Crawlo

The following video's show a glimpse of what happens when the kids play together unsupervised. Nothing really dramatic, or shocking, just tender, unanimous, very real attachment to...crawlo. What's a crawlo you ask? Oh just watch and see! The video is cut off because I got a phone call.

And then their dreams were crushed by mom!

It's the little things

Today it was the little things in life that I noticed, and they were wonderful!
The smell of fresh brewed coffee


The sunshine!


Great customer service...thank you Renaldo at Albertson's!

Fast grocery shopping in the sunshine with only myself to tow around. It's amazing how much more time exponentially gets added to errand running with each kid and rain...like yesterday.

Driving with the window down, and the radio off!

My husband doing all the laundry while I was at work (I loathe laundry), he even folded all of those obnoxious shirts of mine that get hung up ;) ...so sweet. He hates folding my clothes because they just aren't uniform like his...it's like that episode of King of Queens where Doug tries to fold Carrie's camisole and ends up balling it up really fast, except this wasn't like that, everything was folded perfectly.

Taylor's long hair! I didn't get a picture of it today, but she looked so cute...take my word for it!

My Jedi warrior showing off his moves!

I know, he's too much right?

An impromptu playdate with our neighbor friend Brooke (the little girl in the video with Lincoln)!

Making springtime treats for home community

A last minute dinner date for the kids with Grandma Tammi giving me the time I needed to finish up things that got neglected when all the other little things happened today.

Taylor toting around her very own baby doll in package she got while out with Grandma, she thought she was every bit of 5 as Payden.

Effortless bedtime.

I'm sorry that one deserves a repeat, effortless bedtime!

Watching the AMA's dvr'd from Sunday because this was the first time I was able to sit down and watch something.

A glass of Merlot and peanut M&M's (that I got for free), and of course a nicely percolating glass of ice water.

Don't you love the chalk decorations? Thanks Tay Tay!

Today was a gift!

Have Some Cereal

Here is the scoop...be prepared, there are many layers which is what makes this such a great deal.

Last week I pre-ordered 50 boxes of cereal from Albertsons...yep I said 50! 22 Boxes of Crispix, 20 boxes of Corn Flakes, and 8 boxes of Rice Krispies. Yesterday I went in and got the part of the order that came in which was this...

And then today I went in and finished up purchasing my Crispix even though they hadn't received them from the warehouse yet, but the grocery manager was amazing and let me use all my coupons and everything and when the order comes in I'll just walk in grab my cereal and walk out...okay I'll load up my cart, I can't just grab 22 boxes of cereal!

Here's how it broke down...
I paid $36.58
and received:
50 boxes of cereal
15 gallons of milk (I can get those over the next two weeks)
4 bags of peanut mnm's
2 Healthy Choice Soups
1 16oz sour cream
3lb bunch of banana's
and $50 in gas cards! (those are rebates that I don't actually have yet)
So in the end I will have made $13.42 and got all this food!

Yay!

A big one

My adrenaline is going. I'm getting ready to do the biggest couponing trip yet! I'm excited! This is so silly. Most of yesterday was spent thinking about how this is going to go. Kids are being watched, coupons have been printed for over a week, Jer ambushed coffee shops and McDonalds on our way to church yesterday to gather abandoned Sunday papers, I still had to buy a few, finished organizing them last night, my order should be in at Albertsons today, Callie and I are tag teaming as we get our goods...I'll be back later to post how it goes...this is so fun! Yes I know I'm thrilled about coupons and I'm okay with it!

A new favorite song

The kids love to listen to specific things depending on the car they are in. When they're with my mom they always want 'Bob and Larry' and having listened to it so many times Lincoln apparently picked up on one of the songs. One day he told me he wanted to pray for the meal and belted this song out...it was too funny. And over at my parents house he put on more of a performance before dinner rather than praying for the meal.

If you're unfamiliar with the song, and couldn't make out his spectacular annunciation, these are the lyrics:

We thank the Lord for what we're about to eat..
Dinnertime is a real good time to gather thankfully.

If you like both savory and sweet
You just can't mess with a partial list
of all our favorite treats.

I like peanut butter pizzas topped with tons of anchovies
and lots and lots of tater tots with a big purple slushy

Cheeseburgers and chocolate and lots of melted cheese,
but hold the tomatoes and the cucumbers please!

What to get with seven cents?

I was a little frustrated with how I had to spend my UP rewards at Rite Aid because the deals weren't fantastic, but it sounds imprssive when you hear what I paid for out of pocket...I just know what I could have done with the rewards if they just didn't have to go and expire!

