Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day

 

 

Wishing all dads out there a very happy fathers day but two men in particular.  My wonderful father, who has always been one of my best friends, my biggest supporter and my first love!  The second, my amazing husband who is a fabulous father to our four little bergies!  Both of these mean have stolen my heart and have earned a very high rank in the father world.



 

 

This year for Fathers Day, I made Joe a book the begins with pictures of he and I and then went on to have individual pages for each kids in birth order.  After those pages, there were multiple pages of pictures that included Daddy with the kids and the siblings together.  I have thrown in a few full family pictures....boy that is a challenge, six people looking and smiling at the camera. 

 

The kids gave him cards and presents the made in school before the year ended.  The cutest present of all.....the Pet Rock from Darling!  Very cute!

 

I think that Fathers Day 2013 was a success here in our house, hope it was a success in your house too!

 

Enjoy the day Dads!





28 and a half days....

So the kids got off the bus today and informed me that there is only 28.5 days of school left!  Holy smokes, that went by fast!  We are all VERY ready for summer, the warm weather and relaxing days and most of all, THE BEACH but wow, I am not sure I am ready for summer vacation yet!  Four kids home all day, the "I'm Bored" that is definitely going to be coming out of their mouths but most of all....the he said she said issue.  I definitely need to start preparing now!  I need to start thinking of fun ideas to keep them occupied and my sanity. 

What to do, what to do.....ahhhh yes.....PINTREST!

Who doesn't love Pintrest and for those who don't use it, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

I have found that you can seriously anything on Pintrest.  I love to look at recipes and get all excited about the future dinners I can make (which rarely happen but I can dream right?)

I guess 28.5 days is the right time to start pinning summer ideas.  I better get started.  The other thing to have fun with will be the reading clubs.  Our local library does one that tracks the pages the kids read and they earn prizes as well as entries into giveaways, etc.  The kids really love that and we can do weekly visits to the library, where the kids have a blast, all for FREE!  The Barnes and Noble here also does one for the older kids, they have to read 8 books and then they will earn a free book from the selected list.  They LOVE reading and then writing their recommendations all for the free book at the end!  I definitely recommend that EVERYONE with kids home for the summer look into reading programs.  Kids really enjoy them and they provide "something" to do in the summer, not to mention really making reading fun. 

So there it is....I'm now officially on summer vacation panic mode.  Hopefully I can put together a nice enjoyable summer vacation for the kids for all the days in between our very anticipated beach trips. 

Enjoy the month of May....it will go FAST!

The Dinner Rut

Anyone ever been in a dinner rut?  We get stuck in them every once in awhile and right now is one of those times.  The newest the struggle we are facing is that we are eating a lot!  The kids are going to eat us out of house and home if they are eating this much at 7,5,3 and 1!! 

I am on the search for "easy" meals that will feed a large family while not breaking the budget or being extremely unhealthy.  I am in no way looking for recipes that are all natural, fat free, yada yada, but rather foods that are well rounded or good for growing kids!  Anyone have any suggestions?

We bought half a cow back in November and it has been awesome to have the meat in the house whenever we want and to not have to worry about buying it on sales, but we can only eat beef so many days in a row and need to mix it up.  Joe and I eat a lot of salads so grilled chicken or salmon on salads but the kids get board with that.  We do love pasta and good cheesy Italian meals but we try to limit those too! 

We are stuck.  I love my crockpot but need some fun recipes for that.  I need to mix up our dinners and I don't know how.  We are open to a little bit of everything, only one kid is really picky and she will learn to at least try stuff or not eat anything because we can't feed the whole family around ones limit menu!

I am also thinking about baking my own bread.  I have made bread in the past....we are talking 2-3 loaves my whole life but it is so yummy and I think if I spend a few hours one weekend afternoon making multiple loaves, I can freeze them then we can have fresh homemade bread more often! 

My goal is to keep fully stocked freezer of meats, quick meals, side dishes and baked goods.  I want to be "that" mom.  Hey, a mom can dream right?

Shuffle...Repeat

Some days I feel like my days are on Shuffle and then repeat.  Everyday I write my list of things to do and everyday the first half is the same.  Dishes, Wipe Kitchen counters, Dining room table and floors, make beds, vacuum living room, laundry... that part never changes.  The second half the list is just as long if not longer consisting of emails to send, phone calls to make, appointments to schedule, etc.  Sometimes I just can't seem to be done with the list.  Majority the time, I do finish the list but starting right back up on the same list the very next day makes it seem like it has never ended.  There are ALWAYS dishes to do....ALWAYS laundry to be done so am I ever really done?

Although this may sound like a complaining entry, it really isn't, I don't mind all my to do list items and I really don't mind doing them over and over again but sometimes it simply seems like it never stops.  I feel like days begin to jumble together and determining when one day's to do list is done and the next days starts is nearly impossible. 

There must be away to fix this....or not!  :) 

My goal is to make a better plan for cleaning the house so that when the kids are done with school (ONLY 34 MORE DAYS!) I at least am in a routine of sorts to keep the house maintained.  I do not, nor do I want to, keep an immaculate house.  The fact is we live here....all 6 of us!  I don't want dust bunnies that are big enough to walk away or a science project growing on the toilet but I am not the type of person to run around all day one room to the next scrubbing and vacuuming just to do it all over again.  I do my daily stuff....the things listed above, but I need to figure out a good schedule for each bathroom, mopping the kitchen floor, my office, etc.  Recently Joe and I have spent a few hours on Sundays catching up on the house.  This isn't bad, the kids play together by themselves and Joe and I get a few good hours in but I would like to have more of a structured clean schedule so we don't have to spend our Sunday cleaning.  Hmmm....maybe I will have to add that to my to do list for tomorrow! 

