7QT: Enfamil, Basketball Drills, and Family Mills (I mean Meals)

UPDATED: Winner is Tricia!  I'll email you soon, congrats!

Linking up with Kelly, as usual!  See the 2nd post if you want to win a gift card for FIFTY BUCKS!!

1)

I really dislike pumping.  I am so amazed at the moms who do this for any extended period of time, as every single pumping session I have is like a taste of purgatory for me.  But, I know I'm lucky I can produce breastmilk at all and that whatever I can squeeze out is good for Brendan, so I do it for as long as I can.  That being said, I am not opposed even the tiniest bit to using formula.  Brendan eats all the breastmilk I can express from the day before and then fills up on formula for the rest of his feedings until we're home together.  The most important thing is that baby gets nourished and grows, not about any mommy wars.  We're all just doing the best we can!  Phil bought this container of Enfamil when Brendan was born and here we are 10 weeks later just finishing up the last of it.

We will have to order more soon, though I think we are switching to this brand after doing much research (aka talking to friends who do all the research!).

2)

Speaking of baby formula, how would you like to win a $50 gift card to buy some baby goodies from Diapers.com?  Just leave a comment in the post about the best tip you have when it comes to baby feeding, and I'll pick a winner on November 6th!!

3)

Alexander still reigns in this house with making us laugh the most, though Declan is becoming a comedic master as well.  The other day we were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse from an old DVD.  I saw that there were only 3 mouskatools instead of the four mouskatools that are on the current episodes and asked Xander about it.

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, then thank your lucky stars.

He said, "Oh, yeah, this show is from like 1968, so there were only three mouskatools back then."

Well, that explains it.

4)

Phil and I have been killing it in the dinner game recently.  We make a meal plan on Friday nights (wow how our Friday night plans have changed!) and then create our shopping list from it (sometimes I even look at the circulars to see whats on sale!) and hit the grocery store on Sat morning.  Soooooo basically we are finally acting like responsible adults instead of stressing every afternoon about what we can whip up for dinner.  I'm sure you all already do this, but it's new to us and I love the results.  Plus every kid likes knowing what's on the menu and giving their two cents while we're in the planning stages.  We've made the following delicious meals lately:

Lemon Chicken (with rice and roasted cauliflower)

Milkcan Supper:

Weeknight Chili (with veggies and dip) 

Pasta w/ Prosciutto & Peas (but replaced some of the cream with chicken broth to lighten it up)

Maple Roast Pork (with baked potatoes and green beans)

5)

Do you want to hear our basketball saga?  No?  Then move onto numero six.  Otherwise, here we go.

  Andrew and Eamon are in 6th and 4th grades respectively.  That means this year they could both play on the same CYO basketball team.  We were looking forward to the simplicity of life that would bring us this winter (the season actually runs from November through March).  We just found out last week that their CYO team had neither a coach nor enough players and it might be cancelled.  Phil was asked to be the coach but he said no due to the fact that we will also have Maggie on a basketball team and Maggie & Xander in swim lessons this winter so he couldn't commit to certain days/times.  

The boys were devastated that they might not be able to play basketball and asked if they could play for the town league that Eamon played for last year.  I did some searching and emailing and pleading and discovered that the 6th grade tryouts were that night but the 4th grade tryouts had already happened.  We were told Andrew had to come to tryouts or he couldn't play and Eamon might be able to be placed on a team since he had played last year for this league.  

Of course the night of tryouts was also the night of Parent Teacher conferences for Phil, so I schlepped all 7 kids out to a 1.5 hour tryout in the hottest sweatiest most crowded gym you can imagine.  Brendan slept for the whole time in the carrier (well, he may have just passed out from the heat, but either way he was quiet!) and JP was such a huge help to me by taking the littles out to the playground until it got too dark.  Ninety 5th and 6th grade boys tried out and about 10 coaches were their watching their every move, taking notes, it was so intense!  

Andrew and Eamon were placed on town teams and we were crossing our fingers that CYO would be cancelled.  But alas, it looks like they've found a coach and are working on getting more players.  We can't pull them off the CYO team because then we would be the reason the other boys couldn't play.  And after we asked the town league directors to jump through hoops (ha, hoops) to get our boys on teams, we can't pull them out there either.  So I think we will now have 3 basketball teams between Andrew & Eamon when we could have only had one.  I must have done something to upset the basketball fairies.

6)

Aren't you glad you skipped straight to number 6?  Smart move.  This one's a freebie because 5 was too long and whiny.  Here's an All Saints Day photo from last year:

This year will look very similar because new family member = old costumes.

7)

I can't believe it's Halloweekend already!!  We have a Halloween dance at the kids school tonight with a haunted stage that the 8th graders work so hard on to fundraise money for their big events.  I have no idea what it's going to look like but JP has been gathering sticks to bring in.  Tomorrow night is my family's October birthday party celebration complete with Halloween costumes.  And then Monday is the Halloween parade in a nearby town and trick or treating after. 

Halloween 2015, when I had my stuff together

Then Mom and Dad get to pick out all the best candy for themselves and throw the rest in a huge bowl which becomes family dessert for the month of November :)

Have a spooky fun-filled, raking leaves, meal planning, weekend everybody!

(Don't forget to leave a comment about baby feeding tips to win a $50 gift card!)