Noah's 8th Birthday Party!

Noah and Abby both love the book from Great Mamaw and Papaw!!




The cake I made for the party. It's supposed to be two lego bricks, in case you can't tell!!




One of the games, pin the Lego Star Wars character into the Lego Star Wars scene!





Noah being sung to and blowing out his candles.




I thought this was a cute picture! Sammy was so cute sitting beside him the whole timee and reacting to everything as much as Noah did. I loved it!




I love Noah's expressions when he opens the presents!




A gift from Mamaw and Papaw




Sammy's gift was a big hit!!




Sammy playing MARS: Mission, Mars Surface Search (the names were the coolest part of the games!!)




The results of the pin the character game. I blew up that picture and covered it in clear contact paper, then cut out characters (all things I found on the internet) and laminated them. It turned out cute.




Noah and Sammy working on their skyscrapers for Lego City.




Noah digging in the Mars surface, searchiing for Lego blocks and trying to avoid aliens in order to win an energy crystal necklace.




The kids always love going up on top of Noah's bed!!




All of our Lego City Architects!

It was really a nice party. We had enough kids to have a lot of fun. The food was so easy this time, just Papa John's pizza, a veggie plate, a fruit plate and the cake. It all went very smoothly and I think everyone had a good time. I think Noah enjoyed his party, at least I hope so. He seemed to be very happy. I'm glad I was able to give him the special day he wanted. I feel so blessed to be able to give fun parties like that for my children. It's something I hope they'll always remember and think of fondly. On his actual birthday, we gave him another little surprise and I'll save that for another post!

Eight is Great!

Happy Birthday to my dear sweet boy! You bring more joy to my life than you'll ever know. I am so blessed to be your mother and I love every second of it. You mean the world to me. I love you so much and can't wait to watch you continue to grow. I love you!

Postest with the Mostest

Besides from my to do list, I thought I'd put up a real post too!! Has anyone seen the show on PBS called Word World? I absolutely love that show. It's a cartoon where all the characters, buildings, etc.. are made up of the letters that spell what they are. For instance frog's body is made up of a f, r, o and g. It's so cool, I really love it. They just put out a ton of toys and other stuff at Target for it.



I love duck, he's my favorite. We watch it almost every day now. I think it's very entertaining and funny, but also very educational. It's my new favorite!!


I'm feeling so much better now that I have so much done as far as cleaning and everything for the party. Friday is Noah's actual birthday and I didn't want to have to do much that day so we could just concentrate on having fun! That boy is such a homebody though! I told him he could choose dinner and he chose for me to make 3-ways at home and to not go out for them. He says nearly every time we're out that he can't wait to get home. He's so much like his Dad it's scary!! I remember posting last year on his birthday and I just can not believe another year has come and gone again. Wow, it's so scary how short the time seems to be.

I'm also excited because as soon as the last guest leaves the party on Sunday, I'm starting to pack for our trip!! I can't wait. Noah wants to go to Legoland right away, but I think we'll wait until Monday. The Sunday we are there is Super Bowl Sunday so we're hoping that means really light crowds. We'll see though! I'm excited because last time we were there it was incredibly hot and now it's supposed to be under 70, just how I like it! Well I guess that's all I got for now. I'm gonna look for some cute pics to post. Here you go! These are from Christmas Day at Steve's mom. We must've all been loopy by this time, because we though it was fun to stack Noah's webkins on out heads and pose for a pic. I'll save most of the family from public humiliation and just pose my crazy kids and poor Chewie!!

Thursday to do

1. Math Lessons DONE
2. Bible Lessons DONE
3. Language Arts Lesson for Noah DONE
4. Reading Lesson for Abby DONE
5. KONOS: a. Add Mini Umbrellas to the tree of all seasons. DONE
b. Sing "Rain, Rain Go Away" DONE
c. Fill in April Calendar DONE
d. Coloring Sheet DONE
e. Read Seasonal Poems DONE
6. Make Lunch DONE
7. Dishes DONE
8. Make Dinner DONE
9. Wash, dry, fold and put away 2 loads of laundry
10. Clean my desk area
11. Wash glass doors, mirrors, windows, etc. DONE
12. Straighten pantry DONE
13. Clean up Family Room
14. Make final list for party (groceries, games, etc.) DONE
15. Go to Kroger DONE
16. Noah has karate DONE
17. Give Noah a haircut DONE

almost done this time. the laundry is washed and dried, just not folded and put away! Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