The other thing that I need to figure out is laundry.  I have been doing 1-2 loads of laundry a day and I seem to keep up on it but never all of it.  It is a very rare occasion that I have zero piles of laundry on the laundry room floor.  Maybe I should try a marathon day of laundry, although I think it would have to be 2 days.  Day one....6-8 loads of laundry washed and dried.  Day two.....fold and put away all 6-8 loads of laundry.  That would leave me the rest of the week to pile up laundry all over again! Ha....

We shall see, for today though, my to-do list is 75% of the way done and I am already thinking about what is on the list for tomorrow. 

The best thing of all......I wouldn't change it for the world!!!!!

Thunderstorms

I LOVE THUNDERSTORMS!

I love to sit at a window or on the porch and watch the lightening and listen to the rain as it pounds down against the roof!  I find it to be oddly relaxing.  Thunderstorms like the one last night make  me miss South Carolina though!  The storms down there were crazy, quick and phenomenal.  The made the whole house shake.  One thing that never failed to happen though is the smell.  The wind and heavy rain that comes with these storms would stir up the ocean water and cause a distinct saltwater and "beachy" smell.  Enough of that though....back to last nights storm.

Out of our four kids, only one is scared of thunderstorms.  Funny thing is, she wasn't afraid of them until the local weatherman came to speak to her preschool class.  He told the class about how thunderstorms worked and then proceeded to tell them how dangerous they were and how they needed to always be in a safe place, etc.  Well apparently she missed the whole part on "not standing by a large tree or flying a kite" all she heard was they were dangerous!  Since this visit she has been scared.  Even when we are inside the house and she knows she is safe, she is nervous and occasionally panicky.  No matter how much reasoning we have with her or how much we convince her that she is fine and the storm is not bad, it is even beautiful and enjoyable to watch, she is not comfortable.  As time has past, she has been able to control her emotion and is not a completely mess but you can always tell! 

It is funny how one thing can be beautiful and relaxing to one person and scary and nerve racking to another.  Hopefully as she continues to grow older, she will begin to enjoy these storms and can eventually she the beauty in them!

Speech

In October 2011, Kayleigh began speech therapy for delays she was showing.  She was in a program with the state called Early Intervention (an amazing program) and she qualified there for one year.  This program is available to infants through age 3.  Since her one year evaluation fell within her 6 months of her third birthday, she no longer qualified for their program. For kids 3 and older, the state has a program that is called Central Intermediate Unit.  The week prior to her 3rd birthday she had her evaluation to see if she still qualified for speech assistance.  Thankfully she did qualify and began speech today for the first time with her new speech pathologist.  She misses her old speech teacher "Ms. Alison" but seemed to really like her new one, "Ms. Lynn."  The CIU uses more educational based tools to help with speech and Kayleigh got homework from speech today which made her really excited!  Darling gets homework everyday and Kayleigh felt like a big girl doing her homework too!

I am so grateful for both these programs that have helped our little girl talk (sometimes too much!) and communicate!  When she started with the EI program, she said "Mom" and "Da" and that was it.  She now has an immense vocabulary and we are now working on the annunciation part of her speech!

Can't wait to see what is next for our Flash and how she progresses from here!!

Golfing

We took the kids to a free clinic at the local University golf course.  This was an event that was run by some local students who were earning a grade based on the success of this clinic.  They had a great turn out.  Our three oldest participated and were very excited to do so.  They did five stations (although Kayleigh only made it to the second one, which was rules and etiquette...too much for a 3 year old!) which included chipping and bunkers, driving, a mini golf course, rules and etiquette, and Golfzilla.  The kids favorite was Golfzilla, a 24 foot high giant inflatable dinosaur that has holes in his arms, feet and belly for kids to hit the golf balls through.  It was a lot of fun. 

After the golfing was done, the kids all got pizza, drinks and snacks. It was a very nice event and the kids had a blast.  Darling did Tiger Golf last summer and will be doing it again this summer, maybe she will go pro and take care of  Mommy and Daddy forever!  Just kidding....kinda. ;)

I have never golfed much, only once or twice but Joe likes to golf and I am looking forward to learning soon.  Golfing makes me think of South Carolina, there are beautiful golf courses in Charleston and the weather makes it ideal for golfing most months out of the year.  Soon Joe and I will be golfing on a warm Saturday afternoon in Charleston. 

The masters of coming up....looking forward to watching!!

Happy 3rd Birthday

Today is Flash's (aka Kayleigh) birthday!  Our 3rd child, turning 3 on the 3rd of April! :)

When I asked her about her birthday and what she wanted for a cake and dinner, she was insisted on one thing.  She wanted a "beach cake."  We were not sure of what a "beach cake" was or what was involved but we agreed.  When we went to the grocery store to order the cake we looked through the book of possible options.  She was immediately attracted to the Dora, Strawberry Shortcake, and Elmo cake options so I figured that one of those would be the choice.  While we continued to scan through the book I turned the page and wouldn't you know...a beach cake.  It was bright and colorful, had sand and water and smack in the middle it had flip flops!  Kayleigh screeched!  I knew that was the winner, she was going to get a beach cake.  We had ordered it and it was ALL that Kayleigh could talk about! 

