Sunday

Laundry. 
Chicken soup made. 
Chicken casserole ready. 
Have brother fix desktop.


Swiffer Floors. 
Soccer.
Dinner.

What happened to lazy Sundays?

Imperfect Blogger

Quite obviously, I am also an imperfect blogger.  Three months without a single post.  I promise it is not a result of laziness but rather being so busy that I feel like my head is spinning.  However, just like any crazy person, I will not give up, I will continue to hold onto this blog, and always expect a different outcome. 

Zoe Rides

Zoe turned five last month. My princess, my angel, my only little girl. I thank God that I can still vividly remember checking to be sure that she was indeed a girl the moment she was born. I wanted a little girl so badly after having my boys, and there she was, this tiny little person, complete perfection, my little girl.

Having two older brothers has made her tough, but she is still sweet. She likes to play soccer, and catch with them. She likes to ride Bradley's skateboard. She like's to race them in the yard. But she is still fragile, still prissy, still sassy, and still cries with devastation when she scrapes her knees.

Last year we asked Zoe if she would like to take the training wheels off of her bike. She panicked and told us no. She didn't want to get hurt, and she was too afraid. This year was a different story. This year she surprised me. When Russell asked her this time, she said, "Yeah, can we take them off right now?" Within an hour, she had accomplished her task... no fear, no holding back, no training wheels...

Random Late Night Posting

It's nearly 1:30 am. All of the kids are in bed asleep, as they should be. I let them stay up late tonight, past midnight. This allows for extra sleeping time in the morning. Jonah woke up a little while ago to nurse and I now have him laying on the couch out cold. I want to go to bed but I can hear Russell snoring quite loudly all the way down the hall and through a closed door.

I drank a few cups of coffee tonight after dinner so that I could have the energy to sweep and mop the floors. I noticed the tips of Jonah's toes were black earlier this afternoon from him scooting around in his walker. The sad part is he was only in his walker for a few minutes. That tells how dirty the floors really are. I shouldn't act surprised, I won't leave my bedroom without my flip flops on for fear of the icky sticky grainy dirt that will consume the bottoms of my feet.

Jonah is my fourth child and it has only recently been brought to my attention that walkers are supposedly a big "no-no". I choose to allow him a few minutes of cruising a day. He absolutely loves it and I will not take it away from him. When he starts to crawl and walk there will be no stopping that child. He loves to go, go, go! Speaking of crawling, for almost a week now, Jonah has been getting up on his knees and pushing his little butt up in the air during tummy time. He has scooted forward just a few times, and mainly scoots backward, but I know it's coming. And just like with all of his other milestones thus far, I greet it with a smile, then immediately want to cry. I do not want this baby to turn into a child so soon! He will be six months on the 30th. That is half of a year. Oh my gosh, that is half of a year!

They all grow up too quickly. My whole childhood was consumed with me wanting to grow up, it seemed it would never happen, then, I became a mom, and time started flying! I mean really just flying! Bradley is in middle school and talking about girls. Jarod is losing teeth and scabbing his knees while riding his bike. Zoe is learning to read and just had her training wheels taken off. Now, Jonah is learning to crawl. It's all whizzing past me so quickly that I am terrified I won't have the mental capacity to store it all.

What am I going to do?

10 Things Tuesday: Save Money

Today I will share with you 10 things that my family does to help us save money. These things work great for us.

1. Laundry: As a family of six we have lots of laundry. We never wash small loads of clothes. We use cold water to wash saving energy. I had Russell build us a clothes line and I use that when the weather is warm, this saves energy by not using the dryer.
2. We reuse zipper bags, bread bags, grocery bags, and produce bags. These bags are good for more than one use. By doing this we are reducing waste and reducing the amount of money spent on zipper bags in particular, which can get pricey! I use the bread bags for many different things, like freezing pancakes for example. Just rinse the bags out with hot water and a drop or two of dish detergent and hang to dry.
3. I make my own baby food. Baby food is expensive. I save our family a lot of money by doing this. It takes just a couple hours of my time on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and then my freezer is stocked with an array of colorful food cubes.
4. Use the air conditioner or heater only when truly needed. We open the windows and let the air in when the weather is nice. We generally won't run our AC until the temperatures reach 90 degrees. I know this won't work for everyone, but we truly see the difference in our electric bill when we do this. I should add that we do have ceiling fans in every room that make things a bit more comfortable.
5. Clip coupons. This is one I have only recently started. On Sundays I sit down and clip coupons. Then I compare the coupons to the current sales ads. I make a list of the "unbeatable deals" and at which stores they can be found. My last grocery shopping trip showed a savings of nearly $50. I managed to feed my family of six, including making baby food, for two weeks on $146.
6. Plan your menu! Impulse purchases at the grocery store were killing my budget. So, I sat down one Saturday afternoon and planned out a two week menu. I made my grocery list based on the unbeatable deals mentioned in #5 and the menu I had made. When I went to the grocery store I stayed focused on my list. This saved me time AND money.
7. Jiffy Baking Mix. Yes, a mix saves me time and money. This box of mix costs me less than $1.50. From this box I can make pancakes, biscuits, dumplings and more. With just those three things alone I have cut nearly $10 off of my grocery bill. I can make a huge batch of pancakes to freeze for my kids for quick breakfasts, and the same goes for biscuits. Just make the biscuits according to the box's directions and then freeze (before baking). Just like the frozen biscuits, but much cheaper! Just pop the frozen biscuits in the oven for breakfast, dinner, or a snack.
8. Buy second hand. I rarely buy any of our clothes brand new. I find that shopping at thrift stores and consignment shops works for us. No one knows, (until now!) that I only paid $3 for my Old Navy shorts! Just look for like new or gently used clothing.
9. Control the amount of sunshine coming in your windows. You can save on energy costs by opening and closing your blinds, shades, or curtains. In the winter I use open the window blinds so that the sun can help heat up the house, in the summer, I close them when the sun is brightest, keeping the heat out and the house cooler!
10. Purchase a water filter and reusable water bottles. I keep a Brita water pitcher filled with water in our refrigerator. Then I have quick and easy access to ice cold water for soccer, lunches, etc. Also, when our family seems to be drinking so much water that I can't keep the water chilled I put a pitcher of tap water into the refrigerator to chill that can just be emptied into the Brita pitcher when needed.

There you have it. Those are 10 things my family does. What does your family do?

Monday Morning

It's Monday morning, again. The house is a mess and there is so much to do. Jonah has been sick with a cold and this has caused him to sleep even less than he usually does, which is not nearly enough. I was up nearly all of Saturday night and totally exhausted all day yesterday. The only thing I accomplished yesterday was four loads of laundry.

Since I was so tired I forgot to print out this week's chore chart and Jarod is already taking advantage. He is currently sitting on the couch, in his boxers, teeth unbrushed, empty tummy, watching cartoons. This does not look like a very good start to my week.

Perfection

Complete perfection.