The Paquin Family

Coupon trips from the last 2 weeks!

2012-02-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

Last week I went couponing at CVS only. I was lazy and there were not really that many other good deals on the stuff we use. Here is what I got

4 nivea lip care
4 thermacare heat wraps
6 jars ragu pasta
6 lady speed stick deodorant
4 irish spring body wash
2 skintimate shave cream

I spent at total of $24 and I got back $17 in rewards to spend next time and I got to mail in a rebate for $10 back from the thermacare wraps!

This week I went to 4 stores, CVS, RiteAid, Walmart and Stop and Shop and I got:

6 bottles kids shampoo/condition 2 in 1
4 pks stayfree pads
4 itish spring deodorants
3 swave deodorants
2 Vaseline lotions
1 bottle chichis salsa
12 Hershey bars

I spent $14 (I used $6 from last week at CVS to pay for that purchase) and I have $4 from CVS to spend later and I have $6 from RiteAid to spend later.

I have been saving an average of 60%-75% on each trip, so I am thrilled with that!

An organized stockpile!

2012-02-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Keith helped me organize my stockpile room/laundry room. He took down the flimsy plastic shelves and put up the sturdy metal shelves. He made me a pegboard to hang things on and we reorganized everything! I love it even more now!

Before:
This one is blurry, I can't figure out my camera most of the time!! This is above the washer/dryer

The food side of the shelves that were in the house when we moved in

The health/beauty/personal stuff side of the shelves

No room, so stuff is sitting on top of the laundry shelves

2 bins of razors that are shoved in the corner

And the after (I LOVE IT!!)

Plastic shelves gone, Keith and his helpers putting up the metal shelves

My new pegboard that Keith built me for my razors and other stuff that can hang!

All of the health/beauty/personal stuff nice and organized!

Detergent and cleaning supplies

More room for the food and it is all organized!

Thank you Pinterest!

2012-02-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

I know I have said it before, but how did I ever live without pinterest?! Here are some of the things that we have done thanks to Pinterst!

I found this idea for keeping card games in since the boxes get torn so easily. Here is how mine turned out!

I found this blog with a great science experiment with vinegar and baking soda. The boys loved it!

The first round on fizzing and bubbling!

What happens when we add more?

More fizzing and more bubbles!

Yes, we lost our shirt...we got food coloring on our uniform!!!

I found this tutorial on how to fold plastic bags and store them in old Lysol wipes containers! Keith thought it would work for the old baby wipes container, and he was right! No more piles and piles if bags under the sink!!!

Organized toys!

2012-02-06T07:42:00.000-08:00

Since we are here in Newport for a while longer, we have been really cleaning out things and organizing! Because this house is a lot smaller than the other houses we have been in, we have no playroom. We have toys EVERYWHERE!! We did clean out a lot before we left VA last summer, and we have cleaned out a lot since then, but there seems to just be toys everywhere! I have been looking at Target at the storage units they have, but I just could not buy them, as I felt they were kinda pricey! We found one on clearance at home depot and I just had to have it! So we bought it and the 9 bins to go in it for less than the one at Target! I was so happy! We came home and again, cleaned out the toys!! Here is the before and after of the living room toys:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Once it was all organized, I decided that we needed something to hang on the wall. I have been looking at some of the family rules signs on pinterest and I loved the idea! But I am frugal, and did not want to spend a lot of money on one that someone made for me. And I am feeling crafty lately, so I decided to try to make one! I found this tutorial here I found a 40% off coupon for Michales and bought a canvas and some spray paint; I had the rest at home. Here are the pics of the family rules in progress!!

The spray paint said tan, so I thought it would go great with the tan bins we bought.... but it ended up more gold than tan! Oh well! Then I set out to figure out what we wanted out family rules to be! I wanted them to be as positive as possible, not just a list of Don'ts! Once we had those, I printed them out in different fonts and different sizes, cut them out and arranged them on the canvas in the order I wanted them.

Then I used graphite paper and traced over the words one at a time to transfer them to the canvas. I used a pencil, and it was pretty dark once they were done, not sure how I would make the transfer lighter next time, but I will try to make the letter lighter so I don't have to paint the letters so many times.

Then I painted over the letters in red, to match the red canvas bins on the shelf. Once it was all dry, we hung it over the storage shelf. I am so happy with the way it turned out! And I was inexpensive and fun to make!

Target Coupon run....with Keith!

2012-01-29T10:43:00.000-08:00

Thursday Keith and I got a babysitter and went to dinner. What a nice, quiet meal! After I took Keith couponing with me for the first time. This was my biggest couponing trip yet!! My mom in VA and my grandparents in TX have been sending me their coupons, so I had a few more of each, so that has been really nice! I had to do 5 transactions! 4 of them were my planned out coupon ones and the last was a few items that Keith found on clearance....and diapers!! Here is what I got! This price next to it is what I paid after coupons!

12 cans of tomato soup $.31 each

4 packs of 24 ct zantac $1.59 instead of $7.59

4 packs of paper towels ALL FREE

4 bottles of hand soap(this is kinda funny...I wanted to buy dish soap, but was so excited when I found the hand soap on clearance, that I forgot that I NEEDED the dish soap! So now we have a lot of hand soap and still need dish soap!) $.54 each

4 bottles of Tide HE-$3.99 each

8 boxes of skinny cow chocolate candies $.75

4 bottles of shave cream ALL FREE

5 packs of 7 pens ALL FREE

6 boxes of mac and cheese $.33 each

2 bottles of lysol toilet cleaner $1.47 each-I had a coupon on my phone that I completely forgot to give her which would have made this $.97 each! Oh well, I can use another coupon with the phone coupon another time!

4 packs of 35 cough drops $.39 each

4 star wars action figures $3.94 each

I was very happy with how this all worked out! It took a lot of planning, and I made a spreadsheet with my transactions to help me keep it all straight. When I shopped, I took 4 reusable bags with me and kept everything separate in my cart. It really made checkout simple.

Oh, and what Keith found (sorry, so picture!)

$23 kids sleeping bag for $5.98

$40 2 person tent for $12.48

$20 air mattress for $8.68

Who ate Santa;s cookies?

2012-01-02T16:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve

2012-01-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

ok, so this is a really late post, but I am just now getting around to unloading the camera! Here are the pics from Christmas!

Ready for Church

The family ready for Church

Putting the magic key on the door so Santa can get in since we don;t have a chimney

Matching PJ's

We all have matching PJ's!

Reading the night before Christmas with Yaya

putting the cookies and milk for Santa

Random Christmas Pics

2011-12-24T12:43:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the pics we have taken!

Good Bye Beanbag!

2011-12-24T12:38:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day that Beanbag, our elf, will be with us. Tonight he goes back with Santa. Today when we woke up, there was a note on his from Santa saying that the kids could give him a hug before he left. They were all so happy to get to touch him. It was so great!

Countdown to Christmas days 20-24

2011-12-24T12:32:00.000-08:00

We have been a little behind since Yaya and Papaw have gotten here! So today we played catch up!! We did:
Day 20: Drive around an look at Christmas lights-we are going to do this tonight after Church
Day 21: Visit a gingerbread house-we went to the Marriott downtown where they have a giant gingerbread house. The kids loved it! This also fulfilled day #16 which said to donate a toy to toys for tots. I changed this to donate food because we missed the cut off for the toys for tots in our area!

kinda fuzzy, but they are putting the canned food into the sleigh

The gingerbread house!

Day 22: Make a gingerbread house! This is one of Keith's favorite things to do!

E with a mouthfull of gumdrops, she thought they were better eaten than put on the house!!

Day 23: Make Reindeer Food: I found this great idea on....you guessed it....PINTEREST! So mom and I went to work on making these super cute reindeer food holders! I am so happy with how they turned out and the kids loved it!

Yaya made Evelyn's holder since she was napping!

Filling the holders with our magic reindeer food!

We hung then on the tree so that Santa can take them to feed the reindeer!

Day 24: Make cookies for Santa!

Day 19

2011-12-24T12:13:00.000-08:00

Build a snowman.....WE HAVE NO SNOW!! So we have decided to keep this one out and do it in January or February or whenever we actually have snow!!!

Christmas Countdown day 18

2011-12-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

Visit Santa!

Day 17

2011-12-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

Todays card said take Christmas pictures in our Christmas shirts!

December 15th

2011-12-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

Todays card said make place mats for Christmas Dinner. After talking about this, we all decided that we weren't going to do this! We made name tags for the place settings and the kids though that was enough! So we just skipped this project and decided to watch another Christmas movie-this time it was a marathon! We watched Charlie Brown's Christmas, A chipmunk Christmas, Frosty, Kung Fu Panta Christmas, and Merry Madagascar!

Henrys Christmas Pagent

2011-12-20T09:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I hope these are all on here, that I have the right character with the right video! This has been a hassle to get all of these videos on here!!! I hope you can see them all and hear then all!! We loved this pageant, it was by far the best one we have been to!

Henry is Santa in the middle

Henry is a King, the third from the right, wearing a brown coat and floppy hat

Henry is the 10 Lords a Leaping, 4th from the end on the right

Henry is Santa

Henry is a King, third from the right

Henry is a king, third from the right

Henry is Santa in the middle

Santa's Special Key

2011-12-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

Nana and Papa (Keith's parents) sent the boys a package. They knew the boys had been wondering how Santa was going to get into our house since we did not have a chimney, and so they talked to Santa who gave them a Special key to hang on the door on Christmas eve so he could get in the house. Tyler was so happy he was jumping up and down and said he was going to cry he was so happy!!

