At the Marina

The weather is slowly improving enough to get outside, so the kids and I went to the marina down the road a bit.

Carefully crossing,

but still getting muddy pants.

A few minutes later, her feet were wet.

Ollie was really checking out the rocks

. . . quite closely.

On the beach

Finding the perfect skipping stones

and getting at least 10 skips with one stone.

Yes, that's a plastic comb he found.

Remy and Raina, always a few steps ahead.

What good is a walk without a stick in hand?

2011 Goals, April Update

Time for another update!

Spiritual Goals:
I finished reading through Proverbs. Some of my favorite verses:
18:10--The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. (This verse immediately brings to mind the praise and worship song with these words directly from Proverbs.)
18:22--He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord
19:14--Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. (These two give me a lot to live up to I think!)
19:21--Many are the plans in a mans heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.
20:1--Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.
21:9--Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
And similarly, 21:19--Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.
21:30--There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.
22:6--Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
I could go on, but I won't. I was struck as I read through Proverbs by the comparisons made, of wise vs. foolish, lazy vs. hardworking, rich vs. poor, and I will strive to be wise and hardworking, and a good steward of all God has given me.
I'm now reading through Romans.

Marriage
Looking forward to a summer getaway, time and place yet to be decided.

Family
I know we played Uno a few times in March. That's all I remember.

Personal
Part two of my 40 by 40 coming soon!

Financial
My coupon jar had $76.62 at the end of March. I'm using the money to buy things that contribute to a healthier lifestyle. In March I bought Torani syrup for coffee as an alternative to the chemical concoction known as non-dairy creamer. It is made of natural ingredients, but still has a high amount of sugar, so it's not exactly healthy. I bought some seeds for the garden--if it ever warms up! I also bought a new digital scale so I can weigh myself with more accuracy.

Health and fitness
I exercised 14 days in March. I got a new scale partway through the month, but I think my weight stayed the same through the month. Still trying to make lots of little changes that lead to a healthier lifestyle.

Cleaning/organization
I followed the JustMommies task calendar and did many of the same jobs as I did in February. Thinking about doing some major spring cleaning soon.

Super One Highlights

Since we were in Two Harbors for Remy's checkup we did our grocery shopping for the week. Overall I saved 39%, or $111.70, by shopping the sales and using coupons. Here are my best deals:

Birdseye frozen veggies were $1 each, used $1/3 coupon=$0.67 each

Brownberry bread was $1.88 each, and it's not made with high fructose corn syrup

General Mills: Buy 4 products at 4/$10, get free Cinnamon Cheerios
Used two $1/2 coupons, so end price was 5/$8, or $1.60 each

$1.00 produce:
Avacadoes, celery, lettuce and 5 pounds of potatoes were $1.00 each
Zucchini/yellow squash and pink lady apples were $1 per pound

Yogurt: Yoplait Greek yogurt 4 packs were $1.77, used two $1 coupons=$0.77 each
Stonyfield organic yogurt: Big container was $4.39, used $1 printable coupon (from the Stonyfield website)=$3.39
Small containers were $0.99 each, used $1/3 coupon=$0.66 each, which is more than I usually pay for regular, non-organic yogurt, but considerably less than the regular price of $1.19.

Colgate: $0.99-$0.75 coupons=$0.24 each
Softsoap: $1.00-$0.35=$0.65

Cranberry Naturals (made with truvia instead of high fructose corn syrup): FREE with coupon from promotion

This and That

I see I haven't updated in awhile. The kids had Spring Break the last week of March, although it wasn't very spring-like. One day it snowed and Raina made a snowman.

Jackson's ready for spring so he can play baseball.

Ollie showing how he eats snow.

We ended the week with haircuts/trims for everyone. It was finally time for Ollie to get rid of the curls. Now he has a big boy haircut.

Last weekend I left the kids home with Barry so I could spend time with my sisters before one moved to Colorado. We couldn't remember the last time we had spend together without kids/spouses, and decided we should do it more often.

Remy had his 4 year old checkup this week. He's 38 1/2 pounds and 43 1/2 inches. He's always good for a laugh, like during his eye check where he had to identify pictures. He got to the moon and said, "Crescent moon." The last line (for 20/10 vision, where everything is tiny), the nurse pointed to a teacup and he said, "Polka dot." So thankful for funny, healthy kids!

