Are you ready for Christmas?

I signed up for the email devotional for Advent through Bible gateway. Each day they send you a daily email with a devotional that focuses on Christmas and the Christmas season. This poem was in today's reading and it really struck a cord with me. I am guilty of forgetting what the true meaning of Christmas is especially in this season of my life with Mothering 5 kids 5 and under. I am so thankful for this little poem that reminded me what I should be focusing on not just in this season of advent but also all year long.

 

 

"Ready for Christmas," she said with a sigh
As she gave a last touch to the gifts piled high...
Then wearily sat for a moment AND READ
Til soon, very soon, she was nodding her head.
Then quietly spoke a voice in her dream,
"Ready for Christmas, what do you mean?"
She woke with a start and a cry of despair.
"There's so little time and I've still to prepare.
Oh, Father!  Forgive me, I see what You mean!
Yes, more than the giving of gifts and a tree. 
It's the heart swept clean that He wanted to see,
A heart that is free from bitterness and sin.
So be ready for Christmas - and ready for Him."

Merry Christmas!

Titus

Hopscotch Time Blue Birth Announcement

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View the entire collection of cards.

Happy Birthday Micah and Kerith

We celebrated Micah and Kerith's 2nd birthday this past week. Micah loved his basketball goal so much he missed his cupcake with candles. As you can see Kerith wasn't fond of her candles but she did love her gummy worm cupcake.

A littleTitus

Our newest addition:

Titus Matthew 7lbs 13oz 19 1/2 in.

More pics

Pumpkin Patch

Missing Jake...

We are in crisis mode this week. On Monday our dog Jake got out and hasn't been seen since. It has been tough more so for me than anyone. Jake was my baby, my companion, and protector. As much protection a 18lb small mutt can provide. We've contacted shelters, vets, police, neighbors, put up flyers and nothing. Our house is much to quiet without him. Pray he comes home.

Apple Picking Pictures

Sometimes you just need a break

I did not create a menu for this week *insert shock*. No instead my week or at least the past several days have been incredibly painful both physically and emotionally therefore I chose to take some time off and just wing dinner. Yesterday I had my 32 week appointment and the Dr said I was measuring slightly larger than normal. I am not sure if this is the cause of my pain or if it is just my bad back. Eric and I both got a kick out of the measuring large part because the name we have chosen for this little guy means "giant" so it fits well.
On Saturday we did take the kids Apple picking.  I must say fresh produce is SO SO SO much better than the store bought stuff. I am so thankful I live close enough to a place we can pick our own apples, peaches, berries etc. We made homemade applesauce with some of the apples we picked which the kids love!

Grace has had quite the week with getting to take home her classroom monkey named Maxwell. He is sort of like a flat Stanley so we got to do many things with him this week and write about them in a journal. Her class also had their first good behavior party day so today she got to wear her pajamas to school! She is loving Kindergarten and eating up everything she is learning. Jonah keeps asking when it is his turn. He can't wait to go but I must say one child at a time is all I can take right now. They grow up entirely to fast.

Menu Planning and Meal Planning Monday

I've been working on our grocery budget again by reading Family Feasts for $75 a week. I must say there are some really good tips in the book besides the normal coupon tips you see or read about. I especially found her break down of meat costs and canned items helpful. My favorite tip so far has been buying the bagged beans instead of canned and freezing them, something I would of never thought of on my own. She even has a tip in there about cooking them in your crockpot in which I have utilized all week long and got really excited when shopping at Super wal-mart and found 1 lb of beans on clearance for .60 cents which is about equivalent to 10 cents a can. Beans are a staple in our house we use beans in pretty much everything from soup, chili, to casseroles. It's the Texan in me and the love of Mexican and Tex-Mex food.

So this week's Menu-

Tonight-Bringing the Enchiladas over from last week.
Tuesday-Tuna Casserole
Wednesday- Roast in Crockpot
Thursday- Veggie Soup with the leftover Roast
Friday- Leftovers(maybe)
Saturday- Homemade Pizza Night

