October update

I have not forgetting about my blog. I wake up every day ready to post and then realize that i simply do not have the time. So here is my update.

September 23, 2013 just before my cousins second birthday he was diagnosed with ALL. Sure i have known many people with cancer, but never a child. I have been putting all my love, prayers, and focus into helping my family with fundraising and staying positive while we are on this crazy roller coaster called life. My family is strong and the support they are getting is amazing. This journey has brought me closer together with some family members that i usually do not spend much time with. It has been great getting to know them better and realizing how much we have in common. You can follow Mateo's Journey on facebook.

I am still sewing almost daily. It has been difficult to stay motivated and some times i want to throw in the towel. Sales are slow but every time they come in i realize that i truly love sewing and it gives me great joy each time an item is sent to a new home. When i started sewing it was a way to sew with my friends, stay connected, and share the love of the craft with each other. Friends have come and gone, some have lost interested, and i moved way...all factors making it difficult to stay connected. I keep hoping that will change and people will be motivated to get back in and get their hands dirty. For now I will continue to sew, continue to supply etsy with my handmade affordable items.

I finally found a new Girl Scout troop for Emma and we will attend out first meeting on the 28th. I am sad that we dont get to see our old troop as often but am glad to know Emma is always welcome to do activities with them. I am looking forward to being able to be more active in our new troop now that Peter finally has a shift that allows me some time to interact more and being able to help out which is what i have always wanted.

I am pushing forward with my goal to lose 30lbs before my 30th birthday. My weight has been an issue for me a lot more recently and i gave myself plenty of time to reach my goals. Luckily, I found an old friend that lives a few mins away and she has a similar goal to mine. We have been walking a few times and decided to make it more of a regular thing. It is nice to have someone in my life up here that i can relate to and it feels good to feel like i finally have a friend here. Not that i dont have friends...we all know i have like 5 LOL but i dont see my other friends very often. When we first moved here we saw people more but as the time has gone on, visitors have become less frequent, which usually happens. Having someone to walk with is really keeping me motivated to stay on track with my goals.

Landon is doing great in school! it is so nice to pick him up and hear from his teacher and his speech therapist about how amazing he is. He has learned so much in the past three weeks in his special morning class. We feel blessed to have moved to an area that puts the children first. I feel that in our last school district they were not as hands on and surely did not have the extra classes available like we do here. This move may have been a bit hard at first but except for the fact that i rarely see my friends, this is the best move we have ever made.

30 Days Of 'No-Poo'

A couple nights ago while winding my mind down I hit the hair and beauty section of Pinterest. I visit that section often to look at all the beautiful thin girls with long flowing hair ... usually to remove myself of how I want to look next July (more on that in a sec). I stumbled across a post about no-poo, after reading it and a few similar posts I have decided to try it for 30 days. Not sure what no-poo is? Well its basically going shampoo less. Instead of chemically induced hair care items you simply go back to basics and use good old baking soda and vinegar.

Here is how I feel about day 1: washing with baking soda was easy. I mixed one tablespoon baking soda with a cup of water, poured some on my wet hair, and scrubbed in my usual circular motion. After washing I followed with a vinegar rinse made of one cup water and 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar. My hair is shoulder length and usually out of control resulting in a daily pony tail. I noticed after my no-poo wash my hair dried in half the time it used to, it was very easy to run a brief through, and feels much lighter than usual. I will follow up with weekly posts to let you know how it goes ;)

Wondering what I want to look like in July? Well here we go. At my heaviest in 2009 I weighed almost 180lbs...which is a ridiculous amount for a person that is 5'2". Having a baby in the nicu through me into a depression that I never knew existed and I ate my feelings I felt worthless, unwanted, disgusting, and humiliated. It got so bad that I didn't want to leave my house. In 2011 when I got pregnant with Tanner I wanted that all to change. I went from 175 at my first appointment to 155 and back to 162 when I delivered an 8lb 2oz baby. At my six week check up I was down to 151 and thought I could keep it off. Well here I am in 2013 weighing in at 163lbs. I don't feel like I am an over eater any more, I'm more active than I have ever been, and my depression is 80% gone....but I don't feel good about the way I look. I still feel embarrassed and ashamed of myself. I find myself ignoring phone calls and not wanting to spend time with friends because of my weight. I'm also the largest woman in my blood related family which doesn't help. Constantly being around stick figures doesn't do much for a girls self esteem.

