A very viva farewell

This will be my last post of Viva Mom Vegas because Viva Mom will no longer be living in Vegas! Yes, that's right, in less than 2 weeks, my family will be moving to Denver! My hubby got an amazing job at the National Operations Center for the BLM, so I am resigning from my teaching position once my sick leave runs out for my maternity leave and will be able to stay at home. We are so excited for our new adventure! We have a great rental house lined up in Littleton that is across the street from the neighborhood elementary school. We traded both our vehicles in for an AWD SUV and will be a one-car family for a while which will keep our expenses down as we adjust to one income. 

This was likely going to be my last year teaching anyway and I have no plans or desire to ever return to full time teaching. 

I am proud of what I have accomplished in my career, but ready to spend more time with my own kids. 

Here's a little look back on my 13 years of teaching. You can see my weight gains and losses and my good years and bad years through these school pictures!

2002, my first year teaching at age 22.  I accepted a position to teach an early childhood autism program at Edwards Elementary in Las Vegas. My only prior knowledge of autism was the movie Rain Man. The district paid for me to get my masters degree from UNLV which gave me the endorsements to continue in special education. 

2003-04 I transferred to Watson elementary school to teach early childhood special education. Ryan and I started dating at the end of this school year. 

2004-05, Ryan and I were married and I completed my second year at Watson. 

During the next three years, I worked for the early childhood department as an itinerant specialist (traveling to schools to teach autism classes while teachers had a prep time). During this time I was also able to complete an additional 32 credits of course work beyond my masters degree. After Austin was born, I wanted to go back to the classroom and work closer to home. 

2008-09, I returned to the classroom to teach early childhood autism at May Elementary.  I remained at May for five years.  Austin was able to be a student in my class for my last three years here as a peer model. 

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13 my last year at May, this was a very hard burn out year.  I was on maternity leave with Amilia when I got this photo taken.

2013-14 I decided to take a major career change and teach autism at the high school level at Shadow Ridge High School. Look how happy I look!

2014, second year at Shadow Ridge. In this photo I am pregnant and done! Goodbye teaching!!

Birthday party savings!

We had Austin's birthday party over the weekend. As hard as my pregnancy is getting, it was important to have a nice party for Austin so he had something special before the baby comes. 

I had lots of help with the preparations between my student aides at school and hubby, so I just had to shop and make the cake. 

I also spent very little by making everything myself. The most money was spent on pizza, but even that was still reasonable. The entire cost of the party was around $80. 

Austin chose a Mario theme. I found great ideas on Pinterest for fun and simple games.  

Mario bingo:  Free online printable and one of my aides prepped the entire thing. We used pennies around the house as the markers. 

Stomp the Gumba: I had several students blow up the ballons and then cut out the faces from a printed pic and glue them. We tied string to the balloon and then to each kid's ankle and they ran around the yard while trying to pop the balloons. 

Fireball toss: I printed and laminated the piranha plant and taped them to these buckets from Dollar Tree. The kids tossed cheese balls into them. 

Piñata: my awesome hubby made this from scratch! 

For the decorations, I just made a birthday sign. One of my aides traced the characters on the projector and colored it for me. 

The goodie bags were made with punches. I put some chocolate gold coins, a Mario notepad, and stickers in them and then the kids also put their piñata candy in them as well. 

I made the cake from scratch. I piped the grass and road and put a few of Austin's Mario toys on top. Super easy!

I'm so happy at how it turned out!  

Who will profit this holiday season?

I know... it's been awhile since I've updated Viva Mom.  It's been crazy around here and I'm still trying to process that this baby will be here in just about 6 weeks!  Even though I'm six months shy of "advanced maternal age", I am still considered high risk due to my medical history.  This means that I am now weekly with my OB and twice a week for fetal monitoring with the perinatologist.  I also have been going to the chiropractor and getting accupuncture weekly to help manage my pain.  If I learned how to relax, I would probably be much better off, but I can't sit still and have been busy getting things ready on the home front and at work for my long term sub.

So now that the holidays are upon us, I have some things on my mind.  My question is, who will profit from this holiday season?  We've seen the Christmas candy and decorations go up right after Halloween, we've seen Facebook blow up with how great Costco is that they are still honoring Thanksgiving for their employees and we've seen the "leaked Black Friday ads".  I used to love Black Friday.  In fact, it was a tradition growing up.  I used to do Walmart's Black Friday just to get great deals on general items when I was still building up the things I needed for my house.  I had all sorts of great strategies to guarantee I got what I wanted and get in and out as quickly as possible.  Well, as my family has grown, and the crowds have become increasingly insane, it just takes too much time away from my family.  With my current lifestyle, shopping in general has become a time burden to my personal productivity, so I mostly shop online, make it myself, or buy in bulk.

