Projects, Lists, and Some other stuff

We are on the upswing of BoogerFest #2,581 of this winter. I'm so very grateful that this one seems to be passing in a little over a week and not a month or more like some of the other happy illnesses that have entered through our doors this season. So today we've been home and open for fun projects since we don't feel like passing our 'winter love' onto others just yet. 

I finally got started on a project that has been brewing in my mind for about oh six months. You see I found these really cute "little sister, big sister, biggest sister" shirts on etsy.com and really wanted to get them. I however was not willing to pay $52 for three shirt that would be outgrown in a few months, never to be worn again (since they would be personalized with names and all). So my thrifty mind got to thinking and I decided I could make my own for WAY cheaper. I got on google and looked up how to make your own t-shirt and they simply said to use a sharpie marker. Easy. So I went to the craft store about a month ago and got a onesie and two shirts for the big girls on sale for $12 total. Then I found that sharpie has fabric markers- way cool! So I purchased three different colors for $6 and some change. Then I went onto Microsoft Word and printed out the words for each shirt in some cute font for free (ink and piece of paper are a nominal price in my book). I taped the shirts to the window and traced the words onto the shirt. Now I need to hit up the other craft store to get a few packs of flower iron-ons I had found but didn't get since I wasn't quite sure what I wanted yet (price TBD). Then I will have cute, personalized shirts for when baby arrives for ~$25 or less and if you don't like doing math in your head, that is less than half price!!! I'm very excited about that, can you tell! 

I have also gotten started, again, on Olivia's 10-12 month photo book. Hoping to finish it later. Shutterfly has a sale for Valentine's Day that has the books 50% off- nice. Don't laugh at me I do realize Olivia just turned 2  and I'm just now completing her 10-12 month book but hey it's been busy here. I think I was the same way with Lauren- neither of the girls have a 1-2 year book which I would love to make someday...maybe...okay maybe that will never happen. But I girl can dream right?! 

So now that it is done I can cross that off my "Baby Bucket List." You know the one I've sort of spoken of on here. Got the dresser- check. Got Lauren taking showers- check. Got Olivia using the potty and out of diapers- check. Got shirts almost made- 1/2 check. Got Olivia's last photobook made and ordered- check. Have baby clothes cleaned, organized, and in the dresser/closet- check. Still need to: organized closets upstairs, prepare nursery, clean up baby car seat, get and clean bassinet, reorganize diaper bag, pull out all the baby stuff from storage, pack that ever dreaded hospital bag...there might be more but that is all my brain is coming up with right now.

I had a moment earlier this week when I realized I am now 30 weeks and that Lauren and Olivia were just 7 weeks from being born at this point. I'm not holding my breath that this little one will do the same- but it just got me nervous for how fast this pregnancy is coming to an end.

I think it has to do with life being that much busier with two sweet ones already here but I tell you a week will pass sometimes in the blink of an eye. I feel like January was here and gone before I took a breath. I am also so much more aware of how selfish I am with this time- right now baby is mine, all mine (of course said maliciously) and I don't have to share her. Plus, she's so gosh darn portable- no fussing at her to put on her shoes or hurry up doing __[fill in the blank]___. It's almost like I know how life is going to get a little more crazy and so I'm embracing the 'less crazy' we have right now. Do I sound crazy right now for saying that? I wouldn't be surprised! 

A women in my Thursday Bible study just had her third little one and she is still so little she comes into small group and sleeps away or just chills in her mama's arms instead of going to the nursery. I looked at her sweetness today and thought to myself- I'm glad I have a little more time. I'm glad I'm not quite there. I want my baby out (eventually) and I do want to share her, really I do despite my goofy statement above, but I'm just not ready yet. This instinct is so polar opposite of how I felt with Lauren and with Olivia a little too I just felt so big at the end, I was so nervous that I was ready for the crazy. I think it also has to do with this might be our last. I would love four little ones but I think Matt is going to be content with three. So I don't want this part to end so soon since I know you forget it. You forget what being pregnant feels like, just the same as you forget the intense pain labor causes you until the moment your body is right there again. So I am savoring it, each moment, each kick, each shirt the accentuates my big old belly because Lord knows that once baby is born you want to do everything EXCEPT accentuate your belly. Sometime I'll have to write my feelings about having more babies but for now I'll leave it at that since it could be a long post in and of itself. 

