Making Mom Friends

When you become a mother your whole world changes. In fact from the beginning of your pregnancy or start of the adoption process is when it starts. Suddenly every aspect of your life has changed, you care less about yourself and more about this tiny little person that will soon enter your life. During the process your friendships will change drastically. When that tiny little bundle of joy does make its arrival your life is even more devoted to caring for them. So lets face it, we can tend to rarely leave the house. So with your life so different and the sheer fact that your schedule kinda revolves around baby how do you make friends?

For me there were two places that I found to really make Mom friends! The first place is...

When I was pregnant with my second I found a website called baby center. They have a community that has groups that are for people due in the same month as you. So I joined, from there a Facebook group was created and I joined there as well and have been able to form some lasting friendships with people around the country. You have to be careful when doing this but they have actual mom out there who are not just some creepers trolling behind a computer. Look on baby center or search Facebook for local mom groups that have meet ups.

The second place I have found that I have meet the majority of my mom friend is...

Church!! Its such a great place to meet friends. When I first decided to start going to church I had just had my first baby and really had no friends. We started attending church regularly and would get to service early to have some fellowship time. I quickly meet a good group of women and started building friendships with them. We meet up outside of church and have playdates, we text throughout the week and encourage one another. I can't imagine life with out my mom friends I meet through church!

To find Online Groups

www.babycenter.com

www.facebook.com

To find a local church search on Facebook or

www.google.com

PTO

PTO or Parent Teacher Organization those are words that can be overwhelming and scary for a mom. What is PTO? What do they do? Are PTO moms mean? I myself had the preconceived notion that the PTO was full of those "mean moms" who were the "Pinterest Perfect" moms and judged every mom who wasn't like them. I aways thought I wouldn't be welcome because I had my first child when I was 20 so I am considered a younger mom. So for years I was absolutely terrified of the PTO. I always wanted to go, I desperately wanted to be involved in my kids school but I just couldn't work up the nerve to go. So finally when my oldest was in 3rd grade I decided to give it a shot. If its terrible then I never have to go again. I went to my first meeting and I absolutely loved it! Boy was I 100% wrong about what it would be like. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. The meeting wasn't to long, they didn't twist my arm into committing to anything and it felt great to know what was going on and be involved. So the moral of the story here, don't ever judge anything before trying it first. If you have been like I was and afraid of judgment, don't be! We are all moms just trying to do the best we can and everyone understands that. There is no better way to be involved in your kids school than volunteering in their class and also going to the PTO meetings! Also our PTO does a gift card giveaway at every meeting and last time I WON!!! YAY ME!!

To find your schools PTO you can go to the schools website or message your child teacher for all the PTO details.

Aldi

Aldi!!! Where have you been all my motherhood journey!! This place is amazing. I began shopping at Aldi when I first became a mom 9 years ago simply because we were young parent and we were flat broke. It was ok, I didn't really like it because they didn't have a great selection. our local store was also very dated and just overall wasn't the best. So as soon as I could afford to I dropped shopping at Aldi like a hot potato. However over the past couple years I have notice Aldi stores start taken on a complete overhaul, updating the exterior of the store. This intrigued me so I decided to give it another go.

A few weeks ago I got brave, found my quarter packed up the baby and headed out to our local Aldi. I had heard great things but was still wasn't expecting much. We got to the store and the first thing I noticed were really nice shopping carts with two seats! This is amazing in and of itself for any mom with more than one little! Even if you have on now there is a awesome spot for your diaper bag that is easily accessible. So it was off to a good start. I got into the store and was even more impressed, they have so much of a better selection on everything!! But especially kids stuff and at AMAZING prices! There little journeys diapers are only $12.49 a box and they are great, no leaks and no irritations for my little guy. They have organic food pouches for 79 cents, they have super cheap wipes, a great price on Almond milk, I could go on and on. (The organic and gluten free selection is great)  I am a meal planner and so I went in with a list. I was able to get everything on my list to feed my family of 6 for a week and only spent $68 including diapers! So if you haven'y tried Aldi out or its been a really long time i say give it a try. While we are much much better off financially now I still love to save money and can't pass up a good deal. Aldi is officially my new favorite place to snag groceries for my family.

