Momma, come sit with me.

‘Momma, come sit with me.’ That’s what my 3 year old said today at lunchtime. He had been picking at his sandwich and sticking around the table after everyone else had went to their rooms for lunch. He gave me that sweet smile with those little blue eyes just a sparkling. Who could resist that smile?

Not me! The neverending To-Do list can wait. The basket of unfolded laundry can wait. The dirty dishes in the sink can wait. The chores that need finished can wait. The millions of other things running through my mind,at any given moment, can wait.

Right now he needs me and he is asking me for my time. I admit that sometimes I feel like I am spread pretty thin. I feel like I just can’t do anything more than what I am doing right now. It’s hard being a Momma.It’s hard being a single Momma. It’s hard being a special needs Momma. It’s hard being a single special needs Momma! Yes, I said it’s hard. It’s almost downright impossible on some days. But then there are the good days or the little moments like this.

The house is quiet-ish as everyone is settling down for naps and/or quiet time. The school work has been finished and put away. He continues to nibble at his sandwich while I grab my glass of watered down iced tea. I sit in the chair next to him and he smiles. A genuinely lit up ear to ear kind of smile. Those little eyes are just dancing with ideas that he wants to tell me.

So he begins by informing me that my feet are in the water. I laugh and pull my feet up and sit cross legged in the chair.

‘Is that better?’, I ask.

‘Yes, Momma, now the sharks can’t get you.’

‘Well that’s a good thing! Thank you so much for warning me.’, I say.

He laughs and then he proceeds to explain to me how a T-Rex would catch a fish. He imitates the T-Rex while eating his fish (peanut butter sandwich) and he laughs a lot. He tells me what he wants for snack later, a dinosaur cupcake from yesterday, and he asks if he and ‘all my friends’ can go outside after naps. He always refers to his brothers and sisters as ‘all my friends’ and he draws a big circle in the air when he says it. It is so cute!

He eats a few more bites and declares he is full. Then he grabs his napkin and attempts to wipe the peanut butter off his face. I help him and he takes off running back to his room before I can finish. He jumps into his bed and curls up with a stuffed toy and his favorite dinosaur toy. Then he closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep. I lean over and give him a quick kiss on the cheek and he giggles.

These are the moments that make my day and give me the momentum I need to get through the tough days. I get a little sad as I know they are all growing up so fast. I know that before long he won’t be asking me to come sit with him anymore. I want to take the time to cherish these little moments and enjoy them while I can.

I walked back to the kitchen to jot down this post so I will have it to look back on in the future. I think about how blessed I am and how precious life is. I am so thankful that God has put me where I am right now. He has given me more than I ever deserved and I know He has so many plans in store for me and my family.

He always knows what we need and when we need it. This morning I read Proverbs 13:4:

It reminds me that I need to keep pressing on towards my goals. I can’t give up and let myself get lazy. I can have hope in knowing that if I stay diligent there will be a reward for all of the hard work I put in here on earth. This little moment with my son was just a taste of that and it was so beautiful! I can’t even begin to imagine what the future may hold for us.

Thank you Lord for your blessings on me and my family!

January Pantry Challenge Grocery Trip

I wrote about the Pantry Challenge in an earlier post. This upcoming week is the next Pantry Challenge I have scheduled. I thought I would break down what my grocery list was and how much I ended up spending for the meals that I came up.

Below are the dinner meals and the ingredients that I had to buy and the costs.

Meal #1: Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken w/Rice and Cole Slaw

Cole Slaw Mix $2.00

Meal #2: Popover Pizza, Salad

Romaine Lettuce $3.29

Tomatoes BOGO $2.99

Meal #3: Tortilla Bowl Taco Salad, Rice, Beans

Will use the extra lettuce and tomatoes from Meal #2 and I had some extra pintos from last week that had I put in the freezer also.

Avocado $1.00

Sour Cream $1.75

Meal #4: Boston Baked Beans, Mac n Cheese, Fried Cabbage

Cabbage $2.05

Meal #5: Cheesy Chicken and Potatoes Casserole, Salad

Will use the extra lettuce and tomatoes from Meal #2 & 3.

Meal #6: Free Day (I will probably make some Chicken Stir Fry, Chicken Fried Rice, and maybe some fried ramen noodles. (These are links to other recipes as I can’t locate mine at the moment.)

**UPDATE: I found my recipes 🙂 Chinese Fried Rice with VeggiesEasy Fried Noodles, Japanese White Sauce. I had everything in the pantry and freezer to make all of these.

I had some stir fry veggies and chicken in the freezer. I also had some ramen noodles and rice in the pantry. I won’t be adding as many veggies to the noodles as this recipe shows either.

Sweet and Sour Sauce $1.99

Meal #7: Breakfast for Dinner

Krusteaz Pancake & Waffle Mix BOGO $2.79

(This is my favorite brand and I grab it when it is on sale.)

Aunt Jemima Syrup BOGO $3.89

So altogether I spent less than $25.00 to complete the meals from the pantry.

