I am SOOOO addicted!!!

So, a lot of you know that I have been "couponing" but most don't know how bad it's gotten....I went to Target TWICE this week! (yeah, I used to never go) Anyway, this is the first trip I made and I got all this stuff for just .56 cents!! No joke! I do my research on line and print up all the coupons that can make it happen, cut the ones from the newspaper and Viola!!! Free stuff for me! If anyone wants to come over, I am MORE then happy to go through it with you and take you on one of my trips (my second trip cost me .33 cents, and I have a witness) just let me know! I work two jobs and raise two boys AND take care of the household so if I have time to do it, you do too!!

New hair!

Sitting here, kids are finally snuggled in and the house is ready for Sunday-NOW I have time to show off my new look! Ahhh! Isn't it AWESOME?? Sherry (my sis-in-law) cut and colored it and did an amazing job--honestly, I don't think I've had a cuter hair cut/color...really. Sherry, you are gonna rack up the clients and have a great career...you really do a great job, thank you so much!!!

A perfect day...

I don't have any pictures, but Matt and I finally had a day off TOGETHER and were able to just hang out and enjoy our family. We took the boys to Tempe Beach Park--this is really sad, but I'm going to admit that Hewson has been there ONCE, when he was 2!! Yeah, so, needless to say, it was time to go again....they had a blast and it absolutely wore them out (we are going again tomorrow). That night we had KC and Sherry over for a movie, popcorn and rootbeer sundae's (made the rootbeer sauce ourselves). It was tons of fun, especially since we had not seen them in such a long time....unfortunately I had to work all day the next day, and Matt had to work that night so I took the oppurtunity to take the boys on a "date" to thier favorite place--Cracker Barrel. They ate tons (it's always nice when I don't have to cook), got a treat and looked at all the fun toys! That was a first for me, I had never taken the boys out by myself and I must say, it was a LOT of fun...the things these kids say and think about absolutely amaze and amuse me....like I always say, I can't see myself with another infant, but can't NOT see myself without another 2 year old! Crazy, I know, because most mom's enjoy the infant stage the most...I never said I was sane though....

Happy Birthday to ME

I am officially 28...wierd. 28 just seems too MATURE for how I feel...like in High School when you are a Freshman and the Seniors seem so cool and old, then you become a Senior and nothing is really different...ANYWAY, this is my biological dad who I have not seen since High School graduation and he has never met the boys (he goes by K-Pa). He took my family and I to Las Vegas for a weekend. We had a blast just hanging out together and site seeing--there is NEVER a slow or boring moment in Vegas--and the pools are AMAZING.

We were running low on moolah and needed dinner so we figured it would be cheaper to order pizza...look at the size of this thing!! 24" !! It was so good, and such a good deal...we had it for dinner, midnight snack, AND breakfast!

Here is the Nascar stationed on the 4th floor of M&M World--as you can imagine, the children enjoyed that place :) And for those who don't know, Hewson is a HUGE Nascar fan so this was such a treat! I don't know HOW I managed walking out of there spending only $20!

We went to the Bellagio the first night and actually got to see the infamous fountian dance! This is my third time to Vegas and my first to catch the fountian....it was so much fun, and absolutely beautiful...and they pick some really good songs that it "dances" to :)

We got there and needed food right away...so we checked in, dropped off our stuff, went out and went to the first place we saw...it happened to be ESPN Zone...go figure. It was actually REALLY nice, the food was good and the boys sat still the whole time! They had 2 wall floor to ceiling TV's where we watched Travis Pastrana do a "sick trick" as Hewson calls it....a great way to start the weekend!

Although we were not yet tall enough to actually ride the SpongeBob ride (yeah, I know...whatever) they did have a whole huge arcade on the lower floor of the hotel, so we were there quite a bit. It was a great little getaway, and it was nice to see my dad and let him hang out with the boys...they had play time the whole weekend!! Now it's back to the good 'ol backyard :)

Summer Vacation 2009

I kinda feel like a dork because I can't figure out how to put pictures in with text in between them....probably really simple BUT since I'm not sure how to do it, I will write a bit about our fun trip, then post some random pictures that are my favorites...We started almost a month ago on our journey to the other side of the world (Georgia) and made the DRIVE there in two long days. The boys were FANTASTIC and had a blast with thier various small toys and movies. We had to eat at the Cracker Barrell of course, don't ask me why but my children (like I have said before) BEG me to take them there! We arrived in GA a few days earlier then we originally planned (which was nice) and so had time to relax and enjoy the family before the 6 hour drive to FL for a week on the beach! During these few days we went to the GA Aquarium which is supposed to be the biggest in the states...and it was a ton of fun, the boys thoroughly enjoyed it, about as much as Matt, Teej, Elora, and I did! The drive to FL was one filled with anticipation for us adults and Hewson who know what the beach is and what it means to relax on it for a week, and Tillman was just, well, sick of being in the car!! He did great though and before we knew it, we were there. The first day was AWESOME, both the boys just sat and played in the "giant sandbox" while we sun bathed....Hewson got to jump a few waves and Tillman was still frightened of the ocean at this point. By the third day Hewson was body surfing, and you couldn't keep Tillman OUT of the ocean!! Elora and I got to go parasailing, which was AMAZING!! We were both a bit nervous but really enjoyed it, it was a breathtaking experience...they don't look so high when you see them from the beach, but get on one and it's scary! Needless to say, the week flew by WAY too fast and before we knew it we were back in GA packing and loading up a Penske truck to drive back LOADED with furniture and goodies from my late Mommom. The drive home took 3 days because at this point the boys knew what they were in for and weren't going to agree to it :) We are so grateful to have been able to make the trip, to be able to spend time with the family, and to make such a long journey without injury...it was a wonderful vacation that I hope to take again soon!!