The Lady at Red Lobster

A few months ago can't remember exactly when it was June/July maybe our Pastor during his sermon challenged us by asking us to come to the front of the Church and take an envelope with us. We were asked to put our name, Church and the sentence "Jesus loves you" on the front of the envelope. There was a certain amount of cash in each envelope and we were to give it to a person who we didn't know by asking the Holy Spirit to lead us. Now if you know me well you know how hard it was not to give it to the first person in need that I heard about or saw and honestly I was fully expecting to hand my envelope off to someone on the street who was homeless or needing some help never did I except to hand my envelope off to the lady who was waiting our table at my birthday lunch. It was just Eric and I out for my birthday lunch, we were seated and it took a while for our server to come over. When she finally approached us I could tell she was very pregnant and as I looked her in the eye I could just sense something was troubling her and all the sudden the envelope that was handed to me some months ago came to mind. It had been sitting in my wallet since the Sunday I received it, I had pulled it out a time or two thinking I would give it away on this day but it never happened.
I told Eric "I think I am suppose to give my envelope to our waitress but how do I do it?" I thought I could leave it on the table with the tip but felt that God was leading me to actually hand her the envelope and say something. So as she was handing our check to us I asked if I could give her something and told her about how our Pastor challenged us to find people to give these envelopes to and felt that the Lord was telling me she needed it. Her first statement was please tell me there is a check inside, I am six weeks away from giving birth and don't know what I am going to do. It was just the Lord working he knew her needs I didn't, I just followed the leading and let God do the rest. Her whole countenance changed after I handed her the envelope and spoke to her. It was a perfectly orchestrated happening. Who knew my homeless guy I pictured giving my envelope to would turn into a very pregnant lady working at Red Lobster? God did.

BBQ and Birthday Week-Meal Plan

BBQ and Birthday Week September 5th-11th

Monday-Pork Steaks and Brats
Tuesday- Smoked Meat of some sort
Wednesday- Leftovers
Thursday- Egg Sandwiches and Funnel Cake
Friday- Birthday Lunch with Eric(Leftovers from Red Lobster!)
Saturday-Cheese Enchiladas and Cinnamon Rolls for my Birthday! Eric cooks them I just enjoy them isn't he a sweetie?

So thankful for Fall

This morning is absolutely beautiful weather wise. Right now as I type I have a 21 month old and a 3 year old throwing fits because they don't want the windows open. Yes my kids are strange.

 I live for this time of year, it wasn't always the case because growing up in central Texas there weren't the seasonal changes like here. No Fall colors, no cooler crisp air that I remember anyway, no pumpkin patches, no apple picking, boy did I miss out or what? Since moving from Texas to Illinois 3 weeks after I married finding the good in Illinois has been tough especially when family and friends were left behind and for those that know me know how close I am to my family and how the move has been. Thankfully the Lord has given me Fall and yes Winter too. I love everything about Fall well except for the gross costumes and decorations around Halloween those are just well yuck. For me Fall rejuvenates me. It reminds me of my Creator and how much he loves me.

 It has been eight years since our move and how I would love to say my discontentment is all gone but it is something I still struggle with from day to day. I still dislike a lot of things about Illinois and living far away from family but I am so thankful that God moved us to a place where I can anticipate Fall each year. One of my favorite new things to do is to go Apple picking on my birthday. It is just another reminder that Yes God does know what he is doing although at times I still question his ways but that is another post.

Slacking Off..Not really.

This whole having a child in school has completely made me rearrange my schedule. Grace is going to a Christian school which takes between 30-35 minutes one way to get there. So basically I've been loading the gang into the car which in itself takes about 10 minutes, picking her up, driving home, and starting dinner. By the time everything is done I haven't had the energy to do much at all.

We strayed off our menu last week due to several things I forgot such as Grace's open house at school. We will get everything on track by the end of the year. Budget wise we are doing well a very positive thing.

I had my 28 week check up last week. Everything with the baby is fine. Still scheduled for a November 11th c-section if I make it that long. I am shooting for October :D

Meal Planning Monday

My Goal Keep my meals $10 or under for my family of 6.

M-Grilled BBQ Chicken
T- Mexican Meatloaf-Mix provided by Taste of Gourmet
W- Grocery Shopping Day will pick up a Rotisserie Chicken
TH- Homemade Corn Dogs from Allrecipes.com I couldn't figure out what to do with all my stockpile of hotdogs then it occurred to me to make homemade corn dogs
F- Zesty Slow Cooker BBQ beef from $5dinners

Ads come out today so I will busy planning my grocery list :D

A couple of Budget Helpers

First City Deals-I was able to score a Subway gift card $10 value for $5 this morning with free shipping. Looks like it is something worth signing up for to get additional deals even though today's Subway deal is sold out :(.

Get 25 Mac N Cheese recipes for Liking Gooseberry Patch on Facebook. I have always been addicted to Gooseberry cookbooks so anything free and helps me meal plan is worth sharing.

Dinner at our house!

A few pics of our dinner menu from last week.

Monday's Pantry put together. Not the greatest picture but anyway.

Our Sierra Turkey Knock from Panera(AKA St. Louis Bread Co.)

Chicken Enchilada Suizas from the Food Network

here she is Miss America

Grace's first day of Kindergarten was today. I forgot the camera, BAD Mom! But I did make her pose for a picture after picking her up.

