My Little Valentines

♥♥ 2007 ♥ ♥
This was last year, I need to get some pictures of the girlies this year. I cannot believe how much they have changed!

Time to get on top of this - once and for all!

I need to keep up with my pictures at the very least, so my goal is to post them once a week. Since i have been horrible at posting for so long I am gonna do some from 1 year ago and some from now. Let's see how this works out.

Busy busy busy...

That is the most concise way to describe life right now. Busy. But busy is good. I have been working at Vinyl Words, the girls go to the best sitter in the world, and Eric has managed to hang onto his job at Micron... for now. It is a busy time of year to begin with, holidays are right around the corner and Clara is having her Birthday party this weekend. Yay (insert sarcasm here). I hope to keep up with the blog better - I need to at least try and get pictures on here to entice you all to actually visit (yeah Dave, I know blogs without pictures are boring).

Clara funnies...

These may or may not seem funny now, but trust me, they were funny coming out of her mouth!

A few nights ago I went in to cover Clara up in the middle of the night. She was sound asleep. After I pulled the covers up to her chin she grinned and said "That is certainly sweet of you." I asked her "what?" and she repeated it. I tried to talk to her more, but she was definitely asleep.

Then a day ago she was playing in the yard with her friend, Hailey. They were playing in the kiddie pool and had a sprinkler going. When I brought them inside I told them they were going to take a bath. Clara looked at Hailey and said, "Hailey, we need to go take a bath to wash all this............. water off of us."

Today as we were watching tv she went off for about 5 minutes telling me that I need to buy Lysol because it kills germs better than what I use. She told me that germs spread and nothing kills them better than lysol. I think she watches too much tv?

Portraits!

Watch out, they'll kill ya with cuteness!

June is almost gone??

Whoa! What a month! Nothing in particular has happened, but time is flying. Here is the brief rundown (there may be more on any of the following later...).

This month we celebrated Father's Day and Eric's 30th Birthday. Clara joined a ballet/gymnastics class. We have season passes to the water park. Amelia is still not walking, but she tries every now and then. I am betting she walks in the next 2 weeks. She has also started copying words, her favorite are "no", "owwww", "kitty, meooooow", "ahhh-beeee" (as in aubrie, her friend), and "wah, wah" (from us encouraging her to walk as we hold her hands). For our Birthdays and Mother's/Father's Day combined Eric and I finished the retaining wall and backyard. He also picked up a Kindle and I snagged myself a slick new computer.

I have been continuing to coupon and bargain shop. It is really crazy what I get for free/cheap. I feel like only a few people I talk to understand it, but Eric is very pleased with the new (cheap) me. Not only do I use coupons to save money, but I spend less because dollars have more value to me when I spend so much time and energy to save them with coupons.

I got the girls' portraits done. It has been forever. I'll post them here and try and add pictures to this nekkid blog soon. I have began to dabble in Photoshop again, it is fun and I have major catching up to do!

A question -

When will my 15 month old stop walking on her knees and walk for real?

Today I dressed Amelia in a dress that she could not do her silly crawl/knee-walk in. Ha ha! She would get mad and sit and scream while refusing to move. Now, when Clara was 14 months old and we put her in a dress that prevented crawling, she up and started walking. Not so much for Amelia. Oh well. They say normal kids can take up to 18 months to walk. 3 months baby, and counting. Then you are officially not normal.

Today was a good Sunday, we attended church, were fed dinner by some friends (thanks!), and had our family time (read Mario Kart time). Now if I had only gone to bed early so that tomorrow morning is not the equivalent of a kick in the head. One of these days I'll learn.

This Day...

The girls managed to drive me crazy. Well, who are we kidding, they can always “manage” that. But today, Amelia refused her nap. That alone makes for a baaaad afternoon.

Then after dinner got the bright idea to try and replicate my favorite dessert, Lemoncello Cream Torte from Cheescake Factory… I made a pretty little pudding cool whip cake thing… but it is NOTHING like CF’s. More disappointment there.

Despite my tired state I decided to go to a few places to catch some good deals with coupons. Yes, coupons. Just shut up and take them already. I am SO tired of being harassed for my coupons.

Now I am ready to go to bed… but not before I check the bank accounts to see how much moolah we don’t have. That is, if I can manage to get on the stupid internet that has been flickering in and out of service tonight. Me without internet…. Bad bad bad bad bad.

How about a better day tomorrow??

PS. Stupid internet is finally working.

A date! A date!

We had a date! Eric and I got to go out to eat. And did we eat! We went to the Cheesecake Factory. Mmmmmm. Can I just say the Lemoncello Cream Torte is better than..... everything. Seriously.

Then I got a nap. Then it rained (poured, actually). Then Eric had to be a jerk about cleaning. Way to ruin a good day.

We got a dolla'...

We got a dolla'. We got a dolla' hey hey hey hey!

Last night I scored some free lotion, 25 cent deodorant, free toothpaste, $1 shampoo/conditioner... Heck, I even managed to get my Taco Bell order for free! I am getting good at this. Thanks to Brie and the BBC bargain board, I am addicted to coupons.

Mario Kart...

is tons of fun and slightly addictive. A very good way to burn an entire Sunday as a family.

Clara-isms!

What are Clara-isms? The things this child comes up with are hilarious. I feel the need to jot them down every once in awhile. When I think about it i'll post em. Hopefully they will still be funny. If not, oh well.

For today:
"Smell that fresh country air!"

Yeah, she is a nerd. She said this several times today.

Couponing Crazeee

All my time and energy has been going into couponing. It is fun, but like I said. It takes time and energy. And gasoline. And patience with jerk cashiers and store managers who don't like "people like me" (yeah, one Albertson's manager said that). Oh well. My scores for the last few weeks:

$.50 Wisk
$1.00 All F&C and Snuggle
$.17 Lawry's marinade
$.63 jars of mayo
$.36 Knorr side dishes
Free salad dressing
$.25 - $.50 cereal

I need some paper towels, toilet paper, diapers, deodorant, toothpaste... I WILL get these thing for cheap, if not free.

Camping!

Clara and I have been camping... twice! I am hoping to drag Eric along, I think he will enjoy it. For now, he stays home with Amelia, and I can't complain too much.

Camping trip #1, April 18-20

We tagged along with my friend, Sarah, and her family. We went to Three Island Crossing at Glenn's Ferry, close to twin Falls, Idaho. We slept in their camp trailer. Clara had her 1st camp fire, she was a RIOT! We went swimming in a warm springs pool and went on a treasure hunt. Of course, Clara loved every second of it. The Snake river is beautiful and I would love to go there again.

Camping trip #2, May 9-11

This time we rented our own little cabin. Eric still refused to go, so Clara and I had the place to ourselves. We went with 2 other families (Sarah's and Jen's) who had camp trailers. The place we visited this time was Bruneau Dunes, south of Mountain Home, Idaho. It was pretty cool , there were huge sand dunes. The kids played in the sand and the adults relaxed.

The weather is getting warmer, so I am not sure how many more camping trips are on order for this summer, but we will go again this fall. Who knows, maybe Eric will join us, maybe not.