Mama Of Boys

Zoo in spring

2010-04-02T08:47:00.011-04:00

Back in blogger land I am for my zero maybe 1 reader left here is some new pic's for you. Yesterday the boys and I went to the zoo it was 75 and gorgeous. Although all of the animals were sleeping in their habitants the monkeys were quite active. We stood and watched them for awhile and just laughed they were quite entertaining.

Here is "Nessie" I believe it was called at Art Prize this fall in her new home at the zoo. Quite amazing it is.
My little Romeo oh that smile will melt a girls heart someday.

My Kaleb posed for many pictures for me that day I just love this kid:)

All my handsome boys even got Lucas in on this one.

Kaleb and Roman playing on the train. I declared Kaleb to old to play on it since it was all preschool/kind. kids. However it cleared out for a bit and Roman was quite delighted that big brother got to play on it with him for a bit.

What would the annual trip to the zoo be without at least one picture of all the kids sitting on John Ball? LOL

Summer fun at the Fair....

2009-09-09T20:49:00.004-04:00

Kaleb and Roman in the bumper cars Roman had a blast riding with Kaleb!

Roman pretending to drive the bobcat like daddy does.

Getting a lift from big brother!

Roman and his friend in the big tractor tire I just love this picture!

4th of July

2009-07-30T13:18:00.011-04:00

On the 4th this year we went to a friends house the boys tried water skiing for the first time, they got to go tubing, fishing and swim. Ben waterskied as well and we both tubed, played volleyball and just had an awesome fun relaxing day.

Here is Ben water skiing.

Roman with a sparkler

Roman fishing

Lucas and an awesome hair do

The boys tubing

Lucas water skiing he got up the first time and then couldn't get it again. He can't wait to try again.

Kaleb with the fish he caught this kid is great at catching big fish. I was impressed at least.

Boating

2009-07-03T10:51:00.005-04:00

We finally got out our boat last weekend and used it a lot since it's up for sale. We took a nice ride and then anchored for the kids to swim for awhile. Funny thing is I didn't realize how disgusting the water was until I looked at these pic's..yuck..anyway the boys survived and didn't come out with any weird rashes or anything. Although note to self if boat doesn't sell don't take it on that lake again!

Lucas and Kaleb swimming in the lake.

Kaleb swimming they were jumping off the top of the boat into the water same thing we did as kids brought back memories.

Roman just being Roman nuff said :)

Roman driving the boat. Ben let Lucas and Kaleb each drive it by themselves and they both did great. Roman sat on his lap to drive and all were thrilled at the chance to. Since it's technically not legal for them to Ben doesn't usually let them but sometimes rules have to be broken right:)

Such concentration!

Summer time fun..

2009-06-30T17:15:00.007-04:00

Since it's been a month since I last posted I thought I'd post some of the fun the kids and I have been having so far this summer. The boys and I went down to festival all the kid things were so busy and you had to wait in line. We ended up just doing the hat tent each of the boys got to make a hat. Above you can see Roman creating his hat.

Here is Kaleb showing his hat I just love his big smile in this pic. And all three of them together with their finished hats.

The boys also ran a 5K a month ago. Here is Lucas finishing.

Kaleb also ran this was his second one. He has taken up running with his mama and is doing very well at it. So good in fact he kicks my butt. He ran this 5K is 23:45 which for those of you who don't run is pretty awesome. Considering he's only 9 it's just plain good for anyone really. He plans on doing another 5K sometime this summer.

A few things from Roman

2009-05-28T15:14:00.003-04:00

This is a picture that Roman drew and told me it was Mickey Mouse the letters across the top spell Mickey Mouse he said. I thought it actually resembled Mickey after he told me that.

This is Romans new found favorite thing to do. He learned to ride a without his training wheels about a month ago. We've been taking lots of bike rides to the park, ice cream store, and around the neighborhood. He's getting quite good on it. He loves being able to go fast now like his big brothers.

Roman sayings:

2009-05-14T19:05:00.001-04:00

Tonight while biking with Roman he says:
"mom, why are you riding next to me"
I said "so I can protect you if a car comes".
He says "God will protect me"..I just love it!

Lot's happening..

2009-05-14T09:06:00.004-04:00

Since a friend so kindly pointed out the other day "it's been almost a month since you last posted" I thought I better get back on the blog horse and post some pic's. April was really busy two birthday's in our family etc. etc. The above picture is a bouquet my sweet husband brought home for my on my birthday. He bought me 33 roses for that's how many I turned this year. Their was equal of red, pink and white they were just gorgeous!!

We also had Kaleb's birthday he turned 9 hard to believe quite often I think he's a year older so the fact he's actually a year younger is nice:) He picked death by chocolate as his "cake" this year. I didn't put any candles in for fear they'd melt but he enjoyed his dessert thoroughly.

Sheer delight at the gift he recieved from us and my parents. He's waited a year to get it was a Nintendo DS I kept telling him he wasn't getting one etc.. He was very pleasantly surprised to recieve one. That one tooth smile tells it all! Love you buddy!

Lastly, we had the awards ceremony for basketball. Lucas is the kid in black pants standing on the left of the giant.. That kid is only 13 just 13 and taller than Ben..crazy ..anyway it was a very nice night. Ben is in the blue on the left talking about each child and his brother David is on the right he was the asst. coach. A very nice evening to wrap up the basketball season.

Great Fun!!

2009-04-11T15:49:00.002-04:00

If you haven't already done so you might want to run..jog..walk...to here to win pace salsa. It's a nifty sweepstakes game you can play and win 10 coupons to print for $4.00/1 jar of pace salsa. It so fun seriously...I mean 10 $4.00 coupons..now you do have to play every day to up your chances of winning. I've been playing it for two weeks and have won twice. I just won again today. Most stores like Meijer and Target have the largest jars on sale for around $2.89 so you get overage towards your other groceries...see lots of fun!!

2009-04-03T08:22:00.002-04:00

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the
secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Psalm 27: 1,4,5

Basketball

2009-04-01T21:50:00.005-04:00

Just a few pic's from our basketball season this year. This was Lucas' last year on the elementary team next year it's onto the JR. high team. We only won two games this year but had a fun year. Lucas played well and I was very proud of him. Good job buddy!

Motivation

2009-03-31T15:02:00.003-04:00

Today I was needing some motivation to get things done mainly my coupons. Ever just feel burnt out my "couponing"? I sure did today. I was looking at the mounds and stacks of coupons to cut and sort and was having a very hard time getting started. I decided to update my savings for the month and total them up. Still I was feeling unmotivated by the daunting task of my coupons. Then I decided why not total up for the year the amount of coupons I've "cashed" in so to speak. After calculating I hit on this number $924.98 say what! Yup you got it that is the number in cash dollars I've used in coupons. I'm now motivated to cut out those coupons and organize them all and counting til I hit $1,000.00...WOOHOOOOO!

Park Day

2009-03-17T19:23:00.010-04:00

Oh how could you ever resist those baby blues I just love this picture of Roman!

Roman on the slide all smiles and giggles.

They were so not impressed I wanted one pic of them together..

Kaleb giving little brother an under dog.

Roman fishing we didn't catch anything today it was to windy. But the boys had fun trying still.

Oh the sad woe begone look on a fisherman's face after a days work and not one catch.

Last but not least looking for fossils they found a couple.

A great way to spend the first 70 degree day this spring..

Basketball weekend..

2009-03-11T15:50:00.007-04:00

This past weekend we went away for a basketball tournament for Lucas' basketball team. With games on both Friday and Saturday we decided to stay the night in a hotel with four other homeschooling families. It was a two hour drive one way and with a four year old that made the most sense. Anyway we had a great time here are some highlights of the little getaway.

Roman in the car drawing he loves to color and draw so this kept him entertained for awhile.

Roman at the pool he kept trying to "sneak" the boys goggles from them..:)

Little Kaleb we called him the bench warmer this year. He was going to be on the team since Ben was the coach but he technically wasn't old enough. Two other boys joined late so he got bumped Ben let him go to practice a lot and sit on the bench during games. Next year he'll be on it for sure he's very excited! He looks thrilled I took his picture doesn't he?

Lucas is number three in the middle jumping for the ball this was his last game on elementary. Next year he moves up to Jr. High which terrifies me those kids are huge compared to Lucas. I hope he grows a lot this year. He played really good in his games this weekend we were very proud of him.

The team slapping hands we won this game by 30 points which was awesome because we only won 2 out of 24 games this year. The boys were pumped we won and by so much.

Baking Day: Whole Wheat Bread, Banana muffins & peanut butter cookies

2009-03-11T10:06:00.002-04:00

I Started out baking day making this 100% whole wheat bread...so yummy here's the recipe:

Whole Wheat Bread

2 Cups warm water
1/4 C canola or olive oil
1/4 C. honey
1 tbs salt
6 Cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbs vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 tps. yeast

I put everything in my bread machine on the dough cycle. When that's done I put it in my own pans and let rise until double and then bake at 350 for 30 min. When done I spread a small amount of butter over the top of the bread. This makes two loaves of bread.

I also made some peanut butter cookies the best recipe ever from Ben's great grandma here it is:

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 C. brown sugar
1 C. White sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter softened
2 C. flour
1 1/2 tsp. soda
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 C. peanut butter

Mix all ingredients together. Drop on cookie sheet and then push down with a fork and bake at 350 for 10-11 min.

Lastly I had some rotten banana's to use up so the kids and I made some chocolate chip banana muffins from Tammy's recipes.com. Very moist and yummy these are my kids favorite.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
3 ripe bananas (the riper the better!!)
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. In large bowl, combine dry flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

2. In medium sized bowl, beat egg. Add banana and mash thoroughly, using a potato masher. Stir in Miracle Whip. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

3. Fill paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full; sprinkle tops with chocolate chips. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until muffin tests done with toothpick. Allow muffins to cool 5 minutes in the pan, and then remove to wire racks to finish cooling. Store loosely covered to help prevent stickyness! :)

To get pic's of these and more reviews go here.

