Recent Happenings

Well, things have certainly been busy around here the past few weeks! We FINALLY go to take the kids to Disney World!!! This is something we've wanted to do since Jared was first born. It was such a wonderful trip filled with amazing memories. I'm so thankful we had the opportunity to go! We also got to go to SeaWorld - not the best experience after being spoiled rotten at Disney, but the kids loved it. It seemed to take a few days after we got back to recover - lol!! We tried to get to the parks as soon as they opened each day and stay as long as the kids held up - made for some long (but awesome) days! Levi did amazingly well, considering he's accustomed to having 2 good naps a day. While we were there, his naps were taken in the stroller or the Baby Bjorn - definitely not ideal napping locals, but overall he did really well. We got to do so much in those 4 days, it's almost overwhelming to think of it! Now when I see Disney commercials, I get kinda sad, and miss it - lol!! Michael and I both agreed that in addition to taking the kids again, we'd love to go back just the two of us sometime!

Levi is growing by leaps and bounds! His latest tricks are giving "high five" and clapping his hands - both incredibly cute!! He is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up on things. He loves to eat paper - lol!! Gotta watch that one! I love to just listen to him "talk" and squeal - he makes the best noises! I'm so so thankful God blessed us with him. He has brought so much joy to our family. He is precious!

Jared is truckin along in 2nd grade. We'll be done in 8 weeks - praise the LORD!!!! I believe May 13th will be our final day. Definitely not wanting to wish the time away, but at the same time we're looking forward to summer!! He cut his head open this past Sunday, and I had to take him to the ER...I'm trying to figure out why my kids always decide to do things like this when Michael is at Battle Assembly - lol!! (When Laynie needed stitches last year, it was a B.A. weekend!) Thankfully he didn't need stitches -they were able to use Dermabond. I was extremely relieved. Jared can get very worked up (borderline hysterical) when he's scared of something and he was very scared at the prospect of having to have stitches. (No matter how much I assured him that he would be completely numb and wouldn't feel a thing.) Shew!

Laynie is my little princess, as usual! Such a sweetie - I'm so thankful to have a little girl! We got to have a girls' day out today - so much fun!! We've decided to wait one more year to have her start Kindergarten. (Our original plan was to start her this coming up school year.) We just don't feel she's ready. Plus, since her birthday isn't until the very end of May, that would put her as always being one of the youngest kids in her class. (Should she ever be in a Christian school.) We've never wanted to put our kids at a disadvantage due to age - we'd definitely rather err on the side of them being the most mature kid in their age group/class rather than the youngest/most immature. I always felt that Jared was MORE than ready, academically to start Kindergarten a full year earlier than we did, but we just didn't want to push him. Plus the earlier we start them, the earlier they finish and leave for college!! :( I'd like to put that off as long as possible - lol!! Anyhow...I am going to order some of the A Beka curriculum (phonics, numbers, etc.) and she and I will do a more formal pre-K next year, then the year after that we'll get her the Kindergarten videos.

Well goodness, that was a ramble!! If you read all of this, you deserve a medal! :) Hope all is well with everyone! Have a wonderful day!

Happy times

Lately I've found myself really trying harder to savor this time I have with my kids. I honestly can get myself worked up over the fact that they're growing up so fast (they're 8, 4 1/2 and 7 months). It truly seems like just yesterday that Jared was born - I can't believe it's been 8 years!! If I dwell on it, I actually get sad, and maybe even a little depressed over it. So what I've been trying to do more, is just savor this time - each day - that I have with them.

Recently a family who is from the same area that I am from in Missouri, suffered the loss of their little 6 year old son. It was a tragic school bus accident...I can't even imagine. That morning, a Mama unknowingly kissed her baby goodbye for the very last time. It pains me to just think of it, and I don't even know these people. Was it a good morning? Did she get up early and fix breakfast for him? Did she get irritated with him? Who knows...what I do know is that it definitely inspired me to appreciate my kids more. We have no idea how much or little time we have with them. And even if they do grow up to be a ripe old age, we still only have a few short years before they grow up and are on their own.

