I'm in trouble

My kids are so sweet together and are already giving me a run for my money.  They love playing together.  Bailey adores making her little brother laugh and Eli is just smitten with his big sister.  I'm sure the next few years are going to bring even more crazy days as they grow and get into more mischief.  Here are some fun pictures from the week.

 Bailey flying Eli like an airplane and Eli LOVING it!

 Jumping on the bed.  One of their most favorite things to do together.

 HUGS

 We all fall down...

 I was hanging up some clean clothes and put Eli in his crib.  I turn around and Bailey had climbed in with him.  They were having a great time.  Oy!

Ummm...don't think you're supposed to sit like this in a bouncer buddy.

 

Look at that face though.  Such a charmer!

30 Day Challenge: Week 1

My 30 day grocery challenge has begun.  This week was a success but definitely required planning.  Usually I just make a meal plan depending on what I feel like eating.  This week I had to go a step further and made my meal plan around what I had in my freezer and pantry already as well as what was on sale at the store.  I also went to the store with $50 cash which helped tremendously.  This week I'm sure will be the easiest of the weeks because I relied heavily on items that I already had.  Now that the week is over my freezer is pretty much empty and I am out of most of my staples like olive oil, salad dressings, etc.  It's going to get interesting the next three weeks.  Here's what I bought and what I spent this week.

BOUGHT:  kale, romaine lettuce, eggs, organic whole milk, mozzarella cheese, bacon, carrots, strawberries, blueberries, garlic, cantaloupe, bananas, diced tomatoes

SPENT:  $29.98
It was actually really funny because I was tallying up my total as I went throught the store.  I thought I had over spent so I started putting stuff back and getting cheaper produce.  For example, I put back the large container of strawberries and got the small instead and a cantaloupe instead because it was cheaper and I thought it would go further.  Then I get to the register and majorly overcompensated because I still had $20.02 to spend. 

 So Friday I went to Sam's and spent the rest of the $20 and then some.  I bought a large container of strawberries, pork chops, ground beef, and 2 whole chickens.  Hang with me non-math majors.  This might get a bit confusing.  I spent $55.13 at Sam's.  I still had $20.02 left to spend for the week so I subtracted that off to leave a total of $35.11.  I plan to make this meat stretch the remainder of the 30 day challenge, so 3 more weeks.  I divided $35.11 by 3(weeks) to reflect this, which is $11.70.  This amount will be automatically docked from the next 3 weeks bills, leaving me with $38.30 to spend in the upcoming weeks.  Ouch!  

WHAT WE ATE


Monday
B:  eggs, bacon, yogurt, leftover pancake (We didn't all eat all of this.  This is what everyone ate)
L:  shrimp stir fry (garbage meal):  All my leftover produce that I was going to have to throw in the garbage I made into a quick stir fry.  I also had about a 1/2 lb frozen wild caught shrimp that I had gotten on sale for 7.99/2lb a few weeks ago. It was originally a $20 bag.  After I stir fried the veg and shrimp, I then added some garlic and wheat free soy sauce.

D:  leftover soup from the weekend
(white chicken chili)
dessert:  almond butter cookies:  experimental and not too great (almond butter, stevia, egg)





Tuesday
B: yogurt with fruit
L: (Ken) leftover white chili; cantaloupe (Tara) spinach salad w/chicken and pine nuts (Bailey) soup, cantaloupe, milk
D:  homemade pizza: Whole wheat dough ball in freezer, homemade sauce from here, peppers, sausage, mushrooms, and spinach







Wednesday
B:  bacon, fruit smoothie
L:  leftover pizza, salad with homemade dressing, egg salad
D:  kale and white bean soup
   White beans were in the freezer from a bag that I had made the week prior when I had white chicken chili.  Broth was from the week prior when I had boiled chicken and bones to make broth. 






