Early Birthday Presents!

Andrew and Matthew have outgrown their bikes, so we have been planning on getting them new one's for their birthday. Last week, Toys R Us had a "Bike Trade In" deal where you could get $20, $30, or $50 off a new bike by trading in an old one (depended on how much the new bikes cost) so I had Jeremy do it while we were gone. Jeremy had run over Matthew's bike in the fall, so it was mangled and missing a seat... we weren't sure if they would take it as a trade-in but THEY DID!! Anyhoo, Jeremy put the new bikes in the storage room thinking that the twins would not find them. This afternoon, Andrew rang the doorbell and when I opened the door he said, "thanks for the new bikes!" He had gone in the storage room for something and found them and then decided to take it for a test drive. I laughed and said, he wasn't suppose to find them that they were for their birthday and he said, can we have them now?!?!? I said, yes, but I have to take a picture first!! 

Little Hoarder

Jeremy got Ethan this little tent while we were gone last week... he loves it!! Here he is playing peek-a-boo with us, but earlier today, I picked it up to move it and it was filled with toys!!! Looks like we have a hoarder on our hands!

Date Night with Caleb

Tonight, Caleb and I went on a date! We haven't had any one on one time in a while, so I let him pick an activity for just him and I to do and he said he wanted to go to the Pottery Room. I'll post what we made next Tuesday when we get them back. Then we went to Jeremy's basketball game (since he couldn't watch Ethan and play!) and then we went to McDonalds for dinner! Caleb is growing up way too fast!!! I am very proud of the young man that he is becoming!

Twin Mommies

Half of the people in my bunko group have (or will have very soon) twins... here is a picture of all of us at bunko tonight. I love these girls!!

Junior National Leaders Conference

We drove back from Memphis tonight and while I was unpacking Caleb showed me this... it had come in the mail. He was nominated to attend the Junior National Young Leaders Conference in Washington DC by one of his teachers. She recognized him based on his "significant academic achievements, maturity, strength of character, and leadership ability." I am so PROUD!!

Haircuts

The twins were starting to look homeless because they needed haircuts so bad!!! I took them to Great Clips today and they really hit it off with the girl cutting their hair. Matthew even felt the need to let her know that he wasn't wearing any underwear! She thought they were a hoot and even told Andrew he could call her when he picked up one of her business cards... I told her, they would never leave her alone, so I made him put it back!

Mr. Dave!!

This is my mom and her boyfriend, Dave. Today we went to Arkansas to have lunch with Mamaw and to go visit "Mr. Dave"- what the kids call him. Mom and Dave went to college together and reconnected on facebook last summer. My kids are crazy about him and keep asking them when they are going to get married- because they hold hands, lol.

Scrapbooking

I love to scrapbook, but haven't found the time to do it for over 2 YEARS!! My mom asked me if I would help her work on her high school reunion scrapbook while I am here this week and we finally got to work on it a little tonight.

Geocaching!

What is geocaching, you ask?? It's a scavenger hunt that uses GPS. They are "planted" by fellow geocachers and there are currently 1,326,882 hidden all over the world! We have found some that are as small as your thumb nail! My brother and sister are into doing it too, so we always try to go together when I am in town. In this picture, we are in an old African- American cemetery. A lot of the headstones were homemade (see 2nd picture) which we thought was pretty neat! Nothing like taking your kids to a cemetery at night, lol!!

Zoo!!

What a beautiful day!!! We enjoyed it by going to the zoo with my mom, my sister, my nephew, my grandmother, my aunt, my cousin, my cousin's baby, and my other cousin's little girl. This is a picture of my Mamaw with all the great-grandkids that were there. She has 13 in all.

So Proud!

This walker has been at my mom's house since my oldest nephew, Warren, was a baby (he's almost 16). I think it's neat that all 7 grandkids have used it at Grandma's. Ethan has a walker at home that is scared of... maybe he will be up to using it after practicing on carpet here. :)

Indoor Camping

Now than Ethan is into EVERYTHING, I decided to take his play-yard with us to my moms. The twins decided to turn it into a tent and spent the night in it last night and will again tonight... I have a feeling they will do it the rest of the week!

New Car Seat!

 

Ethan still has 4 lbs to go before he outgrows his carrier, but I thought he might be more comfortable on our drive to my mom's for Spring Break in his new one. It was one of the LONGEST drives there EVER! Took an hour longer than usual because I got a FLAT TIRE!! I am VERY thankful that my truck has a handy dandy warning that tells you that tire pressure is low... without it, I would have been stranded on the side of the interstate in the middle of nowhere- alone with 3 kids at 10:00 pm! It didn't totally go flat, so I was able to drive it to the nearest gas station to get air, and then had to stop several more times to get MORE AIR! I'll have to get it fixed in the next couple of days.

Blooms!!

It's starting to look like SPRING!!!!

Sardines!

 

It's St Patrick's Day and I planned on taking a picture of the kids wearing green, but I couldn't pass up posting about them eating SARDINES!! Caleb and I went to the store together the other day and he picked up a can and asked if we could buy them. I, at first, told him no... then changed my mind and said sure, you guys can try them (I have never and will never eat them!) The can has been sitting on the counter and tonight they finally decided it was time to try them- bleh! Caleb got ones that are in "mustard sauce" is why there is yellow goo in the can.

Verdict: The twins thought they were good and ate several bites, Caleb took a tiny taste and decided he didn't like them! I... couldn't get past the smell!

