Keeping it Interesting!

Trying something new [is always exciting] especially with the hubby...yea that's right it's gonna be "one of those" blogs...

You dirty minded people who just let your minds wander...get your head outta the gutter! I’m talking about date nights! Although we are currently trying for another baby so... never mind. 

Where was I? Oh yea, date nights! 

Not sure about all the other wives out there but sometimes dinner and a movie can get...well a little damn boring. So, I was thinking yesterday of all the fun stuff we used to do [you know during that magical time called: dating] and I thought why can't we still do that stuff? So, here's my plan! 

Once a month date night, that is NOT a movie and without the kids...preferably doing something either we have never done before as a couple or have not done in a long time. I am already looking forward unbelievably, nail bitingly [<-- there I go making up new words again, it happens when I'm happy], counting down the days excited for this! The hubby is on broad as well, 1) because he does whatever he can to make me happy and 2) he knows we will end up doing it anyways. Ha!

Of course this had to go into effect immediately...well I was actually going to start in November since October is pretty much over but then destiny stepped in [or maybe it was my husband's unbelievable desire to enter every contest he sees on Facebook] either way I am grateful! So, here are our next few months of date nights!

October: Atlanta Beerfest Boo & Brews Festival [hubs won a free ticket for guessing how many pounds of candy was in a picture on Facebook] <-- yea that's totally fat. Beer, live music, with my love in Atlanta...for our first monthly date night that's sounds pretty sweet to me!

November: Netherworld Haunted House ...so the hubby not a big fan of haunted houses or the horror genre in general but I LOVE it [and the previous weekend I will be the DD while he gets to try beer from all around the world] now I don't feel so bad dragging him here with me! 

Such a wickedly creepy picture!

December: BYOB Painting Class! I have been wanting to try one of these classes...I mean I think I'm kind of artsy plus add alcohol, who is the mad genius that came up with this idea! [Side Note: I totally just misspelled alcohol and the spell check suggestion for me was alcoholism...do you think my computer may be trying to tell me something?]  

That's all I got for now...still pondering over possible things to do for the month of January. Kicking around the idea of a murder mystery dinner theater date, we've both always wanted to go to one of those, but damn are they pricey! 

Oh yea...totally off subject but just a quick THANK YOU! My blog has already had over 350 views since I started posting...which means someone is actually reading this! Woohoo! If anyone has any date suggestions for me I am all ears...just leave a comment below! You can also subscribe to my blog, just set up a free account on Blogger [it won't make you start your own blog so no worries, it will just send you an email when I post something new].  

Hope y'all find me as entertaining as my husband does!

Pumpkin Time!

So, not only is October my favorite month because it's my birthday month but also because I LOVE Halloween! Decided to do something a little different this year instead of carving a pumpkin [having a 4 year old that can get pretty messy] so this year we decided to paint a pumpkin! Thanks to some niffy diffy ideas from Pinterest...of course! Here are photos of our fun pumpkin painting afternoon!

I started while the boys were napping, spray painted each pumpkin a different color! The one I painted white was for Mas, that way his paint would really POP on the pumpkin! It drys pretty quick too, took about 30 minutes and they were ready for paint!

Poor Nash wanted to help soooooo bad, but this year he just had to sit back and watch his bubba....but Mas [being the best big brother ever] kept Nash involved! He was talking to him the whole time and showing him his paintings as he was doing them.

And Mas's masterpiece is complete!

Mommy's pumpkins came out okay....didn't quite look like the ones on Pinterest [not surprised] but I like them! Hubby liked them too, less mess is always a plus and the fact that now they will last longer and not attract any flies!

All n' all this was a total success and per Mas "we will do this every year! I like painting pumpkins, I'm gonna be an artist when I get big! Oh and I'm gonna be rich!". I sure do hope so honey...mommy could use a second home in the mountains for retirement...ha!

What I've learned this week...

So, this entire week I have been kids and husband-less…

Here’s what I have learned about myself:

1) I officially hate being alone…the house is way too quiet! No smelly diapers to change, no telling Mas to turn the volume down on his T.V because I can hear it clear as day from the garage, no bitchin’ at Vince to put his dishes in the dishwasher instead of letting them pile up in the sink, no huge mountain stacks of laundry to do…the list could go on! But I TOTALLY miss taking care of my little family. Yea sure, relaxation is great and all…taking baths without interruptions, eating whatever I feel like for dinner instead of cooking, going to bed without being tickled to death…is great and all but nothing compares to having my family home with me!

2) Apparently, when no one is home I have no desire to clean…when my boys are here I feel like the house is always a mess and all I want to do is clean it up but [and this is surprising to me] when the boys are gone and the house still is a mess I don’t feel as “rushed” to clean it up. I have been planning on giving the house a good [top to bottom] cleaning since the boys left…current status of this task: cleaning tonight cleaning tomorrow night.

