Playing in the Rain

I love our weekend afternoon showers! We got POURED on Saturday evening so we decided to let the girls play outside for a bit when we got home. Natalee wasn't too sure about it at first but then she loved it.

Haylee loved standing under the "waterfall" with her Mickey umbrella.

Last night we went for a walk around 7:30pm and it was so nice out! It was sprinkling and cooler than it's been for awhile so we enjoyed a nice family walk.

Yay for monsoon season!

Change of Plans

After looking at the forecast I decided Big Surf wasn't a good idea with 40% chance of rain all day. Now I wish we would have went since the storm didn't roll in till later in the afternoon. Oh well, we still had fun and got a lot done.

We started the day at Firehouse Subs. Then we went to Target so I could exchange some clothes. While there I found Hello Kitty flip flops for Haylee for 50% off!! Next up we went to the YMCA to get a tour and more info. and then to Fry's where Josh was honored to do a Mega trip with me :)

After dropping off groceries we went to LA Fitness where we got a tour and decided to join there. I have never set foot in a gym so this should be an adventure! I have a free 30 day pass to use whenever since my back is hurting again and I don't think strenuous workouts are going to be a good idea. Hopefully my back will get better soon and I can start working out regularly.

Next we went to see Ted. Although it had some funny parts it was also pretty stupid. While we were in the theatre, the rest of the vallley was getting hit with a haboob. We didn't realize anything was going on till we left and it was raining and we saw all the pictures people posted on FB.

We spent the rest of the night going to Ross, Kohls and Walmart in search of workout shoes, clothes etc. and getting some groceries.

While we had a busy day, the girls were having a blast up in the mountains with Grandma, Dustin and Hannah. They left around 11am and didn't get home till about 9:30pm. They had fun at the fish hatchery and running around exploring. My Mom said they were well behaved which makes me super happy!

After getting the girls bathed and in bed I received a text from my niece that she was at the hospital miscarrying. She is devastated. I myself have never gone through a miscarriage (thank God) so I can only imagine the pain and sadness she feels. Life is just not fair sometimes.

Today at church our "code" popped up on the screen that lets us know one of our kids needs something. We immediately knew it was probably Natalee and we were informed she was having a bad day and kept crying off and on. They knew that wasn't normal for Natalee so they wanted to let us know. I'm sure she was just super tired. She didn't have a nap yesterday and she didn't get to bed till late last night. I just hope when we go back next week she doesn't remember what happened and become sad again. I would hate for her not to have fun and enjoy her class. So far she has loved church and always talks about the boys in her class. She's silly.

Tonight Haylee and I are going to see Alice in Wonderland at Broadway Palm. Hope we don't get caught in the new storm coming!!!

Friday Ramblings

This week went by pretty fast. We've stayed busy with crafts, SMF and school shopping! I can't believe Haylee starts Kindergarten in just 19 days!!!

Craft time is umm....interesting at our house. Haylee loves to do crafts and she is great at making everything on her own. Natalee is a different story. She usually helps me for about 1 minute and then she's not really interested anymore. Oh well, it's still fun. This week we made Starfish, Fruit Loop Necklaces and Caterpillars.

We took the girls to the library this week for the first time in months. Haylee loves to pick out her own books and Natalee likes to run around like a monkey.

Wednesday was SMF and we saw Smurfs. Natalee is still too young for movies but we only have 1 left. She does pretty good for the first hour. She'll sit in her stroller and eat popcorn and M&M's. Then she wants out and walks back and forth between me and Dustin and sits with Hannah. Luckily the seating has worked out so that no one around us is distracted by her. Maybe next year she'll do better!

I realized Wednesday that Haylee starts school in only 3 weeks. I hadn't started school shopping and I assumed uniform shopping would be a nightmare because she is so tiny and I have a hard time finding her clothes that fit. Well last night Haylee and I went to Kohl's, Old Navy and Walmart and to my surprise we finished everything in 1 night! She is gonna be the cutest little "school girl" and she should have plenty of uniform pieces to last all year!  I'm gonna do a separate post on everything she got, but this is her at Chick-Fil-A because this is where she chose to go for dinner.

