It's Santa Time!

For the first year ever, Gretchen likes Santa! She has been excited to see Santa, and at three different places, sat on Santa's lap and talked to him. It's so fun to see her finally get over her fear of Santa. I of course didn't have my camera with me to capture her first successful visit with Santa, but I did get photos of the second two Santas.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent the day at my Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving. Very small affair - just them, our 5, and my sister and her daughter. It was a nice afternoon, and except for the pumpkin pie, it was full of yummy food! We had a lot to be thankful for - the previous weekend my dad had been in the hospital having two more stents placed in his heart after having some very high blood pressure and pains on Thursday night. So we were all extremely thankful to have him there at the table with us.

I hope that you found lots to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. I know God has truly blessed my life with gifts beyond measure!

Beautiful Eyes

The challenge on I Heart Faces this week is Beautiful Eyes. I had a few different photos that I wanted to enter, but I finally chose this one of Gretchen. We had gone camping one weekend this summer, and in a little town near our camping area they were having a festival. We drove in for it, and I found a great little fairy headband for her that perfectly matched her shirt. I took this photo as we sat to have some lunch along the river. I love her beautiful blue eyes, and the sparkle in them when she smiles!

Please click on photo to see it larger.



See more photos of beautiful eyes at I Heart Faces.

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa!

We celebrated Dad's birthday today. The kids painted a birdhouse village for him, and it turned out really cute! Dad loved it.

Water Play

We have not done as much water play this year as last year. The weather has not been cooperative for us! But we did find a nice little wading pool in our new town. It's in the main city park, and is right next to the big pool. But this one is perfect for the kids to just get wet - at the most, it goes up to their knees. The kids were very excited to discover it recently.

Daniel

Austin

Gretchen

My three musketeers!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July from our family to yours! Here is how we celebrated the day.

Coppery Beetles

Uncle Chet helped the boys find a bunch of these coppery beetles on the bushes around our property. They came back from their little nature walk just covered in them - and giggling the whole time 'cause the beetles were tickling them and pooping on their hands! It was a little on the gross side for me - eww! They wanted to come into the house with them, and I told them not a chance in, well, you know! But, boys being boys, they thought the whole bug thing was pretty darn cool! Gretchen thought they were neat too - but from a distance, and not on her hands. Smart girl!

Sports Camp - Final Day

The kids just complete two weeks of Sports Camp, where they got to learn the basics of basketball, flag football, soccer and t-ball. They had a great time, and made some new friends. And surprisingly, Gretchen did good too, but did really well when I left the field for a while. If I stayed to watch, she just kept running over to me to sit and cuddle. But if I left to go run a few errands, she stayed in the mix of it all with the boys and the coach and did well. They all got new shirts and hats, and had a great time! Here is a pic of all the kids and coaches on the final day.

Farm Chicks Antique Show

I am a huge fan of the Farm Chicks. I went to a couple of their sales when they used to do them in Fairfield, and I loved them! But since they moved their show to the fairground, I haven't been able to attend - something always gets in the way of me going. But this year, I was bound and determined to go. After attending my Relay For Life event all day Friday, overnight, and into Saturday morning, I headed out to the fairgrounds. Holy buckets - there were a ton of people there - it was amazing. By the time I got through all the bays of beautiful booths - say that three times fast! - my poor brain was on overload. It was already mush going into the show, after getting only three hours of sleep on Friday night - or really Saturday morning, since I didn't go to bed until 3:30, and was up at 6:30. But after seeing all the fabulous ideas and items, I was really done for. I did manage to snap a few photos, and I did buy a few things, but mostly I got ideas of how to use what I already own. Now, to just get busy and remember all the ideas!

I will try to load up some of the photos later.

Last Day of Preschool

Today Daniel and Gretchen had their last day of preschool, and each of their classes celebrated at different parks, of course. Luckily, it's Friday, and James has the day off, so James took Daniel to his picnic and I took Gretchen to hers. It was Daniel's very last day of preschool - he gets to start kindergarten in the fall. So he got a great little diploma to bring home.



Gretchen still has one more year of preschool, and we already have her signed up for the same one, hopefully with the same teacher. She gave Mrs. Sue a little writing journal as a thank you.

