5 Things I'm Loving This Week and more...

Here's What's New 5 Things I'm Loving This Week Hazel & Ruby Knitted Boot Cuffs (+ I learned how to knit in the round!) When there are no words, but silence isn't enough Gretchen's Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan + Freezer Cooking Plan :: 5 Things I'm Loving This Week 1) New Coloring Books I'm loving these new coloring books (thanks to Swagbucks for the Amazon credit to make fun purchases like this!)! The girls are coloring one hymn per week during our read aloud time and we're singing/learning that hymn that week, too. It's such a great way to teach my kids some of my favorite hymns, plus, I love the encouragement I'm receiving from meditating on these rich words! {By the way, these Prismacolor pencils are the best thing ever. If you missed my post and video on them, you can see it here.} 2) Family Game Night After years of being told how amazing the game Ticket to Ride is, we finally broke down and got the game. Our kids learned how to play it earlier this week (thanks, YouTube!) and they taught Jesse and me how to play it tonight. Honestly, I'm not sure that there's enough strategy and speed for it to be my kind of game, but our kids love it (I like games that are either really, really fast-moving, or have layer upon layer upon layer of strategy). Plus, it's great for helping Silas learn more U.S. Geography! And I just loved getting to have a Family Game Night - that's something I want to do more often! 3) Baked Oatmeal Have you tried Baked Oatmeal before? We love, love, love it! Best of all, I love that it can be made the night before and then just popped in the oven the next morning. Or, you can make a big batch and freeze it! 4) Fun Pictures of my book, Money-Making Mom People have been sending me pictures of my book this past week and I've just been loving it. It's been spotted at bookstores, at airports, and even in a deer stand! After spending so much time writing and editing a book, it means the world when others are so excited with you at its release! Have you gotten your copy of Money-Making Mom yet? If not, you can grab it here. Or, if you're not sure if it's for you, you can read the first chapter here. 5) These Ladies These are some of the ladies of our beloved Monday Group. We called ourselves the Girl Tribe and we just love being a part of each other's lives. It was Tam's birthday this week so we celebrated together and took a number of hilarious pictures. We are all very different from each other in so many ways and yet we celebrate those differences and it brings so much beauty and depth to our relationship. We laugh together. We pray together. We have heart-to-heart talks. We are open about our struggles. We have mad group texting skills. And they have even tried to teach me to karaoke… we're still working on that one. We are committed to showing up and being involved in each other's lives. Coming together at least once a week to sit around a table, share food, and share our hearts and burdens and victories together is truly a gift. And here's a shot of some of our kids playing together yesterday. Is this not the most precious thing ever?? Bonus: This Knit Top Cents of Style sent me this knit top recently and I've fallen in love with it. It's SO comfy, so versatile, and you can dress it up or dress it down. It feels like the perfect mix between sweater and sweatshirt! {Psst! You can get it for just $14.95 shipped through Monday when you use coupon code MSMTUNIC at checkout.} Speaking of shirts, I also got brave and got a flannel shirt recently. I think it is the first. time. ever. that I've worn flannel! What are YOU loving this week? Tell us in the comments! :: Hazel & Ruby Knitted Boot Cuffs (+ I learned how to knit in the round!) I've followed Amy from MomAdvice.com for years. In fact, I can't remember a time that I didn't follow her online. She inspires me with all she does - from the books she reads, the crafts she creates, the recipes she makes, and the posts she writes. I also love that she makes time for things that refresh and refuel her as a person. She surrounds herself with beauty and carves out time to create beautiful things - and I think that's one reason why she's constantly just oozing out inspiration! I couldn't be more proud of her for releasing her first Craft Kit as part of the new Crafternoon line of kits. When she emailed me about possibly testing out her kit, I was not only thrilled and honored to have been asked, but I was especially excited about the idea behind Crafternoon kits. The goal of Crafternoon kits is to provide all of the materials you need to make a craft in one afternoon. They offer a wide variety of craft kits - something for just about everyone! - and they are all things that can be made in just a few hours. As busy women, it's nice to have projects we can start and finish in a short about of time. Plus, these craft kits are a great way to try your hand at new skills - which is definitely what her Holiday Knitted Boot Cuffs Craft Kit was for me. You see, I'd always wanted to learn how to knit in the round, but I'd never actually gotten brave enough to just do it. So Amy's Craft Kit was the perfect push to just jump out and learn! And I'm so excited that I actually did it. Okay, so my stitches aren't all perfect, but I'm actually knitting in the round!! Which opens up a whole new variety of knitting patterns I can try and tackle! You can find Amy's new Crafternoon Kit at Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores nationwide or you can order online here. These kits would make great Christmas gifts for someone who loves to craft or knit! :: When there are no words, but silence isn't enough Jesse was at a softball tournament last night, so the kids sat with me and we watched the live stream online from one of the news channels of what was happening in Paris.