No Money left in the envelope :)

Like a lot of people on a budget we do the envelope system. I love it, I actually stay within our food budget. I really think there is something psychological about seeing your money as opposed to just swiping your debit at the check out. Well, like the title says, I have no more money left in my grocery envelope, but that is okay I get to go shopping again on Saturday. But this quick post is about a couple ideas I have done when your food is running low and you are really trying to stick with the budget. :)

1. Shredded carrots make a really good and different pizza topping. I tried Saturday for our lunch and we didn't even taste the carrots they just added a lot of sweetness.

2. Calzones instead of pizza. Are you running low on cheese, topping ideas, everything? Make several calzones instead of a pizza and your family will not know. Dinner at our house tonight will be calzones that are filled with a little ground beef, onion, potato, and cheddar cheese. On the side I will have carrot sticks and chilled bowls of canned pears. I know my husband will love it --- beef, cheese, and potato all wrapped up together. :)

Those are my only two ideas right now...have a good dinner and evening with your family.

Family Art Project

So...I was at ALDI"S and they had great looking pumpkins for $2.49...so I splurged. It was so fun to do a FAMILY art project. Ellie loved it; after dinner it was about all we did other than bath time. :) She is still wanting to paint more on the pumpkin so tomorrow we may give it a make over. And sweet little Athanasius was a trooper in his exersaucer. We brought it into the kitchen so he could still be apart of family art time. He is so cute! I just have to squeeze him every now and then.

I think this is the most beautiful pumpkin I have ever seen ( I am a little partial to the two main artists involved). Bravo Clayton and Ellie.

Yesterday I ran into my favorite thrift store in Springfield, Thrift Haven, to look for art supplies. I was praying for googly eyes, plastic beads, and anything that sparkled. I know it may sound like a small request but there was a plastic baggie for $1.00 that contained all three items and a bonus package of little jingle bells. Thank You Father for hearing such a small request! We actually made a couple pipe cleaner bracelets with the beads this morning before breakfast. Maybe we have an Aunt Abbey in the making. :)

New Scone Recipe

Tonight after church I wanted to make a treat for my family. I was thinking oatmeal cookies but then thought...mmmm....scones sound good. My husband LOVES foods that go well with coffee/hot tea --- scones, shortbread cookies, biscottis, etc. If I want a new recipe I usually go to the Taste of Home website because they are not only good but practical (the kind of recipe you would have the ingredients for :). The scones turned out great! The recipe calls for 2 C. of flour, I did one cup white and one cup whole wheat. I also added cinnamon, you could probably add anything you wanted, chocolate chips, coconut, cranberries, etc. The main reason I chose this recipe over ALL the others is because it only called for 1/4 C. of butter. :) Scone recipes usually call for a lot of butter, so we were really happy that this one did not and was still very tasty. You can find the recipe here. Enjoy!

Pictures of the Kiddos

Baking in a Crock Pot

I got the idea to bake in my crock pot from here ---- I can not take the credit for this idea. I was really interested in trying it, but also really skeptical. I made a simple coffee cake recipe. I did not make the crumble topping I usually do because I did not want to waste more ingredients if it did not turn out. :) Another change, the recipe calls for 1 1/2 C. flour, I did one cup white and half a cup whole wheat. Well, after one hour and fifteen minutes on high in the crock pot we a had a really yummy and moist cinnamon coffee cake! I am excited about this, about not heating a big oven for a small something. You can see in the first pic that it is just a bread pan right in the crock pot, and your lid should still rest well on top even though the pot is removed. Try it, it is fun. :)

We have a GREAT chuch!

At our church, Christ the King, we have had a baby boom it seems. The anatomy of CKC right now seems to be mature families with grown or teenage children (and still some young ones down there somewhere) and then us beginners with one or two babies. Quite at polar ends of the spectrum, but that is what makes it work soooo well.

I just want to say thank you to all those that have held our babies so we could finish our lunch, thrown them in the air over and over, let them chew on your shoulder, droll on your arm, for reading stories to them, for taking them on the play ground, and for just loving them! It is really sweet when Ellie starts singing "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" and informs me that "Mr. Luke"taught it to her. Thank you all for helping and encouraging us.

And to all the single, young adults (which are really my age or older :) We can't wait to bless you by holding your babies one day!

new blog

I stumbled on this new blog. I think new and young mommy's will enjoy it, she has ALOT of fun craft/learning ideas for young ones. Her ideas, from what I can tell, seem pretty simple to set up and inexpensive. Check it out: chasingcheerios.blogspot.com

A Prayer From a Two Year Old

At lunch I always ask Ellie to pray for the food, this was her prayer yesterday:

"Thank You God for the yellow bulldozer, thank You for Nayshe (Athanasius), and thank You for pizza, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen!"

Clay taught her the last part (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) she says it super fast and loud. What passion! :)

Ellie to the Rescue!

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Athanasius and Ellie were looking at books on their quilt and naturally Athan wanted to get his into his mouth. Remember, I am just taking pics, not talking, just observing. Ellie notices his struggle, so she kneels down and gives him her book. So sweet! You can see her little hands in the picture. And then you see him droolin' it up...thanks Big Sis! I wish you all could see them. Athan really loves Ellie. His eyes follow her all around the room. And, she REALLY loves "her boy."

