Speech Therapist

Hello Readers,

When we had an appointment last month for Breanna we got referred for speech help. They came out a couple weeks ago and did the evaluation and had said they would offer her services. Today, the speech therapist and the teacher came to the house. They pretty much just asked me questions and observed Breanna of how she was talking and playing. They have decided that we should give her another month to start talking on her own. She is saying about 22 words right now. She is not putting sentences together yet. The speech therapist will call me in a month to see how she is doing. At that time, if we feel she needs some sessions, they will start the sessions then. I am glad to know they feel she is average though. I have been super worried about her. I am going to get her some more blocks and puzzles to work with, and maybe some flash cards to work on more words. That is my update on my daughter for now.

Have a great day!!!

Any Suggestions?

I really would like to hear any suggestions you may have about my blog. I am new to this, so I am learning as I go. If you would like to see posts about anything in particular, please let me know. I appreciate any feedback on my blog, and I am up to any suggestions that you may have. Thank you for taking your time and reading my blog.

Hope you all have a great night.

Beef Stew for Supper

I have been getting bored with the food I make almost every week. I ran into a few new recipes to try on the internet in the last week or two. Then, I decided to ask my mom how to make her beef stew because I love it. I am sure it was not just like hers but it was really yummy and even my kids loved it. Yes, I do have one picky kid and that would be Justin.

Beef Stew

ingredients

1. 2 lbs of beef stew meat or cut up a roast
2. 1 onion
3. 3 bay leaves
4. fresh tomato or can of whole tomatoes
5. Beef paste in a jar
6. Carrots
7. Potatoes
8. Green Beans
9. Corn

How to make the stew

You will want to put the raw meat into your crock pot. Fill half way up with water. I used about 4 cups of water, but this will depend on the size of your crock pot. Add onions and beef past. You can add the onions to your liking. Put on low for 3-4 hours. Take the bay leaves out. Chop 3 or 4 good size potatoes into bite size, and add to the crock pot. Continue to cook on low for 3 more hours. Finally, you will want to add the rest of your vegetables. You can add in the amount you like. We usually buy a bag of the mixed vegetables that comes with the potatoes, green beans, carrots, and corn. We seperate the potatoes as they can take longer than the other vegetables. Let cook for about 20 minutes longer in the crock pot and then you are ready to serve. We usually eat our beef stew with some warm french bread and butter.

I hope your beef stew comes out as good as mine did.

School Pictures

I am part of the PTA at my son's school. Last week they had school pictures. I went in and helped them with the kids getting ready to get their pictures taken. They were all so good in getting in order, getting their faces wiped, and hair combed. I was excited to take care in this, as it was my first volunteer work for the school. Justin was also excited to see me when it was his class turn to get their pictures taken. I sure hope his pictures come out good. I want to give my friends and family a good picture this year. I volunteered from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. I was fun seeing all the kids, and how my son acts around his classmates. I hope to help his class in October for their Halloween class party. I will post a picture of my son's picture when they come back.

Have a great night everyone!!!

Getting Back on Track

Once again I am sorry for not updating my blog regularly. I am new at this, so I am going to try better to update.

We have had a lot of sicknesses going on in the last couple of weeks. Chuck had bronchitis, which he is better now. Justin and Breanna both had a bad cold with the sneezes and coughs. We had to keep Justin home from school a couple of days because all he was doing was coughing. They are both doing well. I had a cough for a few days but it has gone away now.

We did get our kids in for their yearly check ups. Breanna had her 2 year check up kind of late. We did finally get her in though. We had some concerns with diaper rash because it has been coming and going, and not doing anything differently. The doctor gave her a prescribed cream to see if that helps. Her height is 32 1/2 inches. The doctor says Breanna will probably be no taller than 5''1 as an adult. The poor kid got her daddy's genes. Her weight is at 20.4 lbs. My kids are always so tiny. The doctor is not worried about her weight as she gained almost 2 lbs since her last appointment. She got her Hepatitis A, PCV, and her flu shot. Breanna did not like that at all. Once I picked her back up, she was okay. Her doctor says she is healthy as can be.

