Day 9 of Sacred Heart of Jesus Novena.

Okay, I am going to keep this short and sweet because I am just in an erratic head space.  Tonight we will complete our first family novena.  Chris and I have done novenas together in the past, but this was the first time that the kids were apart of it.  They are remembering the basics though.  We are praying for nine days to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for Chris's selection into flight school. Owen has been awesome at remembering what day we are on.  Day 5 I totally thought it was day 4, but he was right.  Amelia is picking up the prayers rather quickly.  I think Owen is too, but he's less confident.  We even found this at a thrift store on day 2 for $.99

Before we hung it on the wall Amelia would hold it above her head for everyone to see it while we prayed.  Presh!

Well, today on Day 9 we will be praying in thanks giving.  Results came out a day early and Chris was selected for flight school!!!

Q-S means Qualified - Selected!

I am so proud of my husband.  He has worked very hard for everything leading up to this point.  We are thankful for all the support and mentoring he has received in the past 5 and a half years in the Army.  We are beyond thankful for all the prayers that everyone has offered up for us.  Flying has been something he has been working towards when we first started dating 12 and a half years ago.

This man y'all!!! 

Little of This, Little of That.

Attempting to to use the app again...let's see how this goes, shall we?

We have several projects going on right now. I still need to unpack our suit cases from our trip to NC. Fill Owen's dresser and remove the shelves currently holding his clothes. Some things need to be hung.  Arranging our patio (seriously that's a project). And the biggest project is assembling our swing set.

It's pretty old but in good condition.  We are painting it with this Rust-Oleum Restore hoping that the cold winters here will not wear out the set. So far it seems like our efforts will be worth it, but it's a slow process.

I had planned to start school next week with the kids, but various things might not make that possible. We will start by the 4th of August at the latest.  I was going to only have 5 weeks of school until we were going to start traveling to AK, but since orders were canceled I have a little bit of flexibility.

I'm really trying to remain busy. Next week is the board, and I hopeful things will go our way, but I'm not very optimistic that it will.  I have no reason to be pessimistic other than trying to protect myself from disappointment. Our family is currently saying the Sacred Heart Novena for his selection.  The kids are grasping simple concepts of a nine day novena which is pretty cool. Amelia holds this picture of "The Secret Heart of Jesus" for everyone to see as we pray. It's sacred not a secret, Amelia...get it together ;) Their absorption is making me a little hopeful for the school year.

99 cent thrift store find

My friend Ashley just wrote a review on some materials at Holy Learning.  There is a 15% off code, too.  They have some neat material for teaching kids the faith. I'm starting my list now. I have no experience yet with the product, but I think it will be to have whether you are homeschooling or not. It's worth a look. Promise.

Thanks for voting on my little poll. Last I checked it was almost 50/50 with Becket in the lead by a vote or two.  I got to see the babe today, unexpectedly. He has some big ol' cheeks, y'all! The 20 week ultrasound his face always looked like a skull. But clear as day were his chubby cheeks. Can't wait to see him and compare him to our other 3 monsters. I have to go back in 2 weeks to review my blood sugar.  I'm so grateful they are letting me skip the terrible 3 hour glucose test. I almost vomited and or pass out last time. No bueno.

29 weeks today (or yesterday I guess). I was going to do a belly shot but I recently posted a 28 weeks shot on Instagram.  It just seems too soon. Maybe 30 weeks people. If I remember.

7QT #18: Mainly poppin' tags

I am going to attempt to keep this short and sweet, mkay? I will add some pictures of the kids so it's not a complete waste.

1 ~ It has been raining for the past 3 days and I am so glad. Mainly because it is washing away the pollen. I still have a cough, but I don't feel like a complete train wreck. The puddles have a nice yellow topping, and I have some energy back.  No complaints!

