Our Thanksgiving

We luckily had a very uneventful Thanksgiving. My parents and my aunt came to Raleigh and ate lunch with us. We did have a close call on Wednesday night Cale was running a fever, but was fine on Thanksgiving. That is why I say uneventful, because every year someone has been sick on Thanksgiving. The food was very yummy and I think most of it was eaten! The boys are not too crazy about holiday foods, so I will probably cook something different for Christmas or if the good ole K & W is open we will go there. The boys LOVE that place!

My mom and I were back to our usual Black Friday shopping. I got some really good deals! We got to Kohl's at 4:00, yes I have not seen that time of night in about 3 years! We got in and got what we went for and got out. I even got an extra 15% off because I had to wait for them to find my rebate sheet. That was great! We then went to Toys R Us were I seriously thought people were going to brawl either with the employees about the line situation or just out of total frustration from not being able to move. We got in got almost everything we were after, not all just because it was crazy, and got out. We then went to Target. All this was by 6 am! We waited about 15 mins for them to open the doors and then got in and shopped a bit and then quickly checked out, which Target has always been wonderful at having every register open to minimize wait time. I got everything I was after there and then some! We were back home by 7:15! It felt great to able to go and get all that done and we were surprisingly not that tired.

Later that morning just before lunch we headed down to the Christmas tree lot and got our tree. The boys were pretty excited. I wanted a much bigger and fatter tree, but Andy wouldn't agree because he said it wouldn't fit. He is definitely no Clark Griswold. I have decorated and will have those pictures up soon! I am now busy wrapping all the presents. I hope to have that done soon, just because I like it finished early. I also have a very busy week this week! I have a vendor fair Thursday night at my mothers of multiples club meeting and then on Saturday I have a market in downtown Cary, Winter Fest. I am hoping all goes well, because we could really use the dough after having to buy a new tv, which has been a good purchase. It was great watching State whoop Miami in HD yesterday!

Spending a long weekend with the boys always leads to something funny happening. On Thursday morning while watching the Macy's parade Carter commented that some big clown float looked like Mawmaw. We all thought it was really funny, not my mom so much. That reminded me to tell her that the other week Carter randomly asked Andy did he not like Mawmaw. This was while we were in the drive through at an Old McDonald's and I could not stop laughing. Carter always carries on, Daddy why you not want Mawmaw to come? I have no idea where he got this because Andy has never lead on that he doesn't like my mom. Who knows.

Also, Cale told us that he was sleepy at lunch on Friday because Carter woke him up. So I asked Carter why he was talking so loud and woke Cale up and Carter's response was, "I couldn't stop the songs from coming out." We all died laughing. That kid says the craziest stuff. In a couple of the pictures in the slide you can see his lips are puckered that is because he was ready to eat and had to wait so he began his, "I sleepy." That is what he says when we is nin trouble or doesn't get his way. Andy has begun putting him in time out for saying it for no reason and this morning the second time he had to go the whole way to his room he kept saying, "I not sleepy, I not sleepy." We laughed and then after his 3 mins he didn't do it again and that was at about 10 this morning. Who says time out doesn't work?!

There is always tons of funny stuff they say and I always mean to write it down and of course by the time I make to to somewhere to be able to write it down I forget! I am going to try and be better at it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We decided to stay home for Thanksgiving this year. My parents and my aunt are coming over to eat with us. The boys are looking forward to eating pumpkin pie and apple pie. Hopefully they will eat other foods too! They are also looking forward to getting a Christmas tree, which I can't do until after we have Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to Christmas this year. The boys seem to get it a little more and hopefully we will not be sick again.

Last night Andy and I got to go to an NCSU basketball game. It was fun, but could have been a little more exciting. It was a blowout by NCSU. We had great seats though. As we were walking into the RBC Center we noticed that they had a different entrance for students, so we walk in the general entrance and a lady working there asked us if we had student tickets! We both answered, "We wish!" Then I think she felt dumb, but Andy and I do look young. I just got my hair cut last weekend, because I have been mistaken for being 19. That is when it is time to cut my hair. I think that the short hair suites me better.

Here are some pictures from the boys Halloween party at school, I have been forgetting to post them.

Carter with his typical cute little puckered lip face. He is too funny when he makes that face!




Carter, was the line leader that day, and Cale

This has to be Cale, I only guess this because there is no line leader sticker. They made cat masks to wear while trick or treating at school.

Carter and another silly face!

Stomach Bugs=Yuck!

