AWWW sweet!

So Wyatt had scouts last night and they were learning about what to do in an emergency. The den leader posed this question for the boys:

"If your mom fell down the steps and broke her leg, what would you do?"

Some of the boys said call 911, get help from a neighbor, call dad, but my sweet boy Wyatt said, "I could pray". Super sweet! I hope it isn't too lenghty of a prayer since my legs are broken :)

Taking chances

So my DH is a great man. I couldn't be happier and he knows how I work. A few years ago we got on a discussion (not the first one we've had) about baptism. He really loves me and knew that if he came on strong about his feelings on this subject I would immediatly be put on the defense (a trait I learned not so thankfully from my dad).

I was baptized when I was 13 at a Methodist church my family and I were members of growing up. I went through classes aboout what that meant to accept the Lord into your life and to follow Him. I felt at that time I was ready and I accept Him and promised to lead my life in a way that is pleasing to Him. I then was "baptized" by a method called pouring. I had the option of being immersed but most Methodist churches did not have a baptistry. The poring worked just like you would think it would. A pitcher of water was poured over my head as I bent over a large bowl.

Jared has always felt that this wasn't enough. To truly be baptized was to be immersed. The kind husband that he is over the years he has mentioned it and how he wants me to be rebaptized. His concern for what would happen to me after I was gone was touching to say the least. He knew that I would have to discover this on my own.

Many of you I've talked about this before. I have prayed about it and read my bible and still felt that my heart was in it back then why doesn't it count? I feel overall like I've led my life in a way that follows God- not to say I'm perfect we all slip up, but overall my thoughts and my actions are Godly focused. But then came Ashley W. A random conversation on a mommies night out at dinner was what really led me to this point. Her personality is one I really enjoy, sarcastic, funny and dead serious at the same time. (You'd have to know her to get that). Her comment to me was -"Do you really want to take that chance?". Over and over it talked about immersion in the bible. I knew that, I had read that. Did I want to take that chance? That question direct as it may be has been on my mind for a month.

My desision has been made. NO!!! I don't want to take that chance. I want to spend eternity with my Lord and my family. So with a happy heart, Jared will baptize me on Sunday evening after class. I'm so excited that he will be able to do it since he is the one who started this whole thing. I hope if you are reading this you'll be there with us to celebrate! We take enough chances in life, this is one I won't be taking.

A change in attitude...

How can we come about it? It seems so easy. Change your mind about whatever it is and your attitude will follow. I struggle with this daily! Our attitudes as wives and mothers affect the others around us. I should be better at it, but I continue to work on it and pray about it.
This weekend has been a trying weekend. I was sick and Abby was having a three day meltdown over her tooth pain. (I actually had to take her back to the children's dentist today) Wyatt was pushing the envelope in the way he was speaking to me. Jared had off four days and we didn't get any of the things I had on my mental list to do done.
Now I'm just frustrated and a change in attitude is necessary! I talk to my children about changing theirs, but who was there to tell me to change mine when I snapped at them for things they couldn't control. I guess noone is there to tell mommy to suck it up and get over it. Maybe that is God telling me, and that's how I know it is time to move on. SO here I go-tomorrow is a new day, a new attitude and a plan of attack. I'd say wish me luck, but I'd rather have the prayers!

Abby's teeth

So today was the day. Something told me to stay at home this morning. Maybe it was that Wyatt just wanted to chill out and I was pretty beat.I had made a commitment to go to a baby shower this morning and I should keep that. I figured that taking the kids to our mommy and me playdate would be a perfect way to wear them out so I could get some much needed laundry done afterward.

We got there and Wyatt just wasn't himself. He didn't want to play, said his neck hurt. He probably kinked it sleeping in the gameroom, a treat he gets when his behavior has been great. Abby was having a great time playing with many of her friends. We even met a new friend today, and her very cute puppy who was the hit of the playdate.

So I decided that at noon we would leave so I could get home and do the afore mentioned laundry and be there before the painter was coming over. I started to round up the children and abby came over to where I was seated, she tripped and fell into the concrete "seat". It is a seat made of concrete about 2 ft off the ground where we can sit to watch the kids while they play. she cried of course, but as I looked at her further she broke her two front teeth. One is broken kinda vertically so it is pretty sharp. The other was a more smooth break horizontally across the other tooth.

