July in Review

Let me just say out loud that July 2010 has been the worst month in my entire life! I honestly didn't think it would ever end. Low points of the month include the week of Remington's death, Matt losing his job and the dishwasher completely not working. So is anyone surprised that I have came even close on any of my goals?
The one thing that I have improved on is my devotions because honestly God is the only one support and carrying us right now! I am able to spend time at least 2 a week and usually 3 to 4. I am encouraged by a devotional book that Haley bought me at Life.

I have spent around 800 again on groceries this month that is on top of all the wonderful food we have been blessed with. But the bright side of that is that our freezer is of officially full and we should be able to reduce the grocery budget in August even with our beach trip!

I have only blogged 12 times including this post.

Preschool is on summer vacation!

Now for an update and plan/idea of what is going on over here! Matt is officially unemployed and as we had established as our plan 3 years ago, he will become the full time daddy and housekeeper. I already have in the works a part-time position that will guarantee me 16 hours a week and full benefits. I also plan to continue working a second position for around 12-16 hours a week depending on what they want and how busy my schedule is. We are confident that this will allow us to not only maintain a budget but actually start to reduce debt and save. I add this to my monthly update as to what we have been able to accomplish. For the month of August, the goal is to go on vacation, find a second car for me to drive and met the budget we establish prior to him being unemployed. Matt will be taking over the responsibility of teaching Lily to read but I am still going to do a "preschool" time with her to work on writing and math. I am excited to get these details in place! If you are reading then please pray for us these first weeks of August that we establish a routine and find peace and comfort in it!

Monday Menu Post 7/26

Still treading water and the waves are really rough today. I may be able to blog about it soon.

Monday- Baked chicken in microwave, leftover sides
Tuesday- Meatloaf (Angel Food) carrots
Wednesday- Steaks, salad and bread
Thursday- Cabbage rolls
Friday- Mexician??? or what ever Matt choses

Treading Water

I know I need to write something but exactly what to blog is kinda of like answering the question "So how are you guys doing?" Let me first say that I can not imagine going through this with out the love and support of our family and friends. Each time I am asked this question, I am reminded how much we are cared and prayed for. But I am still trying to come up with a response. I guess part of the problem is I really don't know. Matt and I have returned to work, which means the little kids are spending time at home with Haley babysitting. We are attempting to plan our trip to the beach. Amanda is going out with friends. So we are somewhat returning to normal. But that does not mean we are okay or forgotten or even dealt with the grief. It simply means that just as Life goes on so must we. Lily is starting to have some behavior issues, I am sure that they are part due to the horrible sleep schedule she has been on the past 2 weeks. The other reason is that she feels a loss and is dealing with it like a 4 year old. Both Kendall and Zach have a nasty cold. Last night was the first night in a week that Kendall did not wake up several times, we decided that she could not suck her pacifier and breath at the same time and gave her medicine.
So in a nut shell treading water describes our life right now.

Update

I am going to use this post as a short catch up list and also some explanations for the future as to the events that have been happening the past week.

First I will not be posting a Monday Menu this week as we will be consuming left-overs and several other meals that have been offered and planned for us.

Last Tuesday night around 11:15pm, I received a call that Amanda and Remington had been involved in an accident. I rushed to the scene. At around 2:00am, Remington was pronounced dead. I am not including any other details at this time due to how this is currently a very sorrowful time and I am also afraid that anything I post could be taken out of context and used in a hurtful manner. When I first started this blog, one of the things I did not think I would have a problem with is total and complete openess. I still do not have a problem with this and but I do have to show discretion to also protect my family. I may at some point in the future include more details of this awful night but they would not add anything to this post.

Over the past 5 days several things have stood out in my mind:
1. My strength and faith remain in the personal relationship I have with Jesus Christ. Without this, I could not have survived any of this.

2. I am blessed with not only an awesome extended family but also an awesome church family. They have picked us up and carried us in loving arms over the past days.

3. The media as a whole are solely concerned with ratings and getting people to watch. Out of the 4 organizations that I have had to talk with last week, only one was human enough to not only honor our wishes but also to remember that we are grieving and not attempt to "imply" anything to make the story more interesting.

4. The kindness of strangers still exists and in my own mind outweighs the evil mentioned above and the evil that is lurking in alot of our society.

5. Life will never again be the same for anyone in this house but not all changes are bad.

6. God is in control.........

Wordless Wednesday

The new favorite thing at my house is my tub! The girls could spend hours in it with and without bubbles!

How can you EVER say no to this face?

WOW MOM you really like us playing in here?
Zach HATES the water so he does not even want to join them!

Random Thoughts Tuesday

I need a random list this week..going to try to do an outline form.

- CVS trip yesterday..I did start with 3ECB but spent 10.38 and saved 38.63 or 79%.
- I am working between 18-24 hours a week and it is as much as I EVER want to work
- Working half days makes my life ALOT easier than trying to do longer days!
-We placed a deposit on a house in Fla for our Disney trip next year.
-I plan to save 200 a month in addition to use most if not all of our tax refund next year for this trip.
-We went shopping on Saturday and I also shopped today and I *think* except for a couple of bras and new shoes for Matt and I we have finally bought clothes for everyone
- Haley brought me home a devotional book from Life. It is awesome!
-I plan to upload pictures to Facebook from the photo shoot on Thursday..I sent out an email to my loop with Kendall pictures on and I have already scheduled a Wordless Wednesday post for tomm!

Monday Menu Post 7/12

I am working again this week, but hopefully it is starting to get under control. We ate out ALOT last week and only followed the plan 2 days but better things will happen this week I know.

Monday- Stuffed green peppers (freeze stuffing for future use)
Tuesday- Baked ziti ( previously prepared)
Wednesday- Leftover chicken casserole from Sunday and baked carrots
Thursday- Seafood night- Boiled shrimp and crab legs
Friday-? Possible night out for Mexican


Hope to post at least a couple more times this week but no promises