This year, I want to make sure my family profits from this holiday season.  I refuse to be a holiday shopping season statistic.  When Austin was much younger we started to guide him in thinking about a really good gift to ask Santa.  I try to encourage gifts that will last or foster education or activity.  In the past, he's received a bike (still riding 2 years later), Leap Pad (still using 3 years later and now Amilia uses it too), Nintendo DS (last year), and train set (still playing this after 4 years).  I like learning/gaming systems because they can grow with the child and new games keep them interesting.  The "Santa gift" is the main splurge we spend on our kids.  They get around 3-4 simpler gifts from us that might be a clothing item, book, small toy, or handmade item.  We plan ahead for the expensive purchases and complete our shopping in October.  This year, all of their gifts were purchased online from Amazon or from friends on Facebook that have small businesses.  I am also making something for each of them.  I ordered their books from the Scholastic book order through Austin's teacher, so his teacher will profit from the purchase with points for free books for the classroom.  I only do consumables in their stockings such as toothbrush/paste, character kleenex, lip balm, activity book, or candy.  I try to encourage grandparents to keep the gifts simple.  Sometimes we coordinate gifts that will go together such as Amilia is getting a play kitchen this year, so my mother in law is getting dishes to go with it.  Austin still loves his Nintendo DS, so I gave her some suggestions for new games that he would like.  My mom set up mutual funds for the kids, so she puts money in their accounts and gives one small gift.

For other family members, I try to find something thoughtful or unique.  Grandparents always get updated pictures of the kids and will give cash for my older nephews.  In the past I've also done handmade gifts with the kids' prints.  One of my favorite businesses on FB is "Metal Stampin Mama". She makes great personalized jewelry creations and occasionally posts specials on her page.  All the females in my family have received a creation by her at one time or another!  It gives me so much joy to support small businesses, especially when they are moms raising their kids at home and working hard to contribute to their family. Ryan and I decided this year we would wait to see what his year end bonus is going to be and hopefully get a new computer as our gift to each other.

So now that the shopping is done, my family will profit from this season.  I will plan ahead to avoid all stores during Thanksgiving weekend so we can spend it together baking, crafting, decorating, and attending some of the local holiday events.  This month we have been writing and sharing our blessings and next month we will continue the tradition started last year which is writing and sharing our acts of kindness and service.  Then, by the end of December, we will meet our baby girl, which is the greatest gift we could ever hope to receive.

My wish for you all is that these next 6 weeks will be filled with love and joy and that it will be you and your family profiting from the season.

My 100th post!

It's always so fulfilling to look back on a vision and know that I have actually seen it through! When I started this blog in January 2013, I was a Hamburger Helper/McDonalds drive thru cook with shopaholic tendencies. Now I can cook from almost scratch, watch what I spend, and have avoided fast food meals for nearly a year!  

Many of my readers have asked how I find the time to do all of this while working full time. Well, sometimes it works out and sometimes it's hard. I've learned to be realistic with what I can actually accomplish and constantly prioritize what needs to be done. When I have the energy, I can "make time", which usually includes staying up till midnight, skipping my TV shows and extreme multi-tasking.  I refuse to bring work home with me or stay late, so I maximize my time at work by working through my lunch break and doing any work I can while students are busy doing independent activities.  I also rely heavily on the help of my husband who usually gladly does the dishes in exchange for a delicious meal. However, there are still times when the dishes fill up the sink for a few days, the laundry to be folded stays in baskets throughout the house until we run out, and sometimes we just call in a pizza because it's been that kind of day! And as I sit back and poison myself with a diet Pepsi reflecting on whatever drama happened at school and the insanity of the evening with my children, I recognize it's just a day and tomorrow can be better if I choose to let it be. 

I have found I also save time when I prepare and plan ahead and live to regret it when I don't. It's usually the mornings when Ryan calls me from work to ask what he needs to send the kids with because I totally crashed the night before and didn't get it done. I'm not a big fan of having routines, but I have learned that having one (or attempting to have one) helps get through the day.

One of the greatest blessings from this journey is that it has brought more happiness and health to our family. We are learning how to be grateful for what we have and have spent more quality time together in our home. 

This past weekend was especially nice as Austin didn't have school on Friday, so we all took the day off and went to see some new things at the Springs Preserve. I renewed our family membership which is a great deal for $60.  I paid an extra $20 for a guest add-on so Austin can bring a friend or we can take a relative along!  The membership pays for itself after 2 regular visits and one event. 

