Today is going to be a GREAT day! I woke up to an email that said I won the Kids Cooking Activities Ebook from http://www.hail2thesnowqueen.blogspot.com/. I'm so excited! Mason has really wanted to get started in cooking lessons. This will be something special I can focus on just him.

Saturday- my little girl (who doesn't like to be called little) lost her 2nd tooth. Look how proud she is!

Instead of getting a note from the tooth fairy she got a special note from Princess Midna. This is what it says:

Well hello Ashley,
First I want to congratulate you on winning Twilight Princess. I bet you would never guess that one of my very best friends is the tooth fairy. She told me you lost a tooth today and I begged her to let me come in her place.
She gave me 3 important rules:
1. Never be seen. I have to say I was disappointed. I wanted to introduce myself to you. But she said it was very important to obey the laws with the humans.
2. Never touch the human. Only the tooth could be touched.
3. Beware of the cat.
The tooth fairy only gave me enough power to pop in and out of your room. She said that when she let others work for her many times the tooth refuses to go into the next world. So if the tooth remains give it to your Mama. She can save it as a keepsake.
Congratulations! Save your money for something special. And keep your teeth nice and clean. The tooth fairy told me she doesn’t give as much for the dirty ones.

Much Love,
Princess Midna

I had a pretty excited little girl. She was confused why the tooth was still under her pillow until we read the letter to her.

The really funny thing is when I went in to put the note under her pillow, I acidentally kicked her princess chair. Immediately, it makes a "wishing/princess" sound da...ling and says, "You make a very fine princess." I had to laugh at that!

Ashley carried her note to church with her on Sunday and showed anyone she could.

Friday night I got to scrapbook! I created 3 layouts and a necklace pennant. I forgot to take a picture of the pennant- phooey. I used Jenni Bowlin papers in the pennant and I wore it to church on Sunday to show her. I thought she might be proud to see someone wearing her designs.

I am taking a class that my friend Doris is teaching at Get It Scrapped!. (When a title has a punctuation in it- do you still put a period at the end of the sentence?) Anyway, we are getting inspiration from different rooms or places in our homes. The first lesson was on getting inspiration from your Kitchen. I created these 2 layouts:

I have been wanting to do this idea for a very long time. It's called Design tip #1 and the journaling reads: My Mom always taught me to decorate in groups of 3. I think I may have taken that to the extreme.

I actually used a little aluminum foil on this layout.

This layout I tried something very different for me. I mod podged tissues to the patterned paper. It's hard to tell in this picture, but it gives it a really nice texture. In these pictures, the kids are playing with a tissue that Greg gave them. They had a lot of fun making a mess.

This is for her 2nd class. We got inspiration from our cars. When I looked at my odometer in my car it said, Trip A. I thought this was pretty cool, because Ashley is Triplet A (the first one born). So I used Trip A as my title. The little odometer below the title has that she is turning 6.5 (years old).

Today is class 3 and I can't wait to find out what it is going to be about.

Happy Anniversary! and Window Shopping.

15th Wedding Anniversary
Crystal is the primary material for the fifteenth anniversary with glass as the modern material and watches as the alternate modern choice.

So does anyone actually give these suggested anniversary gifts to their spouse?

I think 15 years is a big year to celebrate! So Happy Anniversary to US!

Tonight we will celebrate at Logan's Steakhouse

(with our children)

I even have a coupon!

OH there are so many things I would like to have right now. But for now I'll have to window shop. Why don't you window shop with me?

My camera broke. I can still use it, but I have to hold the batteries in while I snap the picture. So I'm dreaming for a nice new Canon.

This is an external hard drive. The home computer runs slow and I can't put any extras on it because we don't have enough memory. So this is needed.

Next...I want my own laptop. I thought the computer at home was mine. But the kids use it. It sure would be nice to take my computer places with me. So while I'm dreaming, I would like it to have internet connection wherever I go.

I want to take a couple of classes on picture editing. Those don't cost too much. So I might be able to do that.