Now I'll make my way into the kitchen and get dinner going so when the crazies wake up and get home from work I can provide a warm meal for them. I'm so grateful for all I have been given from our Lord. I'm grateful for things like sweet shirts and photo books full of wonderful memories. Oh there isn't a thing I'm not grateful for- even the crazy I've come to know and love! The crazy I call my home and my family.

"There is a time for everything, 

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,

at time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Scrumptiousness

So what's been going on around here? Lots and little. We've been keeping busy enjoying our cooler days together as a family but not too many big things happening- can I hear an Amen! The last few weekends have been blessed with time to enjoy our home and each other. Last two weekends I've done lots of cooking. For church, for us, and for fun!

So what have I been cooking? Lots these days since our littlest one is in full swing of solids and finger foods. Oh do I have some money saving tips for all of you who are also doing the solid thing with your little ones. First, naturally baking things yourself is lots cheaper than buying them at the store pre-made- I know this is a given. In fact, when I started staying home I asked a dear family friend, who stayed home when her daughter was little (now she's a freshman in college, yikes) and she told me baking things herself instead of buying pre-made stuff is one of the biggest ways she saved money. It's pennies to whip up your own blueberry muffins and dollars to buy them at the store. So one of the things I was making was muffins. I found this yummy blueberry oat recipe in one of my Pampered Chef cookbooks. I was looking for something with a little less sugar than my MIL's wonderful, taste like cupcakes, melt in your mouth recipe- very hard not to be glutinis with those bad boys on your counter. Then this week I made pumpkin muffins- lots of sugar but so yummy! Olivia has loved them both. She enjoys anything she can pick up herself and put in her chubby cheeked mouth! She's been enjoying banana, peaches, and pear chunks. Also a favorite is Gerber Puffs, cheerios, and cracker pieces. She still prefers her veggies over fruit and will eat up her pea, carrot, or green bean puree with a big smile and moans of happiness.

So money saving tips for baby food. First you need to get yourself an immersion blender. I asked for one for Christmas last year after Esther informed me that they are great for making baby food and oh yes they are, but we'll get to that in a minute. Instead of buying small, expensive jars of baby food, I purchase cans of adult food and blend them. Go down the can food aisle in your store and look for the can of peas and green beans that says No Salt Added on the can. Check the ingredients label and you'll see that the only ingredients are water and peas (or green beans). Once you're home you open the can, dump it into the little cup that comes with the blender, pop it in the microwave for a minute or two (depending on the power of your microwave) take it out and blend it. Voila- you've got baby food at a fraction of the cost! I've found that you need most of the water in the can for the peas to have a good consistency but drain most of the water off for the green beans. For carrots, I just buy the baby carrots, boil them in a pot on the stove until fork tender, put them in the cup with a little water from the pan and again yummy baby food for lots less. 

I've microwaved apple slices until they are tender and I've also made homemade applesauce too. I can't wait to try squash this fall and my next shopping trip will include sweet potatoes. 

You can store them in the fridge or buy ice cube trays and freeze it. One cube is 1 oz. of food. That makes it easy. I freeze the fruit but not the veggies since she just has a spoonful at lunch and then again at dinner until that veggie is gone- which is less than a week, so I skip the freezing step. I also mashup banana for breakfast or now I just give them to her in little chunks. Sometimes, to get her fruit in, I mashup a small bit of banana and mix it with pear or peach for breakfast or lunch. If you need more instruction than this a great website is Wholesome Homemade Baby Food. I got that from Brooke's mom- there are some neat ideas there. I use a handful of cookbooks my MIL picked up at garage sales too.

She likes to make a big mess of herself but it is with joy and lots of paper towel that we clean her grubby face up!

Also on the topic of food is school! On C week we made cake for Daddy's birthday and then this week our bible story is Moses and the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus) so I found a fun craft on Pinterest that we made last night as Matt mowed the lawn. I got the idea from this blog. She had a great time with both fun activities. She'll tell you the best part has been eating it! She was super excited to eat up Moses- it sure beat last weeks baby Moses in a basket craft. We also made sure to enjoy some yummy eggs since it's E week. So much fun with food around here!

"Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." Genesis 9:3

$10

I don't know about you but I always get super excited about the holiday and I'm so glad there here. I love to thought of giving and enjoy purchasing gifts for my loved ones. I enjoy seeing loved ones during the holiday too. Then comes the holiday hang-over. Where you feel like you've hemorrhage money for the past month and a half. I don't go over board at all, and I always give myself a manageable holiday budget and stick with it, but still as soon as January hits I'm in a money panic.

This money panic hit on Wednesday. I haven't really done up a budget since I started staying home. Matt and I cut back a lot once I started staying home but it was time to sit down and crunch the numbers. Well Lord only knows the panic I was in when I realized that we've been in the red every month. Not so far in the red that we're drowning but enough that I began to panic, which didn't help my holiday hangover feeling.

I've been very diligent with our money. But it's hard. It's very hard to go from two incomes to one. It's hard to know that you don't have the extra five or ten dollars to do with it as you will (yes, that is usually the wild and crazy Jennifer splurging on a want that is five dollars). For instance, while I was out at the mall walking around with Esther and Caitlyn we hit up a kids clothing store. I purchased five items for Lauren for next season. A Halloween shirt, a Christmas shirt, a fall outfit, and a pair of tights were the items I purchased. Each item was on sale for $3.99 or $2.99 (total bill ~$15). I thought I did good, nothing huge, right- WRONG. I didn't have the money to do that. I think that is when the reality of our new budget hit me. That which use to be a small splurge was now an expensive buy.

I have since chipped away even more at our budget. I've given up my membership at the Y (sad but not worth going into debt over), I've scaled back on my already cheap prepaid cell phone, we cut back what we put away in my retirement fund from $100/month to $25. We also took a chunk of money from savings and put it towards our one car loan so that will be paid up by the end of the summer- freeing up another $232 a month. After all is said we were out of the red! I got most excited though about my call to the phone company.

It really blows my mind how much phone and internet cost. We have an unlimited phone plan since 75% of my phone calls are long distance to family back home it makes the most sense to do it this way. We're able to bundle the phone and internet together saving money there too. Even with all that we still pay close to $100 a month for the both of them (have to factor in taxes and fees), so I called to see if there was anything we could do to bring down the cost. He told me that what we have is our best value and then after fixing a mix up on their end (such a nice guy he was) he also gave us a $10/ month discount for the next twelve months (then advised me to call back next year this time and see if they can do anything else for us). It's only $10 but it's God's blessing.

I try each day to look for God and be conscience of His daily blessing. Some days I have to look hard, like this past Wednesday. This was a hard lesson for me to sit through but it was one that really pounded into this head that God knows what we need- but he still wants to hear from us. He still wants us to talk to Him and ask for what we need. He craves a personal relationship with us and we should want the same thing. I'm glad that on my walk through our household budget, He was right there handing out the ten dollars this mommy needed.

"Reach out for God and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." Acts 17:27

Saving Money...

Okay, I'm not sure if anyone actually reads my posts or not. It really doesn't matter to me. I started this blog because I wish I would journal more and feel like life goes by so fast these days, so I need to write it all down. Plus, I am a horrible speller so typing is a billion times better because of spell check (which doesn't always help). Anyway, today I'm asking for help from anyone who might read this.

I went online and found some books on saving money for stay at home moms (SAHM). Matt and I sat down this afternoon while Lauren napped and looked at our bills and soon to be smaller income. We've tried our hardest to save half my paycheck each month, which I am proud to say we were able to do most months. But now it's crunch time and I want to get our monthly bills as low as they can go.

We are already pretty frugal people and live a rather simple life, so we're hoping it won't be too hard. But what are some ways you other SAHM's save money?

Right now I'm looking into reusable diapers. Man, I've never felt so proud of myself as I do with the time and energy I've put into researching these. I will have to post more about that later. I also got two books on hold at the library that I'm hoping will give me some tips. And I have been praying about it. I know that the Lord has put it on both of our hearts that this is the best decision for our small family. I know that relying on God to provide our needs is my first and best advice. I'm SO grateful for out Loving Lord and all that He provides us with.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)