Calling,,,

So this is not going to be a typical Blog. As a lot of you know I have been couponing like crazy the last 6 months or so and while it is hard and time consuming it has saved us money, a lot of money. I can't do it like I would love to, with the kids and Mike's work schedule, but I still get stuff done.

I have been having this calling that I should start up a blog on things I do to save us money or to save me time. Plus I know what it is like to be a mom of 2 and a husband that has long hrs at work and sometimes you just need a break yourself. I would love to help other mom's in this way to save time and energy cooking and cleaning and doing all the other little things we do on a daily basis. Not really about coupons, but just little things that I do daily, weekly that help my family. I am not really sure if I should add it to this blog or create a new one and if it is even worth my time. Plus do I really have the time right now???

In a couple weeks Bible study is starting and I am co-leading a table with a fabulous friend and digging deeper into the Women's ministries at church, plus I am really involved in preschool at church, so that takes some time. Not to mention, my husband, my kids, my household and myself.

I really would love it if you would pray for me and help me figure out if it is the right time for me to start doing it.

Thank you for your prayers and hopefully I will get an answer soon :)

Fugal ME!!!

I have always hated paying for Evan to get his haircut...I mean I hate paying for mine. Honestly in the past 4 yrs I have gotten my hair cut 4 times, yes, Oh my goodness, Once a year. I know this will sound weird, but I really don't have the time to go get my hair cut and I don't really want to pay for it. Plus if I had the time I have a list of things I would rather do with that time then sit and get my hair cut.

I cringe every time I would pay for Evan's haircut...I of course always had a coupon, but still. So today I decided to try it on my own!!! I differently did not do a great of a job as the ladies do, but I did a darn good job for my first time cutting his hair. It is all the same length and I even trimmed up his ears and neck line with no blood!!! I want to learn to fade next, but I will do that when I don't have Lilah on my hip and trying to learn to cut Evan's hair with one hand :)

He did wonderful. He just sat there and let me do what I needed to do. He looks so cute and I am just so proud of myself...Now that is about 14.00 I saved right there by doing something that took my less than 10 mins.

My grandma has also been teaching me how to sew, so I will have a dress soon for Lilah!!! YAY!!! I really enjoyed it...Makes me nervous learning it and you need like 10 arms to sew, I feel. I will get it. I can't wait to see her in the dress!!!

SO NOT US!!!

So Mike had Monday off and I really wanted to do something fun and as a family, since I know the summer will be ending shortly. We couldn't really think of something that we wanted to do, so we didn't make any plans.

Sunday came around and we went to church, came home and got the kids lunch. While they were eating I said to Mike that I just kind of wanted to pack up drive to the beach and stay the night. So Mike and I started to look for hotels online...found one, while Mike booked the room I booked it around the house trying to fill the suitcase and get everything ready so we could hit the road and the kiddos could take their naps while we drove up there.

We had a blast!!! We got there and played on the beach. Lilah has NO FEAR!!! Great thing and bad thing, since she just runs to the ocean and wants to get in it. I love that about them, but they freak me out. She would not leave the water. Evan brought his monster trucks and him and Mike made a big track for the trucks. He was "vrooming" all over the place.

We cleaned off and headed to McMenamins for dinner...Thanks to GC from my parents for Mike for Father's day our dinner was FREE!!! LOVE IT!!! Only downside to it, was that they were out of tater tots :( The beer made up for that and the wonderful view. Oh and of course we had to stop by our ice cream shop and get some cones!!!
Then back to the hotel for some pool time. The kids had a blast jumping in, swimming and going under water. We had so much fun.
We ended the night snuggling up in bed watching a little movie and then we put the kiddos to bed. We laid their for about 10 mins quiet and then Mike and I got up and did some stuff of the computer and watched a TV show. I just love how the kids will sleep through it. I mean we weren't loud, but we were still able to stay up and hang out together.

We woke up, got breakfast, played in the arcade for a few then back to the pool!!! We have such water kiddos :) I love it. We got everything ready and went to walk around took them on the carousel, bumper cars and even rented a scurry!!! We all had a blast. The kids loved the scurry, wanting to go down the hills so they could put their hands up like a roller coaster. We ended our day back on the beach...water time, track building, kite flying and just having fun.

