We're off!!!

I'm late posting these. These pictures are from the fair on 10/25/08

Bridget (why do my kids always pose?)
Tessa and Jess at the petting zoo

Emily and Hannah after their performance (yes, there's that pose).

We'll tomorrow we are off to Chino to visit my parents and we are also going to Disneyland for 5 days. That's the longest we have ever gone. Usually we just do 1 day at Disneyland and one day at CA Adventure. I hope we survive! Hannah and Emily are dancing there on Saturday so it should be really fun for them. They love to perform and really are talented (they didn't get it from me). I've had a busy couple of weeks with Bridget and Dr's appts. I've been to the Dr. with her 8 times in just over 2 weeks and she's had a ton of tests done. The 1st thing was for an abcess that ended up being MRSA. And then she had a fever that lasted 6 days and so the dr. wanted to run a bunch of tests to make sure it isn't anything serious. We just got back from getting an echocardiogram and I hope that's the last of it. She's doing really well right now, so I'm not worried. The test today was just a precaution. Well I'm off to do laundry so I can start packing. UGH!! Packing is the worst part of any trip!

Why I'm voting Democrat...

I'm voting Democrat because English has no place being the official language in America.
I'm voting Democrat because I'd rather pay $4 for a gallon of gas than allow drilling for oil off the coasts of America.
I'm voting Democrat because I think the government will do a better job of spending my money than I could.
I'm voting Democrat because when we pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq, I know the Islamic terrorists will stop trying to kill us because they'll think we're a good and decent country.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe people who can't tell us if it will rain in two or three days, can now tell us the polar ice caps will disappear in ten years if I don't start riding a bicycle, build a windmill or inflate my tires to proper levels.
I'm voting Democrat because it's alright to kill millions of babies as long as we keep violent, convicted murderers on death row alive.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe businesses in America should not be allowed to make profits. Businesses should just break even and give the rest to the government so politicians and bureaucrats can redistribute the money the way they think it should be redistributed.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe guns, and not the people misusing them, are the cause of crimes and killings.
I'm voting Democrat because when someone with a weapon threatens my family or me, I know the government can respond faster through a call to 911 than I can with a gun in my hand.
I'm voting Democrat because oil companies' 5% profit on a gallon of gas are obscene, but government taxes of 18% on the same gallon of gas are just fine.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe three or four elitist liberals should rewrite the Constitution every few months to suit some fringe element that could never get their agenda past voters.
I'm voting Democrat because illegal aliens are not criminals, are not sucking up resources through government aid, hospital services, education, or social services, but are just people trying to make a better life by coming to America illegally. We can't blame them for that, can we? I'm voting Democrat because now I can now marry whatever I want, so I've decided to marry my horse.
I'm voting Democrat because I have no idea how socialism works, how universal health care works, but I don't want to work and when I get sick from overeating and general laziness, I want a hard working doctor to work on me and then have the same doctor pay my bill by his raised taxes.
Makes ya wonder why anyone would ever vote Republican, doesn't it?

Halloween!!!

I'm so unoriginal. My girls were the same thing as last year, but the 3 oldest did have different witch costumes. Since I totally forgot to even think about a costume for Tessa it's a good thing that the one she wore last year still fit her. So we had 3 witches and a cat again this year! We went to our cousins (Jake and Karalee's) house for homemade soup and bread and then the big group went out trick or treating. My kids had so much fun. Tessa got the hang of getting candy at each house real quick. She would walk right up and put her hand out.

more coupons!

Okay, so I know I've been so bad about posting and I have tons of things I should journal about(like bridget's birthday, Tessa's 18 month mark, Hannah and Emily dancing at the fair- to name a few), but I just got back from the grocery store tonight (well a few hours ago) and I can't believe how much I got for so little. This coupon thing is amazing! I get free stuff or make money on things at CVS and Walgreens all the time now, but with food it is a little harder to do, but tonight I scored.
I got:
2 gallons Blue Bunny ice cream,
3 boxes hamburger helper,
3 boxes quaker simple harvest oatmeal,
3 boxes quaker oatmeal to go bars
4 drinkable dora yogurts, &
3 packages of instant potatoes

The grand total $1.83!!
Can you believe it?!