Three New Heartbeats

Today we went to Spokane Family Farm to get three bunnies to add to our little piece of heaven. I had met these bunnies the previous week when my MOPS table went to the farm for a tour. They stole my heart, and since I had told the kids we would eventually get them each a bunny, I thought it was a perfect fit.

They are only 8 weeks old, so we are still not 100% sure which ones are girls and which ones are boys. But I have a friend who will help me get that figured out in a couple of weeks. And then we will separate them as needed!

Camo, Hoppity and Rosy - our new bunnies

Austin with Camo


Daniel with Hoppity

Gretchen with Rosy

A Soldier's Quilt

I belong to a quilt group, which I love, and one of our most recent projects has been a soldier's quilt. One of our members has a nephew who is deploying for his third overseas mission at the end of May. One of his wishes was for a warm quilt for his bunk. As a surprise to him, our group got together to make a patriotic quilt long enough for his tall stature. We had 20 different people work on this quilt in one way or another - piecing blocks, cutting sashing strips, sewing, machine quilting, binding, etc. I don't have a photo of the finished product yet, but here is a photo of all of our blocks laid out, ready to be stitched into rows.

Today's Albertson's Deal

I was very happy when I left my Albertson's store today. I saved 88% on my bill today! Woo Hoo! Here is what I got - and I only paid $5.41 for it all.
Transaction #1
2 Tropicana Orange Juice on sale for 2/$5
less 2/$1 off coupons (I got a batch from ebay, but they were in a Sunday coupon insert)
less 2/Albertson's doublers
Eggs - Free wyb juice
Transaction #2
Stovetop - on sale for 99 cents each x 5
less coupon for one free when you buy 4
Crackerfuls - on sale for 1.99 each
less 3/$1 off coupons (I got these off ebay, but there was one in today's Sunday coupon inserts)
less 2/Albertson's doublers
= 3 cents back from store - yes, they paid me to walk out with these!
Idahoan Potatoes - 49 cents each - bought them as fillers to get the reduced price on stovetop and Crackerfuls

Not bad for all this good stuff that we actually will use! I would have done more transactions, but James was waiting in the car with the kids, and everyone was getting tired! Perhaps tomorrow I'll go back to see what other good deals I can find!

One of the Coupon Posse gals told me about getting coupons from Ebay. I ordered two sets so far - Tropicana and Crackerfuls - and got them both in the mail two days after I paid for them. I was able to use them in plenty of time for the specials at Albertsons. From now on, when I get the Albertson's flyer, the first thing I'll do is see what is super special that I can find coupons for on e-bay!

Oh, I wish I were....

...an Oscar Mayer Wiener!

Guess what we found today - the Wiener-Mobile! We were in the drive-thru line at Jack in the Box, and saw it go down the road past us. After we got our Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers and Fries - yummy! - we took off to try and find out where it had stopped. It was in the parking lot of the University. We parked nearby, and took some fun photos. The kids thought it was hilarious! And then I told them how their Uncle Nick made a replica of it when he was in Royal Rangers. I wonder if he still has that car?

Doctor, Doctor, give me the news....

....I got a bad case of.....Giggles!
I was putting together my quiche for my MOPS meeting this morning, and I heard Gretchen giggling like crazy in her bedroom. I quickly grabbed my camera, readied it, and peaked around the corner of her bedroom door. I found her and Daniel playing doctor, and she would giggle crazily every time he tried to listen to her heart or tummy!
They were so stinkin' cute! I had to remind them, though, that we don't play doctor below the belly button. Silly kids!

Sunday Family Dinner

My parents came over to our house today for Sunday Family Dinner. It was kind of raining a bit when they first got here, but after dinner it cleared up. Grandpa and the kids gathered some fallen branches and stuff, and started a little fire in our fire pit so we could roast marshmallows and have s'mores. Lots of fun! The kids are totally enjoying our new country life!

Happy Birthday Austin!

Today Austin turned 6! Wow! He was 14 months old when we first met him and the time has just flown by! I am so very glad that God brought him to our family!

