These are seriously the biggest strawberries I have ever seen. The one is about half the size of my hand. It's my blog, I can write about stupid things if I want to right? :)

Scope

Saige has been having stomach aches for a few months. Today we went in for a Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Who makes up these words? It is a scope of her esophogus, stomach and intestines. Saige was so brave today. She got an IV without making a sound, and woke up from the anesthesia with no problems. The doctor said that everything looked good, but they did some biopsies and we should have the results in a few days. Saige even got some pictures of her insides to bring home to show everyone and an In-N-Out shake on the way home.

Sneaky Saige!

Every year for St. Patrick's Day, this little guy sneaks into our house and turns the gallon of milk green. This year on Friday before St. Patrick's Day Saige and I were talking about the Leprechans and if they were real. I said "Of course they are. Who else would turn the milk green?" Friday night I went looking for the green food coloring and could find every color besides green. I figured that the Leprechan's would get some at the store and turn it green late this year. Saturday morning Saige comes into my room and says "I wonder if the Leprechans turned the milk green." I told her to wait and I would go downstairs with her (and then have to explain why it wasn't). She said "I know the milk isn't green" and I asked her how she would know that. She said to wait a minute and then came running back into my room and says because of this! She had the green food coloring!! She had gotten it out of the cupboard and hid it in her room! The little Leprechan's did turn our toilet water green later though ( Put it in the tank and so when you flushed it turned green) She wasn't convinced, but it was fun anyway! It is SOO sad having your kids grow up!

Start your engines!

Saige got the opportunity to go to the NASCAR races with Jason this past weekend. She had SOO much fun! Kyle Busch is her driver. He drives the #18 car with M&M's (I think the M&M's has something to do with it) She got to go down and see the cars and the pit crew. She is already looking forward to next one.

Here they are bringing the car out for the race.

She even got a picture of her mommy's race car. Carl Edwards is my man! When he wins a race, he stands on the edge of his door and does a backflip. He has even gone into the stands and celebrated with the crowd. One time he ended up crashing next to the finish line and got out of his car and ran across the finish line. I just love his attitude :)

I don't think anyone realizes how much they can impact someone else. I have been having a "feel bad for me" week. My life just isn't what I expected at this moment. While browsing blogs this morning I (once again) realized that my life could be MUCH worse. There are times when I get so upset because the kids won't help out and I feel like I am cleaning constantly, only to be followed behind by children making more messes. When I say anything about the house being a mess, the kids call me a clean freak...not hardly, I just like it not disgusting. The laundry is never done, because when I turn around there is always more to wash. Daniel and Saige have me frustrated because no matter what we try they continue bickering and fighting, and with Jason going to school in the mornings and working nights I am left all by myself to deal with it all. What would I do without my family though? They are what make up the happiest times in my life. I am really going to work on being positive and tolerating the messes and the fighting, because one day the kids will all be gone and I know that I will be sad. Tyler has already moved out and I miss him and think of him everyday. When I compare my "not so wonderful" life to others, I guess I will keep my own problems and just get a different attitude.

For Daniel's 12th birthday on the 22nd Saige and I made chocolate ice-cream bowls. They were so fun to make and turned out pretty good. It was alot easier to dish out ice-cream at the party.

This is the card that we did for Saige to take to class. The quality of the picture is bad, it actually is ALOT cuter in person!

Jason got me a Valentine's Day card that I loved! I thought it was so cute I had to share it. My favorite part was probably the coupon part :)

Jason put "Oh wait, that's you" - he knows me too well! :)

Valentine cards

These are the Valentines that I did for the little ones I watch.

I will post the ones that Saige is taking to school in just a bit. I just

love pinterest! I took ideas from there and made them a little differently.

Baggie of goldfish

Package of microwave popcorn

Colin's car

Colin bought a car! He has been kinda looking for his own car for a little while. He found this one on Craigslist and had Jason and Tyler go and check it out with him. They all decided besides the paint fading, it was a good deal. It is a Chevy Cavalier. I love the color and the fact that it has a sunroof! Now he just has to learn to drive it because it's a standard :)

Ticket box

I decided to do a ticket reward system with Daniel and Saige. I went to Goodwill looking for something to hold everything. When I saw this I knew it would be perfect!

After alittle scrapbook paper, modge podge, and work here is the finished product.
It holds all the tickets (and Chuck E Cheese tokens for extra special rewards) on the top and then has two drawers on the bottom. Twice a week they can use their tickets to buy things out of the prize store. So far, I love this system. I knew with Jason working the evening shift I had to figure out something so I would not pull my hair out on a nightly basis. The kids and I are all alot happier. I just hope it continues!

Cookies!!

