Everyday life of a Mom

Life is good

2012-01-10T14:09:00.000-05:00

Hectic but good. We have had 2 pretty great weekends. Weve gotten out at least for a little bit 2 weekends in a row! Thats big for us. This past Saturday we went to a really nice restaurant and I had sushi for the first time. It was good,, different but good. The whole atmosphere of the restaurant was so nice, defiantly not a place I would take my kids due to the prices but just a really nice place to get away for some adult time. Plus it made me feel so sophisticated. lol

Sunday we got a new kitchen table! I love it! It kinda makes the rest of my kitchen look a little crumby though.. But the plan is to paint the walls, get new counter top and replace the floor. I'm so excited for this to happen,, you have no idea! I've wanted to redo the kitchen forever!

Yesterday I started watching a new childcare kid.. He is a 5 month old little guy.. He's super cute! A lot of work though,, its a lot harder to get things accomplished around here but so far its going pretty good.. My husband being on 2nds is home in the mornings and he has been a great help with the baby. He loves him and now says we should have another one! NO thanks I said. I love little ones but they are a lot of work and take a lot of money and I just feel that I'm to a point in my life I don't really want to add to our family. Its hard enough with the 5 of us. Watching this little guy will give me plenty of babytime without having to have our own. :) I hope that doesnt sound to selfish!

There are so many things I am starting to want to accomplish, do and get right now.. I'm trying to figure out how to make it all work. Patience that's what I need to remember. :)

Friday night

2011-12-16T20:00:00.000-05:00

Right now I'm sitting on the couch,, snuggling with Miss Emma, watching Beauty and the Beast for the millionth time. :) Gary is in his room,, Jess is out at a basketball game. Ben's at work,, Friday nights arnt to exciting around here since he's been on 2nd shift. Sometimes it gets me down but I know he doesn't have a choice in the matter of working and this is just the way it is. I'm actually getting quite used to him being gone in the evenings now. It's hard and a lot of days I feel like a single mom but I know I'm not and I'm thankful he has a job. I mentioned to him today about me feeling like I have no friends,, he says he should be all I need. I dont think he gets that sometimes guys just don't get it. Most of the time when I tell him things I worry about he just tells me not to,, its not my life just don't worry about it(his words).. Its not that easy for me. Although there is some truth to what he says, I have a caring heart so naturally I think of others and hurt when others are hurting. I worry about others and I just can't help it. I wish I could shut it off sometimes. Oh well...

on a different note,, I've been making blankets for lots of people. They are the new sew fleece tie blankets and they are so cute and warm! I've made on for each kid,, myself,, I'm making one for my 2 babysitting kids, and making one for a surprise for Bennie! When I was buying the fabric I asked him if he wanted one and he said no,, but every since I've been making them he's been stealing mine(which is giraffe print on one side and hot pink on the other. lol),, plus I guess he's said to Jess that he now wishes he would have had me make him one so I went out and bought him some fabric and made him one.. Its wrapped up under the tree, I hope he likes it.. His is camo,,,he will look much better in that one than my pink one. Hahaha

9 more days til Christmas! I can't wait to see everyones faces when they open there presents!

Where did they all go?

2011-12-15T18:55:00.000-05:00

At what point in life do you give up on a friendship??? I used to have friends,, I used to have people who I could talk to about stuff in my life and they would talk to me about stuff in their lives. Somewhere along the lines those friendships have faded. I honestly dont' get why but whatever,, I know that with kids life gets crazy and we are all busy. What bothers me is just being blatantly ignored,, when I do try to make contact with people most don't even respond. I really think I am a nice person,, easy to talk to,, not quick to judge... I just don't get it! I dont even have a good relationship with my sisters,,,, we love each other and talk when we see each other but they dont confide in me.. They don't come to me for advice about anything in their lives,, and I'm the older sister! It makes me sad because I want a close relationship with them. I just dont get it.

I'm just lonely and sad that I dont have anyone anymore. I have my husband who I cant talk about everything with, and my oldest daughter who I shouldnt' talk about everything with. :( I just don't understand where I went wrong and it bums me out. I know its not normal because I hear about others who have lunch dates, dinner dates,, actually do things with other people. I sound like a big whiny mess but I just had to get this out its driving me crazy!

Anxiously awaiting

2011-12-01T14:49:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd sit down for a quick break and blog. I've been doing a bit of decluttering today. Cleaned off my counter top to make room for my new mixer! It hasn't arrived yet but it is supposed to come today and I'm still hopeful. I think I'll make some blueberry muffins tonight to break it in,, and tomorrow I'm going to try it out for making my pizza dough! Its a little silly how excited I am for it to arrive.
It has been so fun lately having packages delivered to our door....Christmas presents for the kids I've been ordering online. I'm getting very excited about Christmas and seeing there faces light up up with joy while opening their presents. :) I can't wait!
The three little girls here right now are playing nicely,, the only problem is they are dragging things all over the house that I've been cleaning all day.. Emma just walked in here to the living room and said she was going to get married to her daddy. :) So cute!

My new Mixer is on its way!

2011-11-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

I got the email that this is shipping out to me today!!!! Yay! It's a Kitchenaid Pro 600 Mixer! I'm so excited! I've wanted on for about as long as I can remember, but with the cost of them it been out of the question. Well hubs knows how I've wanted one and he told me I could order myself one for Christmas,,, I had declined because of the money but then yesterday found out about a amazing Cyber Monday sale that amazon was having. The normal cost for this bad boy is $499.00. I got it for half that plus a $50.00 mail in rebate! When I saw that I called him in to show him and told me to go ahead and order it! I know it will get good use here in our house and I'm really hoping it will last a long long time! Now I can ask for some of the awesome attachments for my birthday! They have ice cream maker, pasta maker, food grinder,,,all different cool attachments you can get to go with it! I'm just so excited for it to get here and start using it up! Just in time to whip up some goodie treats for Christmas!
Anyone out there reading this have one? Do you love it? What do you use it mostly for?

I'm alive

2011-11-28T20:36:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to say I'm still alive. Pretty much same old same old around here. Can you believe it is less than a month until Christmas?? I've been doing quite a bit of online shopping this year because it seems so hard to get to the stores especially without the kiddos. We've set a spending limit this year and are going to stick to it(we dont have much of a choice this year because the bonus that hubs was supposed to receive before Christmas isnt coming now :( , the kids will still be happy though. It's not about the presents anyways right? We put up our little tree over the weekend. It's cute... nothing fancy and a lot of homemade ornaments on it but thats ok,, it makes it special. I'm going to do my best tomorrow to get on here and tell you about my amazing present for myself that hubs let me order today! Here's a hint...there will probably be a lot of baking going on around here!

Money question and colors

2011-09-27T14:47:00.000-04:00

As if making hubby go to second shift wasn't enough,, his employer has now decided that he will be working12 hour shifts for the next few weeks while another boss is out recovering from a surgery. This means because he is supposed to be there 30 minutes early and stay 30 minutes late, that he will be working from 9:30am-10:30 pm. Lovely. The good thing is he should be getting a few really nice paychecks along with the extra hours. I'm gonna do my best to be smart with the extra cash and either pay off some more bills or build up the savings. That's my dilemma right now,, we don't have much in savings and I'm really not comfortable not having anything to fall back on,,, so do I bank the extra cash now or pay off other things? I know Dave Ramsey would say bank it for the emergency fund first,, what's your all's opinion?

I've been keeping myself busy with housework and kiddos...the story of my life really. LOL I've really been focusing a lot of my attention lately on working with Emma on some learning stuff,,, for the most part she enjoys it but she does get tired of it now and then.... She will tell me " I don't want to learn my colors right now MOM"! :) Of course were working on more than just colors but for some reason she still doesnt have them all down and I really want her to get it.

2nd shift

2011-09-22T13:57:00.000-04:00

ok,, yea so I say I'm gonna start blogging again and then go a week without a update. LOL Sorry. Lots of stuff on my mind, I"m just trying to be mindful of what I put out there, ya know? I think today I'll talk about a new chapter in our lives that will be starting next week.. Its not one I'm excited about. Ben(hubby) is getting put on 2nd shift...for him that will mean he leaves the house around 1-1:30pm and returns around 10:30pm. He's not happy about it at all. Either are me and the kids,, it wouldn't be so bad if they were all young and not in school but Jess and Gary are at school through the day so he's really not gonna get to see them through the week at all. He'll be sleeping when they get up for school and then he'll be gone to work when they get home. Plus he wont be able to go to any after school function, soccer games, he wont be home to eat dinner with us,, to tuck them into bed...the list goes on. I already have my days where I feel like a single mom,,, now I think I'll really feel like that with him gone every evening. OH well,, thats life I guess and we must roll with the punches and try to make the best of it. I know there are people out there right now that would give their right arm to be able to have a job on any shift so I'm trying to think of ourselves as lucky. Listening to this song and watching this video helps me realize that.

So anyways, I've been trying to think of some things to help turn it around into a positive,, here's a couple I've came up with....I think we actually might save some money because I really don't like going out without him so unless its necessary we probably won't be leaving the house in the evenings...staying home equals not spending money. Also I can fix whatever I want for dinner,, I can do more meatless meals, he gets upset if there isn't a meat with dinner so since he wont be here our meals can be simplified a little bit. I've even considered dropping our cable since he wont be here in the evening to watch it,, although the kids arnt to thrilled about that idea so I'm not sure about that one.. Those are the couple of things I've come up with so far. I know I'm gonna really miss him in the evenings though and so are the kids,, Hopefully this will help him spend quality time with them when he can.

Busy days and other thoughts

2011-09-13T14:02:00.000-04:00

Man, how time flies by,,, seriously everyday I think I will have time to sit down and blog for awhile but my days are consumed with cooking, cleaning, childcare...lots of childcare! My work is never done,,and thats ok, it sure can be exhausting sometimes though!

Our weekend went well,, super busy. Saturday morning the kiddos had a dentist appointment... That went well! NO cavities,, although the dentist did say that we really need to get the 2 older kids in to see a orthodontist. I knew this but had been putting it off but now that the dentist has said it I feel like we really need to get started,, I was trying to get a few other things paid off before we have huge ortho bills. Gary has a tooth that should be through but isnt coming through though, and Jess has teeth coming in in crazy places due to lack of space in her mouth. So the time is now I guess.

After the dentist we went straight over to my moms for my step-dad's birthday party. That was fun,, he had sat up a 9 hole golf course in the yard and we all did that,, we also did some jump roping,,, hilarious and fun! Then Sunday the kids and I went with mom and Dave, and Grandma and Grandpa to Stone Trace,, its a historical site and there is lots of booths set up there and very educational...the kids loved it! Here is Jess stirring and making apple butter like they did in the old days.

Emma getting her face painted

We didn't go bowling this weekend but I felt like I needed a pic of Gary in here and apparently he sneaked out of all the photos this weekend. :)

Life is hard but good. I'm so thankful for what we have and have been trying to make the most of it. I remind myself daily to appreciate what we have and try to not want so much more,, we are so blessed for what we do have!
I'm also working hard to not get upset over Ben(hubby's) crazy work hours, and other commitments he has,, not to get upset over his lack of enthusiasm over what we do have and his constant wanting more and more. Leaving it in God's hands to help him realize these things. My constant nagging gets us nowhere but in arguments. I must go on and try and have a cheerful attitude!

I'm back!

2011-09-09T09:22:00.000-04:00

I just couldn't stay away..... Things are on my mind through the day or the kids do cute little things and I dont have anyone to share with besides the great big web!    So I've decided to start blogging again,, also its so neat to look back through my blog and see pic of the kids or what we were doing on cetatin days... Its like my own personal journal,,accept the whole world can read it. LOL

A lot has changed since Ive blogged last,,, one of my childcare kids left me to go off to full day kindergarden! She's the one I've has since she was 13 months old,, and she's 6 now! We miss her and I wonder how she's doing everyday... I also had a new addition to my childcare buissness,,, she is 3 and is fitting right in with the rest of the crew. The neat thing is she shares the same name as me! :)   I am really enjoying the group of kids I have right now. Two 3 year olds and a 2 year old,,,along with the 3rd shift girl that I still have. We are working on our own little "preschool" and trying to learn some new things. It going good and the kids are having fun! I just love watching them play,, they are so adorable and creative. Emma's new thing is singing...she turns everything into a song...I love it!

As the norm around here financial times are tough....I think I've been blogging for around 3 years now and thats been the one constant thing,,,there was a short period of time where we seemed to be doing well but then I had some medical issues and now am having to pay the bills for that and we're very tight again.    When things were going good instead of indulging ourselves and getting some things that we had been wanting for awhile I guess we should have just banked that money.   Lesson learned! Now I'm trying to get us back on track again.

I'm glad to be back,,,just wondering if I have lost all my readers,,, if you do see this give me a shout out so I know who I'm talking to. :)

Done for now

2011-07-12T10:35:00.000-04:00

I've decided I'm done blogging for now. I'm just not into it anymore. I am going to leave my blog up for now, just in case I ever change my mind. For all those that have continued to read thank you.....

Signing off...........

Weekned and our menu for the week

2011-07-11T09:57:00.000-04:00

We had a pretty good weekend. It went by way to fast.
Friday night Ben worked, so he slept Saturday for a while,
while he was sleeping I was cleaning. Then Saturday
evening my sister and her husband came over for dinner and to hang out for awhile. It was fun. Emma just

loves her Aunt Dawn and Uncle Johnathan. I made taco salad and tacos for dinner. Then we just hung out, sang karaoke and had a camp fire. We were up late so Sunday was a lazy day. We slept in and layed around for most of the day. I did manage to get out and get some groceries for the week.

On Sunday our cable box stopped working completely. :(   So until we can get someone to come out and fix it its just netflix in the living room for us. Its not to big of deal for me. I've been hinting around to Ben that we have been having so much trouble with our cable company we should just cancel it completely. He doesnt agree though. LOL.   This week is our towns fair. I think were going out to it on Tuesday night,, thats kiddie day so all rides are just a dollar. Besides that I dont think we have any plans. I really need to start limiting our trips into town so we can save our cash. I need to fully focus really hard on building our savings and paying off debt. I've not been doing so well with that lately so I'm gonna be going gung ho!!
Here's my menu for the week:
Monday-B-zucchini muffins, sausage pattys
              L-hot dogs, mac n cheese, frozen fruit
              D-BBQ ribs, baked potatoes baked zucchini sticks, peas
Tuesday-B-cereal
              L-make your own pizzas
              D-? not sure if we will eat at the fair or not
WednesdayB-waffles
                  L-noodles
                  D-sausage lentil soup
Thursday B-cereal
               L- tater tot casserole
               D-BBQ chicken, pasta salad, green beans
Friday-B-pancakes
            L-homemade version of hamburger helper
            D- hamburgers

What I want to be

2011-07-07T13:44:00.000-04:00

What I want to be....

-A patient, kind, loving mother, even in times of stress and chaos.

-A loving wife that's never to tired to pack his lunch, and all those other wifely duties.

-happy and cheerful, full of energy

-a great cook that can whip up something out of nothing

-an amazing homemaker that has a clean tidy organized home and doesn't get upset or angry when others are constantly making messes

These are just a few things about myself that are bugging me as of lately, I know I'm not a bad mom or a bad wife,,, but it would be so nice if I could be all of these things all of the time. I feel like there is not enough of me to go around. I can concentrate really hard on one or two of these things but when I do that then I seem to fall short on some others. Why is it so hard for me?

I really need to get out of this funk I'm in. Things just keep happening making it hard to see the bright side.

The blues

2011-06-26T22:06:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling so down lately. I feel like things are spinning out of control. Nothing major huge has happened its just little things that seem to be piling up and bringing me down. Issues with money,, its getting very tight, doctor bills are coming in from when I had to have a CT scan a couple months back, bank accounts are lower than they have been in a long long time. I'm now not able to be so picky about the food I am purchasing due to the fact that I just can not afford to buy what I have been right now. That makes me feel bad,, it ws easier before when I didnt know all the things that I do now. Our days are pretty crazy now that its summer and all the kids are home from school,, it can get pretty loud and sometimes I feel like I'm leading a three ring circus most days. LOL,, I love em all though. I also have been feeling like one of my kids is trying to grow up way to fast,, I decided that I have to lay the law down now and had a discussion with her tonight,, now I'm sure she hates me. I sometimes wish phones and computers were never invented,, life as far as kids go would be so much easier I think.. We didnt have problems until the cell phone was bought for her and facebook came into play. She doesnt understand why I don't want her to do certain things, she thinks its just me being mean. I dont' want her to fall down the wrong path, and I'm the one that is supposed to help show her the right way right? I'm scared if I sit back and dont do anything now what will become later of things. Being a parent is so hard., I thought it was supposed to get eaiser as they got older. :(
I'm just so sad,, this all probally sounds like a jumbled mess but I had to just get it out there.

I'm really hoping for a good week, and hoping that everything works out and that my kids dont hate me for trying to be a good parent. ugh...

Bathroom pics

2011-06-05T21:42:00.000-04:00

So after much hard work we're finally finished in the bathroom. I'm very happy with the results, the only thing that bothers me about it is even though Ben patched the old holes we apparently needed to work at it a little harder because after painting you can still see ever spot,and every time I look at it it bugs me,, but not enough to start over now so that is how it will be until we repaint again which hopefully wont be until were ready to move out. :) Here you can see the sink with the updated faucet. I picked out the dark brass,, It looks a lot fancier than the standered silver hot cold one that was on before. I love it.
We also replaced all the towel holders, toilet paper holders and shower curtain rod with matching brass and theres a new curtain and some matching towels. :)

Ben replaced the worn out floor for me. I'm really happy with it

There are a few spots on the floor that look dirty,,but its not, thats how its supposed to look.LOL guess thats a good thing, it will help hide any actual dirt spots that might show up. :)

Actually I doubt there will be any dirty spots, I'm so happy with it it gives me a lot of incentive to keep it nice and shiny! Now I'm so excited to redo the kitchen but that will have to wait a little while so we can save up some more cash. After we finally got done I decided to make the hubby happy and we went to the lake to fish for a little bit. It was really fun,, we didn't catch much but it was nice to sit and relax. Then we came home and bbq'ed and ate outside. Emma loves to be outside. AS soon as she wakes up she wants to go outside and play,, she doesn't understand that mommy has inside work to do to. Poor thing,,, now that the big kids are out of school though they can help watch her out there in the fenced in yard when I cant be out there. I love summer and all that comes with it!