The new butterfly habitat. 

We did a family trip to Costco because I'm trying a new strategy of "buying what we need for the month" and "when it's gone, it's gone".  We will see how that one goes over! So I figured out what we needed that can last a month (I will still have to get milk and produce at the grocery store a few times as well), and we filled up a cart and flat bed and stocked up on some of the good coupon specials for the month. The new coupon book comes out this week, so I am waiting to get Amilia's pull-ups until then as they are going to be $6 off. 

I didn't expect to get much done on Saturday as Austin was supposed to have a double header soccer game, but thanks to the flash flood, no games. 

One of the projects I've wanted to do was make freezer pizza kits. Someone put this idea on Facebook and I thought it was a great idea! I made pizza for dinner so I just made extra dough and shredded a whole block of cheese with my kitchen aid shredder attachment and sorted them out. I made homemade pasta sauce from The Prudent Homemaker link to recipe and measured out about 1.5 cups of sauce in freezer bags and set them in a pan so they could freeze flat. I put the dough, sauce, and shredded cheese in a gallon ziploc after they were all frozen and now I can pop a kit in the fridge to thaw and quickly assemble a homemade pizza. 

You can also add some frozen meat to your kits. 

Pepperoni and BBQ chicken pizzas! 

My dough recipe: (I got the basics of an easy yeast dough from my Norwegian brother in law.  He made yummy pizzas on the BBQ grill on a family vacation.)

Proof 1 tsp yeast in 1 cup warm water

Add 2-3 cups flour and 1 tsp salt 

I use my dough hook on the kitchen aid

Knead and add more flour if too sticky 

Spray your pan then sprinkle some corn meal on it. Roll dough and place on pan.

Add toppings and bake 400 degrees for about 15-18 min until crust and cheese gets light golden brown. A friend of mine shared that if you have a pizza stone, you can get the stone really hot first by baking it for about 5 min in a 500 degree oven and then place the pizza on the stone. It gets the crust nice and crispy and bakes in only 5 min. I won't be trying that one in Vegas until December!

I also made bread, pancakes, lavender body wash for me, foaming hand wash, and kid shampoo/wash. For the kid's wash, I use a 3 to 1 water to Castile soap ratio and splash a little olive oil for moisture and some essential oil for scent (about 2 drops for every 4 oz of liquid). It gets just enough suds to wash their hair and skin, but rinses easily and is very gentle. If my little one gets ahold of it and dumps half the bottle before I notice, it's not the end of the world, just a few cents worth. When I used to buy $15 bottles of Burts Bees baby wash, it was another story. 

Dinners for the week:

Monday: Italian casserole with salad (I will freeze 1/2 of the beef I brown for another meal)

Tuesday: chicken and rice bake with veggies (steam rice and veggies, boil/shred a breast, stir in with some cheese and cream of chicken soup and bake for a few minutes at 350)

Wednesday: Buffalo Chicken casserole 

This is from Pinterest, shred your cooked chicken and add buffalo sauce to it and stir in hash browns, shredded cheddar, and ranch dressing, bake in a pan 350 for 30 min

Thursday: one pot pasta with veggies

Friday: pizza kit

Saturday: white chicken chili with cornbread (I plan on making a double batch do I can also freeze a few quarts)

Sunday: family dinner rotation 

Beef is still really high, so once a week is plenty and usually I'm only using 1/2 a pound in the dish. I thought about getting a roast at Costco but they were $5 a pound! I find if I do enough variety with my chicken dishes and alternate in the other types of dishes, we don't get tired of it. 

Ready for cooler weather

This week went by insanely fast! I had my school open house and  have started getting leg cramps at night, so by Thursday, I needed a night off. I was hungry for Mimi's Cafe corn chowder, so sent the hubby for take out. Other than that, I was good about cooking all week!

Friday night I had a great time with my Bunco group and tied for first place. I lost the roll off but still won my money back plus a little more. 

Austin had his soccer game on Saturday morning.  It was ridiculously hot and humid, so I brought the kids suits so they could run around in the splash pads at the park after the game. That night, my mother in law watched Amilia so we could take Austin to Dolphin Tale 2.  He has been doing great and was selected by his teacher to be the student of the week!

Cooling off at the park!