I love Tylers face in this, he was so excited!!!

Notice the door to the garage is now open...Tyler ran out to tell dad all about the key and now Santa could come to our house!!!

Santa came to the Neighborhood!

2011-12-16T18:16:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to find out that the fire Dept here also does the neighborhood Santa visits! I was also super excited when our Friends, the Blaszczyk's decided to stay in Newport one more night and came over to have dinner and have the "Twinkies" see Santa too!! The boys were not too sure of Santa and would not go near the sleigh! I, however, LOVED IT!! I am sure if Keith, Mark or Lisa ever tell about it they will tell how I was going outside every few minutes to see if they were coming!! And yes, it was COLD and no, E does not have shoes on!!

MWR Christmas Party

2011-12-16T18:07:00.000-08:00

We went to the base MWR Christmas part and had a BLAST!! Keith and the kids make a centerpiece for our table; the kids saw Santa and got gifts and all three played in the bounce houses!

Christmas Countdown Day 14

2011-12-16T18:00:00.000-08:00

I found an idea on Pinterest for making a year in review ornament. (have I mentioned how much I LOVE pinterest?!) So today's card said....make a family year in review ornament!! Keith and I had a great time thinking back on all that we did this year! I am very happy with how this turned out! We will be continuing this each year! I cannot wait till we are old and the kids are grown and we can look back as we are decorating our tree and think back on all of the fun we had!

Day 13

2011-12-16T17:45:00.000-08:00

Today our card said Sing your Favorite Christmas Song! Tyler picked Jingle Bells and Henry picked Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer! The videos are a little dark, it was the best I could get in my phone!

Christmas Countdown Day 12

2011-12-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

Make paper snowflakes! FUN!!! We has some cutting trouble, so daddy helped everyone make their snowflakes. Evelyn even got to join in for this one! They now hang from the beam separating the living room and dining room!

Day 11 of the Countdown to Christmas

2011-12-16T16:22:00.000-08:00

Make Name Tags for Christmas Dinner is what our card said for today. The boys had fun with this one too. I bought precut stocking cutouts and Christmas stickers. I wrote each persons name on the top and let the boys stick away to make cute place cards for dinner!

Countdown day 10

2011-12-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

This was one of the cards I could not wait for them to open....Write letters to Santa!

Christmas Countdown day 9

2011-12-16T16:10:00.000-08:00

Today's card said make Christmas cards for Nana and Yaya. Apparently this was not the funnest of the cards...Henry did not want to do it and Tyler sat but put nothing on the paper! I think I am going to try again with this one with a printed card they can color! Stay tuned for more on day 9 later!!!

Day 8

2011-12-16T16:07:00.000-08:00

Day 8 said watch a Christmas movie for family movie night. We chose The Polar Express. The kids really loved it, especially since we rode the polar express a few weeks ago!

Countdown Day 7

2011-12-11T17:40:00.000-08:00

I am so excited about today's envelope! It says make snowman ornaments. I found a great craft on pinterest on how to make these super cute snowmen ornaments. (how did I ever live without pinterest!?) The kids loved the craft and they turned out so much cuter than I ever imagined! And yes, pop, you are getting a set!! :-)

Day 6 of the countdown to Christmas

2011-12-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

Today our card said Listen to a new Christmas CD. I got a kids Christmas CD at Target and the kids have loved listening to it!

Countdown Day 5

2011-12-11T17:31:00.000-08:00

Today the card read, "Read the Elf on the Shelf Book". I did not get any pictures of us reading it! But here is the card and the book!!! We named our Elf Beanbag, and the boys are happy that he has come back again this year!

Countdown Day 4

2011-12-11T17:28:00.000-08:00

Day for of our countdown to Christmas says to decorate our Christmas Tree! The kids opened the envelope in the morning and then we set out to decorate this house! Keith surprised me by putting up the lights outside without me even asking!(I usually have to beg for him to put lights out!!!) We got the outside all finished and then came in and took naps!! That evening our friends came over and I was saying that we never got around to the tree. Lisa practically begged to do the lights since they were moving the next week! So she did the lights on the tree and she did a great job!!! The next day after school we finally decorated the tree!!!

decorating the outside of the house

E playing in the lights

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time!

Lisa after she finished the lights

Our finishes tree!

Day 3 Christmas Countdown

2011-12-10T18:07:00.000-08:00

Day three says to go to a tree lighting. Newport's official start to Christmas was that night, with a tree lighting and Santa arriving by boat! We went with some friends and we all enjoyed it greatly!

Running around before the festivities started

The three babies, Evelyn, Markey and Carmen

Tyler with Frosty

The tree has been lit!

Sensei Ota

2011-12-10T17:55:00.000-08:00

Henry has been taking Karate since we moved to Newport. Last weekend he got the rare opportunity to train with Sensei Ota, the grand master that is an 8th degree black belt. (He is the head guy for the type that Henry does!) Here is a pic of his class with his Sensei and Sensei Ota.

Christmas Countdown Day 2

2011-12-10T17:45:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of the countdown said Go Get A Christmas Tree! We planned on going to a tree farm in Tiverton, about 30 minutes from here and cutting down a tree! I have always wanted to do that! But Keith ended up working later than planned, so we went to Sweet Berry Farm just down the road and got a tree! The kids still had a great time, even though we did not cut one down!

Christmas Countdown Day 1 activity

2011-12-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

For day one, the boys opened the envelope and it said "Read a Christmas Story". I bought a new book, Dora's Starry Christmas. E loved Dora, so I thought she would love to book too! The boys were thrilled to open the card, then all read the book together!

Count Down to Christmas

2011-12-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

I LOVE PINTEREST! I found a great idea for a Countdown to Christmas activity calendar. As usual, the way I see it in my head is far from the finished product, however, I am really happy with how it turned out! I took Christmas scrapbook paper and printed an envelope template and then cut it out and made super cute Christmas/holiday envelopes. Then I took decorative note cards that I got from Michael's and wrote an activity on each one, then put then in the envelopes that I labeled 1-24, one for each day. I bought a Christmas basket and put all of the envelopes in it. The kids find the envelope for the day and we do the activity! They loved last night, day one, and are already asking to open day 2! I am excited they are excited!!!

Basket

envelopes waiting to be opened!

The Polar Express

2011-12-02T06:53:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to ride the Polar Express with another family that we do a lot with here. It was so much better than I ever imagined! It was at a place about an hour from here that has rides to ride while you are waiting! The best of 2 worlds, an amusement part and the Polar Express!! We got there 2 hours early to have plenty of time to enjoy the park before the train left. Once on the train, we listened to the Polar Express story as the train went around the park and we were able to see all of the lights and displays. Then we sang Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer while we waited for Santa to arrive! Once he did, he gave each child a bell, just like in the story! It was so magical! I am so happy that we took the kids!

Tyler, Henry, and Anders waiting in line to ride the airplanes

looking at one of the displays

I love the reflections in this picture

Tyler's reflection

Evelyn's reflection

first attempt at a group pic

second attempt at a group photo

third attempt at a group photo...I GIVE UP!

Santa giving the boys their bells

Evelyn was not too sure of Santa

This is the best one I got!

The Grinch

2011-12-02T06:37:00.000-08:00

When I found out that the Grinch who Stole Christmas the musical was in Providence, I knew I wanted to take the boys. We decided to get a babysitter for E since it was so late and night and we did not think that she would enjoy it too much. The boys LOVED it! It was in a "real' theater, and the boys thought it was the fanciest place they have ever been to! I loved seeing their faces, everything amazed them! They did not allow cameras, but I took a few before we went into the theatre and a few while we were waiting for the show to start! It was definitely one of the best times I have had with them!

outside the theatre, I was hoping to get the marquis, but the lights were SO BRIGHT!!

Waiting to go it!

Dad got Henry a cookie at the snack bar while we were waiting to enter!

They were fascinated by the piano....it played by itself!

the walls in the theatre.

Tyler wanted me to take a pic of the light....he thought it would be good in our house!

Cape Cod

2011-11-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

We decided to drive to Cape Cod since we were so close at Plymouth. We found a beach and watched the sunset. It was super windy and cold, so we had on our coats. Poor Evelyn, she was getting blown around by the wind! It was kina funny! The sunset reminded us of Monterey.

And they are all sleeping with their heads crooked! It was a great day!

Plymouth

2011-11-14T17:25:00.000-08:00

Once I realized that we lived so close to Plymouth Rock, I wanted to go there. I have heard from others that it is a letdown and not that great, but I still wanted to go. They were right!! It is just a rock in a box!! :-) But we did have a good time with the other things around the area! We went to see the Plymouth Plantation. The boys really enjoyed seeing how people lived back then. We also toured the Mayflower II and that was really neat to see how small the ship was.

This is one of the houses on the Plantation.

Touching the fur of some animal that they used for clothes

Tyler look this picture of us at the Mayflower II

the Mayflower II

The Rock!!! (pretty boring and uneventful!!)

at the cannon on the Mayflower II

We also toured the Cape Cod chip factory. Henry loved this! I think it was the highlight of his day!

My Babies!

2011-11-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

Most mornings we have a lot of extra time, as the kids are all up before 6 most mornings! Lately we have been taking pictures together to pass the time. My kids LOVE to have their picutres taken, especially together! Here are some of my favorites!

Fire Station Tour

2011-10-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

The Middletown fire department had an open house today and of course we went! It was one of the best fire station tours we have ever been to! The boys loved and had a great time. Evelyn had a graet time climbing all over the firetrucks! I am so glad we went! Here are some of the best pictures from it!