I also had to buy some staples that we buy every week like:

Milk x 4 $14.76

Bread x $4.00

Sliced Cheese $2.00

Margarine $1.00

Apples $3.49

Bananas $4.72

Creamer $3.00

Eggs $2.00

These came to about $35.00.

We had a few miscellaneous toiletries to buy for less than $20.00. I also found a BOGO meat sale and stocked up on some things that we will need later on in the month. I did spend around $50.00 0n the meat! Eeek… well I don’t feel too bad because I know that I am saving money in the long run and I won’t need to buy much more meat for the rest of the month.

You can see my totals below and the savings from the store card, sales, and coupons. Plus at Winn -Dixie you can also earn Fuelperks. Right now I am at $0.55/gallon which is about $11.00 off my next 20 gallons of fuel. I also did the survey at the bottom of the receipt to save $5.00 on the next trip.

If I had been tight on money or if I had decided not to spend any extra I could’ve left the store spending a little under $80.00. I could have also cut back on a few other things and stayed under $50.0. I do try my best to catch certain things, like peanut butter, on sale and grab them whenever I can.

By using what I have in the pantry and freezer I was able to save money and use it towards the sales I found for the meat. It also helps to prevent waste and helps me to set a good example for the kids about being frugal. This can be a very useful tool in any household.

January 15-21, 2017 Meal Plan

This is our basic meal plan for the week. Sometimes we will switch the days around if I forgot to set something out or put something in the crock pot. Please feel free to use this or change it around to suit your family’s needs.

I do have ‘Snacks/Desserts’ listed as well. I always try to keep a bowl of fresh fruit out on the counter or table for the kids to snack on. Sometimes I will make a special snack or treat for us to enjoy.

NOTE: This is a Pantry Challenge Week for me.

Sunday

Breakfast:

French Toast Roll Ups, scrambled eggs, sausage

Lunch:

ramen noodles, grilled cheese

Dinner:

Cream Cheese Chicken, Rice, Cole Slaw

Snacks/Desserts:

Easy Banana Pudding


Monday

Breakfast:

Cereal/Oatmeal

Lunch:

tuna salad sandwiches, fresh veggies

Dinner:

Popover Pizza, Salad

Snacks/Desserts:

Peanut Butter Crackers


Tuesday

Breakfast:

French Toast

Lunch:

PB & J sandwiches, fresh fruit

Dinner:

Tortilla Bowl Taco Salad, Rice, Beans

Snacks/Desserts:

Fruit


Wednesday

Breakfast:

Pumpkin Muffins

Lunch:

PB & J sandwiches, fruit

Dinner:

Boston Baked Beans, Mac n Cheese, Fried Cabbage

Snacks/Desserts:

Muffins


Thursday

Breakfast:

Pancakes

Lunch:

leftovers

Dinner:

Cheesy Chicken and Potatoes Casserole, Salad

Snacks/Desserts:

Popcorn (National Popcorn Day)


Friday

Breakfast:

Cereal/Oatmeal

Lunch:

hot dogs, mac n cheese, veggies

Dinner:

Free Day **use food from the pantry or freezer or order out for a special treat

Snacks/Desserts:

Boiled Eggs


Saturday

Breakfast:

Bird Nests, grits, fruit

Lunch:

Egg Salad Sandwiches, veggies

Dinner:

Breakfast for Dinner

Snacks/Desserts:

Veggies

Pick-A-Trick Matching Letters And Sounds!

This is a product that we have recently started using in our home. The kids love it because it is a game but I love it because they are having fun while learning!

I have taken some pictures of a few of the different activities and features on the game. I bought this from Lakeshore Learning. My wish list is long, very long but I try to wait until I find a coupon code or a sale and use them to my advantage. They have a lot of products for just about every homeschool style/need you may have.

This first pictures are just the front/back of the case. You can see the basics and the skills that are targeted with this game.

 

These are pictures of the lesson. It goes through the alphabet and gives them a basic introduction to the Uppercase and Lowercase letters.

 

Once they finish with the lesson they can choose an activity to do:

This is Lowercase to the Uppercase activity. There are instructions to play in the beginning too, if you need them.

Once they have completed three rounds they can choose a trick for the bear to do.

The 3 year old got a little impatient but he enjoyed getting through his lesson to see the trick.

This is on the 2nd level and matches the Uppercase to the starting sound. This is an area where my DS14(special needs) really needs help.

img_1370

He helped the 3 year old with this screen. They took turns back and forth. Teamwork is important too!

This is a feature that I really like. I can print out the report to put into portfolios and to help me see the areas they may need more help with.

All in all my kids are really enjoying this and they are learning. It is important for us to incorporate a variety of different activities so each child is eager to learn.

I hope you enjoyed this product and I will continue to post about other products and activities that we are using.

Easy Banana Pudding

This is an easy dessert that my whole family loves, especially grandpa. There are so many different variations of banana pudding that I usually just make it the easiest way I can.

The kids really enjoy helping to put this together and sometimes add a few sprinkles to the top to make it extra special. They can slice the bananas with a butter knife and layout the vanilla wafers. I just have to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t eat all of the cookies. I also like to put the pudding mix and milk in a container with a tight lid and let them take turns shaking the pudding. Continue reading “Easy Banana Pudding”