A few of my good friends, and moms of A LOT of kids, have decided to live blog their day, so the world can see how moms of many manage. I know of a few of these women in real life and they are amazing! If you have a minute today stop by their blogs and see how a big family operates. Having a big family is fun and crazy, so I am sure this will be better than any reality tv!

Connie from Smockity Frocks: Mom of 7 and 1 on the way

Kimberly from Raising Olives: Mom of 9 and 1 on the way

Kim from Life in a Shoe: Mom of 9 and 1 on the way

Deputy Headmistress from the Common Room: Mom of 9

Last weekend I attended the Apologia Live Mom’s Conference with my friends Crystal and Crystal. To say it was an encouraging, refreshing weekend would be an understatement. The conference had everything, from great worship led by Anne MacCallum, to great speakers, to great food, the folks at Apologia really know how to host a quality event.

The theme of the conference was Standing Strong and the various speakers tackled different topics like Standing Strong for Your Marriage, Standing Strong for His Glory, Standing Strong with Teens, Standing Strong in Prayer and several more. Each speaker was so engaging, I felt like I was being encouraged by a friend in each of the sessions.

During the conference, a few of the speakers graciously sat down to chat with me. Even spending a short amount of time with these women was amazing! I left each interview with a refreshed vision and desire to serve my family.

Rachael Carman is an amazing woman whose face lights up when she talks about her children. I spent time with her and her family throughout the weekend and they were truly delightful. I asked her about the pressure homeschooling moms sometimes feel to graduate successful kids and what words of encouragement she had to help them trust God in the journey. She shared with me several stories about her own children, and explained that it was evident their successes were only because of God’s grace. She said she had learned over and over that often times God showed His plan to her children in spite of her, rather than because of her.

She gave me a copy of her book SoundBites from Heaven: What God Wants Us to Hear When We Talk to Our Kids and I look forward to reading it after I finish the Bible in 90 Days.

I have to admit I was a little nervous about meeting Zan Tyler for the first time. I have been reading her homeschooling articles since I started homeschooling and consider her a homeschooling pioneer. After meeting her I immediately felt at ease, as if I was talking with an old friend. We discussed the early days of homeschooling, the direction it is headed now, and some of her homeschooling memories. What amazes me about Zan is that even though she has finished homeschooling her own children, she continues to be a leader in the homeschool movement. While many mom’s happily take a (well-deserved) break, Zan keeps on leading, influencing, and encouraging homeschool families.

I asked her how she would encourage moms who are growing weary during the long days of winter and she had some great practical advice. Get out of the house. She encouraged homeschooling moms to take a few field trips, exchange childcare with another family, or just do something to break up with routine. After spending several months inside the house during the winter, a change of pace can be a good thing.

On Saturday I sat down and had a long chat with Debra Bell. Deb (and, yes I can call her Deb because we are friends now) is the author of The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling. If you are considering homeschooling, new to homeschooling, have been homeschooling for years, or know a homeschooler I would encourage you to read this book. Deb is smart, funny, engaging, and best of all she is the real deal!

Deb spoke on Standing Strong with Teenagers, and as a mom of two teenagers, I was excited to learn from someone who has four homeschool graduates. One thing that really impressed me was that all of Deb’s children were serving overseas or in the inner cities of America. I asked Deb if there was anything she did to help cultivate an adventurous spirit in her children. She told me that she did not homeschool her children to protect them but rather to prepare them for life after homeschooling. Those words are still in the forefront of my mind days after our chat. While I do want to protect my kids from certain worldly influences, my true desire is to prepare them for a life beyond this home. Many days I lose sight of that goal, because protecting is so much easier than preparing.

Debra also encouraged homeschooling moms to involve their families in a local co-op or homeschooling program. Every family has strengths and weaknesses, and joining other families helps give your child a well-rounded education. I felt relieved to know someone else taught her kids art, while she taught writing to other homeschoolers. It was a great reminder that we are not alone in this journey.

Deb’s new book, The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling Teens come out next month. I am sure this book will be a wonderful resource for the homeschooling family and you can count on a book review from me this summer.

I cannot wait for the next Apologia Live conference. The timing was absolutely perfect, as many homeschooling moms start looking longingly at June right about now. I am thankful for my renewed desire to finish the year strong and excited about the future of our homeschooling.

Silas had a great time at the conference!

The food was delicious and there was plenty of it!

After a crazy weekend I feel like we are finally settling back into our routine. Monday and Tuesday my goal was to eat all the leftovers to clean out the fridge in preparation for my big shopping trip.

