Category Archives: Lily

Random Tuesday Thoughts

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  • Wordless Wednesday- will have a new pictures of Haley’s room with the new bed set that we purchased on Sunday. Lily has a matching set and we bought a coordinating blanket to use on Haley’s bed!
  • Matt is currently working on painting the ceiling in the new room for the little girls. We have changed our color design yet. The holes are patched so now the real fun can begin.
  • Matt was so nice to point out a math error on my renovation budget this evening so now I am hoping to save the rest to use at IKEA.
  • I have been focused all Spring/ Summer on not wasting any of the veggies that we get from the Produce co-op. Saturday night that became a failure due to a migraine and steamed snap peas that turn bad!
  • This Saturday, will be our last day to pick up produce, so far this summer, we have frozen around 3 dozen ears of corn, several packages of spinach, a couple packs of broccoli, 5 or more packs of green beans, 2 packs of diced tomatoes and 6 cans of Rotel. This is all with the surplus that we could not consume in the week.
  • Currently in my crock-pot, I am attempting to make a vegetable soup starter, using items that would be throw away or go bad before I could use them. I added a bunch of celery (leaves and all), carrots, green onions, couple cloves of garlic and some fresh dill. Hopefully after cooking for 12 hours I will use the blender to make the base to freeze for use this winter. The color was really pretty to start so who know how it will turn out.
  • I really enjoyed being a Mom today. Matt needed to work on some things for VBS, so I took the 3 little kids to the pool. Lily had swim team practice so I was able to spend some quality time with just Kendall and Zach. After practice and ice cream we all swam laps and played for a bit. Driving home, I looked in the mirror and all the kids were singing with K-LOVE. The thought actually occurred to me “This is why I always wanted to be a mom.”
  • We are currently looking at our cell phone plan. It is time for me to get a new phone and because I have a basic phone the choices are really limited. I am even considering an Iphone.
  • In an effort to conserve energy and ultimately save money, we have adjusted our thermostat to 74 degrees. That is 4 degrees higher than where we started the summer. We are running the ceiling fans a little bit more but the house is actually staying pleasant. From reading 78 is the ideal temperature for the summer. I know we won’t get there but I may sneak it up to 75 in another week or so.

Summer Renovations

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Big things are happening around here, renovations being one of them, along with the series that is associated with them. Be sure to follow along with us to see real life numbers and some pictures as well. Amanda has decided to venture out to life on her own, we are excited and praying for her as she starts new things. For the rest of us it means we are moving rooms, which means lots of work and changes.

Our goal for this project is to get everyone in their new spaces completely prior to school starting. A second goal is that we finish this entire project for under $1000. Matt and I have decided that we are only spending $1000, if this means that certain furniture can’t be purchased then it will be put on hold.  In regards to blogging about this renovation, I will provided at least a weekly update with numbers and pictures.

Breakdown of projects:

  1.  Haley’s new room- Haley will be moving across the hall to the largest bedroom with a half bath attached.   a) Scrap popcorn ceiling- completed, b) repaint celing-completed c) Remove wallpaper boarder-completed d) repaint walls e)Replace window- has been order. f)Complete floor in closet  g) move window treatments.  As you can see we are half way finshed with this room. Hopefuly Haley can move over the weekend.    Furniture needed: 2 new dresser for clothing.
  2. Lily and Kendall move into bigger room- a) Scrap popcorn ceiling, b) repaint celing c) Remove wallpaper boarder d) repair  walls and door e) Paint walls f) Purchase and hang new window treatments. g) Matt is planning to make a new twin bed frame for Lily to use.  h) change light fixture for new fan already purchased. Furniture needed: New closet divider, bins.
  3. Zach gets his own room and closet- a) Scrap popcorn ceiling, b) repaint celing c) adapt currently color (yellow) to boys room probably pin-stripping and maybe stickers. Furniture needed: NONE
  4. Matt’s office- Matt will need furniture only for this including -desk, chair and shelves

We have already purchased and  installed a ceiling fan in the playroom which has made a real difference in the temperature in this room.

Budget information:$1000

Spent $300 @ Lowes for new window and ceiling fans

Spent $120 @ Lowes on paint.

Total spent $420 with $680 remaining!

Swim Team

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Lily’s very first swim meet!

She swam only one event, 25 meter freestyle. She stopped on the ropes several times with time of 1:33.

Lily’s second swim meet. She actually swam a relay and her own event.

Lily only stopped one time during her event. Swimming time was 1:15.



Kendall and Zach enjoy unlimited snacks while at the Swim meet!
Lily climbing out exhausted after her event!

Finally have a few minute to get these pictures up.  I will be moving the blog to it’s own website with some cool new features on July 1st. I am so excited to share!

Sunday Shopping

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My favorite time to shop is on Sunday afternoons during nap time. This usually is the most stress free time for me plus the local CVS ad does not change till Sunday mornings so they usually have most items in stock still. Lily is growing up, in fact she is becoming so grown up that unless we have been our way late (9pm) several nights in a row, she doesn’t need a nap during the day.  So I invited her to go along with me today.
Lily said that her favorite part was pushing the buggy at CVS.  My goal at CVS was to purchase 8 boxes of cereal at my stock up price of less than $2.  While reading blogs to plan ahead for my trip, I realized that the CVS ads were very different. I decided to check out mine prior to going. In addition to most of the items I had been reading about VO5 shampoo and conditioners were on sale for $0.66. The red machine gave Lily several coupons and I ended up purchasing 8 boxes of cereal, 3 bottles of shampoo, 2 bottles of conditioner, 2 boxes of eye patches and 2 bottles of body wash for $20, a saving of 73%.  I also obtained a rain check for the shampoo and conditioners since they only had 4 in stock.
Our next stop was Food Lion, a friend had told me of some interesting deals. I usually hate shopping at Food Lion simply because they are not coupon friendly and the prices are usually much higher. I was able to save 50% today using only coupons that were printed from their “red box” I am really pleased.
Overall I spent $41, saved 72 or 73%. The best part of the day was coming home, the little kids were so excited that we had sugary cereal, they all wanted cereal as snack! I even got a huge “thank you” from Zach for cereal! 

First Days of Summer

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Summer officially begins around here the day that school ends. So this was our first weekend of summer….

Spending lots of time at the pool..where Lily is able to jump off the diving board with floats. She is even able to swim to the side unassisted!

New Haircuts for everyone.  There is  now no doubt what his last name is.

Lily lost another tooth on Saturday am~

Lots of fresh veggies are making up most of our meals!

Where does the Time go?

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6:25pm-Rush to clock out of work and head to the pool to pick up kids.
6:26pm- Attempt to call Matt, can’t talk, Kendall hurt her lip at pool.
6:30pm-Call back from Matt, Kendall okay, decide to pick up a sandwich and fries for dinner.
6:50pm- Arrive at pool, share fries with everyone and eat sandwich.
7:00pm- Help Lily with shower so she can go to tumbling practice.
7:20pm- Attempt to leave pool with Kendall and Zach to come home for bedtime.  Zach is unhappy, screaming at the top of his lungs, long drive home.
7:30- Call my mom to drown out Zach’s screaming in the car.
7:40-Arrive home, time to shower, dress and put Kendall and Zach to bed.

What does an hour look like at your house? Join in over at Stacey’s Mothering Moments