Happy Birthday, Aaron!

It's past time I post these pictures! Today is Abby's birthday, so logically, I should blog about Aaron's birthday 3 weeks ago. Um...yeah. So expect Abby's pictures in 3 weeks...mmmkay?

Without further ado....

The boy ordered cupcakes with blue frosting and sprinkles. By golly, the boy gets what the boy wants!

Oh, beloved sprinkles...

Whipped up some homemade buttercream frosting...so yummy! And easy.

All you do is cream 1 cup of butter and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add 1 lb powdered suger. It can be thick, so add a tad of milk or cream if you want it thinner.

It's melt in your mouth. Seriously. So. Good. And blue!
Next, you need some cupcakes. Seems odd that one of them spontaneously combusted in the oven. Wierd!

I better call the appliance repair guy.
Here they are all blue and sprinkled! Don't you love my pretty cookie sheet? I should get some new ones. I just used a piping bag and a star tip to pipe the frosting on.
Mommy's little helper!
Ah...the birthday cupcake. Wouldn't be complete without Spiderman Plates!
Loving is little cupcake. I love my little cupcake. He's so cute.

Even while throwing a tantrum.
Mmmmmm...
Present time! Couldn't resist this picture of Matty's Caboose!
The boy is easy to please. He wanted a soccer ball.
And a monster fruck. Yes, I did mean fruck. That's what he calls it.

We had one happy little boy!

Happy Birthday, Aaron James!

Misc pictures

Just a few pictures from the last month or so!

Abby and I went to see 'Cinderella'. It was so much fun, we both loved it! She is enamored by the Disney Princesses these days so it was perfect!

Big smile on our way out the door!


Posing with Cinderella and Prince Charming


Tyler and Aaron goofing around


Sweet little Matthew


Trying to call someone who cares...


An afternoon activity for Abby and Ty...watercolors!


Abby's Masterpiece


Tyler's Creation

And a little future blackmail :) Buggy clonking around in Abby's dress up shoes

Surprise!What is it with boys and their undies?
For Dr. Seuss week, Abby and Tyler made hats at school. I crafted one up quick for Aaron so he didn't get left out!

That's all for now....

KMart Double Coupons

Usually, I don't shop at Kmart. But, when they have double coupons, I do. Great deals to be had! I ran down there after I dropped Abby and her cupcake pops off at school.

Oh, how could I forget, my first DEAL of the day! I had Albertsons fuel rewards saved up. 95 cents off a gallon :) So, I paid $1.14 a gallon for 20 gallons. Woohoo! For some reason, those accumulate really fast. From what I've discovered, they seem to accumulate based on the full price of the item (rather than what you actually pay).

The other cool thing...they are doing these gift cards where you pay $300 and get a gift card for $330. So $30 free groceries. Well, when you buy one, you get the fuel rewards (which would be $0.30 off per gallon for $300 GC). Then, when you go through and buy stuff, use the gift card and you will accumulate the rewards again!

So, if you buy a gift card for $300, then go spend $330, you will end up with .60 off per gallon, plus $30 toward the next $50 of rewards. FYI, you earn $0.05 off per gallon for each $50 you spend. So, for me, that $0.60 off per gallon x20 gallons is an additional $12 in my pocket.

Ok.

On to Kmart.

Honestly, I don't love going to Kmart. I just don't.

But, I can't resist a good deal!

Here is what I got today:



12 boxes Fiber One granola Bars
12 3 packs of Trident Gum (so 36 packs)
10 Secret Flawless Deoderant
12 40pk Huggies Wipes

Total Retail: $150.xx
I paid: $21.xx plus tax

Not too shabby!

The Fiber One Bars are on sale for 2.50 and GM has a catalina promo. Each transaction I got 4 boxes, and that earned a $3 off my next purchase catalina. I also used .50/1 MFQ which was doubled, so I paid a net of $3 for 4 boxes, or 75 cents per box.

Trident...on sale for 2.50 (regular packs) or 2.33 (Whitening kind). Used $1/1 MFQ doubled and paid either 50 cents or 33 cents per 3 pack of gum (or 16 cents/11 cents per individual package).

Huggies Wipes are $1.99. Simple math here! $1/1 coupon doubled made them FREE!

