Catching Up...

Yes we are still alive! We are finally starting to get over the brochitis, colds, and double ear infections that we have had the past couple of weeks. We were able to squeeze in some holiday fun. First, thanksgiving. My parents and Karls parents both came. Here is the turkey.Everything turned out really good, and the meal was a success. Whew! I was pretty tired though, so I decided to leave all of the pie making up to my sous chefs. The did a great job! :)The day after thanksgiving we made our way up to Phoenix, for a Suns game (Karl's birthday present). We went to the rainforest cafe for dinner. It was fantastic. The kids just wanted to look around at the resturant the entire time...I didn't have to pull our coloring books, or playdough. This was Kyle's expression most of the time. We also made a stop at the Phoenix Zoo. The highlights were the petting zoo, and this play area for the kiddos based on the Little People Farm. The kids loved, and especially the giant sandbox. We were also able to go down to Sierra Vista, and see the Electric Light Parade. Here are the kiddos cheesing it up before the Parade started.

We also went and enjoyed the Zoo lights at the Reid Park Zoo. It was such a beautiful night, and the kiddos loved to see all the lights, and sit on Santa's lap!

Then of course, the decorating of the tree! The kids are FANTASTIC with the tree. We put a couple specific ornaments toward the bottom, that they can take on and off, and then they leave the rest completely alone. I was AMAZED. The presents are a slightly different story. Kyra carries one around most of the day, and says "Santa said it was okay that I open it early."

Kyra loves every aspect of Christmas. All of the songs, the stories, the Christmas movies, the decorating, the presents, EVERYTHING. She came home from preschool the other day and I asked her what she learned, she said "I learned that Rudolph has a Mommy and a Daddy, and that they were married in the Reindeer temple!" This year is so much fun, both kiddos are so excited and they both kind of "get" Christmas. The best part is that Karl has 17 days off in a row!!! So it will be great to have him home with us. Now if we can all just stay healthy (and if I can get my house clean from 2 weeks of neglect!).

Boys

I saw a shirt the other day, a little boys shirt, and all it said on it was "Grandma's Revenge". I thought it was pretty funny....I DID NOT THINK it was funny today. It is only 2:30, and this is what Kyle has accomplished today. Now before you view these pictures, please don't think that I am leaving him unattended for hours at a time. Oh no, these are periods of time long enough to use the restroom, start a load of laundry, that sort of thing.

This room was COMPLETELY clean...this morning.

Yes he is buck naked...and yes he was fully clothed when I left the room.

What is that you wonder....BUTTER. Mysteriously the butter that was sitting on the counter went missing. Who needs Pledge when you have a little boy! Kyle discovered what type of things are usually kept inside a cookie jar. This is his favorite spot now!

I love my happy, energetic little boy....who knows...maybe the shirt will be funny again tomorrow.

