Movie day

It is one of those days in OH. You know, the kind where it starts SNOWING...HARD...in MARCH (almost April). Yep, kinda yucky. Plus, we have been hauled up, stuck, stir crazy staying at home the past few days. So, we decided to go to a movie. I happened to have a few extra kids with me and so they came too. Rave cinemas was showing "Despicable Me" for free. We love the movie thearter, but we don't get to go very often. Even in the cheap seats 4-5 people gets expensive. FREE gets my attention. :)

I hadn't seen the movie yet, but my kiddos had. They love it and I think it is adorable. The only downfall I saw was that they say POOP a few times and my boys of course think this is hilarious to repeat. Other than that it was so much fun.

The one thing  I did think about was, "If only it were that easy to adopt!" Obviously this is a cartoon, but man. I wish my baby girl was ready for me to just go pick her up. :)

Rave also handed out some flyers announcing the summer film festival. I think we will be attending quite a few of these this year. My kiddos are finally old enough to sit through the movie happily. They don't have dates listed yet, but when they release the full schedule I will be sure to post it.

creation

We just finished the creation unit last week. I thought I'd share a few highlights. 

Each day we read from the Bible about what God created on each day. 

 Isaac had the job of cutting out our creation number and gluing it to a poster we made. Each boy colored a picture to represent what God created that day and we made a book out of the coloring sheets. 

On day five we made bird's nests with rice krispie treats and rice noodles. 

Each boy got a peep and some eggs. 

 They loved to eat their treats.

 Isaac has been working on cutting on the line. He is doing a very good job.

 Yes, I know his hair is out of control. He got it cut yesterday.

The boys were very excited to have the poster all finished. It is now hung up with our art work. :)

Getting organized...again

This week is the home school conference that I have been super excited about. I have been trying to prepare to make sure that I get the most out of my time there. Dan and I have been looking at which sessions we want to check out. We have our hotel room booked, and grandma is coming to watch the boys (woo hoo time with my man!) I am working on my final shopping list for the exhibit hall.

I am also working on getting my act together in our school area. If you have been reading for any amount of time you will know I organize, rearrange, and declutter our overflowing basement all the time. Now that we are officially going to be starting Kindergarten I feel like I really need to have the school side in serious shape.

We are using these side tables from IKEA as desks for the moment. We will hopefully be using some desks I had as a kid soon. For now it keeps them each happy and gives them their own work space.

These are our work bags. I am using the workboxes model, but we are going to start by using these hanging bags. For us this saves space since ours is so limited.

I have my Kindergarten My Father's World broken into weeks. Each week has a file folder that I can keep books, lap books and other activities in as I come across them.

Then I have a binder which holds all our worksheets. Each week is labeled and during my prep I will pull the week's sheets out and put them in each day's folders.

I am looking forward to getting all our curriculum figured out for this year, but it is fun trying to figure out what works best with what we have for now.

Tuesday School

Tonight was Tuesday school graduation day. Both Isaac and Asher went up with their classes and sang and put on a very nice show for all the mommies and daddies, and friends, and family. We love Tuesday school. It is a free program which is put on by Cross View Christian Church. They have a volunteer staff which helps put on a free preschool for the community. The boys have learned lots and have lots of fun. Each week they have music, recreation, art, and time in their assigned classes.

This is my big boy. He will be doing one more year of Tuesday school. Even though he will technically be in Kindergarten I still plan on sending him next year for a chance to experience a classroom setting and be instructed by other adults. He did so good tonight. He loved singing and dancing. He is so full of energy and joy. I love it.

My Bubba boy. He is growing up as well. He started learning his ABC's this year. He loved the puzzles and enjoyed it when it was his turn to be the line leader. He will be starting his second year next year.

If you live in the Dayton area and are interested in a free preschool for your kiddos. Tuesday school begins open registration on Tuesday March 29 from 9-11. If you can't make it then you can go to the church during business hours and fill out an application. They do run on a first come first serve basis so hurry as they fill up FAST!

Big time goals

Dan and I have been looking at some of the big stuff coming up in our lives and we have put in place a time line. We have always set some big goals for ourselves financially, but we have a few in place for the next few years.