Accomplishments and savings this week:

*Ryan cut Austin's hair 

*Made a casserole for a funeral at church so doubled it for our weekend lunches 

*Made French toast and pancakes and froze the leftovers

*Made banana oatmeal muffins with the bananas getting too ripe

*Austin and I worked on a craft project together.  We reused a cardboard box and covered it with scrapbook paper to make a doghouse for his stuffed dog

*Used my Children's Place cash to order pants for Austin and a birthday gift for my neice

Dinner menu:

Monday: lemon penne pasta and salad 

Tuesday: chicken enchiladas from freezer

Wednesday: hamburger stroganoff and salad (Freeze half of the beef)

Thursday: chicken vegetable soup with French bread

Friday: tacos with other half of beef cooked on Wednesday 

Saturday: homemade pizza

Sunday: it's our turn to cook, I will be making crockpot chicken and dumplings 

Cream of Chicken soup mix

I love this mix recipe! It takes a little more time versus using condensed soup from a can, but it is healthier, less expensive, and takes up less pantry space.  This recipe replaces about 9 cans of cream of chicken condensed soup and can be stored in a plastic container or quart sized mason jar.

Here is the link to the original recipe:  Make ahead cream of chicken soup mix

Cream of Chicken dry mix

Stir together and store in airtight container:

2 cups dry milk

3/4 cup cornstarch

2 Tbsp dried onion

1/4 cup chicken bouillon powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp ground thyme

I also like to add a little garlic powder (about 1 tsp)

Stir 1/3 cup dry mix with 2/3 water in a small pot over medium heat until thickened and add to your recipe. This replaces a can of condensed soup. 

Here are links to my favorite recipes using the mix:

Hamburger Stroganoff http://www.julieseatsandtreats.com

Crockpot chicken and dumplings  http://www.imitationbydesign.com
*I also add some chopped carrots and celery to the crockpot in this recipe

I also use the mix in my own recipe "Crockpot Tangy Chicken"

2 chicken breasts
4 peeled potatoes
2 peeled carrots cut in large chunks
cream of chicken soup mix with water
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp dried onion
1/4 c white vinegar

Spray bottom of crockpot and add chicken breasts.  Place potatoes and carrots on top.  Add 1/3 cup dry chicken soup mix to 2/3 cup water in a pot and cook on medium heat until thickened.  Stir in vinegar, garlic powder, and dried onion.  Pour mixture over vegetables and chicken in crockpot.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Other recipes: The mix is great in whatever version of hashbrown casserole you like (I make mine with hashbrowns, cream of chicken soup, sour cream and cheese)

You can also use it as your soup base for creamy soups.  I add a little more milk, some chicken broth, seasonings and peeled/diced potatoes and carrots for a potato soup.

...and I even ironed!

It was a most productive weekend! We went to a birthday on Friday night at my cousin's house and the kids had a great time playing together.

Austin's first soccer game was Saturday morning. It was thoroughly entertaining! He played goalie and did a great job for his first "real game". The coach asked him at half time if he wanted a break and he said no, so he played the whole game. He said he was so tired, I asked why he didn't take a break, he said "My team needed me!"

Is this my kid or what?

After the game, we had a fun lunch at Firehouse Subs then headed home to get some work done. I got most of my list checked off including laundry, some cleaning, and I even ironed everyone's clothes for church!! 

By 9 pm, my back was screaming, so I iced it and took a shower and crashed. 

Our Sunday was enjoyable as well. We got together with my cousin's family and his inlaws who also live in town for dinner and fellowship.

Here are my efforts and savings this week:

*Baked 2 loaves of whole wheat bread. Measured dry ingredients to freeze for a future batch. 

*Made homemade granola bars

*Made cream of chicken soup dry mix *I love this mix, it's much cheaper and healthier than canned soup! Here are the directions on how to make it and my fave recipes using the mix Cream of Chicken Soup Mix

*Made pancakes for the freezer

*Made a double batch of dish washer detergent. 

*Finished a project I've been planning for awhile with Austin's artwork.  I will be posting details in a future post. 

*Cut up the face wipes I use to remove my eye makeup into smaller squares and put them in an airtight container. 

I had my first stamp club this week ad had a great time crafting with friends! I played with some of my new products from Stampin Up and made this cute little banner to hang by my classroom door for fall. 

Dinners this week:

Monday: tonight I made cheesy chicken rice with broccoli

Tuesday: tacos with leftover frozen meat

Wednesday: Italian casserole with salad

Thursday: baked potatoes with veggies/salad

Friday: homemade pizza

Saturday: white chicken chili and cornbread 

Sunday: family dinner

I compared beef prices at the grocery store and they are worse than Costco. In addition to 2-3 meatless meals a week, you can freeze 1/2 of the beef when you brown a pound to use for another dish. 

Have a great week!