Toddler Proof Yogurt

Lillee just turned 2 last Friday and she's at the stage where she wants to eat everything by herself. I was preparing lunch when her brother asked for Yoplait (he knows how to read now so I guess just calling it yogurt like he used to is beneath him!). I hesitated because I knew Lillee would want her own and I just washed the floor. I begrudgingly gave them the Yoplait and of course Lillees first bite lands on the floor and the second down her third outfit of the day do I try to get her to let me feed her to wich I was told," NO Mommy, I don't want it!" in a stern voice! And then I seen it, the box of Trix sitting on the freezer so I ask her if I can put her yogurt on a bowl with the Trix. She says yes and that's the end of the slip-of-the-spoon-mess!

Twice Baked Potato Casserole

I just created the most amazing side dish ever! Here how You can make it.

What You Will Need:

6-8 potatoes, washed & cubed

15-20 slices of bacon, cooked & crumbled

Small block of Colby Jack Cheese, shredded and separated into 2 equal piles

16oz container or sour cream based ranch dip

1 stick of butter, cubed

Paprika
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder

How To Make It:

Preheat oven to 450

Place cubed potatoes in a casserole dish

Place cubed butter all over the top of potatoes

Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, paprika, onion and garlic powders

Cover with aluminum foil and bake 1 hour

Remove from oven and slightly mash the potatoes. You just want to break them up a bit.

Add bacon, sour cream ranch dip, and one pile of the shredded cheese

Mix together. This should break the potatoes down a bit more.

Flatten top with a spoon then sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Amazing!

Women's Breakfast - God Doesn't Want Us To Worry

This morning I went to the monthly Women's Breakfast at our church. The topic this month was, "God Doesn't Want Us To Worry." This topic was right on point for many of the women in attendance, myself included to an extent.

I used to be a worrier. I used to worry about bills, I used to worry about my kids when they aren't with us, I used to worry about what people thought of me, and I was miserable. My marriage was suffering because I would take my worry out on my husband. I could not understand why he wasn't worried about these things. I thought if he wasn't worried he just didn't care enough.

It was during a rather "colorful discussion" about our finances I laid into my husband about not caring. He looked at me and said,"I don't worry because I know God will take care of us. Not because I don't care." I had nothing to say. I guess it never really hit me before then that God cares about all our needs not just our spiritual needs. And from then on I have seen God do some amazing things to provide for us. Hundreds of dollars of checks in the mail from old accounts we never knew we're owed to us, envelopes of money left on our doorstep when we returned home from church, opening up opportunities for odd jobs and so on. God has always provided me and my family with what we NEEDED. Because of this I trust completely in my God to take care of us. We may not have everything we want but we have everything we need. Some times God has to hold back the things we want so His will can be done.

I guess you could say that God has trained me to have a blind, child-like faith in him. I pray that all Christians would come to know Him as, Jehovah Jirah, The Lord Our Provider. It breaks my heart to see people who have been Christians for many years and still have such little faith in God's ability to take care of them. As Christians we need to know God will bless us beyond any curse, beyond any plot of the enemy. But we can not let our own self-pity or doubt get in the way of God.

The Great Ant Chase

If you follow me on Facebook then you know that for the past almost month now I have been having issues with Lillee and I getting bit. Took her to the Dr. and they gave her cream but couldn't say for sure what the bites were from. So, I wigged out bc of the huge bedbug outbreak in New York and tore the house apart looking for them. I was convinced we were infested and I'd find a huge colony of yucky bugs living in our beds! Thankfully our search turned up nothing but we sprayed for them anyways.

The bites continued and one day while at the church getting Lillee up from her nap I saw a trail of ants by her play pen on the wall. I thought I had found the answer! We vacuumed and cleaned the carpets, sprayed the entry point and placed ant traps. Still, the bites continued to appear even though we seen no more ants.

At this point, I'm desperate! I have no idea what the bites are or where she is getting them from.

Today, I got her dressed and checked her body for new bites. Nothing. This made me feel like they definitely aren't bed big bites (yes, I was still worried even after spraying, I'm a bit of a psycho). So, we got in the van and headed to the church. We spent most of the day there then went grocery shopping and came home. She fell asleep in the van so when we got home Owen put her in her bed. When she got up I took of her sandals to find 4 bites in the side of one foot and 1 on her baby toe on the other foot!

So, now I've have a time frame to go by! The only places she spent a significant amount of time today was our home, the church and our van. The bugs have to be in one of these 3 places! Since the van is the smallest area I am going to clean it out completely. Vacuum it and then spray it with a water/vinegar solution they say will keep ants away. I'm going to use a marker to circle the bites she has to see if she gets any others.

If you have any other suggestions please let me know!

ShopRite Trip - 7/3/12

Sorry no pictures this post. Forgot to take them before I put it all away.

Here's what I got:

4 Go-Gurt on sale 2/$4

4 Lean Cuisine French Bread Pizza on sale 4/$10

4 Lloyds BBQ chicken, beef and pork on sale $3.99 each

6 Hamburger Helper on sale 2/$4

2 Big Bag of M&M's on sale 2/$5

2 Tyson Anytizers on sale 2/$5

2 Large Bags of Doritos on sale 2/$5


I used the following coupons:

$1/2 Doritos

4x $1/1 Lloyd's BBQ

2x $.75/2 Go-Gurt which doubled

$1/4 Lean Cuisine

2x $1/1 Tyson Anytizers (these were actually for the bags not the boxed but the cashier pushed it through)

And I also used my $10 Baby Bucks Coupon.

Total Spent: $42.45
Total Saved: $55.51