Tennesse trip

2011-06-01T10:56:00.000-04:00

Well were back from Tennessee. We had a amazing time there! It truly is beautiful, the mountains, the rolling hills, very peaceful too. Our cabin we rented was great! Plenty of room for us,, it had 3 bathrooms, 2 king sized beds, a jacuzzi tub, a hot tub, 4 decks outside!
We kept pretty busy while we were there, here we are at the welcome center in the smokey mountains.

Then we went to hike up the hill to Laural Falls,,, on the way up we saw a bear!!! It was so cool, it was hard to get a good picture of it but here you can see it walking away from us(much better than too us I think, LOL).

And here is the beautiful waterfall.

We let the kids take there shoes off and wade in it a little bit.

Then we went to Ripley's Believe it or not Museum,, here is me and the kids in a really big chair. They had some really weird things there and Emma was a little scared a few times but overall I think everyone enjoyed it.

Then back to our cabin,, we turned the heat down a little and let Emma "swim" in the hot tub,, she loved it.

Jess and I. :)

The game room was really cool there,, everyone enjoyed it. Gary asked to go in there first every time we got back to the cabin.

Sunday we made the steep hike up to Clingmans dome,, it is over 6500 feet tall, the highest mountain in the Smokies. We drove most of the way up then its a three quarter mile hike up to the top dome,,,let me tell you what,,,,I am outta shape! It was tough and I was huffing and puffing the whole way because it is so steep. It was well worth it though,, when your at the top you can see either 3 or 4 different states,, your also higher than some of the clouds,, it was really cool!

This was at Ripley's aquarium,, that was really fun for the kids.

It was such a great trip, and none of us were ready to go home! It's so nice to get out and away from normal everyday life. I am so thankful that we are able to do things like this! If you want it bad enough I believe you can make it happen. We defiantly don't have a lot of money but we made it work for us. We have another thing to look forward to now,,, in a week and a half Bennies mom will be coming out to spend the week with us from California!! Its been a year since we've seen her and we cant wait!!

Crazy busy day

2011-05-26T15:51:00.000-04:00

Oh what a day,,, and its not over yet. :) This morning I got up as usual knowing I had lots of work to do....you see,,, I'm a bit of a procrastinator and still hadn't packed for our trip that were leaving for tomorrow morning. Sometimes I think I work better under pressure, plus I knew that its really not that big of a deal to pack,, especially since this vacation is only gonna be for 4 days and our last one was for 14,,,easy peasy. Anyhow,,, got up, made the coffee, let babysitting kids come in, took a shower, woke up my kids,, all the normal stuff. When I woke up Gary(the 10 yr old) he got dressed then came out and said he had a rash,,, he lifted his shirt and from his neck to his waist line was covered in a rash,,,so much that his sides were completely red and covered in the bumps and hes chest and back were all dotted up.... OK I said to myself,, my kids seem to get rashes all the time, no biggy,,,but this one did seem pretty bad. I called my mom at work to see what she thought and to see if she thought I should send him to school, (yes even though I'm 30 years old and have been a mother for 12 years I still call my mommy and ask for advice quiet often,,,usually she's right on, she works in a hospital and had 3 kids of her own). Anyways I told her he had a rash and what it looked like and she started freaking out,, said do not take him to school and get him to the doc right away! I guess measles have been going around and what I described to her sounded a lot like those same symptoms. He's been vaccinated for all that stuff but she said to take him in anyways.... that was the point I started getting really worried. Our trip we are supposed to go on is non refundable and already paid for and we can not be taking a kid with the measles through 3 states!!! Luckily Bennie had decided to stay up and not sleep today so he would be able to sleep tonight and drive tomorrow so he took him in to the doc for me. My stomach was in knots awaiting the phone call,,,,,,,, finally he called and said it was not measles and was probably just a allergic reaction to something. Whew!!!! They put him on prednizone and told us to give him Zerteck until the rash goes away and he was fine to go back to school and to Tennessee!!! Boy was that good news.
So the rest of the day I've been packing and cleaning and getting all our readies together. Going pretty smooth so far. WE have a soccer game tonight then when we get home will load up the car and we'll be taking off bright and early in the morning. So I'll be back on Tuesday hopefully with lots of fun pictures. Have a great Memorial Day weekend.

Backyard fun

2011-05-24T11:44:00.000-04:00

It's a beautiful day outside today, the sun is shining, its 72 degrees outside right now. We had to get outside. Here is a pciture of my lovely new fence and garden.

I can not wait to see what comes of it this year. I have high hopes,, we have over 20 pepper plants, 4 cabbage, 4 broccoli, cucumbers and green beans to grow up the fence you see in the middle there. Also green onions, kohlrabi, radishes, carrots, lettuce, garlic, tomatoes, basil, cilantro, and chives! I'm hoping we get a good harvest!

The girls have been having a fun time this morning. They found a toad! They've been playing with it and making a temporary home for it,, here you see them all huddled around the bucket with the toad in it.

I found another use for our gazebo we put up,,, it makes a lovely clothesline. LOL

and here is my real clothes line.

I just love sitting in my backyard! It can feel so peaceful,,(as long as the neighbors poodles arnt out barking at us and driving me crazy!)

Karaoke and cookout

2011-05-23T14:25:00.001-04:00

Another fabulous weekend under our belts! Saturday morning the kids had a soccer game and both did awesome! Then later in the day we all went to my youngest sister's house and had a cookout! Her husband made some yummy rotisserie chicken on the grill and we had mashed potatoes and green beans! They're neighbor has a basket ball court in their backyard and the kids got to play on that which they really enjoyed. Then we sang karaoke and had a little campfire,,the kids wanted smores but they're was no graham crackers so they had chocolate marshmallow and chocolate. LOL a sugary dream. :) It was really fun to just hang out and visit with them. We came home with lots of mosquito bites though,,Emma looks like she took a bath in them, her poor little face is covered in bites.
Sunday we were pretty tired so we just hung out at the house. I ran to my moms real fast to pick up a couple of suitcases since we will be leaving on Friday for Tennessee!!! I'm so excited to hang out at the cabin and relax. Gary is really hoping to see a bear since we'll be up in the mountains. I've got lots to do this week to get ready. Still need to get that camera card,, I really want to post some pics of my garden.

Make sure you check out the poll on my sidebar and give your opinion..

Procrastinating

2011-05-19T10:17:00.000-04:00

Do you ever feel like you are being torn in a million different directions? I've been feeling like that lately. There is so much I need to be doing right now,,, but here I sit blogging. LOL   I think sometimes people thing that when you don't work outside the home life is so much easier.... It's not! Especially when you run a business in your home,, and double when that business involves little kids that love to run around and make messes. :)   I love my job and I love the kids that are here, I wouldn't trade it for anything but it comes with lots of work and cleaning because I believe in letting the kids play and not constantly nagging them about not making messes. What we need to work on is teaching them how to clean up their messes. :)
I've said before that laundry is my favorite household chore......well its not anymore. Even though Im constantly doing it it never seems to get done! Especially when I have a little girl that seems to have accidents every single day during nap time and kids that change their clothes 50 times a day. OH and the latest thing around here is the little girls have been playing "Florida resort". Over Christmas break we went to Florida, Emma has not forgotten about it and now every single day she plays Florida and finds a bag and "packs", Packing includes taking all the clothes out of her drawer and shoving them in the bag then toting it around the house getting in the pretend car and driving to Florida. It is actually very cute and I love seeing them use their imaginations but the dragging the clothes out every single day is getting quite old. When I try to put the clothes away she screams and tells me thats her Florida clothes.
We are actually leaving for Tennessee next Friday for a little vacation so I have a feeling Florida resort will turn into Tennessee cabin after we get back. :) I've got lots of work to do before we leave for TN,, I haven't even started thinking about packing yet and then theres getting the house all sparkly before we leave,, I like to come back to a clean house after time away. When we get back the kids will only have one week of school left then they will be on summer break! Yay for them!   Let the craziness begin. :)
The other thing I've been struggling with is this food journey I'm on. I've mentioned before that we are trying to eat healthier and real foods,, not the processed stuff. We still had some snacky type stuff and the kids have been eating that but now we are pretty much out of it all. So its up to me to make everything homemade. That takes a lot more work,, I feel like I spend so much more time now in the kitchen cooking and then cleaning up. But I guess its worth it for our health.

Whew,,,, I hope you all don't think this was a big whiny complaining post.   I can honestly say I've been so happy with my life lately. I feel so blessed with my kids and husband. He and I have been getting along beautifully lately! I just feel like there are not enough hours in the day. :) Now its off to work.

quick post

2011-05-16T15:25:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to say life is good! We had another good weekend. Friday night we had my daughters and sisters b-day parties. Saturday was soccer then Bennie helped put up a fence at moms house and we hung out over there. Sunday it rained but my husband still went out and put up our new fence around the garden to keep the critters out. I'm really happy with the way it looks! It makes me smile and I cant wait to get the rest of it planted! I'm hoping to get a new camera card soon so I can post some more pics on here!

Getting outside,,,finally!

2011-05-11T11:41:00.000-04:00

I can not say enough how much I LOVE that we have been able to get outside every morning and afternoon this week! Its been beautiful outside. It makes the day seem to go by so much faster, when we get out in the morning the kids seem to go down for nap soooo much easier, and its just plain nice to get the fresh air!

We went out this morning and I worked some in my side flower bed. It still needs more work but the 5 year old day care kid kept complaining about being hot! Hopefully I can get back out there later and finish the job.... I've got a few thing planted in the garden and today I noticed radishes coming up and a couple of green onions popping through! Sooo exciting for me! We need to get some dirt so I can plant the new addition to the garden we have added this year so I can get some more things planted. I love the thought of growing our own food. Its so much fun and I know exactly where its coming from.

Yesterday was my oldest birthday. She turned 12! We took her out to Pizza Hut for dinner(her request) and I mentioned to the waitress that it was her birthday. Well as we were finishing up our meal the whole pizza hut crew came over and sang to her and brang her a little cake.. She was so embarrassed, it was funny. And super nice I thought cause we didnt ask them to sing and they didnt charge us for the cake. I think she had a good birthday. She set up her own facebook account, which she has been waiting for 2 years for. LOL,,, of course I have her password and we are friends on there so I can monitor what she is doing.. You just can't be to careful now a days. I need to go make lunch for the hungry kiddos now, have a great day everyone.

A great mother's day

2011-05-09T14:21:00.000-04:00

Another lovely weekend was had here! Saturday morning the 2 oldest kids had soccer games. They both did amazing. I'm really proud of of those 2. They have both improved so much over the years and they both enjoy playing soccer a lot! I also went to the farmers market Saturday morning and got some fresh eggs, meat, jalapeno mustard(which is very yummy!), some more rhubarb, and a dish scrubby thing. :) After the soccer games we picked up Jessie's friend so she could have her birthday sleepover. She will be 12 tomorrow! I can not believe I will be the mother of a 12 year old that is going into the 7th grade next year! It's so hard for me to wrap my head around. I still feel pretty young at heart and to think that I've been a mom for 12 years is crazy~ The girls had fun,, they made and decorated some cupcakes all by themselves

Arn't they cute! Then after that we took them bowling which was pretty fun. Jess is a pretty good bowler, she beat me the first game! She must take off after her daddy.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Hubby had asked me what I wanted to do on mothers day and I said I didnt want to cook or clean. Well for the first time in 12 years he really tried hard to make it a good mother's day for me! He let me sleep in! And when I woke up he had cleaned the kitchen and living room and was in the process of cleaning the bathroom!!!!!!! Then he made us all omelets. We went to a local lake/park and met up with my mom, grandparents, and sisters and we hung out and let the kids play and got pizza and had a picnic. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day outside. I was happy that hubby was able to fish while we were there because he had worked so hard here at home, he deserved to get to do something he likes to do to. We came home and he then cleaned the bedroom!!!! I can not explain how wonderful this all was for me and how amazed I am that he did all this. .Anyone that really knows my husband knows that this is very not normal! I am so proud of him and love him soooo much! The kids had made a few things at school for me and gotten me a few seed packets of flowers. So I planed them in a few pots out in the front yard. We also got some seeds planted out in the garden. I can't wait til they start popping up and we can have fresh veggies we grew ouselves!

So I can defiantly say this was my best mother's day ever! It's so nice to feel appreciated every once in a while and he said that thats why he did it, so I know that even though he doesnt show it he really does love and appreciate everything that I do!!

HOMEMADE TORTILLAS

2011-05-06T12:05:00.000-04:00

Have you ever looked at the list of ingredients on a package of tortillas in the store? Its a long list of words I can't pronounce. I decided very spur of the moment yesterday try out making some on my own. After a bit of research I found one I liked that used only 4 ingredients(and I could pronounce all of them).

white whole wheat flour
salt
butter
water

Can't get much simpler than that! Here's what I did:

1. Mix together 2 cups flour and 1t.salt

2.Cut in 1/4 cup of slightly softened butter (you do not need a fancy pastry cutter for this. I took 2 butter knifes and held them together and cut the butter in) til it starts to look crumbly

3.Then add you add 1/2 cup water. Mix and toss with a fork, then kneed for a couple of minutes. Then u take it and put it in the fridge for at least 4 hrs.

4. Take dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Make around 8-10 balls depending on how big you want them. Flour a surface and roll the balls out until they are as flat as you can get them. I rolled out then flipped over and rolled some more. Heat a ungreased griddle to 400degrees and place tortillas on it for about 20 seconds until they start to brown and bubble on that side then flip them over until the other side it browned.

It's that easy! Eat right away or store in fridge or freezer! I only made this one batch yesterday, but next time I think I'll double or triple the batch. My family LOVED them. I also figure them to be a lot cheaper than the good whole wheat ones you would buy in the store.

Here is the stack I made,, mine were not perfectly round,, but really,, who cares?

And here's one with some goodies in it.

My three year old helped me roll out the little balls and had a great time. She said it was like playing with play dough. I made these with the intention of making enchiladas but Emma and I just had to taste one before we rolled them all up and covered them with sauce. Yummy!

Rhubarb Crisp

2011-05-05T08:32:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I made my first trip to the farmers market! There wasn't a whole lot of booths due to it being a weekday but they said Saturday morning there will be lots more. I bought some fresh rhubarb and came home and made rhubarb crisp for the first time. It was very yummy and my family gobbled up every last bite! Here is the recipe that I got it from, I used the second one down called Crumbly Topped Rhubarb and I made just a few substitutions.

Ingredients:

3 c Young Rhubarb; Unpeeled And Diced

1 T Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 c Organic Sugar

1 t Cinnamon

1/8 t Sea Salt

1 T ;Water

6 T Butter
6 T Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 c Organic Brown Sugar; Firmly Packed

1/2 c Rolled Oats;
Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees F. In a 9x13 baking dish, combine the first 6 ingredients (this made a very thin desert, next time I might try a 9x9 pan). Cream the butter with the flour and brown sugar, then stir in the oats. Sprinkle over the rhubarb. Bake in oven, 350 Degrees F., for 40 minutes or until the rhubarb is tender and the top is brown.

Like I said, it was great! I might play around with it next time and try and replace the sugar with honey or maple syrup for a more natural sweetener.

I'm going back Saturday and hoping to buy some free range farm fresh eggs and some local meat. The people that were there last night were quite expensive and I know of another lady that is supposed to have her meat a little cheaper. I'm hoping she will be there Saturday. I also bought a bar of homemade natural soap which is delightful!

Weekend recap and more

2011-05-03T14:36:00.000-04:00

I had the most amazing weekend! Last Wednesday at about 9pm my husband called me and said he was asked to bowl a state tournament in Richmond (which is about 3 hrs away). The guy that was supposed to bowl ended up getting sick and hospitalized so he needed a replacement. It was already paid for so he would just have to pay for a hotel room cause he would need to bowl Saturday morning at 10 and Sunday morning at 8:30am. He said he really wanted to go and he wanted me to go with him. At first I was very hesitant because I only had 2 days to find a babysitter for all 3 kids, plus the two older would have a soccer game Sat. morning,, and little Emma has only stayed away over night about 3 times total in her whole 3 in a half years. He told me not to worry about it and just call my mom cause he really wanted me to go with him. So the next morning I gave her a call and she said yes! I booked us a room and told the kids(who were actually very excited).
We left super early Saturday morning so we could drop the kids off and be there by 9am for check in to the bowling tournament. The tournament went well and after that we couldnt check in to our hotel til 3 so we found a mall and walked around there for a little while. Then we checked into our hotel and relaxed for a little while. There was a Red Lobster right across the street so we ate there for dinner then went back to the hotel and just hung out, enjoyed a few drinks, and had a blast just being with each other alone without the kiddos. It makes me so happy that after 13 years we can still have so much fun together. When we are home we do tend to argue more than necessary. I think its just the pressure of life, kids, work and all that other stuff cause when you get us away and alone we are like 2 kids just having fun. The next morning we were up bright and early to be there by 8 and he bowled some more. It totally reminded me of the first few years of our relationship when I used to go and watch him bowl. It was just plain FUN! After that ended it was time to head home and pick up the kiddos. They had a great time at nana's house. They made their own kites~ Then we had to go to Hacienda at 5:30 for my mom's birthday dinner. That was a good time too.

All that eating out did me in though cause somehow over the weekend I managed to gain 7 pounds!! Makes me so mad, but it also goes to prove eating healthy and at home and not all that over processed junk is the right thing to do! Hopefully most of the weight is from all the sodium cause I dont think I really gained that much...hope not anyways. One thing about not eating so much processed stuff is it leaves little room for snacks. So I'm on a quest to make my own. Over the next week I have plans to make a homemade goldfish type cracker, granola bars, and mini chocolate chip muffins made from whole wheat flour. I'm having issues finding a store bought bread that we actually like to, so right now I've got some dough working for me in the bread maker and am hoping this turns out to be a recipe we enjoy and that it can replace our store bought bread. I'll keep you all informed on how these new recipes turn out!

