Circus....disaster...

Last Friday night the circus was in town and every year Casey's work gets free tickets, so we decided to take the kids and nephew, Keenen. Paige had been very excited to go, so I was surprised when she wasn't enjoying herself and being very whiny. I held her in my lap and noticed that she was very still and began to think she wasn't feeling well. That's when she began throwing up. So I scooped her up and ran down the stairs just as she started to throw up some more. Instinctively, I put my hand to her mouth and it went all the way down the sleeve of my jacket and up my arm. YUUUUUCK!!! Because, you know, the circus isn't dirty enough already without a child vomiting all over you. I was just trying to keep it from getting on anyone else and then getting beaten up for my child vomiting on them. But I can't say the same for the stairs. Needless to say that was the end of the circus for us! But I did manage to capture these two cute pics of Caiden and Keenen during the 10 minutes we were there.

Yup. I should have known. That's the look of little girl who is about to be sick......

Paige turns 3!

My little girl is 3! Wow! I sort of felt bad that we didn't have a party for Paige on her birthday this year. It happened to be on a very crazy weekend. So the night before (after she went to bed) I decorated the house and had all her presents wrapped and set out for her to see when she woke up. She was so excited. Caiden had been telling her for days that she was going to get presents on her birthday, so she knew what was coming. She had been pestering me the days prior, "Is it my ber-day yet?" "Is it Sunday yet?" "Mommy, I have presents yet??"

It is hard to see in the picture, but she is holding pink gum and pink tic-tacs, by far her most prized possession. I think I could have gotten away with just getting a box full of pink gum and pink tic tacs and called it a day!

Future nurse??

Caiden quickly took over the bowling set....

Huh? Why do I have to sit here with all my gifts and take a picture? Because your mom is crazy, that's why.

Oh my goodness! Finally the broken strawberry shaped sunglasses have been replaced. Could life get any more exciting?

Happy Birthday Paigey!! We love you!!

Arrrrrrr!!!!!!!

T-Ball

This past spring Caiden played T-Ball for the first time. Go team Mets! He was so excited at the start of the season, but by the end of it, we were both glad it was over.

I'm pretty sure you are not supposed to sit down while guarding first base.....

but having fun is the important thing, right?

Getting some help from Coach Todd Welch....

Girls trip!

Over Memorial weekend I went to Spokane and met my mom, sister and sister-in-law there and we had a fabulous girls-only no-kids-no-men weekend. This is the first time we've done this and I plan to make it a tradition and highly recommend it to all moms. It is good for your health. A big thanks to my husband, who when I asked if he loved me enough to let me have a weekend to myself, he said yes. And also to my brother who graciously let us redeem his credit card points for a free hotel. Much appreciated. Some highlights of the trip:
* eating at Outback, Olive Garden, and Azteca. YUM!
* shopping freely without having to chase 2 children down or ask store associates to help me find them.
* going to the movies to see a chick flick
* getting pedicures and manicures
* running at Riverfront park (we only managed this one morning, even though I should have done it everyday with the amount of food I ate.)
* laying out by the pool and reading a book
* cramming into one of those photo booths in the mall. so funny!
* playing the game Twilight
* having my kids and husband tell me they missed me when I got home

At Outback. Can you tell the guy who took the picture was like 8 feet tall?

This was a fun times too. I'm not generally too into pedicures because I don't really like people to touch my feet. I'm ticklish and I tend to involuntary jerk my foot and I feel like the person thinks I'm going to kick them. But I lucked out with a very nice lady.

It was Kim and Rebecca's birthday, so they got to wear the sombrero while the waiters sang Feliz Cumpleanos (I think I spelled that right).

From the pictures, it seems as though the only thing we did was eat at restaurants, but I promised we managed to do many other things as well. Although, eating is one of our favorite things to do.....

Caiden's Preschool Program

A few weeks ago, Caiden's preschool held an end of the year program. They sang songs and Caiden was so funny. He was very animated with all the hand motions. In the picture above, he spotted Grandma and Grandpa and was so excited to see them. Then after it was over, we all went into the gym and had cookies. Along the walls was each child's picture along with what they wanted to be when they grow up. Haha! A ninja turtle! I can tell they asked that question a while ago, because currently the obsession is Star Wars. Tonight he told me before going to bed "Mom, I just wish I had the force." And then a while ago after putting him to bed, I was walking out of the room and I heard him whisper "may the force be with you". I turned around and saw him with his hand stretched out to me. So funny.

