Week 3...

Week 3 of not watching TV in the mornings has officially started. I won't lie. It a little harder when the boys are sleeping, to keep off the tube, but I need to do this. I need to use this time to clean, do laundry, pay bills, etc. I need, wait, I want to be a Proverbs 31 women. I have read so many blogs lately talking about being frugal that it really inspires me to try harder.

Along that same note I have decided that while I am home during the day I am going to make sure and close the computer for 30 minutes an hour. Yes close it. I don't want to just say I won't be in front of it because I can still look over at it to see if I have any new emails. I am going to close it so that I can get up and play with Ian or AJ, clean, do laundry. Basically all of the things I listed above. I have already done it once this morning, from 9-9:30 I closed it up. Now I have about 12 minutes before my next session. Which is good timing since I both boys are about to fall asleep.

If you have posted a blog about being frugal or being a Proverbs 31 women, then leave me a comment with a link to it. I would love to hear others ideas and how they handle it.

Oh and the most important thing of all...Praise God for sending his son to us. To die on a cross for our sins. To take the wrath of God on his shoulders. This is something I could not even fathom doing. If you don't know what I am talking about and would like to know more, PLEASE leave me a comment with a way to contact you. God loves you so much!

Laundry, dishes and Ian, Oh My!

So much to blog about today! I should have been blogging a little each day so that I wouldn't have such a long post. So here goes...

The cookies that I won came in the mail on Thursday! How cute are these? Well let me tell you that they are so cute they were gone by Sunday night ;)

After our trip to the zoo with no hat for Ian, I decided to buy him some that fit. The one in the picture above is a dinosaur! How cute is he? And the one below has soccer balls, footballs and basketballs on it.

This is the big blizzard we had in OKC. :) I guess the weather guys over estimated what we would get. But evidentaly other parts of the state did get an actual blizzard, so I will give them that much.


Kylie and Kaitlynn spent Saturday night with Nana and Pawpaw. So Justin and I went over to hang out with them as well. We had fun making meatballs for dinner and cookies for dessert! The girls did most of the work. It was fun to watch them cook. And they are so sweet with Ian. I love to watch them with him. (picture above is Kaitlynn, picture below is Kylie)
Uncle David playing with Ian. Ian loved it!Daddy playing with Ian while us girls were in the kitchen making cookies and dinner.
I tried to give Ian a bath in my mom's sink. He did not like this at all. So we quickly got him out and forgot about the bath for that night. :)

So those are all of the pictures I am going to post for now. I want to check with AJ's mom first to see if it is ok that I post pictures of AJ on my blog. He is so cute and is a very good baby.

This weekend we were pretty busy. We started out early on Saturday morning (well early because we got up early we didn't leave the house until about 10) so we could get to the tag agency before they closed, only to find them closed because of the "blizzard" we got. So now I am going to go today to get our new tags and Justin will have to take off work a little early to get his drivers liscense renewed tomorrow. I guess that is what we get when we wait until the very last possible time to do this stuff! I will take the blame though, Justin has been mentioning it for a while now.

After the tag agency we headed to Mardel and bought Ian a bedtime story Bible. I can't wait to start reading it to him! Then we had lunch at Johnnies (mmm). We had more plans for the day, but since I didn't want to wash bottles the night before we needed to head home so I could wash bottles for Ian for the rest of the weekend. Then we headed back out in the snowy weather and went to Bass Pro Shop. Justin won a gift card as a door prize the other day.

After BPS we went to my parents where we spent the rest of the day. By the time we got home I was ready to crash. But of course we ended up staying up for a while.

Then on Sunday we went to Portland Avenue Baptist Church for their 75th anniversary celebration. It was neat to see the people that my grandparents new and to learn more about the history of the church. I even got to see some people that I actually new! So good times were had this weekend.

I took a break from my "job duties" this weekend. I figured everyone needs a break. But I am starting back today! Laundry, dishes and Ian. Oh my! It seems to be a never ending story, but one I want to always read!

Day 4...

Day 4 of saving money is going well! I haven't had the TV on in the mornings all week and we have left the lights off until needed in the evening!

Also, I have been doing well on my duties as a wife and mother. Yesterday I did laundry all day and I folded or hung it up and put it away! Ok, most of it is put away, I am looking at the couch and there is still 3 pairs of shorts and a towel, but hey that is still pretty good. I have even cooked dinner every night (oh shoot, what am I going to do for dinner tonight?). I have had lunch at home everyday as well. I even had friends over who offered to bring something and I refused! I even offered for them to make a sandwich here and they thought that was a good idea! I heard someone say this week (sorry I can't remember who said it or I would give them props) that a wife is the CEO of her house. I like that! So from now on when someone asks me what I do I will say I am the CEO of Calvarese Inc! :)

As far as my duties as a mother go, I have done well. Each morning (when we would usually have the TV on) we will read books, look at flash cards and sing songs! Ian loves it. You can really tell that the extra attention wears him out because he goes right down for his naps where as before he would cry for a while. This morning I started to do things out of a book called "Slow And Steady Get Me Ready". It has 260 weekly developmental activities from birth to age 5! Today we made a sock ball and I threw it a few times and then let Ian play with it. He didn't exactly throw it, but he put it to the side of his chair. :) I would say that is good for now. We will do this game everyday and the move on to a new activity next week. Here are a few pictures of our activities from today. The first one is Ian holding the sock ball the second one is him holding one of the books we read today.

Having a purpose...

Going from being a working wife to a stay at home mom (SAHM) is a hard transition. Please don't get me wrong. I love staying at home and taking care of Ian everyday. However, I realized recently that I feel as though I have lost my sense of purpose. You see when I worked I brought home money to contribute to the bills, food, and fun. But now, I don't. Yes, I know that part of my purpose is to keep the house clean and help Ian grow into a Godly young man, but it has taken me over a year to figure out that there is much more to my new job as a SAHM.

One of things I have realized over the last few days is that helping our family save money is one of the things I can do as a SAHM. So yesterday I decided to do what I could, you know the little things. So instead of sitting in a house with lights on and blinds closed I opened the blinds and let the sun in and turned off the inside lights! It was actually really nice. I also didn't turn on the TV (except for a breif 5 minutes so I could watch the last few minutes of Friday's episode of Gilmore Girls) until 2:45! Not only did this save on electricity but it also opened up time for me to play with Ian and AJ (AJ is my friends son who I am watching for the next 10 weeks). It was really nice. I also think it may have worn Ian out which allowed him to go straight to sleep when I put him down for his nap. No fussing or anything!

With this new found sense of purpose I also felt energized to finish the laundry that had been in the basket for days and not only fold it but put it away! I cleaned the kitchen, only to have it messed up by the time Justin got home, I am not sure how that happens but it does.

I also felt good knowing that by watching AJ I am contributing to our money again! It is amazing how loosing ones purpose can affect your whole attitude. I hope that I can continue to learn what my purpose as a SAHM is.

Are you a SAHM or maybe a new wife or perhaps living the single life? What is your purpose in the stage you are in right now? I would love to hear what you have to say! Leave me a comment sharing your story with me. (you can also link up at the musing of a housewife blog)