Columbus Day Parade

2011-10-10T19:12:00.000-07:00

Tyler is now a cub scout. He loves it! Today was his frist event with the scouts. They marched in the parade with his troop. He loved it!

Here they come!

Carrying the den flag

carrying the troop banner

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of pumpkin patches around here. I picked on for us to go to that you can create your own scarecrow! We had a lot of fun, I am so happy that we went!

MY BIRTHDAY!!!

2011-10-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know it is a little funny that I would blog about my own birthday, but I had a really good one this year! Earlier in September I got a margarita machine that I can use as a blender too, so I though that was all I was getting! Boy was I wrong! I got a HUGE popcorn bowl with a HUGE Matching cup, 2 Newport glasses, a food processor and the best gift was from Tyler, flowers and a balloon. Ok, so there is more to that story! 2 of my friends here took me to lunch for my birthday and gave me flowers and a balloon. I had the flowers sitting on the floor while we were trying to find a vase for them. Tyler told me on the way home from the bus stop that he did not get me anything for my birthday. I told him that daddy had something for him to give me. We finished opening gifts and were about to move onto cake when Tyler said WAIT, there was one more present. He went and got the flowers and came in with a HUGE smile and said that he wanted to give me flowers and he was so happy that they came while he was at school so I would have the best birthday ever!

Look at the super cute cakes that Henry picked out!

all of my gifts

I love his smile, it was priceless!

Breaking Boards

2011-09-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

Last night in Tae Kwon Do Henry (and his classmates) got to break boards with their feet. Henry was so excited and was able to break 2 of them. Here are the best pics I got, some are a little blurry, but you get the point!

organization wall

2011-09-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

We are really trying to get the house organized! I saw the really neat wall organizer at pottery barn, however it was WAY expnesive! So we took off to Target to see if we coulod do something simial for cheap! Here is how it turned out! I a, very happy wtih it! It has everything we need all in one spot and it really oragnized! And I got to finally hang the letter that my friedn Tia did for us before we moved.

Here is what we liked at pottery barn:

And here is how ours turned out! I LOVE IT!!

our menu will go here

monthly calendar

weekly reminders and note board2w

2 corkboards for notes

and my letters!

Mystic-day 2!

2011-09-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

Since we did not go to the aquarium the first day as planned, we went back as a family the next day. What a great aquarium! They have a beluga whale who was amazing! He is a young one and loves to "play" with kids! We got there when it opened, so there were not a lot of people there yet and it was amazing! The whale comes right up to the glass and presses his face against it. He opens his mouth like he is talking to the kids and he tries to squirt them with water out of his blowhole! The boys spent so much time with him! It was so worth the drive back just for that! After the aquarium we walked around the town a bit and decided to take a sight seeing boat ride up the river. The boys loved it. I was ready to get off by the end and E hatred it! She screamed the entire way! Thankfully we were the only ones on the boat, so we did not ruin it for others.

touching the stink rays

we got ice cream, Tyler for a lobster sucker

H eating chocolate ice cream

getting ready to go!

Out in the water

They loved it!

Mystic

2011-09-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to Mystic to the aquarium with 2 other families. The plan was to go to eat at Mystic Pizza and then to the aquarium. Mystic pizza was a blast, we had 6 adults and 7 kids! Thankfully, they were not too busy. All of the kids were great and behaved nicely. As we were leaving, someone told us that the aquarium was closing early, so we ended up going to the garlic festival that happened to be going on that weekend in Mystic! (I know, me a garlic, I was thrilled!) I was honestly a little worried about the kids and them not having a lot of fun, but it ended up being a lot of fun! All in all, it was one of the better weekends we have had here and I am so happy to have the friends we have met here!

All 13 of us at Mystic Pizza, minus Keith who is taking the picture!

We tried to get a pic of all of the kids by the sign!

the sign

E so proud that she climbed the fence herself

all 7 of the kids, this took quite a while to get!

E and Markey

Mark caught them!!

All 7 kids, I love this pic! The ages are(in order of the pic) 7, 3, 5, 19mos and 3 15 month olds!

Tyler's first day of school

2011-09-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today was Tyler's first day of first grade! He rode the bus! One of his Friends lives in the neighborhood near us and they both rode together. He felt much better knowing someone else, and to top it off, they are in class together! He also knows a few others in his class from summer school! All in all, I think he likes first grade!

on the way to the bus stop

almost there, at least they have a covered area from the rain!

waiting!

my babies!

Tyler with his friend Kyler, here comes the bus!

happy to be getting on the bus!

He's home!!

with a smile!

A day with Thomas

2011-09-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

Thomas was here this weekend, and at the last minute we decided to take the kids! Boy were they surprised!

Fun with Friends

2011-09-04T16:01:00.000-07:00

We hosted a BBQ with friends yesterday. 3 kids that were 1, E, one that was 3, T and H made for a fun house full of kids...and adults! After everyone went home for naps, we all met up at the base for a free Little Big Town concert. I/we totally dropped the ball on the weather, it was quite cool and windy at the water! But we had a big blanket and we made do. Tyler loved the concert. We ended up leaving before it was over, Henry was asleep and E was crying and would not give up! We thought we had missed the fireworks, but lucky for us, when we rounded the corner we had a great view of the bridge just as they started! It was a great night for all of us!!

Henry's First Day of School!

2011-09-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

Today is Henry's first day of school. This year is the first time that they boys wont be at the same school! He was so happy this morning and so ready to go to school.

Thing One, Thing Two and Thing Three!

2011-09-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

While we were at Disney, we saw a lot of people with "thing" shirts. We knew we needed them! But we found out that you could only get them at Universal, and we weren't going there. I was so bummed. We decided that we would order then on the internet when we got home. At the airport, there was a Universal gift shop, so I went in to see if they had the shirts, and they did!! I was so happy to find them! So here are my "Things"!!!

Ants on a Log

2011-09-01T06:35:00.000-07:00

While watching Special Agent Ozo today, they talked about how to make ants on a log. The boys got very excited and wanted to make them too! So off to the store we went! They all loved making them. Evelyn was going to make one, but as Tyler put it, she ate her craft!!

First you spread the peanut butter!

Henry gave up with the spoon and decided his hands worked mych better!

Then you add the ants (raisins!)

Then you are done!

Tyler fed E a bite since she ate her celery!

Disney

2011-09-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

We decided to surprise the boys with a trip to Disney World for their birthday! Keith was able to get leave and it all worked out! We did not tell them until we got to the airport where we were going. When we told them, they did not react how we thought they would! They just looked at eachother and said ok! We then realized that they did not really understand that it was a place to go! Once we got there, they were super excited! We went to Magic Kingdom the first 2 days and then Hollywood Studios the third day. It was a quick trip, but just the right amount of time for our first time there. We went to 3 character meals and at each one we had them do something special for the boys for their birthday! Here are some of my favorite pictures! (Henry was not too fond of all of the characters!)

Yard Sale Finds!

2011-08-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

Our neighborhood has a yard sale every other weekend. Today I decided to head out with E in the stroller and see what we could find. I think we did pretty well! We spent $29 and got all of this:

2 reversable hats for E

2 long sleeve shirts and a pair of jeans for winter for E

2 dresses for E

This mail toy

the ball sipns and sings the ABC song

a barbie kitchen with a TON of food, an apron, a ches hat, a potholder, pots, pans and plates!

I got a new book to read!

look what daddy built!

2011-08-20T09:30:00.001-07:00

Keith found a table witha book with directions on how to build different structures out of the wood pieces. Here is what he attmepted! At the very end it tipped, but he trued and alost did it!

Evelyn at the Childrens museum

2011-08-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Evelyn had so much fun at the museum. This was the first time she really got to explore in her own.

magnates

climbing to see the skeleton

microscope

giant peg board

putting the scarf in the suction thingy!

in and out if the mirrored room!

An Early Birthday Celebration!

2011-08-20T09:23:00.000-07:00

The boys wanted to celebrate their birthday while Yaya and papaw were here. So Friday was the day! We got a cake, balloons, presents from yaya and papaw and nana and papa and planned a fun afternoon! We let them open their presents early in the afternoon after lunch at Panera Bread. They got legos from everyone and were (and still are) in heaven! The boy along with daddy and papw built all of the sets they got! Then we went to the Children's museum for free family Friday. After playing we went to the Cheesecake Factory. They kids all love it and are so well behaved there. The best part was when the waiters sang happy birthday to them. They were both exhausted and both fell asleep at the table before we were done! I think they had a really great birthday. Little to they know, the best present is yet to come....a trip to DISNEY!!!

cake

Yaya and Papaw's presents

Nana and Papa's presents

All of the sets put together!

riding with the skeleton

playing in the water

birthday ice cream for the birthday boys!

all tuckered out!

Laundry basket fun!

2011-08-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

We finally had all of the clothes folded for only the 4th time ever!!! So all of the baskets were empty. The kids thought they were the best toy and had a ton of fun with them. The made mountains out if them and jumped off of the chair onto them and them onto the floor. They had an obstacles course with them. Then they used them as chairs to watch TV! E loved this one!

Then Henry pretended he was a dog and was in a cage! E thought this was a lot of fun!

Daddy's Car

2011-08-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

A few days before Yaya and Papaw got here the power steering went out in Daddy;s car. He had a friend look at it and we thought it was fixed...it wasn't! So when papaw got here, we had him look at it. He had a few helpers too!

It ended up that it was the power steering and lucky for us it was part of a recall, so we got it fixed for free!!

Henry Earned his Gold Belt!

