Spring Break!!!

I'll let the pictures tell the story, but I had so much relaxing fun this Spring Break. First stop: Lampasas, TX at the Peach House B&B with my gal pals, Liz, Amy, Kami, and Jenise. We slept a LOT, and read, watched movies, walked around town, went to church (across the street), and ate a lot of junk food -- mmm... Thanks, gals, for teaching me how to relax!

Then, since I was half-way to Kerrville anyway, I met up with Jenny. We made dinner for Ben and his fiance Melissa, and Grandma and Grandpa. On Tuesday, we went to the Riverhouse for some good old fashioned kayaking fun! Yay, nature! Grandma and Grandpa went with us and it was fun to spend time with them, too. Dad met us for the second run on his way home from the SA airport (he was in California with my other grandma).This is the more simple waterfall -- check out the one in the background! Thanks, Jen, for keeping my camera dry! :)

On Wednesday, Jenny and I drove back to Austin, but decided to stop by Krause Springs camping area. We liked it so much, we decided to stay and camp! This place is paradise for the hill country, I think. The land had a spring-fed stream that runs through it. The Krauses have routed the spring to fill up a swimming pool. The water fills this pool and then falls over the edge of the cliff like this:

Here's my cute little tent. I really need to get a tarp for underneath it. I had to use my sweatpants to clean off the very bottom of the tent Thursday morning. No worries -- they came clean in the wash! :)

We met Jennifer and Sascha Terry in Austin on Thursday for lunch. We had great fun with this sweet family. We hope Sascha can grab a job in Kerrville! That'd be great! Good luck, m'Tasch!

To end this lovely Spring Break, on Friday, Eric and I hosted a sleepover with my Sassy Seven friends -- only five of them, though. I got to cook for them and we played 42 and watched movies. I think I am rested and rejuvenated for the TAKS-stretch ahead of me.

Figure Skating hobby?

One of my students this year had a figure skating competition back in February. Figure skating?! Who actually does that?! I thought it was the COOLEST hobby/extracurricular sport EVER, so I kept bugging her to tell me when her once-a-year competition would be.

At first, it was supposed to be on a Saturday. No problem -- let me know when and where!

Then it was changed to a Friday.

So I took a half-day from school and enjoyed hanging out with my student's family and watching her skate. So cool!

She got SECOND place! I was so proud of her!

www.e-mealz.com

So, Eric and I are doing the Financial Peace University class at church. We're at week 2 and really like it so far. Our friends Ted and Megan are facilitating things, and they had given us the Total Money Makeover book for our wedding. We read the book and began working on the baby steps. We've luckily been able to save quite a bit and we're learning how to live on a budget.

WELL, our group leaders for our FPU class, Patrick and Chelsea Farris, told us about how they do their meal planning for the week. I know personally, I check frugal mom blogs to come up with some semblance of a plan before I go grocery shopping. I've found some great things, but it does take some effort. Some of the blogs I like in this area are www.grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com and www.5dollardinners.com.

Well, Patrick and Chelsea subscribe to their meal plans at www.e-mealz.com. It's basically $5 a month, and it has all these different options to choose from. Eric and I chose the Wal-Mart Plan for Two. So, it hunts the rollback prices and seasonal goodies at Wal-Mart. The meal plan has all five meals and recipes on ONE page (!!!) and the next page is a shopping list divided into categories. Plus, because we chose a specific store, they have the prices listed (which, I realize, may vary).

I'm very excited about all this and will have to let you know how it goes. Apparently, we'll be eating the following for dinners this next week:

Smokey Orange Chicken
Salsa Burgers
Bacon Mushroom Quiche (only 1/2 with mushrooms cuz I don't like those slimy things...)
Tender Beef Pot Pie
Southwest Chicken Salad

So, these are recipes we may not think to make if I had to choose. Hopefully, it'll stretch my horizons a little, too!

What do you do to plan meals?