So to all one or two of you who actually read this, take a little extra time today and appreciate your kids. Kiss them a couple extra times, snuggle for just a few more minutes. Read that extra bed time story. I'm sure that mom would give anything for just a few more minutes with her baby.

Cleaning cleaning cleaning!

It's the story of my life! Lol!! It's ok, really - I'm so happy to get to stay home with my kids - I truly don't mind that it's a never ending job. I think the hardest part may be teaching the kids to clean up their own messes. It is sooooo much easier to just do it myself! I finally decided something had to be done w/Laynie. (At 8 years old, Jared pretty much has it down, thank goodness!) She just would NOT keep her room clean. You could literally go in her room at any given time and not be able to see the floor, because she drags EVERYTHING out at once, rather than just having one thing out at a time. So the other night I decided to give her a reasonable amount of time to get it clean, set the timer and told her when the timer went off, anything that wasn't put away in its proper place was going into a plastic bag and staying in my room until further notice. Mind you - I have her room set up so it is VERY easy for a 4 year old to clean. I don't feel like I'm asking her to do something unreasonable at all.

Well, when the timer went off, I gathered 2 Wal-Mart bags of things that were either not put away at all, or put away in the wrong place, and those 2 bags are in my room. I told her if she can keep her room clean for 7 days, I'll let her pick a couple of things out of the bags to have back. We're on day 5, and she's doing FANTASTIC!! I've been helping her remember that before she gets something new out, to put away the first thing she was playing with. She's doing so well with it - I'm really proud of her! Hopefully we can keep it up!

Pictures!

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids decorating some sugar cookies we baked. As you can see, they had lots of fun with all of the icing!

Since we were going to be traveling on the days before Christmas, we got to have our celebration a bit early - the kids each got a few gifts - here are their snuggies. Princess for Laynie, and Cars for Jared.

And here they are modeling them!

Levi got a few baby toys, and some bibs - as you can see, he wasn't overly impressed! (Though he did have fun opening them!)

By far, the kids' favorite gifts were their Pillow Pets - they wanted them so bad, and we were so excited to be able to get them for them. It was all Laynie talked about for WEEKS before Christmas - "I reeeeeeeeally want a pillowpetunicorn!!!" (She'd say it really fast like that every time - so cute!) We saved these gifts for last - kinda let them think they were done opening presents, then I "remembered" that there was ONE more gift for each kid on our bed - they came in and were so excited!!

At my parents' house, we got to spend some time with the newest members of the family - cousin Jasmine, and cousin Ethan.


Jazzie girl!!!

Precious Baby Ethan w/his Auntie Lala!!

And of course, we can't leave out Bella-boo! Not the best pic, but you can see her adorable Christmas outfit!

Snow in GA!

Well, technically this is not our first snow of the year, but it is our first snow that we're HOME to....."enjoy." Anyone who knows me knows I HATE snow, but I do love watching the kids have fun with it! Here are a couple of pictures of them playing outside today - they had so much fun!

My Laynie Girl

Not too much to write about today, but Laynie said something funny yesterday I thought I'd share. I was sitting at the computer browsing through some pictures of some college friends of mine on Facebook, and she climbed up in my lap. She asked, "Who are those people, Mommy?" I replied, "Oh, just some friends of mine." She very innocently said, "You have friends?!!" Lol!! Just goes to show that her little 4 1/2 year old world doesn't extend much past herself at this point. Gotta love her!

Crazy!

Of course I'm sure my life is no more crazy than anyone else's but that's my excuse for not updating my blog in 3 months....not that anyone really cares, but I do wish I could stay more on top of things.