Thursday
B fruit smoothies  (Eli had mashed up banana)
L leftover soup; Ken ate with the Joy club @ church
D:  grandparents’  beef stew and Greek salad

Friday
B:  sausage, cantaloupe, eggs  (banana for Eli)
L:  leftover soup
D:  bacon, eggs (no picture)

Saturday
B:  eggs and sausage, yogurt, fruit
L:  church potluck ( I was bad and brought free Little Ceasar's and rice krispy treats since I had all the ingredients and it wouldn't cost me anything)
D:  leftover potluck food

Sunday
B:  breakfast @ church
L:  catered lunch @ church for 45th anniversary of our church
D:  buffalo chicken salads









Snacks: bananas, strawberries, blueberries, almond butter, cheese, graham crackers, cantaloupe 

Letter of the Week: G

Another week here and gone.  It was a bit of a slow week this week because Bailey wasn't feeling the best.  We still had some fun "G" activities to share with you though .  Enjoy!

Girl G

Gorilla in the jungle:  I was really proud of this one because she did most of it completely by herself.  We used a cookie cutter dipped in brown paint for the gorilla. She started to paint it in and then decided she didn't want to.  Then she added trees and grass to make the jungle.  She even used scissors all by herself.  I helped her spell gorilla with foam stick on letters and that's about all I did.  Ignore the random dinosaur in there.  haha  Not sure what that's about. 

 Bible lesson and activity:  Goliath the giant.  We talked about the story and then made our Goliath.  We found 5 stones outside like David did and tried to throw them at Goliath's head.  It was a lot of fun.

Eli showing Goliath who's boss.  It was quite the showdown.

Garden sensory box.  Rice, macaroni, leftover seeds, fake flowers from my wedding, watering can, plastic shovels...hours of fun

Gone bananas

My little man had his first taste of food this week.  Up until now he has been exclusively breastfed, but recently he has been diving for our food and trying to eat it.  I was eating a banana for breakfast and he started grabbing for it so I thought now was just as good of time as any to let him have his first taste.  I took a hunk off of the banana and mashed it with a fork until it was smooth and gave it a go.  Like most babies, he wasn't exactly sure of it, so the faces are priceless, but all in all I think he liked it.  Now I'm looking forward to introducing more food to him in the upcoming weeks.  I just love this stage with babies, but it is so bittersweet because I can't get over how fast he's growing.  My sweet little cuddle bug is getting so big.

kale and white bean soup

Soup is such a great way to stretch a buck and extremely versatile.  You can throw just about anything into a pot with some broth and call it a day.  This was part of my 30 Day Challenge .  I made it early in the week so we could eat it for lunches.  I just love this hearty soup.  It's a bowl full of health with the kale, garlic, onions, and carrots.  This was also made with my own broth which is extremely frugal, tasty, and healthy.  It tastes so much better for you than store bought and much more healthy.  You could add sausage, bacon, chicken, or other protein to it if you wanted but I didn't since I was working with a tight budget and the beans already have protein.  If you don't do beans, try it with some other protein.  Hope you like it.

2 T choice of fat- butter, coconut oil, animal fat, etc.
1 onion diced
4-5 carrots sliced
3 cups white beans (precooked if using dried)
large bunch of kale(stems removed and chopped)
bay leaf
2 cloves garlic minced or crushed
6 cups broth

Heat oil in large stock pot over medium heat.  Add onions, carrots and saute until onions are soft.  Add remaining ingredients, stir.  Bring to a boil and then turn back heat and let simmer for 30-60 minutes.

Keepin It Real

Many of you may think I am crazy for doing this but I feel like this is such an important post that I am going to sacrifice my pride to share with you what I'm about to share with you.  This post was inspired by a conversation that I had with my cousin's wife last Friday night.  We were talking about how moms are basically each other's worst enemies.  We judge, brag, alienate, gossip, and put on facades to make others around us think that we have it all together and are better than others.  Why do we do this?  I suspect it's because of our own insecurities.  We like people to tell us how great we are.  We like the assurance that we are doing something good.  Reality is, most of us, if we're honest are pretty much just like everyone else, barely holding it together day by day.  I mean the Bible tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Romans 3:23.  Working moms, stay at home moms, military wife moms, single moms, you name it, we all have our share of struggles that we deal with on a daily basis. 

