Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Freebies and Grilled Flatbread Pizza

First off, I have to say Thank You God for not waking up with a headache today. 

Ok, here's the freebie part. I was reading some blogs yesterday and realized that I had some coupons for free items at Walmart. I had to go to Walmart anyway, so we headed over to that dreaded store. But this time it wasn't so dreaded. I got several free items!


I have no clue why Blogger won't let me turn the photos. They are turned the right way on my computer. Sorry, you will have to turn your head sideways.

FREE after I watched a knife presentation.

FREE with 2/$1 off coupons

FREE and made a dollar with 2/$1.50 off coupons

FREE with 2/$1 off coupons. Travel size

I also got a Fruities squeezable thing for Free with a coupon, but B ate it before I could get a pic.

Not bad. It does take some work. But I'm hoping as I learn more about couponing, that I'll be able to save our family some more money. I have some things to get at Dollar Tree this afternoon. We'll see what I'm able to do there too.

Now for the Pizza! It was probably the best homemade pizza yet. I made the dough as usual, but this time I grilled it on both sides and then added toppings. Yum!



And once again, I caught Bitty Baby with her thumb in her mouth. Oh, decisions...decisions......Do I let her continue?


Monday, May 20, 2013

What a week!

I can't even begin to tell you all that's happened over the past week. I haven't even had time to keep up with you all on FB. Let's see. B fell out of her crib and is now sleeping in a toddler bed, I spent 3 days making a wedding and groom's cake, I weeded my entire vegetable garden, made homemade sourdough pretzels (Yum!), went to church, went to my son's band concert, and this morning went to my oldest daughter's 5th grade graduation. That about sums it up.

Here's some pictures to prove it. I'll post cake pics on a separate post later.

Watching her new favorite move, Milo and Otis......again and again and again........



Hot out of the oven

Warm pretzel with black forest ham, cheese, and homemade honey mustard

Someone left the bag of wipes too close to the crib. Now she's in a toddler bed.

My trumpet player

Bitty baby now sucks her thumb, but usually just to go to sleep. I guess 1 out of 4 is alright. She is my first thumb sucker.

Pretty Sisters

B got to go to school

I can't believe she's going to middle school!

Helper award

Reading award

All the girls!
Stay tuned for cake pics! 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

And it isn't over yet.......

This has been one of those weeks.

It always seems like when I have my life scheduled to simplify matters, someone/something always throws a wrench in there to wreck it. Now that I am starting to bake again, my first cake being a wedding and groom's cake this weekend, I've been gearing up for the past few weeks. Making plans, writing supply lists, coordinating who and what goes where. And now I'm down to the last few days. Everything is going fine so far, but not without a little stress. My son had his Spring Band Concert last night. My daughter had to miss her gymnastics class, that I will still have to pay for. I found out that our finances are a little worse off than I thought they were, and I already knew they were bad. My husband is stressed for that reason, plus he has alot going on at work. My kids bring me a spread sheet of all of their lunchroom purchases and payments for this last school year, and I realized that we had come up short on paying the cafeteria. So hoping that they wouldn't cash the checks, just yet, hoping they would wait until Thursday ........nope. They cashed them yesterday, which costed us $50 in bank fees. Ugh! Any other time, they'd hung on to it. And because of our lack of finances at this moment, I'm not able to go to my son's Band Banquet. It really saddens me that I had to tell him that the reason I am not able to go is because I didn't have the money to pay. 

I'm just feeling like I'm under attack this week. The stress level is high here. I've been placing my focus on the wedding cakes. I want it to be beautiful, and it will be. I think the devil just knew that I would be tight this week, and he decided to add a few things to my schedule. In addition to what I mentioned above. My oldest daughter has had two field trips so far this week and field day is tomorrow. My son has an out of state field trip on Saturday. My middle daughter has learned to hop out of her baby crib. I knew she was almost to that point, and she decided to do it early. I was waiting until after the wedding cakes to start toddler bed training her. Oh, she's growing to fast. Her latest saying is "Moooo Cow". But it's so funny how she say it. It's almost like moo-caow, like and Indian says "How". lol. The moo part sounds high and the cow part is low. 

Sorry, to unload all of my problems tonight. I guess I just needed to get it off of me, some form of stress relief. So, in order to brighten things up, here's some pics of my inspiration for the Wedding cake and Grooms cake.


The Bride has chosen a Winter/Christmas theme. I know what your thinking. Christmas in May? But if anyone can pull it off, she can. She's been planning and making decorations. And I think that on this hot Saturday, that the Winter/Christmas theme will be refreshing.

The groom loves tropical reef fish. And so his cake is in the theme of an aquarium. They provided me with the names of his favorite creatures. I've got them made already, but I'm waiting to take pictures later. The fish are all made out of modeling chocolate, and the reef/rock will be made of rice crispy treats and pulled sugar.








I'm going to be busy until after the weekend, so this is my last post for the week. I'm heading to bed. God Bless you all, and have a great weekend.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Randomness

I have been so busy lately, that I have neglected to post on here. 

Here are some random pics from the past 2 weeks.......

Big stuff at 18 months old now


My gosh, they're growing up!

Picture Torture


Mid-cartwheel

He made me proud that day. Mowed the whole front yard and made no complaint.

Ok, I had to sneak this picture. It was pouring down rain, and my son heard a lawnmower running. We looked outside and our neighbor was mowing his grass in the rain! I've never seen such.

Yogurt face

These meltdowns are becoming rather popular with her here lately.

10 weeks old

Couch Bum

I will try to do better at posting. This next week, my schedule will be tight. But after that, I should be back to normal again.

A weekend with a SPLASH

Last Saturday we had the parties for my two oldest's birthdays. Every year I plan something special for them. I know I probably overdo it slightly, but it roots back to when they were babies. I guess they are so special to me that I want to celebrate their births to the fullest.

Their birthdays are only five days apart by two years. We have tried having separate parties, but then no one shows up. Plus we mostly invite the same people to both parties. So that is why they always get stuck together. It's kinda like having twins. This year I took the easy route. I knew I needed an easy year, with having the two little one in tow. But it was a success. They all had fun, and I didn't have a mess at my house.

Thank you to all who made it a great day for them.

My quiet little girl........getting all sassy for the camera.



He just loves his sister.



Smile!

Peanut butter cup Cupcakes

Skittles cupcakes

Haha....mostly cupcakes

She helped herself to the celery, and then dipped it too.

Waiting for more guests

This still wasn't all the girls.

The boys table

Still munching on that celery stick

Just missed them singing to the radio. Almost the whole table was singing.

This must have been the girls table.






















Racket ball.........Army Style








It was really fun to watch.












It was a fun day. Hope you enjoyed all the pictures.