Jacob's first carousel ride

We had a busy day today! Melinda, Phil, and Juliana came down from Austin to visit and so we met them at the outlet mall so that the kids could burn off some of their energy (and the adults could do a little shopping, too, of course!). Emily has come to believe that every time she goes to the outlet mall, she needs to ride the carousel. The last time we went, Jason took her, and Jacob got upset and cried because he wanted to go, too, so this time, I decided to let him ride. He loved it and smiled and laughed the whole time! Unfortunately, I didn't have our regular camera with us, but I did have the camera on my phone, which is why the picture isn't the greatest.

It's hard for me to believe that my summer is almost over. I had been in a lot of pain after my wisdom tooth was removed and went back to the dentist yesterday and found out that it was infected. I was telling my mom this morning that it's pretty pathetic that recovering from two c-sections was easier than recovering from having my wisdom teeth taken out! It has been a setback, though, and I feel bad that I haven't been able to do as much with the kids as I would have liked this past week, so I'm really going to try to make this next week count without overdoing it!

I'm a winner! :)

I had to work today, and after being off for the summer for several weeks it was REALLY hard to get back into the swing of things. I think it will help me to appreciate the two weeks I have left even more!

Anyway, when I got home from work, there was a box sitting on our porch. As I was driving up, I was trying to think of what it could be. I didn't think I was expecting anything...well, other than my pre-ordered copy of Breaking Dawn, but I figured I wouldn't be THAT lucky! There are a couple of boxes of food storage items on back order, but they usually send me an e-mail before they ship them. I "work" for a couple of different survey companies and sometimes they send me products to test, so I figured that was what it was, but when I picked up the box, I didn't recognize the return address.

I opened it up and I was surprised to find a bag full of goodies, but I still had no idea where it came from. Then, I vaguely remembered some ladies on a message board I like to visit being giddy about the "Oprah bags" that they had received today. They have actually been speculating for weeks as to whether or not they would receive one of these bags, but I really didn't pay much attention to their conversation. I'm not a big Oprah fan anyway.

So....I did a Google search and apparently what I received was one of the coveted "Oprah bags." I guess at some point in time, I must have entered to win this. From the entries they received, they drew the names of 5,000 people and I was one of the people they chose. I'm still trying to recover from the shock. I honestly never win any contests, so this is kind of fun, even if I don't remember signing up for it!

Here's what it included:

*Maroon Contessa tote bag
*Orange, zippered Oprah Magazine tote bag
*Be Fine paper bag containing exfoliating cleanser, warming clay mask, & night cream
*Flat Earth baked fruit crisps (Peach Mango Paradise) - if you've never tried Flat Earth chips, they are SOOOO good!
*2oz Eucerin body lotion
*Blue Diamond Cinnamon Brown Sugar oven roasted almonds
*10oz Dove supreme cream oil body wash
*9.5oz Wish-Bone Bountifuls Salad Dressing (it's some fancy looking salad dressing)
*Sample of j'adore perfume by Dior
*Quaker mini delights chocolatey mint cakes
*A full size Neutrogena mineral sheers powder foundation
*.5oz Aveeno sunblock lotion
*.5oz Clarins Paris- younger longer balm (interesting!)
*Coupon for a FREE Contessa convenience meal
*Sample of Jergens natural glow express body moisturizer
*2 samples of Curel Life Stages lotion & $1.00 off coupon
*Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair
*Lancome Hypnose custom volume mascara

I guess I should say, "Thanks Oprah!"

Pioneer Day!

Even though Pioneer Day is oficially on July 24th, we celebrated at the church today. I'm still not feeling 100%, but the swelling in my face has gone down quite a bit and I can basically manage the pain with Ibuprofen. If you know me very well, you know I can't stand being cooped up in the house for very long, so off we went as a family to "celebrate."

They had tons of games for the kids. Emily got to play hot potato for the first time. Most of the younger kids didn't quite get it and needed lots of prompting to pass the potato on, so they were the ones who were out first. Emily was pretty upset when she was out. A lot of the kids her age didn't quite understand the concept of "out" either and kept trying to rejoin the game. It was entertaining to watch, at least. They also did a balloon stomp where they attached a balloon to the kids ankles and they had to try to pop other kids' balloons before theirs got popped. Emily brought hers over to us and told us that she would rather have it to just play with instead. They did a water balloon toss and the look on Emily's face when the first one popped on her and she got all wet was priceless!

