Weekend+Taco Soup

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

The hubby had to work this weekend and with us going out of town next weekend, I decided to spend the whole weekend playing at home with the kiddos. Boy, it is nice not having to run around and just enjoy some one on one with my sweet peas! Granted, we had some cabin fever moments but with a few quick trips out (still in our pjs lol) to pick something up to eat or clean out the car, we overall had an awesome time cuddling, watching movies and just having fun with each other. I will have to say it was one of the most relaxing fun weekends that I have had in a while and makes me realize that I need to slow it down more often and just live in the moment with the sweet family God has blessed me with. 

Saturday night I did decide to rearrange my whole bedroom and me being the stubborn person that I am, I decided to move all the furniture around by myself. Well, we will just say that I was paying for it Sunday because I could barley move and ended up confined to the bed. I will definitely be making a trip to the chiropractor this week because today I am now having sharp pains down my back. Ugh...doesnt help that I have to lift kids at work either!

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This has to be one of my favorite recipes for fall weather. I love soup when it is cold outside and this is usually made in our house 2-4 times a month. It makes a good bit and I love that my kids love it to! 

Well, hope you all have a blessed Monday!!! Atleast it is half-way over!!!

(Yup because I was really enjoying my pjs this weekend!)

Menu Planning+TGIF

Happy Friday!!

Unfortunately I am home with a sick one. My oldest woke up not feeling well this morning and had a temperature so we are home this morning and I am sanitizing everything!! I don't like it when my babies are sick either!! I have to go into work this afternoon for a few hours so afterwards I have to go grocery shopping and I like to prepared with a list and a menu for the week. This is what my planning looks like:

I got the days of the week clips from Hobby Lobby for around $3 with a coupon, the container that holds my other menu cards came from the dollar store and the note pad and pen came from Michaels for around $4 with a coupon. These stores aught to know be by name because I am in there at least 1-2 times a week and always use my coupon on my phone. I usually go in a get stuff that is on sale and then one big item that I can use a coupon on. This way I do not spend full price on anything...score!!

The notepad set came with this cute clipboard that I keep on the side of my refrigerator so when I go shopping,  I just take this in with my debit card and phone so my hands are not full. I like to keep track of how much I spend and write the price of each item down as I mark them off and tally up to be sure I do not go over my budget. I really don't coupon like I used to so I just try to stick to the items on my list and if I have money left in my budget, I may purchase extras but only if they are on sale. It is a pretty good system for us and I usually never spend over $100 on groceries for the week.

Tonight some of us girls are going to see the Left Behind movie.

I have read all of the books and have seen the movies with Kirk Cameron so I am looking forward to seeing this version of it. Thanks to the hubby for watching the kiddos for me!! 

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!! 

Simple Tray Makeover

Hope everyone is having an awesome Thursday. Only one more day until the weekend. Yay!

This is what my crafty hands have been up to lately:

I went to Hobby Lobby the other day and purchased this tray for only $4.79! I wanted something that Trinity could use to carry her homework stuff around the house. We usually sit at her desk but sometimes it is convenient to do it while in the kitchen or even outside on a pretty day. I took a handful of pictures and converted them to black and white and had them printed out. I chose the purple because I thought the color would go well with the color combo of her room and I also had the color stashed in my craft paints. :) The tray was actually $7.99 but with the coupon, it came to $4.79...cannot beat that deal!

I put on 3 layers of paint (waiting about a hour in-between each coat) and then cut positioned my pictures how I wanted them. I applied a layer of modpodge on the bottom, placed my pictures on top and then applied another layer of modpodge. I make sure to go from side to side because it will look very streaky and move the pictures if I am not as careful. Also, I noticed that where the modpodge hit on the paint, it turned it a darker shade so have to be sure to be careful about that also. of course I can just lightly touch up those spots so no big deal. So, here is out finished product:

Thought it turned out cute, inexpensive and love how it is all about my mini-me! 

Yesterday, Trinity had a class party and RJ and I both got to go to it!

I love being able to go see her interact with her friends and it always puts a smile on her face when we visit her. The hubs was off so we got to enjoy lunch together at Chilli's before I went back to work. It works out well that I get long lunch breaks because I can come home and clean, go see my sweet girl at school or have mini-dates with the hubby.  He is off again today so he went to go pick her up from school early and take her shopping. So sweet and I know she loves the extra time with Daddy!

Closet Makeover

I have finally finished organizing my closet. It isn't some fancy makeover but it is organized and efficient for me with some special touches. Living in a small house has made me become claustrophobic in a way and has made me declutter and get rid of stuff that I tend to just hang on to. I used to have 2 closets full of clothes and also kept my seasonal clothes underneath our bed in bins. Well, after having 3 kids and no more extra closets, I was forced to get rid of some stuff. Of course I could have packed them up into bins to collect dust but the "new me" decided it was time to let go.

