Christmas 2011

Yesterday was a wonderful day!  It started by the three kids getting up before us, of course, and cleaning/taking care of the animals, before coming up-stairs to wake us.  We were already awake as we heard them 'cleaning' - LOL But we were grateful nonetheless : )  Then Zach, in his jammies, picked up Colleen (in her jammies too) and headed over with biscuits and Krispy Kreams.  Then they headed over to walk the clinic dogs and met us at FB church for services and the Lords super.  That was probably the best part of my day, all four of my kids with me at church on Christmas day.

Took many pic's but here are my top five in random order:

Twin son received 'plants vs. zombies' from his big bro.  Now I will never get near my computer again!  Good thing I received an etablet : )

Colleen and Bre with their  Christmas snuggies!

Chocolate peppermint  cookies for Santa!

Our tree with the yule log on the t.v. - LOL

I get this pic every year, Bre helping the twins decorate sugar cookies for the big guy, and he (Knute) shares them with Santa!  LOL - ROFL  Oh, tear in my eye, LOL  I kill myself : )

Other favorites were some major bling I received, a new stereo for up-stairs, UNO-Robot, a Go-bible and watching my kids play with their stuff and eating candy.  Which reminds me, twice now on doxin Smokey has gotten into the Christmas chocolate, apparently he has a thing for butterfingers and peanut butter cups!  So then at 4 a.m. this morning he had the , pardon me here for my crudeness, Hershey squirts!  Praise the Lord for a husband who got up and took him out so I could stay snuggled in front of our electric fireplace up-stairs : )  I love that man!  Lesson learned?  Doxins are as devious as they are cute and hide candy not only from children, spouse and ferret, but doxin as well!  LOL

Blessings, Beth Ann

Angles Aware

Last Sunday was the third Sunday of Advent.  The candle of Joy was lit and it also brought forth the children and their Christmas Pageant.  This year we are attending First Baptist and so the children joined in, with much preparation and enthusiasm.  It was a glorious day and my oldest son with his girlfriend were able to attend.  The twins faces lit up upon seeing their big bro : )    Please allow me a couple of minutes to brag on my children and the fine church that has greeted us with open arms and no questions asked.  Here are the highlights:

They have done this before : )  I love the fact that this church is soooo organized!  Look up in the upper left hand corner, and how they are hanging the stars in Heaven, how cleaver!  I also like the simplicity of the stairway to Heaven and the colored lighted curtain, which will turn red when Moses appears.  There was also a fog machine for the angles : )

Here we are with the ten commandments.

Here is my little angle, Elysha, down front with her new glasses and wings : )

Group shot on the stairway to Heaven.

Check out Elijah's big grin and wings!

These children started practicing over six months ago.  They were so enthusiastic and eager to please.  So simple.  Such a blessing to us adults who make things harder than need be and forget the simple things.  Children are truly God's biggest blessing to us all, that is why he sent his only son.  Remember the season

Blessings, Beth Ann

Halloween visited and Turkeys bought

Today I bought my Thanksgiving turkey - whoot, whoot!  LOL  The holidays are in full swing now baby.  I found a great price at the local Piggly Wiggly, 89 cents a pound.   I also found some other great sale items there and at the other local Bi-Rite store.  Buying marked down seems to be about the only way I can stay on budget anymore.  Seems like even processed and packaged food is now costing the same if not more than fresh.  So I try to grab the marked down burger vs. the packaged burritos for lunches.  I feel so blessed that not only am I home to cook for my family I also know what to do with raw ingredients : )

Enough about money and budgeting.  Here are a few Halloween pic's to share.

This is a car load of hippies that followed me over to my friend's house - LOL   No really it is Bre with her friends

You all have heard me talk of the kids I watched before they moved back to Mexico, well I was blessed to have the oldest come visit me during Halloween.  Little Gabe, such a joker - LOL

Me and a few friends handed out candy here in town, where they close the roads for a huge block party.  This is the third year I have done it and seeing all those cute kids makes up for the run over feeling I have afterwords : )  We get about  1200 kids , yeah, I know!

