Grocery bills just keep going up....

Has anyone else's grocery bill just skyrocketed these past few months. Holy moly! With a family of six I have a budget of $600 a month but we always seem to creep past that towards the $800 range. While $800 for a family of six isn't really all that bad I knew I could do a lot better. I knew for sure I could get back down to my $600 budget but I also wanted to challenge myself to get it down to around the $400 mark. Over the next four weeks I'll be posting weekly menus, grocery shopping list, and recipes. Please take into consideration that the menus for lunch are kind of repetitive. Three of our kids are in school, the hubby takes his lunch to work daily, and the tiny muffin and I usually have the same thing as the hubby or leftovers if we have any.

Love my husband, in-laws, & Italy

Where to begin...

Lets start with the hubby and all the beautiful things he's sent to me this past year. I've received a jewelry box, two necklaces, pillow cases, wall hanging, and a beautiful wooden wall hanging as well. He has also sent me eye liner. I know what your thinking but its way better and goes on smoothly.

Hand woven and dyed pillow cases



Hand carved jewelry box

Wall hanging

Beautiful necklace

 I'd have to say that I'm a pretty lucky girl to get such beautiful things from the hubby. I know that a lot of these purchases meant that he wasn't going to get much sleep. The only time for him to go shopping for them was during the day and since he worked nights he slept during the day.

On top of that my in-laws went to Italy for three weeks. Knowing that Italy is the one place in the world I want to visit they bought me gifts. I love gifts! My mother-in-law, Marjorie, bought me two wall hangings. One is of Italy and one is of Toscana (Tuscany) which is the one area I want to go the most. I also got spaghetti seasoning, pasta, a key chain, calendar, bookmark, and best of all a hand painted wall hanging. My father-in-law, John, is an avid picture taker like me and got some amazing shots. I was actually surprised to see him in a few shots since neither one of us can ever be seen in family photos because we are always the ones taking them. 

Tile painted with a scene of Tuscany and set into a wooden frame

Pompeii, Italy

So beautiful and I can't wait to make a trip out there. This means I'm going to need to do a lot of saving because my trip is going to be at least 2 - 3 weeks so I can see everything I want. Who knows when I'll get to go back again. Now to start learning Italian so things go faster, smoother, and easier when we actually get to go.

Ants, plants, & Duggars.

The drought is causing so many problems. My beautiful yard went from being green and beautiful with tons of plants and flowers to dry, brown, and crunchy. The only green in my yard is around the pool where the water splashes out. Its so hot and dry that even my burning bush is literally burning. With all of this the little black ants think they need to come in the house to cool off and get some food and drink. I put out some Torro so hopefully that will kill them off.

We got the cutest plants today at Wal-Mart which is a surprise because they are usually dead, dry, and ugly but I think these look good. I love having fresh flowers and plants in the house. Not only do they look good but they help clean the air. I'm thinking I may need to purchase more. :)

My new beautiful plants

Makala and I got the third and fourth seasons of the Duggars so were having a marathon right now. I love getting to spend some time with her and need to find a time to take her to get a pedicure before school starts. She is Middle School this year which is still hard to believe.

Movie time

March - July Recap

Well I'm getting a little better at remembering to update this blog. Its only been a three month gap since last time. :)

Lets back up a bit:

March: Luke turned 7 years old in and it doesn't seem possible. He finished the 1st grade and was able to graduate from the Reading Recovery Program and is kicking some butt in his reading this Summer. We are still trying to figure out how he eats with all those missing teeth but some how he does it. :)

Luke's new bike for his 7th birthday.

The toothless wonder.

April, May, & June were busy months with us preparing for school to get out, trying to figure out what to do for the Summer, and watching as many movies as we can. Sadly we have not been able to do much because the weather is just unbelievable. We don't make plans any farther out than 2-3 days because we just don't know what the weather is going to be like. Since we've been stuck at the house a lot because of the heat we decided to buy a pool and its been a great investment for us. The kids have become little fish and have amazing tans. Abby can now swim underwater without holding her nose which if you know her is a huge step. Sammy still does the plug my nose and touch the water with my face then come back up really fast thing. :)

Well this isn't our new big pool but it did get us through till we got our new one.

July:

Well there is only one thing to say about July: BIRTHDAY'S!

Our sweet yet ornery little Abby turned 5 years old on the 7th, and our sweet and very helpful Makala turned 11 years old on the 9th. I can't believe how fast our babies are growing up. They had a great turn out at their birthday party and got lots of goodies. We had to rush it at the end because a huge storm started rolling in and the wind was blowing all the decorations around.

She's growing up so fast.

Our newest little fish.

 With the girls birthday party over is was time for the big kids to get ready for church camp. Makala and Luke spent the week at Dry Gulch USA with the youth group at Church. They had a blast and are ready to go again next year. They went swimming, tubing, horseback riding, hiked, made crafts, bumper boats, go karting, canoeing, and so many other things. They also had daily worship at the Chapel. They both said their favorite thing was the horseback riding and have both asked for lessons.

