What is it?

Can you guess what this is? It took me forever. I still didn't get it.

Will loves playing with Play-Doh. He gets so creative sometimes. He has recently learned to make balls that actually look like balls, so this is what I expected to see when he asked me to look at what he made. This is what I got.

He finally decided to tell me it was an octupus holding a see shell. Did you get that? I still don't. That is a 3 year old for you. At least I know he has a great imagination.

I do have a recipe for homemade Play-Doh if you would like it. I have tried it and it is great. I don't use it because in Louisiana it seems to go bad super fast. The humidity and all I guess. This recipe is from our cousin Christina in Memphis. She uses it and loves it. It does great there.

Stove-Top Playdough

1 cup of white flour

1/4 cup salt

2 tbs cream of tarter

1 cup water

2 tsp veg. food coloring

1 tbs oil

Mix flour, salt, and cream of tarter in a medium pot. Add water,food coloring, and oil. Cook and stir over medium heat 3-5 min. ( I cook it longer) Mixture will look like a globby mess and you will be sure it's not turning out right, but it will. When it forms a ball in the center of the pot, turn out and kneed on a lightly floured surface. Store in an air-tight container or plastic bag. It is Edible but very salty. (so that the children usually only try it once!)

This recipe comes from Vicki Lansky's book Feed Me I'm Yours.

Thank You!!!

To all of you who have read my blog and then came back to read more, I say "Thank You!". I am always amazed people actually come back to read about my life with my family. I don't think my life is all that interesting so you can see how surprised I was to have someone not only come back to read more, but to give me an award!!! Words failed me when I found out I had been given an award. Then I got my second one! All in one day!!! WOW!! I'm so happy, y'all don't even know.

I was awarded the Splash Award from Momma Such at Raising My 4 Sons . This award is given to alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive and inspiring blogs. I didn't even know my blog was any of these things! LOL! If you haven't checked out Raising My 4 Sons yet, What are you waiting far. This blog was my blog of the week!

I am passing this award on to:

Mellisa @ Getting all my Ducks in a Row

and

Rebekah @ Outnumbered

The second award that I was blessed to receive is Best Blog Award! I was given this award from Niki at Nocturnal Queen . You know Niki! Her blog was my very first blog I highlighted in my blog of the week! I hope you've been keeping up.

The Best Blog Award rules are as follows:

1. To accept the award, post it in your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.

2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

This is a bit hard. I have been finding new blog that I like, but 15. Wow! I think I will be a rebel though and only pass it on to 8 great blogs. Why 8? Why not? (Can they take it away now? Let them try!!!!) LOL!!!

I will pass this great award to:

1. Sarah @ 15 Minutes of MommyTime
   
   
2. Ruth @ Adventures with a Sewing Machine...
   
   
3. Lisa @ All That and a Box of Rocks
   
   
4. Kay @ High Heels and Golf Spikes
   
   
5. Little Miss Muffins Cakes @ Surrounded by Boys!
   
   
6. Courtney @ Women Living Well
   
   
7. Unfinished Mom
   
   
8. Chele @ The Bona Fide Life

Again I would like to thank everyone who reads my crazy stuff! I do have a question if anyone can help educate me a little on blogger. How do you post a picture from the web? Like the awards I have above. The only way I can do it is to copy the picture to my computer and then put it in that way.

I may just be a lost cause, but I would really appreciate the help. I would love any tip about blogger!

TRACTOR!!!

Have you ever had to keep your kid up in the car on the way home? This is something we occasionally have to deal with. Will has decided he is too big to take a nap, so that means he usually falls asleep in the car on the way home when we go somewhere.

Yesterday we where on our way home from Mee Maw's house and Will was insistent on closing those eyes. It was only 6:45 pm. Much to late to take a nap with bed time coming up. So, we have come up with a way to keep him awake on the ride home.

All the way home we make it a game to see who can fined tractors along the road first. This game is great because the farms are separated by big fields and tractors are plentiful. We probably saw about 25 to 30 tractors in a 20 mile ride! We all just yell out TRACTOR!!! as we see one. We get very competitive as we go. It's a lot of fun and keeps Will up!