It was another amazing October, my favorite month and now I am looking forward to Thanksgiving; already have a dozen folks lined up here to join me!  We are soooooo blessed!

Blessings, Beth

Pet Halloween Parade

Today was the second annual Halloween pet costume parade at the local animal clinic, where my oldest son just happens to work : )  The kids were so excited, they had such a good time last year and they had a good time this year as well.  Twice as many folks showed up, word must be getting out : )  We didn't win but every kid got a candy bag and every pet got a goody bag, what more can you ask for on such a pretty fall day? 

 

Here are the twins, Eli went as a pirate and took Howard with him and Ely is a cat (black and white like her cat at home) but her cat couldn't be caught in time to go : ( 

Here is Howard the Pirate dog, his shirt says 'Shiver me timbers and rub me belly'.  LOL

Bre took Hobb the ferret and they both were dressed up like hippies.  I was surprised they didn't place at all.

Well that was the first of many Halloween festivities this week-end.  With Monday being the actual day, it seems like all week-end is one long Halloween party!  Next, heading over to the Church of Christ for Trunk or Treating.  Good times, good times.

Blessings, Beth Ann

Never 'boo' late

Not sure why it took me so long to post these pic's but here are the kids with their pumpkins from last Saturday's p. patch/hay ride trip.

Welcome to my front door : )

None of the kids like to carve their pumpkins or get their hands in the 'guts'.  So I picked up some cut felt cut-outs from the Dollar General Market - love that place.  So after church last Sunday  we got to it!

Elysha made a cat and seems to be hiding behind something, huh (shrug).  Check out her missing tooth!

Here is Miss Halie with her creepy guy : )

And Miss Mika chose a bat face for hers.

Elijah went with a silly pumpkin, just like him : )

Boo-tiful Bre made a vamp pumpkin, of course right?  LOL

Last stop is my back door.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out our pumpkins.  Come back soon and stay for some coffee or green tea, and be sure to share your pumpkins with us too!

Blessings, Beth Ann

Twins b-day

Another birthday has come and gone for the twins.  Their seventh.  Seems like yesterday that I was being told I was expecting twins!  Yikes!  Now they are seven, and too smart for my own good - LOL  Seeing as how last week was Zach's graduation and today is Memorial Day, we didn't plan anything elaborate.  we took them to the drive in movies to see 'Kung Fu Panda 2'.  They ran until they dropped, played until they were filthy and ate too much cotton candy.  Guess they had a good time!  LOL  We did this Friday (the night before their b-day), and then Sat. had cake, ice cream and gifts.  The twins wanted a chocolate fun fetti cake, which wasn't as easy to find as one might think.

Dig the crazy curly candles, 7 of them!

Here comes dad, get ready . . .

. . . make a wish!

The big gift was a 'Loving Family' doll house by Fisher Price.  There was also a jewelry box, some animals, board games and lots of number counting!  Yeah!

Now we need to go to Wal=Mart and fill this house up with some furniture.  To much fun for a little girl.

Tomorrow is the last day of the month and I am conflicted.  I am glad to see the month change as we have had way to many extras this month in the way of gifts and party's, but I am sad as I realize we are approaching the half way mark of the year.  Half the year gone by already, how can this be?   Is it really only 177 days until Christmas?  Good Grief!  Well seize the day, and enjoy each one as God has created just for you!  Blessings, Beth Ann

what's up Wed.

I haven't done a What's up Wednesday in quite a while, so thought I would share some pic's .

These are are my cool new knives that I received for Mother's Day, yes they are stainless steel. I really love them, yet oddly enough I am having a hard time giving up my old set.  Odd right?

Here is a shot of our dinning room, looking into our kitchen.  This is what our finished paint job looks like, ferret cage and all.

Another shot of the finished paint job, this one from the living room, looking into the hallway/bathroom area.

And here is our front entryway.

