One of my favorite things about being home this summer other than my kids of course was cooking. I am trying to get in a new routine of prepping and cooking dinners every night during the school year. Since my oldest twins were born I struggled with this. I love cooking. But prior to kids my husband and I ate out a lot so cooking every time was not part of my routine and it has taken some getting use to. One thing I hate is eating the same thing all the time... of course with kids there are some favorites that pop up on a regular basis... but for the most part I am trying to vary my menu. So I am going to post my weekly menus to help me remember what I have cooked and to hopefully rotate appropriately.
So this is technically last weeks menu, my first real week back to work....
Monday
- Steaks on the grill for labor day! We made some dogs and burgers as well.
Tuesday
- Ribs in the crock pot
- baked beans
Wednesday
- pan fried chicken
- green beans
- mash potatoes
Thursday
- pan fried pork chops
- apple sauce
- mac and cheese
Friday
- Chicken Tacos (pre-cooked and frozen... easy to reheat and serve)
Saturday
- Baked Salmon over
- white rice
- corn
Sunday
- T- bone steaks
- blt salad
- scallop potatoes
Oh my gosh twins twice! The journey of two sets of spontaneous twins born in just 2 years. 1st set di/di B/G twins born in 2012. 2nd set modi identical boys born in 2014.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Friday, September 5, 2014
Back to Preschool!
I am back to work... and well we have been busy!
The kids start preschool next week and will be attending M, T, and W this year. Last night was our back to school night and I got tons of pictures of the classroom to show the older twins to get them prepared! They loved school last year and still remember their teacher's name which is a great thing because she moved up to the 2 year old class and will be their teacher again next year! Their teacher is amazing and definitely highly qualified for the job. I am really super excited they get a another year with her and for three days a week this year!
Last year they started with one day and we quickly added a second day because I need the break and stimulation for them while I was home with 2 newborns. The 2 year old class had a option of three days a week or two days a week. We went with the three days a week for the extra care and attention for our big twins. But had originally only signed up for two because preschool is a little bit of a sacrifice for us, 1. the money 2. the effort it takes to get them there and back with our family situation.
We felt like the twins would benefit from the extra day but didn't know if we could handle the effort of the extra day. However, after talking to the preschool they have been amazing at accommodating our needs and adjusting their rules for our unique family! What a relief! Basically they are going to meet us at the car to pick up P and N so that we don't have to bring the babies in with us for pick up. They have a carpool system but P and N are too young for it, they also let us sign up for early drop off which P and N are also too young for by their rules.
Anyways here are some picture of their super cute classroom!
The kids start preschool next week and will be attending M, T, and W this year. Last night was our back to school night and I got tons of pictures of the classroom to show the older twins to get them prepared! They loved school last year and still remember their teacher's name which is a great thing because she moved up to the 2 year old class and will be their teacher again next year! Their teacher is amazing and definitely highly qualified for the job. I am really super excited they get a another year with her and for three days a week this year!
Last year they started with one day and we quickly added a second day because I need the break and stimulation for them while I was home with 2 newborns. The 2 year old class had a option of three days a week or two days a week. We went with the three days a week for the extra care and attention for our big twins. But had originally only signed up for two because preschool is a little bit of a sacrifice for us, 1. the money 2. the effort it takes to get them there and back with our family situation.
We felt like the twins would benefit from the extra day but didn't know if we could handle the effort of the extra day. However, after talking to the preschool they have been amazing at accommodating our needs and adjusting their rules for our unique family! What a relief! Basically they are going to meet us at the car to pick up P and N so that we don't have to bring the babies in with us for pick up. They have a carpool system but P and N are too young for it, they also let us sign up for early drop off which P and N are also too young for by their rules.
Anyways here are some picture of their super cute classroom!
Classroom potty
Rain room
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Back to School Schedule
Schedule 6.5 months and 27 months
7am – start the day
feed Max and Eli 8 oz bottle
7:15 – Presley and
Noah Breakfast, get dressed for day
8:00 – Presley and
Noah Leave for Preschool
10 – 11am – Max and
Eli morning nap
11am – Feed Max and
Eli, one by one, 8 oz bottle, let the other keep sleeping
12:15 – Presley and Noah
home from Preschool
12:30: Presley and
Noah Lunch and Max and Eli solids share 1 jar
1 – 3:30pm – naps
3:00pm - Feed Max and
Eli, one by one, 8 oz bottle, let the other keep sleeping
3:30/4:00pm – get Presley
and Noah up from nap (they can have a small snack)
5:30pm – Family Dinner,
1 jar of baby food for Max and Eli
7:00 pm– bath, 8oz
bottle bed for Max and Eli
7:30 pm – bath for
Presley and Noah
8:00 pm – Presley and
Noah in bed by 8
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Back to work tomorrow
The panic attacks and anxiety have been real. I could not sleep at all this week, tossing, turning, stressing, every morning my hair was in giant knots from the whole ordeal.
