Get Ready!

I'm very aware Christmas is 4 months away. It may seem early to some to be buying Christmas gifts, and normally I wouldn't be shopping this early, but I'm changing the way we do Christmas this year at our house (much more to come on this subject in the following weeks and months)!

Kevin and I agreed to really cut back on Christmas gifts and hustle and bustle and all those stressful feeling Christmas can bring and focus on what Christmas is really about. Jesus. Family. Giving. Celebrating. #1 on our list of things that is going to change this year and become a tradition for us.... each child will only get 3 gifts. One big, main gift, then something small, like an ornament, and something else little, like maybe their favorite snack or candy. We decided this for a few reasons. Last year I went over board on gifts for the kids. The whole day, Hayden just wanted to play with a $12.95 guitar ornament I got him from the Hallmark store. He could have cared less about the other $150+ worth of crap gifts all over the house. Second, we decided on 3 gifts because Jesus was presented with 3 gifts when he was born (gold, frankincense, myrrh). And we're trying to simplfy our lives. If I'm not running around all over town in the middle of winter trying to get a few more gifts, life will be simpler. I can do things like bake and make crafts with my kids. I'd enjoy that SO much more! And isn't Christmas supposed to be about giving? My family has everything we need. We are beyond blessed. I want to teach the kids some life long lessons about giving this year, not receiving.

So, the fun part... We decided Allie's big gift would be a kitchen set. Hayden may enjoy it more than she does this year, but I know she will love it. We set a tight budget for gifts ($75 max per child) and I've been looking on craigslist daily to find one. Today was the day! I found one in excellent condition for $30. It cost $85 brand new. Why by brand new when you can buy something that looks brand new for less than half the cost!? Here's a picture of it. We're picking it up tomorrow :)

I'm still on the hunt for Hayden's big gift. I'm not going to spill the beans about what we've decided to get him. The hard part will be finding it used... I may have to buy it new. BUT we're going garage sale shopping the next month and have our fingers crossed. Oh and Kevin may get to put some handy work in to Hayden's gift, which will make it even more special!

(Christmas 2010: Both kids were sick with fevers in the 102s. I couldn't keep them down. Allie went to the ER on Christmas Eve... we're really sure this years Christmas will be better than last!)

Allie looks so tiny! And Hayden was miserable. Funny how much they both have changed in 8 months :)

Light at The End of The Tunnel

September is going to be an exciting month for our family. Why? Well, we'll have one month of being on a strict, detailed, allocated budget under our belts. We'll also have been using a cash-system to pay for groceries, gas, household items, and some bills. August has felt like a dark tunnel - we were going forward but not seeing immediate progress. Now, as we approach September, we are seeing the light! I promise you, when you pay cash, you think about everything you pick up or put in your cart AND you check the price, which is something I never did before. This morning I went to Walmart with $11.82 left in my food envelope. I had to get 3 gallons of milk, refill our 3 gallon water jug, and I was hoping to get some bananas. I knew milk was @ $3 a gallon, and my jug refill was $1.11, and the bananas were $.54 /lb. I just noticed today I didn't see any produce scales at Newburgh's Walmart. If they have them, they are hidden! Anyways, my total came to $11.67. I didn't browse the isles while I was there b/c I knew I didn't have the money to buy anything else.

Most months, we had too much month left at the end of our money (something Dave Ramsey says). $5, $10, $20 thoughtless purchases REALLY add up at the end of each month. Our biggest area for cutting back was food. In July, I spent.... hold your breath.... over $1000 on food! Kevin worked a lot that month (lots of eating out and very little planning on my part) and all that money we could have saved, well... we ate it! This month, we'll have spent less than $320 on food - for the whole month people!

Great intro for my next thought. I planned our Septmeber food menu last night. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, & snacks are all written down. I will shop weekly for all the items and ingredients I need. I'm also going to be trying 21 new recipes. Cross your fingers we get some keepers! I will be posting any good recipes to my blog and tell you what it costs to make that dish. I'm also maybe trying fish for the first time (gulp) and maybe those pretty little bright red tomatoes. My sis posted a pic of them on her blog last night (fajitas) and I want to eat pretty things like that... I think :) Stay tuned!

Harry was being a little needy when I was trying to take a picture of our September menu!

