It's a Girl!!!

I keep forgetting to post that we know now that the baby is a girl!!!

where have I been?

Well to answer that question: I've been camping a lot with the kids and I've been working on Katerina's curriculum for this school year. It's so hard to decide what to do with her because she is my first homeschooler. This year will be her first year in preschool and I don't want to overload her, but at the same time I want to give her a good couple of hours each day of something structured to do. I have found a lot of sites I like. www.first-school.ws is perfect for preschool things. It has so much information that you could easily become overwelmed, so I'm only using a few things from it. www.homeschoolshare.com is another awesome website! I took some ideas from there that will make up some of the basics of her curriculum. Like the alphabet lapbook! I love this idea and have had a blast coming up with fun things to do for each letter. When I get stuck on a letter I head over too www.letteroftheweek.com Also we are going to do a county a week, that begins with the letter of the week we are doing. We are building a lapbook for that too that I am calling her Geography Alphabet Lapbook. In it we are going to do simple little things like record the books we read about the countries, maybe draw some pictures or even find some neat printables or crafts to fill our book. It should be a lot of fun! The last site I'm using is www.enchantedlearning.com This is a pay for use site, but it's really cheap. I think it was about $20 for a year of use. Don't mind if I'm not here much for the next few weeks, I'm still finishing up and I'm going camping again. See you soon.

Prenatal Appt.

So I had another appt. today with my midwife. It went really well. I'm measuring right on target for my 17 weeks and baby's heartbeat was good at 140. And I've only gained a total of 6 lbs for this pregnancy thus far. I'm feeling pretty good right now! It's so nice to get back into the swing of things at home. I feel like I'm coming out of a long fog now that I'm feeling better and starting to have more energy! It's also nice to be feeling better because it's summer and the kids and I like to get out and do things. We will be going camping several times this summer along with going to the zoo and various other summertime outings. Oh and I have my ultrasound next weds. and I can't wait!! I really want to know what this baby is so I can start getting some of the clothes out of the shed to inventory. I want to get them out now but I know that's just silly. Since everyone wants to know what I "think" the baby is I'll go ahead and say boy, but really I'm not sure. Wednesday can't get here fast enough!!!

Making Your Home a Haven

Crystal at www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm is hosting a refresher course for the making your home a haven series and I figured this would be a great thing to comment on. We are trying to make our home work out better for us. We were originally trying to move this summer and get a bigger van but we've decided to put these things on hold for six months to a year. So because of that we are trying to revamp our house to make it less cluttered and work better for the whole family. Plus we are trying to figure out where to put the new baby's things in the house. Not that a baby needs a whole lot, but I am hoping to find a place to store clothing, a bassinet, a swing, and maybe a changing station (which may end up housing the clothing and diapers too.). Today however I am simply trying to finish up the living room. I need to declutter it and finish reorganizing it since we took several bigger items out (like our huge entertainment stand). Between that and getting the general house back in order since we've been very busy the past four days with preparing for and operating a yard sale and then father's day with moving the big furniture around in the living room. Happy Cleaning to all who participate.

Frustrated

I'm looking for some encouragement because I'm tired of being put down for being a stay-at-home mom who doesn't "work" (regardless of the fact that I take care of our home and children and working on a home business...but no of course I don't "work") and for the size of our family. We are talking about going to get a 15 passenger van. We've found a couple we are going to go look at tonight that might be what we are looking for but apparently we don't know what we are doing because a lot of family members say well you can still fit in a mini-van, one of those 8 seaters. What they don't think about is when we have to put something other than people in said mini-van. Plus, here's where they get even more mad, we might still have more kids! What would we do then, go out and buy yet another vehicle? That's just silly. We need to get into the right size vehicle now so we can start paying it off now. Then years down the road we can just own it outright. What a novel concept wanting to own something without debt attached to it. Grrr... I'm just so frustrated. I know our life is much different than the average Americans but it's MY life not theirs. What they don't see is what is beneath the surface. Like when I'm asked when my youngest will be put into preschool in the fall. I simply told that family member, again, that I will be homeschooling her. She is already so smart and she loves to learn, I don't want that to go away. We have four older children who we have to allow the state to educate (due to our family dynamics it's not something we can do anything about). I won't allow the next one to be state educated too. Our children our blessed to have a father who loves them so much that he is willing to do all he can to give them their mother/stepmother at home with them all the time. These children don't know what it is to have to be separated from their family all the time. Plus the cost alone would make it not feasible for me to work, my income would go negative due to the daycare costs. Alright I'll stop with my rant. If anyone has any suggestions on how to handle family members who just don't understand please offer some suggestions.

