Always Be Prepared

Is it the Boy Scouts whose motto is, "Always be prepared"?  Well ask me what the Cub Scouts motto is and I'm setting on ready with an answer.  "Do your best."  There, bet you didn't think I knew it but whoa, oh, oh, do I.  My family is all about some Cub Scouts right now.  In fact, I think we're part of a cult but don't tell the higher ups in the Boy Scouts of America that I said that because I'm sure they could make it where my son never got a job in his entire life due to my above comment.  Just kidding.  Something in me has to find the humor in whatever we are doing and I LOVE the fact that we're doing Cub Scouts.  Its just some of these people are pretty intense about their Cub Scouts. 
That's neither here nor there.  I really just wanted the chance to use the phrase, "Always be prepared", which is NOT my motto.  I would like for it to be but alas, it is not.  Mine would fall under the motto of "Probably prepared one out of every one hundred attempts at preparedness."  That's a little too lengthy for a business card or a t-shirt so I'll have to limit it to this blog post:)
I am prepared tonight.  I have the kids school clothes ironed and laid out.  I've got notebooks checked and signed.  Lunches and snacks are made and waiting in the fridge. 

 

I attempted the turkey from "Meet the Dubiens" blog but ended up with what looks like to me a face that has been scared and now has its hair standing on end.  My lunches for my kids are always LOOSE interpretations of what I've seen on other blogs.  Kudos to This Lunch Rox lady and Meet the Dubiens for really good work.

 



I'm looking forward to tomorrow.  I am not scheduled to volunteer at the school; therefore, housework will get some much needed attention.  Typically I take Quattro along for the ride if I am to help out in Dos or Tres' classrooms.  I really like the opportunity to help out.  In fact, I just remembered I have some take home work I need to complete tomorrow for Dos' teacher.  Well, I better run off to bed so I will not wake up late in the morning and ruin the work I did tonight!

Laundry Day

Typically I do not have a set Laundry Day.  In fact, I do one load a day to keep the laundry baskets from becoming mountains.  However, I need to play catch up today and was well on my way to achieving that ever illusive status of empty dirty clothes hampers.  Unfortunately I started getting sick and all production has stopped.  My goal was to get clean socks and underwear in drawers before I started hearing, "Mom!  I need some socks!" 

What laundry method works for you?  Like I said, one load a day works for us.  I start with the color clothes from mine and my man's room then the next day it's the whites.  The next basket would be Dos and Tres' hamper followed by Uno and Quattro's then I start all over again.  There is always laundry to do.  Now I have not included doing laundry as any of the kids chores but do you?  At what age did you start your kids washing clothes or have you decided that is a task best kept for yourself?

Glad it's Friday!

Friday night, kids in bed.  Gonna watch me a chick flick.  Mamas need some down time.  And this mama is chillin' out tonight and praying I sleep late tomorrow:)

You're All My Favorites

She was sleeping in her bed and he was sleeping in my bed.  Sometime during the night he thought my bed would be a better fit than his own.  It's no big deal.  I was the same way when I was a kid.  In fact, I would not sleep by myself until I was in the sixth grade - THE SIXTH GRADE.  (Let that sink in)  Either I would beg my older sister to let me sleep with her or I would muster the courage to cross the long, dark distance between my room and my parents.  I just knew there were Boogie Monsters lying in wait somewhere in the middle.  And on the rare occasion that I could not wiggle my way into the above mentioned rooms I would become desperate and sleep in my brother's room.  I never stayed in my brother's room for long.  He has had sleep walking and talking issues ever since I can remember and that did nothing for my already scared-of-the-dark disposition.
So when I awoke this morning and discovered Dos in bed with me, I smiled.  I crept out of the bedroom and eased the door closed so he could have a few more minutes of rest.  When it was time for the kids to get up for school, I climbed in bed by Tres and brushed her hair while singing to her, easing her into her day.  I enjoy the one on one moments with my kids.  Showing them that each one is important and special in my eyes. 
Growing up my Dad would tell me, in front of my siblings "I love you better than the other two."  Now before you gasp in horror, please know he did this to all three of us.  So much so that when he would ask one of us, "You know what?"  We would answer, "you love me better than the other two."  It was a running joke in our house and still is.  To this day I wonder,"Does he really have a favorite?"  If so, I can't tell.  He made each of us feel like we were his favorites.  A few Christmas' ago, when all our families gathered at Mom and Dad's my brother gave my father a children's book.  The book is titled, "You're All My Favorites" and we all fell in love with it.  It made us think of our childhood and our father's love. 
I want the same for my kiddos.  I want Uno to know I admire him for his courage and flexibility; his tender heart. I want Dos to know I think he's as smart as a whip.  He can go far.  I want Tres to know she's an amazing helper and is a beautiful girl inside and out.  And my Quattro, my sweet baby, I want him to know his gentle spirit is already evident and I believe in my heart he will grow to become the gentle giant his daddy is. 
What a beautiful place I live in that I have such sweet blessings that are called my children.

