Category Archives: Zach

Random Thoughts Tuesday 8/14

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•We got back a $10 rebate from paint today so currently, we are over budget by only $4 now for the Renovation. Matt is going to take some scrap metal to the recycle center on Thursday so that will put us under again until I purchase the matching bed set for Kendall.

•Zach is currently sleeping in his new room, he “tried” giving up pacifiers last night but that did not go well. He currently only has the one in his mouth which is a decrease of 3. I really don’t see how he is going to give these up! But I also do not want to give up any more sleep in this battle.

•Matt is starting to work in his new office. I “think” all the work in the other rooms is finished! We even switched out door knobs on the little girls room after Kendall managed to lock herself in. So now that door does not lock.

•I am not planning a huge grocery trip this week. Instead we hit up Walmart tonight for the couple of items we are out of. I was only able to find one of the 5 deals I was looking for with my coupons. But on the bright side, we found a $1 clearance table with shorts for Zach. I purchased 6 pairs of shorts and 1 T-shirt as well as a skirt each for the girls. Total spent even with groceries $24!!

•As I moved clothes this weekend and yesterday, I discovered/confirmed that only Zach will be in need of clothes for this winter. He does not need a new coat or shoes or pajamas. My goal is to spend less than $75 on clothes for him this winter. Hopefully, I will be able to find a really good sale on jeans and pants as this is the biggest need for him.

•We started a new schedule around the house this week. We have moved every one’s bedtime to 7:30 except for Wednesday nights. Kendall and Lily both will be up later till at least 8:30 because of church. Lily also will have a second late night due to cheerleading. The even bigger change is a schedule during the day, which greatly reduces television watching and includes “school” time daily except for Thursdays. So far both evenings have gone much smoother and things seem not so “hurried”. Matt has work time and hopefully we can find a balance and maintain it!!

Renovation Update 8/13

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Lots of changes have been going on this past weekend. So I wanted to start sharing with you. We have not spent any more money but  mostly likely will end up spending more on a matching bed set for Kendall and a third dresser for Zach as he is sharing a closet and needs some more space.

Kendall’s new bed it fits so well!

Notice the cool strip and both the new dressers in Zach’s room

The finished product

 

Right before bed…………… don’t they look innocent?

 

 

 

Renovation update 8/9-The numbers!

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One of the advantages to staying home on vacation this week, is that we are making amazing progress on the renovations. Haley’s room is 100% complete. See below for all the details!

  1. Haley’s new room- Haley has moved across the hall to the
    largest bedroom with a half bath attached. a) Scrap popcorn
    ceiling- completed, b) repaint ceiling-completed c) Remove wallpaper
    boarder-completed d) repaint walls- e)Replace window- has been order.
    f)Complete floor in closet g) move window treatments    .DONE!!!! Furniture needed: 2 new dresser for clothing. After much debate at IKEA, Haley chose a clothing system that included pull out boxes. She was able to move all her clothing due to the deep boxes. Officially Haley’s room is finished.
  2. Lily and Kendall move into bigger room-a) Scrap popcorn ceiling, b) repaint ceiling
    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.      All these items are complete! After discussion, Matt is currently staining a new wooden bed frame for Kendall. My goal/plan for tomorrow is to get all the drawers labeled to make putting away clothing easier. Lily will have her own closet. Kendall and Zach will share the closet in Zach’s room.
  3. Zach gets his own room and closet- a) Scrap popcorn ceiling, b) repaint ceiling c) adapt currently color (yellow) to boys room probably pin-stripping and maybe stickers. Furniture needed:Due to changes in the budget, we decided to purchase 2 small dressers for Zach’s room. Currently, Matt is working to get the wall art complete, and then the ceiling. My best guess on when Zach will be changing to his new room is prior to Labor Day. Not this week but we are making steady progress!
  4. Matt’s office- Matt will need furniture only for this including -desk, chair and shelves. These needs have dramatically changes especially due to our budget and trying to get the most out of it. Matt has decided to make a desk with an old door and unused floor planks. In addition, he was given an awesome chair so it will now be a matter of arranging and using things we have as our budget is gone.!

 Spending Totals for Renovations

Budget information:$1000

Total spent $470 with $530 remaining. 

Total spent $595 with $405 left.

Since the last update, our planned trip to IKEA has been completed. We spent $339 on everything including several candles and all the new furniture. Matt has made 2 small trips to Lowes this week as well to purchase paint and supplies for the bed, total spent $80. For a grand total this week of $419.

We currently are $14 over budget at $1014. I am planning to continue sharing with you updates so that you can see how far we can stretch this last spending spree. I also want to be able to see on average what we spent per room.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

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  • My house is really really quiet at 8:17am!!! Why? Because this week our church is having Vacation Bible School. The kids spend from 9-12 for 5 days at church learning, doing crafts and playing games. This year the theme is “Jesus is My Rock”  Haley is the official nursery person and a general helper. Matt is in charge of games. On Monday, they had 116 kids!  From everything I have seen and heard is was awesome. All the kids were singing new songs first thing this morning.
  • This week has also turned out to be one of the busiest of the summer. In addition to VBS, Monday Lily had cheerleading, I went to pick tomatoes. Tuesday Matt has a meeting tonight at church. Wednesday we have to mow our jungle aka yard and pick tomatoes again.
  • My brother is gone with his church on a youth trips so he suggested I come over and claim as many tomatoes as I wanted. Yesterday, I picked 8 gallons. I am so excited about this because we  now have 15 cans of diced tomatoes in our freezer. By the looks of the vines, I probably will pick another 5 gallons on Wednesday, with the plan of a another batch of Salsa. I need to check again on Friday,if I can pick another 3 gallons then those will be used for more diced/stewed tomatoes.
  • We have several answers to prayer this week, first we received out of the blue a check to cover the purchase of VBS t-shirts, and the above tomatoes are another. I have been praying for some extra tomatoes, I have even debated on purchasing some  to freeze. We typically use at least one recipe a week that calls for 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes. My goal this summer was to get a stock pile in the freezer to save this cost.
  • The food co-op ended this week, but I was able to add a batch of salsa and another 4 ears of corn frozen. We will be using some of the corn this week as side dishes as well.
  • I will be updating on my Grocery Store Challenge tomorrow, but to be honest it has been a little bit difficult for me. I currently have a list, of items we are completely out of and my goal is to stay under the budget and purchase all the items. If I were not doing the challenge, I definitely would have already gone and purchased these items because I consider most of them staples. So the challenge is working, but not as easy as it sounds.
  • Nothing new is happening with the renovation simply because we don’t have the time. I am being to wonder if it will be finished before my week of vacation or if it will become the way I spent my vacation?

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!

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