It seems like I never blog anymore

I know I know. Where am I? Well I've been feeling pretty sick lately and I'm just starting to feel better now. I'm 15 weeks today and I still get queasy sometimes but I'm definitely feeling much better than I was. Plus soccer and hockey and everything season is finally over! Yeah! Now that school is almost over it's so nice to just be able to relax and enjoy the kids. Meanwhile we are looking for a new house and a new van. With this new blessing on the way we don't have any seats left in our present minivan so we need to move up to something bigger. We are hoping to get a 12 or 15 passenger van. Meanwhile we are also looking for a bigger house. Our price range is very low so it's my hope that we find something soon despite the price range.

So my big thing right now is working on getting the house super clean again (it was hard to do deep cleaning with so much going on and morning sickness). I'm trying to find a good schedule to keep on. Any ideas?

Pregnancy Brain

Okay so I've know about this new little blessing for about two weeks, and yet I still find myself dwelling on it. I'm just so excited! As of yet I'm not really too sick. I've been a little nauseous this weekend, but nothing too terrible yet. On other fronts it was a really bad weekend with S and her situation. I don't want to elaborate, but please pray for us all. Now let's see what else is going on. I currently cannot use my oven for cooking because R was acting like a monkey and a chair he was using hit the knob and broke it off the stove. Luckily I can still use the stovetop until we can order the piece we need to fix it. Well, I need to finish dinner and help the kids finish homework.

Life is always hectic

Yes it is, but let me fill you in on what has been happening in our world. First my husband's aunt and I have started our own business, Scent From Heaven Bath Works. We've been so busy making product to take to shows. It's kinda neat, it's candles, lotions, bath gels, smelly jellies, massage oils, and bath salts. I'm really enjoying looking for new products to try out and test.

Next we have my step-daughter S, now living with us. She was in a not so good situation so it is with GREAT JOY!! That she is now here with us. Praise God for that!!

Oh, and the final one, we are going to have another baby!! Blessing #6 for our family!!! I'm due November 24, 2008! I'll be looking for a cool baby countdown to put on this blog so if anyone has any ideas send them to me please. Thanks!

CVS deals

Because I know everyone loves to see the savings of CVS I am giving you a breakdown of my savings this week.

Transaction #1: 3 Palmolive dish soaps for $1.49 each - $.40 coupons each
2 Advil Cold and Sinus $5.99 each - $2 manuf. coupons each and $2 CVS coupon
Plus I used a $2 off of $10 coupon - $5 ECB = $2.06 cash + $3 and $5 ECBs

Transaction #2: 1 Palmolive dish soap $1.49 - $.40 coupon
2 Dimetapp kid's medicine $4.99 each - $1.50 coupons
Plus I used a $3 off of $15 coupon - $5 and $3 ECB = $.29 cash + $1 and $5 ECBs

Transaction #3: 1 Gillette Fusion Power Razor $9.99 - $2 coupon
Plus I used a $2/$10 coupon and a $5 ECB = $1.20 cash + $5ECB

Transaction #4: 2 Hershey's Kisses at 2 for $5 - $1.50 CVS coupon
1 Palmolive Dish Soap $1.49 - $.40 coupon
1 Gillette Venus Razor $8.99 - $2 coupon
1 Candy $.88 (My dad had to drop something off and he gave me a dollar to get the kids candy)
Plus I used a $3/ $15 coupon - $5 ECB = $1.46 cash + $4, $1, and a $3 ECBs

All in all I spent $5.01 cash and I still have $9 ECBs for next week.