2 ~ Owen had his end of year field trip to the Watertown Zoo. It's more like a life preserve if you ask me. Compared to the North Carolina Zoo that I use to, it's a bit of a disappointment. It rained most of the time we were there. But as always the kids had a great time. Owen got a bag with all of his stuff from this year and a certificate.  Owen really likes school.  He was telling me that he has to draw in his journal everyday. I really hope this transitions well when we start homeschooling.  He will have to journal in writing curriculum, and I am going to start a art journal for him to draw images of stories we read. I think Amelia will engage fine, and I'm hopeful Owen will, now.

3 ~ Most everyone knows me in real life and has probably seen my recent Facebook statuses and Instagram updates on my recent thrift store finds. See below

4 ~ A magazine caddy that will be used to hold children's books.  I spray painted it.  I hope to find a few more so I can place them throughout the house...their rooms, living room, and the wherever we end up schooling.

5 ~ This large frame. It is still in the works. It was holding some type of art. I plan to putting the Stations of the Cross in it.  I found the idea on Pinterest here. I have several stations books so I used one for its pictures to frame. I painted the frame purple for the Lent season. Yeah, I'm aware we have a while before Lent.  I'm late for everything ;)

6 ~ This crucifix. It's big and heavy. Needs a little bit of touching up, but it will be perfect for our school room. The kids loved it. I'm so glad Chris spotted it.

7 ~ Continued prayers that Chris is selected for flight school. We are very excited about Alaska, but we will have no problem sacrificing it for flight school. It's the dream, people.  Have a blessed week!

Make sure you hop over to Jen's for more Quick Takers. 

My Super, Awesome Save

These are some of the items in my order.

I am usually not up to date on the latest trends or awesome websites.  Even though I love trolling the interwebs,  I often just use it to figure out the latest acronym *smh*. I really stick with the same basic sites over and over.  Facebook, Pinterest, Blogger, Bloglovin, and Amazon....in no particular order of course. I most recently stumbled upon this gem of a site...(actually I think I "found" it via a blog I regular on Bloglovin).  Any who, you may have seen my post on Facebook about thredUP.  

For real, I just saved a ton of money!  According to thredUP I save 79% of retail value.  I NEVER pay retail value, but I was able to save on 13 items for the kids and mostly me.  Owen got a shirt, Amelia a shirt, a dress, and a skirt, Simon a sweater and two vest, Me two pairs of maternity jeans, a maternity skort, a maternity dress (with tags...my most expensive item at $11!!!), and two shirts for under $70.  Name brand items to boot.  Lands End, Gymboree, Motherhood, and Carters were a few of the brands in my order.

thredUP will take your clothes, examine them, and give you credit for the items they plan to sell too.  Then you can use that credit to buy clothes for your kids in the next size...or yourself :) I just ordered a bag to see what kind of credit I can gets for the clothes we have stashed around the house.  They did say they are extremely picky about the items they select.  They usually select less than 50% of what is sent in a bag.  Clearly, they are taking the time to make sure it's worth selling.  Which is great for a buyer.

If you use any of the thredUP links you will receive a $10 credit on your first order...applied at check out.  I will too, but really I just wanted to share this awesome store and help you save some money...so no pressure.  My only complaint is that I wish there was a men's section.  And that is hardly a complaint since it is worth ever penny I save on kids clothes.  And I hope you find it as awesome and me! 

Until next time peeps!

Yard sale, Thrift shop, and Clearance

Oh my goodness what a day!

We started with a trip around post.  Two of the four communities on post were having a yard sale so we thought we would take a look to see what was out.  The only thing we were kind of looking for was a bike trailer so we could pull Simon. We also were seeing if there were any bigger toys we would maybe want for the kids. We were surprised that more people weren't participating. One of the first places we stopped had 3 baby gates for $12.  Score!!! We really needed some to block off our kitchen.  Our bigger kids like to troll through the pantry and refrigerator. So we scooped those bad boys up!  We saw another place with an easel for $10.  I got out and took a look at it.  I decided against it because it wasn't exactly what I wanted.  Plus, if we are thinking possible Christmas gifts it would be hard to hide from the kids as we put it in the van.  We stopped some place else that was using a trailer as a rack.  I didn't think they were selling it, but I figured I would ask.  But they had a leotard in Amelia's size for $.50 and this Leap Frog letter toy for $2.  We continued driving. I completely missed the two trailers sitting at the front of someone's driveway.  Luckily Chris saw them.  We stopped took a look.  Both were in great condition.  The one we picked looked brand new for only $50!!!  I was so excited.  I think I got a pretty good deal.  All the ones I have seen posted on Craigslist were asking $65-$100.  If I paid too much please don't tell me.  At this point I would love to live in ignorance and forever think I got a great deal ;)

