Birthday Party Eve

Ben will be 5 on Tuesday. We are having his party at the park tomorrow. Luckily, the weather is cooperating with a high of 65. I thought I should do some sort of activity for the kids. A game? Nah. A pinata? No. And then we saw this at Costco. A human hamster ball. Perfect!

We inflated it tonight to see how it works. The kids, big and little, had a blast.


And David can be an atom for Halloween.

We are all ready for some fun tomorrow.

David is bummed that the weight limit is 150 pounds.

Power Phrase

Sometimes I feel like I neglect my blog. Lack of material? Lack of time? I'm not sure. But it is what it is. I've been reading a lot about people coming up with power words for themselves for the year. Words that define who they are and who they want to be. Like passion or present or power. It can be any word that is a reminder to yourself to just be the best you that you can be.

I don't have a power word. I have a power phrase. It is what it is. It reminds me to accept things (and people) as they are. To take things as they come. To not be such a worry wart. To let things go when I need to.

With that being said, I haven't blogged in a week. Oh well.

When you weigh 22 pounds, you can use a balloon as a backrest. Just an FYI.


We went to a Super Bowl party last weekend. Noah found out that he likes licorice. His power word for the year should be discover. Isn't that what being one is all about?

He also learned about girls. Savannah is trying to show him this toy.

And he's playing hard to get. He's a heart breaker already.

My girls power word should be delight. She has fun no matter what she is doing. I love that about her.

Last week, we put the kids down for bed a little early. We are watching Dexter and wanted to get two episodes in before we went to sleep. 45 minutes later, Ben came in our room crying. He had a bad dream about the witch from an episode of Hello Kitty. He has no problem with The Joker or Green Goblin, but the witch from Hello Kitty's Snow White episode gave him a nightmare. Go figure.

We put Ben in bed with us and told him he had to close his eyes and go to sleep. If he saw Dexter hack someone into pieces, that would really give him nightmares. No sooner did Emily come walking in our door. She must have heard Ben come out of his room. She wanted to sleep with us too. Our bed is getting crowded and we still have more Dexter to watch. So, I thought they could sleep together in Ben's room. Win/win, right?

Wrong...at 9:45 I went in the kitchen and I heard them talking. I told them to be quiet and go to bed, which is what I did. David got up at almost 1:00 to go to the restroom and they were still in Ben's room talking. He yelled at them to go to sleep, which we think they did. We could not believe they sat in bed talking for almost 5 hours. Emily was the ring leader, but that's my girl. Squeezing the joy out of every opportunity.

And Ben, well I have no recent pictures of Ben. His power word would be imagine. He's really into being naked right now. Hence, no photos. He thinks if he is naked he is invisible. I've never met a child that has so much creativity. Let's just hope he keeps his pants on for his 5th birthday party this weekend.

If not, it is what it is.

A Day In The Life Of Noah

Noah has a very difficult life.

Every night after dinner, he raids the pantry. He always goes for the cereal because it's on the lowest shelf. He pulls the bag out of the box and walks around the house eating his snack.

And when I ask him what he is doing, he looks at me like "What, I'm not doing anything wrong".

And then he feeds Rocko his cereal.

When my Mom was here, she commented that Rocko really looks after Noah and follows him around as if to protect him. It has nothing to do with security or love and everything to do with the fact that Noah feeds him all day long. They love each other.

With the wind chill this morning, it was -5 degrees. You read that right. -5 degrees in Arizona. So, we had to bundle up to head outside this morning.

He looked so cute, I couldn't stop laughing.

Noah likes to "help" unload the dishwasher. He does a nice job of stacking the plates.

And he even does it with a banana in one hand.
And when he is done stacking the plates...
...he starts putting them back into the dishwasher.
He stops for a little nourishment.
And continues to unload the dishes he just put back into the dishwasher.

And that buys me enough time to unload the rest of the dishwasher.
We're a good team.
And tomorrow, he'll do it all over again.

Pinching Pennies In January

It's time for my monthly report on our grocery budget and coupon savings. I went a little over my $10 per day goal. I spent $394 and saved $460. But let me tell you, I got stocked up on lots of things when there were great sales. I could literally stop shopping for a month, except produce and perishables, and we would be just fine.

But I can't stop shopping. I've become somewhat of an addict. TLC is not going to call me anytime soon for their extreme couponing show, but I have thought about going through my neighbors recycle bins looking for coupon inserts. Can you see me on Thursday nights dressed in black with a headlamp on while it's 15 degrees out digging through recycle bins? Yeah, me neither. I'm not that desperate. Besides, I think I'm doing rather well on just my one newspaper every Sunday. But hey Pam (my BFF) since you are coming up next weekend, bring me some of your coupons! "Hi, I'm Gina and I'm an addict. I've been on a coupon high for over three months. And I'm only sober when I'm sleeping".

Here is today's little trip to the store. The kids have a cold, so it was fast. I went in for a jalapeno for chili tonight. But, I couldn't pass up the good stuff.

