It Makes it Tolerable

I have such a love-hate relationship with grocery shopping.

I like shopping, I like trying to figure out coupons and save money, I like talking to other customers.

I just don't like to do it with 3 whiny, bored, and complaining kids.

I (generally) hit 3 stores every week: Sunflower Market, Sam's Club, and Smith's. In that order. It's kind of a pain, but I find that I save the most money that way. And I like to hit Sunflower Market on Wednesday, because they have double-ad days on those days.

However, I usually put off all of the shopping until Friday. When we are out of food. After school. When Adam's cranky.

And it's torture.

(See the whiny, bored, and complaining kids part above).

Lucky for us, Smith's always has some kind of treat in the bakery for the kids.

The promise of chocolate chip cookies always makes grocery shopping a little more tolerable.

Mid-Week Party

On Wednesday we were able to go to a friend's (and one of my super-cute Primary kids') birthday party!

We had so much fun having pizza, breaking a pinata, watching him open presents, and eating cupcakes! Playing at the park with friends (for Adam and Grace) and talking with old friends and meeting new friends (for me) didn't hurt, either. ;)

A fun birthday is just what our mid-week needed!

Adam's Milk

Adam loves, loves, loves milk.

He would drink it all day every day if he could.

However, my budget does NOT allow for him to drink milk around the clock, and I was so sick of fighting him on it.

I figured out that 2 cups of milk a day (plus some extra for cereal in the mornings) was equal to about a gallon a week. So, about two months ago we started buying him his own jug of milk. We label it with his name, and he drinks it as he pleases.

The first few weeks his gallon was gone in 2-3 days, and he went without the rest of the week. It's amazing how quickly that changed and how he started portioning it after going a few days with dry cereal.

We used to buy 4 gallons of milk a week, now we only need to buy 2 (well, until Josh turns a year old that is... then that will change).

I'm happy that I don't have to tell him to stop sneaking milk, he's happy that he can drink it whenever he wants.

Win-win.

Well, except for the fact that he took, "do whatever you want to with your milk" to mean "go ahead and drink straight from the jug."

So, if he keeps it up, it's notsomuch a win-situation for future roommates and his wife.

;)

10 Months

(It's actually about 10 1/2 months... yeesh!)


I love the age from about 10 months to 3 years... toddlers are just so stinkin' cute and fun!

Not that my 4 year old and 7 year old aren't fun, too.

They are.

But, I just LOVE the toddler-stage!


Josh at 10 months:

- He LOVES meat! I gave him some cut-up meatball for the first time the other day and he LOVED it! I've never seem him eat anything like that. So, I tried chicken the next day. Loved it too! It's so fun... he's my first that has really cared for it. Grace still really won't eat meat. It's fun to see him get excited about things.

- Still loves grilled cheese, cheese crisps, and pasta with butter, too. Which is good because I've got to chunk him up a little more before his 12 month appointment. ;)

- Not to make this all about food, but he loves pickles. And oranges, too. So cute!

- The nursing/2 bottles a day thing is still working. I'm really happy about that. I think we might make it to a year with nursing! Yay!

- He loves dumping anything and everything out... he can absolutely destroy a folded basket of laundry in seconds if I turn my back at all.

- He can stand. Pretty much until he realizes he's doing it. Then he sits down pretty quick.

- He is SO wiggly. He can wiggle out of the shopping cart no matter how tight the belt is, stroller, etc. He loves being on the go and he is SO fast at crawling!

- He and Grace are becoming really close. Right before she turned 4, she mellowed out and became SO much better with him. He adores her now, and loves to play with her. I love hearing him giggle while he watches her antics.

10 months never went so fast!

Cranky Pants

Cranky Baby Before

For the past 3 weeks or so ago, Josh has been SO cranky.

He went from a mama's boy who a boy who didn't want to be without his mama AT ALL. He would only sleep for snatches in my bed (never in his crib), would scream most days if I put him down, wouldn't take naps, etc.

I was seriously going crazy. I wasn't able to get any work done and wasn't getting much sleep, and I had tried a lot of things, but nothing was working.

I was with some friends the other day, and Josh was fussing and had thrown his head back. My friend looked at him and said, "Ouch! He's getting in 6 teeth!"