How do moms do it all? I'm seriously trying to figure out how I'm supposed to get everything done, and I only have ONE kid home-schooling! I have to admit sometimes it's a bit overwhelming. Is it too much to ask to want a clean house, clean, well educated kids, and healthy meals on the table? If anyone has it all figured out, please let me in on the secret!!

We had a fantastic Christmas! Michael didn't get to have any extra vacation days (other than Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) so we had kind of a rushed trip home to MO but we did get to see both sets of parents, so that was good! The kids had such a good time. This year was Laynie's first year of getting to GIVE her own gifts, so she was super excited about that! At my parents' house we go around the family (youngest to oldest) taking turns giving one gift at a time. That way it's not all madness, and you can actually see the reaction each gift gets. We absolutely LOVE doing it this way! Laynie was so excited to give her gifts, she kept asking, "Is it my turn? Is it my turn?" It was sweet! :)

Anyway, we're home now and trying to settle back into a school/housework/baby schedule - haven't quite gotten there yet but we MAY be close. When I get a chance I'll post some pictures!

Well, I wrote "update blog" on my to do list for today, and I won't feel like I've accomplished everything for the day until I can mark that off, so here goes!

Of course Levi is getting way too big way too fast! He has brought our family so much joy! You just can't help smiling when he's around. He's even cute when he cries! We love him so much! He's a good eater and already over 16 pounds - whew! He loves to smile and giggle and blow spit bubbles! :)

Jared is well into his 2nd grade year of A Beka video school. It's going very well. We still have him do additional reading assignments to keep him challenged, and he's doing great with those as well.

Our little Laynie girl is doing fabulous! Full of spunk and drama! We love it that she's such a girlie-girl!

We're gearing up for some crazy times schedule-wise. Michael got an assignment with the army that will require quite a bit of traveling, so we're looking forward to going with him as much as possible. (One of the countless benefits of home-schooling!)

I'm very excited about getting to go to the 2010 Christian Womanhood Spectacular in Hammond, IN. My pastor's wife is speaking at one of the mini-sessions, and I always look forward to hearing her speak! It's always such a treat to get to go!

Well, that's our life right now in a teeeeeny tiny little nutshell. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to elaborate a little more in the near future!

Oh my!!!

So, obviously it's been way too long since I last posted here. I haven't neglected it intentionally, mind you - it just happened that way! Obviously MUCH has happened since mid-March (the last time I posted here.) To put it in a nutshell, I've had another niece born (Kyleigh Alyse), the fifth member of our family made his grand appearance (Levi Grant), and my best friend, Bethany had her 2nd baby girl - Claire Elizabeth! It's baby central around here! I also have 3 more friends who are expecting, as well as my sister! Add in there, VBS, and a trip to Missouri (Michael had a class at Ft. Leonard Wood, so the kids and I stayed w/my parents) and you have our summer! I have so many pictures I could post, but for now I think I'm going to limit them to our family's new arrival.

On June 25th, I began having relatively regular contractions - nothing too painful, just a bit uncomfortable. So Saturday morning we went to the hospital - around 9 a.m. the contractions began coming much closer together (about every 4-5 minutes) and they were definitely getting painful! At about 12:30 or so I was allowed to get into the tub to labor there for a while - I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone who is trying to give birth without an epidural. I really wish I could have been in it longer. The hospital where I gave birth is not approved for water births (bummer!), so the nurse was very clear with me that as soon as I started feeling pressure to push, that I needed to get out. Well, I'd only had about 3 contractions before I started feeling pressure, so I didn't get to stay in too long. At that point, they were telling me I was only dilated to a 7-8 which seriously upset me because I REALLY was ready to push! I breathed through a few more contractions then told the nurse she really needed to call the doctor because my body was pushing even though I was doing all I could to stop it. The doctor came running in basically in time to catch Levi! He was out in one big push (praise the Lord - good baby!). At 1:07 p.m. June 26th 2010 he was born - 9 lbs, 5 oz!!! I could not BELIEVE how big he was!! Jared and Laynie were 7 lb. 13 oz, and 7 lb. 9 oz., so I was NOT expecting anything much bigger than that. Also, I actually gained less weight with Levi than I did with either Jared or Laynie, so I had no reason to think he would be so big - I was just in shock! Needless to say it was love at first sight - he is absolutely precious beyond words. Something interesting - there was a "true knot" in his umbilical cord! The doctor said he must have been doing somersaults in there! Obviously it did not hinder his growth, thank goodness! Jared and Laynie just love their little baby brother - they're so sweet with him! He is by far my most laid back baby - very content! Here are a few pictures.

