Throughout this week, I’ve been trying to answer questions that I receive frequently. So far, I’ve tackled Why I Don’t Have a Sams or Costco Membership, How I Store Fruits and Vegetables to Keep Them Fresh, and Why We Don’t Eat Many Sandwiches For Lunch. This led me to re-read my FAQs page which is located in the drop down menu bar across the top of my website. I decided it needed updating. I also decided I should share it with you here to answer all those questions about me that you’ve been dying to know – even though I’m absolutely sure that many of you have laid awake at night wondering about none of this.
HOW do you get everything done? It seems like with homeschooling, cooking from scratch, cleaning and keeping up with your website…you must never sleep.
I do work hard – and I bet you do too. I never get everything done but yes, I sleep. All work and no sleep makes Laura completely unproductive and ridiculously ridiculous when trying to carry on a conversation. So how do I attempt to keep up with all my responsibilities?
Well, for starters, I haven’t cleaned our toilets in about three years. I find that this frees up my time to be enjoyed in other ways – like writing and cooking.
Another way I get quite a bit of work done each day is that I tend to work rather fast – so much so that a perfectionist might watch me work and be very annoyed. I hardly ever measure ingredients when I cook, I don’t care if something I’m making looks perfect, I often leave cabinet doors open, and most days my hair is pulled back into a ponytail which means I can complete my “try to at least look presentable in case the UPS man shows up” routine in approximately 2.8 minutes.
Our four boys are not babies anymore, so I don’t have to watch them constantly to make sure they don’t put light bulbs into their mouths. Plus, all of my boys are old enough to do a lot of work to help out around the house. For the record, they do a fine job scrubbing our toilets. Wow, and here you thought… Have mercy.
How do you pronounce your kid’s names? And, how did you come up with them?
We chose unique names for our kids because when we were in college there were so many people named Matt and Laura. Plus, when I taught school, I felt bad for the kids having to be called by their last name since they were in a classroom with three other kids that shared their first name. We also wanted Bible names for our kids, just because we did. So, unique Bible names it is.
Our four boys are:
Asa (ay-suh)….was a good king (one of the few). You can read about him in 1 Kings 15:8-24.
Justus (jus-tus)…spent time with Jesus and was considered as a replacement for Judas as apostle. (Acts 1:23)
Elias (ee-lie-us)…is another form of the name Elijah.
Malachi (mal-uh-kie)…a prophet, the last book of the Old Testament.
While we’re on the subject, my name, Laura, is pronounced (lah-rah). Like the music note, la la la. It’s not hard, really. Most people pronounce it (lor-ah) because that’s what they are used to when they see L-a-u-r-a. However, my mom was from the south, and she always loved the name Laura, pronounced the apparent southern way, Lahrah. Almost everyone calls me Lora and I always answer to Lora and I don’t fault anyone for calling me Lora because they just aren’t used to it. But if/when people do pronounce my name correctly, I truly do appreciate it and love it. Just a little something to keep in mind if I ever meet you in person, you say Lahra, and I tear up a little bit.
For the record, Matt has said it correctly from the night of our very first date and I’m pretty sure hearing him say Lahra in the college student center is what made me fall in love with him right then and there.
And speaking of Matt, so that he doesn’t feel left out, his name is pronounced (mat).
Is it loud at your house with all those boys?
I’m sorry, did you say something?
How much do you spend on groceries each month? How do you eat such healthy food on such a tight budget?
You can get an idea of what our real food grocery budget was like a few years ago by reading my Getting Real with Food series, and my Feeding the Family series. At this point though, with two teenage and two pre-teen boys – all four of whom are very active and have huge appetites, growing feet, and long, long legs – I really can’t give you an exact grocery dollar amount. I do my best to feed us real food economically, and I believe cooking from scratch and buying in bulk saves us hundreds of dollars each month. As for how much I spend each month, it varies depending on our meat supply and our grocery purchase needs. But let’s just say we go through a lot of groceries. A lot of groceries. A shocking amount of much food. Okay, you get the point.
I want to start feeding my family a healthy, real food diet. Where do I start?
This is a loaded question, and one I hear multiple times daily. That’s why I created a very inexpensive, absolutely pressure free, and completely thorough eCourse to walk you through this process of changing your kitchen into a Real Food Kitchen. Check out You Can Do This! The First Five Steps to a Real Food Kitchen.