De-cluttering

About 2 months ago I decided to organize our "junk" drawer. I'm sure you all have one. It's the home of our rubber bands, paper clips, pens, pencils, rulers, nail polish, sticky notes, batteries and on and on. I bought a divider at Target for @ $5 (I think) and since then everything has stayed in it's place.
I've also cleaned out almost all my kitchen cabinets. It's feels good to open up your cabinets and see organization! You should try it too! Well, this is my confession. My organizing pretty much stopped at the kitchen. The kids rooms and our room, oh - and the bathrooms... they could all use a good late summer/fall cleaning. This was brought to my attention today when I had an hour to kill before church. I went to grab a bib for Allie, and this is what I saw...

Ok, stop judging me... It got better! I didn't plan on dropping everything and organizing the drawer, but I had the time so I did. I couldn't believe all the random and outgrown stuff I kept in that drawer! There were tights that were 0-6 months in there, newborn socks and bibs, aaaaand one of Kevin's socks (seriously). I took out all the outgrown stuff, and this is what was left...

Can I get an amen? I just love that when I need socks, they are right there. I don't have to pull out 10 pair that don't fit her to find 1 pair that does. And another bonus, the drawer actually closes now :)

While I was being productive today, I decided to rearrange Hayden's bedroom furniture. I hadn't really ever liked the set up, and his bed blocked the only vent in his room. It was something that needed done and today was the day it was going to get done!

Ta-da! Still wearing my dress from church, I pushed that furniture all over his room. It's better than it was, but still needs a little tweaking. Hmmm... what will I get organized tomorrow. Maybe all those stuffed animals on top of Hayden's armoire?

Commission Chart

When Kevin and I started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, there was a section in one of the lessons that briefly touched on teaching your children about money. We have talked a lot about this the last few years, and we decided to take Dave's approach on the issue. His approach quickly explained: If they do the work, at the end of the week, they get paid for it. If they don't do the work, they don't get paid. He said we could start this as early as age 3. Kevin and I agreed on 3 "jobs" we could ask Hayden to do. Now obviously, as he gets older, we'll ask him to do more work, but for more money. Right now, we ask him to:

1. Put away his toys before he goes to bed.
2. Take out the trash (once a week) in the hall bathroom and help me clean a couple days. (Which usually consist of me giving him a wet rag and asking him to wipe any spots he sees off the floor - and he LOVES doing it!)
   
3. Put his clothes in the laundry basket and his shoes in his shoe basket before he goes to bed.

If he does all 3 things everyday, on Friday he gets paid $3 (in quarters). He has money jars labeled "Spend", "Save", & "Give", and he puts $1 in each jar. Getting paid is like the highlight of the week for him! He loves seeing all those quarters laid out in front of him. He is so proud of himself. We just started week 3 today.

Now there are things we expect him to do and not get paid for. We are teaching him to take his plate to the sink when he is done with dinner. We also are teaching him, if he makes a mess, he needs to clean it up. You get the idea. He's not going to get paid for doing things we just expect him to do. I want jobs 1 & 3 to be something he just does - so those will be the first things to get replaced as he gets a bit older.

Sometimes before we leave for an errand during the day, he'll say, "Oh I have to pick up all my toys so I can get a smiley for that". I feel like this money lesson we're trying to teach him is also teaching him how to be a better listener. I usually remind him just once or twice about picking up his shoes, or putting away his toys, and he's all over it. He is very anxious to get his smiley faces at night. He goes to bed happy and proud of himself for his hard work.

Good Day!

I had so many ideas of things I could blog about today! It was just a really good and productive day! So here are the highlights:

1. Went grocery shopping - which usually this isn't a highlight - but I shopped for my weeks worth of groceries and it came to a total of $48! (95% of my shopping was done at Aldi) We'll still have to get milk this week, but I'm definitely thinking we'll stay under $60! My budget is $80 so cha-ching! Taking that extra $20 and putting in our emergency fund!

2. After Aldi, I had to run into Walmart. On the way, I saved a giant turtles life! When I saw him, he was hugging the curb with his big long head sticking out. I did a U-ey and put the big guy in the grass across the road. I hope that was where he was heading and didn't feel the need to turn around and head back towards the road......... anyways I was happy I saved him! Hayden was sad I didn't let him pet the turtle.

3. When I woke up this morning I rolled out some cinnamon rolls and homemade bread. I haven't made either in months - and I realized tonight why I stopped making it so often. I can't leave it alone! I pawned some off my parents and neighbors and made Kevin take some to work, but the last 2 cinnamon rolls were staring at me after dinner, so Allie and I finished them off. I can hear the elliptical calling my name as I sit on my bum and type.

