Muddy Buddies

So while Peter was away I really tried hard to have some fun things planned for the kids.  I took them to the store and tried to explain to Noah we were going to cook in the kitchen and make a snack.  He was sort of excited but not really, he hates any time he has to go shopping, even Acme (similar to his father).  

Everything was going great, they each got a spoon, and were mixing ingredients. No fighting, no tears, we were golden.

Then I poured the cereal into bags, each with their own bag.  Then I soon realized that I needed to put the cereal back into the bowl in order to mix the chocolate goodness onto the chex.–MISTAKE #1

When I told them mommy needed to add chocolate, you would think they would be excited.  The moods were somewhat unexpected and sour.

You may ask how could a mother take a picture of their crying child.  I answer with it helps keep me sane.  When I can take a picture it helps me see it from other peoples perspectives.  That it is kind of funny that he would be so upset about me adding chocolate to his cereal.  His grammy would be proud!  

I used to get so upset when my kids wouldn’t enjoy something, or ruin something I had planned.  Now I just let it roll off my back (and snap a photo!).  Here they are finally enjoying their hard work!!  It was their first time cooking together with me.  I loved every minute of it!!!

We have been practicing smiling and saying cheese for the camera, if you didn’t already notice!!

Laying it all aside…

I have been without my husband for the week, and he comes back tomorrow to only leave again a day later for a youth group trip.  After 5 full days of single parenting, I am starting to look back on the effects.  We ate fast food for dinner three times (my mom would die if she read this–sorry mom!), the kids were only bathed three times- the pool counts right?, Noah went back to a diaper for 2 full days until I got my act together that it would hurt me in the long run to not encourage him to use the potty again.  

And although I tried to let some of the normal things go, there is still stuff you just have to do with a 3 yr. old  and a 1 1/2 year old.  Like 8 loads of laundry—- in one day, I had been saving up!  The oddest part of the day is the night.  When the kids go down around 7pm and its actually silent.  Now don’t get me wrong the first two nights the silence was like a slight taste of what heaven will be like—no need for excedrin tension headache ever!!  But then it started kicking in that I was just doing everything I needed to do, and not enjoying any of it.  How do you enjoy 8 loads of laundry?  I don’t think you can.  But back to my point, not having my hubby around made me forget that these five days I had with the kids are  gifts I can’t get back.  Every morning I get to see their faces and enjoy them for one more day, how many times do we take that for granted?  I want them to see me having fun, and I guess my husband has a good way of helping me neglect the things that can wait; dishes, laundry, cleaning….and just BE with the kids.  I want them to see that mommy loves them more than a freshly cleaned floor or an organized closet.    

As I look upon having another week of just the kids and I, I am setting a goal of doing a fun activity a day with them.  Tonight we had special movie night, we just really meant that we going to take all the pillows off the couches and lay a special blanket down, turn off all the lights, and watch a movie.  I let my son pick the movie-Cinderella, and tonight he asked me if he could be a princess!! (that’s another entry entirely).  

Through out the day I get so exhausted and tired that I forget their watching me.  Everything I do they see me and one day they will imitate it.  If I want them to imitate Christ, I have to imitate it first—to them!  I don’t know if we are ready for full on family nights but we can start small and work up!  I am encouraged by mothers who are able to lay everything aside and just have fun with their kids.  Thanks for the reminder, I needed it!  

 

Come home hun!! We all miss you!

Wonderful Day

Peter will make fun of me, but these were the types of days I dreamed about before I had kids.  Being a mom and getting to take your kids somewhere they have never been before and watching them experience it for the first time.    

Taking them to the Aquarium!

 

Some of our favorite creatures!

Then we got to walk around the river, and got a beautiful view of Philadelphia and the battleship!   I want everyone to be aware of the fact that we were the only parents who let their child get soaked from the fountain!  It was so hot out, and I knew I had extra clothes in the car.  He loved it, and it felt good to throw out the rules, and let him be a little boy!

