Post 3 of 11

I thought that it was fitting to get this one posted now, seeing that it's snowing and we can't play outside again. I have tried over the winter to think of different things that I could do with the boys. You know the ol’ cabin fever thing. We’ve done a few things, not as many I had hoped for, but we had a couple of really fun ones that was a lot of fun for all.

One was an idea my friend Stacie told me about, an indoor picnic… I loved the idea so here is what I did… I made pizza pockets, apple pies with my sandwich maker… yumm-o… packed that, drinks, and new movies (I’d had them for a while but forgot about them). We went downstairs put down a blanket had our picnic while watching 101 Dalmatians . It was a great “family day” as we like to call them.

The other favorite that has happened a few times are the ever famous blanket tents!!!... This is just one of the many creations that have developed here. :) as you can see the “whole family got into the action and had a blast with this one!!

Ok here goes :)
Post two of eight..now 11

When was the last time that you left the grocery store with a smile :)…

Do you hate giving them all your money and only walking out with a few things. I sure do!!... Well one of my new passions/necessities is COUPONS. I use to do them and enjoyed it when I had time, but it’s been a good 3 years since I’ve REALLY focused on it or have done anything with it. Well right now I can’t afford not to. I have some staples but it’s the “extras” that we have gone without for a long while now. So now I’m able to provide some of that. One of these days soon (I hope) it will be even more fun. Right now I have to still do it on a VERY tight budget so I have to work a little harder. Once I’m able to budget more it will be not quite as difficult and I still won’t be spending much.

So I would like to share with you a few of my results…
A few weeks ago I bought $60 of groceries for $8.oo... for real I promise!!
And then a couple of weeks after that I got $160 of groceries for under $40... YUP that’s $120 SAVED!!

There is so much out there to help you get these results. But here is one of the best helps I’ve found. She has a great program that really works and she does the big part of the job for you. My friend Amanda and I are going to her FREE class on Tuesday next week. I can’t wait to learn even more that will save us even more!! If you don’t live in this area I’m sure that there is something that does the same for you in your area. Really once you get “surfing” you’ll find so much out there. I'm not able to add the news paper into our budget right now, so I have a couple of neighbors and friends that don’t use their coupons and I get theirs . Then there are the ton that you can get online. I have another friend that told me that a friend of hers does this for her “j o b”. What she saves is what she made at a part time job. By the time you add it all up it is her job and she’s home with the kids and able to make a difference with her family.

After all isn’t that what we all want, to make a difference in our families. It might not be staying at home, but saving money is always good and leaves something for other needs. I know that we can all use that in these times.

Have fun and let me know if I can help :)

Ok so remember back here and I talked about having 8 posts that were started and not finished. I did one of them… so I should have 7 left right…well I added three more to the list, so before it gets crazy out of control I thought that I had better get started!!... It has been hard to keep up, first not having the internet, and then there has just been so much on our plates that I couldn’t even bring myself to do anything extra that wasn’t necessary. Like I’ve stated before, I’ve really missed blogging it is something that I really love and enjoy. I told myself that I can’t get caught up on reading all of yours until I get at least 2 more caught up on mine. So I’ll be checking in on yours VERY SOON!!...

p.s. They obviously are not in the correct chronological order but I will try my best to have some sort of order. Oh and I got a great link from a good friend to a site that you can turn your blog into a book (among other ideas as well), which is one of the two reasons that I really started blogging, before I knew how much I would love it and what it would evolve into. The first two reasons were:
1. A record for the Boys for their time here with us (ie: the book)
2. So that our family (none of which lives nearby can watch the Boys grow and keep up with them.

Now… I just really enjoy it for so many reasons and the fact that I can have a “written record”!!!... I can’t wait to put the blog into a book form. How fun will it be :)

Today Jimmy, Chris and I went to Jimmy’s school early and did the morning family reading program together and then ate donuts afterwards. It was a lot of fun.. then Jimmy and his class (along with many other classes) went on a field trip today. The got to ride on school busses and go to Salt Lake City to the Discovery Gateway Children’s Museum.

So as you might have guessed Chris didn’t take to that very well…. He wants to be in school so badly!! But he’s just not ready and still has another year to go, which is good he really needs that year as his Joy School “mom’s” would attests to. Well since he’s had some issues lately about feeling left out and such I decided this was a good time for us to do something just the two of us. So Chris and I went on our own field trip. We went to the Bean Museum and then the park to play and have a picnic “home packed” lunch.…GOOD DAY for all :)

p.s. It started out a really nice day, you know the one that let’s you know that Spring is in the air. Well that faded quickly and we moved the picnic into the truck. That wind just cut to the bone today. It was still fun and some quality time for Chris and I that we needed.

Well what can I say it’s been another month… It’s been a really long month for me and our family. It’s a little ironic that my “electronic journal” and my “written journal” reflect each other, in the way that when things aren’t going so well I have a difficult time writing. It’s not that I can’t find the positives because I normally can do that fairly well, it’s that I don’t want there to be a “recorded” record of what is going on. I guess it’s a way to not admit that everything isn’t “ok”, like you tell everyone. I took a class (that I really should have shared with everyone) and one of the things that we really stressed is that we need to be more honest with our feelings and how we really are doing like when someone says “how are you” you should tell the truth, not just say “fine or great”… you know all of our stand by’s.