Secret Flawless Deodorant, $4.49. Used a $2/1 coupon doubled, which made them $0.49 each.

Cake Pops

Lately I've started reading this blog called 'Bakerella'. She makes cupcakes. AMAZING cupcakes. Mostly though, her amazingness revolves around her cupcake pops. If you want to drool over her blog with me, check the links to your right.

I've been wanting to try them for a while but since I've been doing Weight Watchers, not such a good idea. Last weekend, Pete was going over to a friends' house for a BBQ and to watch the Gonzaga Basketball game. So I fully embraced the opportunity to make treats that wouldn't end up on my hips. Well, some did. But at least not all. I decided to make the cupcake bites into basketballs. C'mon, I need to hear a big group 'Awwwww!'. I'm listening! Thanks. They sorta turned out. I had some issues. But they were still good.

So, here we go!

First, you bake a cake. Yes, I realize there is no cake in this pan. I forgot to take a picture of it. But I think you can figure out what a cake looks like, right?

I always use a cake mix. I love Betty!

She makes it so easy.

Crumble the cake in a big bowl, then attack it with some forks. You are making cake crumbs. It's fun...trust me!

Try it!

You know you want to.

Time for some more Betty! Of course, if you wanted to be all Suzy Homemaker 'n' stuff, you could make a cake and frosting from scratch.

Just don't tell me.

I might feel inadequate.

Unless you bring me a sample, then I'd probably be ok with it.

Start with a half of a tub of frosting. I used cream cheese frosting to go with my spice cake but you could do lots of different combinations. Stir it up. Mix it in. C'mon, its fun! I used a fork and basically mashed it around.

This is how it looks when its all mixed in. If you want, put more frosting in.

Bakerella uses most of the tub, but I did that and it was too much. Next time, I'm sticking with a half of a tub.

You might want to take off your rings. Or they will be a goooooooey mess.

Take a cookie scoop and scoop some 'dough'. If you don't have a scoop, you should get one. If you don't want to get one, you could use spoons.

Then scoop some more with your scoop till its all scooped up.

ROOOOOOOOLL them into cute little balls and put on a waxed or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Once they are all done, put them in the freezer for an hour or so, till they get firm.

Like my abs.

When I was 2.

Here is what you need for decorating. The Candy Melts I got at Michaels, they have tons of different colors. You could also use Almond Bark.

Here's a step you can skip if you want :) While the balls were in the freezer, I made up some yummy cookie dough.

It's the best recipe ever. Oddly enough, its the Betty Crocker recipe. From scratch, not one of those bags, silly!

I told you I love her. Maybe I should have married her instead. Nah, Pete's a better kisser.

Not that I would know that, I'm just assuming.

I put in cinnamon, butterscotch and chocolate chips and decreased the flour and replaced it with some oatmeal. Yummy!

Using my handy dandy scooper, here are the cookies ready for the oven.

All ready to eat! These guys are the BOMB. Seriously the best Chocolate Chip cookie recipe ever. Its the only one I've used for about 7+ years now.

Ok, back to the balls...

Melt the candy wafer thingys per the package directions. I use the microwave directions. Easier. I'm all about things being easy. Then, go get your frozen balls.

Yours, not your husband's.

Dip the balls in the melted candy. Here is where things started going wrong.

Those candy dipper things? Absolutely worthless. Spoon? Made the candy pool at the bottom of the balls. Toothpick? Worked great to dip, but hard to get out of the ball. Fork? What I ended up using, but still not ideal. I really don't know how Bakerella does it. Hers are nice and round and purty. Mine are not.

Anyway, however you decide to dip, dip and place on waxed or parchment paper to dry. They dry VERY fast.

Now for the fun part. Using the Food Writers, I tried to make black lines like you would see on the basketball. Mine were all dried out, I guess that's what you get for buying them at Michaels. Needless to say, they are going back. I'll have to check a decorating store or something to see if I can find something better.

So those are the basketballs. All TWO of them. Yep, that's all I did. I sent Pete with a plate of cookies and a plate with 2 basketballs surrounded by orange blobs :)

I'm going to make the cupcake pops for Abby to bring to school as her birthday treat on Friday, I'll let you know how those go.

My Safeway buys!

I read a lot of coupon blogs and I always enjoy it when the bloggers post pictures of their purchases. So, I thought, why not? I'm going to try to do it for my smaller trips. The bigger ones, well, ain't happenin'.