Wednesday to do

1. Math lessons DONE
2. Bible lessons DONE
3. Language Arts lesson for Noah DONE
4. Reading lesson for Abby DONE
5. KONOS: a. Discuss St. Patrick and Ireland DONE
b. Sing "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" and "Let's Go Fly a Kite" DONE
c. add clovers to the tree of all seasons DONE
d. Review month song DONE
e. Do St. Patricks Day worksheet DONE
f. Discuss March in/out with lion/lamb and draw them DONE
g. Read book DONE
6. Clean all 4 Bathrooms DONE
7. Clean up my Bedroom DONE
8. Clean up Classroom DONE
9. Wash, dry, fold and put away 2 loads of laundry DONE
10. Make lunch DONE
11. Dishes DONE
12. Make dinner DONE
13. Pay bills on internet DONE
14. Put kids to bed DONE
15. Email Sonya Ideas for Noah's gift DONE


WOOHOO 2 DAYS IN A ROW!!

Tuesday to do

1. Math lessons DONE
2. Bible lessons DONE
3. Language Arts lesson for Noah DONE
4. Reading lesson for Abby DONE
5. KONOS: a. make hearts for the tree of all seasons DONE
b. discuss Washington and Lincoln (President's Day) and do worksheets DONE
c. Draw silhouettes of Washington and Lincoln from penny and dollar, and do coin rubbings DONE
d. review month song DONE
e. read two library books about seasons or calendars DONE
f. sing "Love the Lord" and "Jesus Loves Me" DONE
g. do valentine worksheet DONE
h. fill in February calendar DONE
i. Groundhog Day wordfind DONE
6. Take Abby to dance class DONE
7. Clip coupons while waiting at dance class DONE
8. Make lunch DONE
9. Wash, dry, fold and put away 4 loads of laundry DONE
10. Move Noah's second bed to basement DECIDED NOT TO DO
11. Organize Noah's room and make room for Legos (with Noah's help!) DONE
12. Clean up playroom (with both kids help!) DONE
13. Make dinner DONE
14. Do dishes, including handwashables DONE
15. Clean up counters in kitchen DONE
16. Pick up Abby's room (with Abby's help!) DONE
17. Put kids to bed DONE
18. Finish clipping coupons DONE

YAY ME!!!!!!


I have so much to do before the party that I hoped I would be able to keep on track if I posted my to do lists. Hopefully I'll get all that done today because I have lots more to do tomorrow!! Wish me luck!!!

Yesterday

Yesterday the kids and I were sitting in the little section of our church where they have tables and chairs set up to sit down and eat the free donuts and bagels that they have out every week. This has become our Sunday morning ritual. Daddy goes on to the nursery where we work for the first hour of church, and I take the kids to get donuts. Well we were sitting there and at the table next to us, I heard the people, an elderly woman and man, not married or anything, just friends, discussing that she was a twin. She said she was a fraternal twin and that her twin was a brother. He asked about the twin more and she said that he had passed away 16 years ago. She said when he died, she lost her best friend. She said she had no children and I couldn't hear her say whether or not she had ever been married, but if so her husband was gone as well. She said she was alone as far as family now. It took maybe two minutes for her to tell this story and as I sat there, I found myself tearing up thinking of her and how she must truly be lonely.

Two weeks ago, I was in the nursery working and usually I'm on the side of the crawlers, but this time they needed me in the infants and I was there holding the tiniest little baby and the only other person in there was this little old lady who comes in every week, usually as a group of old ladies, who like to sit in there and hold the tiny infants and chat. Well her friends weren't in there for some reason, so it was just us. She started telling me a similar story of how she does have family but they live far away and her husband has passed on and she was telling me how the other day, she got up around 6:30, went out to the chair in the living room and fell asleep, not waking until after 9. She said when there's no one there, you don't have much to get up for. That just hit me so hard. I really need to appreciate all the different people and things, I do have that are reasons for me to get up. Both of these ladies, probably enjoyed happy lives, but now find themselves living it alone. I really need to remember how grateful I should be to have kids climbing all over me, a hungry husband, a crazy doggie, chores to do, school work to do, other family and friend obligations to tend to. I really have a lot and usually I complain about having so much, like in the last post, and I really need to just sit back and appreciate being needed and having so much to do. Someday I may be like them and just wishing for something to do or someone to be needed by.

