Happy Turkey Day!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope everyone has an awesome day, eats too much, and gets a nap!  :-)  Wait, that's what I want!!!  :-) 

I am so thankful for my wonderful family (every last extended one of them!!!! LOL), our health, and all of our many blessings-way too many to list!! 

Monday Musings

• Today has been one of those days.  You know the ones where your kids fight All.  Day.  LONG!  Urrrghh...I don't know why some days are like this.  It's not even lunch and we've had way too many knock down drag out fights to count.  Honestly, I hope the rest of our day doesn't go like this!!!!!!!!!!! 
• It is so cold!  I love it to be honest!  Although we are stuck indoors which may contribute to the previously mentioned fighting!  It does finally feel like the Thanksgiving & Christmas season! 
• This is the first year I am going to attempt reading an Advent story each day of December to the kids.  I don't know how it will go, but we'll see.  I wanted to do a countdown calendar as well, but I don't know if I will.  I'm thinking the only thing in them is either candy or small toys that get thrown away.  We really don't need either of those....I am still brainstorming. 
• The kids are all excited because we are picking up Hunter from school tomorrow.  Hunter and the twins have wanted to do this for a while.  It seems like we get him every year around Thanksgiving.  I always like to do a craft with them, and it's usually messy.  One year we made Indian feather hats, last year we painted pumpkins and ruined all 3 kids' clothes.  A tip-don't let preschool children use acrylic paint.  Just saying....I hadn't planned to use it but they overpowered me and took it!  :-)  LOL.  This year we are making turkey cupcakes-you use candy corn for feathers.  I hope it's simple and not so messy.  I just found another turkey craft out of toilet paper tubes & paper plates-we may do that one also. 
• My Mom made the cutest little fingerprint crafts with the kids while we were gone Friday!  She made their fingerprints into reindeer and snowmen.  They will make a beautiful garland on the mantle I think.  I will have to post a pic because it is such a cute craft!!!!  The amazing thing was none of them told us about it!  It was a surprise!! 
• I really need to work on our Christmas card for the year.  Normally it's done by now!  I haven't even taken a pic of the kids yet in their Christmas attire.  I really need haircuts for the boys too.  So much to do this time of year!!!! 
• As for Christmas preparations, I AM going to do some wrapping tonight!  Have I mentioned I love wrapping gifts?  :-) 

Sunday Scripture

Here is a scripture from the front of our bulletin today:

"For everything created by God is good, and nothing should be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving" ~1Timothy 4:4

What are you thankful for this week? 

Here is what my kids were thankful for at church (it was read aloud to the congregation-so it got a chuckle out of everyone)

Carson- snakes, tractors, my mom & dad, my chickens

Emilynn-ladybugs, my mom & dad, my brothers, drink, food, cats, my dog

I probably forgot a thing or two. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving week!

Oh, and we picked up our 22 lb. turkey yesterday.   Carson is quite disturbed that the turkey is now in a bag.  He doesn't think he wants to eat turkey.  He says, "Turkeys don't like when you eat them Mom." 

I'm sure they don't! 

Thankful Thursday

Here are some things I'm thankful for this week:

