Woodwater Farmhouse

Can you even believe that the first month of 2015 is coming to an end?  Does it seem like it was quick or what?  It seems like just last night our family was trying to all stay up to watch the ball come down in Times Square.   This week has had it's moments.  With school and with life.   The girls started a month long money unit. We spent the week exploring coins and researching them on line.  I never knew there were so many different penny options. The backs are different on many of them.  Zachary continues right along with Geometry and our #WhereAreWeWednesday brought us to Virginia.   If you follow me on Instgram, you probably saw all my prepping for the Blizzard 2015.  Of course there was the Blizzard of 2015.  For us  (an hour North of NYC) we prepped and prepared our home and our minds for 12-24 inches and probable power outage.  Well...the storm went East and we e...

Sharing a speedy quick idea with you today for a perfect Valentine Photo Booth Backdrop .   The Dollar Tree, craft stores (use coupons) (and I am sure drug stores and grocery stores) sell packages of 10 or more of these sparkly paper hearts.  Spend the $ 1, pick an empty wall and have the kids stick them around a small area (I used blue painters tape) . Cut up a few mustaches out of construction paper and maybe an empty frame hanging around.   There you have it!  The kids had a ball posing! Happy Valentine's Day! This post may contain affiliate or sponsor links. You can see our full disclosure policy at the bottom of this blog page.

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #YoursandMine #CollectiveBias Once upon a time.....   It was Father's Day weekend in the year 2000 and I was in the throes of a nasty divorce. A single mom of a 12 year old son and a career I had to give up in order to get my life back in order.  My sister and her boyfriend were driving hours upstate to visit me and hopefully put some cheer into my weekend. Insert doorbell ring I opened the door and my sister was standing there.  She said, "I come bearing gifts." I asked, "oh what did you bring me?" (expecting a bottle of wine) She leaned to the left and motioned behind her. She said, "him". (it was my now husband) I was shocked but gladly accepted "my gift" without hesitation.  Fast forward 3 years later...we were married and over the course of another 11 years have had three beautiful childr...

Superbowl is almost here!  Although the two teams our family supports  (Vikings and the Saints)  were nowhere near qualifying - we are still excited to watch it all play out!  Our two daughers and I are just as excited as my son and husband.  I decided this year to celebrate the day with a  Pinks N Pigskins Party!    Glamming it up! A teaser of what is in store for the big game.... Can't wait to share the entire celebration with you in early February! Until next time - Be Blessed and Touchdown!

Can you believe we are in the home stretch!  Only 6 days left!  Can I get an AMEN!  How are you doing?  Has the challenge been hard?  Did you find it easy so far?  What have you done without? For us, the biggest challenge has been the weather here in NY - sounds strange I know.  It has been a rainy month which mean we don't get outside much.  In the past, that would bring us to the mall or out to lunch a few times to break up the mundane of the house.  However, with no spending, that was not an option.  We have had snow the last few days and expecting a real ringer of one Monday - Tuesday, so they have been skiing (season passes) and sledding a lot over the last few days. I wanted so bad to "redo" my laundry/boiler room but had a zero budget this month.  When cleaning out the closet I found a gallon of white interior paint. BINGO - painted and did some rearranging, moving around and "Shopping" from my other rooms...

January is almost behind us..never to be seen again for 2015. It has been a No Spend January for us and it's going great. We have had to spend a few dollars on some items but nothing above $ 20 and all were truly needed.  We will be continuing to watch our pennies until we sell the house and move into our new home.  Exciting times again!  Where Are We Wednesday brought us to Maryland this week.  We have driven through Maryland as a family and I have been to Baltimore for a weekend before.  The children also started back up on the Bricks 4 Kidz program with our homeschooling friends. Always a fun time. Snowplow build above.  The girls finished up their graphing unit with a fun challenge using the Duplo blocks.  More Osmo fun with the Ipad.  Zachary has been working on Excel updating his spread sheet each week with my grocery receipt.  Tracking my savings and spending for me. Eating healthy is a priority for the ...

