Branson Vacation

 

We had such a great time in Branson with Kirby's whole family.  The kids were at great ages to be able to enjoy everything, the weather was perfect and we LOVE Branson.  It's kind of our home away from home since we spent a year there for Kirby's job.  So we never had to worry about finding things to do, we just did all of our favorite things.

 

Getting ready to leave.  I thought the kids would sleep for hours if I got these soft comfy neck pillows.  Lydia slept for half an hour on the way down, Clae didn't sleep at all.  On the way home neither of them slept a wink.  Soft comfy neck pillows did not work their magic.  Good thing for DVD players!  The kids actually did awesome for the car ride, I can't complain at all. 

 

We spent A LOT of time at Silver Dollar City.  One of Kirby's and my favorite places to go and the kids loved it.  Clae rode on a big full size roller coaster with Kirby.  I was a nervous wreck about it, but he loved it and did great. 

Lydia was pretty much with me the whole time eating Kettle Korn and drinking frozen lemonade. 

I was extremely tired by the end of most days and my feet and ankles were very swollen, but I made it without once having to rent a Rascal!

 

 We dressed the kids in the same bright color every day.  It worked out really well, we were able to spot them easily in the crowd. 

 

 

A cute picture of four of the seven kiddos.  Enjoying an evening at the Landing, another of our favorite spots.

The kids loved the whirlpool tub.  I enjoyed relaxing in it a few times myself.

 

Riding on the trail (another of our favorites).  Clae learned to ride without training wheels while we were there.  My baby is growing up!

 Lydia would rather just push her bike and pick flowers.

 

We  spent A LOT of time at the beach, this was a new one for us, we hadn't been there before, but the kids loved it.  The water was freezing, but they didn't seem to mind and the sand kept them entertained most of the time anyway.

The pool where we stayed was the perfect size for them, they love to swim.

Lydia Turns FOUR!

My baby girl turned four the day we got back from vacation.  We had one celebration with Kirby's family while we were still on vacation.  For her 3rd Birthday I made her wear a dress and her party was pretty much miserable until I let her take off her dress and put on shorts.  This year she was much happier to throw her 'Birthday Girl' shirt on over her wet swimsuit and party away.

The day we got back from vacation I decided to throw together a celebration with my family.  I called HyVee and they were able to make me a Barbie cake at the last minute, we ordered tacos from the Café and had her party in the dining room at our building. 

Another birthday.  I can't believe how fast time passes.

 

Catching up



I always say it's much easier to KEEP up than it is to CATCH up.  But because of camera problems, growing a baby, and general busyness of life I have not been able to keep up with this blog.  I'm not going to try to go all the way back to January to catch up, I'm just going to start from here and try to keep up going forward.

 

Clae's t-ball season compared to last season was a night a day difference.  I guess it's a lot better to play as an experienced FIVE year old than as an inexperienced FOUR year old.  He loved playing ball this year, he did a great job and he didn't cry ONCE.     

Random picture of Lydia eating watermelon with her "sweet" watermelon shirt on.  I thought it was a perfect photo op.

Me and my babies on Mother's Day.  Would have been nice to get a decent picture of me, but you take what you can get.  

Christmas 2012

We're back!  It's been a while and I really have no excuse for why I've been neglecting our blog...ok maybe one small excuse...we're expecting #3!  I found out at the beginning of November and knew that meant I would be in the worst of my morning sickness (or in my case morning, noon and night sickness) right during the Christmas season.  I was a little bummed that we didn't get to do all of the fun pre-christmas activities, baking, etc, but it's all worth it.

 

 

I found enough energy to put up our tree and our nativity set, and that was about it for the decorations.

I LOVE to make Christmas candy and cookies.  Usually my mom and sister and I have a whole day spent making goodies, that didn't happen this year.  The kids and I did manage to make almond bark pretzels one day, they enjoyed it, but I wish we could have done more.

We were very excited to get some snow, it has provided hours of entertainment for the kids (and a little peace and quiet for mom).  I keep a close eye on them through the window, but it's so nice that they can go out by themselves now.

Warming up with some hot chocolate. 

Kirby ended up being very sick for TWO full weeks, starting on his birthday, the 19th, and straight through Christmas, of course.  But I don't think the kids really knew the difference, they had a great Christmas despite the fact that both of their parents were basically out of commission.

The kids mainly got socks, underware and clothes.  And ties, Clae got lots of ties, the kid loves ties and wants to wear one every Sunday to church, so we stocked him up. 

We really tried to cut down on the toys this year since this house is overrun with toys as it is, they ended up getting several Lego sets which they will play with for years.  I think next year I'm going to have them pick a few of their toys to give away right before Christmas to make room for the new ones, help them realize it's not all about getting, it's about giving too.  

We hope everyone has a great 2013!!!

Pumpkin Patch 2012

We made a bit earlier (and warmer) trip to the pumpkin patch this year. We're hoping to do it again sometime when it's a little cooler, it's more festive when it's not so hot. ANNNNDDD...we had a bonus visitor come with us this year.... DADDY!

Bonus fall picture:  Have I mentioned Iowa State beat Iowa AGAIN this year?  Just thought I would tell you, in case you didn't already know. GO STATE!