2011-08-10T05:34:00.000-07:00

Henry has been taking Tae Kwon Do at the base since we have been in Newport. He loves it! Yesterday he had a belt test. I am not exactly sure what it is, but I guess he has to show that he is learning and know the "moves"?! He did it and earned his Gold Belt. He was so happy to get it and it is all he has talked about since! I am so proud of him!!

The Price Is Right!!

2011-08-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, I loved game shows. Oh, so I still do!! :-) The best part about the few days we did not have school was getting to watch them all day. My favorite was the price is right and press your luck! This last month Tyler was in summer school, so Henry and I (and E) were home every morning. I had the price is right on one day and Henry loved it. Now we watch it together everyday! He keeps saying that one day they are going to say "Henry, come on down, you;re the next contestant on the price is right!" It is so cute! The other day Henry found that we have the price is right for the WII and he wanted to play it. We for Keith and Tyler to play too, so it was great! Henry beat the pants off of all of us! The funniest part was when Tyler won a car in his game and was so excited because now he can go to college!!! Keith won a bedroom suite and Henry told him we needed a bigger house for when it gets delivered! Apparently they think they are actually getting this stuff!! I am having so much fun watching the kids love something that I loved at their ago too!

Back in Cloth

2011-08-02T05:21:00.000-07:00

Since I am on a quest to save money, and since we have been here, we have not saved as much as I would have liked, I decided to put E back in cloth diapers. I loved then when she was younger, but stopped when she started solids. Swishing diapers in the potty was just too much for me! This time is different! Keith built me a diaper sprayer that attached to the potty, so no more swishing, I just spray the mess off of it and throw it in the pail! I LOVE IT! What I did not have him do this sooner is beyond me! She seems to really like them too! When she has a new one on, she runs into the living room and shows the boys and Keith. I had a box of diapers that I did not sell before we moved, so we cleaned the garage (only to realize when we were done and had not found them that they were right up front with my sewing stuff!) Oh well, now we have a nice clean garage and we got rid of a lot of stuff, so it was a good thing! I was so happy to find that most of them still fit her, which is a good thing financially, I don't have to buy a lot of new ones, but a bad thing because it means that she has not grown much in the last 7 months! Now I just have to figure out what I want my stash to be! I have Fuzzi Bunz pockets now, and still love them as much as I did before. They are great for around the house when all she has on is a diaper or with a dress. But with pants/shorts on, they are a bit bulky and she would need a bigger size for her booty! I have one swaddlebees and it is super trim! I would love to have more of those, but they are more expensive than some of the others. I have been looking on diaper swappers, but have yet to find some. I ordered some nanas bottoms and bum Genius all in ones, so we will see how I like those now. I loved them when she was newborn, so I hope I like them now too! She still sleeps in huggies, but she is not a really heavy night wetter, so I may try a fuzzi bunz with an extra insert tonight to see how she does. My favorite thing about cloth....they are so cute and I can get them in such cute prints! I just have to restrain myself from buying a ton! So far so good, though! Here are a few pics of her in the fuzzi bunz. I could not get her to be still, so they are the best I could get!

August meals and recipes

2011-07-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

I have finished out August menu and a lot of you have asked for the recipes, so here they are! I am not srue what days we are having what meals, but at least they are done!

Chimichangas:
1 lb. cooked beef, pork or chicken
1 jar (16oz.) salsa
1 16oz. Refried Beans
1 4oz. Diced Green Chili Peppers-I leave these out
1 1 1/2 oz. Burrito or taco Seasoning Mix
16 8 in. Flour Tortillas
16 oz. cheese-whatever kind you want

1. Mix the meat, beans, salsa, seasoning, and chilis. Heat till warm.
2. heat the tortillas a bit to make them easier to fold.
3. Add some of the mixture to the middle of the tortilla, add some cheese and fold up the ends, then the other ends.
4. wrap in foil. Freeze. When ready to eat, place in baking dish (still in foil) and bake for about an hour if frozen or if thawed, about 30 minutes.
Tacos:
I just precook ground turkey and add homemade taco seasoning. Then I freeze in servings.

Spaghetti:
I cook the turkey, add the sauce and some seasonings, then bag and freeze.

Lasagna:
1 pound sweet Italian sausage
3/4 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
12 lasagna noodles
10 ounces ricotta cheese
10 ounces cottage cheese (you can use all ricotta or all cottage cheese if you dont want half and half)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced-I use the mozzerella that is already cut for sandwiches
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1.In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

2.Fill a large pot with the lazagna noodles and then fill with HOT water. Let sit about 30 minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

3.Preheat oven to 375

4.To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.

5.Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Chicken with gravy
4 pieces (or however many fit into a glass baking dish) of chicken or pork chops
1 onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can chicken broth
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp salt

Put the chicken in the baking dish. Cut the onion up into rings and lay them all over the chicken. Mix together the rest of the ingredients and then pour on top of chicken and onions. If you are using the crock pot, just pile it all together and cook for 5-8hours until nice and tender. If you bake it like I do, 1 hour on 350.
This is soooooo yummy and delicious and so easy to make. It takes like 5 minutes to put together!

Tosatdas:
Corn Tortillas
Canola Oil
2 cans pinto beans(or a can if refried beans if you don't want to make them)
Cheese
shredded lettuce
1. Heat oil (will only need thin layer in pan) on stove top Fry up as many corn tortillas as you will need for your family. Or,you can bake these of course!

2. Empty pinto beans into a separate pan on stove top and heat through. If your brand of beans seems to have a lot of liquid, drain a little off the top. But you do want SOME liquid. Then mash beans with a potato masher. Add a handful of cheese to thicken. Then season with salt, and any seasonings you like. I add salt,cumin and garlic powder.

3. Top tortillas with beans, more cheese and lettuce. We eat these with sour cream and taco sauce. Enjoy!

Pasties: (thanks to my mother in law. Apparently these are really big in the UP!!)

1.5 pounds of Groud Chuck or hamburger - browned (I used turkey)

1 medium onion - diced
1 Can Peas & Carrots -drained
1 Large Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/4 can of milk
5 or 6 potatoes, peeled and sliced thin OR diced into small cubes
Pie Crust
13 x 9" cake pan or casserole dish

Preheat oven 350 degrees. In a fry pan, heat the Grd Chuck/hamburger and diced onion until well cooked (salt & pepper to taste) Remove from heat and let cool. In the casserole dish, mix together potatoes, peas & carrots, Cream of Mushroom soup and milk, add the browned meat and mix. Make your pie crust, roll out rectangular and not too thin, large enough to cover the baking dish. Place the crust over the meat, trim the sides of the crust making a few slites for vents. Bake at 350 for approximately 45 minutes. Ready to serve. Cut as you would cake. Can be served plan with brown gravey or as many Yoopers Do with Ketsup!
Chicken and rice casserole:

1 can Cream of chicken soup
1 can Cheese or cheese and broccoli soup
For creamier version add
1 can cream of mushroom or celery soup
1.5 cups rice
3 Cups chicken Broth or water (add salt to taste)
1-½ cups chopped broccoli (we use frozen I would steam it first if you use fresh)
½ lb - 1lb chopped or shredded chicken
2-3 cups Shredded cheddar cheese
1. Cook rice in chicken broth, until done.
2. Add cans of soup, Broccoli, and chicken spread into 3qt casserole pan and cover with cheese. Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes (or until cheese is melted and golden brown). To spice it up add Salsa and sour cream as a topper.

Lemon chicken:

4 boneless chicken breasts ($1.75lb on sale)
2 tbsp corn starch
1 egg (.20)
a few dashes salt and pepper
oil for frying
Lemon sauce:
juice of 1 lemon (.50)
1 c. water
1/3 c sugar
2 tbsp vinegar
few dashes of salt
2 tbsp corn starch

1. pound chicken breasts out until even
2. heat 1/4" of oil in frying pan
3. In a small bowl beat the egg with corn starch and salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in mixture and add to frying pan. cook until done, set aside

For sauce:

1. In a small sauce pan add lemon, water and sugar bring to a boil stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved, reduce heat to low simmer
2. add vinegar and pinch of salt
3. In a separate bown mix 2 tbsp corn starch with 2 tbsp cold water until smooth. slowly pour into lemon mixture and stir until thickened.

To serve:
slice chicken into strips and pour sauce over, serve immediately. For a prettier presentation paper thin lemon slices can be used as garnish

Adjust sauce to taste by adding more vinegar if necessary
Pork chops:

We are having this a few times, so I will do it 2 different ways. I don't really follow a recipe for ether of them, I just guess the amounts!

Dip pork chops is an egg/milk mixture, then dip in breadcrumbs/Parmesan cheese mixture. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.

The second way-Keith like this better!

Dip pork in egg/milk mixture, then in breadcrumb mixture. "fry" in skillet to brown on both sides. Remove from pan. Add 1 can cream of mushroom soup, about 1/2 cup milk, a few slices of cream cheese and a few splashes of worseshire sauce. Combine and scrape all of the drippings off of the bottom. Return the chops to the pan, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Italian chicken-crockpot:

1-2 chicken breasts

1 stick margarine or butter
1 pkg. dry italian seasoning
1 pkg. cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
noodles or rice

Place chicken in crock pot with margarine and italian seasoning. Cook on low until chicken is done (so, 6-7 hours I'd say--check it though!). Take out chicken and whisk together in crockpot the cream cheese and soup. You can soften the cream cheese first though so there are less chunks. Place chicken back into the sauce and warm through. You can thin the sauce with milk if you need to.
Spicy BBQ stuffed chicken:

boneless chicken breasts or thighsCheese soup:

8 slices pepper jack cheese
0.5 cup barbecue sauce, plus more for basting

Portion chicken into serving-size pieces. Butterfly each piece of chicken so it forms a pocket. Fill with a spoonful of BBQ sauce and a slice of cheese. Fold to close. Grill until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes, basting with additional BBQ sauce, if desired.
Freezing Directions:
After folding chicken closed, place on a tray and flash freeze, then place in a freezer bag, seal, label, and return to freezer. To serve: Remove from bag and thaw in refrigerator.

