Fall Fun

Our elementary school held a fall carnival last night. This in one of the only school fundraisers we participate in, since I really dislike selling stuff and having the school only get a small percentage of the profits. But the carnival is always so much fun! There were hayrides, a petting zoo type area (one of Evan's friends' family owns an semi-exotic animal farm), raffles, prizes, food, and lots of fall-themed games to play. The kids especially enjoy walking around with their friends, without mom and dad LOL it makes them feel grown up I guess.

P.S. Yes, Evan's hair is green LOL. They had a booth where you could get your hair sprayed different colors. Always a hit!

31 For 21 Challenge

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. Today (one day late LOL) I am starting the 31 For 21 Challenge to raise awareness of Down Syndrome (aka Trisomy 21). One of my closest and dearest friends was blessed with a son who has Down Syndrome almost a year ago. His name is Ben and he is truly a light in the lives of everyone around him. This challenge will be tough for me, I'm sure, as it involves posting a blog entry every day for 31 days in a row. But it will help me get motivated to keep my blog current, and most importantly is for a great cause! Just look at that face!



Ben :)

32 weeks and counting!!

Sorry haven't posted pics in awhile! Here is one at 32 weeks, sorry no bare belly shots this time, they came out really blurry. It is so hard to take pics into the mirror, the flash always messes it up. I have gained 25 lbs so far, hopefully I will never hit 50 like I did with the other 3. I had to take off my wedding rings this morning, the (omgmytoeshavebecomesausages)swelling has begun!

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Meal Planning

A new goal of mine is prepare as many meals at home as possible. We only eat out once or twice a week, but even that is too much for our budget. I have been trying to plan meals around what is on sale at the supermarket and what I have stockpiled in the pantry. Over the past week, I have been able to prepare 3 dinners that cost LESS than $5 for our family of 5.

#1) Shepherds Pie
1.5 lbs. ground beef ($1.47/lb @ Harris Teeter) $2.19
2.5 lb red potatoes ($1.99/5 lb bag @ Aldi) $1
2 cans of sweet corn (2/$1 @ Aldi)
TOTAL cost: $4.19

#2) Rotisserie Chicken ($3.97 @ Harris Teeter)
Knorr Chicken Flavored Rice Mix (pantry stockpile item, paid $0.25 X2) $0.50
Earthbound Organic Salad ($3.99 @ Harris Teeter, on sale B1G1, used $0.75 coupon, doubled) $0.50
TOTAL cost: $4.97

#3) Taco Night
1 lb ground beef ($0.99/lb @ Harris Teeter) $0.99
Shredded cheddar cheese 8 oz ($1.97 @ Harris Teeter) $1.97
Taco Shells ($0.99 @ Aldi) $0.99
Yellow Saffron Rice (pantry stockpile item, paid $0)
Peach Slices (peaches were $0.35/lb @ Walmart) approx. $1
TOTAL: $4.95

I'm hoping once the kids are back in school, I can devote even more time to budget meal planning, and maybe even make and freeze some meals to use after the baby is born.

Starting to get excited!

Wel, after a miscarriage, months of trying, 26 weeks of pregnancy plagued with spotting issues, thyroid issues, and placenta issues LOL...I am finally starting to get excited that we will be bringing home our new little man soon!! We got to see our baby boy's face a few weeks ago and it makes it so much more real. His name will be Camden Robert and as of 25 weeks he weighed a hair under 2 lbs already! We grow 'em big around here!!

More garden goodness

Our garden is growing like crazy all of a sudden! We have been able to pick organic baby lettuce (spring mix type), green beans, cucumbers, and yellow squash. Here is Madi with what we picked this morning.



The kids already devoured 3 of the cukes and we will have the squash tonight with steaks on the grill. YUM!

Swagbucks can be redeemed for PayPal cash!!!

You all know how much I love Swagbucks!! I was scrolling through the prizes and discovered that Swagbucks can be redeemed for PayPal cash!! In fact, for every 70 Swagbucks, you can get $5 in PayPal. Sweet deal!!! Click HERE to sign up for Swagbucks and see how easy it is to earn prizes. I was planning on getting a few Wii games for the kids for Christmas with my Swagbucks, but I may have to cash in some for some PayPal LOL.

Chick Fil A Cow Appreciation Day!

Today is COW APPRECIATION DAY at Chick Fil A restaurants. If you dress head to toe as a cow, you get a free combo meal of your choice! So some friends and I dressed everyone up and off we went! As you can see, it was tons of fun!

Summertime Smoothies!

My kids are on a smoothie kick lately, we make them pretty much every day for breakfast or a snack. In fact, Evan had one with breakfast today AND with his dinner LOL. I can't say no when they are so healthy! To make them, I use:

1) Some kind of frozen fruit, either store bought (I love the mixed tropical fruit from ALDI) or frozen yourself. ~ To freeze fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, peaches or bananas, I slice them up if necessary, layer them on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Once they are solid, I seal them in Ziploc bags. This allows each piece to freeze individually instead of in one big clump. You can add fresh fruit as well, but having some frozen gives the smoothie the correct consistency. If you use all fresh fruit instead of frozen, no worries! Just add some crushed ice from the fridge dispenser.

