Friday Ramblings

I hate mosquitos. As soon as the sun goes down and it's tolerable outside, stupid mosquitos swarm us and I have bites all over. That's even with spray on. I automatically spray us all down when we leave the house but sometimes it's not enough.


I went to my new dentist yesterday. Everyone was so nice and I think I'm gonna love it there. Only problem, I have to go back because I have a cavity. I've only had 3 cavities my entire life so this makes me sad. No one likes needles and drills. The nice thing about this place is they do impressions for whitening trays and they give you free whitening every time you come in for a cleaning. Free whitening for life! That's what I'm excited about. Oh, and the massaging chairs and TV you watch during your cleaning is pretty nice too.


I took the girls to the mall Wednesday just to get out of the house. They had fun playing in the play area and we ate pretzels and went to the pet shop. It was a nice outing for all of us.


Natalee's sleep schedule is kinda whack again. One day this week she woke up at 6:44am but yet today it was closer to 10am. Her naps still differ. Some days she'll take a good 2 hour nap and other days it's 40-60 minutes. I NEED her to take long naps so I can recuperate. Having Natalee is a handful!


I know it's suppose to be fall but it's 105 degrees today. Kinda hard to take the girls to pumpkin patches when it's that hot! Hopefully very soon it cools off or I may go crazy.


Tonight we went going to Skyline's football game to watch my niece cheer. Josh said he wanted to go so we took taking Natalee too. Surprisingly, she id awesome, and so did Haylee. Haylee told me she wants to be a cheerleader.
 We leave for San Diego in about 3 weeks. I really need to finish planning everything.


Tomorrow my Mom and I are going to Sheryl's baby shower. I'm super excited! I'm taking Haylee too because it's a family event at Amazing Jake's!


Sunday we are getting together with Josh's family for dinner.


My sister moved in with my Mom last week. She now has a little roomie :) The kids still live with their Dad but she sees them often.


Conrad Murray is totally guilty and deserves more than 4 years. The evidence brought out in this trial is ridiculous.


Jackson woke Natalee up today from her nap because he had to bark at the stupid mailman.


If it's not Jackson waking up Natalee, it's the dog right next to us. They just started locking him out during the day and he barks ALL day long. I feel bad for him. He's probably hot, bored and just wants a comfy place to lay. I keep thinking I might put a note on their door to inform them of their dogs behavior but I don't know yet. Something like "just wanted to make you aware that your poor dog barks ALL day long when you lock him outside."


Ok, this was a totally random post. Good Night!

Natalee my lil' devil.

The last 2 days have brought new adventures for Natalee around here. Yesterday while I was vacuuming, she managed to crawl up onto the chair in the dining room and onto our high top table. I found her sitting there playing with the decorative balls I have it a big glass bowl. I didn't have time to run and grab the camera because I was afraid she was gonna fall and break her neck, otherwise I would have documented it.

Today, I found her in the pack and play in the living room. She had somehow gotten into it by climbing on the recliner and then jumping in. She was taking every wipe out of the container and had already thrown a few things onto the floor.

After we got home from picking Haylee up at school, I was looking through Haylee's folder with her and I noticed it was quiet. I said, "where is your sister?" and I turned around to see her peaking in the dog door from outside. This kid is going to be the death of me! We keep the dog door closed off during the day (because Natalee tries to escape) but I had it open because we had left to go get Haylee and we had only been home for 2 minutes and I didn't close it yet.

I just can't believe the things this child does. I hope this is normal behavior for some 17 month olds and that mine hasn't went crazy. Haylee never did these things. She was such a good baby, an angel compared to Natalee. It all boils down to the fact that Natalee is a climber. She climbs on everything and Haylee never did. I think I prefer my cautious little Haylee behavior over fearless, crazy Natalee behavior!

On a positive note, Natalee's vocabulary is getting better and better. As of last Friday she started saying "bu-bye!" and it's the cutest thing I've ever heard. She says "baby" and "quack quack" and she has started saying "pat pat pat" while watching Little Einsteins. Josh says she says "football" but I have yet to hear that.