Getting ready to leave for camp

New Life kids ride in style

Getting ready to go down the slide

Alex & Makala - Found out they were attached at the hip the whole week

Luke riding Monte

Makala on Ben

They rigged it so he could ride by himself

This is gonna happen for real in 4 years when she gets her permit

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about July and all the things we've done. We also went to the lake with my family on the 4th of July and rode jet skis and went out on the pontoon. Kids had a lot of fun and were tired by the end of the day. My mom took Luke that week so he went home with her. Erica wanted to take the girls home to have a sleep over, so it was just Sammy boy and I that night. We spent the evening cuddling on the couch and watching cartoons.

Loving it but hating that she had to wear that life jacket

Pay no attention to the hair

Super tired boy. I may have let him eat on the couch since no one was home. Shhhh.. ;)

Love this picture

Well that about wraps it up for now. Oh, wait!!!!

I can't forget to post a picture of the love of my life. Isn't he just the cutest thing ever!

My hubby = HUBBA! HUBBA!



Well I'm no good at this....

I said I would keep up with this post and I didn't. Apparently my life is just a little more busy than I though. Here is a recap of everything.

We are currently 7 months into a year long deployment. Just a short 149 days to go till we can see Mike again. We chose not to do R&R because it was so hard on the kids when he left. He's keeping busy over there and we are always busy back here.

The kids have about six weeks of school left and then they can sleep in like they try to do every morning. I have to get a swing set for them to play on so they don't get to bored this Summer. With me having the day care we are limited to doing stuff on the weekends. We plan to make a fews trips to the zoo and to Animal Paradise for sure. Might even drag Mema & Papa along for the ride. :)

Mike and I are Mexico bound in September. After 12 long years of never doing anything together we are finally taking our very first vacation together with NO KIDS!!!! I'm not gonna lie, I'll miss them like crazy but after another year long deployment we very much need this.

Well that's all I can think of for now. I'll update later. Maybe. :)

What's been happening the past four months.........

I hope your ready for a long read. Its been four months since I last posted and so much has happened.

The girls had a great birthday party and got so much nice stuff from family and friends. We rented an inflatable for them and they were so tired by the end of the night. After their party they went to Aunt Terry's house for a sleepover. They had a lot of fun and can't wait for their party next year.

At the end of July Mike left for Camp Crowder to train up for his deployment. He was able to come home for one weekend and then for a full week before he left for good. We really enjoyed our last full week with him while he was home. That was the last and final week that we got to see or spend with him. The first week of September Mike left for Camp Shelby, MS for more training and then from there he deployed to Qatar.

During the week that Mike was here he was able to see the house that I found and he loved it just as much as I did. While Mike was as Camp Crowder and Camp Shelby I was able to purchase the house. Three weeks later the kids and I moved into the house and they started a new school. The kids are now in Republic schools and really seem to love it.

The beautiful house my wonderful husband bought for me.



Its so strange living in a house and knowing that its ours and trust me we found out what its like to be home owners the first week we lived here. On Saturday we were moving things into the house from the van. We had closed the back of the van and while we were pulling out the door popped open hitting the garage door bending it and shattering the vans glass. Thankfully we were able to get the glass replaced and the garage door fixed without having to replace it. On top of that we found a crack in the furnace and had to replace the blower fan. So in the span of one week we dropped almost $1,000.00 on repairs. Thankfully things have been going smoothly since then. :)

Mike has been able to Skype with us almost everyday and has sent us a couple of packages since being over there. He sent me a beautiful jewelry box and pillow cases for my birthday, and today the kids got huge warm mink blankets from him.

My beautiful hand woven and made pillow cases.

              
                                                         

My beautiful handmade jewelry box.

                                                    

                                                                                

Happy 10th Birthday Makala!

WOW! I can't believe my baby girl is 10 years old as of yesterday. It's amazing how fast time fly's by and how much you can miss in an instant if your not careful. When I look at Luke, Abby, and Sammy I see her when she was little and I see a lot of her in them when they do their quirky little kid things.

I remember when she was into Barney, Sesame Street, Barbies, baby dolls, and loved the color pink. Now its Wizards of Waverly Place, Good Luck Charlie, drawing, stuffed animals, and any color that isn't pink. Don't get me wrong she likes pink but there can't be to much of it and it has to be a certain shade.

She and Abby have a Birthday Party scheduled for next Saturday and I'm sure they won't be disappointed with the gifts they got. They each got a new comforter: Makala a black one, and Abby a pink one. Makala got an ice cream sandwich pillow, owl pillow, purse, attachments for the purse, and a fresh water pearl necklace from her daddy that you have to assemble yourself. Abby got a Hello Kitty pillow, cupcake pillow, dress, Justin Bieber microphone, and  a Justin Bieber teddy bear. Yes its true...... Abby has Bieber Fever.

            My Beautiful daughter, Makala!