Spring Break in T-minus 1 day...

That's right. Spring Break totally crept up on me this year. Tomorrow is the last day of school before Spring Break and my husband is going to be working all of it. No trips for us.

So what's a family to do? Actually, what is a mom and two boys to do???

Stay-cation 2012!

We live in a semi rural area, about an hour from Houston, so hanging out in Houston isn't really an option for us for the week.

I did some research into our area, Brazoria County, and found several things the three of us can do for a little moolah. Here is what we have on deck.....

• a day at the beach
• planetarium evening
• our local museum
• picnic at the park and playground
• roller skating at Skating America
• a trip to Moody Gardens in Galveston
• strawberry picking in Alvin
• living room camp outs

It's going to be a fun week!

Teacher Appreciation Gift 2012

This year, Caleb has 3 teachers and Jansen has 1.

Always thinking ahead, in this case to May, it is time to start working on Teacher Appreciation. Since I am the PTO President this year, I am thinking about things that we can do for our faculty as a whole, but while doing that, I need to put together something for my childrens' teachers from my boys.

I wanted to combine something cute with something practical, and with buying for 4 and then three weeks later buying an End of Year gifts for them all, this needs to be inexpensive yet heartfelt and usable.

While browsing for ideas, I came across this SITE, which is perfect for our school. These teachers live on Sonic drinks, especially at Happy Hour. She has provided a ton of printables that would be great for teacher gifts, so check it out. There are so many more options than just Sonic printables.

This afternoon, I made the first one:

Basically, I printed out the cute saying,

put it in an inexpensive frame,

made some paper rosettes,

and hot glued them to the frame.

Tomorrow I will go purchase Sonic gift cards, and they will be tied to the frame with ribbon. Perfect combination of cute and practical :)

I think I am going to make some of these up with gift cards for the office workers for End of Year gifts as well.

One down and three to go, and gifts for Teacher Appreciation week are done :)

Come on Spring!!!!!!

This is what I love about Spring....

too bad it has been rainy and overcast for about 3 weeks. I need some sunshine in the worst way!!!! My spirits are depressed, and I need to have some light to get me in the Spring Cleaning and Beautifying mood :)

Our winter has been short, warm, and rainy. I am so over it! Let's move on shall we?!

More grocery store progress

Last month, I was so excited to share my grocery store success, spending $162.

Today, I continue to make progress with shopping the sales and using coupons.

My haul today came to a grand total of $113!!!!

This didn't really include toiletries, mainly because I shopped at HEB today and it is tiny. It never carries the shampoos, conditioners, body washes, razors, etc that we like the most.

Score 1 point for this mom!!!

A miracle or a milestone...not sure which....

I am sure that most of you couples out there have mates that are very different from you. There is always one person who is the saver, and one person who is the spender. In our family, I am the saver and my husband is the spender.

It is always difficult to get the other person on your side....probably as difficult as it would be to get you on their side. But yesterday, after 11 years of marriage....it clicked. Yesterday, I brought my husband to my financial spreadsheet and he bought into it. We openly discussed our finances, our income, and our debts, and we collectively came to an agreement on how we are going to tackle our debt.

Often times people fight about money and it never really goes anywhere. That has been us. We don't really fight about money because we don't really talk about it. And THAT has been our downfall. It's very difficult when the couple is not on the same page....but when you see it in black and white on paper....it is a real eye opener.

Yesterday, we updated the spreadsheet, got our refund, and paid off our Dell bill, our couches that we bought last year, and a credit card. It's nice to see that we can come together and work toward a common goal. Miracle, or milestone....I don't care, it is progress!

Filling a camper

Now that the camper is tucked away at home, we are ready to go camping. My husband will be working graveyards all of Spring Break, except for the last three days of it. Those three days, we are planning to take a quick trip back to Jellystone for the camper's maiden voyage.

Now, what are some things that you would need to keep in a camper? Basically, all the same things you need in your home. It is your home away from home, after all. And since we have spent all our money on the down payment, I am left with a teeny, tiny supplies budget.

Thank goodness for our local facebook page: Beg, Barter, Buy, and Sell in Brazoria County. This is an online garage sale site for our area, where I can sell our unused items and purchase other things we might need.

So this weekend, I have been selling a few things that we no longer need, the kids have outgrown, etc, and have found several things that we need for camping.

Here is my list:

• Queen sheet (we only have a king size bed at home)
• 2 pillows
• Queen comforter and sheets
• 2 twin sheets
• 2 blankets
• 2 pillows
• towels
• BBQ utensils
• silverware
• plates
• bowls
• cups
• pots and pans
• potholders
• toaster
• bath mats
• welcome mat
• laundry hamper
• one of those long lighter thingies to light the stove and oven
• toiletries (toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, dishwashing liquid, extra shampoo, etc)

So I have been browsing the site and came up with many things on the list for a very, very inexpensive price. The rest I am hoping to scavenge some things in our closets, long forgotten, and what's left, I will be taking a trip this week to a few of our resale shops to look through their selection. One of our resale shops usually has a pretty extensive selection of kitchen items...but I have never noticed how much plastic ware they have.

Plastic....it's how you roll in a camper!

Proud owners of a travel trailer....

Oh my goodness....we are now the proud owners of a Sprinter travel trailer!

My husband came home from graveyards at 6am and was up at 8 to head to League City to pick up our new home away from home. We are very excited!!!

Josh did a great job driving it home and getting into my parents' driveway. They are so generously letting us store the camper there until we can decide what we are going to be doing...either pouring an extra driveway here at our house, or paying a monthly storage fee.

Here it is!!!

We are already planning a quick trip at Spring Break to Jellystone, and will more than likely be taking the new camper to Canyon Lake this summer for our vacation.

Feeling blessed and happy!