off it). He also played in some interactive water features that were pretty neat. We also got to explore two large ships, one of which belonged to the coast guard; Ajax loved the control room with all the flashing lights and switches. He was pretty beat on the way home and zonked out.
Relaxing with family
Ajax went to bed at 7:00 pm tonight. Again, seven. Such a busy little man.
Ajax and I headed out to my parent’s house yesterday morning, as that seemed to be where everyone was staying/congregating. We went to dinner, did a little shopping, and played quite a bit. We had wanted to hit up the lake, but unfortunately the weather wasn’t too cooperative. It was very nice seeing everyone, as people are pretty spread out these days. We stayed the night and played today as well! Ajax didn’t go to bed till 9 last night and only had one nap today, he was so busy.
Fawn and I headed into Tecumseh today and had a nice lunch and did a little window browsing. The kids were great and so well behaved. On the way home they both zonked out.
BBQ and family
We’ve never had a large BBQ at our home because we’ve always been worried that if the weather turned bad, where would everyone go? Well with family in from Washington (My Aunt Lynda, Cousin Andre, his wife, Fawn, and their two-year-old son, Daniel) we decided we had to celebrate! This is Fawn and Daniels first trip to Michigan, so everyone wanted the chance to meet them. There were about 40 people over and everyone seemed to have a great time. The weather was very cooperative, a little overcast and not too hot. The kids had a blast, playing the majority of time in the water toy- this necessitated several outfit changes though…
Dave maned the grill and put a Cajun fry to some hamburgers and hot dogs. Ajax seems to be in quite the bully-mode and tried to push all his male cousins around, however, Emma, who is four months younger than him seemed to the only one to put him in his place. It was pretty funny.
Benefits
Tonight we attended a benefits dinner to raise money for my aunt Susie who is undergoing treatment for breast cancer. There were a lot of people there and a ton of kids! A rough estimate of the total was over $5,000!
Ajax ran nonstop. I couldn’t get him to settle down and eat anything as he would run and run and run (with each family member taking turns shadowing him), and then circle back to the table to take two bites of spaghetti and then would take off again. My mom tied a little balloon to the back of his pants and he thought that was the funniest thing. On the drive home he crashed big time, so that by the time we reached the house I gave him a super quick bath, sippy of milk and then bed. I also won something in the auction (a summer cooler packed with fun stuffs) and I never win anything.
Rite Aid
I’m a little rusty, but I hit up Rite Aid today. I also went to Meijer, but it wasn’t a very successful trip, as I had to buy meat and some items so that tonight I could prep a few freezer meals. I know quite a few people who do freezer cooking and I so want to start, I just can’t seem to get myself motivated to actually do it. Tonight we have a benefits dinner to go to and then after that I’m hoping to get some gringo chicken and meatballs in the freezer, along with some chicken in bags marinading.
My First transaction-
- Gillette razor – $10.49 (this was supposed to be 9.99 but I wasn’t paying attention!)
- Face wash – $5.49
- (2) body washes – $7.00
- Total = $22.98; minus coupons I paid = $6.38 (with tax)
- I will be getting a check from RA for $5 and received a $4 reward coupon (like 4 cash!), so with this transaction I made $2.52!
Second transaction-
- Bounty paper towel – $11.99
- Listerine – $3.99
- Carefree liners – $0.99
- (2) Pampers wipes – $4.98
- Total = $21.95; minus coupons I paid $6.97 (with tax)
- I will be getting a $3 check from RA and I received a $1 coupon for use on my next transaction, so – $2.97!