This was just such a fun trip. I love how there are so many things within a few hrs from home that we can do for a fairly reasonable price as a family. Mike and I never stay in hotel rooms and we never just get up and go.
This was Lilah's first time in a hotel and Evan's 2nd time ( first time he was like 6 wks old). We had a blast and would love to do it again next year. It was so nice to be able to get out of town for the night and just be together as a family. I love how the kids are getting old enough to be able to do these little day trips/overnight trips. I love how they just walk around with us like big kids and try their hardest at many things. They even try new foods and it just makes my heart so happy.

These trips are just preparing Mike, the kids and myself for bigger trips in the future.

Maybe this will even start to be our annual tradition for the end of summer!!!

My JOY!!!!

So I decided after dinner tonight that I would make brownies!!! YUM!!! I put both kids up on the counter and they took turns helping me put stuff in the mixer. They had a blast, well they thought they were until I gave Evan the beater and Lilah the spoon, watch out world!!! This was the most amazing brownie making EVER. I rarely let Evan lick the utensils when we bake and I have never let Lilah, but I am sure glad I did :) They had the best time for about 5 mins.

These are the times that I truly look at them and feel so blessed to have them as my children. God truly works miracles in every way. We have had a lay low day since the 3 of us are under the weather, so this really made my spirits lift up and realize that no matter how junky I feel having moments like this is all worth not getting a nap and being able to curl up in bed for a few hrs.

Obviously we went straight to the bath when we were done, actually I think I still have a diaper on the kitchen counter....ooops :)

Crazy?!?!? I think NOT!!!

One of my very best blessings is having my childhood best friend move back to Oregon a couple years ago and have a baby a year after I had Evan. Talk about your little girl dream coming true!!!
So she is a little crazy (in a good way)...She is a wonderful mom...Going to school full time, while raising O'rien, her step daughter Rhyan and her husband is overseas working, Oh wait and she is 23 wks pregnant with number 2, yes she is crazy!!! She inspires me so much...If she can do all of this, then I know I can do a lot as well. Her kids are thriving and so is she is school and in her intern. I know she is so tired, but just continues on.

So the reason for this blog is that I get to watch the kids from time to time, mainly OC ( O'rien), Rhyan is a busy little bee this summer :) This last week we met at IKEA for a meet stop and I decided that it would be so cool to take the kids to IKEA!!! HAHA Some might think I am crazy for these thoughts, but it gets worst...I also walked Meg over to the max station for her to take it to her intern...All while have 3 unstrollered kids!!! On a busy street, at a max station and no fences!!! They listened so WELL!!!! I was feeling really nervous, but very accomplished that I could get them all walking there safely and watching the "trains" go by and back to IKEA.

Then we hit IKEA, the cart was already full....of kids!!! The kids were AWESOME!!! They helped me load the cart up when I needed stuff...ate fruit snacks and had a blast with the little pencils, paper and paper measuring tape. Then we had lunch there, they helped me in line and stayed right with me. It was easy breezy!!! I still looked a little like a zoo, with a 1, 2, and 3 yrs old, but we had so much fun. Everyone was on their best behavior and ate well.

We had a blast with all the kiddos!!! It was great. I guess you make it as hard as you want it to be. We had fun and I think I made it fun...Letting them run around a little, playing games with them while they were in the cart...We had a lot of fun :)
These kids are just so awesome. I love how all the kids get along so well, I can't wait to meet the new little one and have the baby join the kid clan!!!

We ended our day with outside play!!! We had a blast in the pool and play structure. The kids were soaked and laughing so hard at each other.

I could not ask for anything more than having them close to me. I love watching our kids grow up together like Meg and I did!!!

BEACH DAY

We were spoiled this last Wednesday...Mike was given the day off and we had nothing to do!!! That is very uncommon around here, differently when he has a day off, it is always for some reason. We packed up the kiddos and headed to Seaside for the day.

It was a beautiful day, and we had a blast. Seaside is a beach where you can have so much fun for very little money, bonus!!!We played at the beach a couple different times. The kids do not have a fear of the ocean...Good and Bad thing. They both are very good at asking for a hand. We kind of built sand castles, until Lilah knocked them down, she loves to demolish things. I don't know if it will happen this summer, but I really want to go back and stay the night. Really soak up the beach and the family time.