Also, head on over to money saving mom for more great recipes and to see what others made.

Pictures of the kids...

2009-03-05T13:07:00.005-05:00

This pictures are actually a few months old just haven't unloaded my camera for awhile. The above picture is a b-ball tournament Lucas did with three of his buddies. They won first place so they all got a trophy. Don't the kids look thrilled us moms wanted pictures:)

Kaleb after I highlighted his hair. I didn't do the greatest job and fixed some of it the next day but he thought it was the best. I had a left over highlight kit in my cupboard for years so I decided to use it on the boys just for fun.

Here's Roman showing off his airplane he made with lego's. It's his new favorite toy to play with not the "baby" ones he tells me but the big boy ones. It actually resembled an airplane and he played with it for hours. He might have that artistic gene that skipped Ben and I:)

The below picture is a mask that Lucas made for Roman one night when he was babysitting. I found it on my camera I'm not sure who took it but that's why it's so blurry. I thought the mask was really cute it's Roman's favorite costume. Watch out for those biggggg muscles!!

Basement Pic's...

2009-03-04T10:42:00.006-05:00

Remember when our basement flooded from the washer? This is what these pictures are from. I know a little late ah well. Anyway we ripped out all the carpet and discovered we had just some lovely linoleum underneath it. This brown covered the whole rec room. Lucas' room had a different brown in it and the steps bright orange..yuck! The white on the linoleum is actually white paint don't know the story on that one. Anyway here are the before and after pic's.

This picture is the rec room lovely huh:) Wait till you see the steps you'll be so jealous.

The lovely orange we thought about leaving it..hahahaha

The steps now with the new carpet on them. I do have to touch up the paint a bit.

This is the rec room now pretty much the kid area. It's fantastic when they have friends over and sleep overs. They have their own space to hang out in.

This is the other side of the rec room opposite the tv area. Remember the game table I bought the kids love it they play with that thing more than anything. All the neighbor kids love to come over and play pool. It's so tiny but they have a ton of fun with it.

So there you have it the finished basement it's so much nicer than it was I'm really enjoying it. I have a few pic's I'm waiting for Ben to hang up and that's about it.

Roman sayings:

2009-02-25T10:45:00.002-05:00

This morning Roman walks in my closed bedroom door just as I'm putting on my running bra and says:

Roman:"Hey mom, I have some of those (pointing at my chester's) wanna see em?"
I say "No, that's ok honey"

He proceeds to lift up his shirt and say:"mom, mine are red why are they red?"
I say "I don't know honey it's just the way God made you"
Roman: "Does God have red ones to?"

By this point I'm laughing so hard and trying to shoo him out of my room so I can finish dressing. The innocence of a child sometimes. Note to self start locking bedroom door from said four year old.

Target Deals

2009-02-10T20:40:00.002-05:00

Here is what I got at Target this week:

Kellogg Special K bars 6 ct. are on rollback to $2.24 buy three boxes and use this coupon here and then print three of these Target Kellogg special K coupons to get them for .24 a box. Woohoo Of the two Target's I bought them at only one had all variety's at 2.24 the other store had them at 2.99 so make sure you check the price. For those in the GR area the 54th st. Target was where they were 2.24/box.

Also the Ocean Spray juice and Yoplait yogurt deals still are working until Saturday. Gotta Love Target.

Kids Sayings

2009-02-05T09:33:00.001-05:00

Roman this morning after getting out of a long hot bath shouts to me:

"Mom, my hands look like Grandma's"

January Totals

2009-01-28T15:49:00.003-05:00

Ok so I'll be the first to admit that I'm the lady you probably hate to get behind checking out at Meijer or Target etc. I have piles of coupons literally. I decided that for this year I'm going to keep track of all my savings. I have spread sheets made up for every store that I've gone to this month. With my grocery shopping done for this week I tallied up the results for Jan. I was quite surprised at the numbers I mean I can't say that I love cutting coupons. Snagging something for free or close to free I love so clipping all those coupons is worth it to me. The stores I visited this month are CVS, Walgreens, Target, Aldi, and Meijer. Here's the end results.

Jan. Coupon Total: $282.43 Just between Meijer and Target it was $172.50 WOOHOO that's like free money!!
Jan. oop total (what I spent in cash): $398.86
Jan. Total saving: $ 550.28

The total savings does include any sales along with the coupons and the coupon total is including $50.00 of ecb's from CVS. Still not to bad I was quite pleased. My total cash out of pocket also included the game table we bought and a few birthday gifts. Also a lot of stockpiling like the sobe water and now the free ocean spray juice at Target.

So there you have it. If your ever in line behind me at Meijer I'll turn around and smile at you know I'm very sorry for holding up the line:) You might want to switch lanes however:)

Target Deals

2009-01-27T19:22:00.002-05:00

This week at Target you can get Ocean Spray juice for free. It's priced at $1.99 use this $1.00/1 coupon and also the Target coupon here to get it free.

Also don't forget to use up those buddies coupons I have oh about 30 buddies bar soap sitting in my cupboard but hey it's free and it's pretty good soap.

Yoplait yogurt is $.59 each use the Target coupon found here and the coupon found here to get them for $.22 each. The yogurt may even go on sale sometime soon to make the deal even sweeter. Thanx to money saving mom for this deal.

Hockey!!

2009-01-22T09:46:00.003-05:00

Last night we had a chance to go see our local "pro" hockey team play. We got free tickets from a friend of mine and the seats were awesome. Below is how close we were I didn't take the picture but we were third row up from the floor so awesome!

I didn't know how Roman would do being confined to a chair for two hours so we told the older boys we'd just play it by ear. Well because it was a Wed. game it wasn't so busy nobody was sitting in front of us at all. All the boys moved down to the front row and Roman had plenty of room to wiggle around it was great. The guy behind us Roman made friends with (imagine that :) and he was friends with the ref's. He ended up getting all the boys a game puck from last nights game they were so excited. It was a great family night we all had a really good time. Best part is Wednesday nights are called winning Wednesday's if the Griffins win you can turn your tickets in for new free tickets to the next winning Wed. game. The Griffins won in overtime so we got 5 more free tickets to the next game in March which my friend said we could keep. Yeah I think we'll be going again:) Guess who is playing Hockey Man right now?

Great Find

2009-01-15T20:41:00.004-05:00

Another great find at Target as if free buddies soap, and all you can grab sobe life water aren't enough....:)

I've been wanting to get my boys a game table that's similar to this for awhile without breaking the bank to do it. I had one snatched at a garage sale last summer before I could grab it. Ever since I've been keeping my eye out at thrift stores, garage sales you name it. Target has had this one on clearance for 30% off for around two months now. I keep passing it thinking it might go cheaper. Last night at Target a bunch of toys were 30% off today when I went back they were all marked down 75% off. I promptly went to check "my" table out and it was still only 30% off. I flagged down a Target employee and had him scan it and much to my delight and three little boys it scanned at 75% off as well they just hadn't changed the signs yet. So we came away with this 16 in 1 game table for $32.00. It has pool, foosball, air hockey, basketball, bean bag toss, mini golf, ping pong etc. Lot's of family fun!

Target Deals

2009-01-15T08:56:00.004-05:00

This week at Target you can get Sobe Life Water for free! They are on sale 10/$10 when you buy 10 you get a $5.00 gift card at the checkout. Plus select bottles have hang tags on them for $.50/1 use ten of those also to get all 10 bottles for free. These are great for lunches etc. my hubby really likes them.

Target also has the bonus box of Electrosol tabs on sale for $3.25 use any left over $2.50/1 coupons from last week to get them for .75 each.

Kashi Bars are on sale for $2.66/box use the $2.00 coupon found here to get them for .66/box.
thank you to money saving mom for this one.

Lastly if you have those buddies coupons for the soap Target sells them for .97/each making them free. I think I've gotten almost 20 of them free this last month with all those generous coupons Johnson's keeps putting out there for us to use.

Meijer

2009-01-07T16:09:00.002-05:00

Here are a few of the Meijer Deals that are going on this week:

1. Electrasol tabs on sale 2/$6.00 use the $2.50/1 coupon from Sun. paper to make them .50/each.

2. Campbell's spaghetti O's are on sale $.50/piece buy 4 and use the coupon here and get them 4/$1.00.

3. Notebooks are on sale 5/$1.00.

4. Kellogg's cereal is on sale $2.00/box use the $1.00/1 Kellogg's cereal printable coupon from last month to get them for $1.00/box.

They also have their 10/$10 get the 11th free going on for a few products the best of those are:

Earthbound Farms organic baby carrots ( I used coupons that were mailed to me on these)
Celery
Dole bag lettuce
bag spinach
Meijer brand pound cake (yummy!)
Meijer brand pretzels

More winter fun!

2009-01-02T14:39:00.006-05:00

Today the boys and I went downtown to go ice skating. At the bargain price of $1.00/skater it's hard to beat. We had a great time we haven't ever been ice skating before but Lucas and Kaleb did great. They do rollerblade a lot so it wasn't much different. Roman did really good to they have these "things" that kids can hang onto and skate with. He didn't even need my help and was skating alone a little right before we left. I was impressed. It was a very cold 26 degrees so we didn't stay longer than an hour but it's something we'll be doing more of this winter.

At the after Christmas day clearance at Target I bought some gingerbread men to decorate with the kids. I also bought two trains that I'm saving for later this winter. Those look really cool. The boys even said that the cookies tasted good. Really?! I always thought they tasted plastic and fake..yuck..not my thing but we had fun decorating them.

Fun in the snow..

2008-12-30T17:39:00.010-05:00

This past week we took the boys to see the move "Madagascar 2" it was so funny we laughed a lot I highly recommend it. After we got home we quickly changed into our snow gear and went sledding. It was a great family day! Ain't my baby cute!!

Lucas and Kaleb were so not impressed with all the pictures I wanted to take:) They did let me get a couple at least.

Roman on the other hand is always full of smiles for the camera.

This kid has it made doesn't he I think he walked up the hill only twice otherwise we got suckered into pulling him up.

