First of all, if you didn’t know this about me already….my maiden name was Hamm.  (This is where you get to elbow each other and grin when you think I’m not looking and say, “Hamm?  Her maiden name was Hamm?!”)

(If you think that’s funny…listen to this.  My brother married a girl who’s last name was Egging.  Yes, brought together in Holy Matrimony…Hamm and Egging.)

Anyway, none of that is important except for the fact that for the reunion we’re getting together with the Hamm side of the family, and the event has been named the “Hamm Bash”. 

And that is what I’m very grateful for this Gratituesday!  The Hamm Bash!

It’s a reunion of my dad’s siblings (he’s the youngest of nine) and all of their families.  So there are aunts and uncles and cousins and kids and babies all over the place.  It’s a blast.  

We have a pinata every year for the kids, an auction, we sing together, eat tons of yummy food, catch up on the year and do a lot of laughing. 

I’m so looking forward to it…and also so sad I can hardly stand to think about it.  There will be two empty seats this year where my cousins Gary and Kim were supposed to sit. 

Between last year’s Hamm Bash and this one, I’ve become so much closer to my cousins Kim, Jayme, Sally and Laura through blogging.  Starting about March, I began looking forward to the Hamm Bash SO MUCH…picturing how we’d all see each other and run to each other and hug and scream and start talking about silly blogging stuff.

And then Gary and Kim were killed…and all the rest of us got to see each other a month early.  While we did run to each other…it was a much different kind of reunion than the one I had pictured. 

Because the Hamm Bash is where I met and got to know Kim…the thought of her and Gary not being there hurts so badly my stomach aches. 

So this reunion will be different.  Being together with our family will mean so much more.  The hugs will be tighter.  The songs will be sung with more feeling.  The conversation will mean more. 

I have the most wonderful family in the world.  Being with them is always so encouraging.

I can’t get there fast enough.
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Please link up and share what you’re grateful for this Gratituesday!

Well, I wonder how Organizing Junkie is getting along on this, her second day of being unplugged?!  I’ll bet she’s having a great time on her vacation with her family (even if she is having computer withdrawals)!  I’m interested to know what’s on her vacation menu…. 

In the meantime, I am super honored and excited to host Menu Plan Monday here at Heavenly Homemakers! 

I was terribly sick all last week, and I’m feeling much better, just a bit low on energy still.  Therefore, as I was planning the meals this week, I asked my boys, “What meals sound good for YOU to make this week?!” 

I made the mistake of asking this question right at bedtime, so they felt like they really should stay up later and keep on helping Mommy plan the meals (”Wait, we still need to think of more…”). 

Here’s what we came up with together:

Sunday, June 29
Oatmeal
Sloppy joes, fruit
Frozen fruit milk shakes

Monday, June 30
Applesauce muffins, bananas
Ham and cheese melts, grapes
Cheesy beef and rice, green beans

Tuesday, July 1
Whole wheat pancakes
Tuna salad on tortillas, watermelon
Deer steak, steamed carrots, peas

Wednesday, July 2
Scrambled eggs, oranges
Nachos, cantaloupe
Shepherds pie, tossed salad

Thursday, July 3-Saturday July 5.…we’re headed to Oklahoma for another family reunion.  We’ll pack sandwiches for the road and about 37 other snacks since that’s what the boys think we do on trips.    Once we’re there, I’m not sure what’s planned…but I’m guessing it involves lots of hot dogs, hamburgers, salads…and I KNOW there will be homemade ice cream!

How about you?  Do you have lots of yummy weekend plans?

What’s on your menu this week? 
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In a couple of my previous posts about spending money on good food and feeling good about it (you can read them here and here)…some of you asked what we cut out of our regular budget in order to be able to afford paying for healthy food.

Here are a few things I can think of…

*Cable TV
We’ve never had or paid for cable, and the three channels that we mostly, sometimes get on our TV are enough.  We don’t watch much TV anyway, and if we paid for cable I think we’d feel obligated to watch more to get our money’s worth.  Hey, we’re able to watch Cyber Chase…what more could we want?