Jacob was sooo wanting to be one of the "big" kids, but he just isn't quite ready yet. He pretty much had to hang out with mom and dad, but did have fun wearing dad's shades for awhile. I have never seen a kid who loves wearing sunglasses as much as he does!

They made dutch oven cobbler and homemade ice cream and I was actually able to eat it, and I totally enjoyed it after living on yogurt, pudding, jello, and chicken soup for several days. We had a fun night, and both kids were worn out by the time we got home!

Really cheap stuff!

I have refrained, thus far, from posting any of my crazy coupon deals on our family blog, but I just couldn't resist this one, and it should work for people pretty much anywhere.

About a year ago, I discovered a magazine called "All You." It is only sold at Walmart, and it is $1.77. I personally hate Walmart (I can't stand the crowds, the lack of cashiers, or how dirty it usually is, and I usually get much better deals at many other places, but that's just a personal thing), so I ended up getting a subscription, which was $10/year. Anyway, the magazine is mainly filled with coupons which is why I get it. The past few months have been pretty disappointing, but the newest issue has some really great coupons.

The ones I was most excited about are:
Crystal Light FREE WYB (when you buy) 3 kraft, nabisco, or oscar mayer products
KRAFT salad dressing (same wording as crystal light)
KRAFT singles (same wording as crystal light)
NABISCO wheat thins (same wording as crystal light)
Oscar Mayer hot dogs (same wording as crystal light)

Kool Aid is a "Kraft" product. If you buy 3 Kool Aid packets (which are .10-.20 around here), you can get the free item listed on the coupon. So, for $4.77 (the cost of the magazine plus the 15 packets of Kool Aid), you can get Crystal Light, Kraft Salad dressing, Kraft cheese slices, Nabisco wheat thins, and Oscar Mayer hot dogs. Also, check the free up to value amounts. I always get the largest sizes I can (for the wheat thins, it ends up being the family size box).

Also, if you happen to shop at Kroger and pay attention to the monthly totals that go toward your .10 off fuel discount, they look at your total BEFORE coupons.

I guess this is only a "deal" of course, if your family thrives on processed and packaged foods which I guess I should be embarrassed to say that mine does?

.....and if you're not into all of this processed stuff, but would still like to find some grocery and coupon deals, here are a few of my favorite sites:

HotCouponWorld
CouponMom
Coupons.com
$800 a year grocery budget blog

Jacob's first time coloring!

I have tried to let Jacob use crayons a few times before, but he didn't really seem to get the part about using them on paper and they always seemed to end up in his mouth instead. Today, he finally "got" it (although he did sample a few of them along the way!) He is growing up so fast! Here are some pictures of him with his first masterpiece. Hopefully we won't be finding them on walls or furniture any time soon! :)

My fun experience at the dentist!

I had the wonderful experience of having my wisdom teeth removed this morning. I am fortunate in that I only had two on top (I figure I was allotted this blessing since I had pretty much every baby tooth pulled out when I was a kid because they would never fall out on their own!). I have known for awhile that they were impacted, but I figured if they weren't hurting me, I didn't want to mess with them. Going to the dentist causes plenty of anxiety for me anyway. When I went for my last cleaning, they told me that one of them had started to come through, but wouldn't make it all the way through, and it was pressing on my other teeth and causing all sorts of issues, so I reluctantly agreed that it was probably time to have them removed.

I was actually supposed to have it done during spring break, but they rescheduled. Then, I was supposed to have it done at the beginning of June, but the oral surgeon had to have emergency surgery, so they kept rescheduling it until he was well enough to come back to work. The appointment has been rescheduled a total of five times, so I was starting to think that maybe it just wasn't going to happen, but today was the day!

They called me back about 40 minutes after I got there. Jason and I were both glad that we rushed around getting ourselves and the kids ready so that we could be there on time only to listen to the receptionist loudly have several personal conversations (and we're talking very personal, dramatic conversations....the one sided portions that we could hear involved comments such as "You have to forgive yourself first before you can forgive anyone else." and "I think that's why God sent you this baby. He wants you to have another opportunity to make things right." It went on and on....) and then put patients on speaker phone while she was talking to them so everyone in the waiting area could hear?!?

They finally called me back and there was no warm fuzzies or "bedside manner" at all. It was all business and no words. They basically pushed me back in the chair, strapped me down, and got upset when I flinched when they started searching for a vein for the IV using the IV needle (if they would have given me some advance notice, I could have told them my veins are terrible and where to find one). I think it's helpful that I have had two c-sections now, so I'm not as skittish about needles and surgery and everything else as I used to be. Otherwise I probably would have been losing it at that point.

