Rewind It Back....Peanut's 2nd Birthday

Peanut had a great birthday!  He received some great gifts, lots of love and a fun day with our family.  We did do another "treasure" hunt for his birthday gifts.

After he received his first gift, he didn't want to do anything else but play with his "new to him" animal barn circa 1960s that I found at a yard sale for $10!

The next birthday present find was his beloved Jay-Jay!  He could watch Jay-Jay all day long.  Unfortunately, they are very hard to find, so I had to order this wooden figure online!  He and his brother are having a lot of fun playing with this!  Hopefully we can add to his collection and get the rest of the figures and the wooden playsets!

The next gift was from his Great Grandmother and Great Grandfather.  They had given us birthday money for his and Bubbie's birthday.  I had seen this book at BuyBuyBaby and had almost bought it, but because of the price, I put it back!  When we opened Peanut's birthday card and saw moo-lah, I knew just what I wanted to spend some of it on!  Peanut LOVES this book!  He is in love with all animals and their sounds!  Such a fun age!

By this point, our Peanut was quite overwhelmed.  All he really NEEDED was the animal barn!  After that he was just being pulled around (lovingly) by us or his big Bubba.  He was quite excited about this next gift though and was more of a "sympathy" gift than anything.  His big brother has one very similar and the two boys are always fighting over it.  I told Hubbie that that was a definite for either birthday or Christmas!  We needed two doodle pads!  This one was on sale at Target and it even came with a DVD of Little People!

My sweetest oldest child was a good sport and helped his brother out!  I think Bubbie was a bit more excited than Peanut was about all the gifts!  Like I said, I think Peanut was a little overwhelmed!  Don't worry though, by Christmas morning, he had gotten the hang of "opening gifts" and was looking for more!

And, where was our dearest baby boy during all these fun activities?  Sleeping, of course!  He was bright eyed and bushy-tailed when we were finished with finding all the gifts!  He was all smiles when we came to give him a little attention!

After finding gifts, we got ready, ate a quick lunch and then headed out on a afternoon FULL of errands!  We chose to skip nap time (unheard of around our house!) and tried to get everything done early so that we could eat a birthday dinner out (at Peanut's choice- "cluck, cluck"- aka Chick-fil-A) and then meet up with our lovable neighbors!

A local church was having a "walk through Bethlehem" the night of Peanut's 2nd birthday!  It was COLD, but a lot of fun!  The church had done a wonderful job!  A little area was set up to look like a village during Jesus' birth era.  There were places to buy bread, nuts, fruit, a stable (petting zoo) and even a school.  There were "Roman soldiers" walking around and we even had to write our names down in order to get in- taking of the census!  It was a lot of fun!  The kids enjoyed the "free goodies" and the petting zoo!

After we got home, we gave the boys a quick shower, hot chocolate and put them to bed!  The day was quite full, but a lot of fun!

We will do cake and ice cream later on with family.  With Peanut's birthday being 6 days before Christmas, we decided this year we would wait a week or two to let everyone get rid of "Christmas sweets"..... Next year we are DEFINITELY doing "1/2 Birthdays" for both my December birthday boys!  It just isn't F-A-I-R to them to have their birthdays in a month so consumed with Christmas presents and goodies!

Happy Birthday to our sweetest 2 yr old!  He is super smart, so cuddly and such a funny dude!

Oh and yes, he can now say, "Whoa, dude!"  Can't get enough of this cutie!

A Rant From The Meal Snob

In the same way that my handsome husband is a snob when it comes to me baking artery clogging yummy desserts and breads, I am a snob about providing the cheapest possible meals for my family, but yet, they must be tasty!  Nothing is worse than looking at my meal calendar at something that is not appetizing or appealing, because 9 times out of 10, I will say, "Never mind!" and tell handsome Hubbie to pick up pizza on the way home!

I have had a few friends rave about being able to feed their family for under $10 at home!  I laugh at this!  $10 at home is easy-peasy!  Publix pitch ladies also tried to sell me on a "meal for under $10" at home which seemed like a fantastic find to them!  HAHA! I told Hubbie!  Why is that a hard thing to do?!  My goodness, even $5 dollar meals at home are pretty easy around our house!  I need someone to teach me how to do $2 meals for our family of 4!  I can usually do 2 meals for our family of 4 for $5.

