Smiling mother of 6 - Homeschool Blogger

Two big moves!

Fri, 7 Mar 2008 13:58:00 -0600

Sometimes life can feel like an easy stroll along a path and other times, uh, well it can feel like.....

a big juggling act.

So just for fun (ha!) we've decided to move...in two weeks.

We haven't been entirely happy with the rental we are in , and a great opportunity came our way so we're jumping on it!

And for a second big move I'm following the crowd on over to blogspot. The blogs just look so cool and easy to use/maneuver. Please come visit me there...

http://recipesforhappiness.blogspot.com

9 weeks left!

Mon, 3 Mar 2008 13:04:00 -0600

A new week already? Monday seems to roll around again pretty fast these days! I didn't get much of my list accomplished last week. I finished the majority of the laundry and packed up some of the books in my daughters room rather than switching around bookshelves, but that's about all I got to. I got to see some family that I hadn't seen in a few years, played catch up and introduced them to a couple of my kids they had never seen before.

~That was a bit of rambling but that's what is going on in my life right now. ~

I found a new recipe I'm going to try for dinner tonight. I'm going to use these to make BBQ Chicken sandwiches...we'll see how it goes!

40 Minute Hamburger Buns

Ingredients

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 cup warm water , plus

2 tablespoons warm water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

3-3 1/2 cups flour

Directions

In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.
Add oil and sugar and let stand for 5 minutes.
Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Do not let rise.
Divide into 12 pieces and shape each into a ball.
Place 3" apart on greased baking sheets.
Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
Bake at 425° for 8 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from pans to wire rack to cool.

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:43:00 -0600

Happy Leap Day!
In celebration of today we are headed to the zoo. Are you feeling a little de ja vu? Well, we are going but to a different zoo this time. A larger one and hopefully they will have giraffes to satisfy my 3 yr old, she was very disappointed that the other zoo didn't have any :(
The motivation to go is that the Seattle zoo is having a special promotion, if you (kids) wear green or frog themed clothing you get in free! Plus they are offering fun frog related activities in honor of Leap day. At least I'm getting my exercise, walking around all day can get pretty tiring! So that's my plan...what are you doing for the day? Any special projects or just a regular day?

The sky is blue, lets go to the zoo, I want to see a wallaroo!

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:29:00 -0600

Since the weather has been so nice and cooperative we decided to visit the zoo twice last week! It was lots of fun. Here are a few photos of the first outing:

The elephants are always a favorite....

Here's the group posing with the shark jaws (don't they look scary?)

And here is how Josiah spent most of the day, apparently the animals were just too boring for him. :)

Also per request here is a picture of my continually expanding belly, 30 weeks now!!

Not the greatest shot but the flash kept doing weird things *sigh*

I was going to try to end this with a cartoon lady with a huge pregnant belly, (you know to make myself feel better) but all kinds of scary images came up with that Google search YIKES!! I guess I'll just have to post something tomorrow to get this photo down on the blog a little ;)

Monday thoughts

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:36:00 -0600

I think I'm ready for spring. We live in Washington where it

rains,
rains,

and rains some more.

Since I've lived here the majority of my life I tell myself I'm used to it and actually like it a bit. However, there are a few days when the sun decides to poke out and I'm reminded of just how much sunshine can uplift a mood. It has still been fairly cold out but we've had sunshine

for a whole week now. Looking out my window and seeing everything so bright just makes me energized. Combine that with a bit of nesting hormones and I've gotten quite a bit accomplished. I've rearranged a couple of rooms, cleaned out kitchen cabinets and cleaned out my refrigerator. Now if I could get the kids to stop making messes the house would actually look clean ! All that to say, it's been a pretty good week and I'm hoping all this sun means Spring is coming and we'll be getting more. I think making that list last week actually helped too. I finished all of those things and it seems like crossing each one off led to finishing additional tasks too. I constantly feel like I'm behind in my household duties so maybe list making will help me to stay on top of a few things better. Like deeper cleaning...more than just laundry and dishes.

So this week I'm hoping to:

clean/scrub bathtub
see the bottom of the laundry pile
make up a menu-meal plan for the next two weeks
sweep/mop bathroom floor
assemble and switch bookshelves in daughters room

I'll probably be adding more to this list as I come up with things, but that's a start anyway!

Oh, and I came across this cartoon and thought it was funny.
(Inspired by you Emily)

Back to the grindstone, no more playing around!

