A Hannah Funny

Hannah is feeling a bit under the weather.

At school yesterday she just laid around and wasn't playing, she wasn't talking, and she wasn't eating. For those of you who know her well know that these are MAJOR signs of something being wrong with Hannah. So, sure enough, she had a little temperature.

SO, Chris and I went, picked her up from school, and took her straight to the doctor. Hannah is getting better about the doctor but not great. (She did con them out of 2 (YES TWO) popsicles.) When we were waiting for the Doc to come in, she was sitting with Chris and she kept saying to us "go home?" or "Hannah go home?" or "All Done Doctor?" because she was ready to get out of there. We of course kept saying no and that we still had to see her Doctor before we could go.

Finally, she looked at her Daddy and asked him to "get up." This is not uncommon. If she is scared of or nervous about something, she wants you to hold her and she wants you to be standing up while you do it. I guess being far away from the ground makes her feel more safe? Anyway, I think Chris stood up for her hoping to calm her down. Once that was done, she looked at him and said "open door." She was actually giving him step by step instructions on how to get out of there.

I must say...... Very Creative, Hannah!

((BTW, Hannah is fine. Her throat was red but their test did not show strep. SO, they are sending her culture to the lab to see what they find. For now, we are just controlling her temp.))

Want Something Free?

I know how you can possibly get something free!!

Check out this Bloggy Giveaway Carnival!! You do not have to have a blog to enter to win and every prize is FREE!!! There are over 780 blogs participating so there are lots of different giveaways that you could get into the drawing for. I saw books, Target Gift Cards, Amazon Gift Cards, DVDs, Gift Sets, Tupperware... Etc!!

Sparkle Factor is participating. So if you or anyone you know wants 2 FREE hairbows please go check it out and leave me a comment. Tell all your family and friends. Who doesn't want to know about something free? On Friday I will randomly select who wins!!

(The cool thing about this is that in the rules they are only allowing "Family Friendly" blogs and items and there is not allowed to be a catch - not even shipping. The item you win HAS TO BE FREE!! Yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)

Menu Plan Monday

OrgJunkie.com is another great website I have found for some organizational tips. Every Monday she hosts a Menu Plan "party." This is my first one but Chris and I have been doing this for a couple of weeks and it has worked well for us.

Plan the menu for the next week, make a list (which includes stuff for all of our lunches and for breakfast as well as suppers), and Saturday morning go to the grocery store and only buy from the list. We are really trying to get our grocery bill down. I have not found a great plan yet to work off the deals going on but last week our grocery bill was $97 and this week we were at $90. I have found some great places to get great inexpensive meals so hopefully we can keep going down down down on the amount. Slowly but surely we are getting there. ((Then comes another mouth to feed, another set of diapers, and formula - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!))

Monday
Dollar Dog Night at the Ball Park (Baseball and a hotdog with some friends... yummmy!) This is also the reason I am doing this so late!!

Tuesday
Fiesta Chicken Pasta

Wednesday
Hamburgers, Cream Cheese Corn, and chips

Thursday
Breakfast: eggs, bacon, toast

Friday
Taco Salad

Saturday
Saucy Parmesan Chicken, Green Beans, and Macaroni and Cheese

Check out a lot of other's Monday Menu Plan on OrgJunkie!!

Our Sunday Pictures

CMD Family Rule

If you don't want little feet in your shoes...
Don't leave your shoes laying around!

Recipe Swap

Gayle from the Grocery Cart Challenge is doing a recipe swap today. It is suppose to be frugal recipes. I am going to share mine here and if you want to see others just go to her blog and check out everyone else who participated.

Even if it is not Friday any more and you can't add your name to her list (I am doing mine a little late!), if you have a recipe that you would like to share feel free to comment on this blog to let everyone know you have one so we can see it!

This is considered a frugal recipe to me because I almost always have all the ingredients in my house anyway. I got this recipe from the Kraft Foods magazine.

Saucy Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients:
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup Italian Dressing
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Place all ingredients in a large resealable freezer weight plastic bag; seal bag. Turn bag over several times to evenly coat chicken with remaining ingredients. Lay flat so chicken does not overlap.

Refrigerate chicken 30 minutes to marinate. Preheat oven to 425. Remove chicken from marinade; discard bag and marinade. Arrange chicken on foil-covered baking sheet. Bake chicken 20 minutes or until cooked thru.

