First Foray Into Couponing

Both of my MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) groups have had speakers come to talk about couponing. Both how to do it and how much money you can save when using coupons. Both times I felt out of my league. It seemed to me that this couponing thing would take a lot of time to be successful. They were clipping coupons, making lists and then go to several stores. And in both saving money and lots of it. My thoughts on this were basically, "that's well and good but I don't want to spend all my time going from store to store. My time is more valuable than that."
It also seemed to , as did several other moms, that most of the really good deals were foods that were not all that healthy for you. Most of them were processed foods containing tons of fat and sodium. So I did what I have always done. I made my list and went to one store and if I remembered I brought some coupons.

But earlier this week I was watching the Today Show and they hit on a website that does all the work for you. You pretty much pick a store look at their list of sale items paired with coupons and get your coupons from your dated inserts and cut them out. It's that simple. I may not be ever be able to walk out of the store with the store paying me but I am saving a lot of money. The website I am talking about is www.couponmom.com. Go and check it out. They even have a video showing you how to use their website along with links to get more coupons. Just so you know this week I spent $148.00 and saved $117. I think that's pretty awesome for my first foray into couponing. And I think that Matt even enjoys hearing about how much I have saved. I know this because he will even ask me.

Enjoy your savings!!

Little Girl in a Green Dress

This week I have had my sister's two children visiting with us. Today we headed for movies and pizza. After lunch we headed to Micheal's to pick up a few supplies for the 4th of July t-shirts we were making later in the day. I got through the store with my gaggle of children without much incident and without buying more than what I had gone into the store for. I was checking out when over the intercom I hear, "We have a little girl in a green dress who's calling for her mommy. Come to the florist counter." I looked up and said that's one of mine. As I walked back to the florist area I was preparing myself for a crying child. Surprisingly enough she was not crying when I got to her. She just came running and wouldn't let me put her down. Though she did ask if I was looking for her. And I am feeling really bad right now that I didn't even notice that she was missing. I mean how could I tell my little girl I didn't even notice that she was gone. I think I would have noticed on the way out of the store but I honestly thought she was hanging out on the bench with the other four children. I called my sister and told her that shopping with more than my three was just too much for me. She laughed and I did too since I was so happy that I had her back, even though I didn't know she was missing. I just hope and pray that this sticks with Elizabeth and that she doesn't wonder off next time.

Preschool Board Complaints

I enjoy being on the preschool board. I was very flattered when I was asked and then last year even more flattered when I was asked to co-chair and then chair the following year. With that said I am also very frustrated. We have several committees we serve on throughout the year. I ended up co-chairing the Fall Festival but little did I know that I would end up chairing it because she can't be counted on to finish her projects and to show up to meetings. This morning we had a whole packet of items that should have gone out. When I got to school this morning the papers this person was suppose to have done is not in the office. When I called her she said that she had not finished them and would not be able to get to the school until 10:30. So now it looks like they won't go out until tomorrow. If I had been a different person I would have told her that my papers were there and to just put hers with mine and put them in the teachers boxes. But because I'm not I will be brining them home to work on during naptime and after dinner. Matt keeps telling me to get off the board. But if it weren't for this I would be fine. I actually enjoy it and feel like I am doing something valuable. I just wish I didn't have to deal with the frustration.

Peanut Gallery

Tonight as we were eating dinner Abby started talking with her mouth full of food. I told her to wait and talk once she swallowed. Gabriel started to comment on our conversation when I stopped him saying.

"You are the peanut. And I don't need comments from the peanut gallery."

Gabriel looked at me confused. I glance over at Matt and catch him smirking.

Motherhood In My Words

This is a post I have been wanting to write for a long time and what better time than just in time for Mother's Day, since it pertains to being a mother.

