Our Family's Daily Life: July 2013

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Coupon Tips & Tricks: #1

Hi everyone! I've been couponing for a few years now and I thought I would pass along some of my tips & tricks in hopes that I can help you save some time & money.

Tips & Tricks #1

Most of the time if a product is new, you can get it for free or really cheap! Usually on new products, they put out high value coupons or even free coupons!! When these coupons come out, I'm always super excited!

I've gotten air fresheners for really cheap before, it was a new kind and they were priced at like $5.99, but they put out a coupon for $5.00 off any one. So I was able to pick up like 10 of these air fresheners for only $0.99 each!! You can never have enough air fresheners in your stock pile! :-)

Other items I've gotten for free or really cheap are: soda, candy, and household cleaners.

Happy Couponing! :-)

Moon Dough Fun

Last month I saw on ConfessionsOfAHomeschooler a recipe to make homemade moon dough, so I thought I would give it a try with my kiddos.

A few weeks ago I surprised them one morning by making up some moon dough and we went outside to have some fun playing around with it.

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1/2 cup baby oil

Mix it all together, then add in some crushed up chalk for color if you want to.

Pros:

The kids were entertained for at least an hour.
It's only 2 simple ingredients, which I had both of, so didn't I didn't have to spend any money!

Cons:

It's very messy, so it's best to have them play with it outside.

If you are looking for something fun for your kids to do this is a really good idea! Here are some pictures of my kids enjoying playing with the moon dough.

Here is the link for where I found the idea for Moon Dough. Enjoy!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Blueberry French Toast

Lately I've been trying out new recipes. Some of my favorite new recipes to try out are for breakfast.

It's been months since I have last given my kids cereal for breakfast. I feel really good about that, because I always knew cereal wasn't the best for them.

I never really had a good collection of breakfast recipes, so that's why lately I've been trying some new ones out. Some of the new recipes have been hits and some have been misses.

This one I'm about to share with you, actually was one of the misses. I really just didn't care for it. Blueberries, French bread, cream cheese; what could go wrong?! Those are all delicious ingredients, but something (in my opinion) just wasn't right.

I got the recipe from Six Sisters Stuff , the recipe is called Overnight Blueberry French Toast.

French Toast:
12 slices bread, cut into cubes (French or Texas toast work well)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cut in cubes
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
12 large eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 cups milk (I use 1 cup milk and 1 cup cream)

Syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1 Tablespoon butter

Arrange 1/2 of the bread cubes in a greased 9 x 13 pan.
Sprinkle cream cheese cubes and blueberries evenly over the bread cubes.
Top with remaining bread cubes.
Mix together eggs, milk, and syrup.
Pour over bread cubes and cover pan with foil. Let chill in refrigerator overnight.
Bake covered with foil at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes or until fluffy and golden. Top with sauce. Serves 8.
Syrup: Cook water, sugar, and cornstarch until thickened. Stir in blueberries and simmer for 10 minutes. Add butter and stir until melted. Serve over the French toast.

This is what the finished product looks like.

The blueberry syrup was delicious, I think the thing I really didn't care for in it, was the cream cheese (it didn't really melt into it, it was very clumpy) & the amount of eggs (I'm not really an egg fan). I might try to make it again, but next time I will change a few things.

What's your favorite breakfast food?

Summer Morning Sky

Last Thursday morning, I noticed the sky looked so beautiful, so I decided to grab my camera and take a few pictures.
Such a gorgeous summer morning sky!

Friday, July 19, 2013

My dark day

Once a year I have, what I like to refer to as, a dark day. I know this day is approaching weeks in advance, but there is nothing I can do to stop it. It comes. Every single year. I don't even have to look at the calendar to know it is "the day", I just wake up and I feel it in my soul.

It starts out with a sick feeling in my stomach and pretty soon after that the tears just start flowing.

It all started 7 years ago. Super Guy was 1 year old and we just found out we were pregnant again. We were so excited. I went for my 8 week check-up and as my doctor was giving me an ultrasound she couldn't find a heartbeat. That's when she told me I was going to have a miscarriage.

I was devastated. I broke down right there in the exam room. My doctor was trying to tell me about all my options; D&C, natural, etc. But I just wanted to get out of that room. I just wanted to go back to that morning when everything was perfect. So I just left. I don't even know how I managed to drive myself home, I was a wreck.

The next few weeks I pretty much stayed in my PJ's all day long. I was so depressed. Then the day that I had been dreading, finally came.

July 18th 2006, I woke up and just knew something was wrong. I just sat there and started crying. So I called my husband and told him I needed him to come home. He rushed home to me and the rest of the day I laid on the couch in intense pain.

Finally around 5:00 pm is when I lost my baby. That was one of the most difficult days of my entire life. And it is a day I will never forget.

"An angel in the book of life wrote down my baby's birth. Then whispered as she closed the book, "Too beautiful for Earth"." - Unknown

The reason I call this day my dark day, is because I don't want to be around anyone or talk to anyone on this day. I just want to lock myself away from the world. Of course I can't actually do that (I have 3 kids that need me), but I'm definitely not myself on this day.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

2013-2014 School Year Curriculum

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to share with you all Our Family's curriculum picks for the upcoming school year. I still haven't finished picking out all our curriculum yet, so I will update once it is all complete.

Both Boys: