Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope you all enjoyed your St.Patrick's day!  I had a wonderful shamrock shake from the McDonald's today :o)  YUMMY!

I had 2 lucky charms with me today and hope my 3rd had a great day at school and with his mom.  :o)

Zain and I made some rainbow cupcakes....The leprechaun and his rainbow :o)

Zain also enjoyed some GREEN mac n chz

What's Cookin'?

For the past few weeks as I have started to "coupon it up" I have found it MUCH easier when going through they flyers to plan my meals around what's on sale or what we already have in the house.


What's Cookin' this week at the Marro-Lent Household?

Monday:
Chicken and Rice with mixed veggies

Tuesday:
Panera Broccoli Soup made at home served with bread and salad

Wednesday:
Steak with mashed potatoes and veggies

Thursday:
Leftover Buffet

Friday:
Mac n Cheese

Saturday:
Pickings from the freezer...whatever Chris wants to cook....good deal on Roasts this week at Shaw's so I bet that's what it will be :o)


Off to McD's to get a FREE oatmeal :o)

Happy Day

Coupons are AMAZING

For the past few weeks I have been clipping coupons and researching HOW people save so much.  It really is amazing!  I've been reading blogs after blogs about JUST COUPONS.

There are so many coupons out there, you just have to know where to look and how to use them.  In the past whenever I got a coupon for a product that my family uses, I would go out to the store and get the biggest size I could find because hey I am getting 1.00 off right!  no, No, NO!!!    

I am so new at this but here are some tips that I am learning to follow....

~Organize your coupons...know what you have

~Read the flyers Compare your coupons with the sale prices (coupon match up)

~Try new products!  If you are able to get it for very cheap or maybe even free what's it going to hurt to just try?

~Read the coupon, if there is no size limit then you may be able to get a bunch of trial size products for free and have possible overage (today I bought a light bulb for $.99 but my coupon was for $1.00.  So I had a 1 cent overage.)

~Stock up if the price is good!  Stocking up is very new to me..I will be looking into shelves this weekend, and my new freezer that I have wanted to years is due to arrive tomorrow!!!  (Just in time for the sale at Target in Smart Ones!)  OOOHHH and I got a great deal on my freezer but more about that later :o)

After following these tips I took my coupon binder, flyer, and list and off I went.  I went to Shaws and Price Chopper.  2 stores I never go to.

I feel really good about what I did and I know that it will only get better!  

I want to thank 2 Boys + 1 Girl = One Crazy Mom.    Melanie helped me get started and you should really go check out her blog...HOLY SAVINGS!

Have a great day!!!

Money Saving Excitements!

I LOVE saving money!  I want to do it more often!!!  I want to be that person who goes into the grocery store with a stack of coupons and walks out with a cart full of items for $40 bucks!

Well friends, I am not going to be that person sitting here thinking about it!  It takes work to be able to save that kind of money!  For the past 2 weeks I have been clipping coupons, grabbing coupons at the store,  visiting coupon websites like http://www.couponsuzy.com/ or  http://www.couponmom.com/ (there are so many out there) signing up to receive the local flyers in the mail...Hannafords, Price Chopper, Shaws, and Market Basket.  I made sure my CVS card was up to date, I even bought a binder for my coupons (seriously?!?).  Now that I have my tools in place I feel as though I am ready to work on saving my family some money!!!  I know that it is not going to happen over night.  I must be patient!  This is a good lesson for myself...I keep telling Zain he NEEDS to be patient..things don't always come when YOU want them....now I have to follow my own advice!

There are so many blogs out there to help with this money saving life style change.  You have to stock buy.  Some weeks you may buy tons of meat and not much of anything else...OR the next week you may buy 8 packs of dog treats.

I am really addicted to saving money!!!  I can not wait to see what I can do!

The best thing that I have discovered while researching money saving tips is how to save on DIAPERS!!  We use fuzzibunz cloth diapers here at home, but we still buy disposable for overnight and when we leave our house.  I think we save on average about 3 diapers a day which is about 90 diapers a month.  That is almost a box of diapers that I would buy at Target for $20.00 WITH coupons.  UNTILL NOW!!!  I signed up for Amazon Moms at amazon.com/baby I get free 2 day shipping right to my house...yes I do NOT have to drag 2 boyzz, sometimes 3boyzzz out in the freezing cold NH weather to buy a box of diapers!  


Amazon sells a package of 152 Pamper Swaddlers Size 2-3 for regular price 46.99.  Because I am an Amazon Mom member I get a discounted price of $41.99 and free 2 day shipping....already it is better then T because I would have to spend $50.00 to get free shipping from them.  Ok now let's talk about what happens if you subscribe to have your diapers sent to you every month, or every 2 months....your price now goes down 30%  $29.39 is what you will be spending.  Oh did I mention that as soon as you see your diapers have been shipped you can cancel your subscription!!  


$29.39 is a really great price for 152 Pamper Swaddlers!!!!!  BUT the savings does not need to stop there!!!  Amazon puts out 20% off coupons in magazines.  American Baby click here to request your magazines (which is FREE) Parents, and others...just keep your eyes open...you can also use 2 coupons on ONE order!  I just used 2 that expire next week on one box and my total price for 152 diapers was......................................................$12.59  HOW EXCITING!!!!  I may have done a little dance :o)


I hope that this helps some of you save on diapers!!!  


