i mean really?

Don't you wish you could fold yourself in half and go to sleep?

i am reformed, people

I love to shop. I really do. Unfortunately, my shopping has decreased A LOT since I've been on maternity leave with Maggie and we are on one income. Now, it has been reduced to mostly window shopping ;) Don't get me wrong, window shopping is fun, too! Just not as fun as going into Target or Dillard's (my two FAVE places!!) and dropping a couple hundred dollars. {Sigh}...I miss that! Wait...where was I going with this???

Oh yes, shopping. Recently, Eric and I have been checking out Aldi. Wha??? Yes. Aldi. I've heard from people how much cheaper they are. I didn't really think anyone could beat the prices at WalMart, so I set out for a little pricing & taste testing project! The first time we went, we just bought a few things. Their milk is considerably cheaper...$1.40 per gallon. Also got granola bars and their version of Go-gurt for the kids, both cheaper than WalMart. So far, so good on price and taste! :) This second time we went, we shopped. I mean, shopped!! Our cart was full and we bought a little bit of everything. Baking products, cereal, fruit snacks, chips, cookies, frozen meats, pizzas, chicken nuggets, ketchup, produce, orange and apple juice and {GASP} even their brand of diet coke! I am here to report that I L.O.V.E. everything!! I'm a believer! I also love that it is a small store, so you are in and out in about 25 minutes...even with "big" shopping.

True story: The first time Eric and I went, we went with his Mom. As we were shopping, this lady hit me with her cart. Literally. I turned around to move out of the way and she had 19 bottles (yes, we counted!) of wine in her cart!! And, she was kind of acting a little tipsy...like maybe she'd already finished off bottle #20!! My MIL and I were kind of wide eyed, hoping she had a DD with her!! As she made her way through the aisle, she kept hitting all kinds of stuff. She needed bumpers on her grocery cart!

Some of my friends may want to try shopping at Aldi, so here's a list of what you need to know!
(i.e. You are not frugal, but want to be!)

Take a quarter; you'll need it to get a grocery cart

Take your own bags and/or boxes; they are not provided

Take cash; they do accept debit cards, but only certain ones

If you see a cute lady that speaks with an English accent, wearing a long blue skirt, modest heels, pearls, and who is pushing a cart with 19 bottles of wine, please approach at your own risk. She WILL run you over.

hot wheels

I hope everyone was able to take advantage of the sun this weekend!!! :) We got outside yesterday for a little while. I'm thankful that Miss Maggie is somewhat mobile this summer - Yea! She loves being out in her walker.
And, check out these kickers!!! Thanks to our neighbor Natalie for giving us some hand-me-downs :)

My two cuties sportin' their wheels!

Daddy started something he SHOULDN'T have!!! He let Maggie roll halfway down our huge hill. Granted, he went down right in front of her, but she loved it so I'm sure I will be spending lots of time trying to keep her from going down... Bad Daddy!! ;)

Little punkin' pie

And, of course, had to get one of Levi on the neighbor's PINK Jeep!!!

Come'on Spring!!! :)

not boring...but blessed

I remember the days when my friends and I would just be getting started around 9 o'clock pm. Movies, hanging out, games, concerts, laughing so hard your cheeks hurt the next day, cooking dinner at almost midnight because you are starving and sleeping till noon the next day...those were good times. :) These days, I find myself looking forward to 8pm when the kids go to bed so that I can watch an hour of tv or do my SuDoku puzzle! My how times change!!!!

So, here is a recap of my Friday evening. Don't be jealous.

Levi is feeling better today (yea!!) and we wanted to do something fun for him. We packed up and headed to Bass Pro. Now, nothing against Bass Pro, but it just is not my favorite store. Doesn't even come close to being my 10th favorite store. In fact, I would rather eat dirt than go there. Harsh? Maybe ;)

Mags is such a content baby these days. Sometimes I forget I have her. She just sits there and takes everything in.


Levi loves Bass Pro cuz he can "drive" boats, four wheelers, see the fish, shoot toy guns, YAWN. But, Momma will do anything to brighten his day!!!!

After gallivanting with the fake deer and raccoons, we called up Mamaw and Papaw to see if they wanted to meet us for ice cream!! Chiller's is open! Woot!! On the way there, I sat in the back to feed Maggie and I discovered that Levi has a secret trash bin!! When I opened a little compartment in the back arm rest, I saw all of these candy wrappers. WEIRD!!

BTW, Maggie is not very fond of ice cream. {Just wait, precious girl...you will grow to love it!}

Levi had a chocolate milkshake and thought we were the best Mommy & Daddy ever!!

While my life isn't the same as my college days, it is just as sweet. The memories that we are making with the kids are priceless. God has blessed my life in more ways than I ever imagined He could.

what makes a sickie feel better?

