Dancing Queens ... and King!

Here are a couple of videos of the kids dancing and being silly. FYI, yes, they love the song LOW ... LOL... good thing the lyrics go by real fast and they can't understand anything but the chorus! I love how in part of the video Zach is shaking his head at Daddy that he doesn't like the song he put on ... LOL .... they crack me up!

Riding the ramp!

Well two weeks into taking the training wheels off we're riding the ramp and "popping wheelies"!!

Cat hates Dog!

Well, it's been 6 months now that we've had Willy and I think it's pretty safe to say that "Will and Grace" are just not gonna be friends!

Halloween Parade

Well it was time for our neighborhood's annual Halloween parade! The kids had a great time - they got to walk around our neighborhood with a ton of other kids in the parade, then end up at a cul-de-sac where there were costume contests, prizes for all, treats and food! They were in heaven! :)

The girls ended up winning "Most Original Costume" for their Dorothy costumes. Zach didn't win a prize for his costume, but one of his sisters (Ave) gave Zach her medal for being the "bestest brother". They all got to pick something from a huge box of toys and had Halloween cookies and juice for the walk back home! It is so nice that our neighborhood does this for the kids every year!! It was a great afternoon - it wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cool! We missed having Nana and Moxie here this year for the parade, Moxie looked so cute in her costume last year!!

Here's their picture from this year - note this is the first year the three of them didn't do a "theme". The first year the girls were born they were Angels and Zach was a devil, the second year they were all pirates (those costumes won them "best costume" in the annual parade that year) and last year the girls were Dolphins cheerleaders, and Zach was a Dolphins football player. Zach wanted to go on his own this year and decided he wanted to be a "power ranger" (which really makes no sense, since he doesn't HAVE any Power Ranger toys nor had he ever watched the show.) Who knows!!! Anyway, here's their costume preview:




Goooooo Dolphins (2008)!!!!!

Arrgh you scurvy pirate! (2007)

The girls first Halloween (2006) .... I think if we did this "theme" again, they'd all be little Devils!

I LOVED his Vampire costume! (2005)! This is probably my favorite one of all of his!

This was Zach's very first costume (2004). He weighed about 5 lbs. by Halloween and this was the only thing we could find that even came close to fitting him. Otherwise we wouldn't have dressed him up as a cow!! LOL

Pumpkin Patch….

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch this year … we did a hayride, the petting zoo, pony ride and a few carnival rides before it started to drizzle and we had to make a mad dash to pick out our pumpkins and hit the road!  

The kids said “everything” was their favorite part …. but I think picking up and holding the chickens was by far the most fun they had – they laughed so hard and they chased the poor chickens all over the place!!!  We’re going to carve the pumpkins this week and the girls are ADAMANT that they want “happy” faces not spooky faces on theirs!! :)

                               

                 

Goooo Mets!

Well, Western Branch T-Ball Mets, that is! :-)

Here’s some pictures from Zach’s game this weekend …. he looks so serious!

 

This is a kid from Zach’s class (JJ) and they were hamming it up when JJ got to 3rd base!!

Sam’s trip to Minnesota

Here are some pictures from Sam’s recent trip to Minneapolis.  He got to see Kayla cheering at the U of MN homecoming game, one of Ben’s football games and … he got to give Ben his 13th birthday present …. a CELL PHONE!  :)  *Happy Birthday Ben!!*

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The training wheels are OFF!

My little baby has OFFICIALLY become a big boy. Not only did he turn five this month. Not only did he start Kindergarten ....he no longer has training wheels on his bike!!! He has been wanting to take them off for awhile and I tried a few months ago but he was definitely not ready so we put them back on. He asked me to take them off again last week, so I did - and we took him to a grassy field (figuring it hurts less when he falls) one night this week ... and wham! He can ride his bike!!!

There was even more excitement in our cul-de-sac this week, Zach's buddy from across the street (Brody) also learned how to ride his bike without training wheels on the same day!

What's next? The keys to the car??? Why does time have to go by so fast?

But it’s not McDonald’s hamburgers!

So this is what it looks like when you tell your kids they CANNOT get up from the table until they eat their dinner.  It took Addie about an hour and 15 minutes to finish HALF of her hamburger.  After an hour Avery fell sound asleep.  And after about 45 minutes, we caught Zach slipping pieces of his hamburger to the dog (so he was sent up to his room.)

Later, when I was tucking Zach into bed he told me “Daddy and I hurt his feelings” because we made him go to his room without eating anything.  I explained that it hurts my feelings when I cook something and he doesn’t eat it and that I only make him eat things that I know he likes.  To that he replied, but MOOOMMM, the hamburgers are NOT like the ones at McDonalds.  I tried to tell them that I bought them “from” McDonalds so we could cook them up at home ….. but he saw right through that and said “yeah right, you got them at Farm Fresh.”  Dang, I can’t pull one over on my 5 year old!! 

*Sigh* when does raising kids get easier???

My coupon deal!!!

We have a new (awesome) Harris Teeter that recently opened by us and they often run “triple” coupon sales. I “sometimes” clip coupons, but I’m not faithful about it.  However, after reading how much my coupon-hero Melissa, :) saves, I thought I’d try my hand at it.

This is what I got for $10.37.  I saved a little more than 28.00 with my “triple” coupons.  Not too shabby.  Now I just need to keep it up and keep learning Melissa’s tricks … she often – gets like $100.00 worth of groceries/toiletries/cleaning supplies for LESS than my $10.37.  She rocks!

However, I did feel pretty good about my purchase:

Now, before you get thinking this is impressive (which it pretty much is) …… here’s one of Melissa’s latest deals.

$221.00 of groceries, cleaning supplies, etc. for NEGATIVE $2.01 (with double coupons, rebates, etc.)  Melissa, you’re my hero.

PS:   If you haven’t heard of The Grocery Game – you should check it out.   It takes ALL the work out of coupon clipping and tells you what the current price for a particular item is, the sale price, where in the newspaper there is a coupon (what week and circular it came out) and what the “end” price is.  Every week, there are a dozen items that are FREE if you get it that week, using the coupon they indicate.  Amazing.  (Check out: www.grocerygame.com)  It is like 10.00 per store in your area for three months (5.00 for additional stores after the first one) and you get new lists every week when the store sale paper comes out.     You’ll save the 10.00 or 15.00 your first purchase if you follow what she says.  (Only thing is that you need to build up your coupon bank – they may go back to one that was in a circular a month or so ago.)

Zach’s 5th birthday

So those of you who knew me 5 years ago, know how many complications we had having Zach, and how tiny he was born.  It seems like it was just yesterday we were scouring the stores for preemie clothes and teeny tiny diapers.  But, as it goes with life, my little guy is growing up.  He’s a “big boy” now.  (wahh!)

He had a great birthday – 15 kids at Kangaroo Jacs and Nana was here for the first time on his birthday!  Many of the kids were his friends from his pre-school class and he was so excited to see them!!  

       

Happy birthday Kiddo!  I hate that you’re growing up on me!