Menu for the week

Pin It I have another blog I love to read, Heavenly Homemakers. She posts a menu plan every week and it is so helpful for me for generating some new ideas. We have a few restrictions in our house (that means... if I make them my husband will not eat them) so I don't and we are both happy. No casseroles, no peas, and limited white sauce dishes. If I feed him cream of ANYTHING soup he might wake up with night terrors over his horrible dinner experience. I don't include too many of these in my menu plans or look at these on other websites, but that is the beauty of the internet, you can pick and choose for your family.
Here is our plan this week:
Monday: Chicken tortilla soup, tortilla chips
Tuesday: Steak, potatoes, salad (birthday party for Dad B)
Wednesday: Quiche, sausage links
Thursday: Chicken Lettuce Wraps, rice, veggies
Friday: Potato Pockets
Saturday: Dinner at neighbors (we have to go any chance we get before our family gets too big and no one invites us over anymore)
Sunday: Roast, carrots, potatoes
The boys and I have the same schedule for breakfast and lunch for each day of the week. It just keeps things simple and then I know what to have in the house and I only need to be creative about dinners.

Starving the Budget

Pin It I want to get our budget so it is like a anorexic form of it's previous self. However, my husband and I share different views of necessities and so I have to be creative in the things I scrimp on. For example, I would just never buy cereal (a splurge in my book), but he would look at me so sad on Saturdays mornings that it would never fly. Here are a few of my latest money savers:

• Taking the boys INSANE amount of clothes to the consignment store. Then I use the money on credit to get half price formula. The date is still good (don't worry babe) and Abigail is lovin' it way more then the full price stuff, I am sure.
• Making homemade bread. It is a great housewarming gift or bring to coffee-chat- time with friends and a jar of homemade jam, WHICH, I HAVE A TON OF. Anyone need some plum jam?
• Staying home more. I get more work done and I spend less money. I don't know why I didn't figure this out earlier, but I think I was scared of not having interaction with the outside world. We have a good amount of visitors and I have been disciplined in my crafts and projects for the boys so they don't get bored. Now going to a cousins to visit is an absolute treat or a reward for good behavior. 

I absolutely love saving money, but it is only rewarding if I get to see the fruits of that labor when we are allowed to give out of our excess.

Debt Snowball Update

Pin It My sister just recently commented that she was checking her bank account frantically to see if her tax return money was there. As if she was going to do something fun with it rather than pay down her rolling debt snowball. I am happy to say the debt snowball has already spoken for our tax return as well. We will be moving it out of our bank account an on to the student loan just as quickly as we can. After that payment we will have one more loan that is scheduled to be paid off in April/May. Then we will be DEBT FREE except for the house! We still feel like we have a long way to go, but at least we look a lot better then we did this time last year. Thank the Lord for giving us the passion to take charge of our finances.
Now If I could just squeeze in a trip to Arizona to see my parents and let my boys run around in their undies... doesn't hurt to hope!

A Few Pics

Pin It I am supposed to be balancing checkbooks right now, but I have not posted any precious pictures of my little dreams in so long that I just had to take a break to look all of them. Here are a few to remember this sweet season of life.

All three in Christmas PJ's


More jammies...hmmm I am beginging to see a theme


Bros! Slamming eachother with snowballs


The lovebirds!


Spencer on his trip with Dad. Please take notice of his mini-me Dutchman shirt.

I could just look at these all day long. Thank you Lord for a beautiful healthy family and so many good memories.

January

Pin It It seems as though it has been a few months since I have had the time (or maybe the word is motivation) to sit and reflect on what has been happening around here. It is nap time right now in this house and I have a hard time giving over my precious quiet time to sitting at the computer these days. There are so many other "urgents" around here that I rarely find time to sit and think. Does anyone know how much food is on the floor after 3 kids (4 this week) eat breakfast and lunch? You can't just sit back and let that hang out.
That is the adjustment as each new baby comes and then grows. Life changes so much, almost monthly. There was really so much spare time with just one or two little ones, but once three, and soon to be four (a June baby is on it's way)come along, the daily activites take you right until you fall in bed at night. I have really been enjoying the schedule and the busyness. I have never been great with free time. I am not a sitter and I don't have a ton of hobbies. If I can keep going all day I can get so much more done and some days even skip my "I am going to pass out hour" around 3:00.
All that being said...here are a few updates with our group:
- Abigail will be one in two weeks. She has four teeth and is getting a few more. Let's just say the house has been quite stinky around here with the teething poopies. Whoa sister. She waves and tries to walk, but 3 steps seems to be all she can muster up.
- We have our neice Patience staying with us for a week. We have never had a friend so long and it is going very well. I think we do four well!
- Spence just went on his first trip with his dad. He had a little button up shirt on with a Dutchman Tree Farms logo... just like dad. Too much cutiness for a mom to handle.
- Jack went potty yesterday and peed all over Abigails pack and play that was stationed in the bathroom (only so many available bedrooms) for the week. He is constantly bruised and taking to you while walking the other way. He loves a good time!
- We are expecting #4 in June. Not sure exactly when, but we have an ultrasound in a few weeks so hopefully we will know better then.
We are blessed by God's provisions daily and continue to stand in awe of his power in every area of our lives.

Where is the MOTIVATION?

Pin It I still have to get dressed... and it is 9:00. Someone could show up at my door at any moment and that still doesn't motivate me to comb my hair. Hopefully, my next post will talk about how amazingly accomplished I am. Not today.
My resolve today, when it is so hard, is to write down three simple things and just do those. Simple things that I know I can get done.
Here they are:
- 2 loads of laundry
- Bonus timesheets
- My devotions

$$ Money, Money, MONEY $$

Pin It Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover has taken over at our house in the last month. I ordered the book and talked Justin into reading it two mornings a week. It has taken us a month just to read through the myths and obstacles, but now we have go to the game plan. We (me and with Justin's approval) refocused our budget and got some fire under our buns and today we paid off our first two big chunks of debt. Our goal is by December 31st of 2012 we will be debt free. We will still have a house to pay off, but that will give us something to work on in the next couple years.
In just a few weeks we have had so many new revelations about money. God doesn't want it to consume our life, he wants us to be able to give it to others freely without concern for our own well being. We are so excited to slowly get to this place. We want to teach our kids to have a biblical view of money and have the freedom to spend more time with them because we have been good stewards with what God has given us.
If you haven't read this book, GO PICK IT UP. It is such an easy read and will motivate almost anyone to put every penny they have to the freedom of being debt free.