Eating magnets?
Oh wait!!! Wrong child. ;)
Levi started running a fever last night. BOO!! It was around 5pm and he started acting weird. You know...coughing, laying around, wanting me to hold him...I laid with him on the couch and he was burning up. My parents were coming over to watch the kids, so I called and cancelled. Gave him some meds and he went to bed around 6:30. Good news, though - he slept all night and seems to be better this morning. He still has a low grade fever, but isn't so lethargic.

So, what makes him feel better?? Pancakes!!!!!





Pancakes make anyone happy!!!

I love that boy! He makes my heart happy. :)

sunshine !!

What a great sun-shiny day!! It is always nice when I open the blinds in the morning and see the sun shining so bright. :) I love that.

Levi has woken up E.A.R.L.Y. the past two mornings. Oui. He has gotten up at 6. I am not a morning person, so I've been struggling. Plus, Maggie still wakes up during the night several times a week, so I feel like I've been sleep deprived for the past 10 months!! But, you know what? They are only this little once and as silly as it may sound, I am trying to soak up this time...even when it is 2am.

Back to today...Levi had a fun day at school. He was the helper and when I picked him up, he was holding the door open for all the kids. So cute! He always has the biggest smile when I pick him up from school. I love it! After school, we played outside. I put Mags in her walker and she was lovin' it! She walked all around the circle (our cul-de-sac) and thought she was big stuff!! Levi played basketball and rode his new scooter...a Christmas gift.

I am happy because American Idol is on tonight (and we know about my new found crush on Steven Tyler!) and Survivor is back! Woot! Good tv night. :)

OH...I almost forgot...my reason for blogging. My mom scanned this picture for me and sent to me. We had it taken when Maggie was 6 months old. Our first family photo! I wanted to keep record of it. Our sweet family. :)

like mother, like daughter?

I can fall asleep anywhere. Seriously. Anywhere at almost any given moment. Evidently, so can Maggie.
This is how she fell asleep during her morning nap. I walked in and she was sitting, with her head on the bumper pad, arm holding onto the rail...hilarious!! And funnier yet, her paci was right in front of her on the FLOOR. It's like she was staring at it and just fell asleep. So precious.

And, while I was fixing lunch, I grabbed the camera to send a picture to Grammy. "Smile Maggers!!!" Um...no...I'll just look up. UGH! She's a stinker...

...with a cute little bum!!! :)

more valentine's day!

I already posted about Valentine's Day, but wanted to add a few pics! Today, after school, Levi wanted to do one of his crafts. He picked the sun catcher. This brings back memories!! He loved doing it and I loved watching him work. He gets so intent on what he is doing. So serious!!
Miss Maggie wanted to help him and was like a little yapping dog at his ankles! So, I threw her in the high chair (not literally!) and gave her some puffs! It keeps her occupied for a few minutes. She can be quite jealous! ;) She thinks she is 4 years old, too!!

And, this cracks.me.up! Lately, when I tell Mags to smile for the camera, she looks up. No idea why! Is she starting to be a little obstinate already??

And, ladies, you might want to sit down.

Today, in my normal routine, I picked up the mail after dropping Levi at school. Right away, I noticed a big card. I flipped the card over and immediately knew the handwriting! Yippie!! I tore the envelope open and gave a little shriek! GASP!!

When you open the card, it reads "SURE HASN'T BEEN TO FORKS, WASHINGTON."

Love it!!! And the best thing is that when you open the card, this totally intense music plays and you hear Edward say "I promise to love you every moment of forever" {swoon} followed by Jacob saying "I'm gonna fight for you till your heart stops beating".....

Thank you, Gretchen. TOTALLY made my day. ;)

me, a project, v-day & you won't believe what i'm doing!

hi. this is me.
Ok, sorry for the random picture of me!! LOL I joined an online food & exercise journal to help me keep track of my journey. It's called LoseIt.com. It is kind of laid out like FaceBook. So, I was looking through all my pictures over the past year and trying to find a decent one of myself to put for my profile picture. You know what? I COULDN'T FIND ONE OF ME!!! I have a ton of pictures of my kids and me, some pictures of Eric and me, lots of pictures of my friends and me....but none of just me. I guess I don't just go around snapping pics of myself. ;) So, Levi sat up on the counter and took my picture. I'm sure if there were any flies on the wall, they were getting a big belly laugh!!!

So, on with the weekend! We had a great weekend. Pretty relaxed, piddled a lot and just hung out. It was MUCH better than last weekend when everyone was sick. Plus, the warmer weather was wonderful!!! I told Eric Friday evening that I thought I wanted to paint my laundry room. We never painted it when we moved in and it needed it. Bad. So, Saturday morning, Eric painted my laundry room!! How's that for fast action? He just did a neutral color, the same as our living room. But it looks SOOO much better!!!! Mom and I headed out to find some little organizer bins. Here's the finished product!

