It has been a crazy summer for us. To start the weather has really had me down and in a funk. I have tried really hard to bring myself out of it lately. The weather is finally warming up a bit so that helps, but we are still out numbering rainy days to sunny, warm ones. So in my efforts to try and keep those active boys of mine busy, I am cutting my internet time and TV time. I was finding that in my "funk" of a mood I was doing more internet searching and TV/ movie time with the kids awake than I should have. So all day today I have been telling myself (sometimes out loud!) that its not about me! Sounds silly I know but lately I need that out loud reminder to keep my focus on my kids and realize that they are only young once and the way that I teach them is through my actions.

Yesterday was another kind of cloudy wet morning so I decided to make play dough for the kids to play with. I am not a fun mom who lets her kids play with play dough a lot, even though we have hard wood floors its just stresses me out. So I dug around and found a play dough recipe that I thought I would try. I have tried many others in the past and none that I have been too fond of. They were either too watery, too sticky, or just didn't stick together very well. This is the easiest one I think I have found and I LOVE it!! So just in case you would like to try it here is the recipe:
2 Cups of flour
1 tablespoon of oil
1/2 cup of salt
3/4 cup of water

Mix that all together and store in an airtight container or ziploc bag. I did need to add a little bit more water to make it managable. But once I got it mixed together at the right consistency it was wonderful. I did add a little food coloring too, just to make it a little more fun. I would suggest adding it before you start mixing it together.

I hope your kids have fun with this new play dough recipe, I know mine did! I really like using edible stuff because of the 18 month olds habbit of putting everything in his mouth!! So it was nice to not have to worry about what he was ingesting because it was basically flour and water!

My new venture in life...

Over the past 6 weeks I have been taking a sewing class. I started to get interested when a friend of mine was talking about it. My mother tried to teach me when I was younger but like everything else she wanted to teach me I was not interested. So now that I am in my 30's I decided it was time to learn. Not knowing a thing about sewing or how to work a machine, I went into the class with a blank slate. BUT now that the class is almost over I am LOVING it!!! I am so excited to venture out into making different projects. The class was very basic, but using those basic skills I can do other things.

This class has allowed me to broader my internet searching. I recently learned that you can make your own "Ziploc" bags! So I have been in search of something called a PUL (polyurethane liner). That search took a few days and many, many websites. I eventually came upon this web site that started with a women who was making her own diapers and slings before her first child was born. She then started making them for some friends who told other friends about them and her business was born. How thrifty is that!?

That got me thinking, about what I could make and try to sell over the internet. I am not that good yet but I hope with a little more playing around with my sewing machine that I can learn and get good enough to sell my things. I am now wishing I had learned to sew when my first child was born, so I could have made cloth diapers to use. But now that our youngest is already 18 months and we don't plan on having anymore I am not sure its worth it to switch to cloth since he will be potty trained in about a year.

This past week my husband and I went shopping for a sewing machine. The friend of mine that got me thinking about taking the class suggested we look at Sears, I never would have thought to look there for a sewing machine. So we went there and at first all I saw were about 4 machines and they were all way more expensive than I wanted to spend. We were trying to find one under $200. My husband used to work there and so he saw a guy that he worked with and they were talking and he asked if we needed help, we said no (as we usually do!). The Sears worker then said that there were more machines on the other side of the shelf. So we walked over there and sure enough there were more! He also pointed out that there was a machine that was an open box item, but it was a really nice machine. We looked at it and realized that it was a $250 machine on sale for $225, but because it was an open box it was marked down to $99! I was so amazed!!! We were able to get a $250 machine for $99, God really knew that was where we needed to be He blessed us with the right purchase. I am so thankful, I love my machine! Originally I was looking at a Brother machine for $229 but I wasn't really sure I wanted to spend that much and so I had to think about it. The machine I bought was a Kenmore (which gets wonderful reviews), I realized that when buying a Brother or a Singer you are paying for the name not the type of performance the machine will give.