So I decided to change. Decided to put me first a little bit more than usual. I'm slowly getting into a routine and hoping to stay there. For my 30th birthday I want to weigh 30lbs less. I think it is a goal I can achieve if I try. I'm walking my dogs more, riding my bike further and pushing myself more, hiking, and even throwing in a little jog while I'm at it.

10/1 UPDATE
I went three days before washing my hair again. My hair did not get greasy or unmanageable in those three days and I probably could have went a few more. My hair feels lighter and healthier in only a few days. Can't wait to see what the next few weeks holds.

Jazzy Dan's and Jake's Diapers

Did you know that if you purchase a diaper from Jazzy Dan's Diapers and mention Jake's Diapers for Peru that we donate one diaper to help our little buddies in foreign countries? Haven't heard of Jake's Diapers? Well please please please find them on facebook! Jake's mom and team are a group of amazing individuals that gather goods, make repairs, and ship items all over the world to help babies in need. When they contacted us for help there was no way we could say no. No child should have to go without, no child should have to reuse a disposable diaper, ever. 

For more information on Jake's Diaper please visit their facebook page @https://www.facebook.com/JakesDiapersForPeru or their blog http://jakesdiapersforperu.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/jakes-business-buddies/

To purchase diapers from us please visit our etsy shop www.jazzydansdiapers.etsy.com

Homemade Nutrigrain Bars

Well it is only the 9th and my kids have successfully eaten all of their snacks...which is a major fail on my part because we only grocery shop once a month. That means this mommy has to pull out all her pinned Pinterest finds and see what she can throw together. In my previous posts you will see graham crackers, which was a huge hit with the littles. I also made a batch of homemade cinnamon rolls, breakfast burritos, cereal bars, pita bread (recipe also up on blog), and tonight i added nutrigrain bars to the mix. These yummy little pre-packaged bars are a favorite amongst my littles. They are a go to after school snack for my school aged kids and of course Tanner always wants what they have. I have always known that they were not the healthiest snack but i just didn't think about making them from scratch before now. Tonight i attempted it and it didn't go exactly as planned but they still turned out moist, flavorful, and more healthy than the store bought ones.

Recipe:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup flour - i used bread flour
2/3 cup brown sugar - this easily could have been changed to honey or really left out but i decided to add apple sauce after i threw the flour in so what was done was done
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup apple sauce - i used my homemade sweetened with honey and lemon

1/3 cup mayo - i was out of eggs
10 ounces jam - i used my homemade blackberry

I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl then separated them into two balls. I noticed they were still a bit tacky so i did add an additional 1/2 cup flour. I flattened one ball into the bottom of a well greased pan, added my 10 ounces of jam then topped with the remaining ball of dough. Bake at 325 for 35-40 mins. When they cooled i cut them into small bars and wrapped in plastic wrap. We are still experiencing a bit warmer weather so 90% of my items are stored in the fridge, however i know these will be gone within a few days!

I made the mistake of not using a large enough pan so my bars came out more like a cake however they were kid tested and approved. 

I often substitute oil in recipes with apple sauce. I like the taste, it naturally sweetens, and i almost always have a homemade batch in the fridge or freezer. I will admit that lately i have been using mayo in place of eggs as well. I cant seem to keep eggs in the house long enough with the amount of breakfast burritos my husband and kids eat and i cant get my husband to agree to let me raise chickens next year, but we always have mayo. 

Landon turned the big F-I-V-E

August 24th my little man turned 5. It has been an amazing five years. Landon has brought me so much joy that i cant even express it in words. Being his mom is truly a gift from God and every day I am reminded of how amazing being a parent is. All of my kids mean the world to me and I love them all the same but as each year passes for Landon I am reminded of where we started and how each day we didn't know if it would be our last together.