What do you feel are the most important aspects of healthy eating?
Another loaded question, which I answer in a total of 31 posts. Wow, someone has a lot of words, doesn’t she? Yeah well, we’re talking about healthy eating here – one of my favorite subjects. Read my 31 Days of Real Food Reality posts to learn what I feel is most important, and how I keep it simple!
Which do you love more – butter or jars?
Oh now, you know I just love me a jar full of butter. I store almost everything in jars, and without a doubt, butter makes everything better…or my name isn’t Laura (Lahra).
So now your turn. Tell me something about you. How do you get everything done every day? How many kids do you have? What’s your grocery budget like? And I really must know – how do you pronounce your name???
You always crack me up :) 95% of the people I know say my name wrong…even relatives, but, like you, I’m used to it & I’ll answer you if you call me Sanya….but I love it when someone says it right!! My one daughter makes more noise than my 3 boys combined at times… but they are only quiet when they’re asleep ;) We spend a fortune a few times a year on meat (3/4 cow, whole hog & 30 chickens) and another fortune every month on everything else we eat…everyone keeps telling me to wait til my boys are teens…I’ll have to take out a second mortgage to afford to feed them! I don’t get everything done every day, but we still survive! Thanks for keeping up your blog, I enjoy the times I get to read it!
Oh Lahra you’re too funny. :). My name is pronounced Sah-lee-nuh. I have 3 kiddos (just turned 5, 2.5, and 10months). My husbands name is Matt too. Our grocery budget is around $350-400/month and mostly organic. I love sugar (too much :/ unfortunately) but am trying to cut back. I ALWAYS have to wear a bra. I even sleep in my underwires. I can’t stand not wearing one. If wearing one in the shower wasn’t weird I might consider it! Haha. I also love butter and jars, but sadly have never had butter from a jar. Maybe someday, a girls gotta have a dream! My 5 yo loves to say ‘Everything is better with butter cuz butter makes everything better!’ :)
I enjoy reading your posts- helpful and fun all at the same time! :)
How do I get everything done? I don’t… but my perfectionist self is learning to be content with that. It is a lot better now-
1-I try to determine my priorities and what is urgent versus important…and what is urgent AND important. (as in, we have no food in the house… and lunchtime is coming up.) ;)
2-We have a 3 year old, a one year old, and Baby on the way. The out-of-the-womb children are completely capable of helping me in various ways, which includes putting away their laundry, the silverware, their own toys, vacuuming their room, etc. (About the vacuuming… we only eat food in the kitchen/dining room, so I don’t worry about that too much. And they have a blast, haha!) Having them help me has also turned into a great opportunity for conversations, teaching moments, and learning more about their hearts. :)
-My husband and I try to be intentional about talking, laughing and touching all throughout the week, but Friday is almost ALWAYS reserved for date night! Right now we don’t actually go “out” much, but the kids go to bed early & we hang out together… often with something yummy to munch on and a game to play. (Our 3 year old has caught onto this snack thing, and gets very excited about our date nights even if bedtime is earlier than normal. “Tonight is Friday, and that’s you guys’ date night… and maybe you will have a special treat, and maybe there will be LEFTOVERS! I like leftovers.” ;)
Grocery budget is a tight-but-workable $200-250 a month. This month was a tighter squeeze and I am having an interesting time of it! I try to only get things on sale, and stock up on those sale things. If I have to buy something full price, I only get enough for us to survive on till I think (hope) it goes on sale again!
My name is almost always mispronounced, so I answer to most any version if I’m paying attention. But the truth? It’s Dara, like “Sarah” with a “D”. :) And even with minimal southern background, I have always preferred to say the name “Laura”, “Lahrah”. Very pretty! :)
Tah-dah, I present to you… my book of a reply. :)
My name is lori, spelled LORI, but everyone wants to spell it Laurie. My parents saw the name Laura Lynn on crackers when my mom was pregnant with me and they used lori Lynne instead. So every one wants to misspell my name from a box of crackers. It is said lo-ri. :) you really do remind me of me. And I will call you Lahra if we ever meet if you Will spell my name right when we email lol.
Ha! You are so witty!