How do you keep your kids awake when they are determined to take a nap in the car at the wrong time?

Quotable Sunday

Welcome to Quotable Sunday!

I have found that this is an idea I like. Mellisa at Getting all my Ducks in a Row introduced me to it. I saw it on her blog and loved it. To join just post one or more quotes on your blog that you would like to share and then add your post link to this Mister Linky. Then check out what other quotes your fellow bloggers put up. Easy!

So my quote for today is:

A smile of encouragement at the right moment may act like sunlight on a closed up flower, it may be the turning point for a struggling life.

Anonymous

Say Cheese!!!

I decided that I didn't really like my photo on my profile page. You can see it on the left hand side of my blog.

I never really like any picture of me. I don't photo well. It could be that I just don't like the way I look and try to imagine my self differently. (This my be why I am always surprised at how horrible my pictures come out. LOL!!!)

So Will and I played with the camera some, and this is one of the best pictures that came out of our little play time. He took it of course! He took picture after picture. At three years old this one was one of he best. I have a lot of my knees and half of my face. He did a good job in the end. I also took a ton of pictures of him in the process. All had the same goofy smile he has though. You know how when they force the smile how goofy it looks. That is the smile I got.

It's ok though. We had a good time and I got a new picture. I would like to know how everyone else gets great photos for their blog. I did consider just taking a picture of my feet or something, but then just decided to show my face in all its glory.

Car Wash!!!

Yesterday was a fun filled day for us! We visited with old friends and got to spend time with family. But the best part of our day was washing the car. Yes I said the best part of the day was washing the car!


You see I learned something Sunday form my hubby. It isn't often that I admit I am wrong, but this is one of those times. I have always been a bit of a control freak when it comes to what I allow Will to do and not do. I don't know why, but I have struggled with letting him do some things that seem crazy to me.


One of those crazy things was washing the car. I always allowed him to help me, but to a degree. I never let him "clean" over the part of the car Mommy already cleaned. It would leave streaks!!! And I limited his time with the water hose. Why would I let him soak himself and me? This was just a normal reaction from me. I tried to control it all. In the end I always ended up with a headache and Will got upset! We where both in a bad mood after all that.


After watching my son have such a good time helping Daddy wash his truck Sunday, I realized that I need to let go. So, today was the day! He helped Mommy wash her car. He washed and rinsed. He mostly played with the water hose. Boys and water!!! I'll never get it!

I will never admit it to my hubby, but he taught me something invaluable. Who cares what my car looks like or how wet we got. Will had a blast and nobody got hurt!!

Blog Of The Week!

Did you miss this? I know I didn't highlight a blog last week. Yes I am a slacker. Last week was a bit crazy, so I am going to make up for it this week. I have chosen a great blog to share with everyone.

This weeks Blog Of The Week is.........Raising My 4 Sons !!!!

Mandee (Mama Such) is the great Mom who owns this blog. She is a stay at home mom who has 4 boys and has been married for 10 years! WOW!! She blogs about some of the crazy things her silly boys do. As you read you can't help but feel like part of her family. She even makes time to laugh at herself. This is important when you are a mom, but even more so when you have 4 boys!

You can read about the mouse she found.......and where she found it here!!!

Or see the great giveaway for a FREE Money Monster Bank that ends TODAY......enter here!!!! I did!

Go on over and visit her, and when you get there tell her I sent you!

I Love My eos!!!

I got one of the new eos in the mail and love it. I love it even more for my son. Will can use it so easily. The coverage is great!

What is eos you ask? Well eos stands for evolution of smooth. This is an all-natural, 95% organic, smooth sphere lip balm. It contains no petrolatum or paraben, but it does have shea butter and vitamin E.

It is so great because Will can use it and it covers both lips at one time. It also has a great sweet mint flavor and goes on clear. I must say that mint is not my favorite flavor, but this one is a light mint taste, not harsh like others I have tried. It also comes in honeysuckle honeydew and summer fruit.

This company makes other products also. You can go here to see their ultra moisturizing shave cream, organic lip balm smooth stick, and soon to come, body lotion. They all come in a rainbow of scents and flavors.