Not only do I enjoy saving money while feeding my family HEALTHY and good food, we also enjoy eating out!  It makes running errands a little easier and also gives our dish washer a little break!  I think even when we were pinching pennies and living off of NEXT TO NOTHING (when we first started paying off debt, I was working and Hubbie had just taken a HUGE pay cut in order to be working) we did still budget one time to eat out a month.  Granted, it was Chick-Fil-A kids-eat-free night and we spent around $10, but still, it was a huge deal for our little family of 3.  We rarely, if ever, eat at a "sit down, waitress" place.  Not only because we have 3 small kids and having to wait and wait and wait is basically torturing with 3 kids, but also because you do have to pay tip!  Several sit down places are offering "kids-eat-free", but it doesn't pay if you get drinks and pay tip....I would MUCH rather save that tip money or not eat out at all!  So, finding restaurants that are quick, kid friendly and cheap are a plus!  Also, finding restaurants that have "kids-eat-free" nights are a huge plus!  We have a local restaurant- Great Wraps- that has been doing "kids-eat-free" all day, every day for about a year now!  We found this wonderful deal last New Years Eve while we were out shopping and we ONLY go there now because of it!  Before we couldn't get out of that place- it is not a sit down, waitress place- for less than $20.  Now, with kids-eat-free, we can do it for around $16 (still kinda pricey for our standards, but good).  The next place that we eat at once a week is Moe's.  Moes also has kids-eat-free nights, but we have realized that because of the restrictions, its cheaper to eat there any night of the week if we get something Hubbie and I both love- their tacos!  Yum!  Cannot beat them or their price!  Our family of 4 eats there and GETS VERY FULL for around $12 and some change!  Not bad for a night that Momma doesn't have to cook or clean up!  There were a couple of restaurants, during the summer, that had "family deals" and they were wonderful because we could feed our family twice on $20 and we could bring it home....  Wife Saver and Shane's Rib Shack..... they gave you SO much food and it was wonderful way to stretch money with a new baby!  Of course, the cheapest place we can eat "out" is Little Ceasars, for $8 and some change to get a large pepperoni pizza...we can feed our family and we always have some leftover pizza!

So, there is my quick review on places that we can eat at cheaply!  A few meals that we can make cheaply are....

Baked Spaghetti- 1 box of whole wheat noodles less than 30 cents; jar of spaghetti sauce- less than a dollar and cheese (a dollar or two MAYBE)... if I have pepperoni's leftover from pizza night- I sprinkle those on top!  This yields a 9 x 13 pan and we are usually sick of this dish before its all gone.... Usually eat it 2 nights and at least one lunch.

Pancakes- Its super cheap, filling and easy!  Publix has pancake mix boxes on sale all the time.  Coupons are floating out there and you can get a box for less than a dollar.  I make 11-13 pancakes at each meal time and we always have a few leftover so that someone can eat them for breakfast.  Add some sausage/bacon and fruit.

Shepherds Pie- My husband CRINGES when I mention this meal!  He does did like it before we started to get all "gung-ho" on Dave Ramsey!  I buy 3+ lbs of meat from Publix for around $8.  I divide that into 3 storage bags.  Each bag is a separate dish.  So this consists of a 49 cent can of tomato soup, 1 lb of ground beef(2 bucks) and a bag of frozen veggies- maybe a dollar.  I top it with mashed potatoes.  I got several boxes for free when Publix had B1G1 free sale a month or so ago.  This meal is also another one that we can eat for 2 dinners and then have enough for someone to eat it for lunch.

Mac and Cheese with Meat-  This is another quick and easy meal.  I usually buy Annie's boxed macaroni and cheese meals.  You can find them at Target for less than a dollar.  I cook it according to the package.  Brown 1lb of ground beef and mix together.  I always add some bread and a veggie to go with it.  The kids gobble it up and we always have enough for another meal.

With chicken I usually make it into a chicken pot pie(I use my mom's recipe with no bottom crust- just a quick milk, eggs, flour topping) or dump it into the crockpot with potatoes and carrots and some chicken stock and let it cook.  I sometimes dump chicken, a few onions and add bbq sauce and let it cook all day.  I pull the chicken out at the end of the cooking time, shred it, add a tad bit more bbq sauce and you have chicken bbq sandwiches!  Cheaper than pork!

Basically- if I can add meat/chicken into anything, I can make the meat stretch farther...  I do not do many meals where the "meat" stand alone.  Then I have to buy more meat or don't usually have leftovers!  I do buy roasts and hams a few times a year.  I can usually get 2 meals with the meat separate and add a few sides.  Then I add the leftover meat into a soup or stew and can usually get another two meals off of that...