*Pets
I know some of you LOVE your pets, and that’s just fine with me.  Neither Matt nor I have ever been big fans of pets of any kind…and our kids so far haven’t asked or cared about having any.  So money isn’t the real reason we don’t have pets, but because we don’t have them, we don’t have to pay for them either.

*Eating Out
We just pretty much don’t go out to eat.  We used to go out a bit more, but with the way the boys eat, it started costing a ton just to sort of fill them up…and when we began our journey to eating healthier, we just stopped.  None of us crave it anymore now anyway.  Oh, once a month during the school year we do go to Pizza Hut for lunch where the boys can redeem their Book-It coupons.  Our Pizza Hut lets us use the coupon for the buffet instead of the personal pan…plus somehow we keep ending up with a coupon for a free adult buffet…which means we all stuff ourselves full of greasy carbs for around $8. 

*Entertainment
It might seem that we lead boring and sad lives when I tell you that we pretty much never go to movies, or out to any other exciting entertaining events.  Occasionally we do and we always enjoy it….but trust me when I tell you that rarely are any of the six of us bored or sad…and when we are…it has nothing to do with not going out to do stuff. 

I have more to add to the list…but my energy is not in full strength yet so my brain power is almost used up already (yikes, it’s only 8:01 am). 

I’ll continue writing about ways we save next Frugal Friday!

While you might think that me getting sick during our family reunion last weekend was the end of the excitement…please allow me to share a bit more. 

I’ve been having ant problems in my kitchen (anyone else have those big fat black ants as big as a bar of soap?).  This doesn’t please me normally, but certainly not when I have a houseful of company coming over.

On Thursday afternoon several of my aunts and my Nana arrived at my house.  After receiving hugs from all of us and the grand tour of our home by Malachi…we all went into the kitchen and they said, “Tell us what we can do to help!”  (Hehe, little did they know I had a plan for them.)  Remember all those strawberries I had picked the day before they came?  I told them I had a great job for them, opened the fridge and showed them my three remaining buckets of strawberries that needed to be taken care of. 

They cheerfully sat down and began capping my strawberries and putting them on cookie sheets for the freezer.  (Don’t worry, we saved a bunch to eat too.)  As they were working, and I was finishing up my farmer’s market baking and we were all chattering…

I saw crawling around on my counter-tops some of those big black ugly ants.  While I’m usually a very sweet person, those ants push me over the edge and I turn a bit vicious.  Please keep in mind that the following exclamation came out of nowhere to my loving and hard working strawberry capping Nana and Aunts. 

My hand suddenly came down hard on the countertops in order to squish the offenders…and I said in frustration, “Ooohh, all these ANTS in my kitchen!!!  They’re driving me crazy!!!”

All of my aunts looked up at me in surprise and I quickly realized that they thought I was frustrated with the AUNTS in my kitchen…not the ANTS in my kitchen!  Good thing they figured out what I was talking about and didn’t start throwing strawberries at me.  Because I really needed them to help me with all those berries love my aunts and wouldn’t want to hurt them in any way. 

But the REAL drama came on Friday night when all of the family had met at my house for dinner.  It was almost time to eat, and we all went outside to greet my cousin and his family who had just arrived.  (We really just wanted to see his new baby that none of us had met yet…you know how it really is.)

So we’re all out on our lawn, and suddenly my Aunt Karen takes a fall, and as casually as ever says, “Hm, I’ve just broken my foot.”

A few of us chuckled (me included) because she’s sometimes silly…and we watched for her to get up.

And she said, “No really, I heard it pop…I’ve broken my foot.”

My uncle and brother took her off to the ER, and indeed, she had broken THREE bones in her left foot.

Here’s a picture of her a couple of days later before they left to get back on the plane.  (THAT must have been a fun plane ride.)

I think someone took a picuture of the two of us looking as pitiful as we possibly could that Sunday with me having a fever and her having her broken foot. 

I’m so terribly sorry I don’t have that picture to show you.  I would have loved for all of you to see what I look like when I’m miserable with fever and can’t breathe very well. 

You know how I often talk about how important it is to get your kids in the kitchen with you?!