Emma's checkup and our weekend

2011-04-27T20:10:00.001-04:00

Today was Emmas 3 yr old check up. My "little" girl weighs 42 pounds and is 42 inches tall. A pound for every inch. LOL. She is such a big girl now! She really doesnt look chubby anymore though because she is so tall. Shes beautiful and I love her! We do have some worries about her still not recognizing her colors. The doctor gave her a eye exam and she didnt do to well. He told me to continue working with her and call back in 6 months and if she hasnt improved any he will refer her to a pediatric optomologist. Hopefully it is just her being stubborn and there isnt actually anything wrong with her.

We had a good Easter weekend. We went to my sisters Saturday afternoon to celebrate the occasion

Heres all the troops heading out for the egg hunt

Do you see the egg? She doesn't. :)

And here's Emma checking out all her goodies that were inside her eggs.

We had a nice time. Then Sunday morning we just stayed home and I made a nice big turkey dinner. It was yummy. I've been doing lots of going through things and organizing still. I'm getting quite the collection for a garage sale this summer!

Weekly weigh in and my new way of thinking

2011-04-22T10:14:00.000-04:00

I'm very excited this morning! I don't know if anyone has been paying attention but every Friday I've been updating my weight losses on the side bar. I've been lucky enough to loose at least a little every week. So far my total loss is 13.4 pounds, I lost 3.4 just this week. And guess what?? I didn't count my points for weight watchers. gasp..... I actually haven't counted any points for about a week and a half. I wanted to see what would happen. So what did I do to lose you ask. Well I ate healthy, whole foods. After lots of research, reading and watching a few documentaries, I have decided this is the way to go. Our bodies want natural foods, not the processed junk that I've been feeding my family for,,,well pretty much thier whole lives. I have not given up all processed foods but I'm trying my hardest to really lessen the amount that we eat. I've also learned that all the fat free/low fat stuff really is not that good for us. yeah they remove the fat but then they usually add all artificial sweeteners and other junk that isnt really all that good for us. Fat is not the enemy and our body needs some healthy fat in our foods. When we eat regular food our body feels fuller so we can eat less and feel satisfied. I lot of my own personal issue has been learning when my body is satisfied and to not over stuff myself. A lot of my issue has been the cost of things, organic mainly. But after all the research I've done I've decided that we are worth the little extra cost, and honestly if we cut out buying all the extra junk then the whole thing will problay balance itself out in the grocery department.
The biggest change for me I think is in the meat department. I WILL NOT be buying just any type of meat or eggs from the grocery any more. There is a family farm that I guess is not to far from me and I am going to hopefully start buying from there. It is horrible and sicking what goes on in our mass food production in this country and after watching horrible videos I can not participate in the cruelty ever again. The last one I watched was around 13 minutes long and I could only watch about 4 before I had to shut it off. I will never be a vegetarian but I will not give my money to those people anymore. I am not trying to change anyone elses views. People have the knowledge and resources to see and judge on their own. I can't control what we eat when we are not home and I will still eat whatever food I am served at others homes, I am not purchasing that stuff so in my mind that makes it a little better. I'm having a hard time getting my husband on board with the whole thing but I Think he understands now that my mind is made up and there is not a whole lot he can do about it. He still loves me so its all good. He just says he doesnt want to hear about it.

Like I said I am not trying to sway anyones views, but I will post a couple of links just in case you are interested:

the movie Food Inc is a great one,,, its streaming on netflix for those that have that
another good one is King Corn
another is Food Matters,,I think all of these movies are on Netflix.
A good blog is 100 days of real food

I'm not even gonna link to the horrible video that changed my life forever as far as meat is concerned....if you really wanna watch it though let me know and I'll tell ya where to find it.

Have a great Easter weekend everyone.

I'm still alive

2011-04-21T13:27:00.000-04:00

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. Although there was a point over the past week that I was wishing I had. I had mentioned in my last post the by back was bothering me, well it got extremely bad. So bad that I went to a urgent care facility and they sent me over to the hospital to have a Cat Scan done on my lower abdomen. We were all thinking that I had a cyst on my ovary or something was going wrong in that department due to it happening every month but this time was like no other. I could barely move. The scan ended up showing no abnormalities so the doc said it must just be a issue with my back. For over a week I was in extreme pain, worse than anything I had felt before, finally now its slowly starting to get back to normal. The pain is still there a little but its much better today. Thats why I wasnt posting, I couldnt hardly sit up long enough to type out a post. It all still leaves me wondering though if it isnt something more than just a back issue, especially since it happens monthly. I am just praying that it doesnt happen like this again next month. I have a appt at the gyno next Tuesday morning so we will see what they say.

Anyways things have been kinda rough here, mainly due to that. My husband has a weird reaction to when people get sick or are in pain. He has no sympathy and almost gets mad. He barely talked to me over the last week. Its been hard, but hopefully things will start improving now that I'm on the mend. My oldest, Jess, was a big help but besides that I was pretty much on my own around here.

I've had a lot more on my mind but I think thats all for today. I mainly just wanted to let everyone know what was going on......soccer season has begun for the kiddos. Lifes gonna be getting busy!

Quick thoughts

2011-04-11T21:46:00.000-04:00

It's getting late and I'm tired. I'm sitting here waiting for my 3rd shift child care kid to come so I can head to bed. I'm feeling very grumpy tonight,, I dont like feeling this way. My lower back is KILLING me. This has been happening to me every month. The pain is darn near unbearable. I'm thinking it has something to do with my monthly cycle because it happens every single month. It's not cramps, its all in my back but it seems to happen a week or two before my period starts. Not sure why. It makes doing almost everything painful and hard.   My laundry is piling up something fierce,, I've been doing some just havent taken the time to fold or put away. I have to get on top of that tomorrow.

Another reason I'm so aggravated is the last 3 weeks my grocery bill has been outrageous! Since I started weight watchers I've been buying different kinds of foods. My bill has been crazy. I've been thinking a lot and I dont wanna buy fat free everything,,, I wanna still be able to make food from scratch, and eat whole healthy natural food. Not buy processed stuff because its easier to count the points that way.   Ugh,,,, It is working, but I think I could still continue to loose weight buy watching my portions and eating healthy. I'm paid up for 3 months before I have to renew my subscription again. I might not do it.

We have been very loose lately with our spending also. We have made a lot of big purchased over the past few months..And while we did pay cash and didnt use credit to buy any of it I think its time to buckle down again and really watch where our money is going. We have a fun thing planned for Memorial Day weekend and I wanna make sure we have plenty of cash for that and yet still have money in the bank when we come home.

Well she's here now, so I"m off to brush my teeth, let the doggie out and head to my awesome bed... Some days I really wish I could just stay in there all day and sleep the day away...haha.

Me

2011-04-04T15:09:00.000-04:00

Ok,, just cause mom to 9 called me a meanie(LOL) here's a picture of my hair. It's not super diffrent, just got a lot more layers. So I'm thinking of going with blonde hightlights all around my face. How do you all think that would look?

Monday

2011-04-04T14:44:00.000-04:00

It's Monday-----need I say more? haha

Our weekend was ok. The birthday party Friday night was super fun. Then we came home and did Karaoke, put the kids to bed, and ended up staying up way to late., again! It wasnt nearly as fun as normal due to me and hubby getting into a pretty heated argument. I just wanted to go to bed but that didnt happen,, he doesnt get that he may be used to staying up all night for work, but I'm not. It was 4:30 before I finally got to sleep and I had to be up by 7:30 to get ready and go to that 31 party with my mom. Needless to say I was dragging all day Saturday. The 31 party was fun though. I ordered myself a cute little apron. I've always wanted a cute apron to wear around while I'm cooking and cleaning. The lady that was hosting the party had the one I ordered on and she looked super cute. She was a lot smaller than me though so I hope it looks as cute on me as it did her. I also ordered a thermal picnic bag type thing so when we go to the lakes and on outings this summer we can keep our cold stuff cold. I spent more than I was planning on but oh well, we've all gotta treat ourselves every once in a while right?
Then on Saturday afternoon we ended up going to Manards and getting something we have wanted to have forever. Its kinda like a portable screened in gazebo. Its got a roof and screens all the way around it that you can zip closed. We are gonna connect it to our back porch so we can be out there even if its sprinkling rain and stuff , plus it will give us some extra shade in the summer time. I'm super excited about it.
We were in bed by ten Saturday night and I ended up sleeping in til 11 on Sunday morning, thanks to hubby. I really needed that! Then I took the big kids to see the new Diary of a Wimpy kid movie, I had promised them I'd take them to see it while they were on Spring Break, they both had gift cards to the movies. So we got that outta the way so I didnt have to hear them asking when we were gonna go all week. It was a cute funny movie.
So that brings us to today,, I've been catching up on laundry and all that other fun stuff that comes with this day of the week. Its raining outside. :( All the kids are being rather lazy today,, I actually just got Emma dressed and its almost 3pm. LOL I need to go clean up her room as they trashed it this morning. OH the joys.

Random thoughts

2011-04-01T14:21:00.001-04:00

-Im so glad its Friday, normally Im full of energy on Fridays but today I'm dragging and have a massive headache.

-Tonight were going to my sisters 26th b-day party at my mom's house and tomorrow morning I'm going to a 31 party with my mom. (never been to one and not quite sure what to expect).

-This morning I watched my neighbors kids for a few hours. It was fun but I was reminded that having a 1 yr old, 2 yr old, two 3 yr olds, and a 5 yr old is a LOT of work. There wasnt much sitting down for me here this morning.

-Next week is spring break for the kiddos which means it will be full and crazy around here....really hoping for some nice weather!

-I think I hear Emma messing around in her bedroom right now, this will be the 3rd day in a row that she has not went to sleep during nap time.

-Today's April Fools day, Ben texted me this morning and told me he had to work tonight( this was supposed to be his first Friday night off in a month),,,,I was to smart for that though and told him I knew it was April fools!

-I got my hair cut last night, No I dont look like Kesha but I am seriously thinking of going in Sunday and getting something the lady said was called focused foil highlights so the top of my hair will be blonde. Then I can be the rock star mom that Jess wants me to be. :)

-Jess fully admits to me that all her friends and she thinks I'm totally awesome! I love that! But as she is getting older I know there will be a fine line that cant be crossed when it comes to being a friend/mom to her. I still want to be able to talk openly with her about things but hope she will react well when she tells me something that I dont agree with and I have to tell her no or something to that extent.

-I'm hoping for another fun filled weekend with the family! I've also been thinking its about time me and hubby had a night out soon.

Have a great weekend all!

Hairstyle rambles

2011-03-31T13:27:00.001-04:00

The sun is shining outside! Its only 44 degrees but it look beautiful out there! The brightness always puts me in a better mood. Jess has been begging me to take her and get her hair cut and I need one too so I think maybe tonight well head out and get it done. I'm thinking for me I'm gonna try and get a style like the one in the Ke$ha tick tock video. I know, I know, I'm not a young and crazy pop star,,and look nothing like her, but I think I've got the naturally wavy hair to pull it off. I need something that's gonna be easy and I will like cause I put my hair in a messy pony tail like every single day! I dont wanna do that,, this style looks naturally messy so maybe I could pull it off. :) Now,, maybe I'll go blonde too. hahaha.... I used to be a blonde,, naturally. Something happened as I got older and it seems to darken every single day! I hate it....I guess I should be grateful that at least there isnt any grey yet!

Tomorrow is weigh in day! I'm doing fairly well here lately so I think it should be a loss. I'm so ready for it to get warm so I can get out for walks around the neighborhood. Well thats it for today. Tomorrows Friday! Woo HOO

Sleepy Monday

2011-03-28T11:31:00.001-04:00

I am so tired today. My eyelids are heavy and my body feels like a rock. We stayed up late Saturday night so I only got about 6 hrs sleep, I was tired yesterday but didn't think I'd still be paying for it today :( Is that a sign of me getting older? We sure did have fun Saturday night though, We've been doing karaoke night every Saturday,, we just chill, sing, dance and have a blast. The kids love it,,,well its not Gary's favorite thing but he tolerates it. Emma and Jess LOVE it though!

I've got a house full today here. They are loud and full of energy,, ornery too! I'm really wishing it would warm back up again so we can go outside and run around to play. My grandma that goes to Florida every winter should be arriving home today! Were so excited. I'm a little bummed cause I probably wont be able to get out to see her until Wednesday night though. The 3rd shift girl I watch is coming early the next two days so by the time my last kid leaves and we got over to granny's house it would be about time to turn around and come back home :( That's one of the downsides to practically babysitting around the clock.

So anyways, today I'm trying to catch up on laundry and figure out a menu plan for the week cause I need go go grocery shopping. Really hoping I get some energy soon!

Weight watchers

2011-03-25T08:43:00.000-04:00

I almost didn't post this because I know of at least one reader here who does not like "diets". But I just thought I'd let you all know once and then I won't be discussing it much anymore. Last Friday I joined weight watchers online. I was getting tired of being tired all the time and feeling like a big icky blob. My body was starting to hurt more often and I just felt like my overall health was off. I want to be a healthy mom, I want to be around a long time for my kids and have energy to play with them. I did weight watchers once before before I had Emma and it worked wonders for me. I lost 118 pounds! While my number is still no where close to where it was before I was feeling like it was creeping back up. I bought a scale and was disappointed by the number standing before me,,,, I was right, I had gained some more back, plus I never really lost the weight I had gained 3 years ago when I got preggo with Emma.

While its not about the number on the scale, I want to feel good about myself again. I know mentally what to do but obviously just wasn't doing it so my hope is that rejoining the program will give me the motivation that I was lacking. The program has changed a lot since the last time I did it. All the points values on foods are higher, but I also get more daily points. The other thing I want to do different this time is exercise. I didnt do much of that last time and I know how important exercising and moving is. I haven't started yet but hopefully within the next couple weeks I'll set up a plan for myself.

So there you have it, I won't bore you with the info anymore. If you want to check-in on my progress though you can check the sidebar and every Friday I will update my losses.

My kitchen in pictures

2011-03-22T15:30:00.000-04:00

Well I decided to go ahead and take some pictures of my kitchen while it is fairly clean. lol. I still havent gotten the walls washed. I'm thinking maybe that could be a project I could involve Jess and Gary in. :)

Here is the view you get while standing in the doorway from the living room. You can see the sink there to the right . Straight ahead on the wall is my wipe off marker board. I know it doesnt look the best there but it gets so much use,, I would be lost without it. I do think though that after we paint I might put it right inside the laundry room door instead.

Now if I walk straight across the room from there and stand at my bedroom door(which used to be a garage) this is your view.

Here you see the oven and fridge and a few cabnits. I've got my toaster sitting there between the two and my binder that has some favorite recipies in it,, as well as a candle warmer.

This is the view from the windows,, you saw most of this in the first pic. From the left to right,...there is a little basket there hoding my dishrags and towels then the coffee maker, sink, rooster cutting board and the fruit basket. The white door there you see on the left is the laundry room.

This is the cabnit above the coffee maker. The bottom shelf is all coffee supplies so its nice and handy there. The second shelf is some plastic storage containers(which by the way I'm trying to slowly vear away from those. At least ones that will be reheated in the microwave. Im trying to slowly switch to glass, which is what you see on the top shelf.

This is the cabinit above my sink. It houses all my baking stuff. Your probaly thinking it would be smarter to have that above the oven but there isnt really enough counter space over there to do the mixing and stuff so I normally do that on the side by the sink.

Here is the cupboard to right of the sink. Its got glasses and plates and bowels. That cardboard box has some lids and straws for kids cups(its a shoe box).lol And on the top left there is some tea and juice mixes along with some pudding mixes. That basket on the top right is for my husbands clutter that he brings home every day. Things like his wallet and saftey glasses, keys and some other little things. He always throws them on the counter which I dont like so I put this basket up there for him.... He still likes to throw them on the counter, but I take them and put it in the basket. :-)

This is the cabinit above my stove. Its got cereal and other breakfast items along with crackers, peanut butter and snack type stuff.

And this is my canned goods and the spices are up top in the storage box. Its easy to just grab and bring down when I need a spice. I went through it today and had to throw out a bunch of spices due to them being expired...whoops.

And here is my pots and pans beside my oven. Above that is a drawer where my kitchen spoons and stuff like that are.

And here is my newest addition to the kitchen,, this rustic looking wire basket where the new napkins I made sit. I need to make more, there is more in the laundry but even with the eleven I made we run out fast with all the dirty mouths being wiped around here. We are saving a lot of paper towels though,

There was a few cabnits I didnt take pictures of......under the sink which is pretty boring and the silverware drawer(which looks very nice now that I rearanged and organized it). Then there is one more drawer beside that one..the junk drawer(gasp!). I need to go through that. Since I only have 3 drawers in the kitchen you would think I wouldn't have a junk drawer,,,, but there is some things I just dont know what to do with. Oh, and I forgot to take a pic of the cabnit beside the under the sink one,, that one holds some mixing bowels and a few kitchen gadgets, along with water bottles. Thats pretty much it. Hope you enjoyed getting a peak into where I spend a big chunk of my day.

Rainy Tuesday

2011-03-22T10:12:00.000-04:00

Today its dark and dreary outside. Really makes me wanna climb back into my bed and sleep the day away. HA,, ,yeah right. Maybe I can do that when I'm 60, have no kids at home and don't babysit anymore. :)   I have a lot on my todo list today so I cant be lazy. Last week I told you I was working in my kitchen,, decluttering and reorganizing. I got a good start but didnt finish, I needed more shelf liner to finish the cupboards. I got that last night so I will try to finish the cupboards today and then I need to wash the walls to finish up the spring cleaning in that room. I will attempt to post some pics as requested, but let me warn you, My kitchen is nothing special! Rather boring if you ask me. I am promising myself that we will get it repainted before the summer is over,,, I'd like to do it before May actually so when Ben's mom comes out it will be completed. I'm so excited to do it, I've had the color I want in my head forever!

Also today I am plugging away on laundry, somehow I've fallen behind a little. I want to get all the bed sheets changed and remade too. That can become a big job with 5 beds to do. I wish it was sunny so I could hang them outside to dry but its supposed to be rainy for the rest of the week and I dont wanna wait that long.

On a totally different note, last night I was in town with my oldest doing some grocery shopping and she told me about this pair of shoes she REALLY wants. She had a sales flier in the car with her and showed them to me,,,, One Hundred Dollars!!!!!!!!!!!   I laughed and said yeah right,, you know I will not pay that much for a pair of shoes.. Then she informed me how EVERYONE in her school has them(sure). And how totally amazing they are. Thats when I started feeling bad,,,then she said,,, " yeah, you'll probably get them for me when they are marked down to clearance for 20 dollars like 2 years from now and they arn't cool anymore". :( That made me feel really bad. I think life would be so much easier if I homeschooled and the kids didnt watch t.v., then they wouldnt even know about these types of fad things.    I would love to be able to just go out and buy everything my kids wanted but what would that teach them?