And to have a nice big flat screen TV, with a DVR and nice cable package.

OK- I guess my window shopping is over. I have a little one who wants to play on the computer.

Just Catchin' You Up

Wow this picture is really good considering it was taken from Greg's phone. I'm impressed.

Anyway, Saturday we got to go on a date. We were again invited to the First Night Supper Club. (Free for us) We had an interesting dinner- again not my taste, but I'd still go back. We had lamb. Please just give me a hamburger or pizza. Anyway, here we are standing on top of this building downtown. I actually was able to get close to the edge- but not for long, my knees were feeling weak.

Here is a picture I took from my camera before the batteries died. Then after the dinner we went across the street to see the play Rabbit Hole. It was really good. It was about a family, whose 4 year old child was killed in a car accident. For such a sad subject it was handled very well. You don't see the child, the play starts about a year after the accident. And it is about how they handle it. There is even quite a bit of humor in it. I recommend it!

Then guess what? Sunday night we had another date. (Yes- talk about a huge babysitting bill.) We went to see Jersey Boys. Now this was FANTASTIC!!!! I think this is the best TPAC show we have seen yet. It is about the Four Seasons band. The music was great, the play was great. Most shows I am looking at my watch wondering when intermission is, but this show had me engaged the entire time. LOVED IT! And I definitely recommend it!

I already blogged about Monday- where my poor little girl was sick. Thank goodness it was only a 24 hour bug and so far no one else has gotten it.

I thought these M&M ice cream things were too cute not to take a picture.

Today- (Wednesday) we stayed home all day. The kids were being very inventive. They dressed themselves up as something (I don't know what). But they were proud. And it was all fun and games until the masking tape had to come off.

{{{{Poor Mason}}}}

I actually got to scrapbook today. I probably should have been cleaning. But the bug hit me and I created this:


I was challenged to use something from the Kitchen. See those little pastel thingies on the tree? Those are cupcake liners.

My Walgreens savings THIS week! All for $4.61

You simply MUST sign up for the ChoysterCash free couponing 10 week course!!! If I can do this anyone can!!!!

Real quick for beginners: You can use Manufacturer coupon WITH Store coupons (Walgreens).
WAGs ---- Walgreens coupon
Pulley---- A coupon attached to the product that you pull off and use
RR----- Register Rewards Walgreens and now Kroger will print off extra savings toward your next purchase if you buy certain participating products.


I'm so excited to share my savings I got this week at Walgreens!
The colors don't mean anything- just can't easily draw lines on a blog so I made each product with the price I paid a separate color.

Walgreens

3 Kit Kat’s (just a treat for my poor children I dragged along with me) $1.50 sale
2 pkgs. Energizer AA batteries 4 pack
Energizer Lithium AA 4 pack
· 7.99 Sale
· 5.29
· 5.29
· -4.60 Wags coupon
· -.50 pulley
· -.50 pulley
· Buy 3 packs Energizer Batteries -$15.00 Rebate
· Extra 10% by getting Walgreens gift card instead of cash -$1.50
· $1.72 tax
· = $20.29 – 22.10= {$1.81} Free + I get money back!!!
13 cans Hunts Tomato Sauce
· .80 each x 13 = $10.40
· -5.33 WAGS coupon
· Buy $10 of selected ConAgra Products -5.00 Rebate
· Extra 10% by getting Walgreens gift card instead of cash -.50
· .96 tax
· = $11.36 - $10.83 = .53 for 13 cans
2 Campbell’s Chicken noodle Soup
· 1.39
· 1.39
· -1.20 WAGs
· -1.00 coupon off 2
· .26 tax
· = $3.04 – 2.20 = .84 for both
2 Right Guard Deodorants
· 5.99 prof. strength Sale
· 4.99 (not on sale and probably should not have bought it now.)
· -1.00 coupon off 2
· Right Guard Professional - $5.00 Rebate
· $1.02 tax
· = $12.00 – 6.00= $6.00 for Both
2 Bayer Aspirin
· 2.99
· Extra package attached for free
· -$1.00 coupon
· .28 tax
· = 3.27 – 1.00= $2.27
Band aids with medicine on them (I needed these)
· 3.99
· -1.00 coupon
· -1.00 pully
· .37 tax
· 4.36 -2.00 = $2.36
24 ct. Aquafina Water
· 4.49 Sale
· -1.00 coupon
· .42 tax
· 4.91 – 1.00 = $3.91 (Will be reimbursed)
Electronic Heel Smoother Pedicure set
· 7.19 Clearance Sale
· -5.00 coupon
· .67 tax
· 7.86 – 5.00 = $2.86
Sunday newspaper $1.75
Used $10.00 RegisterRewards
Total Out of Pocket = $36.11
Total I’ll get back in Rebates (online by the way) = $27.50
All together $36.11 – 27.50 = $8.61 For everything on this page!!!!
Oh and $4 will be reimbursed so that makes it $4.61 for everything on this page!!!

