we found it....

one our many missing sippy cups.

Don't you feel like you're constantly looking for your kids sippy cups? I seriously cannot figure out where they are all going to.

Well now I know.

Hannah has been sleeping in our room while my parents are here and the other night she calls Chris into the room.

Daddy, I found Caden's sippy cup under the bed. It smells like throw-up and spit-up.

Yea....I think we'll just throw that one away.

I so wish I had a picture to post of that nasty cup...but you wouldn't get the full effect of the nastiness unless you smelled it... SO gross!

beautiful day

Why is it that the sunshine has such an affect on my mood?

Today has been BEAUTIFUL!! The sun is shining, the wind isn't blowing, it's a perfect 70 degree day. The kids and I packed a picnic lunch and brought it to the park. We played for an hour and ate our food. Hannah was her happy, imaginative self; pretending that the jungle gym was our shelter from the big storm. Caden was even brave enough to go down the slide a couple times by himself! Even though Caden was throwing sand and running away from the park and Hannah was playing instead of eating, it didn't bother me. In fact, I had a BLAST just playing with my kids.

Why is it that when the sun is shining I stop freaking out about all the little things that normally bug me?

We got home, the kids went down for their naps without a peep and they have both been asleep for 2 hours. I sat outside with my iced mocha (yes, that also makes me VERY happy!) and read my Bible. I just basked in the sun and drank up God's truth. I didn't feel overwhelmed by all that I have yet to learn on my spiritual journey, like I sometimes feel. I was just overcome with the joy that I have when I search God's word and discover new truths.

How I love these beautiful days!

All too often I am so consumed by my to do list for the day that I forget to look around and see all that God has given to me. God, would you teach me to enjoy every day as a gift from you. Thank-you for sending the sunshine and warmth to slow me down and remind me of how precious my children are. Thank-you for gently teaching me to enjoy your word.

Maybe it's just me, but somehow the sunshine has a way of changing my entire day.

Flowers

Monday night Chris gave me a call around 6pm to tell me that he'd be working late that night and that he wouldn't be home in time to put the kids to bed. So, I tell him that is completely fine (even though inside I'm thinking...UGH!!!...but I know tax season is almost over so I try to sound supportive.)

I hang up the phone and about 2 min later the phone rings.

Hello

Hi, this is the HyVee floral shop, we have a delivery for you and just wanted to make sure someone was home to receive it!

You should have seen the smile on my face. I am just glowing thinking of what a wonderful husband I have. He must be thinking that he has the best wife ever. After all I have been taking care of the kids pretty much on my own for the past 3 1/2 months. I've gotten up EARLY, fed them 3 meals a day, given baths, changed about 300 diapers, cooked and cleaned up EVERY meal. I've been so supportive of the late nights and unpredictable schedule. I've given him back rubs at night when he gets home even though I'm dog tired. Yep, I pretty much deserve those flowers.

So, I'm bouncing around the house waiting for the delivery.
The door bell rings and I run to the door (try to act surprised) and get my BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers. I tell Hannah how daddy sent us these beautiful flowers because he loves us so much.

Whenever Chris sends me flowers the note always says "Just because." So I open the note fully expecting it to say "Just because" and I see that he has written us a long note. Now I'm SUPER excited. I am such a great wife he just wants to tell me what a great job I've done of sustaining our family through the long months of tax season. He loves me and couldn't have made it through without my support.

Before I even read the card I see the name at the bottom.

Travis.

WHAT!??

Now I'm thinking I have to call HyVee and tell them they dropped off the bouquet to the wrong house and give them back my flowers!!!

...and then I realize that they are from Chris' friend Travis who stayed with us that weekend. He just wanted to thank us for our hospitality.

So, the flowers weren't from Chris (even though I'm SURE he thinks all those wonderful things about me! :) but hey, I still got flowers didn't I, and I love them!

it's official

I'm signed up for the 10K Tulip Festival race....so now I really have to do it! I printed off a little running regiment on line so hopefully it works! I've never run 6 miles before but I'm hoping to run a half marathon in the fall so I figured this was a good first step (well, acutally 2nd step since I ran a 5k last fall). I'm super pumped!

Andrea and Audrey, you guys better be there! :)

Happy racing girls! :)

DEALS DEALS DEALS

I have always loved to get deals. Whenever I need to buy something I think of ways to get what I want for less! ...and I think I do pretty good at it. I keep our grocery bill low by using price match and buying foods that are on sale. But recently I discovered moneysavingmom.com and let me tell you it has taken my savings to a whole new level.

Guess how much I paid for all this?


I got three bars of Johnson buddie soap, 1 package of Huggies wipes, a box of popcorn, multi-surface pledge, 4 baguettes, 1 bottle of Kraft salad dressing, 3 boxes of fruit snack and 6 bags of cheetos all for $3.60

That's a savings of over $26.00!

If you haven't checked out this site, YOU NEED TO! I don't believe in running all over just to get deals so I got these deals all at Target, with the exception of the salad dressing which I got for $.08 at Walmart.

so for now this is my new hobby...it's so fun, you've got to try it!