Money-Saving Tip I

When it comes to money, I've always been a saver. Thrifty. Frugal. Cheap. Call it what you want, but I've been like this even back when I was younger. When I got birthday money as a kid, I usually chose to put it in my savings account (or I was forced to...I'm not sure) and by 16 I was investing money in mutual funds.

Anyway, now that I stay at home with my kids, I'm always looking for ways to save money so that we can live off of one income. It always made me feel way cheap in a society that was obsessed with spending. But....... as you know, the tides have changed, and our economy is now in a recession. Bad for the US, great for me! Suddenly, every magazine, TV show, book is giving advice on how to save some money. And now it's perfectly understandable to decline an invite out to eat or something similar because "money's tight" and "we're in a recession". Luckily, this recession hasn't really affected us that much, but I am loving that more people are interested on saving money.

So, to mix up some of the family posts, every once in awhile I'll post ways that we save money as a family. Most of them are pretty small and seem insignifigant, but a lot of small savings add up to a big chunk of money which equals me staying home to raise our kids!

So here's the first one:

Soap. With changing lots of diapers comes washing lots of hands. So I've found a way to stretch the soap to go a little bit farther.

I love the Bath and Body Works Foaming Soap, but I've learned that I can basically double what I get by diluting it with water with a 1:1 ratio. The foam seems exactly the same and I've been playing around with exactly how much water I can add before I can tell a difference. I've also gotten many of these as gifts, and you can't get much cheaper than free.

For the kitchen, I purchased a KitchenAid Foam Soap Pump for $15 at Kohl's (on sale and with a gift card, of course!). It requires 10% soap (the regular kind) and 90% water. Shake and use! It's pretty awesome.
And there's more tips where that came from, so stay tuned! ;)

Veggie Burgers

We are BIG fans of burgers in this house (who isn't?!) so we love trying different meats, toppings, combinations, and buns. We had these veggie burgers last night for supper and they were awesome! We've had them before, and each time they were great. Really healthy and really easy.

And tonight for our pizza night, instead of our usual pepperoni/sausage, I'm going to try all veggies and play around w/ cream cheese fore the sauce. I may add chicken, I haven't decided yet.

Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers Rated: Submitted By: LAURENMU Photo By: baskerville_gal Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 20 Minutes Ready In: 35 Minutes Servings: 4 "Spiced up with chili sauce, cumin, garlic and chili powder, these quick and easy black bean burgers will make you forget all about frozen, packaged veggie burgers. They're great on the grill or baked in the oven." Ingredients: 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces 1/2 onion, cut into wedges 3 cloves garlic, peeled 1 egg 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon cumin 1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce 1/2 cup bread crumbs Directions: 1. If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet. 2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty. 3. In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans. 4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce. 5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties. 6. If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 7/9/2009

Next time I might double the batch and freeze them for a quick last-minute supper. Yum!

Don't Tell Daddy!

4th of July Weekend

I love 3 day weekends. Not because I get a day off of work (ha!) but Wade does and it's busy, fun, and awesome. This past 4th of July weekend was no exception.

On Friday we spent the day on my friend Kolby's new (to her) boat. It wasn't "crazy like the ol' college days" since we had two young kids on board, but still fun.

Then, we spent Sat and Sun at my parents house. We watched fireworks from the deck, played games, saw Mitchell's new apartment, went to the "beach", and ate lots of good food. It was low-key and fabulous.

Engagement Pics Take 2

"Photos by Allison"

I know Allison is going to groan out loud when she sees these, but I think they're funny. :)

These are a couple of the engagement pictures that my sister took for us almost 3 years ago at the ISU campus. At the time, I was looking for ways to save $$ and she enjoyed taking pictures, so it worked out well. I was SO pleased with how they turned out, especially since they were free! (I should mention that these by far were not the best ones of the day, there were ones that were actually pretty decent.)

Fast forward 3 years.... the girl's now got dreams of photography school, owning her own business, and is an editing genius.

She is preparing for an engagement session with another couple soon and wanted a little practice beforehand, so Wade and I were her guinea pigs. It was our engagement pictures TAKE 2! It was fun. Click HERE to see more pictures on her blog! She really is amazing. Not gonna lie, I cried.

Happy Birthday Reese!

Reese turns THREE today!!!!!!!!!! It's going way too fast. She is really excited, not so much for the birthday or the presents, but for the cake. That's my girl! (The pink cake that I just burned b/c I forgot my oven cooks at 100 degrees hotter than what it's set it at. But I just scraped off all the burnt parts, and I'll slather it with tons of frosting and no one will know the difference!)