Coupon Info

I have had a lot of people ask me about my grocery shopping success (see post below) and how I do it. Well, it all starts with clipping coupons. I get the daily paper and the Sunday paper and occasionally I print coupons off the internet. Then it is just a matter of pairing coupons with items already on sale, making them really cheap or even free. I use thegrocerygame.com which tracks what each stores sales are for the week (in your area) and what coupons come in your paper (again, in your area) and they basically do the pairing for you. I pretty much just pick and choose the best deals and print it off each week. Of course you can do this on your own just by looking at the ads and what coupons you have, but I don't mind paying a few dollars a month for this service, because it saves me sooo much time and money. Then I also follow a few "coupon" blogs that are just random people posting about good deals and good internet coupons that are out there. (My favorites are the links on the side of my blog). They don't always apply to my area, but they often post good deals on not just groceries, but clothing too. I've been doing this for about a year now and in the beginning it took me a while to get the hang of it, but I've done it long enough now that it really doesn't take me much time at all. I figure I spend no more than 3 or 4 hours a month and I save $300-$400 a month. $100 an hour! Best part time job I've ever had! My grocery bill has been cut in half since I've been doing this and my food storage has nearly doubled. Just in case anyone wanted to know....

Five dollars and sixty-four cents!!!

Why am I posting a picture of my groceries, you may ask? Well, it is simply because I am un-FREAKIN-believeable!! Not to brag, but seriously...I am. I got all of this stuff for just $5.64! Did you hear that people?? $5.64!!!! (Retail $81. 24!) If anyone had ever told me before I became a mom, that I would turn into a coupon-loving, scrapbooking/blogging fool, I would have hysterically laughed in their face. I have discovered that coupons are the greatest thing in the whole world! Ok, I know I'm crazy. But I just had to share my excitement with the whole world (or just those who read my blog, at least).

Mother's Day

I had a near perfect Mother's Day (the only downside was that I was sick). But I woke up to a dozen roses from my sweet husband (that Caiden picked out) and donuts. My boys know me very well. Pretty flowers and yummy food. Caiden kept asking me all day, "mom do you like your flowers? Are they beautiful?" So cute.... I love being a mom to my two crazy kids.Then earlier in the week, Caiden came home with these cute things he made at preschool....

I don't know if you can read the poem. It's really cute:

Sometimes you get discouraged

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls.

But every day I'm growing

I'll be grown up someday.

And all those tiny handprints

Will surely fade away.

So here's a final handprint

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was very small.

A fun day

This is from a couple of weeks ago (the one and only weekend this spring that it has been sunny and warm and NOT windy!) I think this cold, windy weather has just been so depressing and I haven't felt too motivated to get things done. I just want stop running my heat already. Anyway, on this day it was BEAUTIFUL!! Casey had to work in the morning so I blew up the pool for the kids to play in the backyard. Caiden loves to slide down the slide into it. And I laid out on the lawn chair and read a book and welcomed my first sunburn of the season....

Paige got her swimming suit wet and did NOT like it. She kept saying "I all wet! I all wet!" (that is the general idea, right?) But she went inside to put on a dry swimming suit and it was on backwards. So funny. However, I could not convince her that it was on backwards and this is how she wore it for the rest of the day....(and in case your wondering, that big pink blob is from her dropping her pb&j sandwich on herself while eating lunch)

Then, when Casey got home, we went to the park and Caiden practiced riding his bike without training wheels. We had been practicing a few time before this, but just at home on the sidewalks. I think the narrowness of the sidewalk was intimidating because when he did it at the park with the big open spaces he pretty much just took off. (Video below) He was so excited to have finally gotten it! And I must say, it is soooo nice that all he wants to do now is ride his bike instead of playing the wii.

Here is Paige riding her tricycle and wearing her famous strawberry sunglasses without the lenses....

Then we hung out by the lake for a bit and watched the boaters. All in all, a very fun day!

This is a random picture. I was fiddling with my camera one day and Caiden was begging me to take a picture of him, so I told him to hug his sister. Only Paige did not want to be hugged at that moment. It was so funny watching her yell at him "No hug me Tay-nen!!!!" and then Caiden trying to reason with her "Paige....mom wants us to hug. Come on!" Finally, I told Paige to give him a big hug. Doesn't she look happy?