I have just proven myself completely and totally and absolutely right about the whole thing.  (Just in case we had been wondering about that.)

I’ve been sick the past few days…but everyone around here still wants to eat.  Don’t they know that when mama is sick, the world must stop until I wake up and feel better?  Huh-uh…it just doesn’t happen.

I have NEVER been so thankful that I’ve taught my kids their way around the kitchen.  Daddy’s doing great taking over in there, but sometimes he’s not home when the boys are hungry.  Or when I need something to eat.  AND, Daddy has been working hard trying to juggle all his work and mine too.  How nice for the boys to get a meal started so that he doesn’t have to come home and do all the cooking too.

My boys aren’t at the point where I can just turn them loose in the kitchen and tell them to whip up some spaghetti.  But because of all the time they’ve spent in there learning and working with me, they can go in there and do the whole thing with me just laying on the couch telling them what to do.  I’m so proud of them.

So just in case you’ve been meaning to do it, but you haven’t yet…here’s my Works for me Wednesday tip:  Get your kids in the kitchen with you so that when you need them to take over, they can!!!  (Here, I’ve written an entire series on it.)  Read it then do it.  It’s important for their future, and someday when you’re sick and need your kids to bring you something besides a box of cereal with a plastic fork, you’ll really be glad you did.  (Yesterday I walked Asa through making us some awesome fruit slushies that totally hit the spot with me.  He did great!!)

For the record this Works for me Wednesday…being sick….does not work for me.  To quote my youngest, Malachi, “My don’t love it.”  :) 

Looking back, I don’t think I’ve really rested since we got back from my cousins’ funeral in May. 

Since then, we’ve been on the go and running like crazy.  I never really like telling someone, “We’re so busy.”  Who’s NOT busy?  I’ve always felt like that was just a silly thing to say to people. 

But yeah, we’ve been busy.

And my body finally had enough.  I have asthma, so anytime I get sick, it hits my lungs and knocks me flat. 

So now, I’m doing just what I need to do:  rest.

I’m so thankful that I am able to rest.  Matt and the boys know that rest is just what Mommy needs right now.  They are SO the greatest. 

The boys keep saying things like, “Is there anything I can get you Mommy?” and “Do you need me to re-fill your water Mommy?”  And then sometimes….”Can I just lay down for a while with you Mommy?” 

Pray for Matt to get the rest he needs while he tries to juggle all of his work and mine too…

This Gratituesday, I am so thankful to be getting the rest that I need so that I can soon be the wife and mama that I need to be for my family.

Please share what YOU’RE thankful for this Gratituesday!!
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Well, it’s not every week that we begin a new business and host a family reunion all in the same week.  Apparently all of the go-go-go from last week did me in completely.  By Saturday morning of our reunion…I was so sick I could hardly get out of bed.  Grr.  I KNEW I was doing too much to keep up with myself through the week, but I felt like I needed to keep going anyway to get everything done.  (Well, I guess I wouldn’t have had to clean my toilets..but I figured my guests would enjoy their stay here more if I did.) 

So, I’m working to recover (and by working, I mean resting and taking my nutrition supplements from my chiropractor and drinking lots of water…). 

I don’t have the brain power to plan meals right now, nor do I have the strength to cook them.  Thankfully, Daddy and the boys are ready to pitch in and take over in the kitchen.  (I love my guys…)

Here’s the list of things I’ve thought of that they can make from what we have on hand…

Leftover fried chicken from the reunion
Spaghetti
Quesadillas
Tuna casserole
Eggs
PB & J
Smoothies and slushies

I’m thankful that I have a rich chicken broth in my freezer that I had made a few weeks ago that I’ll thaw for myself (or that Matt will thaw for me), we have lots of fruit and veggies to go with the meals they make, I have applesauce muffins in the freezer and lettuce in the garden.

I’m too tired to proofread for typos, so soory if their ar sum. 

If all else fails, I’ll send Matt over to Organizing Junkie for some more meal ideas!

We’re right in the middle of a family reunion this weekend…and it’s been full of fun, good food and lots of laughing and reminiscing.  I’ve decided that having these extra times to be with family is definitely one of the best parts of summer.

