Thanksgiving 2009

This year for Thanksgiving we had a Thanksgiving/family reunion at the church. The whole family wasn't able to make it but we still had a good turn-out.

These are all the cousins that were there. From the youngest, 18 month old Mady, to the oldest, 15 year old Montana.
Fun times at the game/craft table!!
My nephew, Montana and cousin Brenna.

My grandma Bagley

Me, happy. (look what I'm reading!!!)
Thanksgiving; a time for family, good food, and planning your Black Friday shopping trip!!!!

Halloween 2009

Wow, could this post be any later?? I lost the cord to my camera and so now that I've finally found it, you are getting to see my little monkeys all dressed up for Halloween....3 months late. At least it's before next Halloween!

Not the best picture, but Mady was the cutest little chicken!!!

Alexis was a scary vampire.

and Logan was a pirate skeleton and Brookie was a Barbie witch!

Possibly the BEST Idea Ever

I found the coolest blog the other day and I've been having so much fun looking thru all of the fun ideas they have on here DesignDazzle.blogspot.com

This is my favorite tho!!! Rain gutter book shelves!! Brilliant idea!! These are so awesome! I just had to share. They have a tutorial here if you are interested. I can't wait for Bryan to get home and see his new project!!! ;)

How Does It Feel.....

....to have a street named after you???? Well, pretty dang good, thank you!

my good friend, LaNell sent me this picture. I think it's awesome!! She can't even go to Colorado without having constant reminders of me!! :0)

Mady, Can I Have a Kiss?

Muah!!

Mady's Eyes

The other day Mady found 4 cans of soup. She played more with the soup than I have ever seen her play with an actual toy. She stacked them, unstacked them, put them in a bag, took them out, carried them, pushed them in her stroller...she played for HOURS with the soup!

Then she moved on to bigger things. She got into the cupboard in the kitchen and got out the Cascade rinse agent for the dishwasher. She squirted it all over the floor. We mopped it up and threw her in the bath, then she went off to bed. No big deal.

That was about 8pm. She woke up at 5 am the next morning just screaming. I gave her a sippee and she stopped crying for about 20 min, then it was back to the screaming! We put her in bed with us and she was inconsolable. Screaming, crawling, kicking, arching her back. It was very obvious that she was in a lot of pain. We gave her some ear drops for pain thinking that maybe she had an ear infection. Then we gave her some Tylenol. Nothing soothed her. Then it occurred to me, she hadn't opened her eyes yet. I called poison control to see if maybe she could have gotten some of the Cascade in her eye. They suggested we take her to the ER.

I took her in and the doctor confirmed that she did have an ear infection but wanted to check her eyes just in case. He put numbing drops in them and that was the first time in 3 hrs she opened her eyes. Then he put some other drops in to look at them under a blue light and sure enough, she had chemical burns on her corneas! Oh my goodness!! So sad! I felt like the worst parent ever!! Poor, poor Mady! What I couldn't figure out though, is why it had taken so long for it to hurt her?

He sent us home with an antibiotic for her ear and drops for her eyes. She slept most of day one and woke up crying every 30 min or so. Still never opened her eyes.

Day two she opened her eyes about a quarter of the way and could see enough to walk again. This is pretty much what she looked like all of day 2.

Today is day three and at times her eyes are open all of the way. She is in a good mood and seems almost completely back to normal. The nurse said eye injuries heal quickly so we are banking on that and keeping our fingers crossed for no permanent damage. Poor Mady! It broke our hearts! Bryan stayed home for two days and helped with her because she kept trying to walk with her eyes closed and we didn't need another trip to the ER!! She required a very close eye. He was a huge help with her. Now...off to the store to buy locks for the cabinets! I know, I should have some already but no one had really ever bothered them before. Lesson learned!

Winter....ALREADY?!

This is what we woke up to the morning of October 4th.

I guess I won't be mowing the lawn today!

I thought it was too early for snow last year when it snowed on October 11th! Guess I was wrong. The snowflakes were huge and it snowed almost all day. The power was out for awhile in several areas. The snow was so heavy!! You can see that it bent my hedge almost in half (Which is probably where it should be anyway, it really needs trimmed!) It collapsed the canopy over the deck at my parent's house because it was so heavy. Bent the poles and everything.