I hope someday my kids will think of each other as true friends like the first lady. They don't have to be best friends, but I so want them to be a part of each other's lives and be supportive to each other.

Well I've learned so much from the ladies at church lately, usually I only learn stuff during the sermon. I guess that's why it's so great to have a church family to learn from. Their life experiences are examples to us, whether good or bad. It's great to have that to look up to.

Sorry I haven't posted. I guess when I get overwhelmed, the blog is the first to go. I will post soon, I promise. Christmas just was so awesome, but the mess it left was just too much. I have had the hardest time finding our house again among the mess!! And then we have Noah's party coming up on the 20th and then we're going to California on February 2nd. I don' t know why I do this to myself and schedule so much at one time, but oh well. I try to work so hard to give my kids parties they love and have so much fun at and this one has just drained me of ideas. I finally came up with the three games last night and have to work on them, I went out to party city today and got some of the paper products and ordered the balloons. I'm making the cake and have the mixes for that already. I just really have to concentrate on the games and cleaning the house. Cleaning is the biggie. Noah's legos have pretty much taken over our home!! They are everywhere and I'd love to tell him to take them to his room, but his room is filled to the brim with them already, plus I know he's getting tons more for his Birthday. And he loves them so much, that I would never ask people to not get them. I would never deny him happiness over my sanity!! SM I have a few ideas about how to clean out some things in his room to make more space for them, I just have to get my booty up there and do it!! I did at least choose to just order pizza for the food this time instead of the very labor intensive made to order omelettes and pancakes, which were a hit, but stressful for me, Steve and my Mom.

After the party comes the packing, cleaning up from the party and tying up loose ends such as where the dog will stay?????, the mail, finishing up our unit in school, all that fun stuff. I just can't wait to get to California and Disneyland and LegoLand. It's going to be great. I gotta keep my eye on the prize!!

Also this whole deal thing is taking over a huge part of my life and I was kind of glad to see that moneysavingmom did a post on this topic. I really have to reign myself in and set limits on when I go out and how often. Because right now it's like a new passion and it's all I think about!! I even dream about it!! I'm trying to get myself down to shopping just two days a week and that's it. But of course when there is a huge sale at CVS or something and I want to go like 8 times, what can I do??? SM Like the free batteries one!!! Oh well, I'm sure I'll work it out!! Well I just wanted to ramble on for awhile and since I probably won't comment much I'll take this opportunity to say:

Sonya: I absolutely adore the photos you got and can't wait to see them in person. You have such beautiful children and should be so proud of them. They are just gorgeous. Those pictures are worth every penny. I also love the cousin pictures, very cute!!

Crystal: Your niece is such a sweetheart, I bet she just melts you when you see her. I'm so glad Dawson is doing better and didn't have to go to the hospital. How's the moving going? When will you be in the new house? Can't wait to come visit it!

Lura: Great job on the deals, I definitely think you can do it on $40. I know I could if I wanted to, but when something is cheap I feel like I have to get 10 of them or something and that raises my bill up. Oh well, maybe once I reign myself in, I'll make an actual budget that I stick to. I love the preschool things, especially the cheerios A, very cool!!

Carrie: I can't wait to see the basement finished, I bet you can't either!! I love the mural with the trees the best, I bet it'll look so adorable. That is so exciting about the free trip, how awesome!! Can't wait to hear where you are going! I also loved the partyware you chose for Olivia's party. I cannot believe she's almost one, that's just crazy! Wow the time goes so fast!! She is such a beautiful girl! I can't wait to see her grow in the next year!

Charity: Love the new curtains. I think they will look great with that wall color! Those picture frames are so cute! I love it when my kids make something for me, it instantly becomes my absolute favorite!! That spinning frame is cool too, I'd love one of those! I can't believe that kid and his mother at the library, how rude. Don't they know it's a library!! I hate it when the parents just let there kids be crazy, it's ridiculous. Hopefully you won't have to deal with that again.

Amanda: I don't know if you can read this, but I am praying for you, your mother in law and your friend. I hope your Christmas went great. I can't wait to see pics of the kids with all of their new stuff. Let us know if you need us.

I think that's it. Love you all!!

Christmas Morning

This was actually taken at Steve's Mom's later in the day, I gave him a silly pose to show off my new bracelet!!


