Taking a break from blogging.

Greetings!

Sorry I haven't been faithful to getting posts out. I have thought about where I want my blog to go & less blogging is what it came down to. Right now I just need to get myself strong & our kids back to being healthy. We've been sick for a week or so. And our house sorta went on the back burner. So I've spent more time doing that.

I've also had some great talks with the Hubbs about "life". (He's been amazing through all this.) Things have been really hard lately. Something with our kids growing up & me not ready for it yet. I struggle with living the life I want our kids to model. I struggle with being consistent with disciplining. I struggle with loosing my patience a little too easily. (Sickness doesn't bring out the best in anyone.) I know we all struggle. I guess I just feel a bit overwhelmed in it all. 

So first pray for me.

I know God is bringing me to this low point to show his mercy & faithfulness. Amen to that. But with that all said I'm struggling to get back to the surface of the water. I feel a little overwhelmed and I feel like I just don't know how to get back to "normal". With kids it's even harder to ever get to a normal. I usually like to be the stronger, encouraging kind... I hate being the weaker one. I think God is showing me it's ok to feel this way. 

This verse has meant a lot to me recently:

Corinthians 12:9----And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ♥

I had to post this photo of Carter, at 8 months. He's close to 9 months old now. Although kids are a challenge to raise, it's all so worth it. I mean look at him!

I know this isn't the most encouraging post. 

Like I said it's hard for me to post things like this. 

But I think it's good for me to.

Again, I'm taking a little break from blogging. But I will be back. And back stronger than ever. I just know God is working a miracle within me already. 

Thanks for reading & praying.

The Valentine Entry. (diy craft included)

Hey I apologize if today is a hard day for you. I understand it's not always fun to see people in love when you are single or recently broken up. I was there. But why not be the valentine for that someone who needs it. A child or friend. Take them out. Make them feel special. I feel like why not take advantage of the day, instead of being sad. And again I apologize if today is hard still.

It's one of my fav days, again I think I like it for the colors and the excuse to go out with the hubbs. It was really sweet waking up to two large mylar balloons in the kitchen attached to two cards. It's really fun having kids and getting to share the holidays with them. I want our little girl to know her Daddy is her first love (until the day she comes to know Christ who will then be her first love) and she is loved and cherished even when others don't always make her feel that way. And Carter too, as a boy I hope he gets the respect he needs and feels cherished. Love our kiddos.

I thought I post what I decided to make this Valentine's day. I love getting all crafty and feeling like I'm way smarter than I actually am. I mean if I actually came up with this I'd be genius. Nope. I went to Pinterest for ideas. At first I wanted to make {this}. But I ended up making some beautiful crayon creations. 

See?

Oh don't they look yummy!?

That's what Ashlyn thought as she took a bite out of one. Gatta love the mind of a two year old. She really wanted it to be a cookie. {Ha!} Sorry! :-/

{Our kiddos, just before church a few weeks ago, aren't they adorable?}

Anyways sidetracked I guess. Here's the rundown on things you need to make Valentine Crayons.

 Crayons (use broken ones to get more life out of them)
A heart shaped cupcake or whoopee pie pan, whatever you have on hand.
A sharp knife
Glitter (Optional*)
Cutting board
Pen
Marker
Paper to attach the crayons to.
Basic lunch bags
Red/pink/heart ribbon

I first preheated the oven at 250F.

Then I peeled (or cut off) all the paper from the crayons. Not easy, but it does come off.

I then took 4 crayons, lined them up, and cut them into smaller pieces. The sharper the knife the better. 

Then take the pieces of crayon and fill the hearts. I did four crayons to each heart.

And then top each heart off with more glitter.

After all the hearts are full of crayon to your liking put the pan in the oven.

After 15 minutes, turn the oven off and leave the pan in the oven. The wax turns to liquid and you don't want to risk burning yourself or making a mess with hot wax.

(leave the oven open if no kids are around)

I took them out when the wax seems to be a bit hard. And then let them cool even more out of the oven.

When they are completely cooled you can now pop them out.
 See how cute they come out?

 And then however you want to do the cards to attach them too, create them.
Some fun saying to put on them are:

 "You Color My World Valentine"

"Have a Colorful Valentine's Day"

"Happy Valentine's Day for 'Crayon' out loud"

Hope this inspires you. I really think that no matter what your "status" is you can still have fun today. Go order yourself a pizza and watch a movie. Or go out and make someone else's day

Here are some verses to really get to the bottom of
 what real "LOVE" is:

1 John 3:16 

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

1 John 4:8 
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Now I have to go do the dirty work and clean the kitchen. But I did just receive (as I was typing) a beautiful bouquet of roses (mixed colors too) at the door. Totally made my day since the hubbs is traveling for the week.

pros and cons.

Hi! 

