Day 2

Day two and I didn't spend any money....that doesn't sound very impressive, I know :) Of course my husband isn't doing so well- he went out to lunch, took $20 out of the atm and is at a concert tonight where it appears that he ate out for dinner too! (thank you path via my brother in law :) But that's ok, because this is more of a personal challenge, since I'm the one who handles the money and spends the most.
Today was a long day with the kids. For some reason they were super emotional, well the girls were at least. Lots of tantrums and crying, but they are all tucked into bed now and as sweet as can be. Last night they slept the best that they had in MONTHS. Maybe ever... haha. No, seriously, my kids just do not sleep for more than an hour straight usually. Last night Harper slept from 1am-9am with NO waking up (the first time ever) and the other two actually stayed in their beds and didn't sleep wake, wake us up to go to the bathroom, nothing! I felt so well rested when I got up this morning. it was awesome.
Rowan lost his 2nd tooth today! I kept asking him if I could just pop it out (it was barely hanging on), and then in the afternoon he was biting his shirt (he does this a lot) and he accidentally bit too hard and screamed, "MOM! MY TOOTH POPPED OUT!" haha. He's so cute toothless. He stayed up late with me tonight since Nathan is gone and he played pbs kids on the computer. It's a great website for kids, lots of educational games for them to play! Alright, well I'm headed off to take a bath and then get in bed. I want to try to wake up early tomorrow...but don't hold me to it :) I'm much more of a night owl than early bird..

P.S- the photo of the tea, teapot and kettle: I've started drinking a whole pitcher of green tea with lemons every day. I did that after Riley was born and not only did I have a lot more energy, but I was the skinniest I've ever been...the energy is already kicking in-hopefully I'll drop a few pounds in the process too! All iPhone pics- edited with vscocam

day 1

Today was the first day of our no-spending month...and we only spent $400! Haha, but seriously, we kinda did. We started to refinance our house (after a huge mess with wells fargo when we tried to refinance with them back in December and they messed up over and over and over again until we finally decided to go with another company), and the appraisal fee is $400, but, the guy said we might be able to get it back if something does something, or something. So I'm not really counting it as a negative against us...the main point of this spending freeze is to stop all the little money wasting trips and eating out, etc.
The kids had some rotten attitudes this morning so I decided to make it an electronics free day...which meant that things would actually be harder for me because I needed to provide them with stuff to do. We ended up doing a fun scavenger hunt, coloring, making a big lunch and eating it together while telling stories (one minute limit for each story- because these kids can talktalktalktalktalk) and putting puzzles together. By 3:00 I decided that they'd been good enough to watch Arthur on PBS, that's their favorite show (we don't have cable so they watch pbs and netflix). It was a really great day! I baked banana bread, french bread, made a healthy dinner, tried to clean (so hard with kid in the house, it almost feels pointless), but overall it was a great day. I'm excited to start this refinance! Our payment is going to drop by about $100 a month, and we get to get rid of our private mortgage insurance which means our payment will drop another $80-100 a month! Good news! Oh! AND I accidentally paid one too many insurance payments for my biz insurance, so I got a $50 check in the mail. Always nice (like it happens allll the time). I'm thinking about going to bed early tonight (midnight, maybe??) but we'll see :)

Here are a few instagrams from today/yesterday...

July: On a Budget

Budget...yikes. I hate that word. Actually, I pretty much have just ignored it for the past...well forever. Don't get me wrong, I know when to stop spending, but I also like to push that to the limit. I've been feeling convicted about it for a long time, and I've been consciously trying to do better *every once in awhile*, but this month is going to be different.
Nathan just started a new business, and this means that we're one step closer to him quitting his day job. This also means that it's time to get serious about our spending habits. We just paid off our car (yayyyy) so now we need my money even less. *By "my money", I mean the money I make doing photography. Ohh, didn't you know? I didn't start a photography business because of my love for photography (even though I DO love it), I started it because we were broke. I needed to make just a few hundred dollars a month to pay for groceries and we'd be good. Thankfully, and I definitely think God has blessed my business tremendously, the biz took off and I made the money, and then some. Now that my business is doing great and the car is paid off,  I don't want to work as much. I can shoot a few weddings a month and make enough plus some for savings. I have felt a great calling to be a better homemaker lately. Is there fame in homekeeping? No. Money? No. But there are these three little people and one cute guy that all depend on me to do quite a bit for them, and I don't want to let them down. WHICH brings me to this budget.
I.am.wasteful.  I am a money waster. I will admit it. I can walk into target and feel compelled to buy all of the pretty little things with those beautiful red clearance stickers on them. Solution? I'm staying out of target! We bought a HUGE box of diapers and wet wipes, which are pretty much the only things we "need" from target, and I'm staying the heck away. As for food- well, I went to Aldi and spent $60, then I went to Sam's club and spent $160 and I think that we have everything we need for a month full of meals, plus toiletries and all that stuff.
I really think we can do this. No stopping at Sonic for happy hour, no running into target just to look around, no running to hy-vee for that one more ingredient we need (seriously, we go to hy-vee a LOT). I'm pretty excited, and pretty nervous. I've never succeeded at anything like this, so the pressure's on. We have a cheat night planned for the 17th when we're going to the Royal's game with some friends, but other than that, it is ON.
As you've noticed, I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog, but now that I'm not shooting near as much, I'll actually have time, and I am going to use it as an accountability tool too. So here's to July! If you think to ask me how I'm doing- please do! I promise to be honest! :)