• Shopping day!  My mom each year keeps the kids for a day for me to finish up shopping.  I am excited that that day is tomorrow!!!!  I have some things I must pick up kid-less, and it's just nice to get out and look around.  I end up doing so much shopping online that it's nice occasionally to see what's available in stores!  Dustin may or may not join me, he hasn't decided yet.  :-)  Either way, it's cool! 
• Pooper Scoopers-yep, I'm thankful for those!  I can't wait to pick one up tomorrow!  Yep, I'm weird like that.  Look, the truth of the matter is, chickens poop a lot!  For my sanity and the sanity of my entire household, we have decided a pooper scooper is necessary.  Our chickens are pets and spend a lot of time up at the house with us, and around our porch.   Have I mentioned they poop ALL the time?  Everywhere?  I can't take dodging poop anymore, I must conquer this issue!  I'll update how this goes- cause I'm sure everyone will be wondering.......
• Decorations- totally by accident-the kids found their Christmas decorations in my storage shed today. There was nothing to do but drop everything and put the trees up.  They turned out so cute-I even took pictures to upload and post soon.  The boys have a John Deere tree, Emilynn has a pink "dazzle and glitz" type tree with her ballerina ornaments and various other pink ones.  It's so her!  I then decided to take all my kitchen themed ornaments and make a cooking tree in the kitchen for myself.  I love it!  Dustin declared our decorating indoors done, so we may save the big tree for next year when Henry is a bit bigger.   I was hesitant at first, but I wasn't going to put ornaments on it anyway, so I agreed.  The twins are thrilled with their smaller, personal trees anyway!  We are still decorating outdoors though! 
• A new Janet Evanovich book!  I love the Stephanie Plum books-my friend Danelle introduced them to me a few years back and I've read them all.  I was anxiously awaiting a new one that was coming out this week.  I've bought it and read it already!  If you have never read these books-they are laugh out loud funny!  I seriously crack up in bed reading them.  You can't say that about too many books.  I am now going to re-read it more slowly.  I love my Kindle fire-it makes it so easy to read new books right as they come out!  Nothing to store either-cause we are definitely limited on space for books.  :-) 
• A yummy Mexican meal!  We took the kids out for lunch yesterday to our favorite Mexican restaurant after swim class.  It was so good!  I LOVE Mexican food.  It's definitely my hands down favorite.  Henry is so adorable eating chips and salsa.  That boy will eat it the entire meal, then it takes him an extra 15 minutes after we are all done to finish.  He even scoops it up with a spoon.  Yes, he gets his very own bowl all to himself! 

Catching Up

I've been unplugged for about a week and 1/2 it looks like!  I skipped my Thankful Thursday, Sunday Scripture, and Monday Musings posts.  I will be honest, it is nice to just be unplugged for a while sometimes.  There are days when I never look at or think about the computer.  I honestly think it's such a time zapper, it's nice to not be so "tied" to it for spells. 
Here is what we've been up to:

• First of all-Daddy is off this week!  Yay!  We've had fun as he's joined us for story time at the library and swim lessons today.  Poppy also came to swim lessons to let the kids show off what they've learned a little.  They really "hammed it up" for him.  He left pretty wet from lots of hugs and kisses! 
• Our Christmas tree is up.  I finally caved.  My mom came by one day and we got it out and "de-lit" the pre-lit tree from last year.  I had bought it at my friend's yard sale, and half the lights didn't work.  So aggravating!  We used wire cutters and cut every light off-all 700!  It can be done, wasn't hard at all, just tedious.  Now I need to shape it and put lights on.  As for decorating it-I'm torn.  I don't know if I want to pull out all my Hallmark ornaments and fight that fight this year with Henry.  I may instead just use kid-friendly ornaments.  Dustin suggested just putting lights on it and leaving it at that.  That is a very tempting idea!  Some of my Nanny's prettiest trees have been the ones where she just put lights on and nothing else.  I think that is where I'm leaning and maybe make some ornaments with the kids.  We made the applesauce/cinnamon ones last year with some success. 
• I do want to finish up decorating for Christmas and put away all the pumpkins.  I love my pumpkins, but hate having both out-which is where we are now!  Since we never carved the pumpkins, I am going to try baking them and freezing the pumpkin for my pies and pumpkin rolls.  If it works well, I'll share!  Don't want to waste the pumpkins!  I also have quite a few outdoor decorations I bought half off last year.  The kids really want the house decorated outside.  We may be giving the Griswolds a run for their money by the time it's overwith!  I have icicle lights for the whole house, lighted candy canes to light the sidewalk, a small inflatable penguin, a yard snowman and santa, the wire-y type ones-not sure what they are called.  It should be lovely!  :-) 
• It's hard to believe Thanksgiving is next week!  My grandma and I are travelling to the farm on Saturday to pick up the turkey and some chickens I pre-ordered.  Yep, those sweet turkeys we went to visit a few weeks ago are now ready to be enjoyed next week.  I don't think my kids have made the connection yet.  I did try to explain it to them, because I think it's important for them to know where our food comes from. 
• Speaking of making connections, a package came today and before I knew it, those little rascals had opened it up!  I will have to be more careful this time of year!  We decided Santa must have sent it on ahead and he may wrap it as a gift and leave it out Christmas Eve.  We'll just have to see what happens.  I find myself in a lot of sticky situations like this as the kids get older.  You really have to think on your feet as a parent! 
• We've found a pre-school we think we want to try out next fall for the kids.  It was like divine intervention to find an affordable, Christian pre-school in a location that worked for us!  I hope to tour it in a few months and see how we like it.  A girl at the YMCA recommended it to me, and it was one I had never heard of at a church nearby.  I could actually work out while they were there, get groceries, take Henry swimming, etc.  I was excited at the idea!   The kids are excited, too.  Carson even-my grumpy one!  He said, "Hunter can walk me in to school, because he's bigger and knows where to go."  I thought it was so cute!  I didn't have the heart to tell him pre-school wasn't at Hunter's school.  We are still doing a 3-year old program at home this year, kind of on a relaxed schedule.  I realized about a month ago I was pushing them too much, trying to get them writing and stuff!  I decided to just "chill" a bit and have more fun and enjoy the process. Since I'm not so focused on writing as much, they practice letters all the time-go figure!   We are going to try a "traditional" preschool next year (more than likely) to kind of see which works best for our family, a regular school setting or homeschooling.  I really want to do what's best for my kids, in the environment where they will thrive the most.  I think it's really important to try both and see what works.   I have no problem with either way, but I do want the opportunity to try both before Kindergarten. 

