Yogurt melts!

The other day I made some yogurt melts! (found on pinterest!) They were originally for Josiah but I loved them too! They were so simple to make. All you need is yogurt and a plastic baggie. Put a plastic baggie inside a cup (I used a coffee mug). Use a spoon and put all the yogurt in the baggie. Close the baggie up and snip one end with scissors leaving you a little whole. I then squirted some yogurt onto a wax sheet in little tiny circles. Pop them in the freezer and they were ready to snack on in about 30 minutes! (may have been sooner but that is when I checked mine!). I pretend they are candy so it gets rid of my sweets cravings!!! ;).

Outside

Man have we had an awesome weekend!  Most of it was spent outside and this sweet little boy loved every minute of it! 

Saturday the boys went to swim lessons while I ran to Hobby Lobby and Belk.  I went to Belk to look for Josh some work clothes but ended up buying myself some dresses. 

When I got home from shopping the boys were outside working on the yard!  Josiah and I played in the hose while Josh mowed the lawn.  Josh did such a good job on the yard.  I love when everything is green and blooming!!

For dinner we went over to Josh's parent's.  Our nieces were there so Josiah had a really good time!!  You can't tell in this picture but they were taking a ride on the riding lawn mower or as Josiah calls it...the tractor.  We were bums last night and we both did homework.  We are getting old when we are home by 8:00 and doing schoolwork....We are both so ready for school to be over with!  Josh is so close to finishing his Masters! 

This morning we loaded up and headed to the beach.  First beach trip of the season and it was perfect!  Josiah was so excited he was meeting his buddy, Carter, out at the beach!  He was holding money for the toll here singing!

Isn't he the coolest kid?!  Sporting his sunglasses on his head!

Look how gorgeous the water is!  It was soooo cold though! 

The cold water didn't stop my little fish! 

After the beach we headed to the heated pool with Carter, Jaime and Brad.  We had such a good family fun day!!! 

This is what Josiah did on the way home and is still doing as I type this!!! 

Once little man wakes up we are headed back outside to plant some tomatoes and cucumbers in our garden!  Hopefully I will get some good crop this year! ;)

Sorry I have been MIA! Classes started this week and I am spending most of my free time doing homework. I don't think I am ever going to finish my Bachelors degree!!

Video

Josiah LOVES the dogs...but I don't think the feeling is mutual...this may be why!! :)

Happy Tuesday!!!

Instagram photos

Last few days in instagram photos! We are loving the warmer weather!

Meal Organization

Update: I counted and we haven't been to Walmart in 17 days!! That is unbelievable to me!!!!

I told y'all a few weeks back that I was trying to come up with a way to not go to the grocery store as much.  I also wanted to have ideas for dinner so I was worrying about what was for dinner that night.  I am not completely done but I have started this and it is working out well. 

Step One
Look for a whole bunch of recipes.
I went out on the internet and found a whole bunch of recipes that I wanted to try.  I looked on Pinterest for most of these.  I combined those recipes with some that are our favorites and came up with a list of about 15-20. 

Step Two
Make a list of ingredients.
Once I decided on recipes I typed up a list of the ingredients I needed for each recipe.  For example if one of the recipes were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with chips (no we don't eat this for dinner but its just an example!!), it would look like this:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches/Chips
Peanut Butter
Jelly
Bread
Chips

I did this for every single recipe I wanted to make. 

Step Three
Decide on what meals you want to cook for however many weeks.
I made a calendar in Word and decided what meals I wanted to cook on which days.  I wanted to buy enough groceries so we wouldn't have to make our "big" grocery trip but once every three weeks.  I included the days I knew Josh would be late so I could make easier meals that night. 

Step Four
Make a grocery list
I looked back at the list of ingredients to see what I already had in the fridge/pantry and typed out my grocery list. 

Step Five
Go grocery shopping!!!