12 potatoes, peeled and diced-I did not peel mine tonight and I used red potatoes

1 yellow onion, diced-I leave this out, I hate onions!
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
5 cups milk
1 (1 pound) loaf processed cheese food (such as Velveeta®), cubed
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
salt and pepper to taste

1.Combine potatoes, onion, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 tablespoon pepper in a large soup pot. Cover with water; bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the potatoes are very tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain potatoes, and return to pot.

2.Stir the milk and cubed cheese into the potatoes. Season with dill, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir over low heat until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.

3.I froze this is single serving sizes-I has 7 of them. When I reheat it, I will add some shredded cheddar cheese and some bacon on top!

My couponing trip today!

2011-07-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to blog about this weeks couponing trip! I was my best one yet! I went to 5 stores (one was the same store in 2 locations), spent a total of $32.96 plus I got a $4 and a $1 store reward bucks to spend later. Without coupons and my store cards, I would have spent $167.08!!! That's a savings of 80.2%! OK, so here's what I got and how I got it. I so wish I had more coupons for these items, I could really go crazy!

Walgreen's:

-I bought the pkg of 6 dove mens+care soap bars and used a $4/1 coupon. They were 2/$12, however, they only had one and the checker let me have it for $6!
-I bought 2 carefree liners and used 2 $.50/1 coupons plus one from their ad to make both of them free!
-I bought 2 Wonka chocolate bars and used 2 $1 coupons that I printed and 1 $1/2 coupon from their printable to make them both free!
-I bought 2 deodorants that were 2/$6 and you get $4 in RR if you buy 2.I bought 2 and used 2 $.75 off coupons.
-I had to have a few fillers because you have to have as many products as you have coupons, so I bought 4 of the $.19 Christmas soaps!

Rite Aid:

-I bought 2 spray n wash and used 1 $1/2 coupon and got $2 in RR
-I bought 2 gain dish detergent that were in sale for $.89-I didn't have a coupon, but we needed it!
I bought 2 U by Kotex that were on sale for $1 and used 2 printable $1 coupons to make them free!

Shaws (grocery store)

-I bought 2 pkgs of croutons that were on sale for $1 and I used 2 $1 coupons making them free!
-I bought one bottle of hand soap for $1
-I bought a bottle of bubbles for the kids and a pkg on clearance of paddled with balls for the kids with no coupons!

Stop and Shop (grocery store-I had to go to 2 of them to get all of the deals)

-I bought chocolate milk and m&ms for Henry, as my friend says, the price of shopping with kids!
-I bought 2 small blocks of cheese that were on sale 2/$5 and used 2 $1 off coupons
-I bought 12 pkgs of razors! This is my favorite from today.....the store had them on sale by one get one free. I had 6 coupons for buy 1 get 1 free. So I got all 12 pkgs of razor FREE!!!!!

What a weekend!

2011-07-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

There is so much to do here on the weekends, and it seems that we keep packing the weekends with activities! But it is great family time, so none of us mind! Friday night Keith and the boys went to the Newport Gulls baseball game with another family and their kids. It was t-shirt night, so the boys both got gulls shirts. Henry loved his, wore it the whole game and then slept in it! He loved the game. Tyler tolerated the game, but had fun with his Friends! The games are really inexpensive, so I think they will be going to quite a few games!

Saturday we decided to get up early and drive to Six Flag New England! What a drive to get there, 2.5 hours! But it was so worth it! We got there when the park opened, and the kids all had a blast! Even rode most of the kiddie rides and love them! Here are some of the picture we took!

Merry Go Round

E's first roller coaster!

riding the monster trucks

conducting the train

T on the Sylvester ride

E and Keith in the ship ride

playing in the water

this is my favorite picture!

driving the tooncar

Twith bugs

Then on Sunday we went to the 4H fair! It was really small, but the kids enjoyed it. The had a bunny petting area that was a big hit! Even E loved holding them!

Working out, eating better, blah, blah, balh!

2011-07-18T10:32:00.000-07:00

I have blogged before about loosing weight. A friend and I were chatting about it the other day and she said something that made me think, and I think she is right!! She said that not only should you write down your goals, but why you are wanting to achieve them and how you are going to go about achieving them! The more I thought about this the more it made sense to me! So here is my list of weight loss goals!
1-I want to get healthy. I want to be around for my kids and I want to show them how to eat healthy. I can't get them to eat things that I don't eat!
2-I want to get in shape. I don't want to be out of breath when we are running around in the yard!
3-I want to feel better about myself in my clothes! It sucks when your pants are too big in one area and too small in the other! I want to put on something and know I look and feel good in it!
4-I want to run a marathon! Ok, so maybe not a full one for a while, but start with a 5K and then a half marathon and then we'll see!

Now, how am I going to do this?! Well, we are members of the Y, so I need to make myself go more often!

1-I am going to work out at least 3 days a week.
2-I am going to eat a vegetable (other than corn!) at dinner every night.
3-I am going to walk to the library on Friday mornings. This is our library day and it is just under a mile there, so we are going to start walking there and back!
4-I am going to weigh in on Mondays!

So each week on Mondays I am going to blog about my week, how I did, what was good, what was not so good, and what to do for the next week!

Kite Festival

2011-07-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

We set off to go on a morning hike yesterday. Then I remembered that the kite festival was going on, so we decided to check that our instead. It was ok! Not much there, and very little kites in the air. There was not a huge wind, so that was part of the problem. But we made the best of it and everyone had a great time! We looked at a few kites, the boys made kites at a craft table and we walked along the rocks at the beach. It was a good way to spend some time together outdoors. However, I would skit the kite festival if we were going to be here next year!!

the boys liked this kite the best!

making kites

Tyler's kite

Henry's kite

E in the Mei Tai the Elizabeth made for us-she loves being on my back!

Tyler took this pic of us. I love how well it turned out!

couponing

2011-07-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

I have been couponing for a long time. In CA I loved going to the commissary with my stack of coupons and see how much I could save. When the extreme couponing show started, of course I watched! Since then, I have changed the way I coupon and have learned so much. While I am no where near an extreme couponer, I have built a pretty good stockpile of things that don't expire. I don't and will never buy things that we won't use. To me that is just silly! But if I can get something for free or close to free, I am going to use all of the coupons I have! My favorite thing to stock up on is toothpaste! Since we moved to RI, it is a little different for me to coupon. We don't have a super walmart, just a regular one that is old! The Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS are really small and don't carry all of the items that are on sale weekly. There is no Kroger and no Target! So my deals are limited here unlike when we were in VA. If one store did not have something, I would just go to another. Here, not so much! But I am making it work and still getting some great deal. I follow a few blogs and Facebook pages of other couponers. They help me with the deal match ups. My favorite two are the Krazy Coupon Lady and Freetail Therapy. I have a coupon binder that I love! I used the printable page dividers from the Krazy Coupon Lady and it si so easy for me to organize them and to find them! It did take me forever to get it put together, but now that it is done, I am so happy that I did it this way. Here is what my coupon binder looks like:

Today I made the rounds, going to Walgreens, Rite Aid, and Walmart. While I was not able to get everything on my list, I did get most of what I wanted/needed. Here is what I got for $9.50:

-6 tubes of Colgate toothpaste=all were free with the sale price and the coupon
-1 box of Sally Hansen wax strips=paid only $.99
-Finesse Shampoo and Conditioner=B1G1 plus both of them had a try me label on them where I can get the total amount of the purchase which makes them free when I get the rebate!
-4 scotch magic tape=$.22 each with the coupon
-2 fly swatters=free with coupon
-4 cans of beans-I had no coupons for these, but we needed them and they were cheaper at walmart than the grocery store!

So my total for all of this was $9.50 for 19 items or $.50 each!! That is a 91% savings!! If I would have had the coupons, I would have paid over $47! I love the thrill of a good good buy!

Fireworks

2011-07-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

We went to the base to watch the fireworks. There is a great place to sit on the grass at the water and see them over the bridge. The kids all got bathed and in their jammies (I am not sure why we did this, as they all got pretty dirty running around before they started!) The family next to us has a really sweet dog that loved the kids. She kept coming over and sitting with us. Of course the kids loved it! The fireworks were some of the best I have seen the finally went on for over 5 minutes straight and was amazing! Just like at the baseball game E fell asleep during the fireworks. The cutest thing was Keith told all of the kids that they have to keep their shoes on. E had hers in her hand and was sleeping holding them. When I took them out of her hand, she started screaming! All in all, it was a really great July 4th weekend!

The is one of my favorite pictures of the kids together

The bridge at sunset

The dog joined us to watch the fireworks!

Watching the fireworks!

The Bristol Parade

2011-07-05T11:28:00.000-07:00

The Bristol is the oldest parade in the country! We had to go check it out! It was only about 30 minutes down the road. We had been told by others and read that you needed to be there early to get a good seat. The parade started at 10:30 so we left at 7! There was virtually no traffic and it took no time at all to get there. We parked and found a great stop right on the street! Then we sat...for 2.5 hours!!! It was actually not that bad, there was a grassy area behind up that the boys played in with a few other kids and E went walking around the street saying hi to everyone and pointed out all of the dogs! The kids did pretty well, considering it was such a long wait for it to start. Once it started, Henry and Evelyn loved it. Tyler hated it! It was loud and he wanted to play in the field! Boy was it a long parade...3 hours! We were all ready to go by the time it ended!