Update....

Well, for some reason my computer is not allowing me to put pictures on to post them so I will just give a little update...and a little story...first, the story:
Matt was home with the boys when Hewson asked him if it was still Mother's Day (he asked this two weeks AFTER Mother's Day). Matt said "Heck no, dude, but Father's Day is coming up real soon." He just kinda looked at his dad then walked off....A few hours later Hewson returned to his dad and said, "After Father's Day it's Kid's Day and you have to buy me lots of presents..." I love how it "clicked" that these days were days of appreciation for the said person, and maybe he's right, maybe we do need a Kid's Day....but like his dad replied, "Dude, EVERYDAY is Kid's Day!"

And now for a teeny, tiny update...I am working way too hard with two jobs, and so is Matt with one (three income household here and STILL barely making ends meet!!) We are tag teaming the boys and I must say how proud I am of these monsters just going with the flow and being happy as usual...well, when they aren't fighting each other :) We are at the stage of the game where we have to have the exact same THING and they have to be the exact same COLOR and even then they still choose to fight over everything....it's such a test on patience teaching children how to react properly to new frustrating situations to them. BUT I must say it gets quite funny...they come crying to me after a scrap and all I can do is laugh just hearing the things they say to each other....Tillman is currently putting his finger to his lips, or head, or face and saying "Dink, Dink" (translation: "Think, Think") And he does it at the most appropriate times....like when he is looking for his blanket, or any other numerous thing! It's the best...Hewson is just cracking us up the his translation of the world, and money and trying to learn and understand all these new things....LIKE Mother's Day and Father's Day :) He LOVES Nascar--we were getting in the car one day and an old man was riding slowly by on his bike when Hewson said "Hi, we're Nascar fans..." What!?!? He had a great first season of T-Ball where of course he was the champion (they still fight over that trophy to this day) and they both BEG me EVERY day to go to Cracker Barrell....I know, strange little children....Anyway, I tell them they will be sick of it before the summer is over because we are preparing for a cross country drive to GA in about three weeks, and we usually eat at Cracker Barrell's all the way across :) So, a vacation is well overdue (for all of us) and SO close coming that we can't stand it!!!

Yep....it happened....on Easter :)

So, before I tell my story of our wonderful Easter Sunday, I just want everyone reading this to go and buy a fire extinguisher NOW if you do not have one currently.....with that said, here is my story: Easter morning was a beautiful one...Hewson was the first to wake (as always) and came in my bedroom with a little easter treat sack (with nothing in it) SO excited that the easter bunny came!! At that point I thought to myself, 'With everything out there, the only thing he liked was the empty sack?' Huh...so a few min. go by and he comes in with the string that holds the empty sack together and is so excited, he wants to hang it on the wall in his bedroom! Wondering what is wrong with my child I ask "Did the Easter Bunny come?" He replies, sadly "yeah, but there aren't any eggs...." Ok....."Did you look on the table, babe?" Thinking for a second he says "I can try that..." Whattyaknow!?!? The easter bunny came!! Running in he says..."The easter bunny really did come!!" Poor guy thought he got an empty easter sack from the easter bunny! :)

Now it's time for breakfast...I made a scrumptuous french toast casserole and Hewson took one bite, then ran to the bathroom and threw up....oh man....so the rest of the day involved a fever, throwing up, breathing treatments and coughing so much he could barely talk....poor guy. SO, to the fun part....while heating the oven to make some fish sticks for the boys I notice a little tiny fire in the corner of my oven....I quickly turn the oven off, open the oven door, and grab a tupperware full of water....I then think to myself, we have a fire extinguisher....I will get that and stand here while that little fire burns off whatever food is on fire, then go on with my day....I grab the extinguisher, read the directions ( I had never used one before) and make sure it is ready to go....I stand there for a min, my little fire still buring, holding the extinguisher and think....this is going to take all day, that is quite a bit of food or whatever that it is trying to burn off, I am going to throw some water on it, let it sizzle and then go on with my day....WARNING....YOU CAN HAVE A GREASE FIRE IN YOUR OVEN AS WELL AS ON YOUR STOVE!!!! Oh yeah, that little bit of water caused an explosion....I grabbed my extinguisher and used it....the dust was too thick at that point to know if I had even put it out so I grabbed my boys (my youngest naked at the time) grabbed my cell phone and ran outside....my children were FREAKING out (understandably) and I had to explain that I had taken care of the fire, I just needed 'back-up'. The fire department arrived very quickly, checked it out and said that I had put the fire out successfully!! Yeah!! They said usually they put a huge fan in the house to blow out the extinguisher chemical dust but I would have to mop it up because they saw the SVN machine and medicine and didn't want to cause more breathing problems for the kids....mop?!? WHO has a mop these days?? Uh, swiffer? That work? Nope....had to get a mop, and it surprisingly it came up rather easily....I still have yet to clean the oven...ugh.

BUT my story is not over yet...the cool part...Matt was at work at Sports Authority that afternoon when he saw a bunch of firemen come in....he asked them where they were located, and then if they had happened to respond to an oven fire that day....whattyaknow....they had!! He said that was HIS family and they were VERY impressed with me, said I had done a great job, did everything right (especially getting out of the house, I guess not a lot of people run as soon as they can....). They talked a little bit longer and as it turns out, they were at the Fireman Picnic with us the other night!!! It is SO great to know that I live somewhere where I know they will respond quickly, AND that they know my family!!! So, we ended up ordering easter pizza instead of easter ham, but were so happy to be safe and now we have an easter to remember!!