WOW, your hands are full...

How many times have I heard from a stranger walking by, "WOW, your hands are full!" when they look at me with my three children (under the age of 5).

I smile and then wonder how to respond... I usually smile and say "yep :) we have fun"  but inside I want to yell something like...
"Yes, I have three kids.  I am out numbered.  BUT I am not out of control, loosing my mind, or unhappy.  I CHOSE this people!  Each one of my children was a gift from God to our family and I am blessed by their presence in our family".

I am very aware that choosing to be joyful about having children is going against our culture, going against what people think is normal.
Sometimes I forget that being a mom is battling.  Yes, I said battling.

I CHOOSE to stay home with my children and raise them myself.  I am battling against the idea that I NEED to have my own career and make my place in the world.

I CHOOSE to trust God & my husband to provide for our family.  I am battling against the idea again that I have to take care of everything, I must do all the work and make it happen.

I CHOOSE to have children, yes, more than one, more than two, yes, I have 3 AND guess what!?  I WANT MORE!   I am battling against the idea that children steal your time, your life, your identity.  And that there is an reasonable number of children (normally less than two).

When my husband and I have time without the kids do you know what we do?  We talk about the kids, how much we love them, what they are learning, what we are learning, how we are all growing as a family.  Without our children, yes, we would have fun, probably go out more and have nicer things... but since when do things make you happy?!  I love my leather ottoman, but I am pretty sure it's not going to love me back, smile at me, or tell me thank you for a yummy dinner.
The joy and deep love that I was introduced to when I met my daughter is more that I can explain, it's a different love.  Yes, I love my husband, but this love is different.  This love cost me something from the very beginning, it cost me discomfort, sleep-less nights, my body changing, pain, fear... the list goes on.  I had to work for this love and still now, I am daily living for this love.

Daily I am loving and battling.  When I go out and people make comments, my children see my reaction, am I going to treat them as a burden, or the loves of my life?  When people look at my like I'm crazy or I must not have any applicable knowledge to offer because I stay home with my children instead of work, I am battling.  Laying down my life daily & my children need to see me doing this with JOY, not out of duty or with a bad attitude.  I choose this, I choose them, and they need to know I live happily & joyfully with my choice!  Luckily I have a wonderful group of mothers and friends around me that are standing with me shoulder to shoulder saying the same thing, "I will lay my life down for my children"!

Today I read a post that was encouraging and reminded me that I am exactly where I want to be.  I am a Mother.  It is not easy, nothing worth doing is... but I choose to lay my life down daily for my children joyfully.

Read and be encouraged: Motherhood is a Calling (And where your children rank)

Pinterest

I was almost laughing reading my previous post, my massive collection of magazines was a bit out of control! It took me until JULY, count that, Feb, March, June July, yes, four months, before I got around to getting rid of my Real Simple Magazines. I attempted to start flipping through them, and then remembered, RealSimple.com, duh! I don't need to save anything! I can go find it online :)

Which brings me to the most amazing site, which my sister Carey turned me onto, Pinterest.

Remember how I said I had a file folder of all the magazine pages I kept, full of wonderful ideas? Well I think I have looked at ONE of those pages, and did NOTHING with it! Stella always seems to find them, when the drawer is open, and throws them all over the floor, needless to say, they are turning out to be more of a trouble than a treasure. SO, Pinterest is so wonderful because... It's my new "file folder" online. I can find something that I like, and "pin it" to a "board" that I have created. For Example:

for the kids board

I love the idea of first day of school pictures AND I love those sandels for little girls! So just wait another month and you should see a picture very similar to this for Eloise's first day of kindergarten :)

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Angela on Pinterest

Garden Dreams board

I just did this to keep my plants watered while we were away on vacation, it worked!

Source: re-nest.com via Angela on Pinterest

And do you know what the greatest part of this is, when you click on the image it will take you to the website where you found it! So this means, no more searching for that one idea or recipe you found on, which site was that again?!

So, no more file folders full of magazine clippings that I will never look at, instead, I'll just "pin it"!

Magazines Everywhere!

I don't know about you but I tend to keep things for a LONG time. Vincent recently asked (or told) me to get rid of the growing stack [mountain] of magazines in the closet. I've been keeping them, Martha Stewart & Real Simple, because there are lots of great ideas, recipes, projects... that I MUST do [someday].

So finally last week I started, I pulled out all of the Martha Stewart magazines, I looked through each one, pulling out every good recipe, great flower arrangement and entertaining idea I came across (I did have to keep to issues that were just so jam packed there was no reason to pull pages out). When all was said and done I had two stacks, 1. recipes and 2. projects/inspiration, both stacks about as thick as one magazine (much better than my very LARGE stack). Did I mention I had issues as far back as 2001 :)

Now I have a file folder full of great craft ideas [I am going to learn how to knit], entertaining ideas [I have Stella's birthday theme all ready], and decorating ideas all in one place all neatly organized. I think I will have to get some clear page covers and put them all neatly into a binder or something :) Just thinking about it makes me happy.