I love it! It's just fresh and clean. Very simple. No more stuff just crammed on our shelves. :)

Oh, and today is Valentine's Day!!! YEA! Eric and I don't usually exchange gifts, but we love, love, love buying for the little tax deductions!!!

Maggie's loot:

And Levi's: he loves Whoppers, Bubble Tape gum and Cheetos!!! :) Fun stuff! Also threw in a few crafts for us to do after school tonight.

At lunch yesterday, Mom and Dad passed out their gifts to all the kids. The kids were in HOG HEAVEN!! Mom always does cool stuff like tongue tattoos (gross), candy lipstick, clothes, crafts and a few more of our favorites:

This was cute! All the kids got Jelly Belly's except Maggie. Mom opened her container and put Cheerios in it. ;)

Some cute clothes for Mags

Of course, a present from Grammy wouldn't be complete without some books!!
Okay, now for the nitty gritty. "You won't believe what I'm doing."

I guess I have never really blogged about my working status. Before I had Maggie, I worked at the school corporation...at the Administration Building. One nice thing about my job is that we are able to take one year off after having a child. I did that with Levi and wanted to do it with Maggie, too. I am fast approaching that year! I can't believe it. It's gone so fast. I would really love to stay home with my kiddos! I don't know yet whether that will be possible, so I am going to start watching a few kids at home along with my neighbor, Natalie. We've talked about it for a few weeks and decided just to go ahead and take the plunge! I'm due to go back to work May 9th, so this will be a good time for me to see what I want to do. Let me tell you, this is a STRETCH for me!! I love my children desperately. Would die for them. But, I'm not sure about watching other people's children all day, everyday. ;) With that said, I am excited about the possibility of staying home and working. So, stay tuned!! This could turn into quite the soap opera!!

splish splash

It's the little things in life that please me. Ok, maybe that is a stretch! I do love me a new Coach bag, a new pair of great flats, a day at the spa...but I digress! :) I also love it that I can bathe the kids together now!! It saves on my time, patience and for my frugal readers, it saves on water!!

Look at these cuties!!

Some people look at them and tell me they look just alike. I don't see it!!! I think Levi looks just like Eric. Maggie is, well, she is Maggie. I don't think she looks like either of us. Oooohhh, this gives me an idea!! My mom has a baby picture of me that she says looks like Maggie. I'll do a post later this week...kind of a "who's who"!! {Is it sad that that is about the most exciting thing around here right now??!!} I'll have to go old school and learn how to scan photos first! ;)

back to the grind

I slept last night. I slept a full 7 hours and it felt great!! It was a long week for me with Maggie being sick, but she is finally better and I'm actually happy that it is Monday and we are back into our groove. :)

Workout update: I haven't been on the elliptical in over a week! { Yes, I'm blaming everything on Maggie!!! ;) } But, I plan on resuming my routine today. I've lost two more pounds, so while I wish it was more, I'm happy with that. That's 8 pounds in a month. Woot! The 5K is in just under 3 weeks!

SuperBowl: It sure isn't as exciting when your team isn't playing!! But, I was pulling for the Packers. I like Aaron Rodgers (not as much as my boyfriend, Peyton!) and think he's a great QB. Our neighbor is the BIGGEST Pack fan out there, so I was rooting them on for him. It ended up being a great game!! Go Pack Go! (Still wish it would have been my Colts!!)

American Idol: Ok, folks, I must admit, I'm lovin' Idol this season!!!! I watched the first two seasons and then got bored. I did watch the season off and on with Clay. But, I'm just not a Paula Abdul fan. When I first heard JLo and Steven Tyler were the new judges, I almost spit out my diet coke. Really? Steven Tyler?? Grew up on Aerosmith - love, love, LOVE their music, but just wasn't sure about him on Idol. Well, slap me silly, I just love him!! He's the bomb. And, JLo is just outright awesome! I have to admit, I get a bit giddy on Wednesday around 7:30 when I know the kids are headed to bed and Idol is coming on!! ;)

Three things I'm ready for: a nice pedicure, capri pants & playing outside.

Regis: I just found out that Regis is retiring after this year. That made me tear up a little. I don't watch Regis & Kelly every day, but I do like to watch them every now and again. He will be missed!!! (Yes, I'm slow on getting news sometimes!)

Ok, these were a few things on my mind this morning. Glad I could share! ;)

i miss this smile

Little Maggie May has been sick. My professional diagnosis is teething-turned-into-a-horrid-cold. I took her to the doctor on Thursday after two very sleepless nights. I was afraid she had another ear infection, but her doctor did a little happy dance because her ears were CLEAR!!! Yay!! I was happy for this news because I had prepared myself that we would be making a trip to the ENT next week for tubes. Today (Saturday) is the first day that I've seen a marked improvement in her. She's still fussy, snotty, irritable, tired, cranky....you get the picture....but she has smiled a few times. I don't like when my babies are sick. :(