Well we rushed to the dentist, and he said she was too traumitized to do anything just yet. He said his grandson did the same thing recently, and his recommendation was to let it be for a few weeks. I trust this guy, after all he has been my dentist since I was six and my mom' since before that. We'll see a children dentist he recommended after a few weeks to see if they can at least file them down.

Strangely, I can't believe how incredibly calm I was through the whole ordeal. God works in ways we never see or expect. How thankful I am that Abby wasn't hurt worse, and even more how this complete calm came over me to be able to help that crying little toddler.

** I guess I never published this. It happened about 3 weeks ago. Go figure!

Our trip to the zoo

We spent Memorial day with our Kids for christ group, and I brought along mom, sister, niece, and her dad. I love this group! It has gotten so big. We had 50+ people there and that wasn't even all of us. The kids were on their best behavior and the weather although it looked very gloomy was BEAUTIFUL!

Wyatt and Jared's favortie is the reptile area. Of course it would be they are boys and I'm totally grossed out in every exhibit there. God does have something for everyone thats for sure. Abby has a few faves, the elephants, the sea lion, and the giraffe, but her all time fave is the bunnies. We really love the zoo and actually bought a membership so that we can enjoy it much more frequently.

Oh what a wonderful weekend!

We spent an AMAZING weekend at Palmetto Bible Camp for a church retreat. We spent time with some great friends. We had a feast at every gathering thanks to the help of David, Wes, Edie, and Carol. It was so nice and relaxing, a little rain only made it more even more relaxing on the front porch rocking chairs.

We played games(a real fun time), we fished and played putt putt. And then there was the mountain... Oh it was beautiful when we got to the top and I'm so glad we did it, but it was some serious hard work. The "strenous" warning was not enough for me. I though it could use a few verys in front of that.

It was my first time there, but the place had such special memories for Jared. It was also our 10th anniversary while we were there and we dined on a very high class special dinner at ... Pizza Inn. It may not have been our first choice, but the choc chip pizza was enough to send many of us circling like vultures around the bar until more was put out. We also got to share it with many other wonderful friends which made it even more special.

Strawberry Picking

We LOVE strawberries in our house! Abby and I went strawberry picking last week with our mommy and me group. It had rained the day before and so parts of the field were muddy. Abby ran after her friend concerned that he had gone too far, and trip and fell face first into the mud. Poor Abby! You would have thought she had broken something as hard as she was crying. I just had to document it. She got cleaned up in the sink there at the farm and was A-okay after that. On a side note- great strawberries-Yumm!

My best yet!

I'm usually pretty good about my grocery bill and my savings. I am disappointed when I don't save at least 50% on each grocery bill. And yes it has happened where I have only saved a few dollars in a trip. I try to keep those trips at a minimum. It is usually when I do a last minute trip for something and it includes staples like bread, eggs, or milk.

Well this time I had my best savings yet. This was a stock the pantry trip. Not anything I had to have but things we use or I got so cheap that we'll give to the church's food pantry. No-this isn't all I'm going to buy this week as I still have more than 50% of my weekly budget leftover. That will go to meat and of course the staples. So here it is....

I spent $21.66 for $71.69 of groceries. A savings of 72%! Here is what I got.
2 bxs of kraft easy mac
1 bx cheese its
4 jars of pace salsa
3 bxs pop tarts
2 6pk bottled water
1 juicy juice
1 cranberry-grape juice
1.5 lbs bananas
2 lbs mahi mahi
1 soft scrub
1 shout
1 scrubbing bubbles
1 cough drop (DH is sick)
1 gerber lunch thing for Abby
2 bxs go-gurt
2 bks capn crunch
1 donut (wy was being so good)

This included some things I didn't have a coupon for, but were a great deal anyway. Some of the things aren't things I generally buy, but Wy has asked for in previous trips. My response is usually "maybe when it goes on sale". I know he gets tired of hearing it, but he needs to learn. So when I went I took him so that he could see that I would follow through on my statement with the scooby doo go-gurts and the easy mac. He was very excited and he is starting to understand. He said today, "my mom won't buy it if we can't get lots of money off". Well he's got me pegged. Love you Wy!

Wyatt's update

Many of you know that I've been concerned with Wyatt recently. I pulled him off of his seizure meds since they were literally making him nuts. I was very nervous about what that may or may not do to the amount of his seizures. Well-it seems as if after all of everyone's prayers that he no longer suffers from them at all. Praise God! We had an EEG done to make sure,and although we don't have the offical results I was there to see the test and saw not a single one. This is such a relief for me. I won't constantly worry over him when he isn't with me. I feel like he can have more freedom to just be a kid instead of me lurking around to always check up on him.