That is all we've been up to-not a whole lot in the past week.  I will try not to be M.I.A. again for so long! 

Monday Musings

• The kids and I spent part of our morning cleaning out our chicken pen.  Let me just say, chickens poop a lot!  It's not the best job around the house, but it must be done.  The kids actually all put on their work gloves and helped.  It didn't take nearly as long as I had thought, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.  I think that's how most household chores are, we dread them so much but if we just go ahead and do them it isn't so bad.
• Speaking of chores, we've been cleaning the house all day too.  I love days where I feel productive.  :-)  Of course if you walked in right now, it wouldn't show!  There is always much to be done.  Also, all the furniture is cushion-less right now as the kids are building a "house" of sorts with everything.  Yep, I'm that kind of Mom that lets them do that stuff.  We were always using our imaginations to do stuff like that growing up, and I think it's so important! 
• Soccer is over-hurray!  I am SO over soccer.  We stayed at the field from 10 am -1:30 Saturday, with all 3 kids and I was so glad to get out of there!  I'm not sure if we'll do it again or not.  A year helps a lot with kids' maturity levels, so we'll see.  Right now, I would say a big "NO!".  Oh, and the kids were thrilled with their trophies.  Emilynn keeps asking for a Ziploc bag to "keep hers clean" she says.  I will be glad to get my Saturdays back! 

Well, I'm back to house work.  This week should be fairly quiet with just our usual swim lessons and dance.  That's it I think!  Oh, and story time at the library.  That is so nice and the kids really enjoy it.  I like that it's so close to the house.  Sometimes it is tiring to have to drive 15-20 minutes every time we have something.  Just part of life in the country I guess. 

Sunday Scripture

Today's scripture is from Ecclesiastes 3:1: 

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven" 

This scripture is what comes to mind as we enjoy the activities of fall.  I love fall, I love the cool weather, pumpkins, leaves everywhere.  We spent last night by the fire pit at my Dad's, roasting hotdogs and making s'mores.  Today we raked leaves for my grandma, and it seems fall activites are all around.  I am trying to make a conscious effort to enjoy the Thanksgiving season too, and not just go from Halloween to Christmas.  It seems the stores skip Thanksgiving all together.  The kids are pressuring me to decorate the house for Christmas, but I am gonna try to put them off a while yet.  It is hard when my Dad has light up a tree that rivals anything the Griswold's ever imagined.  :-)  I'm not kidding, it's huge y'all!  My kids LOVE decorations, so I know one day, I will ask Poppy to bring the bucket truck over and decorate a tree for us like that.  :-) 
Anyway, enjoy each season as it changes!  They are all fun for different reasons.  I don't think I'd enjoy living somewhere without distinct season changes. 
I'm tired-so that's it for tonight.  Raking leaves will do that to ya!  :-)  Carson said it best as he was raking- "This is hard work." 