The kids in their patriotic outfits!

Watching the parade after it finally started!

Evelyn loved this little car

Tyler with the firetruck when it stopped in front of us

The Pawsocks

2011-07-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

The Boston Redsock's AAA team, the Pawsocks, play about an hour up the road. I was trying to come up with something inexpensive for us to do as a family, and the team was playing at home, so we decided to go! The tickets are really cheap, $5 for the kids and $7 for us, so for $24 all 5 of us went! We got general admission tickets, so the seats were first come first serve. We wanted to be as close as we could, so we were there when the gates opened...2 hours before the game started! The plus side...we got great seats...the down side...we had a LONG time to wait!! Once the game stated, the kids all loved it! E got a little ancey about the 5th inning, so she and I went walking around the stadium. Henry especially loved it, he first said he wanted to play on the team too and then at the end he wanted to know when his TBall games were! Tyler enjoyed it as much as he could, considering he dislikes sports greatly!!! The Pawsocks won the game! YEAH! And after the game, they had a really great fireworks show. E stayed awake through the entire game, but when the lights went out for the fireworks, she fell asleep immediately. The fireworks did not even wake her up!! We will definitely be going to some more of these games!

Henry's favorite thing was before the game when the drew the white lines!

waiting for the game to start

watching the fireworks

E fell asleep!

Fireworks

Children's Museum

2011-07-04T14:19:00.001-07:00

I know I blogged about the children's museum in the last post, but here are some pictures from the night. The water zone was the favorite of all three of them! I would have more pictures, however, the camera battery died while we were there!

Crane operator Tyler
Construction worker Henry

All three kids at the water zone in their wet smocks!

E playing in the water with a ball

E walking in her water smock, she was so cute!

Henry playing in one of the water tubs

Tyler opening and closing the doors to let the water flood the bottom

What a great evening

2011-07-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

While the kids were watching TV yesterday, we saw an commercial for the RI Children's museum. The boys were so excited and asked if we could go. I said I would find out about it and they day went on. While looking at the website, I found that certain Friday's a month were free from 5-8. Just so happens that last night was one of those nights, so we decided to go check it out. It is smaller than the ones we are used to, but everything they had was new to us and things we have not seem before, so that was great! The favorite thing among all three of them was the water room. We spent a lot of time in there. We did both floors twice we were having so much fun!

When we were done we were all hungry and it was at least 45 minutes till we got back home and it was already 6:30, so we tried to find a place to eat. Not too far from the museum is a HUGE mall that has lots of restaurants. We chose Cheesecake Factory, and prayed that all three would behave. The last time we took any kid there, Tyler was about 12 months and threw a plate across the room and it shattered! The wait was about 30 minutes, so Keith took the kids across the street to a park and the capitol building. They had a blast climbing the marble steps of the capital and it really made the time go fast for them. We talked to the boys a lot about using soft voices and behaving in the restaurant. To our surprise, all three were as perfect as we could have hoped! Even Evelyn was not her usual squaky self! She just sat in her high chair and pointed to what she wanted! Tyler had grilled cheese, Henry had cheese pizza and Evelyn had grilled chicken and veggies. They each ate half of their meals, as did I, so we all have lunch today too! When we were leaving, we were telling the kids how proud of them we were and Tyler told us that he loved that place to much that he wants to go there for his Birthday Dinner!

We had to walk through the mall to get back to our car, and since we were so happy with their behavior, we got them ice cream cones in the food court. It was really late by then, 8:30, so I ran into children's place and got all three of them new jammies. We changed their clothes before we left and all three were sound asleep by the time we got to the intrastate! I am so proud of them and their good behavior. It was definitely one of the best nights we have had in a really long time!

I am done with positive reinforcement!

2011-06-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this is my first rant on here! I have read and been told (like everyone else) that positive reinforcement will work a lot better than getting upset when the kids do things I don't like. While I am sure that is true in the long run, it is not for me right now! This move has been very hard on Tyler and myself. Henry is the type of person that will adapt to any situation and be just fine! Tyler and I need time to adjust and feel comfortable. We have not met anyone here yet, so the kids and I are home most of the day, unless we are at the Y. So naturally, the boys are bickering and fighting with each other a lot. Yesterday they were playing very well together and I commented to both of them that I was very proud of them for playing nice, using kind words and speaking softly. Within 30 seconds of me saying that, they were back at each others throats about something! It was so frustrating! I felt like if I had not pointed out that they were nice, they would have never known and would have kept playing nicely!

Today Tyler had a fantastic day. He smiled all day, had fun and did not cry at all! Even when he had to get of off Skype with yaya, he said goodnight and went into his room. I read them a chapter out of our book, and then it was lights out. I gave his a kiss and told him I was proud of him for having such a great day and was happy that it was getting better here for him. He immediately started crying about missing VA and his friends! I wanted to kick myself again for pointing out something! AAHH!! Being a mom is so frustrating sometimes!!!

Loosing Weight and Getting Healthy

2011-06-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

After I had E I was the heaviest I had ever been! It took a while, and a lot of pushing from my mom, but I finally decided that I needed to change and get back in shape. I tried weight watchers, and it was just not for me! I did not need to sit in a meeting with some very needy people and listed to they "yeah for you's"! What I needed was to watch what I ate, be aware of what I was eating, and use portion control. It has not been easy, I LOVE FOOD!!! I have not eliminated anything from my diet, contrary to what my dad says, I can still eat rice! :-) I set a goal for myself that in a year I wanted to loose 40 pounds! I am at the halfway point, and I have lost 25 pounds! I am so excited and happy that I can wear another smaller size! I think that now that I feel like I have the eating part down, I need to start the exercise part! We joined the YMCA last week and I have been going everyday, although on Monday and Tuesdays I just take E and H to swimming lessons, so I am not working out. I think on those days I may try to do something at home to exercise. Today at the Y I even ran for 2 minutes! For me, that is a huge accomplishment! I have never been a runner, and I am thrilled that I was able to do that! I am very happy to have a friend here that can help keep me on track while we are here!

Cardboard Castles

2011-06-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine posted on her blog a list of things that she wanted to do with her kids this summer. After seeing this one, I decided that the boys would love it, so we gave it a try! They had a blast, and I am happy to have found The Imagination Tree. What a great website. I am planning on doing a few more of the crafts she has on there. Here are some pics of the first castle we made, this is the smaller one. We have a bigger one still to paint and the boys want to make one for E to play with that is purple! I love how they want to do things for E too! So sweet!

Painting the castle
Finished castle from the front

From the side

Playing with the finished castle!

Recipes for my monthly cooking

2011-06-27T04:22:00.000-07:00

I am a few days late on this one, but here they are! Here is a pic of my freezer, it was a lot more organized before the frozen veggies went in, but you can get the idea!

-taco seasoning

-homemade pizza-we just buy the bough in a bag and add whatever toppings we want

-crockpot pork chops with potatoes I leave out the green beans and cook them seperatly

-italian chicken-dump a bottle of dressing in a bag with chicken!

-salsa chicken-dump salsa in a bag with chicken. I top this with cheese, olives, sour cream and avacad0

-chipotle chicken and sun dried tomato are marinades from the store, but I am looking to find a homemade one

-BBQ chicken-dump a bottle of BBQ with chicken

-honey terriyaki chicken

-garlic parmesan chicken-can't remember where this came from-1 cup Parmesan cheese, 1 packet italian dressing seasoning. Dip chicken in oil, then in cheese/seasoning mixture. Then bake or wrap in saran wrap and then freeze.

-spaghetti-I just make up the turkey and sp sauce, then freeze in serving size portions

-chicken for salads-I just skillet cook the chicken with some seasonings and freeze to have on top of salads

-breakfast burritos-can't remember where this one came from either! I made 16 of them, so I took 12 eggs and cooked them. Then I added one red, yellow and orange pepper sliced and one onion sliced. I put a little of the mixture in a tortilla, then added salsa and rolled in foil and froze. He heats them in the microwave and says they are great!

-PB&J-I just made the sandwiches and froze them-super easy and E loves them!

ENJOY!

What we are doing this summer!

2011-06-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

I want to keep the boys busy this summer. Henry has been wanting to do karate for a while now and I am so happy that the base has a class he can take. He had his first one on Tuesday and loved it! I cannot wait for him to get his uniform, he will look so cute! Tyler loved gymnastics in VA! I found him a class at the YMCA and he had his first on on Thursday. He was not too sure of it since the one in VA was more of a play based gymnastics and this is true gymnastics! But I know that he will gain good self esteem from it, so we are sticking with it. He did say he enjoyed that it was an all boys class! I have also signed them all up for swimming lessons at the Y. Evelyn's is a mommy and me class, and the boys are both in a beginner class. Thankfully they are in separate classes, so I get some quiet time everyday!! The boys are going to a summer camp on Wednesday mornings that started this past week. They loved the first day and cannot wait to go back. Tyler will be taking a class through the school system in July that is for Kindergartners that are going into first grade. He will ride the bus everyday! He is petrified of the bus, so we have watched it every morning as it has picked up the kids in the neighborhood. (they are still in school here till next week)! The bus driver is really nice and waves at him every morning. We have a park just down the street from our house that we have been walking to in the afternoons. Evelyn loves the slide, she can climb up the stairs by herself, but still has trouble getting her leg out from under her when she sits down to slide! I got a library card and the boys are both signed up for the summer reading program that they offer. We checked out our first 4 books a few days ago and have been reading them at night before bed. I am going to find some activities and places for us to go on the weekends as a family.