Coupons!!!

Okay, so for the past few weeks I've been using coupons to shop and I have to say that it really makes a difference. My neighbor told me that she started using coupons and cut $400 from her grocery bill by doing it. I'm not hard core by any means, but I do try to match the coupons I have with sales and I can't believe the difference in my grocery bill. Tonight I went to Albertsons and Fry's and between the 2 stores spent $30 plus change. I got the above items:
3 pkgs Dan Active,
3 pkgs activia,
4 cartons sour cream,
4 pkgs cream cheese,
1 easy mac,
2 pkgs frozen veggies,
8 boxes lean pockets,
2 pkgs cookie dough,
2 cartons ice cream,
2 bags lettuce,
24 cans chicken noodle soup,
1 can lays stax,
2 gallons milk,
4 gallons juicy juice.
I have to say that I didn't have coupons for everything ( I got some things just because I needed them right now) and I'm sticking to the rule to only buy what I use and therefore there are a lot of deals that I pass up because I don't need extra "stuff" in my house. (ask anyone who knows me)
I got the majority of my items at Fry's and I have to say I felt a "rush" as I left. This could be addictive!

I've also recently learned to can and I've done pinto beans, green beans and peaches so far. Between the canning, couponing and not having my house cleaners come anymore I think I'm heading for a burn out. What do you think? Which of my new hobbies do you think is going to fizzle the fastest?


I vote for getting the house cleaners back!

More funny Bridget comments...

For the sake of documenting... A few weeks ago Jess and I were sitting in the living room talking with Bridget sitting next to us itching her ear and she says, "Mom, why do I have butter in my ear?" Um, I guess I've missed using q-tips on her recently. Oops!

Today as I was having the girls help pick up and Bridget (who is the worst when it comes to picking up) came up to me and said, "Mom, when I grow up I want to be a Mom so I can tell people to clean." I guess she thinks that they do all the work and my only job is to order them around.

The above picture was taken on 9/2/08 on her 1st day of preschool this year. She really loves to go. I just wish it was 3 days a week instead of 2 because she loves it so much. She goes to Orange Patch Preschool again this year and I ended up putting her in the older class even though she is still 3 because I think I'm going to let her start kindergarten next year. She is growing up so fast and is really a fun little girl.

1st day of 3rd grade

Today (8/11/08) was the first day of school for Hannah and Emily. They are in the 3rd grade and so excited. Emily came home today and told me that school felt like it was only 5 minutes long because it was so much fun. They are in the same class again this year (their request) and have Mrs. Giles for their teacher. I'm really happy about who their teacher is. I think great things will happen this year for them. At the same time I can't believe my little babies are getting so old.

Bridget

Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 >
>Here is a funny bridget story. (well at least I think so)
>
>Tonight we were talking (yeah, she's non-stop talking) and somehow we got on
>the subject of things she is scared of. She told me that she was scared of
>the dark and I said, "Really, what's so scary about the dark?" and she
>looked at me with her big eyes and responded, (like duh), "darkness".

>I guess you had to be there. It was too funny!

Can you believe it? I'm posting. It's all about the contest...

I'm a sucker for a contest and the chance at winning something and that is what is finally getting me to post. I can't believe I've been suck a slacker. I have so many things that I need to write about, but they will just have to wait. I'm posting right now to let you all know about a new store and contest. It's an ememgency prepardness store that opened recently in mesa. You can check it out at
preparingwisely.com. If you want to read more about the contest and what you could win check out crazymamaof6.blogspot.com. I'm really trying to be more prepared. We have our water storage complete (for now) with 8, 55 gallon drums of water and 14 of those water pallets from costco (the bigger size bottles). What have you done lately for your storage?

How many of you are out there?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 36 people with my name in the U.S.A. http://howmanyofme.com">How many have your name?