The kids had fun with it though. They started to build a snowman...he never quite got finished. They got too cold and wet.

But the best part about snow in October, is that the next day it's almost completely melted. All but the big ball that was to be the bottom of the snowman.

And to Mady and Logan, on day two, this big snowball became a big snow cone!!

Brooklyn Starts Preschool

.....for real this time!

We finally finished jumping through all the hoops to get all the testing and what not done, so Brookie began preschool Monday morning.

She qualified for the preschool program through the school district because of her speech and language. She scored very high in her developmental areas but she not so well in the speech areas.

She was excited to go to school Monday morning. Her daddy packed her a lunch just like he did for everyone else so she didn't feel left out (even tho she doesn't eat lunch at school). She thought it was awesome and she ate it as soon as she got in the car after school.

She went right in and hung her backpack and jacket up and then kissed me and said "Bye bye, mommy."

I'm glad that she likes it. It has made it so much easier. She is really a mommy's girl so I was concerned about how she'd deal with leaving her mommy, but she did great.

Next week she'll start riding the bus like the other kids and I'm sure she's going to love that!!!

Our New Dog

I was over at my aunt Jean's house the other day and I had never seen her dog, Sonny, before. They had him for about a year (yeah, I know, I need to visit more often) and when I saw him I fell in love. I don't know why, but I was instantly in love. Jokingly, I asked her if she wanted to trade Sonny for our dog Jackson. She looked at her husband and said, "Sure."

We worked out all the details and we traded dogs! Kinda funny but it has been a perfect fit for both of us! Sonny has such a great disposition. He is awesome with the kids, doesn't poo in the house, doesn't bark, doesn't run away, can catch a ball and loves to play. Jackson loves his new home and Jean and Rick are training him and say he is already a much better dog.

Labor Day Parade

This year the kids and I made a last minute decision to join my parents and my sister in Sun Valley for Labor Day. Every year they have a Wagon Days celebration with a wagon parade (no motorized vehicles) and a car auction which my dad LOVES. While my dad was drooling over classic cars at the auction, the rest of us went to the parade. My niece Reagan marched in it but I was having some camera issues and so I didn't get a picture of her snapped in time. Sorry, Reagan!

Everyone was just a little goofy, if you couldn't tell!

While all of the "floats" in this parade are pretty cool, nothing tops the finale. This is, I think 6 wagons long, and pulled by 20 mules. It has a difficult time making the turn down the main street every year but they do it somehow. It is very impressive!

After the parade, we went to this little lake and had a picnic with grandma and then did a tiny bit of shopping (Sun Valley has a great second-hand store!) and met up with everyone at the car show. It was a great day. Everyone had a lot of fun. Especially Lisa! She got a new Range Rover at the auction!!

*disclaimer* My lovely 3rd child got ahold of my camera and broke the lens cover. Thus the pretty black smear in all of the pictures. I was so upset! The last 3 cameras we've had have all been put to rest because the lens broke! Bryan came to my rescue and bent this part back enough that it stays out of the picture and I can still use the camera...therefore I don't have to give Brooklyn away like I had initially threatened. Yay for daddy!

Brooklyn's First Day of School?

I took Brooklyn in to do an evaluation with a speech therapist to see if she would qualify for the preschool program through the public school system. The therapist said she would figure it all up and then call me with the results. A few days later the secretary at the preschool called me and set up the bus route and told me school started at 8:45 Tuesday morning.

I was so sad to have my little Brookie leave to go to school!! She is such a mommy's girl I wasn't sure how she would handle it, especially having to get on the bus and leave her mommy behind! The bus never showed so I took her to school. The room was filled with little kids and they were playing with toys. She happily hung her backpack up in her cubby, with her name on it, and began playing. Then the director came in and said "Oh I can't have Brooklyn here yet! I still need to do my assessment and set up an IEP." Ummm....huh? Apparently there was a communication problem within the preschool. I then had to take my daughter, who was now happy to be leaving her mommy, away from all the new toys and kids and go back home. Talk about traumatizing your 3 year old!! She didn't want to go but she reluctantly went along and was easily bribed with a trip to Target to forget about it all.

