Ten things

Okay so i saw another blogger had posted a list of ten things they splurge on and ten things they save on..so i decided to do the same and challenge everyone else to share their comments or put your lists up on your own websites.
Okay so the ten save on items were the easiest for me since i really am more of a saver than a spender
1. Food- 10for10 cereal deals at Albertsons plus add coupons and we get our cereal for about 50 cents a box-we buy at least 20-30 boxes enough to last us until the next sale.
2. For craft stuff and coloring supplies-we hit the $ stores.
3. Diapers and wipes-we buy the walmart and equate brands
4. Oil changes-we go through all of those coupon books we get in the mail and find the best deal
5. Make-up $30-40 and I am good for six months-honest.
6. Haircuts-i cut the girls hair and joes myself.
7. Movies-we usually check them out at our library versus renting/buying them. Free yeah!!
8. Cleaners-i buy the concentrated Mr. clean multisurface and fill old windex bottles to use around the house. I can't believe how much i save doing this one. I go through cleaners quick.
9. Ink for our printer-i buy a refill kit-its so much cheaper (5 refills for $10 vs 1 new cartridge $17)
10. Laundry detergent-we buy the arm and hammer brand-it works great for us-and our clothes come out cleaner with this than other brands-it's nice when the cheaper stuff works great. You can also sprinkle it on your carpet and then vacuum to deodorize a room.

Okay here are my ten items i splurge on

1. Hair cut-for a trim i go to the ten dollar place but for a hair cut i splurge.
2. Cars-spend the money and buy the most reliable car within your budget.
3. Face wash-I love oil of olay regenerist line, works better than anything else i have tried. A little goes a long way which is one reason i don't mind splurging for it.
4. Dance shoes, okay ballroom shoes-buy nice brand and they last 10 times longer and are more comfy.
5. Crayola washable crayons-the cheap ones aren't really washable-didn't need to learn that lesson twice.
6. Nylons-I have tried buying the cheapo kind-but they run so easily.
7. Bras-if it fits perfectly i try not to look too carefully at the price tag. (Especially when my size is hard to find)
8. Whitney's jeans-and Joes shirts they are both irregular sizes in these that we have to pay more for them.
9. Date dinner-we do not go to mcdonalds, if we are going out to eat that means a place which makes better stuff than i can make at home.
10. Appliances-I figure you get what you pay for here.

Apple Festival

We took the girls to apple festival this weekend. We packed a picnic and headed off to the nearby farms involved. The girls got to ride a little train-Amber had to get off half way through because it jounced her around so much that at one time she was facing backwards and anothertime she fell into the barrell completely unseen by us-and had started to cry. We made up for that though in letting the girls go down a giant blowup slide they had set up-they really enjoyed that. Also they had to pet the draft horses being used for the hay rides. We picked raspberries- and paid a really decent price for them, yeah!!! I mad freezer jam that very night. We also bought apples ofcourse but decided to skip the long lines weighing pumpkins and buy them at the store instead-a little closer to Halloween. We also witnessed a pumpkin being launched 1/4 mile by a canon -men and their toys. It was a full day and the girls were easily put to bed that night.

Bigger and bigger

I am only two pounds shy of when I had amber, so I wonder with two months left to go how big this next baby is going to be. Hopefully I won't grow too much more, I am already uncomfortable. Fall weather is here and I am loving it, Halloween is around the corner and the spirit of autumn can be seen in all of the color changes in the trees-it really is lovely. Our house hasn't sold yet-so hopefully that means that right buyer just hasn't come along yet and not some other reason. We are both anxious to be in a house again. I would say to anyone who is in a house and has complaints about it-they should move into an apartment half it's size for two months. We are going to visit my parents this weekend for conference so it will be nice to get out of this little box for the weekend and feel a little more freedom.

Go Cowgirl

Here is whitney mutton busting in the rodeo in June-she got second and we were so proud of her especially dad and grandma. She got to ride again in September but the sheep ran her into the fence early on and she was a little shaken after that one. I hope you all enjoy the pictures.

First Day of School

Here is Whitney on her first day of schoool-you can tell she looks real excited-she really was. She begged to ride the bus to school and luckily there is girl in our ward that catches the bus with her-they are even in the same class. Her favorite color is blue and she insists on wearing that color as often as possible-Joe actually tries to get her to like pink-it's funny. It takes us about five-seven minutes to walk to the bus stop.

Amber has cries half the time when whitney leaves for school because she misses big sister-other times she leads whitney to the bus and waves so anxiously i wonder at all that she cried in the first place. It's been a whole week now since school started and whitney loves her teacher and has gotten used to how things are. The second day she came home with a stamp on her hand that said "i need to bring lunch money tomorrow" She had gone to breakfast-we had a discussion about not needing to eat two breakfasts-but if she was feeling like she really had to eat it was okay. She said her friend ruined her day because they were late to class because of it. Funny.

Birthday and Bathtime

Here are the girls in the bathtub back at our house-i say "our" because it hasn't sold yet-Aren't they just adorable in all the suds. Whitney likes to take showers now so I had to capture one of the last times she will be playing bath time with her sister. Amber finally turned three and she finally went potty on the potty chair for the first time this week. I am going to take her shopping to get her big girl panties this week and hopefully by the end of the month-no more diapers.