Here is a duck that Lucas sculpted out of snow I thought it was really creative and cute. Something different than a snowman. It's kind of hard to see since everything is white but it was awesome! I was impressed.

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW

2008-12-23T21:05:00.003-05:00

Ok it's not quite this bad yet but you get the picture we have 2 1/2 feet on our deck alone. We're suppose to get another 5-10" tonight I can't even remember what color the road is. Is it white?:) Well the kids are having a blast in it at any rate we have a huge I mean huge snow pile in our front yard from the neighbors driveways. Yes, my kids actually have asked the snow plow drivers to deposit the snow in our front yard so they can make a bigger fort. At least it melts eventually right:) I'll take a pic of the fort tomorrow course it might be buried by then..anyway...in the last three days Kaleb has made $15.00 doing this:

for the neighbors he's a shoveling machine. We're either going swimming tomorrow at the Y or sledding. What's your vote? Mine is swimming in Lake Michigan in 80 degree weather.....yes I'm more than ready for summer:) Until then I'll enjoy the crisp winter air I think we'll go sledding and throw around some snowballs. Boys ever here of a white wash?.....just kidding I'm not that mean:)

2008-12-19T10:30:00.002-05:00

Last night I met someone who doesn't...GASP....use coupons when grocery shopping. I quickly realized she would be my new project and I would totally convert her by the end of our visit. Well convert her I did not she shops exactly how I used to shop. Just heads on out to the store and throws this that and whatever in her cart not thinking about price or if I really need this or that. I've been religously using coupons at the store, playing the cvs and walgreens game and have saved thousands this year. I can't believe I ever use to shop without coupons. So this coming year I am going to save all my reciepts and keep a running total of the money I've saved. Just to see what the total will be at the end of 2009. At CVS alone I've saved close to $2,000.00 quite a staggering number to me. So I didn't convert the person to couponing guess I'll have to find a new "project"...:)

Ever feel like this??

2008-12-18T17:01:00.002-05:00

Running around like a chicken with it's head cut off that is?:) I know lovely picture right...I've been sooo busy this week and this weekend is not slowing down at all either. Work, new carpet in basement..big huge Yay for this one, five basketball games, practice ..etc..etc...etc... yeah you get the picture..so I"ll be posting new pic's of my basement once we get our furniture back in there hopefully this weekend. Let's just say the new carpet looks so totally awesome and I LOVE it!!

Roman's favorite foods

2008-12-16T19:26:00.006-05:00

"Macaroni Pizza" a.k.a. pepperoni pizza

Also "Smashed Bitato's" a.k.a. mashed potato's

He's always asking for the potatoes I made them for him for lunch today and he thanked me all day long for them:)

Around Blogoshpere

2008-12-09T18:57:00.002-05:00

You can go here to Walden Media and register and you'll get a free copy of Amazing Grace on DVD and also an Amazing Grace calendar. This movie was really good. Thank you Crystal at money saving mom for the info.

Walgreens is also having a mid week sale starting tomorrow. You can get free deo., cheap laundry det., cheap cough drops and other goodies. Go here to view the ad online.

Target also has free lumin air, and cheap Keepler cookies you can get. Go check it all out at Common Sense with money.

Happy Saving everyone! I'll be posting all my goodies tomorrow after shopping.

Sooooo Fun!

2008-12-06T12:30:00.002-05:00

Lucas has been saving his money for awhile for this Wii game. We played it in Florida at Ben's cousins house on vacation last winter. Lucas finally had enough saved up so we went to Meijer this morning to buy it. We got an extra 25.00 off of it with gift cards he bought and coupons. We've been having a lot of fun with it so far. We're off to sledding shortly with all this snow we're getting. Have a great weekend.

New Carpet

2008-12-04T11:43:00.002-05:00

We are getting new carpet for sure..Yay!! The insurance agent was over yesterday and said to go ahead and order the new carpet. So despite the mess that was created and the hassle of cleaning and drying out. It is worth it for the new carpet that insurance is covering. Yesterday I touched up the walls in the family room and painted the trim in Lucas' room. Today I'm painting the trim in the family room then it will be all fresh and new when the new carpet is installed. I also wanted to move the furniture around I'm just trying to figure out how. We did have some mold set in we had to get treated so I'm really glad we ended up ripping it all out. It could've been much worse later on down the road. Such as us all getting sick or something. I'll post pictures after the new carpet is in.

Younkers

2008-12-02T20:13:00.003-05:00

For those of you who don't know I now work at Younker's Dept. store. I wanted to post some deals I came across today at work. We were doing end of season clearance final markdowns today. Which means the lowest price the clothes go. Here is what I found:

Men's Docker khaki pants $1.99/each I bought 2 for Ben & 1 for a gift.

Boys shorts from last summer $1.99/each I bought three for the boys for next summer.

My splurge: A blue dress shirt for Ben I've been eyeing since I started working a month and a half ago. Regular price was $58.00 it was reduced today to $16.00.

I spent $21.00 on all the clothes because of my employee discount..Fantastic eh? I love great deals like that.

If you have time and are looking for a good deal on an item a lot of stores are putting out their end of season bottom line clearance. It's always worth a peek:)

Feeling behind...

2008-11-25T19:01:00.004-05:00

Last week Thursday we had a field trip after that I took the boys out for lunch to use up some book its at Pizza Hut. Upon returning home from our little adventure my kids yell to me that the back room downstairs is flooded and water is pouring out. Out from where? I'm thinking my kids are over exaggerating...ahh..no they weren't pouring is exactly right. I come downstairs to find the hose from the back of the washer pouring water. Mind you I had started this load 2 1/2 hours ago and so this water was pouring for that long. I literally had 2" of water in my back room and a huge flooded mess. We have a small drain right next to the washer but it was way to much water for such a little drain. The carpet in both rooms was soaked a good portion as well. To sum it all up my dad came over with a shop vac and I hauled out my carpet cleaner to soak water out of the carpet. It took almost 3 hours to get all the water out of the back room. The carpet is still wet after multiple buckets removed with the carpet cleaner.

Now my dilemma is that the carpet in Lucas' room and the family room that got wet are starting to smell. I thought I had soaked up enough water they would be fine. So my question to all my bloggity friends do you know how to get the smell out? I did steam clean both areas today Lucas' room seems to be fine after this. The family room carpet is another story it still stinks..bad! I did use carpet cleaner for animals even thinking that might neutralize whatever has set in...nope. I finally broke down and called our insurance agent to see if we have coverage for this. He's getting back to me tomorrow...help!

Update: After I posted this I called our insurance agent. We are covered for this under our policy they are having someone come out and give us an estimate. I'm thinking we'll need new carpet in Lucas' room and maybe a new pad in our family room in that one area. We have a high deductible so we'll see what happens..what a pain. My mother in law has a unit that kills mold in the air etc so I'm going to run that over the weekend it should help.

Target Deals

2008-11-19T16:41:00.003-05:00

1. Betty Crocker box potatoes are on sale .79 a piece includes au gratin and scalloped. Use the coupon found here and get them fairly cheap.

2. The Goody hair products are cheaper at Target then Meijer use this coupon and get them free or very cheap. I bought some hair ties for .19 today.

Meijer Deals

2008-11-19T16:21:00.005-05:00

1. Green Giant steamers are on sale .89 use the $1.00/1 coupon from Sunday's paper to make them free plus overage.

2. Pillsbury Crescent rolls or sweet rolls are on sale 4/$5 buy2 use $1.00/2 mealbox cpn and (2) $1.00/1 printable coupon found here. If you only buy two you get a .50 over toward your other grocery's. Their are also multiple coupons from the paper and pillsbury website to use as well. I bought four for very little after all the coupons.

3. Quilted Northern Ultra Plus 6 pack mega rolls is on sale 1/2 price. Today at Meijer it was advertised as $3.19 but rang up at $3.99. I got the advertised price of $3.19. Buy one and use the $1.00/1 quilted northern ultra plus mealbox coupon and use the $1.00/1 printable coupon here (print 2 per computer). You get the toilet paper for $1.19-$1.99 depending on what your store is advertising it at. You can only get one pack per transaction because that's what the mealbox coupon states. I just go through the do it yourself lane and then am able to do multiple transactions if I want. The package states it's equal to 12 double rolls so quite a good deal on t.p.

4. Land o Lakes butter is on sale 2/$4.00 use two of the .55/1 coupons here to get them for $1.45 each a real good deal on butter. I was able to print two per computer.

The imagination of a child

2008-11-18T19:39:00.002-05:00

Doesn't he look mean!?!...I know to cute to look mean. This was a 75% off costume we found at the end of holiday clearance section. My boys love to play "super hero's" so I knew this would be a hit. We actually got it even cheaper because it was missing the mask that went with it. I asked the manager if I could have a discount and he said sure so $4.00 later we had a very happy little boy. He has worn this Hulk costume so many times already I love the imagination that my boys have. He seems to have a very vivid imagination.

This picture was taken right before I caught him playing "hulk" he was being Iron man you know the red Iron man he told me,

"because I have a red shirt on so I'm the red Iron man"

I didn't know Iron man had different colors:) All the while he's trying to be mean he's carrying around his beloved sheepy that he sleeps with in this basket. See the white animal in the basket that's sheepy he couldn't figure out a way to play Iron man without leaving him behind so this was a prop in some way. I just love the imagination of this child!

CVS..Goodies

2008-11-17T09:35:00.003-05:00

Lot's of great deals at CVS this week especially if you have the coupons to further sweeten the deals. Here's all I got yesterday I did this all in three separate transactions. I'm also planning on going back on Friday to get more goodies. Our local CVS gets their truck in on Friday's which is why I have to wait.

1 16pk duracell batteries used $1.00/1 cpn
1 8pk duracell batteries used $1.00/1 cpn
1 4pk duracell batteries used $1.00/1 cpn

After buying these batteries I got back $15.00 in ecb's. The deal this week is spend $20.00 in ecb's get back $15 plus my coupons I did pretty good. There were more coupons in this Sunday's paper so I can do the deal two more times. Good time to stock up on batteries.