Saige joined Girl Scouts a few months ago and has loved it! They do alot of fun things at their meetings. She was so excited to be able to sell girl scout cookies and of course we were excited to support her by buying some :)

Exciting news

Colin just started working at Old Navy in November as a seasonal employee. He really likes it there and enjoys the people he works with. A few weeks ago, they asked him if he would be interested in staying on with them. Of course he was excited. Today he came home with more exciting news. He was named Employee of The Month! I'm so proud of him!

I just wish the rest of the day was just as exciting. I have Saige and Daniel home from school today. Saige with her on-going stomach pains (we actually took her to the ER last night because they got so bad) and Daniel got up this morning with the throw ups. :( Daniel said he is finally feeling better and the doctors office just called for Saige and they are getting together a referral for a GI specialist. Hopefully things will be looking up soon for the both of them.

Hey, where has the last year gone??

I can't believe it has been almost a year since I posted last. I have been wanting to get back into blogging, but it has been hard between kids and Jason stealing the computer. We finally got a laptop, only because Jason needed it for school (but it's really mine) so I am hoping to be able to blog more. When this happened yesterday, I knew I had to post it :)

Anyone who knows me, knows I am addicted to Diet Coke. I called Colin yesterday on his way home from work and asked him to get me a Thirstbuster on the way home because we didn't have any Diet Coke in the house (gasp). Colin said to me "Does it have to be a Thirstbuster?" I said no, either Circle K or QT is fine, either one. Little did I know that when I was talking to him that he was at McDonald's getting us both drinks! So, he comes home with this...

and this!

Every place has a different taste to their soda, and he wasn't sure I would be happy with McDonald's after all. I am excited because now I have 2 full cups of soda! Well, Colin is so thoughtful that when he put the Circle K one in the fridge for later he took out the ice so it wouldn't water down my soda. I have the best kids!!! Jason had been at school all morning and on his way home he decided to suprise me and bring me this...

I have such a thoughtful family. Either that or they know how I get without my daily Diet Coke.

I am going to start posting things that have been going on this past year when I get my pictures organized. We have had an exciting year. We even added a new daughter (in-law) to our family.

Baby...it's cold outside!

Our sprinklers came on yesterday morning and I let them run because as you can tell, our yard needed the water. But, we went out later and the water had frozen. I can't believe it is actually that cold! I am glad that I don't have to deal with the snow everyday. I guess I better hold off on watering for a few days.

After I did this post, I was scrolling through my last few posts and found it funny that not to long ago, Daniel and Saige were out doing the slip and slide. :)

This weekend we had the chance to go and visit Tyler in Flagstaff. I have felt terrible that we haven't made it up sooner, but this weekend he had off so we got to spend the whole time together. This is his apartment that he shares with his friend Geoff. (Dang, I should have taken those Christmas lights down for them while I was there. Ha-ha!) We had a great time visiting and we got to meet Ashley's friend Arlyssa for the first time too. I can't wait until we have more money to go up and visit more often.

Here is Ashley, Saige, and Arlyssa and

below is Tyler, Ashley, Arlyssa, and Geoff.

We love you guys!

CRAZY KIDS!!

Where else but Arizona can you do the Slip'n Slide in the middle of January? I was talking to my parents yesterday when Saige and Daniel took it upon themselves to play in the water. They actually stayed out there for about half an hour. They had to be freezing, but they had fun. And they were actually playing together without fighting...that's always a big bonus!

Yeah, right!! Who in the world smiles like that while ironing?? One thing I hate is ironing. I have really only touched an iron a few times in my life. One day Jason pulled the iron out to iron a shirt and Saige says "Hey, Nana has one of those things that makes your clothes flat." My daughter did not even know what it was called. :)

These are my directions for ironing. First hang garment on a hanger. Spray at least 8 inches away in a sweeping motion with water until garment is damp. Pull out wrinkles, and using your hands smooth downward. Let to hang dry before wearing.

I found this idea on-line and decided that I would try and make it. I think the fabric flower is so cute!! I made the apron out of a pair of old jeans and then used some extra material I had. A Christmas present that cost nothing! My kind of gift :)

Fox 10 news came to Daniel and Saige's school yesterday. The helicopter flew in and landed on the field. The kids loved it! When we got home and looked at the news Daniel and Saige both got their 5 seconds of fame! Saige was so excited, she was signing autographs for all of us. Daniel wasn't so thrilled...in fact, I was shocked that he even looked at the camera. It was sure a fun and exciting morning.

People ask me all the time "How do you get stuff free with coupons?" It takes some planning work, but it is so worth it! I match store sale prices with coupons for a great savings. I also match store coupons with manufacturer coupons for a better deal. I got everything in this picture for free except for the Ziploc bags which were .49 cents. In total this would have cost me about $28.00, but because I had to pay taxes I paid $1.50 for all this stuff. The gum will make great stocking stuffers for Christmas. I can't believe Christmas is already around the corner!!