At the end of the day Natalee still cuddles with us and returns to her sweet, innocent self and I absolutely love it. She is calm, still and quiet. I could rock her and read to her all night long. I love my sweet little girl, but she wears me out!

Oktoberfest & Dolphin Tale

We went to the Oktoberfest out here in San Tan Valley this past Saturday. Josh set up his Dish Network/Directv booth and had the best cutest little helper!

She really is a good helper. She supervises the spinning wheel and hands out prizes.

My mom, Natalee and I went to Sharron's wedding reception and then we went down there to join in the fun. They had a ton of vendors, bounce houses, a rock wall, games, petting zoo, hay maze, pony rides and other fun things for kids to do. My girls being the animals lovers they are, wanted to go in the petting zoo and ride the pony. So for $1 each (super cheap) they went in the petting zoo to feed the goats, turtles, donkey, pony and cow.

They also got to pet a bunny and squeeze a chick. Sadly, Natalee did squeeze a baby chick and then she was hysterically crying and it was time to exit the petting zoo.

Next, the girls rode the pony (also $1). This was Natalee's first pony ride and I was surprised she didn't like it. She hung onto me as I walked along side the pony. The rest of the night we walked around, got our face painted and bought bows and cotton candy. Fun, cheap, family entertainment!

On Sunday, we took Haylee to see Dolphin Tale. Based on the true story of Winter the dolphin, this movie was wonderful. We all 3 loved it. You can go to seewinter.com and see Winter on the live web cam. I was thinking about going to the aquarium where the movie was filmed and where she lives in Florida but it's not very close to Orlando so I don't think we'll make it. I want to see this movie again though, because it was so good.

I love this time of year. Fall in Arizona doesn't mean cooler temperatures or changing leaves, but it means pumpkin patches and family fun! I love busy weekends and I think last weekend was the start of our busy season that runs till after the first of the year. I sure love the holidays!

It's hard to believe we leave for vacation in 3 1/2 weeks. It's also crazy to think Christmas is less than 3 months away. Yikes!

2 Birthday's = PARTY Time!

This past weekend we celebrated 2 birthday's in the family. My sister turned 39 and my brother turned 30. We went to my mom's for a spaghetti dinner and then we opened presents and had pineapple cake. Yummy! This picture cracks me up. I think Dustin probably said something funny by the look on his face, and you can see Jen's reaction.

Oh, and the candles say "69" because 30 + 39 = 69. Plus we would have probably burned down my mom's house if we put 69 candles on the cake.

Haylee made both of them a card for their birthday. I love having an artist in the house. I no longer have to worry about cards for special occasions!

And I couldn't resist this picture. Everytime my mom takes a picture, she gets the biggest smile on her face!



The rest of the night was spent at our house and a good time was had by all. We played a new game "5 seconds" which was pretty awesome. Dustin won, but I think it was because he had a helper. I just absolutely LOVE this picture because Natalee is not one to hold still and she loved sitting on Uncle Dustin's lap.

We played a few more games, ate, drank and laughed! I love family time.

Happy Birthday Jen & Dustin. May this next year bring you both a lot of happiness...you both deserve it!

Lack of Blogging

I think I may start a blog called "What Natalee Did Today" because I would seriously have something to write about everyday! Lately I just haven't wanted to blog. Maybe it's because Natalee was only taking 30 minute naps or maybe it's because I am just worn out from chasing her around all day and trying to keep her out of trouble.

This little girl is seriously just crazy! It feels like I'm constantly saying "DOWN" and "NATALEE ANN" and also "NO, NO, NO!" If you were a fly on the wall here that is all you would hear.