Now on top of that...I got 2 Free Rentals from Red Box

1. Bolt (I LOVED THIS) I want to see it again. It's for kids.

2. Twilight - SO many people recommended I see this. I think it's best for the pre-teen crowd. It was cute, but simply not the type of movie I really enjoy.

A roller coaster

Today has been a roller coaster ride full of ups and downs.

I would think that I had a very successful day except for my baby girl is sick (throwing up and diarrhea). I have a VERY hard time cleaning up puke, I'll do it if I have to, but I either gag and have dry heaves or actually throw up myself. (shoot there we go again!)

So far I've been blessed to have Greg here to clean it up every time today. I got her on some Phenergan (sp?) and it helps her for 4 hours and then you can pretty much predict she will get sick again. This is her first time taking a pill. I gave her a choice between the pill and a suppository. It's been hard for her to swallow, even though it is tiny, but I couldn't even imagine the alternative!!!!

Aussie was very proud of himself today. He made a treat by himself. He stacked 3 Ritz crackers, putting peanut butter on each and placing a few chocolate chips on them. He made them for everyone. He told me the directions to make them if I wanted to make them, and then he came back and said, "I forgot to tell you to use a knife to put the peanut butter on." That made me giggle! Then he asked me if I wanted him to draw the recipe for me. I said, no I didn't need it, but now I change my mind. I'll have him draw it out for me tomorrow. That will make a great keepsake and scrapbook page!

It's much later than I wanted to stay up...I had to help Ashley between starting and finishing this.

I want to tell everyone about my Walgreen trip this week. I typed it out already in Word, so I'm going to post another entry and copy it into my blog. I'm really tired so I will post the links in the morning. If you haven't signed up for the free couponing class with ChoysterCash than you really need to! Check out my next post to see what I learned and how well I did JUST this week.

Identical twins....or not

Today I was asking Mason what else he would like to eat.

Mason: Oats.
Me: Oats?
Mason: Yep, Just plain oats.
Me: You are just like your Dad
Mason: Yea, we both have brown eyes, we are both silly, we are exactly alike, we both have the same color h (pause).....well I have big hair and he has a little.

(If you don't know my husband...he is balding in the front.)


Bwahhhaaahahaaaaaaaa! (That is a mighty laugh by the way)

My lads and lassie

Why is it that I can't get all of them to co-operate and look at me or smile at the same time?

Money Saving Sites

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

With our current economic status, people are looking for ways to save money. I have been reading several money saving blogs. One of my favorites is ChoysterCash. She is offering a free 10-week couponing course right now (once a week). She is about to introduce week 4, but you can start from the beginning at any time. Go here to sign up.

AND let me know if you sign up because she is offering $1 for every 3 people you can get to sign up for her class.

I'm really enjoying it! The first week is on how to get FREE stuff from Walgreens.