I am so excited about where this new venture will take me. I am excited about how much money this could save my family, especially living on a very tight budget. With my son starting preschool and taking his lunch a few days a week I am excited to make my own "Ziploc" bags and save money there. I am also excited about trying to make pj's for my boys. I made the 4 year old a quilt this past week. Its nothing special but its flannel and cozy and soft. I don't think its too bad for my first one.

Being thrifty doesn't mean you can't be cool too!

Rain, rain go away!!!!

Today was the third day in a row that we have had dreary rainy weather, and my boys are going crazy! We have been unable to get outside, so finding things to do inside that will entertain both of them has been a challenge. My task yesterday was searching the internet for ideas for craft projects and places that we could go in our area that have free or cheap things to do. I got some help from my August edition of Parents magazine. They had an article on boredom busters, I was able to find a lot of information from them. I found out that my area has a lot of parks that do story times and nature walks. I also found a few web sites that have craft ideas that will keep them busy.

One craft idea that I found was getting wooden letters and letting my 4 year old paint them and while he is painting them we can talk about what sounds they make and what words they make. I thought that was a wonderful idea and then we can use them to help teach my toddler his letters. We haven't done that activity yet but I am hoping to do it in the near future.
I also found some web sites that have printable worksheets or coloring pages for them to do. My 4 year old really loves to do mazes and dot to dots, so that is perfect, instead of spending $8.00 on a book at the store I can print the pages off at home and he has endless fun! Some of the web sites I looked at were: www.Familyfun.com; www.education.com; and www.kaboose.com; all of those had a tun of things that would keep my kids busy for a long time. I also really enjoy letting the 4 year old go to www.pbskidsgo.org, he loves those shows and likes to play the games. There was one web site that sends out a weekly newsletter with craft ideas and recipes you can sign up for free and they send it to you in your email, that one is: www.kidscraftweekly.com. I was totally amazed at how much information I was able to get in just a few hours of internet searching!

So today since it was raining and we were supposed to go swimming with some friends (the second time we tried!), I decided to try one of the craft ideas. Its called Oobleck! My kids loved it! And the best part was it was SUPER easy to clean up and not toxic so the toddler could eat it and I didn't have to worry. The recipie was so easy to make:

1 cup of water
a couple of drops of food coloring (what ever color you want)
2 cups of corn starch

You add the water and food coloring and then slowly add the corn starch. Stir with a spoon until it gets to hard and then use your hands to finish mixing it up. My 4 year old played with it for at least 20 minutes (he never stays with anything that long!) and the toddler played for at least ten minutes. This was the easiest thing to clean up, even if you get it on your clothes just take a damp rag and wipe if off. I got some on my shirt and thought I was going to have to change my clothes but it just wiped right off! A wet wash cloth and the table was clean, no kidding!!!!
I hope this has given you some ideas to stear off the boredom in wet summer weather. I know I now have at least a few ideas to keep in mind if we get bored.

Oh what things in life may come...

School has recently ended and I am trying to work out a good summer schedule. With my two boys further apart in age (4 and 18 months), I think its going to be a challenge to find activities that they both can enjoy equally. We really enjoy going to the public pool, ours has a wonderful baby/toddler pool. The 4 year old really enjoyed it last year because of the fountains and he can touch the bottom (which he thought was pretty cool!). Last summer I was able to put the then infant in a baby float, this summer with him being a toddler I am not going to get by with that. He is very active and will want to be in the water moving freely. I am interested to find out what my solution will be for this problem. I guess always going with a friend to help watch them both would be helpful.

