Is this what my college education has come to?

Money well spent!

this post's for you, auntie A!!

Happy Earth Day everyone. The buzz today in everything is being eco-friendly and environmentally aware. While it is fun to see and hear this everywhere today, for S and I, we try to practice this everyday. To us, taking care of the environment is just plain being good stewards of the creation that God has given us to take care of. Growing up on a farm has instilled a literal love of the earth deep in me and while I would make an awful farmer (have the biggest respect for my dad and brother who are wonderful farmers), I will do what I can to take care of the earth. So we try to make environmentally friendly choices when we can and when money allows. Being "green" can take a lot of "green" and sometimes it does not make sense to us, as God calls us to be good stewards of our money as well. Which brings me to kind of where I am heading with this post and choices in the groceries that we buy.

After S was finished with pharmacy school and actually had a job was the first time we had a little bit more in the grocery budget and really thought about the option of buying organic food. It was also the first time we had been away from rural small (or smallish) towns where you knew where the food was coming from. In the big city, looking at the ground beef in the giant grocery stores just scared me. And THEN we had kids! All of a sudden we am responsible for what we put into their little bodies, and that kind of pushed us over the edge into making more organic choices. Now we do we buy organic everything? Goodness no! Once again, we try to be stewards of our money as well. We make what we think are the best choices according to what our family eats. I won't bore you all with the details, but instead, I will bore you with the savings on organic foods that I have had the past couple of grocery trips!

Dear auntie A has been "couponing" for a number of months now and has been finding the savings incredible. Enough so that when she lost her ~10 hr a week part-time job, she found she didn't have to look for another one - they are able to live off her other ~30 hr a week salary, even with M in school. She blogs about her couponing adventures here if you care to take a peek. I have always been a fan of coupons (after all, I am Dutch!! =), but only casually used them here and there when I had the time to look through the Sunday paper and I remembered to bring them to the store. A has been inspiring me to pay a bit more attention to coupons and I have been able to find quite a few organic ones in the past week due to Earth Day which has been fun. I also have been utilizing our local co-op's seasonal coupons and monthly specials (do this all the time), and scoured our Blue-Sky Guide for extra coupons too and it all added up to these savings on organic products in the past week:

(I would love to type out everything that I got like A does, but this tired momma needs to go to bed sometime today too! I basically bought - and stocked up in some cases - things that we either normally get organic, stuff that with coupons would be at or less than what I pay for non-organic things we buy, and just one or two things to splurge because I had a coupon too! =)

Local Co-Op (love this place!!! =)
Total before sales + coupons: $85.75
Total after sales: $70.25
Total after monthly member discount: $ 65.97
Total after coupons: $43.97
Total savings: $ 41.78 (48.7%)

-- ok, I will admit this is a crazy amount to save on a trip to the co-op and won't happen this big very often, but I was pretty excited about it none-the-less!

Rainbow
Total before sales + coupons: $38.84
Total after sales: $26.51
Total after reusable bag discount: $26.11
Total after coupons:$ 25.11
Total savings: $13.73 (35.3%)

Cub
Total before sales + coupons: $123.63
Total after sales: $102.37
Total after reusable bag discount: $102.12
Total after coupons: $85.62
Total savings: $38.01 (30.7%)

GRAND TOTAL
Pre-savings bill: $248.22
Post-savings bill: $154.70
Savings total: $93.52 (37.7% savings)

Not too bad for organic shopping....

supper success!

I don't think I have officially done a recipe post before, but after tonight's supper, I thought I would share one. This recipe, (which I found on the internet and then changed it a bunch keeping the basic idea only =), is so simple and kid-friendly, and it is fun and interactive too. I feel like we have been in such a rut with meals lately, and especially with ones that the kids will actually eat. So tonight was refreshing to say the least! So here it is as we prepared it tonight:

~~~~~

Canadian Bacon Pineapple Pizza Pasta

1 lb mini bow tie pasta
1 jar marinara/spaghetti sauce
1/2 - 1lb ham, cubed
1 jar pineapple tidbits, drained
shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to box, drain, then add back to pot with sauce to heat through. Cube ham, drain pineapple, and shred cheese (or open shredded cheese package as I did - I have a fear of cheese graters that I won't go into right now!) and put them in separate bowls. Then when you are ready to eat, put a layer of noodles in the bottom of your pasta bowl (or plate or clearance Easter cow melamine bowls), and sprinkle the ham, pineapple and cheese on top of the pasta like pizza toppings! You can then microwave the dish to heat the toppings and melt the cheese if you'd like. Serve with good bread and a salad and there ya go!