So anyways… I’m still not prepared to talk about what we are going through, but give me a few weeks and I’ll tell you all about it (well what I feel like I can share), after all this is suppose to be a story of our lives for the boys and our family, and this is a big thing/time for us. In the mean time we also haven’t had the internet. Every once in a while around midnight I can get a weak signal. So here I am at midnight getting this out. I just needed to post and work my blog. I can say that I have truly missed blogging and all of my blogging friends. I am behind once again with all of yours, right after I had just caught up again…lol… go figure… I think in the next few days we will have a working connection. Then I will get caught up on all of your happenings and see if I can get you caught up on ours.

I do want to say that as far as Chad and I, we are really good, probably better than have been in a really, really long time. The same for the rest of us, it’s not anything like that. Health is good, THANK GOODNESS :), relationships are good, and best of all the boys are doing great!!!

I also would like to thank all of our family and friends that have been so supportive with us and the kindness that you have shown. How VERY blessed we are to have each and every one of you in our lives. I told a friend just last week that after nearly 20 years I finally REALLY feel that I have found my place, a place that I can call “home”. A place where we feel we belong, our friends, our church “family”, excreta. I’ve waited a long time to have that feeling again and I’m just thankful that we’ve found it. Again, THANK YOU dear friends for being the people that you are!!!

I have eight posts that I have started and have saved in drafts so I didn’t forget to write about them. My memory hasn’t been so good lately due to some medical reasons, which I’m working on. So I decided even if some of them are old I want to finish them, something about accomplishing something you’ve set out to do and the way it makes you feel.

FIRST OF EIGHT:
So in January the topic at Joy School was Goals and goal setting. Chris decided on his own that he wanted to learn my phone number (I gave him several ideas). He has been working on it very hard and is getting it. A little slower than he was suppose to, his goal is suppose to be done, but he’s still working on it and I give him props for that. After all he did pick something challenging and I’m proud of him for that.

Well from this experience we have started Charts for both boys and they are loving it!!..

We started back in November with Chris and having a “good boy” chart. He picked that he wanted to go to Chucke Cheese’s. So he had to get 50 stickers on his chart in order to get his trip and he got to invite 1 friend to go with him, he choose immediately that it would be Jimmy, what great brothers they are!! He couldn’t have any whining or fits, be good at school and primary, and take rest time with out issues. Those were the main criteria that he had to follow to get his stickers. I’m so amazed at how well it worked and seems that it is still having real positive affects for all of us. I’m happy to say he filled his chart!!! On January 24th (a few weeks latter) we made our trip to Chucke Cheese. We had a blast, played and made it all about Chris and his day!!.. we all thanked him for being so good so that we could have a fun day together. He’s like a totally different kid right now.

**ops a totally 80's moment...lol I'm leaving it just for that reason... lol

(you should see how many times I read, re-read, and edit my posts to get them to what I think is right)

Before our trip, but after he had finished his chart, he and I had a really bad breakfast experience. He is a VERY messy eater, and after our fourth clean up in one meal I had had enough!! So I found on one of my sites that I have referred too in the past, a chart maker!!! YEAH FOR THE INTERNET!!! (of course the family friendly kind) His reward was to be able to go get an ice cream with me, just the two of us. He did it!! We went out for our ice cream, and there wasn't even a mess!!! Yeah!!! Meals are SO much better, even enjoyable!!

Well we started something because Jimmy then wanted a chart so he did a reading chart, he’s still working on his. Here are the chart subjects we are now all working on, and they wanted more, I had to draw the line though. They are doing so good at them and so excited to put their stickers up, that they got to pick out themselves.

POSITIVE reinforcement the ONLY way to go!!... ok the best…I’m NOT perfect in anyway!!

1. Jimmy: Reading Chart (still) Chris: Learning Chart 10 min intervals (abc’s, numbers, and phone number)

2. Brushing Teeth for both of them; 3 opportunities a day for 3 weeks. 20 days to establish a habit!! :)
*Reward for these they can pick; go to the Chocolate Store (Sees or something of the sort) and pick out any treat they want, go out for ice cream, or go to the store and pick out a toy (not the dollar store).

3. Chores for both of them: Making their bed, Dirty clothes put away, and Putting all the toys away before bedtime.
*They get an allowance for getting stickers on this one, but they can’t miss more than 5 stickers each week. They can get anything from $0-$2.00 for the week depending on how many they get.

They are SO EXCITED!!! It’s so great to see them working for their stickers. They get something done and then come running to me to let me know and/or inspect (even their teeth).

They make me smile EVERYDAY!!

Any of you that know me, know that I love to cook. I didn’t have time to cook for a long time when I was working so much, but I’ve finally convinced my family (ESPECIALLY CHAD) that I need and want to try new recipes. So I called my friend Jenny to ask her about her "Café’ Rio" style Pork recipe. So many of you have been talking about going and eating there lately. I crave Bajio’s *basically the same type of restaurant but I prefer it- the corn and onions have me*. Since the budget can’t support a trip right now I decided that I wanted to make some of my own. Jenny shared her recipe with me.

Oh my goodness!! It was AMAZING!! I shared dinner with a friend and her family and everyone was VERY pleased with the meal :). I must say that I couldn’t tell the difference between the restaurants salad and mine. I did it as a salad (my favorite) instead of the burrito style. I also took the advise and got the uncooked tortillas from Costco. This was my first time using them (didn’t even know they had them) and I have to say WAY GOOD!!... I don’t know if I can use store “pre-cooked” ones again.
YUM-O as Rachael would say :) My mouth and tummy was in HEAVEN ALL night!!

A new MUST on our MENU!!

p.s. I just found another recipe that is a little different... it looks good I'll have to try it and see how it is.

**not that yours wasn't AMAZING Jenny, I just want to try the rice I think that your pork is much better**