The girls are jumping for joy because I finally booked our hotel in California!

Ok, they aren't really jumping, but they are super excited for Disneyland and they love when their Daddy throws them in the air too! We decided to stay an entire week in California so we're going to Knott's Berry Farm, Hollywood, Disneyland/California Adventure and the Beach. I was also thinking about having breakfast with the characters at Disneyland but Josh said "why, so Natalee can throw chicken nuggets at Mickey?" Good point. Maybe I'll rethink that one!

Every Monday, Haylee and I go to my Mom's to watch the Bachelorette. Natalee and Daddy have daddy/daughter time and Josh loves it! He says she behaves so good when it's just her. I received this picture Monday and now I know why she behaves!!!

(notice the M&M's in her hand)

I wish she behaved for me. She is constantly getting into things and not listening to me. I put her in timeout in her crib (only place to contain her) this week and I heard her saying "Mom pooooo" I was scared to go in her room.

I'm sure I'm the only person who would go downstairs and grab the camera upon finding this as I walked into her room. And I'm also probably the only person to post a picture like this too but I thought it was actually kinda funny. Lately she has been taking off her clothes and even her diaper constantly. Thank God she hasn't "decorated" her room with any messes yet. Also, she has been using the big girl potty more and more this week. The only bad thing is she'd rather climb on the regular potty than go on the baby potty and that's just an accident waiting to happen. You can bet if she falls in I will grab the camera to take a picture of that too!

I'm super excited for this weekend. My Mom is watching the girls and Josh and I are going to Big Surf tomorrow!!!! We're gonna eat lunch at our new favorite place, Firehouse Subs first and then hit the wave pool and fun slides. I can't wait.

Happy Friday!

Ramblings

I took a little vacation from blogging. I've been busy and haven't felt like writing but now I'm back on track.

Let's see.....last Wednesday was our eventful day of the week. It started with our Summer Movie Fun at Harkins with Dustin & Hannah. Dustin was having a lot of pain in his side so he decided to leave the movie to walk around. He called my cell in tears because he was in so much pain, he was throwing up and he felt like he was gonna pass out. I grabbed the girls and we left the movie. I got them all in the car and then decided to take him to Urgent Care instead of the ER because he currently doesn't have insurance. I was so scared it was his appendix and he was in so much pain and I was panicking. Thank God no one was at Urgent Care and we got right in. 3-4 hours later, xrays and a lot of waiting (so thankful my girls behaved) he was sent home. I am so thankful it was nothing serious. I always think the worse :( It was so scary to see him in so much pain and so sick. He's been doing better ever since.

It's been way too hot AND humid. So much for dry heat! I do love the rain and storms we've been getting but the humidity sucks.

We finally got our windshield replaced last Thursday. Exciting I know. The $50 Fry's card they send me will be exciting!

My niece Samantha is pregnant. She is due in March. I say it's a girl.

Josh is training his replacement at work and is still on track to be promoted August 1st. Tomorrow he will be pimping his brand new work vehicle, a small van type thing. He is not looking forward to that but is excited it has a cd player.

Friday I went to get the load of darks out of the dryer and noticed the whole dryer was super blue. As I started taking the clothes out I realized they had blue spots all over them! Somehow, a stupid blue crayon got mixed in the clothes. I am just sick about all the clothes that were ruined. And apparently our dryer is stained blue because WD-40, alcohol, magic eraser, 409 or Solumel will not take it out. What a disaster! If you see us around town with blue spots on our clothes, don't judge. Perfect clothes are so overrated!

After acting like she was done with naps, Natalee has been taking regular 2 hour naps again. Thank God! I don't think I'll ever be ready for her to stop taking naps. She has been such a handful the last 2 days!