Most of my readers know the story but i figure while im on the topic i might as well share it again for those that don't. At eight weeks pregnant with Landon i was misdiagnosed from Arroyo Grande Hospital and after hours of my mother screaming, threatening, and fighting i was finally properly diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. That clot was a pain i had never felt in my life, a pain i hope to never feel again. After two days at french hospital i was released on three times a day blood thinner injections. I made it another 20 weeks before i went into preterm labor. The next 5 weeks were hit and miss as my body started to shut down and my blood pressure shot through the roof. August 23rd I was admitted to Sierra Vista, diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, and induced. Landon was born the next day weighing 3lbs 12oz. The next week is a blur. I spent a week in a private room separated from the other mothers while Landon was up in the nicu fighting for his life. Being born at only 33 weeks he wasn't able to breath or eat on his own. He was tube fed until two days before he came home actually. I was sent home after 5 days in the hospital and reality hit that i was leaving without a baby. Because i'm a badass i held all my tears, fears, depression, anxiety, all inside. Those were the hardest three weeks of my life. I remember walking through Vons with Peter and as we rounded a corner a young couple was walking towards us with their small baby. I tried my best to keep it together but couldn't, i had a complete meltdown in the middle of the grocery store. As i stood there sobbing tears while Peter held me up i just kept thinking why us? why me? why do all bad things happen to me? Now of course i realize that we are a family are stronger than i ever knew, and that God doesn't give us more than we can handle.  I didn't visit him daily like my husband did because i just couldn't face it. Probably the same reason i didn't visit my grandma while she died of lung cancer or my pop when he fell from the ladder. That is just how i deal with thing. Three weeks went by, lots of heart stopping moments and joyous moments we were finally able to bring our 4lb 8oz baby home.



We were so lucky that he had no issues other than being small and so blessed that today he is just an average every day five year old boy.

We rang in Landon turning 5 with an awesome party at our new house. He was surrounded by all our family members and friends. This year he wanted to have a pool party with tacos and cupcakes so i made sure he had everything he wanted. Thankfully Danielle came up the night before and helped me cook and clean before everyone came over and Peter took care of setting up and maintaining our new pool as well we setting up a smaller pool for the little ones. We had a spectacular day with guests arriving from noon-five. The food was perfect, the company was perfect, the weather was great....couldn't have asked for a better day.

Here's a few shots from the party. Oh, and if you are wondering...yes that is my pop....my pop that was part of a water fight that included water balloons, a gator water shooter, and a small pool LOL

Yup, that's my pop...soaked in water...this was right after her took Misty down in the pool!

Caution: This Post Contains Words Like Vagina and Menstrual Cycle...you have been warned

Men folk that were brave enough to read this post after reading the title....you may want to re-think you decision. With that out of the way here we go!

I gave up store bought pads/tampons years ago...probably 5 or more years now. I gave them up for a number of reasons but mostly because of the chemicals involved in making them and the exuberant monthly cost. I know what you are thinking...really Jasmine? The $5 a month it cost....well my friends that $5 adds up and lets face it some times it is not just $5! Before I had kids i wouldn't be caught dead wearing a pad. I always felt like i was wearing a diaper and people would know...ya know because everyone was always staring at my behind, right? After i had my first baby i switched to pads because i just didn't care what people thought any more. After i had my second baby i switched to cloth and haven't ever looked back. I love cloth! I love all things cloth! I loved the ease of cloth, the softness, the lack of chemicals, how easy they are to wash, the cute prints. After my third baby i noticed my cloth wasn't holding up as well as it had in the past. I noticed i was stacking more and more pads on top of each other to get good protection and decided it just wasn't working for me anymore...but what is a girl to do when disposables are no longer an option? That same day I got an email from my bff and she like me is a cloth-a-holic. She had made the decision to try a menstrual cup. A cup? yes a cup, you read that right. Of course i couldn't let her be the only one to try a cup so i quickly decided to try one too. I can now 100% say that the cup is the best invention, ever. Once you get past the gross factor (some of you have it, i do not) and realize how awesome this natural product is i just know all of you will be as in love as i am! There are a lot of options out there for cups, do your homework ladies!

If you are not sold on the cup after doing your homework then please take 10 minutes out of your day and research or ask me about lady cloth. As my bff pinned on pinterest the other day "friends don't let friends wear tampons"...and i would like to convert the world to cloth lol Don't know what lady cloth is? search google or swing by my etsy page jazzydansdiapers.etsy.com and check out my current supply of lady cloth.

Reusable...better for the earth, better for your pocket, and better for the down town =)

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken and Rice

I adore my slow cooker, i would cook all my meals in there if it was possible...and i would even venture to say that 75% of my meals are cooked in mine. I love the simplicity of just throwing everything in one pot and calling it dinner later on. If you don't own a slow cooker we can no longer be friends! haha just kidding i will love you the same and just make fun of you later ;)

4 Chicken Breasts
1 yellow rice mix- cooked
1 cup cheese
1 can cream of chicken
1 can of corn

Cook chicken on high for 3-4 hours, cook rice on stove, add all ingredients 30 minutes before serving and mix! How simple is that? My family loved this dinner....except my 5 year old that has recently decided if i call it a casserole he wont even try it because he "doesn't like casseroles"...go figure.