Hi there and Happy Monday to you. We are observing Martin Luther King, Jr Day today with limited school and loving on daddy since he is home too!  If you are here for the first time, I suggest you go back a few posts and check out what came before this post... No Spend Challenge How did you do last week with the cut your grocery bill in half challenge?   Were you able to do it with ease or was there a lot of sacrifice?  Our Challenge Update:   So last week the boys (hubby and son) needed hair cuts. Something we don't do for the boys at home. Cost $ 40 total with tip (yikes seems like a lot to me...)  Also Zachary needed a protractor for school. Would you believe I checked the Dollar Tree and Walmart, neither of them had one. So I ordered from Amazon (at least Prime and free shipping) . Of course THEN the day after I get my $ 5 STAPLES reward emailed to me...geezz...timing huh. That's it so far...we are doin...

Images were found at this source As a mom who is ten ways to sideways always busy, I want to be able to purchase my party goods from a retailer I can trust! I want good quality for my money and I want a great deal. b udget friendly parties are my thing.   However, I never skimp on quality! I wanted to share today with you a FABULOUS deal at Bird's Party Shop for your Valentine Party with a Heart Theme !  I am over the moon excited to be able to bring this to my followers.   The nitty gritty: This printable party kit includes the following templates: * 5” x 7” Editable Party Invites - Add your own text in Adobe Reader –  Fonts cannot be changed. * Cupcake Toppers (2” round tags) * Cupcake wrappers: 2 designs (hearts and chevron) * Heart-shaped cut-outs - Perfect as cake toppers or to make a garland! * Lips shaped cut-outs - perfect as photo booth props * Rectangular Favor Tags * Tented Buffet Cards - Read "Cupid's Cupcakes", "Cupid...

Happy Friday!  It's a long weekend for us as Daddy is home on Monday in observance of MLK Jr Day.   Hoping they all get out to get skiiing and use those passes we bought last Summer!   If you did not check out the Monday post for the  #NoSpendChallenge there is still time! What's happened this week.... It's been relatively quiet on the home front. The weather has been bitter and we have not been able to do anything outside all week (boooo).  The only "outing" was their gym class on Wednesday (which comes to an end in a few weeks) .  We had a brief power outage one day and the girls decided to do some Art For Kids (without Art For Kids). Molly took charge and was teaching Sammie a tutorial she remembered from the site - drawing Anna from Frozen. It was so cute listening to Molly teach.  I am doing great on my healthy eating and exercise.  Treadmill every day and upped my incline to a 6!  Those less than perfect cookies...

Hello Monday and hello followers!  It's the second Monday in January today which means it's time for updates on the No Spend Challenge and how our family is doing. #NoSpendChallenge If you missed last Monday's post on Boredom Busters I invite you to click on over and catch up on it. There are some great ideas for you and your family for the month.  OUR FAMILY UPDATE:  I have been able to stick to the zero spending for myself and kids. Hubby had to buy some rock salt due to some snow and ice we unexpectedly received but he used a $ 5 off coupon, so for that I was proud of him.  The children seem to be unaffected for the most part. Asking for delivery pizza a few times (that's when mom breaks out the DiGiorno pizza that I bought on sale a few weeks ago) but for the most part, they have been great about not asking for anything.  Still on a Christmas high from the Minecraft LEGO sets and new DS games, which helps.  This week I wanted t...

So happy to be back sharing our week with you. We took much of December "off" of traditional schooling and Collage Friday posts.  I wanted to create an environment for us all that was less stressful than ever before!  Guess what?  It worked! Me and my BFF  Our traditional learning consisted of learning the lineage of Jesus with the help of Ann Vosscamp's book - Unwrapping the Greatest Gift. If you have never heard of it, I encourage you to check it out. So many great extras at her site also! It's on a great sale right now at Amazon!  This post contains affiliate links. I am so excited about No Spend January again! #NoSpendChallenge  I have not spent a dime on anything other than weekly groceries.  Hubby had to buy some rock salt for the snowy driveway, but used a coupon!  If you want to join me and others, you still can!  There are posts to help you prepare and every Monday there is a post that will help y...