I have a friend that was recently attacked by a woman online whom she has never met because this woman felt undervalued because her job as a military wife/mother was much harder than a "regular" person.  Why the need to attack a stranger over it tells me that this woman is probably feeling inadequate and makes herself feel better by telling others how easy they have it. 

With all of my rambling this may seem like I don't have a real point.  I do; I promise!  Hang with me.  After all of these conversations I've had with these women, I started thinking about my own life.  Have I ever purposefully tried to put on a facade and make myself out to be this perfect person that I am not?  If I'm honest with myself, the answer is probably yes.  I often put on a facade at church and I hate it.  My husband is an associate pastor of youth and family at our church.  I often feel the pressure to act a certain way, look a certain way, and do certain things.  There are many times that I am a total crab on Sunday morning not even in the mood to step outside my house, rushing around like a crazy person trying to get there on time but then as soon as we walk in the door, the smile goes on and I feel like I have to be "Perfect Pastor's Wife."  There have been times when I have walked around burdened with such serious burdens but felt like I couldn't share them with others because of our position in the church.  It's sad really. 

But then, I have this blog and you see pictures and posts that make it look like I possibly have it all together.  It looks like my kids are always clean, happy, healthy and we live in happy magical crafty fairy food land.  lol  Ok maybe not exactly that but an altered reality for sure.  This post is to share with you that what you see on the screen is only a small piece of our puzzle.  It's the highlights of the day in the middle of the mess. 


Yes I may have cooked a delicious and healthy meal  but it has left our kitchen looking like this.

 Sadly there's a good chance it may look like this for several days before I get it back together.  Sorry Mom and Grandma!  haha

 Our junk pile on our island.

We may do cute crafts...

 But it ends up looking like this on my kitchen table and usually doesn't get picked up in time for us to eat dinner at the table.

 Living room:  Yes that's a dirty diaper on the floor.

 Yes there's a couch in my hallway piled with stuff.  It's meant for a yardsale or Goodwill but here it sits...a week later.

I may dress my kids and myself fairly well, but my kids wear mostly hand-me-downs

 and my bedroom often looks like it vomited my laundry.

 Another shot by the bed

And there's more behind the door.  WOAH!

Don't even get me started on the playroom.  I forgot to take a picture out there but you get the idea.  It pretty much looks like the other places.  hehe  I'd like to tell you that I've staged these pictures, but nope, I haven't.  This was just a normal Monday.  Does my house always look like this?  No.  You may be thinking, "Ewww that woman's a slob!  Doesn't she know how to clean?"  Sure I do.  I clean a lot but life happens and sometimes you have to make a choice between a clean house and dinner on the table and time with my kids.  I often choose the quality time and food.  :)  So there you have it.  Keepin it real in the Buss house.  This was really on my heart because I don't want anyone to think this blog is a way for me to brag or make it seem like my life is something that it's not.  I blog to show you a few things that we do to keep life fun and hope that it helps inspire you to use the life that God has given you and do something beautiful with it.  Now don't go telling everyone how big of a slob I am ok?  lol  What we can do though is to stop putting on facades and be ourselves.  Stop playing the mom competition game and start being there for one another, carrying each other's burdens and building each other up.

Letter of the Week- F

F panned out to be a F F F FUN week.  Yeah I'm a nerd.  I hope this inspires you to do something fun with your kid.  Here's the rundown. 

 Fish bowl lunch:  grilled cheese sandwich fish, grape and strawberry rocks, spinach leaves for seaweed

 FALL:  collect fallen leaves and do fall leaf rubbing

 Fishing game to go along with our Bible lesson of Jesus performing a miracle to help his friends catch fish:  A blue tote was our boat.  Use a stick or rod and tie fishing wire to it.  At the end of the fishing wire tie a felt worm and hot glue a fridge magnet on the end.  Cut out various colors of fish and put several paper clips on them so you can fish with the magnet worm. 

 Family F:  Simple craft.  Cut out pictures of your family and have your child glue them onto the F.

 Fishbowl handprint craft.  I got this idea from here She named our fish Otto from one of her favorite Dr. Seuss books.

F tracing page from here