I remembered that the thrift store on post was open since it was the first Saturday of the month.  It was packed.  They were having a big clothing sale.  Fill a trash bag of clothes for $7.  We didn't bother looking through the clothes.  My kids are relatively set for winter with hand me downs that we have been given.  I felt no need for us to have more clothes just because they were cheap.  I did want to go inside to look an see if there was anything else we could use.  We ended up walking away with three more Christmas presents...a book, a Leap Frog writing game thing, and wooden beads that are strung.  I am hoping the beads and the Leap Frog game will help with fine motor skills.

We later went to Kmart and Target where we found TAG books on clearance (under $5).  Each year we have an "everybody gift".  Basically it is a gift that is shared by all.  And this year we figured we will wrap up the Leap Frog items for Christmas.  The things we have collected already range in age and can be passed down as kids out grow them.  Owen got an Explorer last Christmas that he likes and shares with Amelia.

We have found some great finds.  We will be pulling out what we have so far, making a list of what we have, and then hiding it.  I won't be surprised if we are almost "done".  I say "done" because I shop until December 24th.  Some of these things might be used for birthday gifts as well.

Anyway, I thought I would share our thrifty finds for the weekend.  

Day 7 and I'm out!

Goodness me, like I said yesterday the 7 Day 7 Post challenge was kinda tough.  Check out the Archives to the right if you missed the posts earlier this week.  But after today, I think I will give you guys a break for a few days.  I am going to put some of my attention back into Clitherow's for a little bit and work on the birth stories for Amelia and Simon.

On to today's shenanigans!

11am Mass should not be such a challenge to get out the door.  But Chris and I always stay up a little to late or a kid or two will keep us up...*cough, Simon, cough*.  So at 10:30 Everyone still in their jammies we opted for 5:15 mass out in town.  Though I like the later time, the kids seem to behave so much better in the morning.  We have raised our exception of good behavior at church based on this post by CatholicMom.com .   The big kids are have their good days and bad days, but we can see an overall improvement.  The biggest thing is we expect them not only to be quiet but sit properly and or participate.  I know it's hard on my big kids right now since we didn't establish these expectations from the beginning, but we are proud of their progress over the past two months. So those days when they wallow around in the pew, we are often stopped by a parishioner that reassures us that our kids are well behaved. It makes me wonder if we (Chris and I) are a bigger distraction that the kids.  As the big kids have more practice and begin to set the example for any younger siblings they may have I think Mass will become easier.  Or at least I hope.  In the mean time, I think I may make the ring of cards suggested on Catholic Mom.

Today, before Mass we took a turn at the thrift shop.  We got Megablocs, 10 kids books, a bucket of play kitchen accessories, Little Tikes piano, Pampered Chef pineapple core, a mirror for Simon's car seat, Dinosaur Train board game, kids hat rack, a Weeble Wobble crank toy, an action figure, and a small toy keyboard all for $14.56.  Most of these are Christmas gifts.  Though I'm hoping Owen won't remember.  We will have to see.  I was pretty happy with their toy selection today.

Well here are some funny quotes from my kids today.  Maybe you needed to be there, but they keep me laughing.

Owen: "I want to show you my moves, Daddy."
Wearing nothing but a helmet, roller skates, and his Mass Kit that looks like a man bag,  Owen attempts a grand leap!

Amelia: "We're going to the 'whore's' house."
Talking about the fifty cent riding horse at KMart.

After 'peace be with you' at Mass quite loud.
Amelia: "We done now?"

Thanks for joining me this past week.  I hope my ramblings weren't to painful ;)

Until next time peeps!