For her dinner choice she picked Spaghetti.  The first few times we asked her what she wanted for dinner, she wasn't quite grasping the concept.  On our kids birthdays, they get to pick whatever they want for dinner.  Thankfully we haven't had any requests for fast food!  So spaghetti it was.  We were at the store picking up her cake and buying the stuff for dinner and I grabbed a loaf of the bakery garlic bread and Kayleigh gave me an adamant "NO."  It took me a minute to figure out what she was objecting to but then she told me "not THAT bread!"  I proceeded to ask her what bread she wanted and she told me she wanted..."This kind of bread....(and clapped her hands like she was flattening something!)"  I then asked her to show me and she took me all the way to the frozen food aisle and pointed to the Texas Toast.  Man, this girl knew what she wanted.  :)

After Joe got home from work we had a wonderful Spaghetti dinner and then enjoyed some delicious beach cake.  After the food had all been consumed, we went on to watch Kayleigh open her presents.  Once again she was very specific about what she wanted and in the end was one HAPPY girl.  She had golf clubs, purple sandal sneakers, a new baby doll and some Jake and the Neverland Pirates goodies. 

I cannot believe that it has been three years already and that our crazy K-monster Flash is three!  Time officially flies WAY too fast!!

Easter

The Easter bunny came!  The kids were quite thrilled with the arrival and the crazy load of candy!  (The bunny may have gone overboard....may have)  The three older kids basket contained candy, a book and plenty of bubbles and J's basket had a book, sippy cup, his favorite yogurt melts, a few small toys and of course some candy.  The only candy he received was a ring pop and a few M&Ms but man did he like it!  Throughout the day we had several egg hunts.  After about the 10th round of the kids hiding the eggs for themselves we had lost one!  They were hiding them in the basement playroom which means there are endless place this egg could have gone.  Finally after a lot of searching and many emptied toy boxes, I located the egg!  Good thing too because that would have really smelled in a few days!  Once the egg was found, I took away those because they were cracked and crushed and I knew that the next time one was lost, I wouldn't be so lucky.  We then switched to the Hershey's foil wrapped eggs.  The searches continued!

Overall I think everyone had a good Easter.  Our dinner was delicious, kids pigged out on candy and blew tons of bubbles.  If the weather had been nicer, it would have been perfect!!

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Date Night

Last night my parents came over to watch the kids so that Joe and I could go out for a little while.  I love these times, it is so nice to be able to catch up with my husband without the never-ending "Mommy" yells that are guaranteed to interrupt or to be able to sit and enjoy food that I didn't cook and use dishes that I don't have to clean!  We have begun going to a restaurant called Fuji Jade Gardens that has a very well stocked bar (essential to date night ;)) hibachi, full Japanese menu, full Chinese menu and tons of sushi to try.  Both Joe and I have really enjoyed trying new foods, and simply experimenting with things that we never have had or thought we would ever eat.  It has been fun!  Last night was no exception.  One of our friends was there, he is a regular there, convinced us to try some Sashimi.  For those of you who may not know the difference between Sushi and Sashimi, the sashimi is served as raw fish with no rice.  I am not talking about the little sliver of raw fish that is in most sushi but rather a slice of raw filet served on a plate with wasabi and ginger!

As someone who grew up eating NO seafood because my mom wasn't a fan, this was a real test.  Since I met Joe, I have tasted and come to love several types of seafood but there is still a hurdle to jump when it comes to raw fish or raw meat of any kind.  I have enjoyed trying different kinds of sushi and that was a huge step forward but last night when we were asked to try Sashimi, I really wasn't sure.  I didn't want to look like an idiot or a baby for not trying it so I figured why not.  Worst comes to worst, I hate it and don't eat any more.  We had raw Salmon, Tuna and Yellowtail and Smoked Salmon (which I've had before).  Much to my surprise I actually enjoyed it!  I took a bite of each one plain and then tried the rest of the piece with soy sauce.  I figured this way I could test and get a true taste for it before I drowned it in salt!  I was not a fan of the Yellowtail, actually almost gagged at one point.  Not because of the flavor but rather the texture of that piece was just a bit much.  The salmon and tuna were definitely my favorite. 

I am not sure that I would order more then a piece or two at any given time but I was very proud of myself for trying it and even more excited that I had widened my views on seafood! 

I look forward to trying more fun food at Fuji and other places but most of all, I look forward to the next date night with my best friend! 

Neverending Clothes

Over the last few weeks I have been getting out the spring and summer clothes for the kids as well as going through all the clothes that are too small, etc.  I have tub after tub of clothes from Darling and Duke that I was keeping for Kayleigh and J not to mention the tubs of baby clothes that I am keeping for some reason.  It seems like no matter how much head way I make, the pile never gets smaller and the kids still need clothes!  How is it that I have so much stuff and someone is always in need of something?  So that has been my challenge for the past few weeks and I am sad to say that I am not yet done with it!  I am getting there.  I have made enough progress that if something is stained or has a hole, it has been trashed!  That is saying something.

My goal for the end of the Easter break is to have the spring and summer clothes organized into the kids rooms (also doesn't help that here it is the end of March and kids are still layered in winter clothes!) and all the winter stuff that they are still using in another temporary spot in the room.  If I accomplish that, BIG IF, I will then tackle the clothes that are too small for all four children.  I am not sure if I am ready to get rid of them all, even though I am pretty certain we are done.  It seems that actually parting with those clothes is a huge step and too final for me but we shall see!

The other thorn in my side when it comes to the kids clothes is the organizing in tubes.  I love the convenience of the big Rubbermaid tubs and the way they stack so nicely in garage but how am I suppose to organize by season, etc when I am trying to put four different size clothes and 2 different gender clothes together.  I go through the bins of Dukes clothes in sizes 18mo-3T for J but then have to dig past the 4T-5T clothes of Darlings.  There has to be an easier way. 

So that is my update on my life and the hassle of the children's clothes.  Maybe I will be rich one day after I figure a better way to handle these clothes!!!  ;)

Yet another snow day...