Some things I did differently

*I cooked my chicken on low for 6-7 hrs
*I only used two chicken breasts
*I used rice pilaf because honestly i have never seen yellow rice
*I used cream of chicken and mushroom, yes store bought...shame on me
*I used a cup and a half of frozen corn, i rarely buy canned corn.

Serve this with your favorite salad for an easy peasy dinner option.

Pita Bread, oh yes i did!

I spend a lot of time before bed searching Pinterest while winding down since we do not have tv in our room and for some reason my brain needs a little "me"time to go to sleep. I stumbled across a few recipes, combined items i liked from different ones, tried them out, tweaked them again, and finally came up with a recipe that was kid and hubby tested and approved! If you follow me on Pinterest (which i highly recommend) you can see all the different things that i have pinned to my "nomnomnom"board.

***these pita pockets do take three hours, yes really. So plan on dedicating time to them...they are worth it!***

Pita Bread

3 cups flour (as always i use bread flour from costco. You can't beat 25lbs under $8)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 yeast or 1 packet if you do not buy it in bulk
1 1/4 cup room temp water
2 tbsp olive oil

Mix dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. mix by hand or stand mixer for 8 minutes. I do not own a stand mixer (shocker i know) so i mix these by hand. Remove dough from mixer or bowl and kneed on a floured counter top for 2-3 minutes, adding flour as needs be. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, make sure all sides of the dough is covered with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise for 2 hours.
After 2 hours has passed gently deflate your dough and place on the counter, cut dough into 8 portions rolling each portion into a ball. Cover balls with a damp towel for 20 minutes.
Roll dough out into 6 inch discs and allow to rise for 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 and bake for 3-5 minutes.

Tips:
*bake two at a time on a cookie sheet
*do not roll too thin or bread will be difficult to slice into pockets
*store these in a zip lock in the fridge- they will last a full 7 days
*throw in your favorite seasoning! I added some Italian seasoning to mine and they were super yummy

Homemade Graham Crackers and a lil rant

So you know me..always trying to find a way to be frugal whenever I can... my kids love snacks...usually their go to are "goldies" (goldfish). I started researching a while back trying to cut out a lot of processed foods and make more from scratch and I stumbled across a few recipes I'm going to share with you :)

Graham Crackers

1/2-2/3 cup butter
2 cups flour
1/2 cup honey (or any sweetener if you don't use or have honey)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix until dough forms a ball, roll out on floured surface, cut into shapes, and bake @350 8-10 minutes.

This frugal snack is easy to make and can easily be changed to add flax seed or whatever other add ins you feel necessary. My kids loved these so much they asked me to stop buying store bought grahams....and they got no complaint from me!

Often people ask me why I make things from scratch or how I find the time. Well my answer is usually 'I'm at home, I have the time'. I will no longer be using that as my answer because I am at home but I do not have the time. I work as hard as the rest of the world its just a different type of work. I make items from scratch because it saves money and is simply better for you. Everyone can find the time to make things for their family, you just have to be willing to give something up or alter your schedule.  Maybe its watching your favorite TV show or surfing the web...how important are those things really??? I hear the phrase 'time is money' a lot well while I'm working away making snacks, breads, tortillas...whatever it might be I'm usually also cleaning, doing laundry, helping with homework, or having my kids help me cook while spending quality time with them.

Its time to think outside the box people...literally.

Uh Oh Life Got In The Way Again

Well here I am again with an unfinished blog haha I feel like my life has been so busy during the last month or so. Thankfully my husband is back to work tomorrow and the big kids start school next week. That means me and the little man will have a lot of free time for baking, playing, and sewing *yay*.

 I have been working my tail off adding items to my etsy shop and am really pleased with the flow of sales lately. My new designs are coming along great and i am so happy that i will have more time to be out in my room and get things accomplished. I have started working on upcycled wool covers and after one night of use I can honestly say i am in love. Hopefully I will be able to add these to my shop very soon.

I have decided to not cover my meal plan or meals for the month of August due to the fact that my budget was completely shot! With Peter home our meals are never planned properly and things are bought that we would not normally buy...hence why im glad my life will get back to normal this week! I have tons of new recipes planned for September and am going to attempt to spend $250 or less on our monthly groceries!!! wish me luck and i will keep you posted on how it goes.