Now, here is my little spin....
I get my chicken out before I go to work and by the time I get back it is thawed. I then marinade the chicken for a few minutes (with maybe a little more of the ingredients than it calls for), put the chicken on the pan and then pour the rest of the marinade out of the bag onto the tops of the chicken.

It seems so simple but every time we do it, either Chris or I or both of us comment on how great the chicken tastes!

Enjoy!

Works For Me Wednesday

A blog called Rocks in my Dryer has a "Works for me Wednesday" entry where everyone can join in. I have learned a few great little things thru this so I thought I would try it out this week. This is my very first Works for me Wednesday and I am already going to modify it. Can I do that? I say YES!

How about Hope-It-Works-For-Me-Wednesday?

I have started an Etsy.com store. Hopefully Mom and I can sell some of our homemade items on there. Have any of you ever tried it? Any suggestions - besides the fact that I need to take the time to get more on it??

I hope it Works For Me!!
(I promise to try not to bend the rules next week!)

I Am Pregnant!

I am guessing you all knew that - didn't you.

All you mom's out there probably know what starts to happen to you when you are 7 months pregnant (especially when you are 7 months pregnant and a mother). A little streak of panic starts to go thru you. At least that is what is happening to me.
I am nervous about having a boy.
I am nervous about our home being ready for a baby.
I am nervous about how Hannah is going to act.
I am nervous about getting all the right things.
I am nervous about money.
I am dreaming of the kind of Mom I want and hope to be.
I am dreaming about my form of income.
I am trying to imagine a family of 4.
I am tired (I should be in bed right now!)
Blah Blah.. I could go on.

So within this life change I am doing around my house, I am trying to find some little ways to save us some money and pay off some bills so that maybe, one day, I can have the opportunity to spend more time with my children.

I decided a couple of weeks ago I was going to be really disciplined and do this. Last week Carrie puts information on her blog that she is trying to find ways to save money and some people gave her some great websites.

So, I decided that we were going to start planning our weekly meals and making a grocery list and sticking to it!! Also, I decided that we were going to see if it was worth it to invest $1.50 a week to get the Sunday paper and cut coupons.

I made a coupon box. An idea I got from another blog and I feel guilty that I don't know whose it was or how I got there so I can't officially give them the credit but it is great. (Don't act like that has never happened to you!) Just some index cards and envelopes and a few broad categories and there you go. I have them all organized. In the Sunday paper there was an insert and the cover says "103 tips to stretch your money..." and I got a lot of great websites and ideas from it.

Then I go to LeeAnn's blog and she has posted about a website she loves that helps her with saving money at the grocery store.

Whew what a crazy, interesting week of information. So, I thought I would share with you some interesting things and pose a few questions for you to see what you think.

#1
Please share your ways of saving with me/us. I would love to know and try it myself!

#2
If you are a Kroger shopper, go to Kroger.com, click on P&G eSaver. It will show you a lot of great coupons. Here comes the cool part. You choose your coupons and then put in your Kroger Plus Card # and the coupons are put on your Kroger Plus Card. You don't even have to print and cut them. When you go to Kroger and scan your Card - the coupons will be subtracted from your total. How easy is that? I am Very Excited about this piece of information!

#3
I found this blog that I love written by a lady named Gayle. She has 4 kids and a grocery budget of $50 - $60 a week. She posts lots of great money saving ideas. She doesn't use coupons because she has lots of discount places near by. I have a problem with coupons for another reason. (As you can see from the prior info, I am trying to work that out.) Most coupons are for name brand stuff. We have a few things in our home that we have not had to (nor do we want to) resorted to generic. Like Lever 2000, Cheerios, Charmin... I really can't think of anything else. But most everything else we buy is the generic brands. SO, name brands with a coupon is still usually not as good of a deal as the generic brands. AND, coupons can get confusing. How much do I have to buy to get the savings? Was I going to buy that anyway or did I just buy it because of the coupon? Anyway, I love reading about her money saving tips without hearing about coupons. One of her tips is homemade laundry detergent which I have every intention of trying and if I do I will let you know all about it. (She has a lot of homemade recipes on there for cleaning supplies including dryer sheets and Febreeze!) Gayle is willing to make some sacrifices we are not, yet. I am not sure we will ever let ourselves get to where we can not have milk. (We would probably sell a car before we would do that!) I don't think we could limit our family of 3 to 1 gallon of milk a week - much less if we had a family of 6, like she does!! We bought 3 gallons on Saturday and are already about half way thru our 2nd!

