Storytime

It is bedtime. We are snuggled in bed together and Karist informs me she is going to tell me a bedtime story. Here is her story:

Baby Jesus was born.
Baby Jesus died.

That is it. I laughed and corrected her and told her that Jesus grew up before he died. And the conversation wandered all over after that.


Next day.
She tells the kids she is going to tell them a story.
Here it is word for word:

Baby Jesus was born.
He grewed up.
Jesus died. He died.


At least she was paying attention the night before.

Free

So we had a morning free of T.V. and Internet and this is some of what we did:


We made really free Christmas lights.
The paper was a discard from Becka's and they use no power.
It was good practice for all 4 kids using scissors... they cut them all.




Cookies. Not free but almost except the sticks.



We were so busy crafting, cleaning, cooking and learning that we were mostly free of complaining and fighting.

Trick of Treat

A night elf
A pirate
A snow fairy
And a Barbie musketeer






Too bad I never figured out the trick to taking good pictures.

Oh wait Jesse took these.
I pass the blame :)

Little Miss Know it All

A conversation with Karist last night:

Me: How did you get so beautiful?

Silence
Karist: grins big

Me: God made you so beautiful.

Karist: Uh huh. (said with a tone that says I am not telling her anything new)

Me: And he made you smart

Karist: Uh huh

Me: And kind

Karist: Uh huh

Me: And helpful (can you tell I am buying that self fulfilling prophecy bit)

Karist: Uh huh

Me: *gives her another big hug*

Karist: And Proud


I died laughing.

So yes I have a proud little girl, and she is proud of being proud.

Karist and Water Play

Still checking to see if I posted?

Well I am still alive.

Not sure that I really did that much while I was gone.
Or it was so boring and routine I blocked it from memory.

Here is my short term memory kicking in...
What I did today:

Cleaned a place in the garage for my new freezer that arrives on Monday.
Note that I cleaned a place not the garage. I would still be trapped in there working if that was the case.

Fed people.

Got the kids ready for soccer pictures.

Coupon research.

Tried to get ready to teach my new 4 year old Sunday School class tomorrow.

Glad they are young and will forgive me if I mess it up.

So that is a quick update seconds before my laptop battery dies.

Happy frugal Birthday splurge

So its my birthday.
If I had a choice of restaurants available nearby I would probably choose Ruby Tuesday.

But we are cutting back on our expenses so I went for the frugal splurge.
Also easy because it is my birthday ya know.

Birthday menu:

Make ahead rolls. Already had them ready so just removed from the freezer to bake.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Make-Ahead-Butterhorns/Detail.aspx

To die for Green beans.
3 slices of bacon 1 TB butter 1 pkg frozen green beans 2 tsp soy sauce
Pepper to taste 3 TB brown sugar.

Fry bacon to crisp. toss in Butter, thawed green beans, and all other ingredients cook about 5 minutes.

All measurements are approximate. But they are so good I eat them for dessert sometimes.

Grilled steak.
Cheap cut marinated in free marinade thanks to coupons. Cooked by Jesse of course, it is my birthday you know.

Whipped red potatoes.
easy. toss them in a pan. toss in mixer with milk, salt, pepper, cream cheese and butter and walla easy, yummy side dish.

Birthday Cake
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Orange-Cake/Detail.aspx

Yummy orange cake made from free stuff I had on hand from sales.
You didn't think we were gonna put a candle on those green beans did you?

So I probably spent about 8 dollars on all this yummy food that would have been very close to my Ruby Tuesday's order.

Investing in precious metals

After some research into the current state of the economy Jesse decided some of our savings would be safer converted to platinum.

I agreed.

I tried to sell him on a smaller investment of a similar kind...Metal cans of food.

He did not agree so readily.

I had to back up my investment proposal with research showing that the responsible household should have a 3 day emergency preparedness kit.
He agreed.

Plus the concern that in an emergency we might not have the eggs to make his brownies sold him on having the powdered eggs on hand.




So here is what my "gold" investment looks like.
A few of the cans are for my Mom and Aunt Denise.

With this "flu pandemic" in the news it looks like my investment may be paying dividends sooner than expected.

I also have some "tin" investments too....tuna, pineapple, soup, rotel, etc...

My medical supplies shopping spree during the wedding has also payed off in peace of mind.

No worries about sold out face masks, I already have them on hand along with thermometers, blood pressure cuff, pain relievers, 5 first aid kits, stethoscope, lots of cold and flu meds, boxes of tissues.

Preparedness really does pay dividends in peace of mind.

