RJ's Birthday

So my little guy is five. I can't believe it. RJ was so excited to turn five, he can't wait till kindergarten starts. In fact he thought he would be starting kindergarten as soon as he turned five and said good-bye to all his friends at preschool. He was a little disappointed when I told him that he had to wait till Summer was over.

RJ's actually birthday was Friday but we weren't planning to celebrate until Saturday. Jared was in TN last week and got home Friday afternoon and Papa Wight was driving up from CA and wasn't planning on making it in till Saturday. So I tired to make RJ's actually birthday special as well. He got to pick out what we ate for every meal. Breakfast was pancakes and I made him a number five pancake which he was really excited about. For lunch we went to McDonald's, of course. And then for Dinner we had Hot Dog twists and Apple Sauce. What a healthy day! I guess birthday's aren't supposed to be healthy.
We let RJ open two presents and got an Indiana Jones hat and whip and a Star Wars Lego set. He was so excited about the hat and whip he posed like Indiana for these pictures. He is such a character.

After dinner He and Daddy spent the evening putting his new Lego set together. RJ did most of it by himself. He is getting really good at following directions and building things.

Saturday we went to Blast Off with a Hand full of friends to celebrate. The kids all had a blast. It was very busy there, being a cold winter Saturday but we had fun. After about an hour of play the kids came to the table for a pizza snack followed by cake and ice cream.

So you know me, I like to get creative and fun with my kid's birthday cakes. This year RJ requested an Indiana Jones Cupcake Cake. So here is what Jared and I created.

After cake came presents. RJ got a lot of fun gifts.

But his favorite came from Papa Wight, an Indiana Jones jacket and real bull whip! What a spoiled kid!

After the party and all the friends went home, RJ, Grandpa, & Jared played a round of mini golf followed by some arcade fun. On our way out the birthday boy got to go in the Birthday balloon blast where he had to catch as many balloons as he could for some fun coupons and prizes.

RJ certainly had a fun birthday! I told him he could grow up anymore. I can handle five but I don't think I like the idea of him getting much older. I wish there was some way to freeze time. Let me know if anyone knows how to do this!

Fun blog sites

For anyone who enjoys baking and creating. I came across this blog while visiting a friends blog. I thought there were some very yummy cool looking treats on there. Thought some of you might enjoy it as well. http://bakerella.blogspot.com/

And for all you with little girls; a friend posted this blog on her blog and tired out a valentine's hair style. It was cute! I think I am going to have to do some more playing around with Savannah's hair and see what fun things I can do (if she'll let me.) http://cutegirlshairstyles.blogspot.com/

An update on us

So this is my 300th post. Wow!

