Jelly Bean *2 1/2 Years Old*

My lovely Daughter with her much beloved "Pony". She seriously loves this horse. She rides him, sings to him, dances with him, and one time I even caught her playing fetch with him. She threw a ball and then said "fetch pony" and then got on him and rode him over to the ball. It was sad and adorable all at the same time.

Today she came up to me and said "look Mommy I have a surprise for you". This was her surprise.

Luckily it's only washable paint and not fingernail polish. Like I've said before, she is 100% girl despite having 2 older brothers!


~Veronica~

Thanksgiving Menu {And Recipes!}

Hi Everyone! With Thanksgiving less than a week away, I thought I would share with you all Our Family's Thanksgiving menu with recipes too!



Menu

Drinks:
Water
Soda
Sparkling Cider
Wine
Horchata
Coffee

Appetizers:
Deviled Eggs
Fresh Fruits w/ Dip
Fresh Veggies w/Dip
Cheese, Summer Sausage & Ritz Crackers

How To Post A Comment

Hi there! Today I thought I would take you step by step on how to comment on my blog. As I know it maybe confusing.

Step 1: Click on the title of the post you want to comment on. For example; lets say I want to comment on the Hot Chocolate post. I would click on the title Hot Chocolate Recipe, as I've highlighted below.

Step 2: Once you've clicked on it, it will take you directly to that post. Scroll down that page and at the bottom, there is a comment box.

Step 3: Enter your comment in the box. Then press Publish.

That's all there is to it! I hope this helps clarify things.

~Veronica~

Free {Or Cheap} Homeschooling Resources

Hi Everyone!! Since we've become a homeschooling family I've found lots of great resources available to us, so today I thought I would share them with you all. Just in case you are unaware of all that is available to homeschooling families, like I was.

Free {Cheap} Resources

Note: Free* = The cost to download is free, but you will end up spending money to print (paper, ink, etc.)

1.  Library Card - It's kind of an obvious one, but having a library card gives you access to thousands of books. Not to mention most libraries have: computers with free internet access, movies, encyclopedias, magazines, and story time/activities for kids. Price: Free.

2. Lakeshore Learning Teacher Club Card - If you are lucky enough to have a Lakeshore store near you (we are cause one just opened up last month!), then you should go in and sign up for this card. Once you have this card not only do you get coupons sent to you, you also get 15% off  hundreds of classroom supplies. Price: Free.

3. Scholastic Warehouse Sales - I love going to these!! You go online to this website, find a warehouse sale near you and then register for it. You'll then get a pass that has a coupon on it, you print it out and bring it with you to the sale. They have tons of books and at amazing prices! Price: Free, except for whatever books you buy, obviously.

4. Barnes & Noble Educator Card - With this card you can receive 20% off the list price on all things BN considers suitable for the classroom. You can print out the application here. Price: Free. (You can read more about it here.)

5. Teachers Pay Teachers - This website has themed lessons/worksheets/etc., which you download and then print out. Some of them cost money, but a lot of them are for free. Price: Free* - $10 & up. You can check out their website here.

6. 1+1+1=1 - This website has lots of great ideas, resources, printables, etc. a lot of which are free. Price: Free* - $15.  You can check out this website here.

7. Confessions of a Homeschooler - This is another great website with lots of resources. Price: Free* - $100. You can check out this website here.

8. Staples Card - This isn't exactly a homeschooling resources specifically, but you can buy lots of great school supplies here and be rewarded for it, along with ink rewards too! And lets face it, us homeschoolers go through a lot of ink, or at least I do. I think you get 5% back on everything you purchase and when you recycle ink there, you get $3 for each one. Price: Free.


I hope this list helps you and your family, as I know how expensive homeschooling can be. What are some of your favorite homeschooling resources?

~Veronica~

Hot Chocolate Recipe

Hi Everyone! As you all probably know by now, I absolutely love Coffee! But my love for hot beverages doesn't stop there. I pretty much love them all; Tea, Hot Apple Cider, Hot Chocolate, etc..