This is our Christmas Morning. I could not sleep at all. I woke up probably 20 times to check the clock. Around 6:45, I was done checking and got up. One of us always goes down first to get the cameras ready and turn on the lights on the tree. Steve did that and went to wake up the kiddies. They were sleepy but excited! I tried to get their picture at the top of the stairs before they came down but it's very dark and blurry. They came down and saw that Santa had come and left Noah the Lego set he had asked for and Abby the Baby Alive she wanted. They were both very excited about that. They could also see sticking out of their stockings a Webkin for each of them. We started opening presents with the kids giving each other the gift they picked out for each other. Noah is crazy about frogs, especially tree frogs and Abby got him the tree frog peeper, it's a wooden frog with a spot to hold his glasses, so it looks like the frog has giant eyes. They sell them in the optical part of Walmart. Noah got Abby a Littlest Pet Shop mini set. They were both very pleased with the gift choices. Then we started opening all the gifts. Noah got tons of Legos and the new Cars that are out. When we were in Disney, we went to the Lego store downtown and had a brick made with Noah's name on it. He loved that. It's just a little green brick that says his name, but he loves it! Abby got play-doh, Littlest Pet Shop, Shining Stars, Rescue Pets and an Easybake Oven. They were all very happy. Now I have to say that my husband has always been a good gift giver. He doesn't usually give a lot of gifts throughout the year, but on Birthdays and Christmas, he's really great at it. This year, he was partnering with my mom on the Rachael Ray cooking stuff and got me another pan with a sandwich press and the big knife set. I was so excited when I saw those, like a little kid!! He also got me a bracelet from Tiffany's. It's sterling silver and just beautiful, I love it. It came in the Tiffany blue box. When I saw the box, I nearly died! I was so excited. The kids got me gifts too. Abby chose the Betty Crocker cake decorating kit that has a commercial about a zillion times a day on Nickelodeon and Noah chose a very nice candle for me. I took the kids with me for all the things I got Steve, so there wasn't anything in particular that was "from them", but they had input on all of his gifts. We got him a Reds giftpack with a new shirt, a bag of peanuts, some Cracker Jacks and $40 in giftcards to buy tickets to a game. We got him a photo of the Bengals stadium framed, a game for the Wii, a stand for the Wii, some sports thingies that you put the Wii controller into and some new sleep pants. He also got me some Mickey Ears to add to my collection in the kitchen. It was such a great morning and then by 9:15, we were ready to go...........

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was very nice. We had breakfast at my parents at 9 in the morning. We had pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs. Very delicious! Then we opened the presents from them and my brother's family. My parents got all of us so much, they are just spoiling us!! The kids got tons, Noah got several Lego sets and Abby got Littlest Pet Shop and Princess stuff. I got the big Rachael Ray pots and pans set, a 500 different cookies cookbook and a Rachael Ray paring knife and Steve got a big saw and power drill (honey do list coming up!!!). I couldn't believe how generous our parents were this year. They are just nuts!! They all really enjoyed the gifts we got them as well. We got my Mom more red Rubbermaid accessories for her kitchen and a family tree picture (the one we got together Sonya) and some art for her dining room. We got my Dad pictures of Bengals, Reds and Ohio States stadiums and framed them for his basement. My brother got a picture of B.B. King whose real first name is Riley so you can see where we got Riley's name! I mounted it on a canvas so it looked really cool. We got Tiffany a really soft blanket for their bed, some picture frames and a knife set for the kitchen. Riley got Little People Noah's Ark and another Little People set for the tub. It was just a nice quiet and loving morning. I had the best time. We all got so much that I couldn't believe we still had more stops to go to!

After that we lounged around their house for a little while and then we went to my Mamaw and Papaw's (my Mom's side). We had some ham and sides for lunch and then we exchanged presents there. It was funny because when we first got there my cousins and my aunt were all taking turns playing guitar hero!! That was a lot of fun to watch!! The kids of course got lots of great stuff, they always do! I think we have the best gift givers in our family. They always seem to just know what our kids and even Steve and I like and get us those things. They are the best. The adults did a gift exchange so we pretty much got what we asked for from that. It was again a very nice time. I loved being with everyone.

After that we went to 5 o'clock service at church. It was a kids program with kids singing and live animals walking around the sanctuary. We actually sat on an aisle right where the animals walked past. They had a llama, sheep, goats and a donkey (I LOVE donkeys!!). It was only about a half hour long, but it was very good. The kids sang and they had a family with a baby boy be Mary, Joseph and Jesus and then there were lots of kid angels and kid shepards. It was really sweet. Afterwards we got to pet the animals. Wow the sheeps coat is so thick! If you stick your fingers into it, you won't hit skin. The wool is so thick!! I thought that was so cool!! It was just a really nice service and I'm glad we got to go to it.

So we went home after that and had a pizza party for Jesus's Birthday. We ordered PapaJohns pizza, they were open until 7:30. We also made our cake which you can see in the pictures. It was very delicious. I put a candle on it for each of us. I used our favorite colors, a pink candle for Abby, green for Noah, purple for me and blue for Daddy. We each blew out our own candle and it was just a cool thing. We ate our pizza on party plates left over from kids' parties and we even had noisemakers. Just a good time.

And finally we got the kids ready for bed and then read Twas the Night Before Christmas as we always do.

Writing all that makes it seem like a lot and we even had people say that it was a lot, but it didn't feel like so much. I wouldn't give any of it up for a second. We had the best Christmas Eve and got to spend time with family and visit church. It was just a great day, we were all very content. And then there was Christmas Day...........

Ready to Go!!!

This is our family tree in the great room of our house. It has the presents for just the four of us under it and it has ornaments from all the places we've traveled as well as age milestones for the kids and other ones we love.




This is the tree I put up to display in our front window. It has the presents for all the rest of our family under it. I only decorate it with simple ornaments so I can save the special ones for the family tree! But I have always loved seeing Christmas trees in peoples front windows, so I wanted that for our house as well!!


Well the shopping and wrapping is now done and we can relax and enjoy this great holiday. We had just a few little things to get to finish it up and we did that over the last few days. We've done the baking, visited the zoo's festival of lights, the museum and it's holiday junction, went to mamaw's christmas party, sent and received lots of christmas cards and now we just have visiting church tomorrow and again on christmas eve, making a cake for Jesus, visiting our family, having a little birthday party for Jesus, opening the presents and just sitting back and enjoying the generosity of each other!! I'm so excited and I can't wait! Well have a great December 22nd!!

Santa Visits from Christmas pasts

Two years ago when we found Santa at the zoo. The first time in a few years that Abby wasn't afraid of him!!




Last year, I think Santa was at Tri-County Mall. It must've been a Friday because Noah is wearing Karate pants and I can see Abby's leotard coming out from the sleeves. They had those both on Friday's last year!!




This was 2003, about 3 months before we moved back to Ohio from Texas. Abby was upset because she did not like Santa!!




This year we were in Disney World during Christmas time and found Santa there. This time Abby won the arguement and didn't sit on that scary Santa's lap!! SM




This was Noah's second Christmas ,2001, right before he turned 2 and right before we got pregnant with Abby. It's from Texas. I loved that Winnie the Pooh overall outfit!!




This was Abby's first Christmas so it's 2002. Also from Texas and before she became afraid of him!! But unfortunately not a great looking Santa. Oh well!! We had just gotten back from our first trip to Disney World here and Noah got that Mickey hat and he wore it everywhere for like 6 months after that!!


I have kept all these photos together in a single frame and just add the new one on top. But Noah's first Christmas one was an 8x10 (these are all 5x7), so it's not with the others and I can't find it right now, but if I do, I'll post it too! It's very cute, he's pouting and wearing an Oscar the Grouch shirt!! Very cute! I'll keep looking!! Well I hope you enjoy our journey through Christmas pasts!!

Visting Santa

Here's our Santa photo from today. We saw him in Kenwood. He was very nice and sweet.

We stopped there on our way to the museum. Noah and Daddy went to the pirates exhibit while Abby and I played in the children's museum. She was so funny because everything she did, whether it was shopping for groceries, making me a meal or taking care of my pet, she turned around and told me I had to do it too. So I was the only adult in the diner fixing food, the only adult in the vet office working on stuffed animals and the only adult shopping in the grocery store!! She loved it though, so that's what matters!! The museum was nice and quiet today. Just as we pulled up around 12:30 or 1:00, bus loads of people were leaving and after that it was so nice. Steve and Noah had a nice time in the pirates exhibit too. After that we went into the Cincinnati History Museum to see their Holiday Junction display. They have a room set up with tons of different sized train displays all in holiday scenes and even a little train the kids can ride on, like the ones they usually have at malls. It was nice and all free, even the ride. After that we stopped at McDonalds and came home.

