I need a new strategy...

Okay so I have been couponing and trying to stockpile a few items that I get super cheap. When snacks (crackers and granola bars)are on sale I get as much as my budget allows me to and into the pantry they go. The problem is that they don't stay in the pantry as long as I wish. My kids get into the snacks and I am constantly telling them to stay out and putting them in time outs-but that hasn't seemed to be effective. I even have placed a bowl on the refriderator with measured out snacks in baggies that they can have-if they ask momma first. I got to wondering if I should just eliminate snacks altogher then got an idea. I went to buy a bi-fold door lock for the pantry and guess what??? My daughter somehow got it off-I think she just yanked really hard and it popped off. I am at my wits end. Is there no end to this grazing madness going on at my house-do any of you have the same problem??? What has worked at your house??

The Girls @ School.

Today was Ambers last day of Pre-school and yesterday she had graduation. Here she is with her Teacher-Miss Jana really has my admiration for all that she does for these children.Chill'n with sister afterwards.Brookie has decided that she likes to walk on her knees.Whitney calls Brooke's hair "George Washington" Hair..too funny.

Whitney's class had a week where the students taught mini lessons. Whitney picked mutton busting-she taught the class what you wear, how you enter and what she does to hold on to the sheep. Afterwards the class watched a short video of her last two rides. Here she is pointing out that sometimes you get a shirt when you do mutton busting:

Special Memorial Day Weekend!

Last Thursday we traveled up to Washington (7hrs) to visit Joe's sister and her family. All of Joe's side of the family were there to witness them adopt their foster daughter "B". The adoption took place on Friday and they were sealed to her on Saturday. It was a Special weekend. And I am so thankful that my family got to be there to show our new neice how much we love her.

Here is the entire family at the Temple-B is the girl in white in the middle.

The kids sitting at the courthouse

After the adoption we went to the park for lunch and to play.

Then the kids got to ride the carousel there. Daddy and Brooke play a bit! Later we got to go swimming and roast smores while

watching Bolt -on the bigscreen projection set up outside.

The next night we celebrated B's birthday with a fairy party-the girls made wands, necklaces, and recieved tutus and fairy wings-All of the men went to a football game.

On our way home we met with my mom and dad at a family reunion potluck lunch that my dad's side of the family holds every memorial day. The girls also got to see their aunt Michelle and cousin Orion and also talk to their uncle Austin via skype(he is stationed in Germany).
Grandma and Brooke

Whitney saying goodbye to Grandpa.

Visiting the family's graves.
At one point they all fell asleep-it was so quiet-for a little while at least.

Whitney's Hair cut.

Whitney had the opportunity to receive a free haircut thanks to K., fabulous gal I know from church. At our last enrichment, she was demonstrating hair cut "how to's" and needed some volunteers. I was one of the lucky parents she pulled aside!! She not only trimmed Whitney's hair but she also put some fun layers in it which look perfect on her!! She looks so chic and grown up-I am finding it difficult not to run to K. and have her give me a matching haircut. Plus she has been wanting me to post a picture of her with her missing top tooth!

The Mother of all Blog lists

Check out this awesome list of Blogs-surf around and get to know all these superb bloggers!!
Guess who is #113???

Another Tag!

Tagged by Rebeccas at Seadog Prep to do this question survey!
1. Respond and rework: answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own. 2. Tag other un-tagged people.
The Questions:
What is your current obsession? Right now couponing and cutting my budget.
What do you think your name says about you? That I am a friendly person-and fun!
Who was the last person you hugged? Brooke-I just got done cuddling that cutie pie.
What’s your favorite dinner? Mexican-Chicken enchiladas, chips and salsa, rice.
What was the last thing you bought? Paper plates, tortillas and reynolds wrap-I know exciting!
What is your favorite weather? I love it when it is in the 80's/slightly windy
What's in your bathroom cabinet? Cleaners, lotions, fem. products-curling irons-hairspray, etc.
Say something about the person/s who tagged you. I don't know too much about her yet-but what I do know so far is that she pretty fun.
What is your favorite flavor gum? spearmint.
What did you want to become as a child? I wanted to be an actress or a lawyer.
What do you miss? I miss the energy I used to have-and the size I used to be too.
What's your favorite brand of jeans? WillieSmith-there is actually room for my "junk in the trunk" behind.
What's your favorite dessert? Avalanche pie at Wingers
If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? To california to visit with my grandparents.
Who would you want to meet in person? Oprah
What is your most challenging goal right now? Getting my foot healed while still tackling housework.
What’s your 5 year plan? One maybe two more kids-getting Amber caught up and just loving life.
If you could live anywhere, even if it was for 1 year where would it be? I am already where I want to be.
Why is today special? It's another day that I get to be a mother, wife, sister, daughter, aunt, cousin, and friend to the people I love.
What is your favorite sport to watch? Definitely college basketball and softball. When they start calling ballroom a sport-then that one will be numero uno.
What is your favorite piece of jewelry that you own? My wedding ring-I never take it off.
Now it's your turn! Hope you play along...I tag: Mikaela, Emily, and Angie..go to girls!!