Z did a great job, as well as the rest of the kids who helped him!  K and I are both thrilled and think it looks great.  Next year, the upstairs!  LOL

Blessings, Beth Ann

Menu Monday's

Greetings and Happy Valentines day all.  Hubby and I celebrated last night.  Dinner out, money from a different account than groceries.  This morning I put one of those little heart shaped boxes of chocolate next to each childes bowl of oatmeal, with a box of conversation hearts (money from grocery account).  That's it, the big hurrah, oh; except for a hart shaped cake I baked this morning, for dessert tonight : )

I wanted to post a new menu for this week and update the great grocery receipt challenge.  To recap, $125 a week and that includes pretty much everything but our utilities.  Last month I went a hundred over, but the difference came from oldest son who helps pay the animal food bill (he has an animal ministry).  We ate out 3 times, two were covered by husbands car jobs, one was a birthday dinner/gift.  This month I have was over by $50 the first week and $25 the second week.  This past week I was right on target and made up the difference when ds paid me some money he owed me : )  A friend from church gifted us some 'gourment' items that she said she would never use, so that will help finish out the month.  It included such items as a beef brisket, lamb tips, holendaise sauce and whole grain pizza dough - 12/1lb. balls.  I am planning on making some calzones with the pizza dough and the holendaise sauce will be great in home made Alfredo sauce! 

Here is a look at our menu this week:

Monday ~  Shepherds pie w/green beans

Tuesday ~  Chicken Verde and Spanish rice w/ broccoli

Wednesday ~  church pot luck/Beef minestrone soup

Thursday ~  Taco's with home made guacamole' and chips

Friday ~  Tortellini in Alfredo sauce w/ tossed salad

Saturday ~  Fish stew over salt and vinegar mashed potatoes w/veggie sticks

Sunday ~  Pimiento mac & cheese w/ grilled chicken and green beans

Other cooking around the house: Heart shaped cake for Valentines day, home made chicken broth made from leftover bones in my slow cooker and home made croutons made from the left over bread from last Wed. when I made crust less round cheese sandwiches for church.  I am sure other things will pop up and I will keep you posted with new ideas and recipes. 

Blessings, Beth Ann

Happy President's Day!

I know I am a bit early with my glad tidings, but our home school group decided to tackle this early.  I am proud to say that after much prayer and effort that our county is just now in the processes of uniting a new group of home school families and this was our first function.  It was a huge success!   There was plenty of food, friends, fellowship and kids!  LOL I am proud to say our church sponsored this worthy group and we were blesses with an absolutely gorgeous day! (all the better to send the kids out to play in)

Z didn't do a presentation, but he was in charge of video and sound, something he does for the church on Sundays already.  B did do a pres. and she picked Teddy Roosevelt.  Dig her board and the use of all my metallic blue paint on her flag!  Guess it add panach'.

She was a bit nervous getting up in front of a large, mostly unknown group, but I told her we had paid $5K for her smile . . . so . . .  Once she was up there it was fine and she did a great job on her research.  Also good experience for public speaking.

Twin son E didn't get the whole big deal, and twin daughter E just wanted to make a pretty flag like her big sister : )   Oh to be six again with no pressure to be in the know politically.

Here is the flag I helped E make, she picked the stick out herself.  When she saw people were going up front to give little presentations she wasn't sure she was in to that, but when the mic came out . . . LOL  Anyone who knows E, knows that she has never met a mic she didn't like!  Matter of fact, she received a stage mic complete with flashing strobe light and clapping sound for Christmas and a matching guitar.  She was also a smash the Sunday before, at the super bowl party.  The kids did some karaoke, and once E got a hold of the mic that was it. 

There was lots of good eats as well.  Most brought cookies and desserts.  I didn't want to go that route and wanted something more high protein, lo-carb/healthy.  I came up with these tasty little kabobs.

These are pepperoni, string cheese and bologna.

Then I mad a dessert kabob:

These are seedless green grapes, mini marshmallows and cantaloupe.

They were a huge hit and not one was left, much to my husbands disappointment.  I think I only ate one of each, for a taste test : )

Next month we are having an ice cream social and there will be more photo's.

