August 10 2024, Birthday 52
Wordless Wednesday- 4 parks in One Day
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Category Archives: Disney
5 Things Friday Catch up Edition!
- Our Disney trip was AWESOME! We enjoyed Easter Sunday with David and Haley at the Beach. David and Haley also joined us and Braxton for a couple of days of Disney fun! We were able to enjoy the campground and have discovered that Hoop De Doo Review is our favorite show! We are also learning that sticking with what we know we like is maybe better than trying all the things. This was our first and last trip to Steakhouse 71, burnt steak is not acceptable on any level. Although it was suggested that we go for breakfast so maybe!
- I came home on Sunday feeling absolutely miserable! I walked inside, took a shower and went to bed. I had a cough that lasted for 10 days. I still have a cough, but it is much better. I was discussing with Matt that I have been sick more and worse this year than I can ever remember.
- I still LOVE the camper. Side note, it took us a full week to actually get it cleaned out this time. However, I can say it is definitely our money pit. Each time we take it out we end up needing to replace some items. This trip, the toilet has to be replaced. It is leaking water both in the bowl and on the floor. Matt has already replaced the seal, so the full thing is replaced this time. We also have to replace a taillight that cracked and the latch on the screen door. Sunday morning before leaving we discovered that a light bulb needed to be replaced! Next up will likely be the door!
- Because of being so sick on the way home, it has taken almost a full two weeks for me to catch up on everything including blogging! Now I can begin my count down to summer. Technically, we have 8 weeks left in the school year with 5 of actual treatment.
- I have been super busy this week, working on getting the garden planted. We or I should say Matt worked hard before we left, and the greenhouse worked like a charm! I will be planting out all the tomatoes and green peppers in the next week depending on the weather.
Wordless Wednesday- Lily at Disney
5 Things Friday
- Last weekend we spent some time shopping to fulfill some summer needs. I did not realize that both Kendall and Zach needed new shoes. I still have a small list of items that are needed but I hope to finish those up this weekend as well. This was expensive but we spent time at Goodwill and Bargains by the Bin before heading to the other stores. Zach was able to find T-shirts at Belks for around $10 each!
- Another good deal last weekend was Shutterfly offered 8×8 books starting at $10. This is an awesome deal, actually one of my favorites. I ended up spending a great deal of time, really too much time, finishing up several projects. I ordered a total of 6 books and ended up spending $130 including shipping. The extra cost came from using Disney themes and extra pages (anything over 20). I do have one additional book I would like to get made and printed. This week Shutterfly is offering unlimited pages so I may see what that cost would be. But this depends on my time.
- We are headed to Disney in a short time. I have set a couple of goals for myself in order not to be the fat mom that slows everyone down. The first is that I spend at least 12 hours on the treadmill at the YMCA. I did my first hour last night so 11 more to go. I also want Braxton to get used to walking as we are not planning to use a stroller on this trip. The hope is that we can start family walks on Sundays and Lily would like to do at least one other walk during the week. The problem again is time at home.
- I have officially lost weight. In fact, I received a compliment on it last week! I have lost 16 pounds since December! I am also down one jean size which is super fun!
- We did not even remotely stick to the pantry challenge this month. So I have decided that we will do a strict pantry challenge with the exception of milk and water and soda until our Costco trip prior to leaving. The challenge will begin March 1st. We will be going to Costco before then but no other trips will be made unless something is a necessity by my standards.
Random Tuesday Thoughts
I am starting to feel better again! I started with a new and much more fun cold last Thursday. I came home from work on Friday and literally stay in the house spending most of the time in bed until Monday morning. Today, I have lots of congestion, but no headache and less coughing!
I am going to continue the pantry challenge into both February and March. The rules are that we only purchase items we are out of. So far the lack of fresh fruit has been the problem so we did purchase some last week. We are planning a trip to Costco this weekend. I am going to work hard to only purchase our drinks for a month which is 2 cases of water, 1 case of diet cokes and 1 case of Dr. Peppers. Matt is getting his tea on subscribe and save so I am going to omit the case of regular cokes. We also need flour and rice, bacon and sour cream. This will not be a cheap trip but my hope is this will help us hold the course. I have also reviewed and decreased our Subscribe and Save for February as well, I know that this will be $200. I also need to order more laundry detergent for Lily which is $70. Along with the Costco Trip I will be doing well to keep the budget at $500 for the month. I will also be purchasing some fruits and veggies for our Junk Food Sunday. Again I may end up around $700 for February. I am going to be ok with it because I am still saving money and rotating the pantry. I am starting to see a difference in our pantry and freezers so this is all a good thing.