Thankful Thursday

Here are some things I'm thankful for this week: 

• Beautiful weather- It warmed up again!  My mom and I got lunch after swim class yesterday and took the kids to a park for a picnic and playtime on the playground.  It is the best playground according to the kids because it has a "twisty slide".  Henry could even walk up and slide down all by himself!  My little man is growing up-he was so proud too!  I love the playgrounds that are fenced in so you don't have to chase your kids the whole time-another thing to be thankful for!
• A clean car- Yep, I bit the bullet and cleaned by car out this morning.  It took 2 hours.  It is clean except I plan to vacuum it tonight at a car wash, so as not to break any of our vacuums.  Ahem....ask me how I know about this.  Some things I found in the car:  13 pairs of children's shoes.  Yep, I counted after the pile began stacking up!, a box of boys clothes for Carson from a friend, several McDonald's Halloween buckets, toys galore, 2 books of mine, a bunch of coloring books and crayons, hair bows, my calculator that's been missing a while, a folder full of vacation information from June, and various other things too numerous to mention.  I find it impossible to keep a clean car when we end up eating in it so much.  I pack food on Wednesdays or we buy lunch out when it's swim class day.  There's no way I'm taking all the kids in somewhere on my own.  I guess this too shall pass and I'll wish for that dirty car and little kids to eat in it.  Or maybe not the dirty car- just the little kids!!!! 
• Date night!  Dustin and I are going on another date night tonight!  We have been making this a priority and I'm glad.  It's really nice to reconnect and also eat a meal without anyone in my lap or taking my plate, trading it for theirs.  The grass is always greener-you know!  We have had a few dates where the kids were asleep in the car and we ate Applebee's Carside to go- in the car, parked in the Applebee's lot.  Very classy, we are!  :-)  You find special time when you can!  I was telling the kids we were leaving tonight and my cousin Brandy is watching them.  Emilynn was excited and said, "She's a good watcher!".  :-) 

I asked the kids to share what they were thankful for.  Emilynn is thankful for kittens.  Carson is thankful for tractors.  Henry was napping, which is something to be thankful for I think!  Everyday when I put him down for nap I always think, you lucky little boy!  Haha! 

You know you live in the country when......

You are sitting outside on such a beautiful day typing on your laptop, watching your kids run around the yard.  THEN- a chicken runs across the keyboard!  Oh, that "Sweetie Pie" is one spoiled chick!  :-)  Gotta love life in the sticks! 

Swimming

Today is swim class day, and we are going to keep going through winter.  It will be a bit harder as we have to wear and take lots more clothes with us.  I don't know how it will work leaving with wet hair, I may have to take the hair dryer along. 

Anyway, swim class is going great.  Emilynn passed her first swim test last week at the Y!  I was so proud of her!  She is now a yellow instead of a red.  That means she can swim in the pool without her Puddle Jumper on.  I will admit, I did tear up a little when she passed the test.  I am THAT mom!  It was so neat to see her hard work pay off, and she was so proud of herself.  The Y pool is in 3 sections, a zero-entry kiddie section that goes to 3 feet deep with a water mushroom and spraying fountain things, the lap area that goes from 3 foot to 5 foot deep, and a 5 foot area with slides.  Emmy had to jump in the 5 foot area, swim to the other end, turn around and swim back.  She did an awesome job!  She has improved so much in her skills and is actually calming down a bit to swim seriously.  She flips over when she is tired and swims on her back and takes a breath, then flips back to her belly and keeps on swimming.  As a yellow, I still have to be in the pool with her.  Once she's a green, she can swim by herself, go down the slides by herself, etc.  I don't know when the boys will get to that point, so I will probably always have to get in the pool!  We were joking at how it will probably cost us a million dollars to get Carson swimming.  He's just a different child with a different personality, and water is not really his thing.  He is perfectly happy to play at the zero entry area, by himself.  He does try floating now a bit, and gets his hair wet, so we have progress.  I think Henry might swim before him though, that's my prediction.  I'm thinking he might eventually just frustrated when everyone swims but him, and finally buckle down and learn.  We'll see how it goes.  It's no rush or race, but it is something I want them all to learn.  Henry really has gotten much more comfortable in the water and I think is going to be a fish like Emilynn.  Have I mentioned how awesome their teacher is?  I know, I have!  She really does good with the kids though, I just can't say it enough.  She always has new ideas to make it more fun.  One thing both the twins love is when she swims with them on her back.  Carson even likes it, although she doesn't dunk him like Emmy.  I like how she's a mom so she doesn't pay much attention to Carson's drama-she just takes him on out there and distracts him.  We are definitely lucky to have found such a great teacher! 
Anyway, I had to post about our latest swimming achievement!  I don't know if Emmy will ever be on the swim team, but it wouldn't surprise me.  I think that girl is going to keep us busy as the years go by!  We'll see about the boys, they are more homebodies like their Daddy I think.  Time will tell!

