Another Saturday of Parties

Today we had another full Saturday. I hate full Saturdays. I want to do my grocery shopping first thing in the morning and then have the day to do nothing with Jason. He has been working a lot this week and has been exhausted by the heat so I was looking forward for him to be able to do nothing, but things don't always turn out like you planned.

Mollee had a party from 10-12 and Tavis had a party from 3-5. I thought that was doable, but then I found out about a third party also from 10-12 that all the kids were invited to and, the icing on the cake (no pun intended), Jason had to work.

So I took Mollee to her party and then headed the boys to the other party late. Here are my boys with my nephew, Lou, the birthday boy!! Singing to LouMac with a very exhuberant version of singing while sitting with Jack We always enjoy Chuck E. Cheese. My kids are very excited about getting tickets and buying junk treasures from the counter. Usually, to make it easy on myself, we put all the tickets together and just divide it among the four. This time, I told them they would get what they won themselves. I should have guessed who would take this seriously and end up with the most "money". Daegan ended with 301 tickets, Capps had 59 and Tavis had 66 and, somehow, Mac ended up with 115.

We got home around 12:30, Jason got home around 1:00. I headed out to go to Publix and pick up prescriptions from CVS. I got home at 3:00, just enough time to get Tavis ready (in a bathing suit) and out the door to get to his party at 3:30. I snuck over to Hobby Lobby, sans kids, during the party and then we were heading home at 5:30. We picked up pizza for dinner and afterwards, I had some peanut butter caramel popcorn to make for a friends' birthday.

Now I'm blogging and wondering if my arms are ever going to stop itching???

RUSH #2

On Friday, Daegan and I went for round two of RUSH. I was a little nervous for Daegan, because our first time was only 3 hours and he was really upset with the last few shots. This time we were supposed to be going for 5 1/2 hours.

I had told Jason that if I felt Daeg couldn't handle any more I would stop and we would just pick up with the weekly shots from there. Shots don't bother me at all so I wasn't nervous for myself, although my arms were very itchy after the first round for 4-5 days.

The doctors office has an area set up for RUSH patients only, it has four big comfy recliners, a big TV, WiFi, vending, etc. This time Daeg and I were the only ones there. We had brought a DVD player, some "I Spy" books, coloring, I brought some cross stitching and my laptop, which unfortunately, the WiFi wasn't working until the last hour we were there. I had packed us lunches, water bottles and snacks. Here is Daegan watching a movie.

He did awesome, way better than I expected. By the last hour we were both done, but we pulled through and I never felt like it was too much for him.

But here I am Saturday night and wondering what the heck I did to myself, my arms are very swollen and sore, hot to the touch and bruised and they itch like you wouldn't believe. Is this worth it? I'm assure that it will be in the end.....

Savings

Because I haven't bored you with my recent savings lately and because I can't get the kids excited enough about it, I had to share.

My Publix trip today, total: $123.18, but I only paid $53.64. I was able "stack" a lot of coupons, so fun!!!

My CVS trip today was only for one item: Prevacid. CVS has it listed for $28.99, but it was on sale for $24.99, plus you got $5 ECB back when you purchased it. I had $5 off a $20 purchase, plus a CVS coupon for Prevacid that was $6 off and a manufacturers coupon worth $4 off. Therefore, I got it for $4.99.

Whoo-Hoo!! It is the little things that make me happy!

Robbie

Since my my last post was being sad I have no more babies, I was glad to get to snuggle this guy tonight.
even if Mollee stole some of my snuggle timeCongrats Bryan and Sherene!! He is precious!!

Where have all the babies gone?

I have started a major project.

Jason asks why I do these things to myself, but, I guess, it is because I love it!

We got a digital camera a few weeks before Mac was born. I don't usually get many pictures printed, but I do load them on different accounts (kodak gallery and shutterfly). In January, I finally made digital scrapbooks of 2007, 2008, and 2009. I got them printed and I love having them.

So, I got the crazy idea to start scanning in pictures from prior years. To have them in digital form and when time and money allow, do more scrapbooks. I have scanned 2003-2006. The good thing is that when I had to get 35mm pictures developed I took a lot less pictures, but I still have scanned over 800 pictures over the course of many different days/evenings.