Blessings, Beth Ann

Getting Started

Today is the first day of a new year and a whole bunch of new possibility's!  I usually do my grocery shopping on Friday, but with the holiday decided to hold off a day.  Another motive was my $5 off coupon at $GM and starting with a clean shopping/budgeting slate for the new year.  Starting with today's trip, I will keep all grocery receipts for the year, in order to get a better grip on our spending habits, in hopes of it helping our budget bottom line.  I was real worried as hubby had just shared with me that food cost in 2011 would go up 3% and gas 6% (his pay only went up 2% - that's a major corp. for you).  Anyway, my goal was higher protein, low carb and more veggies (a-la-Leptin diet).  This being a tight after holiday week (real budget will start with first pay day in Jan., which is next week).  So with $40 (cash - always use cash) and my coupon to pay for tax, I went to the $GM.  I was so happy when I left and felt goals had been met!  I ended up spending$37.64

Here is what I found:

2 bags Romaine- marked half off - $1.50

2 bags 1lb. carrots-$.85 each (we share these and the romaine with bunny)

2lb. bag popcorn kernels - 1.85 (great snack in our air popper)

1lb. Mexican chorizo sausage- $2.25

2c. shred. cheese - $1.85

pkg. sliced provolone cheese - $2.00

4-1lb. ground turkey chubs- $5

green onions - $1

creamy peanut butter - $1

celery - $1

head of cauliflower - $2

3lb. bag sweet potato - $2.25

cinnamon broom marked half price - $2 (total splurge)

pantyliner - $1

pretzel sticks - $1

wheat bread - $1.05

15oz. tomato sauce - $.55

season salt - $1.65

4% cottage cheese/16oz. - $2

3lb. bag frozen chix tenders - $4

2 - pint size bottle 2% milk, marked half off - $.75 (will be used in morning coffee)

2 dozen eggs - $3

The chicken tenders were only $1 more than hot dogs for lunch and wayyyyyyyy more protein!  They will be great cooked on our table top grill with a little season salt.  Great price on those.  I probably should have skipped the broom, but I do enjoy the smell.  I try to get one every year and hang it on our pantry door.  Besides, it's right across from the ferret cage if you get my drift . . . LOL  Unfortunately I will have to pick up a few more items during the week, such as rabbit and dog food and maybe t.p. for us.  I will keep those receipts too.  Not sure how I will sub categorize them at the end of the year i.e. pets, paper products, food, ect.  But I feel this is a step in the right direction in reclaiming our pocket books and getting a handle on being a good steward of the blessings God brings us.

Here is twin dd E.  She went out with me today and wanted to spend some of her Christmas money.  She did well also, she got these two fairy dolls for only $2 each!

Not sure why I am tossing in this pic, but here is where a ton of our money goes!  Tina, the narcoleptic cat.  She has junk in her trunk, as the kids say : )  Here she is passed out next to our coffee cups on the hutch in the dinning room, on a pile of Christmas stockings awaiting to be put away.  Can we say precarious?

So here's to you and yours and hoping we all have a healthy and happy new year!

Blessings, Beth Ann

Inbetween booty

I popped out today to do some in between shopping, you know, after one holiday and before the next.  Just enough to get through.  These week-end holidays have my nice little routine all discombobulated!  The bonus is that the Dollar General Market is having another $5 off coupon this Saturday, Jan. 1st.  They seem to do this every other week, for one day only, always a Sat. and never before a holiday.  That $5 off takes care of sale tax on $50 worth of food!  Anyway . . . I just wanted to brag on a major mark-down find I found today at the Bi-Rite.  I snagged their last three bags of fresh cranberries at less than half price!  I don't know about where you are, but here they reached $2.50 a bag - I know!  So we only had one bag for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas.  These I will freeze for next year (they are good in the freezer for up to a year) when they might just be $3 a bag, geesh.  I got a couple of other good finds as well.  I just want to remind everyone in these tight times to always look for reduced items.  Most major stores mark perishables and discontinued items to half price and keep them in a special location.  There are even stores that cater to discontinued items, down here they are called grocery outlet stores or united grocery outlets (u-go's).  You can often times even find organic items at these stores.  I do the bulk of my shopping with reduced food and at our Dollar General Market.  I save on gas as out local Wal-marts and other chains are over 20 miles away.   I haven't grocery shopped at a Wal-mart in over a year, except to pick up some extras while camping.  However I will go to our 'uptown' Kroger to get hard to find specialty items such as aluminum -free baking powder and egg replacement powder.

