freezer meals.

Autumn told me she wanted to make freezer meals when school was out. we had talked about it before but had never done anything about it. I kind of figured that is where this would go also. I was wrong. She called me and after work on a Wed. We went grocery shopping. It took about three hours we went to Costco and Winco. We ended up spending about 300.00 each. That sounds like a lot but we got about 30 meals each from the freezer meals. If you break that down to 10.00 per meal for a family of 4 that isn't bad. In the fall when we do it we will be better prepared and watch and buy meat on sale so its not such a hit to the pocket book all at once. Thursday she was here early and we got started by 8:00 a.m. the night before I had boiled and shredded some chicken, we each cooked all our hamburger, 8 pounds each, and I cut up about five onions and  chopped them.  Autumn had all the recipes figured out and the way we would do them. We started with the spaghetti sauce and white sauce. While she was making those I was cutting more vegetables. I didn't like the taste of the spaghetti sauce so she ended up taking it home. I would also do the white sauce different next time. But it was a good learning curve. Autumn had a job interview at 1 and we also had to stop and get Hope and I ended up having to take Tym to swimming after school. Overall we pretty much finished about 9:15 that night. So about 12 hours of cooking. It was a lot and we were both exhausted. It sure is nice to have a packed freezer though. I'll be curious to see how the meals taste and what we change for next time. My dad called while we were cooking and he informed me he had room in his freezer. Next time he wants to make the meals with us.

 Because cooking wears a dog out.

math

I've said it before and Tymber just struggles with math continually. One great thing about moving to this school district is someone finally took her struggles as a real issue and just didn't try to push her on to the next level. I was seriously worried she would even graduate with the new math and common core curriculum. The school asked my permission to test her in math after her teacher seen that she was coming in every day for help and her tests scores were horrible. She just cant connect it together and its frustrating for her and for us.

After about 6 weeks of testing with the school psychologist and then more testing with the math department they decided she qualified for special ed math. I was SOOO excited for her. Finally someone who is willing to help her. So once third trimester started they pulled her from her math class and put her in a special education one. She gets all the help she needs now and so much more. It is wonderful to see her getting a C in math and know she can graduate.

When I went in to get her scores and go over the results I was SHOCKED to see what she scores on level wise. I wont post it here because I don't want to embarrass her. It makes me feel bad all the times she didn't get it and I got mad because I felt like she was screwing around or just not paying attention. I'm grateful for teachers who are willing to help her and a school who wants to see her succeed..

Rock climbing

One thing I like better living in a bigger place is the opportunity to do more with the kids without having to travel 30-45 minutes just to go somewhere. Currently Hope is in swim lessons and Tymber is in drivers Ed and also has signed up to become CPR/life guard certified. hopefully she can find a job this summer as a life guard.

On the down side life is busy. I'm a hermit and not used to running so much. April is crazy and our schedule goes something like this.

Mon. work for me 6 am-12pm
          Rich takes Hope to school at 7:40
          Tym catches the bus at 8:00
          Richs work schedule varies throughout the weeks
          1:35 pick Hope up from school early release
          5:30-9:00 pm Tym has life guard and swimming
          6;30-7:00 Hope swims then I take her home to shower and get homework done and ready for school
          9:00 pm pick Tym up she goes home showers does homework etc.


Tuesday mornings are the same except its my day off (haha) so I take Hope to school.
2:30 pick her up
4-5:30 rock climbing
Pick Tym up from Drivers Ed at 6:30

Wed morning Rich takes Hope I work 6-12 pick her up at 2:30
Tymber drives this day so she rides the bus over and drives from 4:30-6
at 6 I pick her up and take her and Hope to the pool. Hope for swimming Tym for lifeguard. Once again I take Hope home at 7 and go back for Tym at 9

Thursday Tym has CAP so I take her at 6:30 pm and pick her up at 8:30

Friday nothing.. yah

Sat I work and Rich takes Tym to lifeguard at 9 and I pick her up at 3.

I will be glad when April is over but it is nice having my kids participate as well.

Easter

This year for Easter was General Conference. Tymber was pretty sick and we didn't do much. Autumn and Jaron and my parents along with Kylee came for Easter dinner. This is the first time I have ever pulled a dinner off that went so well. I was actually relaxed and not stressed out. The night before I made rolls, boiled the eggs, made cheesecake and jello. That means all I had to do for the dinner was cook ham throw cheese potatoes in the crock pot and devil the eggs. I also made one more salad and Rich rolled out the dough for the rolls. It was a great time visiting and everything turned out great.

The girls got their Easter baskets in the morning and then I had to hide the eggs. I couldn't hide them the night before because my dogs open them and eat the candy. They were going behind me and trying to get them as I was hiding them. They got kicked outside. Stinkers.

 The girls got big Bunnies in their baskets. I didnt get a picture of their other things.

Hopes room and Tymbers room

Tymber wanted her room a turquoise to match her comforter, because she has a ledge around her room we did 2 different colors of turquoise. Then we painted the ledge white. She wanted it black but it looked better white. I have some black curtains I need to hang and I also got her a cute vinyl siding for Easter that needs hung. Her carpet also got replaced.

 Hope wanted a purple room. I really love the color she chose. The drapes don't look like it but they are a deep purple color. She got a new pink/purple bedspread that we adore. She also received a vinyl saying for Easter that isn't hung yet.

Elizabeth

Rich and I sort of started house hunting. Well I started looking. He said he would never live in a plit level house. Well guess what, never say never. This house was an emotional roller coaster and drained a lot of energy and emotions away from me. We had gotten to the point we were just ready to walk away and then something else happened (several times) and we were finally able to move in. What really sold us on the house is the yard and garage. It has a split yard half is fenced in and in gravel for him to park his work trailer and our flatbed. One of the last things I told Rich when we left Blackfoot the thing that scared me most was that he would never have a workshop again. The garage is 52' and there is a huge workshop for him. In Blackfoot I always had to pull my car out for him to owrk on any type of projects. Sometimes for weeks at  time. Right now there are boxes in the garage and I cant park in it but the unpacking is slowly getting done. We are still having to right size and throw a lot of stuff away as our living space has gone to about half of what it was in Blackfoot.

This house feels like home though. It did from the first time we walked in. Honestly we only looked at 3 houses but knew this one was it. We are settling in and I'm in the middle of painting. Slowly remodeling will be done. We want to redo the kitchen but it will have to wait until November or later because right now we are doing a rent to own and will put the house in our name in November.

 Kitchen..the whole thing will be gutted. The one thing I really dislike is there is no pantry yet, but I solved that by adding a bookshelf on a wall.

 part grass part gravel

 LR half wall. it will actually turn into a full half wall and not these outdated banisters

 LR fireplace the wood will all be taken down the mantle rebuilt and bookshelves on each side

 wood pellet stove downstairs.

 Tymbers room. It has new paint and carpet

 PArt of the basment it will also be remodeled and the plate things are gone.

 Love that the basment has big windows and lots of natural lighting

 downstairs bathroom

 My office. Rich is in the middle of sheet-rocking it and there is new carpet waiting in the garage for my toes.

 View from front door before walking upstairs

 master

 The master has a door going into the bathroom. It does not have its own bathroom but shares. Im split if we want to keep the door or not. In some ways its nice but at the same time having extra wall space would be just as nice.