Visiting the Gulf Coast

We are currently visiting my grandparents (G'Gma and G'Gpa to the boys) down in Fairhope, Alabama. While we are here, we got to go down to Beloxi, Mississippi for Cruisin' the Coast. My dad has an old Corvette, so he and my mom go every year. It was so much fun! We got to see so many nice antique cars and visit a beautiful beach!! Here are some pictures from our experiences so far.

The boys first night in a hotel! We got to stay on base through my Grandpa.

Easiest Meal Ever

There are many days when I don't feel like cooking dinner, or I'm getting home late and don't have time to get a nice meal on the table before bedtime. I found a perfect solution through BzzAgent. On one of those nights, I stopped by Kroger's deli counter and picked up an 8-piece chicken dinner. To keep it really simple, I also got chips and a drink.

Budget Update

We are still continuing with our {budget} inspired by {Dave Ramsey}.  It's been over a month now!  I have to admit, my eyes have definitely been opened to some of our not so good spending habits from the past!  Ryan and I are very optimistic about this working well and look forward to having all of the kinks worked out.

I will share some of the things I have realized for our family as we have embarked upon this journey.  Hopefully, you will find some helpful information or inspiration for your family.

A very recent example of a money struggle I had was just last Thursday.  My son had a day off from school for parent/teacher conferences, so I took off work to be with him.  I used the opportunity to make a doctor's appointment and get some glasses fixed that I had been putting off.

The first challenge was finding something to do for the 45 minutes between his conference and my appointment.  Everything costs money!  We dropped Brady off at daycare and went to the Dollar Tree nearby.  I used a few dollars to buy some Valentine decorations.  It turned into a very good lesson for Jackson, because he knew we had $4 to spend.  He really wanted a bag of chocolates (and so did I!), so we picked out the things we "needed" and calculated how much we had left.  We had enough to buy his candy, because we were reasonable with our other purchases.  The Dollar Tree is a weakness of mine, so this was a huge challenge!

The next money challenge was waiting the hour for my glasses to be fixed.  It was around lunchtime, so I had two choices.  We could drive 25 minutes each way to our house to eat food we already have (paying for the gas and waste of time), or we could eat at a restaurant near the place and have a fun "date" with my son.  I had $10 in my food envelope, so I debated this issue for a little bit.  Eating out won over, and it was worth it to give Jackson a special treat out with his Mama.

I am also going to try a different strategy this month with our money envelopes.  Instead of taking the total amount out of our bank account that we decide on for our budget, I am going to split the total in half and take it out twice a month.  That way, we aren't spending all of our money up front and then running out of cash to pay for the essentials, like milk, at the end of the month.  I'm curious to see if this helps.

Please share any tips your family has discovered to organize and save money.

Super Bowl Sunday

Super Bowl Sunday is almost here!  Since the Patriots are no longer in it, the excitement has kind of died off.  That's my husband's team, and you would have been very entertained if you were with us when they were playing the Ravens.

Needless to say, I'm sure we will still be watching the game.  Since we've got little guys and have to go to work early the next morning, we make a night of it in our own living room.  Last year, I made little football sandwiches and put them on sports plates for the boys.

Not a big fuss, just deli meat and lettuce on dinner rolls.  I took shredded mozzarella cheese and created the football laces on the top.  This was all made with things we had on hand at the house.  It doesn't take much to be festive!

Even better than that in the boys' eyes was the fact that we let them sit on the floor of the living room to eat.  Since they aren't allowed to eat in there, it has become a special treat.

I always love an excuse to have a little extra fun!

What special treats are you planning for the Super Bowl?  Please feel free to link up posts.

Family Binder: Entertainment

Here's another addition to the Family Binder!  I've had piles of brochures around our office area that we got from our Visitors' Center when we first moved here.  They have been driving me crazy, so I had to come up with a solution.

What to Do With The Christmas Cards?

After Christmas every year, I take down the Christmas cards and look at the beautiful pictures of all of our family and friends.  Then I wonder what I should do with them and feel guilty when they end up in the trash.  No more guilt this year!

I searched {Pinterest} for ideas, and created a mix of my own.  I wanted to keep it short and simple, so I used a chicken ring to collect all of the cards on.  I don't know what the technical term is for them, but they are the rings that open and latch back together.  They are usually found in the office supply section.  Each card got a hole punch in the corner, and then I threaded them on the ring.  I made a card out of scrap card stock to add the year.  

I took it a little further and included many cards throughout the year.  Birth and wedding announcements and special cards from birthdays and holidays seemed to be a great addition to the Christmas cards.

Now we can flip through each year to see how our friends and families have grown and changed.  I also made sure to include our Christmas card at the very end so that we can compare them from year to year.

What do you do with your holiday cards?

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year!  I look forward to sharing more of our projects and strategies for saving with you.

Visit {HERE} to see the link parties where you will most likely find me.  Thanks to all of the wonderful hosts!

Or check them out from the links here: The Prudent Pantry, Here Comes the Sun, Jane's Adventures in Dinner, Project: Inspire, Melting Moments, The Artsy Girl Connection, Confessions of an ADD Housewife, The NY Melrose Family, Someday Crafts, The Dedicated House, Adorned From Above, Organize and Decorate Everything, Six Sisters' Stuff, I Heart Nap Time, Positively Splendid, Heatherly Loves, Kayla Creations, Debbiedoo's, A Stroll Thru Life , The Thrifty Home, Beyond the Picket Fence, Stone Gable, Here Comes the Sun, Mom on Timeout

Pumpkin Farm Visit

One of my favorite parts of fall is visiting the pumpkin patch. Since moving to Alabama, we found Tate Farms and use coupons through Living Social or Groupon to go for half price.  That's a huge savings for our family!  Tate Farms also has very reasonable prices for their produce, so I am able to pick up pretty much whatever I need without my husband noticing the bill too much :)

They have an awesome area set up at the entrance for a perfect picture op.  My boys had more fun just playing on the tractor!

