It's FRIDAY!!! Time for 5QF!

I haven't blogged at all this week!!!  OMGoodness!!!!  It's been a good, busy & kind of weird week.  I could really use a day or two of warmth & sunshine.  But all is well!  I'm caught up on laundry, my house is clean, the dishwasher is running & I've had two cups of coffee this morning.  Sounds like a great morning to me!  Oh & it's Friday!!!!!  Friday's don't mean a whole lot to me right now since David works Tuesday-Saturday.  Our Friday doesn't happen till tomorrow!  ALTHOUGH.....here comes a MAJOR praise report.....starting next week I am going to be doing full time daycare for a family with two kids!  We've been praying & trying to figure out a way to better our finances and this family pretty much fell in our laps!  We feel very blessed!  So I guess starting next week, Friday will have a new meaning for me!  It's going to be a huge adjustment for me since I've pretty much been carefree with my days since May 2008!!!  It's good though.  My mind is already preparing to be in daycare mode.  I did it before with six kids everyday and being stuck at home, so I can do it again with four kids. 
Now on to the reason for this post......




1. What is better, growing old with out money or dying young and wealthy?
Definitely growing old with no money!  You can't take it with you when you leave anyways, so I'd rather live a long life full of love & happiness and money can't buy either of those things!!!!

2. Who takes out the garbage at your house?
My husband!  I refuse!  That is a man job for sure!  It's GROSS!!!  And even though sometimes my wonderful hubby doesn't think it's fair, Erika will never have to take the garbage out!

3. Have you ever had the same dream many times?
When I was little & when I'm preggo yes.  But not any other time!  When I was little I always dreamed there was a giant rat trying to get in my room and chasing me down the hall.  And when I say giant, I mean giant.  Like a six foot tall man giant!
4. Can you play a musical instrument?
Yes.  I played the clarinet in school, but ditched that for choir, but I'm sure I could pick it up again!  I can monkey around on the piano too, but I can't "play" play.  If that makes sense.  Like I could never play during worship at church or anything.  I would love to learn to really play someday and I'd also love to learn to play the guitar.  Maybe when I'm growing old with no money I'll have time to learn to play.  I won't have money to do anything else!

5. If you owned your own store, what would you sell?
 Hmmmm, that's a hard one!!!!  Maybe some kind of remembrance store.  After we had Dylan, I was always looking for the perfect stuff to put out at the cemetery and to have at home & it was always hard to find stuff. 
 

One penny!

Ok so a couple things from tonights trip to the grocery store that bugged me.

First off, I bought Ken's salad dressing.  It was on sale for $1.99 and I had a $2 off coupon.  I had two coupons, so bought to bottles.  The cashier scans all my coupons is about to tell me my total and all of a sudden realizes that the salad dressing was ONE PENNY cheaper than what my coupon was.  SO she takes the time to go through and delete the coupon and rescans it, but puts in $1.99 instead of $2.  Seriously?  And she wasn't fast about it either.  I was ANNOYED simply b/c my kids were at the end of their rope....they were hungry & just plain DONE grocery shopping.  She could tell but golly gee, she wasn't going to let me have my grocery bill a whole two pennies cheaper!  The thing that really gets me though is that when they redeem that coupon they will get their full $2 plus 8 cents back. So really, was it worth the almost two minutes that you spent changing my coupon price??  Probably not, wonderful cashier.  You probably cost your company money by doing that with the time you wasted!

The second thing that bugged me: when we walked in the door there was a mom & her child.  She had put her child (I'd say no more than 2, but probably 18 months) in the cart and used at least FIVE sanitizing wipes.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of those too.  I typically use them.  However after cleaning practically the whole darn cart I notice that she failed to buckle her kid in!!!!  For real???  If you are going to take the time sanitize your whole cart to try & keep your kid from getting sick, shouldn't you also buckle your kid in so you can keep him from falling & cracking his head open???????  I mean, really, what's worse???  Where is the logic?

On a positive note.....I got 32 items for $28!  Wohooo!!!!  Love when I have good coupons matched with good sales!

Flashback Friday

Taken when Caleb was 1 day old!!

Five Question Friday ON Friday!

Are you impressed???  I AM!  haha!