Another one of my favorite sites is Swagbucks. All you have to do is use their search engine and you can earn points. There are several different things you can choose from, but for example when you earn 45 points you can get a $5 giftcard for Amazon. AND if you sign up under me, both of us get the points you earn. Typically you will earn about 1 point a day. So my suggestion is use it for everything even sites you know the address to and when you get your point, you can go on and use Google or whatever you normally use for the rest of the day (since it is a better search engine.)

Here are the money saving sites that I subscribe to their RSS feed (some are better than others- but I'll let you be the judge of what you like best)

$5 dinners
Once A Month Mom
ChoysterCash
Deal Seeking Mom
Fun Foods on a Budget
Jane 4 girls $800 annual budget
Mommy Snacks
Money Saving Methods
Pay Less for Food
Queen of Free

Also in Ms. Cheap's article last Sunday she had some other sites listed. I liked CouponMom.com but for some reason wasn't able to get an RSS feed on it. And I really like RetailMeNot.com to get codes to save you on just about any online store.

So there you go....happy saving!

Couldn't resist!

I'm SO SORRY...but I couldn't resist!

Here's a warning for tomorrow...

Have a happy St. Patrick's Day!

Over The Weekend

Friday my future daughter in law came to visit. :) Yes, Kadence's Mom had to go to the doctor and wouldn't be able to get back to co-op in time to pick her up. So she asked me if I could bring her home with us. I told the kids late Thursday night that she would be coming over. HA! My little Aussie- the one it's like pulling teeth to get him to clean up- was cleaning up everything. Running around the house saying, hurry it has to look nice for Kadence. Anyway, I thought WOW we should invite her over more often. But I changed my mind! Oh Kadence was a joy! She was no problem at all. But I had a very jealous sister! And boy did she make a scene! She cried and shouted to her brothers (while Kadence was there), "You like Kadence more than you like me." It was horrible! I tried desperately to get them all playing something they would all enjoy. I pulled out Twister. Aussie put his hand on Ashley's foot and it all went downhill! She wasn't there for very long, but I was happy when she was picked up. I don't know what I'm going to do with this little jealous behavior.

I got to scrapbook Friday night. These pictures just don't give these layouts justice. I have to admit, I really like them. I was so proud of myself for doing them all by myself. I say that because many times when I go to a crop. I get advice from others and a lot of times it becomes a collective inspired layout. And I always come home LOVING it. I love the advice of my creative friends. But Friday night- I had my own MOJO on and didn't need any advice.

MOJO- I don't know where it came from but many of us scrapbookers use it. It means when everything is just clicking into place.

And of course it is fun to say it in a deep drawn out voice-- Mooooooooow Jooooooooooooe! And I learned what E6000 is and I like it and need to get some. It is a strong glue that will even hold metal on your layouts. So we were also having fun saying that. Think Wall-E/Raymond with a southern, I mean hick accent.... E six thoooooooooouuuusaaand. We have a lot of fun at these crops!

Saturday, was a really nice day! While Greg took Aussie to Chinese school, I took Mason and Ashley to the Y for Zumba! They had a 30 min. Zumba class for kids. It was so cute! So when that was over I took them to Kids club and did the hour class of Zumba for adults. OH I LOVE IT! She is my favorite teacher so far. Since I've been taking Zumba classes, I find myself doing the merengue and salsa just about anywhere, while I put away the dishes, in the restaurant bathrooms waiting for my children. I've been caught a couple of times and I just giggle. You can check out this video I found on YouTube to get an idea what Zumba is like.

Then Greg and I actually got to relax and watch a movie. I love Redbox! We got The Dark Knight. I teased Greg the other day because he couldn't find the movie. I told him it was because he used to work in a library. He rolled his eyes and said, "Right!???"
Yes, it was under T for The Dark Knight and not "D". LOL! I guess working in a library will screw you up for the real life. JUST KIDDING!

So onto today- another good day except I forgot to take my Adderall and couldn't pay attention in church this morning.

Aussie is in this stage where he either doesn't smile for the camera or he tries to turn his head before I snap the picture. But HA! HA! HA! He's not very good at it yet and I got this great shot!