Tag your'e it

The fun middle-name game!
1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
Here goes:
This is the only time that i wish i had ashley's middle name.

D-Dance is my passion after my family and church.-easy one
A-my first name is spelled with an A-even though I am not a boy. got teased about that one the first day of Kindergarten.
N-Nightowl-I hate mornings and i don't think that will change anytime soon.
E-I love to EAT-no secret there-i think my whole family,even extended is the same. My family loves to eat.
T-Teamwork- I like the connection when you move together in unity towards a goal. I think with any new team-it's rocky at first but when you are finally insync, its awesome. My marriage is still rocky at times but we have our good moments too.
T-Terrible twos have now passed and I am wondering if Terrible Three's is another phase i was unaware of until recently......
E-Empty my house is almost empty-it needs occupants to refill it..

Okay so now i know you will be dissapointed-but i only know three other people who have blog-and two of them have a name that cooincides with a letter in my middle name-the same letter-so i guess the only person i can tag is arica since ashley has already done the tag thing. So arica you are tagged.

Moving

Okay so Joe was offered a great job out of state and we are excited to make the move and be there as soon as we can. We will be in an apartment until our house sells so we will have to downsize our living for a while-not as many toys to pick up is okay by me. This week we are finishing packing up all of our stuff and saying goodbye to friends. Whitney will start school next week-first day of school is the day after we move so things will get really crazy. I have to make sure to keep out her back pack with all the things i will need to register her with. Hopefully she gets am school-the school does full day but only for those who need it (It's more geared to catch up kids that are behind). Hopefully everything will run as smoothly as it possible can given the situation. Crossing fingers.

Garden Harvesting

I am so happy. The last few days I have been able to pick some tomatoes out of our garden. They took forever to ripen and my mouth has been watering all summer waiting for them to turn red. I also picked some corn today for dinner. We kind of went crazy with our garden this year and planted a good variety of things: Carrots, Cucumbers, Radishes(I hate radishes-but joe wanted to try them), Onions, Corn, Bell Peppers, Zucchini, Tomatoes, Cantaloupe and Watermelon and Strawberries. Everything has grown well, except the carrots are a bit small and ofcourse the strawberries won't produce until next year. Its been really nice not to have to buy much from the produce isle. (just salad and apples/bananas) Joe wants to grow twice as much next year. We always try something new each time and learn what not to do the next go around. Maybe our next house will have a few fruit trees and spot already reserved for a garden. I would love to have peaches or apricots. Wishful thinking but can you blame me-we are forever a greenthumb family now.

The OH NO!! episodes with children

So after reading about some mischievous doings by other children, I thought I would make a post of the worst messes my children have made thus far-and which child was responsible.

1. One bottle of Hershey syrup spilled on carpet in apartment: it all came out-i was about 7 months pregnant with amber and scrubbed for at least one hour-then steam cleaned it the next day. I was determined to get our deposit back. -Whitney

2. One half gallon of paint-spilled on carpet in front room-child with it from the elbows down, after stripping child of clothes and hurriedly putting them in washer i grabbed our steam cleaner and started suctioning like mad-when i thought i had cleaned it all up, realized that child had decided to make the wall, fireplace and wooden built in hutch her creative canvases-with a final wipe off on the handrest of the couch. Needless to say not all of that came out-with exception of the tiled fireplace and wooden hutch-worked on that one first.---Amber

3. 3/4 bottle of baby oil gel in toddler's hair-washed her hair three times with baby shampoo, then with my shampoo. Then with dish detergent-that seemed to get the most oil out. She smelled like lemon scented joy for the next week. -Whitney

4. 90% of maple syrup bottle poured-not spilled-on carpet. Steam cleaned it three times..still sticky..used laundry detergent mixed with water...still sticky...Finally took someone's advice and boiled water as hot as i could and poured it over then toweled it up as good as possible. When it dries, i will let you know if it is still sticky.-Amber

5. Markers from eyesight level down-scribbled all over the walls-on some of the carpet-and all over two half-dressed children. Can't count how many towels went through that night or how loud the girls screamed as dad hosed them down in the shower. Didn't know whether to laugh or scream as I entered to find that mess. (Photo above tells some of the story) Amber seemed to have given whitney the 80's hologram makeup look to her eyes-in purple and blue and I think their bottoms were covered with all of the ink from the two brown markers-Joe couldn't stop laughing about that part. -Whitney and Amber

Hope this was enjoyable to read and that it makes you feel that you aren't the only parent who on occasion wonders if there will ever be a time when "too quiet" doesn't mean you are going to find a crazy surprise when seeking out children.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Yes-we are having daughter #3. Joe was really hoping for a boy but he loves his girls and will fall in love with this one when she comes. I am excited because we are already prepared for a girl. We also put our house up for sale today-we will most likely be relocating for work..not sure to where-but we will keep everyone updated.

Family Time

Thanks to Joe's sister for taking this picture of our family. It is like the only one we have of us. This is when we went camping for Joe's family reunion in June. We stayed in Teepees and the kids had so much fun swimming at the hot springs and playing with their cousins. Ofcourse we all came home with a good sun tan (or burn).