Helloooo??? Anybody home?

Whew... that was quite the break from blogging... sorry. I would love to blame it on being so incredibly busy that I just did not have time. But, I would be lying and I'm not in the mood for that today. So, how is everybody? We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and I am so blessed to have beautiful family and friends. I love my job as a "lunch lady"- it gets me out of the house, lets me pop into my kids' classrooms "whenever" and gives us some movie and pizza money to boot. We are ready for some warmer weather and for some baseball to start. All three will be at the diamonds this summer and we are so looking forward to it. Alex says that when he grows up he's going to be a : Policeman, Baseball player and a president. we will begin on the baseball first since it is the most fun and then let the other professions sneak in.
Are you guys missing my "shopping tips" ? I will try to put together a shopping list for you...There's a few things I need to pick up today from Owens, but for the most part I'm stocked! I've been keeping a running tally for the month of January... and I went WAY over budget. For the month of January I spent a total of $348.00 at the grocery stores. My goal was to keep it at $300.00 for the month...February will have to be better. The January total came out to less than 70.00 per week, but I would like to see that down to 50-55.00 per week. I think I can manage that in February, just because my pantry is so stocked with cereals, poptarts, soups, tomato juices (we love us some chili and goulash), raviolli and oatmeal. Our biggest hurdle is keeping enough milk in the fridge and backing the truck up AWAY from the Mountain Dew/Pepsi displays. :)