Evan got to ride his first bumper cars and was laughing the whole time. We went and fed the Sea Lions and Evan held a snail and baby crab!!! They both have no fear with animals and sea creatures. I love how kids don't have the same hesitations that we as adults do. I have notice that as the kids get older some of my fears have gone away so that they will do it and not be afraid because I am. They have helped me more than I have helped them in some ways!!!

We ended our day on a bench with a ice cream cone. The day went by so fast, which was so sad....I wanted to keep playing and not stop. The kids were such troopers. We barely used the stroller. The kids did awesome walking around and walking on the sand down to the water and back. It is so nice that we can do that and not have to have a stroller and also not carry them, but sad that they are growing up so much that we don't really need it anymore.

I really enjoyed our time together and have truly realized that we need to do it more often. It was such a blessing for us to get up and get out of town for the day. We are defiantly making it a priority to just explore more.

Zoo time with the cousins!!!

This week we went to the Zoo with Auntie Amber, Conner and Caleb!!! We had so much fun!!! The kids were all awesome and were having so much fun. It is so great how all the kids are close together, we can all do things that we did as kids together with them. Conner and Caleb get to hang out with Auntie Amber this summer and she is just so wonderful with them. They are so lucky to have her there with them. You can just see how she truly loves them and enjoys her time with them!!!

I am so glad the kids and I finally had time to get to the zoo!!! they really enjoy going there and I can't wait to go back, probably next week!!!

Love is in the air

Oh the joys of weddings!!! So here is going to be my loving and sensitive side of me.I truly love weddings now that I have been married...There is nothing more beautiful seeing and hearing 2 people declare their love to each other, especially when my husband is up standing up there in a tux!!! HOT STUFF!!! The ceremony was beautiful and always give me that feeling of when Mike and I got married. Crazy to think we have been married for 5 years already. Time sure does fly when you are happily married and having fun. He is truly my blessing, along with the kiddos!!!

As most of you know our kids go to bed early, so I was really worried about how they would do for the evening...mostly Evan since he had to be there all day with no real nap!!! they did great..Lilah took a cat nap on me, of course for her and my picture that we were in, but that's how it goes, I guess. They ate good and were awesome kids!!!

Evan was a dancing machine!!! He was all over that dance floor when the music started...we could not get him off of that floor. He was cracking us up. Also him and Uncle Casey got into a little cupcake face smashing, which was so nice to see those smiles on each of them. He was such a little trooper the whole weekend...The wedding day, having guest in our house and giving up his bed for one of them. He loved having them here with us, as well as the rest of us!!!

Lilah did well for a little while after her little cat nap..She was still so tired and got a little cranky.She was still good, super cute and just went with the flow, but differently not herself. At least she lasted long enough fr me to enjoy most of the evening with everyone. It is such a bitter sweet part of our lives with the kiddos going to bed early...Love it for Mike and I, but does stink when we have evening events.

All in all this was a wonderful weekend and a beautiful wedding!!! We are so happy for Uncle Bobby, Auntie Laura and Kyler!!!

Camas Days!!!

I took the kids down to Camas days on Saturday morning and we had a blast!!! We also went Friday evening for a few and that was fun as well...Although Saturday was even better since we got to see the parade. This was Evan's first parade that he really knew what was going on and Lilah's first parade. I have been a slacker the last couple years on taking them to the Rose festival parades. Next year, right??? Evan was the cutest thing at the parade. He would stand there with his hands out for people to throw candy or put some in his hangs. We were all cracking up!! The both loved the clowns and the animals in the parade, but did not like the loud cars..Evan would back away from the line and just stand waiting for them to be done.
Lilah perfected her parade wave :) She was too cute waving at everyone and everything. She really enjoyed watching all the kids and the fire trucks go by.

Mike was not able to make it with us which was a huge bummer...Hopefully next time he can come with us and watch the kids faces light up with joy

Snake Hunting

This will really creep some people out...but we have been snake hunting in our yard!!! We have so much fun doing it. the kids know where the snakes usually are in the yard and we slowing wake up and look at them. Touch their tails a little bit and talk to them. It is kind of creepy to see them slithering around, but it is so much fun to watch the kids get to excited about them.
I have even started going outside to look for them or when I pull up in the drive way I look before we get out so i can point them out to the kids It is just a fun adventure to have in our yard!!!