I am a stay at home mom of three children. I always wanted to be a mom. I never had a set number of children in mind but I knew I wanted more than one. I can't remember a time I ever didn't want kids. In fact when Matt and I were dating I asked if he wanted kids. When his answer was yes, my reply to him was, "Good, otherwise our relationship couldn't go any further." I waited for 5 yearsafter Matt and I got married before I had Gabriel. For me it was a long wait. For Matt, he could have waited longer. I worked as a teacher before, during and after my pregancy with Gabriel. With Abby I worked through my pregancy and then quit work to be a full time mom. I love being a stay at home mom. But I struggle with finding time for myself, my kids, my husband, and maintaining my house. I enrolled Gabriel in a Mother's Day Out Program for two days a week when he was 2. I did this inorder to find a little time for myself and to socialize him with kids his age. Abby was still an infant so I was able to run errands and pick up the house while Gabriel was in school. This worked really well. At that time though I did not have a good support network of friends. Most of my friends did not have children of their own so to call them about problems with my children was not really an option. This is not to say they would not listen but they just didn't understand what I was going through. I later started developing new friendships with several moms in Gabriel's Mother's Day Out Program and this helped tremendously. Then we moved to Indiana. There I didn't find a Mother's Day Out Program I found preschools instead. I did manage to find a preschool that would take walking ones. And this was something I really felt I needed. I didn't have any family to fall back on here and I knew no one. Matt was and is working full time and in school for his MBA. I felt that I needed to run errands, pick up the house and just have some time for myself without the kids. I later joined a MOPs group and this proved to be the biggest help of all. My MOPs group doesn't only provide a meeting for the mom's but provides a meeting for the kids as well and then there are off weeks inbetween that allow the moms to drop their child off and then run errands, get together with friends, go shopping or go home and catch up on all the things that fall to the wayside. I also met other women and moms just like me. I was able to discuss topics that all of us were going through, gain insight and suggestions from them as well. This was a dream come true for me. Later I became a Steering Team member and this gave me back something I lost when I left work, a job other than being a mother and a purpose. The kids' preschool also gave me a break as well and just recently also provided me with a purpose and a job. I have taken on both of these positions and love the purpose they give me. But I still struggle. I struggle with balancing housework, taking care of the children and having fun. I really want to be a spontanious, fun, and energetic. But the shrewn toys, clothes and left over dishes beccon me to take care of them as well. I get tired of those clothes, toys and dishes. There are times that I feel like running from the house and never coming back. And then the kids are also calling to me to feed, bathe, play, and help them. And want to do all those things as well but I would love to have the energy to do it. I don't want to feel like I should be doing other things like running a load of clothes or getting the dishes washed, but that is often how I feel. I love my kids and I love being at home with them but I wish I didn't struggle so much with all the faucts of my job. I can't imagine going back to work. I think I would feel like I miss out on so much. I remember thinking that I would miss the first time Gabriel rolled over and worring that his caregiver would see it first. It's hard being a stay at home mom but also so rewarding as well. I wouldn't change it for anything but wish I could make my struggle a little less. Having people over this past week without having cleaned beforehand was new for me. I usually drive everyone nuts with cleaning before I will invite anyone into our house, but I felt this was a need and I went with my gut. It was nice not worrying so much about what my house looked like but enjoying the fact that the kids and I were having such a great time. I think that moms have many different struggles to deal with on a daily basis. I also think that we will have to deal with those to the best of our abilities. We have to rely on our strenghts and our families and then move on from there. Everyone has different strenghts and weaknesses. As a mom in MOPs just recently put it, "I don't have the strength of orginazation but I can play and imagine with my kids with ease. If we could combine both of those what a great mom we would be. We need to look to each other to help us out and to provide us with advice that we can use. And sometimes we just need to accept who we are and move on from there." I am a mom and I am doing the best I can with what I have. I will struggle with making everyone happy because that is part of my personality. I will also struggle with the need to keep the house pickd up and clean and that is a learned behavior, that I am trying to over come and be more relaxed about. But most important I will struggle to make life fun, interesting, exciting, and educational for my kids on a daily basis. This is something I will continue to work on and try to find a happy medium. Motherhood is not an easy job and neither is fatherhood. But it is one that most of us embrace and enjoy. I wouldn't change this for aything.

The Daffodil Principle

This morning I stumbled onto this story about a grandmother who kept putting off a trip to see the daffodils here daughter kept telling her she had to come see. She finally made the two hour drive in the fog and rain and still didn't want to get back in the car to go see the daffodils. Her daughter insisted and took her anyway and the mom was glad she did. Click on this link and read her story and enjoy the beautiful pictures of this daffodil garden.


"The best time to plant a tree was 35 years ago. The second-best time is today."