I just found this neat little thing on someone else's blog. You put in your 1st and last name and it tells you how many other people in the US have your same name. There are 36 of me out there. How about you?

The Purse Pal

One of my blogging friends is having a contest, so go check it out. Her blog link is http://crazymamaof6.blogspot.com/ When you get to her blog you should read it because she is so fun to read about. She totally cracks me up all the time! Okay, so back to the contest- when you get to the blog there is a thing you can click on at the top of the blog that will take you to the contest post. Hurry... it ends Sunday at midnight. Anyway, I really hope I win the purse pal. don't you just hate it when you have to put your purse on a dirty floor at a restaraunt? I do!!! This thing works great and can even hold big purses or diaper bags. I hope I win one so I can quit holding my purse on my lap when I'm eating out. Anyway- go check it out. Here is the link for purse pal if you want to see what else they sell, but the link for the contest is above. http://www.purse-pal.com/store.htm

New Pictures

Last Saturday I had my girls pictures taken. Jenny Biggs was the photographer and again she did an amazing job. I just got the CD and I'm so excited to look through it. Here are a few pictures for now.

Easter

neighborhood party
the trailers behind the quad

friend, friend, hannah, emily and bridget
after the wright house egg huntemily and hannah reenacting the egg toss
This weekend started out with a neighborhood egg hunt and party that my friend across the street does. She goes all out and rents a bounce house and hides over a thousand eggs for the kids. Each egg contains a slip for a prize and some have candy too. She goes all out with the prizes- my kids come home every year with tons of new toys and candy. This year Jess borrowed a trailer to pull the kids around the street behind a quad. It was a hit.



Today Jess spoke in Church and then right after church we headed to the Wright House for another neighborhood egg hunt. The kids got a bunch of candy and then came home to watch the movie they got from the easter bunny (Enchanted). The easter bunny also brought them swim suits and Hannah gave me the eye when she saw the Old Navy tag on hers. I said, "why are you looking at me that way?" and she said, " I know you like to shop at old navy. Are you sure you're not the easter bunny?" I just laughed. I think the end is near for hannah and emily to still believe.



This evening we went to my Aunt Louise's for dinner. She is so good about hosting everyone every year. There were probably about 65 of us there and we had the traditional egg toss and then egg hunt with regular eggs and then money eggs. Hannah came away with $16, but bridget and emily only got a little more than a dollar. Emily was bummed, but a good sport at the same time. The girls had so much fun playing with cousins. I can't believe school starts again tomorrow. I guess things will get back to normal again.

Update on Tessa

Well, as you can see from the time of this post I'm up because Tessa is up. But, I didn't go in to get her- I just let her cry like I'm supposed to. (That is what I'm supposed to do- right?) Well, after a few minutes she wasn't crying anymore so I went in to see if she was really asleep and I found her in her crib laying on her tummy with Bridget in there with her patting her back with the music from her crib toy playing softly. It was the cutest thing. Bridget put her finger up to her mouth to "shhh" me and motioned for me to go out. The scene just cracked me up. I really believe that Bridget has an old soul. A few minutes later Bridget came out of her room and said to me, "see mom, I know how to get babies to sleep." Now I just have to get Bridget back to sleep. The big question is, should I put her to sleep in my room or let her continue to be the one to sleep train Tessa?

Here's another one

My cute baby Tessa. 10 months (before she was tortured) and Bridget, 3 1/2
Okay, now I'm on a roll... This afternoon I decided it was time to start "sleep training" Tessa. Yeah, it makes my stomach turn just typing those words. So I nursed her and then put her down in her crib and walked out. She immediately started crying because she never just goes to sleep for me. Well, after over 2 hours (yep, 2 hours) of screaming, wailing, dry heaving, making choking sounds, etc., she finally conked out. That was so hard for me to endure. I did go in about 3 times to try to comfort her, but that just made it worse. I hate this part so much. I'm so dreading tonight, but I know that if I don't follow through then what happened today was in vain. So, I put her down at 2, it was after 4 when she finally dropped from exhaustion and now it's approaching 6:30. I guess I should wake her up so she's good and tired for tonight. She's already proved she has a lot of stamina even when she's tired, I can't image what she'll be able to do if she's not tired. Oh, I'm so dreading tonight...

