Who knew?

Pocket change saved for months can turn out to be about $70. For family night we decided to get money rolls from the bank and count out our pocket change we have been saving for Disney land. The kids loved this activity!!! We learned to count by 2's, 5's and 10's. Sarah caught on surprisingly fast (future shopper I fear). I was pretty amazed that all that change added up to so much. Disney Land, here we come. Yahoooooooooo!!!!!!!

The wind is BLOWING!!!!!!

Hannah has been freaked out all day today by the wind. Somewhere in our house there is wind leaking in and making a whistling sound. Every time Hannah hears it she gets a very worried look on her face and says, "Mama. was dat"?

She woke up several times crying because of the wind. We piled her up with her little collection of binkis and her dog, and Sarah gave her a little bear. She finally went to sleep.

Pinching my pennies.......sorta!

Okay, so I always hear about and read about all the crazy good deals out there but haven't ever really taken the time to participate or even understand it. I am still baffled by it and haven't quite jumped on the band wagon with all the crazy savvy couponers, but i tested the waters over the weekend. I must say it was quite thrilling. I love the Albertsons on Orchard and Overland!!!! They were so helpful, I had someone walk me through the whole process, down to 7 transactions at checkout. I got all items at $ .71/ item. I went in not really knowing what I was doing and because it was not really planned, I didn't have any coupons with me. I know some people have gotten their stuff for $ .30/item. Next time I will do better.

And to sweeten the deal, all the cereal boxes came with little cars. This in itself made it worth the wait the kids had to endure in the car while mommy went in for "a few things".

And to make it even better yet, I earned $ .55/ gallon on gas. Now that is a deal!!!!

Mommy in Training

Sarah would not put her "baby" down at all. She ate her whole meal while holding her doll in one arm, stopping only to rock her gently and shhhh.....a bit. That is what mommies do. Sarah is such a little mother/teacher. She's always seen with a doll or teaching materials, sometimes both. She LOVES to play school. I have sat in on several of her classes. She is a bit strict, but boy, is she a GREAT teacher.

Valentines Day Rewind
time to play catch-up


We all spent the weekend very sick, but that didn't stop my little celebrators! We made a mail box at the beginning of the month and spent two weeks writing each other love notes :) and planning our special day of love. Caden who LOVES holidays was counting down the days. We were invited to a client appreciation party to see Pink Panther 2 at the movie theater. After spending the night in our room sick all night, Caden didn't really seem up for it when he woke up in the morning. after eating his breakfast he went right back to bed. when he heard Sarah getting ready though he couldn't resist. He rolled out of bed and ran out the door to go with Daddy. Hannah and I stayed home in our pj's coughing up a lung. I am glad that Caden went because he was really looking forward to that part of valentines day.

After nap time Daddy and Sarah went to the store to get some last minute things in preparation for our candle light dinner. Sarah came home with a brand new pair of boots. Daddy sure does spoil that little girl.

The highlight of the day, candle light red dinner.

Scott, being the creative person that he is, chose shrimp, because Caden and Sarah really love it, and because you can make it into little HEARTS!!!

We ended the night by reading each other our love mail. The kids really loved hearing and seeing the notes we all made for each other. It was a fun day and I am so glad that I am a part of our fun little family.

Hannah's hair is finally coming in!

Hannah has been my little bald baby! She finally started getting hair only a few months ago. It mostly only grows in the back, making it look like she has a mullet. about a month in a half ago I got super excited because she finally had enough to put in tiny little pig tails. Well, now it has just started growing really fast so today we experimented with the curling iron. Isn't she just darling?

Winter, winter, GO AWAY!!!!

I feel like we have spent an abnormal amount of time sick around here. I am sick AGAIN with the same old cough/throat/lung/head thing. To make things worse, this time the kids got sick too! Hannah started out with the throwing up and it led up to Caden today. My poor kids!

Although Sarah was feeling a bit better, she insisted on spending the night in our room, in the pack-and-play, "in case" she threw up again. Caden was just MISERABLE so he spent the night on our floor with a bucket and sprite. I want the sun to come out and warm up the air so that I can open up all my windows and air out my germy house.

Twiners!!!!
I babysat Anna and Elizabeth today. It was a total photo op moment. I happen to have my girls dressed the same and Karin had her girls dressed the same. I thought it was too cute a coincidence to pass up!

Awwww.....

I was also babysitting Jenna that day. We had a full house.

Look at those cute kids!

After school sword fight

Caden's friend, Haven got a sword when she was on her vacation and really wanted to have a sword fight with Caden. We had her over for a play date and the two of them really got into it, horses and all.