Grocery Day

Creative.  This is an adjective I would not use to describe myself; however, when raising a family one must be creative when groceries are the subject matter.  With a family of six, menu planning, budget following, and keeping the pantry stocked requires some creativity. 
We are in the throws of "Dave Ramseying It".  With that said, we have a strict budget.  Well today, I made a delightful discovery.  Aldi's.  Have you heard of this place?  It's awesome, although, freezing! I believe they had the thermostat on 45 degrees.  Anyway, I get most of my groceries from Publix using coupons and BOGO deals.
While watching coupons, sales, and stock pile deals, there are some basic staples that just do not seem to be discounted much.  My man had told me he had visited an Aldi's near his work and was impressed with the low prices so I thought I would check one out near the Publix I shop at.  They have a few differences that do not bother me but may bother others:  You have to put a quarter in their cart in order to use it but it comes back to you once you return the cart (keeps from having to have employees chase down carts all over the parking lot); you must bag your own items; unless you want to pay for bags, you must bring your own bags to bag your groceries; and no credit cards are accepted.  Bringing my own bags is not a problem for me because I usually bring my reusable bags because I HATE plastic bags which only hold like two items.
As far as the prices, it was awesome.  For example, my local Wal-Mart sells a gallon of Great Value brand milk at $3.54; Publix sells their brand at $3.19.  Aldi's milk was $2.89 a gallon.  I was pumped.  Publix's eggs sells for $2.79 a dozen.  Aldi's eggs were $.99!  Publix is running a sale this week on avocados for $1.  Aldi's avocados were $.89 a piece:)  Flour at Aldi's was $1.69 for a five pound bag.  Spices were $.99 and I looked at the spices at Publix - $4.99!  Brown sugar and powdered sugar for $1.39 a piece.  I got nice colored bell peppers at Aldi's for $1.49 which would normally run me over $4.00 at Wal-Mart.  And the quality of the produce was great. 
Now, I did not get all my groceries there but I did get a lot of my normally expensive items.  They do not carry a lot of brands and I didn't want to get caught up in any "junk" being sold.  But here's one last example, I usually think boneless, skinless chicken breast sold at $2.99 a pound is good but today at Aldi's I got it at $2.69 per pound. 
I will be back to Aldi's:)
Have you ever checked Aldi's out?  What are your thoughts about saving money on the basics of pantry items?

Kindness

My kindness as a mom comes and goes.  I love my children but there are moments when they get under my skin.  For example, when practicing violin and Dos decides he is just too tired to stand and hold the violin correctly even though he's only been playing for a few minutes my kindness is not at its strongest.
I think I need to pray more:)  Any ideas on how to maintain kindness with your children?

Box Tops for Insanity

As a mom, I want to help my kids out.  Now my want to and my ability to do not always match up. So when the PTO president said she needed a Box Top Coordinator I said, "Sure!" because seriously how much work could that be?  SERIOUSLY, HOW MUCH WORK CAN THIS BE???  I thought "oh, I'll just have to take a bunch of box tops to the post office twice a year".  Yeah, it's a little more than that.  Did you know that our school's goal this year is to raise $4,000 from Box Tops.  That's 400,000 Box Tops collected!!! I'd love to chat but I have some more Box Tops to sort.