Do you have any savings tips and tricks you can share?


Till next time......


-Kylah

Wintery Wordless Wednesday

A Little Late But Here is a Christmas Hello.....

It has been TOO long!!!!

Wow can you believe we are in 2011?!?  AMAZING!

Our holiday was so wonderful!  It lasted an entire week...it was AWESOME!  Zakary spent Christmas  at his Mom's house this year while Zain, Zayden, Chris, and I passed out gifts at the nursing home.  It was such a great day! We love being able to teach Zain at such a young age that Christmas is not only about toys.  He really enjoyed giving to all the Alzheimer's patients.


Zak came later in the week and we had a great Christmas of our own.  Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, coffee, and presents!

I remember the butterflies in my stomach that I would get the night before Christmas when I was younger, the sleepless Christmas Eve night because I was just SO EXCITED!   The mounds of gifts to tear open in the morning, the feeling of being the luckiest girl ever!  Man, Christmas was the BEST when I was little...then I grew up and had my own kids and NOW Christmas is EVEN BETTER!


Watching the excitement in the boyZZZ eyes jumping up and down and not being able to control their screams.  The thank you's that are repeated over and over all day!  Then we have the smiles for weeks on end because of their new toys.  It has been 2 weeks and Zain keeps telling us how important his toys are because they were Christmas presents!  It is GREAT!


I promise it won't be so long till we chat again!

~K

Wordless Wednesday Holiday Style

Happy Baby!

We are so lucky AGAIN with our little Zayden!

He is 11 weeks old and such a HAPPY baby!

He loves his tubby time so much.  He are a "few" pictures I captured after his tub the other night.

Wordless Wednesday

Yesterday I grabbed my camera, called a friend, and headed to the park....too bad my battery for my camera died just minutes into being there.....I was able to get a couple of good shots though.....

Have a Wonderful Wordless Wednesday!

Friends, Help us find our photo.....

Last weekend, while Zakary was here, we did another round of family photos!  Yes I am a little addicted to pictures, and the best are with all 5 of us!  I decided to try and do the pictures myself this time...I grabbed my tripod that Chris gave me last year and told everyone to smile.  It is NOT easy to get an 8 year old, 3 year old, newborn, and a mama that is running back n forth to smile at the same time!!!!  Also Zayden's hat is a little bit too big so it kept covering his eyes...GRRRRR

Despite us not getting "the perfect picture" we still had fun (with a little chocolate bribing!)

The boyZZ thought it was "so cool" that the camera was taking the picture without anyone behind it.

Towards the end I could tell that Zak and Zayden were starting to get restless...I don't want them to hate taking pictures....seeing as though I LOVE it...so I we stopped and they started throwing leaves, having an awesome time.

So to all my new friends....please help me pick the best one :o)  I will let you all know what photo has the most votes :o)

picture 1

picture 2

picture 3

picture 4

picture 5

picture 6

picture 7

picture 8

Thank you so much for helping me pick the best one.  I played a little in iphoto with effects and vignettes .  

I really want to get photoshop and really learn how to use it.  I downloaded a free version and I am soooo lost!  Anyone have any suggestions?

I hope you all have a FANTASTIC FUN FILLED FRIDAY!!!!

~K

Beauty of Fall

As much as I hate to see summer leave us....the beauty of fall is very stunning!  

10/10/10

10   10   10   Perfect Score!!!!  A great NH Fall Day

We know we have a perfect score with these 3!

Zain is just not into taking a lot of pictures these days...so a little bribing went on...those new candy corn Hersey Kisses do amazing things!

The picture of Zain alone was actually 1 of 30....his smile kept looking so fake and he was not looking at me.  I decided to take a different approach...I started throwing leaves at him and this is what I got.  I am so happy with ALL the pictures :o)

I am really having fun taking pictures...so far Zayden is the only one not complaining haha....

Wordless Wednesday-the looks

Monday Night Football!

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL....with the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS makes a very very happy Marro/Lent household!

What's for dinner with Monday Night Football???  MUNCHIES of course!!!!

NACHOS!!!!!!!

 Need a quick dinner for your family?  Why not have nachos? Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Start off by cooking your hamburg or ground turkey on stovetop and then adding some taco seasoning.  Grab a can of black beans and throw those in too...it makes for some great texture!  Lay out your tortilla chips out on a baking sheet.  Top your chips with your yummy meat and beans.  What is Nacho's without cheese?  Add as much or as little as you want.  Throw them in oven till you are all melted!  Add some jalapeno peppers if you like the HEAT.  I always have some salsa, sour cream and GUACAMOLE!!!  YUMMMMM  

We also had some WINGS!!!!

Wings are a great GAME NIGHT food!  Make a big batch of wings and a bunch of different sauces to toss them in and EVERYONE is happy.  Zain and I love our wings with some BBQ sauce and Chris loves them HOT.  He decided to just buy some bottled sauce instead of making his own to save on time...He got Franks RedHot Wings Buffalo sauce...he didn't really like it though :o(  It was not hot at all.  I tried one and I liked them so they were definitely NOT hot.  Do any of you have a favorite buffalo sauce?  