Child Labor

After the twins finished their homework, I asked them to work on the wallpaper. They did all they could reach!! Hooray, less for me to do!

31 Party @ Sharons

Tonight, I went to a 31 Party at my friend Sharon's house. For my daily picture, I decided to snap a picture of her when she was holding Ethan and his little friend, Jonah. :)

Goodbye Ugly Wallpaper!!!

The house we are renting is really dated and the owner's taste is TOTALLY not my style but we have left everything "as is." Today she called and asked if there was anything around the house that needed to be fixed because they are looking for some tax write-offs. I told her nothing needed to be fixed, but she suggested replacing the carpet downstairs to get the house ready to sell when we move out. I said, I would wait until we move out because I would hate for one of my boys to ruin it!! She then asked me, "since you are a builder, is there anything you would recommend doing to get the house ready to sell other than the carpet??" Cha-Ching!! I told her I would replace all the brass in the house (light fixtures and doorknobs) and get rid of the wallpaper. She then said, Do whatever you think needs to be done and send me the bill!!! Woot Woot!!! I've been wanting to get rid of the wallpaper since before we moved in!!! As soon as we hung up the phone, I started tearing it down!!! This wall and the main wall in the living room has torn pieces of wallpaper... not sure what she was going for, but I really don't like it! It doesn't look as bad in the picture, but in person, it looks like a 3 year old did it! I'm sure I will be posting more "update this house" pictures... it's gonna be fun!!

Extreme Couponing

I have always used coupons but recently there has been a lot of talk among my friends about using them and getting HUGE savings! The trick is to use them when a store has the item on sale and/or pairing manufacturer's coupons with store coupons. I recorded the show "Extreme Couponing" the other day and Jeremy and I watched it.... before the show was over, Jeremy decided we HAD to try it!! So this morning, he went to the Dollar Tree (you can get a Sunday paper for $1 instead of the regular price of $2.50... saving already) and bought 3 newspapers. Tonight we clipped coupons and searched the ads for sales (Got Ethan helping too, of course). Jeremy is going on a "test run" tomorrow with some deals we found.

First Baseball Practice

Today, the twins had their first baseball practice for the season. They are sooo excited to play this year and Jeremy has decked them out with gear!!! They each got a new bat, equipment backpacks, cleats, and pants. Jeremy oiled up their gloves a few nights ago... now we just need jersey's and ball caps. They are on the GIANTS team but had to show some Cardinal love today. :)

Ta Da!!!

Tonight, Ethan finally figured out that you have to tip cups up to get stuff to come out! After a few minutes, he took it a step further with "no hands," it kept him busy for a while!!

Fabric shopping!!

Ethan and I went to my FAVORITE store today... JOANNs!!! I really wish we had one in Clarksville!!! I had a few things that I needed to get including fabric to make dresses for Melissa's 3 girls. I took pictures of several choices with my phone so she could pick out what she wanted... this is what she picked. Cute huh? Ethan loved helping me hold it for the pictures. :)

Hide and Seek!

We hung out in the lobby at church for a while after our class tonight. We were talking around the desk and Ethan, of course, decided to open and shut the cabinets... next thing I know, he had crawled inside!! Too cute!

Feeding Himself!

I know I have a lot of pictures of Ethan on here, but he does something new every day!!! Tonight we had mashed potatoes for dinner and they stuck to the spoon really well, so I let Ethan feed himself. I filled the spoon and handed it to him and he did great getting it into his mouth! Why does he have to grow up so fast?!?!?!

New set of wheels!!

I shopped the Little Lambs and Ivy Consignment Sale tonight and came home with this cute little car!! Ethan loves it and the 3 big boys fought over who got to push him around.

Baby Beethoven

Here is Ethan playing the piano at Nana's house today. He looked like a baby Ray Charles because he swayed as he played!

Jeremy and Mike

Our friends, Mike and Christie McCullough, moved to Missouri several years ago so Christie could get her PhD. Mike was in Nashville for a conference this weekend so he came by to visit us tonight. It was great to catch up with him... I know Jeremy misses him a lot. Maybe next time, Christie and their little boy, Jacob, can come too! They are such a sweet family!

Poop!

Living in a house with 4 boys, I should have known I would post about poop one of these days!! We were at Jeremy's parents tonight for game night and Ethan had a dirty diaper, when Jeremy took it off, most of the poop was stuck to Ethan's behind! He started to wipe it with the diaper (which we have to empty into the toilet, since we use cloth diapers) when I said, WAIT, just put it in the toilet!! So he carried Ethan over and stuck him on the pot! He looked so cute sitting there that I had to grab my camera (phone). You can see that he was all about getting some toilet paper!

Jeremy the decorator

Jeremy came in with this beautiful picture today... he found it at FREDS! The colors are perfect for our living room, I love having a husband that cares about home decor!

Consignment Tagging

 

Tonight I tagged clothes for the upcoming consignment sale... it's kinda hard to say goodbye to Ethan's little clothes. :(

My new toy!

I have been dropping hints to Jeremy for YEARS that I wanted a serger (it's a type of sewing machine if you couldn't tell). I have found them online and emailed him links, I have laid out sale flyers with pictures of them circled, I have even dragged him into a store or two! Well, I FINALLY gave up and bought one on my own last month!!! I LOVE it and can't imagine life without it now... we spent a lot of time together today is the reason for the post. :)