Here it is, March 25 and the kids have another snow day.   I am truly beginning to think we may be in for the LONGEST winter ever at this rate.  We may be wearing snow clothes on the 4th of July.  This weather also is not helping anyone in house with our desire to move back south.  Today at the breakfast table, Duke said something about the snow day and Kayleigh chimed in with, its a snow day....not a beach day.  Then made an adorable little pouty face!

So my plan now is to figure out how to keep my sanity while having a fun day with the kids.  This wouldn't be such a big deal for one day but the problem is the kids only go to school 2 days this week, now with the snow day, they only go tomorrow!  What am I suppose to do with the kids for a snow day today then WED, THUR, FRI and then the following MON off of school?  It's not like it will be warm and they can go run outside all day with the neighbors...no, it will be cold and yucky!  Fingers crossed we will all make it through and still love each other! :)

Another note on this week off...I have to figure out how to get all my errands (most of which a giant bunny needs to accomplish) without the kids.  Or at least the big kids.  Yikes, this might be trouble. 

Next thing on my agenda...school registration for next year....holy smokes!  Where does the time go? 

Well here is to hoping that we survive the rest of March and that April warms up FAST!

First Day of Spring

Happy First Day of Spring! 

It is finally spring, winter is over but the problem is...it doesn't feel like spring.  The high is only 34 today and it is snowing.  There is already snow on the ground and more coming from the sky, not to mention there is more in the forecast to come. It is depressing.   

The groundhog lied...

Now that my little rant is over, I am so happy it is spring.  It means that at some point the weather will warm up, summer is getting closer and closer and baseball starts soon!  Yay.

Everyone enjoy the first days of spring.

Snow Day

Don't get me started on having a Snow Day in middle march, 2 days before Spring starts but we had one.  On Saturday we had gotten 2-3 inches of snow and it was still covering the ground come Monday morning.  We were predicted to get another big storm early Monday morning through Tuesday morning.  Much like our school district has done in the past, they jumped the gun and called school off for the day.  I woke up to nothing happening outside but hey, it was early and school wouldn't have even begun for 1.5 hours.  Well "bus stop" time rolls around and nothing. Then lunch time, then the time they kids would've been getting home had they had an early dismissal, still nothing.  At 1:40 it began to snow.  A few flurries at first then blizzard!  For the next 4 hours or so, it snowed.  By the end, we had received 3-4 inches of snow, roads were a mess and the weather prediction was right, only LATE!  So the kids had a the day off and now have to make it up in June! So frustrating, but the thing that is more frustrating about snow days in general but this one in particular....the kids need a break from each other! 

It is middle of March and still "winter" weather outside.  The kids have been inside the four walls of our house for way too long!  They are on each others nerves (and on mine!) and they are bored.  How they are bored, I do not know because they have more toys and Toys R Us but that is another story for another day!  Two weeks ago, they had a little spring break (3 days off) and it was cold and wintery outside.  These kids need some warm weather and a LONG day off playing outside!  Yesterday they wanted to play in the snow.  Perfect, get them outside, fresh air, even though its cold they can handle it.  So I proceeded to get the snow gear out for the three older ones and get them the dressed.  That is one time consuming task.  Once they were bundled and ready to go, out they went.  They played for awhile, close to an hour and then one by one they approached the door with looks of pure pain from the cold fingers and red cheeks.  As the came in, I got them underdressed, a cup of hot chocolate and turned on a movie.  Okay, maybe this day isn't going to be that bad after all.  Then I looked at the clock....9:58am!  Oh my, it wasn't even 10 AM and they were already done outside.  :(  I had a HUGE pile of wet snow clothes sitting by the back door, a line of snowy snow boots melting all over the towel they were set on.  Time for some new plans!

As I begin to rack my brain on things to keep my children from fighting all day or sending me to the looney bin, I get some ideas.  Of course these ideas involve my help, therefore my list of chores to do around the house has been pushed until the next day but hey, what are snow days for.  When the movie was over, we all retreated to the basement to build one heck of a pillow fort. While that was fun and time consuming I knew it wouldn't last.  It was getting close to lunch time so I told the kids I had to do a few things upstairs and I would be back down.  About 15 minutes later I returned with 4 plates of food and a blanket for an indoor picnic!  Kids LOVE doing this.  We picked a show on TV that everyone could agree on...that is a task in itself...and went along eating our lunch.  Mmmm...

When lunch was over, a full blown game of Ninjas broke out!  Whoa, that escalated quickly! ;)  After being the bad guy for way too long, I needed a break and took J up for his nap.  I then decided to see how long it would be until I was missed in the basement.  I was able to get some cleaning done and a few emails/phone calls done before the parade of children one by one exited the basement for the worlds silliest reasons!

The kids decided they then wanted to go back outside.  Okay, why not.  So we spent the next 20 minutes getting snow clothes on and playing the mystery of the single glove.  Of course their gloves from their first outing were still wet and the kids weren't happy with that and every new pair of glove I pulled from the drawer caused a raucous.  Finally after telling one child they would were "this" pair or NO gloves and another that no one would see him wearing pink gloves, they went on their way.  This time they played for about an 45 minutes before they began to act like they were ice cubes couldn't help me at all when trying to get their clothes off.  At least they got more fresh air!

Next on the snow day list....movie theater in the basement!  Kids have been wanted to watch the Nightmare Before Christmas for a few days so I figured it was the perfect time.  Everyone went down and took a seat, I brought down popcorn and water bottles and the lights were turned off!  Just like a movie theater...but WAY cheaper!

At this point, I had not planned dinner since my original dinner plan involved going to the store and NOT having a snow day so out to the freezer I went.  Thankfully, since I had just stocked up the freezer, I had a few choices.  Frozen lasagna it is!  Dinner...check! 