Monday

Breakfast was leftover pancakes, cereal, and oatmeal. Lunch was leftovers and sandwiches. Dinner was leftovers from our turkey dinner the night before as well as the remains of the pork roast from last week.

Tuesday

For breakfast I made whole wheat pancakes. Lunch was my final attempt to rid my fridge of the leftovers, we had turkey, nacho bake, apples, cantalope. My daughter also created a new (to us) meal of pancakes and peanut butter. That girl will eat anything with peanut butter!

During lunch I put the turkey carcass on the stove top to boil in order to get the rest of the meat off the bones and make broth. I also made a turkey pot pie for dinner. I was almost out of flour so the pie only had a top crust.

We also discovered this week that Cora likes stuffing.

I left for a grocery shopping trip and forgot to mention to anyone that the broth on the stove needed to be watched. A few hours later I called home and asked them to turn the stove off. When I returned home all the broth/ water had boiled off and all the turkey was burned into the pot! I was so disappointed! All that wasted broth and meat!

Dinner was turkey pot pie. Pot pie is a favorite at our house and there are never leftovers! This time I experimented and made a crust that was 50% whole wheat. I still have a really hard time rolling out a whole wheat crust, any suggestions?

I love serving pot pie because it is an all-in-one meal. Grains, meat, and veggies all in one dish!

Coming up next: My big shopping trip!

Don’t forget to visit Jen and Kate and see what they are up to this week. Kate had a FAIL as well, I don’t feel too bad about the turkey broth!

It is no secret I love Outback! We don’t eat there often, but it is one of our family’s favorite restaurants. I was thrilled to find out that Outback is serious about supporting our troops. During the month of March all active duty and veterans will receive a FREE Bloomin’ Onion at their local participating Outback Steakhouse.

If you aren’t in the military you can help Outback in their efforts to support our troops by ordering off the Red, White and Bloomin’ menu.

My last Commissary shopping trip was on March 2 and I spent $157. Since then we have made two other trips to pick up a few groceries.

DH’s Commissary trip:
2 packs baby wipes $7.68
2 packs diapers $16.98
Pull-ups $9.59
Bread $1.88
2 Nasal Spray $5.50
2 gallons milk $4.30
Orange juice $4.99
Flowers $9.95
Coupons $4.50
Total – $59.39

My Aldi trip:
Eggs $1.35
Hot dog buns $0.85
Romaine Hearts $1.99
2 gallons milk $6
Hamburger buns $0.85
Ice Cream $5
Spaghetti sauce $1.19
Syrup $1.49
Bananas $1.43
Total $20.12

Total for the month $237.18

What’s on Sale at the Commissary

3/11- 3/24

Betty Crocker Cookie Mix $1.25 ($0.40/1 printable coupon)

Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks $1.50 ($0.50/2 printable coupon)

Betty Crocker Cake Mix $.89 ($0.50/2 printable coupon when you buy cake mix and frosting)

Better Crocker Frosting $0.99 ($0.50/2 printable coupon when you buy cake mix and frosting)

Challenge Butter $2.25 (($0.55/1 printable coupon)

Gain Detergent 48 load $6.99 ($1/1  Red Plum insert 3/21)

Green Giant Frozen Vegetables $0.89 ($0.50/1 printable coupon)

Gold Medal Flour $1.25 ($0.75/1 printable -no longer available to print)

Hillshire Farm Lunch Meat $1.99 ( $1/2 printable coupon)

Kraft Deli Deluxe Cheese $2.00 ($1/1 printable coupon)

Motts Applesauce $1.39 6 pack

Nature Valley Granola Bar $1.75 ($0.40/1 printable coupon)

Oscar Mayer Lunchables — $1.00 ($1/1 Oscar Mayer Lunchables printable / you must sign up to get the coupon)

Philadelphia Cream Cheese –$1.29 ($0.55/1 Philadelphia Cream Cheese printable)

Playtex Tampons $2.02 ($.50/1 Smart Source insert 3/14)

Post Honey Bunches of Oats $1.50 ($1/2 Smart Source insert 3/14)

Right Guard Deodorant $1.50-$2.50 ($1.50/1 printable coupon)

Suave Shampoo or Conditioner $0.89 ($1/2 Smart Source 3/14)

Yoplait Yogurt $1.79 ($0.50/1 printable coupon)

Coupons.com has a great $1/1 printable coupon McCormick’s coupon available. Even though McCormick’s in not on sale at the Commissary right now, print the coupon for future savings, or use it on one of the many McCormick’s products that are under $1.