I have to say a couple of things…first of all, I just read the post about Amazon Coupons (which I didn’t know existed!) and now I am super excited to mail order toilet paper! I am forevering saying how nice it would be to have it delivered to my door. There simply isn’t enough room in the grocery cart for the children, groceries, and TP! I also wanted to Thank You for your wonderful tortilla recipe. I purchased your Totally Tortillas ebook a while back and your recipe is a staple at my house. I make them every week and finally…it isn’t even hard. At first it was…but now, it’s nothing. I even keep some dough in the fridge for a quick breakfast wrap. Awesome. Thank you, again.
As for my name….I am Jen-short i-kuh, often pronouned Jen-nee-kuh, which doesn’t bother me…I am used to it like you. We also gave our children “different” names, one of which is Elias! Love that name! We call him “E” or “EEJ” (his initials). And, my husband’s name is Mark, pronounced “Mark.” Ha!
Thank you for all you do! And, again, the Amazon Coupon thing…I can’t put words to my feelings right now. :)
No one says my name wrong, but I sure wish they would spell it right! I am Kellie, not Kelly. I answer to both, but the real me is Kellie. I have 3 boys who are never full. I try to cook from scratch and eat real food as much as we can, and my grocery bill is crazy!
Everyone knows how to pronounce my name but, like Kellie, its usually misspelled. I am not Jodie or Jodi, I am Jody! I have just set a goal to keep the grocery budget at $300 a month. Almost time to start the garden and that will help! Then when it is all canned and frozen that will help again! :) Love your blog and your sense of humor. Thanks! I really want to try the Amazon Subscribe and Save. Sure wish we had an Azure Standard drop off point here.
PS – Back when I was in highschool we knew a board member at York University and so I was recruited hard. Ended up in Alabama though, at Faulkner University. York was a little far from Florida where we were living at the time!
Oh and my children have Bible names too – though not unusual ones. We have Timothy, Anna, and Jeremiah! Fairly easy to pronounce (and spell)!!!
I’m Jodie and no one spells it right. It’s always Jodi ;)
Jody- I live in Montgomery, AL!!! Do you still?
Andrea, I live in Prattville now. Where in Montgomery do you live? And did you go to Faulkner?
I know all about the name thing–I am Lana pronounced lonna but I am mostly called la-nu with a short a. Honestly I will answer to any pronunciation but it really bugs my husband who goes about correcting everyone. I do have to admit that if I have known someone for several years and they have not bothered to learn to pronounce my name I do not really consider them a friend.
Hah. My name is pronounced “uh-NEE-truh” but when I got married to a Smith, we agreed that we wanted to give our children names that are unusual but not too hard to spell and pronounce (in our opinion). So far, we have Claire and Asher, and are trying to come up with a name for boy #2 on the way.
Since I’m pregnant right now, I don’t even try to pretend to get everything done. I manage to transport my daughter to and from school, get homemade food on the table, and make sure everyone has clean clothes. Everything else gets done… eventually, if it’s important. Which reminds me, I need to enlist my two helpers to sweep and mop today; it’s been months since it was mopped, and it shows…
I have two daughter one is adult or less she think she think she is and flew the nest. and the other one almost a teen. I turning 40 this year and I want to be fabulous at 40 not flabby. Need to do lots of work I have 9 more monthes before I turn 40. Redoing our eating habits and they way I buy things. Decluttering our house to much stuff
Gotta jump in on the “how do you pronounce your name”! For the first few years of my life, my name was pronounced the way anyone (at least, any American) would pronounce H-a-n-n-a-h. But it seemed like every second or third girl in my generation had my name! Ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but that was definitely the popular name of the era. Then my grandmother who is from Poland would call me “Hanyah” – the “a” being pronounced like the “o” in “hot”. Also my parents started studying some Hebrew and realized that in Hebrew (Biblical and modern), the “a” is pronounced the same way my grandmother said it … instead of like the “a” in “hat”.
So for those reasons, they changed the pronunciation of my name! And I do like the sound of it better than the normal way of saying “Hannah” but it does get confusing for people sometimes … you know, when you’re in the Starbucks line and they want to know your name so they can write it on your cup … “Hannah” … “Ha – what?” … “Hannah – spelled like Hannah” …
And then of course being in the south, peoples’ efforts to pronounce it correctly often turn into “Hawnah”!