Since last Thursday her schedule has been turned upside down. I still don't know if she had a bad dream or if it was her teeth or something else, but I think she is finally back to normal now. It was a rough 5 days though as she would wake up in the morning crying and screaming, take a 30-45 minute nap and wake up crying/screaming and then she would cry when I put her down at night. Thankfully she slept through the night but her short naps made for a long day with a cranky baby. Both yesterday and today she has taken great naps again, she's waking up happy and I think everything is back to the way it was. Except, she has now started waking up between 8:30-9:00 am and I am NOT complaining about that!

Her latest "adventures" have been anything but cute. We now need locks on the drawers and not just cabinets. While I was in the shower she got into my drawer and took the toothpaste out and started eating it. She opened the shower door to show me her blue mouth. Today she got a black crayon from Haylee's room and drew Haylee a pretty picture on her toy bench. She now climbs up on my bed, on the kitchen chairs that are pushed under the table, and the easel in the office. She has also started throwing more and more food on the ground followed by "uh oh....Bubba" because she knows Jackson will come eat it. Oh, and poor Jackson, she has started pulling/pinching his ear because he yelps and she thinks it's funny. Told you she was evil :)

You can now see why I am worn out by the time I put her to bed at 8pm. I tell her all the time, "you better be thankful you are so darn cute because you are such a trouble maker!"

I am thankful that just within the last few days she has been more laid back. Well when she's not getting into something or climbing. She will sit on the couch with me and watch a movie and she will sit in my lap at bedtime and let me read her books and cuddle with her. That is my absolute favorite, just being able to rock her and cuddle with her while she is quiet and still. I sure do love my sweet little Natalee, but after her I don't know if we'll have another!!!

(Yes, she's biting Jackson)

My Weekly Deals 9/16-9/20

Woo hoo, I finally got some deals this past weekend!!! Sheryl posted a wonderful deal on Huggies diapers right before I walked out the door Friday morning. I was able to find 12 packs of Huggies jean diapers at a couple different Walgreens for $3.19! After my $2/1 coupons (found inside the packs) I paid $1.19 for each pack! Amazing. I was on a coupon high, until I went to the doctor and got my blood taken :( There went my excitement.


On Sunday I had Josh watch the girls so I could run in and out of a few stores and get my "dreaded" errands done. I already blogged about how things went but I'll list some of the deals that did work out.

At Safeway I picked up Danimals Smoothies for .69. At Fry's I finally used my raincheck to get Powerade for free. I also picked up Go-Gurt for .99 and Del Monte fruit for .89. I bought a few other things at each store, but seriously, nothing exciting.

Yesterday I price matched a few things at Walmart. I got cheap milk, salad, .49 taco/tostada shells and $1 J & J Shampoo.

Yippee for at least a couple deals. The ads of been crappy for 3-4 weeks now. Boooooooo

Sunday Ramblings

Today was one of those days. You know, the one where before you even leave the house you know you're gonna have problems, and by the time you get home you're just done. Sometimes I wish I didn't use coupons, but I love the savings and even though it's a pain in the butt sometimes I'll keep using them. The hardest part is remembering how I use to be able to get an entire cart of groceries for $20, but now $20 only gets me a few necessities. Grocery prices are rising, stores are cracking down on their coupon policies and overall I think the Extreme Couponing show has ruined it for everyone. Sad. Anyways, I had problems at Walgreen's buying Natalee Advil infant drops, problems at Fry's because the cashier missed ringing up an item so my "mega" was off and I had to go to CS for a $5 refund and then there was Safeway....what didn't go wrong there. I hate Safeway 90% of the time. I feel good that I got the girls some healthier snacks today like Gogurt, Quakes and Danimals Smoothies. They are happy little campers.

I wanted to remember that we took Natalee to her 1st Movie-Winnie the Pooh, last Saturday and we actually stayed the entire time. Not that is was an easy task, but with the help of popcorn, raisinets and fruit snacks we made it till the end. She watched about 3/4 of the movie and then she was no longer really interested. I think we'll wait a little bit longer before we try again.

Her last bottom tooth finally popped through Friday. That means all 4 cuspids have popped through and are growing in, poor girl.