Next transaction:

5 Soft and dry deo's they each had a peelie on them for an instant .55/1 so I spent .45 for each one. They are on sale 2.99 get 2.00 ecb back each one (limit 5)
4 Glade candles had two coupons 1.50/2 for these. Certain Glade products are spend $10 get $5.00 ecb back.

The third transaction:

Loreal age perfect Moisturizer for $15.99 get $15.99 ecb.

When I walked into the store I scanned my card at the red ecb machine that prints out coupons for you. I got one for $4.00 off any facial moisturizer so I used this on the Loreal and made 4.00 on it woohoo! I highly recommend scanning your card at this machine every time you visit cvs you can do it once per day. Sometimes I'll just swing through and quick scan my card if I'm passing cvs I've gotten some great coupons.

All in all I spent $4.05 out of pocket and ended up making $5.00 in ecb's so I got back everything I spent plus .95..can't beat that!

For more great scenerio's visit Money Saving Mom!

Around Blogosphere

2008-11-13T20:13:00.003-05:00

Here a few articles of interest I found this evening. I especially like the one about using our grocery savings. I never even thought to take the extra $1 or sometimes even $15.00 from the weekly grocery budget to pay down bills or save in the emergency fun. I always just roll the extra into the next week or so for grocery's. Here is the link.

Tracking and Banking your grocery savings over at moms need to know.

Freezer and Cooking from scratch at Money Saving mom was pretty interesting. I've never done freezer cooking or freeze meals for a month. Has anyone found that it really saves you money compared to cooking them fresh?

Banana bread recipe found at All recipes is fantastic. I made it yesterday with half whole wheat and it came out great not heavy or dense at all. I also used butter and decreased the sugar to 3/4C so yummy. Went great with the chicken soup I made for dinner last night. I'll be posting that recipe soon.

This walgreens coupon is every where but in case you missed it here is a link for it.

Common Sense with Money tells how you can get a great deal on leap frog toys at Target right now. She also had a good post on a Thanksgiving menu on a budget.

So that's what I've been reading today..enjoy.

Meijer Deal - Kraft Dressing

2008-11-12T17:06:00.007-05:00

Here is the break down of the Kraft dressing catalina deal going on at Meijer. The catalina's are printing until 12/31/08 but the dressing's are only on sale this week.

Kraft dressing on sale 3/$5 buy four and get $4.00 catalina. Here's how to work the deal.

Buy four dressings use two of these coupons and then you get $4.00 back in a catalina. Final break down: you get four dressings for $.64..wahooooooo!

One of my favorites is the Zesty Italian I'm stocking up!

**Edited...I just got back from Meijer and I must've read the ad wrong they are actually 3/$6 so they come out to be .50/piece not .64 for all...Sorry..I'll do better math next time:~)

** Edited..again..:) I dug out my receipt from my grocery trip yesterday and I did get them at 3/$5 anyone think Meijer raised their prices in a day? Maybe my cashier made a mistake who knows. I'm confused oh well at least I know this homeschooling moms math isn't that terrible:) Still a great deal and I won't be editing anymore..thanx for reading:) oh and dealing with my editing.

Meijer Deals

2008-11-11T16:44:00.005-05:00

Here are some deals I got at Meijer this week. One is a Kraft Catelina deal that is pretty good. Here goes first the Kraft deal:

Buy any 3 Kraft dressings, Mayo, or Miracle whip get $2 off your next order buy any 4 and get $4 off your next order.

The dressings are on sale 3/$5 and the mayo and miracle whip 2/$5 plus with the mayo you get a free grey poupon that's $3.50 regular price. Valid 11/19-12/31/08

I bought 2 kraft dressings and used this coupon found here. I also bought 2 Mayo's and they let me used the mealbox coupon here. Then I got my Catelina for $4 off my next order. Pretty good deal if you need mayo and dressing. Plus don't forget to pick up your free mustard that goes with the mayo.

The other good deal is the Chex cereal:

They are on Sale 3/$8.00 if you buy three you instantly get $3.00 taken off at checkout. There were also coupons in the paper this past week for $1/2. Not a steal but if you like any kind of chex cereal it's a pretty good deal.

I also found some four packs of Dannon yogurt on clearance for $1.14 a piece I happened to have 2 coupons for $1.00/1 making each pack $.14 woohoo! They had kraft cheese on clearance and some juice so it might be worth checking out.

Also the ouchless goodies are on sale 20% off pair it with this coupon and get either free or really cheap hair accessories. Thanx Sharon for this deal I got free hair twisty's I've needed some for awhile.

2008-11-11T08:55:00.003-05:00

Here is something fun I saw over at Lori's blog it looked fun so I thought I'd share mine. If you do it leave me a comment so I can look at yours have fun:) Just bold the things you've done and will admit to:~)

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (no I'm not a good singer just listen to the people that heard me)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea(lake MI count?)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (In 3rd grade really cool!
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (Again, not good at singing)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (Gross, don't recoomend it:)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible (working on this now hopefully be done at the end of year)
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

There you have it my highlighted life.

Enjoying the warm weather!

2008-11-05T16:24:00.006-05:00

We've been having some very beautiful spring/summer like weather the past two days. We've been taking advantage of it and doing anything we possibly can outside. We went to the zoo yesterday and walked some trails. We also took a walk to the park close to our house. Today we went golfing and lost lots of balls in the leaves but it was still enjoyable just to be outside in the warm weather. I think today is our last day of this warm weather but I'm sure glad we enjoyed it to it's fullest.
Kaleb posing for a picture at the zoo.

Roman on the train at the zoo.

Lucas pretending to be a castaway on some far off island.

The lion exhibit is new at our zoo this summer we've never seen the lions this close. We studied them for awhile it was cool.

Our friendly octopus Roman's favorite animal to see in the aquarium. Although it never and I mean never is moving around he loves to just stare at it. Yesterday however this octopus was moving all over the place it was quite fascinating to watch. I've never seen one moving around before. It was cool to see it's suction thingy's on the glass as you can see.

Lastly I must note that all pictures were taken by Lucas except the one of him of course. He is becoming my little photographer.

Birthday and fall fun

2008-11-04T18:14:00.006-05:00

This past weekend was Lucas' birthday and our friends annual fall fest party. We had celebrated his birthday previously in the week this was just the icing on the cake. It started out with a hayride of which he got tossed and stuffed with hay head to toe. After a few games everyone sang happy birthday to him then came...of course...the birthday spankin's you know 12 now..:) Not real ones mind you but it was fun embarrassing him at any rate not that he was in the least bit he thought it was hilarious.

See 12 birthday spankin's with the pinata stick...perfect:~)

A self portrait of himself and his friend he took this on the hayride. It was a great party thank you Amy again for having it and us over!

Cheap bra's

2008-11-02T20:14:00.003-05:00

If you love Victoria's secret bra's as much as I do you have to head over and get two bras and a pair of panties for $16.49. Yes you read that right I love their bra's and panties they last forever they are my absolute favorite! Head on over to common sense with money to find out how. I think the sale ends Monday so hurry..

Progresso soup deal

2008-10-28T19:51:00.003-04:00

This week at Family Fare Progresso soup is part of their 10/$10 deal. If you go here you can print off a coupon for $1.10/1 making this soup free at Family Fare. I hardly ever see these kind of soups go on sale for a $1.00. I was able to print two coupons per computer. Thank you to Money Saving Mom for the link for the coupon. They also have baby carrots as part of this deal my kids devour these so I stocked up.

Also today at Meijer I spent just $43.00 for bags upon bags of grocery's. Plus I got some good catalina's to use the next time I shop there. I had $32.00 in coupons alone that is my new all time high total for coupons I was so excited. I saved my receipt to show my hubby. If your interested in all I bought send me an email or leave a comment and I'll tell you what I bought and how. Meanwhile here is a link for Cheapsk8mom she has a lot of the deals highlighted on her blog.

Wisdom of Roman

2008-10-27T13:22:00.003-04:00

This above happened when I left out a box of band aides and Roman got in to them. I came out of the shower and he had them plastered all in one spot on his forehead. He told me he had an owie and it was coming out....Guess it required lots of band aides.

This picture is Indiana Jones on skates?!? Not sure but he told me he was Indiana Jones cause you know he had on his Indiana Jones hat:)

Here is my conversation with Roman this morning as I'm doing school with the boys and he's playing by me. He was putting a red blanket in his toy bucket saying it was fire.

Roman: It's fire dude

Mom: I’m not a dude

Roman: Yes you are a dude mom

Mom: me laughing

Roman: God made you a dude

Mom: God made me a girl

Roman: God made you a dude cause your cool, and I’m cool

I finally broke down..

2008-10-23T16:34:00.001-04:00

And turned on the heat in the house. Upon awakening this morning to a cool 60 degree's and my little boy crawling in bed with me because he was cold I decided it was time. On it went and then I got hot so off it went. But at least it made an appearance this morning:)

Computers..

2008-10-21T13:57:00.003-04:00

Gotta love em right?? So our home computer crashed last week thus my absence from bloggity world. Thought I lost everything most everything I have backed up except for my pic's from the last year and our financial info. Yeah that's the big one. So as I'm paying bills the old fashioned way last week I'm trying to guesstimate as close as possible our balance. In the process trying not to freak out wondering how in the world I'm going to retrieve our info. To make a long story short my neighbor who is a computer wiz meaning he writes programs for a large corporation and teaches computers at college..yeah a wiz.. Anyway he unhooked my computer and took it home with him and got it working again. He even backed up all my files for me..Yes I know I have a great neighbor. Basically all he did was clean it out it had oh 8 years worth of dust inside of it. It is going kaputs on us but at least it's working again for now. So to sum it all up I learned you can vacuum out the back of your computer where all the little dust bunnies like to hide. I always thought you'd wreck something by doing that...computer wiz neighbor says it's ok.

Cake in a cup...say what?!

2008-10-15T20:51:00.006-04:00

I received an email with this cake in a cup recipe. Sounded easy and strange so I promptly had to try it out. Here is the recipe:

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well

. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired. EAT!