The other thing is, we are doing ok with money right now, so its not like I don't have the money for them. I just can not bring myself to buy a pair of shoes for that amount of money,, especially for a kid that will probably grow out of them in a years time. I told her she could buy them herself with her own money. She will be getting some soon from her report card.   I just have this guilt inside me. Am I a bad mom for not getting them for her when I have the funds to do so?   Ugh.....

Do you guys spend that kind of money on things like that for your kids?

Sunshine!!

2011-03-17T13:49:00.000-04:00

Its beautiful outside! We were able to get out and play yesterday and today! The kids are just thrilled to get to run around outside after being couped up all winter. And the outside toys seem like new to them after not playing with them all season. I love being able to get outside but there is also something about the first days of being able to open up the windows and let fresh air in that makes me want to clean and organize. This morning I've been going through some kitchen cupboards and trying to reorganize a few things. There is not a whole lot of cabinets and storage space in my kitchen,, and defiantly not much counter top room. After 7 years now of living here though I've come to accept it and make due. Sometimes things just need a little creativity to make them work for you. Now I actually need to get back in the kitchen and finish what I started while the kiddos are napping.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Disney Princesses on Ice

2011-03-14T14:19:00.000-04:00

We went to Disney Princesses on Ice Saturday! It was amazing and magical. Emma dressed up as Snow white. Here is some of our favorite moments from the show.

It was so fun watching the girls faces throughout the show. I thought it was amazing so I can only imagine what was going through their heads. If anyone ever gets the chance to go I definatly recomend it,, well worth the cost. During the second half of the show Emma was leaning against me and said, "Mommy I really like this". Just the way she said it was so sweet. Jess went to and she enjoyed it just as much. Fun for the young ones and the older ones too!

Just being me...

2011-03-09T14:18:00.000-05:00

I've had a realization over the last few weeks. I think I've spent my entire life trying to imitate others lives. This has happened especially since I've discovered the blogging community. I read other blogs and try to be like them. I ask questions when a lot of the time I already know the answer, but I think they must have a better way and if their way is different and I try to do it that way and it doesnt work I feel like I've failed. I love reading blogs and will probably never stop but I need ot read them for ideas. Then take those ideas and make them work for me and my family/situation. No two families are exactly alike,, we all have different amount of kids, ages of kids, different seasons of life, different budgets. What works for one might not work for the other,, but I also think its great to explore different ways of doing things and turn that into what works best for me. I have learned so much over the Internet. There is such a wealth of knowledge out there! I didnt even know that homemade laundry detergent existed before, plus I've learned so many ways to cut back and be frugal, make new things in the kitchen and out.

I guess what I'm trying to say is read, learn and explore, and then take the ideas and make them work for you. Don't ever feel bad for not being able to do things exactly like someone else. Enjoy YOUR life, and YOUR family and do whats best for YOUR situation. Love and hugs to all you mamas out there, remember all over this world there are people like us struggling with a lot of the same things that you are going through.

A fun post with your help

2011-03-08T08:54:00.000-05:00

Good morning All! I thought I'd do a fun little post this morning. I'm gonna tell you my most and least favorite household chore and just cause I'm nosey, I would love it if EVERYONE who reads this leave a comment and tell us you most and least favorites too. It will make it more fun :)

I would say my most favorite chore is doing laundry. Mainly cause I LOVE the smell of laundry and it gives me joy pulling warm clean fresh clothes out of the dryer, or even hanging them up to dry. Whenever I get clothes out of the washer/dryer my family always looks at me in some weird sorta way cause I just can't do it without breathing in the smell of them(well, everyone except for Emma cause she has the same habit of smelling everything). LOL

My least favorite chore is cleaning the bathroom. Yucky smells, sticky toothpaste on the sink, a shower that never looks clean no matter how hard I scrub. I still do this chore, but I do not enjoy it.

Now whats your favorites?

Productive weekend

2011-03-07T11:46:00.001-05:00

Happy Monday all! We had a busy weekend, but a great one. First Friday night I went to the Pierceton re-sale contributor's sale. I got a few cute things and didnt spend much! Saturday the kids had a dentist appt., so we went to that. It was Emmas first time at the dentist and she did wonderful! I was so proud of her,, and no cavities for anyone! I took a pic on my phone,, sorry bout the thumb i) the picture, LOL. Then we met my mom and step dad for lunch and then went to the Home and Garden show, Hobby Lobby(so the kids could buy supplies for the dream catcher my step dad has been wanting to make with them, I also bought some cute material to make cloth napkins with). After that we went to Sam's Club and got some: sweet pickles, 10lb. hamburger, poptarts, sourcream, nectarines, dish soap, frozen strawberries, fresh organic strawberries, angel food cake,eggs, bagel thins, and english muffins,, and a soft fuzzy blanket!   We were all pretty tired by the time we got home,, it was quiet a long day.

Then on Sunday we went over to my moms so the kids could make their dream catchers and I could have them help remind me how to set up my sewing machine thats been sitting in the closetcollecting dust for 10 years. We got to work and cut the material,, pinned the sides for the seams, and sewed away! I did all the sewing by myself and you will never believe who helped withthe pinning and pressing of the seams.....Bennie! My sweet amazing husband! He had been hanging out on the couch and decided to mozy over and see how we were doing,, mom showed him what to do and he got to work and helped until the job was done! I did all the sewing, all by myself.   I am so proud of myself! Now I'm thinking of what else I could do,, I would love to try and sew some aprons for myself and the girls.   The napkins are so cute sitting in the middle of my table in this old looking wire basket I got! I will take some pictures soon and show ya'll.   I decided to do that napkins in hopes of going through less paper towels,, for frugal and enviormental reasons :)
In between the sewing I had to take a break and go pick up my money for the items I sold at the kids sale. I ended up making $75.50! I was very happy with that! I had a few things left over that I will put in the Kids Market sale this weekend and try to sell.

Next weekend will be a busy one too,, kids market volunteering on Thursday evening,, the sale on Friday evening, Saturday us girls are going to Disney Princess' on Ice at the Colosseum, and then probably going to my dad's house Sunday sometime cause we havent been over there in a long time.   All those things will be fun though so I'm excited!    How did everyone else's weekends go?   I've noticed a few new followers to the blog,,please feel free to comment anytime and introduce yourself. I love hearing from people!

Day 3, no binky

2011-03-01T13:10:00.000-05:00

My house is quiet right now. Should be peaceful right? But I can feel my heart beating fast and feel all nearvous and shakey. As nap time was aproaching today I started feel that way. The reason is naptime the last 2 days has been a extreme struggle with Emma. I know its cause she doesnt have her binky. She has been doing wonderful at night, I'm so proud of her, but naptime seens to be the hardest. Yesterday she just cried and cried, I felt so bad and it breaks my heart. I cant imagine how hard it is for her. Wait.......I think I just heard her. I told her today before I layed her down that she did not have to go to sleep but she needs to stay in her bed and be quiet,, no sceaming and crying. I put on a lullaby c.d and told her when the music was over if she was awake she could get up. If it was just her I would probaly just let her stay up and lay on the couch but with the childcare kids here,,, they all take naps and it needs to be quiet in here,, shes not very good at being quiet when she is up. Plus she has been horribly grumpy in the evenings when she doesnt take a nap. I just feel so bad. :( She is so sweet and when she starts getting tired she looks at me with a sad face and says so sweetly "Mommy,, I dont have any more binkys, right?",, and I just tell her no, we gave them to the binky fairy and then I tell her how proud I am of her. (Deep breath sigh),,,, I just keep telling myself that this will pass and it should get easier for her.

Well,, I had a whole diffrent post in my head but Im to distacted with this to type it out now. Seriously, why do I feel so bad? You would think it was me that had my favorite thing taken away...... When my kids hurt or feel bad it always makes me feel so terrible. :(

A quick break for a update

2011-02-27T16:38:00.000-05:00

Whew...it feels good to sit for a minute. I've been a busy lady today. This mornig I made a huge batch of sausage egg and cheese bisquts for breakfast and the freezer, then had to clean up after that.
   Then I had to take a shower and get ready to go to Wal-mart so Emma could get her big girl toy. Last night she finally decided to give her binky up to the binky fairy and she put all of them in a envelope and left them out for the fairy to take them to a new baby that needed them since she is a big girl now. :)   She went right to sleep and slept the whole night through! Then when she woke up this morning the binky fairy had left her a cute little note and some cash for her new toy! I'm so proud of her,, I didnt pressure her to do this. We have been talking about it a lot and when we were at the library yesterday we picked up a book called bye bye pacifier. Before bed she said she wanted to put her binky in a envelope like the girl in the book!!! I was thrilled, and scared I would be in for a long night, but like I said she did great!   She hasn't asked for it at all today but I think its been on her mind. Nap time didnt go to well, she didnt fall asleep but some days she just doesnt take naps so hopefully that was the case and she isnt gonna not nap for me anymore. We will see how tonight goes.
   When we got home from the store I made lunch,, cleaned up from that and then since then I've been working on getting my kids stuff hung tagged and priced for the kids resale thing coming up tomorrow! thats a big task but I love getting the check and getting to shop for "new" used clothes for the kids. These second hand sales are such a blessing in my life!
   I'm still working on going through things and decluttering around the house. We have such limited space here we really dont have room for all our stuff. The goal is to only keep whats needed and figure out the best way keep/store the stuff we need and use.
Anyways, I guess I should get back to work,,,:(    I need a maid. LOL

Kitchen Tip

2011-02-22T09:44:00.001-05:00

We have city water where we are. I always thought if you lived in the city then you automatically had soft water,, not true. We really need a water softener, but due to lack of knowledge of how to put one in and not quite sure where we'd put it we have yet to get one. Anyways when your water is hard it can cause problems with leaving a film on you dishes when you run them through the dishwasher. Even with Jet Dry my dishes never seemed to get clean. Then I read about this miracle product somewhere on the web. I was skeptical but decided to try it. It works! Really well too. I just add a little, about 1-2 tablespoons in my prewash container in the dishwasher along with my detergent and my dishes come out sparkly clean.

I have been checking out homemade dishwasher detergent recipes and plan to try one once I run out of detergent. A lot of the complaints I read are that dishes come out with a film on them but with this stuff it might not be a problem! It will be awhile before I run out though because I recently got a big container of the Jet Dry tabs from Sam's and it last us forever!

For more kitchen tips visit tammys recipies!

Content

2011-02-20T16:18:00.001-05:00

I'm not absolutely sure when this happened, but I'm glad it did. I was just sitting here with Emma watching Cailou, listening to Bennie snore beside us(he's taking a nap before going to work tonight), and thinking to myself,, I'm happy. I love this. I love sitting at home with my family not doing anything. Not having to go or be anywhere. I'm content.
There was a time in my life that I felt like we constantly needed somewhere to go or be, even if that ment just going to my moms house. I felt like we were boring or something if we just sat at home. But now I really enjoy just hanging out here.. dont get me wrong I also like doing things outside the house but it doesnt bother me to be here, especially when Ben is home with us.

I was able to get out by myself this morning and go to Walmart. It was so nice to take my time and not worry about chasing after anyone. I got a new drying rack. This one says heavy duty so I hope it holds up for a little while. I like being able to air dry stuff even in the winter time. With as much laundry that goes on around here I'm sure I save on electricity by using the dryer less. I'm still going strong with using my homemade liquid laundry detergent. I think its working great and saving us loads of cash. :) I hope everyone reading this has had a great weekend. Coming up this week I'm planning on writing a post of all the frugal things that I do, to give you some tips and you guys can give me some ideas on things that I could also be doing.

Can't find the time

2011-02-17T14:13:00.000-05:00

I have this running to do list in my head. Things that I want/need to get accomplished. The problem is its hard to find the time/energy. Here is a few thing I need to get accomplished and hopefully soon:
*go through kids closets and find stuff for the Kids Market sale, then hang, tag, price them.
*go through Emma's and Gary's toys and purge like crazy! Emma's toys are totally outta control. I think part of my problem is since I do daycare in my home I feel the need to hang onto things because even though some stuff she is growing out of others still enjoy.
*Wash down walls in the living room, kitchen, and bathroom
*Scrub the shower(i'll admit, I hate this job because no matter how hard I scrub, it never looks clean!)
*Start going through everything else to find stuff for summer garage sale

Then there is a whole other list but I need Ben's help and extra money for that
*paint kitchen, new counter tops and maybe even sink, new kitchen floor

Am I the only one that has a hard time with these things? The ideal time for me would be during naptime, but that is my only downtown for the whole day and I often try and relax during that time. I feel like I need a break every once in a while. Ugh..... Well now that I have my list written down maybe that will help me tackle some of these things.

Good day turned bad

2011-02-16T18:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Hump Day! This week is dragging for me. I wish it were Friday. Isn't it funny how a day can start off so wonderful and turn into an icky day? I notice a lot that my mood is greatly affected by the people around me and their moods.
So this morning I got to sleep in a extra half hour! I thought that was a great thing, apparently that is where I messed up my day( you'll see why). Anyways I got up took a shower, woke the kids, feed them, wrote 3 checks to the school :(,, and sent them on their way. Then the littles and I started with breakfast and playing, we watched part of The little Mermaid, ate lunch and it was so beautiful outside I decided to take advantage of it. There is still snow on the ground and I knew they would play in it so I put snow pants on them and we headed out. The sun was shining and it was warm! We played out back for awhile, swung on the swings, then we ventured out front and I tidyed the garage and cleaned out my car. The kids were having a blast playing in the car. They were pretending one was the mommy driving the other one(the kid) to school. It was so cute listening to them pretend. I love watching them play and interact(when they are being good, lol). Then we came in and I put them down for a nap. I was in such a great mood. The sunshine lifted my spirits and I felt like I got a lot accomplished. I cleaned up the house and sat down to read a little while they were sleeping. Then Ben got up. This is where my day turned. I don't know what it is about 3rd shift but it makes him so grumpy. He actually gets more sleep on 3rds than he did on day shift so I dont think its lack of sleep. It really stains our marriage. Anyways I could tell by the look on his face he was in a bad mood. I tried talking to him, asked how his night was, asked if something was wrong. He just gave me one word answers and really wouldnt talk to me. He was up for 2 hours before the kids woke up and would not speak to me. Finally I told him obviously something is wrong,, how can I fix it if he doesnt tell me whats going on? He said I should know, I didnt. Well it ends up he was mad because he came to bed today while I was still in there and I rolled over and pushed the covers around me so he couldnt get near me. I vaguely remember this,, I remember hearing him come to bed and starting to roll towards him and he was freezing so I scooted over and covered upmore. I was half asleep though!

Yesterday he was grumpy too. Its like he's trying to find reasons to be mad at me. I am trying really hard to be positive and happy so it will rub off on him. I am not gonna let these petty things make us miserable again. Hopefully whatever it is that is really bothering him will get better. He has been working a LOT. I know hes probably getting worn down. I just hate it when work life affects our home life, but I dont know how to fix that.

Then poor little Gary, I got a call from the school nurse today, the swing knocked him in the head and hes got a gash and swelling and bruising all around the area. She told me to watch him tonight and sent home a paper telling me what to watch for in case of a concussion. She said I should wake him up tonight after hes been sleeping a couple of hours to make sure he wakes up and seems normal. So now I'm worried about him. He seems ok,, but hes acting really tired. Hopefully I dont have to end up taking him to the emergency room in the middle of night, cause since Ben isn't here I'll be dragging the other kids with me.

So there you have it, my wonderful day turned blah. Now he is gone, he went bowling and he will go straight to work from there. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon will be a happier one. It is supposed to be nice again. I sure wish it would stick around and get spring/summer soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T14:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! So far it has been a great day. Last night I set up my kitchen table with heart stuff so when the kids woke up they would be surprised. Jess and Gary are the first round of breakfast eaters and they were happy. We got Gary a pillow pet and Jess some I tunes gift cards. I know they arnt traditional V-day gifts but we would rather get the kids stuff we know they will love and get good use of.

So the big kids then left for school and the second round woke up. Emma was super happy with her Jessie doll from Toy Story. She has been wanting one for awhile now.

Breakfast was doughnuts (daddy brang some home this morning when he got off work) and fruit smoothies!

Then it was balloon time! I couldn't believe how much fun they had with these dollar tree balloons I picked up!

Next was craft time. We made a heart craft and decorated Valentines bags for the cards they got for each other. I think they really enjoyed that. My sister brought Mira over,, it worked out great that way cause the extra set of hands here came in handy helping me with the glue, markers, and all that messy stuff.

For lunch we had peanut butter and jelly heart shaped sandwiches and green beans and applesauce(not shown),, then valentines cookies and cupcakes!

Not to smart of me to get them all sugared up before naptime. LOL. They are all sleeping now and whew, Im worn out. I think this cold is wearing me down. Every minute is worth it though if the kids are having fun. Tonight for dinner we are having steak, baked potatoes and corn. Were gonna attempt to grill the steaks outside cause its a little warmer and the snow melted off the grill. :) Ben has to go to work tonight so no alone time for us, but at least we still get to spend some time together on this special day of love!

The Blahs

2011-02-08T11:37:00.000-05:00

I'm pretty sure I've got a case of the winter blues. I just feel yuck and tired and blah. While I've been doing the dailys and getting what I need to get done accomplished, I'm just feeling so tired. Like I could lay down and sleep for a week straight! Although I will tell ya'll that I am still doing well with staying up and getting showered before the kids wake up, and making them breakfast every morning. About the breakfast thing,, I'm trying really hard to get them to like homemade oatmeal. They are never excited about it though. They did like the butterscotch oatmeal I made(I think because it was so sweet), but this morning I made apple cinnamon oatmeal and they wernt to thrilled. I'm still gonna try a peaches and cream recipe. The big container of oatmeal is such a better deal than the individual packets, thats why I'm trying it this way. We've also been doing a lot of eggo waffles,, they really like those. I have been thinking though of trying to make up a big batch of waffles and pancakes and then freezing them for easier access. That would probably be cheaper than buying the Eggos. We also do scrambled eggs a lot, thats Emmas favorite. Believe it or not, cereal is their last choice. I think they got burned out on that earlier in life. Anyone have any cheap easy breakfast ideas besides those?