Frugal Fridays

It's time for Frugal Fridays with Crystal from www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm again. This week I thought I'd talk about homemade curtains. My girl's room is in desprate need of new curtains so I found some old fabric, measured it against the window (making sure to allow for seams) and stitched them to the window size. On the top I made sure to make that loop so that they could hang onto the curtain rod and voila new curtains in about an hour for absolutly no money out of pocket. Sorry I don't have any pictures but I can't find the cord to my digital camera.

How do you view children?

One thing I've been struggling with lately is the way people react to my five children. And if I mention that I really want more....well I guess that earns me a label of "crazy". BUT I don't care. Children are such blessings. I don't know what I would be without them. Each child, no matter how they came into my life (birth or marriage) is a tremendous gift to me.

 J is an aspiring chef and has such wisdom. Yet he was born when my husband was only 17 years old. I don't care. I wouldn't trade him for anything! (I'm not advicating young unwed parents, but I am saying that children are a blessing and are not reponisble for the actions of their parents, thus they deserve life after having been conceived and can truely be treasures from God as such.)

 And S is such a sweet person who tries to help. She is a bit of a dreamer but also has such fire. She will be able to go so far in life.

 M is a different child. Some would label her a difficult child, but again I don't care. She causes me to think about my parenting skills and constantly revise them to help her best. She loves helping with her younger sibilings and is awesome at Math.

R is another dreamer, but behind that is a very smart person who can do anything. He is a pleaser and wants to help me when I am down. He is also the one who will come and snuggle me or hug me when he senses I am down.

K as the current baby uses this position in life for all it's worth. I think she has not only me and dh but also the 4 older kids wrapped around her little finger. She is a bit of a temper-mental child but I've learned to love these personalities for the wonders they contain.

My heart yearns so much for another child. My dh wants another one too but feels he can't right now due to finances. This is such a hard place for us since we believe children are such blessings. I pray that someday soon God will place relief in our path and we will soon add another baby blessing to our quiverfull of children. I'm not sure who wrote this quote but I love it and it sums up how dh and I feel. In the bible God calls children a blessing and debt a curse, but in our society we apply for curses and reject blessings. Something is wrong with that picture.

Being a Step parent in the modern world.

As you may or may not know, I am the stepmom to 3 beautiful children. So many times I see children who are pushed aside by their step parents or are treated as less than equal to the biological children of that step parent. I wish I could teach those parents to see the beauty of loving that child as if he or she were their own. I may not have given birth to my three stepchildren, but I am like a mother bear with her cubs with them anyway. Another thing that is hard with being a stepmother is knowing when to back down. You must understand that there is another person who should be first in your stepchild's life and that is the mother/father. The way we handle this is we are very open in communication with the mother/father. If sewing is something that the children have never done then I call to ask if it's okay to do with the kids. It is very vital to never say anything demeaning about the other parent. Nobody is going to agree 100% of the time. Yet these are our precious children we are raising and it's so important not to put them in a difficult position. So now I would like to open up the floor and hear any comments from other parents or stepparents.

How to combat depression?

Lately I've been feeling very depressed. I feel like I am such a good wife and mother and all I want to do is be able to keep doing it. Yet due to financial difficulties it seems that may be in jeporady. Money is so tight right now. Yet I know I need to rest in God and remember that He is caring for me now, even as things seem dark. He is keeping my dh healthy and working. He is blessing my food budget so that I can make food stretch. He has even given me a wonderful business idea if only I can find some money to get it started. I want to do a homemade soap and lotion business. It could also branch out into other items, but for now those are the two things I will start with when I get my capital. Any ideas for earning a few extra dollars? Well anyway, please pray that everything gets better for us soon. Thanks, and God bless!