We had a lot going on the first week so I don't think I made a single meal.  But since life has slowed down a bit I have made a few of these meals and it has helped so much having a plan!  Some days I don't eat exactly what is on the calendar for that day, but I choose one of the meals that I know I have all the ingredients for. 

I think this saves us some money too because we aren't going to Walmart numerous times in a month.  Because you and I both know that if you go to Walmart you can NEVER stick to your list.  I did go to Publix once since then but that was to buy fruit and some veggies. 

I will post some of my recipes soon.  I want to try them out first to make sure they are good before sharing them. 

Time change

I am loving the time change! Monday Josiah slept till 9:15 and I slept till 8:45! Today he didn't sleep in as much but it was still nice to get up after 7.

I am also loving it because now it is daylight outside on most days when Josh gets home! Last night we got to play outside and take a short walk after dinner. Josiah is so much happier when we can play outside!!

$ Tree

The weather was nasty here today. Josiah gets antsy if we stay inside all day so I decided to venture out even though it was raining! He had broke his fireman hat the other day and I told him we could go get another one. I took him to the Dollar Tree for the first time. I rarely go there but I have to say, he had the best time!! Talk about a cheap and fun outing! We got ring pops, a coloring book, water gun, and the fireman hat.

After that we headed to Publix to get some fresh fruit! (and a cookie of course!)

Wasn't much but it beat hanging inside all day long! :)

Oatmeal Cream Pies

(My picture)

In my last post I told y'all I was making these and if they turned out good I would tell y'all about them.  Stop what you are doing and go get the ingredients....they are awesome!!!!  I made them at my mom's last night and she already had all of the ingredients and Josh's Aunt T had given me the marshmallow cream puff so I was good to go!

Here is the site that I got the idea from.  I found them on pinterest but I like to show y'all the actual site to give them credit.  So go over and check out her page with all the pictures.

Ingredients for Cookies

1 stick of butter (room temperature)

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 1/4 cup of flour

1 1/2 cup of oats

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Beat the stick of butter and brown sugar together.  The recipe called for 5 minutes.  I did it for that long and the mixture got nice and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl I stirred the rest of the ingredients together.  I then put the dry ingredients slowly into the butter mixture and mixed it really well. 

Heat oven to 375.  Spoon mixture (tablespoon size) onto a cookie sheet and bake.  The recipe called for 8-10 minutes.  I'm not sure if it was my mom's oven or if I made them smaller, but it did not take me 8-10 minutes so watch the first batch carefully to see how your oven cooks them. 

While you are baking the cookies you can make the yummy goodness in the middle.

Ingredients for yummy goodness in the middle

1 stick of butter

1 (7oz) marshmallow creme

3 cups of powder sugar

1 tsp of vanilla

Mix the butter and marshmallow creme until blended together.  Slowly add the powder sugar and vanilla.

Once cookies are cooled place a good amount of filling on one cookie and sandwich together another cookie.

I ended up making a double batch of cookies and had enough filling for all of them.  It just depends on how much filling you want on each cookie.

My family loved these.  I am not a fan of oatmeal pies but they were amazing.  Don't forget to check out the actual website I found these at here.  She deserves the credit!!!

 FYI, the cookie dough is delicious.  The cookies themselves are delicious.  I can't wait to try them with chocolate chips in them too! 

Curb Appeal and the Weekend

We haven't done anything to our front yard since we moved in a year and a half ago.  We just haven't had time.  When the builders fixed our flower bed out front they overloaded it with junk.  Way to many plants/bushes.  It was looking awful.  I mean I think the neighbors were about to come over and fix it up for us! :)

Here is the before....

Here is the after....(we are putting in some flowers this weekend!) but I think Josh did an awesome job!!!

Josiah had swim lessons Saturday and Josh said he did so good!  Josiah still won't let me go with them.  I guess it is daddy/son time!  Josh said that he would jump of the edge and put his head under and do fine!  I was so proud of him.  He usually freaks out if he gets water in his face. 

After swim lessons daddy always takes him to get ice cream!!