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Headed out the door!




All ready to go!


He's here!


Levi Grant


Mommy and Baby Levi



Daddy with Levi



Levi and big brother Jared



Levi with big sister Laynie



Daddy with all 3 kids



Family pic!

Recent News

Well, things have been crazy at our house as usual! First, my niece was born! Little Jasmine Celeste made her appearance on February 10th with a BEAUTIFUL head full of hair!! She is just the sweetest little thing! The week after that, Michael and I got to go to a marriage retreat sponsored by the Army - it was in Coronado, CA - completely beautiful! We had a great time, learned a few things, and truly enjoyed a short trip away, just the two of us. We got back from CA late on a Sunday night, then the following Wednesday afternoon, we headed out on a roadtrip with the kids. We went up to Indiana first - we got to see my.........PREGNANT!!!!! sister, Holly!! (Yippee!!!!! Soooooooooo excited that I get to be pregnant with my baby sister!!!!) She is due on October 16th, and gets to go to the same OB that I had with Jared and Laynie. Yay! :) We also got to visit some good friends while we were there, as well as visit our old church - First Baptist Church in Hammond. It was good to see everyone and get to hear a great message from one of our favorite preachers. While we were there, we got to see the 2 girls from our church here in GA who are up there for Bible College. It was so good to see them!

From Indiana, we went down to MO and got to spend a couple of days with my in-laws, and then a couple of days with my parents. We had a really great time, and I got to see my brand new niece, which was wonderful! She is even more beautiful in person than she is in the pictures I had seen!

On our way back, we got to stop just outside of Nashville, and meet up with Michaels VERY pregnant sister, Angel. She is due any day now! We cant wait to meet little baby Kyleigh! Hopefully I will have some news to report soon! :)

We got back from our trip and just a few short days later, the kids and I took Michael to SC for a training course he has to do for the Army. Thank God he only has to be gone for 2 weeks! We miss him a lot, and the kids and I are counting down the days! Thankfully for him, he said so far the material he is learning is pretty interesting, so I think that is helping the time go by a little faster for him.

A huge blessing for our family is that my very close friend, Joanna, has been able to move in with us. Michael is going to be gone a LOT over the next several months :( :( :( - and with me being pregnant, then over the summer, gaining a newborn, Michael didn't want me to be completely alone. The timing worked out perfectly for her to just move in here and stay with us for a while. She is a huge help and of course it helps me not feel quite so lonely too!

For now Ive been working on getting the house all cleaned out (I suppose its the closest thing to spring cleaning that I do!). I think it may be early nesting! I just like for things to look nice, and be CLEAN!! Since we have been gone so much over the past few weeks, things have gotten kinda crazy with my housekeeping. I can make things look pretty presentable, but I know what is behind closed doors, and under rugs - lol!! Of course it doesnt help that I dont really have the stamina that I normally have, plus I get really severe back pain and simply canNOT keep moving! Slowly but surely things are getting put back in order though!

Drum roll please..........................................................

It's a....................BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Honestly, I wasn't necessarily hoping for one or the other, I was just so so excited to FIND OUT!! Lol!! I was just itching to buy some baby stuff! (We have gotten rid of EVERYTHING!) We're not ones to do "gender neutral" things, so I wanted to wait till we knew the gender before we bought anything. I got some super cute little outfits at the consignment stores this weekend - OH! Also, I got an ADORABLE maternity dress (extremely comfy too!) for just $6.00!!!!

