My New Chest Freezer

I am so excited to share with you my new Frigidaire Chest Freezer. One of my family members blessed me tremendously by buying this for my family. I am happy to say I got part of my garage cleaned out this week and I was finally able to plug this baby in and start using it.

This chest freezer couldn't have come at a more perfect time! Since we are a family of 6 now, we go through lots of food (4 boys......oh my) and I feel like I'm at the store a few times a week because we didn't have the storage space before.

I have so many plans on how I will be using my new best friend! :) I want to start doing a freezer cooking day twice a month so I can make many meals ahead of time and be able to freeze them so I can pull them out whenever needed. This will help me save some time and not be in the kitchen 24-7 (I always feel like I'm in the kitchen all day with the kids preparing food).



Isn't she a beauty!?!? :):):):)



I love the 4 baskets that come with the chest freezer. This will help me organize better so all the smaller food items won't go down to the bottom and get lost.

Meal Plan Monday

Wow......is it just me or is the time flying by!? I feel like I just finished my meal plan from last week and here we are again. My hubby and I want to start eating a little healthier so I am planning all our meals with either fish or chicken this week. Hopefully this will be a good start to shedding a few pounds soon! :)

Sunday: Ham Sandwiches, Fresh Fruit & Carrots w/ Ranch

Monday: Chicken Salad (Corn Dogs, Mandarin Oranges & Drinkable Yogurt for the Kiddos)

Tuesday: Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Thanks Lora for the recipe....I can't wait to try it)

Wednesday: Turkey Burgers, Tator Tots & Fresh Fruit

Thursday: Fish Tacos w/ Cilantro Ranch Dressing

Friday: Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza

Saturday: Baked Salmon, Mixed Veggies & Corn Bread w/ Honey Butter


This Weeks Make & Bakes:
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread & Muffins
Fruit Smoothies
Banana Chips (trying my new food dehydrator)
Apple Chips

One Man's Junk is Another Man's Treasure!

I love going to yard sales! It's so much fun and it's like I'm on the hunt for hidden treasure. The type of treasure I'm in need of or want. The great thing about buying at yard sales, is you only pay pennies on the dollar for items you would normally buy elsewhere for much much more.

Saturday turned out to be a great yard sale day for me. I found some awesome treasure for my family that I have been either wanting or needing. Check out the items I found! :)

I found this really cute 10 drawer organizer for $5.00. I will use this for organizing my crafts or for the boys school supplies. Either way........I have many ideas on how this can be used.



Pictionary Junior is a little too old for my kids right now, but we will have fun playing this game real soon! I got the Busy Bugs set by Discovery Toys to teach my boys math. This will definitely come in handy this year with school. The big activity & project book will be great to have around for great ideas & fun! I got all 3 of these items for only $1.50.



I was excited to find The Usborne First Encyclopedia Books of Space & Our World. I was wanting these, but didn't want to spend the money buying them brand new. These books have the Internet links inside. I got all 6 of these books for $1.25. What a deal!



My kids LOVE dried fruit so I was on the look out for a food dehydrator. It just so happens that the first yard sale I went to on Saturday ended up having this for only $2.00. SCORE!!!



I couldn't resist this cute Micky Mouse T-Shirt for myself. It looked brand new and it was from the Disney Store. Could you believe they only wanted .25 cents. Yes, please!!!



I like Rachael Ray and I love to cook so I thought this would be a perfect gift to myself (without feeling guilty on buying myself something that costs a lot). This cookbook looked brand new and I got it for only .25 cents. Who could pass this up!?!?



My older son has been asking me when he can learn to roller skate. Where did he get this idea from? I don't know, but I was happy to find him a pair of Blade Runner Roller Blades barely used that are adjustable from sizes 1-4. These specific brand of roller blades retail for around $70.00.... OUCH! The great thing about these is they will last several years since they are adjustable to size. That is awesome! I also found a nice baseball glove at the same place. He wanted one of these too.

I got both of these items for $5.00.



Can you believe I only spent $15.25 for all these items! What a bargain! This is the reason why I like to go to yard sales and the best part is.........I can stay within my budget! :):)

Have you gone to any yard sales lately?

Cheap Expo Dry Erase Markers- Office Max

I always love when stores have there back to school shopping because you can find some great deals! I just bought a magnetic dry erase white board for the the boys for school. I thought this would be a great way to help them memorize their memory verses for the week. So, of course I needed to go out and buy some new dry erase markers.

Office Max has many of there Expo Dry Erase Markers on sale 2/$5.00. There is a coupon they have in the store (I went to the River Park location) located by the dry erase markers for $5.00 off any 3 Expo or Sharpie products. I was so excited to find this coupon! This is what I bought to make it a fantastic deal!