Me and the girls made jelly fish last week using paper plates, streamers and ribbon. Super easy, super cute!

Couponing has been good the past month or so. I've stocked up on Hefty bags and now I'm stocking up on Huggies wipes for the year. I also love when Target has apparel coupons because I get cheap shirts. Too bad my brand new tank top was included in the laundry "incident" and I didn't even get to wear it once.

My back has been killing again. I called to find out about Physical Therapy and basically my insurance will not cover it. I can't afford $60 a visit 2-3 times a week for 4-6 weeks so I guess I'll have to deal with it.

Happy Monday.

4th of July

Our 4th of July was perfect. The weather was absolutely perfect! Rainy, a slight breeze and in the 80's.

We took the girls to Jambo's where they rode the rides over and over. Natalee loves the "choo choo" of course and Haylee's favorite ride is "all the rides".

After Jambo's we picked up some steaks and headed home to let the girls play outside for a bit. We've been stuck inside for so long because it's been so hot so the girls loved being out there. It started to rain while the played but that didn't bother them one bit. Josh grilled the steaks and we had a yummy dinner!

A little after 8pm we ventured over to Schnepf Farms to find a place to park and watch the fireworks. We ended up parking along Signal Butter right behind where they let the fireworks off and we had a great view. I took glow sticks and snacks to keep the girls busy while we waited and they were so good. Natalee kept saying "again" because she loved the fireworks and didn't want them to end.

After fireworks everyone crashed. Except me. :)

Staycation {Scottsdale}

Last week we spent a few days at our resort in Scottsdale. It was a nice little staycation spent in the pool and bbq'ing.

The girls had fun playing Squinkies, coloring and playing Dominos with Grandma and Dustin.

And taking baths in the big ol' tub.

But the majority of time we were in the pool. The girls got to practice swimming and Haylee is a little fish now.

I'm pretty sure Natalee enjoyed drinking her smoothie way more than going under the water. She preferred to practice blowing bubbles and kicking on the steps and monkey walking.

If we weren't swimming, we were eating! We bbq'd hot dogs, hamburgers, brawts and steaks. My Mom made potato salad and macaroni salad and we had lots of veggies and dip. Add in some watermelon, corn on the cob, homemade rice crispie treats, brownies and lots of other snacks and we were in heaven.

 We had a nice relaxing time and were sad to come home. Reality sucks sometimes.

Can't wait to go back next year!

Fry's Trips- Saved $135.50 & $88.78

I haven't posted a Fry's trip in awhile so I decided to post my latest Mega runs from this weekend. My favorite buy was 12 packs of Dr Pepper for $1 each!

Trip #1- Started out with $12.50 in catalinas and had a $5/$50 coupon.

5-12 packs
2+ lbs. of Cherries
2 Bread
2 Triscuits
6 Ken's Salad Dressing
1 Mi Ranchito Chips
3 Pillsbury Grands
2 Marshmallows
7 Hefty Bags
14 Boxes of M&M's
4 Hot Pockets
2 Magnum's Ice Cream Bars

$6.55 OOP, Earned $8 in Catalinas
Saved $135.50- 95%

Trip #2- Started with $8 in catalinas from previous trip.

4-12 packs

2 Pop Tarts Mini Crisps

2 Marshmallows

4 Hefty Bags

2 Cereal Bars

2 Magnum Bars

3 Colgate

2 Swedish Fish

2 Bayer

1 Ben & Jerry's

$3.81 OOP, Earned $4 in Catalinas

Saved $88.78- 96%



Rapunzel at Hale Theatre

Today we took Haylee girl to see Rapunzel at the Hale Theatre. This was our first time seeing a show there and we really liked how small and intimate it was.

Although this wasn't the Disney version Haylee is use to, she was able to follow the show and she liked it a lot. Her favorite part I'm sure was getting her picture with Rapunzel and the "Prince" although she was shy and didn't really talk to them.