I did end up having to have 3 LOOOOOOOOOONG ultrasounds this past Friday. The first ultrasound showed some fluid on the baby's kidneys, so I had to go to a perinatal specialist (at least I think that was her title - lol!) to have an additional ultrasound done. The sonographer there couldn't get him to move the way she needed him to, so the actual doctor had to come in and do the 3rd and final ultrasound. They were all very long ultrasounds, but I wasn't complaining!! We got to watch our little baby the whole time, and it was amazing!!

They did confirm that he has fluid on both of his kidneys. Apparently this occasionally happens to little boys - the doctor is not overly concerned at this point. I will have to have a few additional ultrasounds so they can monitor it (darn! - hehehe!). I guess sometimes this problem fixes itself, but if it doesn't fix itself by the time he is born, he will have to go on antibiotics for the first week of his life, and that will fix it. We're praying that we don't have to do that - I'm not too keen on the idea of him having to be on antibiotics so soon. I'm not completely against them, I believe at times they're necessary, but it just seems so soon!! Anyway, the Lord knows, and in the meantime, I'll be doing some research of my own to make sure I'm educated about it.

Well, I think that's about it for now!

Happy New Year!

I noticed these last few months that there are a LOT of people saying things like, "When is 2009 going to be over?!?" And boo-hooing about how awful their year has been. Now don't get me wrong - I understand that a few people truly did have horrible years. But for MOST people, it could have been so much worse! I just hate all of the negativity!! We had a tough 2009, but it was far from "horrible" or our "worst year ever." Goodness!! Just goes to show that people (myself included) need to count their blessings more often!

Anyway...off of that soapbox now! For those who are interested, the pregnancy is going fine. I've definitely been sicker w/this one than w/the other 3 pregnancies combined. I'm just now, at 16 weeks, starting to feel like "normal" again. (Normal for me anyway - lol!) Honestly though, I can't complain - I do realize that there are many many pregnant ladies who are very sick during the entire pregnancy, and it has not been THAT bad for me - definitely bearable! I am glad to be feeling a bit better though! We should be able to find out the gender in the next month or so, so we're excited about that.

We just got the FANTASTIC news that my best friend, Bethany is expecting their 2nd baby!! So my adorable little Chloe girl will have a baby brother or sister not long after our baby is born! Beth and I have been best friends since we were tiny (our moms were best friends before we were even born, so we've literally grown up together since day one!), and we've always done everything together. We went to the same Bible college, got married the same summer, bought our first houses within weeks of each other, but when it came to having babies, God had other plans! I thought sure we'd get to be pregnant together MUCH sooner than this! I was just thinking that in a total of 7 pregnancies (including a miscarriage for each of us) this is the FIRST time we've gotten to be pregnant together! So exciting!!

In other baby news...my sister-in-law, Jacqueline is due in just 5 1/2 short weeks!!! They know they are having a baby girl, and we're VERY excited about it!! Since she is an identical twin, and there are several sets of twins in our extended family, we were definitely hoping for twins (at least, *I* was!), but it is definitely just one baby! :)

Also, Michael's sister, Angel, is due in about 10 1/2 more weeks! They're also having a baby girl, and are pretty sure they've decided on the name Kyleigh - I think that's so pretty!! Of course, my two nieces, Kaitlin and Kinsey, are very excited about having a new baby sister soon!!

I'm hoping to get to see both babies not too long after they're born - I'll be needing to get brushed up!! :)

Our Christmas was fantastic. Our church's program was great - such an awesome Christ themed message to it (it was Majesty Music's "Christmas at Home"). We also got to be at my parents' church for their Christmas program. Bethany headed it up and was able to include every child in the church in some way or another - even the babies! It was so cute! They told the entire Christmas story with several songs incorporated into it! It was precious!

