Summer has gone.

 

How Terribly awful that I haven't posted on my blog since July! This is a travesty. Even worse is the fact that I don't have anything interesting for you to read...
Well It's been a lovely long summer and the boys have had a whole term back at school. I started my own school back up in October so I have been busy busy busy as well. It's all go in this household. Got to see my lovely mother in October and my cousins wedding. But as of late its been back to the daily grind. Sleep, eat, mum, repeat. ;) Uni is going well. Calling it uni makes me feel young so I will continue to do so for as long as I can get away with it. Law School is just as I thought it would be and I am learning to like it. My first assignment this term is due Wednesday, so that why I am writing here...procrastinate much. No, in all fairness I have been working on it all day and need a change of pace and a G n' T. Craftwise I have done nothing exiting at all. OMG that's a complete lie. I forgot to post about my first entry in the Chew Stoke Harvest Home. I bagged a few prizes. despite my best efforts I didn't get any firsts, doh! But two seconds and a third aren't bad for a first go. Millie on the other hand won first prize in the dog show for boniest puppy!! and then 6th place over all. That's my girl. She now has some lovely rosettes to show off. Now autumn is in full swing I hope to post a bit more frequently on here. back to once a week at least. Such a lazy bones! bye for now.

September Meal Planning & Organizing. Plus Free Printable.

             

  We have decided to make so big changes for September. Starting really with a Budget. We've never done a budget before. I did some searching around to try and help us get going. It seemed like a lot of savvy mums out there do budgets for their families. Not just budgets they organize everything. But we'll get to that later. So the real issue is we hemorrhage money each month and don't really know where it goes. That's what next moth will hopefully tell us. Spend as we normally do and see if you stick to the budget and see where we are overspending. 

           One other big change we made is monthly meal planning. We have a weekly meal menu most weeks and it keeps shopping down. But, I have now switched to planning meals for the month. It comes with lots of changes. We now have a CrockPot meal night, a pasta night and soup night. In an effort to keep cost down and be healthy we are only having meat 3 times a week. We will see how this goes as all three of my boys love meat. So first I plan what meals we will eat throughout the month write then down on my monthly planner. The next step is to Get a huge 'master' shopping list together. This includes everything from your recipes and everything for breakfast lunch and snacks (which I don't plan). It is a whopper of a list. Then I go through and Highlight all the things I can buy in the first week. So pretty much everything not fresh and all the CrockPot meals (as I prepare these on Saturday and Freeze. Post to Follow) We have started shopping at MySupermarket . It is a great site for seeing which shop is the best price each week. (UK only) I buy everything on the master list the Saturday before the first week. Sort it all and put it away. The next step is to do your weekly lists. This is for everything fresh that won't keep needed for weeks 3-4. Fill in your weekly menus and shopping lists and stick them somewhere everyone can see so they know what dinner is each day. I like to keep my master list and month plan in my Filofax (which holds everything) on my desk so I can look back when I need too. My next task is to organize recipes. :)


Here is a printable of my menu planning kit. Enjoy! 

Thanks, 

Strike!

We had a lovely Family trip to the bowling ally the other day. It was so nice to get out and do something different. turns out I really stink at bowling as my Two year old even beat me :) Alexander won! Richard was second and Luke third. We had a really nice time. We played one game and then had some games in the arcade. Luke really loved the motorbike. 

I've had a nasty cols since last weekend so we haven't done much else. Also the weather this week as been really unpleasant. really ready for the sunshine and paddling pool days to come. Richard and I went on our date night on the weekend. We had a really nice meal out. We also got free drinks as it took so long for our food to arrive. we were planning to go to the cinema to see World War Z, but it would have ended at 1am and that was rather late. We had a great time and are trying to have more date nights together. 

I have been driving again. Back behind the wheel at last. I still have confidence and think I would be much better in an automatic. Richards says I'm doing fine though and with more practice It will become second nature. We will see. I have to take my test again soon though. 

Royal Bath and West Show

Been a little hectic/lazy the past month! I've started selling Avon again (check out my website www.sarahcouling.co.uk) so other things have slipped a bit. Need to get a good balance of things, and keep on top of it. Anyway here we.

Bath and West Show this year was wonderful. The best weekend we've had as a family in ages. What a great day it was. We haven't been since Luke was born. The weather was scrummie. Sunny and Warm. We had a fab time looking at all the stalls. Luke loved the steam train ride. Alexander loved the Army section and the imagination area with the bloodhound. My favorite was the livestock and the food. It's so awesome to see all those massive animals. The bulls were Gigantic. Luke was terrified of the pigs. We all enjoyed feeding the goats. (Thanks Meg.) Can't wait till next year to do it all again.

Brothers

These are brothers. Brothers with their silly faces. So similar, yet so unique. I love them to bits. We had a lovely sunny Tuesday. I got the boys playing outside. Well it wasn't difficult they would live outside if they could. Alexander love's being outdoors and even when he doesn't want to I try and get him out if the weather is nice. They are funny ages to play together really. But when I get a bucket of water out they could play together for hours. As soon as the water ran out Luke soon had his way of telling me. Screaming. Loving this warm spring weather. We are back to rain now, but it's still warm. Looking forward to more outdoor time. 

Been doing a lot more baking. I've also been thinking of getting my store back up and running. Obviously, not much more than thinking yet. Got some new ideas and concepts swimming round in my head. However, there is lots going on in our lives at the moment so who knows when I will get round to it! 

Luke Love's Muffins.

Nothing cheers little monkey up like baking some banana muffins with mummy. Many would see those brown soft bananas as food for the compost. In our house I love it when there are enough brown bananas for bread. Even Richard was begging to eat some and he hates bananas. I tried I new recipe today. That you can find HERE. They are scrummy. 

The weather has been marvelous. The boys and I rode our bikes to the lake today after school for an ice cream. We are so fortunate to live in the country, right next to a lovely lake. However the fun in the sun maybe cut short for Luke as it looks like he might be coming down with Chicken Nuggets (that's what we call Chicken Pox in our house.) At least it will be out the way though. I haven't yet had it either so here's to hoping if i do it's mild. 

A Somewhat Sunny Week

This week it has finally started to warm up a bit. We have had a lovely taste of what is to come. Warm weather and lovely sunshine. Long may it continue. Here are some Instagram shots from the week. I haven't taken any photos with the canon for weeks. Richard has taken some. I need to get back behind the lens. When your a mum, you find it hard to get things done. Not to mention I am quite lazy lately. Hope you all had a nice relaxing weekend ready for the hustle and bustle of Monday.

A Lovely Day For A Pony Ride.

So thankful for lovely friends. We had a lovely sunny Saturday. It made a nice change from the weather that we have been having. One of the many perks of living in the countryside is you can enjoys the sun in peace and quite. My lovely friend took us up to meet her ponies,  Jenta and Arnie. Alexander Loved having a ride on Jenta and even got to have a little trot. The very lovely Ella showed us her skills as well. We had a wonderful time. It was a taste of hopefully what a wonderful summer we're going to have. 

Been spring cleaning most of today. We have a lot of stuff and it doesn't really fit in our little flat. It's important to stay organized, when we live in such a small place. It's something I have been struggling with since we moved in. Hopefully we will move in the next few years and get a house.