#4
MyGroceryDeals.com This website will let you put in your zip code and you can look at all the deals from all the near by stores before you go out to see if someone has a better deal than another. It will let you view deals by store or by category or you can search for a certain item. How great is that?

I will try to keep you updated on my life change and how things are going.

This week we took a list to the grocery store and we DID NOT buy anything not on the list. I listed out items for breakfast, lunches, and suppers to be sure we had some things before we left. SO far it has worked out great. And our goal this week was to be under $100 which we were! Yipppeeeee! We hope to go down from there!

Your Turn. Spill It. Any other good advice or suggestions on saving money?

I'm On A List

Apparently, I am on a list and I didn't even know it.

I got an email the other day from Hachette Book Group. I probably would have just deleted it not knowing who it was from but I saw the subject line and knew I needed to read this email. The subject said "A Summer of Sparks."

That is right - This is your little Nicholas Sparks reminder!!

FIRST

In September The Lucky One is "hitting bookstores." It will be available in Audio Book, Large Print, and eBook editions. This may be the first book I read after meeting Mr. Justus!

SECOND

Also, in September Nights In Rodanthe (starring Richard Gere and some other non-Richard Gere people) "hits movie theaters." If you have not read the book you have a couple months to read it before the movie - I highly suggest it! I highly suggest any of his books!

Our Sunday Pictures

This week the problem was not waking up late or getting behind schedule. We were ready to go 15 minutes before time to go!! WOW! But my batteries in my camera were dead and so this was all I got.

Chris dressed her yesterday and I love the dress he picked out. It was SO pretty on Hannah.

Hannah's Room

How long have I been promising pictures? The room is still not completely finished but I thought I would still go on and show you everything and you can imagine the rest. Hannah's new room (the only other bedroom upstairs) is actually an odd shape and rather big. Chris (and I) really did not want to paint the whole room because of this. So we ended up painting one complete wall and then stripes on the others. Hannah picked out the bedding, then Chris and I picked out the colors based on that. I think it turned out neat and I think Hannah likes it.

This is her dresser. Some good friends of ours that worship with us gave her that stool and it is perfect for watching me fix her hair in the mornings. I did the H, J, and D that are on the wall but I have not put ribbon on it yet to hold her hairbows. That is coming soon.

If you have never looked at Upper Case Living, you should. That is where I got the doily and monogram for over her bed. I love it. And the green stool that Maw Maw and Poppa Bob got Hannah goes great in here for her to be able to get into and out of her bed. NO, I did not make the bed for you all. She had just gotten up from her nap and the camera was close by. Sorry. There are 2 white bedrails for her so she will not fall out of the bed. Thanks Papa Joe for letting us use some of the "points" you earned to "buy" these!

We do have curtains but no curtain rods yet. That is coming soon, hopefully. We took the glider out of the baby room and put it in here. The blanket that matches her bedspread helps to tie in that beige thing. (We really love it no matter what the color!) The random bedside table and 2x4s - Chris will get out of the room very soon. They actually don't go in here at all. I am honestly not sure Hannah has even noticed them, though.

And here we are, all the way around. Hannah thinks it is really great that her name is on the closet door. I got those and the butterflies on either side of the door from Target. They are wall stickers or art or something.... The other thing (not shown) is that we have to put in her ceiling fan. Chris has put in one before but he doesn't like doing it and he doesn't think it is wise to do it on his own so that is still sitting in a box on her floor. Also, check out the chest of drawers in the little "cubby." I love how it is out of the way.

Next big project is to make Justus' room special. This is the way the baby room looks now. We purposefully chose some things with Hannah that would be easy to change to make it a boy room if necessary. That is the ongoing project right now and we are moving along rather well with it. Hopefully I will be able to show you the transformation soon. Meanwhile, check out the "before" pictures.

In the midst of all my organization and cleaning out I have discovered these bins from Target that I LOVE. They are everywhere in the house now. I am not sure I can get enough of them.

These are in Hannah's room, holding HER things. I wanted to establish some things as just hers before Justus came along and put them in HER room. This is where those things go!