A Few Deals

Super One has had some buy x get $x off the last couple of weeks, and March is frozen food month, so my freezer has lots of frozen veggies stocked up. Here are the best deals:

The new Honey Bunches of Oats with Raisins: $2.50-$1.00 coupons=$1.50 each
Kellogg's cereal: 3/$8-$1/2 coupon-FREE milk wyb 3 ($3.79)=3/$3.21, or $1.07 each, since I would have bought the milk anyway

FREE Pulls Ups with coupon from House Party

FREE Coffeemate creamer with Facebook coupon
FREE Orbit gum with coupon from magazine

Birdseye frozen veggies: $0.99-$1/3 coupons=$0.66 each
The next week Flavorite veggies were 50% off, or $0.64 each

And cheap meals--everything in this picture for $5.00
Peter Pan peanut butter 2/$3, get free Taystee bread (the only time I'll buy white bread is when it's free or nearly free)
Hunt's spaghetti sauce 3/$3, get free Creamette pasta

Not pictured--Kraft buy 10 items, get $5 off
I got 2 Planters dry roasted peanuts for $1.99 after promo
2 Capri Sun for $1.99 after promo
Oscar Mayer hot dogs for $1.49 a.p.
Kraft American cheese for $1.94 after promo and coupon
2 Kraft shredded cheese for $0.99 after promo and coupon
2 Kraft block cheese for $1.49 a.p.

Nabisco crackers were $1.25 each after promotion for $3 off 4 and coupons for $1/2.

2011 Goals, March Update

Time for another update!

Spiritual Goals:
At the end of January, I was through chapter 4 of Proverbs. At the end of February, I was on chapter 17. A couple verses I've found especially interesting:
16:31--Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.
17:1--Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.
17:12--Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.
As a family, we started reading the Family Bible I got a few years ago. The stories are straight from the Bible and are long enough to be a substantial reading, but short enough to keep the kids' attention.

Marriage
Same as February's updated: it's Barry's busy time of year for work, so I don't see a weekend getaway in the near future. Probably in the summer, when I can send the kids to grandma's for a night or two!

Family
I played Boggle with Jackson, Zingo with Remy and Guess Who? with Raina and Jackson. It's hard to have a dedicated family game night when the kids play at different levels.

Personal
The first part of my 40 by 40 list is posted below!

Financial
My coupon jar had $55.06 at the end of February. I'm using the money to buy things that contribute to a healthier lifestyle. In February I bought Kashi cereal at full price without a coupon (most cereal I buy is on sale with a coupon), natural peanut butter (made without partially hydrogenated oils) and quinoa, a grain that is a complete protein.

Health and fitness
I exercised 9 days in February. I was sick the better part of one week and didn't exercise at all that week. I did not lose any weight. Therefore, my goal for March is to exercise a minimum of four days per week.
Still working on the sweets, trying to find the balance between moderation and depriving myself and then going overboard.
Have been doing pretty well eating fruits and veggies.
Not losing hope! Just trying to make lots of little changes that will eventually lead to a healthier lifestyle.

Cleaning/organization
I followed the JustMommies task calendar and did many of the same jobs as I did in January--wiped down kitchen cabinets and pantry, swept entrance ways, wiped down kitchen chairs, wiped down baseboards in living room, cleaned the oven and stove top, cleaned toaster, coffee maker and small kitchen appliances, dusted kitchen light fixtures and cleaned refrigerator and microwave.

Forty by Forty, Part One

Somewhere in my blog-hopping I came across a blogger who had a forty by forty list of things to accomplish by the time she turns 40. I have since written my own list to work on in the next four years. Some items are inexpensive and easy. Others I'll have to save up for--either money or courage. My overall goal is to live life with intention, so I don't get to 40 and wonder what I've done in my life.

New food to try (most are things I see on cooking shows a lot and that I've never eaten before):

1. Lamb

2. Scallops

3. Fried calamari

4. Sushi

or make:

5. Quinoa (done March 2011)

6. Artisan bread

7. A great pizza dough recipe

8. Steel cut oats

Health/fitness goals:

9. Complete the Couch to 5K program

10. Run a 5K

11. Lose 40 pounds