I don't have any photos to share with you this week. I do have a new favorite scrap book page that I will share at the bottom of this post.
We haven't done too much in the way of excitement. RJ got sick again. This time with a bronchiole infection. He had an awful cough that he picked up from Preschool and then he started complaining about his ear. So I took him in. Turned out he had a really bad ear infection in one ear as well as the beginning signs of Pneumonia. Glad I took him is.
He was on Amoxicillin for about 10 days. Just finished the stuff up on Friday. He hated taken the nasty stuff. We sat in the kitchen for about 20 minutes waiting for him to finish 1 teaspoon. Couldn't get it in his head to chug it down fast. He is so stubborn and had to do it his way, the tiny tiniest sips at a time. I am so glad that is over and he is doing well.
He actually never really acted too sick. He only complained about his ear once. Last time he had an ear infection he had never once complained. He must not be too sensitive to his ears. His cough was awful but he never acted sick. But all in all he is all better and I'm grateful for that.
It has been on my mind to introduce RJ to sounding out words just to see how he would do. He knows most of the letter sounds and has for awhile, so I thought we should move on to the next step of reading. I finally got some easy to read books and sat down with him. To my amazement RJ is a Pro. I helped him with the first page, showing him how to sound out a word. He seemed to already know this and continued on sounding out all the words in the book. He went through two books. He was so excited to be able to read. And I was so excited and amazed at how well he picked it up with little frustration. (And if you know RJ, he gets frustrated very easily)
Other then that, RJ is waiting as patiently as he can for his 5th birthday. Can't believe my little guy is almost 5!
Savannah has been doing her same thing, trying to run the house. She likes to tell RJ what he can and can't do. She seriously picks out his cereal each morning and gets so upset when he doesn't want what she has chosen for him. She refuses to let me pick out her outfits. She knows what she wants to wear each day and it almost always has to be pink. I have been amazed that the last two days she as worn purple, it was nice for a change.
A cute experience I want to note happened Friday. I took her grocery shopping with me while RJ stayed home with Daddy. Since it was the day before Valentine's Day there were tons of flowers in the store and lots of people buying flowers. Savannah wanted a flower so bad. I can't believe how much fresh cut flowers cost! I let her smell a few but told her she'd have to talk to daddy about getting some flowers. Later Jared called to see how close we were to coming home. She asked to talk to him and told him that she wanted flowers. She is such a girl! Jared however never made it to the store. Maybe next year.
Also while at the store, she saw a pink dress she really wanted. She begged and begged me to get it. Here is the conversation:
Me: Do you have money to buy the dress?
Savannah: Yes
Me: Oh really!? Where is your money?
Savannah: In Mommy's Pocket!
What a smarty pants she is trying out to be. Poor thing didn't get a dress either. But both her and RJ got a small box of chocolates for Valentines Day that they were excited about.
Another thing about Savannah is she has been counting everything! She loves to count. I often wonder if she is going to me some kind of mathematician.
Jared has been busy with work. He has another trip this week to Tennessee and then a couple weeks after that he is going to Argentina. There is a third trip planned to Austria the middle of March but I told him he couldn't go. He is pretty bummed about missing that one.
No news on Belgium yet. Looks like the money for the project is starting to roll in. But Jared isn't sure that going for an extended period is the best option. But we won't make any plans till the offer is on the table.
Other then that he has been working on the third bedroom upstairs. He started it last winter and got half the sheet rock up. He came to a problem and spring hit so he stopped working on it. He never got back to working on it again till a few weeks ago. I told him I really wanted it for the babies room and needed it done by March so I had at least three or four weeks to go through all the baby stuff I have hidden in the basement.
Jared is all done with the sheet rock and has just finished the first layer of mud and tape. Hopefully with all his trips he can meet his March deadline. I really am itching to get out all the baby stuff and see what I have and what I still need.
I am doing good. Feeling VERY big. My maternity pants aren't fitting and my shirts are starting to feel like mid-drifts. I have a hard time bending over and getting out of the couch. I am ready to be done! But other then that, I do feel good and am still able to run around after the kids (even though I am running around a lot slower!). The kids have been a big help lately. They have been playing really well together and have been helping more when it comes to picking up. I am grateful for that.

Ok, so that was a long update. Here is my latest Scrap Book Page. It was a challenge from Scrap Girls to do a page in Black, White, & ______. I chose Black, White, & Green. I had this picture that I really wanted to turn B&W but still leave the green color in Savannah's eyes. It was perfect for the challenge. And I love the way it came out. The journaling just talks about Savannah's eye color and how the green came from Jared and I love them.

Simply Fun Has New Products

Simply Fun has three new products and I am happy to announce them for you.

I am putting an order in at the end of the month, if you are interested in purchasing any item from SimplyFun email me (jmw319@gmail.com) and I will put in your order at 25% off.

First: Tibber's Everyday Felt Adventures
Let your child's creativity flourish as they exercise their imagination with hands-on fun! Featuring 88 full-color felt pieces and three story scenes in a grab-n-go case, take Tibbar and friends around the world, creating fantastic adventures as they go!

Second: Tibbar's Big Box of Words
(I'm really excited about this one.)