CVS update

Okay so I finally got to go to CVS. It's been a crazy week since I had my stepkids and got to help them do their homeschooling all week. We logged 42 hours for both of them! Whew! So anyway tonight I finally got to go to CVS and guess what...yup they were all out of the crest prohealth night toothpaste. That was the third time I've tried to get it and it is still sold out! UGH!!! Oh well, I still did pretty good. My total between the three transactions was $105.10 and I spent $20.52 out of pocket. Here's what I got:

Transaction #1: Dayquil 4.49 (-$1.50 coupon)
Tylenol under the buy $20 get $10: $26.97 ($15 in coupons)
Total: $31.46- $5 off of $30 order - coupons above - $6ECB = $5.24 + $10ECB

Transaction #2: 6 x Herbal Essences shampoo & conditioner sale 2/$8
- 2 x B2G1 free coupons = $26-8 = $16 get $6ECB
Tylenol deal again $26.97 - $15 in coupons
Total: $52.97 - $10 off of $50 order - coupons - $10ECB = $9.33 + $16 in ECBs

Transaction #3: Fructis Shampoo 7.79 (- $1 coupon) get $4ECB
4 gallons of milk at $3.29
Total: $20.95 - $4 off of $20 order - coupon - $10ECB = $5.95 + $4ECB

Grand Total: $105.10 but only spent $20.52 out of pocket! And I was so proud since when I organized this trip I was thrown for a loop by the crest prohealth not being there. But hey I did alright! I'm pretty proud of myself. It seems like I am finally starting to understand couponing a little. Oh and I did Walgreens last week as well. I spent about $29 and will recieve $19.76 back in rebates! Pretty good, huh? For that one I got the Fructis conditioner, the buy $20 get $10 for the capri suns, and the beano. I think that's all. I can't remember now. It's such a rush to be able to save so much money for my family. Now I just have to figure out how to do this coupon thing at a grocery store. It seems so much more complicated there, plus I'm nervous I'll spend more than I should since right now we only have about $165 a month for groceries for our big family. My dh is going to try to go hunting at the end of this month and God willing will bag a deer or two to help us out. Any tips on hunting would be great! Thanks.

CVS deals

Crystal at Biblicalwomanhood and her new website www.moneysavingmom.com is challenging us to show how we've done our CVS deals. I thought I'd start by what I did last week:

Transaction #1:
Energizer batteries spend $10 get $5 ECBs.
Palmolive Dish Soap $1.09 get $1 ECB
Beano $2.99 get $2.99 (I had a $1 off coupon)
Total $13.99 - $12 ECBs I had previously = $2 and I received $8.99 ECBs

Transaction #2:
Colgate Max Fresh 2.99 (I bought 3) get a total of $6 ECBs plus I had a $1.75 coupon
Lady's Speed Stick $1.99 get $1 ECB (I had a $1 off coupon)
Candy 88cents x2= $1.76 - 50 cent coupon
Total $9.50 - $8.99 ECBs I got from transaction #1 = 48 cents and I received $8.99 ECBs

Transaction #3:
Nature's Bounty Vitamins were B1G1 free. Thanks so Crystal I had 2x $2 coupons - $1 ECB from above = $2.49
I wanted to also get the Crest ProHealth Night toothpaste on this transaction but my CVS was sold out, so I've saved that for this week if they have it in.

This week I am hoping to get the Crest ProHealth, some more Nyquil as a filler (I have a $1.50 coupon), do the Tylenol spend $20 get $10 a few times (it has a limit of 5!), get the Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner, a Garnier Fructis shampoo, and if I can get some of the coupons the Bic comfort 3 shavers. My hope is to only spend about $12 and end up with $24 in ECBs at the end of all this plus get 2 or 3 gallons of milk for practically free for fillers. Crystal has links on money saving mom that are for $10 off a purchase of $50 I hope to use. I figure I would spend about $11 buying the 3 gallons of milk anyway so anything I get on top of all this is just a huge bonus! I cannot thank Crystal enough for teaching me the skills to provide my family with medicine and other products for next to free. Her being so kind as to help all of us bloggers/readers with coupon links and such is such a huge blessing from God!