Of course, the kids got spoiled rotten! I was pleased this year that Laynie is finally old enough to somewhat understand the concept of GIVING gifts, and not just receiving. Jared was so excited to give the gifts he had picked out for everyone! We take turns at our big family Christmas w/my side of the family, starting from youngest to oldest, GIVING gifts one at a time - he kept asking, "Is it my turn yet mommy?" He was so eager to give his gifts! I won't lie though - they both enjoyed GETTING gifts too - lol!!

With our little family Christmas (Michael, me and the kids), I tried my hand at making cinnamon rolls for breakfast - uh....they turned out OK..but definitely room for improvement! I'm going to try out Jessica's recipe next time, and hopefully they'll turn out better. One of the things I think could have been better is MORE butter (that you spread on the rolled-out dough, before you sprinkle on the cinnamon/sugar) and MORE cinnamon/sugar. They weren't "cinnamony" enough. Also, there wasn't nearly enough glaze. So, lessons learned - hopefully the next batch will turn out better!

Well, I think that's all for now. Hopefully all is well with everyone!

Feelin' good!

Yikes! My last post was over a month ago! And I was doing so good there for a while! Ugh....typical of me!

In my defense, I did have a couple of weeks where I was pretty miserable feeling, and didn't do much of anything. Praise the Lord for a fantastic husband who's ready and willing to jump in and do what needs to be done when Mommy is out of commission!

So far, the pregnancy is going great - we've already gotten to see the baby once (nice strong heartbeat - yay!), and we'll get to see it again in a little over a week. For my first doctor's appointment, Michael was gone on overnight drill, so he didn't get to go, BUT, my sister was here visiting so SHE got to go! It went really well, and I really like my doctor. :)

We had a great Thanksgiving - we thought it was just going to be the 4 of us, and when it's just the 4 of us, we go to Golden Corral and let them do the cooking and clean-up! A few days before Thanksgiving though, we had some friends of ours invite us over to their house, and we had such a wonderful time! We're so thankful for great friends.

Right now the next big thing we're gearing up for is Christmas! I have about 1/2 of my Christmas shopping done (maybe a little over 1/2), but I haven't even STARTED doing my Christmas cards yet, and to be honest, that's stressing me out more than my shopping is - lol! We got our tree this past Friday night, so I think we're going to decorate it today. We were going to decorate it a couple of days ago, but Laynie fell asleep really early that night, and we didn't want to do it without her, so we waited. I'm excited the kids are big enough to have fun with decorating the tree this year - they're so excited!

Well, I'll sign off for now - hopefully it won't be another month before my next post - we'll see!

Eventful week!!

Since my last post I had a relatively eventful week. It started out Tuesday morning with a positive pregnancy test! Yahoo!!!!!!! Since losing the baby last year, we have wanted to get pregnant again, and haven't been able to, so we are thankful the Lord finally answered our prayers! AND I get to be pregnant with two of my sisters-in-law! Also, there's a girl at my church who's only a few weeks ahead of me, so we get to be "pregnancy buddies." I'm so thrilled!! I'm already feeling the nausea and extreme tiredness, BUT - I'm THRILLED to have these symptoms!! Lol!! You will not hear me complain!! :)

When we told Jared, I asked him what he thought. He thought about it for a minute, then said, "Well Mommy, I'm very excited....buuuuut.....you KNOW this is going to be a very big responsibility!" Lol!! Such a deep thinker!! He also told me that if the baby is a girl we should name her Alice (after Alice in Wonderland), and if the baby is a boy we should name him Jared 2. Not Jared the Second, just Jared 2. So creative! Laynie was excited too - we let Jared tell her (mainly because we love to hear him explain things). He did a great job, and when he was done, I asked her if she had any questions. She quite innocently asked, "When the baby gets out of your tummy, may I please have a baby in MY tummy?" Hehehe....we told her she had to get MUCH older, and get married first, THEN she can have a baby in her tummy! So she went around telling people at church that when she gets bigger she's going to marry daddy so she can have a baby too! So sweet!