Less than a week from Valentine's Day. As much as I love the holiday I think I like the colors and food that goes with it the most. And the excuse to go out with the hubbs. Our kids aren't at an age that really understand holidays and what they are all about. Our oldest Ashlyn, two and a half, doesn't know one day to the next. She just knows some days we go out or have people over, and others we just stay home and do the household stuff. So with that said I've been trying to find the perfect Valentine's Gift for A's sunday school friends. I think I found the perfect one. Just got to get on making them, since we'll be passing them out sunday. Yikes! And yes I will blog about that. Wish I did it well in advance so I can show ya'll, but it'll be on here for next year I suppose. ;)

So for now I'll post a few things with their pros and cons.

So to begin...

Extreme Pita. 

via

Pro: I got the Thai Chicken Pita. It was filled with lots of veggies and chicken. I felt like it was healthy. The pita was super soft and seriously could have just eaten it alone.

Con: The only negative would be it fell apart half way through eating, but I guess if I ate the pita with the wrap on it would stay together much better. Needless to say it was worth the mess.

I started doing Ashlyn's hair on a daily basis. Her hair is at the perfect length for playing with. I'm SUPER happy about that!

 Pro: I've got the one braid down.

Con I need to work on the two :-/ Notice the burettes holding the hair in place. But we're getting there...

 Two frozen Burritos to the test:

GOOD FOOD MADE SIMPLE

via

Pro: Best tasting Burrito I've EVER eaten, frozen or not. The shell was naturally soft and not hard to cut  through with a fork. You can buy this at Market Basket. A HUGE plus.
Con: Didn't seem to have any eggs, but mainly potatoes and cheese. I know they were in there somewhere. haha.

 EVOL.

via

Pros: Healthy and tasted really good. Also it was very filling, but it was one of the largest frozen burritos I've eaten. Also found at Market Basket. (I did eat it with some salsa.)
Cons: High calories. But what could I expect. Right?


Oh and I mentioned in a tweet that we were having trouble with out latest iphone app for budgeting. We have switched from Toshl to EEBA (via) This is anther {free} app. hopefully EEBA does a better job keeping our budget on track. 

Brr...I gatta go warm up in a blanket. 

The Grocery Budgeting Solution

So the Hubbs and I have decided on a grocery budget solution. We really needed something that fit our lifestyle. So we came down to signing up for e-mealz and getting an app for our iphone that could be synced so that when I or he went shopping, we could record right away how much was spent and keep the monthly budget for groceries to what we have it at. Hopefully our plan will work. It's been one week. Ha!

So first we signed up for...

via

It's basically a menu planner for each week. And a weekly grocery list is included. If you have a Super Wal-mart or Whole foods Stores nearby, this one is for you. Or I guess you could shop anywhere, as long as the prices stay within the certain range. Market Basket's prices are fairly close to Wal-mart's.

Oh, and look for coupon codes online for Emealz. We got a HUGE discount on GROUPON when we signed up for EMEALZ. 

Then we got this iPHONE app for budgeting,

via

We use the free version of TOSHL (with iCLOUD, so we both can see the money spent on our own phones) for the iPHONE. The free version basically only allows for one budget category. For us we only need one. So far it's working. We just have to remember to put in how much we spend. One of those things that after time, I'm hoping will be a habit.

I will keep everyone updated as we continue our journey with this budget solution. So far I LOVE knowing I don't have to plan a meal for the day, it's already planned.

So, for tonight's grocery shopping: I have my list basically done. Just adding on a few things for breakfast and other necessities. LOVE!

Chicken Quinoa Soup

Why hello. I'm still here. Just a few days of intense potty training has exhausted me. Ya, she's still in diapers. But we're getting there. =)

I whipped up a beautiful soup yesterday and was really happy with the results. 

Here we go:

1 Cup Shredded Carrots

1/2 Cup Celery

1/2 Onion Diced

1 Tbsp Butter

1/2 cup flour

2 Cans of Chicken Broth (14 ounces each)- I used stuff I made, YUM!

1 Cup Milk

1 cup cubed Chicken (off the bone is the best)

1 1/2 cups cooked plain Quinoa

s/p to taste

Melt butter and put in veggies till soft. Then add the flour, I took it off the burner to combine. Then I added the liquid ingredients and mixed them together well. And then put on high till it boiled pretty good. Now add the chicken and cooked Quinoa. And then add S/P to taste. That's all. 

How to cook Quinoa:

  2 Cups Water to 1 Cup Quinoa

 (see here for nutrition facts, it's pretty amazing how good this is for you!)

 Boil then turn it to low & put the timer on 15 minutes. Boom. =)

So yummy!! Even Carter didn't mind some with a little applesauce.

Oh and speaking of Carter did you know...

$2 of ORGANIC (did you hear that?? Organic!!) Carrots cooked and put in the magic bullet makes this...

 That's a super savings! And I didn't even peal the carrots, haha. 

Just clean em up, chop em up, cook em up, and magic bullet bullet em up with a little water. 

BOOM! I could have made more, but my guess is he's not going to be eating much baby food because he already eats lots of other things just diced up small. Oh and then I froze most of this. So when I need them I just take them out and put in the fridge a day before so it can thaw. 

Super easy!

Happy February!!