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:22:00 -0600

I'm not quite sure when, but sometime in the last couple of weeks I got bit by the antsy bug. I've felt a bit stir crazy and have just wanted to be gone, going somewhere, doing something, anything but being home. This of course has left my home neglected and caused my kids to be removed from any sort of schedule or routine. So today I am making myself stay home! This should be easy enough :) I have a plan to get a few things accomplished, maybe that will help stop this sinking feeling I'm getting when I walk around in my cluttered/disorganized house. If I tell you all my list then maybe I'll even feel accountable

Here goes....today I want to (notice I didn't say will)

clear off and put away items on kitchen counter
wash/dry/put away at least 3 loads of laundry
make a new batch laundry soap
remove old shower curtain & install new one
sweep & mop kitchen floor

I'm going to stop there as these are things I am going to try to do in addition to normal clean-up, meals, school and such.

Wish me luck, or rather, pray for me please!

Sunny Day

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:28:00 -0600

This

changed to.....

this

makes me.....

Safeway deal #2

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:24:00 -0600

I'm going to tell you something that is really going to shock you....are you ready?

Women torture themselves about their weight.

What? You're not shocked??

Why do we do this? I went in to see my OB doctor for a regular prenatal appointment today and had to step on the dreaded scale. I'm not even sure why I dread it. I've been pregnant many times before. I know how my body looks and feels, why do I care about this number??? Ugh!

Now that I've mentioned weight that leads me to food :)

I went to Safeway again today and took advantage of their newest promotion. Want to see what I got this time??

Just in case the photo isn't enough I'll list it all for ya.

6 bottles of Snapple drinks
3 boxes fruit roll-ups
3 bags Chex mix
2 boxes strawberry instant oatmeal
1 small quaker quick cooking oatmeal
1 box brownie mix
1 peanut butter cookie mix
6 boxes frozen Green Giant vegetables
2 boxes fruity Cheerios
2 boxes Frosted Flakes
7 boxes Cheerios
3 boxes Hamburger Helper
20 boxes Rice a Roni
1 box Au Gratin Potatoes
4 cans diced tomatoes
14 boxes Pasta Roni

~Phew~

Now I'm going to get to the bottom line. I used a bunch of coupons, coupled them with the items on sale that qualified for the promotion.

Out of pocket I spent $50.37

and I left with $30 in Safeway coupons that I'm going to use for gas.

So really I spent $20.37 for all that food!!!

(Broken down even further $20.37 / 75 items = $ 0.27 per item)

The promotion is continuing on through next week so I'm going to hunt for some more coupons to couple with next weeks ad. You want to try it too??

(Oh, and I think I'll be donating a few of the rice and pasta to a friend. I'm thinking my family might be sick of it by box #20.)

I Thought we were on the mend...

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:27:00 -0600

Last week was full of fevers and coughs and lethargic children and I thought things were getting better. (haha) We were in need of a few things and decided to pick up my hubby from work on Friday and head to Wal-mart. Things were going well, we're walking along, and then I felt something slippery under my foot and realized my precious baby had thrown-up! Luckily we were by the bathroom and paper towels were easily found. To add to the excitement, on the way home our 3 yr old threw up twice. Oh, the good times :) Since we are such a nice and sharing family it has now been passed along and only the two year old and Daddy are yet to be sick. Today we're taking things easy and hopefully this will pass soon. Didn't you just need to read one more blog post about sick children today? I'm thinking homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls will be on the menu tonight!

Birthday and Safeway deal hodge podge entry

Thu, 7 Feb 2008 21:08:00 -0600

Earlier this week we had another birthday to celebrate!! Our little Stephen has now hit the 5 year milestone. Do you remember when your first was born and envisioning them turning 5 seemed like it would take forever? Well, it doesn't. It just plain goes by fast!! Here are a couple pictures of him on the big day (his 'golden' birthday as the others called it because he was 5 on the 5th)

and isn't it just sweet to see the candles being lit with a torch??? (note to self...put matches on the list!)

Now onto blowing out the candles....Happy Birthday :)

In other news, I had a great shopping day today. I was reading a blog I frequent and came across this post, explaining how you can get some groceries for free! So off to Safeway I went and here's what I got:

23 packs of Hillshire Farms lunch meat
2 Jimmy Dean sausage links
7 Ball Park Hot Dog Buns
3 Sara Lee loaves of bread
3 Gallons Milk
1 box baking soda

Total I spent out of pocket: $24.00

AND

I left with a $10 off coupon for my next trip!!

Now I made a few mistakes so you could do even better. First off the milk should have been my last transaction and been paid for by the $10 coupon, but I added it to the first and paid out of pocket. The sausage I thought were 2/$5 but realized later they were 3.99 each, ugh. All that to say that if you go the best deal was the lunch meat and buns, I only bought the milk, bread and baking soda because I needed those items. If you have a Safeway near you...go stock up your freezer!