So for $.07 I got all of this...

Oh and this morning Hailey went through about a pack and a half of Trident gum! Don't worry she didn't swallow it, it's kind of  a weird flavor Ginseng and White Tea, I just had to wipe it all up off the floor. I think she thought she found the jackpot at first and then was quickly faced with a huge let-down!

Target Trip

So this couponing trip wasn't as dramatic as some of my others but I was excited about it because there were some things that were necessities and I was getting close to paying full price for so it was a pretty sweet deal!

I was able to get everything in this picture for $3.84. We were out of detangler spray and the girls were never happy when the time came to brush out their hair so I was excited about that, same thing with the baby wash, Ibuprofen, and kids toothpaste...the socks and deodorant were a bonus :)

Sweet Dreams

It doesn't help the whole 'stay motivated on the blog' thing when my computer goes and gets a virus! I was without my computer and that put a big hold on the whole thing...and life obviously didn't stop! Jer always asks me when somethig funny happens 'are you going to blog about this?' So we'll ease back into things.
I walked into Lincoln's room the other night to give tuck him in and he was walking away from them...

brushing his hand over each of their heads and said...'sweet dreams, see you in the morning'. His sleeping companions have slowly been increasing over the past months and the stories he comes up with throughout the day while playing are priceless!

Brothers and Sisters

The kids are processing so much more lately. Last night Payden was having a very serious discussion on the Trinity with Jer, yeah, the Trinity! And when he would try to restate what she was saying she goes "dad you are just making me really mad because you keep saying something that is different than what I'm saying and it's making me really mad because that's not what I mean or am trying to say!" She's trying to understand something that I believe to be true but even I don't fully understand. The Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God in three persons. And last night she was saying that Jesus is God and that is why we can't see him, not because He's in Heaven sitting next to anybody, he is God and we can't see God so that is why we can't see him. I am amazed at her ability to communicate even when she's getting worked up. So when Jer would restate what she was saying he would speak to her the truth of what the Bible says and she would get frustrated because the idea of God being three persons but one God is confusing to her, I'll be honest it's confusing to me too at times, but I believe it and trust in that truth.

Well in all of the talk about Father God last night the kids were talking about it on our way to our church meeting this morning. As we pulled into the parking lot I heard Lincoln say to Payden, "so mommy is daddy's sister then...right?" I turned off the radio to ask some clarifying questions because I didn't know where this was coming from. I didn't know if they were in the back of the car trying to figure out how they could marry each other (a conversation we used to have with them all the time) or if this was a whole different beast. "What are you talking about Lincoln", he said 'Oh we were just talking about how if God is our father and we are His children then we are all brothers and sisters, even you guys, right?' As I was getting out of the car I remembered how I went through a phase when I was little where I would say to everyone 'you're my sister (or brother) in God's way, and answered him "Yep Lincoln you are sure right" As I opened the car door to let the kids out he was already at the door, as usual, with his knees bent hand held high and yelled enthusiastically looking straight at me "HIGH FIVE SISTAH"! I burst into giggles because it was so stinking cute and I think I embarrassed him with my outburst. Payden who picks up on everything knew that this was a story worth telling (or blogging about) and ran into church telling anyone who would listen and by the time I got in the doors everyone knew what had just happened. Man these kids it's too much sometimes, I wish that I had a camera on them all the time because even though I have a good memory there is only so much I can recount. But I sure do love them and I'm so thankful that Jer and I get to teach them and hear their hearts and understand how beautiful and differently they were created, and that our Father loves us so much I want for other people to know His love so badly, and that we get to journey through it all together. We are blessed, I love my brothers and sisters!

Already?

Taylor Jo, affectionately known as Tay-Tay, baby girl, cutie, Jo-Jo (that's new but she thinks it's funny) and today Ms. Independent/Opinionated! I picked out a cute little pink t-shirt and her carhart overalls for her to wear today and after I put her shirt on she took two steps away and gave me the silliest little pout face like I had eaten ice cream in front of her without sharing or something, I had royally offended her. Then she ran out of the room sans carharts. So I went about getting the rest of the crew ready and set to leave the house when I ran into her in the hallway saying 'shirt mommy' holding a different shirt in her hands and jean capri's on the floor behind her...little missy had a different idea of what to wear today! I caved on the shirt, and when we changed it the look on her face was such pride! I love the carharts and there is too much rain outside for capri's to be a valid choice but she was happy to oblige because she at least got to pick out her shirt...funny girl. My baby needs to slow down though, I'm not ready for her to be a big kid yet!