Phew.  At that point I knew I would survive the snow day....just hope there isn't another one the next day!!!

Couponing....reality

I have begun working out on a daily basis, nothing major, just some workouts at home.  To warm up or cool down (depending on the workout of the day) I usually do some stretching/light cardio and watch 15 minutes of something totally dumb on TV.  Something that I wouldn't watch for a whole 30 minutes even if I had time to sit down and watch it but rather to keep my mind off how incredible tired I am or how sore I am from the previous days workout!  Anyway, the other day I was flipping through channels and found reruns of "Extreme Couponing" on TLC.  Why not?  I had seen several of these shows when they first aired in 2011 and although I was shocked by them then, I felt the need to watch a snippet of one during my cool down.

The major problem with this show is reality.   Coupons are amazing, I have used them for years and do consider myself a coupon pro but this show takes it to the extreme, hence the name. :) Anyway, this show has people leaving the stores with 3-4 carts full of stuff, valued somewhere between 500-2000.00 dollars and they paid only a few dollars.  Of course that is going to catch someone's attention, I mean really, who wouldn't like to go to the grocery store and buy $500.00 worth of stuff and pay $0.50?  The fact is, you cannot do it!  You can do amazing things with coupons, in fact, I have gotten tons of stuff for free or even been paid to take it out of the store but it takes time, is limited in quantity and overall, my family can't live on it! 

The episode I watched that day worked out as such....
    -Total Before Coupons and Store Discounts- $549
    - Total After Store Card - $488
    -Total Out of Pocket Spent - $1.26  (Yes, that is only ONE dollar)

Wow, amazing, totally awesome....but....

This entire order consisted of:
  10 12pks of Soda
  54 Bottles of BBQ sauce
  12 Bottle of Spices
  2 Gallons of milk
  8 12count Toilet Paper
  20 Floss
  120 Microwave Noodle meals!!!!
  3 boxes of Cat food
  2 Frozen Pizzas

I am not sure about you, but that isn't going to feed my family for 2 days let alone a week or two!  So yes, was it neat to see that you can get ALL that for basically free, of course.  Does that mean that you will never pay for groceries again or that you can feed your entire family each month for a grocery budget of $20.00??? NO WAY!!!! 

Last week I did a regular grocery shop that included a mini coupon trip and a CVS run.  You will learn that I LOVE CVS and have mastered couponing at CVS.  We even have a "CVS closet" closet in the kids bathroom that is stocked with toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo. razors, cleaning supplies and sometimes even multiple packs of diapers! Anyway, my couponing trips last week were not my best by any means, honestly I wasn't trying to get the most possible in one trip, I was getting the really good deals that I couldn't pass up and what we needed that week.

My CVS run down was as follows....

Transaction 1:
2 packs of Pampers Diapers  - 2/20.00
1 Pack of Pampers Easy Ups - 10.00

Total Before Coupons- 30.00
Used- 2x $1.50 off diapers coupons
Used- $2.00 off easy ups
Used- $3/10.00 Baby Purchase at CVS
Used- $10.00 ExtraCare Bucks (From a previous week shopping)
Total After- 12.00 cash but received 10.00 back in ECB

Transaction 2:
4 Suave Deodorants - 1.00 each
3 Suave Men Body Wash - 2.00 each
1 bag of CVS Jelly beans- 1.99
1 bag Huggies Wipes - 5.79

Total Before Coupons- 17.78
Used- 2x $0.50 off Deodorant
Used- 2x $0.25 off Deodorant
Used- 2x $0.50 off Body Wash
Used- $2.00 off Huggies big bag wipes
Used- $2.00 off Huggies Wipes (CVS Coupon)
Used- $10.00 ECB from previous transaction
Total After- 1.28 and received 4.99 in ECB

Totals for shopping trip: 
-Retail Value- $47.78
-Cash Spent OOP- $13.28 with 4.99 CVS money

I then went to do my regular grocery shopping at our local Giant Foods and made sure to use my coupons to take advantage of the Frozen Food Sales.  March is Frozen Food month and our store always puts unbeatable deals on sale.  Most of these sales I would purchase without using ANY coupons but just so happened that I could put together one nice frozen food run!

The deal was select foods for the week were spend $25.00 get $15.00 off instantly!  That's only $10 for $25 worth of goodies!  Only catch, $25 has to be AFTER coupons. Unlike most stores, this is the way Giant usually "gets" you.  This week, it didn't matter...I had a plan. 

My shopping list included the following "selected" frozen products...
-Super Pretzels (2/4.00)
-Eggo Waffles (3/$5.00)
-Stouffers Family Size Entrée (6.99)
-Viola Family Size Skillet Entrée (5.99)
-McCain Potato Products (3/5.00)
-4x Giant Frozen Veggies (4.00)
-Red Baron Individual Pizzas (2/5.00)

The way it worked out...

Total Before- $35.98
Used- $1/2 Pretzels
Used-$1.50 off Stouffers
Used- 3x $1 McCain Potato
Used- $2.00 off Viola Skillet Meal
Used- $1/2 Eggo Waffles
Used- $1.00 off Red Baron
Total After Coupons- $26.48
Store Frozen Food Deal- $15.00

Total Out of Pocket - $11.48

That is how I use my coupons to effectively save money and feed my family.  This is an example of a normal week for us.  Of course I have done better and worse and I have had my fair share of carts full of food for mere dollars at the end but NOTHING like the show portrays. 

Coupons are awesome and totally worth the effort it takes (which is a lot I might add) but the reality of coupons is what I have here, not thousands of dollars worth of product for pennies.  That is simply silly.