Tonight I ran to Safeway. It was the last night of their sale.

Before sales and coupons, this would have cost $86.50.

I paid $20.50 and got four $2 OYNO catalinas ($8 value), so a net of $12.50.

That is an 85% savings!



How it broke down:

$32.00 Crystal Light (sale price $2 x 16)
$5.00 Rice A Roni (sale price $1.25 x 4)
$12.50 Pasta (sale price $1.25 x 10)
----
$49.50 Sale Prices
-$15 Safeway Promo (Get $5 for each 10 items you buy, I bought 30)
-$8 Crystal Light Printable ($1/2 x 8)
-$1 Rice A Roni ($1/4 MFQ)
-$5 Pasta ($0.50/1 x 10 Blinkie MFQ)
----
$20.50 plus $8 in catalina coupons (I think it was $2 off for each 4 Crystal Light you buy)

Not too shabby, eh?

Now dinner tonight...

I'm going to toot my horn a little bit :) I made the most AMAZING chicken tonight. It was so good. Why was it so good? ALL FOUR KIDS ATE IT. Did you get that? ALL FOUR of them. Not one, not two or three, but four. That is totally a rare moment in our house. In fact, I'm not sure it has even happened before. And it was so easy.

At 1:00, I thought I should put something in the crockpot. I put in two huge frozen chicken breasts.

Then, I took a carton of V-8 Southwest Corn soup...



...and smothered those boobies. Put the crockpot on high and let it go. About 4:00, I shredded the chicken a little bit, and let it continue to cook. About an hour later, I made up some Rice A Roni Rice Pilaf and served that with the chicken. Oops. Forgot a veggie. There's corn in the soup though, right?

Anyway, the chicken was SO SO SO good. So moist and tasty. You should try it sometime. Guess how much it cost? $3.74. Yep, 3 dollars and 74 cents. The chicken was $1.99, soup was $1.00 and the rice was $0.75. Had I been thinking, I would have added a $0.24 package of broccoli steamers for a $3.99 dinner. Not too shabby!

Darn Pixos!!

Abby has these Pixos. They are tiny round beads that you use to make a design. Then you spray with water and they magically stick together. Kind of like Perler Beads but you use water instead of an iron. And they are round instead of hollow. So I guess not really like Perler beads after all.

Earlier this week, she brought them out of our bedroom where they are stored. We told her it wasn't a good time to do them. A bunch of loose, tiny balls + 3 little boys = disaster. So as she was going back to put them away, the tray that holds the beads and keeps the colors separated slipped out of her hand. Ugh. Great. At least it was in the bedroom. So she picked them all up.

Today, the boys minus Matty are at Costco and Abby is home sick. She asked to do them and I said sure. So she started working on her design (her name in capital letters) and I spent oh, at least 30 minutes separating the colors again into the tray. All is well! She finishes her project and puts it on the counter to dry.

Then it happens.

You aren't going to believe this!!

Not even 10 minutes after I had finished spending 30 minute sorting them, she dropped it again when she was putting it away. Only this time it was in the kitchen. The kitchen floors are hardwood, meaning the beads are EVERYWHERE. So then we spend 15 minutes cleaning them up.

What a fun day! You jealous?

Hi Peeps

Miss me? You should have!

So, I've been wondering something. For a while now. Why, oh why, does it take Tyler 45 minutes to an hour to unload the stinking dishwasher? Abby gets that knocked out in 5-10 minutes. Tyler, on the other hand, cannot resist playing 'drums', talking nonsense, having swordfights with my knives, you name it. It gets old fast.

We just got done having Aaron's birthday party. We made cupcakes, with blue frosting and sprinkles like he requested. They were yummy! I used the buttercream frosting recipe from the Bakerella blog, oh my, it was SO GOOD! Now he's happily "napping" with his new monster truck and *listening to some pounding on the floor upstairs* oh his new green soccer ball.

Nothing much new on the job front. Lots of resumes sent in for Pete. I had a job interview for Pediatric ICU at one of the local hospitals yesterday. It went well and they want to schedule a part 2 interview with the assistant managers (yesterday I met with the manager and nurse recruiter). The longer it takes the better, more time for Pete to find a job so I don't have to!