Today I thought I would share with you one of my favorite Hot Chocolate recipes. I hope you all enjoy it as much as my family does.

Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

2 Cups Milk
2 Cups Half-n-Half
1 Cup Chocolate Chips ( I prefer milk chocolate chips, but you could use semi-sweet or whatever else you like)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Pour the milk & half-n-half into a medium saucepan. Warm it over medium-low heat. Once warm add the chocolate chips. Stir and make sure it doesn't get too hot and burn. Once all the chocolate chips are melted*, add in the vanilla extract. Then pour it into a cup/mug and enjoy!

*Note: The chocolate chips don't dissolve 100%, so don't be alarmed if there are small pieces remaining. It just makes it taste that much better, in my opinion!*

~Veronica~

7 Weeks Pregnant

Hi Everyone! As I recently posted, I'm Pregnant, 7 weeks Pregnant to be exact! I thought I would share my journey over the past 7 weeks, as it hasn't been an easy journey. *Warning: Some parts of this story may contain too much information*

I found out I was pregnant & pretty much immediately I started spotting. I thought it was implantation bleeding at first and really didn't think too much about it, but it continued for 10 days straight and it was a lot of times, bright red. So when I was making my first appointment with my doctor, I mentioned that I had been spotting and is this anything I should be worried about.

I was still in ND at the time, but they were wanting me to get blood work done right away or to go get checked out at a local clinic. Well after talking about it with Hubby, we decided just to wait until we were back home, because it would have been next to impossible to be seen by a clinic there, which meant we would have had to gone to the ER and we both didn't feel it was an emergency.

So we decided to wait, which was difficult because the spotting wasn't going away and I was really becoming worried that something was wrong.

13 more days passed and we were finally headed home, I was still spotting, but trying my best to remain hopeful. We left ND on a Sunday afternoon and stayed the night in Billings, Montana.

The next morning we got on the road and we made a stop at a gas station on the MT/ID boarder to use the restroom. When I went to the bathroom there was so much bright red blood. I rushed out of there and got back to the car and just broke down crying. I seriously thought I was losing the baby. In that moment and the next few days later, I really had no hope left.

My first appointment was scheduled for Wednesday. I was pretty much a nervous wreck until the moment they were doing the ultrasound and I heard my baby's heartbeat for the first time. It was the sweetest sound EVER! I felt like for the first time, in a long time, I could breath again.

It's been almost 2 weeks since the doctor's appointment and I'm still spotting. I'm still a little worried because up until the 12th week the chance of a miscarriage is there. But I'm trying to trust in my doctor when he says that my spotting is completely harmless to the baby.

Wish us luck!

~Veronica~

Surprise!!

Ultrasound of our baby at 6 weeks!

Grocery Budget Challenge

Hi everyone!

This week I spent $111.69 on food items. My budget is $150, so that's $38.31 under budget!!! My best week so far, since I've started this challenge! I was able so stay under budget because I'm using up a lot of pantry items this week!

How much did you spend this week on food items? Are you staying on budget?

~Veronica~

Weekly Menu #4

Hey Everyone! Here's the weekly menu plan for this week, sorry it's late. I'm also doing it differently this week (no PDF and only listing dinners).

Weekly Menu Plan #4

Sunday - Breaded Chicken With Broccoli & Rice

Monday - Ravioli

Tuesday - Soup & Sandwiches

Wednesday - Burritos

Thursday - Chicken Alfredo With Rolls

Friday - Fried Rice

Saturday - Tacos

 What are you making this week?

~Veronica~

MIA

Hi everyone!! Sorry I've been MIA lately. We were traveling with Hubby for his work for the past 2 months and now we are finally back home for good. We got home last week and I've just been trying to get everything together and get back to normal.

I've got lots of blog post's & updating planned this week so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, tell me, what have you been up to lately?

~Veronica~