Note:  I have had a reader ask me to show more of my couponing scenarios in my blog so here is a start.  I will make sure to include a post (maybe once a week) with my buys.  I hope that seeing this helps everyone realize what you can do with coupons...you don't have to be a hoarder or have an unhealthy diet!!

It's the little things

On Saturday morning, I got a nap!  Yes, in my book, that statement could be a blog post in itself but since this isn't just for me, I will expand....

Saturday late morning, I mentioned that I was tired.  J still isn't sleeping great and by the weekend, I am ready for another set of hands helping with the kids...Yay, its a Daddy day!!  I was sitting with Joe on the couch and he was being awesome and rubbing my legs and feet and then told me to go upstairs and lay down.  Next thing I know, it had been almost 2 hours and I was awoken by the knocks of Joe and J at the door.  I felt amazing!  Joe had been down in the basement with the kids playing "Beach Party" I believe. What the consists of I am not entirely sure but they all had fun doing it! After my nap, the rest of the day was relaxing and just what I needed.  It's funny how a simple nap or break in a day can change the rest of the day.  I felt great, was relaxed and totally ready to handle all that the 4 kids could throw at me....

Boy, they have A LOT up their sleeves!

Cousins

Up until 2 years ago, our kids where the only grandkids on either side of the family and although that can be fun and special, this meant they had no cousins.  Cousins can be some of the best friends we have and certainly some of the longest friends.  Two years ago my sister Anda gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Ava.  Ava is only 7 months younger then Kayleigh so they have been together for most of their lives.  They are becoming quite good friends too! 

Yesterday when Anda and Ava were in town visiting, Kayleigh was beside herself giddy to see Ava or "Av" as Kayleigh has begun referring to her as. They greeting each other with a big hug and beautiful smiles.  For the next 2 hours they giggled and played, coming back every few minutes to show us what they have found or to tell us who said what!  It was quite cute and they were certainly enjoying themselves. 

It is experiences like this and all the ones previously that make me realize how our kids and their cousins will have such a unique bond.  It also shows that they don't have to see each other everyday, talk very often, or even have more in common then simply being cousins.  We are watching the bonds and friendships form that our kids are going to have with them forever.  Friends come and go but family (cousins) are a constant.  Even when they aren't there physically or emotionally, they are there. 

If you give a mouse a cookie....

We have all (or most of us) have read or been read the story of "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie."  Very cute book, kids of all ages love it and it pops into your head whenever you have anything following in that pattern.  Well yesterday, Tuesday, certainly qualified as my own version.  As my sister put it, "If You Give Jacci Some Groceries."  I had gotten the older kids on the bus and then headed out to run a few errands, one of which was grocery shopping.  I don't dislike grocery shopping in general, in fact I absolutely love to shop when I am using my coupons but that is another post entirely!  Anyway, this shop was to refresh our groceries, I didn't need a whole lot but I needed enough.  Also, March is frozen food month at our grocery store so the weekly deals are not easy to pass up.  I decided to take advantage of some and got over $35.00 worth of frozen goodies for only $11 bucks!  Woohoo. 

Back to my original thought for this post, I got home from shopping and unloaded the car.  As I began putting away the groceries, I realized that the pantry was a mess and full of mostly empty boxes of crackers, loaves of bread with only the ends left, etc.  It needed a good cleaning out.  So I promptly began to pitch what I could and reorganized the whole closet!  Wow, it looked amazing.
I then proceeded to put the frozen groceries in the chest freezer in the garage.  Back in November we bought half a cow so this freezer is very well stocked but I knew that if it was reorganized, I would easily fit my new groceries in as well as know what was left from the cow in there.  So I began....I emptied the ENTIRE freezer into bags on the garage floor and took inventory then reorganized everything into the freezer.  Everything fit perfectly, is easily accessible and overall looks great!  Feeling already productive and a bit tired, I turned to go back inside and tripped over a box of Christmas stuff for the third time!!  I was already on a roll so I figured why not, I put everything away in the correct Christmas boxes and then proceeded to organize all the Christmas stuff back into its appropriate corning of the garage.  Of course after this was done, that corner (which is right next to the freezer) look awesome and everything was in its place and organized.  Yes, I had done a good job.  Only one problem....the other 3 corners of the garage looked like a bomb had gone off and the middle was certainly no better.  There was just enough space clear to fit in Joe's car and then the rest was cluttered with, well crap!  There were bikes everywhere...some of which were too small or broken, basketballs and lacrosse sticks everywhere and box after box of random stuff we have accumulated of the years.  There was no time like the present to get this cleaned up too!  Trash is on Thursday which meant I had two days to get anything I wanted to throw out in the garage into bags for Thursday morning.  Well, I have six 30 gallon trash bags crammed full and 3 boxes of stuff all for the trash man!  I had to finish the second half of the garage today because it is still very cold outside and even in the garage with the door shut, it gets quite chilly.  Today at 5:07pm I had finished the garage!  It looks amazing, I have a HUGE trash pile, a fairly comparable goodwill pile and even a kid to kid pile!  Talk about being on a high!

Thankfully I have not lost this feeling of de-cluttering or reorganizing because these last two days have prompted a new list for tomorrow! 

Cluttered closets beware, I am on a mission!

Spring is here!

Well, maybe not officially and possibly not from this point onward but for this weekend, spring is here.  It has been sunny and in the 50s yesterday and today!  The kids have been biking, drawing with chalk and climbing trees.  It has been awesome.  Everyone needed some time out of the house, running their energy off and thankfully this weekends weather has been perfect for that!