Want some deals? You got it! Go save some money!

Ok...

Walgreens.
Love that store. They have the best free and/or cheap stuff.

They have these Glad Sense and Spray and Glade Lasting Expressions air fresheners. One plugs in to the wall and the other one sits on a table top and sprays at 30 minute intervals. Anyway, they are on sale this week for 7.99. In the WAGS coupon book is a coupon for $4.00 off. Then you can pair it with either a $3.00 or $4.00 Manufacturer coupon! The $3 one is in the package. In the Sense and Spray, I just opened the top and grabbed it out. The Lasting Expressions you have to actually open the package, so you kind of have to buy it first. The $4 coupons were in the 2/8/09 SmartSource.

What I did, was I used my $4 coupon to buy the LE one for 7.99 - $4 WAGS - $4 MQ = overage of .01. Then I can dig into the package for the $3 one and get some more for 0.99. If your store is out, then get a raincheck...the Walgreens Q is good though the end of the month. I'm actually planning to order some more $4 MQ's from Ebay and get a raincheck or two...or five.

I will say, I don't condone 'stealing' coupons out of packages, the only reason I will do it in this case is because I'm buying that package anyway.

Ok, on to the next deal.

Albertsons has a Kraft Spend $25 get $10 off promo going on right now. The one by me (32nd and Hwy 27) had $1/2 coupons near the Nabisco crackers and the Kraft cheese. The crackers are on sale for $2.50 each, Kraft 8oz cheese is $2 and the shredded cheese is $3. You can combine these however you want as well.

Here is what I did:
10 boxes of various Wheat Thins @2.50 each = $25.00
10 blocks of Kraft Cheese @2.00 each = $20.00
2 bags of shredded Swiss @3.00 each = $6.00

Total = $51.00
- $20 ($10 off promo times two, you can do as many as you want in a transaction)
- $6 ($1/2 Kraft cheese MQ)
- $5 ($1/2 Nabisco MQ)
= $20 for 10 boxes of crackers and 6 lbs of cheese.

For some reason I paid $19, I'll have to check my receipt. Wierd. It said I saved $72! Not bad! Another thing, if at least 4 of the cheeses you buy are 2%, you will ALSO get a catalina for $3 off your next order. So my 'net' was actually $16.

So, go shopping!!! Now!

The past few days....

So, I kind of slacked off since Wed. I'll tell you why in a minute. First, the No TV week. I would say we were 90% successful. The kids watched a movie yesterday afternoon *gasp*. I know. Oh, and they played their DS's for an hour. But all in all, we were able to get through a week with VERY little TV. For me it was quite an accomplishment, I never thought we'd make it. Sometimes though, the kids just need to CHILL and that is why they watched the movie yesterday.

Anyway.

The reason I was slacking is that Pete was laid off on Wednesday. Totally out of the blue too. They laid off about 9% of the company, I think around 200 people, 10 or so of which were in Spokane. Oddly, Pete feels liberated. He has been really stagnated there, but it was too cushy of a job to do anything about. So God did :)

We aren't too worried, but the reality is that there is exactly ONE prospect here in Spokane. So we are looking at other options. Like Pete working in Seattle M-F and coming home on weekends. Or me going back full-time and him starting a business. Or him doing contract work. Last option would be renting out this house and moving for a year or two somewhere else, possibly back to Vegas. Time will tell, we'll just see what God puts in our laps the next few weeks. If anyone hears of any software engineering positions, let us know!

I actually wrote a resume and cover letter and applied at Sacred Heart. I don't really want to go back to work but we are trying to be pro-active. The departments I would work in (I applied for ER, PICU and NICU) are all 12 hour shifts. So it would only be 3 days a week. About 25% of me wants to, but the other 75% doesn't. It would be hard on the family.

So please be praying for us. We have some tough decisions to make and we will need God's covering. He has always taken care of us, and we have no doubt he will this time. You know, funny thing, when I told my dad, he said something about the first reaction being fear. Fearful of how we will make it. But honestly, I have not felt fearful AT ALL. $ wise we will be ok for 8-9m if nothing changes (not that we will wait that long). I think that is a huge part of why I'm not afraid, because that would have been my first worry. I know my husband is a stud and handsome and smart and a good worker and he knows his stuff. I confident he'll get a job. And whatever situation we land in, even if its difficult (ie being a single mom for 5 days a week), it won't be more than God knows I/we can handle.