Blah, Blah, Blah...

Okay, so here's a post. I know I'm way overdue and I have lots I could document in my "journal"/blog. I could list lots of reasons why I haven't posted, but the honest goodness reason why I don't do it is plain and simple. I have never been a good journal writer and I much prefer to spend my time reading others blogs than write one of my own. It's a lot more fun that way. So what do you think of that?

Well, today I was watching Bridget ride her bike and I realized that I meant to write about her learning to rider her bike 2 1/2 months ago and never did. So here's the story and the pictures (that I just took today).

Bridget got a new bike for Christmas from Santa and loved riding it. After about 2 weeks she decided that training wheels just weren't for her and she asked Jess to take them off. He worked with her for about an hour and she hasn't stopped since! She loves to ride her bike. She's so funny to watch because she's so small. Her initiative in riding just shows her personality. She doesn't let anything stop her if she wants to do it. Not her age, her size, anything. I know she's not the 1st 3 year old to ride a 2 wheel bike (Hannah and Emily were almost 6 before they could do it) , but it just impressed me that she took the initiative to do it. She is almost 3 1/2 now and is so much fun!

Something to look at

If you are looking for a good read stop by this blog http://archives-lives.blogspot.com/
Right now she is having a contest and anyone can enter. I really enjoy her writing- she makes me laugh. She used to live on my street and got married a couple months ago and moved to Canada.

The Best of Both Worlds.....and more

Thanks to everyone for all the comments on my last post. I have a lot to think about and I appreciate all the advice. I really wish I could keep my kids in a bubble their whole lives. Well, I have a lot to write about so I better get started...

This is my first "good mail" package I got from Kristi for being close to getting the answer right on her blog contest about the hope diamond. It was so fun to get this package. I love all the ribbon.
This is a picture from the Hannah Montana Concert I took Emily and Hannah to on January 22. They had such a good time. I guess I was lucky to get the tickets. I was just at my computer and bought them as soon as they went on sale, but I later found out that everyone else I knew that tried to buy them weren't able to. I got 4 tickets and ended up taking Hannah and Emily's best friend, Kylee, with us. The girls were all so excited. I had fun watching them during the concert as they would be standing up singing to all the songs. Usually concerts are loud because of the music, but the high pitched screetching sounds coming from all the tweens in the audience was piercing my ears. I was sure there would be packs of dogs outside the arena when we left because of all those high pitched sounds. We ended up with pretty good seats. We were almost straight back and could see the stage almost directly in front of us (we were just a little to the side). Since we were on the 1st level, it was theater seating so no one was directly in front of us (unlike the floor seats), but we weren't too high that we were looking down on the stage either. I think we really lucked out with the seats. The girls had such a good time and they told me it was the best day of their lives. I'm so glad I got to go with them and experience their excitement.Emily and Hannah
Emily, Kylee, and Hannah (they all wore matching Hannah Montana t-shirts)

Tessa, Dad, and Bridget

Tessa turned 9 months today (2/10/08). I tried to get a good picture, but this was the best of about 7 I took. Oh well! She's so fun! She's teething right now and that's painful for her, but she still is a good baby. She is crawling like crazy and climbs up stuff to standing position on everything. I can't believe how fast she got mobile. It seems like one day she could barely sit up on her own and the next she was crawling everywhere. She's such a sweetheart.

Well, I have lots more to write about since it's been so long, but I'm tired and need to get some sleep.

Why are some kids so mean?