We also had him tested for a mild form of autism. Good news again! No autism here. We found out a few things about him though. It seems he has a sensory disorder. This can be managed through occupational therapy which he needed anyway to help out with his motor skills. He may also have a non-verbal learning disorder. This can be measured by an IQ test that hopefully the school will take care of. This would explain why he is so above average in reading but just barely scraping by on handwriting and a few math skills.

It is soooo true how God takes care of us. All that He asks is that we turn to him. After trying to be the "super mom" and figure it all out, I realized that it wasn't in my control. I turned it over to Him through prayer and many prayers from those who know us and soon things just fell into place. We are still battling the financial aspects of so many tests, but God will provide. We are so blessed by Him!

Chores.. chores ..chores

Wyatt has been learning for quite some time about the whole chore deal and that it is our responsibility as apart of the family to do our part. It is a battle most days, and to those of you getting to this stage- good luck but stick with it!
We get alot of the "it isn't fair" and "I didn't make this mess my friend(s)did ". We have A LOT of discussion around that. Mommy has to clean up when she doesn't make the mess or sometimes it isn't fair when there are more children in the house than adults cleaning up. But so is life, and I am willing to do all of this to stay at home with those dear dear human tornados.
Well I kept thinking, one day it would pay off, and yesterday it did. I announced to Wyatt as he had benn saving his chore money for a long time that we would take it to the bank and cash it in. Half would go into the savings acct, part would go to the church, and the rest he could spend. With no complaint this was still great in his little mind. So he had $15 to spend. He had been eyeing two toys he really wanted. One was out of his price range so no go there. The other came in two styles. One that was $11 and one was $15. He made the choice to get the cheaper because he would have a little over $3 leftover to get toward the one he didn't have enough $ for. So I am extremely proud. So many lessons were learned here, and he and I both beamed as he paid for his toy with his hard earned $. Good job Wyatt!!

Makes you remember the important things

It's been a while since my last post, and with all I have on my plate again I probably wouldn't be blogging today, BUT.... something happened this morning that
I don't want to forget.

I woke Wy up this morning for school, and I went downstairs to make his lunch. He was taking entirely too long, and so I asked what the hold up was. He came to the banister that looks to downstairs and said, "Guess what mom! I'm reading my bible." Now how can you be upset that he is taking so long when that is the reason. Gotta love the enthuiasm.

Just the other day, DH and I were talking in the kitchen about a freind of ours mom who is gravely ill. Wy looked up and said "I'll pray for Bob's mom tonight" He asked if she would get better, and I struggled with what to tell him. I thought and responded that with God anything is possible, but she may not. Then I followed with, but that is also okay because she won't be hurting any longer and she will be in heaven with God. His response- "and Jesus".

I am continually amazed at how grown up he is becoming. His child-like faith has such grown up understanding sometimes. It just gives Jared and I a smile when these things happen or when we pull into the church and little Abby says "I go to class" with such excitement. At least we are doing a few things right.

A busy week ahead!

This week our house will be the happenin' place to be. If you didn't know that already-I LOVE TO ENTERTAIN! We have our normal life group on Sunday of about 15-20 people. On Tuesday, we are having about another 20 for our mommy group here for a playdate. On Saturday, we are having 15 people over for dinner, and Abby's birthday. I love it!
All of that said, with that many people to feed, I'm going to skip a week for my six week challenge. I know I'll spend at least my normal budget if not a little bit more. I have saved up for this though. Before I started my six week challenge, if I went under budget in a week I would put aside that money for entertaining. This allows me to entertain when I want without worrying about the extra expense as much.
We will see how it goes.

Week 2

Week two was much better. I was able to stay almost right at budget. It has been a crazy week and I have misplaced one of the reciepts. So I'm trying to do this from memory. Recipt number 1 was 12.46 with a savings of 64%. Receipt number 2 was for $14, not sure fo the savings.

Ziploc sandwich bags
2 publix oreo's
12- 2ltr publix sodas
1 bx fish sticks
1 suave kids shampoo
4- 10pk hi-c
1 sour cream
2 gerber lunch tubs
1 relish
4 mentos gum
2 ocean spray juice
1 gal milk
1 loaf bread
1 ore ida stam and mash potatoes
2 10pk capri sun
1 3lb strawberries
1 cantaloupe

Savings from my normal budget this week was $23. Cumulative is $40. I have already spent $27 of that on the foster kids drive our mommy group is sponsoring. I got 2- 10pks of socks, 3- 7pk girls underwear, and 2- 2pk of boys underwear, all from Old Navy of course.