Since Thursday Natalee has been waking up screaming in the morning and from naps. She has also been crying at bedtime when I put her down. I don't know if this is related to teething (she doesn't act like her teeth are bothering her) or if she had a bad dream. Either way it's very sad. That's definitely not Natalee, she has been an awesome sleeper since she was about 3 months old so I know something is going on. Thankfully tonight she did not cry when I put her to bed so I am hoping things are getting better.

Josh and I had a little date night last night and went to see The Change Up. It was hilarious. I think I laughed out loud several times!

Josh has been on call since Friday and he had an 8 am service call today. On the way home he stopped to buy me flowers. I teased him that he must have known he was in the dog house and he jokingly replied "no, actually I was planning on going to my friends to watch football all day." Hahahahaha, yeah right! He was just being thoughtful and I think that's the 1st time I've gotten flowers "just because" in a long time. He's a keeper!

Haylee brought home a Scholastic book order from school and I was so happy to order her some new books. I just placed our first order and I bought her some learning to read Princess books.

I can't wait till next Sunday, we are taking Haylee to see Dolphin Tale. That looks like such a cute movie.

Haylee is such a good girl. She really helps me out a lot. Natalee has been a handful lately and it's made me realize what an easy child Haylee is. She does have an attitude sometimes, but most of the time she is so sweet and helpful. I love her so much.

I love how she comes in my room every morning around 7am and falls back to sleep with me. She loves to sleep with us on the weekends too. I can't imagine the days when both girls are sleeping with us!

I started birth control tonight. Just making sure I don't get pregnant since our current insurance won't cover it, and ya know, I have my hands full with Natalee at the moment and I'm kinda thinking I may never be able to handly anymore :) I have never been one to be on birth control. It usually makes me feel crappy and I stop taking it. I've never really needed to take it before except to help with my cysts, so we'll see how it goes.

I guess this has turned into more of a Sunday Ramblings post but I'm just trying to get caught up.

Dreading tomorrow.....Monday's are never fun.

Stupid Fry's and More.

Dear Fry's,

I think you may have dug your own grave. Your latest "change" was probably the dumbest decision you've made in the past year. You are not very loved right now. I hope you get your act together before it's too late.

I would hate to part ways with you myself. This past year has been wonderful, but I'm just not so sure I love you anymore.

Shelley

On Sunday Fry's announced they were ending their "all coupons are $1" promotion in select areas. Not only that, but they aren't doubling or anything. Just taking coupons at face value. This is huge! I have been couponing for over a year now and I've saved our family thousands of dollars by shopping at Fry's. If they stop the "all coupons are $1" here in Queen Creek, I will be forced to go back to shopping at Walmart, and I won't be happy about that. Ultimately I have to shop where I can feed my family for the least amount of money. At least at Walmart I can price match any of the stores sales ads and other items not on sale are usually cheaper at Walmart. I think Fry's will loose a TON of business and hopefully they will not stop the promotion up here.

These past 2 weeks have been crappy weeks as far as the ads go. I have been to Fry's 2 times I think just for a few necessities. It seems like the grocery prices just keep going up and I cringe when trying to put together a dinner menu and shopping list.

On to other non-coupon related things.......

Natalee found her belly button. She thinks it's the funniest thing ever. She is like the Pillsbury dough boy, she laughs everytime you poke it.

Haylee has decided she is a baby. She prefers to sleep in the crib now. Ok, not really.

Speaking of crib, I'm really surprised Natalee hasn't climbed out of her crib yet. She climbs on everything! Including the entertainment center....

My niece Samantha gave Haylee her Littlest Pet Shop collection and Haylee loves it. She gets all 50+ animals out and plays with them. She likes the birdie and the butterfly the most.

Jackson is now giving horsie rides and will even let you take a nap on him. Isn't he the sweetest dog ever?

And here is my binkie baby. I hate pictures of Natalee with her binkie in her mouth, but right now her mouth is killing her with 4 teeth coming in and it comforts her to have her binkie, so whatever works for her.