This is the toy bin in Mommy and Daddy's room. If Hannah is in our room (and not right under us wanting to know what we are doing) then she knows she can go here for a few toys to play with while we are doing our thing.

This is in Justus' room to help hold the books that would not fit in the bookshelf and will eventually be used for the things he can call HIS (similar to Hannah).

This is in the play room. One has blocks, one has toys with wheels, one has Little People items, and one has junk in it.

There is also one downstairs in the living room with a few little toys if Hannah wants to play while we are fixing supper or something. I have one in each of the cars for Hannah's toys and books for the cars. I have one ready to put in Hannah and Justus' bathroom to put in the cabinet for things. Seriously, they are everywhere.

My warning about these wonderful wonderful bins - they try to trick you at the store. These that I have are about $5 (or $5.99?) a piece. However, there are other brands and types (like leather) that cost double that or more. The trick is that they are not all on the same aisle. SO you may think your Target doesn't have them or that they are out or something. NO, just go a couple more aisles down and you will find them. (Trust Me - I had a panic once - they are there!)

New Website

I have been looking for a way to better keep my recipes.

I have a 3 ring binder but it is hard to sort them and all the pages are a different size.

I have a recipe box but those little cards are not great for me.

SO, I decided to start a blog to help my organization. I am only putting recipes on it that my family has tried and likes. I am putting labels on the posts so that I can search for them later by main ingredient or other little items.

My Family's Recipes are there for you to see also. Feel free to try one and make a comment. I would love to know if you like or don't like it, why, and any hints as to how you made it different.

Remember, I am not a great cook so most of my recipes will be quick and easy and I did not make any of them up on my own. I will try to always tell you where I get the dish from.

The website it on my sidebar under Fun Sites as Our Family's Recipes.

Hopefully this will help my organization and can be fun for you too! Enjoy!

Morning With Chloe

Hannah was so excited that she was going to get to spend the whole morning with Chloe (and Ms Elizabeth, Avery, and Brady). We went to their house and then we all went to the Discovery Center and then we all went to lunch together! FUN!

And these are all the pictures I got!!

AND this is when she was playing with Brady (I told Brady I wouldn't put the one other picture I have, which is of him, on my blog!)

I left my camera at their house all during the fun!

I am SO absent minded these days.

Spaghetti

If you have read our blog for any time at all you may have realized that Hannah likes to eat and likes pasta. She really likes spaghetti. I couldn't decide which of the videos I liked best so you get both. . . . .

Matthew 28:19-20

(New American Standard Version)

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

New Book

Gift From the Heart was a very good book. I laughed and I cried. Once Chris looked at me while I was reading it and saw me crying and said "Is it worth it?" I said yes in between my tears!! Of course, please remember my "condition" if you read this and think I am crazy for crying. Anyway, this is just another Love Inspired book that I do recommend. I seem to recommend them all. They are such good books.

Before I read the next one in this Love Inspired series I am now going to Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner. It is about pregnant women. Yipppppeeeeeee!! I am very excited about it. I have gotten to about page 50 and think it is great so far. My Aunt Wendy recommended it as she recommends all of Jennifer Weiner's books. I have read In Her Shoes and Goodnight Nobody so this will be my third of hers I have read. So far they are all great! (They seem to normally be about girls..... not necessarily love stories - just about women. I like that!)

Our Sunday Pictures

Look a that froggie collar!!

Thank You Grandmom and Grandpop for the cute Sunday dress for Hannah's birthday.

Unfortunately, this is all we got this week. We all woke up a little late and didn't have time for a lot of posing from Hannah (which is always lots of fun)!

Vacation Day Five

Our last day.
Very Sad.

Hannah thought that the little purple pool was good until she discovered the "big" blue pool. Now that was where she wanted to be. Neither Chris nor I wanted anyone to see any of the pictures with us in it so this is all you get.... All the others had one of us in it.

After Hannah got out of the pool she got some cuddle time with Nannah. She loved it. This is one of my favorite pictures. I love how Hannah is looking at Nannah instead of me. It was so cute.

Vacation Day Four

AKA Our Sunday Pictures
Hannah posed all on her own in this one.

Now, this is a little more lady like.

After worship and nap we were able to go outside for a little while and play in the little pool that Nannah and Papa Joe had.