Another savings is baking your own bread.  I know you can usually find loaves at Publix for around a dollar, BUT they usually ARE NOT made with natural products.  Very rarely can I find a good coupon for bread and a sale for bread at the same time!  Making bread is not hard... it can be time consuming.  We invested $15 into a bread machine and my handsome husband has done a wonderful job keeping us stocked with homemade bread.  Its just like a lot of things that are worth while- it takes planning ahead and time!  Something I don't have a lot of and can't seem to do very well anymore!

9 times out of 10, making it home is going to be a lot cheaper and a whole lot healthier than using a box or eating out.  When people rave about meal deals for $20 I think- what is so special about that?!  :)  For 2 people... its not cheap!

So, these are just a few of my things that I do to save money....  the less ingredients, the cheaper the meal- the more money I save!

Ok, the meal snob is done and going back into her hole!  For more yummy recipes that my family likes and that are cheap or AT LEAST less than $10 a meal, go to Meet Us In The Kitchen.

My Mei Tai

I have been debating and looking for another baby carrier for over a year.  I would see one and think, "Ok, I'll buy that one!" and then something would stop me or I wouldn't want to spend that much money.

Then, for a baby gift, my Granny and Papa and my parents gave us  money.  I held onto it for a long time.... waiting on something big to put it towards.  There are lots of things that would be nice to have, but if this is our last baby, I really hated to buy "new" or "new to us" equipment and only get a little bit of use out of it.  So, I finally decided that I was saving the money for a carrier.

Once I decided that I was definitely using the money for a new carrier, I had to decide between a Ergo and a Mei Tai.  I had wanted a Mei Tai for a long time, but wasn't sure which company I wanted to purchase it from....    I sort of liked the Ergos, but I didn't like the build of it and I really liked the Mei Tei carriers better and I knew that it was something that I could get "unisex" so that Hubbie could wear the boys in it too.

One day, while on Facebook, Melissa had "friended" Heavenly Hold.  I went and looked around and saw that there was a website.  I looked for Mei Tai carriers and saw some that had been returned, but were in great condition.  I saw one that was largely discounted and then I found a coupon code, so I knew this was my new carrier!

I got my new carrier for a GREAT price!  Its a wonderful Mei Tai.  I love the feel of the fabric.  Heavenly Hold was a wonderful company to work with.  I got the carrier in 2 days MAX.  Baby Bean has done quite well in the carrier.  I like it a little better than my favorite carrier (Sleepy Wrap) because I don't have to unwrap as much to nurse/take the baby out, etc.

Its a wonderful addition to my baby wearing stash!  I even wore Baby Bean on a very chilly night while we walked through a "Bethlehem village"!  I love it and look forward to many more cuddles with my babies!

Ahhhh....My Son.....

On Sunday Bubbie was searching around the house for something.  He walked passed me, on my throne, in a chair, nursing the baby and stopped.  He turned to me and said, "Mom, do you know where my flash light is?" and before I could even answer, he walked away and I heard him say "No, you don't know where it is because all you do is nurse the baby all day long."

Sheepishly grinning..... I have complained maybe once or twice about the amount of dedication it takes to exclusively nurse a newborn!

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Bubbie must have been on a roll on Sunday because after eating a "healthy" lunch of Little Ceasar's pizza(Hey! What can I say, they had a coupon for $3.99 large pizza!?), I got up to start cleaning off the table.  He looked at my midsection and said, "Mom, do you have a baby?"  I realized that he was referring to a baby in my TUMMY, but I wanted to make sure that that WAS what he was talking about, so I asked him "Why do you ask Bubbie?"  He continued, "Because, Mom, your belly is getting bigger!"

So, he has slammed me TWICE in one day.....  I asked Hubbie, who was in the other room tending to the baby, if he had heard his oldest son's remarks about my mid- region and he had!  Smiling, he asked, "So are you going to go for a walk tonight?"

Its not right for me to ALWAYS have a baby so close to Christmas!  Christmas cookies are my down fall!  Thankfully I only make them once a year!

So, I guess I need to start figuring out how to save the world while nursing a baby and also work off this tummy that my 3 beautiful children have left me with.... before kids I was a size 6..... ahhhh....... I love my kids!

Menu Plan Monday ~ December 28 thru January 3rd

I hope everyone had a fabulous week and Christmas!  We did!  The kids received SO MUCH STUFF even though we kept things very simple and low key!  I have found places for everything.... now if I can just teach the children to put things up before getting something else out!  I think my kids are going through a disorder of "too much stuff too close together"... which is what happens when you have birthdays and Christmas so close together!  Oh well!  Its fun and I wouldn't trade if for anything!  Hopefully it'll keep them busy during the nasty January and February weather that we tend to get!