I want to keep having babies so I never have to work a full year.
I cried when leading Presley and Noah in their night prayer asking for me to have a good day and hoping that I don't miss them to much and they don't miss me too much. I couldn't help it, those sweeties were starring at me with the biggest concerns on their face.
Its going to be rough.
Wish me luck.
I want to keep having babies so I never have to work a full year.
I cried when leading Presley and Noah in their night prayer asking for me to have a good day and hoping that I don't miss them to much and they don't miss me too much. I couldn't help it, those sweeties were starring at me with the biggest concerns on their face.
Its going to be rough.
Wish me luck.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Ways to Save Money
I am definitely on a save a money kick. I have always had
frugal ways, but this time it is deeper, this time it different. This time it
is on my mind 24/7 and I am trying to cut expenses and save money in every area
of our spending. I have been searching the internet a lot for money saving
ideas most of the things I have come across I already do. But some I have added
some new things into our lives. If you
are not already doing so you can save with these simple changes.
1.
Budget every area of your spending
2.
Do not eat out. (We have allowed a small budget
for this but we use to eat out all the time.)
3.
Coupon, shop sales, before going to buy
something search for sales or coupons (Kroger: I check coupons online and add them
to my card before my shopping trip 5 minutes to look = big savings)
4.
Make a list before shopping and stick to it.
5.
Wash your clothes in cold water (less energy
cost and lengthens the life of your clothes)
6.
Turn off lights when you leave a room (I am
driving my husband crazy with this one)
7.
Look at your bills can save money on insurance? Interest
rates?
8.
Shop where you earn rewards (gas points)
9.
Sell used items you are not using (HELLO BABY
CLOTHES) Made $200 last month alone.
10.
Buy children’s clothes that you know have resale
value in the end you are saving money.
11.
Shop a year ahead, buy clothes at end of season
clearance, wear the next year, and then sale the next year for close to what
you paid.
12.
Redbox instead of Netflix or ON Demand (be sure
to return on time!)
13.
Bye Bye Amazon Prime (Back to couponing for
diapers after they raised the membership I couldn’t justify it!) And now my 2
year olds are potty trained!
14.
Use home cleaning products (white vinegar!)
15.
Cook from scratch (use whole chicken instead of
cut pieces more on this later posts)
16.
Do not pay for memberships to wholesale clubs (if
you do calculate your breakeven point and ask… is it worth it?)
17.
Shop generic (I have a few products that I
prefer name brand… but that extra money would look better sitting in your
savings)
Monday, August 18, 2014
6 month Check up!
Today Max and Eli had their 6 month check up! They are growing like weeds and are doing just fine.
Here are their "official" stats
Max
Weight: 15lbs 3 oz
Height: 25 3/4
Head: 17 1/2
Eli
Weight: 14lbs 15 oz (however he took the hugest pee right when is diaper came out before getting on scale)
Height: 25 1/4
Head: 17 3/8
Didn't get % written down on anything, but they are growing on the curve and the doctor said they were in the 10% for weight.
We had a LONG wait at the doctor's office... he was about 1 hour behind schedule... so we took a lot of selfies!
I have Max in these photos. Mike has Eli.
Here are their "official" stats
Max
Weight: 15lbs 3 oz
Height: 25 3/4
Head: 17 1/2
Eli
Weight: 14lbs 15 oz (however he took the hugest pee right when is diaper came out before getting on scale)
Height: 25 1/4
Head: 17 3/8
Didn't get % written down on anything, but they are growing on the curve and the doctor said they were in the 10% for weight.
We had a LONG wait at the doctor's office... he was about 1 hour behind schedule... so we took a lot of selfies!
I have Max in these photos. Mike has Eli.
Friday, August 15, 2014
A new breakfast favorite: Scrabbled Eggs with Cream Cheese
A new breakfast favorite scrabbled eggs with cream cheese! Seriously they love it! Out of the park homerun!
I was watching a tv show and the little boy asked for scrabbled eggs with cream cheese. And I thought what? hmm? I am going to try that!
And I am glad we did.
It is so simple too. Just got a block of cheese cheese in to small pieces and toss in you eggs. That is it!
I used 3 eggs, a little milk, and a little cream cheese. Oh and butter for the pan.
I was watching a tv show and the little boy asked for scrabbled eggs with cream cheese. And I thought what? hmm? I am going to try that!
And I am glad we did.
It is so simple too. Just got a block of cheese cheese in to small pieces and toss in you eggs. That is it!
I used 3 eggs, a little milk, and a little cream cheese. Oh and butter for the pan.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
6 month Schedule
We will soon be working in solid foods!