Tuesday afternoon, two ladies from my church and I left for Hammond, Indiana for the Christian Womanhood Spectacular. We had a wonderful trip - the drive there and back was just beautiful - all of the leaves are turning, and we saw such beauty!! The conference itself was amazing - as usual! My preacher's wife got to speak at one of the sessions, and as usual, she was awesome - absolutely hilarious! Usually I walk away from conferences like that under conviction about being a better wife, but this time I was more under conviction about being a better mother. One lady who spoke had lost her 17 year old son in a car accident a little over a year ago. It just really opened my eyes to the fact that you just never know how much time you're going to have with your children. I was reminded more than once (by different speakers) that you never get to have the child rearing years back - once they're gone, they're gone. I decided to make a concentrated effort to spend more QUALITY time with my kids, and I'm already having fun!!

Happy Monday!

Well, today I have a huge "to do" list, but I've already got a big part of it nailed! So far, I've cleaned the dining room and kitchen top to bottom, I've cleaned both bathrooms, 2 of our 3 bedrooms (it's pointless to clean Laynie's before she goes to bed at night - it'll just get messy again!), and the living room. I'm on fire today! I also got caught up on grading Jared's school papers, and he corrected all of them that needed corrections. I still have to file them, and have him do today's sheets, but that shouldn't take too long. I'm wanting to get the house completely cleaned, and some goodies baked up, because I'm going out of town this week for a ladies' conference. I'm super excited, because I'll be seeing my mom and my sister!! Yay!! Michael was able to take vacation days for the rest of the week so he's got some fun activities planned with the kids. I'm not away from my kids overnight very often, so I'm a bit apprehensive about that, but I'm definitely looking forward to this meeting. Anyway, short post for today, but I've got lots to do, so I can't sit here too long! Have a great day!

Company!

Well, last Friday I got a call from some good friends of ours in Indiana (Tom and Anita), and low and behold, Tom is being sent down here to Atlanta for some training for his job! THIS WEEK!! Lol!! It was kinda last minute, but we're so excited to have them staying with us for just a few days. Yesterday was great - Tom went to training, and Anita and I just relaxed and visited all day - it was so nice! Then today we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese to play games (we don't eat there - makes me sick every time!), and they had SO much fun!! I had a coupon to get 180 tokens for $25.oo, then they gave us a bonus 20 tokens, just "because" so we got 200 tokens for the kiddos to split! We ended up with over 700 tickets to spend on useless junk - AWESOME!! The kids had such a good time - and to be quite honest, so did Anita and I!! I hit the jackpot on Skee Ball (sp?). Come to find out - I'm really awesome at it! Lol!! And it's addictive! Luckily, there was a game right beside it that Laynie was completely enthralled in, so I got to play for a while while she threw bouncy baseballs at a target! (It was great - she couldn't throw hard enough to hit the target, so the game kept giving the balls back to her to try again - kept her occupied for quite a while! Lol!!) Jared had a great time too - he did really awesome at the basket ball games! He loves anything that involves sports, so that didn't surprise me at all!

In other family news...I found out that we are expecting a new baby...NIECE!!!! Yay!! Justin and Jacqueline found out that they are having a little girl in February - so exciting! In about a week we will be finding out if Angel and Kenny are having a boy or a girl - we can't wait! Of course, we're kinda hoping for a little boy for them, but another girl would be so much fun too!! I'll keep everyone posted!

Coupons!

I'm not sure if anyone who reads this uses coupons, but I just got some really good ones today.

I'm registered with a site called Mypoints (check it out!), and they send you e-mails with different offers where you can earn points that you can cash in for merchandise. I was a bit skeptical at first, but so far I've earned 3 $10 Wal-Mart giftcards, and I'm about to cash in my points for another $50 gift card to TJ Maxx!