Vote!

Don't forget to go vote today, even though it's not a presidential election!  It is important to exercise our right to vote.  We take the kids with us, which I think is a good social studies lesson for them!  They need to know about voting, why we vote, why we vote for who we vote for, etc. etc.  As the years go by, they understand more and more.  It honestly amazes me sometimes the things they understand and remember. 

For instance, the other day Emilynn says to me, "The sun is a star mom."  I was taken a little by surprise, then I asked her where she learned that.  She said, "On Bubble Guppies Mom." 
You never know what they are going to say! 

Monday Musings

• It is cold here today!  I can't say that I minded all that much.  The kids still wanted to play outside, so we bundled up and played outside all morning until lunchtime!  It was refreshing actually.  Although, I don't know how I am going to walk with the kids on cold days like this.  I may have to come up with yet another exercise plan.  I think the devil really likes throwing curveballs at me as I try to become healthier!  I just don't think it would be good to have the cold wind blowing in their faces like it would be as we strolled.  I'll figure something out. 
• I am so glad tomorrow is election day.  Our phone has rung off the hook with political calls.  It has gotten so frustrating today that I finally unplugged the phone.  I hope anyone who needs us tries my cell!  I even tried picking up and hanging it right back up, thinking that would stop them from calling.  Nope.  Same number calls back again and again, among others. 
• Soccer is over on Saturday.  I have to say, I am really glad!  It's been a tough year.  I think 3 is too young to play (don't tell my hubby I said that!).  :-)  I don't know what we'll do next year.  I do know that I have watched my nephew play for 3 years now, and his 3 year old first year looked similar to ours.  So maybe there's hope???  Emilynn did not want to play Saturday for some reason, and Carson doesn't like to play without her.  It went downhill from there.  Oh well.  We tried. 
• We went to a cousin's farm Friday to see turkeys.  They raise turkeys for Thanksgiving so we had to go see them before they were "processed."  Sorry, I know that seems mean, but, well, that's where meat comes from!  It was nice to see them and pet them.  We also saw chickens, cows, goats, pigs, lambs, and sheep.  We had a great time, I will try to post a few pics soon. We got some local pork and headed home.   I reserved some chickens that will be ready on the 23rd, and hope to eat a bit more chicken around here!  :-)  We are on beef overload right now, since we had 1/4 of a cow, then 1/3 of a cow in the past 3 months! 
• Does anyone else's kids play with the weirdest stuff?  For some reason my kids love to dump out all of Emilynn's hair stuff, and they play with the bobby pins.  Carson has "Cranky" from Thomas, which is a crane with a magnetic thing on it.  He picks up bobby pins with it and thinks it's so cool.  Strange I know.  Of course, they also play with anything that's not a toy more than any toys we have.  Like cardboard boxes, rocks, sticks, fire wood (my sister and I used to play with fire wood all the time!).  Anyway, today Cranky is lifting bobby pins like crazy.  We have a lot of bobby pins for dance!   Both of my kids also want alarm clocks for Christmas.  I am not sure where they got the idea, but they actually pretend other things are alarm clocks, and sit them by their beds.  I saw some really cute clocks on Amazon that teach them time, both the old fashioned way and the digital way.  We'll see if we end up with clocks! 
• The switch witch DID make a visit to our house.  Remember the kids had told me they didn't want her to come, they wanted the candy?  Well, Halloween night they ate all the candy they could possibly hold.  On the way home, Emilynn told me she didn't want her candy, she wanted a toy instead.  She happily gave me her candy, which was amazing because she's the one who has the biggest sweet tooth, and also the one who reacts the worst to the artificial dyes and sugar in candy.  I was glad she gave it up!  Carson didn't want to give his up, but the witch came and took the candy.  We decided she could come back the next night and give him the candy back if he didn't like the toy he got, and pick the toy back up.  Yep, it got a little complicated.  She left the twins roller skates and Henry a nice wooden Tonka fire truck.  I think she found the stuff for a great deal at consignment.  ;-)  She also left the things like chips, goldfish, fruit snacks, pretzels, chex mix, and all the toys/non-candy items they got.  We had to have some balance.  It worked out great and the kids were super-excited to get a special new toy.  They have talked about her non-stop.  Emilynn was also delighted to realize that she didn't check our car for candy, and she had dropped a good deal of candy Thursday night without any of us realizing it in the car.  The witch definitely has to work out a few kinks in her methods, but I think she will come visit us annually.  It was hard because there was no precedence for it like there is with the Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus, who've been visiting for years.  I think she learned she will have to check the car as well as the house for treats!  Oh, and Daddy has been thrilled with the candy stash we now have in our room.  :-)  Our dentist buys the candy for $1 per pound to send to troops, but we aren't close enough to justify going to do that.  It's 45 minutes away.  Anyway, it was all a success and we had fun.  We cut our stops to a minimum and still got tons of goodies.  I loved how so many people give out non-candy items now.  We got color books, stencils, tattoos, cars, reusable totes, chips, cheese balls, chex mix, pencils, and all kinds of neat stuff! 
• Our family is booked for a tacky light tour!  I am so excited and I am excited for how the kids are going to love it.  They LOVE looking at decorations.  It should be a lot of fun, and we have a nice bus with a bathroom and can have snacks on it.  Essential when you do something with kids!  Yes, we are already planning our December activities so we make sure we do what is important, and skip what's going to be stressful. 
• Speaking of December, I think we are going to read and Advent book each day in December and do an Advent calendar of sorts.  I bought a thing with little drawers in the hardware section of Walmart, I think it's meant to hold nuts and bolts.  I am going to make it an Advent calendar with small treats for the kids each day, after we read out story.  I've been wanting to do this for years and just haven't.  I hope we can make it a tradition. 
• I am getting a much-needed haircut tonight.  I have a friend who comes to the house to cut hair, wax eyebrows, or whatever else anyone wants done.  It is so convenient!  It was always so hard to manage going to the hair salon, with having to find someone to watch the kids or go the one night my favorite girl worked late which may not be convenient.  Now, if I can figure out how to get pedicures at home!  :-) 