7am – start the day feed Max and Eli 8 oz bottle
7am – start the day feed Max and Eli 8 oz bottle
10 – 11am – Max and Eli morning nap
11am – Feed Max and Eli, one by one, 8 oz bottle, let the other keep sleeping
1 – 3:00 – naps
3:00 - Feed Max and Eli, one by one, 8 oz bottle, let the other keep sleeping
7:00 – bath, 8oz bottle bed for Max and Eli
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Saving Money
This is has been a huge topic in our house lately... and really for the last 8 weeks I have almost been obsessing about money, budgeting, and saving money. I would say we are having a "money make over."
I have almost started to talk about this several times because it has been such a big part of our lives recently but it is a hard topic to tackle without getting too personal about your finances on the world wide web.
But basically 2 months ago I would have considered myself a very money smart and money conscious person... but I was wrong. I thought I was good at managing and budgeting money. But I was wrong. I realized I have been managing my money wrong for a long time and I glad that I am realizing this at 29 and not 40, 50, or maybe never.
My husband is a small business owner and this has always made budgeting a little hard for us -- as his income and expenses change month to month. Because of this we were not budgeting all of our money and in return we were wasting a lot of money that we really weren't aware of.
2 months ago I thought I was doing a good job with money by paying all my bills (always on time never late), putting a % of money in to retirement, and putting a % of money in to savings. Sounds good right?
Bills check, savings check, retirement check. GREAT! ... nope.
But what about the leftover?! Well I thought there wasn't much leftover so food, clothes, entertainment, whatever I wanted. So I just blew threw the leftover money because I didn't think it was a lot and I had already put money is savings and retirement, so it was my money to do what I wanted with!
This is DUMB and this is a huge mistakes. I feel must people probably make this mistake and don't even know it is a mistake! That's what I was doing!
Having two more kids and becoming a family of six put a financial stress on us. Right now two more kids isn't costing us anything compared to what having four kids is going to cost us in the future. Right now the added cost have been an additional vehicle that can hold our entire family, the added car insurance, their hospital bills which totaled $3800.00 (we have REALLY good insurance, that's for my hospital bed rest, c-section and two babies in NICU for 2 weeks), diapers, wipes, and formula.
We have spent very little on baby clothes and equipment because we already had so much from our first set.
So these added expenses and the knowledge of how much more expensive they are going to get with time has really motivated us to live our lives differently and spend our money differently.
I already mentioned that I was good about paying my bills and putting money in to savings and retirement... one problem with this was that I would blow the rest of my money.
I started following Dave Ramesy money management program and have turned my budgeting and money savings around totally. While I do not 100% agree with some of his theories I will say he has totally changed my thinking about money.
One thing I have been doing wrong with my money... was I had no accountability for my leftover money... because I didn't think it was a lot and I had already taken care of bills, savings, and retirement. Because of this I wasted money. Also this seems so dumb to me... but really I always felt like I didn't have money to do more... I was only paying the minimum payment on my debt... dumb.
I have been whining about my student loan payments for 5.5 years now and for 5.5 years I was only making the minimum payment (on the standard repayment plan), the same thing with my car loan, always only made the minimum payment. For whatever reason I never thought about paying more.
I have been using this loan calculator to calculate if I make an additional payment of X amount each month... it will show you how much faster you will pay off the loan and how much less intrest you spend = saves money.
Just by taking out $50 of your extra money a month you could save so much in intrest and get rid of those stupid loans faster!
I have also been using Dave Ramesy's zero based budget... which means you budget and spend every cent you make on paper. With this method you really do save money and realize you have more money than you may think! With the zero based budget you budget everything, food, gas, clothing, entertainment, etc. So that you know what you are spending, you are not over spending, and you are not wasting... you are saving!
Another thing I have realized is that while I was saving money... putting money in savings and retirement... I was also doing this wrong. I have way too much money in retirement and while this does not sound like a bad thing it just shows I have been managing my money wrong.
My retirement account will of course come in handy later and I will be glad I put so much in so early on in my career. However, I only wish I had been doing the same for my savings. My retirement account is money that I can not touch and this account has way more money than my savings account... I am working on evening out this gap so that I can have access to money in the event that I need it... like maybe for this new house we are dreaming about!
We have been making a lot of money changes around here since budgeting hard core and without talking numbers we have put more in savings than we have in a long time and I have even knocked out some off my smaller loans (by "snowballing" them), bringing my minimum payments down! Whoop Whoop!
My husband really felt the stress and need to make more money with adding two more kids in to the mix, and for months he was obsessed with getting more business and making more money... which is good.
But then I read something that made me realize that making more money wasn't necessarily the answer. In many cases more money means more problems. More money means bigger spending, more debt, and more wasted money.