Anyway, we went to Las Palmas for lunch. We haven't been there in awhile. I had a yummy chicken taco salad. Not that it helped much with this particular lunch, but I learned a trick for eating less salad dressing. Get your dressing on the side. Dip your fork into the dressing BEFORE picking up the lettuce. You use a lot less and it still tastes good.

After lunch we went to visit a friend who is in Alive Hospice. Please pray for Mike and his family, he has a wife and 2 young children. Click here for his blog. He is not doing well. He was heavily sedated when we went to visit, but I believe we were still a blessing. When I had my babies, I was on a morphine drip and I remember knowing people were there, but I just kept falling asleep. I would be so embarrassed and would wake up and say, "I'm so sorry, I'm just so sleepy". Anyway, I took that approach with Mike. I just told him, not to worry about trying to answer us but we were just there to tell him we love him and we are praying for him and his family. I have this passion or urge in me that makes me want to sing to people in their last moments. I know my Grandma appreciated it. I feel like it is very comforting. So my kids joined me and sang to Mike. We sang, Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children and we sang a request from Ashley, I'm Gonna Stand on the Rock. It was beautiful seeing and hearing my family sing with me. I thought that they might get shy, but they did it and I was so proud of them. Mike used to lead their Bible class. They had just moved up in that class when Mike started getting really sick, so they didn't know him as well as some of the other children. Mike sure had a passion for leading those young children. I asked his wife, Michelle if he had any favorite songs. And she said, I think, I'm gonna stand on the rock is one of his very favorites. I'm so glad God put that song in Ashley's heart to sing, because I probably wouldn't have sung it on my own.

Sunday part 3

Part 3... My friends call this predator park. It is close to a library and a lot of people come and sit on the benches and watch the kids. But Greg was with us and I didn't feel threatened at all. And the kids really had fun jumping, running, climbing, and swinging.

Mason plays tic tac toe with Dad. Nobody wins.

Ashley is surfing on the crocodile.

I love this picture. I know she's partly cut off, but I really like it.

Ashley is getting good at tic tac toe. She played Daddy and beat him.

So I guess Daddy wasn't too happy about that. :)

Climing Trees:

They were acting like monkeys in a tree.

This one reminds me of the VonTrapp family (Is that how their name is spelled?)

Trying to take a group picture with 3 kids is hard!

Sunday part 1 and 2

Oh my goodness! I took a lot of pictures today! The weather was beautiful. The trees are blossoming. What a wonderful day. It has been a very long time since I maxed out my camera disk, and I did that today. Of course I can't post all of them, but I do have quite a bit to share. Since it is late, I'll just share part 1 and possibly part 2 of the day.

Ashley really wanted to go outside and ride her bike today and Aussie wanted to play a video game with Dad. So I went outside with Ashley. Mason watched the game for awhile and then headed outside to play too. There was only a little bike riding. They were much more interested in jumping on our neighbors trampoline. They tried to get me to get up there, but it actually makes me sick! So I said, "NO WAY!"

After playing outside we went to the Y to workout. Kids Club closed at 5:00 so we only had 20 minutes to work out. At 5:00 I picked the kids up and brought them back with me so we could finish our workout. They got a good workout too.

Mason shows us a new way to use this machine.

Then we headed to the park to play. And that will be part 3 posted tomorrow.

Unfortunately another stressful day

Friday-

Co-op day! I like co-op day! (typically)

Ashley's Daisy class was cancelled (2nd week in a row) this time because they were having a field trip later on in the day. If Daisy's was the last class of the day that would be OK, but it's not. So someone has to be there to watch the few girls who have other classes after Daisies. I always feel like it's my responsibility to be that person and I feel like I should have something for them to do for that hour. I bought some construction paper, glue and markers to keep in the car for such occasions now.