Well, that's all that's going on around here. 

Here's what's on the menu for this week (I think!):
spaghetti, salad, Red Lobster biscuits (Have you tried these from Sam's club?  So good for a treat!)
chicken broccoli braid, green beans, mac & cheese, applesauce
Broccoli/cheese soup (Panera brand from Sam's club-again so good!), stew for kids, grilled cheese
meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn
dinner out maybe?
leftovers
and I don't know what else yet! 

As for lunches and breakfasts, we normally have eggs for breakfast and fruit.  Lunches are leftovers, or soup, or macaroni & cheese (Annie's), or a snack-y lunch of cheese, veggies/dip, raisins, dried cranberries, fruit, pepperonis, etc.  Sometimes we do sandwiches-peanut butter and jelly or meat/mayonnaise (Carson).  It's just pretty much whatever we are in the mood for.  I have been packing our lunch on the day we have swim class, instead of getting fast food.  That has really saved us money, and I know I feel better not being so stuffed from fast food.  When Dustin is home for lunch, we may have something heartier.  After church yesterday, we had a pepperoni pizza twist that I make for lunch.  We do stuff like that on Sat. and Sun. when Daddy's home a lot of times. 

Sunday Scripture

"The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender."  ~Proverbs 22:7

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." (NIV)                   ~Hebrews 13:5

⁸ Owe no man anything, but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.~Romans 13:8