I have to say I will be purchasing another smooth sphere lip balm soon. Will has stolen the one I just got! Ha! Ha! I have been told I can find them at Walgreens, Rite Aid, and other drug and grocery stores. So on the hunt I go!

Rainy Day

Yesterday was a rainy day and today looks to be the same way. As everyone can tell from my previous post my son loves to help me cook. Last week we made banana pudding and since he couldn't go outside to play yesterday we made brownies.

I can't get over how much he loves to help in the kitchen. He even likes to help make kool-aid. He likes to stir with the spoon most. I really would like to find a cook book that has things kids can easily make. At the moment he makes mostly sweets and deserts.

Yesterday after it rained he did get to go outside after all. Late in the evening the rain let up and puddles filled the yard. Will got some new fireman rubber boots for his birthday and never got to use them, so this was the perfect time.

He always did love playing in water! What kid doesn't though?

Not So Great

They have a new shop in town that has a lot of had made stuff. It is a really cute store. Last week I visited it for the first time and found some really great things. Will found something he just had to have too. He wanted some of the bath beads for kids. They where only 20 cents each so I let him get some. The woman who ran the store told us that one smelled like strawberry and turned the bath water red.

Well this sounded ok. It was made for children after all. Well that night he just had to try one. He decided to use the green frog. I wondered if it would green apples. It was green and all.

Will was so disappointed. The thing smelled horrible. Like a really bad perfume for people who can't smell. Not the kid friendly smell I imagined. Then it did not turn his bath green, or any other color for that matter.

Night after night we tried different shapes. The yellow ducky smelled almost as bad. Then he tried the pink thing. I am not sure what shape it was suppose to be, but it did smell like strawberries! Things where looking up. The next night he used the red train. It turned the bath pink but did not smell at all! Good!!!

So one did smell good and one did turn his bath a different color, but for the rest I will never buy this stuff again. I don't know the name brand of them and they where put out in individual bins in the children's bath section of the store. They are not had made! So, my advice to everyone else is to just avoid them if you see them while you are out and about! They also put an awful ring around your tub that has to be scrubbed out! Horrible!!!

Fun! Fun! Fun!

I hope everyone had a great weekend, we sure did! Fair days only come around once a year and this year was exceptionally great for us! I am not the kind of person to just go out and spend all kind of money on entertainment, but that is just what we did. The fair is very very expensive, so I have been saving just for that. When you have a 3 year old the fair is so much more fun again!

This is the little trucks he rode last year and loved. He rode them just as much this year!

We made our trip to the Allen Parish Fair on Saturday. Will was jumping out of his shoes he was so excited. This is only his second year to go to the fair. He was way to small before, but this year he knew what to expect and he knew he could ride! Last year he would only ride one ride. This year he rode on four different ones a dozen times each! He got to play the pick a duck game and won a stuffed dolphin he has named Flapy. He is also the new owner of an orange and yellow striped sports cup that we purchased full of strawberry kiwi slushy. All in all he had a great time.

He loved the little jeep!

This is Will and my hubby on the bumper cars! They both loved it!

After the fair we decided to go to my dad's camp. This is something else that Will absolutely loves. Knowing we where going to the camp made leaving the fair a lot easier! At the camp he got to play with the other kids that came and roast marshmallows at the camp fire that night. Sunday he got to see all the great fish everyone caught.

This is Will and Paw Paw Billy at the camp. The fish is a 15 lb yellow cat that someone caught that morning.

Sunday evening we did yard work and then made a Bar-B-Q with Paw Paw Billy at home! What a great weekend!!!

Candy and Beads!

Yesterday was a miserable day! My allergies have kicked my sinuses into overdrive. I felt like lying on the floor all day with a towel wrapped around my nose. Today I feel about 80% better thanks to Benadryl. I get this way when the season change. The way I was feeling this winter is going to be an early, long, and cold one.

It is a good thing I felt better today. Aunt Jenny, Baby Jaydon, Will, and I decided to go to the Allen Parish Parade today. It was not a big one, but it was good for the little ones. The whole thing took about an hour and it passed twice. It went down one lane and came back on the other. Lol! The kids loved it though! They each got just enough candy to be happy and some extra to share with Mom. Aunt Jenny and Jaydon got a good bit of beads too. This made my little man upset. He didn't have any. He was moving a little slow due to the fact that he was eating most of the tootsie rolls instead of putting them in the bag. I was slow because I was checking all those tootsie rolls before they ended up in his mouth.