Justin also had his 5 year check up. We had a few concerns about his allergies this time. The doctor referred him to a specialist. We have an appointment set up for October 5th, to get an allergy test done, and then we can go from there. He has been taking the singular, but now the doctor added in the claritin to help with the allergies. I wish I knew what caused his allergies. Hopefully soon we will find out. Justin's height was 42 3/4 inches. He is getting a lot taller now. The doctor says he will grow to be 5''8 as an adult. He will be about as tall as me. His weight is at 34 lbs. Yes, I do have small babies. The doctor said his weight is also fine as he is gaining at each visit with the doctor. He also got his flu shot. Chuck and I are going to get scheduled to get in to get our flu shots soon as well.

I hope everybody is having a good week, and I will post more later.

We all have been sick

I am so sorry to all of my readers for not posting in awhile. My whole family has been sick. The kids and I just had really bad colds. Chuck had to go to the doctor because he had bronchitis. So, it has been fun being mom to all three and sick on top of it. But the good news it that we are all better now, and back on track.

Justin is still loving kindergarten, although he says they do alot of work. I am happy they do so he learns, but he thinks its play time when we go to school. He does know when to play and when to learn.

Breanna is my little princess. We are trying to potty training, but we have not had such success yet. I would love to hear some ideas to help. I do not want to push her too much as she is only two years old.

My mom went on a vacation this week. She deserves one, but would love to go with her. I am going to miss her as I talk to her everyday! She will have a lot of fun though.

We did not have too much going on this week. I will post more next time. I hope everybody has a good week.

Sick Kid

My son came home from school yesterday sick. He must of picked something up from all the kids at school. He gets sick very easily in the first place. He had a bad cough so I gave him some medicine. The three of us were watching some cartoons on Nickjr (that's their favorite right now) Justin started coughing and he threw up all over my bed and the floor. I have a love and hate relationship with throw up, so yes it made me throw up too. Some things I just can not help. So, I got him into the bathroom, so he could finish his business. I went back, and cleaned everything up, and my daughter still sitting where she was goes Ewwwwww, bubba! LOL He is still coughing but hope to get to the store to get some better medicine for him. I am hoping he is better before Sunday, but if not we will have to postpone our plans.

We had plans going to my parents, and getting my sister and all her kids together. Oh my step brothers kids were going to be there too. We had planned on going to a National Park here in Iowa. Its called The Ledges, in Boone, Iowa. We may still go just depending on how Justin feels by then. We are going to take it easy tomorrow and see how it goes.

I hope everybody has a Happy Labor Day weekend, and stay safe!

Bad News

We have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my car. Yes, its old and it was a lemon when I bought it. I had to have a engine put into it before I bought it. I really wish I would have never done this, but I can not change things now. Chuck's dad took a look at it when he changed the oil, and the thermostat needed to be changed. When he did that something happened and thought the water pump went out. We took it to TiresPlus, a place we always take our cars. They think it is something to do with the engine now. They said they can not guarantee what it is until they take apart the engine. They told us which would cost around 1500-1700. No, that is quite okay. We can replace the car for that much. Chuck's dad is a mechanic so he is going to take another look at it when he gets back from Tennessee. I am glad he knows what he is doing because we can not afford to pay for that car to get fixed. For right now, Chuck is getting a ride to work with a friend that works with him. So, I have our car to pick up our son from school and what not. I just pray his dad can figure out what is wrong and we can fix it for cheaper until we have some money saved up! I can not wait until our other car is paid off, and we can go get another one. We plan on getting a SUV in about 2 years or less.

I have been worried about my daughter not talking too much yet. She is two years old. She only says little words like mommy, daddy, doggie, and such. Well last week she has been saying other works and even adding words together. We were in the car waiting to pick up my son from school, and she said lets go go, and then there was a day when her and my son were playing and she said get out! It was cute! We still have an appointment for both of the kids on September 15th. My son has to have a physical, and a check up for my daughter. I think they both will be getting flu shots too.

