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Ok, the computer is fixed.

Yesterday I went through all of Katie's clothes. For those of you who know about Katie's clothing situation, you know that this is momentous. I went through every item of clothing, put it in the correct size bin and re-stored them in the basement. It feels so good to know where everything is and be able to easily grab the right bin when someone wants to borrow something. We aren't getting rid of them yet because we want to do foster care and would love to have a ready stock-pile available. We also are unsure about whether we will try for a 4th baby, though Taylor is convinced that any more biological kids would be boys.  We'll see!

Here is a quick look at the list again to see where we are at...

Kevin and Lydia's Wedding:
Buy a gift and card
Give the boys haircuts
Get haircuts for me and Katie - This Saturday! Oh my goodness I got charged 45.00 for Katie's hair!!!
Pack

Halloween:
Get out the fall decorations and put up
Make sure costumes are ready and have all needed accessories...face-paint?
Make sure we have 3 treat bags
Pick out 2 Halloween crafts and do them
pumpkin flakes, halloween hang-ups

Thanksgiving:
Figure out what we are bringing to Walker's house for food
Plan and do a Thankful activity with the kids
thankful tree, thankful table-cloth, fingerprint corn, handprint turkey
Make Lefse

Gray's Baby Dedication
Make sure we have outfits I like for all of us to wear
Plan brunch for us and grandparents

Gray's First Birthday
Pick out what I want to do for the cake.
Make an evite.
Figure out what I want for decorations

Taylor's Graduation Party
Make an evite
Make a menu
Pick a place
Plan any activities
Figure out how I want to decorate
Plan lunch for after the ceremony  Actually dinner the ceremony is at 2!
Make a list of who to invite and make sure I have emails

Christmas
Go through Advent activities and make sure I have everything ready
List of Christmas cookies and shopping list for ingredients
Peanut butter cup cookies, Iced sugar cookies, saltine toffee crack, puppy chow, chex mix, cornflake wreaths
Gifts - list of what needs to be bought-start buying
Make a holiday bucket list to check-off
Plan several Christmas crafts to do with the kids
Pick out or make our 2012 ornament
Plan for Christmas Card

halloween activities

i got a viirus looking for halloween crafts. the hard drive crashed i can only type in the linked box on the kindle....still working just not online till its fixed

Day 3 - What's working and some progress

I found a wedding gift that is fun and was on sale today! No sneak peeks cause they read the blog:) Only 2 weeks till we fly out!

I also made the evite for Grayson's birthday party. We are keeping it low-key since this year within one week Gray turns one, I turn 30 and Taylor Graduates. We are going to do a quick sing and blow out candles party on his actual birthday for any people that can make it. It is a week night, so I am not expecting a huge crowd of people, but we didn't want to take up 2 weekends in crazy busy December for 2 Andrews family parties.

Here are some of the things that are working for us around here lately.

Put a straw through the foil top of the baby food container. I got the idea after I gave Gray one of those applesauce pouches you suck out of. He downed the whole things in like 2 minutes with no mess. I don't love feeding baby food and my kids are always covered in food, so this is rocking my world!

 It only took 7 years of living in this house to get a mat by the front door that has traction on the bottom. It is not getting jammed under the door every time I open it! Have I posted this before? It still makes me so happy.

 We got rid of the high-chair. I just stuck the travel chair on a plastic chair and am so much happier. Folds away small. So much easier to clean.

I think my friend Laura did this first. She is so smart.

 Foam insulation board from Home Depot. Blackout and insulation. The kids are sleeping so much better. I think it was like 8 dollars.

Thanks for the idea Gillems!

 We got all the old Adventures in Odyssey tapes from Taylor's mom. The kids are calming down much better at bedtime since they have something to listen too...we'll see if it lasts.

 Ikea mesh hanger for bath toys and supplies. Dries easy. Doesn't look amazing but it was free and the bathroom is way neater!

 This bible is so good! I got it for a fifty cents at a garage sale. Thanks for finding it Laura! I have been reading the kids a story every morning at breakfast. It sets the tone of the day better for all of us and I have a specific time to teach them about Jesus.  More props to Laura for that idea!

 A stocked for a month freezer. We don't have a deep-freeze but so far everything is fitting. I will have to get more milk obviously.

 The bounty of our garden. At least the tomatoes kind of turned reddish.

 Buy this album. Hidden in my Heart a lullaby journey through scripture. I listen to it when the kids go to bed. So good. The kids get to listen to it sometimes too.

 

Tomorrow I think I will be picking some Halloween and Thanksgiving activities. Pinterest here I come!

Day 2 - An Action Plan

I scrambled a bunch of eggs this morning, made half the breakfast burritos for the month, and got the windshields replaced on both cars. Enchiladas were made and frozen last night. I still need to make the chicken pot pie filling, about 15 more breakfast burritos, grill the chicken for salad and figure out something to make with a TON of leftover black olives...do they freeze well?