So then I find out that the field trip is at 2:30. When I first heard this I didn't think anything about it, I just thought oh good it's on Friday after co-op. My kids' have a 1:45 class that is over at 2:45. Shoot! What do I do? The field trip is in Smyrna about 15 minutes away. I was frustrated to say the least. One of my friends said she could take Ashley and I said, I would come and pick her up after the boys get out of class. I had Ashley go to class for the first 20 minutes and then took her out.

Someone gave me directions, so after class I loaded up the boys and set out for the Smryna Fire Station. I got to the road and turned right and it was not right there like I thought it would be. I went to the traffic light and turned around thinking well maybe it is on the road I was just on close to this road I turned on. I finally get through a little bit of traffic and find that there is NO fire station there. I was VERY frustrated at this point. I stopped at a gas station to ask where it was. They tell me it is down the street on the right. OK so now I'm getting pretty upset with my friend who gave me the directions thinking she doesn't know her right from her left and that it really isn't close to this street at all. Sure enough I find the Smryna Fire Station. I pull in and don't see any girls. I start to get really upset and trying to find a phone number to call. A man came out and asked me if I needed help. I said, I was trying to find the Girl Scout group that was supposed to be here. Then he says, well maybe they're at the other Smyrna Fire Station. He tells me right where it is, on the street my friend told me it was. I just hadn't gone far enough. I got there as they were finishing up. I was so upset to have missed it. I did end up getting a couple pictures of the group shot.

Then we went to the TLC school play of the Music Man. They really did an excellent job. But the kids got bored quickly. So it was stressful watching it and trying to hold onto my sleepy kids.

Unfortunately, it was another stressful day. But Saturday was better! I'll blog about it tomorrow, because it's already 1AM and we have to move our clocks forward tonight.

Crazy Thursday

Thursday was a crazy day. Every Thursday is a crazy day around here.

After taking the kids to music class, we went to Green Hills to WholeFoods. I was looking for essential oil. I decided to try the Duggar's recipe for homemade laundry detergent. I didn't know so many essential oils existed. I tried smelling several of them, after awhile they started all smelling the same. So I asked one of the workers about it. She happened to make her own laundry detergent so she knew just what to tell me. She mentioned several that she had tried, but what I went with was Peppermint. It is a very refreshing smell. You don't use very much at all so it's not like your laundry smells like peppermint. There is just a hint of it.

So far I really like it. The clothes actually appeared to be whiter than usual. And it is tons cheaper than store bought detergent. The recipe costs approximately $2.00 for 180 loads of laundry. It's not hard to make. The only suggestion I have is if you don't have the room to store 10 gallons of detergent then split it with someone.

So after that stop at the WholeFoods store I went to Trader Joes. They have these delicious meringues there that I am addicted to and for 4 cookies it is only 2 WW points.
Anyway, while I was there I thought I would try out the samples. They had a sign up of the things used in today's samples. I read it and said, "Oh I can't have that, I'm allergic to fish/ shellfish." Then I looked over and there were actually several samples. So I said to the man, "Oh so there is no fish or shellfish in this carrot juice?" And he said, "no." So I took a sip of it and encouraging Ashley to have some. I'm always looking for something healthy my kids will actually eat or drink. It had a different kind of taste that I wasn't crazy about, so I didn't have more than a sip. BUT...as you probably could have guessed, my mouth started to tingle. As I was checking out I mentioned something to the clerk, saying I wondered if I was allergic to something in the carrot juice. She mentioned a couple of things in it and then she said fish oil. Well hello? That was it. I told her about how the man said there wasn't any in it. She was very concerned, so that lead me to telling the people at the front desk. I'm glad I did. That could be life threatening. That guy needed to know that. I was having a very irritating mild reaction. The lady at the front desk went next door to Walgreens and bought me some Benadryl and water. That did the trick, but it also made me extremely exhausted.