One of the reasons I love the time that I’ve spent in Israel – when I went to get a coffee and they asked my name, they knew exactly how to spell it! :)
You always crack me up, Lah-ra. So sorry, I say Lorra. I don’t speak with a southern accent. My mother in law’s name was Colleen. I asked her once if she pronounced it co-leen or call-een. She said it was her mother’s intention it should be pronounced cuh-LEEN, but no one ever did. For the record, MY name is Lois, Timothy’s grandmother’s name. It has four letters and is said low-iss. I spell it whenever I go to Starbucks, but it is always either misspelled and/or mispronounced: Louis, Loise, Louise, etc. Now that I live in Texas where everyone drawls and creates three-syllable words out of one and two syllables, sometimes it comes out Loy-us!
My name is Elizabeth but I choose to go by Beth because for some reason lots of people like to take it upon themselves to shorten it to Liz, which I really don’t care for. That’s my name rant.
I don’t get everything done ever. My kids are 19&17 and they and my husband all have crazy schedules and we just do what we can. I can’t remember the last time I made my bed because its just not that important to me! My 17 year old son does most of the cooking right now and is earning school credit for it.
Our grocery budget is 160 a week and we try really hard to keep to whole foods, but there are some weeks that we just have to buy frozen stuff or we won’t eat. I figure its better than fast food.
Thank you for your blog, it is so fun and helpful!
Such a fun post to read! I love that you shared everything you did. So a little about me:
Homeschooling mother to 8 children (6 sons and 2 daughters so far). The name is Tristan pronounced pretty much like it looks. I’m not a fan of nicknames so please don’t shorten my name or my children’s names. ;)
Grocery budget for our family of 10 is $600/month. The children are age 12 years down to 7 months.
My biggest challenge to getting things done began when our 7th child was born. Mason has Spina Bifida and several related medical problems. He’s just turned 2 and has had 11 surgeries already, most brain surgeries. He’s paralyzed from the waist down and rocks his wheelchair. I spend a lot of time driving in to the big city for medical appointments. This month we have 20, which is our new record for a month. :)
I blog about homeschooling at http://ourbusyhomeschool.com and share Mason’s story at http://masonsbjournal.blogspot.com
You crack me up! My name is Alyssa, pronounced U-liss-u, both the short u sound. Growing up my name was very unusual, and hardly anyone spelled or pronounced it right. I got Alisha, Allysa, Alissa, Alisa, Melissa, Lisa…I hated when people got my name wrong! Now, on the other hand, Alyssa has been on the top 10 list for baby names in recent years, so pretty much everyone gets it right. I know several people with little girls named Alyssa. So much for being unusual, now it’s popular!
I know you talk about how much your boys eat, but tell me, did they eat you out of house and home as preschoolers? My 4 yr. old son never stops eating! Seriously. Take this morning…a big bowl of oatmeal with heavy cream on top, then 2 clementines, and he was asking for more to eat. I feel like I can never fill him up! Any suggestions, other than to buy more food?! More protein, maybe? But honestly, I can feed him 2 eggs for breakfast, and he’ll ask for more. He’s not fat, actually he’s small for his age(he was born premature), and is always full of energy, so I guess he just burns it all off! Off to the grocery I go…hope they have samples to feed my little hungry hippo. lol
My name is pronounced the way you think it is, but very few people spell it right. It doesn’t bother me that much.
I NEVER get everything done, but I’ve come to not expect to. I try really hard to prioritize, but some things always seem to get bumped. For instance, tonight my son bridges from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. He has been a Webelos for 2 years. Today at lunchtime I will sew (probably tack) his Webelos badge on his uniform so it will (at long last) be up to date for tonight’s ceremony.
I am trying to keep our food budget below $400/month. We eat mostly organic, and not that much meat, so it’s do-able if we are careful. And since I am really cheap, I’m careful. Thank God I have a source for free organic eggs from a church member. Like Lahra, I am a devoted Amazon subscribe & save customer.
My name is Katy, not Kathy. For some reason people really, really want to add an ‘h’ in there. If there is one thing people know out of everything in the world, it’s how to spell their name. I’ve had things embroidered with “Kathy”, after I inspected the submission to make sure it was spelled correctly, because this is what it is going to be, and sigh, along comes something embroidered “Kathy”.
