Currently

  

Celebrating last weekend with my handsome husband and a bunch of our friends on the Poker Pub Crawl I helped organized for our high school alumni association.  We had a lot of fun, raised some money, and got a night out on the town like real life grown ups!  Thank you to Abba for watching the gremlins!

Hopeful that spring is coming.  oh, please please.  On the one warm day we had this week, charged with inspiration from 1000 Hours Outside, I braved it alone with three kids and two dogs (!) and we managed to walk over a mile together.  I had Bullet on a leash and Violet in the carrier.  Grey had Trixie on the leash and Gem was in charge of the backpack of snacks.  That's the real secret to success - snacks.

Chatting non stop for almost three hours with my baby sis out to dinner on Monday night.  Brandon was off (only to have to work this weekend, boo) but that might I got to sneak away and get yummy food that I didn't make and giggle behind giant classes of margaritas with my littlest sis for the night!

Happy to finally (!!) get to meet baby Claire this past weekend when we visited with Siri and Dobber while they were in town.  Violet calls dibs on future 'besties!'

Decorating from Easter finally got done this week!  I always get so mixed up when there is a holiday right after you flip over the next month in the calendar.  Oops, dying Easter eggs is on the to do list for this upcoming week.  After we finished hanging eggs from our Easter tree in the front yard, Gemma said that our tree "looks like she's wearing earrings!"

Running all over the place this week!  Gemma and I had a dentist appointment (her first!) in which both of us got good marks.  Brandon, Greyson, and I stopped by the eye doctor (his first!), Violet had her sixth month well check, and then I had a 'lady doc' yearly appt.  At least we're getting them all out of the way, I guess!

Enjoying little routines that the kids and I have gotten into recently naturally.  Like when I fold and iron our clothes, Gemma floats between folding dishtowels for me and playing with Violet, while Grey sorts and rolls the socks and then shoots them like basketballs across the room into the hamper.  And the two bigger kids have also twice now migrated up to Violet's room while I'm putting her to sleep.  They drag in blankets and pillows and lay on the floor while I sing lullabies to Violet.  It's so nice and special and I don't know how it got started but it makes me feel really aware of how fleeting this period in our life is with three little ones.

Reading (still!) The Ten Thousand Things and switched up from Mercy Watson to Super Teddy this week for bedtime reading.

Exasperated with Gemmi Ro.  She's amazing and hilarious, but trying to raise a three year old is like trying to put a onesie on a rabid wolf baby.  honestly.  Grey as a three year old and this same feeling of just staring at him with utter disbelief and frustration is making a comeback as our Gem now is a full blown three.  yeesh.  so much drama, whining, and flat out not listening - not because she doesn't understand but because at three years, they just want to make sure everyone understands that they are going to make their own darn choices and ain't nobody going to tell them nothing.  a paint can spilled in the basement,  long diatribes about how no one loves her because we stopped petting her when she fell asleep, numerous cups and plates spilled at dinner because of dance party attacks that come out of nowhere, and her weight in stolen junk food later - this week i'm just feeling like ugh, help me.

Missing my grandma who had a birthday this week.  The kids and I went to Sweet Frog to enjoy some ice cream in her honor and I told them about her and how she used to run her fingers down our closed eyes and whisper 'eyes' to help us fall asleep.  Grey said that he thought that Jesus probably had a cake for her up in heaven for her birthday.

This week in interesting internet:

The coolest momma ever sporting a bikini on the beach inspiring the masses to wear your momma badges of honor proud.  If you didn't check out this story yet - please do so immediately.   I especially love that she says "I wear a bikini because the only man who's opinion matters knows what I went through to look this way. That same man says he's never seen anything sexier than my body, marks and all. "   because my handsome hubs is exactly like that. xoxoxx love you, b.

This eye opening perspective on what it is like to lose a child. I hope to never be a member of this club, as all parents hope - but it was important for me to read this and feel better able to respond and support parents who have tragically been forced to live on past their children.

Normally very funny blog Stuff MomsSays hit me in the feels with this Thank You post. cryfest.

This video about how words can have such an impact in life. It hit me in the gut for a lot of reasons, one of them being about how much I love writing and putting words together myself. gah, just watch.

FTWM to SAHM vlog series: Budgets & Meal Planning

goodness.  Does it ever feel like a day totally gets away from you?  That was my yesterday, seriously, like it was just slipping through my fingertips.  So the vlog is coming at ya a day late because I don't know what happened to yesterday.

I'm talking today about money today.  As a Sahm, I sort of view the saving aspect of money has one of the main responsibilities of my "job" now.  My husband brings money IN as his job and part of my job as a Sahm is that I try to keep it from going OUT in unnecessary places.

We accomplish that first by being aware of our budget and the movement of our (much smaller amount of) money now as a one paycheck family.  And also by saving money when we can - one of the bigger ways of doing that by meal-planning.  Watch on to learn more and check out the resources & links listed below for more info!