WEEK 1 of 6

Well I finished week 1 of my six week challenge. This was much harder than I thought it would be! I was doing great on my $25 weekly budget until I realized I needed to bring smoked sausage for 20 people to our boy scout camping trip. This put me over. Not by alot but still I wanted the first week to be a success. :( I was still able to save $17 from my normal budget so not a total loss. Here is what I got for my $32 this wk. Remember the object is to live on what I already have in the freezer, fridge, and pantry.
3 bxs of cap'n crunch cereal
4 rolls tp(love publix's penny item)
5 lb bag of purina one cat food
1 jar peanut butter
1 loaf bread
1.5 lbs bananas
3 soups
2lbs red grapes
2 kid snacks
milk
4 rings of smoked sausage

So my budget buster was the smoked sausage and the cat food priced at 5.99 after coupon. I wasn't out of this and I could have made it throught the 6 wks without buying it. It never goes on sale and publix had it on sale this wk, and I had a $1 off coupon for it. Still a good decision to good ahead and get it. I vow to be successful in week 2.

I got the message!

So yesterday was one of those days. God was telling me something and I was not listening. Here is how I finally got the message.

I learned the night before that a friend of mine's brother had passed and my heart just reaches out to her and her family. I didn't sleep well because I was up thinking and praying for them. I overslept and Wyatt missed the bus to school.
I visited my mom as I was a little down in the dumps and I really wanted to be near my family. I had a good time visiting there and of course Abby loves to see Grandma.

Later that afternoon I had a meeting a Wyatt's school scheduled. Nothing major, but I wanted to be there. It was scheduled for 2:30 and school lets out at 2:05. I got there about 2:15 and went to pull into the entrance and it was blocked off. So I drove further down the rd, turned around and thought okay Rach what to do? I tried going in the back of the school and realized that is the car rider line that won't work. I went back down the main rd and realized the busses were gone so i was going to go into the exit. Yes, I know not the best solution, but how else could I get in?
So a volunteer, and yes I saw her, comes up the car as I'm pulling into the 2nd parking space beats her hand on the rear passenger window. I get Abby and I out of the car, and the lady is yelling at me. I explained that there were no other options for me to get in. She said they do this every day for the childrens safety. WHAT CHILDREN? There were none in the front of the school, no busses, nothing. She then kept saying I needed to talk with someone. Nope what I needed to do was go inside and get to my meeting. So then she kept boxing me into the car(not punching like boxing but boxing in with her movements). I asked her to move out of my way, and she kept repeating that I needed to talk to some lady. I got around her and she put her hand on my left shoulder to hold me back. I told her not to do it again, and then she accused me of trying to run her over when I came in. WHAT!!?? So I went inside. I was paged to the office like I was 5 years old, and I didn't go. I was in a meeting and I was not going to re-hash this in front of my two children.

Then I went to Publix, my favorite store!! The cashier who rang me up gave me a big stink over using two coupons on the same item. I explained that I always do it when one is a store coupon, and one is a mfr coupon. She said that wasn't the policy. I called the mgr over and of course it was okay, but the lady kept grumbling about it. I explained that she shouldn't let someting so small bug her. Oh well I can't fix it all.

So then I needed gas and went to the gas station. I tried my debit card and ran it as a debit and a credit and it would not pump any gas. Okay my patience was long gone and thankfully another customer said she just came from inside and they had only premium available. Okay I got it God-Rachel go home! So home I went and spent time with the kids. Later that evening a store on a street I was planning to travel on had I gotten the gas burned down. Lesson learned, listen when He is talking.

BUSY BUSY BEES!

It is a busy, busy week for everyone in the family. DH and Wyatt are going to a camp in at the museum with the boy scouts. This seems so cool. Like night of the museum but without the t-rex playing fetch (I hope). I'll send them with the camera so they can take lots of pics. Also the blue and gold banquet is this weekend too. I'm sad I'll miss this one, but mommy needs some girl time.

Abby will spend the weekend with grandma and grandaddy getting spoiled I'm sure. What fun would it be going to grandma's without getting spoiled?

And last there is mommy! Mommy will be having a wonderful time at the beach with the ladies from church for our annual retreat. I'm very excited about hearing our speaker who will talk on the book of Ephesians.I love the women we are going with and every moment I get to spend with them is one I enjoy.