Lah-ra,,
I’ve been following your blog for several years, and I’m happy to know that I’ve been reading your name correctly all this time! My name is also commonly mispronounced… I was named Andrea (Ann-dree-uh) NOT Un-dray-uh, or Onn-dree-uh. I always cringe inside when someone says it the wrong way, and usually I correct them. However my husband’s grandmother always said it “Onn-dree-uh”, and I let her. Couldn’t bring myself to correct her. She lived to be 97, and I felt like she’d earned the privilege of pronouncing names however she wanted :)
I never get everything done. Like ever. I also homeschool 4 children, but unlike you, 3 of them are girls. And also unlike you, in the same years that I’ve been following your blog, I’ve had 2 MORE surprise children – boys. The youngest which is just 7wks old. I’d like to say that I’ve become MORE organized since his birth. But, alas, I’ve become way WAY worse… So thankful my girls are teens & huge-o helps!
I try to fix healthy food most of the time (the Heavenly Homemaker’s way. Seriously, I always use your recipes!) I figure if my family gets wholesome stuff at home, it can help offset the fast food they get with youth group! Our grocery budget has fluctuated recently since my husband lost his job. It used to be $600/mo. Now it’s less, we depend on WIC vouchers, and have had to resort to some processed foods when it comes down to the $. While my kids don’t always appreciate my freshly ground flour that’s used in my baking, their friends at church enjoy eating our “healthy” desserts :)
I do have a homeschool question for ya: How/when/do you correct/check/grade their work? I also use some of the same curriculum you do (9th, 7th, 5th & 2nd grades this year).
Oh, and my husband is also Matt (Mat) ????
I don’t have a set time to check my kids’ work – usually I just check in with them several times each day to see how they are progressing. Their math grades itself (Teaching Textbooks), so that’s super helpful!
I’m usually sitting right with Malachi while he does his work, so I don’t have to go back and check it later.
Well, I’ve been reading through, and I have a fun name story to share. My real name is Dorcas. My dad is a pastor and named me after Dorcas in the Bible , Acts 9:36-42 if you want to read up on her:). Well, growing up with the name Dorcas was not very easy or pleasant considering it in a derogatory word and one most people use in a negative way. People complain that others can’t spell or pronounce their names correctly, but I ran into the problem that people never believed it was my real name, and then when they did they would have a good laugh about it-sigh:( So, in 1997, while waitressing, my boss came up to me with a new name tag. It had “D” on it, instead of Dorcas. I looked at him confused, and he told me that a customer complained to him thinking they were calling me names, when they were just saying my name, so I had to wear a new name tag. Then one day It struck me that my friend was named D’Arcy. I decided that day to take the D from Dorcas, and add my middle name Ann. D’Ann was born and I’ve been going by it ever since, but have not legally changed it. Interesting enough, my dad says I am very much like Dorcas in the Bible. Dorcas did good things for the poor, and I am a Social Worker. Dorcas means gazelle, and I am a runner. The only thing he says I am not like Dorcas in the Bible is that I can’t sew a lick! I have two kids ages 8 and 10 and I spend around 40-70 a week on groceries. I loved your article yesterday, and actually made the decision to sign up for Amazon Prime after reading it. Going to let my Sam’s Club membership go in March when it runs out. Just haven’t been please with it, but thankfully bought the membership on Groupon last year for $20, and it came with $20 in free food/merchandise. Your site has been such a blessing! Loved getting to know more about you and your family:)
I do hearby apologize for calling you Lora, Lahra. Bless your mama’s heart <3 I thought perhaps you were going to tell us that your last name was not as straightforward as "Matt." And now I'm wondering if he's really Matthew, or just Matt?
Spelling my name is usually harder than pronouncing it. But in a noisy room, a slap of the appropriate body part helps others to understand I did NOT say MeloDY. :-) While that's a lovely name, but it's not mine. Want to know a childhood source of depression? We looked up our names in a big dictionary at elementary school, where I learned my name means 'black.' Well, for a fair-skinned, auburn-haired girl, that seemed a bit odd. I'm pretty sure my parents focused on first initials and not meanings — I am the youngest of 5 Ms in my family: Michael(Mike), Mark, Marcia (pronounced with 'sh'), Matthew (Matt). I did enjoy the French pronunciation of my name while on a 4-H trip many long years ago… My host family's little 3yo girl and I had a good time singing our names back and forth: "MAY lon eeee" and "Mah REE Coh lome" {Marie Colombe} which by the way means Mary Dove in English — pretty, yes? And wasn't that a fun bunny trail?!