3) I have come to the realization that I cannot live without kids! I have decided that they can live with us forever and ever...and if they ever get married then the more the merrier, just move that new wife right on in! I cannot believe how MUCH I miss them! Yes. I am. Officially "one of those moms"! You better believe when they leave for college that I am going to be a wreck --> fair warning right here for the hubs!

To convey just how much I miss them here are photos I have been staring at for the pass four days!

On a less serious note...cause I hate to be too serious. Here are some things I enjoyed this past week...

Yogurt and chips for dinner.

Parking in the middle of the driveway --> is AWESOME!

Bathing with the door unlocked AND open!

Can actually chew my food for no fear of children coming to "have a bit" 

Hair in the sink, hair in the tub, oh my hair EVERYWHERE!..yea I will get to cleaning that up...

What is this?!?! A four hour marathon of A Baby Story on TLC, why yes. I will watch you!

and finally my favorite

Buying a pint of ice cream and not having to shallow it whole in one sitting for fear that when I get home next day from work the hubby has found it and completely finished it off for me <--love you long time babes.

Go, Go, GO!

What a non-stop weekend it was! Took advantage of Nash and Vince being away and spent the entire weekend with Mas! It is so nice doing things just the two of us. Our first adventure was Saturday at Six Flags Over Georgia, he is finally tall enough to ride a good amount of the rides and he has been talking about going there for the longest time so decided it was finally time to find out just how brave he was!

Boy oh boy was he a trooper! He was up to ride anything…even the ones that he was still too short for! It was so funny, I would let him watch a ride first then ask him if he wanted to ride it and he would always say “that looks cool, but fast! It’s okay though I’m not scared!” We could not have asked for better weather either, it was just so awesome! Park was crowded since Fright Fest was also going on but it gave him the excuse to wear his pirate costume to the park!

The Mind Bender!

There was only one ride that he was not so thrilled about when we got off [The Mind Bender], but with three loops and a decent drop he held his own and he didn’t cry, I was impressed. After dark when all the ghouls and zombies started coming out I could tell that he was starting to get a little uneasy. I asked him if he was scared and he said “No, they are just people in masks and make-up but I’m kind of tired, I think we should go home now.” Haha…

Next up on our fun filled weekend together was Disney on Ice in Atlanta! He’s  got a thing for Mickey and Minnie, he still talks about when we took him to Disney World a couple of years ago [wow…seems like just yesterday]. We went with a good friend and her daughter who is the same age as Mas, so he had some company while he enjoyed the show! Took the kids to have Mexican for lunch [since it’s their favorite and the day was all about them] and then we loaded up the “mom van” and headed to Atlanta. Of course, I HAD to buy Mas a Mickey Mouse light up, spin, vibrate, music making thingy so he could wave it in the dark during the show <--- what’s a show without one of those? Definitely caught him dancing a few times and there were moments when he climbed on my lap to snuggle during the show…best part of the WHOLE weekend was on the ride home Sunday night. He said “Mommy, thank you for Six Flags Over Georgia and Disney show. I love you. Oh and next time Daddy and Nash are in Ohio we’re gonna go back to Six Flag and fight those zombies we saw, right?” Right!

Laughing Cow Stuffed Chicken with Spinach Cream Sauce!

Mmmm...mmm! What an awesome recipe this turned out to be...I kind of switched it up a little bit [I know I am totally stepping out of my comfort zone] but it all turned out just super yummy! So, I thought I would share...here ya go!

Here are the ingredients for the main dish:
- 4 Boneless Chicken Breasts
- 10 oz of Spinach
- 3 wedges of Laughing Cow Herb & Garlic cheese
- Salt & Pepper
- 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
- Toothpicks
- Oregano 
- Garlic Powder

First, I trimmed all the fat off the chicken breasts then I made a slight incision starting from the thickest part of the breast and worked my way down to the thinnest without cutting it completely in half. 

Rip up the spinach into small quarter size pieces [I totally used my hands for this...I'm sure it is way more professional to "chop" the spinach up but who cares! My hands are clean and it's way faster this way] In a mixing bowl, combine the cheese wedges, spinach and olive oil. Mix until the cheese is nicely coating all of the spinach then stuff roughly two tablespoons of mixture into each chicken breast. I used toothpicks to hold the chicken closed while it cooked [don't want all that yummyness <--- new word, right there...to escape out the side]. Then cover chicken in a little bit of olive oil, salt & pepper, oregano and garlic powder. Cook on 350 degrees for 45 minutes. 