My months worth of meals..DONE!!

2011-06-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

Before we moved to RI, I started freezer cooking and it made life so much easier. A week before we moved, I sat down with a calendar and made out our meals for 4 weeks. When I got here, I went to the store and started cooking and marinating! Here is what we are eating:
Tacos (6 meals worth)
homemade pizza (3 meals worth)
crockot porkchops with potatoes (3 meals worth)
crockpot chicken thighs (3 meals worth)
italian chicken (2 meals worth)
salsa chicken (2 meals worth)
chipotle chicken (2 meals worth)
sun dried tomato chicken (2 meals worth)
BBQ chicken (2 meals worth)
honey teriyaki chicken (2 meals worth)
garlic Parmesan chicken (2 meals worth)
spaghetti (5 meals worth)
cooked chicken for big salads (3 meals worth)
16 breakfast burritos for Keith
14 PB&J sandwiches

I know, this is way more than a months worth, but some we will eat for lunches, like the tacos and the sandwiches for E and I to have for lunches. My goal is to eat out once in a payday, so twice a month as a family. I will post the recipes on here later tonight. Now it is so easy, I just take a meal out at night and it is ready to cook at dinner time. Some of the chicken meals I will toss in the crock pot to cook and some I will cook in the oven. Of course I have to add the veggies that I will cook with the meals, but at least this way we have the main part of the meal already done!

So I had this great Idea...

2011-06-24T12:30:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to come up with fun and free things for me to keep the kids busy this summer. Since I seem to get lost everywhere I go around here, going anywhere is not fun for me! So I decided that a few days a week we will do theme days! Today was the first one, Dinosaurs since the boys love them right now. I spent a hour last night finding a movie about dinosaurs that was not animated on Netflix. I finally found Walking With Dinosaurs. It was on BBC and rated G, so I thought it would be great! I found a really neat website, Creative Kids at Home, that has a huge section all about fun things to do to learn about dinosaurs. I also printed a few coloring pages for Henry and a few work pages for Tyler from Print Activities. I was all set! This morning I told the boys what we were going to do. They were super excited and I was excited they were into it! After breakfast I put on the movie for them to watch while I made the dough for the fossils. Within about 10 minutes, the boys were both scared and wanted to turn off the movie! So I put in an episode on Dinosaur Train from PBS! So back to the dough I went...well, apparently I did something wrong, because it never came together for me to knead it! Ok, strike #2! We did manage to do the printables, so I guess 1 out of 3 is not bad!!

I am also having this kids keep a summer journal. I bought them each a notepad that has the wide lines that they learn to write on. I plan on having them try to write what they want or have them draw a picture and then tell me what they want to say about their day. They are excited about this too!

Tomorrow we are going to try Egg Heads! I am really hoping this one turns out better than today's plan!

Rhode Island

2011-06-23T06:52:00.000-07:00

so I have not blogged in forever (again) and need to update! I have a feeling I will be blogging a lot now that we have moved to RI, as I have no real contact with others at the moment, other than my kids! The kids and I got here on Saturday. The drive was not too bad, until we got to New York! The traffic was horrible, I was always in the wrong lane, we nearly got hit by a merging suv, took the wrong exit, ended up smack dab in the middle of New York city, then the Bronx, and finally Yonkers before we managed to find our way back to I95! After that it was smooth sailing! The kids were happy to be here and to have daddy back. They love the house and their rooms. They are very happy that there is a park about a half a block down from the house. I found a summer camp for the boys that is on Wednesdays for half a day. Their first day was yesterday and they loved it and cannot wait to go back next week. Tyler is signed up for a Kindergarten going into first grade summer program through the school district for the month of July. I am excited about it, he gets to ride the bus there and back and it is M-Th, so he will be busy that month! Henry is taking a Karate class at the base gym one night a week and loved his first class. Tyler has his first gymnastics class tonight at the Y and it extremely happy about that. I am hoping that once school starts in the fall that I will find something for E and I to do. That is about it for our first week here! I am sure I will get more into a routine as the weeks go on,

The Food Pyramid

2011-03-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

Since I have been on such a mission to feed the kids healthier foods, I decided that they needed to be involved in the change. I have always given them choices as to what they want to eat at meals. Now I need to get them to choose better! So I printed the food pyramid and I found a weekly chart that they can cross off what they eat daily in each of the groups. We went over the chart together and talked about each of the groups and what was in them. I was pleasantly surprised when the both told me what groups the needed to eat more of! Of course they need to eat more veggies, and they know it! They each picked out what veggies they wanted for tomorrow and are happy and excited to do it! Tyler picked carrots and tomatoes. He likes these, so it should be a great way to start. Henry picked carrots and tomatoes. He likes carrots, tomatoes not so much! But we will start with that!

cooking and other homemade things

2011-03-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

I have always loved to cook. I am sure that my passion for cooking came from my grandmother who was an amazing cook. Many times I have wished that she would have still been cooking when I was old enough to want to learn everything she knew! Back in the day moms did everything and did not complain or think that it was too hard. If my grandmothers stayed home and got everything done, then I can too! I have a very old edition of Better Homes and Gardens cook book that was my grandmothers. They used to cook everything from scratch. The food was amazing. That got me thinking about what my family eats and what can I do to make it better for them. I decided that I was going to try to make everything that we eat out of a can or box from scratch. Yes, a bit overwhelming, but not that hard either! I started with canned soup. Just about ever meal I make has some form of canned soup. I found a great site that had a super easy recipe for cream of anything soup. Great! I made the cream of chicken and cream of mushroom versions. Very easy, not a lot of money to make them and it makes a lot! Now I just want to try to find one that is a little healthier! This is definitely healthier than the canned one, but I just want less of the heavy cream! Henry loves sweets! So, what can I do to let him still have what he likes, but just make it better for him! We tried a recipe for homemade poptarts. They were awesome! And so easy to make. I was surprised at home much they really tasted like the poptarts out of a box! I can make up a big batch and freeze them. I also found a recipe for homemade gummys. They are basically just jello and my kids eat them up! So much better than packaged gummy bears and these don't get stuck in your teeth! Another plus! I have also made: white bread cinnamon bread-I usually make these into muffin size rolls instead of a big loaf refried beans taco seasoning graham crackers ketchup Cooking from scratch is not as hard as I thought! And the kids love helping me. Teaching my kids how to cook has been so much fun. After we make something, Henry always wants to take whatever it is to Yaya and Papaw! Today we are making cinnamon bread and poptarts for our breakfasts this week.

changes...some HUGE, some small!

2011-03-24T05:32:00.000-07:00

So as usual, I have not posted in here in forever! (so that usually means this will be lengthy!) I have been feeling like everything is out if control lately, and that has been bothering me. The move is coming way too fast, only 6 weeks and I will have packers here! That leads me to all of the things that I would like to get done before then!
We always do a big clean out before we move. It is one of the best parts about moving...we are forced to do it! We have so much clutter and junk around here it is crazy!! Not only are we in a smaller house with very little storage, but we just have too much stuff! My biggest hurdle is TOYS, TOYS, TOYS!!! We just have too many! It is overwhelming to the kids and to me! I signed up to do a consignment sale in April. My plan is to try to sell as much of it as I can. But the tagging is time consuming, so I have now decided to sell the bigger things and take the rest to goodwill! It will go much faster to just get it out of the house! Evelyn's clothes for the sale are about half tagged. I need to get it all done!! Once I have all of that done, I know I will feel so much better and lighter!

I need to get the entire family more organized. As it is now, there is no real schedule for getting the basic things done-laundry, dishes, general cleaning, etc. I feel that the boys are plenty old enough to be helping out around here is a bigger way. Now, they are responsible for unloading the silverware in the dishwasher and Tyler has to bring down their laundry basket when I need to wash their clothes. It occurred to me after a conversation with a friend that they need/can be responsible for a whole lot more! I do WAY to much for them and that is not teaching them anything other than to be lazy and mommy will do everything!! So I am going to have them do more things around here. Nothing huge, and we will start slowly be adding one thing to each of them for a few weeks till the have about 5 things each. I am starting with getting dressed! They are both capable of getting themselves dressed for school. So why am I still doing it for them?! We are going to pick out our clothes after bath each night, and they are responsible for making sure that they are dressed before it is time to go to school. Oh, and I am not calling them chores! I think that chores sounds negative!! So we are calling them responsibilities!

I need to get myself on a schedule as well! I have cut out a lot of my useless in the car time. I am home much more now. I need to have a daily list of things that need to be done. If I do a few things a day, then the weekends are not so heavy with "chores"! I am sure my mother is going to read this and say, finally, after 31 years she gets it!! Yes, I have been resistant to admitting that I need to change too!! But I finally get it now, better late than never!

In dealing with some behavior things with Tyler, I have realized that I have not been teaching them lately. I have just expected them to know how to act and behave. One of the things that I love most about staying home with my kids is that I get to teach them how to be helpful and how to act in situations. But somehow I have forgotten that I still need to teach, even though they are getting older. They dont know what talking back is, so when I tell them not to talk back, they have no idea what I am asking them not to do! I need to get back to showing and teaching the kids that they are important. We have all gotten into a rut when it comes to daily family time. I just tell the boys to go play, instead of going with them to play. I think that when I change my ways, a lot of the negative behavior will change as well.