Our six children are Katherine (Kate) Ruth, Abigail (Abby) Christine, Daniel Louis, Elisabeth (with an S thank you very much) Anne (with an E! ha ha), Thomas Alan & Molly Grace. The youngest doesn't fit the mold of her siblings' big heavy names, but we liked it — and we like her. And we couldn't agree on an "S" name at 4am. After we had five children, we noticed we had an acrostic going (lightbulb moment). But instead of ending up with a plural KADETS, we have Kadet-M (cadet = "a young person undergoing preliminary training" – you know, cuh-det). It is most helpful in signing cards quickly as well as for others who are trying to remember their birth order :-)
Hmmm. Budget? Did you say grocery budget? Can't hear you… There must be a banana in my ear.
Yep, he’s Matthew – just goes by Matt. :) And I should have mentioned, our last name is copp-in-jur. :)
Whew. So glad I got your last name correct at least! :D
Usually, people just try to spell my name “en” instead of “in”, but I have also had people spell it with a “c” or pronounce it Kirsten, or even Christian. My response, why yes I am Catholic, but my name is not Christian. I had the double pleasure of having a maiden name that was constantly misspelled. So I grew up having to spell both my names for people. Thankfully I traded up when I got married and no longer have to spell my last name. I too was a public school teacher until my oldest was born. I taught mainstream ESL for years and had many students whose names were constantly mispronounced/misspelled. As a result, when we had children, I made sure we chose classic names that were easily pronounced and had common spellings.
I am a perfectionist, especially when it comes to food, though I rarely live up to my own standards. I am a total foodie, but strive to make all recipes healthy. I spend the majority of my time shopping for or preparing food. I go to multiple stores, the farmer’s market and a farm to do so and spend more money then I’d like, but we do eat a nutritious variety of yummy food with and emphasis on seasonality. I refuse to settle for mundane food! I want my kids to grow up knowing what “good” food is.
Ah, Lah-rah, so glad to hear I am not the only one who would annoy a perfectionist.. I too work fast. I have 4 teens, a husband 25 yrs) and 16 pets ( yes, 16). I home school, work full time, have another at home part time job, raise most of our food and have huge flower gardens. I can, freeze, dry, grind,pickle, ferment…. whatever..I also make our cleaners, cook only ” from scratch”. teach Sunday school, serve on several church committees, help out my elderly parents, help run a clothing ministry…. etc.. etc…. life is full, good, rich, and overflowing with His love.
Blessings to you !
Wonderful, sweet post Lahra 8-). I’m ‘Bur”dee’. I use the envelope system. A slot for each week of groceries, slots for other expenses through the year. My dear husband and I make a trip once a month to my account to withdraw. We try to shop once a week for groceries. Works wonders for staying on track.
So funny! Being from the south ,Georgia, (pronounced by us Georgians without the ‘r’ :p), I have been pronouncing your name right all along, LOL! My name pronunciation would be kell – e. My mama just had to be different and spell it different :) I got my Oh for real cookbook from you, and am LOVING it!! I can’t really dig into it yet though because we’re moving. Our new home has an amazing kitchen that I can’t wait to “bring you into”!! Cooking wise, LOL. By the way, have I mentioned that since I started my real food journey with you, my Crohn’s is soooo much better!! Which of course makes for a happier mama :) Thank you for being you!!