Are you ready?

Well after talking to a few of my friends, I think that we will start our 6 wk challenge on March 1st. It certaintly will be a challenge though. For us the 50% weekly reduction in total grocery/personal care spending is $25 per week. But... at the end of it we will have an extra $150. So what to do with it? I have a few ideas floating around and all of them seem great, but what would a good steward do with this extra $? I won't count my chickens before they've hatched but I know that I can do this. My DH is also very excited and has full confidence that I can pull this off. Gotta love a supportive hubby, I know I do! So more to come on this after week 1 of the challenge. So happy saving!

My six week challenge

So this has been on my mind since I read the $1500 per yr challenge. What challenge could I do? How much more could I save on groceries? Well this is what I've come up with. I will reduce our grocery budget by 50% for the next 6 wks. Our current budget is $50 per wk, so that would be $25 per wk as my goal. It will still be a challenge though. I am hosting our mommy and me group at my house and my whole family another time for Abby's second birthday. I am quite competitive so I'm sure that we can do this. The question will be what will I do with the extra $150 we will save?

Now just a few things I want to tell you first so I can be upfront with everyone. I have a well stocked fridge and freezer. My DH hunts and so I always have venison in my freezer. I have recently stocked up on other meats that have been on sale as well. Everything that we have though was accumulated from our regular budget. I did NOT splurge before this so I could make it. The pics in my previous post are what I bought this week before starting and I kept at our budget. Also we eat a meat, vegetable, and usually a starch at every dinner. Lunch is different because we are all at different places during the day. My DH and son are packed a lunch daily so no spending there. Abby and I are mostly at home during the day, but our lunch always includes some type of meat, and at least a fruit. Breakfast is usually very small. None of us care for it much but we do make sure everyone eats something at the start of their day. We do not eat out very often, but in the effort of full disclousure we eat at our church every Wednesday night. So one dinner every week is taken care of. We also host a dinner group on Sundays at our house and it works like at potluck for the most part.

So how will this work? I guess I'll update every week with how much I've spent and saved from our normal budget and what the cumulative totals are for the 6 wk challenge. I think I might see if a few of my friends will join in-it's always more fun when you can share it with someone. So look at your budget can you reduce it 50% for 6 wks? If your budget is $100 per wk and not $50 like mine don't worry, just try to reduce by 50%. You'll be suprised what you can do! So go get started and HAPPY SAVING!

February Week 3 grocery trips

Right Side
Left side
Everything

So a few of my friends are wondering what do I spend my $50 per wk budget on. Well here it is. I actually will go over by $1 because I haven't bought milk yet. As you can see I buy bread, eggs, and at least a few fresh produce items(this time it was only potatoes) every week. I still had some fruit left from late last wk that will last us until shopping day again. I bought more meat than usual. We have a Sunday night study group that meets here every wk and it was my turn for the main dish. Also diapers were on a good deal again so I bought 3 pkgs(only 1 is in the pic).
Totals before: $161.35
Total OOP: $47.22
Savings of : $114.13 or 74%

Living on $1500 for a year?

Okay so I was sent a link to this lady's blog about living on $1500 a year for groceries, personal items and co-pays and of course I was intrigued so I checked it out. I'd offer the link but I think the blog has since been removed.
First of all her family of four drinks 5 gallons of milk per week-WOW! Just that cost alone is over $600 in a year. She has already spent over $400 and we aren't even done with February yet. So unless something drastically changes it doesn't appear as if she will make it. She does say that she started with a fully stocked pantry, which I believe is a must even if you weren't trying to do her challenge. I wish her well and even if she doesn't make it, as she points out it still helps her be more aware of her spending habits.
I think that I'd like to do my own challenge, but I'd like for it to be more realistic. I keep a fully stocked pantry and a well stocked freezer so I'd already be setup for success in that respect. I agree with her that we should all be good stewards of what God has provided for us, and I'd like to see how much better our family can be.

Rolly Pollies

So we had an amazing time yesterday at Rolly Pollies with our mommy group. This place was like kid heaven(and mommy's too-after the nap Abby took). It was full of cool things to do like a mini roller coaster, a bounce castle, an inflatable slide, a tumble track, and who could forget the pit(certainly not grandma-we had a fun time trying to get her out). In addition we got to spend some great time with grandma, cousin Emily and many of our friends. We can't wait to go back!