love me some iphone apps.

Apparently I've been without a new blog post for awhile. Guess those kiddos of mine have kept me doing the things I should be doing more of. Recently I've been convicted of doing too much social media and not enough of the important things. So I've cut out a little of the things that do me no real good, and have been giving my kids LOTS of fun attention.

 I've been trying to teach our 33 month old daughter a little pre-school. Even if I have no real structure in my teaching, I feel it's already helping her. A few weeks ago she was stuck with calling a "Banana" a "Mia". It's funny how certain sounds to kids come out way different then we would ever imagine. So we started with the letter B, for no particular reason, but I found a few free printable for that letter. We got started on painting, coloring, glueing pom-poms, whatever crafty thing I had around, all using the letter B and the printable I got. We learned some "B" words, what a "B" says, and how to write the upper and lower case ones. I think she very well knows everything about a "B", haha. Not that she can properly write the "B", she'll get that eventurally. But getting to the "Banana" problem, she went from "Mia" to "Ba-Mia", to now saying "Ba-mana". Yay!! We're getting some results of simply learning a letter of the alphabet. Now we're onto the letter "M". I just threw that letter out there because she always calls it a "W". I love teaching her, and watching her actually learn something. Makes me a proud Momma!

Here is a great site if you plan on teaching your preschooler:

http://www.hsprintables.com/ABC.html

So what else do I have to share...this is fun. 

Ready for it??

I came across a few apps for my iphone that have changed my life, well sorta. I wouldn't call it a transformation, but hey it made my life a bit more organized & fun.

One of them is the "Key Ring" App. Your know how your keys are getting all crammed up with lots of cards. Yay, I can finally get rid of those icky cards on my key chain. And...listen to this. It keeps track of all the bonus stuff you have on those cards. Did you know you actually can use the cards for discounts on stuff? See the little number next to each store name, the one in the orange box? Ya, you can get Drift Detergent 5 bucks off with your babys-r-us card. Seriously amazing! 

Another fun, "Mom" app was the "Phone 4 Kids" app. It basically turns your iPhone into a kids toy. The normal, basic version, is free. You can pay $1.99 for the full version. But the basic version does a lot. Like there is paint, call a fake friend, text a fake friend, learn the alphabet. It's really neat. And your kid feels special they have their "own" phone. 

Also make sure you download the Kindle app for your iphone, it's free. There are a lot of free books out there. It's not the best way to read the books, but who knows maybe one day you'll get a Kindle and you can read them and you'll have them. ;)

Hope this was helpful to you.

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!

Budgets are our worst and best enemies. Right?

My brain is literally mush right now. I've been going crazy getting the house cleaned and between kids napping, or not napping (they are both napping right now though) I thought I needed a small blogging break to clear things from my head.

I've been trying, not hard enough apparently, to get a good system down for grocery shopping and menu planning. My first step was to get a small "grocery" notebook and write on the left sheet my plan for meals for the week and the right sheet my plan on foods needed to make that happen, plus other groceries we need. That way I could be organized and not buy more than we need each week for food. I've been doing that for a few months now, and it works well. Just not well enough. Our food budget is tight, so I knew I had to be strict. Who knew two little ones could eat so much! Seriously?

Here's a few ideas that have come about in the last week:

The hubbs, Josh, thought we should get an app for our phone, a place we could both record how much we spend on food and it will always keep an updated amount left on our phones. I liked how there are apps that can connect our phones and our budget. Hey there's an app for like everything, why didn't I just look. Glad he saw that option.

One of them is called: iXpenselt 

Anyone use that? Or one similar.

Another idea I saw on PINTEREST was to make lots of meals ahead of time and freeze them, meats and veggies, with seasoning and whatever else is needed, in a freezer bag ready to throw in the crock pot or oven. Genius! There are so many options out there. Just need the time to do it. So I need to look at my time and see what works and what doesn't. Two kids keeps me busy enough.

And also I could use this:

via. 

 Which I was just shown today by my bro. And it's made by non other than, DAVE RAMSEY! Haha. Awesome! Any feedback on e-mealz?

So, all in all I think I have a good start. I just need to do a bit more researching, planning, and get the plan going. I'm so thankful to all the resources we have.

How do you plan your weekly meals?

ps. I'll make sure to follow up on how things go.