I left there around 4:20PM and started on my way home. It was the worst day of traffic that Nashville had seen in a long time. I'm lucky that earlier in the day, I got some DVD's from the library for the kids to watch. I'm so glad for car TVs!!! I actually needed to be at a 6:00 meeting. Greg and I were communicating back and forth via cell phones. I think it was at 6:15, I had to go to the bathroom SO BAD!!!!! I mean emergency- I HAVE TO PEE! We are inching a long and there is just no place to go. I was frantically rocking back and forth in the driver seat. I looked over at these women laughing at me. I just laughed back. Then you could see them say, "She sees us..." And they just laughed more. I wish I could have written a sign and put it in the window saying doing the Pee Pee Dance. Finally, I see a sign! OH a sign! LIQUOR store sign! I haven't been so happy to see a liquor store in my life! Greg said he was close to there so he would meet me and I could run in without taking all the kids in. As I'm telling the kids what we are doing, Aussie says, "Liquor is not good for you." I said, "Your right, but they have a bathroom and I'm goin' in!" Greg honks his horn and signals me he is there and I run in. There are 2 men who look like Abu from the Simpsons. I said, "May I use your bathroom?" There eyes were HUGE and shook there heads yes. I headed for the back of the store and they pointed up front to what looked like a linen closet and said, "It's up here." So I go in. It is the filthiest bathroom ever! The toilet does not flush and someone had gone pee before me. But I had to go. EMERGENCY remember? Thank goodness the kids could wait until they got home to go. After I told them how nasty it was they said they could wait.

I got to my meeting after it was over. Yes over 2 hours in traffic to what should have been 25 minutes. Two people had come in just before me and one person was coming in as I was leaving. By this time I was way to stressed to go workout, I'm not even sure I would have made it anyway with that stinkin' traffic. I went home and fell asleep on the couch.

And that was my crazy Thursday!

Visiting Family

It has been 4 1/2 years since I've seen my brother Mark. He was visiting my sister Kim (who by the way has NEVER seen my kids) in Florida for a couple weeks. My Mom and Dad drove down to visit my sister and pick up Mark and take him back to Ohio. So on the way down to Florida, my parents stopped by and took me and the kids out to dinner. (Greg already had plans.) On their way back they stopped here again this time with Mark. My kids didn't remember Mark and they were very shy around him. Mark loves kids so it was a shame they didn't have more time to warm up to him.

Anyway, we met in their hotel (WHICH WAS NOT A HOLIDAY INN). The employees didn't tell us what hotel it was, but they were ADAMANT about it not being a Holiday Inn! Even though the sign by the road, on the doors, on everything even the floor mat when you walk in the door says Holiday Inn.


Mark was surprised that I had dark hair. That's what happened after I had kids- my hair just started getting darker and darker. He asked me if I dyed it, but I don't. He looked the same except with several gray hairs. It was good to see him. He asked me if I was going to visit him in California. Boy would I like to. But I told him probably not. We have no money to get there, or to find a place to stay or to eat when we are there. He talked like he might like to move to Arizona, if he gets a job there.

Well anyway, we took some snapshots in the lobby of the kiddos. They were so hyped up! CRAZY! They were running left and right and all over the place.


***Mom- I promise most people think my kids are really well behaved!***

So then we went to Chic-Fil-A for dinner. It was Family night and in Brentwood, you can get kids' meals for $1.50. YAY! The place was crowded as usual. We managed to visit a little bit. The kids got their faces painted. Aussie got a green sparkly cat. Every single time I tried to take his picture he would close his eyes. So this is the best I got. Ashley got a unicorn.

And Mason wanted a dog face. I was surprised because he normally doesn't like to get his face painted. But he had his mind made up. He wanted a whole dog face or nothing. The lady wasn't doing whole faces tonight because it took too long, but I asked if she could just do an outline or something. So happy happy Mason got his puppy dog face.






Well shoot! I see that it is 1:40AM. I'm not even tired. Where did the time go? I guess I better go to bed.

Catching up! Girl Scouts, Cool dudes and more.

OK it has been quite awhile so I think I should update and say something.

The thing is I update my blog in my head all the time. I wish I could get everything I thought of here actually on the blog itself.

Let's see what pictures I can find to "blog" my memory (hee hee).