You get 5 points just for clicking on the link in the e-mails they send you, then you get extra points if you actually participate in the offer. (I RARELY do this - actually, I pretty much NEVER do this - I just click on the link and get my 5 points!) Occasionally they send you an e-mail where you can earn extra points for taking a survey - I usually do those and get a few extra points that way.

Anyway - what does this have to do with coupons you ask? On their site, there is a section you can go to that has several pages of coupons you can print off. You get points for redeeming them, PLUS the good deal that the coupon offers. Some of them are REALLY good - lots of "$1.00 off" ones! It's free to register with the site - just make sure to put my name down as the person who referred you! (If you do that, I get extra points!) :)

Fall Cleaning!

I started to type "spring cleaning" but obviously, it's not spring, so I improvised! :) Lately we've been working extra hard at getting the church spic and span (I'm sure the pastor's daughter's upcoming wedding has NOTHING to do with it! *wink wink*). Normally I clean the church myself - occasionally someone helps out here and there, but I do most of it. Well, a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine from church came to me and said she'd like to start helping me with it! What a blessing!!! So we met there today and got TONS done! We did all of the normal stuff, plus a bunch of extra things that needed to be done before the wedding. It was so nice to have someone there to work with!

We still don't have a working washing machine (long story), so I've been taking our laundry to different places (church, laundromat, friends' houses, etc.) to wash it, then bringing it home to dry. Well, I decided to start cleaning out the janitor's closet at church, and throw in all of the nasty mildewy rags with my whites, since they needed to be bleached. Well, dummy me - one of the rags was a dark red color, so guess what color my whites are! Yep - a beautiful shade of PINK!! Lovely! For the most part it didn't ruin anything important - mostly socks and undershirts. I think the only thing I'm going to have to replace is Jared's Patch Club polo shirt. I don't think he's going to want to wear a pink shirt...call me crazy! Lol!! Thankfully, they're only about $7 at Wal-Mart, so the damage wasn't too horrible. Of course, I have to endure the teasing from my husband, but I'm used to that, so no biggie! ;) Hehehe....

Doctor's office here we come!

We're headed over to the doc's office today for our Laynie girl. She's had this odd rash for a few days now, so I figured we'd better have it looked at. Thank goodness it doesn't seem to be anything serious - I'm just so glad that we get to keep our old pediatrician. We love love love Dr. Benson!! She is just great with the kids, and when we switched to Tricare, I was afraid we may have to switch, but hallelujah - she's in our network, so we get to keep her! Yay!!

I also have to swing by the mall out there to pick up Jared's shoes for April's wedding. Have I mentioned that Jared and Laynie are going to be the ring bearer/flower girl in a wedding next Friday night? I can't wait! I think they'll do great - they did awesome in Holly's wedding (which I JUST posted pictures of - woops!), so they should be fine in this one. I ended up buying Jared's tuxedo (or as HE says "TEXedo). Waaaay more economical! I can rent one for over $100, OOORRR I can BUY one for right around $60, then resell it on E-Bay and get a good portion of that back. Hmmm.....what should I do??? Lol!! Needless to say, I didn't have to think on that one long! The only downside is that it doesn't come with shoes. That's ok though, I'll just buy a pair then sell them with the tuxedo more than likely.

We got Laynie's flower girl dress for $25!! Brand new on E-Bay - I'll post pics of it when I get some - it is absolutely ADORABLE! She calls it her princess dress, and she can't wait to wear it!

Pictures of Holly's wedding

I realized I didn't post any pictures of Holly's wedding, so here are a few!



Laynie decided after she got to the front, that she needed to pick up all of the flower petals she had dropped!


Laynie and Haley


The two most adorable kids in the whole world! :)


The happy couple! (Who had not kissed before this day!)


So cute! :)


Laynie and Haley


My handsome lil man


The bride with the two flower girls