Aunt Jenny did end up giving him one of her beads and just when we where about to leave he found one on the ground no one else noticed. That gave him a small bag of candy, 3 cups, and 2 beads. That is just enough for him. My problem now is keeping all the candy from disappearing in one day!

Tomorrow we go to the fair!!! ( We are waiting to go until hubby can be there too!)

My Creations

I have been learning to crochet for a while now. I sarted in 2005 when hurricane Rita came through. Hubby and I evacuated to Memphis Tennessee. My hubby's cousin Christina lives there with her family. She is the one who inspired me to start crocheting. It took me quit a while to really get it. This is due to the fact that when we got home we had a lot of work to catch up on. My first piece was finished about a year or so later. Now that I look back at it I made one of theardest patterns in my book for beginners. Ha that is so me!

It is a striped afghan. I just call it my couch afghan. I blends in perfectly with my couch. Most people don't even notice it is on the couch. Of course only I would work so hard on something you can't see! Lol!!

I am now working on my second afghan, but will not show it until it is done. I did however finish a cap I have been working on. It is an easy pattern, but my hard head did not want to do it as the pattern said. When I finally gave in, it too me only and hour and a half to do. Will has decided that it is his cap and wears it constantly. He wanted to wear it to bed last night. What a silly boy he is. That is why I love him so much!

What a great Series

I have always loved to read. As a young girl I would read nonstop. In the last few years I have not found much time to read. I had not found any books that really grabbed my interest either. That was part of the problem. Then I was introduced to the Twilight series. I have now read that set 4 times and still love it. The movie not so much. I was always that way. A movie never meets my expectation once I read the book.

The great series that I have more recently found is just as great, but in a whole different way! I have read the Red River Of The North series by Lauraine Snelling. The books in this series are the kind of book that you just can't put down. This series has 6 books in it. The first book begins with two families that immigrate to America from Norway to settle the free land in North Dakota Territory. Only to fined that the land is not free. It is paid for with their own sweat and blood. Their story is filled with the hard ships that they encounter. Their belief and love in God is what helps them make it through the hard times.

As you read the first book into the last you can't help but feel like the characters are people you know and love yourself. I have laughed and cried with them. I have never read a book that has renewed my spirit and belief in God like these books have. The best part is that the author went on to write another series called Return To Red River. There are 3 books in this series and they continue the story from the point of view of the younger generation. It goes on to show how time changes everything, but the love of God is still there.

So I encourage you to meet Ingeborg Bjorklund and her family as they make their way to their free land in the year 1880. You will not be disappointed. The first book in the series is called An Untamed Land by Lauraine Snelling. Happy reading everyone!

My Son's Baby Book

When I started my son's baby book I promised myself that I would not be one of those moms who did really well at entering things into it and after the first year stoped. I now have a book I made about my pregnancy and one of Will's first year, filled with all his big firsts in it. I started one with pictures and stories of birth to the present. This one is not near finished, but I do plan to continue working on it.

I consider myself some what crafty. So all these books are hand made (not the covers). Scrapbooks where always fun for me, and I thought wouldn't it be nice for him to have known his mom took the time to make this for him.

I also started writing all my feelings about Will growing up and all the things we did together in a note book. Hubby said I was just going to make myself cry later in life when I read it. I just didn't want to forget how I felt at that moment. I filled one up and started a second. That is when I thought "why not put it on a blog?" This is working. I update a blog more than a notebook. The only problem is that I don't get as personal with a blog update as I did with my notebook. With the possibility of the whole world reading it and all. Not that my life is all that interesting.

Through this blog I have realized how blessed my life really is. I have read other blogs and felt like I' m not the only one out their who has crazy moments. I laugh and cry with other moms and I LOVE getting comments about what I wright. I feel like others really do read and care about my family. I feel the same about the blogs I read. And I pray for the others moms who are having a hard time as I know they also pray for me.