Well we havn't had one of these is a while, so I guess we are due. Carter was sick last night and this morning throwing up. The poor guy kept getting up to "spit" and he said he tongue hurt. He actually cought on pretty fast. He only threw up on Andy once and then knew to get to the bath tub. This morning he even covered his mouth while I ran him to the bathroom. It is still hard having a sick baby that is hungry and can't eat, but it is a lot easier than when they had their first stomach bug at around 9 months. That one lasted about a week!

Here are some pictures from the first bug. As you can tell Carter felt much better after he yaked and Andy looks as if he enjoyed it too.

Lots of Use

Andy and I, well mostly Andy, are pretty frugal people. We do what we can to save money. We coupon, Andy tries to fix things that break(more on that later) and I try and buy the kids clothes that will last way longer than they should. These next few pictures demonstrate that. These hats have lasted us 3 winters!! They are a size 18-24 months from the Baby Gap. I don't think they had big heads as babies, but they fit and they fit great the last two years. I think they actually still fit this year but were a little snug and I think Cale had had enough of those hats because he would have nothing to do with wearing them. So in the last picture you can see that we finally got them new hats. I just thought it was funny how long we were able to use these hats! Also, you can tell we got 2 years of use out of the coats and actually the coats they are wearing this year they wore last year too. I love getting the most out of my money!

This brings me to the tv. We have not gotten our moneys worth out of the TV, it is 5 1/2 years old and I don't think that is very old. Almost 2 weeks ago it suddenly died along with the cable box, which was replaced by time warner. Well Andy swears he can fix the tv and it takes him a week and a half to try. On Tuesday night he was able to fix it or so we thought. Back to Tuesday, at school that day for some reason Carter started crying at tea party that his toes hurt. Who knows why? On Wednesday morning his teacher asks him if his toes are feeling better and his response is, "Yes, they are better because my big tv is fixed." What?! They don't watch that much tv and Carter never even mentioned the fact that it was a larger 32" tv and since has been a small 19" That kid makes me laugh. So anyways, today I fix my lunch and sit down to watch last weeks ER and turn on the tv and poof it is broken again! I call Andy and inform him to not add tv repairman on a list of things he can do. He was bummed. I really don't want to buy a new tv, because I need a new washer and dryer. I guess we will be moving into the 21st century and finally breaking down and buying a flat screen tv.



6 months old

18 months old

2 1/2 years old

3 1/2 years old

Weekend Mountain Trip

This weekend we took a much needed trip to the mountains to relax. We went to Andy's parents' mountain house in Sparta, NC. It was so nice! We went with some friends who have a 5 month old baby, who was a terrific baby. I wish the boys had been that good at 5 months! It was a very relaxing weekend. We had a tiny bit of snow this morning and some rain yesterday. After the rain ended yesterday we were able to go for a little walk and the weather felt nice. Then it got windy and cooled off last night. So this morning it was pretty chilly outside. It was a nice change. We are actually ready for cool weather. Hopefully next time we make it up there we will have more than a dusting of snow. The hats the boys are wearing are from LittleToppers and they are wonderful!

Always Something

Doesn't it feel like every time you buy something expensive or pay something off that within days something goes wrong. Well it happens to us all the time! We paid our car off last month and literally the week of the service engine light came on. This past week we bought these sewing machines and then yesterday morning I turn on the tv and the picture was messed up. Andy hit it and it got a little better, but later in the day it was worse and then just turned off on its own! We didn't know it was the tv until that happened. Before we thought it was just the cable messing up. Well Andy managed to carry the big heavy old school tube tv out of the living room and then set up our huge 19" tv. Well after doing that the cable box wouldn't work! Just great, now all my ERs are lost and this is the last season. We also lost countless Man vs Wild and Disney movies that the kids love. Now I don't know how we lived without the DVR! We are hoping the tv can be fixed because there are other things we would rather spend money on than a new tv. Oh well, that's life!

Yesterday, since the tv was broken, I decided to take our Christmas card pictures. The reason why is that Shutterfly has their cards 20% off and then if you buy 75, which I needed, then you got 75 free address labels, and then you also got free shipping if you spent more than $25! So the shipping took of almost $13 and the labels were worth about $18! That is a great deal!! So if anyome needs photo Christmas cards then hurry and do them at Shutterfly before 11/22--I believe is when these deals end.

Here is a preview of our Christmas card pictures. These are not the ones we chose, but some cute ones. They made me really relaize that the kids look nothing like me. They look exactly like their daddy, which I guess is a good thing.

Would have been cute if Cale didn't close his eyes!

Triple Coupons and More!

Starting tomorrow Harris Teeter will triple coupons up to .99!! The sale runs starting tomorrow 11/6- Sunday 11/9. That is a whopping 4 days!!! We plan on going several times. For a look at good deals check out savvydollar.org.

