Sam's New Scripture Bag

Sam inherited (read found on the floor and claimed as his own) an old Book of Mormon from Matt. He really wanted a scripture bag like some of the other kids who go to church with us. So, I made him one yesterday. I think it turned out so cute!

I used navy duck cloth and this flannel with cartoon-y missionaries, letters, and etc all over it. I put his name on the bottom right of one side of the bag (above) and a huge pocket on the other side (below). Inside there is a huge pocket made out of duckcloth too - mostly to keep the flannel from sticking together. It's just wide enough to hold a regular piece of paper and plenty big for his Book of Mormon.
And once I started taking pics, Zack needed to be in on the action too (hording cars and trains in his hands of course). Here are these cute brothers.

Hooray for Brownies

My sweet neighbor, Erika, gave me this cookbook for my birthday. I'm pretty sure I blogged about this before, but it's fabulous.

I tried the brownie recipe last night and it was DELICIOUS! Zack can eat them too! Really, you should make them. The batter is really thick, so you don't think they will turn out, but they do. The texture is right and they are chocolately yummy delicious. Plus... they have to be better for you than the regular recipe, right?

Here's the recipe (recipe and photo credit to www.foodallergymama.com - or just click the link)

Brownies

½ c. dairy free shortening

1 c. granulated sugar

½ c. silken tofu

1 tsp. vanilla

2/3 c. unbleached all purpose flour

½ c. cocoa

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. salt

½ c. dairy free mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8 inch square baking dish coated with dairy free baking spray.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine shortening, sugar, tofu and vanilla thoroughly. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt with a wire whisk. Add to the shortening mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

Spread batter into prepared baking pan and bake 30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely and dust with confectioner’s sugar.

Yield: 16 bars

Now, when I gave them to Zack (his FIRST brownies ever!), I have to admit to being overly sappy about the whole thing. And I documented it. From the first "here ya go" to the last smile.

"Show me your brownie!"

And in it goes.

and chewing...YUM! He loves them!

What you can't hear is that right after I took this pic, Zack said, "More yum?"

Money Tip #2

This is probably one of the best kept secrets...

http://personalfinance.byu.edu

Go there. Dr. Sudweeks, a Marriott school professor from BYU, has put his ENTIRE personal finance course, BYU 418, online for free. You can click on links to learn more about debt, credit, the securities market, investing, insurance (life, home, etc), tax planning, cash management, budgeting, and on and on.

He has the information broken down in two ways. The first is by lessons. You just click on the subject matter you want to learn more about. The second is by courses. He recommends fulfilling a certain course for a certain age. There is a "course" for high school students, college freshman, returned missionaries, newlyweds and single adults, retirement planning, investing, and a few more.

Check it out.

ARG

Just found out that certain brands of TACO SEASONING like this one that I stocked up on when they were on sale in September...

have MILK in them in the form of whey.

INGREDIENTS:
SPICES (INCLUDING CHILI PEPPER, CUMIN, OREGANO, AND RED PEPPER), ONION, WHEY SOLIDS (MILK), SALT, SUGAR, PAPRIKA, GARLIC, POTATO STARCH, AND CITRIC ACID.

I forget sometimes to read ingredients lists on items that should NOT have dairy in them! (Like deli meat... yep. in the form of lactic acid or sodium lactate). ARG.

No wonder this little monkey has felt a little more like this lately.

Sam's PIRATE Party

As you may recall, I have a little guy who turned 4 in November. We had the COOLEST Pirate Party for him! Here's some of the decor (that I scored for 80% off at Michaels...)


We enlisted two pirates to help (aka my brother Jake and his friend Jared)
First, the kids decorated pirate tambourines. I had drawn a pirate girl or boy on one plate and their names on the other plate. Jared oversaw this activity.
Thanks Jared!
Jake was just waiting for kids to line up for the treasure toss.
While Jared ran the WALKING THE PLANK game.
Sam loved walking the plank.
Poor planning on my part. I thought these games would take about 30 minutes and then I would do an activity with them. Well... it was more like 15.
We gathered our little pirates and practiced saying "ARG!" and making hooks with our hands, "jumping" from ship to ship, "crawling" around to find treasure... etc.
Basically anything I could think of that would take up time. We listened to "A Pirate Says Arrrrrr!" (fabulous song) as well as some Pirates of the Caribbean music.
Then came Pin the Patch on the Pirate
Sam went first
And our pirate was covered with patches by the end of the game.
We still had a little time to kill before cupcakes and presents, so we played more treasure toss (in the background of this pic), walking the plank, and playing with our tunnel.
Time for cupcakes!This fam pic is so-so... but it's the only one of all three of us. (Z slept through most of the party)
The kiddos loved these chocolate cupcakes...
... especially this cute little girl. She's the one with the same allergies as Zack. This was the very first birthday party she's ever been to where she could eat the cupcakes! She took a few very small bites and then told me that she wanted to take it home and eat a little bit all day long. How cute that she wanted to make it last!
After presents... well... we still had about 15 minutes left. So, I read them a pirate book that Sam opened from Marley. (Phfew! Thanks for saving me, Marcie!)
Then, we acted out the book.
With gusto.
Zack woke up and wasn't so sure about all these people in his house...
After acting out the book, we played hokey pokey.
Sam got really into it.
All in all, it was quite fun. Happy birthday, little PIRATE!

Money Tip #1

As many of you know, I just presented to our ward and neighborhood on budgeting and personal finance. My head is teeming with facts, tips, and advice.... so I thought I would share a tip each day or two days so that anyone interested can incorporate them into your financial life as well.

So, here we go.

Money Tip #1

CREATE A MONTHLY FINANCIAL MAP.

Basically, this is a sheet of paper that tracks your monthly automatic withdrawals, deposits, payments, etc. It tells you exactly

WHAT and
HOW MUCH
comes out of
WHERE and
WHEN.

Mine looks something like this

1 - mortgage (checking) $1000
2 - questar (checking) $30
7 - auto (checking) $300
9 - amex bill (checking) $500
15 - payday (savings) +$2000
19 - comcast (amex) $80
25 - verizon (checking) $80
28 - student loan (checking) $200
30 - payday (savings) +$2000

Obviously, I changed the info and numbers, but you get the idea.

So, make one today. Keep it on your desk, by your computer, in your office or wherever you pay bills. No longer wonder when something will hit what account, etc. Do it now!

I even uploaded my worksheet into a google document. Just click, print out, and fill out. You're one step closer to good money management. You know where your money is going.

"It's almost impossible to live within your means if you have no idea where your money is going." June Walbert, financial planner

The Unspoken Visiting Teaching Rule

Visiting Teaching visits should last between 30 - 60 minutes.


This rule was shattered last night when I didn't get home until 9:45pm. The culprit? My companion. Arg.


(I know I have so much to post. Maybe I should just ignore it all and start fresh since Bel already posted about Christmas... ???)

Budgeting and Personal Finance.... HELP!

(Disclaimer: I have already asked for and received so many WONDERFUL tips via email from so many of you frugal and financially responsible people out there, so thanks!)

I have been asked to head up our "relief society meeting" this month (aka enrichment) on Budgeting and Personal Finance with an emphasis on both the importance of budgeting (and how) and how to save more and spend less.

So, blogger friends, any ideas? I would love to hear what works for you and your family, how you handle finances, who does the budgeting, if you use a budget - what you use, ideas how to spend less and/or save more... etc! Leave a comment or email me...

The presentation is in 11 days!

Oh, and it's supposed to be FORTY minutes long... HELP!