Laura wanted to wear her new Mizzou Cheerleader outfit, which made John want to wear his Mizzou shirt. They made quite a cute pair!
Labor Day Weekend Get Together
We had our annual end of summer get together this evening. A great time was had by all! Great friends, great food and drinks, fun conversation, and a beautiful evening made for lots of fun. We have a great group of friends and it was just fun to celebrate with them all. I’m already looking forward to the next get together!
Shopping and More Shopping
The photo is a great example of what shopping for the Kassel family means every month. Between Andy and I, we went to four stores today – Target, Hy-Vee, Aldi, and Sam’s Club – to buy all the monthly groceries, etc. that we need. The multiple bags in the photo are the culmination of three of those four stores with Sam’s Club coming after we put all that away. We still have Moser’s to get to tomorrow, but that shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes for just a few items. I think it’s safe to say that I’m exhausted after all that shopping, *but* the only trips to the store that I will need to make for the rest of September is for milk and produce. One marathon shopping day makes it all worth it for later! On a side note, it did occur to me today that my pantry is in desperate need of cleaning out. I will have to tackle that mountain of a task the weekend in September that Andy is out of town…
An Afternoon at the Winery
Originally, Andy and I were going to spend the afternoon at the A-Frame at Les Bourgeois Vineyards enjoying the outdoor views, some food, and a bottle of wine. After a slight change of plans because of the rain, Andy and I headed to Summit Lake Winery for lunch and a bottle of Norton. We relaxed and watched the rain and talked for a while. Before we left, we tasted a few more of their wines and left with a couple of bottles to fill some space in our wine chillers. Since it was only 2:30, we checked out a couple of local campgrounds in the national forest. As we were leaving the last campsite, we stumbled upon a sign that said “Winery.” Now, you all know us and it shouldn’t surprise you that Andy turned around and headed back down that road. We found a new, local place that opened late last year with some *really* good wines. We only had time to taste wines there, but we left Serenity Valley Winery with five more bottles of wine (now we have wine waiting to go into our wine chillers!). Andy and I had a great, quiet afternoon! We were happy to pick up John from daycare and get home to see Laura, but it is always great to sneak away for some quiet, parent time.
The Lists
My menu plan is complete through September 23. Next up, grocery shopping and monthly essential shopping…. My lists are ready to go for Hy-Vee, Aldi, Sam’s Club, Moser’s, and Target. At least after this weekend, I won’t have to visit a grocery store except maybe 1-2 more times for milk and fruit. And this is *why* I menu plan…..to avoid grocery shopping as much as possible!
My Helpers!
I had two great helpers while I was picking the tomatoes and peppers this evening. They were so proud of themselves! I was surprised at just how good they are at picking tomatoes. I’ll have to deposit that tidbit of information into the “Mom Bank” to use at a later time!
Busy Day
Not many days go by anymore where I don’t take a picture, but today was one of those days. It was just busy all around and I never even took my camera out of my purse. I felt like I was running, running, and running some more just to stay somewhat caught up. The day started at 5:30 am and I finally gave up at 10 pm. My day went something like this… Get up, get myself ready, get lunches ready, wake husband up, wake kids up, get kids out of bed, get John ready (Andy gets Laura ready), drop John at daycare, work from 7:30 am to 4 pm, pick up John from daycare, drive home, workout (P90X2 Plyocide – you suck, but what a good workout!), Andy showers and leaves for a meeting, make kids dinner, take a shower, get kids in bath tub, pay bills, get kids out of bathtub, get kids ready for bed, pay the rest of the bills, get kids in bed, clean up kitchen from kids’ dinner, make dinner for Andy and I, clean all dishes that I can while cooking, Andy returns from meeting, eat dinner (at 9 pm no less), watch an episode of “Homeland”, drink a glass of wine, and go to bed completely wiped out. You probably understand why my camera never left my purse today…