That's when the light bulb moment hit we have to learn how to budget and save our money differntly. We have to learn how to cut expenses and live smart off our money... and that has lead us to this point.
I will continue to share all the ways we have cut expenses and started to save money around here. But if you haven't read Dave Ramesy money theories/budget strategies you need to now. Just do a quick google search and you will find tons of stuff on him.
I have almost started to talk about this several times because it has been such a big part of our lives recently but it is a hard topic to tackle without getting too personal about your finances on the world wide web.
But basically 2 months ago I would have considered myself a very money smart and money conscious person... but I was wrong. I thought I was good at managing and budgeting money. But I was wrong. I realized I have been managing my money wrong for a long time and I glad that I am realizing this at 29 and not 40, 50, or maybe never.
My husband is a small business owner and this has always made budgeting a little hard for us -- as his income and expenses change month to month. Because of this we were not budgeting all of our money and in return we were wasting a lot of money that we really weren't aware of.
2 months ago I thought I was doing a good job with money by paying all my bills (always on time never late), putting a % of money in to retirement, and putting a % of money in to savings. Sounds good right?
Bills check, savings check, retirement check. GREAT! ... nope.
But what about the leftover?! Well I thought there wasn't much leftover so food, clothes, entertainment, whatever I wanted. So I just blew threw the leftover money because I didn't think it was a lot and I had already put money is savings and retirement, so it was my money to do what I wanted with!
This is DUMB and this is a huge mistakes. I feel must people probably make this mistake and don't even know it is a mistake! That's what I was doing!
Having two more kids and becoming a family of six put a financial stress on us. Right now two more kids isn't costing us anything compared to what having four kids is going to cost us in the future. Right now the added cost have been an additional vehicle that can hold our entire family, the added car insurance, their hospital bills which totaled $3800.00 (we have REALLY good insurance, that's for my hospital bed rest, c-section and two babies in NICU for 2 weeks), diapers, wipes, and formula.
We have spent very little on baby clothes and equipment because we already had so much from our first set.
So these added expenses and the knowledge of how much more expensive they are going to get with time has really motivated us to live our lives differently and spend our money differently.
I already mentioned that I was good about paying my bills and putting money in to savings and retirement... one problem with this was that I would blow the rest of my money.
I started following Dave Ramesy money management program and have turned my budgeting and money savings around totally. While I do not 100% agree with some of his theories I will say he has totally changed my thinking about money.
One thing I have been doing wrong with my money... was I had no accountability for my leftover money... because I didn't think it was a lot and I had already taken care of bills, savings, and retirement. Because of this I wasted money. Also this seems so dumb to me... but really I always felt like I didn't have money to do more... I was only paying the minimum payment on my debt... dumb.
I have been whining about my student loan payments for 5.5 years now and for 5.5 years I was only making the minimum payment (on the standard repayment plan), the same thing with my car loan, always only made the minimum payment. For whatever reason I never thought about paying more.
I have been using this loan calculator to calculate if I make an additional payment of X amount each month... it will show you how much faster you will pay off the loan and how much less intrest you spend = saves money.
Just by taking out $50 of your extra money a month you could save so much in intrest and get rid of those stupid loans faster!
I have also been using Dave Ramesy's zero based budget... which means you budget and spend every cent you make on paper. With this method you really do save money and realize you have more money than you may think! With the zero based budget you budget everything, food, gas, clothing, entertainment, etc. So that you know what you are spending, you are not over spending, and you are not wasting... you are saving!
Another thing I have realized is that while I was saving money... putting money in savings and retirement... I was also doing this wrong. I have way too much money in retirement and while this does not sound like a bad thing it just shows I have been managing my money wrong.
My retirement account will of course come in handy later and I will be glad I put so much in so early on in my career. However, I only wish I had been doing the same for my savings. My retirement account is money that I can not touch and this account has way more money than my savings account... I am working on evening out this gap so that I can have access to money in the event that I need it... like maybe for this new house we are dreaming about!
We have been making a lot of money changes around here since budgeting hard core and without talking numbers we have put more in savings than we have in a long time and I have even knocked out some off my smaller loans (by "snowballing" them), bringing my minimum payments down! Whoop Whoop!
My husband really felt the stress and need to make more money with adding two more kids in to the mix, and for months he was obsessed with getting more business and making more money... which is good.
But then I read something that made me realize that making more money wasn't necessarily the answer. In many cases more money means more problems. More money means bigger spending, more debt, and more wasted money.
That's when the light bulb moment hit we have to learn how to budget and save our money differntly. We have to learn how to cut expenses and live smart off our money... and that has lead us to this point.
I will continue to share all the ways we have cut expenses and started to save money around here. But if you haven't read Dave Ramesy money theories/budget strategies you need to now. Just do a quick google search and you will find tons of stuff on him.
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