Tomorrow is baking day, yummy!! It's also dance with me day at Abby's dance schooll. So Mommy gets to come in and dance with her!! That's always fun!! Luckily no one takes pictures!!! SM

Thursday night my Mom's work is having their Christmas party at a roller skating rink and we're taking the kids to that, it should be interesting!! I used to skate pretty well, not like great or anything, but well enough to not fall!! Hopefully I'll remember those moves!! My Mom is really good so hopefully she'll help me with the kids. Well have a great day, I'll post more pics later!!

Hey everyone, just a quick update!! Less than two weeks people!!! I'm just about finished with my shopping now, just a few little things to pick up. I did a lot of my list yesterday. I got a lot of it done. I'm very excited to see everyone react to their gifts. I truly, truly love giving more than receiving. It makes me so incredibly happy to see people love what I took time to pick for them. I love getting something I know the person took time to pick especially for me as well, but it's the giving that brings me the most joy!!!

Abby is doing much better now. She ended up visiting Urgent Care on Sunday as her lips swelled up incredibly and were completely covered in blisters and she had a rash on her face. The doctor there was incredibly nice and took extra steps to make sure she "did right by Abby' and got her the right medicine and the right course of action. I was truly grateful for how she treated us. She put Abby on an antiviral which helped almost immediately. It stopped the blisters from getting worse and allowed her body to start healing. The doctor actually said this was the worst case she had seen in a child. I'm so glad I decided to take her in, even if it meant my Dad had to come pick us up as Steve and Noah were off to the Bengals game. It was so worth it. She even had blisters on her tongue which made it incredibly difficult to feed her. She easily could eat peanut butter sandwiches and drink water. That was about it for two days. Now she's eating normally, the rash is drying out on her face and her lips are normal size and color, with just a few scabs left to come off. I'll be so glad when I can kiss those little lips again!!!

So Steve and Noah got two tickets to the Bengals game from my aunt and uncle who share season tickets with another couple. We were afraid that they would be drenched the whole time and prepared for that with new ponchos, several layers of clothes and boots on the feet. But they were actually in a row that had an awning, so they were completely dry. Two rows up the people were soaked, but where they were was dry. I was so relieved to hear that!!! They had a great time and the Bengals won, so that was awesome!! I didn't make him take the camera though because of the rain. I knew he'd have a fit, if I even asked!! We have pictures from the first game they went to though, so that's good!!

Yesterday the kids and I stopped at three different CVS's to get more great deals and this is what I came home with. I got 3 packs of batteries, 3 boxes of tissues, 3 johnson baby shampoos (small bottles), 1 bottle of tums, 1 package of hello kitty band-aids, 2 spongebob pencils (yes, the kids were definitely with me!!), 3 bowl appetit meals, 2 simply asia noodle bowls, 2 bags of Doritos, 2 gallons of milk, 1 box of chocolate donettes, and 2 rolls of CVS paper towels. I used no ECB's on these three deals, but got back 2 for the Tums deal and only paid out of pocket 1.68 for all of that. It was coupons alone that got me down to that total. Pretty good!

Today I need to wrap the presents I have and get those all ready to go. Next week Steve is off (actually for a total of 18 days, I'm so excited!!). I love being able to do things as a family during the day, when it's less crowded and we get so much more out of it. We may visit the zoo as long as it's not too cold (Sonya you remember how Steve loves the cold!!), maybe do the Holiday in lights, though I think that's a little pricey, even with the coupon, we're going to visit Santa, go to the museum and see the pirate exhibit and probably do some baking together. I can't wait. I'm so glad to have the shopping done and we can just focus on the fun of the season.

Well have a great day and I'll try to post more soon!

My best deal to date!!

Ok, here it is, the best deal yet!!




I got 4 Aquafresh toothpastes, 4 birdseye bags of vegetables, 4 10ct vials of Excedrin, 2 Pounce cat treats, 2 15ct Totinos pizza rolls, 4 philadelphia cream cheeses, 2 daisy sour creams, 4 general mills cereals (2 reese's puffs and 2 double chocolate cookie crisps), and 9 3-packs of fleischmans yeast. With all my coupons, a $4 off deal for the cereal and a mysterious $4 off from something else????, I ended up paying ......................wait for it..........................FORTY SEVEN CENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plus I got 9 fifty cents off your next order coupons for Kroger (each yeast packet printed another coupon), and those are good on anything you buy. How awesome is that!!!!

My Birthday

My gift from my babies!