~~~~~

Great fun was had by all tonight with this meal, and both G & W packed away so much food, and without us having the normal rigmarole or hullabaloo! They are not uber-picky about food, but they are not garbage disposals by any means either. I would say they are typical kid-picky. They aren't fans of casseroles, don't care to try new things (although we always make them take a "try" of whatever we are eating), like crustless sandwiches, and their favorites are of course mac'n'cheese (which they call mac'n'noodle), cheese pizza, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets. So I know that tonight wasn't packed with exotic veggies or exciting new ingredients, but it was new to us, fun for all, and everyone was full and happy after supper. So give it a try, whether you have kids or are just a kid at heart, and enjoy!

instead...

There are dishes on the counter that need to be washed. There are toys on the floor that need to be picked up. There is mail on the table that needs to be dealt with. There is tax paperwork that needs to be filed away. There is a grocery list to be made and meals to be prepared. There are other blog posts that I want to write. There is even a small bit of unpacking left to do after our trip last weekend. But today was not a day to do any of that. It was one of the most beautiful days that we have had yet this spring, so instead...

...we did this,


...and this,


...and this,


...oh, and this (ok, so I did get a little housework accomplished today, only because I could do this! =),


...and lots of this,



...and silly dadda even did this,



...what a perfect day to do this,


...and this,


...oh, and of course a little of this,


...plenty of this,


...had fun doing this,


...was so happy to look like this,


...and ended the day with this,



...making for one tired and happy family.

The dishes will be there tomorrow, as well as the floors to be picked up, the groceries and meals, and the paperwork too. But we are so thankful that we spent our day doing something else instead!

GEESE in a river

On the trip to and from Boppa and Aahma R's this past weekend, the kids wanted to listen to only 1 cd: VeggieTales Sunday School Songs. I love VeggieTales, but 8 hours of the same cd got pretty old - although I couldn't argue much being that the kids were happy listening to it and even after the 6th hour or so of it, W still shouted "is fun! hiss is fun!" as he and G rocked out to "This Little Light of Mine."

Anyway, one of the songs on the cd is "I've got Peace like a River." Today when the kids were playing, W starts singing "I got peace yike a river, I got peace yike a river, I got peace yike a river in my SOUL!"

G looks up from her coloring and says, "No, no, no, W! It's 'I've got GEESE in a river!"

a new day...a new week...

Phew. Last week was a roller coaster. We had a really really bad day, a really good day, a couple ok days, and a couple not so ok days. Same with nights, although we had more bad nights than good ones last week which hasn't happened for quite a while. I won't go into all the specifics, but we dealt with discipline issues, eating issues, fighting issues, sleeping issues, and fussy issues. But we also had lots of laughs and smiles and hugs and good times too. I didn't blog anything because we were tired - all of us. And we still are tired! But S & I figure we are going to be tired for another 18 years at least...=) We do like to hold onto what sis-in-law C tells us every once in a while - "When they are 16 they will be able to put themselves to bed and will sleep all through the night! Or at least won't bother you when they wake up!" Needless to say, I am glad today is a new day and the start of a new week too. Hopefully we will have more good days and nights than bad this go around. But even if we don't, we know that God knows our strengths and weaknesses and chose us to be parents to these 3 beautiful children, and will give us the tools that we need to make it through.

Just another good reminder of how blessed we are...

story time

OK, I'm (S here) back at work full-time, but that doesn't mean I get out of kid adventures....