Catch ya on the flip side peeps!

A Reusable Lifestyle

My husband has to use ziploc bags for his food at work. When he goes in the gates his lunch pail is inspected so ziplocs make it easy for them to see what is in the bags. This of course is a downer for me as i was on a mission to eliminate all ziplocs from our home. My children and I already use reusable snack bags and we only use ziploc freezer bags to help us with our monthly meal planning. As i was putting away all of our reusable snack bags i decided to google "clear reusable snack bags" (yes i google random things). Google led me to Amazon which lead me to a listing for silicone reusable bags. The bags look super awesome! freeze, cook, store, you name it, they can do it...all for the price of $20+ per bag! Holy heck!!! That is way out of this frugal chicks price range! The ziploc bag issue may never be resolved in our house but at least we try, right?

I finally got my paper towel loving husband to use our unpaper towels (cloth napkins). He even helped me make a paper towel pole that i can snap my unpaper towels to, and now they hang conveniently in plain sight under one of our kitchen cabinets. We now have over 20 towels and wash two-three times a week for our family of five.

We use cloth diapers (which i make myself) for Tanner, best $250 investment we have ever made. Just thinking about all the money we wasted diapering our first two kids makes me sick. On top of cloth diapers we also use cloth wipes. Before Tanner was born i used coupons and sales to stock up on disposable wipes before making the decision to use cloth wipes. A couple days ago when i cleaned the boys room i noticed that i still have 5 packs of wipes that i got two years ago on black friday at babies r us!

I used reusable nursing pads when Tanner was born and it is no secret that i use lady cloth (sorry men folk that read this blog).

What items do you reuse in your own home??

Homemade Croutons

I love croutons. Ok , I'll be honest, I love all bread. Tonight while making a salad I realized I had a hankering for some croutons. Of course I stopped buying store bought croutons when I stopped buying bread so I decided to make my own. They were so easy to make I decided they were worth sharing!

2 pieces of bread (I only use homemade bread so my slices are taller, if using store bought you may want to use 3 slices)
3 tbsp olive oil
A few shakes Italian seasoning (I used my own mixture of seasonings)

Cut bread into one inch cubes, place on cookie sheet, coat with olive oil/seasoning mixture and bake @350 for 10 minutes. Easy peasy right??

Meal Plan July 8-13

Aright I'm a bit behind but here we go

Monday - We were invited to a friends house for dinner

Tuesday - Steak, potatoes, and corn. I bought a pack of new york steak at costco for $23 i had a $5 off meat coupon making this a super good deal as i split the steak strips in half and was able to make two meals using the meat. We made foil packs with our potatoes and they were seriously amazing. I added a little olive oil and garlic salt and put on the grill for 20 mins. I stocked up on frozen veggies a couple weeks back at Albertsons for $1 so our corn was the cheapest part of our meal

Wednesday - I had planned crock pot zesty chicken sandwiches (see previous post for recipe) but my hubby had surgery so he was only able to eat soup and my picky kids didn't like this meal so i was the only one that enjoyed it =( it was good and I'm stoked that there are plenty of left overs for lunches.

Thursday - Burritos, one of my kids favorites! I made beans last week and froze the extras into two separate containers. I love beans, make them every week! Do any of you make your own? I would love to know how other people make them! I throw mine in the crock pot all day on low with some pepper,salt, chili powder, and Crisco. We will also have home made tortillas, ground beef, and cheese.

Friday - My daughter chose tonight to be make it yourself night but she will be spending the night at her grandparents so i decided we will have mozzarella stuffed chicken, salad, and green beans. If you have never made mozzarella stuffed chicken its super easy. I found a recipe on pinterest and slightly modified it. I let the kids literally hit the chicken breasts to flatten them and then cut up small pieces of cheese, rolled them up inside the chicken, and kept them closed with a tooth pick. See, super easy!!

Saturday - Broccoli cheese soup! I haven't made this in years, not sure why as it was always a favorite in our house but oh well. Ill share this recipe because its yummy and easy! 3 tbsp butter, 3 tbsp chopped onion, 3 tbsp flour, 1 can chicken broth (or homemade chicken broth 14 oz), 1 cup milk, 8oz velveeta cut into cubes, 10 oz broccoli.

A little post while I'm in the waiting room

I'm sitting in the surgery center waiting while they prep Peter for his second hernia surgery I realized its been a while since I posted.