I took cupcakes and balloons to his school to celebrate his big day with all of his school friends. They sang him a special birthday song, and then they all enjoyed the banana applesauce cupcakes.

We always let the kids pick where they go for their birthday night dinner. It's just the 5 of us celebrating together, which makes for a very special birthday for the special birthday kid. Of course, Austin chose McDonald's, so we met Daddy there after work with balloons and cupcakes and spent a couple of hours eating and playing.

Happy Birthday, my big boy Austin! You are so special to us! We love you!

Fashion Shoot

Gretchen decided to get in some shooting practice this morning. I think she is very fashion forward in her ballerina footie jammies with her purple hat! And she's already learned quite the stance for shooting. I'm pretty sure she got the dishwasher good this morning with her nerf darts!

Puddle Jumping

It has been a rainy day today, but that makes it perfect for puddle jumping! Gretchen had a ball today playing in the rain!

New Purses

Yesterday my quilt group got together for a sew day, and the project I chose to work on was another one of my purses. They are fun to make, but take a little time. And I love how the finished product looks!

Here is the one I made at the sew day.
I am in love with the pink and brown combo, especially with polka dots!
I learned my lesson with my first purse, and now I double up the pellon
on the handles of the purses I make.

And here is the one I did today.
The denim is from an old pair of Gretchen's jeans, and the
butteflies are little bitty pockets on the front.

The inside of the purse. The pink and white is home dec fabric that
I got out of the remnant bin and paid maybe $4 for it, and I
still have some leftover. The inside pockets are made from the jeans legs.

This will definitely be one very sturdy purse!
The sewing was a little difficult because of all the layers
of denim, heavy fabric and Pellon.

Mmmmm - Mocha Cupcakes!

A friend of mine posted on her facebook this morning that she was making cupcakes - chocolate, vanilla and coffee. That last one triggered a craving in me, so I searched out a from-scratch mocha cupcake recipe with a cream cheese coffee frosting. And here they are:

Mixed and ready to bake!
Baked and cooling!
Frosted and ready to eat!

They turned out nummy!

The kids also got out the vintage Hi Ho Cherry Oh game to play this morning, and really enjoyed it. Such an easy game for little ones, and no electronics!

Safeway Savings today

I did it again - I coupon shopped with my kids in tow, something I keep saying I will never do again! Makes for some crazy times, and requires a lot of patience on my part and theirs, but the sale I wanted to take advantage of ended today, and I was left with no choice. But for their good behavior, Daniel & Gretchen got a treat of Jelly Belly candies! And I got to get some good deals on things.

I spent $27.49 on these 23 items, plus got a coupon for $1.50 off 6 Lean Cuisine Meals on my next shopping trip.

2 Doritos $3.99 on BOGO = 1.99/ea
1 Snyders Nibbler Pretzels $1.88 - $1.00 = .88
8 Progresso Soups $1.00 each - $1.00/4 x 2 = .75 each
3 Stauffer Meals on sale for $2.00 ea - $1.00/3 coupon = 1.67 ea
3 Lean Cuisine Meals on sale for $1.88 ea - $1.00/3 coupon = 1.55 ea
2 Freschetta Pizza on sale for $5.00 ea - $1.00/2 coupon = 4.50 ea
2 Pillsbury Sugar Cookie pkgs 5.98 - 50% off store sale = 2.98 - $1.00/2 = .99 ea
2 Dreyers Smoothie Drinks - free because I bought 5 Lean Cuisine/Stauffer meals
Minus $5.00 because I bought the minimum of $15.00 of frozen foods

My total savings was $43.02 - woo hoo!

Last Soccer Game

The boys ended their first round of indoor soccer today, and what a day it was! Daniel scored 4 goals, and Austin scored 3 goals. Daniel has been doing pretty good at soccer, and gets pretty focused on the task at hand, but Austin had a little more trouble really getting into it. He mostly wanted to hang out with the ref and the coach and talk about the game. But he really got into it today, and stayed focused on the game, and scored 3 goals. The look of joy on his face after each goal was priceless! And of course, Daniel was super hyped to have beat his personal best on scoring!

Here are photos of the boys in their Cougar team shirts. Such cuties!