#SnackWithSimply

Okay y'all, so I recently got my most recent Influenster box.

My kids are PB-aholics. Spoonfuls, on Nilla Wafers, on Ritz Crackers, sandwiches, you name it.

So when I opened my email and found out I'd be a lucky Influenster to try this, I was stoked!

Who doesn't like FREE Peanut Butter???

So, Simply Ground has tiny bits of Peanuts in the PB. My hubby and I made fluffernutter sandwiches. LOVE is the only word that comes to mind. I'm telling you, once you try Simply Ground you may not go back. Take this as your warning.

My Petition to Benefit Homeschoolers

I started a petition today to help end discrimination against homeschoolers. I've shared a link, please read, sign & share folks. Thanks in advanced!!

https://www.change.org/p/petsmart-end-the-discrimination-against-homeschoolers

The Replacements

I'm having a particularly sentimental day today. I'm realizing more and more of how this season of life, motherhood, is constantly changing. If you feel it's going slow, take thirty minutes and flip through the thousands of pictures and videos you have of your babies. It's a blur. The pregnancy pictures, birth pictures, birthday and school pictures, lost teeth, etc. 

It's a hard pill to swallow. Knowing that those sleepless nights that seem to drag out and the days packed with tantrums end as quickly as they started. And then we are left with the documentation to keep, but babies just don't keep. Right now I'm sitting on the field at my son's soccer camp writing this. And it seems like just yesterday (last year) we were here. He's become a phenomenal player since last year. I watched videos today of my daughter at 18 months old posing for pictures and videos unprompted, saying about 80% of her ABCs in correct order. Today, I realized how quickly that beautiful, chubby girl grew into such a gorgeous, caring young lady. 

But think of the changes you go through as well.

As I've grown into a mother, here are just a few of the replacements in my life:

As a teenager, I wanted a nice, new car decked out with tinted windows and an aftermarket CD player with subwoofers. Today, I drive an SUV with factory tint, factory speakers & a playlist on my iPhone full of Frozen & Fall Out Boy (picked by Thing 1 & Thing 2.)

I traded days spent watching TV, wondering when Prince Charming would come along for playing pranks on my husband and late nights spent watching UFC when I know only a few of those on the cards. Because this makes him happy. Being with me and watching his favorite things. I've also got him hooked to Glee, Desperate Housewives, Sons of Anarchy & American Horror Story over the years. 

I traded full nights of sleep and sleeping in for sleepless nights cuddling scared, bored and sick children. 

I traded name brand bags for diaper bags and then to a huge Thirty-One bag big enough for couponing supplies & everyone's Apple devices. 

I once had a huge circle of friends and realized through my children which ones were truly friends in the first place 😍 For this change, I am especially grateful. I am able to focus my time and energy on those who truly care for and love my family. I've made friends homeschooling, I've made a whole new family at church, and brought those friends who stuck around that much closer. God has truly blessed me. 

I traded in my experience of being a substitute teacher/staff assistant/aftercare worker for full time mommy. I was working with kids who I knew were being mistreated at home and spending my days encouraging and praying for them. I now spend my days cheering my kids on, snuggling with them every chance they will let me & spending rainy days piled up on a couch watching TV just because. I have always loved children. I teach at church as well. But I've never felt as blessed as I have being at home with Kade & Kyleigh. God truly knew my calling was to be at home with my kids. I resisted for a while, but after 6 years at home full-time, I have no regrets. My family is thriving and well taken care of. 

I gladly traded in my plans to be a working mother who would have her child in daycare or school from day one for a job as teacher. Homeschooling is a passion of mine that is NOT supported by many, but those most important in my family's lives do support us. 

I traded a full closet with endless combinations for blue jeans and t-shirts. Let's be honest, the kids spot those fancy clothes from a mile away and seek to destroy them.

But most importantly, I traded my selfish and immature ways to put my children first. Their needs are always met. They also have about 97% of their wants as well. They never have to question if mommy will make time for them. My dedication to them and to my husband makes my family unit stronger and more fluid. 

I won't say it's easy. There are days I need a breather. Many of them. But there's not a single day I can say that life would be easier without my family. It would be absolutely impossible to live a single day without my husband and kids. They are my reasons for breathing. 

As I continue to replace things, I know that one thing will forever change. How much I love my family, how much I pray over my children & those who come into contact with them & most of all: how thankful I am that God put Josh, Kade & Kyleigh in my life. 

Tide at CVS this week

This week CVS has Tide for $2.94 a bottle. I got 8 bottles, used $1, $2, and $3 coupons along with $3 in ECB (downloading the App!!!). I got my haul for $8.05 😉

Herbal Essences & Aussie deal this week. Run!!!