Okay, I can't sleep. I just feel sick to my stomach and I keep thinking about this so I thought I'd write it down and get it out. So, what better a place to do this than my blog?....
Tonight I was making dinner and the TV was on and something was brought up about DNA and Emily asked me what that was. I was trying to explain it and was saying something about how that everyone has unique DNA and that is a part of them that no one else has- everyone is different and she says that she gets it (in hindsight I think she was thinking something along the lines of personality) because she said, "yeah, like hannah's the exciting one and I'm boring?" and I said, "What?" ( I coudn't believe she just said that) and she said, "People call Hannah skinny bones and me fatty pig and they say that she's the exciting one and I'm boring" I couldn't believe what she was saying and I said "Who?" and she said- "lots of kids at school, like some of the kids in my class, and some of the Mexicans and some of the sixth graders. You know, lots of kids." I then said, "hannah, have you ever heard people say things like that?" and she said, "yes, all the time, people always try to say our differences because we are twins" I couldn't believe it. I can't believe how mean kids are. First of all, yes, Emily is a little bigger than Hannah. She always has been. She's about an inch taller, wears a 1/2 size bigger in shoes and weighs about 3 pound more, but by no means is fat. Second, boring? What does that mean? Emily and Hannah have such similar personalities and are so close. They are trully best friends. They do have little differences, but it totally bugs me that everyone since they were little always asked things like (perfect strangers mostly) "who's the bad one? or who's the hard one?" That always bugged me and does even more now because of course everyone whether they are a twin or not has a bad day once in a while. So the whole trying to distiguish the good/bad twin totally bugs me. No one ever says in a family of kids "whose the bad child?" to a parent when they are walking around the mall or something.
But back to the name calling....That is what breaks my heart even more. It probably hits home to me even more because I was always the "chubbier" of my sisters and although I wasn't fat, (like Emily) I was bigger than my sisters and I aways felt like I was fat because of it. It's a horrible thing to be self conscience (sp?, it's late and I can't think) and I just don't want that for my sweet girl. I really can't put into words the emotions I feel about this and how I just want to protect her. I wish I could shield her from this. I hope this isn't something that is an issue, but I'm afraid it will be. Even if she doesn't feel self consceous (okay I really can't spell right now) on her own about being a little bit bigger than Hannah I'm afraid with people (kids) always putting it in her face it will make her start to be self conscious about it. She probably will always be a little bigger (she was born that way) and who cares, but if people constanly compare it and bring it up as a bad thing then it is inevitable that she'll feel bad about it. And I hope it doesn't cause her to have issues. I don't know, maybe I'm reading into this too much, but I don't think so because I think that it just gets harder as you get older and go though the teenage years. I really don't know what to do to shield her and help her always feel good about who she is. I really don't want her self-esteem to be effected. Any suggestions?

