This week

What can I say about the past week? Not much really. We are boring. Jarom and I went on a date last weekend. We went hiking. In the dark. In the snow. It was so much fun!! I got to try out my new snowshoes while Jarom telemarked (skiing that's sort of a cross between x-country and alpine). We finally started fixing our mess of a basement. We painted, and wow! It makes such a huge difference. The kids are cute and fun and busy as always. Except Jacob is pushing my limits sometimes. Good thing I love him.

Bedtime

Those of you who know Jacob well know that he has a little OCD. I don't know how else to describe it other than that. The best example is his bedtime routine. It is exactly the same every night. He has about 5 different things he absolutely has to say or he can't go to sleep. If he forgets, I have to go back in his room every time. It is to the point where I prompt him to get everything out the first time so that I am not in and out all evening. Here is a rundown of how the things that have to be said:
"Love you!" Cannot be I love you. Just love you
"Goodnight!"
"Mom, everytime I wake I up, I look out my window and if it's still dark then I lay back down in my bed, pull my covers back up and go back to sleep. But if it's day then I will get out of my bed and get ready to have breakfast." He says this EVERY night in the same order.
I usually tell him I have to do a few things like the dishes or laundry or get ready for bed. His response is always the same. "Mom, when you are done will you come back and snuggle with me again? Will you snuggle with me for 100 seconds? Cause that's only 100, uh?"
And last but not least. "Mom, I am the momma tiger, and this is my baby tiger." In reference to his stuffed tiger that he likes to sleep with. He used to have a baby bear too, but he has since decided that Mya can sleep with the bear.

He really cannot go to sleep without saying all of these things. I love him!!!!!!

This Blog & a New Year

I have been mulling over the blog for awhile. I haven't posted anything very meaningful for months. I missed important events such as Mya's first birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, December (the whole month), Christmas....I have zero patience and not enough time to try to post all the backlog. I have thought about just deleting the whole thing, but I decided against that because it has some things that aren't in my regular journal. So I am going to go back to this being about our family and what's going on with us. My plan is to update at least weekly with fun things we have been doing, funny things the kids say and do, etc.

A new year. 2010 was a good year for us. But I am really excited about 2011. I am not sure what it is exactly, but I have not felt this hopeful and excited about a new year in a long time. A couple months ago, I had this whole plan for our family and when I went to discuss it with Jarom not one thing came out right. It just sounded so completely absurd. It was a reality check or a wakeup call rather that Someone else has a plan for our family. And who am I to question it?? Should be a really fun year for us!!!

Grateful

This week has been so quiet. That is what I am most grateful for today. I have been able to focus more completely on these two who just light up my life everyday. They were both so excited to go outside and play. How can you not love winter when you see how much the people you love most enjoy it??? Because of the "blizzard" yesterday, my class last night was canceled. I was supposed to take a test and so all my time yesterday was allotted to studying. I was so grateful to have that time to play with my kids instead. We didn't even leave the house. We built castles, played chutes & ladders, played with animals and more. It was so nice. I am looking forward to the next four days. Jarom gets to spend it all with us. His job and church calling are so demanding that we haven't had a whole day with him to ourselves in months. We need it!!!

So Thankful

My heart is so full today. And breaking. Is that possible? Can I be so incredibly grateful for my little family and my big family while at the same time feeling so heartbroken for another little family and big family? Earlier this morning I heard sirens. That in and of itself is not so unusual, but they were a little too close to my house. I had the fleeting thought, "I hope that is not for someone I know." I went about the rest of my day only to receive a phone call a few hours later that my neighbor lost her husband this morning. So yes, the sirens were headed to someone I know. I am so heartbroken for her. They were high school sweethearts. Married at 18. Four children and 15 years of marriage later they were still madly in love. He had cancer and beat it. He was diagnosed with Khron's (spelling??) disease last year. And now he's gone. My friend has to face life alone and raise her 3 teenagers and young son alone. I can't even imagine. And that is why I am so grateful that I have my little family around me today. You just never know when that day will come. That day that you have to wake up without someone that you love. I hope that day doesn't come for a long, long time for me.

Q

I have a new obsession. I can't believe I have gone so many years without using these really great tools. Seriously!!!!! How come no one has clued me in? I have tried off and on for a few years to save money on groceries by couponing. I am just not good at it. I would spend an hour or more on cutting coupons and making my list only just to blow almost my entire grocery budget on random items that didn't really equal to meals. So I've gone back to planning a menu based on the sale ads alone and have been consistently under budget since. I buy tons of fresh produce, things for food storage, and a few extras all while staying under my budget just on sales alone. I still use coupons on a good sale on things like cereal, snack items, etc. So on to my new obsession. I've signed up for several deal a day sites like groupon, screamin' daily deals, and more. I also started following a couple of blogs that are great at telling you where the really great deals are to be found online. I don't have to spend hours on these. The updates for the daily deals come to my e-mail, and if I like it then I can buy it. The blogs I view through google reader (which I love) and just few the posts that catch my interest. Here are a couple of examples of things I have purchased recently for Christmas:
**Two pair of rainboots for my kids from Kidorable for $12 shipped (the boots alone retail for $50)
**Lucky brand lounge pants shipped for $9 and some change (retail for around $45 I think?)
**Jarom is getting a really awesome birthday present. Something he has wanted to do for a very long time, but it's pricey. Well I got the package for 50% off so there you go.
**8 pair of baby legs for $19 shipped (these retail for $8-$10 per pair) I love, love baby legs!
**Two wristbands to Jungle Jims for $3 ($8.95 each normally)

So I got rainboots to give to the kids for Christmas, pajama pants for me, birthday present for Jarom, stash of baby gifts, entertainment for the kids. I could keep going. The point is that I am saving money on entertainment, gifts, and other everyday things. I am so tempted to take advantage of every deal, but I am only doing the ones that would be a part of our everyday expenditures anyways.

yAHOO!

Fall