So, while C had a dentist appt this morning, I got all 3 kids and was going to head off to story time at the public library (we have story time at our own private library several times a day.) I have done things with the eldest 2 kids without any problems, but I have not ventured out with all 3 yet. I was a little nervous as to how baby C was going to do. If he gets fussy / crabby when momma is around - a little snack settles him down (95% of the time.) But, if he gets fussy / crabby when just dadda is around he gets..... um..... held and lots of pleading to settle down. So I was wondering how this small adventure was going to go. Before she left, C got baby C to sleep and put him in his car seat and so I thought - this might be smooth sailing, IF he stays asleep. So, I got G&W in the van and came back in for baby C. And of course the moving to the van woke him up. Carp. But, G was already pumped to go, so away we went.

Once we got the the library, I thought "How am I going to get all 3 kids into the library?" I have 2 arms and 3 kids and a full parking lot ....hmmm.....I'm good, but not that good. So, I got G out of her seat but kept her in the van, took baby C out and around to W's side and then set him down and got W out and G down. Then closed the door, picked up baby C in his seat, held W in my other hand and had G hold C's seat with me. Yeah me. But, I was still a little nervous as the short van ride over did not put C back to sleep. But, one obstacle down - one to go...

... and it went as smooth as the peanut butter in our cupboard! G loves story time and so she was completely entertained the whole time. W likes to sit in your lap and watch other kids and the books and he did just fine. Baby C just kicked and looked at W and I the whole time without so much as a peep. And not one person said "my you have your hands full" - so apparently we're starting to look like we can handle our bunches of babies.

go ahead and laugh...

...i eventually did! =) Yesterday I was sick of being cooped up in the house after a week of yucky colds and I also had the urge to shop so after much thought, I took all 3 kids to Albertville outlet malls to look for some clothes for summer for them. There were a few sales going on and I had a coupon so off we went after W's nap. It had rained all morning, but didn't rain while we were there so that was good. I took the stroller and the baby bjorn along and had 3 stores that I wanted to get to. So I was thinking this wouldn't be so bad!

When we got there, G and baby C were sleeping, so I was going to get everything ready with the stroller and such before waking them up. I had the stroller set up and was going to load my bag in it from the front seat, when the wind started to blow the stroller away. I stepped out to get it, and when I turned back to the van, I miscalculated where I was standing and turned back right into the open door and the corner of it gave me a nice 2 in gash on my forehead. Carp. (we don't say crap in our house because we have little parrots that choose those words to repeat over and over...) Now what was I going to do?! It was bleeding pretty good and it was a good size...should I go get stitches somewhere?...where would I even go for that?...does Albertville have a clinic or hospital?...all the way back to the cities? By this time it was bleeding profusely! So I grabbed kleenex out of my diaper bag and held that to my head and opened the glove compartment to get the first aid kit. Carp. It had never been used and has plastic around it that was impossible to get off, especially while trying to hold a kleenex to my bleeding head! Finally got the plastic off with only a little blood on the front seat. Open the first aid kit to find a hopefully inconspicuous band-aid. Carp. We bought the kid-friendly first aid kit and it only had bright crayon band-aids. Hmmm...should I go with bright red, bright yellow, or bright blue?...i guess blue. Cleaned up my head again (trying not to pass out!) and put the band-aid on really tight. OK. Now I was feeling a little woozy, so I decided to get everyone out and head for Mrs. Field's cookie store to get something to restore blood sugar and energy. Plus make the kids happy too! =) Then if it was still bleeding out of the band-aid when we were done there I would scrap the shopping trip and head for the nearest medical facility that could patch me up. Fortunately, the wound seemed to be fine and feeling renewed after chocolate, we continued our expedition.

After telling this all to S later, he said that he would call me super-mom...if I hadn't done it to myself!

As for the rest of our day? Good! We marched between stores with either C in stroller and me holding W or with W in stroller and C in the bjorn (and G running along besides). All the stores I wanted to go to were kids' clothes stores so they had kid-friendly things to distract G&W and all the kids did really well. We did 2 stores and then it was getting too late to make it back before supper so we went to the expensive coffee shop to eat supper and feed baby C (that is one thing the outlet mall lacks, decent places to eat!). Then we went to our last store, hanna andersson, which is our favorite. Super good quality clothes, but unfortunately really expensive, so I love the outlet store and especially the clearance racks at the outlet. I just can't pay $33.50 for a pair of khaki shorts out of their catalog (I don't pay near that much for khakis for me!), so I picked them up on the clearance rack for $12. Now that still may be more expensive than the $6 Target ones, but they are so soft and will last through 2 boys and beyond! While I shopped (we were the only customers in the store), C slept in the bjorn, W played with the train set, and G talked the ear off of the store clerk. Too cute!