1. Fund entire adoption before Dec 2011. God has been so good. We are more than 2/3 of the way there and that has been all GOD. We have been so blessed by the generosity of our family and friends. We have been putting away what we can, but our own is not nearly enough and God has blown us away time and again. We have never been short a payment and we know God has a plan for provision for the remaining portion.

2. Fund a three month emergency fund. We are slowly prodding along at this. We are close to a bare bones three month fund. Once we have that we will finish out a few other savings goals. We hope to at some point have 6 months to one year's worth of living expenses in the bank. For now, we have a few more goals to meet first.

3. Save a down payment for a house. We hope to have the first two goals finished up no later than December of this year. Then we will start to save for a new home. I have mentioned many times that we have some what grown out of our current home. With adding a new little one (hopefully sooner than later) we would love to be in a new home at some point. With the market like it is we know we may take a hit so we'd like to spend some time saving up a decent down payment for our next place. :)

Those are some of our big goals we have set for the next two years. We have a few small goals for the next few months as well. These are obviously not as huge, but with doing so much big savings we have to plan for some of these little things as well.

1. Isaac getting a bike. This is hopefully going to happen in the next two months.
2. Small Shed (or storage of some kind) to help with Garage clutter. Another goal I would love to see by early summer.  :)
3. Out side up keep. This may not seem like much and really it is more of a time investment, but all the little outside stuff adds up.
4. Home school curriculum. Yep, this is happening now. We are working to use as little money as possible, but wowsers, school costs money. :)

So, there you have it. These are a few of my family's financial goals. We can't do any of these with just us. We are totally dependent on God to provide, but we will work hard to be good stewards of that which he has provided. Even though we fail many times. Good thing we serve a God who loves us through all our imperfections. 

Any one else saving and working toward something big? I'd love to hear about it.

Freezer planning

It is that time again. My friend Tami and I will be doing another big freezer cook this weekend. Tonight we met at Starbucks (Oh, so yummy) and planned our menu. I thought I'd share some our plan. I will also plan on letting you know how it goes next weekend.

So far, here are the recipes we are planning.

Waffles
Corndog muffins
Chicken noodle soup
Turkey Meatloaf
Marinated Chicken breasts (x2)
Marinated Pork chops (x2)
Baked Ziti
Slow cooker tex mex chicken
Slow cooker sweet and sour chicken
Shepherd's pie
Chicken Ranchero over rice
Chicken Parmesan

I'm looking forward to a freezer full of meals again!

Peeing

Tonight I got home and Dan had put the boys to bed. I heard Asher whining a bit. I went up to check on him and asked if he wanted to go potty. I sent him in and slowly got up (Since I have a bum ankle at the moment). I heard him in the bathroom and it didn't sound right. I walk in to find him peeing on our bathroom vanity/cupboard! All over it and the floor and the kid's stool. UGH!

So try to stop and move him and he breaks into a delirious laughter. I know he is half asleep, and honestly it was a little funny. Dan came running up because he heard me yelling. He was about to get really mad at Asher until I told him he was basically still asleep. At that point we all started laughing and Asher went back into his bed. Ah, the joy of boys.

menu plan

Mon- Pasta alfredo Using the free cooking cream I got a coupon for in the mail.  :)
Tues- House church- potato salad
Wednesday- Tacos
Thursday- Stuffed shells
Friday- Pizza
Saturday- Freezer cooking
Sunday- youth Chicken stir fry.

Free socks!

 

You can get free infant/toddler socks at Target! Right now Target has coupons for $1 off any circo apparel or accessory. These little socks (which I love by the way) are priced at $1.  I don't know about you, but I can always use more kids socks. For some reason we can't seem to keep pairs together. :)

Another one bites the dust.

We are in a bad way over here. First my baby is hurt and has a cast. And now I felt the need to join him. So, Dan and I took a trip back home to IN this weekend. Dan had the opportunity to go to the Purdue game in Chicago with his dad. The kids and I went up north with him and took the chance to see the grandparents.

Saturday Dan and I were going to go walk the river walk alone, since Grandma was going to take the boys home to nap. We will take any chance we can to have a little time alone. Before we headed out though Dan wanted to check something out at his parents office. I got out of the car and in two steps trip in a hole in the parking lot.