The good news is that thanks to my stockpile, we are able to pare our grocery budget WAY back! Yay, coupons!

Chester No TV Week - Day Two

Day two is almost over. This is a LOT easier than I thought it would be. We did bend the rules a little bit. When Aaron gets up at 6:30am, he is allowed to watch TV as well as anyone else that follows. I sure am not going to get up at that hour to dance around and entertain them. So basically, its from 7:15 or so on. Maybe 7:30.

Honestly, I don't really even know for sure, because I have no clue when Pete gets up. I am sleeping. Call me lazy, but why would I get up when I can't get in the shower yet anyway? Yes, folks, I am THIRD in line for the shower. Get that? THIRD. First Pete. Then Abby. Then I get the leftovers. Although I don't think I've ever had a cold shower so I won't complain about the extra precious minutes of sleep that charges me up to wrangle children all day long.

This morning Aaron and Matthew and I went to a friend's house. It was fun, I always am a fan of sending kids to play while we eat and drink and talk. Such an important thing in the life of a spoiled stay at home mother. Oh, by the way, all this was being done while my house was being cleaned. Yep, I'm spoiled. I'll admit it.

Anyway, we picked up Ty and I noticed on the way home it was 50 degrees. So we decided to walk to the bus stop. Matthew was wearing shoes and it was really his first time walking outside. Usually we just sit in the Suburban parked at the bus stop to wait. Karen, the fabulous bus driver, loved seeing the boys. They are normally in the car, so she's never even seen them. Maybe Tyler but not the younger 2.

When we got back, the boys were delighted to go play in their CLEAN rooms and Matty and Abby and I stayed outside waiting for Pete to get home. Matthew is such a Boden boy. There is something engrained in the gene pool that says 'when you can walk, you push a truck at all times.' His first time playing outside and that's exactly what he did. He had a ball pushing the big Tonka trucks around. It was cute. And fun to go up the driveway chasing after him 20 times since he doesn't know the rules yet.

Abby had her post op appt with the hand surgeon and got her stitches removed. Abby and Ty and I played a game and then they read some books. Its fun to hear Abby read and even Ty is trying to sound stuff out.

Anyway, Pete and Abby are now off at gymnastics and Tyler is having a silverware fight with Aaron so I better go intervene.

Chester No TV Week - Day One

Abby's school sent home a challenge for the week: No TV or video games in honor of Dr. Seuss week. Well, as nutty as we are, we thought we'd give it a try. After all, the principal will be calling random students each night and if they are caught reading, they get a treat! So of course, Abby thought it would be WAY more important to read instead of clean her room. Not so fast, you little schemer.

Anyway, its been slightly challenging, which has propelled us to challenge the kids. Go to the playroom and find a toy you haven't played with in a long time and play with it. That kept the boys busy for a little while. They have gone outside to play in the rain twice. I told the boys to go find 5 cars each; of course they came up with the largest monstrosities they could find. I'm talking a 4 foot long firetruck, people. In my had I had pictured them coming upstairs with 5 little matchbox cars. Uh, wrong.

We decided we are doing the kids a disservice by 'allowing' the cleaning lady to clean their rooms. Abby protested cleaning her room today because 'it's their job!'. Well, little Missy, I have news for you. From now on, they will not be touching the kids rooms unless they are cleaned up. So that's what we did this afternoon. Tyler cleaned his room (meaning stuffed his toys into the changing table that is in there), helped Aaron clean his (doesn't everyone need a closet full of toys?), and then proceeded to help Abby with hers. In the meantime, I did stuff down here. My husband is going to love me. Well, he does anyway, but he will be glad to not have to spend a Monday evening cleaning up for the cleaning people. Oh and he's going to come home to a roast chicken in the oven. Aren't I just the bestest wife EVER? Um...yeah. Anyway.

Matthew and Aaron are down for naps. Abby and Tyler are sprawled in front of butcher paper with watercolors. I can't wait to see what they come up with! So far, Tyler's says Tyle and Abby has the beginning of a house scene. Oh, and did you know, if you drink water out of a cup with your tongue, you turn into a dog? And if you drink out of the milk one, you become a cat? That's what Abby just told Tyler. I never knew!! Did you?