Homemade Poptarts

2011-01-30T18:47:00.000-08:00

I have really been trying to have the kids eat better and healthier food. Since they eat virtually nothing, it has been hard! One of Henry's favorite food is brown sugar poptarts. The ones from the store have so much sugar and so many things that I have no idea what they are in them! So I found a recipe on a great blog for homemade ones and decided to try it out. They were fantastic!! I was very surprised how much they tasted like the ones from the store! As usual, when Henry makes something, he wants to take them to Yaya and Papaw! They even said they were great!! I have definately found a replacement for the yucky store ones!! Now if I could just find a homemade ketchup that they would eat, we would be great!!!

http://www.salad-in-a-jar.com/family-recipes/homemade-brown-sugar-cinnamon-oatmeal-pop-tarts

a new bedtime

2011-01-30T18:33:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I wanted to accomplish was to get the boys out of our bed and into theirs; both at bedtime and all night!! So I decided that today was the day, I was ready for the fight tonight at bedtime! I took the boys to Target and they each picked out a new bed spread and a new stuffed animal to sleep with. All day I talked about how they are big boys now and they were going to sleep in their own beds tonight. Bedtime came and I was ready! They whined a bit, but climbed in bed. I sat with them for a few minutes, Henry fell asleep within 5 minutes! Tyler took a little longer, but he fell asleep too!! I am so proud of them! Now I just hope that tomorrow is not a lot harder!

Chopsticks

2011-01-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

Keith had sushi for lunch today. He always uses chopsticks with sushi. Today the boys were fascinated with them. They both wanted to know how they worked and they wanted to use them to eat their pizza! So Keith tried to show them how to hold them and how to pick up their food with them. It was a very fun lunch!

Time to move again!

2011-01-26T16:40:00.000-08:00

We got our official orders to move! Now it's time to clean out and decide what to keep and what to get rid of! I decided to sell all of my scrapbook supplies. I have a TON! I have not used them since we have been here, so they needed to go! I sold a bunch of stuff to a couple of friends in Japan. Now I just have to get the rest organized and take pictures to list on craigslist. I had no idea I had so much stuff!!

But that is the easy part! The kids toys, that is a bug mess! Not only is the playroom a disaster, but I think I am more attached to some, ok, a lot, more than the boys are! They are just growing so fast and I want to keep them small!! So the playroom is the next to tackle! Besides, we wont have a playroom in the next house, it will be a small 3 bedroom, so I need to only keep stuff that I know they play with!

I have lots of baby stuff that I should get rid of. But I just can't! We got rid of everything when we moved to CA, and then when we got pregnant with E, we had nothing! I really don't want to start all over again if we deiced to have the fourth child! I have 4 bins of clothes of hers that are too small, but then again, I held onto the boys clothes for a long time. And bins don;t take up that much space!!

Then there is all of the kitchen stuff I have! I went hog wild with pampered chef a few years ago, and as a result, I have 2 shelves full of stuff!! I should get rid of some of it, but someday I may use it!! I love kitchen gadgets and this is one of my weaknesses! So I am sure that I will keep the 10 chip and dip trays I have and all of the PC stuff and just put it into storage. Someday I will have a house that I can have it all out to use in....someday!

So the pre-move clean out continues, a little everyday and by May we will be ready to start our next adventure!

Oh, the places we find Evelyn!

2011-01-26T16:24:00.000-08:00

Evelyn has become a little climber and is into EVERYTHING!!! Here are just a few places she has been lately!

Stuck in her carseat!

Hanging onto the TV try! (no, she cannot see over it!)

On the Fireplace step!

Checking out the fridge!

Taking stuff out of the bottom drawer

Helping with the dishes

Henry Made Bread!

2011-01-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

I am trying to have all of us eat healthier and better food. I found a great blog (the simple dollar) that had a recipe for making homemade bead. Henry, Keith and I decided to give it a try. The bread was awesome! No more store bought bread for the Paquin's!! Henry was so excited about it that he took the entire loaf to Yaya and Papaw!

Mixing the dough
kneading the dough

Flouring his hands

more kneading

dough before rising

dough after rising

folding the dough to put into pan

putting dough into pan

Finished Bread!!

Back to a regular schedule!

2011-01-03T05:31:00.000-08:00

I never thought I would hear myself say that I am glad the kids are back a school!! While I loved having them home and being able to be lazy and do whatever we wanted, I realized this morning that I like a schedule! I also realized that I really miss my morning times alone with a cup of coffee and the news. In Monterey I would always get up before the kids and make coffee and sit in a quiet house watching the news. I have not done that in over a year. Over the Christmas break, I found that when I got up before everyone I was much more relaxed and happy. So this morning I got up, made a cup of coffee and just sat on the couch! I have to say, my morning was much smoother than when I get up at the same time as the kids and we are rushing! So I will be doing this every morning! Now if I can get my weekly household chore schedule worked out I would be even better!! I just put Evelyn down for her morning nap and my goal is to get a double batch of taco meat and a double batch of spaghetti meat made up and in the freezer!

My 2011 plans!

2010-12-30T12:08:00.000-08:00

So I have heard that when you write down your goals and plans you have a better chance of keep them! So here are my 2011 goals and plans!

First I want to be a more involved mother! I feel like all my kids do is play the computer, watch TV and argue!! So I have lots of ideas to keep us busy and have some fun!

I am going to get the kids to be more involved with the house work. They already unload the silverware from the dishwasher. I made a responsibility board for the boys. They each have 10 responsibilities. I choose the 5 I want them to do for the day. This way I can rotate what they do based on what I need to get done. Here is a picture of the finished board.

I started freezer cooking a few months ago. I love having everything already done, all I do it pop it in the oven. So this year I am going to continue to with the freezer meals. My plan is to fill out a calendar at the beginning of the month with the meals for each day. Next I am hoping to feed us all for under $300 a month! I have designated what days are our eat out nights and we will only eat where we have a coupon!

How to ride a scooter-per Henry

2009-09-05T17:10:00.000-07:00

day 3

2009-06-24T21:09:00.001-07:00

We are half way through the drive to Michigan and I am so ready to be there!!! This morning was a lot of fun for me. We drive by the house that we lived in when we lived in Utah. It has a fresh coat of paint, but looks the same. I cannot believe that Tom and I used to hike to the V...it is a long way up there!! Then we went by my elementary school, St. Olaf's! It has not changed at all. Most of the teachers that were there when I went just retired! It was so neat to see what has changed and what is still the same after all these years! The drive out of Utah through the mountains was beautiful. Wyoming was pretty boring! There is not much in that state! Tonight we pushed a little and made it to Nebraska. The room we got is amazing! It has a whirlpool tub!! Of course I had to have a bubble bath, put too much in and now we have bubbles all over the place!! But the bath was amazing!!! Next to the tub, the best part of this room is...2 TV's! Keith can stay up all night watching the History channel...I am off to bed!! Gotta get enough sleep for another long day!

Day 1 and 2

2009-06-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

The movers came bright and early Monday morning! After some issues with Allied, all of our worldly possessions are on a truck and on their way to VA! Keith and I left last night and made it to Reno, NV. We stayed at Circus Circus and Keith said I was sucking the fun out of the casino because I made us stick to the budget at the casino!!! We did have a good time! This morning we set off for Utah. Most of the day was Nevada, and I will never live in Nevada!! It was such a boring day! We made it to Utah and are staying at Hill AFB. It is strange to be back here after being gone for 15 years! Tomorrow we are going to go by my old house, and my old school. I am very excited to see the changes!

The last night in Monterey

2009-06-21T20:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I am sitting here in a somewhat empty house and lots of thoughts are running through my mind! The boys are in San Jose with Keith's parents. They left happy and waving, so it made it easier for me to see them go! California has been both good and bad for us. Living at the ocean has been amazing! One of my favorite things has been coming over the hill in the neighborhood and seeing the ocean. What a view! My other favorite thing here has been watching the fog roll in. I could sit here all day and just watch it roll!! The weather here has been great! We have all been spoiled to year round 60 degree weather!! I know that we will miss the friends that we have made here, and I know that we will be life long friends, even if it is just through face book!! Tyler has found a love for gymnastics, and I have found a love for canning, cooking, and scrapbooking. Henry has found that he too loves gymnastics and art. Keith picked up flying. We have realized that we love family hikes and picnics. We would not have had the time to find out that we love any of these things had we not had the opportunity to live here.

As I look toward the next chapter in our lives, I am both happy and nervous! Living away from family has allowed us to become closer as a family. Being close again will be such an adjustment. I have not yet seen the house that we will be living in, so I cannot wait to get there and see what it is like and where we will put everything!! Being there without Keith will also take some getting used to for all of us. The boys have really enjoyed having Keith home in the mornings and the evenings. I have also loved having him here, especially doing the dishes at night!! We will have to find a new way to do things in a new town and that is both scary and exciting!!!

So as I go to sleep on this last night in California, I am happy to have the friends that I have made here and happy to move on to what is to come. I have learned so much about myself and life over the last year and I cannot wait to see what is to come!

Tyler singing

2009-06-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a video of Tyler singing onomatopoeia, his favorite song!!

Gymnastics recital

2009-05-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

Tyler had his gymnastics recital yesterday. He was so cute! The first video is of him doing an obstacle course and the second one is of his class doing their little dance!

For the Birds!

2009-05-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight after dinner we took the boys to lovers point to let them run and climb on the rocks and get their energy out before bed. Before we left, we went over to the bathrooms. Keith played with the kids, and I went to the building. On my way there, I felt something hit my head. I looked up and saw nothing. Again when I walked back, I felt something hit my head, only this time I saw what it was...birds! And lots of them! Keith thought I was nuts, so I walked back over, and sure enough, the birds attacked my head! Here is the video Keith shot!