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.