Whole Wheat Goodness

I have a major sweet tooth. Actually, several. And several of them have had root canals and fillings and crowns...Unfortunately I passed this on to my kids and Riley's had a few small fillings and Rowan had to have major dental surgery because of cavities that formed SO fast and spread so quickly that within two months his teeth were goners. I'm proud to say that I've stayed on top of my kids dental health for awhile now, but I still want to limit our sugar intake. Sugar is awful. I know it now, I've read the proof, so I can't deny it any longer. Ignorance really is bliss, isn't it? With my grandma having leukemia and my Popoo (grandpa) having cancer it's opened my eyes up to how important diet is for our health. We love bread, and we love sweet flavors, so what better than finding a bread recipe that has NO white sugar and you can pour honey on it and satisfy the craving! Here's the best recipe I've found on the internet so far for whole wheat bread. I wrote it down but didn't save the site, it's probably from the King Arthur site though.

- 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (I make mine a little on the warmer side)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
-1/4 cup honey (I used a little more tonight and it was even better)
-3 1/2 cups King Arthur Premium 100% Whole Wheat Flour (I bought mine at Hy-vee)
-2 1/2 tsp. instant yeast, dissolved in two tbsps from the 1 1/4 cup of water
-1 1/4 tsp. salt

I combined all of the ingredients in a bowl, in that order with the yeast last (make sure your salt  is non iodized because that will affect it). Mix it up and then stick it in your bread maker and turn it to the *Dough function- or I guess you could kneed it :). Mine takes 1:30 to beat it and then it rises. I take it out of the bread maker and pound it down a few times, then put it in the pan I'm going to cook it in and cover it and put it in a warm place for another hour or so- then bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes. It tastes SO good. Looks so good. I don't even put butter on it! (Who am I turning in to!?). We were lucky enough to have honey from my dad and grandpa's honey harvest so I've been eating it with honey. Speaking of that, you should watch the short film Nathan made... :) https://vimeo.com/44359636

I hate it when so much is going on that I can't keep it all straight. Busy would be an understatement for the past few weeks/upcoming week. We're in the middle of a refinancing mess (thanks a lot wells fargo for messing things up so many times!!), a big battle with our insurance who doesn't want to pay for something they approved of last year (Rowan's dental surgery), I've been working way too much...for real. And this week alone I have 6 sessions, and last week I had 3 and a wedding! I'm trying to stay afloat here but wow, I'm just so ready for vacation...although I'm not sure how I'm going to get everything I need to get done DONE before we leave! Anyway, I'll quit grumbling and complaining now, and get back to editing, and editing and editing and editing!! :) Here's a few of Riley...I really wish I could get her to smile naturally at the camera- haha, it just doesn't happen with that girl.

ah, i'm so tired i can barely keep my eyes open. i just finished up my latest wedding and have them uploading to the internet so they'll all be there when i wake up in the morning. very nice. what a weekend. i feel like i've been an emotional wreck. everything is making me upset and stressed, which is dumb i know, but my emotions keep getting the best of me. this weekend is Easter and i keep trying to remind myself to focus on what's important. so i'm going to list a few things i need to remember in hopes i have a better weekend than today!
things to focus on:
salvation- enough said. i really don't need to go on (but i will of course...)
healthy children
a husband who loves me and works hard
grace.grace.grace for all those "little" mistakes that i make alllll the time

alright, i officially cannot look at this screen any longer. goodnight!

On the Mend

I always manage to forget how bad it is getting the flu. This one was weird too- Harper woke up at 5am on Sunday morning and was done throwing up by 12 on Sunday, then we thought we were all ok til Monday afternoon when Riley started throwing up and it lasted about 7 hours, then we thought it was over and I started feeling sick on Tuesday afternoon and ended up throwing up ten (10!!) times last night. It was so bad! Then poor Rowan got it during the night and threw up 3 times, but he recovered really well and it barely affected him. My body was so sore and achey today that I just sat around all day. I didn't eat til 8:30 tonight because I had no appetite, but I'm feeling much better finally. I hate losing days of life to stuff like that, but oh well, it makes me extra thankful that we're overall in good health. It also has me thinking of how bad we eat and how much I want to change that. Why is it so hard to change bad eating habits??? I have a bunch of healthy food in the fridge waiting to be eaten this week, but so far everyone's been too sick to eat it!
I have a busy weekend ahead of me, Senior session tomorrow and Engagement sessions on Friday and Saturday and then Easter on Sunday! I am trying to finish up editing my last wedding but everyone being sick really threw off my schedule. I am seriously considering only taking 2-3 portrait sessions a month from here on out so I can focus on being a stay at home mom. It's so hard but I am praying about what's best for my family. I just don't know how I will be able to handle homeschooling working as much as I am now, and as much as I like shooting and making money, I can't put that before my family. Alright, well I should go to bed. I'm really hoping Nathan avoids this flu bug and doesn't wake up throwing up tonight! We'll see...
I don't think I ever shared these photos of the kids from early in March- Rowan totally cracks me up with those bubbles. I told him not to move a muscle til we blew them, so you can see his face go from pouting to pure joy, haha :)