Merry Christmas

Our family

would love to wish your family a very Merry & Blessed Christmas.  May your day be filled with laughter and love.  If your are traveling today, may your travels be safe:)

And to give you a heads up, we will be venturing to NC tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with family.  So, I won't be blogging or around here to answer any questions or emails until after January 2nd.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours~ see you all next year:)

Adventures in Gingerbread House building

The boys had a lot of fun building gingerbread houses out of graham crackers at the library.  I quickly learned that gingerbread house building was an art form that cannot be rushed.  We were there for 2 hours:)  All the boys had a blast.  Here are some pictures of their adventure:

Chris & Nathan decorating their houses

Who has time to decorate when sugar NEEDS to be consumed:)

Little Michael's gingerbread house using candy he hadn't eaten

All the boys gingerbread houses

They did a great job:)  Tomorrow, we revisit the library and learn how to make snowman popcorn balls- how fun:)

My Shopping Days~ 12/15/12 & 12/16/2012

Due to hubby traveling for work, we decided to go shopping on Saturday with a trip to CVS on Sunday after church.  Plus we discovered a nice surprise of a flat tire Saturday morning.  We took the van to Walmart, had them replace the 2 rear tires and shopped while we waited.  Here are the details of our shopping trip:

Walmart
$1.28- Cake mix
$0.94- Spaghetti sauce
$0.88- Fish oil
$1.28- Coffee filter
$2.48- Peanut Butter
$1.00- Calculator
$11.56- (4) gallons skim milk
$4.00- (4) loaves bread
$2.32- lunchmeat
$1.00- Bananas
$4.56- (2) pkgs chocolate donuts for class Christmas Brunch
$2.00- (2) pkgs M&M's for teacher gift
$34.16

Dollar Tree
$1.00- Basket
$1.00- Chocolate candy for teacher gift
$1.00- Chocolate Santa's for teacher gift
$1.00- 2pk gift bags for teacher gift
$1.00- Christmas chocolate for teacher gift
$1.00- AAA batteries
$2.00- (2) pkgs Christmas pencils for class stockings
$1.00- Chistmas lollipops for class stockings
$1.00- Bakery bags
$10.40

CVS
$4.99- Revlon nail color
$4.99- Revlon nail color
$9.98
-0.99 ECB
-0.99 ECB
-4.00 ECB
-1.00 ECB
-1.00 ECB
$2.50 Total and got back $6 ECB and $1 ECB  for bag tag

This shopping trip has been added to our December Monthly Spending post, where I keep track of what we spend for the month of December.

Menu Plan for the week of 12/17/2012

Here is our menu plan for this week:

Breakfast
Homemade Yogurt with oats and raisins X2
Oatmeal X2
Pancakes X2
Scrambled eggs with turkey sausage and toast

Lunch
Sandwich, banana and popcorn

Dinner
Leftovers
3 Cheese Chicken Garlic pasta with green beans
Taco bean rice with peas
Homemade hashbrowns with scrambled eggs, sausage and fruit
Chicken and rice with corn
Chicken Potpie
Chicken Alfredo with green beans

Snacks
Kettle Corn experiment
Apple Slices
Carrot sticks with PB

What yummy things do you have planned on your menu this week?

Extreme Decluttering......

As many of you have noticed, I haven't posted in a few days.  Life got super busy.  I have gotten pulled in so many different directions.

Thursday, hubby and I went to our eye doctor's appointment.  Something, I have put off many times before.  My poor glasses are taped together :(  Every time I had planned to make an appointment, something popped up. We have 2 boys in glasses and things had started to slow down or so I thought.  So, I jumped at the chance and made the appointment for hubby and I to get our eyes checked.  My eyes were not as bad as I had thought they were going to be.  The Optometrist said that we were only going up one notch to help me see better:)  Now, I am trying to be as patient as possible until my new glasses come in.  Hubby's eyes are fine and he doesn't need glasses.  Unfortunately, from having my glasses off and the stuff she put in my eyes, I came home with a horrible headache.  All I wanted to do was crawl into bed.

Friday and Saturday, we went out and did most of our Christmas and grocery shopping since Michael had to leave for work on Monday.  Plus throw in the flat tire and waiting to get it fixed.  Those were both loooong days

Monday, I had a Scentsy event at an Elementary school near Richmond, VA.  Making sure I had everything I needed took any available hours I had left over the weekend.  We packed everything in the van on Sunday.  The event was all day yesterday.  By the time I got home, I was exhausted.  But I did have a great time.  I met most of the teachers and staff at the school and did the event with a good friend:)

Today was Story Time at the library and after was lunch with Santa.

I just found out that tomorrow the library is making Gingerbread houses out of graham crackers- the boys are excited about it.  Then Thursday, we have the toddler time at the library.  As you can see, I have been here and there.  And I still have Christmas presents to make and wrap for everyone.

I would love to continue my Extreme Decluttering journey but don't feel I have to time to devote to it right now.  So, we will be postponing it until January 2013. 

If you have company coming over for the holidays, check out Crystal's post on how to Whip you house into Shape in 2 hours.  With everything crazy over here, I may end doing this myself:)

Extreme Decluttering~ Day 5

Hope everyone is doing well on this chilly morning.  Today is going to be a busy one, so lets see how much we can get done today while juggling everything else I need to do today:)

Today's assignment is still in your Living Room and is:

1) Look over your list of weekly goals and mark which ones you want to accomplish today

2) Pick a different area in your Living Room that desperately needs your attention- this is your project for today. If at all possible, move everything from that area to another area nearby. Look at and examine every item you move. If it is broken, get rid of it. If it is not your taste or style, get rid of it. Touch every item and make sure it is something that you truly love before putting it back. Also, before putting the item back, take the time to dust or clean the item. Remember the more knick knacks you have, the more you have to dust.

3) Make a goal of getting rid of at least 10 items today. If 10 is to painful to attempt right off the bat, then start light with 1 item and see how that feels. You may surprise yourself and find that you don't NEED as many items as you thought you did.

Come back this evening and let me know how you did with today's assignment:) 

Extreme Decluttering~ Day 4

New day, new assignment.  Who's ready?  I am loving how my living room is coming along- without all the extra stuff, my living room is opening up quite nicely:)  Let's dive right on in, shall we.

Today's assignment is still in your Living Room and is:

1) Look over your list of weekly goals and mark which ones you want to accomplish today

2) Pick a different area in your Living Room that desperately needs your attention- this is your project for today. If at all possible, move everything from that area to another area nearby. Look at and examine every item you move. If it is broken, get rid of it. If it is not your taste or style, get rid of it. Touch every item and make sure it is something that you truly love before putting it back. Also, before putting the item back, take the time to dust or clean the item. Remember the more knick knacks you have, the more you have to dust.

3) Make a goal of getting rid of at least 10 items today. If 10 is to painful to attempt right off the bat, then start light with 1 item and see how that feels. You may surprise yourself and find that you don't NEED as many items as you thought you did.

Come back this evening and let me know how you did with today's assignment:)