Definitely not a light and fluffy cake in my opinion. It's lacking something although I'm not quite sure what. I tried a small piece with a dab of vanilla ice cream and a smidgen of chocolate syrup. It's not to bad if your craving chocolate cake and want a piece quickly. Pretty crazy.. cake in a cup..makes me wonder what other kind of cakes in a cup are out there. If you try it let me know what you think.

Silly Putty fun or foe?

2008-10-13T17:03:00.004-04:00

After Roman received silly putty for his 4th birthday and has had hours of fun with it. The other boys also wanted some after doing a little extra work for me they earned a trip to the dollar store. Off we went to pick some up and guess where I found one of them last week? On Ben's chair you know "the" chair every guy has they kick back in and relax after a hard days work. Oh did I mention that it's also pure white...yup..with dried silly putty squished into it. Nice pink stain on a microfiber chair. I couldn't imagine how in the world I was going to conquer this stain..so I turn to

The infamous brain of cyberspace. The remedy that popped up seemed to easy and good to be true. Ready for it....Hand Sanitizer..say what. Yup google says rub it on the silly putty with a washcloth and guess what...it worked. Oh happy Day! Took only about 5 minutes to work out the stain and the chair is as good as new. Whew I thought it would be much harder and didn't even know how in the world I was going to get it out. So if you ever get silly putty stuck on carpet or furniture haul out the ol' hand sanitizer works like magic.

Oh, What Fun!!

2008-10-09T20:11:00.010-04:00

My friend Sarah posted her pic's on her blog yesterday and I laughed so hard. So...guess what...you all get to view mine. Go ahead and try it you will laugh so hard I promise!!

Alrighty then be prepared to laugh in the top photo I am a young lady in 1950. I believe my mom had a haircut like this..

The below photo 1954 Lucas laughed so hard and said "what a nerd"...Ah excuse me young man.:~) I have to say it was all said in fun and I have to agree with him.. I mean come on I make all nerds proud in this picture.
How about a 1960's housewife. The glasses are just stunning!

Ah...Ahem...the year I was born sometime in the mid-late 70's. And you all thought I'd say exactly how old I was..hahahhah

1980's hard core rocker...oh yeah baby!

And the year I graduated very close to the mid 90's. Funny thing is that I have a school picture from my sophomore year almost exactly like this:~) Could the hair get any bigger because you know that was so cool way back when.

Thank You Sarah for a blast from the past and what I would've looked liked. It's funny how you see the resemblence in your mom when you do the older pic's.

One can of pumpkin

2008-10-09T09:27:00.002-04:00

Equals two yummy pumpkin recipes... First off I made pumpkin muffins made from Taste of Homes magazine. I've never made pumpkin muffins before but they sure looked yummy. I have to admit I wasn't to impressed with this recipe. As Lucas said "there pretty bland without lots of butter". I think I'll keep looking for a good pumpkin muffin if anyone tries these let me know what you think.

Pumpkin Muffins

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans
TOPPING:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cold butter

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in pecans. Fill six greased or paper-lined jumbo muffin cups three-fourths full.
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, pecans and flour; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm. Yield: 6 muffins. I made 12 large muffins they must've used a larger muffin pan than mine is.

Next I made these fabulous pumpkin rolls from Tammy's Recipe's. They are one of our favorite dinner rolls. They also make great buns for ham buns or whatever meat you choose to put on for lunch. I always halve the recipe and end up freezing some of those even but that's the best part it makes a ton. I have a bread maker which makes these super easy to make. I love fall all the yummy apple and pumpkin recipes out there are endless. I bought more pumpkin yesterday to make more muffins I'll write a review once I've made them.

Old Navy Sale..

2008-10-03T14:27:00.002-04:00

Last night I met a few friends at the mall and I stopped in Old Navy to check out their clearance section. Well much to my delight and surprise they had tons and tons clearance marked 50% off. After pulling out a few items that were already only $3.00 I noticed a sign that said take another 50% off the lowest ticketed price. What!! WOOHOO so I walked out of Old Navy with two pairs of shorts for $1.50/each. Two t-shirts for $2.50/each and a sweater that was $4.99. I also have been looking for a cute white half sweater to wear with a black summer dress I bought earlier this summer. I found one at Old navy for $3.99 can't beat that. All those prices are the same I would've paid at Goodwill some even much cheaper for brand new. Can you tell I was excited:~) If you need summer clothes I'd check them out I mean $1.50 for shorts!

What happens when you study Indians??

2008-09-30T19:00:00.003-04:00

You have one very creative little boy outside all afternoon making bows and arrows with the jack knife his grandpa gave him. Lucas is my creative and imaginative one he can make anything out of anything. He took tree branches stripped all the bark off them with his jack knife and then proceeded to make these bows. Also arrows you can see them in the picture sticking above his head he also made them from tree branches.

We've been studying John Smith, Pocahontas, Squanto etc. in history the past few weeks. Yesterday I rented them "Squanto: A Warriors Tale" by Walt Disney pictures from the library. After seeing that they've been making Indian weapons and having wars with them. Oh the imagination of kids...I love it!!

Kaleb also made one he just missed out on the photo op he's at football practice:)

Lessons learned from homeschooling...

2008-09-29T13:12:00.003-04:00

For those of you who Homeschool do you ever have moments when your teaching that you feel like you never went to school? I mean I graduated from high school and even went to college for a brief stint for teaching no less. Yet sometimes I feel as though I'm relearning all over again guess that is the beauty of teaching your kids yourself.

Have you ever seen that show "Smarter than a 5th grader"? I was talking with someone at the Y and he said "wow, I don't hardly know any of the answers I can't believe how smart kids are now". Well we homeschooling mothers would do quite well I think at that game show. I've actually known a lot of the answers only because I've taught my own kids and it's things we've recently learned.

So this morning while teaching complex fractions to Lucas I was a) really glad I am not in school anymore and b) that I've relearned all fractions again so that I can teach and explain complex fractions to him. Thank the Lord my oldest is good at Math or we might be in trouble! So although I'm sure I did learn complex fractions and everything else to do with them...which is a lot...I remember nil about them. Anyway I really wonder how much from school I really do remember. At least you do remember a lot better the second time around! I guess at times I really am back in school again to:)

Chocolate Coconut Bars

2008-09-26T19:00:00.003-04:00

Today I obtained a new bar recipe that is awesome!! I've had them at a Homeschool building where my kids take classes on Friday's. I am a money collector for hot lunch which means my kids get a free hot lunch and we all get to eat yummy desserts like this. Finally today my friend Heather and I remembered to ask the lunch lady for her recipe. I made them this afternoon and now I know why they are so good...they're loaded with butter and sugar....that makes anything good:~) Not the greatest picture of the bars but you get the idea. Oh, and for you non coconut fans like myself you can't taste it and it makes the bars really good.

Chocolate Coconut Bars

Crust:

1 3/4 C. Flour
1/4 C. Cocoa (if using dutch cocoa use a little bit less)
3/4 C. Powered Sugar
1 C. Butter

Filling:

3 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 Tbs. Flour
1 C. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking power
1 c. pecans
1 1/2 C. coconut
10 oz chocolate chunks

1. Melt butter and then mix the rest of the crust ingredients with the butter. Spread in a 9x13 greased pan and bake at 350 for 15 min.

2. Mix all the filling ingredients together and pour over the hot crust. Bake an additional 20 min. at 350.

Entertainment book

2008-09-24T21:55:00.001-04:00

Enter to win a 2009 entertainment book for your area here.

Fun at the zoo....

2008-09-23T16:25:00.006-04:00

This morning the kids and I decided to play hookie from school and go to the zoo. It's about 1 1/2 hours away but well worth the drive. We try and go here once a year and it's always so much fun. I get a picture of my kids on this giant ant every year it's fun to see how they've grown from the previous years.

The highlight of this zoo is the giraffes that you can feed and pet. Roman was a little freaked out by their tongues at first but he quickly realized it was gross but fun.

Kaleb, my animal lover was very popular with the animals as you can see. Of course he did have food for them both times but none the less he was having a great time with all these animals. He even made sure that all the giraffes he was feeding got equal amounts of food from him. It was to cute.
Here the boys are looking for fossils and whatever you find you can take home with you....we didn't find any but they had fun looking.

We took a mile hike called "swamp adventure" we learned all about our native species that live by us. With the leaves starting to change colors it was extra pretty.

So even though we played hookie they still learned a lot...lest anyone thinks I'd really let my kids play hookie for the day :~)

CVS..to the rescue..

2008-09-22T09:59:00.002-04:00

What do you do when you almost out of toilet paper and paper towel?? Head over to CVS of course. I hit two different stores yesterday and was able to get most of my weekly deals done ..yipee! Here's the scoop on what I got. Sorry no pic I forgot to take one when I got home.

First the deal at cvs: buy $25 in these products get $10 ecb's. Products are viva paper towel, cottonelle toilet paper, pullups, kleenex tissues, kotex tampons or panty liners, poise or depend.
I bought:

2 Packages of Cottonelle toilet paper on sale $6.49
1 package of Viva paper towel on sale$6.49
6 boxes of Kleenex tissues on sale $.99/each

I did this deal in two seperate transactions to maximize the $2//$10 coupon. I also used two cottonelle $.50/1 coupons, 1 Viva $.50/1, and two Kleenex $.40/3 coupons.

My last transaction I did the

Nivea for Men body wash $4.99 get $4.99 ecb's
Adidas Deo. $4.99 get $4.00 ecb's I had a coupon $1.00 off this and used the $2/$10 coupon.

All in all not a bad day at CVS I got lots of stuff and only lost $2.00 in ecb's. The in store ad says the cottonelle/viva deal is a limit of one. But my reciept says I can do it again so I'm thinking it's maybe a limit of two?? I'm going to try the deal again and get some pullups and more toilet paper. Might as well maximize on the deal it's a good one.

For more great deal ideas head over to money saving mom!