Thursday Thanks Tank

Today's Thursday Thanks Tank is going to be a little different. Today I want to express the thankfulness I have for my husband, Matt. It's funny how different Matt and I are but how well we get along, at least most of the time. Matt and I in many aspects are opposites of each other. Examples of this are: Matt likes Heavy Metal and I like country. Matt is a night owl and I am a morning person. I like really hot showers and Matt likes cool ones. I like things to be picked up and put away and this doesn't seem to bother Matt, unless it's really bad. Matt is definately more fiscally focused while I am not. I am optimistic and Matt is pessimistic. But despite thses differences we have learned how to get along with one another. We have also learned to respect or accept that we will not always agree with each other and have learned to work that out.
Early in our marriage we had to learn how to work as a team, fight together, make up and just plain live with one another. Our first year of marriage to be quite honest was rocky. I have often said that I was glad that we didn't get pregnant until later since we had to learn all of this first. I think that because we were able to learn all of these lessons together we have made our marriage that much stronger. We still fight and we still have our differences but we have learned how to fight and how to work out those differences, and then how to make up. I think that one of the most important things we learned is to respect one another by not airing our dirty laundry to others, especially family. We do sometimes find the need to vent and do so but try to do it in a respectful way. We have also learned how to help each other and not always ourselves which is very important. All the little things we do for each other are not always recognized but we do them all the same.
Lately Matt has been so busy with work and school that he has had little time for himself much less his family. I think we are all counting down the days to his graduation. Despite his lack of time he is finding as many opportunities as possible to spend with us. He is setting aside time to not only spend fun time with us but to help out with menial jobs like cleaning the kitchen, bathing the kids, reading stories, tucking in children, picking up around the house, mowing and an abudance of other household chores I generally try to take on myself. He also trys to make a point of being home for dinner every night, which I find extremely important. I am so thankful for his willingness to help me in all these ways. I am also thankful for his willingness to watch the kids so that I can attend my monthly BUNCO games or Mom's Night Out nights. He understands that these nights are not only fun nights for me but also nights I need to maintain my sanity. Matt is such a wonderful, generous, loving and kind man. I am so thankful that God put such a man in my path to marry and spend my life with. I'm not sure what I would do with out him.

Not His Father's Son....Well Maybe He Is

Last Wednesday night Gabriel couldn't seem to get me out of the house fast enough. Here was our conversation;

Gabriel: "Aren't you going to play BUNCO?"
Me: "Yes, but it's not time to leave yet."
Gabriel: "Well, when are you leaving?"
Me: "Are you trying to get rid of me."
Gabriel: "NO, I just want you to go and have a good time at BUNCO."
Me: "Oh." (Standing there thinking where does he learn this stuff.)

Today, Gabriel went to the grocery store with me. On the car ride there here is the conversation we had.

Gabriel: "Mom, you've got a lot of wrinkles under your eyes."
Me: "What?"
Gabriel: "He repeats."
Me: "You don't tell women they have wrinkles." (Then I check for said wrinkles.)
Gabriel: "I'm going to be in trouble for that one aren't I?"

Those Cards

I was in the basement store room thisafternoon trying to organize things in preparation for putting away the fall decorations and getting out the Christmas ones. I called Matt in to help me moe a couple of boxes. While he was moving the boxes he spotted the boxes that hold all of his baseball and basketball cards. (We have many issues over these cards by the way.) He pulled the box down and started going through them. He decided to hand some over to Gabe who has been collecting football cards. Matt started this little hobby too. Anyway, Gabriel asked about some cards and here is how that comversation went;

Gabriel: "What are those cards?"
Matt: "Those are just a bunch of crap cards."
Gabriel: "Can I have those crap cards?"

Me: "Good one, crap cards." (whispered)

I am still wondering, if they are a bunch of crap cards, why is he still holding onto them so tightly?

Moral: Don't day anything around kids you don't want repeated.

Last year the kids and I worked on a paper chain to decorate the house with for Christmas. On each chain we would write something we were thankful for. This year we have started a new one. Every night at dinner we think about something that we are thankful about. I hope that it helps us all to remember all that we have. Some of the things we have been thankful for a normal everyday items like our food, toys, family, specific accomplishments, health and specific activities but some of them hve surpised me too. Here are some of the things we have been thankful for in the past week.