Here is the checklist for the rest of the month:

Kevin and Lydia's Wedding:
Buy a gift and card
Give the boys haircuts
Get haircuts for me and Katie - This Saturday!
Pack

Halloween:
Get out the fall decorations and put up
Make sure costumes are ready and have all needed accessories...face-paint?
Make sure we have 3 treat bags
Pick out 2 Halloween crafts and do them

Thanksgiving:
Figure out what we are bringing to Walker's house for food
Plan and do a Thankful activity with the kids
Make Lefse

Gray's Baby Dedication
Make sure we have outfits I like for all of us to wear
Plan brunch for us and grandparents

Gray's First Birthday
Pick out what I want to do for the cake.
Make an evite.
Figure out what I want for decorations

Taylor's Graduation Party
Make an evite
Make a menu
Pick a place
Plan any activities
Figure out how I want to decorate
Plan lunch for after the ceremony
Make a list of who to invite and make sure I have emails

Christmas
Go through Advent activities and make sure I have everything ready
List of Christmas cookies and shopping list for ingredients
Gifts - list of what needs to be bought-start buying
Make a holiday bucket list to check-off
Plan several Christmas crafts to do with the kids
Pick out or make our 2012 ornament
Plan for Christmas Card

That is 30 things still to do. Some of them I can double up. If I can get most of them done or started this month I will be in a great place!

It is almost 2 and my kids are still playing in their rooms. Sleep has been a battle with them lately. Any great tips?

Day 1 - Freezer Meals and Grocery Shopping

I decided to try and shop one main time this month. Our grocery budget has been getting higher and higher and with 3 kids I just can't/don't shop the same way anymore. I used to clip coupons and hit 3-5 stores per week and get some great deals. With three kids, grocery shopping is not fun anymore. I spend my whole time trying to keep them in line and it is just plain stressful. I hit Costco and Walmart this weekend and was able to get a months worth of groceries for $425. That is less than what we have been spending by at least $75. That included dog food, diapers and toiletry items we were running low on. I do have a stockpile I am still pulling from. Some of the things I got were more than enough for this month so should pull through next month too.

I picked 10 of our favorite meals and will make them 3 times to get 30 meals for the month. This will more than get us through the month since we will eat with other people and be in California too.

Our meals for October:
Chicken Pot Pie - shredded the chicken and now I need to make the filling. On this day I will just add the filling to the pie shell and cook.
Chili - Browned the beef. All the rest is canned and can be dumped in the crock pot the day of.
Enchiladas -shredded the chicken and need to make the filling. The day of I will stuff the tortillas and bake.
Spaghetti - browned the beef. Add sauce and cook noodles the day of.
Grilled Chicken Salad - Chicken is marinating now. We are going to grill it all and then the freeze the portions we don't use so we can have grilled chicken 2 more times.
Quinoa Mac and Cheese - This can be made very simply the day of.
Chicken Fried Rice - Chicken is shredded and ready. Again, easy to make the day of.
Skinny Potato Soup - I need to look at this recipe again. Haven't made it yet.
Pizza - we have three frozen ones:)

Lunches:
leftovers
ham and cheese sandwiches
quesadillas
mac n cheese
hot dogs
pbj
beans n rice

Snacks:
almonds
fruit and veggies
crackers
smoothies

Breakfast: 2 days each per week
breakfast burritos: I still need to cook and prep these
cereal
oatmeal
smoothies and eggs
Hamburgers

I picked easy meals that I know our family will eat.  We are going to have to be careful to ration our food out so that we don't eat all the cottage cheese week one...my kids and husband would do it. I have frozen veggies and canned fruit for as we get closer to the end of the month.  I need to finish prepping the food, I might just do it as I make that meal the first time and triple the size. We have a normal freezer and so far everything is fitting. I am not prepping most foods all the way so that helps. I will also need to hit the store once a week for milk. Until we get a deep freeze there is no way to store the 8 gallons we need per month. I will let you know how it goes this month! If it goes well we will look into getting a deep freeze so that I can store more food!

Tomorrow I will be sharing the to-do list for the rest of the month!

31 Days to a Less Stress Holiday Season

        I read some blogs that blog everyday in October in a 31 Days series. I thought I would write along this time. I don't know that I can guarantee to blog everyday, but it will certainly be a goal! The next few months for our family are really busy and also filled with fun things. I thought I would get a jumpstart on all the planning and preparation this month so that we can truly enjoy the season and events as they come. Between now and December 25th we will celebrate a wedding in California, Grayson's dedication at church, go on a lifegroup retreat, Halloween, Thanksgiving, another friends wedding in Colorado, Grayson's first birthday, my 30th birthday, Taylor's graduation from Grad School, and, of course, Christmas!  All of these things are exciting and fun, but need lots of planning so that the stress of planning doesn't overshadow the blessing of the event.  I will be blogging my goals and prep plans as accountability and maybe motivation for some of you too!