Here are some that surfaced that I wanted share (of course, they have grand sentimental value for me):

Mollee, age 2 1/2, baby-wearing with Grandma's old baby carrierDaegan, age 2, at the bottom of the steps in his Tigger chair (I think he is chewing on his little Bible?) - for some reason this was a common place for him to hang out?Tavis, age 2, proud of a left-handed baseball glove he got in his Easter basketCapps, age 2, hanging out in his highchair - before we started buzzing his hair (but you can see how it sticks out like a baby chimp, thus his nickname, Monkey) I hate that one of my favorite family pictures is one that Mac isn't in, but I just loved this era of our life - Mollee, 5, Tavis, 4, Daegan, 2, and Capps, 18 months (Yes, for all those that ask, I would have four kids in 3 1/2 years again - absolutely!!)

But I do like this one too (and it was already digital)

So, I guess I don't have a houseful of babies anymore?? :( Can you guess which is my favorite age? the Terrific-Twos!!

Thrifty or Cheap??

I've been getting school supplies here and there while they were on sale. I've gone through old plastic folders, school boxes, pencil bags, etc. trying to see what we can re-use. As I was checking off our list what we had so I could figure out what we still needed, I thought, is this being thrifty or cheap?

Then I came to the kindergarten 'rest towel' - Is this pushing it?

Don't worry, I left room for Mac's name!

Aquarium with Aunt Heather

Today we were treated to go to the Aquarium. My sister-in-law got tickets from her father's office a few months ago and today was the last day to use them so....

We went! Thankfully, Heather was able to go with us!!Mac has never been to the aquarium and Capps was small when we went last so it was fun for them, since they had no idea what to expect. And an aquarium this big was quite impressive!

And they got to be in Nemo's tank!! How cool is that?Watching alligators and turtlesStanding with the biggest turtle shell ever foundPetting the sting rays is always a favorite spot
I think Mollee was trying to fall in??The Butterfly GardenThankfully, the penguins were putting on a good show (and we got a glimpse of the new baby)Mac had had enough and didn't want to watch the penguinsbut he did enjoy the Upside-down Jellyfish!

I never figured out how to take a picture with the fish showing up in the background - only a black screen with the flash showing????Unfortunately, we didn't get to play in fountains afterwards, because it was raining with a lot of lightening. Fortunately, Aunt Heather treated us all to ice cream!!

3 1/2 hours was a bit much for walking and herding, but we all had a good time!!!

Lost Tooth!!

Daegan just lost his front top tooth - lookin' good!!

Free Bowling

If you go here, you can see if a bowling alley near you participates in the 'kids bowl free' program. You simply sign up with an e-mail address, enter your kids names, and you can have two free games each day of the summer. It is great (you do have to rent shoes)!!

Yesterday I took the kids to the library, we went home to eat lunch and I decided to take them bowling for our afternoon.

Mac wasn't sure about the effort he had to put in to throwing/pushing the ballbut he was really excited when we added this to his game

Capps tried 'granny style' oncebut he quickly found his groove in the most peculiar way (backstory, as a toddler, we never could figure out if he would be left handed or right handed, I'm still not sure he should be right handed, but that is what he writes with?) He would bowl with his fingers in the ball right-handed, but he would throw from his left sideDaegan's style: WILD THING!Tavis had great form and wasn't afraid to tell you, but he also would switch sides??Mollee did well (she usually wins) and was the most enthusiastic about good bowls

The whole way to the bowling alley, Tavis (our worst loser) wanted to make it very clear we weren't bowling against each other and the points didn't count......

until he got high score and he wanted everyone to know: Tavis, 104, Capps, 90, Mollee, 84, Daegan, 70, Mac, 66 (this was the first game, second game we really didn't keep score)

Mrs. Rachel came with us and held on to Mac as he began to wilt (he ended up going to bed at 4:45 when we got home and had fever at 7:00 when I checked on him)Capps kept trying to run from me when he realized I was taking his picture, but it is so hard to get a good picture of him smiling, I had to add this true smile to this already long post.

Black & White

just for fun...

(Mac gets 2 pictures, because, well, he's Mac!)