Now, while that is cooking I made the sauce. Here are the ingredients:
- 3 wedges of Laughing Cow Herb & Garlic Cheese
- 1/2 cup of Milk
- 1 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 Tbsp of Butter
- 1/2 tsp of Garlic Powder
- 2 oz of Spinach [ripped into quarter pieces by hand]

In a small sauce pot, I mixed all ingredients and bring it to a boil. Then reduce heat to shimmer and just continue to stir until the sauce begins to thicken up a bit. After 45 minutes in the oven I removed the dish and then poured my sauce over the chicken, covered with foil and baked for another 15 minutes [make sure you don't push the foil down too tight around the dish...don't want the cheese to get stuck to the top of the foil] then serve!

Funny, I thought my 4 year old would put up a fight about eating this [because it has "green stuff" coming out of it] so I made him chicken nuggets instead...surprise, surprise...he even loved this dish and ended up helping my husband finish off his plate! Definitely one I am making again, hope you enjoy!

Schoolin' the Boys Young!

As promised I have finished up my blog on Financial Peace Junior [which Mas uses] so here we go…

Once Vince and I finished up FPU and started implementing it into our daily life we knew that we needed to get Mason involved somehow [I mean really…any age is a good age to learn about money]. Luckily we didn't have to look too far because Dave Ramsey also has a program for kids called Financial Peace Junior!  It is a great kit that comes with everything you will need to get your children started on the right track. He has his own chart set up on the fridge along with his own little envelope system; each envelope is labeled “save”, “spend” and “give”. Here is a snapshot of how this works in our house!

We have a list of chores for Mas, mainly the basics like picking up his toys, making his bed, vacuuming his room, putting his clothes in the laundry room and helping with the dishwasher after dinner. He receives a quarter for each chore completed and this goes into a piggy bank in his room. Each chore is listed on his chart and once he’s finished with a chore he goes and colors in a bubble on the chart showing he has completed it. So he could potentially earn up to $1.25 a day [21 days on average out of the month, he is with his mom the other days], add it up and in a year that’s $315.00!!! At the end of each month we empty out his piggy bank and divide up:  40% of his earnings into his “spend” envelope another 50% into his “save” and then 10% into his “give” envelope. My husband Vince then takes Mas to what he calls the “big bank” to deposit his “save” money into his very own savings account.  The idea behind the savings account is that by depositing 50% of his chore money into this account and letting it earn interest for Mas as time goes on then eventually we hope that he will be able to use this money to buy his first car one day without having to take out a car loan. Without even factoring in interest and using $157 [50% of his yearly earned] starting today [he has been on this system since he was 3 years old] but let’s just say he started this today when he turns 16 years old [which is a scary number and I can’t really picture my sweet baby being a teenager] he will have about $1,900 in the bank to buy a car and that's not even factoring interest earned! I think that would buy a pretty nice ride for his first car!

Mason helping out with the laundry!

Even though we are very adamant on him saving his money we also realize that he is a kid and kids want things [especially plastic toys made in China] so usually every couple of months we will take him over to Wal-Mart or sometimes the flea market and give him his “spend” envelope to use on whatever he likes. What we have noticed the most from this program is the change in Mason’s mind set on how he chooses to spend his money. For example, the other day we were in Sam’s picking up a few things and we came across the Sonic Wii game [Mas’s current obsession --> SONIC] and of course he wanted to buy it. Then he noticed the Skylander gaming set and of course like most kids he wanted that too! Now, he had enough money to buy himself the Sonic Wii game but not enough for Skylander and nowhere near enough to purchase both at full retail. So we gave him a choice, we told him that he could either buy the Sonic Wii game because he had enough money for that or he could wait and daddy could find both the Sonic Wii game and Skylander online for much less and then he would have enough money for both…without skipping a beat Mas put back the Sonic Wii game and said “Okay you find it online, I can wait. Find it cheap!”  Not only is he learning how to spend wisely but he is also learning how to resist the sudden urge to buy something right away just to take it home that day [Mommy is still working on this habit...hey! I'm getting better at it...ha]!

Mason vacuuming his room, he had just turned 3 years old.

Another important part of this program is the “give” envelope, we go to church every Sunday and Mason is involved in Sunday school. We want to teach him at an early age that tithing is important and should be budgeted into his finances no matter how old he is. This in our eyes just sets a habit in place for him as he gets older, he understands that every month he gives 10% of his money to church. He even gets excited about it, I remember the first time he tithed to the church [it was 75 cents]! I filled out the envelope for him and he put the money inside then sealed it, he was so happy to give the envelope to the women as we walked into church. We just hope as parents that these lessons stick with him as he becomes an adult.

Praying that they will own they're own possessions and not let the possessions own them.