This afternoon I have been printing all my post that are about Will, so that I can put them together for him to read later in life. This will be a new addition to his baby books. Less pictures and more stories. I hope he will like it in 20 years and be happy I did it for him.

So my message to Will is Mommy and Daddy love you, and you will always be our lovable little boy who makes us laugh, cry, sing, and pull our hair out all at the same time. I thank God every day for giving you to us!

XOXO
Mom and Dad

Rain Inside and Out

This weekend I felt like it rained inside and out. We had plans to watch the New Orland Saints game on tv with some friends on Sunday. My hubby has been making these plans with them, so I did not know they changed. Apparently We were going to watch the LSU game on Saturday instead at our house. On Friday I get a call from our 9 year old niece. She wanted to know if we would come to her birthday party on Saturday. (A big thank you to her mom for only letting us know ONE day before her party!) She sounded so pitiful when she called. I am guessing not many people are going since they where only told a day in advance. I told her that we would go, but it would just be me and Will. Hubby had to work.

After hubby got home and I told him about the call he reminded me about the LSU game plans. I did not see the problem. Then he asked me "Who is going to be here when our friends get here? I will be at work." Well this was a problem. Her party started at 3:30 and is an hour away. The game started at 6:00. So, I called her mom back to get the voice mail. (She never answers the phone when I call anymore. I wonder if she can't stand talking to me that much or what's going on?) I left my message that since the plans for the LSU game where made at least a week or so in advance I would not change them and I would give our nice her gift later.

Come to find out later the men decided to watch the game over at out friends house and my hubby got sick at work so came home early. On top of all that it rained ALL DAY! I felt like it rain inside me and outside me that day. I hate to feel like I can't do all the things everyone wants me to do. The birthday party turned out nice form what I herd and lots of people where there, but I still don't like the idea that my son couldn't be there with his cousins.

I didn't feel better until today. Monday is such a normal day. No rain, no football games, and no birthday parties today! Hubby at work and just me and Will at home! Sorry if this sounds like I am venting. I didn't even know I was going to write about this until it started pouring out.

By the way both LSU and the Saints won!

Christmas!

We just had Will's birthday party almost two weeks ago and he got tons of things. Now my hubby wants to start thinking about Christmas!!!! Since when did he start thinking about Christmas in September? He is the kind of man who goes Christmas shopping the day before he has to give someone a gift. He didn't even know what was in the packages most of the time. Even for Will's birthday part he was asking me who gave him what and when I said we gave him that he was like " Oh, where did you fined that?" or "Oh, I forgot we got him that."

So when he wanted to know what I was planning for Christmas I was in shock. I must admit, in the past I would be planning and have half of my Christmas shopping done by now. But, these past few years have been harder on our budget. Now I wait for big Christmas sales and Black Friday sales to start.

I have no idea what we will have planned for Will. He got his John Deere tractor as everyone knows (and is probably tired of hearing about). So what now? He has been saying now he needs a Case tractor. Ha! Ha! Keep dreaming buddy. It took us over a year of saving for the first tractor.

So what do I do now? He needs winter clothes, but I plan to get him some before Christmas and, what kid wants lots of clothes from Santa? This will be something that plagues my mined from now on. And just to know that hubby is wondering makes me scratch my head. What to do now? It is a good thing I have 3 months to think about it. I will try to put a countdown to Christmas on my site, but since I have not figured out how to put a "follow me on Twitter" button on it I don't think it will be today or anything. Lol!!!

What A Day

Today was my grocery day. The day I prepared for by looking at all the sale adds for all the grocery stores in the area. I printed or dug out all my coupons I would use and some I may use. I also decided to try something new. Well sort of new. I have tried planing meals for a week before and then made sure I had everything I need to make them. The only problem I had with that was that hubby sometimes changed my meal plans, and then I had to run to the store anyway. Don't you hate when you ask what they want for dinner and they say "It doesn't matter." And then when you tell them what you have planed they say "Not that." Very frustrating!!

Recently I found a blog called Unfinished Mom. In this blog she tells about how she plans a menu for a month and then goes out and shops for it all. WOW!! That is all I could say. I asked her for a few tips. She told me make a list of my family's favorite meals. Then talk it over with the family and see what thy would like. Next pick from things off the list. That sounded easy enough.