We have since done the assessment and the IEP will be this week so I am assuming (I probably shouldn't do that!) that she will start school next week. I think I will verify it with the director before we try to go again!! The good news is that she is very happy to be leaving her mommy behind to go to "my school". Poor mommy. :(

The New School Year

This is actually the 3rd day of school because my camera was missing for the first 2 days.

Logan loves his 1st grade teacher. He is starting to read and he wrote his first sentence on his own the other day at home. It said "The bol is on the desk." He was so proud, and so was I. He loves to take his own lunch to school with him! He would eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day if it were up to him, he thinks it's great! I love the money it saves me too! ;)
Alexis' 3rd grade teacher is new to teaching this year. So far it seems to be going well. Alexis loves school and she seems to really like her teacher too.

A few days before school started the kids got new hair cuts. Alexis decided to get an A-line hair cut. The stylist was afraid to cut it because her hair had gotten so long! Alexis was very positive that is what she wanted so she put it in a ponytail and cut it all off!! She donated it to Locks of Love and Alexis was very happy to do that!! She has such a huge heart! Her new hair cut is adorable and so easy to manage, she really loves it.

New Coupon Blog

OK, so I've had lots of questions about couponing and what sites to look at and what's on sale this week....SOOOOOO.....I started a new coupon blog. That way those of you who could care less, don't have to see all the coupon garbage! But for those of you who are interested, head on over and FOLLOW ME! The new blog is a work in progress but at least it's up and running. There will be lots more fun stuff to come as well!!

Thru Logan's Eyes

Logan: "Mom, I like Brooklyn."

Me: "You do?"

Logan: "Yeah because look what she gave me." (shows me a stack of Pokemon cards)

Me: "That was nice of her!"

Logan: "Yeah, I think God will like her."


:0)

(I'm pretty sure he's right, I think He will like Logan too!)

Brooklyn

We have had Brooklyn in speech therapy for a few months now and while she is still hard to understand at times, she has made SO MUCH progress!!

For example: She just walked up to me wearing her brothers flip-flops on the wrong feet and Alexis' tank top on, with her head in the arm hole and her arm in the head hole and no underwear on and in her sweet little voice she says " Mommy, I go with you?" I said " Where are we going, Brookie?" She answers "To Disneyland."

:0)

What Can YOU Buy for $20??

Well, here's what I bought for only $20:

Albertsons

• 2 6pk packages of Cottonelle toilet paper
• 1 bag of Doritos
• 1 gallon whole milk
• 1/2 gallon chocolate milk

total out of pocket: $3.35

Target

• 1 package of hamburger buns
• 2 bottles Soft Soap hand soap
• 5 boxes of Pop Tarts
• 1 box of Fruit Snacks
• 5 Weight Watchers frozen meals
• 1 bottle of Mt. Dew
• 2 Cranium WOW board games
• 2 Cranium Hullaballoo board games

total out of pocket: $17.13

total saved between both stores: $117.20

that's a savings of 85%!!!

A Conversation With Logan

I think Logan is getting tired of Alexis always picking on him.

Logan: Mom, can we take Alexis to the zoo?

Me: Why? You want her to live there?

Logan: Yes! With the Lions!

Later the same day.....

Logan: Mom can I go live at someone else's house.

Me: Where do you want to live, Logan?

Logan: Somewhere where they need a new boy.

Me: Why do you want to leave, buddy?

Logan: Cuz Alexis is ruining my life!

Me: But I will miss my little boy!

Logan: It's OK, you can just call me.

Organic Coupons!!!

Go here to print lots of great organic foods coupons. Two of my favorites are the Annie's Mac and Cheese and the Organic Flax Cereal!! Those are so yummy!!!

Thanks Summer's Savings!!

All You Magazine....more coupons!!!

Thanks Deal Seeking Mom for this great deal on All You magazine! She is offering a 2 year subscription to All You for just $16!!! Rumor has it that the price of this will go up in August to $19.95 a year so go to her site now and subscribe! All You is a magazine that can currently be found at Walmart for $2.24 an issue. It is packed full of coupons every month!! Another great source for some awesome coupons. Follow her instructions for how to subscribe and check out her list of coupons found in this month's and next month's issues!