We are [of course] planning on doing the exact same thing with Nash as he gets older...poor Nash, now that we have this down to a science with Mas we are just gonna start even earlier with him! Our goal is that between the money the boys are saving for themselves through this program plus what we as their parents are putting away for them each month towards college that by the time they are adults they will be able to own a vehicle and go to college with no debit. By not relying on credit cards during the college years we are hopefully teaching them not to get sucked into that never ending cycle of debit! We will instead be giving them the opportunity to start their life and careers debit free!

Planning Ahead....

So as I have mentioned in previous posts, we are a Dave Ramsey family! We are proud [and can sometimes become annoying to some people with how much we talk about it] to follow in his system and core beliefs in reference to current finances and future financial planning. We have even taught Financial Peace University [FPU] to families who are looking to better their current financial situation and also help them in planning out what needs to be done so that they can make sure they are secure in their retirement years, even though we know those social security check will be rolling in, ha!

I am a true FREE SPIRIT at heart, saving money is not something that comes naturally to me…I have to work on it, I have to make a conscious effort daily to do it even though I know it is good for me [like those horrible veggies you had to eat when you were a kid that you now force you’re kids to eat]! I like to enjoy life, get out and do things, make plans, travel…but as we all know you can’t do any of those things without $$$! But luckily I have found my better half in my husband, he is my NERD and I would not have it any other way.  If it were up to him we would not spend a dime unless it was absolutely necessary, everything is in a budget and all funds are calculated down to the last penny! He is a master of the spreadsheet and he might even consider the calculator his best friend [which makes him totally hot in my eyes, TMI?]. The different dynamic between us works so well in our household and let me explain why…

I am a firm believer in “opposites attract”, we are a team but we are also different enough that we keep each other in check. For example, he keeps me grounded [I just might float away literally] and I keep him in the moment so, that he can enjoy things and have a little fun! But all the decisions we make together, we have a budget that is updated and reviewed monthly that breaks down every dollar towards every expense. [I will admit it is hard for me to focus on reviewing the budget…if I did the budget I would set it up like a Christmas tree of numbers…because I love Christmas and it would be way more interesting to the eye]. We factor in emergencies that could arise, monthly bills, things that we want to do [date nights, vacations, gifts] <---this is where I shine, the kids college funds and our retirement. The most important thing about our family budget is that WE STICK TO IT… okay that is also the hardest thing! But we know if we work on this now as a young family starting out that by the time our children are off to college [we hope college] that we will then be comfortable and able to really enjoy retirement together!

Even though we have a budget to follow monthly, we still like to look for ways to save even more money…or in some cases make a little extra money. For example…you tell my husband that he can make a $10 return on some hatching eggs and baby chicks and all of a sudden I have married farmer John…seriously I’m not kidding! We also buy most of our items used off eBay or Craigslist, most of the time the items are still in the original package but you pay half of the retail price. This also gives my husband his needed dose of “haggling” he lives to negotiate and loves when he thinks he has found the best deal ever! We have also just started weekly menu planning…this is our first week with this. I don’t  know about you but I HATE running to the grocery store for ONE thing because you wanna make dinner and of course there is always something you are missing…running to the store with two kids for a single item is not my idea of a good time! We’re hoping by planning ahead for the week we can save a little money on those extra grocery trips…I mean you can’t send a free spirit into Wal-Mart for one thing and really expect them to come out with only that, right? I can’t speak for everyone else but I know it seems like as soon as I walk in there I’m all of a sudden extremely thirsty/hungry/needing new sweatpants/remembering I am almost outta shampoo…I mean the list could go on and on! So, even though it has nothing to do with my main point of this blog here is our menu for this week…just because it sounds so yummy I am sharing…

Monday – Chicken, Spinach and Tomato Florentine

Tuesday – Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork [soccer practice night so no time to actually cook…love our Crockpot…anything that does the work for me is high up on my list of awesomeness]!

Wednesday – Slow Cooker 7-UP Chicken and Rice

Thursday – Leftovers [soccer practice night…plus by Thursday I am sure we will have a ton of leftovers]

Friday – Chicken, Spinach & Cannellini Bean Quesadillas

I know this is kind of a weird/taboo/hush-hush subject to blog about…I mean most people hate to talk/think about their finances. Even though I am a free spirit, who loves to spend money, has to make an effort to save and sometimes forgets to look at the price tag, I still realize how important it is to me and our family’s future to plan ahead as much as we can. But I like to share because I hope that if anyone does read this that it might inspire them to make some changes within their family in reference to managing finances and planning ahead. There is a lot more I want to talk about in reference to this…which I will. As well as something’s we are doing with our 4 year old Mason to prepare him for future saving and budgeting…but I will say if you have never heard of Dave Ramsey, he does have a radio show that airs during the week, you can listen via his official website. I would suggest checking him out...it’s free to listen so what can it hurt, right?

Okay...I can't post a blog and NOT mention something about one of my boys...Nash is standing up now!!! Picture as proof below...such a proud Mommy!