Starting to like Acme

So after moving to PA, I realized that there was a huge supermarket difference from the Jersey Shore!  No Shoprites, at least in Doylestown.  I have been shopping at Acme, and am slightly pleased, however after todays experience we have moved our relationship from loathing to like.  No where near love, but like!  

I saw that Lawry’s marinade was on sale this week for 10 for $10, and at Acme I found out the hard way, but you do not have to buy ten.  I had a coupon for $1 off 2, which would make them .50 a piece.  Not bad when they are usually 2.50 a piece.  Anyhow, when I got there I saw a display at the end of the aisle and some of the bottles had coupons at the top, for a $1 off.  I took four off and went to the customer service to see if I could use them all in one purchase.  She said yes!  I in total bought 13, because I started to think people were staring, and figured I should share!  French’s spicy mustard was also on sale this week for a dollar, and with the recent coupons of a $1 off 2, I got 4 for 2$.  Not bad, my husband loves that stuff.

Total out of pocket $2.00 

Got- 13 bottles of Lawry’s marinade and four bottles of French’s Spicy Mustard

Total saved: $15.00, not including the sale price

…picture to come…i think our lil mac is on its last leg…its giving me so many problems!

Girls Sr High Bible Study

We had a breakfast for our Bible Study instead of our usual Wednesday night meeting.  We are working through, Lies Young Women Believe, and we have arrived at the chapter about boys and relationships.  Knowing this section would have lots of thought and questions, we had a little bit of a longer meeting planned!  

It was great, we gave the girls “Hope Boxes”, where they could put letters to their future husband, and other things.  We had they make a list of non-negotiable things they won’t sacrifice in a man.  It’s so fun being able to help the girls gain confidence in who God has made them to be!  Here are some pictures of our breakfast!  Love you girls!

 

Too Fast

I am daily being reminded that life is moving too fast, and the days that would never end will soon be missed. In the past month Noah has made some big transitions in his life. He is not nearly bothered by either of the two, while I am trying to wrap my mind around the idea that a child of mine is actually no longer a baby.

#1 He no longer sleeps in the crib we set up for him before he was even born! Peter looks so YOUNG!!

#2 He now sleeps in a big boy bed! Although I don’t know if he knows where to put his head.

#3 He is in the process of learning to go on the potty! Praise the Lord, with gas prices soaring we need to cut some spending, diapers would be amazing!

So there it is, before I know it he will be going to school, liking girls, and hopefully still going on the potty! Someone once told me that the days are so long, but the years are so short! So true!

Embarking on a new venture- Rite Aid

So a new Rite Aid opened up by us and was I found two coupons in a flyer, one for free lightbulbs and one for free motrin.  When I got to the store I realized that I could get four packages of light bulbs for free with one coupon, and two containers of motrin for free with one coupon.  
I also tried out the single check rebates that Rite Aid offers, and was able to get a lot of things for practically free.  After you claim your rebates on-line they say it takes 2-3 weeks to receive your check. Walking out the store I sort of felt like I was doing something wrong because my totals were just unbelievable.  

Paid out of pocket- $22.76

Rebates back- $21.16

Total for shopping trip= $1.60!!

Items Purchased:

Hershey’s Bliss Chocolate 2.99

Oral B Cross Action Toothbrush 3.19

Jane Be pure mineral makeup-5.99

Anti-Monkey Butt Powder- 5.99 (I know sounds wierd, but free! My husband got a kick out of it!)

G.U.M toothbrushes 2 pack- 2.00

AdvilPM- 3.99

5 pkgs. 4 count light bulbs- 1.50 each

4-24 count Motrin- 2.50 each

I have finally been able to quench my love of shopping, and not kill our budget at the same time!