I decided to try planning for two weeks at a time. This is more reasonable for me since hubby gets paid every two weeks and two weeks will be a bit easier than a month. We did this yesterday together and today I shopped! I think this will help me with the old "Whats for dinner?" problem and help save a little money. This way I will buy what I need to make dinner and not what I don't. Today I spent $130.00 on two weeks worth of food and house supplies. This did not include items that would go bad before I use them, like bread and eggs. Those I will buy as I run out of what I have and need more. The weekends are left open too. I may have to buy extra depending on what we do or if we have company.

I am sure this will save me money just buy my trip today. Usually I would spend about $120.00 a week. Keep in mined this includes household items such as shampoo and toilet paper. I did have a total of about $27.00 in savings today though! Wooo Hooo!!!

I will update this post to show if it worked for me or not. I may eventually try a month like Unfinished Mom if it works. I'm not a Diva like her though!!! She rocks!!!

Our Outdoor Days!

I have come to realize that we have spent a lot of time outdoors. This may be due to the good weather we had in August and our lack of rain in September. My son has been begging to go outside every morning since his birthday. He rides his John Deere Tractor every day. That thing has had a good workout. I must say that it is still doing great. My expectations where high and it has so far matched them.

Today he decided it was time to play with his new moon sand set. This was a late birthday gift and has been one that he has yet to open and play with. I do try to give him a different one every now and then so he is not overwhelmed with new toys and has something new to play with later. Let me tell you I was not crazy about this stuff. My sister-in-law said she gave it to her 5 year old and it was a messy nightmare. Well, I found a better way. I gave it to him outside on his little picnic table. This way the mess would be outside on the grass and not inside on my floor! This made a big difference. Will had such a great time with it. It came with a few truck molds and one could be put together to make a monster truck. This was his favorite. I made the truck molds and he ran them over with the monster truck. He had a blast. This will be a great outside toy for him. The only downfall is that I will have to buy more of the sand. About 20% of it is now part of the yard.

The Things That Come Out This Kids Mouth!

This weekend we didn't do much. The weather report called for rain everyday. So, all our plans were made around that. We stayed home mostly. Saturday we rested for a change. The last few weekends had been hectic for us. Saturday night we decided to bar-b-q with a little of our family over. We only left the house to get things for the bar-b-q.

Sunday I went to church. It was a great service. I did not have Will with me and so I could concentrate a little better. Will wanted to stay home and ride his John Deere Tractor. Since I thought It would rain that day, I let him. As you can guess it rained everywhere but our house. You could literally see the rain from our house pouring on our neighbors down the road.

Sunday night we had planed tacos. This is my hubby's father's favorite. He canceled on us but we made them anyway. This dinner turned out to be so funny. We sat at the table and was eating when I started telling hubby that I found my favorite flavor in Dr Pepper. I said it was the 24th flavor. Knowing they only advertise that it has 23 flavors, he looked a little sideways at me. So I explained I liked the way a cold can of it tasted better than in a cup or bottle. My favorite flavor then is the taste of cold aluminum. This was not the funny part. The funny part was that Will was listening and trying to make this work in his mined.

He said "Well, I like the way a Dr Pepper taste in a Coke can."

I said "Well I wonder what the people at Dr Pepper would say to that.'

He then changed his voice to be a bit deeper and said "They would say, Then you never had a Dr Pepper."

I don't know if this is as funny now as it was then, but he has never had Dr Pepper or Coke. He only drinks juice and kool aid. And the way he changed his voice made me laugh even harder. To think that is exactly what the Dr Pepper people would say to him. I laughed so hard that I think the taco I was in the middle of eating came out my nose. This made us all laugh a little more. Don't worry though I am ok! I know you were concerned! Lol!!

I hope everyone had something that made them laugh this weekend! And a big Happy Labor Day to you all! Hubby had to work today :( We are just planing today like any Monday.

Away From Mom

I have had problems leaving my son with other people. This is mainly because I had no one I really can just leave him with and because he is my baby. I never thought I could just leave him with anyone else. This included my hubby for a long time. In my mined I didn't think anyone could take as good of care of him as I could, so why take the chance.