So next I will have to tackle the Real Simple magazines... which seems much more daunting than the M.S., sorry Martha but Real Simple seems to have more great ideas, tips etc.... so maybe I'll see if I can [hide] put those aside for a little while :) I have plenty of great material to work with already!

As I work on projects I will post :)

Life... it changes

I can't believe that tomorrow my first baby girl is turning 4 years old!!! FOUR! She has changed our lives so much and we feel so blessed to have her! She is full of joy, full of creativity, full of life. She definitely has more style than I do :)

Last night, while the kids stayed with Tia, Vincent and I went shopping for her birthday party. While we were sitting in the car, I started remembering after she was born. I was working at a great job, making great money, and learning alot, AND on the verge or making HUGE commissions. But my little Eloise was there and I knew that it was more important to me to be her mommy, than to be successful in business and make lots of money. The biggest blessing of my life, my husband, left the decision in my hands. What decision you ask? The decision to stay home or to keep working. He told me whatever I decided he would stand by me, and he would make it all work.

Obviously I decided to stay home with my baby girl, a decision I will NEVER regret!

I am now home with THREE, yes three kids, and I am still brought to tears everytime I think about the night we made the decision for me to stay home. We prayed, asking God to meet us, we were stepping out in faith believing that if we put of family and children first that He would help provide for us. AND HE HAS.

so all this to say... Thank you God for Your provision - work for my husband, etc. Thank you Vincent for being a hard worker and a wonderful provider!

I am so blessed to have been able to be home with my babies every day, to see them grow, to teach them, to love them!

Kmart Day 4

Kmart Day 4

Barilla Pasta (8)

Sale: 4/$5

KettleCorn

$2.99

Tapatio Sauce

$1.09

Total: $14.08

Used: $14 Catalina

OOP: .08 cents!!!!

*I couldn't combine the Catalina Coupon with other coupons, so I decided to stock up on something we like to eat... PASTA!!!!

The Barilla & Tapatio were on sale so I saved $2.32 which helped keep my price low :)

Kmart Day 3

Kmart Day 3

Starting Price: $53.34

Pampers Cruisers (3) ***P&G product

Reg. 9.99

(3) $2 off coupons from 7/5 P&G

$5.99 ea.

Pampers Baby Fresh Wipes (3) *** P&G product

Reg. 2.99

(3) .50 coupons from 7/5 P&G

$1.99 each

Pringles (2) *** P&G product

Sale: 2/$3

(1) $1/2 coupon from paper

.50 each

Arm & Hammer Detergent

3.99

$1 coupon from internet... don't remember where i found it.

$1.99

*This also has a peelie on the lid for a mail in rebate when you buy the dryer sheets!!! So I will get free dryer sheets (plus I have a coupon for dryer sheets, so I will make a few dollars!!)

Smart Water (4) 2 not shown

Sale: 10/$10

(2) $1/2 coupons from 6/28 paper

FREE

Used a $5/$50 Coupon

OOP: $25.34

Savings of $28

Received the $10 store coupon to use because I purchased $40 in P&G products :) *FREE DIAPERS for next week!!!

And the pringles were for my sister, so she gave me $1 for them!!! So with coupons and money back it was like paying $14.34 :)

Safeway Savings

I have not been happy with my local Wal-Mart so I am trying to shop at Safeway & Raley's, watching the sales and using coupons and see if I can get the same savings.

Here is my first day...

Without my Safeway Club Card and my coupons I would have paid: $69.53

Snickers

.99

Coupon from Here - Thanks for this tip Coupon Clippin Mama!!!!

FREE :)

* I love that every week I have been able to get a FREE snickers while grocery shopping!!!

Starbucks Ice Cream (3) - single serve size

10/$10

(3) $1 off coupons from paper

FREE

*Not pictured... this was my thank you to my dad and sister for watching my kids while I got to shop by myself!!!!

Ball Park Hotdogs (4)

Sale: .99 cents

$1/2 coupon from 7/28 paper

.49 cents each

*I am stocked up on hotdogs for the rest of the summer!!! perfect for those last minute BBQ's

Evergood Smoked Hot Links

$5.99

*** If anyone knows where I can find coupons or a better price PLEASE tell me, cause we love these!!!

Ranchers Reserve - New York Strip Steak

Reg. $11.45

Sale: $7.86

50% OFF Clearance Meat - At the end of the meat section they have all their meat that is close to it's "Sell By" date and they are marked down 30-50%!!! This is where I am shopping now, you can stock up on good meat... I love the freezer :)

$3.93

Foster Farms Chicken Breast, bone in w/skin (3)

Reg. $2.99 per lb.

SALE: .99 per lb.

$2.67 each

This will help with dinners over the next 2 1/2 weeks!!!

*These also have a peelie: $1.00 OFF Foster Farms when you also purchase Reynolds Wrap.

Fresh Express 50/50 Salad Mix (2)

Reg. $3.29

Sale: B1G1

$2/2 coupon from store last week (I grabbed a few!)

$1.65 each

OOP: $21.34

Total Savings Value 69% = $48.19