A day on the farm preschool fieldtrip

(having fun with my camera thanks to these beautiful children)

Something I thought was cool

It reminds me of those delicious five cent scoops of ice cream from Thrify I loved getting with my family. Whatever happened to Thrifty ice cream? I wish I could take my kids there for family night.

Click here for more info on it.

What a deal day

If you know me, you know I love to bargain shop. I love to get smokin' deals and I often use coupons at the grocery store. In fact, I subscribe to four Sunday papers so I have extra coupons. I think everyone should do this. Who doesn't want extra cash in their pocket? I often have people ask me how I do it so I decided when there is a deal I don't want anyone to miss, I wll post it here for you all to see as What a deal day.

This week I will show you how to get 7 boxes of kellogs cereal for $4.00 WITHOUT needing any manufacturer's coupons.

Store: Albertsons (this deal is in Utah, I don't know if it applies to

other states, you will have to check with your store)

Buy 7 boxes of Kellogs Froot Loops 15 oz., Corn Pops 15 oz., Apple Jacks 15 oz., Frosted Flakes 14 oz., Rice Krispies 12 oz. and/or Cocoa Krispies 17.5 oz and your total will be $14.00. You will recieve a coupon with your receipt for $10.00 off your next purchase. You can then use that ten dollar coupon for another transaction of 7 cereals and your total will be $4.00 PLUS, you get another $10.00 coupon for your next purchase. Use the next ten dollars on more cereal or whatever you please.

Now, everyone go stock up on Kellogs while it is cheap until the next sale comes along. Let me know if you do it! I am going tomorrow to stock our family up. I will let you know about the next great deal soon!

Happy Easter

Happy Birthday

Happy Day !Aaron got home today after a two week visit to Manilla, Phillipines. Boy are we glad to have him back! Here are the kids waiting for him at the airport and running to greet him.

They were so excited and happy to see their daddy.

We had the pleasure of having my 12 and 14 year old neices come to visit us during their spring break. I was in heaven, it was like having live in nannies, maids and cooks. They babysat, cooked, cleaned, bathed my kids, changed diapers, entertained babies, took my kids to the park for hours and hours and so much more. They are so nice to have around and CONSTANTLY asked me what they could do to help. They are so cute and we hope they will accept our invitation to come back for their summer vacation. (Janae, next time we are going to buy the frosting instead of make it =), she added 1 1/2 CUPS of vanilla into our frosting instead of 1 1/2 TEASPOONS (sorry Janae, I couldn't resist telling, please forgive me.) We love you girls, see you soon!

Happy Birthday Dawn!

I hope you had a most wonderful day.

Thanks for taking my garbage cans in. I have great neighbors AND

a great sister-in-law.

Thank you to the kind person that took my garbage cans in and lined them up so perfectly for me while Aaron is on the other side of the world, it made me happy. Also, I almost stepped on a dead mouse with the head half eaten in front of my house while walking James to the bus stop and it is totally grossing me out. Feel free to dispose of that too. Yuck. I am so glad that I have such thoughtful neighbors. I sure do love where I live!

Seriously, thank you to whoever you are, I noticed and I was kidding about the mouse, I will get really brave and do it, gagging and squirming all the while.

Public service announcement

WARNING:

DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE !

I saw this last night with a couple of girlfriends and I regret every second of it.

I can't believe we didn't get up and walk out. Horrible, horrible !

Oh, and don't see this one for either for that matter

Look who is 4 today!

My favorite girl "in the whole wide world"

Happy 70th Birthday Grandpa Lee!

To celebrate we hosted a surprise party at our house,

it was fun to see friends and family

My beautiful neices and handsome nephew at the party who, by the way, are invited to come for spring break! Are you guys reading this? We would LOVE to have you, it would be a ton of fun!

Pantry: Organized!

So, is is weird that I am envious of my own pantry? I spent three hours on it tonight and this is the end result. Much better than it was, don't you think? I am a little embarassed to share with you the before, but it makes the after that much better. Thanks Breena for the can sorter idea, I found some from Shelf Reliance that rotate them. They are awesome! I also bought two boxes of snap and lock containers from costco. I eliminated a TON of cardboard boxes and replaced them with clear, plastic ones. This is so much fun! Next I am onto James's room. (And in case you were wondering, yes, that is 53 boxes of cereal on the top shelf, I like to stock up when I can get stuff free or really cheap. I don't usually pay more than .50 to.75 per box of cereal.) Someday I will get into that more. For now, lets all enjoy the views of a clean pantry.

BEFORE:

AFTER :

Organizing

I can't tell you how many times I have cleaned out closets and drawers only to find they are messy a week later. I feel often that all I do is wander around the house picking up stuff. I decided I needed to learn how to organize the right way so it will stay clean. I have spent a greater part of this week tearing my house apart and organizing it. I went to the library and got some books on organizing and got some great advice from my very organized mom. I am going through a closet or shelf one at a time, emptying it, measuring it, buying containers and labeling everything.

I read that being organized will:

save you time.
save you money.
improve your relationships.
make you happier and feel more accomplished.

I can see why these are all so true. I know that once I am done, I will spend more time with my kids, I will read more and be more productive. I am sure I will also be in a better mood. I have gotten rid of a ton of stuff and am simplifying as much as possible. I love the simple, clean, uncluttered feel. I even have more energy. My first miracle of this was we left for church and the house was CLEAN!! It usually looks like a tornado hit. Not yesterday, everything was in its place. And we were even on time. I feel like I am in control of the messes in my house now, all the toys are out of the kids reach and everything has a place. Here are a couple pictures of my organized house I have been so busy working on.

Before After

My next space to attack is the pantry. Please give me any ideas , suggestions and pictures that work for you. Once I got started organizing, I can't stop. I won't stop until it is done and I am having a great time doing it. Also, I would love more ideas for toy organizing. If you are organized, please send me tips. If you aren't, get moving, it will change your life.

Jumping little ladies

This is what I get to see every morning. I will never get tired of it.

Air blow matress friday

"Air Blow Mattress Friday"


Friday night is our, as Julia calls it, Air Blow Mattress Friday. This week we blew up our new jumping room instead of the air mattress. The kids get crazy excited when Aaron starts to pump it up. We have a big slumber party in the family room, it is so cozy. Tonights movie was E.T., the kids had never seen it and I thought they would like it. After a long and busy week, it is fun to just hang out and be cozy and eat popcorn on our "air blow matress".

Indiana James

We had an Indiana James birthday party today. The medallion cake is compliments of Dawn's cakes, my beautiful, wonderfully talented, funny, amazing, fun and generous sister-in-law. Click here to check out some of her other cakes (there is a slide show on the right hand side). The boys played a mummy wrapping game, dug in a tub of slimy snakes for jewels, played hot potato with a grenade and hunted for the treasure. I never know a group of 7 and 8 year old boys would be so full of energy, so silly and like to say so many potty words. They were all so cute and a good time was had by all!