Fluttering

I have been "Fluttering" for about 4 years. For those of you unfamiliar with Flylady www.flylady.com, fluttering is where you do just bits and pieces of her program but never fully commit. About two months ago, I got serious about starting again. One of the things she does is a new habit every month. November's habit is menu planning. This week I did my first menu plan. It has been so nice to know what I am going to fix for dinner. When Cadence was Henry's age, I cooked every night and tried out new recipes. For the last year or so, I have just been cooking the same things over and over and lots of stuff from a box. I forgot how great I feel about myself as a mother and wife when I cook! Last night I made Mexican shells and we had none left over. Tonight I made Jambalaya pasta. Cadence has started to become a picky eater, especially here recently. The last two nights in a row, she cleaned her whole plate and told me I was the best cook ever. This is high praise from her!

With the onset of menu planning, I decided to also start planning outfits for the kids for the whole week. I was doing it the night before, but the last 2 Sundays I decided to lay out everything for each day based on the forecast. This has also been incredible! Henry still spits up so he has to wear a bib every day on top of everything else. This has made my life so much easier! And I love anything that does that. I am really trying to get back on all of Flylady's programs. They have always made such a difference in my life. Go check out her website!

Weekend

This weekend, Ben and I were supposed to go to OKC for a "Stock the Bar Party" for Holly & Austin. We had babysitters, hotel, everything.... except enough money to do it! So we had to cancel and are now staying home this weekend. Ben is going to the Hockey game tonight with his dad and some friends and my lovely mil still wanted the kids so I am planning on hanging out with Rachel, one of my closest friends that I don't see enough! However, this morning it appears that both of the kids and possibly Ben and I have a touch of the stomach bug. Hopefully this will go away as the day goes on.

This week, I have really been struggling with some issues at work. Henry goes to work with me and he is just getting to the point where it is just not working anymore. He is mobile and there is no way to child proof an office enough. He is not napping as well, and gets tired of being in his play pen. I won't get into specific issues, but there is the possibility of some changes being made at my work and if they are, I will get to fulfill my dream of working from home doing what I love and not putting Henry in child care. Friday I got the opportunity to work from home. I just had a few things that "had" to be done and really needed a day at home. Henry slept for 2.5 hours for his first nap! At work, I am lucky if he sleeps for 45 minutes. I got everything I had to do done by 11. It really made me see that I can work from home and how great it will work for us. Now, I am just praying that all of the pieces fall into place that need to in order for me to transition to home. Hopefully by January they will.

Halloween

This was a big Halloween for us. First, we had 2 children to contend with for the first time (and dress up!) Second, it was Cadence's first year to really get Trick or Treating and want to do it. We headed over to my in-laws for dinner with Katie and her kids, Mimi, Kay, Grandma, Grammie, and Grandpa. This year Cadence decided she wanted to be a horse. Henry was a very cute skeleton. Bella and WIll were there and Bella was a bumble bee and poor Will slept through the whole thing, but he was a cow! After eating, we headed over to Holly and Austin's (who live in my in laws neighborhod) and chatted for a while, then went out to trick or treat. Bella is a bit young and we carried her most of the time. Henry was in the stroller and we left Will at Grammie and Grandpa's. We did two whole streets and Cadence was done! I will say though, the streets in this neighborhood were super long. Not just a block, but maybe two. Everyone we went to was giving out "good" candy: Chocolate! So we got lots of good candy and had fun. We went back to Holly and Austin's for a bit and then headed home. Here are some of the best pictures.

HomeLand

I just did a small couponing trip to HomeLand (small because that was all we had in the budget!) and I got some pretty great deals. I am still not where some people are, but I am getting there. I spent $32 in all and saved 40% off of my bill! I was wanting to spend less, but considering in that were a large box of trash bags, hair putty, 4 packages of meat, 4 boxes of Helpers, and 4 cans of soup, I think I did a good job!