The farm has a bunch of animals for us to pet.  In addition to the pigs, they have calves, chickens, goats, and rabbits.

 The boys had a blast with the water pumps!

They have a tractor that pulls the kids around in a little train. Ryan went with them last year!

Mama and my boys :)

Funny faces (from Yo Gabba Gabba) with their pumpkins

A rare family picture

The farm has an orange bouncy "pillow" for the kids to jump on.  Jackson and Brady could play on this for hours!

One of Alabama's biggest products... cotton

Brady was finally brave enough to go down the huge tube slide by himself, and we had to bribe him to finally stop!

Our family had an absolute blast, and the best part is we did it for half price.  Happy Fall!

Visit {HERE} to see the link parties where you will find me.  Thanks to all of the wonderful hosts!

Or check them out from the links here: The Prudent Pantry, Here Comes the Sun, Jane's Adventures in Dinner, Project: Inspire, Melting Moments, The Artsy Girl Connection, Confessions of an ADD Housewife, The NY Melrose Family, Someday Crafts, The Dedicated House, Adorned From Above, Organize and Decorate Everything, Six Sisters' Stuff, I Heart Nap Time, Positively Splendid, Heatherly Loves, Kayla Creations, Debbiedoo's, A Stroll Thru Life , The Thrifty Home, Beyond the Picket Fence, Stone Gable, Here Comes the Sun

Calendar Board with Wine Corks

In our {Office Nook}, I included our family calendar.  I happened to come across a Pottery Barn refill calendar at a {yard sale} for $2.  I love how their system looks, but I'm not willing to spend the money for it.  So, I improvised.

I made a frame for the top of it using wine corks.  This little detail gave it just enough to anchor and tie it in with our wine theme around the room.

There was a cardboard piece that came on the back of the calendar insert.  I hot glued the wine corks across the top of that.  I knew I wanted to be able to remove the calendar to fill it in, so I added velcro pieces to the cardboard as well. 

I then attached the backing to the wall with Command picture hangers (I'm really loving those things!).

If you let them set properly by following the directions on the package, if the cardboard pulls away from the wall, you can just push it back on and hear it "click" into place.
You will also notice that we draw a line down the middle of the days to split the calendar into two weeks instead of one. That was my husband's idea; he's learning!  When I'm really ambitious, I use colored pencils to code each person's events.
I use the bottom checklist area to {plan out our meals}.  The top checklists are also very helpful to jot down quick reminders.  There is also a {dry erase board} located next to the calendar for additional notes.

You might find me linked with The Dedicated House, Adorned From Above, Organize and Decorate Everything, Six Sisters' Stuff, I Heart Nap Time, Positively Splendid, Heatherly Loves, Kayla Creations, Debbiedoo's, A Stroll Thru Life , The Thrifty Home, Beyond the Picket Fence

I'm Back!

It has been a crazy couple of weeks in our household, especially for me.  I earned my health and life insurance license, which required a very intense online course and test through Alabama.  This was for a job that didn't end up working out, but I feel that it's leading me to better know what I want to do.  My husband won't let me count blogging as my full-time job, since I'm not making any money from it yet!

During all of this, Ryan's parents came to visit.  My favorite part of their trip was the little day trip we took up into Tennessee.

We have been wanting to check out Tims Ford lake, so we headed to the State Park.  By the time we got there, we were ready for lunch.  The people at the Visitors Center were so helpful, and we also picked up a bunch of brochures for other attractions in the area.  (I highly recommend doing this, even in your hometown.  It's amazing the amount of things to do that you might not even know about!  Plus, I know in Huntsville, they have discounts for a lot of the places.)  They mentioned a few towns, and Ryan and I recognized Tullahoma from buying our generator there after the April 27th tornadoes.  We've been meaning to go back and just haven't made it.

They had the cutest little downtown with a bunch of antique shops.  In the first place we went, the owner let the boys pick out little toys because he thought they were being so good.  (He didn't see Jackson trying to get into stuff upstairs!) 

Great Photography Session

In a {previous post}, I mentioned that my dream mantel includes a big family picture up above it.  We cannot afford on our budget to pay for a professional photography session to get the picture I want, so I looked to {Living Social}.  I was lucky enough to stumble upon {Kelly Ann Studio's} deal, looked at her sample pictures online, and decided to go for it.  I was glad I did!

We met with her on a Saturday at {Hayes Nature Preserve}.  When setting up the appointment, I asked her opinion about where to have the shoot.  She picked a beautiful place, and we now also know of a place to take the boys to play in the future.

She was great with the boys and already knew all of the great places to shoot.  She even got my Jackson to smile!  (He's four and going through a major attitude phase.)

Later that afternoon, she had already posted some of the pictures on her blog for us to see.  Check them out {here}.  I didn't have to wait much longer to get the rest of the proofs back from her.  I think I watched it through about 10 times in my first viewing, they were so good!

With our Living Social deal, I got to pick six for her to put on a cd for us.  Then I can take those to a place that does prints and pick what I want.  Costco always seems to have great deals on their canvases, so I will probably look into that for our mantel picture.

My mother-in-law was also able to order prints through her website.  Kelly was very helpful with the process.
Once I come across a sale to get my mantel picture, I will show you how it turns out!