First Day of Preschool

Today was our first official day of preschool for the year (homeschool preschool).  Even though the kids won't be getting on a bus or going to a school building I still don't want them to miss out on the official "first day of school" pictures.

Our first day got off to a rocky start.  I had planned to get up early, exercise and be ready before the kids got up and be prepared to start our routine for the year, but my shoulder (I have no idea why) was killing me all night and I didn't get much sleep and I haven't hardly been able to lift my arm all day.  THEN when the kids got up they were both...SICK.  Not the best start to the morning.

We manage to get some good pictures of Clae.

 

 But these were the pictures we got of Lydia.  Crying....

 ...and running into the house because she didn't want to have her picture taken.  Awesome.

 

However, her attitude about the actual learning part of the day turned out to be much better than Clae's.  I was a very happy mommy when naptime rolled around today.

 

I spent the day Sunday getting all of our material ready.  Ahh...I love organizing!

 And this is the finished product, for now anyway, I'll be adding more as the year goes on. 

A Month of Meals

I  have a love hate relationship with meal planning.  When I'm on top of it, I love it.  When I'm not, it's my biggest frustration in life.  I don't love to cook, but I don't hate it.  What I really don't like is cleaning up the mess after it's all done! 

When Kirby and I were first married I went grocery shopping ONCE A MONTH and got ALL of my groceries for the month. (at that time I was still working in town, so I stopped by the store a couple more times in the month to get fresh produce and milk)  It worked out great and I was pretty consistent with it.  Then we went to Branson for a year, then I got pregnant, then we had kids, then I had a home daycare and it all just kept going downhill until I was a stressed out mess at the end of every grocery shopping trip.  I usually had no plan, no list and I ended up spending WAY too much money and came home with more sugar and junk than actual food!

I had to come up with a new plan.  My first plan was to go once a week.  With kids in the cart, I didn't have room for tons of groceries, so I thought the once a week thing might work out because I wouldn't need to get a lot each time I went.  I thought this plan was working....but it was not.  I would end up splurging on things we did not need and that were not good for us and that cost way too much.  Our grocery bill kept creeping up until I was spending over $150 a week on groceries for a family of four.  YIKES! 

Moving on to plan B.  Back to making one trip a month.  On Monday while the kids were napping I did an inventory of what we already had on hand and then went to town "liking" and "pinning" tons of recipes on Pinterest.  It was a little daunting but well worth it.  It was the 13th by the time I had time to do this, so I actually only planned about 3 weeks worth of meals not the entire month.  My goal is not to have to buy any more grocery items at all until September. 

I went shopping that evening (without kids, Kirby and I have decided it's worth me taking time to do this one evening a month to save some money and reduce some stress) I made two trips in and out of Aldi and one trip to HyVee.  I spent $240.00, that averages out to $80 a week (for three weeks).  I didn't not buy ANY snacks, no cookies, fruit snacks or any of that junk that adds a ton to our grocery bill each month, not to mention turns our kids into sugar addicted brats.  I bought four gallons of milk and froze three of them.  We're now on a milk ration, milk is ONLY for breakfast, it's not necessary for them to drink milk all day long when water is much better for them anyway.

So....Here is the list of meals I bought ingredients for:

1. Meatloaf (I've started making mini meatloaves in a muffin tin, the kids like them much better that way)
2. Tater tot casserole
3. Lasagna
4. Spaghetti
5. Tacos - Ground beef, shredded beef and chicken - I used the chicken recipe for shredded beef too and it was really good.
6. Slow Cooker Chicken and Rice
7. Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken
8. Teriyaki Chicken and Savory Chicken
9. BBQ Beef Sandwiches
10. Crockpot Chicken
11. Bagel Pizzas (for lazy nights or nights were in a hurry.  I usually keep frozen pizzas on hand, but I tried not to buy anything premade)
12. Beef and Noodles
13. Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken (instead of making the fried rice I just bought a box of Rice-a-Roni fried rice)
14. Dinner in a Crockpot
15. Tilapia with Lemon Cream Sauce
16. BBQ Pork - I don't like BBQ sauce from a bottle so I make my own with Ketchup, mustard, worchestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and a little brown sugar.

Some of these are an entire meal, some require veggies and sides.  I got canned and frozen veggies for when the fresh ones run out.  I got some rice packets, cresent rolls, mac and cheese and some simple things to have for sides.

I did not buy any cereal or pop-tart type items for breakfast.  We have toast and fruit almost every morning.  If my bananas get old I'll make banana muffins.  I also make little egg cups: mix eggs, ham or sausage a little milk and cheese, pour the mixture into a muffin tin, bake for 25 or 30 minutes.  Put them in baggies in the freezer and microwave them for a minute in the morning.  Simple and we all love them.

I spent the next two days after my shopping trip cooking meat and mixing things up to put in the freezer.  I now have several meals that I can throw into the crockpot in the morning or meat ready to heat up in the evening and put on a bun or tortilla.  It took me three days to prepare three weeks worth of meals, hopefully it will eliminate a little bit of stress!

One more little tip:  after I cook my meat, I put it in quart freezer bags, write the date and what it is on the bag, freeze it flat and after it's frozen I store it in one of these cheap bins from wal-mart.  It's like a little filing cabinet for my freezer!

I hope I covered everything.  If I forgot something or left anything out leave me a comment and I'll get your question answered.