I love when the girls get along. It seems to be happening more often. That is, until Haylee tries to restrict Natalee by putting her arm around her or pulling her along. Natalee hates being messed with. But I love when they play together or watch cartoons together.

Even though my girls each have their moments, I love them more than life itself. They are my world!

September 11th

When I think about today, my heart is heavy.

I was reading through articles online and it just brings back all the sadness I felt on September 11, 2001. I was glued to the tv all day in disbelief as I watched news stations giving continuous updates of the attacks on our country. I can't believe it's been 10 years. It angers me to think about what al-Qaeda did.

2,977 innocent people lost their lives that day. As of August 2011, only 1,631 victims have been identified. Think of all of those families who still don't know exactly what happened to their loved ones.

It is amazing how many people risked their life that day to help others, and how many people have risked their lives to fight for our country every day since. They are all heroes. God Bless America, My Home Sweet Home!

Friday Ramblings

And it's Friday......this week was boring.

Natalee is irritable from teething. She has 15 teeth and the 16th one should be popping through any minute.

Haylee loves the Color Rio App on Josh's Ipad. She knows how to work that thing better than me. While I get work done and Natalee sleeps, she colors all the different Rio characters and then plays Angry Birds. Educational huh? Oops.

Josh won both games of softball last night. He said they are undefeated.

I have been busy working on "things" for a bridal shower this weekend. My mom was so nice to give me a 1 week notice to get everything done. Oh, I have added "graphic designer" to my list of jobs this week.

Natalee got her Zoobles in the mail yesterday. She loves those little toys. We had one she always played with so I ordered her some more from ebay. They are really cute.

I organized/cleaned Haylee's room yesterday. I organized her book shelf, got rid of a bag of stuffed animals from her toy bin and organized her closet. Now I feel accomplished!

Josh has gotten 4 Dish/Directv sales this week and hired a sales guy. Baby steps. One day I hope he can do this full time. Have I mentioned we BOTH hate Brewer?!

I've been grumpy this week. This is the 2nd week in a row of crappy grocery ads which means I have nothing to shop for and that makes me crabby.

Life is grand at the moment because I'm listening to the thunder and it's starting to sprinkle. Now if it would just cool off 30 degrees I'd be super happy. I am just praying it cools down soon so me and the girls can spend time outside. We have been stuck inside way too long. We are stir crazy.

I started working on my 2010 blog book again. My computer is just so frickin slow when I use the Blurb program and it takes forever! The results are priceless though so it's worth every minute of frustration.

I'm addicted to Moreno's. It's a little restaurant next to Fry's and it is so yummy. I love the chicken burro grande and the bean dip. I could eat there every night.

I added a countdown to my blog so I could see how many days till we leave the hot heat and get to enjoy a whole week in San Diego. Just me, Josh and the girls. Eating breakfast with Shamu, seeing panda bears and playing at the beach. I'm so excited! Only 43 days!!!!

I guess it's time to get this weekend started!!!! Aside from the bridal shower Sunday we really don't have any plans. We were gonna attempt taking Natalee to her 1st movie but we'll see.

Family

This week at school Haylee learned about family. On Tuesday she took a family picture to show to her class.

Today, Haylee took a letter we wrote to her and her teacher read it out loud. Today she also had show and tell for the first time and brought Clifford.

Isn't she just the sweetest thing? Ha! She's got you fooled! No, she really can be sweet when she wants to be.

Haylee Girl,

We are so thankful you are a part of our family. You are such a beautiful, sweet little girl and you’re just as smart as can be! We love your big, brown eyes and your contagious smile. We love how independent you are, but sad to see you growing up so fast.

From the day you came home from the hospital our hearts were overfilled with love for you. You were such a good baby and slept through the night early on. Compared to your sister, you were an easy toddler too. You never got into much trouble. You seemed to know what you weren’t allowed to mess with and you stayed away from those things. You have always been an easy going child.