Meal Planning Monday

Last week we did awesome on our meal plan this week it looks to be even better. We stayed on track and on budget.
My goal for my family of 6 is $10 a meal or less which leads to $50 a week if all goes well(for dinner). I am not sure I will ever get to the point of spending less than a hundred a month like some women do but I am doing the best I know how with the time I have so budgeting $100 in a two week span seems about right for us. I do not include diapers and wipe in that budget this is my food only budget.

here is this weeks meal plan.

M-Hamburgers and Hotdogs on the grill

T- Angel Hair pasta with zucchini

W-Salmon Cakes

Th-Skillet Tacos

F-Beef Cheese Noodle Bake

Meal Planning Monday

9 Monday
Chicken Enchilada
Casserole

10 Tuesday
Dominican Rice
and Beans – $5
Dinner Challenge

11 Wednesday
Turkey Panini
Apple Walnut
Salad

12 Thursday
Chicken
Enchiladas Suizas

13 Friday
Zucchini Pineapple
Bread
leftover night

14 Saturday
Teriyaki Chicken
Kebabs

15 Subway Sunday

Meal Planning sort of.

Oh the cravings this week! Will have to come back and edit when I get a hold of this weeks ads.

Turkey Sandwiches with Chipotle Mayo. I gonna try to copy Panera's and get some of that Asagio Cheese.
Served with Apple Walnut Salad

Chicken Enchiladas-Recipe from Food Network magazine maybe.

Beans and Rice-?

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

Vacation Part 2

After our first day hitting Silver Dollar City we went to another theme park this one was a water park. Another hot day but it was made better by the pool and water slides.

Grace Lounging eating a quick snack.

Kerith loved the water. I think she will be a natural swimmer.

The pictures really highlight our water park visit.

A few highlights from vacation! part one

We had a fabulous time in Branson despite the record breaking heat. I mean I am from Texas I know heat but there is something about the heat of the midwest that is worse I think it has something to do with the wind. Usually in the part of Texas I am from there is a breeze or wind not here we were lucky if we had a breeze in the 90 + degree temps and heat index of 105-110f.

Grace and Jonah even rode their first roller coaster.

Jonah looks like he is terrified and it was enough that he didn't go on any more rides except for the train. I don't think he will be the amusement park type. Grace on the other hand loved it. She went on every ride there could be with her Daddy of course. Mom, Kerith and Micah sat on the sidelines and watched.

I love Swagbucks!

Oh how I love swagbucks. I admit I was a skeptic at first but that is nothing new right I tend to always be the skeptic. However I am so glad I took the plunge and joined and downloaded the toolbar. I earned $15 worth of Amazon gift cards just this month and just turned them in for two books on canning and preserving that I have been wanting in order to help me preserve our garden veggies. You also get swagbucks for people that sign up under you. But the real meat comes from the toolbar and searching for various things. It takes 450 swagbucks to earn a $5 Amazon e-gift card which is just a code you can use at checkout when you shop thru amazon.com.

Here is my referral link if you want to check it out! I think you will be happy you did :D

Getting Ready for Vacation

Laundry, Laundry Laundry...Packing,Packing,Packing yes all the things one must do to get ready for vacation. I never really knew what my Mother meant by vacation is a lot of work until recently. Packing for a family of 6, getting 3 dogs to the sitter, making sure all Stone Street orders are out, etc etc etc. I do lead a crazy busy life but it is all worth it. I know the kids will squeal with excitement once they see Silver Dollar City and White Water, this makes all the packing, laundry, last minute errands worth it. Tomorrow will be an exciting adventure and lots of family memories will be made. It will be such a happy time!

It's a...

Boy! We found out on July first that our next addition is a boy. We weren't going to find out but he made it fairly obvious. No name set although we do have some ideas :)
It has been a really rough pregnancy but praise the Lord it has been a healthy one so far.

Book Challenge Update

Remember the Book Challenge I posted back in January? The Challenge was to read 24 Historical Romance in a year. I started out really well but like my blogging March, April and May went by the wayside. However I am back in the game and started my 7th book this week.

So far it is a pretty good read. Vikie McDonough is a new Author to me and so far I really like her style.

I have my next few books lined up but am REALLY excited about Julie Lessmen's new one releasing August 1st.

Homemade Tote Give Away

You guys know I don't sew, I can't sew but I admire those that do sew and come up with creations of all sorts.

I have a friend on PAI(Parenting After Infertility) who this cute tote and is giving it away! I love handcrafted and homemade products and I love them even more when they are free.

So get on over to Tammy's blog and leave a comment to enter!