My Kmart Double Coupon deals

So Kmart is doing this double coupon promotion, where they will double coupons up to $2.00 in value. I went yesterday and came home with this:

3 pkg Quaker 'Quakes' FREE (1.99 - $1/1 doubled)
8 10pks of Ziploc Zip N Steam bags $1.49 (2.99 - $1.50/2 doubled)
4 boxes of Ziploc Snack bags $1.69 (3.19 - .75/1 doubled)
1 bottle Fantastik spray $0.69 (2.69- $1/1 doubled)
Swiffer Starter set 6.99 (9.99 - $2/1 doubled)
24pk Swiffer Wet Refill Pads FREE (8.49 - Free WYB Starter set)

Total before coupons was $69.xx, after was $29.xx.

Not too shabby! The ziploc bags were slightly more than I normally would pay but we use those steaming bags several times a week and I'm almost out. I had a coupon that would have netted me a .29 cent deoderant but apparently a lot of other people thought the same thing :)

This afternoon, Abby and I are going to see the Cinderella play downtown. She's SO excited! Me too. It will be fun to have some girl time :)

Creative Abby

The other night, Abby asked how to spell the days of the week. She was promptly told I would tell her in the morning, as it was 10pm at night and she should be sleeping. The next day after school, she brought a piece of paper down from her room. She asked if I wanted to know why she needed to spell the days of the week. She showed me the paper and it had her and Tyler's name written alternately, each with a box next to it.

Well, their daily chore is the dishwasher. She told me that if they do the job without complaining, they get a sticker, and if they complain, they get an 'X'. How creative is that? I thought that was pretty inventive for a 5 year old.

The chart is now proudly on the fridge. This kid pays attention to detail, I tell ya. On the chart are these wierd stickers for Tyler. Her square gets a Disney Princess sticker.

Anyway, I thought that was cute.

Now she just finished dictating a story for the ksps.org writing contest. It's very cute. The official title is 'The Animal Book'. I'll post it here when its done. It reminds me of back in the day...20+ years ago... Oh my, did I just say that? 20 YEARS AGO??? Man, I'm old. Anyway, we used to enter a young writers thing at Seattle Pacific University. I remember that being a very fun time. Maybe she'll take after her Grammy and Great Grandpa and be a writer. Who knows?

Swagbucks

A friend turned me on to this neato website. Who doesn't like free stuff?

This website is called Swag Bucks. You can join HERE.

Its basically a search engine, just like google. But sometimes, when you search for stuff, you will earn 'Swagbucks' which you can then redeem for gift cards.

Examples:
Amazon.com $5 GC = 45 Swagbucks
Starbucks $10 GC = 130 Swagbucks
Target $20 GC = 220 Swagbucks

You can also earn by shopping...if you shop through their link at selected stores, you get $1 Swagbuck for each $5 you spend. So if you spend $100 at Walmart.com, have it shipped to the store (ie pay no shipping), thats 20 Swagbucks earned. Not too shabby.

The other cool thing is that when you refer people, when THEY earn a swagbuck, you do too! So like for me, I just earned a $2 one for searching for a random thing. So, my friend that referred me got $2 in her acct too. How cool is that?

So...sign up. Just do it. C'mon. You know you want to. It doesn't cost anything. It gets you FREE stuff. Who doesn't like that? Here is the link again if you missed it before: DO IT!!!

P.S. I just figured out something else neato. Randomly, you can find Swag Codes on the internet. It's a free buck basically. I found one posted on a message board. If you go to 'my account' in the upper right corner, you will see on the left side 'Enter your SwagCode'. Put in the code (one that is working RIGHT now is BirthdayBuck) and click Gimme and it will credit your account. Easy peasy! They are time sensitive, so when you find a code, put it in!

Need. Caffeine. Or Sleep. Something.

I'm SO tired. 4 nights of waking up several times is catching up with me. I told Aaron that I was tired and he said I should take a nap. I told him I couldn't since I have to take care of my boys. We went on with our life and 10 minutes later he asked to watch a show downstairs. As we were going down there, he told me "I watch a show downstairs, you go upstairs and sleep." So cute :)

I'm trying a diet pepsi. We'll see if it works.