We love how you always make us laugh. Whether you are dancing around, making funny faces, flying through the house like a bird, talking for Jackson or just saying something funny, you are always making us laugh.

You are the best big sister. We love how you have learned to play so nicely with your sister and how you always look out for her. We love that you always share with her and help her when she needs help.

We love what a big helper you are. Whether it’s getting Jackson a treat, picking up your toys, folding and putting laundry away or getting Natalee her drink from the fridge you are always willing to help. You keep your room clean and are very good about cleaning up your messes and more importantly, putting things where they actually go.

Haylee girl, we just love you so much. You will always have a special place in our hearts because you made us parents and you were our first little baby.

AMC Dine-In Theatre

What an experience is all I can say! Josh and I went to the new AMC Esplanade theatre last night because we got free tickets along with free food and drinks. This is a new dine-in theatre that opens to the public tomorrow. I would say this is more of a special occasion experience than a weekly date night idea because it is pricey.

(Cell phone picture in a dark theatre = crappy picture)

We enjoyed the "cinema suite" experience complete with individual luxury recliners. Seriously....I was so comfortable during the movie, I loved it. We went to see Larry Crowne by the way. So we ordered our food which came out very quick, before the movie even started. Towards the end of the movie we were given the bill ($33 for 2 drinks, a sampler platter and chicken quesadilla) and warm, wet hand towels. On the way out a guy was holding a tray with Ghirardelli chocolate. This place was totally fancy smancy!

The best part, we didn't pay a dime! Well, except for a tip. We had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed our night out! Thanks Mom for watching our girlies!

Oh, and if there was one thing AMC could add, that would be blankets! I mean they offer everything else!

My Weekly Deals 8/30-9/5 + August Savings

The grocery ads this past week have been less than desirable. I have been to Fry's 1 time and that was for hamburger buns for dinner one night. That is it. I haven't shopped the sales at all because I can't find one thing I need/want. Sad week for Shelley. I did finally update my savings spreadsheet and have totals for the month of August.

The following numbers include anytime I shopped at Fry's, Safeway, Albertson's, Bashas, CVS, Target and Walgreens when I used coupons along with their advertised deals.

Total Out of Pocket= $233.25
Total Coupon Savings (this is just the face value of the coupon)= $298.68
Total Savings (Coupons, Bonus Coupons & Store Savings)= 814.32

Totals so far this year-

Total Out of Pocket= $1335.54
Total Coupon Savings (this is just the face value of the coupon)= $2587.96
Total Savings (Coupons, Bonus Coupons & Store Savings)= $6470.54

My total out of pocket this month was high but I have been stockpiling a lot this month. Several things like juice and cereal were rock bottom prices so I bought enough to last several months till those sales come back around.

Friday Ramblings

Woo Hoo it's Friday. We had a yummy roast with loaded mashed potatoes and cheesy broccoli for dinner and then I made homemade peach cobbler! Life is good :) Oh, and Josh came home at 2:00, I just about died. That is the first time he has been home that early in about 5 months. Oh how I miss the Pulte days.

Last weekend Haylee and I went to Jake's 7th Birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese. Haylee is still terrified of Chuck-E-Cheese and literally jumped in my lap when he came out. She was afraid of the fake one on stage too till I told her he didn't move. This was about as close as she'd get to him so I could get a picture of her and the birthday boy.

Last Saturday I found out that Chef Clif, who I worked with at Broadway Palm passed away. He was only 42 and left behind 2 boys. My heart breaks for them.

Haylee's teacher emailed me to let me know Haylee has been giving her treat to another girl in the class. Little stinker. We still have problems getting her to eat during the day. Come 7pm or so she eats all night long!

Josh skipped softball this week. He had to work really late a couple nights this week.

Natalee is now trying to climb over the gate at the bottom of the stairs. She is the biggest trouble maker!

I guess that's it. Nothing much to ramble about this week. I'm looking forward to Josh's 3 day weekend and we have a fun little date night planned for Monday :)