To my Sweet Girl,

My world revolves around you. You are with Grandma and Becky right now shopping and I don't know what to do with myself. You make me laugh, cry, giggle, and scream. I hope that you stay just as sweet and cute as you are today, your third birthday. Three years ago you made me a mom. Your mom. My life instantly got brighter. And I know this is who I was meant to be.

I secretly love it when you crawl in bed with me in the middle of the night. And I brush your hair out of your eyes, tell you to stop wiggling, and just cuddle. Even though "they say" your not supposed to start bad habbits like that.

I love that you wear my high heels around the house, even though I am always tripping over them and dragging them back to my closet. You just look too darn cute.

I love that you save the craziest part of your personality for us. You are a very cautious young lady around others, and that's okay. It's part of who you are. The world's just not ready for you and your crazy side. Believe me, I've seen it.

Thank you for being YOU. A big sister to Beckett, daddy's little girl, and mommy's princess. You have made these the best three years ever!

My Amazing Wife!!!! Seriously!!!!!!

**** Update from Liz: Yes, it's true...I'm pretty much a rock star mom. Thanks babe! Although you left out vacuumed the house, went to the bank, sorted and dropped of the recycling, and gave one child a bath because she couldn't figure out how to take her swim suit off fast enough to go #2. Gross.


First I have to say that she will probably not care for this post so i'll make it short.
I have to say that she is amazing. The things she has done today alone, Wake up with 2 kids and feed them plus herself, dress them, mowed the lawn as well as run the weed eater for the second time now that she knows how to start it.(first time i had it running) watched Lexi also, took all three kids to the pool, feed them all lunch, and as I write this she is at the store getting groceries. AMAZING..... I just want Liz to know how much I appreciate her and I could never do it. Love You Hunny!!!!!!!!!!

Quick Update

Recently, I've noticed that I've been staying up later at night, after everyone else goes to bed. At first I couldn't figure out why, especially when I'm so tired the next day, but I think it's because it's the only time I get completely to myself. And it's nice.

As my lovely children grow up before my eyes, here's a quick update on the stages they are currently in right now.

Reese
Miss Attitude is almost 3, which is UNREAL. She's a fiestly little firecracker at home, but completely goes back into her little shell when we're out in public. Which is hard for me, since Wade and I are such outgoing people. She prefers not to wave, give high-fives or even say hello to others when they greet her. I worry that people may percieve her to be snotty or rude, but I'm trying to remember that she's only 2 (if only for a few more days!!!) so it's still to be expected.

She dances all over the house. Today I peeked in her room and she had her play dress on, arms stretched out, and was twirling around. She told me she was dancing with "her prince".

Sharing is still hard, but we're working on it. Playdates at our house aren't much fun because she gets so upset that other kids are playing with her toys.

She calls me Liz. She hears the neighbor girl call me this and she copies everything she does. It makes me laugh.

She loves to swim and talk to Daddy on the phone. She can dress herself, recognize all her letters, sleep in a big bed, but is still is a basket case if she gets too tired. She doesn't like ponytails in her hair. She loves her baby brother. But squeezes him too tight sometimes. She's very cautious. With just about everything.

I sing "You Are My Sunshine" to her every night before she goes to bed, because she is.


Beckett
Poor little guy is cutting two more teeth this week. But these aren't as bad as the last ones. So far he got 3 on the bottom at 5 months, the front two at 9 months, so this will now be a total of 7. And boy, does he use them. He's my little vampire baby. I've been bitten by this kid more times than I care to count. And now he's started gnawing on his crib, so I just looked into investing in rail covers so he doesn't completely ruin his crib!

For the most part, he's sleeping through the night now. Every once in awhile, he'll wake up once, but I just nurse him back to sleep which doesn't take very long. I'm still nursing him. And I'm still loving it.

He's eating mostly finger foods, plus some homemade baby food and porridge. (Everytime I say that I think of the 3 Little Bears!)

He'll probably be walking soon. He pulls himself up on everything (including me) and cruises around the furniture.

He's really, really, unbelievably cute. I kiss his ears way too much. He still cries when I take him to the Y. He's kind of a mama's boy. And I'm kind of okay with that. He loves avocado and flax seed. His hair is starting to curl in the back like Wade's did when he was little. He looks adorable in overalls. His little butt might be my favorite thing about him. He goes crazy when his dad comes home. He's already had cake, cookies, ice cream, you name it.

His nicknames are Becky and Little Guy. And I am head over heels for this kid.