Now! Its time to focus on the new year!  We have de-decked our home!  So nice to get everything back to order and under control!  We are prayerfully considering a few different things for our family and maybe taking some huge leaps of faith.... its scary and exciting!  Not sure what will come our way in the next year, but I'm sure it'll be fun and challenging...our years tend to be just that!

Monday night- Taco casserole, chips and guacamole/salsa

Tuesday night- Leftover ham soup

Wednesday night- Leftover casserole

Thursday night- New Years Eve- Not sure yet.... (Kinda hoping that this is the day my newest niece will make her appearance!  So excited to see her sweet face!  ;)  )

Friday lunch/night- New Years Day- homemade pizza/ NYD meal with all the fixin's

Saturday lunch/night- Leftover pizza/ Baked Spaghetti, salad and bread

Sunday lunch/night- out/ Leftover spaghetti



For more, visit Menu Plan Monday over at I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Food! Food! And MORE Food!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful and relaxing day-after-Christmas!  I know we are!  We had a fantastic week!  Christmas with kiddos is so much fun!  A blog post about our activities and pictures coming soon.....

I sure am enjoying being lazy.....but I did write two blog posts over at my food blog.  One post about our baking this year and another one is a scrumptious ham soup recipe!

Check it out here!

Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful and crazy fun year we have had!  Nothing would be possible without our loving Heavenly Father.  He sent us on a roller coaster this year, but its amazing to, now, look back and see what His beautiful and perfect plan for our lives.  He is so good. 






This week celebrate His birth.  He came into a nasty, sin filled world.  He left His home and became human. He came to save me from my sins.  Who could ask for a better gift than getting to spend eternity in Paradise?  

This has been, by far, my most favorite Christmas season.  We have kept things low key, family centered and easy.  No hectic schedule, no hustling or crazy shopping to get that "perfect" gift that either people don't want, won't like or that they really don't need.  We did things simple and kept our eyes focused on the true meaning.  We have had a ton of fun and I treasure the memories that we have made this Holiday season.  

My family and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed and happy New Year!

The Peanut Turns 2.....

Gosh golly!  How has it been two years since this little guy came into the world?!  He entered the world with lots of drama!!!  Maybe that should have been a sign to the world that this little guy was going to try to rule the family!

These two guys are good friends and play well together.  Peanut is lost without his older brother and doesn't know what to do!

Peanut continues to be our little clown and trying to get us to all laugh at him.  He is definitely a "peanut" with a big head!  HA!  Every doc appt his head size is in the 90% percentile while his weight is in the 20% and his height is in the 50%!  Poor little dude!  He is in 24 mos/ 2T clothing now and he has such a long torso!

I think he has had a cold just about every month or at least every other month since he was born!  This picture  just shows that the bulb syringe is just a part of his weekly hygiene!

Peanut is learning all sorts of words and sounds these days.  Just this last week he started to say his own version of "i don't know" and then he started to substitute "yeah" for "YES" which he says with a lot of distinction!  Its so incredibly cute!  He loves trying to find Kris, our Elf on the Shelf and will scream at the top of his lungs "EFFFFFFF" over and over again!

Peanut continues to be our cuddle bug!  He is so cuddly and loving!  He loves to hug!  He hugs trees, walls, toys and loves to hug people!  HA!  He really does bring a lot of laughter into our house!  His teachers love Peanut because he'll run up and hug and love on them!  They said he is the only kid in his MDO class that is so cuddly!

He has surprised us all and been an excellent big brother.  He really doesn't bother his baby brother, Bu-Boo, and will bring the baby toys.  When Baby Bean cries, Peanut is very concerned and makes sure that I know where the baby is.

Our little man is such a joy and a blessing to our family!  He was a difficult baby and he is a "terrific two year old" but we love him!  We can't wait to see what this year holds for him!  We love him so much....

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Happy 2nd Birthday to our Cuddle Bug!

A Wonderful Present

A wonderful and unexpected gift was deposited into our bank account in the wee hours on Tuesday morning.

Around 7 am, I made payments to our last two credit cards and noted- pay in full and then close.

We had that money in our possession LESS than 5 hrs and now its gone!  Kinda like it was never there......

But it was there... it was truly a gift from God.  Something that we didn't expect or count on.  But because of it we are just a little bit closer to being debt free.