I did 3 transactions! (I'm sure they let me because I had all 4 of my kids with me) :)

2 Expo Dry Erase Markers $2.50 each
Sharpie 4 pack Highlighters $1.00 (on sale this week)
I used the $5.00 off coupon
My total$ 1.08 for 3 items

I spent a total of $3.24 for everything shown in the picture above.

Now, this is my kind of deal! That's why it totally pays to shop around to get the best deal possible! :)

Oh......I thought I would mention the bigger dry erase markers I got were scented. Cherry, blueberry, apple & choco mint. I thought it would be fun to have some yummy smelling scents for the kids during school time. Hopefully they won't try to eat them. lol

Meal Plan Monday

Happy Monday Everyone! This week I'm finally getting around to posting my menu plan for the week. I haven't been so great about menu planning lately and it's been driving me nuts. We have been very busy lately and knowing what I will be making for dinner each night will help me prepare and run more smoothly. Have you started planning your meals for the week? If not, I suggest for you to try it out! :)

Sunday: Tacos w/ all the Fixings

Monday: Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza

Tuesday: Sweet BBQ Turkey Tenderloin, Baked Red Potatoes & Green Beans

Wednesday: Chicken & Broccoli Casserole & Buttermilk Biscuits

Thursday: Parmesan Crusted Tiliapia, Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Corn

Friday: Chicken Salad

Saturday: Pork Chops, Broccoli Au Gratin Rice & Peas

This Weeks Make & Bakes:
Banana Bread
Double Chocolate Muffins

My Book Wishlist

I have a huge list of books on my wishlist I would love to have someday, especially the ones I want to read with my boys. I'm hoping to read atleast 1 book on my list every couple of months or so. I would love to set aside more time each day to read for myself, but somedays it's difficult when you have 4 boys ages 5 and under! ;)

If you by chance have any of these books I have listed that your wanting to get rid of, please let me know. Thank you!

*Growing up in God's World- At Home, at School, at Play Book #2 - Ron & Rebekah Coriell
*Raising Real Men: Surviving, Teaching and Appreciating Boys- Hal & Melanie Young
*Created For Work- Bob Schulz
*Beyond Boyhood- Bob Schulz
*God's Wisdom for Little Boys: Character Building Fun from Proverbs- Jim & Elizabeth George
*Sheparding a Child's Heart- Tedd Tripp (I found it at a yard sale 08/27 for .50....yeah!)
*Honey for a Child's Heart- Gladys Hunt
*The Treasure Principle- Randy Alcorn
*The Happiness Project- Gretchen Rubin
*Season's of a mother's heart- Sally Clarkson
*The busy mom's guide to wisdom- Lisa Whelchel
*A Love That Multiplies- An Up-Close View of How They Make it Work- Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar
*The Ministry of Motherhood: Following Christ's Example in Reaching the Hearts of Our Children - Sally Clarkson

Books I want to read with my boys
AIO Imagination Station Books:
1) Voyage of the Vikings (found it at Berean Book Store on special for $1.00....Woohoo!)
2) Attack at the Arena
3) Revenge of the Red Knight
4) Peril in the Palace
5) Problems in Plymouth
6) Showdown with the Shephard

7) Miller Family Storybooks (set of 5)
8) Storytime with the Millers
9) Wisdom and the Millers- Proverbs for Children
10) Prudence and the Millers
11) School Days with the Millers
12) Missionary Stories with the Millers

13) 1st or 2nd reader bible story books

A Fantastic Book: Chrissie's Shell

I took the boys to Story Time at Berean this morning. To be honest with you, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to leave the house today. It's been a rough week & the boys have been acting up a lot. After it was all said & done, I'm glad I ended up going. The boys (and I) had a great time & Jeremiah got his name drawn for a free book called "Chrissie's Shell".

Chrissie's Shell is about a little turtle with a big problem: she believes her shell is empty. She spends her days comparing herself with other animals and imagining what it would be like to be them, only to end up disappointed again and again when she finds she cannot transform herself into someone new. At last, Chrissie is ready to give up all hope she has a conversation with God. She begs him to change her into a creature like the wonderful animals she has seen, but God has something better in mind. God directs her to the pond, where Chrissie finally captures a vision of herself as God sees her. She realizes her shell is not empty after all and that God loves her just the way she is.

This books gives such a WONDERFUL message to little ones! (and us adults as well)! BE your self.. Never want to be anything or anyone else... Because we are who god MADE us to be! *(Psalm 139:14 NIV) I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.*