Tibbar's fun way to introduce your child to letter identification and spelling! With three skill levels, your child's vocabulary grows over time. First, children learn by looking. Then they can match and spell. Finally, hide the words to test their new skills!
10 Double Sided Cards
10 Letter Cubes
Big Box

Third: Manga Manga
(an old favorite with a new design)

This is a fast passed card game. Think of it as Uno meets Speed.
ages 8 and up
(But RJ loves it and we play it all the time)

All Dolled Up

I love these photos and just want to share them. These were taken last Sunday.

She is wearing her Great Great Grandmothers clip on ear rings and necklaces.
She wanted mommy's pearls to match her dress but I said no. This lead to a tantrum and I quickly remembered the Jewelry box that was tucked way for Savannah holding Custom Jewelry that belonged to my great Grandmother. We found this beads that easily passed for pearls in Savannah's eyes.
All last week Savannah was on this pink high. Everything she wore had to be pink. Pink shirt, Pink Pants, Pinks socks, by the end of the week we were running out of pink. I am so sick of pink!! Sunday we were surprised that she chose a white dress instead of her pink dress. It was nice to see a different color. The photos turned out so cute and the fact that she is a cutie, I couldn't resist scrapping the event.

Free Stuff and Great Savings!

A friend of ours has gotten many free items and posted her deals on her blog. I asked her how she did it and she said she followed a lot of Money Saving blogs as well as coupon sites. Jared and I looked into these Money Saving sites (all listed at the bottom of our blog) and we learned of the Grocery Game. Have you heard of it? It is basically a system that keeps track of coupons and deals in your area and tells you the best purchases that week that will help you save more money. People claim they save up to 50% on their grocery bill. We signed up for a $1 monthly trail. At the end of February we’ll let you know how it went. In the mean time if you do find yourself signing up please help us out and use my email address as a referral: jmw319@gmail.com.

Anyway, back the subject on hand. We didn’t take the paper but learned to get the best deals you need the Sunday paper where all the coupons are at. So we got a subscription. We ended up getting the Wed., Fri, Sun. Papers because it was only a dollar more then just the Sun. subscriptions. And thank goodness we did because the Wednesday paper came with the Albertsons ad and TONS of deals!! We are usually Fred Meyer shoppers and with out the paper I wouldn’t have known about Albertsons deals this week. I was very excited. They had a lot of buy one get one free deals plus they had many coupons. I spent an hour this morning trying to get more coupons online to add to our savings but the internet was being weird. I started getting frustrated and was wondering if the coupons were really worth the hassle. But after my shopping experience I believe it was.

I however did spend more then I do in an average week but I stocked up on A LOT of meat. Thank goodness we have a deep freezer. I saved $15 with all my coupons, $90 with my Preferred Savings Card (like I said tons of discounts this week), and as a bonus I got $30 worth of free gas. I am so excited about deals! Can’t wait to see the savings I get next week from coupons and bargain finds.

This is everything I got for FREE:

I got the Milk free from buying three bags of cereal that was on sale and we needed cereal anyway. The Goldfish was from all the coupons. The Bananas were free after Buying Peanut Butter (which we were running low on) the meat was all buy one get one free. Anyway it was all a good deal. So if you haven't been shopping yet, go to Alberstons before Tuesday and get some great deals!

RJ's First Super Bowl

We have never been really big football fans. But RJ has been asking to watching football. I think time spent with his Uncle Christopher over the holidays made him a fan. He was excited to hear about the upcoming Super Bowl. So we decided to make a family night of it. I was surprised to learn that I could sit through a whole football game and actually enjoy it. We picked our teams just before the game started. Since we never really follow football we don't really have a favorite team. Because the Cardinals hadn't won a Super Bowl and the Steelers had won five already, I and Jared decided to root the Cardinals on. RJ went with the Steelers. He was pretty excited that his team was winning though out most of the game. Once the Cardinals got ahead with only two minutes left of the game, RJ was really upset. I had to snap some photos, it was so cute. Savannah even tried to comfort him.

But the sadness ended when his team pulled through with the winning touchdown.

Here is my Scrap Page of the event.

Trying out new things.

So I found these cool free blog templates. They take a little time, I am still working on everything. Put what do you think? Is it easy to read and see on your screen? Let me know what you think.