Budgeting Meals

I've been working on budgeting meals lately, I saw this promotion.  Says if I post this code:





I could get a free e-copy.
So here it is and I'll see what the e-book says and write a review for you!

My review 1/21/2012:

The book was good - I was already doing some of the main suggestions, like menu planning, but I haven't delved into the world of freezer cooking yet.  We don't have a freezer.  I enjoyed the information on how we're paying more for less and gave suggestions for homemade convenience foods (like seasoning mixes).

If you are looking to lower your overall grocery budget, there was some useful information that I hadn't heard before.  I'm not sure I learned anything super exciting that would save me a ton on my monthly budget, but a little more this month and maybe I'll learn more somewhere else and perhaps I'll write my own book someday on the things I've picked up along the way!

Christmas Pictures!

It's somewhat of a tradition to set up the camera on a timer and take a family picture by the Christmas tree.  Here is this years picture:

I'll post our Christmas letter later this month!

DIY Chair

I've been loving some of those low cost home decorating blogs that are out there.  Blogs like Centsational Girl have inspired me to start thinking outside the box when looking at second hand furniture.  A few weeks ago our neighbors had left this on the curb.

Two cans of spraypaint, some clearance fabric (that was also 50% off of that clearance price!) and some faux finishing nails later, I was able to get this:

As you can see, it fits perfectly in my entryway.  Don't look too close, you'll see scratches where I was hammering in the nails, cracks where the arms are still nearly broken, but it's supposed to be a pretty chair, not a functional chair - so I'm please with how it came out.  In all I spent about $25 - not as cheap as I'd like, but I still have some paint, fabric and nails leftover which I will save for future projects.  That side table is looking like it may want to be painted to match that chair!

T-Ball AND Baseball

The kids have started the baseball season!  Technically Keltsy is T-ball, Isaac is baseball...the difference being the game is played off a Tee vs. being coach pitch.  Anyway, they both had games this last Saturday - of course they were both at the same time on different fields - so I attended Keltsy's game and took pictures, Jesse attended Isaac's game and took video.  Here are the pictures:

I will just say, I hate my camera.  This is such a fun shot, but I hate that I couldn't get the camera to focus for the first half of the game. 

Here's Keltsy, in case you can't tell, she sort of zoned out this part of the game.

And here she is "down and ready"!

Spencer's Birthday!

Happy Birthday!!!

Spencer Preston Hunter

Oct. 18, 2009

5 lbs. 5 oz.

1 yr. old!

2 yrs. old!

October - sickies and Halloween

I'm almost caught up on this blog!

Spencer and Keltsy were both sick with a croup-y virus. Keltsy responded well to the medication, Spencer didn't.

He had to have a nebulizer to get over the coughing, but that's pretty typical for him. I wonder if his prematurity has anything to do with that...

He figured out pretty quickly that it helped him breath more easily and he started taking his treatments on his own (meaning I didn't have to sit with him to keep him from pulling the mask off his face).

Poor Keltsy missed her Fall Break because of these sickies...blech!

Halloween was pretty fun at this house this year! The kid's adult cousin Brady let them play the game "Angry Birds" on his really cool phone. They were hooked and convinced Jesse to download the game onto the laptop. We went Angry Bird Crazy!

And we had a fun night at the Ward Chili Cook Off and Carnival

Our Halloween Night pictures didn't really turn out - next year I have to remember to take them BEFORE we go trick-or-treating!

Happy 6th Birthday!

Happy Birthday!!!

Keltsy Ann Hunter!

7 lbs. 13 oz.

1 yr. old

2 yrs. old

3 yrs. old

4 yrs. old

5 yrs. old

6 YEARS OLD!!!

Keltsy is my sweet, darling, smart, tiny, adorable little princess.

She brings so much joy to our family, is a great little & big sister.

She has a caring heart, is a good friend,

is trustworthy, and strives to choose the right.

Fun at the Beach!

Being in Arizona, we're now only about six (maybe seven) hours away from Jesse's grandfather who lives in California. We have been meaning to take a weekend trip for quite some time to visit. After Jesse's trip to Paris, we ended up with a free night at Best Western so we decided to take advantage of that and made a weekend trip of it, visit with family and take the kids for their first trip to the ocean.

The first picture above is all of us looking stiff, the second picture when grandpa was checking to make sure we smiled, we all look better, but you can't see his handsome face. It was a good visit to see Great-Grandpa, Uncle Mark and Aunt Chris (hope I spelled it everything right!). We really enjoyed seeing them and having the kids briefly meet the family. We've missed living close enough to family to be able to do these sort of trips.

Before we visited with family we had fun at the beach!

When we first got to the beach, it was warm but overcast - perfect recipe for a sunburn, by the way - and there was a pod of dolphins just a few waves away (yippee!). The beach we chose to visit was right at the end of LAX, so we were able to have fun seeing airplanes take off. We went with some friends (who are internet shy) and had a lot of fun catching up and visiting with them and their two adorable children.

I love being able to build these memories with our children!

Random Spencer Pictures

When I was posting this I thought I would have pictures of all the kids, but I guess since they're in school I'm not getting as many pictures of them. So here's your dose of Spencer cuteness!