Let me just point out the super savings...
Mouthwash...free
2 Coffeemate...free
2 Kraft cheese...free
Bounty paper towels...free
Softsoap...free
2 Cream cheese...free
4 Butterfinger snackerz...free
(saving for Valentines for the kids - have you tried these? YUM...soooo good!)
Skippy peanut butter...free
Colgate toothpaste...free
4 Reach toothbrushes...free
Dove deodorant...free
2 Axe deodorants...25 cents each
Scotch tape...free
Butter...free

Seriously, do you see why I can't stop going to the store? And couponing has completely improved my oral hygiene. Toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss and mouthwash are always free, so I'm changing my toothbrush when I should, flossing when I don't even have something stuck in my teeth and using mouthwash. My dentist would be thrilled.

I spent $15 on all the stuff in the picture and saved $87. The big container of meat is for some yummy sloppy joes we are making for a super bowl party. And no, it wasn't in the manager's reduced section of outdated meat. Don't sloppy joes sound good and easy? Make it, put it in the crock pot on warm and we are off to enjoy the
company and foodgame. Who am I kidding...I don't even know whose playing.

Back to couponing, I was sober there for like 23 seconds.

The customer in front of me today at Fry's spent $98 for about 8 bags of groceries. I wanted to smack her. I used to be her. Why give your hard earned money away? If you live in Arizona, look at bargain believer. In addition to her regular Fry's match ups, she is now doing a section for people who don't get the paper. There are still mad savings to be had just from online coupons and coupons you load to your Fry's card. Getting the paper sure helps though. A lot. And if you are brave enough to go through your neighbors recycle bin, you're golden.

I am putting money in our savings account for the first time since I stopped working 6 years ago. And you can too. One hit and you'll be hooked, just try it.
Trust me...it'll make you feel good.

Just To Save The Stats

January has been unseasonably warm and dry. Not one drop of precipitation. But I think January knew people were talking smack about him and he didn't want to go down in the record books looking like a slacker.

So on the 31st of January, we are getting a sprinkling of snow.
And in this desert, we'll take it.

And we'll even eat it for breakfast.


Here's hoping your Monday started off just as beautiful as my girl in the snow.

Spidermen

Growing up, my brother was never really into superheros. Sure my Dad liked the Superman movies or The Hulk TV show, but those were few and far between.

I am certainly getting an education about all things superhero from my son. Name a superhero or villain and chances are I know their secret identity. Since having children I can hardly remember simple math, but I know that Batman's (Bruce Wayne) enemy The Penguin's secret identity is Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. Seriously, what has become of me?

We are watching Spiderman 3 right now for the 100th time. All of which is great until Ben recites the part about, "I'm going to kick your little ass". Oh no! If he said that in preschool, he'd be on the fence at recess for a week. I had a talk with him though and he seems to understand that it's not something little kids should say. Cuss words aside, he still loves Spiderman. And I think Noah is following in his footsteps.




I love my boys. And I'll love Noah even more if his next word isn't ass.

Ordinary Day

Last night I was at gymnastics with the kids. I called David when I knew he was home from work to say hi and tell him something important, which I can't even remember now. Oh yes, the kids want spaghetti instead of rigatoni, you know really important stuff. Anyway, he sounded off. Something was bothering him. I asked if he was okay and he said he was fine. I assumed he had a rough day at work.

When we were home and all sitting down to dinner, I asked again if he was okay. He said that he heard some bad news at work today. It was about one of his fellow supervisors who he worked with when we lived in Phoenix. This same woman was also in his management training that he goes to every few months. He hadn't seen her in since October as she was due to have her second child any day. He just assumed she was out on maternity leave still. After delivering her child, they found out she has stage 4 breast cancer and it has spread through her entire body. It's terminal. She's terminal. A 31 year old nice woman who has a husband, three year old and newborn is terminal.

It's devastating news. It's sad to think about her husband who will raise two children alone. It's sad to think about the kids who will never remember their mother. It's sad for her to have to leave.

Yet it's news like this that makes us reflect on our own life and be grateful. Why does it take devastating news to make us stop for a moment and tell our loved ones that we love them, to play with our children longer and hold them tighter? This morning I took some time to take a few pictures of my kids doing nothing out of the ordinary. Just to remember an ordinary day as we never know how many we have left.

Emily loving on Noah before school.

Ben flying around the house half dressed playing with superheros. This morning it's Astro Boy. I need to feed Ben some extra cookies to fatten him up.

Ben changing his "costume". In this case, green boxers to blue ones. He made me a picture of spiderman on one side and a heart with his name on the back. That's a heart on the bottom left corner.

Noah insisting on feeding himself yogurt.

Which became more like finger painting.

But if he can't do it himself, he doesn't want to do it at all.

Yes the spoon goes IN your mouth.

I never met Shawna, but my heart breaks for her, for her family, and for all the ordinary days that she is going to miss.