Gabriel: I am thankful for God making our bodies.
Gabriel: I am thankful for the world God made.

Abby: I am thankful for daddy come home.
Abby: I am thankful for gymnastics.

Matt: I am thankful I will see my parents in a couple of weeks.
Matt: I am thankful for fall days.

Carmen: I am thankful for hugs and kisses.
Carmen: I am thankful Gabriel's reading.

Our thankful thoughts don't have to be profound. I just want us to remember all the good things we have and that are happening in our lives.

Gabe Says

With Matt being out of town emotions seem to be closer to the edge for all of us. Today Gabe and I were battling one another on his behavior. I had sent him to his room and later went in to talk to him. During our conversation I told him that I loved him very much. I also told him that if I didn't love him I wouldn't pay attention to the things he does and his behavior. He looked at me and asked, "Mom would you pay less attention to my fingers in my mouth."

All I could do was smile and laugh a little and then tell him that was something I would always pay attention to. That wasn't even the reason he got into trouble either.

First MOPS Meeting Today!!

Today we had our first MOPS meeting of the year. It was so great to see everyone I have missed during the summer. It's amazing how much everyone's children have grown and the changes the moms have gone through as well. It was a good meeting and we had lots of new moms, which is always beneficial. The mom's were able to decorate bags as their craft and also put beads on their name tags to signify each child in their family, blue for boys and pink for girls. The moms seemed to appreciate both crafts/activities.





Every year we fill out a questionaire for our directory. The typical things are asked like name, address, phone, but we also ask for information to get to know you like, home church, favorite color, hobbies, and a question. I really enjoyed this year's question because it made me think. I would love to hear your answers! "What do you enjoy most about being a mom?" Any dad's out there? I want your answers too.



I had a really hard time coming up with just one thing. There is very little I don't like about being a mom. But the best part about being a mom are the cuddles, hugs, kisses and "I Love Yous" I receive everyday. I know one day they will lessen so I enjoy them even more now knowing that.

I've been busy

Okay, for the last couple of weeks I have been busy with school, errands, kids activities, and my various orginazations that I have either wanted to do or just couldn't say no to when asked. My sister-in-law, Cathy, would say I don't know what busy is, but this is what I know and right now I am loving it. There are some things I would change like being able to schedule a dentist appointment without having to consult with Matt so that he can watch Elizabeth or even running errands without a child but all of that is okay. I have begun to realize more and more that right now in the moment no matter what I am doing is a time to enjoy. Especially those times when I do have the kids with me. They are all growing up so fast and before I know it they will be heading off to college without even looking back, except maybe, to bring home laundry. So right now I will be enjoying how busy I am and will be enjoying the firsts, lasts and repeated times that life has to offer.

Too Much Salt

Years ago, right after Matt and I got married, we were at my parents' and I told my mom I would make dinner. She told me her plan had been Beef Stragnof so that's what I made. Anyway, I had never made this particular dish and it looked fairly easy so off I went. I got to the part with the Beef Bullion and it called for 1 can, me not knowing there was a liguid bullion, I dumped a jar of granulated into the mixture. To say the least it was salty.

Today I received an email with Martha vs. Maxine suggestions. One I wish I had known 10 years ago would have been to put a peeled potato into the mixture. The potato would absorb the salt.

I don't think I will ever live down this Beef Stargnof epsiode with my family or Matt. But we all have something worth being given a hard time over. Some more than others.

When Am I Going to Learn

When am I going to learn that I can make everyone happy? Matt has taken some vacation days the week of July 4th. The plan was to stay home a couple of days and then to visit family in Tennessee. But trying to schedule around everyone else's plans has proven to be more of a headache than it really needed to be. We finally have things worked out to some satisfaction but it was a tough road for us to get there. Oh well, maybe one of these days I will learn.

Earning Their Way

Gabriel and Abby would love to have a new swing set. In order for them to understand that they can't have everything they want we have started making them earn it by doing many of the things we would like to see them doing on their own anyway. They can earn money to put in the swing set jar by getting dressed, making their beds and cleaning their rooms without being reminded. Helping out without being asked and doing kind things for one another may get recongized as well, but not all the time. I am hoping this will help them understand several things about money and hard work in order to get what you want. We have helped them out with some of the money already but want them to see what their hard work can get them.