2) Yogurt ~ I buy the big cartons of vanilla or in a pinch will grab a single serve flavor from the fridge such as strawberry or peach.

3) Milk or Orange Juice, or both, depending on the flavor I want.

First I add the yogurt to the blender, followed by the fruit and lastly the milk or OJ. Once I start blending I can see how much more liquid I need to add to achieve the right consistency. We like our smoothies pretty thick, barely thin enough to use a straw.

Here are a few favorite combos:

Peaches, strawberries, Vanilla Yogurt and OJ
Blueberries, Bananas, Vanilla Yogurt, and Milk
Tropical Mixed Fruit, Vanilla Yogurt, and OJ
And for a special treat:
Bananas, Vanilla Yogurt or ice cream :), Chocolate Syrup, and Peanut Butter

20 Week Belly Pics!

Half-way there!!!

Our little secret

We are very happy to have been able to reveal the sex of the baby to our closest friends at a cookout we held in our backyard on Saturday. To make it more fun, I baked a layer cake, which I frosted white on the outside but told everyone that the middle layer of frosting would be either pink or blue, depending on whether baby is a girl or a boy.




After dinner, I had Chris cut the cake to reveal BLUE for a baby boy!





It was a great party with great people and the kids had an absolute blast: "roasting" hot dogs over the fire on sticks (LOL), and firing off Pop-Its and Sparklers.







And by the looks of this (adorable) face, the cake was pretty good too!

It's a BOY!!

We had our anatomy ultrasound done on June 18th and are thrilled to announce that we are expecting a baby BOY! I have had an overwhelming feeling all along that it is a boy and was not surprised at all when they told me! The kids really enjoyed coming to the ultrasound with us, I love that they are older now and can be so much more a part of things. Here are a few of the full profile pics.

The fruits of our labor

We planted a small (12 X 6 foot) raised bed garden about a month ago or so. We figured we'd start small and see how we do LOL. The kids chose green beans, summer squash, carrots, cucumbers, and lettuce as the seeds. Today we picked the very first crop of organic baby lettuce leaves!! It was enough to fill a large Gladware container. The girls brought it in, washed it up, and promptly ate most of it...they are both like rabbits they eat so much salad LOL. Hopefully we will have much more veggies to pick very soon!

9 More Days!!

I just had a quick doctor's appointment (weight, bp, heartbeat, pee in a cup LOL) and was able to schedule my *big* ultrasound where we will find out the gender. It is going to be next Thursday, June 18th!! YAY, just 9 more days! The kids are so excited, they will all be coming with us when we find out. So keep those predictions coming, I love to hear 'em!!

16 Week Belly Pics!

Long overdue but it's not like I *want* to post photos of my expanding waistline for the world to see LOL! At the request of some....er...friends (you know who you are!)...here are a few belly pics from week 16 :) The shirt makes me look HUGE!! I am carrying high and all in front, so my guess is boy. We'll find out in a few weeks. I have only gained 4 lbs which is great for me, as I gained 50 lbs with each of my pregnancies, so 4 lbs at 16weeks is remarkably low in my book LOL.

Spring

Is there anything more beautiful than the blooms on our Kwanzan cherry tree to welcome spring? And shaped like a heart no less!? Signs of life are everywhere around our yard. This year is one of new beginnings, new life. We will be welcoming a new baby in November and it still feels so surreal. After a miscarriage last summer, I have doubts and fears. Sights like this give me new hope. God knows what He is doing :)

The Buzz - Pledge Fabric Sweeper

As I have mentioned before, I am a BzzAgent and as such I am given the opportunity to test out some new and exciting products to see not only what I think of them, but also what my friends and family think as well. The latest product I was asked to try was the Pledge Fabric Sweeper. I am a big fan of Pledge products, including the Multi-Surface Cleaner I have blogged about in the past.

The Pledge Fabric Sweeper is a really nifty little gadget that can be used to quickly and effectively remove pet hair from upholstered furniture. Just one Sweeper vows to pick up as much hair as 145 sticky roller sheets. Since we have 2 indoor mid-longhaired cats, I figured I'd be a good candidate to put this thing to the test!

To use the Fabric Sweeper, you simply slide it side to side in short stroke of 8-12". Rollers rotate back and forth to lift and trap the pet hair. The Fabric Sweeper is self-cleaning. As you go in one direction, one roller picks up the pet hair from the surface. When you go in the other direction, the second roller cleans off the first and pushes the pet hair inside.

Using one roller, I was able to clean the hair off of our large sofa, loveseat, and recliner. The only drawback I see to this device is that once it is full, you must throw it away. I was really hoping to empty it out and reuse it, especially for the $4.99 price tag.

Overall, I was happy with the performance of the Pledge Fabric Sweeper and would recommend it as it did work as promised and was super easy and clean to use. Pledge often has coupons in the Sunday paper, and that would help with the cost.

What a great weekend!

We enjoyed every minute of the gorgeous weather this past weekend! Here are a few pics of the kids taking on Nana in basketball on Sunday. They had a blast!

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