Fun at the Park

2008-09-18T15:14:00.007-04:00

This morning with it being so gorgeous the boys and I went to the park to do a little nature walk and play..of course.
Kaleb showing his skills on the monkey bars.

Here are the boys studying the map of the U.S. The grass and rocks in front of the map is an actual U.S. map. The rocks are the lakes and streams going through the U.S. I loved this part of the park when I was a kid so do my boys. We actually studied it for awhile and tried to pick out all of the states so there was our geography lesson:~).

These are some of the flowers we saw on our walk through the woods and a huge meadow/field. It was really pretty we also found lots of milkweed. I'm not sure what the above flower is called it's considered a weed where I live. I thought it was pretty in white as well as purple I've never seen a white flower in this kind before. Anyone know what it's called?? ah, I'll have to google it and edit it on later.

God's blessings

2008-09-16T18:18:00.004-04:00

As we embark on another year of homeschooling I'm ever reminded of all God's goodness to me. As our economy continues to spiral I'm ever so thankful that I can remain at home and teach my children. That the Lord has provided me with a small part time job that I am able to do. Yet still keep homeschooling and raising up my children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Lord has provided beyond our measure and my heart is just overflowing with thankfulness today. For a supportive, loving and above all God fearing man as the father of my children. In times when we hear so much complaining we truly have so much to be thankful for!

I am truly blessed with these three sweet little boys!!

CVS

2008-09-15T13:35:00.002-04:00

Well I ran to CVS this morning and made yet another dollar in ECB's plus got the above items. Can't beat that! Here's what I bought.

(2) Purex 24 loads laundry detergent $2.99/each get $1.00 ecb on each one. I used (2) $.50 coupons from the smart source insert.

(1) 20 ct. excedrin $3.99 get $3.99 ecb's I used (1) $2.00 off coupon.

(1) Aleve cold and sinus 10 ct. $3.99 get $3.00 ecb's. I used a $1.00 off coupon found here.

So all in all I used above mentioned coupons and the $2/$10 CVS coupon. I used $8.00 in ecb's and paid $.24 out of pocket. I got back $9.00 in ecb's for a profit of $1.00 WAHOOOOOO.... another lovely run to CVS!

For more deal ideas and to see what CVS is all about head over to money saving mom.

CVS...how I love thee...

2008-09-12T15:53:00.009-04:00

This week has been..well..AWESOME!!! at CVS. I've almost doubled my ECB's which I only had $12.00 of I now have $21.00. I haven't had this many since last winter. Also a plus...the new nail polish I picked out last Sunday was free plus overage..thank you CVS...is called Midnigh Affair by Revlon. Lucas who was with me said I should go for the crazy color so I did it's not really crazy just a deep blue. I guess he considers that crazy for me...maybe I need to get out more..:~)

See it's not to crazy just a cool color I love it on my piggy toes. Anyway the other three deals I did included these two items:

The Arnicare is on sale $8.99 and you can print a coupon here for $2.00 off that and you'll get $8.00 ecb's back. Then I bought one Ambi bar soap for $1.99 and you get $3.00 ecb's back. These are both monthly deals. So you buy both in one transaction and use above Arnicare coupon plus the $2/$10 CVS coupon. You will spend $8.00 out of pocket or use ecb's and get back $11.00 in ecb's..pretty fantastic huh!!!!

For more great deals at CVS you can check out Money Saving Mom which is where I got this deal idea.

My muscle men...

2008-09-11T15:01:00.006-04:00

One of my kids favorite things to do is pretend to be superhero's, pirates whatever they come up with. Kaleb and Roman were playing "superhero's" yesterday and looked so cute. To watch them play it was hysterical...oh to be a fly on the wall..There imagination astounds me sometimes.

Can you guess who this is??? He was laughing so hard "tricking" me that he could hardly stand still.

Kaleb's first ....

2008-09-10T16:55:00.002-04:00

Yes, this sweet face had his first football scrimmage last Saturday. They played three scrimmages and won all three. This coming Saturday is their first real game I'm so excited to go. After their scrimmages they got to meet this guy below who plays arena football near us. I think it was the highlight of Kaleb's football career.:) He had the guy autograph his helmet and also got his picture taken with him.

Can you tell he's so excited to meet this guy I mean look at that smile!

2008-09-09T08:10:00.006-04:00

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Lamentations 3:22-24

Wow, aren't we blessed!! God's mercies are new every morning what a great thought to wake up to every morning!

Zucchini Bread

2008-09-05T16:12:00.003-04:00

Alright if you've got extra zucchini and come on who doesn't this time of year you must try out this bread. It is awesome!! My two loaves I made Wednesday are gone my kids devoured it. I loved that it was an already dairy free recipe so no adjustments had to be made for Kaleb. I will be making more this weekend and hopefully slipping one loaf into the freezer for later eating:~)

Zucchini Bread

3 Eggs
1 C. Oil
2 C. Sugar
2 C. grated Zucchini
2 tsp. Vanilla
3 C. Flour
3 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 C. chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees lightly grease two loaf pans.

2. In large bowl mix together the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, and zucchini

3. Combine the cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt and add to the wet ingrediants.

4. stir in the walnuts

5. Divide between the two loaf pans evenly

6. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until done.

Ain't he cute!!!

2008-09-03T19:58:00.004-04:00

Tonight Kaleb had football pictures taken. He just looks so grown up to me in this picture:( He sure is cute! He has practice for two hours every night tonight he was just whooped! He's ready to just fall into bed. This is his first year playing tackle football and he just loves it.

These two he was trying to look really tough. But when your missing four teeth in front it's hard to look to mean:)

GRRRR~)

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-02T16:12:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we had nothing planned to do the calendar was clear and we were looking forward to just relaxing. And relaxing is what we did we actually were gone from home every day but relax we did. On Saturday we went over to Ben's cousins house which is a castle seriously so big Roman got lost coming back to us from the bathroom. We stayed the day for a pool party and cookout it was very relaxing and so fun. The cousins all had a blast playing together.

Here is Kaleb in the pool at Ben's cousins he wanted it to look like he was falling over the wall..it is a vanishing edge soo cool. The pool was beautiful.

Here Kaleb in all his manliest wrestling an alligator I think he won:)

Roman found this dinosaur nose and wore it a good share of the day. He thought he was so funny. Not sure where Lucas was while I was taking pictures probably watching the football game with dad in the theater room...rough life eh:)

On Sunday we had a BBQ at a friends house at night and then Monday brought another pool party followed by water skiing and tubing at night on a small lake. As exhausting as it sounds we had some great family time and a great weekend to the end of summer. Although with it being 90 degrees today I don't think summer is quite done yet!

Oh Happy Day!!

2008-08-31T09:38:00.002-04:00

Imagine to my surprise and delight I open up our Sunday paper and sitting right on top is a CVS ad. Oh happy day!!! We've never had a CVS ad in our paper and after quickly pulling that out remains coupons...WOOHOO. Never do we get coupons in our paper on a holiday weekend. Way to get a girl excited!! Let's hope this trend continues!

New Room for Lucas...

2008-08-28T16:59:00.005-04:00

After much deliberation I have finally decided to move Lucas to the basement bedroom. We've been talking about it for a long time and I finally just got sick of all the junk in the room the boys share. So off we went in search of paint in colors we both agreed on. I was looking for a mis-tint from a good paint shop. As it turned out the first shop I went to had the colors I was looking for in mis-tint'..wahooo! Only $6.00/gallon compared to the normal price of $25.00/gallon. Lucas and I painted his room Monday and Tuesday two walls brown and two a deep blue. Wednesday I steam cleaned the carpets and rearranged the dresser's. Today we moved his clothes down and all his junk excuse me stuff").

In the process of this the three of us Lucas, Kaleb and I thoroughly cleaned out what is now just Kaleb's room. We now have three large black trash bags ready to go to Goodwill. Everything feels so clean and cleaned out it's a great feeling. They both are excited to now have their own room.

Below is a before picture of what is now Lucas' room notice the pink on the walls it was more of a maroon color but still very ugly!

Lucas' new room this is the brown wall you can't see the blue to good I couldn't get it to take a good picture. If you look at the blue in the comforter that's the color of the blue walls. I thought it might turn out to dark but it looks so warm and cozy when you walk in I love how it turned out. We are looking for a new bed for him and also a desk when Craig's list has a great deal on one I'll snatch it up:)

13 Years we Celebrate!

2008-08-27T08:41:00.009-04:00

Quite the stunning pic eh? This is never been seen before footage just so you all you know") Don't we look so young! Sorry the quality isn't that great but I had to scan this picture into my computer and the size is weird. Anyway you get the idea of what we looked at 18 and19 years old. Yes I am the older one as my hubby loves to remind me.

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. It was a gorgeous day Ben got out of work early and we golfed 18 holes and then went out for dinner. (Thank You dad for picking up Kaleb at football) We got to talking to a guy and he asked us how we met so I thought I'd relate the story for all to hear.

Ben and I lived in the same neighborhood for around 8 years although we never talked to one another we knew who each other was. I secretly had a crush on him and his older bro (sorry Esther) mind you I was 14 or 15. Anyway, my best friend had the bigger crush on Ben therefore I never went beyond my crush on him. Around 15 or 16 we'd see each other in passing and wave hello but that was about it my crush on those boys had passed. At 17 I started working at the gas station/car wash that Ben would go into a lot. We would talk and yes I'd flirt with him hey he was cute") He got my phone number out of the phone book and called me up. As they say the rest is history. Our first date was April 1st of our senior year in high school, we got engaged on Valentine's Day and then Married on Aug. 26. We've been happily married ever since. After talking with this guy last night and he complaining to us how unhappy he is in his marriage...blah..blah...blahh... we left feeling very thankful for our marriage and who were married to. God has blessed us beyond measure and I thank him every day for my dear husband!

Walgreens Deal:

2008-08-25T08:48:00.002-04:00

I figured with a pay cut headed our way I better start doing Walgreens as well as CVS again. So yesterday I headed out to Walgreens. Here is the deal I did and I'm planning on doing two more times this week. Who can't use tissues in the winter.