As you can see, this week is all about money.  I am always reading books and blogs about money management and being a better steward of the money God has give us.  About two years ago, I discovered Dave Ramsey, and I must say-his books and program are the best out there for sure!  The Total Money Makeover is a life-changing book.  He is a Christian, and also a straight talker!  He doesn't sugar coat anything and I like that about him.  We have done a few steps in his Total Money Makeover and loved it.  Dustin is probably tired of hearing me start a sentence with "Dave says....".  Basically the idea is to become debt free except for your house, and then pay that off too!  He encourages everyone to use an all-cash system, and when I do that, I love it.  I love to get groceries and not have to balance the checkbook when I get home.  I don't have to do the math in my head when I'm out, figuring out how much we have in the checkbook.  I have already allotted the money and withdrawn it from the bank.  You can have a debit card with the system, but no credit cards whatsoever.  If you've ever relied on credit cards, that can be scary.  It is a good feeling to use only cash or debit though.  If you are looking to make a financial change or overhaul, check out the system!  I don't think you will regret it.  Why am I talking money today?  Well, can't things get a bit overwhelming here with holiday season upon us?  In our area, taxes are due Dec. 5th, right before the holidays.  Also, winter is right around the corner, meaning higher energy or gas bills for heating.  It's been said we may be in for a hard winter.   It seems like the perfect storm of sorts for everyone to experience some anxiety in the money department!   Some may be surprised at how many verses in the Bible address money and how we are to handle it.  My favorite one is the Romans one-"owe no many anything but love." 
I have to say, giving up my job to stay home was really scary at first for us, with the added expense of two infants and loss of income.  However, I have never regretted it one minute!  We have been amazed at how God provides for all of our needs, whether it is a grandparent buying clothes or shoes or something unexpected for the children, finding just what we need at the consignment store or Goodwill, or the case of formula that showed up on our doorstep unexpectedly from the formula company.  The day the formula showed up, the twins were just weeks old and at that moment I knew God would take care of us no matter what.  During that time we were using a $15 can of formula every day.  The NICU had me fill out paperwork to get a free can of it, and little did I know, a whole case was sent to us!  Amazing.  God ALWAYS provides if we just trust him! 

Frugal tip-Shop those after Halloween sales!

I love shopping the days following a holiday!  You can get some great deals for 1/2 price, or even deeper discounts.  Have you hit the Halloween section?  I encourage you to check it out! 
Here's what I normally look for: 

• Costumes- Do your kids love to dress up?  Mine do, they have been wearing their Halloween costumes for weeks now.  I checked out the Walmart costumes yesterday and found an Ariel costume for Emmy ($8), a knight vest for Carson ($2), and a Buzz Lightyear costume for Carson ($10).  For $20, I got three costumes that the kids will get with some other dress up things for their birthday.  One year I got some costumes at Target for $1.  I will check again as the days pass if I'm near a store.  Each day the discounts get better- for example on the first day it's 50% off, then it may go to 75%, and finally it goes to 90%.  Of course, the selection gets less each day....so if there's something you really want, you may want to grab it! 
• Candy- The twins have a December birthday.  I usually do a piñata and goody bags, and that can get pricey.  I always check out the after-Halloween candy for discounted treats.  I only buy the ones that aren't in Halloween paper.  For instance, you may see some in a Halloween bag, but the candy inside is just wrapped normal.  We got Snickers and Tootsie rolls like this trick or treating, and some Reese's stuff too.  Does that make sense?  Only the outside of the bag says Halloween, but they discount it nonetheless!  Yay!  For us, it lasts just fine till December, only 8 weeks away. 
• Paper products- Check out what's on sale and see if you can use them for another holiday.  For instance, purple is sometimes with the Halloween stuff, but could be used for Valentine's day.  Red at Christmas can also be used for Valentine's day.  Think outside the box!  If you know you are hosting a gathering for Halloween next year, you can pick up plates, etc. now if you know how many you need and will know where they are come next October.  Orange can also be used for Thanksgiving, and plain pumpkins too! 
• Thanksgiving items-Sometimes plain fall leaf items are included in the Halloween sales.  Just make sure you check before you go to the register so you aren't surprised. 
• Baking items- Paper muffin cups, sprinkles, and baking decorations will often keep for a year or two-so check those out!  Also, if you eat a lot of muffins and cupcakes and aren't making them for a special occasion-you can buy the Halloween ones.  Who cares if their blueberry muffin is in a special cupcake liner? 
• Decorations- If you are one who likes inflatables, etc. you may want to get to the store first thing in the morning after a holiday.  Those things go quick!  Other decorations are also on sale.  It feels silly to buy them full price one day, when you can get them at least half off the next.  The pumpkin carving kits go on sale as well-and they of course keep for years and years! 

Happy deal hunting!  :-)