Check back every two weeks for more Commissary coupon match-ups!

Thanks to Faithful Provisions for notifying me about several of the above deals.

Amazon is offering a Free One Month Trial of Amazon Prime. Everyone I know who has Amazon Prime, loves it, so if you are interested in checking it out, now you can try it for free!

My friend The Thrifty Mama also found 88 oz of  Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Raw Blue Agave on sale at Amazon for $13.78 (including shipping) when you use the subscribe and save option. I usually pay about $7 for 23 oz at my local Whole Foods, so this is a great deal!

I love using my Swagbucks to purchase food on sale at Amazon, I am basically getting my groceries for free!

Remember last month when I told you how much I loved my hometown of Orlando, Florida? Well ten finalists have been chosen and it is time to vote for the Single Best Town in America. I have to admit, when I visited the contest website I got sucked in reading about these towns. It seems I am not the only one who has a love for my hometown.

Even if you didn’t make it into the finals, you can still win a $125 Amex gift card on The Happy Housewife. To enter the giveaway, go vote for your Single favorite town of the ten semifinalists then leave a comment and tell me what your single best afternoon looks like in your own hometown.  I will randomly pick two winners on March 23, 2010.

I have partnered with KRAFT Foods to help promote the “Single Best Town” in America program.  I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program, which includes writing about my own hometown experiences and hosting a giveaway where the prize has been provided by KRAFT Singles.  However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.

Sorry for the lack of updates, my week was crazy! As I was writing this post in my mind, I kept thinking of ways to explain why we were so off course this past week – but then I realized that life is always changing and nobody sticks with the plan every single week!

Wednesday

Buzz turned 8 and we celebrated with his favorite cereal for breakfast, Honeycomb. Since we didn’t have a party for him we decided to take the family to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. Let me just say that this is NOT typical for our family, but we had coupons, and they give 15 free tokens if you have good grades, so I printed out our report cards and we headed out around lunch time. The restaurant was deserted and they kids had a great time.

For dinner we grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and had leftover potato salad, chips, and apples on the side. For dessert, birthday cake!

Thursday

I cannot remember what we had for breakfast… . For lunch it was sandwiches and leftovers. I had the pleasure of hosting some of my good friends for dinner. I made whole wheat pizza, and I think I even convinced Andrea that whole wheat crust tastes pretty good!

On Thursday night Erin and I headed out to Safeway to pick up a few ingredients for her chicken tortilla soup. She was doing a segment on our local Fox News the next morning and we needed a few extra ingredients. It was fun to hit the grocery store with one of my favorite money saving bloggers. She pointed out a few sales coupon match-ups and left me wishing she lived near-by!

photo courtesy of The Thrifty Mama

Friday

Breakfast was whole wheat waffles. We ended up eating breakfast late, so when I left for the Apologia Live conference my family was just starting to make lunch. I left the ingredients for nacho bake for dinner, but when I came home late that evening there were the remains of Dominos pizza in the fridge. .

Saturday

Breakfast was a leftovers and assorted cereal.

I was gone all day at the Apologia conference but it was reported that my family dined on leftovers and finally made the nacho bake for dinner.

Sunday

Breakfast was cereal, oatmeal, and toast. With daylight savings everyone had a hard time waking up and didn’t have time for a large breakfast.

Lunch was leftovers, and while everyone was eating I finally got that turkey in the oven!

Dinner was turkey, served with make ahead mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and cornbread. I ended up with a lot of leftover turkey, so I will probably freeze what I don’t use up this week.

Cora had a fun weekend with her new friend Silas! Now if only Silas could get Cora to be a better eater!

Don’t forget to visit the other 3 Moms and read about their kitchen adventures. Jen has a great post on grocery shopping on a budget and Kate celebrated a birthday last week too!

This is probably the easiest recipe I make. I have served it for large parties, potlucks, groups of kids, and everyone loves it!  This easy recipe takes less than 5 minutes of prep time!

BBQ Pork in a Crock Pot

Ingredients

• 1 boneless pork roast
• 1 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar

Spray crock pot with non stick spray. Add pork roast. Add worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Cook on high for 1 hour, then on low for 5 hours. Pork roast is finished when it falls apart. I use a fork to shred the roast and serve on whole wheat rolls.

Note: If using a very large roast, add more worcestershire sauce and brown sugar.

For more delicious recipes visit Tasty Tuesday.