Chris cut up the fresh wings and put them in the fryer for about 10 minutes each batch.  We blew a fuse the first time....LIGHTS OUT pitch black dark.  

After the were done in the fryer he tossed them in a big bowl with the sauce....YUMM YUMM YUMM Zain's face was covered with yummy BBQ sauce.

We had to have something SWEET as well!!!!  So I made some peanut butter cupcakes!

These were so YUMMY!!!  So easy too 

1 box of yellow cake (I used a sugar free one)

1 1/4 cup water

1/4 cup oil 

3 eggs

3/4 c  creamy peanut butter

Preheat over 350 degrees

Mix all of the above in your trusty mixer for about 3 minutes (or use your handheld mixer)

Line muffin pan, fill about 3/4 of the way

Bake for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

For the frosting I bought some chocolate frosting and mixed in 1/4 c peanut butter.  This was the first time I piped on the frosting and I was very happy with the way it came out!  I will need a bigger frosting tip but for now WAHOO!!!!  I also sprinkled some chopped peanuts on top....made it PERFECT!

I found these in the Halloween Betty Crocker magazine!

A great way to finish the night was with a HUGE WIN!  That made us all very happy!

Sunday Night Play Date

 Play dates are a great way for kids to get together!  I love being able to get Zain together with his friends!
Watching them interact with each other is AWESOME!  Listening to their stories and letting their imagination R U N is so fun to watch!

Zain and Jolie have been friends since Zain was born :o)  Jo is 8 months older.....I actually found out I was pregnant for Zain days before Jo was born.

                 

I brought my camera to practice capturing memories in a new way, BUT I was so disappointed!  I must have had my camera on a wrong setting because they were coming out very blurry.  The sun was going down and my flash kept going off....My flash must be so bright because all the kids usually look like an adult on a Friday night ;o)  Eyes half open...I can't figure it out.....I have to KEEP PRACTICING!!!!

Zayden hung out in the Baby Bjorn while we were at the park.  I just LOVE that thing!!!  I am so excited that Jolie's mom Avril (a GREAT friend of mine) is having another baby and the 2 new ones will be about 5 months apart!  That just makes me smile!

The kids had so much FUN!  Chris and I LOVE going to Wheelock Park! The kids had a great time running around, climbing, jumping, and sliding!  In the bigger picture with the 2 of them they are pretending to be on Dancing with the Stars.  I was laughing so hard!

We stopped at Dunkin Donuts before heading to the park for a HOT CHOCOLATE!  They really seemed to enjoy it!  They told Chris and I they were drinking coffee....such grown ups!

After our fun evening at the park we decided to continue their play date so out for pizza we went!!!

We always have such a great time playing with friends!

 

Transformation

Nothing says the start of fall like going apple picking with my family!  This year we were lucky to have friends join us!!!  We have been going to Alyson's Orchard in Walpole, NH for the past  years...it is so beautiful up there.

We had tons of fun picking apples, climbing trees, and walking through the pumpkin patch.

JUICY apples

Madison loved her apples!!!  She got very upset when she was "appleless"

Zain is so good with her!! 

I wonder...What is she thinking?

Enjoying the deep colors of fall.

There is nothing like the start of fall like the scent of apples baking in the oven...apple pie, apple crisp, apple crostata...want to make this?  Go Bake and Create with my great friend Avril OR my new personal favorite Apple Dumplings..OH MY I can not believe I have never had these before.  YUM YUM and YUMMMMYYYYY!!!!

So how does this transformation start?  Well, as Zain says, "let me show ya"

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for double-crust pie (I used store bought Pillsbury dough)
• 6 large apples, peeled and cored
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 cups water
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F Butter a 9x13 inch pan

On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry into a large rectangle, about 24 by 16 inches. Cut into 6 square pieces. Place an apple on each pastry square with the cored opening facing upward. Cut butter into 8 pieces. Place 1 piece of butter in the opening of each apple; reserve remaining butter for sauce. Divide brown sugar between apples, poking some inside each cored opening and the rest around the base of each apple. Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over the apples.

1. With slightly wet fingertips, bring one corner of pastry square up to the top of the apple, then bring the opposite corner to the top and press together. Bring up the two remaining corners, and seal. Slightly pinch the dough at the sides to completely seal in the apple. Repeat with the remaining apples. Place in prepared baking dish.

1. In a saucepan, combine water, white sugar, vanilla extract and reserved butter. Place over medium heat, and bring to a boil in a large saucepan. Boil for 5 minutes, or until sugar is dissolved. Carefully pour over dumplings.

Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

Right out of the oven...

I can not believe I just transformed a wonderful healthy apple into this SINfully yummy OH so BAD for you treat!  I shouldn't eat anymore but it is calling my name!!!! 

What is YOUR favorite apple transformation?  I'd LOVE to know because I want to take Zak apple picking while he is here this weekend....use MR. Linky at the bottom of the post to share :o)  

I hope you all have a wonderful Fall season and take some time to transform something ;o)