* Every time the death toll number went up, we all would gasp. Kathrynne kept saying, "I'm so upset. Think about what it would be like to be them! Think about how scared they must feel!" We talked a lot about how they must feel, about how I felt when there were so many unknowns on 9/11, and how the children there must feel. My kids kept pointing out the kids in the footage. How scary it must be to be them. How scared their parents must feel to be there and have their kids there with them. I agreed. And I thought about what it would feel like to be those parents. Those men and women and teens and children. Who had no idea that last night, their lives would change forever. I wanted to post something. But there were no words I could come up with. So instead of posting and scheduling posts on my Facebook Page like I had planned last night, we turned off the live stream and I snuggled with my kids. I still don't have words today. But I felt so burdened and wanted to acknowledge the situation in some way. And then I read Lysa's post here and it echoed my heart. But in much more eloquent ways. Go read it here.  *Just to clarify for those who may be concerned we'd allow our kids to watch this 1) I kept asking them if it was making them feel scared and they told me, "No. We want to know about what's going on." 2) Since it was a U.S. news channel, the footage wasn't graphic. {As parents, I think it's very important to have discussions with our kids on current events - but only at a level that our kids are ready for. We don't want to raise our kids in a bubble, but we also try to be very careful not to expose them to things that are going to cause them to be fearful, etc.} :: Gretchen's Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan + Freezer Cooking Plan Homeland 1 Reeses Puffs Cereal - $2, used $0.75/1 printable (doubled) - $0.50 after coupon 2 Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls - $1 each, used $1/2 printable (no longer available, doubled) - Free after coupon 1 Eggland's Best Eggs - $2.85, used $0.50/1 MobiSave rebate - $2.35 after rebate 3 (8 oz bags) Best Choice Cheese - $1.25 each Total after coupons: $6.60 Dillons 1 Kroger Applesauce - $2.19 1 Flour Tortillas - $2 0.95 lbs Broccoli - $1.89 1 Kroger Frozen Orange Juice - $1.59 1 Green Bell Pepper - $0.99 1 Annie's Mac & Cheese - $1, used $0.75/1 e-coupon - $0.25 after coupon 1 Psst Garlic Powder - $1 1 Kroger Brown Rice - $0.89, used $0.50/1 e-coupon - $0.39 after coupon 1 bag Bruschetta Toasts - Marked down to $0.59 1 Kroger Rice Cakes - $1.69 1 Psst Saltines - $0.89 1 Pineapple - $0.99 1 Cucumber - $0.79 1 bag Yellow Peppers - Marked down to $0.99 1 bag Apples - Marked down to $0.99 1 gallon Milk - $1.99 2 bag Kroger Frozen Chicken Breasts - $7.99 each, used $1.45/1 e-coupon AND $3/$10 Meat e-coupon - $5.76 each after coupon 2.31 lbs Bananas - $1.36, used $0.25/1 Checkout 51 rebate - $1.11 after rebate 1 Kroger Old Fashioned Oats - $3.29 Items a part of the Mega Sale (Buy 10, Get $5 off instantly): 1 Ronzoni Pasta - $0.49, used $1/1 e-coupon - Free plus overage after coupon 1 Ken's Salad Dressing - $1.49, used $0.75/1 MobiSave rebate - $0.74 after rebate 1 Nabisco Wheat Thins - $1.79, used $1.25/1 MobiSave rebate - $0.54 after rebate 1 Land O Lakes Butter - $1.99 4 Campbell's canned Soup - $0.49 each, used $0.40/4 printable AND $0.20/1 Ibotta rebate - $0.34 each after coupon and rebate 1 Lender's Bagels - $1.79, used $0.75/1 MobiSave rebate - $1.04 after coupon 1 Green Giant canned Veggies - $0.49 Total after coupons and rebates: $40.79 Dillons Trip #2 I ran into Dillons today to see if they had any meat marked down. This wasn't the best price but I really wanted to do some freezer cooking this week and desperately needed meat for that.  1 package (3 lbs) Ground Beef - Marked down to $9.50. Total: $9.50 Total for all stores: $56.89 Menu Plan for This Week Breakfasts Eggs & Green Peppers, Bananas x 4 Cereal x 2 Cinnamon Rolls, Sliced Pears (My Mom gave me a big bag of pears from their pear tree!) Lunches Macaroni & Cheese, Veggies Tossed Salad with Tuna Peanut Butter & Jelly Rice Cake Sandwiches, Veggies x 2 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Veggies Cheese, Crackers, Fruit Leftovers Dinners Blueberry Pancakes, Eggs, Pineapple Steak (from my in-laws), French Bread, Pineapple Mexican Lasagna, Asparagus (leftover from last week), Sliced Pears Chicken Enchiladas, Tossed Salad Dinner with family Chicken & Rice, Green Beans Spaghetti Pie, Green Beans, Butterhorn Rolls Freezer Cooking I'm planning to do some freezer cooking this week to use on busy days coming up during the holiday season. Here's what I'm hoping to get made: Baked Oatmeal x 3 Double Fudge Banana Muffins x 2 Peanut Butter Oatmeal Energy Balls x 2 Blueberry Pancakes x 3 Butterhorn Rolls Mexican Lasagna (doubling dinner and freezing one) Chicken Enchiladas (doubling dinner and freezing one) Chicken & Rice (doubling dinner and freezing one) Spaghetti Pie x 2 (tripling dinner and freezing two) BBQ Meatballs x 3 Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas x 2 (using the yellow peppers) You received this email because you are registered on www.moneysavingmom.com with the email address panatllc1.kate@blogger.com. If you believe this has been sent to you in error, you can easily unsubscribe here. Money Saving Mom 2020 Fieldstone Parkway, Suite 900 #313 Franklin, TN 37069 © 2008-2015 Money Saving Mom, LLC. All rights reserved.