Writer's Block

I haven't really had anything to share lately, maybe I'm having some writer's block? Or maybe I'm just focused on other things right now. Either way, sorry for the lack of posts. Hopefully you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a safe Black Friday! :)

Money Savvy Kids

Came across this article about raising kids to be money smart. So I'm passing it along.

Project: Pinterest

 I have full boards of recipes, ideas, tips, and decorating ideas on pinterest! I've been slowly working my way through the ideas as I find time and have tried several of the recipes. Just for fun, I'm going to do mini reviews or recaps on the projects/recipes as I actually complete them! :) Granted there are some of them that I just simply won't do because they are more "dream" pins then "real" pins, but either way, it should be fun.

Just for fun and since it's Friday, I'll share some of my random pins that I just think are fabulous!

Source: sunsurfer.tumblr.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Wouldn't this just be a romantic event to attend?

Source: forum.lookbook.nu via Chelsea on Pinterest

I'm really drawn to red, purple, gray, fun boots, stripes and leg warmers this fall. Anyone else? It's every where and I'm liking it.

Source: soon2befit.tumblr.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

I should be doing this...but I'm too busy pinning! ;)

What have you been pinning lately?

Lets start over

Have you ever had a day that you just wanted to start over? I sure hope its not just me.

The last few days have just not gone well.  It just seems like everything I've started turned out wrong.

Some examples:
-The boy (son) and I both woke up on the wrong side of the bed--bad combo!
-Messed up a granola recipe, not once, but twice. Really?!?!
-Grabbed the wrong checkbook (from a closed account) and wrote 5 checks from it before noticing. What a mess!
-"Lost" my husband's car registration under a pile of random papers and just found it & paid it--a week late.

Then, I got smart. I decided to take a nap and start over. I fumbled my way through the rest of the day, until finally it was bed time.

So, the blog posts didn't get finished for this week. You should be thankful, it could've been a disaster! ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Halloween & Random Shots

Dwight Shrute, The Office

Princess Belle, Beauty and the Beast

Winner of the neighborhood costume contest!!

Heading out to trick or treat

Picture taken by my princess. She did good, huh?

Sorry, not a great picture, but I had to document this day.
Princess wanted me to do her hair just like mine for church on Sunday,
 so we had to get a "twins hair" picture. :)
Buddy boy wanted to join the picture, but then regretted that decision! ;)

Vaccine Video

I don't usually post these sorts of things on here, but feel like this video is worth posting. It's a documentary that explores a little bit of both sides of the vaccine issue. It tends to focus more on the dangers of vaccines more so then the benefits, but they are both presented to some extent. For me, I think it raised awareness to where some of the issues are in the vaccine debate.

I realize this is a very heated and debated topic. I have no interest in debating anyone on this issue, but I do think that all parents should be as informed as possible regarding the vaccines themselves, the vaccine schedule and the possible side effects of either choice. Ultimately every parent has to make the decision they feel the most comfortable with for their children.

After reading articles like this, it's hard to know who or what to believe about this topic. Another good reason to be as informed as possible--on both sides.

Anyway, this video is available for viewing for free until tomorrow, so if you're interested, check it out.

Local Food Tour: Street Food Edition

Ever since hearing about doing local food tours, I've been intrigued by the idea. I love trying new things and learning about local restaurants we haven't tried. It can be a little scary, though, to just go to some random place. Lets face it, no one wants to spend $15-20+ on a meal and then be disappointed by it. I like the "tried and true" feel of the tour, feeling more confident that at least we'd be getting exposed to places that had a decent reputation for great food. Shortly after putting this idea on my "to do" list, I came across a groupon offered by a local food tour company! I snatched it up. This particular tour guide,  offers a few different "types" of tours: sweets tour, gourmet tour and a food truck tour. We chose food truck. 

On a beautiful sunny afternoon in August, we met up with our tour guide and group to eat "lunch"(it was a 3 hours tour) at 4 different places. 

Our first stop ended up being one of my favorites. They offered us our choice of taco from their menu that day and it was delicious! If you're a local reader, next time you see this lovely yellow truck, "Mikes2 Kitchen" be sure to grab a bite! 

Next, we stopped at a Pizza place. For whatever reason blogger is rejecting my picture. :-/ This one was my hubby's favorite and it was certainly a close second for me too. It was REALLY good pizza. The chef learned all his tricks by actually living in Italy for a while and his crust was a.maz.ing. They also cook all their pizzas in a brick stove. YUM.