Anyways, back to the blahs, I hate feeling like this. I normally force myself to put on a smile and be somewhat energetic for the kiddos. I love them all so much,, even the ones that come here and arnt mine. Every last one of them can always make me smile,,,some of them can bring me to tears to depending on how they are acting on certain days. While I love what I do more than anything, sometimes being in the house non-stop with kids can become mind numbing! Some days I feel like my brain is turning into mush with kid show theme songs. If you guys could here the songs that are stuck in my head throughout the day,, well I'm sure you would have a good laugh. Emmas favorite show right now is WonderPets......so quite often you will here me randomly shouting out,,,,,,Wonder Pets Wonder Pets were on our way....the help the bangle tiger and save the day........", that little Duck on there cracks me up with the way he talks..."this is serious" he always says,, but his r sounds are w's...
Anyways,, deep down I know what I'm doing is important. I'm helping to shape these little one's minds. I try very hard to make everyone happy and teach them the good values in life. I often feel underapprechiated and sometimes wonder why I try so hard. But I keep on and try to live my days like I have a audience. I think what people do behind closed doors is important and I try to do my job like there is a hidden camera in my house that anyone could see what I'm doing at any certain time. It helps keep me in check and makes me feel like I'm doing the best possible job that I can.
I'm planning a small Valentine's day party for next Monday. Were all excited about it... I'm trying to think of some simple crafts and projects that everyone can do,, its a little hard with the age group I've got here. I know were making heart cookies and were gonna make Valentines bags and most of the kids are bringing in Valentines. I plan on reading some Valentines books I got from the library,,,gonna play some kind of game...I've still got some planning to do. It should be fun though!

Menu plan

2011-02-07T14:06:00.000-05:00

I haven't posten a menu plan in quite awhile so I decided to type it up.

Tonight we will be having chicken tacos, refried beans, and tortilla chips---for the chicken tacos I just put some chicken tenders in the crock pot along with some salsa and am cooking it up until its soft and I can shred it up then well just throw it on the tortillas along with some cheese, lettuce and sour cream!

Other meals will be
-tuna noodle casserole with crescent rolls
-deer steak, mashed cauliflower and green beans
-spaghetti and garlic bread with a salad
-chicken breast, pasta salad, corn
-roasted chicken, baked potatoes,, broccoli
-chicken and noodles (with leftover roasted chicken)

Stocking up and more snow :(

2011-02-05T16:06:00.001-05:00

Its snowing again!!! I am so sick and tired of cold and snow! I'm really hoping for a early spring this year!

Were having a kind of lazy Saturday today. We did go into town for a little bit to get some groceries that we didnt get last night. Yesterday Martins in our town was having a truck load meat sale! They also had some other really good sales on other items. We went and got quite of bit of stuff. We got some steaks! We rarely buy steak due to the high price but they were supposed to have boneless rib eyes for 5.99 a pound,,normally I think they are close to ten. We were gonna get some of those but they were all out but they seemed to have replaced the ribeyes with t-bones so we got a couple of them. We also got two 3lb bags of boneless skinless chicken breast for 3.99 for the whole bag! The also had bulk pork sausage for pretty cheap,, they had different kinds,, I got some Italian sausage, the only other kind left was spicy hot so I didnt get that. I would have gotten breakfast type but they were out,,, guess we shoulda gotten there earlier in the day. I will split it up into bags with my food saver cause it was a in bulk. I'm so glad we got that thing, its really coming in handy. We got quite of few other items but I wont list them here. When things are super cheap thats the time to buy! Today we went to Aldis to get a few other items that we needed that I knew were cheaper there. We ended up spending two hundred dollars on food between yesterday and today but its gonna last up a while.

I wrote up a budget at the beginning of the month and plan to stick with it. I felt that we were getting a little to relaxed with our spending and now its time to get back on track again! I set our food allowance to be $500 for the month and between groceries and eating out we have already spent 300! Thats not good! So more than likely no more eating out for the rest of the month. I think two hundred on groceries is doable to last us since I stocked up so well this weekend. I'll try and keep you updated if I am able to keep to the budgeted amount. As our family is growing our food seems to be disappearing faster and faster now adays.

And now just for your viewing pleasure here's Emma, She wore this princess dress all day the other day,, when I asked her if she wanted to take it off she said "no mommy, I'm a princess" and that she is. :)

We survived the Blizzard if 2011

2011-02-02T21:59:00.000-05:00

Well our snow storm came and went, it never got as bad as everyone predicted but we did get quite a bit of snow. I ended up getting the day off from my childcare buisness because no one could get here, That was kind if nice. Ben was home and it felt like a Saturday. We decided to go ahead and make the day exciting and venture into town. We live just outside of town so it really wasnt that big of deal. We went to Walmart. I had never in my life seen so little people there, it was like a ghost town! Then it was lunch time so we went to Mc Donalds that has the play area. The kids really enjoyed that. Then we went home and played in the snow for a little while. The kids loved it!

Ben got his workout from pulling them around in the sled because our little hill isnt really big enough for them to slide down very well. Maybe someday we can get to somewhere that has some big hills. The kids had fun and and thats all that mattered, I love that they can still enjoy the good simple things in life. I hope that continues throughout there lives. They are all 3 such great thoughtful kids,, I really couldn't ask for more from them. I guess the occasional attitude is a normal natural thing and as long as we can keep it in check with them we will survive. All I can hope for is the teenage years to go by fast! Although once those years are gone so are they :( I dont even want to think about that!

What if

2011-02-01T14:51:00.000-05:00

So I'm sitting here thinking of life and all the what if's that come with it. I do that quite often, which is really a bad thing for me, it causes me a lot of stress because I think of all the bad what ifs.....right now my what if's are this:
What if we get this bad snow storm everyone says is coming? What if we get snowed in? What if we lose power? What if our water line freezes up? What if we have to live like pioneers for the next few days?

Honestly the snow storm doesn't bother me,,, getting snowed in doesn't bother me,,,living like pioneers wouldn't bother me accept I don't feel we are equipped to live like that right now. We have a gas furnace but it won't run without electricity to circulate the air so we'd b very cold. And we now have a electric stove so I couldn't cook anything. I think we'd b okay if we had a gas stove and some sort of fireplace or other thing to heat us up,,,that might actually b kinda fun, but without those 2 things we might freeze and starve.LOL No, I don't think we'd starve but our food options would b quite limited. :)

School was canceled today. I think they could have made it to school but maybe they were worried about the kiddos getting snowed in there or something. So far there is no new precipitation going on outside,, we do have a blizzard warning though. We will see!

Birthday pics and other rambles...

2011-01-25T13:36:00.000-05:00

I did it again ladies! I got up early. I made smoothies and waffles for the kids this morning! The only problem is by this time now(its 1:30) I'm feeling very tired,, and I still have a long day ahead of me. Hopefully my body will just get used to it. Honestly its only like 30 minutes sleep less than I would normally get,, you wouldn't think it should make that much of a difference. It was very hard this morning,, every ounce of my body said"go back to bed"...but I didn't. I know Jess for one really likes me being up and awake and more talkative to her in the morning.. she is a morning person.

Tonight I'm making homemade chicken pot pie for dinner! This is a new recipe. I'm excited about it. I already have the chicken cooked up and as soon as I get off here I'm gonna go ahead and put it all together so at dinner time I can just pop it into the oven! The recipe actually makes 2,, one to eat now and one to freeze for later. I hope we like it!

I had these pic from the kid's birthdays a couple of weeks ago so I thought I'd post them..

The Birthday girl on her day

Hiding her eyes while we brang in her surprise bike!

She can ride that thing all over!

Blowing out her candles

And here's Gary on his special day

Emma attacking Gary,, haha

Here they are at Toys R Us. I think Gary enjoyed going to Ft. Wayne and getting to spend his money.. We ate at Fazolis that night, and instead of birthday cake,, since we still had leftovers from Emma's the day before,, he picked his own dessert there.. He picked strawberry cheesecake! My favorite,, he was even nice enough to let me try a bite.. It sure was yummy!

Liquid laundry soap

2011-01-24T13:29:00.001-05:00

Someone had asked for the recipe I used to make my laundry soap so it it goes:

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap

1 cup washing soda

1 cup borax powder

You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallons

Grate the soap and put it in a saucee pan. Add 6 cups of water and heat until the soap dissolves. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for 24 hours and it will gel. Used 1/2 cup per load.

I am really enjoying this liquid soap. I also add a scoop of Sun (generic oxyclean from the Dollar Store) to each load. I feel it gives it a extra boost and our water is a little hard so I think this helps. I am on my second batch now and plan on continuing to use it. Another helpful tip I have is to pour the soap into a old detergent bottle for easy pouring!

Bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning...

2011-01-24T08:36:00.000-05:00

I'm very proud of myself this morning! I actually got up showered and dressed before the kids woke up. I made them a hot breakfast before school and sent them on their way with awake eyes, LOL. This is one of my goals, to get up earlier and get some things accomplished before all the little ones awake.

We had a good weekend. Saturday we stayed home and Sunday we went to Ft. Wayne and browsed around the mall. The kids had some money left over from bdays and Christmas so they bought a few things,, Ben and I didn't spend any money accept for buying lunch and a few bucks for them to ride the big carousel at the mall. It was a enjoyable day!

I haven't been blogging much lately,, I have been sick and had so much to do. I have been contemplating quitting blogging but maybe not. I love reading others blogs and if people enjoy reading mine then I will keep at it. Just don't know what to do. Anyways theres my morning and weekend update....Have a great Monday!

Another Birthday

2011-01-14T12:32:00.000-05:00

My little man has hit the double digits. 10 years old! This little guy really is a great guy! Although he tests my patience almost every single day, he has a kind heart and a great smile! I think it's hard for him sometimes, being the only boy and also the middle child. I don't ever want him to feel pushed aside or left out. He is a true lover of all the boy stuff,, hunting,, fishing, and video games. His dad says that when they are out on the lake he is like a different kid,, he just enjoys it so much.

He gave us quite a scare coming into this world,, low heart rate,, needing oxygen, and then having a infection and needing IV antibiotics before we could leave the hospital,, but all has turned out well and I thank God everyday for him. I tried to make this morning a little special for him and made him a good hot breakfast before he left for school! Then tonight were taking the kids to Ft. Wayne and he gets to spend his b-day money at Toys R Us! He is so excited. He gets to pick the restaurant tonight and I'm gonna let him get a dessert which we never do. Happy Birthday Gary!

3 years ago today....

2011-01-13T14:19:00.000-05:00

3 years ago today, this sweet little baby girl came into this world! When we decided to have another child I think a lot of others thought we were nuts..They said we had it easy with the other 2 already being older and not needing as much care. I'm so glad I didnt listen. Emma has brang so much joy, love, and laughter into this household. I never thought she would get here,,,going in on Friday morning to get induced then not having her until Sunday morning! But the moment she arrived with her chubby little cheeks I was so in love! It amazes me how no matter how many children you have, a heart can still give out so much love.

She is growing up way to fast! Before I know it she will be headed off to school :( I so enjoy spending all my time with her and watching her grow into a little lady. Tonight well be having spagetti and garlic bread(her favorite)! My mom and stepdad are coming over to celebrate with us then we are off to Jessie's Dare Graduation! Emma loves going to the school, so even that will be a treat for her. And tomorrow we have another birthday to celebrate~!

Cold Flordia

2010-12-28T20:20:00.000-05:00

I decided to check in real quick and give everyone a quick update. We are still here in FL, I would say sunny but its been pretty chilly here. Last week we were in Orlando and the weather was a little warmer. We Loved every minute of our resort and trips to Disney and Sea World. We made lots of good memories and have lots of fun pictures. This week we are in Grandmas part of Florida. Palmetto to be exact. We are enjoying our time with the grandparents. We went to a museum today and saw Snooty the oldest known manatee in captivity. Tomorrow were going to the ocean,,its supposed to be in the high 60's , warmest day we've had this week. Yesterday it was in the 40's...brrrrrr! I think we are all ready to be heading home though,, 2 weeks is a long time away. Emma has been saying she misses her toy box :) Thursday were headed back on the long 2 day drive home. I was very pleasantly surprised on the way up here. All three kids did great! We only stopped 3 times the first day of driving and we went for 13 hours! That's pretty good if I say so myself. I think they were meant to travel. Hopefully the ride home will go as smooth.

I can not put into words how thankful I am that we have been able to go on this trip. It was worth every penny of saving. Hopefully we'll have many more vacations to come in the future! I'll post pics when we get home!

Thoughtful Thursday--"Food Matters"

2010-12-09T10:17:00.000-05:00

Well here it is,, Thursday again already!,, That means 8 days til we leave for our 2 week vacation! Woo HOO!
Today's thoughts are about food and nutrition. Yesterday I watched the movie called Food Matters. It is a documentary and I enjoyed it. In the past I have also watched Food Inc,,, which is another great one. These movies can really open up your eyes to what we are putting in our bodies. There is a lot of talk in these movies about organic food. Now, I 100% totally understand and agree with buying/eating organic. I want to do it for myself, my children, and the farmers that take the time to do it right. The only thing stopping me from buying organic is the ridiculous cost of these items. My food budget is already so tight,, I go to the store and stand in the produce section and look at the fruits/veggies with great intentions of buying the organic ones and I just can not bring myself to put the so much higher priced item in the cart. So I don't then I go home feeling guilty. It tears at my heart and makes me feel like a bad parent,, especially when I know others that do buy mostly organic stuff. But I can only do what I can, so I have a plan. I am going to do the best I can with what I have and can do. Food Matters, talks a lot about vitamin's, so I am going to start taking them regularly,, last night I went out and got a multivitamin, some calcium chews, and some b12(that said it is supposed to help give energy and boost metabolism. My only problem is standing in front of the big isle of vitamins can be very intimidating,,, I don't know what I need and not sure if I can take to much of something. so Im just gonna start out small with this and try to keep gaining more knowledge about it. I already give the kids a vitamin every day so I will continue with that. I am trying to talk Ben into taking some vitamins but he is a worthless cause.....he could care less about his health.

I am going to try and cut out most of the processed junk that we eat,, that is the hard part with the kids. and keep introducing a variety of healthy foods. If my budget allows I will keep slowly switching to organic on some items. I plan to do another bigger garden this summer and put up as much food as possible. Drink more water and healthy juices. I am hoping that for myself I might get a little weight loss that comes with this. I've given up on the diets, I just wanna be healthy and comfortable. I am hoping maybe with the vitamins it will give my body some more energy,, I've been dragging something fierce lately. This is also what I hope for Ben, but he is just so negative about everything,, I don't know what to do about him.
So there you have it. I highly recommend this movie,, if you have netflix it is streaming on it now. Do you guys feel you and your family are following healthy guidelines? Do you buy organic? Any recommendations for me about vitamins?

Thoughtful Thursday--Eating out

2010-12-02T14:15:00.003-05:00

I decided Thursdays are now officially thoughtful Thursdays here at Everyday Life of a Mom. It will be the day that I will share something that's been on my mind. If you have your own blog and wanna do a thoughtful Thursday post feel free and just leave you blog address in the comments section and please link your post back to my blog, and of course please feel free to comment and let me know what you think of my post.

Today's topic here is on "Eating Out". My family LOVES to eat out. I'm not sure why,,, I know I'm a fairly good cook and they always compliment me on my cooking. I like to eat out because it leaves little to no work on my part :) Plus the food is yummy,, but I was thinking and there are many disadvantages to eating out also...I'll name a few...

1. costly----hardly anywhere can you go that you can get a well balanced meal for less than you can make it at home. (I say that because some could argue that you could go to Mc Donald's and buy a cheeseburger for a dollar and you cant make a cheeseburger at home for a dollar,, but that is NOT a healthy well balanced meal)

2. unhealthy,, fattening food (when I go out to eat I am not thinking of any diet,,, I figure if I'm going out and paying for it I might as get something I really wanna eat.)

3. stressful ---For me anyways,, when we go out with my kids in tow,, there is always some kinda drama when the little one is there. If its just Ben and I then no its not stressful.

4. Guilt----- lately whenever we go out I feel so stinking guilty. I view it my job to provide my family with their meals. When we go out to eat that usually means I was to lazy that day and didn't feel like cooking. I failed to suck it up and make something. I mean really,, how hard is it to boil some noodles and throw some spaghetti sauce over it? As a wife it is my job to help be smart with our money. And going out to eat is really a waste of it. For that $40.00 meal my husband had to work like 2 in a half hours...or if you look at if from what I make, that's watching one kid for 2in a half days!!!!! Is it really worth it?

This is what I need to think of next time I don't feel like cooking. My money goals right now are to important and I need to keep my eyes on the prize.

And one more thing,, this is not to offend anyone. If you have the cash and its not hurting you to go out to eat than more power to ya. I am not one to judge. I am purely speaking for myself and my unique situation.

for more frugal tips visit lifeasmom.com

Fun in the snow and some other pictures

2010-12-01T18:38:00.000-05:00

Well we got some snow today! It was freezing cold outside but the little one wanted to go out so bad .

We only stayed stayed out about 15 minutes but that was good enough,, then we came in and had hot chocolate. Emma sled down the hill and Gary cried cause he couldn't make a snow ball.

We need to get Emma some new gloves, she was wearing mine, and some new boots, the ones from last year are to small but she wore them out anyways :)

Here is a pic from Thanksgiving morning,, Gary is crying cause I had just yelled at him for giving Emma bunny ears in the pic I took b4 that one. I love that boy to death, but he really is a crybaby sometimes. You can see here how funny the girls think it is.. LOL

And here is a pic from the other day when I let the childcare kiddos paint. Emma is always wanting to paint,, its fun, but messy!

Laundry soap results

2010-11-30T12:19:00.000-05:00

ugh,,,,I'm not feeling very well. I have this nasty head cold and now its moving into my chest. I should have posted earlier about our weekend and thanksgiving cause already it seems like it was so long ago! We did have a great Thanksgiving,, spent some time at mom's house, then went to my dad's. The boys hunted,,big surprise, lol. Shot gun season is officially over and they didn't get anything. But mussel loader season starts on Saturday so Ben will be out again. I really want him to get one,, even 2 would be nice so we can start filling our freezer back up. He gets so crappy when he doesn't get a deer and then is in a grumpy mood so it would be nice if he could get one and lift his spirits also. The two of us have been having a rough time as of lately. Isn't it funny how marriage has so many ups and downs. I know we will get through it, we always do. I just have to let go of my expectations.

