Saving Money Plan

I like to save money any way I can. Saving Money Plan blog is a great blog to follow if you are interested in learning how to coupon and such.

Right now she is actually giving away $50 cash. Go check it out here.

Feb. 18 Birthday

We had a birthday here. Ashley told him to wear this work, but he got caught not wearing it. I don't know why he didn't want to wear it! We set up Skype and called Greg at work and Ashley saw he wasn't wearing it. BUSTED!

39, 39, look who's 39 and lookin' fine.

For his birthday we got him a Belgian waffle maker. OH YUM!

So for a birthday breakfast I made him one. Delicious! Then I had to choose- make a delicious dinner or make a cake. The kids really would have been disappointed if I didn't make the cake. So I made one from scratch. It was the most delicious cake I have ever had. I'm not kidding! It started out perfect. I made a chocolate cake with a layer of Dulce de leche and a layer of chocolate ganache and sprinkled with pecans to make it a turtle like filling. It looked beautiful. But then I put a layer of ice cream on top. UGH! It melted everywhere! So my beautiful cake turned into a very UGLY cake.

Aussie said, "Mom you should sell this cake and you can put my picture on the package and say it doesn't matter how it looks, it matters how it tastes."

I think if I make it again, I'll leave off the ice cream as a layer. But I'll add it as a topping instead.We all enjoyed it very much, except for Ashley who doesn't like chocolate.

Ashley made this bunny for Daddy for his birthday. She liked it so much she decided to keep it for herself and just give Daddy this picture.

A gift for Kadence

At church yesterday there were some left over roses from a wedding or funeral. They said anyone who wanted some could come and get them. So Aussie picked out 5 to give to Kadence, his girlfriend. Kadence's family is living with her grandparents right now as they look for a new home. They live quite far away, but they still go to church near us. So we called and we were able to hook up with them in the afternoon. It was a little bit awkward meeting them in a Dollar General parking lot, I felt for Aussie. He got out and said, "OK, I'm starting to get a little bit embarrassed." I tried to help the conversation along. We were only there for a few minutes.

But I think she liked them.

Tonight's home cooked meal

Well I have been doing really well cooking at home this year. Unfortunately, even when I make a delicious meal like this: It is only loved by Greg and me.

I got this chicken recipe here. It was better the last time I made it. Last time I coarsly chopped the garlic and this time I minced it, as it was easier. Also, I think I needed to cook it longer, it was still pink in some places. I made it perfect last time, but I don't remember how long on what temperature I cooked it then. The recipe lists 500 degrees for 40-50 mins for 3-5 pound chicken, but many people wrote in and said the temperature had to be wrong. I cooked 2 of them on 400 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. I think it could have used another 1/2 hour.

I just LOVE these cheese herb biscuits!

I really, really, REALLY want a grain mill. The one I want costs $266. I'm saving my pennies. I have been buying freshly milled flour from some friend's at church. So I made these with freshly milled whole wheat flour.

And these yummy fresh green beans- so much better than canned!

Now if only I could get my kids to like anything that I make.

The Crying!

I think that has me caught up, except for maybe pictures I took before January. Last night was rough. As you know I went to bed late. An hour later I was awakened by terrifying crying. I woke Greg up and he went to investigate. I didn't understand why he went downstairs, so I got up to check on the kids. I asked Greg what he was doing, he started to open the front door. He said the crying was not from our house. Then I started thinking, OH it must be transmitting into our monitor from a baby in another house. But then I remembered we don't have a monitor. So Greg opened the door and saw 2 lonely cats. The crying stopped. So.. I didn't have much sleep last night.

My Creations

This is Mason with Ivysaur. I thought about selling these types of creations to get a little money, but I'm afraid my children won't let me actually get any out the door. They all encourage me to do it, but they have a long list of things they would like me to make for them.
Aussie's made up character, Cat Link. I need to make it a longer hat.

A horse for Ashley. She calls her Brownie.

At least they appreciate what I make.

My nephew

Welcome to the world Baby Caleb Owen McKinney. This is my beautiful nephew. He was born Feb. 2, 2010 at 5:04 Colorado time. He was 20" long, 6 pounds 8 oz.

Badew Ball

The kids made up this funny game, called Badew Ball. It is very much like baseball, except they use stuffed Pokemon. The Pokemon Badew is the bat. They use the Pokemon, Dratini as the ball. They had me giggling so much as they played.

Ashley was certainly the best pitcher- as a batter not so much.

The one below really tickles me. Mason was all over the place but a pretty good batter.

Bowling Ball

Aussie wanted his own bowling ball. I found a children's 9 pound ball at Goodwill. So I gave it to him for Christmas. I asked around who could engrave it and put his name on it. The person I asked said they don't do it in TN anymore, because not enough people want that done anymore. Well he was wrong. When we went bowling with our co-op a few weeks ago, the bowling alley in Smyrna did. And here is my very happy child.

Girl Scout Pizza Party

Alrighty, I'm getting pretty sleepy and I have several more pictures I want to share. But I will have to leave you with these few and pick up where I left off tomorrow/ later today. I think this was January 23rd. The first picture has nothing to do with the Girl Scout party. It just shows that when you grow up, you can play with your food without getting in trouble. (wink)

So the girls went to Cici's Pizza and had a party. They were allowed to bring their siblings to this party, so Mason got to come along. Aussie was at Chinese class. This was so cool! They let everyone make there own pizza. I even got to make one. Then they even let them put it in the oven. I only took a few pictures with my phone because I couldn't find my camera that I just knew I brought with me. (I looked EVERYWHERE!!!! I later found it in my back pocket.)

And even though Ashley doesn't like sauce or pepperoni, she thought it was fun to make the pizza. She of course didn't eat it.

They even showed the girls how everything worked back in the kitchen. It was really a great experience for all of us!

Alrighty- good night for now.

Alexander and the Very Spoiled, very loved children!

Playing a little catch up... January 17th. Have you ever read the children's book, Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day? If you haven't you should. It is my very favorite children's book. Austin looks just like Alexander in this picture. It makes me laugh!

Well I have to say that I am glad my children like what I make for them, but I think they like them a little bit too much. They beg me to make them creations. Here is one Ashley begged for. This is Jiggly Puff. It is a Pokemon.And Ashley was so upset that her doll Sarah didn't have ANYTHING to sleep in. So what did Mommy do? Well good grief I couldn't let the poor doll go naked or sleep in her good clothes for pete's sake. And how in the world could I NOT make one for Ashley to match? Can we say SPOILED? Yes- but they are so loved!

Fun from Hawaii

My Mom and Dad went on a trip to Hawaii and they sent the kids these ukuleles. The kids LOVE them. They even sound Hawaiian.

Well you know the saying if you take enough pictures you are sure to get ONE good one. Well if you have triplets you are bound to have ONE Austintacious one! I let you guess which one that is. (Mom if you want a good picture of all of them together, you will probably have to do some magic in Photoshop.)Even Kiki wanted to know what it was all about!