The ride home was the only other unfortunate part of the outing - it started raining, hard, was dark, C was crying, and W was sleepy and I could NOT let him sleep otherwise the night would be shot! But we made it home with some good deals and cute clothes for the kids.

Oh, and by the way, not one person asked or said anything about the bright blue crayon band-aid on my head while we were out!

visit from M & A...

aren't they cute?? =)

Long overdue, but wanted to post about it anyway! Although, now that I think about it, it was only a couple weeks ago - but for some reason feels a lot longer! Maybe we need more sleep...=)

The second weekend of March my brother M had classis exams here. We were exicted to see him, and even more excited because his wife A came along as well! This was the first time they had seen baby C so that was really neat too. The visit was from Monday to Thursday and we all had a marvelous time! S had Wednesday off, and my dad also came up on Wednesday too so good family time was had by all. We ate at noodles and co, had Dad's scalloped potatoes and ham, played rook, but most of all just enjoyed visiting with eachother. Oh yeah, lots of playing with kids and reading books too! The kids had so much fun and were sad to see everyone go. (As was I, I must say. =)

Before pics though, I have to put in props here for lovely A. She not only helped us run our errands on Tuesday (in which we were able to accomplish 3 stores in less than 2 hours, when that would normally take me 3 days - thanks so much A!), she helped me get 4 jumbo packs of the expensive fru-fru diapers for $5 each, free shampoo, conditioner and hairspray, and 3 cartons of free ice cream (breyers and kemps even - not the cheapo store brand!) all utilizing coupons. Yay!!!! She is my coupon hero...

Alright, on to the pics!

scalloped potatoes and ham...

When my brother M, his wife A, and my dad were here last week (different blog post on that later =), I asked Dad if he would make his famous/infamous (??) scalloped potatoes and ham. Now, it is the Betty Crocker recipe (with ham added), but my dad has a special touch that always makes it turn out better than anyone else who tries to make it. I have many fond memories as a child of helping my dad make this (and he would be cruel and make us 1 1/3 the recipe sometimes just so we could practice our math) in our kitchen. This is a labor intensive recipe and Dad can make this easily by himself, but it works so much better if a lot of people help. So all of us chipped in to help Dad out last week.

A favorite non-family blog of mine to follow and read is called Pioneer Woman. I won't go into everything on her blog right now, but one of the sections on her blog is about cooking and she takes detailed pictures of each step of the recipe which makes it very easy to follow. So since I had taken pictures while we were making the scalloped potatoes and ham with Dad, I thought I would do a picture how to post showing our fun.

How to make Dad's Scalloped Potatoes and Ham:

Put ingredients for white sauce in pot and stir stir stir...
(M always enjoyed this enthralling job)

Peel a bunch of potatoes
(I had forgotton to take a picture of this so A is actually posing! =)

Cube up a bunch of ham
(this is a great all natural ham from Costco that they only carry around Easter and Christmas)

Someone has to hold the fussy baby!
(S is either not sure why C is fussing or why that is his job! =)

Slice up the bunch of peeled potatoes
(Dad is super good at doing this evenly and quickly - it takes me way too long and the slices are never even and I always manage to almost cut my fingers off so he stopped letting me help do this part)

Slice up a bunch of onions
(do NOT add the clementines to the pot!)

Watch intently as a 3 yr old shows you how to layer everything in the pot...except the uber hot white sauce - an adult should do that
(G loves this part and fortunately she is 3 so she fits the bill for this job)

Save some nice big potato slices for the top layer
(ooooh, look at that potatoey, hammy, oniony goodness!)

Put in oven and watch bake for a while
(shh, don't tell, but this is actually a picture of all of them watching bunny cookies bake, not the scalloped potatoes and ham!)

Make way for the clean-up crew!
(and you really need to get out of the way, W is dangerous with a broom!)

And then enjoy!
(no pictures were taken of that because we were too busy stuffing our faces! =)