A few hours later we finished up at the ER and I was off splinted and on crutches. So, now there are two gimps in our house. Hopefully my ankle will heal quickly, and we will be back to normal two legged status.

Stockpile prices

Moneysavingmom.com compiled a list here of her stockpile price for a lot of items. Most of these seem pretty close to what prices I see around here. I feel like her milk price may be high and her butter may be too low, but for the most part a lot of the prices she references sound very realistic.

I don't buy bagged chicken breast, but my price point for boneless skinless is $1.99 or less I really stock up at $1.79 or less.
Recently I have started buying bone in chicken for around $0.99/lb and cutting that off the bone. Cheaper and I use the bone to make soup. Yum.

My poor baby!

Yep, that's my baby. Yep, that's a cast. And, yep, I feel awful! 

On Monday a friend and I took our kids (7 total) to Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. We love that place. One of the attractions there is the huge playground going up three stories high in the middle of the building. Well, my youngest who has no fear thought he should go Wee down the slide. Before I could catch him he had jumped in. This would not be a big deal except that the slide leads to floor 1 and I was located on floor 2. Now, the other boys will just climb back up the net and so I just watch them from up top. Levi would take off and run. So of course I jumped in after him. Now he was doing just fine on his own until I caught up with him. 

I put him on my lap and down we went. Until the rubber on his shoe caught on the slide and his leg twisted under me. Yep, I broke my baby's leg...Shame! We took him to Urgent Care and they said he has a toddler fracture. Which means it is a really little break and he has to wear a cast for 3 weeks. YAY, a cast. :( 

So, there you have it. I am feeling like a really bad mommy. I know it isn't my fault, but I feel terrible. He is such a sweet little trooper through it all he still smiles most the time. I just love him. You better believe I will be keeping the adorable little cast and boot. It is so tiny. Ah, childhood. Ah, boys. Ah, nervous breakdowns.

A day in the life: St. Patrick's Day

 Happy St. Patrick's day! We are all in our green and everyone still has bed head as you can see.

 This morning we had breakfast and got dressed. Then we decided to make a green snack for the special occasion.

 The boys love to help "cook". JellO is always a hit since it is mostly pouring and stirring.

 Of course the big boys each got a turn.

 Once our snack was made it was on to reading some festive books. We went to the library yesterday to have a few special books for our day today.

 Of course we have had some play time. Asher loves to dress up!

 Isaac is having his Bible time before he starts his school work.

 And of course there are a few messes.

And that is our day so far.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures. :)

and break

In case you haven't noticed I haven't been posting a ton of awesome deals lately. Partially because I haven't been chasing many awesome deals lately. We have had a surplus in our pantry so I have been working to go through some of that. Also, with my freezer meals I haven't had to buy as many groceries. I am still sticking with our budget (actually I have been under budget the past few weeks). I have been trying to come up with creative ways to stretch home made food. We are trying to eat more whole foods and less processed food. Also, we are set for months on most personal hygiene products. With all that I have been taking a break from most couponing. Don't get me wrong. I still love a good deal. I have just been focusing more of my thoughts and energy on other things lately. Hopefully there will be some amazing sales here soon that blow my mind and get me back on track, but for now my brain is consumed more with Home schooling and adoption. I have a long to do list for Spring Cleaning (coming soon) and hopefully another freezer cook coming up in another week and a half.

My Father's world Day 1

Today we stayed home so I decided to go ahead and start the creation lessons for My Father's World.

Today we talked about day 1 of creation and that God created day and night. This week (and maybe some of next week) we will be learning what God created each day and making a book about it. Also, we have numbers that they are cutting out and gluing on a poster. To teach what was created each day.

Cutting is a skill we aren't great at because I don't love giving them scissors. That is something I am working on getting over.

After our Bible story every one worked on coloring a picture for the book they are making. They are really working hard to color in the lines. This is a big deal for my boys. Especially since we have some focusing issues.

All in all today went well. I will be working over the next few weeks to tweak a schedule and fit in all we are hoping to do each day. I'm hoping to have all our work done by lunch so we have our afternoons free. We will see what happens. :)

Happy in my mailbox

I love getting goodies in the mail! Today I got a coupon for a free Philadelphia cooking cream and a $10 gift card to Papa Murphy's! It is the little things that make me happy, I know, but it is nice that the few minutes I spend signing up online pays off later. :)

Just another day

Our Tuesdays are typically pretty busy. We have Tuesday school  and then plan a play date. We have House Church Tuesday nights and so in there some where there is making food for dinner and getting naps and cleaning done.