Uncle Tommy came to visit this weekend, the kids were so excited and it was great to see him and catch up.  We haven't seen him since last August so he was surprised to see how much the kids have changed, especially J.  Back in August, he was an infant still.  Although he was beginning to interact with people as opposed to being a blob, this visit he is moving everywhere, taking steps and has the personality that can bring a smile to your face in any situation.  We had fun on Friday night making homemade pizza and having some drinks with Tommy and then stayed up to the wee hours of the night catching up on life in general.  Saturday we all went to the Waffle Shop for breakfast, a treat for everyone and then spent the majority of the day relaxing and enjoying the spring.  Today we had a nice breakfast and then headed to the final PSU Men's basketball home game.  You would think that we had more time or had accomplished more this morning but with it being Spring Forward, the whole hour of sleep we lost messes EVERYTHING up!

The kids are biking and playing out front and I am sitting here on the porch, typing this post and enjoying the sun beat down around me!  Fingers crossed that this weather stays for a few weeks and then rises to the enjoyable summer weather! 

Hey, I can hope right?

Sleeping...

Over my years of parenting, I have heard several horror stories about babies/children and sleeping.  Throughout all those stories, although I felt for the person, I was never able to relate. We had GOOD sleepers.  From only a few months of age, Darling would sleep 12 hours at night.  If I needed her up at 7, she went to be at 7,  if I needed her up at 9, she went to bed at 9.  She slept like clockwork.  Duke, became a good sleeper.  He had a rough go at sleeping, much like everything else his first few months but once he gained enough weight, wasn't needing to eat as much and in general grew up a little he began to sleep and sleep well.  Kayleigh followed in her siblings path and was an easy sleeper.   Now I am not sugar-coating, we had our rough nights, the cranky baby or the sick baby but never for nights on end or for a unexplained reason. 

That brings me to J.  This kid does not sleep.  He turned one in February and by his birthday I can honestly say he had slept through the night only a handful of times.  He would go on waves, a week or two of up once and night followed by a week or two of up 3,4 or 5 times a night.  I am not a huge fan of crying out but am willing to do it when necessary and it became necessary with him.  One weekend Joe was out of town.  I figured it was the perfect time to try this CIO thing.  The first night I put all the kids to bed and by 11 J was up.  So I let him cry.  I checked on him about 10 minutes later, let him know I was there and helped him find his blanket again.  Much to my surprise, he feel back to sleep. This might actually work!  Or so I thought.  Next time J woke up was 1:00am.  I let him cry, would comfort every so often without picking him up or giving him a bottle, but he cried, cried and cried.  The child cried for 2 hours!!!!  I finally gave in, picked him up and he was out cold in a matter of minutes.  What the heck!  How was I ever going to get this kid to sleep?

After much frustration, many sleepless nights, a few nights sleeping in the basement, Joe and I (mostly at Joe's pushing) we decided to move J into Duke's room to sleep. This is where he would be for the future, The Boys Room, so why not now.  I was super hesitant to put J in there because I didn't want him keeping Duke up all night and I didn't want to wake up the entire house multiple times by running down the hall 3 or 4 times a night to stop him from crying.  Feeling like my hands were tied and I was out of options, I moved J into Dukes room.  The first night J only woke up ONCE!  I was shocked.  Over the next few nights the boys got into a nice pattern of going to bed together, sleeping most of the night and then hanging out together playing in their room early in the morning while others slept in.  This was working out beautifully.  He still had his rougher nights but overall this situation was working out better.  My fear of J crying and waking up Duke was totally dismissed after a night or two of me realizing we could blast some G&R in their room at night and Duke wouldn't budge.  When that boy is sleeping, he is out!!  It's only been a few weeks but for the most part this is working, J is getting a little better at sleeping and I am hoping that soon he is sleeping through the night every night. 

The story behind todays post is last nights attempt at sleeping.  J is teething AND hasn't been feeling great the last few days so sleeping has not gone very well.  Well last night between bedtime at 8 and 11pm J had woken up screaming 3 times, two of which times I had to bring him downstairs.  The last time, he couldn't keep his eyes open but the minute I tried to put him in his crib, he screamed, blood-curdling screams.  I was getting frustrated, I was tired and I didn't know what to do for him.  My solution....the basement.  We have a finished basement which is the kids playroom and then a little guest area with a bed.  I moved him pack in play into that guest area and moved the monitor down there.  I put J in the bed down there with his blanket, left the light on low and went upstairs.  He screamed and cried but after 10 minutes or so was asleep.  Unfortunately that was only the beginning of the night.  J spent the night in the basement, I spent the night on the couch in the living room and we both were up at 6:00 am. 

Fingers crossed that today/night is a better night. Especially because Joe's little brother is coming into town tonight to visit for a few days so the basement guestroom will be occupied. 

Moral of the story...don't EVER take your "good sleepers" for granted!

The Dreaded Potty Training!

Yes, I am blogging about potty training in my blog, if that doesn't scream "mom" I don't know what does.  We are currently potty training Kayleigh.  She will be three in April and we have started this whole process about 8 months ago.  No, it hasn't taken the whole 8 months because we have been following K's lead and began when she began to show interest.  She was still plenty young enough that I didn't feel a ton of pressure to get it done quickly.  We made the switch to pull-ups instead of diapers, bought some underwear and got out the "little" potty.  Other then that, we didn't do much. When K wanted to try she did, before and after bath we had her sit on the potty, etc.  This worked for us, it was relaxing and she was progressing nicely. 

Then she decided she was done.  Not done with pull-ups but rather done with the potty.  :( Ugh.