This week's paper had a $3/2 for Aussie and a $3/2 Herbal Essences. This week my Rite Aid had particular items for $5/2. I stacked 9 of each with a $4/$20 purchase and a 10% shopping pass for a savings of $91.40 and a total of $44.43 for 36 hair items and a bottle of Lavender oil. 

Coupon Overload

I've recently started couponing in the past six weeks.  It has quickly become an obsession. And a good one.  My car has been "acting a fool" for a while now and may need replacement within the next year or so.  The savings have been adding up quickly, and it looks like the goal will be attainable sooner rather than later.  For some reason, my pictures won't upload at the moment, but my stockpile is taking over my garage.  A few weeks ago, I got 16 seven pound bags of dog food for....wait for it...FREE!! My dog's 55 gallon food barrel is full, with several bags to the side.  I've stocked up on cat food, toilet paper, paper towels, gatorade, baby wipes, tissues, trash bags, kid vitamins, adult vitamins, shampoo, ice cream, hot dog weenies, condiments and MADE money doing so.  I went to the store this weekend and got 4 packs of hot dog weenies and 9 boxes of Puffs tissue and made $.70.  I'm slowly working towards a new, third row vehicle for myself, paying my hubby's car off, house remodeling, yard landscaping, and at this rate, an additional stockpiling spot.  I hope to be able to share some of my deals and pictures next week folks ;) Thanks for reading!!

Five Years Ago.

Five years ago today, I had a laproscopic surgery after severe, sudden pains in my stomach & side.  My OB/GYN also said he would go ahead and do a D & C since he thought I may have some issues within my uterus.  Many people would think that this is perfectly normal.  I just want to raise awareness about how my daughter was nearly aborted because of this simple fact:: DOCTORS & TESTS AREN'T ALWAYS RIGHT!!

December 2010, Josh & I began trying to have another baby.  I desperately wanted a little girl and for Kade to grow up with a sibling.  We tried up until early March.  I went to the doctor with sudden, sharp pains in my side and near my belly button.  I have PCOS and have had many surgeries on my ovaries, had a difficult first pregnancy, so my doctor knows me well.  I told them we were trying to conceive and the tests and ultrasound as a precaution showed nothing.  My doctor decided after just one visit that maybe I had some scar tissue in my uterus and he would do surgery as an exploratory thing and clean my uterus up to help us out.  I left there with my surgery date, thinking I wasn't pregnant. 

The day of surgery,  April 3rd 2011.  Josh and I had still not been preventing pregnancy since we knew it would likely not be that easy.  I asked again for a pregnancy test and bloodwork to confirm before being taken back.  Both showed negative again.  My doctor did the exploratory part of surgery and while in there said that my uterus "Looked plump and healthy from the outside" so he decided not to do the D & C.  When you come out of the anesthesia, you don't consider the word plump to mean anything.  Nor did my husband.  


We carried on with the attempts to have a baby.  I had to have stitches taken out on April 18th but the weekend before I got horribly sick.  I had diarrhea and severe nausea.  I thought this to be a possible infection related to surgery.  Or maybe even a stomach bug.  The morning of the 18th, I asked my doctor if they could maybe get some nausea meds or an antibiotic to help me function (I mean, taking care of a two year old with chronic ear infections IS pie, right??) My doctor then asked me if I'd ever had these symptoms after surgery.  That's when it hit me.  I had these same symptoms the week I found out I was pregnant with Kade.  I told them and they had me go pee in a cup.  It took forever for the nurse to come back to dip the strip in.  Which felt like a lifetime.  I didn't know if I was pregnant and the baby could've been hurt by the surgery.  Or if it was just a nasty bug I had.  All this worry washed over me and then the nurse finally came back.  Moment of truth:: the strip turned within seconds and she mouthed "You're pregnant!!" Imagine the shock when I took a positive test home to Josh when I simply went in to have 11 stitches taken out!  And the worry I would have until my first ultrasound the following week.  I insisted to do it ASAP since I'd had surgery and was frightened for my child's health.  But low and behold, I had a very happy, wiggly baby estimated to be 8 weeks old growing in my belly, dancing around on the monitor.  Sigh of relief!! 

I have a beautiful, sassy, intelligent daughter now.  But imagine, if my doctor had done the D & C as he planned beforehand and I hadn't asserted that I might be pregnant, I could've lost a daughter I didn't even know was growing.  Luckily, God protected her.  I have NO doubts about that.  God has a major plan for her life and started her testimony before she was even outside the womb.  

Ladies, If you even think it's a slight possibility, let the doctor know.  If you don't speak up, something tragic could happen without you even knowing .