When it was over, they basically pushed me into the wheelchair and out the door....no words again!

It was quite an experience. Did I mention that we are so fortunate to have a dental HMO and that our old dentist is no longer a part of the plan so they just assigned us to this wonderful place? Jason says we're never going back there again (I hope we don't have a reason to go back!)

On a brighter note, I'm not in too much pain, and I'm living on jello, so I might even lose a few pounds and jump start the diet I've been meaning to start all summer.

Just for fun!

Every now and then, I like these fun quizzes that I find on other people's blogs. I found this one on Melissa's blog and since we spend so much time watching Disney (and playing with the Disney princesses) around our house, I couldn't resist!

If you take the quiz, post and let me know who you are :)

You Are Snow White!

Pure and trusting. You are a gentle soul who can get along with just about anyone. Everyone you meet instantly falls in love with you. How can they resist? You have a pure, lovable nature that's irresistable. Just don't trust everyone who comes across your path.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

A rare moment!

We went to a lunch and play activity with a bunch of moms and kids from church today. Both kids had a blast. There are quite a few kids that are Emily's age at church so it works out nicely. Jacob was a little hesitant at first, but before we knew it, he was off having a great time with all of the other kids.

When we got home, Jacob was beat and fell asleep right away, but Emily was still wired. She decided she wanted to have some mommy snuggle time and then she wanted to play a game. We don't get to play games very often because Jacob always gets ahold of the pieces. She had a great time playing Chutes and Ladders and Candyland. She is growing up so fast (I still can't believe she will be in kindergarten in a year) and so it's nice to have moments like this every now and then because I know before too long, they will be few and far between.

Jason's new truck

Jason got a new truck this week. It is a Chevy Silverado and he is very excited (and proud) of it. His last truck was a Ford F-150, but he has wanted a Chevy all along. I'm excited because it will supposedly get much better gas mileage (he drives about 500 miles each week and his last truck was getting about 12 miles/gallon, so you can imagine how much we were spending on gas each month!). His new truck will get better gas mileage than my van! Emily was disappointed. She loved the black truck and didn't want daddy to get a new one, but she finally said that she guessed it was OK as long as it would still play her Cowboy Take Me Away song when she rode in it (Jason has a Zune and has some of Emily's favorite songs programmed in and he lets her listen to them every time she rides with him in the truck). We are all looking forward to going for a ride this weekend.

Caught in the act!

Today has been a "fun" day. I had just finished updating Quicken by adding in all of the receipts from our Sea World trip when the power went out and, of course, I lost everything. Then, it was pouring outside and it was time for Emily to go to ballet, but she didn't want to go because of the rain. It just got better as the day went on!

This afternoon, I had one of those fun parenting moments where you don't know if you should laugh or cry. I thought Jacob and Emily were playing in his room together and so I took advantage of the moment to try and get some laundry folded. I guess I should have suspected something when it was super quiet, but I was just being REALLY optimistic. When I walked toward the laundry room, I found Jacob having the time of his life pulling wipes out of the tub. I guess it's a good thing I have about 20 more tubs stashed away in his closet (I got them all free at Target a few months ago). My friends who have boys have told me all sorts of stories about things like this, but I guess it doesn't really sink in until you have a boy of your own! This guy is going to keep me on my toes!

Sea World!

We just got back from our family vacation to San Antonio. We spent the majority of our time at Sea World. The first day was an extended family trip with my mom and dad; my sister Melinda, her husband Phil, and their daughter Juliana, and my sister in law Jamie. The next day it was just our family.

We were a little bit worried about how the kids would hold up because it was so hot and because they hadn't gotten much sleep, but they were both troopers and I think they had a blast. Emily was so excited to ride the Shamu kiddie roller coaster and she also rode the log ride with Jason and a few other rides. She loved all of them! I told Jason that in a few years, she'll love going on all of the crazy roller coasters with him. Jacob got to ride on the ferris wheel and he loved it.


The Shamu show was neat, but I think that our favorite show was Viva! which was a show with a beluga whale and Pacific north white dolphins. Emily just kept saying "Wow" over and over again.

The Pirates 4D movie was NOT a hit with Emily. They announced at the beginning that some of the scenes and special effects might be scary for young children, but she is so tough that we figured she'd be fine. When bees and spiders started coming at her and her seat started buzzing, it was a little bit too much for her. We got a long lecture for her about how we should not have taken her to that and that it was too scary for kids!

