3 Months Old

Kinsey is 3 months old today. She is such a precious blessing from God. We love her so much! Caden is a great big brother to his sister. He loves to hug and kiss her. Kinsey likes to watch and laugh at the kids. She is a great sleeper and hardly ever cries. She is a really content baby.

Planning Meals and Saving Money

I am trying to do better at planning dinners for the week and trying to save money. I have been reading a few blogs and have gotten a few good ideas I thought I would share:
*Buy what is on sale.
**Print out the weekly sale paper for the next week for the grocery store you shop at. Then use that to write your menu for the next week or two. That way you can see what is on sale and plan meals accordingly. If pork chops and broccoli are on sale, plan having that one night.
*Plan at least one night for leftovers.
*Buy meat on sale and freeze it.
*EAT LESS. Depending on the size of your family, cook 2 pork chops instead of 4.
*Use coupons.
*Don't buy junk food.
*I get the monthly coupon book for Costco. I try to wait until I have a coupon and then buy what I need. Buy in bulk when you can, it saves money.
* To keep organized, I take out the recipes I will use for the next week or two and put them on the fridge. This way I do not have to search for the recipe when I need it. I put it back in the box after I use it.
Check out http://www.frugalmenumamas.com/ for more ideas, coupons, tips and recipes. I made the Taco Soup last week and it was so good!!!
Please give me your ideas and comments.

Here is a video of Caden doing some of his calendar time. It usually lasts longer when Lauren is here but today we had a short attention span. I guess there are just too many things to do today to be bothered with calendar.

Fun and learning

A great thing to do with your kids every morning is calendar time. We count the days until we get to the correct day (1st,2nd,3rd and so on). We also sing the days of the week to the song Oh My Darling:
There are 7 days, there are 7 days, there are 7 days in a week. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
You can also go over the months of the year to the song One little, Two Little, Three Little Indians:
January, Febuary, March, April, ....Twelve months in the year!
Then we put stickers or draw pictures to make a pattern. Each day we add what comes next in the pattern. You can also make patterns with shapes or letters.

These foam shapes are great for projects. You can buy a big bin of them at the craft store. Great for graphing, patterning, learning colors and shapes and for making shape pictures.

Kids say the funniest things

The sand box!!!

They love it. We play outside for hours.

Laurens birthday party last week with a few friends.

Here are a few more things Caden says:

frocks=crocks

pooter=computer

"I can't get my cry out" while he rubs his eye

"Her's to little"

"I had a busy day!"

"That be good?"

"God made our friends neat"

I asked him, "Why do we pray for our friends?" He said " 'Cause God tells us to be nice to our friends."

When we ask him what a cow says, he will say "moo" when you ask him what else a cow says, he'll say "eat more chicken"

In the van one day last week, we were talking about all the things God made and he goes on and on about all kinds of things like trees, flowers, friends, mommy, daddy, Kinsey, cars, houses and so on. Then he said, "and God made BBs (pacifier) for me to go ni-night."

One Passion

We sang this song Sunday and I have really been thinking about the words. What if we all just had one passion? What if I really wanted to know and follow hard after Him? I think my life would look different. God help me run and follow hard after You. Be my passion. Help me to grow in the knowledge of Your Truths.
What if He became our only Passion and everything in our life flowed from that one Passion? Would our marriages be different? What about how we treat our kids and our families? What about our lost neighbor? When we have a passion for something we want to tell others about it and share it. God, help me to be obsessed with you.

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me on magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You

To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your dicsiple in your truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you, my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you
Lead me on and I will run after you

Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after you

To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your disciple in the truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you

Lord to know and follow hard after you
And to grow as your disciple in your truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you
Lead me on and I will run after you
Lead me on and I will run after you

ABC Book

I miss teaching but I love being with my kids all day. I do get to teach Caden and Lauren though. I made this book and we love it. I lamenated the pages and the pictures with my laminater and had the book bond at an office store. You just slit the envelopes open after the pages are laminated so the pictures fit in. The office store can laminate if you do not have one at home. I use pictures from places we have been like the zoo, doctors office, park, family members, body parts, etc... and then use a permanent marker to write the letter on the back of each picture. I also am working on having two pictures for each letter so we can play matching with the picture cards.

Caden Can Read!!!

Caden can either read or we have read this book one too many times.

Cleaning Tips and More

*To clean the inside of the straws that are in the kids cups use a pipe cleaner. (The ones you use for craft projects). They work great and can be used again or thrown away.
*After you have used the juice or rind from a lemon or lime, throw the rest in the disposal. It helps freshen it from odors.
To save money:
*Cut your kitchen sponges in half or even fourth. You won't even notice the difference.
*Instead of buying small snack size containers of jello, applesauce, fruit, etc... buy large containers of the items and fill small plastic baby food containers. It saves money and recycles all at once!
*Save the extra plates and napkins from birthday parties. You can put them in the kids lunches for a special surprise or use them on a fun friday or play dates.

A cold day...

in Florida. It has been pretty cold down in sunny Florida. I know all our friends up north are laughing but to us it is cold. Aren't my boys so cute!

This ones for Caden

I am not a journaler. I do this blog for my kids. So when they ask me what they were like when they were younger this can help. This entry is for Caden.

He loves to do puzzles and is very good at them. He did this floor puzzle a couple weeks ago all by himself. He loves to read. We read all day long. Among the many of his favorite books, here are a few:

The Three Little Pigs

The Giving Tree

The People House

Highlights Magazine for his age

Curious George

and any Bible Story

Here are a few of my favorite words that he says:

Poo-Poo Train=Choo-choo train

airbow=elbow

bonetie=daddy's tie he wears to work

seatbelt=the belt you wear around your waist

wion=lion

girapp=giraffe

edephant=elephant

He also likes to say: actually, plenty, and lets think

Two nights ago he prayed for bears and train tracks. He usually prays for the food and family about 5 times in a row then adds a few random things.

Kinsey found her thumb today! She was going to town on it when she found it. I was so excited for her. I know it will be hard to break but Jody and I sucked our thumbs so I think it was inevitable for at least one of our kids. I think if she could get the words out she would be talking. She tries so hard to move her mouth and then sounds come out.