 

Find your local Aldi- https://storelocator.aldi.us/Presentation/AldiSued/en-us/Start

Farmers Market

Farmers Markets are awesome! This weekend my family spent sometime at the farmers market just waling around. Now we live in a small town so our farmers market is not huge by any means, but it is still fun. We had a ton of fun talking to the kids about the local produce! We had a few sample and even bought 12lbs of tomatoes and made and canned homemade salsa!! Such an fun way to spend time together.


Here is an awesome website to find a local farmers market to check out-

http://www.localfarmmarkets.org

Grocery Shopping With Kids

Grocery shopping with kids! Why do I ever think this is a good idea?? It can turn out ok, but on the other hand it can be completely and utterly terrible! We get there get everyone unloaded from the van(which is a task itself) and get started. Then it usually never fails that someone has to pee urgently. So we truck our way over to the bathroom and I flag down a worker to make sure they know I am leaving the cart but I will be right back. Then I have to get the baby out and all 4 kids and I head into the bathroom. 

When we finally get done with that ordeal and get back to shopping is when the whining and asking for things starts! "How much do we have to get?" "Can I have a lunchable?" Can we get chips?" "Can I have a toy?" "Mom Derrick touched me!" "Mom Natalie is standing in my spot" and so on. The Check out.. oh man check out! Why do they put all this candy in the checkout lane? All of a sudden everyone just HAS TO HAVE candy.  That exactly what you need kid.. more sugar.. nope, not happening.  But Seriously why do I ever think this is a good idea. Between all that and trying to stop the hungry 9 month old from licking the bottom dirt spot on the watermelon, it leaves me exhausted! I can't be alone in this?? 

If you feel the same way or have any helpful tips on grocery shopping with kids leave a comment below!

Teach Your Kids to Pray

Prayer is a very important aspect of life as a follower of Christ. My husband and I are Children's Pastors at our church. We truly believe that you teach your kids about prayer. This is something that is so important for us to be doing in our homes as parents. So how do we teach our kids to pray?


 The main thing we focus on is Prayer is just talking to God. God is completely approachable and He is our heavenly father! There isn't some carefully calculated formula that you have to say just the right words for Him to hear you. Just talk to him. When they understand this they won't say "I can't pray, I don't know how." It also eases some fear they may have that they won't do this whole prayer thing right.

Secondly we lead by example. We make sure they see us praying. We pray for each other every day throughout the day. If someone shares a prayer request with me or the Lord places someone in particular on my heart to pray for, I will gather the kids and have them pray with me. We pray every single night before bed as a family and when we do this we give the kids turns to pray if they would like. We also ask them if there is anyone or anything they want to pray for.

Train up a child in the way he should go,

And when he is old he will not depart from it.- Proverbs 22:6 NKJV

Whats for Dinner?

Dinner time can be a struggle for me. I have a very active 9 month old little guy who seems to be super needy as soon as it is time to make dinner. So I am constantly on the look out for awesome recipes! Last night I made a super easy and budget friendly sausage, peppers, onion and potato bake! You guys should seriously try it out! I also whipped up a quick batch of roasted tomatoes just because i was feeling extra suzy homemakery! (thats totally a word I just made up!!)


Here is the Sausage Bake Recipe-

http://postris.com/popular-pin/48887/49/repins/30/780/

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

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Ingredients-

4 Tomatoes 

Olive oil

Garlic powder

Italian seasoning

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Directions-

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Wash tomatoes and cut into quarters

3.  Toss tomatoes with enough oil to give them a nice coating and place them in a baking dish cut side up.

4. Sprinkle the tops of tomatoes with italian seasoning and garlic powder and bake in oven for 30-45 minutes checking them every 15 minutes to be sure they don't burn.

5.  Remove from oven let cool slightly and serve warm.