By the end of day two, we were all sunburned and worn out, but we're so glad we opted to buy the season passes and we can't wait to go back again!

The cool cowboy

Jacob has been so much fun lately. He has become so interactive and he's started to catch on to what different things are for. He inherited a lot of toys from his big sister, so he loves to pick up the cell phone and put it up to his ear and jabber away. He tries to comb and brush his own hair. He loves to wear sunglasses (or any glasses for that matter and he will quickly grab them off your face if you don't watch it!) and his sister has a lot of fun putting different hats on him.

Our other news is that he is now walking....finally! He is still not completely steady, but he will walk 10 steps or so without falling down and he is wanting to walk more rather than crawl everywhere. He is getting so tall! He can now reach up to the countertops in the bathrooms and he will grab anything within reach (and even things that we think are not within reach)....that's when he's not trying to play in the toilet, of course!!

We thought we'd share a few pictures of him in a cowboy hat and sunglasses!

HAPPY 4th of July!

Last night, we went over to my parents' house for a family BBQ and fireworks. This is the first year in a few years that I have actually gotten to watch fireworks on the 4th of July. Last year we were flying back from Washington on the 4th and the year before, Jason's parents were here, but it rained so hard on that day that, if I remember right, we couldn't do any fireworks. This year, Jason and my brother Reed enjoyed putting on quite a show for all of us!

Emily was a little hesitant to even do sparklers at first, but by the end of the night, she was feeling pretty brave and even did a Roman Candle!

Jacob wasn't too sure about the whole thing at first and I think the noise kind of scared him, but he calmed down pretty quickly and was fine for the rest of the night. Both kids did great considering how late we were out!

One of the highlights of the night for Emily (aside from doing fireworks, of course) was that her "friend" Jerry was there. When I am working and Emily is not at preschool, my mom watches her. There is a man who lives across the street named Jerry and Emily just loves him. If you ask her who her best friend is, she will say Jerry! Here's a picture of the two of them together.

Updates

I have been terrible about keeping up with the blog lately and I have no pictures to post right now. Our memory card is full and I need to dump it. We are taking a family vacation and going to San Antonio next week, so I will definitely do it before then!

I just thought I'd post a few quick updates.

Emily cracks me up with so many of the things that she says and does these days. Today when Jason got home she said, "Dad, mom did a very bad thing today and I want to tell you all about it. She made me and Jacob trade germs and that was a very bad thing." Basically there was a sippy cup that apparently had been Emily's and I didn't realize that and I gave it to Jacob who will willingly eat or drink anything placed before him. She was very upset about the whole thing and gave me a good long lecture about germs!

Both kids love the water and so I have been trying to take them to the pool every morning. We go when it opens....there are no crowds and we miss the afternoon rains! Emily finished graduated from "Guppy" to "Goldfish" in her swimming lessons and is now going once a week. She is still doing ballet, too, and trying to decide if she wants to do soccer in the fall (she has been giving this a LOT of thought and weighing out the pros and cons for about a week now).

Jacob is soooooooooooooooo busy but is still not completely walking on his own. He will take steps on his own if we put a toy or something in his hands so he is distracted, but the minute he realizes he isn't holding on to anything, he will plop down. He has become a master at getting up and down the stairs this week, though! He has been great about getting up them for quite awhile now, but this week, I decided maybe I should make it a point to teach him how to get down. He picked it up super quickly, and now I'm thinking that might not have been the best idea because he sneaks up and down the stairs readily now. In an earlier post, I referred to him as Mr. Determined and that is still the case. He manages to get ahold of things that I think are way out of his reach and can get the lids off of anything. When I was in the shower yesterday, I had put him in the pack and play in our room thinking that would contain him. When I got out, he had a bottle of baby lotion and had somehow managed to unscrew the lid and was covered in it and happily licking it off his fingers. It was one of those times where you just have to laugh. We have a Wii and we recently got Guitar Hero. He figured out how to get the Wii remote out of the guitar before I did! I have been doing baby signs with him like I did with Emily and he now has "eat" "more" and "all gone" down. We've been working on drink this week. His new favorite song is "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and he will sit there and make the hand motions when he wants you to sing it to him. The other day I put on Elmo's World for him while I was getting ready and it was so fun to see his face light up when he realized that his song was on TV!

I will try to post more updates (and pictures) soon!