I purchased a new sewing machine yesterday! Actually, 2 sewing machines. One machines sews and does embroidery. The other is a serger. I am "sew" excited aobut learning to use them! Hopefully it will not take me too long to figure it all out and I of course have several classes to go to. So soon I will offer monogramming on items!!

Also, the pork chop casserole from the other day was a huge hit in our house! It was funny when we sat down to eat Cale asked why we were eating at home? I laughed and Andy didn't understand him until Carter repeated it and then he said that was sad. I said we eat out a lot and I wasn't kidding. I do cook a couple times a week or more. This week I was already making a list of things I could make from stuff I had or were on sale and looking through my Kraft and Fix It cookbooks. then my mom told me there were triples this week! I had totally missed it! Usually I keep up with the savvy dollar forum, but I have been forgetting to look. I guess I will get back on track looking. Anyways, good luck with you couponing!!

BLACK FRIDAY!!!!

I also just added the link to the Black Friday ads page, http://bfads.net/. I heard the other day that this year, because of the terrible economy, they are going to have awesome deals!! I can't wait. Last year I didn't go because we were in Ohio and there wasn't really anything that I cared about, but this year I am hoping to make up for it. They have released the Sears ad, which I HATE Sears so I didn't even look and that is a long story for maybe tomorrow so that others don't make the mistake we did, and heard there were great deals. Also, Bed, Bath and Beyond and Walgreens. They say with in the next week we should have a lot more. I can't wait for Target and Best Buy and Toys R Us!!

Crock Potting and Other Stuff

This weekend Andy actually remembered to take out meat for the week. First up is pork chops. I am so tired of eating grilled bbq pork chops, so I decided to look in my favorite cookbook, Fix It and Forget It. Almost every recipe called for browning the meat first. I do not like to pre-cook! I will do it if I have to, but prefer not to. So I figured have boneless, skinless pork chops I probably didn't need to do that and then called and asked mom and she agreed. So I chose, Pork Chop Casserole. It called for 4-5 chops, rice, water, parsley, salt, pepper and cream of mushroom soup. The boys don't like normal casseroles, but love rice and cream of mushroom soup. I think so far it smells really good, but what doesn't smell good in the crock pot?! I will update tomorrow on how it tastes. Hopefully it will be yummy! I may do some stewed apples with it since I love apples and pork. If only I had beer for my beer bread.

Yesterday Cale made Andy and I laugh, which does happen often but this is kind of sad too. We were stopped at a red light and across the intersection was a Moe's, great restaurant for those that don't know. Well Cale spots it and says, "M-O-E-S that spells quesadilla store!" Andy was like what did he say, but I was too busy laughing to tell him. As you can tell, the sad part is that we eat out way too much! Plus the boys LOVE quesadillas! They have them classified as spicy-Taco Bell, cheese dip-El Rodeo, and yesterday they had one at the balloon place-Red Robin. They actually even looked at the pictures on the menu and when I said do you want bok bok or quesadilla, Carter pointed to the picture of the quesadilla and was like I want that. I guess I need to cook more, which is why I think Andy came home and took meat out. Also, I need to save money to pay for the new sewing machine I am getting this week! It is going to be a combo that also monograms!! I can't wait to learn how to use it and add that too my growing business. So if that interests anyone give me a month to make sure I can do it and not ruin anything and then I will post when I am taking orders for that.

Happy Halloween

For Halloween we went to a neighborhood party and then trick or treating. It was a lot of fun! The boys had a great time at the party, especially playing on the scooters. I guess we know what Santa will be bringing them. Then once it started to get dark we headed up the street to go trick or treating! The first house we stopped at were some new neighbors and they turned out to be identical twin sisters that were probably about our age that bought the house together! They were so excited that their first trick or treaters were also identical twins! How funny is that? We got a lot of comments on the costumes and a lot of people asking if I made them. Which was kind of funny because I don't think our neighbors know what I do for a living. I did not make them though. I was lazy and pushed for time, so I ordered them from Target. The boys caught on very fast as to which houses we could go to, the ones with the lights on, and which ones we could not. Unfortunately for me I forgot to put out my bucket of candy for any trick or treaters, so now we have a ton of candy! The boys got a lot of candy and other goodies. So much that their buckets were too heavy to carry. They don't really care too much about eating it, which is a good thing. They just like to take it out and look at it. Sounds good to us!

On another happy note, Cale has continued to poop in the potty without very much help from the meds. This is a huge accomplishment! I think we may be over the potty training hurdle. Now if Cale can just get the holding it over night thing down then we will be completely done. Hopefully we will be done with drama for a few weeks, since this last one has lasted over 3weeks.