Thursday, July 28, 2016

High School Survival Kit

Hi Everyone!

One of my nieces just graduated from 8th grade and is now headed on to High School!!

I couldn't be more proud of her, she is just an awesome kid!!

I thought it would be fun to make her a "kit" to help her survive her first year of high school.

Check it out...



Here is a list of everything i added to her High School Survival Kit:


  • Hair Ties *Things that always disappear*
  • Lip Balm *Things that always disappear*
  • Cookies *You are a smart cookie*
  • Chocolate *The Necessities*
  • Journal *To look back on your journey*
  • Locker kit *To stay organized*
  • Locker magnets *To stay organized*
  • Highlighters *To add color to your work*
  • Pens *To add color to your work*






I really hope she enjoys it!

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Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Our Reading Area


Hi Everyone!

We have kind of a smallish designated school room area, so for this upcoming school year I've decided to switch things up a bit.

Last school year we had everything in our school room (my desk, all our books, all our school supplies, etc.).

This year I've moved all our reading books into our living room and i'm making that our new reading area.

This will also be the area where we will gather in the mornings for a new thing we will be doing this year, Morning Basket Time.

Here is a little tour of our new reading area...



I like that we now have a separate area for reading and that it also free's up space in our school room.

Isn't this sitting area so cute?!



I plan to add a fabric covered seat to this fireplace, because we never use this fireplace so it would be great to add some extra seating.



Here is another bookshelf.



 We also have this shoe bench, that i plan to add a fabric covered seat to as well.



I am so excited for this change and i'm hopeful it will make our school year even that much better!


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Sunday, July 24, 2016

How I Stocked Our Freezer For Only $200


Hi Everyone!

As my due date is fast approaching (only 22 more days left!), the thought of menu planning, grocery shopping and cooking with a newborn (and 4 other kids) was really starting to worry me.

That's when i decided it would be a great idea to make a bunch of freezer meals, in an effort to alleviate some of the stress.

First i made a list of meals to make and then i wrote up a grocery list based on those meals. Next it was time to go grocery shopping and boy was i surprised when my total was only $200!

Here is how i was able to make 22 meals and 9 smoothie packs for only $200!



This is my list of Freezer meals *Note i pretty much made 2 of each meal*:


  • Lasagna (2)
  • Mac-n-cheese (2)
  • Teriyaki Chicken (2)
  • Cheesy Taco Bake (2)
  • Chili (1)
  • Pinto Beans (1)
  • Tuscan Chicken Pasta (2)
  • Beef Stew (2)
  • Salsa Chicken (2)
  • BBQ Pork (2)
  • Shredded Chicken (2)
  • Mississippi Roast (2)
  • Lactation Smoothies (9)


This is what all those groceries looks like:



BBQ Pork - This one is super easy! It only requires 2 ingredients Pork and a jar of BBQ sauce. The pork that i bought has 2 large pieces in it, so i put one in each bag. Then poured BBQ sauce on it and sealed it up.





Salsa Chicken - Chicken Breasts, Salsa, Corn and Black Beans is all it takes for this delicious and easy meal. Put 3-4 Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts into a Ziploc bag, then pour in a jar of salsa. Next, add a can each of corn and black beans (both drained). Mix and freeze.






Shredded Chicken - Take 3-4 chicken breasts, a can of tomato sauce, lime juice, garlic powder and a sprinkle of oregano.





Teriyaki Chicken - Chicken, soy sauce, brown sugar and pineapple juice.





Mississippi Roast - Pot roast, brown gravy mix, ranch seasoning packet, pepperoncini peppers, and a stick of butter.





Mac-n-Cheese - Elbow pasta, cheese, milk, butter, flour, salt and pepper.





Lasagna - Lasagna noodles, ground beef, spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, and mozzarella cheese.



Beef Stew - Beef stew meat, carrots, celery, potatoes, and beef stew seasoning.



Chili - Hubby makes this with beans, ground beef, and with several other spices.



Pinto Beans - Super simple! Pinto beans, water and salt to taste!



Cheesy Taco Bake - Ground beef, rice, tomato sauce, lime, garlic, cheese, chili powder, cumin, and oregano.



Tuscan Chicken Pasta - Chicken, bowtie pasta, Parmesan cheese, butter, garlic, cream cheese, and milk.



Lactation Smoothie Packs - Banana, frozen strawberries, quick oats, peanut butter, almond milk and flax seeds.



So that's it, here is my receipt from the grocery store. You can see my subtotal for all of the above meals is $194.18, with tax it came out to $205.83.




All this took me one day to complete! Now i can sit back and relax, knowing once the baby is here i don't have to worry about cooking/planning/shopping for awhile!! :)


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Thursday, July 21, 2016

House Hunting *Update*

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to give a quick update about our housing situation.

We decided to cancel our 30 day notice to vacate and go ahead with renewing our lease.

The rental market where we live is really hot right now, it was just becoming way too overly stressful for us.

I'm so relieved that we are not moving!!! *Thank you God!*

Now i can just focus on getting all our school stuff ready for the upcoming school year and on having this baby!!


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Friday, July 15, 2016

Our Crazy Life


Hi Everyone!

So if you've been keeping up with my blog lately, you know life has been just super busy for us.

June was just a crazy ride for us.

First we were still dealing with all the kids Hand Foot Mouth Disease, we had 3 birthdays to celebrate, Father's Day, a community garage sale and then most recently our housing situation.

Honestly, i'm so worn out from it all.

Anyways i just wanted to let you all know i'm still here. If you don't see me update the blog that much it's because between looking for a house, packing, cleaning, and doctors appointments i'm running on empty most days.

I hope once we've found a new house and the baby is here, i'll be able to get back into blogging more regularly. *fingers crossed*

Until then, take care everyone!

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Wednesday, July 6, 2016

House Hunting... again.


It’s been a week since I got the letter in the mail, the letter that totally took me by surprise. A letter stating that our lease is up at the end of the month.

A little backstory...

When we first signed our lease for the house we are in now, we drove all the way from Montana to Idaho with little to no sleep. Only to show up at the property management first thing in the morning to sign papers, with all 4 kids waiting in the car for us. So to be completely honest I didn’t really pay much attention to the lease end date. Totally my fault I know. I just assumed it was a year lease, but I guess I was wrong.

Not that if our lease ended in September it would have been that much better (you know, moving with a newborn baby), but at least we would have had more time to look for something.

Anyways back to the letter...

It stated that if we want to renew our lease, our monthly rent payment would be going up by an extra $50 a month. Or if we choose not to renew the lease and just go month to month it would be an extra $100 a month and then they have the option to also give us a 30 day notice to vacate (which wouldn’t look good to future landlords).

My husband and I had already been discussing that whenever our lease was up, we needed to look for something that was less money each month because this house is just too much, especially with a new baby on the way.

So we really didn’t have much of a choice other than to give the property management our 30 day notice to vacate and start looking for a house.

So now we have until July 31st to be out of our current place and as of right now (July 6, 2016) we don’t have any other house lined up.


Right now it’s super scary and stressful, but I am trying to remain positive and have faith in God’s plan. 

Wish us luck!
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