Preperation H wipes are $3.99 I used a $3.00 off coupon here and then a $2.00 off one from the easy saver book at Walgreens. So I got a dollar overage on that one.

Puffs tissues with their in ad coupon are .89 limit of 3 so I bought 3 of those and used a 1.00 off three coupon.

Because I got a dollar overage on the wipes I spent 1.06 on all of it. Oh, Puffs plus are also included in the sale which are my favorite.

That's the best deal I came up with at Walgreens using a product I normally use. I don't use Preperation H but know someone who probably can otherwise they go in the donation bag for the food pantry.

Thanx to money saving mom for helping me put this deal together.

Kellogg's Deal at Meijer..

2008-08-22T15:29:00.004-04:00

There is a great deal at Meijer this week using the $10.00 rebate form that was in the paper a few weeks ago. The Kellogg items on sale this week at Meijer are:

Pop Tarts
Eggo Waffles
Cereal: Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks, Raisin Bran, Corn Pops
Nutri Grain Cereal Bars
Cereal grab n go
Cereal Straws
Keebler cookies

Here's how the deal works if you buy 10 Kellogg's products you get $10 off a back pack at the checkout automatically. Which the back packs are 20-30% off this week even more of a deal. Then using the coupons which came in the paper two weeks ago and the $10.00 rebate you get in the mail. Your 10 Kellogg's items are almost free or very inexpensive. Plus you get a back pack. I bought Roman a Spiderman back pack which was $14.99, it was 30% off and then I also got the instant $9.99 off at the check out making it free....Yipee!!!

Zucchini Pie

2008-08-22T09:14:00.004-04:00

Here's a great recipe to try out with all that extra zucchini we all have from our gardens. My kids love this pie it's great for lunch or dinner.

Italian Zucchini Pie

4 C. thinly sliced unpeeled zucchini
1 C. chopped onion
1/4-1/2 C butter
1/2 C. chopped parsley or 2T. flakes
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/4 t. garlic pepper
1/4 t. basil
1/4 t.oregano leaves
2 eggs well beaten
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 t. dijon mustard

1. Make 9" pie crust and place in pie pan
2. Saute Zucchini and onion in butter 10 min.
3. Stir in seasonings. In large bowl blend eggs and cheese stir into vegetable mixture
4. Pour into the pie crust
5. Bake at 375 for 18-20 min. Let stand10 min before serving.

My Favorite Bible Passage

2008-08-21T09:21:00.004-04:00

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5&6

Fair Days....

2008-08-20T12:18:00.009-04:00

This week is our annual fair yesterday I took the boys in the afternoon for rides. They do the reading club associated with it every year and get five free rides a piece from it. So off we went to use them. Ben came and met us for dinner and we then went to watch the off road car derby which was so fun. The boys loved it we saw a few cars flip over a bunch of tires go flying and cars smashing it was awesome.Here's Roman going down the slide it's the first time he's done it. He didn't realize how fast it went but he enjoyed it and wanted to do it again.

We saw several of our friends there this is Kaleb's friend from homeschooling. They went on a few rides together. Kaleb whispered to me later "Mom, did you know girls scream on rides?" "It's annoying"..hahh I of course just started laughing.

One of the cars in the derby Lucas thought it'd be great fun to drive in it someday..yikes!

Roman and his friend on the tractors. They have several different tractors that kids can sit on. Of all the rides at the fair this is Roman's favorite thing to do.

We also saw a magic show which was done by a guy from a local church. He pulled Kaleb up on stage to do a card trick with him. The boys had never seen one before so they were quite thrilled with it all.

"Blue lights flashing in my rear view"

2008-08-18T16:01:00.002-04:00

Yes today was my day. I got my first speeding ticket..ugh..Sheriff was nice though and only wrote me up for five over instead of 13..oops. I honestly didn't realize I was going that fast until I saw the cop and you automatically hit the breaks. This is my fourth time getting pulled over for speeding I guess they can't give "warnings" forever. Maybe the cop felt bad for me Kaleb is crying because I got pulled over and Roman is saying "Yeah mommy gets a ticket". He seemed to think that was a good thing in his defense we did just leave the county fair:)

What to do?

2008-08-16T09:24:00.004-04:00

Poor Roman woke up at3:00 in the morning on Friday with these. Of course the only thing I didn't have in my cupboard free from CVS was children's benedryl..uggh. After giving him high doses of the natural allergy meds, oatmeal baths, lots of vit. C. They just kept getting worse so finally at 8:00 in the morning I trucked to Meijer to buy some benedryl. After taking that I thought sure this will wipe em' right out and he'll feel much better. They just kept getting worse by 11 he was seriously covered head to his little toe just one big hive. He scratched himself raw in many places itching so bad.

At 3:00 I looked at him and his face and lips were beginning to swell and they were creeping onto his face the only place they hadn't been all day. I was starting to freak out a little so off to the doctor we went. I walked into the doctor's office and they took him back immediately putting him ahead of five other people waiting. The nurse went and got the doctor right away to see him. Obviously he was having a severe allergic reaction to something..says the doctor..

Doc says they only get that bad when they've either eaten something or ingested an allergen it could've also been from a virus his body was fighting off. We hope it wasn't a food if it was doc said it'll be really bad next time and rush him in immediately. We couldn't think of any new thing he ate so the doc said most likely it was from a virus. Right away he asked me if he could give Roman some more benedryl I said sure anything to help the poor thing. By the time we left we had two prescriptions for him to take. Today he's doing much better 75% of them are gone but he has scratches and open sores everywhere. He dealt with it so good he was slightly crabby but not like you would imagine. I hope he never has them this bad again but at least I'm a little more prepared than before.

AWww, the doctor who saw him yesterday just called to check up on him. It's not even his doctor I just went to a local med station yesterday which is a doctors office as well. Anyway that's really sweet.

Spinach Quiche

2008-08-13T09:17:00.003-04:00

Here is a new recipe I tried last week. It got rave reviews from Ben and the boys so I will be making it again. It had great flavor nothing low fat about it but it was really good.

Pepperoni Spinach Quiche

1 Tube crescent rolls
1 red pepper chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 tbs olive oil
5 eggs
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
1/2 C frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/4 cup pepperoni cut up
1/4 c. half and half cream
2 tbs. Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs. fresh parsley minced
1 Tbs. fresh basil or 1 tps. of dried basil

* I didn't have the fresh herbs so I just used Italian seasoning.

Separate cresent dough into eight triangles, place in an ungreased pie plate with points toward the center. Press onto the bottom and sides to form a crust.

Saute the red pepper and garlic in the olive oil. In another small bowl combine the remaining ingredients and stir in the red pepper mixture. Pour into crust.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 min. or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Let stand 5 min. before serving.

** This recipe came from the my new Taste of Home magazine I just got.

What's actually in those french fries!!!

2008-08-12T07:45:00.007-04:00

Check out this experiment on YouTube using McDonalds french fries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEM0T1Ar5Qo

Can you say gross...disgusting...makes me wonder how many chemicals and other "things" are actually in those fries...YUCK! I may never eat another one ever again:( Yeah right:) I'm sure I will someday it'll just be awhile and I'll definitely think about what it is I'm stuffing in my mouth. I think I'll have to go rent the movie "Super Size Me" again I didn't eat fast food for awhile after watching that. Check it out if you never have.

Check out Kelly's blog for more fast food yuckies!

http://www.kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/05/fast-food-dangers-you-should-be-very.html

You know your the baby when...

2008-08-07T18:50:00.002-04:00

You get this for your birthday and your daddy searches the internet for it. After finding one on Craig's list goes out and buys it at 9:30 at night the night before your birthday. Yes little Romeo made out like a bandit this year thanx to his papa.

As you can see from the picture he was a little shocked by it all he was very excited to say the least. It has a squirt gun on the side and boy is he having fun with that. Pumping it up and chasing his brothers spraying them in the process. Yes indeedy they are all having a lot of fun with it.
I couldn't get him to stop for a picture he was so excited to drive it. Thanx to all who came and made his birthday special!!

Confessions of a Homeschooling Mom:

2008-08-07T08:39:00.003-04:00

What I said to my kids this morning..

"PLEASE NO MORE QUESTIONS FOR FIVE MINUTES!"

I think it lasted all of two minutes :)

My baby is FOUR today...

2008-08-05T15:27:00.005-04:00

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby I can't believe that he's already four. Looking back at these pictures makes me sad they grow up so fast! This top picture Roman is around 2 weeks old.

Roman at 3-4 months

Roman at 7 months he was just the happiest baby so content and always had a smile on his face.

This is right before he turned a year old he turned into a toe head:)

My favorite lighthouse

2008-08-04T10:36:00.007-04:00

Here is a picture of my favorite lighthouse I've ever toured. Lighthouses along the Great Lakes is one of my favorite things to see whenever we're on vacation. I've only gotten to tour a few of them but they are so cool the history you learn is amazing. This one is a museum and it had a lot of artifacts from ships that sank in the Great Lakes. Lucas is somewhat of a history buff like his mama and really enjoyed going through it with me. The innkeeper of this lighthouse was one of the longest living innkeepers of any lighthouse in the U.S. It was neat seeing his living quarters and everything as it was back then. You can go all the way to the top of the lighthouse to where the inn keeper would light the bulb every night. Below is the spiral staircase you take to get to the top.
The hike up those stairs is worth it below is the view of Lake Michigan that you can see.
Lucas posing for a picture in front of the lighthouse.

A walk on the beach...

2008-08-01T08:57:00.007-04:00

On Monday night we took a walk with the kids along lake Michigan. This is my favorite place to be I absolutely love swimming in it, walking along it etc. We actually took a really long walk the lake was 74 degrees so the kids had a lot of fun splashing in it that night it was so warm. It's not to often the lake is that warm. Above is Romans footprint in the sand Ben and I both thought it was so cute. When the boys were running ahead of us and his little footprint compared to his big brothers...well...I just had to take a pic of it.:)

Below here is my favorite lighthouse that I've toured. I really enjoy lighthouses and going through them so much history..more on that in a later post. Anyway, a nice couple took a family picture in front of it for me.
Below a rare picture indeed Lucas took this one for me. My babe and I.