I've been using the liquid laundry detergent I made for over a week now and I am really liking it. Seems to be getting all the clothes just as clean as anything else I've used. Of course I still pretreat the stains,, I have been using Tide pretreating spray and it really works pretty well! So I think I have found my new detergent to stick with. I still use fabric softener so our clothes can still have a yummy smell.
I know I was gonna talk about more stuff but my brain is to stuffed up to think so this will be it for now. Have a wonderful day all you people out there in bloggy land.

A weekend of firsts

2010-11-22T09:44:00.000-05:00

Its Monday already...at least this will be a short week with the Thanksgiving holiday!! We had a pretty good weekend. Something major happened in our household. Emma graduated to her big girl bed!! No more crib. We took it down Friday evening and she slept all night in her new bed without waking up once! I'm so proud of her,, we had tried this once before but didn't take down the crib,, that night it only lasted 5 minutes before she was crying to go to her "old" bed. But there was no old bed to go to this time and she did great!
Saturday we went to my sister's house and celebrated my niece's 3rd birthday! It was fun,, she got lots of great new toys, and I was very proud of Emma and how she reacted while Mira was opening her presents..I have such a great kid! The other part of the party was she was having a slumber party! Emma was invited to stay, I was nervous because Emma doesn't stay with people hardly ever,, the only one she has stayed with is my mom and only a couple times. I guess she did pretty well though,, only woke up once wanting her mommy but went back to sleep after that. It just does not seem right,, my baby is growing up. Some might say a almost 3 year old is not a baby,,, but she will always be my baby, even when she's 25! It was very hard for me coming home with the 2 older kids and not Emma, it just did not seem right. I cant even imagine how its gonna be for me when she goes off to kindergarten. I'm sure I will bawl my eyes out.

Today will be another first for me. As a boss in the core room I guess my husband is in charge of bringing in a turkey for the thanksgiving carry in at work. So guess who gets to bake it?? I have never cooked a turkey before! I think it will be okay, his carry in is tomorrow, and he goes into work at like 5 in the morning. so what I'm going to do is cook the turkey this afternoon,, cut it all up and put it into the fridge,, then I'll get up at like midnight and put it all in the crock pot with a jar of turkey gravy and turn it on low,,then it should be all warmed up when he has to go to work and he can just plug in the crock pot and turn it on the warm cycle and it should be ready for all those hungry men when they start eating at 8:30a.m. I hope it all turns out ok!

Productivity

2010-11-15T14:35:00.000-05:00

Ahhh,, what a lovely weekend we had. Friday night Ben and I got to go out and see a movie....then Saturday the boys spent the day hunting and us girls went and visited my sister and niece. We had a nice time while there and the two little girls got along pretty good!(which always makes everything much more pleasant). Sunday the boys went hunting again....I got a lot accomplished here on the home front,,, sweeping, moping, laundry, dusting,,all that fun stuff. Then went we to mom's for dinner and Uncle Mike cooked us a very yummy meal! I learned how to make mashed cauliflower,,, it was so good and everyone in the family Loved it,, even the ones that don't like cauliflower. .He cooked it in beef broth,, I think that's the secret!
The boys never did see any deer, so the hunt continues. I sure hope they can get at least one this year. It's been 3 years since Ben has got one.

Today I've been plugging along on housework,, the kids have all gotten along great,, making things much easier on me :) They are napping now, and I just put together my first batch of homemade liquid laundry detergent. The powder stuff didn't work for me so I am trying the liquid version. It was still very easy to make,, it has to sit for 24 hours so I wont be able to try it out until tomorrow. After a few weeks of use I'll let you all know what I think.
I feel so good when I am able to be productive and get things accomplished around here! After all, it is my JOB to keep the house clean tidy and organized,, and take care of the kids and my husband. I think as stay at home mothers we need to look at our day just as that... a job. If you were going out to work each day you wouldn't lounge around an watch tv...or surf the net most of the day. I'm not saying we don't need and deserve a break, but the sitting shouldn't take more time than the working and time with our children. Some days it seems that I've accomplished nothing, but when I stop and look at the things I've really done a lot. Its just hard to see it sometimes due to little ones under foot constantly making new messes. I am really concentrating on teaching the kids once they are done with something you need to put it away before moving on to the next thing. It's a lesson that should be learned by all.

2010-11-10T14:21:00.000-05:00

It's Wednesday! That means this week is half over!!   I live for the weekends...there is just so much less stress around here. Although I will loose my husband to the woods starting Saturday, cause that is the first day of shot gun season. He is so excited. We don't see much of him during deer season. I can deal with that,, I just hope he can get one this year...he hasn't had much luck the last few years and it sure would be nice to have some meat in the freezer. Even though venison is not my favorite....Beggars can't be choosers. :)

Last night we had a basket ball bonfire to go to. Jessica's basketball team has a get together for all the parents and team mates... Kinda like a meet and greet. The kids had a blast,,,it was right beside a playground so they got to play...oh,, and it was dark cause it gets dark here at 6pm now... I think playing in the dark was even more fun for them. Its always kinda awkward for us at those things.....I don't know if Ben and I look stuck-up or what,, but no one ever really talks to us. All the parents already seem to know each other and Ben and I are just kinda standing there twiddling our thumbs....luckily we had Emma to chase after so we couldn't really sit around the fire and talk anyways. I'm kinda a shy person and I guess so is Ben.   I want to get to know other parents but am to scared to initiate the conversations. That's kinda the story of my life.

Before the bonfire I ran to Owen's cause I noticed they were having some great deals....yesterday was the last day for them.. I went in and only got the best deals,,spent $24 and saved $24! I love when I have those kinda receipts. Most items were canned goods and pasta,,,they were all on sale for 49 cents if you bought ten(mix and match). Plus ground chuck was 1.77 a pound so I grabbed some of that. Good deals!

Right now I've got taco soup in the crock pot for dinner smelling Yummy!    Ta Ta for now.

Weekend update and mommy fears

2010-11-08T13:11:00.000-05:00

We had a pretty good weekend here in the household.   Saturday Ben worked,,, I took the kiddos and got their pictures taken. Its been a really long time since they've had them taken professionally so it was way overdue. I'm so excited to get them back,, they were all so cute!   My mom had gotten a picture package for us that has quite a bit of pictures with it but it only includes one pose. They took a bunch of pictures with individual shots and together shots then at the end they showed them all to us. If we wanted we could have gotten more poses but the cheapest package was $100!!! Not in our budget right now. It was very hard to say no but I did. I guess thats why the run the cheap package and then they make their money by people ending up getting more pictures than whats in the package. The lady actually said I was the first person to only get the package!!!   Sure made me feel like a cheap-o mom :(

Our budget has not been going according to plan lately. Things keep popping up here and there that need bought or paid. In the past 4 days I've spent over a hundred dollars just on Jess. She had to have all this stuff for soccer,,t-shirts, sweatshirt, team pics,,,,then needed new dress shoes and then had a field trip for school that she needed money for. I just feel so bad to tell her no to stuff for school cause everyone elses parentsdo it and I dont want her to be left out.   Times like these I see where home schooling would come in handy cause you dont have the pressure to have the cool clothes,, and everything else school related. She still makes me feel like I dont get enough for her. It seriously brings tears to my eyes cause I dont want my kids to feel "poor",, or left out. I feel like we do a lot with the kids but I guess they just don't see it. It's so hard!

Sunday we celebrated Ben's b-day over at moms house. His b-day isnt til Friday but it was easier for everyone to get together this weekend. He had asked for clothes and a wallet and money for his deer hunting licence,, oh and hunting gloves. Between everyone he got all that,, plus I got him a sweatjacket for work that he had been wanting so that was a surprise for him....   I think he was happy.   But with b-day presents comes more expense.    can you tell I'm stressing about money? LOL   Ben gets paid every other week and we only have 2 paychecks left b4 we head off to Florida!!!!   It's my whole fear again of the kids not having fun,,, wishing we could have done more than we did. They are already upset because I told them we arnt getting them presents for Christmas because of the trip... we will buy them stuff there though,, souvenirs and such. And I plan on sneaking some stockings in the suitcases and surprising them with those Christmas morning. The big kids want big things though,,,like Ipod Touch,, and DSI XL.....well I hate to say it but with this trip I cannot afford to buy those things for them this year.    I thought I was doing good by taking them to FL for 2 weeks and going to Disney World........I can not ever win with them.

Oh well. I'm sure once we are there they will have fun. I know I plan on having a great time,, I just hope the kids remember to pack there happy attitudes. :)

Clutter be Gone

2010-11-02T14:03:00.001-04:00

I'm feeling the itch again....time to purge some stuff around here. De cluttering,,,,the chore that never ends.. I've been having trouble finding the time lately...and energy. And when it comes to toys when I go through them the kids decide they need all of it! Ugh..... even when they haven't seen it in ages... Being a mom is a tough job, but someones gotta do it.

Torn

2010-11-01T14:38:00.000-04:00

Lately I've been feeling like I have this internal tug of war going on within myself. I've even been debating whether or not to post this in fear of what others might think.   But I decided I don't care......

A lot of the way I feel depends on the day,,,even the hour. On one hand I'm striving to be the very best mom /wife I can be. Clean the house, take care of the kids,, set a good example,,yadda yadda yadda....you get the point. On the other hand,,,I really just wanna have some fun. Not to say doing all that isnt fun,, but I wanna go out with friends, be young and fun like the good old days. I have a really hard time trying to balance the two. I'm pretty sure Ben(husband) thinks I'm not all that much fun now adays. Unless we are without the kiddos he thinks I"m boring.    When I was younger I had some pretty wild times..fun times...but I feel like I can't/shouldnt do that now.    I guess what I'm trying to say is I feel like I shouldn't let loose when the kids are around.
Even when we are without the kiddos and having fun that normally consist of it just being the two of us,,which is fine, but sometimes I really miss being out in a group of people, letting loose and having a good time. The problem is our list of friends has seemed to shorten dramatically since we've had kids because we started being more responsible. Now the friends we do have don't really like to go out and have that kind of good time....I guess we need more friends, haha.....   But since I rarely ever leave the house I dont see how I'm gonna be finding any.

Then I wonder,,,,,,will the friends we do have think were bad parents for going out, having a few drinks and a good time?    I know a few that would.       How do you mix being a parent and still being able to feel young every once in a while?   And please know,, I'm not saying being a parent is not fun,,,,I'm talking about a different kind of fun here..adult fun. I love being a mom!

These are the things running through my head lately....along with about a million others,,,LOL

Salads!!

2010-10-26T14:20:00.000-04:00

As I'm sitting here typing right now I am trying to convince my brain that I am NOT hungry! I ate a perfectly fine lunch and do not need to eat right now. I am trying very hard to get back on the right track with my eating and weight. I need to shed some pounds,,, I feel like a lump, and when I see pics of myself it disappoints me. Granted I'm still 70 pounds lighter than I was 3 or so years ago but I still need to lose quite a bit more to get back to where I started before I got pregnant this last time.

I bought fresh veggies over the weekend and made up them all into a salad so it was all premade for me and ready to eat for lunches and dinners....even the kiddos have said the salad taste yummy! I think already having it cut up and ready to go is the key for me cause during lunch time I'm to busy to cut up all the veggies, this way I can just dump them into a bowl and add a little dressing.

I know its possible! I've did it before,, Its just so much harder this time! Anyone have any good healthy snack ideas that will not give to many calories, but still make you feel satisfied for more than 30 minutes?

Then and Now..11 years later

2010-10-25T13:40:00.001-04:00

This is our wedding picture from October 22, 1999.

And this one is of us on Saturday, October 23, 2010! Bennie's hair went from his head to his face.LOL I think he is much cuter now!

Oh how the time just flies by. I can not believe its been 11 years that we have been married. It is something I''m very proud of. All to often in today's world I think couples view marriage as just a piece of paper that can be throw out with the garbage. Yes I'll be the first to say marriage is HARD, very hard! But with a little faith and a LOT of compromise I think couples can work through most things in a marriage. My best advise I guess would be to not sweat the small stuff and pick you battles. The last being very important. Honestly Bennie aggravates me at least 20 times a day but I choose to let things slide by. NO one is happy arguing and fighting all the time. It's miserable for us and defiantly miserable for the children. It's taken me most of our marriage to realize these things. I have grown and learned so much just in the past year. Another thing I would say, at least in my marriage is guys will be guys. They are like little boys hidden inside a grown mans body. The like there toys and hobbies and they defiantly have fears... Not all men will admit to those fears outloud, but a lot of times they are dealing with them on the inside and we wives have to realize that. Men need to feel loved and appreciated. If I can show him these things our life is just better because he feels better about himself and things and therefore shows me more love!

We celebrated Saturday night by going to our same restaurant as always on our anniversary,, Red Lobster! YUMMY! We joked while there about if we will still go there when were 80,,,, walking in with our canes and grey hair excited about shrimp fest! LOL We had so much fun. Without the stress of the kids along with us things just flow better. Every couple needs to get alone time every once in a while. We also went to a couple stores that we dont get to very often, then came home relaxed and watched a movie. Nothing to exciting, but we were together and enjoyed each others company, so it was a wonderful night for me! Here's to many many more years together!

An update with pictures

2010-10-21T13:57:00.000-04:00

Life has been busy around here lately...We had my mom's dog for a week while she was on vacation,, the kids really enjoyed having him around,,

He did a great job with the kids, in the pic above Emma and Bree were playing babies with him.

Here is my niece Mira on the left. I watched her for my sister while she worked on Sunday. We went to the park and let the kids play, they loved the Merry go round!

On Saturday I watched a different childcare kiddo all day long until 9:30 at night. I love babysitting but I've decided I defiantly need my weekends. I need that time to recharge and just hang out with my own kids. I've noticed this week has been so hard and I really think its just from not having a break.

Tomorrow is Ben and I's 11th wedding anniversary! Wow! We'll go out Saturday to celebrate,,without the kids! Woo HOO! I'm so excited and ready for some alone time!

P.S.-sorry for the quality of the pictures,, they were taken on my phone.

Calgon take me away.....

2010-10-13T19:23:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I think I should change my name,,,,,change it from MOM to DAD.....lol,,,,life around the house would be so much easier. That's because whenever something goes wrong,,like God forbid someone looks at another the wrong way,,,or someone gets hurt,, or someones hungry, or something needs to be cleaned, when they say MMOOOOMMM I could just sit there and watch t.v. with my feet propped up and ignore it all. You never hear them yell dad,,,its always mom!     Why?

Sorry, I'm just a little grumpy and tired and in pain. I was sick on Monday and Tuesday plus I've did something to my back and it hurts pretty bad. It doesn't make a difference though cause this house doesn't clean itself and dinner doesn't cook itself. OH well.    Sometimes I just wanna run away...not forever, I could never live without my babies,, but just for a little while. I really wonder what would happen,,,would the house fall apart? Would the kids run around dirty filthy, and hungry? I can just imagine the laundry piled up the the ceiling because if at least 2 loads don't get done everyday that's what will happen. Oh the horror just to imagine!!! I didn't do much for 24 hours due to how I was feeling and you shoulda seen the house then!
So am I a terrible mother for wanting to run away sometimes?   Anyone else ever feel like this?

Play dough fun

2010-10-06T14:16:00.000-04:00

It's such a beautiful day outside. The littles are all napping now but I think when they wake we will get outside and enjoy this weather before it disappears! This morning they wanted to play with play dough. We have a big tote full of play dough toys and they always have fun playing with it. Well I went to get it out and.....oh no.....the store bought dough had dried up, someone forgot to put the lid on,,imagine that. :) But have no fear, SUPER MOM is here (haha,,,yeah right). I told the kids we could just mix up a batch all on our own. I've did this before and honestly I like it better than the store bought. I think it last longer and you can make as much as you want and choose the colors. Here's a pic of the finished product. This is only about half, they were playing with the rest already.

Here's the recipe that I use. There are lots of different ones out on the Internet but I like this one and it make just the right amount for us.

Homemade Play dough:

2cups flour

1/2 cup salt

2 Tablespoons Cream of Tarter

2 cups hot water

2 Tablespoons veggie oil

food coloring of your choice

I dump the dry ingredients into a pot then add the wet ingredients, minus the food coloring. Turn on heat to medium high and stir, stir, stir,,,,,until it starts getting clumpy and separating from the sides of the pot. Your arm will feel like its gonna fall off. Then I put on some thick cleaning gloves(cause its very hot) and kneed it like you were making some bread. Then you can separate it into as many sections as you'd like and add the food coloring to it,,and kneed and kneed some more.

That's it. Not to hard accept for feeling your arms gonna fall off. :) My kiddos love playing with it and when I make a fresh batch it can keep them entertained for at least an hour!

Yesterday evening I was able to get out with some friends for dinner. Just us ladies with no kiddos! It was so nice and relaxing to eat our food and chat without having to worry about kids fighting or trying to get outta there seats! I had a great time. I think it's fun to get together with other moms and share kids stories and pick their brains on what works for them for this thing or that. It was a great evening and my family managed just fine without me here at home. Everyone was bathed and in there jammies when I got home waiting for me to tuck them in! The kitchen was cleaned up, thanks to Jess, all homework was done. I had left a list for them just in case Ben forgot to remind them what needed to be done. I was very proud of them all!

Monday ramblings

2010-10-04T14:42:00.000-04:00

We had a nice weekend. We really didnt do anything,,, we went to my mom's house on Saturday afternoon and visited. Sunday we stayed home. It was great! I think we needed to just hang out and relax. I did a lot of cleaning on Sunday,,another advantage of staying home! The greatest thing of all was since we stayed home we didn't spend any money! Woo HOo! I am also proud of us because I stuck to my guns and we didnt eat out. Sunday during dinner I said to the family,, I'm so proud of us we did really good this weekend. My husband knew exactly what I meant cause he said, I know but it was hard.....that puzzled me,, I said I was talking about not eating out, and he said I know. I'm not sure why it's hard for him to not eat out,,,,I'm the one cooking and cleaning up the meals. LOL I guess he just enjoys the treat of having something different every now and then. Last night after dinner I made apple dumplings! They were sooo good, and sooo fattening! I'm gonna really try and start watching myself and what I eat. Florida time is coming up and I don't want to feel like a big blob while were there. I really wanna get back to where I was before I had Emma,, its just so hard for some reason! Not much else to say today,,, Enjoy your day

Fall decorations

2010-10-02T12:12:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd show off my outside fall decorations.