Sure enough, he was. All 6 top teeth are coming in at once.

I had figured he was teething, but didn't realize it was THAT bad!

I don't like giving my kiddos too much medicine, but I knew that if I was having that much tooth pain, I'd want some drugs, y'know?

So, I've been giving him Tylenol and lots of cold teething rings.

And I got my happy baby back!

He even slept in his crib for 4 hours straight last night!

Amazing.

Happy Baby After

Halloween Party #1

My cute sister works at Party City. She gets good deals on the Halloween costumes, and passes them onto my kiddos, and then I put them in the dress-up box.

Aren't my kids lucky?

I'm feeling lucky, too, because I had NOT had time to get Grace's and Josh's Halloween costumes made, and we were invited to a little Halloween party. But, because we had been gifted so many fun costumes, Grace had her pick.

She went with cheerleader.

Adam wanted to be a Ninja, and we found his costume at D.I. for $5... sweet!

And Josh wasn't in the mood for dressing up in the dress-up clothes we had. So, he went with the Hawaiian look. Just a little nod to his aunt and uncle who are living in Hawaii now. ;)

We had a really fun time trying out our costumes at our first Halloween party of the month!

Countdown to Halloween: Week 1

Here's our first week of Halloween pictures (minus the skeleton scavenger hunt... forgot to take pics of that).

We're having so much fun getting ready for Halloween!

Day 1: Doorbell-ditched Halloween Treats

Day 2: Made Ghostly Milk Jugs

Can you spot Mario? Courtesy of Adam.

Day 3: Made Halloween Hang-Ups

Day 4: Made (and ate) Caramel Apples

She's a little mad that I wouldn't let her eat them until they had cooled. How mean of me, right?

Day 6: Had Mummy Mini-Pizzas for Dinner

Day 7: Decorated Mini Pumpkins

Day 7: Some of Us (okay ONE of us) Ate Our Mini Pumpkin Instead of Decorating It

Tagged

Picture taken by Danielle

This is my new friend, Danielle. She is so insanely cute, fun, and creative! I am so happy that she moved into our ward and that we became friends.

She has a fun blog called Blissful and Domestic, where she posts fun recipes, crafts, family and homeschooling ideas. I love the name of her blog, and how much she loves being a mom and wife... she is such a great example to me.

Anyways, she tagged me recently. So, here we go:

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I really wanted to be a detective/FBI agent when I was younger. At one point, I really wanted to be a behavioral psychologist. You know, the people who deal with catching serial killers. Looking back, I have NO idea why. I can not handle anything the least bit scary. When I hear noises at night, I freak out thinking there is someone out there, and I cover my eyes during even mildly-scary parts in tame movies.

I've always liked writing, though, and was on the newspaper in middle school/high school. So, I eventually decided on investigative reporter.

(I got my degree in Public Relations, and am a mom... and the closest I go to journalism these days is when my children "report" on each other's activities. Is that nicer than saying "tattling"?)

Name one embarrassing thing about yourself?

I hope this doesn't gross anyone out, but it definitely embarrasses me. I sweat when I get nervous or stressed. I. Hate. It. It's so embarrassing, because whenever I have to give sharing time, take the kids to the doctor, am late for a meeting/appointment, etc. I start sweating like crazy. And then everyone always asks, "Are you hot?"

Nope. Just stressed.

Also, my hair is gray.

I don't know if that's embarrassing, but going gray starting in my teens was definitely depressing.

If you could only rescue three things from your house what would they be?

(Given that my family is out, of course).

1) I would somehow grab my scrapbooks/pictures. I have a lot, though, so I would need some help. Pictures and the memories associated with them are really important to me.

2) My scriptures and scripture journal. I can't sleep at night without reading them, and I don't think I would get through the day with any sort of patience without them. This year, I've been reading about the Savior's life (to coordinate with our Primary theme), and it's really strengthened my testimony.

3) My camera. Again, the memory thing. I would probably want to take a picture of the fire (isn't that weird?), and I am so bad at uploading photos, so a lot of them would still be on there.

What's your favorite book?

I love reading. In fact, I love it so much that I try not to let myself do it. Because otherwise, when I get a really good book, I neglect my kids and stay up all night in order to read it.