Im behind on this weeks meal plan but without looking I do remember tonights dinner. I prepped chicken last week and froze it in marinade so while we were fishing and playing in Morro Bay yesterday our dinner was defrosting at home. We are trying a super simple pinterest find, zesty chicken sandwiches. I'm all about simple and all about my crock pot so I have my fingers crossed hoping my family will love this meal.

I downsized the meal as we feed our family of 5 off two chicken breasts, the original recipe called for 6.

2 chicken breasts
1/2 bottle BBQ sauce (I used kraft)
1/2 bottle zesty Italian dressing
2tbs brown sugar
1tbs garlic (because I love garlic)

This is currently cooking in the crockpot on low at home. Emma and I also made buns last night using my homemade bun recipe. Can't wait to shred this chicken and bite into yummieness!!!

Food aside we had a great week. After today's surgery my husband will be home for four weeks. I'm praying for a speedy recovery so we can enjoy the summer. My birthday is in 10 days which also means my baby sisters birthday is also in 10 days. I will be 29 this year (getting closer to my senior discount lol) and my sister is exactly to the day 5 years younger. My mom had awesome planning, right???

Welp my post is cut short as they just called me back to sit with Peter before he goes under the knife....expect to see my weekly meal plan up tonight!!!

4th of July Fun

Today was such a beautiful day. The kids and I spent the day surrounded by love, friends, family, and food (all my favorite things).

I have been looking forward to today for a number of reasons, one being i miss my parents. I know i only live 30 minutes away from them but i enjoyed getting my weekly paper from my pop, and them just casually stopping by. The second reason was my aunt and her partner finally were able to get married *yay California*. Knowing that i am an ordained minister, they asked me to be a part of their special day and i was honored. The love flowing from the two of them really touched my heart...i even shed some tears! They exchanged beautiful vows in front of friends and family and it made me take a step back and realize what an amazing family i really have. I know sometimes i complain (what? Jasmine, a complainer???neeeever lol) but i really have an amazing family. I have a family that loves unconditionally, that opens their hearts and minds to accept everyone for who they are, that helps one another, that lifts you up when you need it, and a family that is always there for you. My parents raised some truly amazing people. I feel so blessed to be a member of such a large blended family. I always knew i was one lucky girl, but spending the day with my family today reminded me of why i am so lucky. 

After the wedding we began celebrating the 4th of July with a great bbq, pot luck sides, and awesome fireworks. Landon had such a blast playing with all the boys and watching the fireworks. In fact he had so much fun that he kept trying to convince me that i could leave him there over night! If any of you know Landon you would know that him saying that is HUGE! He hasn't left my side for more than a few hours since i brought him home at 3 weeks old from the hospital. I only stayed one day in the hospital after having Tanner because his (ok and my) separation anxiety was off the hook. So my boy is growing up =) 

Now we are home and two out of three of my babies are asleep...G'night all and Happy 4th of July!!

My New Found Love Of Morro Bay, C

I have seriously lived on the central coast my entire almost 29 years of life and have never loved Morro Bay as much as i do now! This past Saturday we took the kids down to walk around the town, just something quick to get us out of the house. We were in nature heaven! The wildlife there is totally amazing. Emma and Kailani also talked me into some salt water taffy, yum yum!

Today we decided to head back out, this time taking our kayak. We found the perfect launch site on our Saturday trip and today took advantage of the awesome weather and the kids being off for summer. We scored perfect parking, the perfect small section of beach, and scored on the 75-80 degree weather. We took turns taking the kayak out with the kids. There is something so magical about paddling out in the water while sea otters play and float on their backs near by.

Here are a few pictures from today's adventure.

My Week In A Nutshell

We had the pleasure of having our niece with us for the past week. I'm the cool aunt (sorry other aunts im claiming to be the cool aunt lol). D dropped the girls off after a Girl Scout camping trip Sunday the 23rd and the fun began the next day. With the help of my family members, friends, and my awesome sign shaking we sold 750 boxes of girl scout cookies for our troop. One of the incentives was a family four pack to the Ravine water park in Paso. We invited my mom, brothers, sister, and step dad to come up and spend the day with us and what an awesome day we had! The weather was so-so, around 73, which is in no means warm for north county. We spent the day hitting the slides, playing in the kiddie area, and being flushed down the toilet bowl! The rest of the week included a trip to Heilmann's Park where they have a super cool water feature that shoots up out of the ground, swimming in our pool, hide and seek, playing on our playset, apples to apples, a little bit of tv, grocery shopping a trip to Morro Bay, and on our last day together (Monday the 1st) a trip to Avila for

Joseline's 1st birthday party.