This is a gourd that we spray painted white and colored the eyes and mouth to look like a ghost

Our scary witch.

All free courtesy of grandma's pumpkin patch and my stepdad's bale of straw,,oh and the leftover corn stalks from the garden!

Frugal Friday tip--Reusing coffee grounds

2010-10-01T13:53:00.001-04:00

In a effort to up my traffic on my blog I'm going to start participating in some blog carnivals. Over of Life as Mom every Friday they have tips for being frugal. My tip this week is about coffee.

My coffee maker is kinda cool. You can use it to make a pot of coffee or you can use it to just fill up those reusable themas cups. You can see it here. I didnt pay nearly that much though. Through the week when its just me I make myself a themas full of coffee,,,,I'm a little addicted and one just isn't enough. So when I go to make my second cup I reuse the grounds that are already in there and just add half as much as I normally would. It taste just as good and strong and fresh! Coffee is not cheap and this is a way to make it stretch. I do the same thing on the weekend cause Ben and I normally go through two pots,,, he doesn't know though, I 'm sure he would think it was awful...so shhhhhhh , don't tell him. :) hehehe

For more frugal tips check out Life as Mom

Hip Hip Hooray,, It's Payday!

2010-09-30T14:19:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh.....every other Thursday I breathe a big sigh of relief.   Because that is the day Ben's check goes into the bank.   :)
I really need to start doing a better job budgeting our spending money over the two week time period. The problem is we tend to go a little crazy the first weekend he gets paid and then we are broke the next week and a half.

Irresponsible you say....well yes maybe a little but in all honesty we never have that much money to begin with. You think, now wait a minute,, your husband is in a supervisor position,, you should be doing fine. Well yes, he does get supervisor salary but his place of employments pay is crap! He makes a lot less than most of our friends/family that don't even have a supervisor job! We have 5 people in our family and a LOT of bills. I have a childcare business but that doesn't pay the bills. The money I make pretty much goes to Ben for his spending money and the rest is for groceries.   We just can't keep up with "the Joneses",,, it's impossible. When I see people that I think are in a similar situation spending and getting things I find it hard to understand, but then I just need to remember....they have more money than us. haha... It's fine I don't mind. Although I do think people think we have/make more money than we actually do.
Ok,,,don't know how I got off on that ramble, but what I was getting at is budgeting the money better,,, normally I pay the bills Friday online, then over the weekend try to get groceries that will last us close to the two weeks,, then with the money left we usually go out to eat or do something extra with the kids,, things like that.   This last week has been really tough,, we spent to much money the first week and we have been out of toilet paper for the last three days! (Don't worry,, we've been using Emma's babywipes,,:) ) Plus short on food, I've had to be creative with the meals the last couple of days. Yes there is money in the savings account, but I'm trying my hardest to not have to dig into that, and after last weekends trip to Ft.Wayne and our out to eat with the extra kid at a place we thought kids ate free and found out we were wrong, after we got the bill, i had already had to transfer money over to the checking account and I didnt want to do it again. So I waited until today when Ben got paid. Tonight I will go out and get some groceries and dog food---we ran outta that to but I have been feeding her leftovers and hot dogs so she hasnt been starving, and toilet paper! Woo Hoo. haha,, the thing I will not do is let us go out to eat tonight. I've decided that maybe we should wait til the second week when he doesnt get paid and if we really wanna go out then if there is extra money left we can.

Ive been trying to put one to two hundred extra dollars into savings for Florida every other week also and that has been working out. That is where part of our money is going. The resort is already paid for,, I think I have enough money in there for our tickets for the parks now, so now I need to concentrate on getting enough for spending money, gas, and food. I've got 2 in a half months left so I think its all gonna work out!

I was thinking, I've done pretty good getting the money for this trip. Now after the trip I can put all that same hard work and get the rest of the credit card bills paid off! Maybe that should be my goal for next year.....all credit cards paid off in one year! Think I can do it? We will see.

Final zoo trip

2010-09-26T13:38:00.000-04:00

We made our final trip to the zoo this year on Saturday. I had one of my childcare kids here so she got to go along too. She loved it. It was pretty chilly in the morning but once we got there the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. The childcare kiddos dad was so scared I would lose his kid, lol,, I told him I haven't managed to lose one yet. It was quiet crowded when we arrived . So I decided to try out the buddy system. I put Jess in charge of Emma and Gary in charge of Bree and said everyone was to stay with their buddies the whole time. Of course Ben and I were right there too.

Here is Emma and Gary all tangled up in the netting,

Emma finally got it to where she would pose for me,, the netting had to be just right.

Emma wanted to ride on the peacock this time,,

She just loves those goats.

Here is us around the fire pit..... since we purchased it we have been out there every single weekend night. This isn't a very good picture but you can see Ben roasting the marshmallows. We also had smoked sausages over the fire for our dinner. Its so nice sitting out there relaxing. The kids run around in the dark playing hide and seek and everything else they can think up.

Today were going to go to mom's house and their gonna ride the go kart. Emma has a serious need for speed already! Then were gonna watch the Colt's game! I'm not feeling to hot today,,kinda tired and just feeling bummed for some reason. Hopefully getting out will perk me up.

Pumpkin Picking

2010-09-24T14:48:00.000-04:00

We went pumpkin picking last night at Grandma's house! First we went to mom's and had dinner and then off to Granny's we went. Cousin Mira was there and the girls got along nicely!

Grandma planted pumpkins in her garden this year and the patch grew very nicely. It was just like picking pumpkins from the pumpkin patch but these were FREE! Woo HOO!

Isn't she just the cutest thing,, that's her cheese smile.

There's a story behind this picture... Emma wanted to carry the pumpkin to the car by herself but then said it was to heavy, so Mira said she would help. It was so cute they were both carrying it so nicely, so I grabbed the camera to shoot a pic but of course by the time I got it ready they were done wanting to carry it together so we tried to get them to pose but it didn't work out. :)

So now I've got a bunch of pumpkins and some corn stalk and a bale of straw and hopefully tonight I can get out and decorate the front lawn a little. I just love this time of year!

Carmel Apple Pork Chops

2010-09-21T12:31:00.003-04:00

This is what I made for dinner last night, Carmel Apple Porkchops,
They were super yummy and the whole family devoured them! I doubled the recipe so there would be enough.
I also made sour cream apple bars yesterday and here as soon as the kids lay down for a nap I'm gonna get to peeling and coring and cutting some apples to make applesauce in the crock pot!
I've been going through my cookbooks looking for apple recipes,,I'm thinking apple bread, apple muffins,, I really wanna try to make apple dumplings. I've found a few different recipes but was wondering if anyone has a tried and true one they would like to share with me.? Or any of your favorite apple recipes that you would like to share would be great!

An apple picking we will go

2010-09-20T10:26:00.005-04:00

We made our annual trip the the apple orchard Sunday. Such fun! I love going to that place. Here is Emma with the caterpillar she found right when we got there. My 3 lovely babies. If you look back through the archives you can see how much these little ones have grown over the last 3 years! We've went each year

Emma and Daddy, he was truly such a great sport there!

Daddy is very strong! He can lift Emma way up in the trees,

Mommy, not so much, haha,,,, there was a a family beside us that had a long tree picker thing so you can reach way up and get the good apples. They offered it to us but we said, no thanks, it's more fun to lift up the kids ourselves. :)

Emma is becoming more and more daddy's girl!

We were one week to early to get a hay ride to the pumpkin patch but they still had the wagon set up with lots of hay in it. Emma loved it, we could barely get her outta there.

A rare pic of us together

My sillys

So much fun!!!!! And now I've got loads of apples to do lots and lots with!

Use what you've got

2010-09-09T10:32:00.004-04:00

The other day we ran out of shower gel. It was the middle of the week so I was hoping to not have to run to the store so I decided to check the cabinets to see what we had. OH MY, I found lots of little trial sized shower gels. Jackpot! Then that got me thinking.......I wonder how many duplicates I have of some items. After looking around the house I decided I have a overabundance of things and I need to stop buying them until I actually run out of that particular item! Doing this will help me free up some space and save some money!

I took a little inventory of items and made out a list,, here it is:

Hygiene:
-lots of little sized shower gels,,,none bought buy me,,, most were given as gifts or just given to us by family not wanting them any more.
-lots of body lotion!
-3/4 gallon jug of hand soap refill, bought at Sam's Club

Laundry:
-around 2 cups homemade powder laundry det.
-1/2 full big bucket powdered Wind Fresh laundry det. from Sam's Club
3/4 container Wisk liquid laundry det.
-Big container Downey fabric softer, just recently bought from Sam's Club

Now I know what your thinking....who has 3 different open containers of laundry soap??? Well,,, me, lol, I have a little obsession with laundry and various smells and seeing how cheap I can go with it still working good. I love Tide but hate the price tag. I have had mixed results with the homemade soap. I think my main problem is it not having a smell to it,, that's the same thing with the super cheap WindFresh I bought from Sam's,, so I decided when I use the cheap-o soap I just need to use a good smelling fabric softener to be happy. I'm going to finish off all of these detergents and then try the liquid homemade version I think. :)

Air Fresheners:
1/4 bottle Febreze Downey Fabric Refresher
3/4 bottle Febreze Hawaiian Aloha air refresher
1/4 bottle Glade Cinnamon
*like I said,m I'm obsessed with smells

Cleaning Products:

Furniture Polish:
1/4 bottle Great Value polish
1/4 bottle orange glow almond polish
1/8 bottle Murphy's oil soap wood cleaner

Windex:
1/4 bottle

All purposecleaner:
1/2 bottle arm and hammer essentials

Toilet bowl cleaner:
1/2 bottle The Works

Bathroom/Tub cleaner:
-1and 1/2 bottles Comet
-Full Kaboom Foamtastic
-1/4 bottle soft scrub deep clean
-1/4 bottle the Works tub and shower cleaner
*that's a little embarrassing, lol, to my defense I am constantly trying new products because with Ben working at Dalton's the dirt and grim that comes off his body when he comes home and shower is disgusting and very hard on our bathtub!

And last but not least I have something from shaklee, its called Basic H . Almost a full bottle and u dilute it when you use it.. It would probably last me a year or more!!!

So as you can see I have a LOT! I am making a vow to not buy another one of these things until I am down to my last bottle and its empty! It might be awhile before I ever have to buy a cleaning product. so is this normal? Do you have a lot of cleaners around your house? Do you want to use it before you buy like me?

Our weekend and a marriage breakthrough

2010-09-08T12:52:00.003-04:00

We all had a very enjoyable weekend! No dunes trips though, even though the kids asked to go again. The weather was to chilly I thought for swimming in Lake Michigan. Saturday my Dad and Merry spent some time with the kids while Ben and I went golfing. It was very windy and cold and I had the worst day of golf in my life. It was still nice and fun to get out though. Then after dad's we stopped by mom's house. We call that killing 2 birds with one stone,,, getting our visiting done in one day. :)

Sunday we hung out around the house, I went grocery shopping at Alidi's and saw they had the fire pit we've been wanting for 2 years there. I called Ben and we decided to splurge and get it. Well worth it in my opinion. Sunday evening we got it going and ate smores, sat around the fire, drank and told stories from our youth. HaHa. Poor Gary got to hear all kinds of stories from when Ben was growing up and all the trouble him and his brothers used to get into. Jess missed out cause she spent the night at nana's house. We stayed out there til around eleven! Emma lasted til around ten then told me she was ready to go to sleep so I brang her in and put her into bed. It was great and I hope we can do it again this weekend!

Those are some pics from my phone. Remember my cameras broke :( :( :( I sure am missing it.

Monday was Labor day so both Ben and I had the day off! He got a lot accomplished. He fixed some air vents under the house, replaced some screens in the windows, and mowed the grass. All without me asking him too!

I've had a realization over the last week, and after following it our house has made a turn around! While I know as far as our marriage goes, I'm not the only problem,, but I was part of the problem. My husband feels hated by me and feels that I think everything he does is wrong. That's no good. Can you imagine feeling like that? NO wonder he has no desire to please me when he feels like its not going to matter to me anyhow. I did some research on being a wife and looked into some biblical scripture. I found this to be very helpful to me http://www.gotquestions.org/roles-husband-wife-family.html and this http://www.bibleriches.org/2002/marriage1.html#wife

I am making a concisence decision to be a submissive wife now. He is the leader of our household. I am a stay at home mom and he is the breadwinner. He should make the final decisions in matters. Don't get me wrong, if he is making a destructive decision you'd better believe I'll be stepping in, but for the most part he is the leader and I told him that this weekend. He needs to feel like "the man",, and he needs to feel loved and respected. That is just the way it is and as long as he's being a good father/husband/provider, then I will follow him. I am not a doormat, but I am his wife and it is my job to make him feel loved and respected.

Anywho....things have been going great since I've realized this.

Ben starts his bowling league tonight. I've got a whole chicken in the crockpot roasting,,, it smells so good! Then later this week we will have homemade chicken and noodles again! The family was very excited to hear that!

Our weekend and a menu plan

2010-08-30T08:34:00.004-04:00

We had a pretty lovely weekend. It sure went by way to fast! Saturday Ben worked a couple hours in the morning then went to a golf tournament. Mom invited us out to breakfast so the kids and I jumped on that offer, then we went up to the zoo with mom and Dave. It was fun. I'm so happy we purchased the zoo membership at the beginning of the season. We have defiantly got our moneys worth. I think we've been up there 5 times. The kids don't seem to get tired of it.

After the zoo the kids and I went shoe shopping. Jess said she needed a new pair of cleats for soccer and new soccer socks. She wanted certain shoes and I was so scared to see the price tag. First we went to PayLess and found a pair that fit her and was only 17.99! Of course they were only black and white and not really the ones she wanted. I told her we would go look at the other store but I wasn't promising anything. She found a pair she liked but they were 35. After much debating in my head I told her to ask if they had her size and if they did I was going to get them for her....I lucked out and everything was to big! So I asked her if she would like to go back to the other store and get that pair and she said yes! So back to payless we went,,, we got her cleats and Gary informed me that his shoes were coming apart... I said no way. He just got a pair not even a month ago. But I looked at them and the soles were barely connected ...ughhh.....luckly all shoes were buy one get one half off so he found a pair....then of course the baby Emma taken off her shoes in the store and trying on all the shoes while we were in there...she kept asking which ones she could get. Well,,, I'm a softy, and my own tennis shoes I've had for 2 or 3 years and every time I wear them they hurt me cause they are so worn out so I decided since the buy one get one sale I would buy myself a pair and get Emma one too. So four pairs of shoes later we were out of the store. I spent $64 in there,, but for 4 pairs of shoes I don't think that's too bad!

Sunday we went back up to the Dunes beach! We got to swim this time and it was so fun and relaxing! Again we only spent 5.00 to get in, and this time we didn't buy ice cream. We packed our lunch again. I LOVE it there and so does the rest of the family!

Because of the shoe purchase I'm skipping grocery shopping again this week. Seems like its pretty much been averaging about every other week around here. I spent a lot last weekend though on groceries so were not too low on much. I've got a menu plan layed out and you can see were still having plenty of yummy food with what's on hand...

-goulash with cornbread muffins
-deer steak, baked potatoes, corn
-roast with potatoes and carrots
-tater tot casserole
-easy Swiss steak with rice
-beef and noodles, mashed potatoes

Frugal Fake

2010-08-26T10:19:00.004-04:00

That's what I feel like. I big old frugal fake! I talk about saving money and making my own cleaners, saving at the grocery...and while I do a lot of those things, I feel like I screw up in so many other areas that I'm wasting my time with the other things.

Honestly, what difference does it make if I spend an hour making my own homemade laundry detergent to save a few bucks when the next day we go out to eat and spend $30.00? Does that make sense?

I feel like whats the point? I try so hard to scrimp and save and then it all gets blown in a matter of an hour. I am not blaming it all on others,,, I am to blame too. Last night we went out for ice cream when we had ice cream in the freezer. And I didn't even try to say no or talk anyone out of it. So I'm partly to blame to. But I realize the depth
of the situation now and if something doesn't change soon my family is going to be extremely disappointed come December. I have decided that I personally can do nothing about the way my family feels about money. I can argue and fight til my head falls off,,,,believe me I know, I've tried, but there is nothing I can say to change my husbands mind about saving money.

So there are only 2 options that I can see....

1. leave....since he is the major breadwinner and we have 3 kids, I can't really see how that would help my financial situation

or

2. do the best I can by myself,,,,be as frugal as possible by myself,,, put back every cent that I can and try my hardest to not let him talk me into taking it back out of savings. Be strong,, and keep positive about the situation, trying not to feel down or deprived.

And lead by example for my kids.

Obviously its number 2. Wish me luck.

Struggling

2010-08-26T08:43:00.002-04:00

I'm feeling very sad and alone. How is that possible really?? To feel all alone when your in a house full of people? When your laying in bed beside the one you've been with for 12 years? I feel like they are all against me. Well everyone but the 2 year old,, she loves me, and when she misbehaves I know its just cause she's 2. They say I'm always complaining about something, never happy(HA, I hate to say it but I'm not the one that's never happy!). Maybe I am in the wrong,, maybe I should just let the kids do whatever they want. Treat each other like crap. Mouth off to anyone and everyone including me. Sit back and watch the one I love poison his own body and drink away the pain every single night. Yeah,,,,, I guess I should just let them be.

Obviously I can't do that right? All I want is for our family to be a happy healthy loving family. I am trying so hard to teach my children right now about why its important to do certain things and why we need to treat each other with kindness and respect. I want them to understand that we are family and need to stand with each other,,,not against.

I don't know what to do. I'm so worn down from hearing that I need to just let things be and not worry about it. How much do I take? How long do I sit and watch as my family slowly disintegrates? Either way something bad is gonna happen.

Lots of stuff.....

