This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Do you have children who love VeggieTales?  Do you love VeggieTales?  I'll admit that I probably love VeggieTales more than Michael.  I mean, I did name my first car the Junior mobile after Junior Asparagus.  Oh, and had Junior hanging from my rear view mirror.  Because of our combined love for VeggieTales when I was looking for a family devotional last year, I was hoping to find one from them.  Unfortunately, the Family Christian Store I was out was completely out.

Plus a giveaway of Sarah Young's Jesus Today: Devotions For Kids!

I had planned to actually write a post about this several months ago, but life got the best of me.  Back in September I had decided that since it was a new school year that I wanted to start doing some family devotionals.  At Michael's preschool he is getting chapel weekly where he learns about God and all the different stories in the Bible, but I wanted to start something at home for all of us to participate in.

Today was the first day of taking Michael to school without Jon and I finally got some much needed ME time.  I had made a goal of trying to work on stuff around the house that I normally can't work on while

Shopping!  Well, consignment sale shopping that is.  It just so happened that there were two different consignment sales on Saturday.  I have been going to consignment sales since Michael was born almost three years ago.  I always find great deals on sometimes items that have never even been used.  My wonderful grandma had sent me money to buy an early birthday gift for Michael.  With the money she sent, I was able to get three items that were on his wishlist as well as some other things.  This picture shows the items that I bought at the first sale, didn't take a picture of what I got at the second.  For three shirts, four toys, and two pairs of shoes I only spent a total of $45!  I'm sure the original cost of the Cars Lego Duplo set was that much or more.

Consignment shopping is the way to go.  Here in Northern Virginia, there seems to be several different sales in the Spring and Fall.  There are also several all year round stores that you can go to.  I don't get a lot of clothes at the sales anymore because I have an awesome step-sister-in-law who sends me a lot of my nephew's clothes that he's grown out of.  If you are not blessed with a family member providing you with hand-me-downs, I highly recommend going to a consignment sale or store.  It is so worth it!

So, I did do a little regular shopping as well.  I went to Hobby Lobby to see if I could find some large Easter eggs.  I'm planning on taking Michael's Easter photos this year to save us money (going to a photography studio can be so expensive).  I hit the jack pot there!  All their Easter decorations were 40% off and they had an 18" egg with a bonus of two smaller eggs inside it!  With the discount, the three large eggs cost me a little under $12.  Not bad for the only prop that I needed to purchase.  I'm planning on having our little photo shoot this weekend so I'll have a post about it afterwards.

What do you fellow mommies out there do when the hubby and kiddos are gone for the day?  I wanted to also work on my bedroom.  It needs some major origination.

I really liked this video from The Mom's View.  I love the idea of no allowance and that chores around the house do not earn you money.  This is not the first time I've heard that.  I've heard this idea originally from Dave Ramsey.  I want to get the book that Dave and his daughter, Rachel, wrote about this very topic (Smart Money Smart Kids).  
The main thing is that we, as parents, need to teach are children what a dollar actually means and how to earn that said dollar.  Even though Michael is only 2, almost 3, we are trying to teach him to respect things and that giving is always better than receiving.

This past Christmas, he helped with picking out all the items for an Operation Christmas Child box for a little boy his age.  I plan to do this every year with him and any future children.  I think next year, I might start giving him and me a limit on how much we can spend on our boxes.  We have also told Michael that if he breaks something, like his blind in his bedroom, that the money used to buy a replacement will come from his savings account.

I know it's hard to not spoil your kids and give them everything that you had or didn't have growing up, but isn't that what grandparents are for?  Looking around at Michael's toys, I would say half or more were purchased by his grandparents.  If he gets toys from us, most of the time they were bought used.  Even his clothes are mostly from grandparents, hand me downs from his cousin, or purchased at end of season where it's extremely discounted.

I'm still a fairly new mom and am still trying to figure things out as I go.  Basically all I'm saying is, if we teach our children the value of a dollar, that hard work won't kill you, and that materialistic things mean nothing, maybe this world will be just one step closer to being a much better place.

Yep, having dinner with your family around the table is the best thing!  No matter what type of food that maybe on the table, in this case a enchilada kit, you should always sit down with your family.  No matter how crappy of a day you had, nothing makes it go away like sitting down to eat with your family.

I had Pandora playing while we were eating.  We have such a good time sitting, eating, and just talking to each other about our day.  It's gotten better now that Michael will actually sit down with us and eat.

Just thought I would share this moment that I captured of my wonderful family.