In the past I have tried different schedules with my oldest boy, they never seem to work. Maybe because of my laziness or because it just does not fit his personality. I am a very scheduled person and like to know what I am doing and when. So I will be working on a schedule that will hopefully accommodate both my children appropriately. Since having my youngest child I haven't really done any type of schedule with him because we just went on what the older one needed and wanted. Not that he always got to do what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it, but it was a matter of him needed a set schedule of activities more than the infant. I think I will just brainstorm and write a mock schedule for reference:

7:30- Wake up go potty
7:45- Get dressed
8:00- Eat breakfast
8:30- Bible story time/ Quiet time
8:45- Do puzzles or play quiet toys
9:00- Run errands
Monday- clean
Tuesday- Library
Wednesday- Chiropractor/ store
Thursday- Play date with friends
Friday- Park

10:00- Snack
10:30- Play with toys/ go outside
11:15- Prepare for lunch
11:30- Lunch
12:00- Rest time
2:00- Elijah and mommy art/workbook time
3:00- Wake up go potty
3:15- Snack time
4:00- Outside time/ Pool time
5:15- Prepare for dinner
5:30- Play toys/ read books/ do puzzles
6:15- Dinner
6:45- Play time with Daddy
7:15- Pick up time/ clean play room
7:30- Bath time
7:45-Devotion time
8:00- Bed time

That is just a schedule that will probably work 75% of the time, I try to be very flexible in my schedules. I know that things do not always work out according to my plans but I am ok with that.

The reason I really like schedules is because it leaves little time to fighting and getting out of control. Having a four year old is really nice because he is starting to learn how to tell time and can know when its time for something to begin or end. He knows when rest time is over and when its time for bed. We are also beginning to teach him how to read so that is going to be something that I hope to work with him on this summer as well. I really hope this schedule will make for a good summer of little fighting and little chaos!

Curve balls in life!

These past few weeks have been very busy for my family. Our 4 year old has had two concerts, one at school and one at church. That took up a lot of time for practice and then the performances. He is such a wonderful performer, he still "dances" (more like jumps!) around the house to his songs. We told him where he would be playing soccer in the fall and he asked us if he was going to be putting on a show! That made us both laugh, because I think he will be putting on a show! This is the first year for him to be doing anything organized and I am realizing how much he is growing up. For his performance at church they had a Saturday practice and I dropped him off and left and later that morning I realized that I don't do that very often. It really hit me then how much he is growing up. I think up until that point they are still very much under our (as parents) supervision. Since he has a later birthday he will not go to Kindergarten this year, I was sad at first because I thought he would be ready. But as this year has gone I realize that he will greatly benefit from another year of pre-school.

As for the 16 month old... I can't believe he is 16 months!! He has definitely thrown us some curve balls these past few weeks. He has recently learned that he can tell us his "opinion. Which is usually a shake of his head "NO". He has also recently began hitting, at first he did it just to see the reaction and now he knows he gets a reaction. Our method of dealing with this is not yet working. We have just been telling him "No hitting", but I think we are going to have to start some time-outs. With our older one he didn't really show us his opinionated side until about age 2. So this is really early for us.

Both of my boys are such a joy and do such funny things all the time. I think I will share a cute story about each of them.

The 4 Year old: Last night was sloppy joe night. He is very confused by this, because he has a friend named Joe. So I was trying to help him to understand that they are messy so we call it sloppy and then I didn't know why they called it joe. So his conclusion was "Sloppy is the bun and Joe is the meat". That just cracked me up!!

The 16 month old: Yesterday he was playing with his cookie jar shape sorter. He was putting his "Tigger" blanket in and then yanking it out and laughing. Then he would turn on the music and start to dance. He found a plastic fork inside it and started to pretend he was eating out of it. Then he came walking into the hallway dragging the cookie jar and runting at it. I didn't know what he was doing. I walked over to him and realized that his "Tigger" blanket was stuck in one of the holes and he couldn't get it out. He was getting a little frustrated with it, but I was impressed that he knew to bring it to me so I could help him.

Even though I get frustrated and upset at times, I am just so thankful for my two beautiful, rambuctious boys! I would like to end on this verse: Psalm 127:3 "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; The fruit of the womb is a reward."

Grocery shopping on a small budget.

Today I am making out my monthly grocery list, it can get quite long. The reason I started going only once a month is because we were spending way too much money making "quick" trips to the store. So very recently I started to grocery shopping once a month, usually the first week of the month and then in the middle of the month I do our Wal-Mart shopping (toilitries and such). This works out really well.

