From sick day...

 To silliness

 Just waking up

 That tongue

Cute big boys doing school.

Let's give em something to blog about

What do you do when the same old and mundane becomes too boring to even blog about. Don't get me wrong. I'm not BORED. Far from it, but my time has been spent mostly doing mom stuff at home with few stories to share. So, if you have just been curious what we have had going on here. Here is a list:

Working on school- which feels like it is taking much longer each day than it should.

Keeping the house clean- pretty impossible at this point as well. So, as long as my laundry is done and my main level is picked up I deal with the craziness that is my house and hope to clean the play room tomorrow. (or the next day)

Bubba finished Tuesday school today. I'm so relieved to not have to do the drive each week. I know that sounds lame, but with now five kids it is a haul to run out there to drop him off.

Had a stomach bug work its way through our house.

Disinfecting from said stomach bug.

Playing at parks since the weather has been amazing!

Loving my flowers, but sad that they won't last long.

House church, Awana, The Door, meeting with friends has consumed our evenings. We love that.

Prepping for my sis-in- law's Bridal shower. I can't believe she is getting married in less than two months. She was just in elementary school when Dan and I started dating. ( A tear)

Lots of busy fun around here, but I guess I just haven't done a great job of blogging about much of it. What have you been up to the past few weeks?

Just another manic Monday

Today, I woke up at 5:40 to go to the Y. I didn't want to get up. It's times like those when I am thankful for my exercise buddy because without her I'd have stayed in bed. But I got up and went, worked out, hurried home to shower and get ready. I had a dentist appointment today. It was my first ever crown. YUCK!

So, thankfully my neighbor took my two youngest for me. I took the two older boys and their 3DSs. Once the dentist got in my mouth she decided it was best to do a root canal. Wonderful. So, there went my morning. I am so so so thankful that my friend was willing to keep the boys a lot longer than expected. She even walked them down to McDonalds and bought them happy meals. She rocks!

Also, since I ended up needing a root canal I had to switch to a different doc halfway through. Fun thing about that is my close friend is his assistant. So, she got to stab me with a needle and mock me while my mouth was pried open and I couldn't defend myself. Ah, true friendship. I'm pretty sure she even took some pics with her magic phone while I wasn't looking.

Now I'm home. I'm supposed to take IBprofen. But I need to take it with food. I'm hungry, but I can't feel my mouth. At ALL. I will admit. I am really glad no one is here to watch me trying to eat soup and ice cream with one side of my mouth. I look very special with drool.

All the boys are resting. We will get minimal school done, and I'm ok with that because honestly, I feel like I got sucker punched in the jaw.  I have a feeling I will be eating soup and mashed potatoes for the next couple of days.  Oh yes, it's Monday.

Productive Saturday

This morning Tami and I did a mini breakfast cook. It was great to take some time to make lots of breakfast goodies in our freezer. Here is our list:

Mini Fritatas

Banana Chocolate Chip muffins

Waffles

Breakfast cookies

Super short list, but we had lots of everything and it was nice to focus on our baked items that we don't usually get to do. 

Then Tami convinced me to do a Jillian Micheals kick boxing DVD with her. OK. Work out. Check. 

When I got home I was already sweaty and yucky so I decided to go for it and mow the lawn. After I got that mowed I went ahead and spread some seed in the front yard. It is starting to look a little sparse. 

Now tomorrow I just have to work on a few chores in the house and I can relax. I love a productive Saturday. Now, it's time to head to our gathering service!

Green day

 Today we decided to go green. That meant green eggs...

 And green snacks like green Jello, green peppers, pea pods, celery, and watergate salad.

Tomorrow I will be freezer cooking so we won't get to do may fun St. Pat's day things so I am sort of celebrating today. I will still wear green tomorrow though!

Pooh

I'm going to admit something to you that may sound awful. There is a childhood icon that I think most American children grow up loving. He is in so many nurseries across this great land. My friends had stuffed versions of him growing up and kids I baby sat were obsessed. But, I could have cared less.

I am talking about Winnie the Pooh. I just never got into him. I don't have anything against the beloved stuffed animal. I was just always bored by the cartoons. Then when I found out I was pregnant with Isaac he was everywhere. Every baby aisle was  filled with Pooh. I just never got into it.

Well, the time has come, and Winnie the Pooh is now something my curriculum asks me to read to my  kids. My kids love it. I nearly fall asleep every time I open the book. Oh, the joys, of homeschool. I rarely dislike any of the stuff we do. In fact, most of the time I LOVE  all the fun school we get to do. So there you have it. My boredom with the silly ole bear has come back to haunt me.

New schedule

Today I have the privilege to start watching some of our friends kiddos. It is going to be nice because their little boy is the same age as Isaac. That means they are having fun doing school and playing together. The other nice thing is that it will cause us to be more disciplined. The kids will arrive at 6:30 so that means we have to get our butts up!

I will admit it. I am not a disciplined person. I may need a good reason. So, here it is, a reason. I am so not a morning person. I love to be up at night, but I really want to be a morning person. I'm hoping that being forced to get up early will also force me to learn to go to bed on time. Let's see how it goes.  :)

Aren't they cute all doing their school work. Don't mind the mess. :)

Project grocery budget

I have to admit. I have gotten lazy as of late with our grocery budget. With sales and coupons not being what they used to be I have been doing a poor job with saving. And we have been trying to eat healthier which is much more expensive. Add that to the fact that grocery prices seem to have skyrocketed as of late and our grocery costs have more than doubled!

So, what's a mom to do? I have a plan. You see before I started couponing I was still on a strict budget. When we were first married I was working two jobs and Dan was finishing school. I decided that my best money saving tool was to stay out of the stores. I may not be able to control the cost, but if I stay out of the store I won't buy as many impulse buys. So, I'm hoping to only go to the grocery every other week unless I run out of milk or eggs.

I am still menu planning and freezer cooking which saves time, money, and sanity. This month I am going to try to menu plan mostly from what I have on hand here at home. I'm hoping to do a better job planning out lunches and breakfasts as well.

We live really close to a grocery store. As long as it is nice out I'm planning to walk to the store for my "quick trips". If I know I only need milk, eggs, and bananas then I'm much more likely not to over buy if I know I have to carry it all home. Plus, it is saving on gas (which is a whole different budget issue).

Of course, I will still coupon and stockpile. I will shop the sale ads as always. I will just try to be smarter than I have been. I have allowed the rising costs to be an excuse for not following my budget, but I have to be more disciplined.

How about you? How are you saving with rising costs? Any tips for me?

Dentist visit

Today we went in for the boy's dental check ups and cleaning. Every one has healthy teeth with no cavities! As a momma, I am always nervous that one or all of my kiddos will have something wrong and I will feel crazy guilty for not doing enough. However, Both my big boys have an overbite, and crowded teeth. Translation, start saving lady, the orthodontist is going to rip your bank account a new one. Ah, the joy of children.

It was amazing to me though the difference six months makes. Last time we went Little Man was terrified. He screamed and kicked. He didn't get his teeth cleaned and the dentist had to hold him down to look. This time he jumped right up in the seat and sat perfectly. He opened wide, and he proudly displayed all his pearly whites. He is also very proud of all his loot. A Diego toothbrush, flouride free toothpaste, an Elmo sticker, and a bouncy ball all came home in a bag. A bag which my precious two year old has not put down all day. It even napped with him. He makes me laugh. I love how excited the little things, like a new tooth brush make my kids.

Next week is Hubby and my appointments. I know that I am not cavity free. I will be singing the sad song next week after hearing how much work I will need done. I had great teeth until pregnancy. Now they are awful. The things we mommas go through for our little ones. :)