All-time favorite is probably Jane Eyre. I read it once a year from eighth grade up until a few years ago. I also really like the Harry Potter series (who doesn't, right?). I love reading about people falling in love and books that make me think.

What's your favorite movie?

While You Were Sleeping

What's your favorite joke?

Q: What did the one mouse to to the other mouse who was stealing his cheese?
A: That's not-cho (nacho) cheese!

That's not a really a favorite, but it is the only joke I know off-hand, so I tell it all of the time to my kids. Drives. Adam. Crazy.

What would you most like to change about your house?

Well, for starters I would like a house. ;)

I've been trying hard to be content and grateful for our little apartment. But, I would LOVE more space and another bathroom. A 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom place would be perfect. We're a little cramped in our 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment... but, like I said, I'm trying to be happy about it.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

Not love, because I think for real, actual love it takes time. But, I think that you can really like someone at first sight or know that they are going to be important to you in your life.

It wasn't true with Mike and I. In fact, I didn't really like him all that much the first time we met. You can read about it here. No judging allowed, though. ;)

Adam's Spelling Homework

Totally random picture that cracks me up. Much like Adam's homework.

Every week for spelling, Adam has a spelling journal that he takes home. During the week, he chooses 4 activities to practice his spelling words with, and writes them in the journal.

One of these is activities is, "Write a story using all of your spelling words."

He chose this as part of his homework this week, and read it to us tonight as he was packing his backpack. Here's what he came up with:

On October 1st, I went for a swim. Then I went to buy a light! The light went off when I was reading! I bought a new one while I was at the store... I bought some supplies to fix my eye. I tried to fix it but couldn't! A man was kind and helped me. I asked him why he couldn't fix his. He said he couldn't find a supply he needed. While he fixed it, I read a book. He saved my life. Then we played baseball. I pitched. After that I needed a drink. That's my day!

I'm not sure if I'm more disturbed by...

... some strange man fixing my son's eye with supplies found in the hardware (light?) section of a store...

or

... the bad grammar.

It's a toss-up.

It definitely made us all laugh. And I'm pretty sure his language arts teacher is going to have something to say.

;)

Jars + Tissue Paper

Last Saturday I watched the Relief Society broadcast at home late at night, while I made these:


I got the idea from here. I just used some jars I got at D.I., orange tissue paper, black construction paper, green paint, Mod Podge, and white Christmas lights that I had. I love how they turned out!

The next day, the kids were uber-jealous of my jars, and were very upset that they hadn't been included.

So, I dug through my gift wrap box and found this cute candy corn tissue paper and let them make Halloween night lights with 2 smaller mason jars.


We had fun making them together, and I think that they turned out pretty cute.

Candy Countdown to Halloween

I'm not sure what kind of mom gives her children even more candy during the candy-crazy month of October... super fun?

Super bad?

Either way, I saw these fun candy countdowns here, and I had everything to make them (except the cookie sheets, which I found at the dollar store). So, I made one for Adam and one for Grace.



They turned out pretty cute and the kids LOVE them!

What better way to start out the month right?

;)

What's Red, White and Blue All Over?

Today I was all caught up on the laundry. And the dishes. I had gotten Josh down for a nap. Grace was playing quietly in her room.

So, I thought I'd reward myself and catch up on a craft that I had begun last May. For the Fourth of July.

I'm just thinking ahead for next year, really.

I put the first coat of paint on, then left it to dry while I went and took a shower. Taking a shower made me think that I needed to scrub the tub. Scrubbing the tub made me think that I needed to organize the cleaners under the sink. Organizing under the sink, and filling up a trash bag with empty/never used cleaners, made me think that I needed to clean out my trash can.

So, in the midst of my If You Give a Mouse a Cookie-style-cleaning, I forgot about my craft.

When I went out to the kitchen later, Grace had surprised me by clearing off the table and washing it. She was so proud! She had put several things under the table, though, while clearing it. In the back of my mind I knew that this wasn't good, but I couldn't pinpoint exactly why.

Until a few minutes later when Josh started crawling around under the table. In the newspaper covered with paint.


He (and my carpets) were very patriotic-looking yesterday.