We are already planning our next week long visit! The kids and I have our fingers crossed that a bike and bike trailer will magically appear for my birthday this month so we can take some awesome bike rides....ok they want to bike to Sylvester's Burgers and Rite Aid for ice cream but whatever!

Uncle Chase and Landon enjoying the kiddie area

Sliding down the water slides!!!

Tan man 

Chey, Emma, and Kailani in the wave pool

Ravine Water Park 

Heilmann's Park

July 1-7 Meal Plan

As promised here is my first weeks meal plan. Don't get used to me doing things when I say I will. I am a self proclaimed flake but try super hard to follow through!

Monday- Monday happens to be my husbands day off so we will be spending the day in Avila. We will also be taking my niece home after her week long stay with us. We are going to a birthday party at 4pm so i did not plan a dinner for the day, assuming there will be food at the party. If not lucky for us I have plenty of food in the freezer!

Tuesday- Tuesday is Taco night. My family LOVES tacos! We eat them any way they come but will be having ground beef tacos. Tacos are easy and filling. Since i preseason and freeze all my meats it is super simple to pull out a ziplock bag in the morning and have it defrosted and ready to cook by 5. I make all of our own tortillas (thanks to my bestie showing me how). They take about 1.5 hours from mixing to cooked so those will be done at some point during the day. We typically have lettuce, tomatoes, beans, cheese, and sour cream in our tacos. I grate all of our cheese in bulk as well as cut all our lettuce and keep it in tupperware. I make two cups of pinto beans in my crock pot weekly which i mash into refried beans ahead of time. I buy my beans and flour at costco for around $8 each. It costs me about .25 to make a 15 tortillas! I havent priced out what my refried beans cost but i know it is less than even the generic store bought brands. All in all i say this dinner costs around $10-$12 making this meal under $2.50 per person.

Wednesday- I mentioned in my first post that my children help me make our menu so don't judge me for this meal haha. Chili cheese fries! None of which are homemade! I purchased a large can of chili at the store for $4.89, a bag of frozen fries for $1.98, and i will top with cheese and sour cream. I guestimate this is an $8 junk food night

Thursday- Fourth of July! We were fortunate enough to be invited to two different parties but this year will  be attending a fourth of July bbq put on by my Aunt and Uncle. Good times are always had when over there and my grandparents will be providing burgers and dogs for everyone. I am awaiting a phone call to find out what side dish we need to provide. So no estimate of costs as of this post..

Friday- One of my favorite meals! Six cheese tortellini, yum yum. I buy my tortellini in bulk at costco it comes in two presectioned containers for $9.xx so i'll say $5 each. We typically top our pasta with a little bit of Ken's Zesty Italian salad dressing. I was able to stock up on Ken's a couple months back for.25 per bottle thanks to Albertson's and coupons. yay for $6 dinner!!!

Saturday- Also a night my kids chose. Chicken sandwiches. I purchase frozen 100% chicken patties at costco for $10ish a box (which lasts us two months). I also make our own hamburger buns. My buns cost me .75 per 8 buns. We will also have a veggie or salad with this meal.

Sunday- My daughters personal favorite, chicken, rice, and broccoli. I learned years ago my kids do not like chicken alone...but they will eat it if it is mixed in with other foods! Whew, that makes my life a bit easier. I pre-marinade my chicken. One chicken breast will feed me and all three kids if it is mixed in with other items. I buy brown rice in bulk and frozen broccoli when on sale. so my guestimate here is between $5-$10 depending on sales.

I try to plan all of my meals for under $10. Home cooking does not need to be expensive! I budget $400/month to feed my family of five. I found a website several months ago that said the national average cost to feed a family of 5 was $400-$600 a month. Of course i now can not find that website so i could be totally wrong. If i find it again i will post a link. My "goal" is to keep my monthly food purchases around $350/month but anything under $400 is good in my book.

Next week our menu has two meals i found on pinterest that are new to us as well as our favorite broccoli cheese soup!

Sharing my families monthly meal planning

I talk a lot on my facebook about meal planning and the more my friends ask me about it the more i think i should blog and share my ideas with people. This is ton of me rambling and i promise to post interesting things like whats for dinner and my recipes but this will give all of you that ask a little insight to how my mind works and how i do what i do. 