4. BIG NEWS! Allie is taking steps on her own! This really made my day! With her foot situation, (if you have no clue what I'm talking about, refer to this post: http://haleylogann.blogspot.com/2011/07/metatarsus-adductus.html) walking should help them straighten out. Kevin was also home while all this was happening so he got to experience one of her "firsts". I also managed to catch this on video (Reason #439 I love my new camera - it has a video option). Note: Please ignore the overly excited mom in the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUJr0_uyzjM

5. I made a really good dinner. I cooked some chicken in my electric skillet then steamed some carrots and broccoli, and topped it off with the homemade sourdough bread (which btw was some of the best I have made - ever!) Hayden ate almost all of his dinner, which is unheard of in this house. (The only pictures I took of the bread - oops! It was eaten so fast at dinner and Kevin took what was left to work!)

6. I took the kids to feed the ducks and geese behind Cracker Barrel tonight. It's the most fun we can have for $.79. I think I love it more than the kids do! They were hungry today!

7. Last but not least, my cousins up in Indy had their little girl today. She is beautiful. Kids really are the best thing ever. I wouldn't trade my 2 little monsters for the world! :)

Moroccan Oil

I'm addicted to my hair straightner. I really don't think I could function with out it. And you can tell that from looking at my hair. It's been looking extra dull and dry lately. I mentioned this to Krista, the girl who cuts my hair, and she suggested using this Moroccan oil. It also acts as a thermal protector for my flat iron! I am supposed to apply a dime sized drop every other wash. I'm REALLY impressed with the results so far! I feel like my hair actually has a shine to it when I use this! This company has lots of other products - check them out!
http://moroccanoil.com/

Allie

I feel like little Allie was getting neglected on my blog - so here are some of the things she's been up to lately!

Exhibit A: Why she gets a bath after dinner.


Poker face? New trend? I'm not sure what this is...

Yep, she crawled in there all by herself!


And yes... she climbed up there all by herself! Have I mentioned I found my first grey hair just a couple weeks ago?


Last but not least, these are a few of her 1 year pictures my cousin took! Aww!

Reason # 327

There are SO many reasons why I love my our new camera (a Nikon D5100). I've always loved photography and my little point and shoots I've had for the last 10 years could never give me a picture with effects like this. I'm singing the song "I just can't get enough" every time I pull this puppy out to take pictures!
P.S. I love this face Hayden makes!

Perfect Shopper

Running errands and shopping is usually ... hmmm.... I guess you'd call it an adventure. You never know what you're going to get. I planned a quick trip to Buy Low last night with both kids to take advantage of some of their sales. When we walked in to get a cart, we noticed some with a car attachment on the front. I haven't been to Buy Low in ages. They have probably had these cart/cars for many years, but I just never noticed them. Needless to say, before I told Hayden to hop in, he was already buckling his seat belt! I was only in the store about 10 minutes, but he had SO much fun. I'm definitely looking forward to my next shopping trip there!

Nutritious and Delicious Bran Muffins

I have been looking for a healthier version of bran muffins. My old recipe mainly consist of lots of white sugar, huge amounts of oil, white flour and bran flakes. I tried a recipe several months back that was really healthy... meaning it had a strange flavor and a weird consistency. I ran across this new recipe on a blog I like to read. I had only tried 1 other recipe of hers, but I liked it, so I thought I'd give this recipe a try too. Here are the ingredients:

*Recipe from Angela Coffman's blog*

3 C unprocessed wheat bran, divided

1 C boiling water

3/4 C brown sugar

1/4 C molasses

1/2 C butter

2 1/2 C wheat flour

2 t baking soda

1 t salt

2 eggs, beaten

2 C buttermilk

Mix 1 cup bran with boiling water, set aside. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar. Combine the dry ingredients. Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Cover and store in the refrigerator at least 12 hours before use. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, spoon batter into greased muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

When they first came out of the oven, they weren't very tall. I was kind of afraid to try them, so I tore one in pieces and let Allie try it first. She was really enjoying it! I prepared my first one with some fleischmanns butter. It was really good! Soft, sweet, and not healthy tasting! My 2nd one I left the butter off, and it was just as good. I really like the molasses and brown sugar combination! It gives the muffins a nice dark color. We'll definitely be making these for breakfast tomorrow again! :)

This recipe is also really easy to double! Next time I make it, I'm doing a double batch! Yum!
(**Each muffin is 3 points on the Weight Watchers points plus system**)