Tide Coupons

Thanks, Annie for this great link!!! Go get yourself some Tide coupons!!

Some of My Favorite Deals This Week

Need some energy? How about FREE energy?? At Smith's, when you buy 10 Amp energy drinks in one transaction, they are $.99 each. Great deal, right? Well, you also get a FREE $10 Smith's gift card with purchase!! FREE AMP!

If you haven't printed your milk, cheese and yogurt coupons yet then do it! If you have printed them before, they reset so get right over there and print 2 more of each. When doubled at Albertsons these make milk about $.45 a gallon and cheap cheese and yogurt!! These coupons are only available in Idaho and Utah so make sure and enter an ID or UT zip code to get them to show up.

Albertsons has their 8oz bags of shredded cheese on sale for $1 a bag. Buy 4 bags (= 2 lbs) and then double your $1 cheese coupon and it makes the cheese $.50 a bag!!! A great time to stock up on shredded cheese!!

What would you do for a Klondike bar?? Well, go get a $1/2 coupon, print it twice, then head to Albertsons. They are on sale for $4.99, and BOGO free. Double 2 $1/2 coupons and they become $1.50 a package. When you buy 4 packs in one transaction, a coupon for $4 off your next purchase will print!!! (that makes 4 packs $2!!)

Are you becoming addicted to couponing or is it just me? Well, if your coupons are becoming too hard to organize then maybe it's time to create a coupon binder (or coupon almanac as my husband so lovingly refers to it). Costco currently has a great binder with a handle for $12!! That is a great price! But, with their coupon, you can get $3 off!!! This is about half of Target's price for a similar binder. (it's on my birthday wish list!!) I've had a lot of questions about my almanac so I may do a post later with pictures if you are wondering about it.

Also, don't forget, Target announced in last weeks ad that they are now matching competitors ads for identical items!!! Take a copy of the ad with you to show your cashier, use some Target store coupons and pair them up with manufacturer coupons to make for great prices at Target. Don't forget to check the Target store coupons here and here frequently! And remember, a store coupon can be paired with a manufacturer coupon on the same item!

Remember Those Good Coupons?

Use the links I gave you TODAY at Smith's you can get the large boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios for $1.50 with coupon. These are the 26 oz boxes!!!

Smith's also has a Keebler deal that ends today. When you buy 3 Keebler cookies or crackers you get $3 off instantly at the register. The Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies are $1.99, when you buy three and use your $1 coupon these are FREE!!!!

Good Coupons!!!

A great $1 Honey Nut Cheerio coupon just became available! Go here to print yours now!! Remember, you can print it twice! Use it with your Albertsons doubler and get free Cheerios!

And a great $1 off Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies coupon here. Print it twice!

If you have a baby or little one, then go print some of these great Johnson & Johnson coupons too!!

FREE Arby's Roast Sandwich

Go HERE for a FREE Arby's Sandwich with drink purchase. Just print the coupon and use it by July 13th!!! Enjoy!

thanks Deal Seeking Mom!!!

Great Cascade Coupons

Go here and click on the coupons, fill out the form and in a few weeks they will mail you a booklet of coupons. I received this booklet a couple weeks ago and there are some good coupons on Cascade, Dawn, Swiffer and others in there!

FREE Chocolate!!

Every Friday thru September, Mars is giving out coupons for FREE chocolate. Go here and fill out the form!! It's only for the first 250,000 people each Friday....so go NOW!!!

My Favorite Thing About Summer

While it's not my favorite season, I do enjoy summer. It definitely has its perks. I love the warm weather, the long summer days, vacations with the family, and of course my second favorite summer thing....fresh garden tomatoes! Mmmmm, what's better than a fresh garden tomato?? Well, I'll tell you........

BIG BROTHER!!!!! Oh my gosh, the best reality TV show ever!! If you don't watch, or haven't ever seen this CBS reality show...tune in people!! Watch it with me, enjoy the best thing there is this summer!!!

Starts tomorrow evening on CBS at 7pm. Set your DVR. Do it!!!

Mady

Some updated photos of my Mady Moo Bear....

You have to look good for the camera!!

she doesn't like to share the camera!

cute sisters!

what I call "scrunchy face" ...so cute!!

If that's not a pose, I don't know what is!!