I have been thinking about posting something about this for awhile now.  I love the YouTube channel The Mom's View.  I just can relate to these moms and I feel that I'm not alone in my trials with raising Michael.  This past week they posted a show about how they deal with their children melting down in public.  Does your parenting style change when you're out in the public?

I'll admit that mine does.  I'm a lot more aware of my surroundings and try to act as cool as I possibly can.  A few weeks ago we were at Target and this mom had a daughter that was a lot older than Michael throwing a fit.  I felt sorry for the mom, but I also felt sorry for the daughter.  The mom was yelling at her and, in my opinion, not handling it the best way.  I would have just went and checked out and left, but this mom kept shopping and screaming at her daughter.  There have been several times where Michael has acted up and I had to stop what I was doing and leave.  Every time, I felt so embarrassed because my son was not behaving.  I had a mom come up to me one time and tell me not to worry about it, that we've all been there.  That made me feel better, but I still sometimes feel judged when I'm out in public and my son doesn't behave.  That's one of the main reasons Michael and I stay at home so much during the week.

It doesn't seem to be as bad when Jon is with me.  If Michael acts up, Jon takes him to the bathroom and has a talk with him and maybe even gets a spanking if one is called for.  If that doesn't work, one of us will take him to the car and sit with him there until the other is done with what we were doing.

Since becoming a parent, my views about a lot of things have changed.  Before kids screaming would drive me up the wall, but now I completely feel for the parent that's child is screaming bloody murder.  Most of the time I feel like it's mine that's doing that and generally if we've been waiting for a very long time it is.  What precautions do you all take when going out with your kids?  I always have several cars in my purse for Michael to play with and we always have some Michael friendly games downloaded on our cell phones.  I never wanted to be one of those parents that put a phone or iPad in front of their kid to keep them quiet, but sometimes if you want to go out to eat in peace, it's what has to be done.

The thing I hate is when he does act up, all the judgmental looks that you get from people.  Even if they clearly can see we are doing everything in our power to stop the melt down.  One time we were waiting to even be acknowledged to get a seat and Michael started screaming.  The people behind us were like, "Oh, my God!"  After that was said, we left.  Don't need to be in a place that people are going to act like that when they could clearly see we were trying to get Michael under control and that we had been waiting for awhile.

I have noticed a difference within the past month or so.  I can go to the mall and actually have lunch with Michael.  Well, as long as he has some cars to play with and my phone to play games on.  Before he wouldn't even sit down - he would always be running off.  We're slowly understanding each other.

Let me hear what you all think and what has worked for you.  Like they said in the video, every child is different and you just have to learn what works best for that child.

This past week has been a week of sickness.  Monday afternoon, Michael threw up under the kitchen table after we finished up the cookies we got from the grocery store.  I put him down for a nap and he woke up when Jon got home from work.  Luckily Jon got up there fast enough and rushed Michael to the bathroom for his first time throwing up in the toilet.  He did get some in his room before heading to bathroom.  Jon took him downstairs to watch some tv, but it sounded more like play and that he was feeling much better.  I cleaned up the mess and got things all cleaned for him.

Tuesday was a snow day and Jon decided to call out.  Since he took Tuesday off he was going to work on his normal Friday off.

Fast forward to Thursday.  I started not feeling so well a little before Jon got home.  Ate some of the pizza he got for supper and then headed to bed.  An hour or so later I woke up and began getting sick.  This happened for the next seven hours - throw up, "sleep" for about an hour, and throw up again.

My wonderful husband called off from work so he could take care of Michael and I.  Little did he know what awaited him.  They went and got me stuff from the grocery store that we didn't have and even got themselves breakfast.  After Jon got Michael to take a nap, he himself got taken down by whatever I had, but nothing as bad.

So, what do you do when both parents are sick and have no energy to take care of an extremely active toddler?  Well, in my husband's case you act stubborn and say you'll feel better before Michael gets up from his nap.  I, on the other hand, was ready to throw in the white flag and call the Gramie Calvary and have her take him for the weekend.

We are not fortunate enough to live close by to family and we don't like the idea of our son being close to three hours away from us.  Call us being over protective, but that's how we feel.  I know that Michael would be in great hands with my mother-in-law, she's a nurse practitioner, but it's the distance he would be from us if anything should happen that bothers us.

So, with that being said, Jon waited too long with making the call.  She was on standby.  The next morning, Jon was feeling better so he called the Calvary to stand down.

In the past two and a half years both of us have not been this sick at the same time.  What do you do when this happens in your household?  Would love to hear your ideas and suggestions.