Birthday girl

Ellie is now 4 years old.
She had some elaborate cake picked out from a cake design book that she insisted I make. We were so busy over the weekend I really did not have time so I bought an Ice cream cake...with a coupon of course.

She decorated it with MMs herself. They were on sale with a coupon of course.


She was very pleased.

Swag

For those of you who need a vocabulary lesson swag is the free loot you get when you go to conventions.

Jesse picked up quite a bit at the Space Symposium on our trip to Colorodo.

Here is our photo log of it.
Yes taking pictures of it is weird.
I had no kids and Jesse was gone during the day and I had nothing better to do.
And it was such a large diverse accumulation...
So for your veiwing pleasure :)


With all the papers and registation, maps etc he had on his way out the door I told him he need a manbag...he got one for free that night.

More bags

leather organsizer

note pads and triangle shape highlighter

pens

chapstick

stress relievers

carabiners and keychain flashlights

water bottles

mouse pads

necklaces

misc..

flashdrive, clock, multi tool, calculator

toys


My favorite chocolate.

And to top everything off the spellcheck did not flag anything.
Small victories :)

I need a Kick...

on the butt to get me moving.

I feel so unmotivated.

Anyone want to come over?

A Sad Song

Sorry no pic today.

I am lazy.

But I did think you would find it amusing to hear about Karist's Sad Songs.

Whenever she gets in trouble, doesn't get her way, or just gets her feelings hurt she leaves the room...

and SINGS.

The songs always have something to do with why she is sad.

Something like...
I am so sad my Daddy spanked me. Danny won't play with me. I am so sad.

She sings this n such a mournful tone.
It is funny.
Yes it is sad, but it is funny.

I feel a part of some musical.

Some momentous change, lets sing about it.

Imagine you tell someone in your life they can't have the last cookie.

Then you hear...

I am soooo sad I don't have a cookie. No cookie for me. I am so sad. I have no cookie. You won't give me a cookie.

Sung like their pet just died.

Funny I tell ya.

Dirt Devil

There is something very precious in the exhausted question from my 2 yr old" Can I take a break"? Punctuated by an exhausted sigh.

Why is she so tired?

She just vacuumed the family room for 20 minutes.

She used Danny's vacuum.

He tried to help her. She fought tooth and nail to by it by herself.

She did.

So now she is resting.

A well earned break...for me too.

The Eyes Have it...

with a tongue in the minority.






I love my kids.

Today's forecast...Stay in Bed

So this afternoon we are supposed to get Thunder Snow.

Guess I will just crawl under the covers stay warm and watch is storm out the window.

Yesterday we did not do much.
We went to Garden of the Gods to do a bit of shopping.
No pictures cause what we bought is a surprise.
After that Jesse went back to the conference.
He brought home Red Robin for dinner and we sat around eating, drinking lemonade, and watching an old Sci-fi movie Krull.
The movie was his choice of course.

I really enjoyed talking to my little ones yesterday.
It was good to hear how well they were doing taking care of Marme.

I can only imagine that Saturday with all the kids gone and the house quiet Marme will declare her own stay in bed day.

Another Day

We woke up to a dusting of snow. Too bad the car rental place did not put a ice scraper or snow brush in the car.


Jesse getting ready to leave for the Pike's Peak cog railway.

Me taking a picture of myself getting ready to go. There is no way this would be getting posted except that I know my kids would like to see a picture of Mommy.

Going up the mountain.

View of the snow as high as we could go. The wind was gusting at 80 mph at the top so the snow plow train could not keep it off the tracks. The snow was 7 feet deep where we stopped to head back down.

Another view from the top.

Looking down the mountain.

Still looking down the mountain.

Heading down the mountain.

So that is how we spent our day.
Today on Jesse's lunch break we are going to make a quick trip to the Garden of the Gods.

Who do I love?

Marme: she is loving on my kids for me. She asked to see these so here they are.

Becka: She took such wonderful pictures of my children. She also helped me with the mantel decor and framing.

My Kids: I love them so much. For to many reasons to list.



Frugal decor: Since I have been tracking in my blog my decor expenses here goes.
Wall stickers: free had them sitting around from last year.
Frames: 40.00 for all 8
Mats: free came with frames.
Counstruction paper and scrapbook paper: free, had on hand from other projects.
Photo: Free, used a Wallgreens coupon to cover the 1.30 cost.

So in total I spent 40.00 out of pocket for all the projects below.






















We are headed to the top of a mountain today.
It is snowing here so I am not sure how sane this adventure is.


Jesse has the opening ceremonies for the Space Symposium tonight.
I hope he gets some good pictures of the fireworks while he is there.