Null and Void

I have struggled a lot with loneliness since our move to Illinois almost eight years ago.
It was around that time I married, left Texas with my husband and moved to Illinois and since I have yet to find a girlfriend to do things with. I miss it a great deal, the movies, the pedicures, the hanging out, the go to girl when I need to vent etc. Don't get me wrong I have friends here in Illinois just not the girlfriend, intimate, type I desire. It makes me sad and sometimes mad.
This week as I was praying about it God brought something to mind that I thought was interesting. The fact that I have always longed for the one thing missing in my life and admittedly thought that "if I could just have that it would complete me". When I was single it was a husband, when I was married it was children, and now that I have both husband and children I desire the friendships that God had given me when a husband and children weren't a part of my life. I took two truths away and tucked them inside 1) My relationship with God is what completes me. I think that because there has always been a void of some sort in my life I need to remember HE is the ONE who fills that void whether it be my desire for an intimate friendship, my desire for a husband, my desire for children. 2) My desire for Christ should be just as strong if not more than those desires of my heart.
The best part of it all Christ is my best friend and I am thankful for that.

Ready set find Kroger!

Well we had a little family adventure last night that took us to another town about the size of the one we live in around 3200. Our goal was to check out the Kroger there because they have an awesome coupon policy at Kroger and well I need a grocery store with an awesome coupon policy. The Kroger there was small still we went in and got our Kroger card and then I used the GPS on my cell phone to find other Krogers in the area and found there was another one another 30 minutes down the road with a pharmacy and bakery so we figured it would be larger and it was even with a Gas station! So then the quest to find out their coupon policy began. Rumor had it they doubled coupons up to .50cents and stacked coupons which means you can use a Kroger store coupon with a manufacturer coupon for additional savings. I quickly became aware that the people who work in stores really have no idea what a coupon policy is. I couldn't find a manager to ask and the store was busy so we decided to leave and I'd call them later. We had just stopped by the bathrooms for our pit stop for the hour and 10 minute drive back home but when we got to the van Grace needed to go potty again, it is a kid thing right? So Eric took her in the store again and on his way out he saw the manager stacking water cases and asked the coupon policy for the store. I was so proud! I mean a lot of men would not even consider taking their wife and children to find a store 60 miles away let a long be caught dead asking what their coupon policy was. He found out they double up to .50 1 coupon per item, and accept internet coupons! Score! Around these parts I drive 30 minutes as it is to the nearest Walmart or local grocery store so what is an extra 30 minutes for stacking and double coupons in order to save money for my family. My only problem was I left my coupon binder on my bed at home so we didn't buy anything and I could of gotten some Angel Soft toilet paper FREE :( lol We did enjoy a nice small dinner at Taco Bell and the kids enjoyed the ride and Eric treated us to some frozen cokes at the gas station so it turned out to be some pretty fun family time despite the lack of FREE TP.

Couponing

Yesterday I went into a store to buy cereal at a great price for us. It is so easy for me to impulse buy, I struggle in that area a lot but was happy that I went in the store got my cereal went straight to checkout and only came out with what I had intended to buy :D and this pay period I have saved my family $106 with coupons plus earned another $30 in Target gift cards my husband is very happy I am feeling up to couponing because the last few months of sickness have made our grocery bill crazy!

Wiping the dust off this thing

So much has happened in the last 3 months the biggest is we found out we are expecting again. This news caught us off guard big time back in March but after three months things are finally starting to feel a sense of normal.
We also started finishing our basement the end of March that has led to complete chaos and one busy husband.

My second year garden went in around the second week of April so far the peas and green beans have been successful and from the looks of it the squash and tomatoes will soon follow. The cantaloupe and cucumbers are still in question.

Hairbows for Grace

Hair Barrettes with my beautiful daughter as my model :)
I used the Big Shot and some calico fabric from Joann's(it seems to be my favorite store lately!) Ribbon and Button from SU! and the blue and white polkadot came from the Hair Bow Center I also got my hardware from the Hairbow center as well(prompt shipping BTW) I must say I love how this turned out!

Building a house

After almost two years of living in our new home they are finally building a house next to us. I do not look forward to the noise, mud, dirt, dust that will be flung our way. Out my window now I can see a pile of dirt! I knew the time would come but had hoped it would be really late in the neighborhood development like the last house built. On the brighter side I do plan to help myself to the dirt and add it to my garden think of all the things you could do with all that dirt!

Stinky me

I totally stink at keeping up with the 365 challenge. My new addiction is stamping and card making. I LOVE it almost if not just as much as soap making! I must confess it has been a while since I have been in touch with my creative, artistic side. All I need is a piano and then I will be set. As I sit here and type this the kids are at school and I am waiting impatiently for the UPS man to drop off my Ippity Stamps. I am SO excited about Ippity, hopefully the Brown Truck will show up any moment and I can get started.

Number 9

Number 9 is a little backwards because the extra page didn't work out.