Velveeta Cheesy Skillet Party

A while back my mom sent me an email to join a website www.houseparty.com. They have variety of themed parties you can host for them. Its pretty simple, you choose one you would like to host and fill out an application. Then they let you know if you were chosen. I got picked the first time I applied. I was chosen for a velveeta cheesy skillet party. You can invite friends from their website which I did and also set up a facebook event for it. Two days before the party they sent me a box of supplies.

I received 4 boxes of velveeta cheesy skillets, 16 cheesy tote bags, 16 dry erase magnets for the fridge, 16 dry erase markers, 16 $1.00 off coupons, and a $5.00 gift card to Walmart. I bought 2 pounds of hamburger and 2 pounds of chicken, some snacks, drinks, and a couple desserts, and used the gift card towards it.
I made the meals up about 30 minutes before party time (actually my 12yr old daughter did the majority of cooking them). There she is above with her "cheesy" smile! My friends showed up, we ate, had a ton of fun,and everyone got to go home with the goodies they sent me.
I would LOVE the chance to host another party and for sure recommend it to others!

Motivation Monday

Well it's Monday and that means weigh in day for me. I worked really hard this week so its not as scary as I thought. I have been sticking to a good diet eating small healthy things about every 2 hours and working out atleast once and sometimes twice a day! The more I work out the easier it gets and the more I look forward to it! So here are the pics of me this week....


And my weigh in for the week is......
Yay I lost 6 pounds!!! Looking forward to next week so I can be in the 180's again :)

Motivation Monday

So......I'm 36 and love every part of my life except my weight. On the finale of this past season's Biggest Loser, Courtney was asked how she did it and her answer inspired me. She said "You just gotta change your mind and believe in yourself". So simple change my mind! Well I'm really good at changing my mind.....I am a woman right :) The part I'm not so great is sticking with the change. That's where this blog comes in. I've titled it Motivation Monday and I can think of nothing more motivating to lose weight than to post a picture of myself and the scale as I weigh in every Monday morning. Kinda scary to put it all out there but definetly the thing to hold me accountable! So here goes......
And Drumroll please...........My weight this morning and hopefully never again is....
Ive already been to Zumba this morning and plan to go back to the gym this afternoon with the boys. I am also using Sparkpeople.com to log my food and fitness. Its a free site go check it out! Feel free to join my on this journey.....we can do it together! See ya next Monday for my next weigh in :)

Counting my Blessings!

1. I am thankful for the super fun date night I had with Will last night.
2. I am thankful for winning money that paid for the entire night plus $40.00.
3. I am thankful that the YMCA opened up right by our house and we were able to get a membership.
4. I am thankful that I have the ability to walk there and work out.
5. I am thankful for the wonderful Vegas home-school friends I have especially Tracy and Les and for the time I got to spend with everyone on Tuesday.
6. I am thankful to Becky for teaching me the Charlotte Mason method and introducing me to Queen home-school supply......it has made home-schooling so much more enjoyable for everyone!
7. I am thankful for the Flip camera I was able to get FREE from swag bucks I earned.
8. I am thankful to God for blessing us with a piano for only$25.00.
9. I am thankful for being able to stay at home with my kids and raise them, teach them, and live life with them!
10. I am so thankful for the husband God gave me that allows me to live out my dream everyday!

Counting My Blessings!

I am taking today to count my Blessings for the week! I want to focus on all the things I am grateful and keep my eyes upon that above all else. Who knows maybe this will be my Sunday tradition....

1. I am thankful that my husband brought home a project that he and Graisan were able to spend quality time doing.
2. I am thankful that even though I haven't seen my husband much this week due to his job, he has a job.
3. I am thankful to Timmy's Dad and Kristin for giving the boys rides to church.
4. I am thankful to Northgate for providing an opportunity for River to play praise and worship music.
5. I am thankful to Nancy for giving the girls a ride to SOS, they very much have missed going so this was wonderful for them!
6. I am thankful for the time I got to spend with my Aunt and Uncle on Friday.
7. I am thankful for the time I got to spend with my Vegas BFF Becky.
8. I am thankful for all the money I saved using coupons on Wednesday.
9. I am thankful I was able to drive the car to run errands on Wednesday.
10. I am thankful that Aly passed a list of spelling words that she has been struggling with.
11. I am thankful that the Jergens lotion I got is actually helping me look tan (they cant all be deep peeps)!

Homeschool Mother's journal





.In my life this week… We are recently down to one car so this week I have been adjusting to the fact that I am only out of the house one day a week for errands. I have to say that this week I was loving it! I did all my couponing on Wednesday and had the rest of the week to focus on school and home. Then to end off the week we had a nice visit with my Aunt and Uncle that stopped by on their way back to Oregon.

In our home-school this week…I had settled into a nice routine with the kids this week (easy to do when I'm home everyday). They have been working on their language lessons and Bible studies we got from Queen Home-school Supplies, started US History with the girls, continuing our study of Birds with Aly, and the boys have been busy reading Andy Andrews books and working on their music any chance they can get.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…River went with me on "errand day" and we scored some great deals with our coupons. Other than that we had the visit from my Aunt and Uncle, and my favorite home-school friend came and hung out last night.

My favorite thing this week was…a moment when my 10 year old daughter recognized Chopin on an episode of So You Think You Can Dance. We just started doing composer studies about a month ago and that was confirmation that she is paying attention and "getting it".

What’s working/not working for us…Being home is working as far as a routine and being able to stick to our schedule but the girls are missing their friends, so in that regard its not working.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…I have been thinking about hosting some type of tween girl event at my house to bring friends over until our car situation is handled.




Family Fun Night

For family fun night we like to do challenges. We base them loosely off the show the Apprentice. This week the kids challenge was to create a dessert. They would be judged on taste, originality, creativity, appearance. They also had to do a presentation that sold us on their product. That would also be judged on originality, creativity, and actual presentation. This time is was girls against the boys.



They were given a budget of $15.00 and twenty minutes at the grocery store to purchase their ingredients.


They went to work creating their desserts. The boys made "twisted ice cream croissants". Which was croissants filled with vanilla ice cream that had peanut butter m&ms crushed in it.




The girls made sundaes.

I wish I had taken more pictures but the camera died so this was all I got. The boys won for originality, and their presentation won by a landslide. I thought the boys were gonna take it. But when Will and I sat down to judge all the criterias it wasnt that clear cut. The boys presentation was great but the girls taste was by far better and they had a better food presentation. It came down to a tie and we had to determine that the tie breaker had to be the product which came down to which one would we want to eat again, so the girls won! They were super happy especially Graisan because this was her first win. Aly is 2 - 0. Their prizes were a movie of their choice, dessert of their choice, and they got to give Will and I one of their chores. I got laundry which wasnt so bad and Will got dishes (I was glad I didnt get that). The boys were mad but they sucked it up after about 10 minutes. Over all it was an awesome time and Im already thinking of what the next challenge will be!