Of course, I also love gardening and enjoying the sunshine during the summertime.

My question for you today then is this:

What do YOU love about summer time?!

Previously in this series, I talked about how I have finally come around to understanding that spending money on food…good, wholesome, real food…is important, necessary and right.  If you didn’t read that post, you might want to start there! 

For my family of six, I spend around $500 a month.  (This amount does not include non-food household items.)

My husband (who hasn’t gained a pound in our almost 14 years of marriage) eats enough for three grown men.  His job is physically demanding, plus he often plays soccer or goes jogging.  The guy can eat.  And… 

My four sons take after their daddy.  They can put away some serious food.  I have decided that as soon as they’re old enough, they must take a job to support their eating habits.  What in the world am I gonna do when they’re all teenagers at once? 

So let me tell you what our $500/month goes to…

We bought a half a cow this year (which actuallydoesn’t appear to be enough to last the year..).  It is a locally raised cow, fed only grass…woohoo!  It cost us $725, which breaks down to $61 a month for beef.

This year we also bought a grass fed lamb from this same farmer, costing us $160, or $13/month.  (If you haven’t eaten lamb before…OH MY GOODNESS…you need to!  It has become our favorite meat ever.  YUM!)

I buy large whole free range chickens from another local farmer that we trust…and spend approximately $17 per month.

We buy our milk from friends who have a wonderful milk cow.  (Ah, we love that milk cow!).  We buy an average of six gallons a week at $4/gallon.  (This is a GREAT price for organic, grass fed, hormone free, incredible milk.)

Our eggs we buy from some other friends who have free range chickens (remember this?!).  We go through at least three dozen a week at $1.50/dozen.  (I think that’s also a GREAT price for what we’re getting!)

Okay, so lets put some of this together here…

Meat from farmers total per month:  $91
Milk, 24 gallons/month:  $96
Eggs, 12 dozen/month:  $18
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 Total on meat, milk and eggs/month:   $205

Next, the bulk of my groceries are purchased from Azure Standard food co-op…which is where I order my grains (wheat, oats, rice), rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice), sea salt,  some fresh produce, tuna, frozen fruits and veggies, and some other stuff I can’t think of right now.  :) I spend anywhere from $100-$250/month depending on how many large items I’m out of that month.

The remaining amount I spend at the grocery store buying fresh fruits and veggies.  (And occasionally Smart Chicken brand chicken breasts when they are REALLY on sale.)

And, if you remember seeing my pantry and freezers, you know I also have a big garden, so I do a lot of canning and freezing in the fall.  That stocks us up for the year on tomato products, green beans, corn, peaches, pears and applesauce.   We also try to grow enough potatoes to last us for several months.  (And I take advantage of any extra fruits and veggies anyone else has an abundance of to offer!)

Do you know all the yummy meals I can put together for my family with all of this great REAL and wholesome food?  I LOVE it! 

Next in this Getting Real With Food series, I’ll offer some suggestions for where to start if you’re looking to begin a healthier eating style.  You CAN do it!!

Visit Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday tips.

You may remember me mentioning that I’m getting ready to host a family reunion this weekend.  AND that we opened our Shaved Ice business this week.

Between those two events…I’ve felt a bit CRAZY this week.  (My poor children…) 

So, you might imagine what I felt when a friend of mine called a couple of days ago to tell me that their strawberry patch had WAY more strawberries than they could ever eat.  She told me they were ready to be picked again, and that I could come anytime.

My to-do list is as long as my leg…but I COULD NOT pass up the chance to have as many organic fresh strawberries as I could pick.  So yesterday morning the boys and I put on our strawberry pickin’ gear and away we went.

I forgot to take the camera with me so that I could take a picture of my happy strawberry pickers….but allow me to tell you how much FUN it was to walk into that awesome patch filled with so many strawberries you could stand in one place and pick for 10 minutes because there are so many strawberries in one spot. 

My favorite part of the strawberry day was when Matt came home…and I told him that we’d been eating a lot of the strawberries we’d picked, but that we tried to save him just a few.  Then he walked into the kitchen to see this:

Hehe…