~Look at that hair! Maybe Clay should have named him Sampson!

~ Sounds From a Little Yellow House ~

These are some sounds you might hear from our house tonight...

1. a sewing machine (Clay gave me some time to finish the dress I have been working on, he wanted me to go out and browse a store or whatever I wanted, but they are a hard bunch to leave! Thank you Babe, I had such a fun time sewing!)

2. nickle creek (Clay also got me some music going on this online radio he uses imeem.com --- check it out, it is neat. )

3. Kungfu Panda, which also means ALOT I mean ALOT of laughter from Clay and Ellie. They love this movie, and the movie also sparks creativity in their fighting skills. It was good that I was upstairs, Mommy's have a hard with that stuff. :) I guess I just do not want to hear the "pop" when her shoulder comes out of joint, but she loves it and Clay loves it, so...their kungfu skills must still develop and grow. :)

4. Baby noises from a laid back, wishing he could join in, Athanasius :)

5. Crying from Ellie when I finished the dress and wanted to try it on her. She was in her favorite attire, being "nakey", just a diaper. The girl tells me every morning without fail that she wants to be nakey and several times throughout the day. She calmed down though when things went back to nakiness.

6. More crying from Athanasius (I'm still unsure if I am spelling his name correctly, that's a problem I never thought I would run in too...thanks Babe! :) --- I guess he didn't know he was hungry until he saw me. It is kind of like when you walk pass Chik-Fil-A in the food court and realized you really "need" that #1.

~Sounds fun doesn't it? We love it, and wouldn't have it any other way. I just think one day we will be old and it will be quiet and we will miss this.

It's raining, it's pouring...

Today it is raining, and I love it. It is so cozy and nice to be inside with my kiddos; I have bread going in the bread machine, no dishes in the sink and two tired babies from a lot of playing and pretending. Ellie and I did something this morning we have never done before...a craft! We have been working on shapes with her, so she would tell me what shapes to cut out, I would help her glue them (she LOVED the glue) and she would put them on a blank card (a big pack of cards from Hobby Lobby). She got a kick out of it. We made five! So...there might be some certain someone's getting some mail soon. :) I thought maybe we could start doing a craft a week and go from there.
(pictures coming soon...)

Yesterday was a big day for us. The bulldozer was still on our street digging up the sidewalks on the other side of the street. So Ellie was glued to the windows most of the day. And then the cement guys came at around 8:00pm (yeh, I know, poor guys) and they didn't go home until 7:30 this morning (YUCK!). Oh, and a house behind and to the left of us went up in flames. That was a little scary, that happen around 10am, and they were out there all day. The neighbors down the street that offered my husband weed awhile back kept walking through our yard alllll day to check it out. That was weird. Yeh, what do they do for money???? Anyhow, the city ended up tearing the house down at dinner time, and I will admit when Clay got home we went back there too (with all the other curious neighbors) and watched. It was a better view than from our back deck.:)

I just took a look at my cousin's wedding registry and wish I could register all over again. I wish I could have registered after I got married then I would have known what I really needed. But, we learn. And it is really fun looking at what someone else wants for their home, it will be fun to pick something out!

Well...it is nap time so I better try to get something done...or maybe I will take a nap. :)

My FIRST post...

My sweet husband has been on me for a long time to start my own blog. Why? Because his really awesome (there is no charge for awesomeness) blog is, or should be just for photography [very serious]. Of Pigtails and Dinosaurs is here for all our family that is far away and those of you that want to read about our little world. Maybe it will be worth reading about, I don't know. But, I do know that it will be fun and that our Ellie and Athanasius are blessings from God and this is a great way to document and share their growth. So here we go...

While we were playing outside today Ellie ran up to her bouncy ball kicked it and said, "I'm gonna play football Mama!" And kept on running. How does she know about football? From Shea B. game this past Saturday. To say she enjoyed herself would be an understatement, she loved it! We were happy to support Shea but we did not anticipate Ellie's reaction to it. Maybe it was because she sat with the big girls and Kailey gave her candy. She talked about it for a long time that night and still is. "First" experiences are fun, especially when you are two. :)

Athanasius is asleep for his afternoon nap. He is reaching out for things now, and has a very serious, focused face when doing so. Everyday there is something new it seems with both of them. He has also found his foot, I'm sure that is very exciting. Ellie try's to help him with that sometimes, she try's to help him with a lot. :) We wonder what life will look like when he is more independent and doesn't need big sis so much. We love this...Ellie calls him "my boy" ---- "mama, I want to see my boy" All throughout the pregnancy we prayed Ellie would love Athan and not be jealous. God has answered that over and above!

Ellie found a slug today outside. She wanted it off her wagon though, so we got it on a leaf and put it in her play house where a little while later she squashed it, I don't think she did it on purpose though. Another exciting moment today was when a bulldozer started ripping up the side walk in front of our neighbors house. We stood on the front porch and watched. She loved it. She asked, "Mama is the bulldozer yellow?" I thought, I may be afraid of homeschooling when the time comes but at least she knows her colors. :) Thank You God for little moments like that. But sadly the bulldozer continued on his way, more sidewalks to dig up.