While we are on the subject of being frugal, I want to pass along a little tibbet of wisdom I gleaned and have made my mantra: Never buy anything new if you don't have too.  That has sure helped us live on one income so I can be a SAHM whom homeschools and raised godly children.  I mean if you bed sheet rips . . . sew it.  Paying  $15 for a large bag of clothing (works out to about  $.80 for 20 pieces) is much better for growing kids than $10 an item at the chain store.  You get the picture.  Take back your lives and your cash and stop being lemmings with a heard mentality for the consumer company's who make cheap items so that you will have to keep purchasing new every 4-6 months!  And above all else, let God take care of you.  Pray to Him, give all glory to Him and put all your faith in Him.  He needs your help far less often than you suppose.  Look to Matthew 6:19-34. 

Ok, enough, off my soap box (recycled don't ya know) now.  LOL  Blessings, Beth Ann

All done

Am I the only one who feels a post holiday let down?  I almost hate to see the actual holiday arrive.  The anticipation is the best part, that and seeing the smiles when someone opens a gift they adore!  But here are a few of those smiles as we close out the holiday memories of 2010.

Here E is rocking out to here new 'electric' guitar.  It came with a psychedelic mic stand too.  If you know E, then you know how much fun she is having with this!

We make sure all the kids get plenty of art/craft items.  Here is Z with some 'blow' art pens and stencils.  He also received two boxes of origami (which he is great at), and it is almost empty!

 

Another million dollar smile shot of B - LOL  The smile is for more 'Twilight' stuff, sigh.

And here is twin son E, busy building with the new marble run set, sent from Vegas.  It has kept all the kids and even K pretty busy, also a cat as well : )

One last look at the tree for another year.

Blessings, Beth Ann

Lights of the season

I finely found the time to pop outside to take some pic's of the lights in our yard.  It is an on-going project of my oldest son's.  He works on it and adds to it daily.  He is already plotting what he wants to add next year (think frosty from Christmas with the Kranks).  We have taken to calling him Clark, as in Clark Griswold from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation - LOL  The only thing holding him in check is money or lack of it.  On the other hand, last week we came home from church and there was a huge box of holiday lights and extras on our front porch.  Pre-loved, but still . . . The word has gotten out, and I couldn't be prouder : )  There are worse things for a kid to be into, right?  Let me share a few glimpse with you:

This is our side yard, next to the main drive way.  I received the deer last year as a gift, which Z promptly put together and put outside!

Here is our mail box.  It is hard to tell, but Z affixed a star to the top post.  The snowman flag hangs from a solar lamp post and changes with the season.  This pic is of the other side yard, next to the RV drive way and fence.

This is an angled view of the front and does include some of the side yard and driveway.  We bought this little snowman to make sure we had one each year since snow is a scarce commodity here.  Notice the small inflatable toy soldier in front of the porch pillar, there is a matching one on the other side and ditto with the spiral tree too.  If you look in the window you can see our Christmas tree.

Here is a view inside looking out . . .

And this pic is just for Grandma S and has nothing to do with Christmas except that we miss you and Grandpa D and wish we were together this time of year.  Just wanted you to know Pumpkin is still kicking and missing you.   Remember the holiday you were so busy feeding her turkey you didn't realize baby Eli was putting stuffing in your pockets?  LOL  Love you and the rest of our family too.  I hope sharing these pic's helps to make us feel closer  as we can't be with ya all.  Hugs and kisses.

Blessings, Beth Ann