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Today was my birthday- Yep I'm 34!! I feel really old. Turning 30 was no big deal because it was so close to my 20's, I still felt young. Thirty-four feel really old because it feels close to 40. For some reason 40 seems old to me, not to offend anyone who is 40 or older. I don't think you are old, just for ME to be 40 seems old because I still feel like I should be 17. I know that probably doesn't make sense.
Last night I had the surprise of my life- Yes, a SURPRISE Birthday Party for ME!! My husband initiated it and with the help of a few friends and my sister they pulled it off in a matter of about 4 days and I have to say I had no clue. I think the last birthday party I had was when I was 12, so it's been quite a while and being that I have a January birthday so close to Christmas - my birthday tends to be an after thought- or forgotten all together so it really felt good to be celebrated.
Here's how it happened....
Jess isn't one to really go all out for holiday's, anniversary, birthday's etc., so I try to be pretty specific of what I want. For Christmas he didn't actually get me anything (that's another story) so I told him that he could redeem himself for my birthday and actually take me out and get me something. So, all week I've been saying things like "what are we going to do for my birthday", "do you have anything planned?" and so forth. He would always say- your birthday is Sunday so the girls and I will make you cupcakes or something. He wouldn't make plans with me and so my friend called and asked if we wanted to do something with her and her husband for my birthday on Saturday and since Jess wasn't being very nice about things (he was purposely trying to act like a "jerk" so I wouldn't catch on) she and I just planned that we would go out together and get pedicures and go to dinner and the movie. (she was in on the surprise)
Earlier in the week Jess asked me what I thought about him going dirtbike riding on Saturday and being that it was my designated birthday observed (sunday can't be the observed day because he has so many meetings for church that he isn't home anyway) I told him that I didn't want him to go, but much to my dismay he was working on his motorcycle,preparing it for his ride on Saturday, late Friday night. I was really bugged because he wasn't doing anything for my birthday- not even staying home from riding (I have to say that the motorcycle riding takes up the majority of his freetime so I was hoping he'd stay home on saturday). He said he'd be home around 10:30am on sat. but he didn't even get home until almost 1pm.
At 6pm my friend came and picked me up and we went to the pedicure place and got a much needed treatment (by the way my new years resolution is to get rid of my cracked heels once and for all) When we were about done I called home to see if I needed to stop home and nurse the baby before we headed out to dinner and Emily answered the phone. While I was talking to her Jess called me from his cell phone and said that Hannah had wrecked on her bike and I needed to come home because it was really bad. (I totallly believed this because I figured he was outside with Hannah and therefore calling me from his cell phone) I asked if he thought she needed to go to the ER and get stitches or something and he said Yes, it's really bad- her face is pretty mangled- I think she'll need surgery or something. Oh my gosh! Talk about worried. I do have to say that I handle crisis like this pretty well on the outside so it didn't look like I was falling apart or frantic, but I don't even remember the ride home with my friend. All I could think about was Hannah. I walked up to the front door and opened it and everyone yelled "Surprise" I was so shocked!! It took about 10 minutes for it to sink in. I kept looking at Hannah's face for reassurance that everything was okay. I still can't believe how surprised and shocked I was. I never expected that in a million years.
Anyway, there were about 30 people there or stopped by- for journaling sake I'll list them:
Shane and Debbie Wright
Jon and Catherine Jones
Kati Hall
Cara and Evan Fish
Jule and Jared Nielsen
Cole and Angela Keefer
Clint and M'liss Fincher
Jared and Elaine Huish
Clint Atwood
Shauna and Jeff Arnett
Tracy Ayre
Jenny and Chris Forsgren
Denise Overall
Amanda and Adam Mills
Maryn and Rod Fuller
Janee Layton
Gretchen Ward
Wes and Courtney Davis
Troy and Candice Palmer
We ate food- Jess had Gecko Grill make up some platters of Mexican food and then he grilled hamburgers and had chips and fruit platters from Costco. Things were decorated, we had music playing courtsey of Jeff Arnett and there was the neighbors big screen TV set up in our living room with a Wii for people to play. It was a lot of fun to be with everyone. It was pretty amazing that Jess pulled it all off. He only had a little bit of time because I left at 6pm and people got there around 6:30-6:45 and I got there around 7:15. I have to say that my house was a mess when I left at 6 and he did a good job (with help) of getting the house in shape and decorated and re-arranged for the party. I got some really nice gifts- everyone was really thoughtful. My cousin Debbie made me a necklace that I love. I haven't been much of a jewlery person, but I think this necklace is going to get me started. I really do love it. It is so me. I forgot to take a picture, so I'll have to do that later. Even after all the expense of the party, Jess still got me a present (he's not much of a spender so that's really big deal). He bought me a new Ipod nano. It's blue and the 8mb one. I think I can even watch movies on it, but I haven't used it yet so I'm not sure. What a great day!

Below are a few picutres from the party:

Now about my pedicure... The poor lady who did my feet really earned her money. I gave her a really big tip because I was even gagging at the amount of dry dead skin that came off my feet. After all her hard work, it will be easier to keep up my feet for my New Years resolution to have no cracks in my feet. Also, I have a really ugly toenail because it was smashed about 9 years ago and now doesn't grow out and so when I had my pedicure done I had them put on fake toenails for my 2 big toes (I did both so they would match) so that I now have normal looking feet. I'm so happy. I know my feet aren't pretty, but at least they look normal. Everytime I look at my once deformed toenail I just smile. It's great to look normal again.
(I know I should have taken a before picture so you could see the difference in my toenail, but I didn't. Just trust me that it looks a lot better now.)