 

 

M&M’s

I made another trip to CVS in hopes of using some extra care bucks, my goal was to virtually spend no money.  I read on another blog that there was an unadvertised deal with M&M’s.  If you bought 2 bags, you received $3 ECB back.  Now they were being advertised for buy one get one free, as well.  And with the purchase price of only $3.29 each.  I bought two bags for only $3.29, and received $3 in ECB’s back.  As I was leaving the store I looked at my receipt and tried to see what the limit was.  It didn’t say how many attempts I had left, so I took my $3 ECB and went back in to buy 2 more bags, this time using my $3 ECB I only had to pay .29 cents out of pocket for two bags of M&M’s.  

When I got to my car I started thinking what could I use M&M’s for?  Is it worth going back in, feeling a little silly and buying more until my limit is reached?  OF COURSE— I wish I had a picture to share of the cashiers face as I paid for 6 more bags, in three different transactions, each time ripping off the $3 ECB on the bottom of the new receipt.  I do though have a picture of my shopping   trip… with a grand total of $1.45 spent out of pocket!!  

Before heading home I did however need to come up with how to explain to my husband how we can use this excessive amount of chocolate……reward for son’s potty trips, secretary’s day is wed, friend sick in hospital, daily survival reward for self!!

 

Focus on YOUR family

So our church has just begun a new campaign, in which we are piloting a new program for Focus on the Family, called “Focus on YOUR family”.  Focus on the family is seeing a growing trend of kids walking away from their faith after growing up in a Christian home.  The campaign is centered around helping parents disciple their children, and not outsourcing it to other places, people, and religious institutions.  We actually got to go to Colorado and visit the campus and get trained to be family champions.  Not that I think we actually qualify to be called family champions because we are far from winning the war with our 2 year old.  Most days I think he is the champion, and I have been defeated by exhaustion, worry, and stress once again.

However, we are dubbed “family champions” and accept the challenge to teach those the skills we learned at Focus on the family training.  So many things come to mind but the quick thought I had for today is to be intentional about teaching your children things.  Make goals for the year of what you want your children to learn, and what your family can do together to grow closer to God.  Whether it be memorizing a verse a month, or if your children are little like ours, reading through a children’s bible in a year.  We decided this year to focus on teaching them how to pray, what it means to pray, and how to worship the Lord through music.  For our family we want to make it a point to have some type of outing together once a week.  It doesn’t have to cost money, like tomorrow we are visiting a couple who has a dairy farm.  Just being together and creating memories.  I seem to find that my son appreciates things more when its not a big deal, like going on a hike or to the park.  

I felt so blessed to have been able to go out to Colorado and get this training, because my husband and I are just starting down this journey or parenting.  We want to be intentional with our kids, and make sure that they understand the spiritual truths that are laid out in the scriptures.  It’s our job to teach them, not the churches, not their future Sunday school teachers or youth pastors.  Are we doing the job that God intended us to do? 

Unbelievable=CVS

I have stumbled somehow on to a immense supply of CVS blogs, and slowly started to become addicted to reading how these people are shopping at CVS and saving tons of money.  For a couple weeks, I was tempted but couldn’t believe it was actually possible to get things that cheap or even free.  CVS has a extra care buck (ecb), that they give out sometimes for certain products. It’s just like a gift card for the store.  Combining these ecb’s and coupons is how people get free stuff.  

So this week I was off to CVS with my coupons on hand, and CVS flyer, and began searching for my hidden deals.  I found that Excedrin was on sale for $1.99, even though there was no sign, only stated in the flyer, and that I had a $2.00 off coupon, and for every Excedrin you bought you got $1 ecb.  So all in all, after being allowed to get five, I received 5 bottles of Excedrin for $0, and got $5 in ecb back.  

CVS actually paid me to buy Excedrin!!! Unbelievable!  I am officially addicted to finding bargains, and am taking the belief that there is a coupon out there for everything, if you only look hard enough.   This new venture I have begun actually aligns well with our new frugal lifestyle.  I am still in shock, and if you came to my house you would see the receipt on my fridge!