Well now he is 3 years old and has never stayed even one night away from me. This has turned into a bigger problem than I ever thought it would. My cousin and I have been discussing this and came up with this solution. I would leave him with her and her 10 month old son for 30 minutes or so to go the local grocery store. This should work. That is what I told myself. So, Friday that is just what we did. When he heard I was leaving him at her house he held my hand and said "don't leave me mommy" with a soooo sad look on his face. I just told him to go play I was just right here. I never said I would stay. After about 15 minutes I decided to go before he noticed I was gone. Aunt Jenny (the cousin I was leaving him with) did not think this was a good approach. So I did tell him I was going to the store and would be right back. That he was to stay and play with baby Jaydon and Aunt Jenny.

To my surprise this worked. She told him lets go play and he just said "Ok" and went into the other room. No tears, no please don't leave me, no good buy even. I was gone for around 40 to 45 minutes. He was good. She had no problem with him. The little voice in my head kept telling me that I was just over protective and he didn't need me as much as I needed him. This voice may be right this time.

I could not help but think that this will work. We will continue this for a few more times before moving on to staying longer or at different places. Of course I don't have anyone else who could keep him even if I did want to just leave him with someone other than my hubby. Thank the Good Lord for Aunt Jenny! She is my hubby's cousin and has become a great friend to me.

If anyone has any suggestions for me please let me know. I welcome any comments!

Turtle Chex Mix Bars Review

I was lucky enough to win not one but two boxes of Turtle Chex Mix Bars from Brandie at Free Sample Freak. She had a review with her giveaway also. She claimed that they were so good her family devoured them in no time.

Well let me tell you, she was right. The mail lady drove down my driveway to give me a package. I had no idea what was in it so opened the box on my porch. When I saw the box I had to try one. So, right on my front porch my son and I ate one. We had to go in the house and fix lunch right away. They were soooo good we would have eaten the first box in one sitting. For a very couscous and picky eater, Will loves them. I had to tell myself to leave them in the cabinet for hubby to try. As of today we have one box left. I am so happy we had two boxes!

They have a sweet yet salty taste. They are just so good! They are made with caramel-covered corn chex pieces, wheat chex pieces, chocolate, peanuts, and pretzels. One bar has only 130 calories. What a great snack! A big thank you to Brandie and My Blog Spark for letting me try this great product!!

Under $5.00 Meals!

I get a certain joy out of figuring out I feed my family for $5.00 a person or under. This week I have done really well. Wednesday I made what I call Chicken Potatoes. It is a twist on Grilled Chicken Baked Potatoes which I love from a local restaurant. The twist is that I don't bake my potatoes. I cut them up and boil them. Then I smash them really good. I add seasoning and butter to it. I also get boneless chicken breast and cut it into cubes and season it. I just kind of grill it in a flat bottom pan. When it is all done we put the chicken on top the potatoes with topping. The toppings are butter, seasoning, shredded cheese, tomato pieces, sour cream and bacon bits. They are so great.


To calculate what I spent to make this meal I break down how much the ingredients cost and how much I used divided by how many people I fed.



A 5 lb bag of potatoes = $1.99 / 5 or 6 potatoes = $1.00
A 2.5 lb bag of chicken breasts =$6.00 / 3/4 the bag = $4.50
One tomato = $0.75 (hubby doesn't like tomatoes so I didn't need much)
A small container of sour cream = $2.00 / 1/2 = $1.00
A small container of butter = $1.75 / 1/2 = $0.88
A bag of shredded cheese = $2.00 / 3/4 = $1.50
Bacon bits = $1.46 / 3/4 =$1.09



The total is $10.72 and I divided into 4 (hubby, Will, myself, and hubby's lunch for work).

That is $2.68 a person. This about right because some of this is rounded and no tax is added. Keep in mined that I got a lot on sale and used coupons.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I also did this Thursday night. I made Fried Pork Chops with Great Northern Beans and Rice.