I get discouraged some days about living so frugally, not owning a home, going without and stressing about money.  I don't stress about money because we can't pay bills (thank Goodness!).  I just get the "I-Wants-Ies" and want to replace or have new things.  It gets discouraging to see others live life irresponsibly or taking government hand outs while we budget and plan and budget some  more.  Its something we thought about very briefly and deciding that we could do it on our own.... through lots of hard work, long hours and living without.  Its hard to watch others live with so much more than we do, but when things like this happen, I am reminded what we are doing.

We made mistakes with the money that God had entrusted to us.  We did really stupid things.  Not sure if there are too many people that acted as stupidly as we did.  We were young and naive.  We wanted it all and we needed it all.  I am very very very thankful that we learned our lesson when we were still young and before we made it worse by buying a house, filing bankruptcy and before it affected our children more than it already has.

What are we doing this for?  To live freely and to not be a slave to any master....  To teach our children the right and wrong way of handling their money.  To honor God and glorify Him.

Our next and final debt, now that we are credit card debt free, is to pay off Hubbie's school loans.  We need to replace Hubbie's car so hopefully that will be a quick event with the help of a little bit of freed up monthly money and our small tax returns.

I pray that this next debt will get paid off quickly.  I REALLY REALLY would like to own our own place soon.  Living in rentals get old.  Our house that we are in now is a Godsend and an answer to prayer, but living in rentals means that you are basically living in other people's irresponsibility!  The last renters of our house did not clean or take care of it at all.  After a year and a half, I am still trying to fix the issues that they left.  Its frustrating to have to live with other people's lack of pride in the place that live- even if you don't own it.  I just know that when we finally get into that house, it won't be a burden.  It will be a blessing to our family and those that come into it.  I am hanging on to that as we slowly finish paying for our mistakes!

Its amazing- the journey we have been on for 4 years.  Its been a hard lesson... filled with tears of frustration, joy and hard work.  God has been extremely good and continues to pour out His marvelous grace upon us and forgiveness.

This moment is a moment Hubbie and I have been working towards, praying about and hoping for for 4 years......  All those stupid purchases on those stupid credit cards are all officially paid for!  We have paid for every single cent of those stupid mistakes!  WOO HOO!  I can't tell you what that means to us.  We did it!  We did it!  We did it!

"Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count." Psalms 40:5

Baby Bean Grows

Our Baby Bean is 3 months old today!

He is a great nurser.  He continues to sleep really good.  He is quite social and is talking (aka cooing) a lot.

He doesn't have his next doctor's appointment for another month, unless he gets sick, but he has outgrown all newborn and 0-3 mo clothing!  He is getting so big that I had to go out and buy clothes for our big baby!

As I'm typing this, he is demanding attention from his devoted Daddy.  If you don't look at him while he is "talking" to you, he will waving his arms around until you notice him.  Once you do reward him with your undivided attention, he will flash you one of those wonderful smiles!

I can't write about Baby Bean and not mention his wonderful hair do!  Its the talk of the town!  You know, the hair do that I spray with hair spray each and every day!!!  :)  HA!  I can barely get my hair done, much less the other two boys.... why in the heck would I spend time getting Baby Bean's hair "just so"!

I am enjoying our Baby Bean's days so much.  There are days that he is needy and wanting to eat all the time or be held a lot.  I reminding myself that this is a season. We are having a hard time believing that he's already been with us for 3 months.  I know the next 3 months will fly by even faster!  We love this little dude so much and feel so blessed for him to have become apart of our lives!

Happy 3 months!

Menu Plan Monday- Week of December 14th, 2009

Monday- Lasagna, salad and bread

Tuesday- Leftover Potato soup and rolls

Wednesday- (Its kinda a joke now....Leftover for two weeks now) Taco Cups

Thursday- Leftover Lasagna

Friday- Leftover Taco cups

Saturday lunch- Out
Saturday dinner- Peanut's 2nd Birthday!!!   Homemade pizza

Sunday lunch- Shepherds Pie and biscuits or cornbread
Sunday dinner- Leftover pizza

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We've got another busy week ahead.  Saturday is Peanut's birthday.  We have several fun things at Bubbie's school and quite a few activities planned for our evenings this week!