Saturday night Josh went to play Poker with some guys from his work.  Josiah and I hung out all night coloring/watching movies.  Granny surprised us and stopped by!  She told Josiah a bedtime story before he went to sleep!  He loves her!

This morning we went to Josh's parent's for breakfast.  Aunt Tammy was there and got Josiah this huge puzzle. 

When we got home we planted another blueberry bush.  Mom has a HUGE blueberry bush that produces tons and tons of blueberries.  Mine from last year didn't produce much and the ones that it did produce tasted like crap.  I'm hoping this year they will taste better.  If not, I might give up because I do not have a green thumb. 

(I love this new app Wendi told me about it's called Pic Stitch on the iPhone)

Josiah is napping, I'm blogging and doing laundry, and Josh is doing homework.  We are headed to my mom and dad's for dinner tonight and I am making this.  If they turn out amazing I will post about them!  I'm not really a huge fan of the Little Debbie ones but my boys are!  I'm hoping they are good!

Gratitude Book

I love keeping a gratitude book/journal. It helps me clear my head of thoughts that constantly going 90 miles per hour! I usually write down my prayers, quotes that I love, and lists of what I am thankful for. I especially like to write my gratitude list when I am feeling down about something so I can reflect on the blessings God has given me. It makes me realize how lucky I am! Another reason I love writing in my book is because and can go back and see how God answered my prayers and what He didn't answer!

Subway Art

We are in the process of redecorating Josiah's big boy room! This has been a 6+ month ordeal. I know what I want but I haven't had time to do anything in there except get new furniture and bedding! Well, I finally got one thing done kind of! I made subway art with some surfing words! I found one similar on pinterest and just recreated it. It was very time consuming trying to figure out the size and the font but I finally finished. Now I just need to actually hang it up!! I used Microsoft publisher. This is the only program I have that will let you turn the font anyway that you want to!

Fun in the Sun!

Wedding, Friends, Dancing, and FUN!

Jordan and Brandon tied the knot on Saturday.  Brandon is Josh's best friend from high school.  I met Brandon the same time I met Josh and we all hung out together for years!!  It was so great seeing him so happy!!!

This picture didn't turn out very good, but this is all I got with my camera!  I took a ton with Jaime's fancy camera that turned out really good!!

I decided not to take Josiah to the wedding because I knew I wouldn't be able to stay in the Church.  He would be all over the place so my sweet momma brought him to the reception!!

Brad and Jaime at the Reception

Josiah, Mr. Bill, and Mrs. Cathy dancing!

My little dancing boy!  He told me that he had to wear his "orange" shoes so he could dance!

Busting a move! 

Matt and Amanda

Caleb and Josh

Josiah's future mother-in-law

Wendi, Josiah and Lauren

Josh's best friend JD and his girl friend Kelly came in town! It was so good seeing them!!

Wendi, Caleb, and Lauren

My sweet hubby and I!

The wedding was wonderful!!  We went out afterwards and I am wayyyy to old to be going out but it was great running into a few people we haven't seen in awhile!  Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!  I am ready for next week...we have nothing to do!!!  (well, at least for now!)

Facebook/chocolate MIA update

So I have been without chocolate for 9 days and you would think it has been 50! I am craving it so bad! (like if I wasn't doing this for God/Jesus I would have given up 9 days ago!!!). It's pretty sad that I am only sacrificing one itty bitty thing and I feel like I'm dying...ok I'm exaggerating a little but...God sacrificed his only son for me so how can I be selfish about wanting chocolate?! When I think about it like that I don't want it that bad!!! :) God rocks!!

I get to sign in to Facebook on the weekends. I have to say I haven't missed it like I thought I would! I don't miss people complaining about their lives, but I do miss seeing pictures of my friends/family I don't get to see much!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Josh is in a wedding on Saturday. We have the rehearsal and dinner tonight! Some of our out of town friends will be here so we are excited!!

Love him!!!