This is my break down:
Pack of pork cops at $0.99 a lb = 3.36
A 5 lb bag of flour = $2.50 / 2cups = $0.14
A dozen eggs = $0.99 / 2 = $0.16
A 1 lb bag of beans = $2.00 / 1 cup = $0.50
1 lb of sausage = $3.75 / 1/2 = $1.88
A small bag of rice = $2.92 / 2 cups = $0.35

The total is $6.39 and I divide it by 4. That is $1.60 a person. Again I did get some of this on sale and used coupons. This is a rounded number and does not include tax.

I think I did great! Let me know if you have any ideas of how to keep this going. If you post about making meals for $5.00 or under let me know. I would love new recipes, and your comments.

Joshlin

A New Huggies Sample!

I know I am not the Frugal Queen by any means, but I do try to save as much money as I can. My hubby thinks I am so great at it. Little does he know, I have come across some blogs where the Mom who runs it is so great at it she saves a hundred dollars a day sometimes when she goes grocery shopping.

Well, I do my best and am still learning the tricks of the trade. This is a free diaper sample I found and am posting for all those readers I have who are pregnant (DD) or have been changing those diapers nonstop (Jessica). Lol! I love free baby anything. So, even though I don't always post great deals out there, this is one I thought everyone should know about. I love those money saving blogs, but I am the first to admit I could never keep up. For more free samples and/or great coupons and deals go to the list of blogs on the right of this blog under My Blog List. They are the true Frugal Queens!!!

Go here to get your free Huggies diaper in your mail box.

New Blog Day!

I have decided that one day a week I will introduce everyone to a great blog that I found. Each week I may do it on a different day. So, congratulations to this weeks great new blog. It is called Nocturnal Queen. This is a blog by a very happily married mom of two children, three cats, and one dog, named Niki from North Carolina . She has a strong love for her family and the Lord that is reflected in her blog.

One of my favorite posts on her blog is called Housework. This made me laugh and realize that I try to hard to keep up with housework. Sometimes you have to just look at it a different way. Niki made me see that I was just causing myself that much more stress. Now I just tell myself that our house looks lived in.



This is a passage from her blog.



"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." -- Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, 1966



I hope you all check her blog out and like it as much as I do.

Such A Wonderful Day

So far today has been a wonderful day. The Weather outside is so great!! I promised myself that I would clean house today, but the porch outside was just calling me!

So, I got on my computer first thing and made a few new friends on MBC (Mom Bloggers Club), and got to see a few new blogs. I love finding new friends and great blogs.

Then I finally got to the house work. I put the first batch of clothes washing and vacuumed. I figured if I took Will outside to play I could first steam clean the carpet and it could dry while we are outside. Ha! Ha! I found a way to be outside.

The fresh air was great! We even ate lunch outside. But, as you can guess I am inside again. I now have to go mop the rest of my floors and put more clothes in the wash. So, I need to get to it. That way I will be able to go enjoy the weather when hubby gets home :)

This is Will playing with his new to him Bob The Builder set. You guessed it, this is my newest eBay find. He loves it so much. He has been playing with it nonstop. I can't even put it up to clean the floors. He sits with it on the couch and plays there.

A New First!!

Well who would have thought that I would still have a few more firsts to go through with Will.

Today was Will's first trip to the dentist. I brought him to Oak Park Dental. He was a little nervous because he didn't want to sit on the chair that lays down. He remembers this from my visits. I tried to prepare him by telling him the dentist only wanted to see how pretty his teeth were. I told him we could brag about how good he brushes them. This made him feel a little better.

When the nurse called us in she asked if it was his first visit. Then mentioned that I would definitely want to take pictures for his baby book. Well, this is when I almost cried! I had a new first! I had not even thought about it this way. The only camera I had was on my cell phone. I was known to bring my camera everywhere. I could not believe I didn't have it. So, I didn't get any pictures that I could post for ya'll to see. I did get a beautiful picture of highway 165 as I made my way to the dentist office this morning. This is it below. Again with my cell phone.

His dentist appointment went so well. He didn't get to nervous and they were very gentle with him. The nurse was so friendly. She made the appointment go so smooth. She even put a cartoon he was familiar with on to help him relax.

Now I am realizing I have lots of first to look forward to. He may not be a baby anymore, but I still have some more firsts to go through. Woo Hoo!!!!!