Frugal Fridays

I know this may sound really simple but when you are wondering what to do to get out of the house....go to the park. Within about 10 miles of my house there are at least 6 parks with hiking trails, playgrounds, a duck pond, even a vistor's center with an indoor playground. Pack a picnic or now that it's starting to get cold, a thermos of hot cocoa, and go outside and enjoy nature. My youngest and I did this on Wenesday and we had a blast discussing the canadian geese and their webbed feet. We took a blanket and sat and snuggled in the blanket. I know this is something special that I will remember for a long time. For more frugal friday tips go to Crystal at www.biblicalwomanhood.com/blog.htm

Frugal Fridays

Yup it's frugal friday again. This week I want to talk about how to save money on patterns and sewing. I like to make things with the kids. We recently made the girls aprons and the boys pillowcases and curtains. I am also currently helping my sister make a beautiful cloak/cape. Most patterns when bought at price are about $15. Wow at that price I don't know who can afford to do any home sewing. Luckily there is a solution. If you watch the sales ads for Joann Fabrics they have pattern sales quite often. Most of their pattern sales are $1.99. That's $13 savings on just one pattern! And the limit is 10 for one transaction. So if you need to stock up you can get 10 fun patterns for just $20 as opposed to $150! The website is www.joann.com and it will show the weekly sales. You can also sign up for their free coupon mailer which always has a 40% or 50% off one item coupon in it. The savings just add up! For more frugal fridays ideas visit www.biblicalwomanhood.com/blog.htm

Ugh...There are weeks...or days

It seems like the everyday life of a mother is a very different thing each day. Some days you feel like you are just gliding along doing so well with your chores, your children, just everything. Then there are days where you feel like it would take a month to accomplish what you need to try to do in one day. Today feels like one of those days. Well really it has been feeling like that all week long. My two stepkids who are homeschooling started school this week and it's been hard getting in that routine. They attend an umbrella charter school called Ohdela and while it's nice, it's been quite a journey helping their mom get everything set up and getting into a schedule. I'm sure that life will settle down soon. In the meantime I thought I would blog about the idea of christians and homesteading. While I see the merits of living off the land and by that token really depending on God, I can also see how there are Christians who are not able to do this and yet are still able to fully depend on God and his timing. For instance (I know it's not food but it's the same principle) we really needed a vacuum. All we had was a really cheap thing from walmart that didn't even have a beater brush. We waited and waited. We even were window shopping in walmart and found one we liked and it was on sale, but the money just wasn't there. Then my dad calls and says he has a present for us for our anniversary. It was the same exact vacuum that we had picked out! There are so many more examples of how God has provided for our family, but I only have time for this one right now. Needless to say whether you live on a farm or anywhere else God will still look after you.

Frugal Fridays

Hosted by www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/blog.htm Frugal Fridays are where you post an idea about something you are doing or that you have found that is frugal. So for my first Frugal Friday post I will post about homemade baby carriers. If you don't have a lot of money but you want a nice carrier for your little one you can go to Jan Andrea's site : www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/index.html and she gives you instructions on how to make your own carrier. I just made the mei tai out of a beautiful cami pattern and it turned out awesome. I love it! (Remember she asks that you only use this pattern to make it for yourself, not for a business.)

Bees and Kids

Yeah, I know I haven't blogged in a few days. Sorry about that. I have a cold that is making me tired so when I'm not doing things around the house I'm trying to rest. But to make up for the lack of blogs I will tell you two funny stories to make up for it.

Story 1: K (the 2 year old) was over by the computer desk and I notice she has something in her hands that she is putting on her lips. When I go to check on her I realize it's not chapstick. "K, you can't use a glue stick on your lips! It's not chapstick!" Well then I look at her older sister who is right next to her and I ask why she let her use it as chapstick. Her response? "I thought it was butt cream" (for those who don't know butt cream is a type of diaper rash ointment). Umm.....so it's now okay to put butt cream on your lips? Hmm......

Story 2: It's been so nice lately that we have been opening the house up to let the breeze come in. Unfortunately that means that bees and flys have also found their way in. My husband thought it would be a good idea to try to kill them with a dishrag. So he's swatting bugs and is about to go for a bee right beside me. I told him that if he missed and the bee stung me I would be upset. We laughed and he hit the bee. Then the bee flys away mad and lands on my arm and stings me as it is dying. Ugh!!!! It was actually kinda funny too, even if it did hurt.