So we took a little break.  Over the past few weeks it has really picked and we were spending more time in underwear during the day. On Saturday morning K woke up, went to the potty and changed her pull-up all before coming into our room.  I knew that was my sign...time to go hard core potty mode.  This was actually working out because the next week was spring break so I had plenty of time to stay at home with her and get it done.  Sunday morning we put on underwear and did great.  We even went out shopping as a family for 2 hours with her only in underwear!! No accidents!  To anyone who has done this will completely understand how much of a nightmare it is when your potty training child, wearing underwear, tells you while loading back into the car after shopping they have to go potty!!  Of course they didn't say anything 5 minutes prior when they were in the store near a potty, no it has to be in the car! 

Sunday she only had 2 accidents
Monday only 1 accident
Tuesday she had 4 accidents (most of which were quickly caught as soon as she realized and ran to the bathroom)
Wednesday she only had 2....

That brings us to today....

We did everything as normal and she was doing fine.  We got home from the bus stop and she had an accident.  Okay, not a big deal.  Quick undie and pants change and then off to the grocery store.  We got home from shopping and I specifically asked if she had to go potty.  She told me no....I told her she needed to try ...she had a meltdown yelling "I told you I didn't have to go!"  2 minutes later....accident.  I bit my tongue, helped her change her clothes and nicely told her that I wasn't happy because I had just asked her.  She gave me cute K eyes and all was forgotten.  Since then it has happened again, twice!  I am getting frustrated now because it is only 1:00pm and she doesn't seem to care today.  Oh the joys of potty training!

Hoping the afternoon is better because I am SO ready to have another little Bergie potty trained!  We shall see....fingers crossed that we only have this for a few more days and I have the patience and strength to get through it!  :)

Spring Break

I remember growing up how much we looked forward to Spring Break (or any school break for that matter) to be able to lay around and do nothing, no alarm clocks or tests, it was perfect.  So who would think that there one day be a time when you, the spring break lover, would dread that very same break!?!?! Well, it happened.

 Not that having a break from the everyday schedule that comes with school and having two kids to get on the bus and another two to keep from destroying the house isn't nice, but it is more work and stress then it is worth!  To start it off, Darling hates missing school. She dislikes Fridays because the weekend follows it, having in-service days bum her out and god forbid there be a snow day!  Boy, she gets upset over 2 hour delays!!  So the idea of having a 5 day weekend didn't thrill her. Task #1 for break...plan something fun for Darling.

 Another thing about a school break is that I now have to prepare lunch for all 4 kids....no big deal except no one EVER agrees on lunch so I am usually making multiple choices to avoid a battle.  (I pick my battles, lunch choices isn't one worth fighting!) Then comes the issue of schedules....poof, their gone!  Sleeping in is nice, but only one of the four ever do that, breakfast is served sometime between 7:30 and 9:30 depending on when kids suddenly realize they are hungry. Usually J takes a nice morning nap and then a good long afternoon snooze but apparently on spring break that doesn't happen.  Yesterday alone, I tried to nap him 6 different times with success once!  Ugh!  Talk about a cranky child.  

Thankfully to keep my sanity and that of my little ones, we took a trip to Slinky Action Zone on Monday.  The kids were so excited about going that Saturday and Sunday weren't filled with the boredom that loomed over our house, waiting for a time to strike.  Monday morning was filled with LOTS of giggles and anxious kids until we got in the car to go.  We went with our neighbors across the street (an awesome friend of mine) who have five kids of their own.  Yes, I said five.  Best part about our large families going together....WE GOT THE GROUP RATE!!!  Woohoo!  The three hours we spent there were fun filled and tiring!  Everyone had so much fun and wore out all their energy!  The car ride home was filled with three sleeping children and one reading her new book!  Pure Bliss....

Then Tuesday comes around.... I think the kids were hoping/expecting me to have some magical adventure planned, they were WRONG!  We needed to do a lot of house work!  My to-do list was a mile long and the kids had their own list.  I told them after breakfast they needed to each clean their room and then collectively clean the basement.  After several minutes of attempted arguing/deal-making, the kids retreated to the rooms to begin on there chores.  I am positive that if they knew how to curse, I would have been hearing quite a lot coming from those bedrooms.  You would have thought I told them they had to clean every house in the neighborhood!!  Seriously.  After they finished their rooms (which took 20 mins by the way!) they then huffed and puffed their way to the basement.  I overheard some arguing down there but otherwise they were busy cleaning.  When it was time for me to check to see if they were done it was 8:53 AM.  Yes, they had completed all their cleaning before 9 AM and had ALL DAY to play and relax.  Once I told them they were done and could do whatever they wanted, suddenly I wasn't such an wicked witch.  Huh, funny how that happens!

So that brings me to today, the final day of break.  We were suppose to get snow, everywhere south of us got a lot, 2-12 inches.  We were in the 2-6 inch range according to the weather people.  Guess what...we got nothing, not a flurry.  Normally this would excite me beyond belief....especially in March (I HATE THE COLD) but no, today I really could have used 4-6 inches of snow.  At least the kids could have built snowmen and played in the backyard.  It would have kept the occupied for free but no, that would have been too convenient.  Instead I am left to come up with some fun ideas to keep these four little Bergies happy.....we shall see!

Entering the world of blogging....again!

It has been awhile but I am entering the world of blogging again.  When I was pregnant and going through some medical issues with the pregnancy, I began blogging.  The catch was, I didn't tell anyone about it.  I had a few followers, they were all complete strangers and that was fine, I was writing for me, to document my feelings and my experiences.  Somehow it was therapeutic to write about my fear and my stress and then about my joy and happiness.  I've decided to start another blog, this one to focus on my daily life with four kids.  I know that many, many people have 4, 5 or 6 kids and it is no big deal but these are our four and my life as a stay at home mom.  So it begins....Four Little Bergies!