thank you colonel pickering!

We did it! We did it! We said that we would do it,
And indeed we did. Some thought that we would rue it;
Some doubted we'd do it. But now you must admit it
That succeed we did. 


yes, now it is may 2nd, and we went the entire month of april with spending only $97.69 in groceries!  yeah!  


i learned a bit more about cooking and spent a lot of time doing it, but it was fun--since i've never had the time or energy to do it before.  i love that the kids were on board and were helpful tasters and critics.  


one day, seth came up to me and said: "mom, i don't really want to tell you this..."
"what, seth?"
"well, your smoothie kinda looks like vomit."
"well, did it taste good?"
"yeah."
"then it doesn't matter what it looks like."
"okay, but it still looks pretty gross."
hehe


things i learned:


1) i need a larger supply of honey in our food storage.
2) i can make some mean granola bars.
3) although i loath waking up early, it was kinda nice to help 
      feed the kids breakfast in the morning.

4) i love homemade pretzels:
5) the Church is true
6) homemade refried beans are better than canned
7) you really can make almost everything from scratch!
8) with a 3-month supply, our diet didn't really change--we just ate a lot less processed food (a good thing)!
9) i still need to work on my bread and yogurt-making skills
and finally....
10) it was SO NICE not having to go to the grocery store for a ton of food!!!!


near the end of the month, i admit to thinking ambitiously and suggested we just go into the next month without eating any processed food--but i think i want a little break from all the cooking!  we are going to decrease our normal grocery budget though and still try to eat less processed food--i'm thinking $400 is a good number.  we'll see how it goes.  i'm hoping that it's really going to incorporate some lifestyle changes in our family and that we'll all be eating a little healthier from now on.

call me crazy?

okay, so i've heard of others being challenged to live off of food storage for years now. we've been trying to do a good job of building up our supply. well, for the month of april, we are going to live off of our food storage! well, not entirely. i've given us $100 to spend on groceries--which will be primarily milk and fresh fruits and veggies, but we'll still have to be careful. also, with all this, we of course stocked up in march...so, we are kinda cheating! but, i'll still be forced to be creative and the kids will have to learn how to live without goldfish! hopefully, we'll all still be alive afterwards! wish us luck!

repenting

okay, so i know i haven't updated in FOREVER! some of you may say, "well, obviously, she has 7 kids!" but, i do not accept that as an excuse. 2010 was a horrible year, 2011 was getting better, but now, with 2012, i'm turning over a new leaf and trying to become the mother and woman i want to be. this, of course, includes updating the blog more than once a year! so, here with go with a bunch of pics...

hiking through the woods behind my parent's house after christmas...

halloween (obviously)--it's just fun to see all of them dressed up together!

had to get a pic of the rare time they are both sleeping next to each other during the day

april fool's day! put food coloring on their toothbrushes. they thought it was a hoot!

visited friends in indiana over spring break. lovely weather let us enjoy ice cream!

went to new mexico over thanksgiving. HAD to try and build a pyramid, of course. it collapsed shortly after this!

also while in new mexico--had to get the kids on the lion statue at the albuquerque zoo--many fond memories for me there

Now for some of my craft projects (which i did a lot of recently...)

our new front wall. we wanted to have a family theme/motto and some reminders of how to 'be'. also, will update every 6 months how we can 'follow the prophet' based on what he said in the latest general conference.

every month nate does interviews with the kids and part of those are to ask them what they want to 'gift' to the Savior--things they want to work on to be better--as well as general goals. we print them out and put them on their own pictures in their rooms to remind them daily what they are trying to do (caleb and adam will start when they turn 4). sorry for the sideways-ness

i did manage to make pajama pants for everyone (and katya's doll) at christmas time. it was a bit of work, but worth it. and no, the pic hanging on the wall in the middle isn't normally crooked.

the ultimate chore chart! i have them do a lot of chores. but, i was sick of reminding them of each little one. now, they each have different popsicle sticks for each one and are responsible for keeping track on their own. i'm not sure i'll ever get something that works perfectly, but this is working pretty well.

hehe--i just thought this was funny--hannah got stuck in the dining room chairs--that's what she gets for climbing on the table and then trying to get down on the wrong chair!

more to come: the remodeled kitchen and our april food challenge!

Hannah's song

we love hannah

(sing to the tune of 'go, diego, go')

deep inside the boyce house

where kids are running wild;

coming to our family is a very special child.

crying all the night long

eating all the day--

she's such a cute addition that people stop and say:

(chorus): we love hannah, banana, hannah. go, hannah, go!

adam's on a mission

with caleb by his side;

liam's playing legos

and seth goes off to hide.

katya playing dress-up is always so much fun,

and j protects the house with his big double-shot nerf gun.

(repeat chorus)