Tea Party with Grandma

Grandma spoils her little girls. Tea party, complete with yo-gos, water, and little pbj sandwiches

Grandma got Sarah this doll because she thought it looked like her.

My little helper

Sarah loves to help Mommy do the dishes.

We go through a lot more soap when Sarah helps!

She's also really good at helping with windows.

P.S. Huge thanks to Josh for the CAMO gear and abundant knowledge of army stuff and such. Your army uniform was just the touch the party needed. Thank you!

The Longest Day!!!!!
Caden ended up having to stay home from school the other day because he had a fever. He spent the first half of the day lying on the couch feeling pretty miserable (good for me because I also happened to be VERY sick that day). By about noon, when Hannah went down for her nap and I planned on finally getting some rest, Caden started feeling pretty peppy.
“When is Daddy going to be home, He’s been gone so long”? He kept asking.
I kept trying to explain to him that it was only noon and Daddy would be home at his normal time.
“This is the longest day”! Caden complained. He and Sarah started to get a little rambunctious and I realized that rest was probably not going to be an option for me. I don’t know why it is that even when sick, children still have ample amounts of energy.
Apparently, Caden’s sick day was throwing off his schedule and with several hours still ahead before Daddy’s arrival, I had to think of something fast. I pulled out the craft bin and let the kids have at it.
Creativity flowed. Puppets were made, little houses made from sticks, blankets draped over a saw horse and chairs to create a puppet theater, popcorn popped……
“Is Daddy going to be home soon”?
Only 3:30.
“Why is this day so long”?

I think Caden will think twice before wanting to stay home sick next time. Scott eventually arrived, right on time! We ended up having to pop a second batch of popcorn because the first batch got eaten during all the WAITING. The kids sat us down and we enjoyed a wonderful puppet show. The long wait was worth it!

I don't know but I've been told, Caden's turning six years old.......

He actually had his Bday a couple weeks ago, but I am just now posting party pics. What a fun day he had. thank you to all who helped with his party.

Upon arrival, all birthday guests were issued their army apparel (hats), and their CAMO face paint was applied. (Thank you so much Nellie for your help).

Everyone then had a chance to choose a code name and Dog Tags were issued! What a riot. We had names like, "Mission X", "Vissle", "Grazor", and "Navy Seal". What fun boys.

After getting Dog Tags, to prepare for training we had a game of Sergeant Says. The kids really got such a kick out of this.

Off to the Obstacle course! The funnest part of boot camp!We had to move it indoors because of the weather, but it turned out to work just fine and it was so fun. Because we were all so warm, the kids got to go through multiple times.

Run through tires......


....through the tunnel....

...over and under....balance beam....

....and we ended with target shooting, everyones favorite!!!

After training was complete, we met in the "mess hall" for the award ceremony. Medals and certificates of completion were handed out. Lunch and cake followed.

We ended with everyones favorite, PINATA! Because it was rainy and muddy, Daddy was nice enough to find a way for the pinata to still work. THANK YOU!!!

The hit that finally did the pinata in!!!

We had such a fun Day!!! Thank you from Caden.

More fun shots, click on collage to see the pics.

Thank you SO much Grandpa Smith for gathering up obstacle course stuff for us, Valko's for the saw horse and Dawn for taking all the pictures.

All in a days work

Last Wed. we had an amazing day that I can not forget to write about. I think it was one of those sunny days. We have not had many of those lately and that one was badly needed. I am sure that everyone was extra happy that day. I had nowhere to go so
I stayed home all morning while Caden was at school. I had a wonderful morning with the girls and we even had lunch fully prepared when Caden got home. I think this made a huge difference. As soon as they finished their lunches, they got busy playing, and oh the creativity that we had in our house that day! First, for some reason, they decided that I had problems with my pipes. Caden informed me that someone put something down our bathtub drain, which clogged our pipes in the kitchen. I was told that I had to leave the house because they had to spray dangerous chemicals (I went upstairs to the "store").

They all got right to work on my plumbing problems.

Caden later told me that he is still a Navy Seal but he has to have a job as a plumber so that his wife doesn't know about his secret Navy Seal job. Shhhh........

After I put Hannah down for her nap Caden and Sarah played Army outside for oer an hour. They played so well together. Apparently they had to do a secret mission in the North and South Pole. Sarah goes along with all Caden's games. In return, he is such a kind brother and lets her take a break to swing for a while.

Next mission for these little soldiers was mountain climbing. Although not pictured, Hannah and Sarah were very involved in this event. (Notice that Caden tied a jump rope to the stair railing). After they worked in the "mountains" for some time, they set up their army base in the living room where they spent the rest of the evening playing. Every chair, cushion and misc. item was used. It was a really fun day and it was especially fun to see the kids all playing so well together.