Directly across the street we had some crazy types of sausages. This cool little stand was just featured on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network too. Helping me cross something else off my list! ;)

Their Elk Jalapeno Cheddar (the same sandwich that was featured on the show) was my favorite. They add cream cheese and grilled onions to it, SO tasty!

Our last stop actually wasn't a truck stop, it was a local brewery. It was interesting for a while, but got a little long. Unless you're SUPER into beer (which I'm not even slightly interested) all the ins and outs of making beer quickly turn very dull. Learning some of the history about this particular brewery was interesting though. 

There it is. Our local food tour. If you like to explore new things and have a sense of "adventure" & aren't super picky (you don't know what you'll be tasting until you get there) I highly recommend doing something like this. It was a fun date. We also got great tips on other local places and events to check out throughout the year.

Debt Update!

It's been quite a while since I've filled you all in on our debt snowball! Trust me, even though you haven't been hearing about, we have been going full force.

God has blessed us so much through this year and this process. We are so thankful and give him the praise for all HE has given us. He is the giver of all good gifts and we know that all we've been able to accomplish in our debt snowball has been because of His faithfulness to us. So awesome!

I'm SO happy to give you the update that we are so, so close to being done! We are down to approximately $3,000 left on our final school loan! AND, there are some payments scheduled to go out in the next few days that will bring that number down even more! So. very. exciting.

I hope our update encourages you on your journey. As hard as it seems when you're looking up from the bottom to the top of your mountain, keep going! Each step, each payment (even the ones that feel small) are bringing you closer and closer to the top. When we started we never imagined we'd be able to get out of debt as quickly as we have been. The big lesson we've learned is that the more you're willing to sacrifice the quicker you'll be free.

You can have an update like this one too! I can't for you to share it. I can't wait to hear it.

Flash Card Rings

Both of my kids are at ages where they are capable of entertaining themselves for a little bit on their own. So I've been trying to put together things that we can take with us for trips, errands, doctor's appointments, and the like for them to keep from getting b-o-r-e-d. But you all know the main reason, is for me to stay sane! :) It seems like those types of situations are filled with lets-drive-mommy-crazy moments, or is that just my kids!?!? ;) Really, though, if you consider all the waiting and sitting they have to do, it's understandable how difficult of a day that can turn out to be for little people. In all reality, it's not really my favorite thing to do either, so it's no wonder toddlers and preschoolers can only handle some much of it. Which is probably explains why there are endless amounts of ideas out there for Mommies like me to create for their kids for such moments! :) Now you can add one more to your bag of "Mommy tricks" with this simple activity. 

I gathered up some age/ability appropriate flash cards that I had stashed away in my teaching supplies (or you can get them at the dollar store), a hole punch and a large binder ring. As you can see in the pictures all I did was cut the cover of the box off, punch a hole in the corner of each card and put them on the rings. 

Not quite ready for these ones yet, but they're ready for when they are! :)

The benefits to having them on a ring:

-They don't have to "hold" them all in their hands while trying to flip them.

-They won't be spilling all over the bag/floor

-No missing/lost cards

Snacks on the Go

I found these great little containers that were perfect for my kid's snacks for our trip to San Diego this September and had to share about them on here. The problem I was originally trying to solve was the constant turning around I would have to do on a road trip to get things for my kids. I get car sick easily and the constant motion of turning and looking backwards was not helpful. I'm smart enough to realize that just telling them to hang tight for the next 12 hours wasn't going to be a plan worth keeping! ;) I needed a real plan! 

When I ran across the 3-pack of different size containers for only 97 cents at Walmart, I was sold. I got one of the blue sets and one of the pink. Then I got them each a matching water bottle, and a little cereal-type dispenser, for 97 cents each as well. 

It worked like a charm! The kids had the same amount of each kind of snack in their own travel bag filled with goodies for them to entertain themselves with on the trip.

Now, I love having them to fill with snacks to keep in the car or to grab on the go too. I'm always trying to keep high protein snacks around so that we can put an end to the impending full on melt-down as soon as we can! :) 

My daughter has been using her set for her school snacks too. One of the benefits to these great little containers has been to cut down on all the use of plastic bags. They also contain the mess much easier then bags too. 

I know I could've just used some tupperware type containers for these things, but I chose not to for a few reasons:

1. These are used for snacks for the kids so these are always available for them to use.

2. I don't have a lot of containers in these sizes so the few I'd have I need available for food storage at home.

3. The kids feel special having their "own" special snack containers. 

4. Each of them has their own container and they are the SAME (except for the color), so it cuts down on the bickering and complaining I hear from the back seat! :)