Yeah...Finally!!

Remember my post about transplanting my strawberry plants that hadn't yeilded any strawberries in the last 3 years. Well the WAIT is OVER!!!!! They are green but to me-they are a beautiful sight...now to keep the squirrels and birds away. I may station myself outside with a pellet gun-what do you think????

Fun movie

So I like to cruise youtube and find movies or tv mini series to satisfy my historical romance fix. The other night I found this movie:

It is about a Irish club made of Gentlemens' younger sons who abduct heiresses for their future wives. I really liked it-it was super cute and fun and just adorable. Definite chic flick!! Here is the link so you can watch it on Youtube if you want: The Abduction Club

Free Family Film Festival at Regal Cinema theatres

Take your kids to free movie (or ten) this summer!!
Click Here to see your local schedule
Here is what is playing at my local movie theatre:

06/16/2009-06/18/2009
Space Chimps (G)
Madagascar 2: Escape To Africa (PG)

06/23/2009-06/25/2009
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Veggie Tale Movie (G)
Evan Almighty (PG)

06/30/2009-07/02/2009
Kit Kittredge: American Girl (G)
Nim's Island (PG)

Can we just say July must be Brendan Fraser month???
07/07/2009-07/09/2009
Horton Hears A Who (G)
Inkheart (PG)

07/14/2009-07/16/2009
The Tale Of Despereaux (G)
Kung Fu Panda (PG)

07/21/2009-07/23/2009
Everyone's Hero (G)
Surf's Up (PG)

07/28/2009-07/30/2009
Igor (PG)
Journey To The Center Of The Earth (PG)

08/04/2009-08/06/2009
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (G)
Bee Movie (PG)

08/11/2009-08/13/2009
Curious George (G)
Alvin And The Chipmunks (PG)

Happy Late Mothers' Day

Well we had kind of a crazy weekend-I was in bed sick pretty much all day

Saturday-some stomach bug which I happened to pass on to my husband who started

feeling under the weather halfway through our church meetings today. So luckily

when i was feeling sick yesterday-my hubby and girls gave me my presents

(Joe isn't one to wait until the official day to give presents). I received Roses and Daisies

*my two favorite flowers*, chocolate and balloons. The last items probably weren't

such a good idea as my girls fought over them quite a bit the rest of the weekend.

So today my husband was bed ridden and so no R&R for me today.

I am thinking I will have to cash in a rain check-maybe next weekend

when his family comes to visit. LOL!! Just kidding....

but I will force him to go with me to see this sometime in the future

(I have free tickets!!):

The Winner is....

Davonne-you are the lucky winner of the hairbows!!! I hope you are excited. I will send you an e-mail shortly so you can send me your contact informatin. Congratulations!

Another great way to earn free stuff!!

Swagbucks is a fun search engine that rewards you for searching with Swagbucks-You then go the swagbucks store and redeem your swagbucks for cool stuff-I am really into getting giftcards with these-my favorite in the store is Target GC. To sign up Click Here or on the button on right side of my blog-above my button. You will automatically get 3 swagbucks for starting!! Awesome!

Ultimate Blog Carnival 2009+ Giveaway!!

To celebrate the Ultimate Blog Carnival

I am giving away

2 pink hairbow clippies that I have made.
To enter leave a comment telling me something you like to make!!

For an extra entry:go over to Livegiveaways.com and participate in the carnival yourself by hosting a giveaway!! Leave a comment here on the item(s) you are giving away. Hurry up-you have until May 9th to enter...don't forget to hop on over their giveaway list and visit the other bloggers participating in this fun event!!

Makin a little Money!!

Okay so I was asked about You Data over the weekend and I was excited to share more information about it. You Data pays you to look at advertisers websites. Now I want to say that it doesn't pay you large amounts of money-but it does pay an average of about 20 cents each time you click on an ad. This does ad up. The great thing about it is that it pays you directly through your pay pal account-and it pays you every week-as long as you have looked at the ads given you. You don't have to reach a certain dollar amount before you get paid like some of the survey sites out there do. I love checking my e-mail and seeing $2.35 or $.56 just got deposited into my account. No matter how small the amount-it's money that wasn't there before and I actually see it in my account instead of just slowly accumulating in some earnings bar waiting for it to reach that magical number that seems impossible. And sign up is so easy-they don't ask you for much personal information at all which I really like. So check it out-click on the YouData banner on the right side of my blog and sign up now..it's a great way to make a couple cents here and there and pretty soon you will be surprised how much that ads up to.

Gone For the weekend!

I will be taking a short trip to visit family this weekend for a baby blessing. I have yet to see this new niece of mine and my girls can't wait either. They are so excited to see their cousins tomorrow and hopefully I can get them to bed somewhat early tonight. Their dear daddy wants to leave "early" in the morning. Which means that I have to get the house in order and finish packing. I better get to it....