The Secret Society

Grocery Store Shopping...NOT my favorite thing to do. I was this type of shopper...go without a shopping list, get in, get what you think you need, and add in a few impulse buys, pick what was cheapest right in front of you, and get out of the store type girl. Then a couple months ago I sat down and looked at really just how much I was spending at the grocery store. It was insane...I'm actually too embarresed to even post what it was. Then on top of that I would go to the grocery store, buy food to make dinner every night that week, and then we would still go out to eat freqently. Now going out to eat is definitely our "Latte Factor". The "Latte Factor" is that thing that every couple spends money on, that if they didn't, they would save tons. It comes from the idea that a person goes to starbucks, and spends $5 on a latte every morning, 5 days a week...$25 bucks a week, $1300 a year. Everyone has a latte factor. For some people its eating out, others its going to a movie every week, or buying new clothes, or toys for your kiddos, or whatever. "Experts" claim that if you can see on paper, just how much you really are spending on that little habit, you would be shocked. Well, YES I was shocked. Now I have always heard about people saying how much money you can save using coupons, but who has time to cut and orginize coupons? Now, I am the first to admit that I have growled, and thrown dirty looks at those woman in the grocery store with the huge stack of coupons, which take FOREVER for the checker to ring up, thus increasing the amount of time I spent in line, and ultimately in the store. Those woman who have what appears to be $200 worth of food, and then the checker says "$2.31", and my growling stops as my jaw hits the floor. Well, no more! So for the last couple of months I have been going to the store with a menu planned for the week, we have been eating out less, and I have attemped to join "THE SECRET SOCIETY OF COUPON CLIPPERS". It really is like a little club, with chatrooms, and systems and programs, and a million and one other tools! My main goals were to cut down on our spending, eat healthier, less expensive dinners at home, and start my food storage. Now the first couple of weeks went really well, then the next week I stunk it up, and lately I've been hot and cold in terms of my committement to the plan. And, I remained sceptical until today! Today I got 6 boxes of Poptarts for FREE! Now I know that they are just poptarts, and would of only cost like $12 anyway, but my kiddos love them, and I now have 6 boxes of poptarts in my food storage. Ahhh, the little success of a stay at home mom! Are any of you out there fellow secret coupon clippers?

Cavity Free!

At Kyra's 3 year doctors appt, Dr. Giesert mentioned that it was time for Kyra to starting going to the dentist. Now considering the 10's of thousands of dollars of dental work that I have had, and the 10's of thousands of cavities Karl has had, we figured that we should take the doctors advice. But Kyra has been freaking out about us brushing her teeth lately, and tends to become very shy in new situations. So I really wanted a good pediatric dentist....and as fate would have it, while I was online looking up reviews of various dentist, my friend posted on her blog about how much she loves her pediatric dentist. I called, and they just happened to have a cancelation 2 hours later. Unfortunately Kyra fell asleep in the car on the way, so she woke up after we were already in the office. She was not amused, but the office has toys everywhere, and there was a movie on and she slowly warmed up. The dental hygenist came out, and talked to her for a few minutes in the lobby (Kyra chose to pretend that the hygensit simply didn't exist.) Here she is playing with some toys. The hygensit was great. She did a fabulous job of talking in a way that made Kyra more comfortable. The dentist was also great. While Kyra played he talked to me for over 30 minutes! Kyra wasn't too sure about laying down on the table, but let the dentist count her teeth, and look at each one. She even got a certificate showing that she was Cavity Free!On the way home, she couldn't wait to floss! So here she is showing Kyle her technique.

They gave her a cute little goody bag as a first time patient! She was so excited. So overall it was a great experience, and the best part is that she is SOOO much more coopertive when it comes to brushing teeth! Thanks Cori for the suggestion!

The big 3-0!

Karl turned 30 yesterday! Last night, around 11:30, he commented "I feel old". Now in my defense...I was trying to make him feel better, and I was also half asleep and very tired...but my reply was "Don't worry sweatheart, you know what they say, 30 is the new 50". I don't think my comment helped.

Karl got a new suns jersey, a shirt, and tickets to go see a Suns game in Phoenix in a couple week! He is pretty excited about it! A friend then watched the kiddos while we went out to eat, then came home and had cake and ice cream. Happy birthday Karl!

Peas in a pod!

I was looking through some pictures, and came across these of the kiddos with my sisters kiddos. Kyra is the oldest, with Calvin almost exactly 1 year younger, then Kyle, almost exactly 6 months younger then Calvin. Then baby Trudy almost exactly 1 year younger than Kyle. They all got along great. We just wish we lived closer to each other! (I have a million pictures of them together...but not a SINGLE one where everyone is looking at the camera!)

Nobody die of shock...

But I actually completed 2 craft projects this week. Yes not just 1, but 2! I will pause here, so you can pick your jaw up off the ground at this point. And if you hadn't already lost 10 years off you life expectancy because of shock, you will now....THEY ACTUALLY DIDN'T COME OUT HALF BAD!! Usually I make something, expecting the most amazing, spectacular result, and come up with something an elephant could of made with a blindfold on, and his trunk tied behind his back. So without futher a due....