On Tuesday night, I bought Tyler some new shoes. The velcro strap on his old ones was about to rip, so he needed them. He seemed to really like them. Especially when he came down yesterday morning WEARING them with his pajamas. Yes folks, my cute little boy snuck down at some point and put his shoes on over his footie pajamas and wore them to bed :) Last night he did it again and this time Aaron joined in on the action. I can't imagine how uncomfortable it is to sleep with shoes on! I think that was their last night of shoe bliss though. Tonight, socks shall suffice.

I noticed something the other day on the Wii Fit. If you have one, have you ever noticed how when it tells you to 'step on!' he makes this little 'Ugh' sound before it starts weighing you. Who's bright idea was THAT? I mean, I know I need to lose some weight, but I certainly don't need a talking scale to groan every time I get on it. But I suppose I'll put up with it, because I do like to box and do step aerobics.

Have you ever bought gift certificates from Restaurant.com? I found this on a blog the other day. I had checked it before but never found any appealing places to go. Well, now they have Winger's Bar and Grill on there. Basically, you can buy a gift certificate for really cheap. This particular one is a $25 gift cert for $10. BUT, if you use the code 'DINE', you get 80% off. So that is a $25 gift cert for $2. The best part is, its at the mall. So that means, we can go there during one of our mall dates...drop the kids off at the drop and play and go eat without them! You have to spend $35 but I think that's easy to do for 2 meals and a couple of drinky poos. So ultimately, you could have a $35 meal for $12. Can't beat that! So go buy some. There are actually a lot of places in Spokane but I know none of them but that one. And I've not been there, so it better be good! I don't want to waste my $2.

Ok, I'm off to bed where my 2 year old sent me. Not really. I'll finish my diet pepsi and hopefully that will perk me up!

Albertsons Ad starting tomorrow

Here are some deals to be had starting tomorrow at Albertsons!

Eggs large, 1 dozen, first 2 $1.19

Select GM cereals and fruit snacks, for each 4 you buy, they are $1.50. If you buy less than 4, they are $2.50. There are some $1/3 and .50/1 coupons out there too for a smokin' deal.

There are a bunch of Kraft items that are 'Save $3 when you buy $10'. In the past, these have been cumulative, meaning $6 off if you buy $20, etc. I'm planning to pick up a TON of Jello Pudding (our go to dessert) for .70 a box. Maybe a few other things.

From my super sneaky secret website.

Free Quizno's!!

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Someday, I'll address the issue of the Christmas music in February. I'm home today. I don't like being home bound. Matthew is coughing, has the runs and a really bad rash, poor guy. He's also got that pesky lil' fever going off and on. Then Aaron has been hovering over the toilet, announcing he has to 'burp' which is his word for vomit. Don't you wish you could have my life?

I had to miss my first MOPS today. I'm sad. But I'll get over it. If I have to. Matthew woke up at 9:45, just in time for his 10am nap! What a champ. But I'm being nice and letting him stay up. My friend Christine rescued me this morning and dropped by to pick up Ty so I wouldn't have to wake Matthew and take a threatening-to-burp Aaron to drop him off at preschool.

Last night I used my coolio little Silhouette that I've not gotten to play with much. Pete wanted a camera vinyl sticker for his truck. I love that thing! I need to figure out some cool sayings for my house. Any suggestions? Leave your suggestions as a comment and MAYBE I'll give you something cool from my stockpile. Like Cold Sore Cream or Bald Guy Wipes? Actually, I think I have some chocolate down there. Or Cereal? I also want to find some similar flowers to Abby's bed quilt and do some flowers to stick on the wall. So much to do! Maybe I'll have it done by next October.

Oh, in case you were wondering, the Christmas Decor is MIA. Yes, I do realize I was early this year, it is only February after all. Now the mantle looks horribly bare. I need to find the bin where I packed all that stuff away in!

Vevers

Do you know what a Vever is? I didn't...until dinnertime tonight. Apparently, when you feel your brow and you are really hot, that's a vever. It was determined that Tyler, Aaron and Abby all have vevers. Matthew though, has a fever. He got some tylenol, but since I wasn't sure what the treatment for a vever is, we just fed them dinner instead. Seemed to cure that darn vever.

Today is the day...

I decided that today is the day to make Marisa happy. Maybe then she'll quit pestering me about her lack of entertainment. Besides, maybe there are others who miss knowing about the crazy antics of my kids and the hectic life of the Bodens.