I have been out of work since June. I like staying at home with my kids, but I have to be honest this is all new to me. I get a little frustrated sometimes. I was looking for a job, but then my son started school, and I have nobody to pick him up and take him to a babysitter. So, I am a stay at home mom for now. We are currently researching and looking for ideas for me to make more money while I am at home. If you do have any ideas or suggestions I would greatly appreciate.

The things I have been doing for extra money right now is, MTurk, swagbucks, and a couple survey companies.

I do take online classes at University of Phoenix. I think I am getting screwed on my financial aid somehow. The lady tried explaining it to me but i really do not understand it. I am going for my Healthcare administration degree. I graduate in may, and then I can go for my bachelors. I think I may find another school to do my bachelors, but I am also thinking about changing my degree to Business and Marketing.

Well I sure hope all of my readers have a great day!!!!

A New Week

Hello there readers. I haven't blogged in awhile because I was busy getting my son ready for school to start. He started kindergarten this year. On his first day, I think I wanted to cry. Its crazy how fast time goes after you have kids. He is such a big boy though. I am very proud of him. He has officially been in school a week now. He is loving school, and I think he is starting to act better since being in school. I have not had any bad reports yet.




As far as the job hunting thing goes. I did have an offer for a place that handles medicaid customers. But the hours did not work out because I have to pick up my son from school since Chuck is working during that time. We did find this late night commercial about Anthony Morrison book. We bought the book for 19.95. I am half way through it. I understand it as making money through Affiliate marketing. We also purchased the course for 197.95. We have not started that part yet. I have read many things on the internet about him. They are both good and bad. I think you just have to really but what you want out of the course. We are going to try and make it work so I can stay home with the kids but make some money while doing it. Wish us luck. In the mean time I have found Mturk. Its a website where you do little tasks and get paid very little. It was confusing at first but I think I have got it down now. I have made $30.00 since the 5th of August. I know its not very much but like I said it was confusing at first and its just a little extra of what I did not have before. I have also been a few surveys here and there. I have been paid $15.00 by Opinion Post in the last 2 months. I like this one the best because you can ask to be paid at $5.00. Maybe someday I can be paid to blog. I been reading some about this. I am not all that good at it yet. Although I have found interest in reading other blogs to get some ideas.

I have found an interest in saving more money and couponing. I am now using more coupons than ever, that I am not working right now. You have to be careful about the ones you come across. The very first coupon I used this time when I started up again, was a free Doritos that my mom had sent to me via e-mail. Well I used it twice and then the third time they told me it was a fraud coupon. Why in the world does somebody need to post fraud coupons. I really do not get it. There are some people I will never really understand. I am hoping I can find more and more ways to save for my family.

I am really sorry for such a long post! I promise I will get better at posting more. Until next time, have a good day!!

Soleil 100 Days

Soleil 100 Days: "There are thousands of fun, sharable prizes in the BIC® Soleil® 100 Days of Sunshine promotion. Join now! www.FeelTheSoleil.com"

Job Interview

Today I had a job interview for Godaddy.com as a sales representative. We got there and had to do a test, which I knew about. I had done this kind of job before so I thought everything would go fine. Well the test was 20 minutes long, you had 126 math and definitions questions, and you had to get 65 of them correct to pass the test. I am not going to sit here and lie, it was a very hard test. I have always been told that go for what you believe in. And I just feel like I got shot down today. I am going to just keep praying that I will find work soon. I like staying home with my kids but would really like having my own money and be able to help chuck out with everything. But the good thing is I can try to retake the test in 30 days and still be offered a job. The kids are just being lazy today, playing and watching cartoons. Justin's favorite show right now is icarly. Breanna is not too much into tv yet. Which is a good thing. I love my kids so much! I am going to try getting some of my laundry done today. The heating element went out in our dryer last night so its going to take more time to dry but its gotta be done, and no money to get fixed yet. That's all for now.

Welcome

Hi Everybody. I just created this new blog today. I am going to share my daily life with you all about my family. My name is Tara. I live with my partner I guess you can say, his name is Chuck. We have two children. Justin is 5 and Breanna is 2.