Wow. That was really long.

TODAY

Today....

Reese introduced me to her new *imaginary* friend, Kanya.

Wade just left for an 8 mile run. Seriously. That's running for an hour and a half straight.

I got a package from my friend Christina today. She sent me Starbucks coffee and Cinnamon Dolce syrup. I put 5 squirts if it in my coffee today and it STILL wasn't sweet enough, so I had to add more sugar.

Reese and Maddie (the oh-so-charming neighbor girl) played outside in the pool and sprinkler. I loved the feeling of summer.

We all had mac & cheese and pineapple for lunch. Me, Reese, Maddie and Beckett, too.

I recieved a coupon in the mail for a FREE CANDY BAR!!!! Get yours at realchocolate.com. Only on Fridays though.

Beckett was a happy little guy. But as soon as I took him to the Y, he screamed the whole hour he was there. Oh well. At least he was happy for me. :)

I refused to turn the air on and left the windows open. And it's driving Wade CRAZY. It's not that hot in here. The thermostat only says it's 80!

I ordered this headband for Reese. I think it'll look way cute in pictures!



Yeah. It was a pretty good day. :)

Oh, and watch this video. Too stinkin' cute!

My cute kids

These are 100% stolen from my sister's blog. :) Taken in Ames this weekend.

It's good to see that little smile on the Little Guy's face since he's had a rough couple of days. He's getting his two front top teeth in and he's been running a fever and is really uncomfortable.

And I might start limiting the princess movies for Reese. (Although we've been on a Dora kick everyday for the past 2 weeks...) Yesterday, while dressed up in my heels and a play dress, she would climb to the top of the couch, pretend to fall off, and (in her little 2 year old voice) say, "Prince! Prince! Help me!" Seriously!?

Sleepin' with my babies

As you know, I babysit a darling little 6 month old girl during the day, but I am also going to watch another sweet baby starting in August. The plan is that she will be here from about 6:30am 'til about 3:30pm. Yes, that's right, 6:30!!!!! Therefore, in the next couple of months I am going to try to enjoy as much cuddle time in the morning as possible.

As of right now, we roll outta bed whenever we feel like it. And I love that. (Wade is usually up by 4:30 to work out, so he misses out on all the morning love.)

Typically, Beckett will wake up around 6ish and I'll bring him in our bed to nurse and cuddle with him. Then, around 7ish, Reese will come hop in bed with us, too. She usually sleeps a little more or snuggles with me on which ever side Beckett's not on. But of course, being 2, she eventually gets restless and starts trying to play with Beckett and bouncing all over the place.

So around 8ish, we begin our morning routine of getting dressed and eating breakfast. Lexi Lou doesn't usually come until 9:30, so we can take our time. But man, I can't tell you how much I love those precious moments in the mornings. I am also so grateful of the 7 months that I got to sleep with Beckett right by my side the entire night. I miss that already. :( Hmm.... I'll just have to have more kids....

My baby's getting BIG

MAY was a big month for my baby girl!



1) She was enrolled in her first class w/o me! She is taking a dance class at the Y with 4 other little girls and it is so unbelievably sweet! The class is supposed to be for 3-4 yr olds, and she'll be 3 in a month so I thought we'd try it. After we got past the first day of clinging to me, she has been doing really well. I actually ran a few errands with Beckett yesterday during her class. Talk about WEIRD!




2) She got her first haircut! By me, of course. So it looks pretty bad. But it was free. It's a little hard to tell here, but I had to include this one since the Little Guy looks like he has lipstick on. :) It's juice from a bunch of berries.





3) She rode her first carnival ride, all by herself!!!! And it was not a good idea. This picture was right before they took off. She wanted so desperately to ride this ride, so we thought we'd be nice parents and let her have a little fun. Little did we know, she would be scared to death and start crying and screaming after the first time around. It broke my heart, knowing that I was the one who allowed her to do it. :(



4) She moved into a big girl bed! Some friends of ours are having a baby in the next couple of weeks and are borrowing her crib, so Reese got kicked out of her toddler bed in and into a twin. She's only fallen off twice so far! ;)

5) She got a bigger bike! It's a hand-me-down from some friends, but it's for 3-5 year olds and has cute little training wheels on it. She hasn't quite figured out the pedaling, so she can't ride it yet, but she'll be able to soon! And I don't have a picture of that, so instead, here's some pretty peonies that are currently on my kitchen table!

So yeah, she's growing up. There's no denying it. And she's becoming more wonderful and amazing each day.