So *STOP THE PRESSES* Right after I typed that 2 letter word, I had to attend to a 17 month old who thinks that he should be allowed to climb on the kitchen table and chairs. Of course he fell and bonked his head. Poor baby. Ok, moving on, 10 minutes later.

Lots of things been going on here. The highlight of the last month was that my wonderful mother came out here for a weekend to watch her four angelic grandchildren while Pete and I went away for the weekend. Boy, she is brave. We didn't go too far, just to CDA. We had a great weekend of doing what we want, when we wanted (minds out of the gutter people!!!). We had a couples massage, I had a facial, we had afternoon coffee, Pete took pictures of a cool jet ski dude (you can see all his pics here ), we watched some movies (Burn After Reading was pretty dumb), did some shopping etc. etc. etc. We did miss the kids though, it was our first weekend away EVER without little tagalongs. But Grammy did GREAT with them! They even cried when she left *tear*! She must have given them lots of candy, they never cry when I leave. Well, except for Matthew. But that's what Grammys are for.

Abby had surgery on her hand last Friday. The wierdest thing. She has had this bump on her index finger for a few months now. It has been getting slightly bigger in size. The pediatrician and hand surgeon both had no idea what it was. Turns out, it was a tiny CHUNK of wood, which her body had encapsulated in some sort of cyst type thing. I say chunk because it was more than a sliver. It was about 2mm wide. Judging from the size, it would have HURT going in. Who knows when she got it. Very wierd. So now she has a cute little pink bandage on her finger. Sort of like a club finger haha. She's been keeping her brothers in line for me. Thatta girl. Is 'Thatta' a word? I think not. But we can pretend. Please? I was going to take it off tomorrow morning but she has show and tell on Mondays so of course I'm not allowed to take it off until tomorrow after school. We get to move on to a regular old bandaid.

Other than that, same ol same ol. Aaron has an ear infection. Matthew has a cough and a bad diaper rash. Tyler is bouncing off the walls. Abby has a sore finger. Pete is hiding out in the office. I'm trying to type this but keep getting interrupted.

I really should go now. I need to give my sore tushy baby a soothing bath.

Crazy Sledding!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday! I'll post some pictures later. I've benn trying to recooperate from my sickness. I'm congested like crazy and now that I've pulled of a nice Christmas (I cooked the BEST Turkey ever, BTW.) I've just been taking it easy. Pete is off until January 5th, so having him home is always nice!

Anyway, yesterday, he went out to snowblow and after he was done decided to sled down the side of our house. No, not the left side. The right side. You know, where the big huge triple decker boulder retaining wall is? Yep, that one.

Tonight he went out again so I could get some videos of him and the kids. I was standing by our bedroom window on the southeast corner of the house. We're getting the run nice and groomed for when my brother comes next week. I have an orthopedic surgeon friend who agreed to be on call, too!



Grooming a new run


Abby's Turn! Don't worry, we made them start off a little lower


And Tyler...


When I feel better, I'm going to try it out.

The Magic of Santa

I hope they never stop believing. They are so genuinely into Santa, I just love it! Tonight when it was time to get Santa's snacks ready, Abby couldn't believe he was coming TONIGHT!!! I think she thought that since tomorrow is Christmas, that naturally he would come tomorrow. It is just so magical at this age. They TRULY still believe. It makes it so much fun! Tyler insisted that we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus before bed too. So cute :)

Pete took the PINK laptop upstairs to tuck them in and track Santa on the internet. He was also going to read them 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' from there since, well, I can't find the real book. Such a great thing, technology.

Anyway, while they were upstairs, I grabbed our wreath hanger, which has jingle bells on it, off the door, went outside and rang it. I rang it a few times, then came in. Abby had come downstairs. She said she had heard bells and I told her I thought I had too, but I went out and checked and didn't see anything. They were so excited at hearing the bells. Such a simple thing.

We have established that Santa is now in South America. They have been instructed to go to sleep...HAHAHA! In the morning, they are to wake us up, and NOT open anything. We'll see how that goes :) I guess that's one drawback to a main floor master, they have to walk right by the tree to get to our room :)

I'll post more in a bit, I have pictures from our Santa visit as well as some from today!