On a positive note, we are currently getting an average of 4 eggs a day which definitely helps with protein intake and grocery expenses
We have started with our busy Spring Season of sports. This week we have both swim and baseball practice. Which means that Friday is the only evening that we will not be running somewhere. I have been enjoying my easier, cook or heat meals so we will continue with those which will also help with our grocery budget.
It has reached our 60 day mark for our spring Disney Trip! I was able to get up super early and got all the reservations that I wanted! I can’t wait!
Wordless Wednesday- Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
5 Things Friday- Travel Edition
- My mom, Granny, Amanda, Braxton, Lily, Izzy (Lily best friend), Kendall, Zach, Matt and I headed to Haley’s in Florida with the camper on Thursday December 28th. The trip down started at 4;45 and we arrived around 6:30pm so a 14 hour trip including stops for gas, breakfast and lunch. We headed home on January 2nd. Lily and Izzy were in the car with Granny as Amanda had flown home on Sunday. We started the trip around 8:15 am. and arrived home at 11:30, a 16 hour trip. It took us 6 hours to get out of Florida instead of 4. This was I felt like our longest and slowest trip ever. After much discussion, we are not exactly sure what we could have done differently to make the trip shorter.
- Everyone included David and Haley headed to Disney Springs on Friday December 29th, which was Granny’s birthday.
Braxton got his face painted as well! 
- Saturday was our Christmas celebration. I spent a couple of hours at Urgent Care. After dinner, Kendall, Izzy, Lily and I headed to the camper. I went to sleep, and the girls enjoyed a girls game which included lots of giggles. Matt and Zach stayed and watched a football game at Haley and David’s. Zach ended up staying at Haley’s for Saturday, Sunday and Monday night. He and Ryder played lots of video games.
- Sunday, New Year’s Eve was spent eating and laughing and just hanging out!
The girls headed to do a little bit of shopping at Target and Ross. Lots of football was watched as well. I ended up back at the camper early. But everyone else set off fireworks and played with sparkers! It is always nice to spend time with family. - Monday s adventure included a cold trip to the beach!
I put my toes in the water, it was cold. Zach and Braxton played in the water. Everyone else watched them as the water was too cold. We all enjoyed just being on a beach the first day of 2024!
Wordless Wednesday- Trip
One of our favorite things to do when we travel is EAT! Our recent trip to Florida was even better because some of the time David cooked some of the best food I have ever eaten!
Cracker Barrel is our first traditional stop on a trip!
We celebrated Granny’s birthday at Disney Springs at Earl of Sandwich-one of our absolute favorites!
We also ate at Texas Roadhouse for dinner!
Our Best place that we ate is also our newest favorite place! This will be a definite stop each trip to see Haley! These are called Bento boxes!
5 Things Friday
- It is the Friday before Christmas. Christmas is on Monday. We have exciting plans for every day between now and then. Tomorow, we are hosting a dinner for friends. Sunday is Christmas Eve services at church as well as my family Christmas.
- I have spent most of the day working on the dishes for the dinner. The kids have helped especially with the cleaning. We tried something new and I had everyone come in the kitchen, pick a recipe and then assembly. It worked super well! We got 5 casseroles assembled in less than one hour!
- The kids requested and got to open one present tonight after dinner. Kendall is the happiest with her new journaling Bible ESV version. Lily loved her present of makeup brushes until she saw Kendall! Zach is confused. He opened a double pack of baseball for a pitching machine that he does not have.
- I am planning to get most of the breakfast items prepared ahead for Christmas morning. We are going to plan to breakfast all day along with some leftovers. I do want to clean out my refrigerator and not let food go to waste.
- We leave for Florida in 5 days. My mother, Amanda and Braxton will be joining us on this trip. We will spend 4 days in Florida including a day at Disney Spring and another Christmas celebration with Haley and her family!
5 Things Friday- Financial Version
- November is a really expensive month for us! We have to pay taxes and purchase tags for the Tahoe, pay car insurance for six months and finish purchasing Christmas! Therefore, I have been trying my hardest to find ways to save money this month!
- Our church was gifted pumpkins this year. I volunteered to bring home the leftovers after all the kids got to pick one. We brought home around 20. Lily has helped me roast and bag 4 for baking and cooking. I am also saving seeds to try and plant next year as well as roasting some seeds to eat. The remaining pumpkins will be used to supplement the chickens’ diets!
- Cancelled Discovery plus! This is $7.99 a month. I was notified of a price increase so after talking it over we cancelled.
- Cancelled Disney Plus! Again because of a price increase this is no longer something we needed. We have debated signing up for it again in combination with ESPN. The price would be basically the same as the price increase but with additional benefit.
- I decided to cancel the collisions insurance on my car. The car is paid for and this saved around $150 for six months.