Disclaimer: I am in now way super woman or the perfect housewife (which i have been called) my housework is sub-par, i have tons of clean laundry in baskets waiting for me to be put away. I "clean" every day but i also have a 10 year old, 4 year old, 16 month old, three dogs, one cat, and sometimes an extra kid hanging around. I spend a lot of time at the park, going for walks, playing outside with my kids...sure i could be a little tidier but I want to be able to say i DID something with my kids...which my mom never did with me (I can say that because my mom is not computer savvy and will never see this LOL). I lived with my grandparents from the time i was 12 until i moved out at 18 and they are the best parents ever (yes i brag) they are seriously amazing (if you know they you'll agree) they always had a clean home...too bad some of those cleaning genes didn't rub off on me haha *im saying that in my sarcastic voice*

Why I meal plan: I meal plan because it can be done in less than an hour. My kids get to help pick items that they actually WANT to eat. I am not stuck in the kitchen trying to figure out what is for dinner. I never have to run to the store to pick up what we need, we rarely eat out (saving us tons of money), and i get to enjoy more things with my family. 

How I shop: My husband gets paid monthly, so i shop monthly. The bulk of my shopping is done within the first week of the month. I always check my sale ads weekly and try to match coupons and store deal to stretch my dollars as far as i can. coupons are my friend. I know they are not for everyone BUT they are not as hard to use as people think!!! There are TONS and i mean TONS of websites, blogs, and facebook pages dedicated to coupons.

Where do i find recipes: pinterest, pinterest, pinterest!!! I love pinterest. I pin to my "nom nom nom" board almost daily. i dedicated two days a week to bbqing because i need a break from cooking. My husband has many fine qualities but cooking is not one of them....however, grilling is! I try to incorporate something new into our meal plan weekly from pinterest. If we like it i save it in my cookbook and use it again another month. We also eat the basics, tacos, burritos, chicken, salads, ect. Do we repeat meals in the same month? yes and no. We eat chicken tacos and beef tacos but never beef tacos twice. I guess we eat variations of the same foods. But hey a girl can only make so much!!

How do i cook: I use and love my crock pot. if you don't own one you are missing out! I use my crock pot for darn near everything! I also love and i mean love my bread machine. I make all of our breads and buns so my bread machine gets a lot of use, at least once a week. This next school year i have two kids in elementary school so i think my bread machine will be seeing flour at least twice a week. I typically make one crock pot meal a week. Its  hot where i live..and by hot i mean today was 110. using my crock pot allows me to cut down on my time in front of the stove. the best thing about a crock pot is for those that work outside of the home meals can be cooking all day long and a home cooked amazing dinner can be waiting for you when you get home! I also use my crock pot for refried beans. My kids love them some beans. I make them weekly. When i get home from the grocery store i spend the first hour cutting veggies, properly wrapping my produce, and prepping/marinating my meats. I freeze my meats with their seasoning/marinades so they marinate while defrosting (saving me time yet again). If a dinner calls for marinade and veggies or fruit i freeze those with the meat. 

More details: Today I did this months grocery list. My oldest and my niece planned out our meals (with a little help) so we made our list and hit the store....all 4 kids and me. Are you thinking I'm crazy yet??? Well I'm pretty sure the checkers at both Food 4 Less and Albertsons were questioning my sanity!! Anyways, after we got home i prepped all my foods. I had the girls put all the canned/boxed foods away (yes we buy boxed foods, i have small kids...they love mac and cheese). I had my 4 year old put away all the old stuff. That gave me time to get my meats, seasonings, and marinades out. This month we are having carne asada tacos, beef tacos, chicken tacos, and hamburgers (just to name a few items). I found a carne asada marinade recipe  a week ago that we really liked so i use it again. It is super simple to make, really makes me wish i would have done it years ago instead of buying over priced pre-seasoned meat. I also seasoned two lbs of beef taco meat, cooked and shredded 1.5lbs of chicken for chicken tacos or chicken salads, made my own frozen burritos (using homemade refried beans and homemade tortillas), grated 2lbs of cheese, and made a load of blueberry bread (by hand) all for the freezer. I really find this saves me time in the long run! Tomorrow if i can bear the heat i plan to make hamburger buns, pancakes, and french toast also for the freezer. 


Tomorrow I plan to share my families first week of meals.