Kaleb posing on one of the big white rocks the boys had fun climbing all over. Look at those legs he's getting some really long longs. He grew five inches last year must've been all in his legs.:)
One of Ben and Roman they both have the cutest smilies on their faces..so adorable!

Family Vacation...Fishing..

2008-07-30T16:38:00.006-04:00

Last week we went on our family vacation to a house on a lake. It was gorgeous all week long hot and sunny everyday but this one day the fishing pictures are from. The boys fished their little hearts out just from the dock but they had a blast. They'd be up early every morning and sit out until dark fishing. Over the next few days I'll be posting some pictures of our vacation and things we did. Today's pic's are of fishing.

Here is Lucas and Kaleb on the dock fishing.
Here is Kaleb with his prize fish he caught the biggest one of the week. A Large mouth Bass that was around 17 inches long not to shabby for dock fishing. He was so proud of it I never thought they'd catch anything so large from the dock. Ben's brother David had to help him carry it up and then our uncle cut it up. He was begging to be able to keep it we did and had a fine lunch the next day. Poor uncle Don cut his thumb badly while cutting the fish and ended up getting 6 stitches on the way home. Thanx again uncle Don for cutting that up!
Here's a close up of the Large Mouth Bass. Pretty big eh?
And here is the yummy lunch of bass we had it was quite tasty. I don't like fish but this bass was awesome. It fed all three boys and myself for lunch.
Roman was so happy when he finally caught a fish. This was the first one he caught can you tell how excited he was. Again, assistance from uncle Don was required can you tell who the expert fisherman in our family is?
One of Lucas' fish he had to bring it into the house to show me so I could take a picture. I think we have three up and coming fisherman in the family.

Camping...

2008-07-18T16:38:00.008-04:00

Every year some of my girlfriends and I go camping with all our kids. This year we tried out a new campground and absolutely loved it! We had great weather all week besides one little storm that came through on Wed. night. All the boys had fun making forts in the 90 acres of woods and riding their bikes on the trails. We also went on a hayride and the kids got to feed horses. We did lots of swimming, sitting by the campfire roasting marshmallows, playing at the park, playing games and just relaxing.
Here's Roman and his friend these little guys played so good all week long and didn't fight once. Pretty good considering their both four they just had the best time. I just love this picture of them at the pool.
Here's Kaleb in the pool swimming can you tell how many teeth are missing in that cute smile? Four. One on the bottom and three on top one more is loose on the top to. Think he'll have any teeth left:)
On the hayride we stopped to feed some horses this was Romans favorite part of the camping trip. He is such an animal lover.
Lucas and his friends on the hayride his best friend is in the orange shirt. They are the oldest of all the kids and were just so helpful at helping watch all the little ones.
Roman at the pool he's grown so much taller lately he'll be four in a few weeks makes his mama sad:)

Tomorrow we are off on our family vacation. Crazy two weeks I got going on here but it's what I so enjoy just relaxing and spending time with the boys and my hubby!

Almost done..

2008-07-12T11:43:00.003-04:00

I am almost done redecorating Roman's room. I painted it quite awhile ago and was waiting to find a good deal on a bed for him. It just happened that friends of ours needed to sell this bed and get bunk beds for their boys. We arranged to get it when their baby was a little older so finally this week Roman got his new bed. He loves it he's been staying in his bed and not coming in our room in the middle of the night to sleep. The cars comforter came with the bed so I took Roman to buy sheets for his new bed and we found some cars sheets on clearance at Meijer. Can't beat that! Then yesterday we went out looking at thrift stores for a book case and new dresser for his room. Didn't find a thing so I ended up at Walmart of all places and found this cute little bookcase for a bargain price of $12.97. It was very easy to assemble and is the perfect size for his room. Now all I have left is a dresser which I'm just watching Craig's list and the thrift stores for and his room is done. It all came together nicely he's really enjoying his "new" room.

4th of July Fun

2008-07-09T20:36:00.005-04:00

This past long 4th of July weekend was busy with lots of fun and relaxing. I guess busy and relaxing don't go hand in hand do they? Ah well:) We got a few things done around the house one off my summer chore list even. My hubs got a closet organizer put in the downstairs bedroom it's so nice. Our plan is to move Lucas downstairs soon we are in the process of moving bedroom furniture around. We are getting Romans twin bed for his room this week and a new dresser I'll post pic's once we get it done.

Anyway, this past weekend we did some of our fireworks with the kids in the driveway on the 4th after we went to see some. Did I ever tell you that little boys are just major piro's? Ben taught Lucas how to "properly" light off a firework if you can do such a thing:) He didn't burn his eyelashes off so the lesson from dad must've been good. Below you can see Ben helping Lucas light one. Sorry it's kind of dark.
As you can see little brother Kaleb not paying attention while big brother Lucas is lighting one off. Don't worry we were standing right by.
"Ta Da it's awesome, Dad!" said Roman about the below firework.

The next day we decided to see a movie with the kids they picked Wall-E the new Pixar film. The previews didn't look all that great to either of us but we figured it being a Pixar film it should be pretty entertaining. Boy were we wrong! As we're walking out of the theater we both said that was one of the dumbest films we've ever seen. I'm sorry dumb is not a good word...umm..bad, horrible..bad plot...worst film... So in case you wanted to see it I hoped I've saved you a lot of money trust me just rent it when it comes out. The kids mildly enjoyed it but hey it was family time and the popcorn was really good:) I truly hope the next Pixar film is much better I really enjoy all their other films they are some of my all time favorites.

1930's wife

2008-07-01T08:23:00.002-04:00

According to this I make a very superior 1930's housewife. Go ahead and take the test it's great fun. I was quite honest and suprised when I scored so high so go ahead and tell me your score mine was a..gasp...87. Things I can improve upon:

1. Fails to wash the top of milk bottle before opening it.
2. Gives husband shampoo or manicure(I must suggest this to hubby tonight;)
3. Puts stockings to soak in wash basin
4. Seams in hose often crooked.

Yes I will be making a concerted effort to improve in these areas. I'll be checking my stockings now several times a day so they are not crooked. .Hahahahah

Thanx to Lori for passing this on!

Summer Fun!

2008-06-27T15:22:00.005-04:00

Homemade strawberry jam, swimming and new pretty flowers in the yard what more could you ask for in summer:) Here is Roman already to go swimming at a pool I go to quite often. He loves to wear "seagulls" a.k.a. goggles. I don't know why he calls them seagulls but it's quite funny. Can you tell he loves the pool:)

Last fall the last week the local greenhouse was open I popped in to check out their awesome clearance. I bought a flat of carnations for around $1.00 and stuck them in the ground. Lo and behold they came up this year and are just gorgeous. I love them they smell soooo good. Quite a good deal!
And here we have strawberry jam I spent three hours making it today. Glad that work is done! It's such a treat in the middle of winter to pull out all the goodies I put away during the summer. Strawberry jam being one of our favorites I do a lot. I also freeze some strawberries and we make smoothies with them...yummy! I feel like such a pioneer women or something of that sort when I make jam and "put up" goodies from the garden:)

Summer chore list

2008-06-20T09:27:00.003-04:00

Since today is the official first day of summer I decided to make up my "to do" list of summer projects I want to get done. I never complete my list nor sometimes even come close to it. But I figure if I make a list at least I'll get some things done on it. Plus posting it on here I have no excuse for losing it and I'm more likely to get more done on it if everyone knows I'm working on it. So here it is and yes some of them my hubby will be doing and I'll also be adding to the list in the next few weeks I'm sure.

Summer Projects:

Power wash the house
Power wash the deck
Stain the deck
Paint the trim around the windows outside
Replace the garage service doors
Install a closet organizer in downstairs closet
Install a closet organizer in our room
Paint the older boys room
Finish the bathroom
Steam clean all carpets in the house
Wash all windows

There ya have it the list so far I actually already did a few things I didn't put on it. Now let's see how many I (we) can get done:)

Movies

2008-06-18T09:41:00.003-04:00

In light of all the new movies that have come out for summer I've been reviewing them online to see which ones would be appropriate for my kiddo's. I've generally gone to www.christiananswers.net for my research. However, Lori has listed some great websites for even better review. One of them I was quite impressed with and thought I'd share the sight as well on my blog. It's called Kids In Mind . It gives a very detailed review of everything in the movie from sexual, to language to violence and rates them. Thank you again Lori for the great websites!

School Book Shopping

2008-06-17T09:12:00.004-04:00

Every Year there is a huge homeschool book sale by us. Many good deals are to be had almost all books are used but I did happen to find two new books this year. This is the pile I came home with yesterday brand new $187.75 what I paid $57.00. I was very excited by what I found I still have to order some of the boys workbooks but I'm mostly done. I always try and keep the school books to $150.00 or less but as Lucas gets older more subjects are required. This year I'll be almost to the penny. I even found a little arts and crafts book for Roman he is very excited about his "schoolbook". I did this book with Lucas when he was four and he really enjoyed it. Something to keep the little one semi entertained while school is in session:)

pretties from my yard...

2008-06-09T16:43:00.010-04:00

My front yard is just gorgeous right now with all these flowers blooming. The first three pictures are all iris's I also have a deep purple one that bloomed the day after I took these three.
This flower is from a snowball bush I'm not sure if there's a real name or not for the bush but the flowers do look like snowballs.
Here is one of my favorite's it's a miniature lilac bush that I planted right by my front door. Lilac is one of my most favorite smells.
Here is a lone little rose on my carpet rose bush there are a million buds on it so hopefully this one will have some company soon. I also have a pink one right next to it.

These two bushes are both wigelia's just different types. My favorite is the one above the foliage on it is so pretty.
And lastly this is one of my other favorite flowers a peony I have white and pink ones. I plan to add some other colored ones for next year. These I cut and put them all over my house they look so pretty and also smell really good.