Links & Resources:

Budgeting

Dave Ramsey's Seven Baby Steps

Staying at Home with your kids when you can barely afford it from The Humble Homemaker (her post really aligns with how we do things here at Team Studer on a day to day basis.  Almost all hand-me-downs, no shopping to browse, free entertainment, etc)

How to become a stay at home mom on one income from Your Modern Family

About the Spending Fast from And Then We Saved
and then check out her Total Savings from the Year long Spending Fast

Meal-planning:

My entire Recipe Pinboard for meal-planning
From my blog:  A year of meal planning & tips

Our top favorite meals:
Korean Beef
YUM Chicken - also known as 'crack chicken':  Slow Cooker meal
Soft shell Tacos  (anything Mexican actually.  burritos, quesadillas, Tater Tot Enchilada Bake, Taco Pasta, Baked Tacos, Taco Potatoes (a side!)
Crispy Shrimp & Pasta
Three Packet Roast:  Slow Cooker Meal
Chicken Zucchini Casserole
Asian Pork Chops
Cream Cheese Chicken Taquitos:  Slow Cooker Meal
Shredded Deer Meat Sandwiches:  Slow Cooker Meal
Spicy Kielbasa Alfredo Bake (although we turn down the spice a little.  The original recipes make it really hot!)

Even though I don't plan for them, I do try to spice up our meals for breakfast and lunch.  For breakfast I try to challenge myself to two 'real' breakfasts a week (ie. NOT cereal/waffles).  For lunch, we do a mix of regular kid friendly lunches (hot dogs/mac&cheese/chicken nuggest), leftovers from dinner, and Bento Box style lunches.


What are your tips and tricks for budgeting and saving money in your family?

Trampoline Park & Carnegie Science Center

Snow here again today!  So I'm remembering back to a more fun/active weekend that we recently had with our family in Pittsburgh at the Flight Trampoline Park and Carnegie Science Center instead of looking grumpily out the window at the lack of spring visible.

We waited until late Friday night (like right before bed) to tell the kids about the upcoming day's plans - because otherwise we'd have had to answer "Is it happening today!?" every three minutes if not.  They were so excited and we reminded them that they needed to get good sleep before the big day that we would need lots of energy!

We got on the road bright and early on Saturday morning and made the almost two hour drive west towards Pittsburgh.  (We purchased our Flight tickets and signed e-waivers early that week which made check in really easy and quick!) As we waited for our turn to jump - our family arrived (Abba, Chum, Aunt Uch, Kevin, Aunt Kitty, and Uncle Ryan).  The kids were itching to get on the almost wall to wall trampolines and finally it was our turn!

The basketball hoop was a BIG hit with the boys, especially Greyson and Daddy.  They organized their own dunk contest and Grey tried multiple times to take charge of not only our family's dunking rotation but other kids that were there too.  (Bossy like his Momma!)  Brandon and Grey both asked if maybe we should build one at our house.  HAHAH. #boysandtheirdreams

We all took turns holding the Lettie Bug who got in a little on the action while sitting supported on the edge of a trampoline while her sister bounced her.  Violet was pretty content just staring in fascination at all the bouncing bodies everywhere though.

After the super fun park, we headed back to the Love house for some delicious potato soup that Aunt Kitty made for us and some lounging.  We introduced Greyson to some new riddles (he's obsessed) and played with the Love pets Miles (cat) and Lemon (pup).  Then after our little break, we headed back out into the city to visit the Carnegie Science Center.  

The Carnegie Science Center is such a cool place.  Full of discovery and new things that the kids don't normally have access too which makes it full on learning and interesting for them.  We got to see exhibits about astronauts, robotics, the weather, natural disasters, and the local ecology.  We all sort of just followed the two big kids around and let them lead us in exploration through the different parts of the science center.  

What is really awesome about the science center is that it's so fun and interesting for my little kids because of all the discovery and access to new things - but it's also great for all other ages too.  The grown ups all had a great time reading and learning about new things too.

Brandon loved the basketball shooting robot and was ready to challenge it shot for shot.  (hahah). Our weather loving Abba was thrilled to give her hand at a weather report in front of a green screen.  Aunt Uch played with the giant building blocks in the preschool section longer then my kids did (she claims she was 'helping them', hah)  And Uncle Ryan was impressively good (and proud) at completing the surgeon simulation games. It definitely was not just a place for the kids to have fun - we all seemed to find something we loved!

hanging out in the 'Earthquake Cafe' 

The science center has this amazing train set set up that takes up the interior of a huge side room.  I was fascinated and in love with all the details and intricacy of it.  Grey loved following/chasing the trains around the tracks.  It is all set up like an old time version of Pittsburgh and it was all so tiny and delicate that it felt really magical.  It was my favorite part of the whole place!
 

We are always so grateful to be able to visit amazing places with extended family in tow.  We are so blessed to not only get the time to spend with our family - but also for our kids to make memories and learn new things from the people that love them.

Afterwards, Brandon, Violet and I had to head back east home to take care of the pups and be home for Sunday school teaching the next morning.  Our lucky two big kids got to have a sleepover at Aunt Kitty & Uncle Ryan's house with Abba & Chum and Uch and Kevin for the night.

We had such a fun filled day for both our bodies AND minds!  And it's pretty hard to beat that!