First off, I got rid of all the clothes that did not fit me at this time in life. There were those maternity pants that I still would put on for the comfort or the 5 pair of yoga pants that I owned but it isn't like I am actually using them for yoga or anything. I downgraded from my 15 pair of jeans to 8, donated or gave away clothes that I had not worn in at least the past 2 months and just let go of the "I might wear those one day" clothes. My motto was "Let it go, let it go!" LOL

So, I now have this....

I feel like I probably should paint the inside of the closet some pop of color but not sure what...any thoughts??

To the right side of the closet I keep my boots (propped with pool noodles...I have heard magazines rolled up work as well). I downgraded to one pair of brown, black, and light tan boots and also have a pair of rain boots. The bins at the top are actually pampers boxes with fabric modpodged onto them. I keep flip-flops in one and pocketbooks in the other. Then to the left side of my closet I keep this plastic bin which holds my undies, pjs, and workout clothes. I put my shorts and leggings on top of it. Ofcourse you can see my main shoes that I use are in the front and accessible. I need to switch them out for my boots now since Fall is officially here. Yay! Luckily that is the only switching I have to do because my closet holds my summer and fall clothes and I keep my coats in here also. 

I have 3 set of pant holders for my closet with one holding trousers and another holding jeans. I have 2 set of scarf holders and 1 actually holds my belts also. I purchased the holders from Ross. The pants  holder was $4.99 and the scarf holders were $2.99 for 2. Not a bad deal in my book. For any one thing I buy, I donate one. This way the closet doesn't get cluttered. and I am purging stuff that I do not wear that often.

I loved the way the inside of my door turned out. The mirror was one I have had for a long time that I just threw some extra craft paint onto, put some command strips on the back and stuck it on the door. I also put a command hook right above it to hold my outfit for the next day. Command strips have become one of my favorite things to use when it comes to hanging stuff. I usually always keep a stockpile in my craft closet because I am always finding a use for them. I also used the command strips for the cork tiles and then took some extra twine and wrapped it a few times around the tiles and hot glued it so I could have something to hand my earrings on. I used clear push-pins to hold my necklaces and my bracelets, rings and watches sit in a silver tray on top of the dresser (that my husband has now full use of). I think he now has more clothes than me. LOL         

Our Weekend

Happy Monday Y'all!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a fun-filled one like always. Friday the hubs went to Carowinds with his brother so I invited one of Trin's friends to come over to spend the night. They had a blast playing together and the next morning we all went to Chuck E Cheese. It is amazing how relaxing it can be to go there...ofcourse, if it isn't busy. We can just give the kids some coins and let them loose. Even my 1 year old has a blast! I also like how they stamp each person's arms in your group so none can leave with your child. 

After that, we went and picked up this iron table and chairs from this lady off of a Facebook yard sale site. I got it for $50 and we are planning on spray painting it this burgundy. I really wanted to do this blue but my husband likes the red because it is close to his football team's colors. LOL What do you all think???

When we got home, the boys took a nap and the girls played outside with playdoh. This was the perfect time for me to do some cleaning out. I put a table out in our garage for me to do crafts on so I decided to take all my picture frames and organize them in 2 bins and put them underneath the table. I know I have an abundance of frames but you never know when you may need one to do a craft with! 

Since I now had a free shelf, I decided to organize the kids toys with these $1 store bins. 

On the left side I have the pool folded up in the back with the pool toys in the bucket and the towels, swimmers diapers and sunscreen all out to easily grab. Ofcourse none of this is needed now but it will come in handy next summer. I also like having the plastic pool because after it is used each time, I let it dry out and fold it back up. Easy and out of the way! I also just leave swimsuits in this plastic bag hanging up so I can just easily search through and grab them. On the right side I have baseball equipment, bubbles and 2 bins designated for sand toys and other outside toys (balls, jump ropes, chalk, etc.).

It may not be as pretty as I may like it to be but it is practical and convenient for us and hey, that is what it should be about anyway! 

Sundays are always busy but I always find to be refreshing. We rush to get up and get the kids ready for church, out the door, 30 minute drive later and then we have to take all 3 kids to different classes. We usually go out to eat afterwards, run errands and then it is back to church again. As soon as my bottom hits that pew though, I find that all my wordily duties fly out the window. I love my church and love to listen to my preacher preach and boy, I find that I learn something new every time I go. It just seems to rejuvenate me for the week and I feel like I am starting fresh and all the mistakes that I made from the week before are forgiven and gone. I think especially as women, we beat ourselves up and we need to know that we can be forgiven. Isn't it great knowing that God does all of that for us!