Today, however, Asher woke up and said he didn't feel good. I didn't think much of it, but I have been feeling somewhat rundown myself so the idea of skipping school sounded ok to me. Asher crawled in bed with me and we rested until he sat up and yelled "I need the puke pot". Then he threw up in my bed. Yep, gross.

After throwing up two more times he was parked on the couch in front of Franklin.

Well, that led to laundry. Since I am way behind anyhow I went to switch loads. Only to realize our dryer isn't working...again. The machine is really old and it may be time just to give in and get a new one. The nice thing is Dan had more overtime last two weeks than normal so we may have a little extra toward the really big purchase.  :( YAY for an emergency fund. For the moment my drying rack is working over time.

Even though we missed Tuesday school Isaac is still getting his school in today. He had his morning folder work and then we are starting working on creation from my father's world.  He is getting so big!

Then there is little man who is the tornado today. He is pulling toys out and dumping like crazy. NOT mommy's favorite thing. But he is cute while he does it.

So that is our morning so far. It can only go up from here, right? :)

Menu Plan Monday

 I was inspired by this post this week and thought I would try to see how many meals I can get out of 6 bone in chicken breasts. This article gives ideas for 5 meals. I bought three packs of two breasts so I went with 6. I love the ideas she had, but I tweeked the recipes to work for our family's taste and my weight watchers.  :) So here is what we are eating this week.


Monday- Chicken Marsala, Salad
Tuesday- House Church
Wednesday- Grilled Chicken and Avocado sandwiches, fruit salad
Thursday- Stir fry, rice, edamame, Asian vegetable soup
Friday- BBQ Chicken pizza
Saturday- Veggie soup
Sunday Eat out for night of worship

And the winner is...

The winner of the Kroger Gift card was # 33

Amber said...

i already followed you in my reader, but i officially followed in the side bar too :) Congratulations!!!

Kroger Gift Card Giveaway

Ah, Kroger, how I love thee. First off, I love that I live within walking distance. This makes it great for asking hubby to grab some milk on his way home. When I was growing up there was a Kroger across the street from the grocery we shopped at. I honestly never really had been to a Kroger until college. I went to school in central Indiana. There the Kroger family store is Payless. I seriously thought it was a shoe store for about a year every time I heard the name.

Then I moved to Lafayette, IN. I actually worked at a bank inside a Payless. That year I was there a lot, and I think I lived out of the deli. I love the fried chicken! So much yumminess! After we moved to our home in OH I started couponing. That is when I started to really fall in love with Kroger. They run some wicked awesome deals! Right now they are having their cart buster event. Many times when you match up sales with coupons you can make out like a bandit! I know I do often.  :)

One thing I love about Kroger is the whole foods section. They have a great selection of natural and organic food, supplements, and cleaners. But my favorite is the manager's special mark downs. We can usually get milk marked way down which makes this momma super happy.

Also, my Kroger doubles coupons up to a dollar every day. So you are sure to find some great deals in the ads and match up a coupon it gets even better and double the coupon and you are talking some great prices. Savingslifestyle.com does a great job with matching the sale ads with current coupons here.

Kroger family of stores along with General Mills/P&G/Nestle have offered a $25 gift card to Kroger for me to give away.  So you can take advantage of some of the great Cart Buster savings this week and through March 12.

Here's how to enter. Leave a comment for each entry and please include your email so that I can contact the winner.

1. Leave a comment and tell me why you shop at Kroger. 

2. Follow my blog and leave a comment letting me know you do. 

3. Post about this giveaway on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog and leave a comment letting me know you did so.

This giveaway will end March 5 at 3pm EST. A winner will be chosen at random and contacted via email.

*This giveaway and information was provided by provided by the Kroger Family of Stores and General Mills/Nestle/Proctor & Gamble through MyBlogSpark. I was provided a both a gift card for myself and to giveaway to my readers. All opinions are my own.  eneral 

1Mills/Nestle/P&G General M General Mills/Nestle/P&G ills/Nestle/P&G