First I made a christmas ornament. On one side it says "Unto us a child is born", then on the other side it has a manger scene.Then a friend showed me how to sew an apron, without a pattern!
Thanks Sharla for staying up until 1 AM to help me! My goal now is to make Kyra a matching one for Christmas!

I may be blogging a little too much...

Kyra and Kyle were in Kyles room the other day, with the door closed, and being really too quiet. So I went to go check on them. When I opened the door, Kyra yelled "Surprise! I cleaned Kyles room and made his bed!" I replied "Wow baby girl, that was so super nice of you! Why did you clean his room." She says "So that you could take pictures and put it on the blog!" I just may be blogging a little too much.

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch near Tucson with some friends. It was a beautiful day, with weather in the low 80's. We also decided to give the corn maze a go. The tour guide who was giving us the information, prior to going in, said we could chose the easy or difficult course. The difficult taking about 1 hour and a half!!
So we went with the easy side. :) We walked around for about 20 minutes, thinking we were headed in the right direction, but soon realized that we were about 5 feet from the entrance. So quickly assessing the kids moods, we guided them back toward the ENTRANCE and clapped as we said "Great job guys! You found the EXIT" The kiddos were very proud, and we were glad that we weren't stuck in the middle of the maze for a couple hours. Kyle calculating our next step. He found this ear of corn on the ground, and started carrying it around. The place also had some cute little things for the kiddos to do, including this huge horse trough filled with corn kernals, and towers of hay bales for them to climb on. Here is Lacey (Kyra's buddy), Kyra and KyleThe kids loved the pumpkin patch. We took a short hayride out to the patch, and they actually had a fantastic selection of pumpkins. Kyle was of the opinion this is the one he wanted. Kyra chose one just her size!
It was such a fun morning, with friends and family!

Making Cupcakes with the kiddos!

In twenty years, will I remember the amount of time it took to make these cupcakes...
Or the amount of time it took to clean my kitchen...Or the smile on these messy faces!

Be knowledgable!!

Regardless of who you are going to vote for in November, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE research the canidates. Study how they stand on every topic...not just the economy, but also Iraq, health care, stem cell research, education....EVERYTHING! This is an interview, that a friend fowarded me from Howard Stern. I'm not a huge Stern fan, but I was blown away by this.

Consequences

What happens when one pours a bottle of glue on one's head....You get buzzed! Here is our almost bald baby!

So You Think You Can Dance!

So a couple of months ago, a group of us purchased tickets for the So You Think You Can Dance Tour in Phoenix. Well the day finally came last Tuesday. We left Tucson at around 2:30. Our SWEET husbands (I put Karl through so much to make sure he was off on time) were so willing to let us leave early, so we could take our time, figure out where we were going and get some dinner. We got to Phoenix about 2 hours later, and stopped to eat at the Cheesecake Factory! It was really nice to just be able to simply talk with other woman for that long! Then we made our way to the Jobing.com Arena. It is a beautiful complex! The concert was GREAT! The contestants themselves were the hosts, and had alot of cute banter between each other. We thought that it was only going to last about an hour and half. THE SHOW WAS 3 HOURS LONG! They performed SO many dances! The did all of the fabulous ones from the season. The crowd was insane. Everyone was screaming for their favorites...I felt old. I kept thinking "This is just tooo loud..they just need to quiet down." We got home about 2 AM. Karl was in bed when I got home, and he asked how it went. I said "IT WAS GREAT! THEY PERFORMED SO MANY GREAT DANCES..." Karl quickly reminded me that he was only about 1 foot away from me, and I might wake up the kiddos. It was such a fun night...with such good company..good food..and good dancing!

Here is one of my favorite dances of the season!