1. Worst trouble you ever got into as a teenager?
Hmmmm, gosh I don't even know!  My mom (who I know will read this...) was a softie!  It didn't take much for me to bribe her into writing a note for school after I skipped.  I didn't get into a whole lot of trouble, and it wasn't because my mom bailed me out...I just really didn't get into trouble.  I was a good girl!  Except for wanting to skip school...."but mom I'll buy you McDonalds if you'll just call in and tell them I'm sick"  And then one time I went to school and my friends talked me into skipping and going to MOA, which had recently opened.  I left my headlights on and ended up getting caught.  I think my mom said "I would have wrote you a note"  Maybe since I didn't smoke, drink or party that's why she did it???  Mom??? 

2. Are you a morning person or a night person?
By nature a night person.  And someday when my kids are grown I will again be a night person!  But for now I have learned to become a morning person.  I get up WAY before my kids and go to the gym, have coffee with my hubby most mornings before he leaves for work & throw in a load of laundry all before my kids get up between 7 and 7:30.....I wish they slept later, but Caleb is his fathers child.  They are both morning people!

3. Are you a one-handed or a two-handed Texter?
I was two handed on my previous phone, but I haven't quite mastered two handed on my new phone. 

4. Democrat, Republican, or Independent..or maybe even Green Party (whatever that is).
Republican....I honestly don't care much for politics though.

5. Are you a pet person?
Well.....no.  I blame my mom (who, if you read question #1, will read this).  Just kidding.  We lived in an apartment growing up & pets were not allowed.  I wanted a bird for a long time.  I saved my babysitting money and would go to the pet store & buy things needed for a bird and saved them all for a long time but my mom never let me buy a bird.  Maybe it's because I killed my crayfish in elementary school.  I begged to bring one home and then it freaked me out and I wouldn't feed it and I let it die.  And it smelled.  But a bird would have been different!!!!!  See mom, it is all your fault!  I think for sure a puppy is in our future once we have a house again though!  Yesterday, Erika prayed that a puppy would fall out of the sky into her arms &  then she could keep it forever.  And Caleb has informed me that this Christmas Santa doesn't need to bring him ANY toys....just a puppy. 

Our MckMama photoshoot!!!

Way back in December, you know a whole month ago, I took the kids up to MckMama's house & she took some WONDERFUL photos of my kids!  Here are my favorites!

I just LOVE the look on Erika's face here!  It's so HER! 

I love this one too.  And the funniest part is that is NOT Caleb's arm!!!  It's Big Mac's!  He was too cute!  He wanted to be in a couple of pictures with them & then he wanted to help his mama take some pictures too!  A little budding photographer, for sure!

Meet Mr. Model....he had me cracking up!  He kept doing different poses & was just being really cute!

This was the pic we used for our Christmas cards!  I completely forgot to link up to MckMama in my Christmas letter post!  So sorry friend, please forgive me!

My little stud man!!!

Thanks again MckMama for some wonderful new pics of my kids!  It'd been WAY too long since I had professional pics done of them! 

Wordless Wednesday

Five Question Friday

Better late than never, right!!!  I swear one of these days I will be so on top of my life that I will have my 5QF actually done on Friday!



1. What's your "comfort food"?
Hmmmm, I'd have to say cookie dough.  Or brownie batter.  Or vanilla cake batter.  I have issues.

2. Do you send Thank You's (handwritten or email)?
I always have good intentions....but that doesn't count for much!  I don't think I've ever sent out an email thank you though.  If I'm going to put effort into a thank you note, it's going to be handwritten!  Means much more that way!!!

3. If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you choose?
Oh hands down it would be Gilmore Girls!!!!!  Oh man, how I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to live in Stars Hollow for a month!  Eat at Luke's Diner everyday, have a super cute charming little house, be best friends with Sookie!  YES, sign me up!!

4. What is your favorite online recipe site?
I probably use allrecipes.com the most.  Sometimes I'll just google what it is I am wanting to make and see what comes up, but mostly I just go straight to allrecipes.com

5. If you had to choose: "Friends" or "Seinfeld"?
Friends for sure. 

Do you see what I see???

Any guesses as to where Erika was when I took this pic???