Well I had the most loveliest Birthday yesterday. Thanks so much to Sonya for how much she put into it. Way more than expected that's for sure!! I had a ncie day with the kids. They each gave me their presents in the morning. Abby wanted to get me a turtle necklace to match the one she got from Grammy on the day of her tonsilectomy. So they found a turtle necklace and then apparently in the case was a frog necklace and Noah is obsessed with frogs right now, so that's what he chose for me. So I got a turtle and a frog necklace!! I love it, mostly because of how much it reminds me of them and their personalities. We did our normal school routine and then we all got ready to go out for the night. We ended up taking the kids to Sonya's (something her and my husband cooked up!!), and then he took me to Olive Garden (my favorite) for dinner. We also stopped at Target and Walgreens and then came back to get them. It was a very wonderful Birthday. I am so blessed to have the family and friends that I do, I am so undeserving!

Well apparently, Abby is still having some health issues. We do not know if it's related to when she hit her head or if she is just coming down with something. She had a big fever blister pop up yesterday, well it may have been there before, but yesterday it was crusted over and we noticed it. She was also running a fever, which I know can be associated with the blister, so I really don't know what to think. We honestly don't believe she has any serious problems because she has no lasting affects from the head thing other than a headache, which could also be related to having a fever. When she has medicine and the fever goes down, so does the headache. I just think, if it were something serious, she would be in a lot more pain. I don't know, I think when Steve gets back from taking Noah to basketball, we're going to run her to the Dr. just to be sure. We'll see. Hopefully it's nothing rest and TLC can't take care of!!

Hopefully if everything works out, we'll be going to Steve's aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party. They live in Atlanta, but are coming up here for the party. They are the ones we see at the 4th of July celebrations. I love them, they're great. I can't wait to see them. Well I hope everyone has a great weekend, hopefully Abby will feel better soon. She's actually completely fine right now, no fever and no headache, and her lip is looking tons better, but we'll see what happens later. Big hugs!

snowy, snowy

Just a few pics from Sunwatch Indian Village and our snow day yesterday!!

Hello again!! Well we've had a nice week so far. I had a great time on Saturday with all the girls. They pretty much covered it all in their blogs, so that's taken care of!!! Sunday, we went to church and then to Toys R Us for a little Christmas shopping and then to my grandparents! HI PAPAPW!!! We drew names for our Christmas exchange and got to visit them for a little while. It was very nice!! We came home after that and let puppy out, she was happy to see us!!! I went out that evening and did some grocery/CVS shopping. I got a few good deals. It was a nice evening.

This week was pretty much normal. Until yesterday that is. Steve had to go to St.Louis just for the day. He left at 8:30am and got home at 9:30pm. We had the snow of course. I let the kids play in it before we did school. I just didn't think they'd really concentrate until they got that out of them. So they did that and I took some pictures. Then we had our usual hot chocolate.

Then we did some school work and made some gifts for Christmas. That was fun! It was just a nice quiet, and relaxed day. We didn't have the car because I told Steve to just take it to the airport so I didn't have to go out there twice in one day. So without the car, we weren't tempted to go anywhere or be rushed. That was actually very nice.

Abby actually gave us a little scare last night. She was playing with a ball and it rolled under the islands counter hangover (you know, where you can put stools to sit at the island) and then lifted straight up and hit her head on the island. Now our counters are granite, so she hit solid rock. She cried a lot, but not more so than when she gets hurt any other time, so I didn't think much of it. Well about and hour or so later, she said she had a headache still so I gave her some Ibuprofen and she took a bath. During the bath, she started screaming about it hurting, so I got her out and was holding her and she said she was about to throw up. She ended up throwing up twice in about a half hour period and I started to worry that it was something worse than just a bonk. So I called the nurseline from our Insurance company and they asked a zillion questions and then told me if she threw up one more time ( apparently three times is the red flag, I later saw this on WebMD as well) or if she screamed with pain again to take her to an emergency room. Well she didn't do either. She went to sleep and I slept with her just to be safe and she' fine this morning. I just think it's so weird that at 2 vomits, she's ok, but 3 is red flag!! I guess they know what their talking about!!! But she's normal Abby today and said it doesn't hurt anymore, so that's good!!

Well I better go, I need to fold laundry and Abby is waiting patiently for a game of My Little Pony Memory!!! Have a good one!!

Thanks Sonya!!!! I love it!!!