Last week Hubbie worked more than 60 hours, so I did a LOT of quick dinners in the microwave or ate out of our freezer.  It was a long week, but we did well and I was able to stay on top of laundry and dishes.  And I'm proud to say that I never piled the kids in the car and ran to get fast food/pizza!  It was WAY too cold or rainy to go out on most nights anyway, but that is a big deal for me to be able to get dinner together- by myself- with the three kids!  Dinner wasn't always EARLY or extremely HEALTHY, but we ate!  We are very thankfully for Daddy and when he comes home at a normal decent time!

Can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away!  I have everyones gifts (thanks to Amazon.com, online shopping, yard sales and a few Goodwill trips!) and still need to do some wrapping.  The boys have one more week of school before their 2 week vacation!  I am looking forward to more lazy days ahead and a break from the hustle and bustle of life!

Hope everyone has a good week!

For more MPM, visit here!

Bubbie's Birthday

Bubbie turned 5 yrs old a week ago!  We decided to not throw a "friends" birthday party and keep things small. Not only for the sake of the almighty dollar, but also for my sanity!  I just did not feel like stressin', making multiple cake(s) and trying to decide who to invite/who not to invite/etc....  We could have kept things very simple and done a small party at the house, but our house isn't extremely large and with the stupid GA weather, you never know WHAT the weather will be, so, the fewer people you invite so that they could fit in your house, the more people get left out and then find out about the party and then it could become a big stink!  So, again, we opted for a family only party.  Bubbie was fine with this.  We are going to take him and Peanut to the Atlanta Children's Museum this month and try to make a special birthday weekend for our two December boys!

Bubbie did, however, get a chance to celebrate with Nana and Pops by spending the night at their house before his birthday.  Nana and Pops let him open his gift that night and he got a special wooden Thomas train set.  He was very excited about that.  Then Nana kept Baby Bean so that I could go to Bubbie's school and take him and his class cupcakes!  Bubbie chose Wall-E cupcake toppers.  He was very excited to show these off to his classmates.  He got a few gifts from school friends and his teacher and his teacher even made him a special hat to wear for the day!

That evening, we did our first EVER scavenger hunt for birthday gifts.  I could lie here and tell you that this was my BRILLIANT idea, but it was actually because I had been so busy that day that I had forgotten to pick up wrapping paper  in order to wrap his gift.  I thought I had a roll the week before, but couldn't find it anywhere!  Anyway, Hubbie asked me what I was going to do when Bubbie asked when he could open his gifts.  I had suggested no paper!  ;)  Hubbie didn't like that idea, so I came up with clues on index cards and Bubbie had the best time looking for his gifts!  Bubbie said he'd like for us to do one again next year, so we have started our own birthday tradition!!!  All because Mom wasn't a Super Mom!  Anyway, after gifts, we went to dinner and had cupcakes.

Saturday afternoon Bubbie's other grandparents stopped by to drop off Bubbie's gift and to meet Baby Bean.

Sunday evening we had my parents, youngest brother and his wife over for dinner and dessert.  I made a yummy lasagna, salad and bread and then we had birthday cake!  I had wanted to do a big birthday cake in the shape of a Wall E, but the closer to Bubbie's birthday, the more of a realist I became and decided that I really didn't need to add any more stress into my day.  I did a simple two layer cake, colored the icing to be the "theme" colors for Wall-E and then crushed some Oreos to look like the trash that Wall-E picked up.  Bubbie seemed pleased and didn't even notice that it took very little effort.

Bubbie had a great birthday weekend.  Filled with lots of gifts, family, cake and love!  He was so excited for about a week before his birthday and he was literally bouncing off the walls for a few days after!  I am so thankful for Bubbie to be back to his "normal" self!  

Happy 5th Birthday my first born baby boy!

Gingerbread Trains

Last year we began a new tradition by putting more emphasis on the togetherness and giving than getting presents during the Christmas season.  Now, don't get me wrong, we love to receive gifts and we do still buy our children gifts, but I just wanted to do more things to put our focus on Christ's birth.

One of the things we did last year that was a lot of stress fun was putting together and decorating a gingerbread house.  Bubbie did a great job and it turned out really well.

This year we decided to try our hand at another gingerbread house, but this year, since Peanut was older, we decided to really add some stress into our lives have some fun and get two!

Right before I went out to purchase gingerbread houses, I saw in an ad that Bed Bath and Beyond had Gingerbread trains for the same price as the houses so that is what we went with this year!
 

The boys did a great job.  It was stressful with hands everywhere and the baby crying in the back ground.  Peanut wanted to eat all the candy and had a full blown 2 yr ld melt down under the table when I told him "no more".  We made lots of messes and wonderful and funny memories!