Did you guess???? Here are a couple more pics of Erika's fun in a cardboard box!  Who needs toys when you have a giant box like this! 

One of my favs!

This picture is one of my favorites from this years Christmas! 
I took it Christmas Eve right before the kids went to bed in their new jammies. 
And right before "Santa" arrived.

They were SO excited to go to bed.

The ONE time a year when going to bed has a tangible bonus for them!

They're just so cute!

But then again, I am biased!

No Flash!

Everytime I read any photography tips one of the first ones is always NO FLASH!  For real???
For someone who is using a point & shoot camera and really doesn't know as much as she'd like about photography, I always thought "they" are crazy for saying no flash!  Not to mention I didn't think I had the functions needed on my camera to get a good picture with no flash.

Someday I would like to own a nice camera, but for now I am trying to do my best at getting good pictures from my point & shoot.  Since my camera is obviously digital, one day I decided to use every function & setting on camera to just become familiar with it. 

I now can get a decent picture with my little point & shoot with NO FLASH! 

This makes me happy!

When I someday get my nice expensive camera, I would really like to take a photography class and learn more about what all the settings mean and just learn more about photography in general. 

Here is my latest flash/no flash comparisons that I took:
(for whatever reason Erika decided the Christmas tree needed a hug & kiss.....)
This picture is with the flash.

This picture is without the flash.

I really love how the second one turned out.  The glow of the Christmas lights, her hair & dress are more shadowy (if that's even a word).  It just looks warm & cozy compared to the first one with the flash.

All that to say....I have been converted!  I rarely use my flash anymore!!!!

These curls

The other day Erika was having an extremely good hair day.

Like the kind you want when you are going out on a date.

But um, well, she's three.

Let's not get started on dating.

Maybe we can make it to Kindergarten first.

This picture doesn't really do it justice, so you'll just have to trust me.

I hope & pray that she will always love her curls

and know how special & blessed she is to have

such wonderful hair!

Look IN the backpack.

"OOOOhhhh I got a back pack!"
(pure excitement over a little backpack!)

"Caleb look INSIDE the backpack" (it's a nintendo DS)

And a Lionel game for the DS

His reactions this year to gifts was the best!  Most of them he had that same look on his face or he jumped up & down! 

Erika received some equally great gifts, but she seemed to contain herself just a little bit more. 

Although she did continuously pet the bottom of this Hello Kitty skirt. 
Simply because it was furry & soft.

Her new baby & sling:

Last but not least, Santa left them a McDonalds play drive thru!!!

We had a great Christmas!  We went to four different celebrations & do you think I remembered my camera once?  NO!  Bummer!!!  We had a busy Christmas weekend, but in comparison to last year when we were living in Texas with no family and nothing to do, this year was GREAT! 

Good Sport

He's such a good sport. 

Even when I ask him to put a silly thing on his head. 

Just so I can take a picture for, you know, the kids' scrapbook. 

Wordless Wednesday - well almost!

Alternately titled "She looks up to him" 

I LOVE it!

Someday...

Someday I will have a super cute blog design.  You know the kind that most people pay for.  I am determined to give myself a blog makeover and figure out all the html codes & what not.  I have done a couple layouts in the past but haven't been extremely satisfied with them. 
For now I'll enjoy changing the look of my blog with the changing holidays & seasons with websites that make is simple (not to mention....free!)

Cleaning time!!!

This morning, with garbage bag in hand, I headed into this bedroom which is now clean & organized! 

Shhhhh, the kids have NO idea that I threw some stuff away! 

I was ultra sneaky & they will never miss the clutter I got rid of!

Next up:

This rediculous toy room

And this rediculous closet attached to the rediculous toy room:

I typically have the kids help me with cleaning up THEIR messes. 

But when I'm (shhhhh) throwing stuff....it doesn't work out so well to have little helpers!

And, well, really, that dresser....that's not THEIR mess. 

I don't expect my 3 year old to put her clothes away, so I can't blame that on her!

Yikes!!!

It's been WAY too long since I blogged!  I haven't taken the time to blog at all lately and I need to.  I've had a few posts swimming around in my head for a few days but can't seem to sit down and get it all typed out!  Tomorrow I'm planning on finally getting Christmas pictures off my camera and onto the computer so stay tuned!