Crud! I forgot to mention I have 3 kiddos! Katy, ( kay-d), is almost 16, David, (dave-id), is almost 14 and wears a size 13 shoe in men’s!! And Abby, ( ab-e), is almost 12. :) We spend about $400 a month on groceries. I have chickens, so I don’t pay for eggs, and everything is made from scratch :)
Nothing special about my name. It’s just Sarah, like Abraham’s wife, but when I was in the military one of the captains I knew called me Sarai before I was married :)
My husband’s name is Matthew too, but everyone calls him Matt (except me; I call him “dear”). We are half and half when it comes to biblical names. Firstborn is Isaiah Matthew (8-1/2); then Nathan Christian (7); third is Charlotte Elise (5-1/2) who is named after my deceased grandmother; 4th is Elias Daniel (4) (we mostly call him Eli); then it’s Russell Werner (almost 3), he got a non-biblical name cuz we couldn’t agree on one (I am not naming any of my boys Amos Moses!) and cuz my husband was reading “Journal of A Trapper: Osborne Russell”, and he liked Russell. Last but definitely not least is our dear Lily Joy (9 mos). Yes, 6 children under the age of 9….I do have my hands full, but I’ve learned to share my household responsibilities with my kids, and I’ve come to realize that everything doesn’t have to look perfect or be perfectly organized. Life happens.
And here’s something that’s not common knowledge about me: I can roll my R’s! LOL
Greetings from another Lahrah, although the country I’m moving to in a couple weeks will probably pronounce it LowRAH. As far as our grocery budget, we will be eating a Mediterranean diet, so I’m not sure what it will end up with the exchange rate. I’m hoping to keep it between $300-$400/ month. I have 2 little boys, Lucas and Emmanuel, since we needed names that would pronounce well in 2 languages.
Love your blog! My name is Yvonne the letter pronounce the Y like in yellow. Drives me nuts when people say Evonne or Avonne.
I am a homeschooling mom of 8 children, 6 boys and 2 girls. Graduated our oldest last year, the children ages are 19, 17, 16, 12, 9, 7, and twins that are 5.
I make everything homemade and organic. Our grocery budget is a whopping $1200 a month. Every year it gets harder and harder to stick to that budget. I shop at 3 different stores every month to use coupons on sale items.
We all have chores that we do and times that are set a side for them, so for the most part everything gets done.
Love your blog Laura……I don’t get everything done everyday that I would like to, but I do wash dishes and make my bed everyday…..cannot stand beds unmade or dirty dishes in the sink…..
I have (2) adults children, (3) grandkids, (2) ggkids,(1)on the way….
Don’t have a grocery budget… don’t really cook that much……just go to the grocery when I need things :)
Have a French name, but since an ex boyfriend gave me the nickname like Mona Lisa it stuck and I’ve had it ever since and no one has a problem getting it right …so that’s my story and I am sticking with it :) 2/21/14
Love your blog! My name is pretty simple :( I’m married to William (also simple), and we have 5 boys, Jeremy-17, Brandon-14, Jacob-9, Barrett-7, Gabriel-4 and our only girl, Abagail-6. I don’t ever get everything done, and I’m learning to be ok with that. I cook and bake as much from scratch as my budget of $350/mo allows. We have a family garden, which helps with all the veggies (I do a ton of canning and freezing). We do order in bulk from either Azure Standards or Country Life Natural Foods to get our whole wheat flour, sucanat, honey, etc. So, that’s my life.
I feel very sorry to have always read your posts and said “Lora” in my head. Now I know better! :-) I love names and am always interested in the names of my students since I’m a teacher. My own kiddos are Kevin (4.5) and Henry (7 months). I have been staying at home this school year, and loving it, but am planning to go back in the fall and thinking sadly that I will not get as much time to make things from scratch in the kitchen which I LOVE to do. It is nice having kiddos get older- my big guy now puts away the silverware, swiffers the floor, brings his dirty laundry downstairs, etc. As to budget, it varies, depending on whether I’ve made a big bulk purchase etc.
My name is Denise not Dennis or where is denephew? I have 3 girls 2 college and 1 high school which really eats rabbit food until she’s really hungry. All Hebrew names Rachel, Danielle, and Joanna. My sister in-law still cant get their names right, nor mine. We spend around $400-600 a month because its usually meat with 2 sides. Once or twice a week a soup or casserole, lately alot of sandwiches. Always adjusting whos around for dinner and what they wantto eat hard working working 9-11hours a day. Working on gluten free house for my allergies and 2 girls with stomach issues and husband with stomach acid, etc. So many products make it easier and I love to bake just short on time. Simple ingredients so we know whats in our food. Love yourposts it keeps me out of the ruts. Never get anything done run right behind crisis level I’ll find time when the kids move out.