My best advice to give is to start planning a few days in advance. I make a first draft list, and then I go through and put the items in order. I also get very specific in the quantities that we buy, I have found that if I have a number next to an item I am more likely to only buy what we need. I have also found coupons to be very helpful, I receive emails from a couple of different coupon web sites. Its so easy because all I do is go through and mark the ones I want and print them off. We also get the sunday paper, which is very helpful in getting coupons.

The first step I take in making my list is to go through and write down all the items that we are in need of. Like this week I know that I am going to need buns, yogurt, cheese slices, etc. Then our grocery store sends out fliers every week with the items that are on sale. I look through that and continue my list. After my list is complete I like to look at the items I have written down and then figure out what meals and how many I can get out of those items. I like to have at least 15 meals taken care of. This past month I was able to buy a bag of fishsticks for about $5.00 and that made lunch 3 times for my boys and I and dinner once for my husband and boys (while I was out with some friends). So I like to buy things that will make several meals and then I rotate them throughout the month. I also wrote a list of the meals and how many they would make and put it on my refridgerator so I could easily look and see what I could make for dinner. When we ate the meal I crossed it off.

The second draft of my list is where I put the items in order according to the aisle (some grocery stores have a list that you can ask them for, I personally just have my grocery store memorized!) As I am doing this I am very careful in making sure that I put quantities next to the items (especially if I am going to use a coupon). I also put a little "c" next to items that have a coupon, so I remember to check the coupon while I am at the store to make sure that I get the right amount and size. Another tip in checking the store circular is to look for items that are on sale and make sure to use your coupon for those items. Its amazing how much money you can save!

My last trip to the grocery store (last month) my total was about $220.00 before coupons and after it was $183.00, so I saved $37.00! I do usually go in the middle of the month and buy more milk or yogurt. I don't like to buy too much of that at one time because it spoils so quickly. I have tried so many other methods and read so many blogs on couponing, but I think the trick is to just find out what works for you and your family and do that! I have taken tips from about 4 different people and made it work for me!

Happy Shopping!

Rain, rain go away!!

I choose that to be my title today because it has rained everyday for the last three days! I know that we need it to help our grass and trees and things, but having two boys that are tired of being inside makes it difficult to be excited about. So today I thought I would brainstorm some ideas about what to do with them when we are stuck inside.

My oldest child (who is 4 1/2) really enjoys to do art projects. I used to teach preschool and so I have a lot of stuff that I can pull out and photo copy. So before Easter we did a lot of spring art work. He had a lot of fun painting and gluing cotton balls on a picture of a bunny. Not very high tech stuff but at age 4 he really got into it!

My 15 month old, however, is a little harder to entertain. So for his Easter gift we found a little ball pit for $9.00 on clearance (after Christmas!). So we set that up in our basement and the boys really enjoy that. I also let them kick balls and play really roughly in the basement, it helps to let them get their energy out. Our basement is partially finished but we don't have very much furniture down there so it provided alot of room for them to run and play.

Recently in my parenting "adventure" I have come to realize that my children are my purpose in life right now, and I should not consider them to be interruptions. I tend to find myself putting off their needs to fulfill my own. Like if I want to spend time on the computer or reading or just sitting quietly (ha.. ok that's a dream!), that seems to be the time when they want me the most. Usually I will either tell them to go play or I just tune them out. I have realized that is not the right way to handle this and that I need to remember that they are only little for so long and then I will be begging them to talk to me. I have also been reading a lot about how to help myself grow spiritually and today I learned that my awareness of God's presence in my life grows as my intimacy with Him grows! WOW, what a simply concept that I never considered before. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that it is true. The times in my life that I have felt stress are the times that I don't feel very close to God. But at the same time the times that I feel a great sense of peace I am spending time with God and getting to know Him better!!

So my encouragement for today is John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." Also Phillippeans 4:7 "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."


Sasha