2010-08-25T14:00:00.004-04:00

Oh my,, I can not believe its been over a week since I have blogged! Everyday I get a idea in my head of something to write about but then when I find the time to sit down and type the idea is lost,,, I need to start writing them down! Lots has happened since my last post..let's see...

Jess and Gary both tried out for the school soccer team.. Gary got cut after the first day of tryouts and Jess ended up making it. Talk about a hard situation. That was my worst fear when they both tried out and it happened. I actually think Gary handled it pretty well though. He was very bummed but he's gonna try out again next year and he will continue to play for the CCAC soccer league in the spring. Jess is very excited! It's a co-ed team and she is one of the only 2 girls! She's gonna have to be tough!

Saturday we had dentist appointments for the oldest 2 kiddos. NO cavities! WOOHOo! So now I owe them each $5.00, I made that deal a while ago with them that every time they came out with no cavities I would pay them because fillings are expensive and if I can give them a little incentive to brush well.....then that's still cheaper than paying to have extra dental work done.

After the dentist we went Sam's Club shopping and stocked up on a few things. Then went to Aldis for the rest of our groceries. I ended up spending 200 on groceries this week,,, but I hadn't been to the store in 2 weeks. Plus some things I got at Sam's club will last a long time. I was thinking of writing a post on Sam's club and what I get there,,,what I've found to be bargains,,anyone interested in that or not?

Sunday we went to the Indiana Sand Dunes!! It was sooo fun. Its about a hour and a half drive and its only $5.00 per car to get in. We packed our lunch. When we got there we found out the water was closed due to dangerous rip currants :( WE still were able to play along the shore line and get wet and splashed by the big waves though. It was fun,, even Ben sat there with the kids and let the waves crash on him. I could tell he really enjoyed it,, I think it reminded him of the ocean. WE also hiked up the big sand hills and buried each other in the sand. I took some pictures but not nearly as many as I'd hoped to because me camera broke while we were there. the lens wont go back in so I don't know if there is sand trapped in it or what but I'm lost without my camera. :(

I've got a chicken roasting in the crock pot right now and after its done I'm gonna debone it and were having chicken tacos for supper tonight, and tomorrow chicken and homemade noodles with mashed potatoes!! YUMMY!

First day of school 2010

2010-08-17T09:56:00.004-04:00

Today was the first day of the new school year. Our summer flew by so fast. The kids were both so excited to be going back and seeing their friends! Here they are in front of the closet for our picture that I take every year. And here's them getting on the bus. I asked Jess if we could go out and sit and watch while they were getting on the bus and she was like,,,"uuhhhhh....I guess. Emma probably wants to watch." I asked what the problem was and she said nothing,,,so then I asked if she would be embarrassed...after hesitating a little bit she said no. I told her we wouldn't go out if it bothered her but she said it was okay. This means its starting.......she's gonna be getting the attitude that its embarrassing to be seen with her family :( NNNOOOOOO!!! I even made sure I was up and showered and all pretty so I wasn't going out in my jammies, lol. OH well,, I guess its part of life.

I just can not believe Jess is a 6th grader this year and Gary is in 4th. Where has the time gone? They were just babies not to long ago. When I'm with my neighbor she has kids the same ages apart that Jess and Gary are,, their still little though, 3 and 1 1/2. I often find myself thinking back to when I was in that stage of life with Jess and Gary. They were so good with each other back then. I've matured and changed so much as a parent now. Sometimes I wish I could go back to then,, but I think my kids have turned out to be pretty good kids! I'm so proud of them!!

After the kids left I set up the girls with a tea party and got to work cleaning up the house.

They had so much fun! We will get back into our normal routine now here with learning time for the littles, and other things. I got my new chore system book for my b-day that I wanted.. I'm so excited but I think its gonna take a little time to set up. The book is called Managers of the Chores and its great. It goes into detail why having chores is a good thing for children and so much more. It doesn't even get into talking about the chore system until the end of the book and its a pretty long one. I think I will have a little trouble at first with the kids but once we get going its gonna be great!!

I've got so many emotions running through me right now! The first day of school is always so hard for me:( I don't even want to think about Emma going...ugh.

Carrot Love and turning 30

2010-08-12T10:34:00.003-04:00

I just had to share this picture of some carrots we got from our garden. Look, their hugging!! So cute! Today I"m making a roast with carrots and potatoes! Yummy. I'm also contemplating trying to make homemade noodles for beef and noodles tomorrow(made with the leftover roast meat). My neighbor has did the noodles a couple times now and says there so easy,, plus she let us have a taste test the other day and Emma likes them so much she cried when she couldn't have more, haha.

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 30!!! I have decided though that age is just a number and I don't feel any older than I did last week,, so who cares if I'm 30...I can still have fun with the rest of them. Jess says I'm way younger than most of her friend's parents,, there all like 40. Guess that's what happens when you start having kids at the young age of 18. :) I've learned so much in the last 10 years.....actually I'd say I've learned the most in the last couple of years. I wish I knew then what I know now, but oh well. I can't wait to see where were at in 10 more years. I had a great evening yesterday,, I was pampered by my family,, it was wonderful!!!! And Saturday Ben and I are having a night out alone!!!! We're staying in a hotel in Ft. Wayne,, doing dinner,, comedy club,, then going back to our room to soak in our whirlpool tub!!! I'm so excited!

Our weekend

2010-08-02T08:15:00.003-04:00

We had a nice quiet weekend. We didn't do much, grocery shopped and stayed home Saturday night, then Sunday we visited my mom for a little bit and picked up a bunch of green peppers and potatoes from Grandma's garden. Her garden is such a blessing to us! Free home grown food! My little garden has done ok, but the peppers just arnt growning for some reason,, and my garden isnt anything compaired to Grandma's 2 big ones! I am so thankful for my grandparents. They have taught me so much. They recently celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary! That is something to be proud of. My grandmother was only 15 when they got married. They didnt start out with much in life but they have worked hard and made a great life for themselves. I'm sure they went through some hard times but they stuck together and made it through.

I think people just starting out today have the mentality that they can live like their parents do now. What we all need to remember is they probably didn't start off that way. They have lived and worked a long time to accumulate what they have. It has taken me a long time to realize this and to get rid of the want it need it now attitude. I have learned over the years that many times when I think I need something if I just wait a little while I come to realize that I can live without it......good things come to those who wait! I am also learning that God will provide us with what we need,,,, and sometimes with even those things we want. We just need to learn to be patient. I have to remind myself of this constantly,, but I am learning to be a peace with my life. I just have to think positive.

The hardest thing about that is getting my family to get on board with that way of thinking. It amazes me that I can be married to a man that has such a different opinion. I love him to death, but he is never happy with the things we have. He has even told me as much. He thinks lots of money and lots of things is the only way to be happy. Nothing is ever enough. He says he will never be happy......he needs a boat,, a new car,,, new golf clubs. All of these material things. I have tried to help him realize that we are blessed with what we have and maybe one day we will have those things, but every time I fail and he gets upset. It is hard to live with a unhappy person. The kids have a hard time to not being able to get everything they want, but they are kids and that is to be expected. I remind them all that we do have and hope I can instill in them that money doesn't buy happiness. If you can't be happy on the inside no material thing will make you that way,,, maybe for a little while, but not in the long run.

I can only stick to my guns, and try not to be wasteful with our money. I do feel the need to give in sometimes, otherwise my life with my husband is completely miserable. For example, we are going golfing tonight,,,,but I am using a coupon,, buy one round get one free. I can feel we are saving some money and he still gets to golf. One day hopefully it will all sink in for him and he will feel inner peace.

Shots and thoughts

2010-07-28T13:28:00.003-04:00

I'm feeling very thankful today, thankful that I have such wonderful children! We went to the free shot clinic this morning because Jess needed some more shots before entering school this year. I had my 3 kids and the 4 yr old childcare little girl with me. It was packed,, lots of people waiting. We ended up being in there for an hour and fifteen minutes! Luckily my kids were great. They were either sitting nicely beside me or playing quietly with the little toy thing they had there. A few times Emma said she wanted to go home and she was hungry but it was nearing lunch time and I wanted to go home to., haha. Now some of the other kids in there were a different story. There was this one poor mom,, I felt bad for her. See, I try not to judge because all of us mothers have been there with a screaming kid acting up,, but it was kinda hard not to judge today. She had 3 kids with her, one about Jessies age,, another probably 5 and another little boy probably 2. the 2 year old was acting awful, screaming and carrying on. She had one of those monkey leashes on him and he was trying to run everywhere and she kept tugging on that thing and pulling him back. I felt bad for the little kid cause he had all these red marks on his neck and shoulders from her tugging on the leash. The kid didn't have any shoes on, his feet were black,, all of them wernt dressed very nice, the mother just kept screaming at all of them and the older ones weren't even doing anything. It really made me think. I try to tell myself that appearances don't mean much but in this case they did. I was just so thankful that my kids were being good,, but even if they wernt I think I would have handled it a little differently. I'm thanking God today for my great kids!

Life around here has been pretty normal with the exception of the latest news from my neighbor... Good news for her, bad news for me. I am so happy for her but will miss having her next door. It makes me sad cause I consider her one of my best friends and shes leaving me :( at least she's not going far,,,, hopefully, and we can still visit and talk sometimes. Who will I borrow eggs from though??? I'm just giving you a hard time neighbor ;;-) I am thrilled that you guys are able to get a bigger home. I think my real internal drama stems from the fact that I feel like we are never gonna be able to leave here. There is nothing wrong with this house, its in a nice location, looks cute, its just too small for our big family! And of course our dream is to get into the country. The reality is that we just can not afford a bigger house payment now without being totally strapped for cash and never being able to do anything extra. That's no fair for the kids and I know my husband wont stand for never doing anything extra. So unless by some miracle the perfect house falls into our lap with payments I can afford were staying here until Ben gets a raise or something like that happens. I'm trying to think in Dave Ramsey terms and not try to keep up with Joneses. One day it will happen and we will be able to move onto bigger better things..... I hope! I'll just keep my eyes on the prize and in the mean time try to do the best I can with what I have. I'm just waiting for the inner peace to come to me and tell my brain that it will happen someday.

Well there's laundry waiting for me so off I go..............

Chain o Lakes

2010-07-19T07:17:00.003-04:00

Spur of the moment Sunday we decided to go to Chain o Lakes, its one of our state parks. It was looking cloudy b4 we left but I had faith that the sun would come out and it did! This was Emma's first actual beach trip. She loved it. We took along some sand toys and all the kids had a blast!

She wasn't scared one bit of the water. Next time I think we'll take her arm floaties because she keep wanting to go further and further out in the water. She is so brave. I think her favorite thing to do was stand way back and then count to 3 and run as fast as she could into the water and jump in. She did it tons of times, it was so cute I caught a video of it.

My husband isnt really into swimming so he took along his fishing pole and fished while we swam. So he got to do his thing and we got to do ours. Everyone was happy! After we swam for about 2 hours we did some hiking. We walked to the playground, but that one was covered with bees, so we hiked through the woods and went to the campground. This was during what would normally be Emmas naptime. She was a tad grouchy and didnt wanna walk and was scared a bear was gonna get her in the woods, haha! But when we finally arrived at the campground we went to the campstore and got everyone a icecream. Then found a bigger better playground there with no bees. So we played for a while then made the walk back, this time with Emma riding on Ben's shoulders, she was much happier that way. We started hearing thunder on our way, Gary got a little scared. I just told him it was our grand adventure. :) We made it to the car just in time and drove home in a pretty big thunderstorm.

It really was a lot of fun. Ben said we could go back again sometime!! I put off my housework all weekend long,,,, so now I have to try to catch up with all the extra kids here this week. Oh well it was totally worth it just to hang out and have fun with the family!

Grocery shopping

2010-07-08T12:42:00.003-04:00

Well I'm down to two kids today, Emma and a childcare kid. Its been rather quiet,, you would think since their the little ones they would be the loud ones but apparently its the older ones that cause all the noise.lol So I decided to brave it out and take them to the grocery store this morning. Emma did a good job, but the other one...grrrrr.....she was running around acting like it was a dance marathon or something,,, I think I told her to come stand by my cart about 100 times! We did make it through though and I'm proud to say I stocked my cart with lots of fruits and veggies! I made the comment the other day to Ben that when I buy snacky junky stuff its gone in like 2 days and the healthy stuff I buy gets put in the fridge and forgotten. So he said stop buying the junk and just by the healthy stuff,, so that's what I did. I bought a LOT of fruit, here's the run down:
-watermelon
-cantaloupe
-blueberries
-sweet cherries
-bananas
-grapes
-peaches
-nectarines
All those were fresh, I also got some canned fruit. I bought some lettuce that I vow will not sit in my fridge and rot,,,that's what usually happens. I've got to get back on my healthy kick, I've been doing terrible lately!!

While changing Emma's stinky diaper today I told her that if she wanted to go to Disney World and see Mickey Mouse that she needed to start using the big potty and wearing big girl panties. I said Mickey Mouse doesn't like girls in diapers (I know, I know,,,, I shouldn't lie but I've got to get this girl outta diapers!!). Then she started talking about Disney and saying she was gonna give Mickey a high five and a big hug and not be scared of him. She went on and on and we talked about what all she would see there. She was getting very excited!

So guess who's not going to re do her kitchen this weekend.......I'm gonna bank the money,, I can't let my kids down, they have only been waiting 2 years for this Florida trip.

A Good Day

2010-07-07T13:30:00.003-04:00

Today has been a great day so far(accept for my massive headache). All the kiddos are getting along(Jess isn't here today), but the other 5 are doing great. The ten month old I've started watching has been all smiles today and has went down for both naps without a fight!! That's the best part, I was getting a little worried cause she's been having some trouble. The only thing I did different was put her playpen in Jessie's room instead of Gary's. Maybe she likes that room better, lol. Emma went down for her nap, thank God, because she hadn't napped in 3 days!

Tonight were taking Gary over to mom's to join Jess to visit with our cousins from North Carolina. He's so excited to see Spencer and learn some new soccer skills!

I've been debating in my head today over whether or not to do something. I've been wanting to redo our kitchen since we moved in 7 years ago. I just wanna paint the walls and put in new counter tops. Well I saw in the Maynard's flier that they have countertop on sale this week,, I did some measurements and we can do painting and countertops for less than 100 dollars I believe. Ben said we could do it,, but my dilemma is if I should spend the money now on that or bank it for the Florida trip. I'm so concerned lately that we will be short on money for our trip.....I don't know what to do! What do ya think?

Anyways that's what's on my mind today.

Phil Vassar - Just Another Day In Paradise

2010-07-06T13:02:00.002-04:00

We had a fabulous 4th of July holiday. I'm so thankful to live in this great country! Saturday morning Ben and I went golfing, it was so much fun! I just wish it wasn't so darn expensive,, were going to have to cut back our trips because we've got to get our Florida fund built up or were not gonna be able to go! :( After golf we came home and vegged out, then we went to watch fireworks at Winona Lake,, it was fun, Emma really enjoyed it.

Sunday we had a cookout at moms house with all the Bayles family. Ben and I challenged everyone to corn hole,, and did pretty well if I say so myself! Then afterwards we came home and watched some more fireworks from our back porch. Everyone around us was setting them off, it was nice to enjoy them without spending the money on them. :)

Monday morning Ben went fishing with my brother in law and Emma and I went out to moms and layed by them pool and swam. Then we came home, did some more vegging, then played corn hole once it cooled off a little. We defiantly get good use out of the corn hole game my step-dad made for us! I love long weekends!

So today is full of laundry, getting the house back in order,, all that good stuff. There is always some sort of household chore to be doing around here. My work is never done. But it is worth every minute. I'm so lucky to have 3 great kids. Jess is such a help, Gary is my little comedian, and Emma can always make me smile...no matter what,, even if I'm crying she will come up to me and hug me, tell me she loves me over and over and do anything to make me smile. I love that baby! My house is sometimes like a 3 ring circus,, very loud and crazy, but it is a household filled with LOVE! Have you ever heard the country song "just another day in paradise"? That sound describes my life to a T,,, I love it. Here's the video.

Garden Update-6-17-10

2010-06-17T12:38:00.002-04:00

Our garden is coming along very nicely! I love it, its so cute accept for the haggard fence around it, but without that I don't think we'd have these beautiful plants. Here's a picture of the whole thing, the peas have grown up over the fence, the broccoli and brussel sprout plants are wild and huge. I had to trim some of the leaves off last night because they were shading my tomato plants. You can see the carrots over on the far back right,, lots of green but we picked one out last night and the actual carrot was teeny tiny so I guess we'll have to wait a while before we can enjoy those. My pepper plants are still pretty small, hopefully they'll hit a growth spurt soon! Here you can see the tomato plant with its yellow blooms on it.

And my lovely broccoli!

And much to my surprise last night as I was sitting there admiring my garden I noticed all these pea plants on the vine!!!! I was so excited I screamed, lol, they should be ready to pick in a couple days!

Yes, you read that right,,, I do sit in a chair and stare at my garden, haha,,, guess that's the country coming out in me. I think I remember Grandma and Grandpa Baldridge sitting and looking at their garden also. Little things amuse me easily. :)

Update

2010-06-06T13:41:00.003-04:00

Well our soccer games are coming to a close for this season so I snapped a couple pics Saturday morning, here's Jess and the little man Gary.

The kids really do enjoy this sport, so that makes it worth dealing with the rain and thunderstorms I guess. :) I think they are both going to try out for the school team this fall,, I'm crossing my fingers that they make it!

Things have been going pretty great around here lately. Our Ohio trip last weekend was nice and relaxing, the kids are out of school for the summer now. I've picked up 2 more kids to babysit 3x a week. Live is good.

I am learning to be happy right where I am at, and not always wish for things I don't have. I am the one of the luckiest girls in the world with 3 great kids and a great husband. I have a nice home, great neighbors, great family. Who could ask for more. Don't get me wrong,, I still have my dreams of a bigger home, but that will come later with all of our hard work, and for the time being I am not going to spend it wishing for something else.

We are all getting soooo excited about our Disney trip! I finally found a schedule for next school year and it looks like we will be in Florida for Christmas,, that will be different, but were still excited. And next year,, maybe,,, just maybe, we might be in California spending Christmas with Ben's mom!! We will have to see what life brings and if Ben can get the courage to fly, but I'm thinking it might all work out! Exciting things are in store for the Keyes family!!!