My daughter’s name is Denise, and she gets the denephew thing all the time!!
I’m Hannah (han nah…pretty simple and a palindrome too!) I am a mother of two babies…one almost 3 year old and one 9 month old. They are 2 years and 2 months apart (March 9 – May 9)…works great when you are induced and get to pick the birthdays! I struggle in the kitchen (who knows what our budge is – we haven’t done a budget since having the boy almost 3 years ago), and am looking forward to reading through your e-book bundle…when I can find the time. I DO have to constantly monitor the girl (the younger one). She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, so that is pretty time consuming. I have to remind myself that these days will not last (whew! and boo! at the same time), so I should enjoy them! I have been following your blog for about a year now, and I have enjoyed reading your posts. I struggle with an addiction to Mt. Dew, and need to kick the habit, but haven’t committed yet…baby steps! Thanks Lahra :) for your humor and honesty! It is greatly appreciated!
Levi (almost 3) & Mary (9 months)
I don’t. We wing it half the time. And my house is never super clean (nothing CPS-worthy, just cluttered with life and such). Folks always seem to feel at home though – I’ve had playdates here with 19-22 kids before. :D
Four kids (my 10yo and 7yo already eat more than me, so I’ve been planning ahead/stockpiling some things so I can gear up for the scarier years).
$800-$1200/month, depending. The 1000lbs of apples one month and the half a cow another month and so on keeps the budget on it’s toes. Things aren’t super cheap here… they’re okay, but not rock bottom pricing. I *do* prefer to buy local for a smidge extra than something several states away for cheaper when possible, so in that regards we do value quality over quantity.
My name rhymes with banana.
Laura, have to tell you, I’ve always pronounced your name lahra. :) I have a sister named Laura and we’ve always said it like that.I had to smile when i read the question about noise. We also have 4 boys. Ages 11,10,8,and 5. My husband came up with this little rhyme: we have 4 boys and lots of noise! And yes, we go through lots of food!!
How Fun! Will keep the southern thing going in my head in case we meet again:) Heather like the flower, rhymes unfortunately with weather and feather. We’ve homeschooled our 2 boys 7 and 9 since the beginning, married to my husband Matt (Matthew) for almost 14 years, met when I was 15 and he was 17 (married at 19, wow, I was young!).
We have 8 hens and a modest garden in our backyard in the suburbs in CO and a mini Australian shepherd. I don’t can anymore and after several recent months of failed attempts at making bread, am taking a break and buying organic chia bread from costco, and trying to simplify our menus (like taco nite, pizza nite). Also thinking of switching from sandwiches to hot lunches to keep them full longer.
Hubby is working hard on getting in shape and losing weight so that is a little tricky for cooking and more expensive , but are seeing huge changes. We go to costco and natural grocers every Fri as a family, which helps me be less stressed about the whole thing:) The Lord has been so faithful, in lean times, and between work times, and times of bounty. LOVE your site the last 4-5 yrs!
YES!!! I like my name pronounced the same way!!! We laugh, because my hubby dated a gal named Laura is high school, but we always pronounce her name Lora just to make is sound bad. Ha!! (No offense to Lora pronouncing people– just not my preference.) ;-)
Laura, your blog was one of the first I discovered and still one of the most encouraging I find. I love your boys names. My nephews are named Malachi – nicknamed Chi (age 2) and Eli (age 6 months).
As for me, I have two children: Althea – nicknamed Thea is almost 5 and our son Robin is almost 2. Our grocery bill is ever growing as well. I try to keep it to $300 but it’s hard. That’s almost double what we spent just a couple of years ago. My two year old has a grownup size appetite. Most people don’t mispronounce my name, they just misread or mishear it and call me Stephanie or Brittany instead.
My name is pronounced the exact same way! And I live in the south and people always call me “Lora”. Usually I don’t mind if its strangers or acquaintances but the other day I went to Starbucks and told the barista my name and she promptly replied “you mean Lora”. I really wanted to throw a pie at her face! I have 2 boys ages 3 and 2 and another baby boy due in October. Right now we are living out of laundry baskets at my parents while renovating a house we just bought. The most I do is keep me, my husband, and our boys alive and fed each day. Clean laundry on the other hand…