Aha! A week ago Saturday, Ashley and I had to work a Girl Scout Booth to sell cookies. She and her friend Kadence (Aussie's Girlfriend) were so adorable. They held their signs in the freezing cold and asked everybody who went by if they wanted to buy Girl Scout Cookies. They were cracking us up!!! They would hardly let anyone get out of the store. They stood right up by the door. We told them several times to get back, but they always ended up there. We now know why they started letting Daises sell cookies this year. It's because no one can resist the cute little girls! People bought them because our kids were so cute. They told us that. There was even one Mom who had a daughter who was a girl scout, but she couldn't say no to our kids. Oh and it was so funny when people said, "no thank you." The girls just dropped their signs and looked rejected. We tried to teach them to say Thank you anyway. Anyway, they were so cute that some people just donated money to the Girl Scouts. And then there was one lady who gave the girls $2 each just for them being cute.

They just laughed and giggled the whole time.

Ashley and I agreed that we wouldn't tell the boys because they would get jealous. But when we got home she promptly went to Daddy and said, "I need to SHOW you something I got tonight when the boys are not around so they won't get jealous." Well Hello! The boys then started asking questions. I was so mad at her. She ended up going to bed and crying and saying she was so sorry! Then she sold some more cookies the next day at church. One man gave her 50 cents to keep. The boys got jealous. Now all they want to do is get into boy scouts and sell popcorn!

Sunday, we went to our usual dining place, Pizza Hut. Aussie took Greg's sunglasses and put them on.

Ahhhh....He's so cool!

Oh What a Ladies Man!

Well then Mason had to try.

Look at him with his thumbs up. Oh so cool!

And my daughter doesn't need glasses to be Oh so cool!

That's Mommy's Girl!

Wednesday we hooked up with Dana and the boys at the indoor playground. I got to snuggle with Treyton. At the beginning Treyton wasn't being his normally happy little self. But we changed that!

Dalton just LOVES his baby brother!

Dalton and Braxton had just come from school and they were SO excited! They had just learned about the Statue of Liberty. They brought in these crafts to show my kids. Obviously, Aussie has not learned about the Statue of Liberty. He just found it funny to pretend to eat the fire.

Friday night I went to a crop and had a blast! I only created 1 layout. I do love it. One little piece fell off, so I either need to find it or recreate it before I take a picture of it and put it on here. I got home at 2:00AM. I was so tired on the drive home I had to eat and drink Diet Coke to stay awake. But of course when I got home I didn't go to sleep. I stayed up until 3:45AM. OH MY! Yes I was terribly exhausted when I woke up at 9:30 Saturday. Greg took Aussie to Chinese class (which he got another A). And I somewhat slept on the couch. Of course I don't get very good sleep without my mask. Anyway, he came back and got Ashley and took her on a little date and then came back and got Mason and took him on a little date. And I stayed on the couch. I'm NOT proud of that! Especially since I had A VERY important project I needed to do Saturday. Anyway, Greg started watching Return of the Jedi with the kids. I tried to watch but I was too tired and cold. So I went and got into Ashley's bed. I guess this was about 8:00PM and slept until Greg woke me up to come to our room. I would like to say I got great sleep, but I didn't. At that point I woke up around 2:30, 3:00, 3:30 etc. wondering if I should get up. But I tried to sleep it out. Then when it was time to get up I fell asleep. Ay Caramba!!! Greg got up and fed the kids (He is awesome!) and then came upstairs and told me it was 8:30. All I could say, was I don't know what is wrong with me!

So today is Sunday- We tried a new Chinese restaurant today. The kids loved it. But it cost around the same amount as Evergreen so we won't be making it a regular stop. We went to the Y right after lunch. I did the 30 minute cafe. And THEN we went home and I went back out to a different Y and did the Zumba class! I LOVE ZUMBA!!! It is so much fun!

Well thank you to those who made it this far. I'm caught up and now hopefully, I'll blog more often!

Goodnight off to bed at a decent hour (well for me) 12:00AM. :)