Perfect Timing!

Coincidentally after my post from yesterday about how I was going to crack down on saving money this coming year I find out that tomorrow through Sunday is TRIPLE coupon at Harris Teeter!! No better to start the year off then with a great triples trip. God is so good!!! I am always in awe when things like that happen. Even though it was something small it is just so awesome how it works out and the fact that mom wanted the kids this weekend and that I am off work this week.

Hopefully I will be able to get a lot of groceries for barely any money. I just need to get my coupons organized. The best I have ever done was around $60 for $2 something!! I remember the amount because I thought the cashier said $20 until I walked away and saw my receipt, then I was shocked that she had no comment! What is up with that? I mean I got some good stuff like Bryers ice cream and Tyson nuggets. I still have no clue how I saved that much, but I am so thankful that I am.

This is going to be a great weekend! Sleeping in, triple coupons, date nights, and lots of wii playing!

Happy New Year!

Today I was thinking about how blessed we really are and how I never seem to feel that way. I don't know why. We have really good boys, although this morning they were a bit wild. They are healthy except for the reoccurring ear infections. They are also pretty funny and smart. Not to mention the cutest kids ever! With life being so crazy all the time all we ever seem to see is the negatives. Having twins is a lot of work and being a parent is definitely the hardest job I have ever known. I just really want the boys to be the kids that are good around others and well mannered. In today's society it is hard. I feel like all I do is yell, stop jumping on your brother or today, stop jumping off the arm of the couch on to your brother! I feel like I am constantly saying STOP or someone is going to get hurt. I just need to let boys be boys, but I hate going to the ER! Andy has definitely been enough and Cale has already been once. Anyways, today while vacuuming the playroom that made me think how much the boys have and how much do we really need? So that leads me to my "resolution."

I am never very good at making New Year's resolutions, but this year I am going to try. I'm sure it will be a waste by next week, but hopefully not. This year I am going to try really hard to be really frugal. I do coupon, but not as much as I should or could and I try to only buy things on sale or with a coupon. I just don't feel that I am really giving it my all. I could really be doing better job at saving money. I guess what has made me really want to work hard at saving is that in the past year we no longer have to buy diapers or pullups and we lost a huge car payment and there is still really no difference in our bank accounts! I do have a serious shopping addiction and I absolutely hate to cook, so eating out is always great, but I really must stop. So I have decided that we will not eat out unless we have a coupon or kids eat free or something and we can all eat for $15. Well that is my hope but under $20 would be ideal. You see we have been very blessed with great eaters and they can put away the food! I am really going to crack down on my food buying with coupons. I am not going to buy anything that is not a need, like something we use a lot or rely on for cooking or daily meals. I am not going to buy anymore clothes. This I can't promise, but will try very hard. The boys teachers from last year commented that they have as many clothes as girls! I can't not buy something when it is only a dollar or two, but this year I will just say NO! No more decor items that are not a necessity, like if something we used broke I would replace but no more Pottery Barn impulse buying.

I am hoping to save lots of money just so that we can have some for fun things instead of wasting it on stuff we really don't need. Last night we were fortunate enough to get some NCSU basketball tickets from a lady I work with. Looking around the arena I was thinking how cool it would be to have seats in the luxury all you can eat buffet section, yeah right! Or just have season tickets down low, which is a more realistic goal. Then it hit me that we will never get to that point with the way we spend money. And really we don't buy anything worth while! I mean we just got a new tv because ours died and Andy did splurge and get us a fun wii, but we really don't have "nice" furniture or go on fancy vacations or have new cars (Andy still drives my 1990 honda accord from when I was in high school). So what do we spend our money on? It has to be the black hole of Target. I know Andy does not read this, so he will have no idea about what my goal is. I guess I really don't have a goal so much as a just stop wasting my money on stuff I don't need! We always laugh about this SNL skit that was a Suze Orman type thing where they were telling people to stopping buying if they don't have the money. People would show up and be like I want something, but can't pay for it now but I can charge it, should I get it? And they would be like NO don't buy it if you don't have the money! Well I feel like we are going to end up like these people if we aren't careful, so jokes on us. Hopefully, I can turn things around since it is me doing all the spending. We'll see!

Here are the boys enjoying the basketball game!

Cale



Carter and Daddy

Our Week of Christmas

We have had a great week of Christmas this year! It started off a little rocky. Luckily our annual Christmas illness hit early, both the boys had ruptured ear drums Friday morning before we headed out. So we were able to hit the doctor, then pharmacy, then on our way. Only that once we got up to the mountains on 77 at around 9 that night we were about out of gas. So we are going very slowly approaching the next exit and we see a cop car on the side behind a car with a man out behind it, it is broke down. Andy realizes that is his brother, so we call and it is. We then hang out at that exit for a couple hours until they are ready to go and we head on our way again. We stopped for the night in Beckly, WV. It was a good nights rest before completing our journey which I think involved stopping every hour for someone to go to the bathroom. We finally made it to Delta, OH at about 4 or 5 on Sat. Boy is that trip much faster without kids! As we begin across the state of OH we see more and more snow!! The boys have never seen a lot of snow before, just our normal 1/2 inch. So they kept asking if it was water or snow. It was so beautiful, as you can tell from the pictures above. The temp on Sunday night was -2 degrees and the windchill was a breathe taking -12!!! Andy and I loved it though! Needless to say we only have a few pictures of the boys in the snow and that was when it warmed up to a whpping 18 degrees. Cale wouldn't even go out. He did the first night and that was enough for him. Andy and I so want to move up there. We love it!! It was so depressing to come home on Christmas Eve to 70 degree weather. I did not want to leave OH.

The boys had a great time to, even though late bed times and no naps made them a little emotional. They are constantly talking about out trip to Aunt Penny and Uncle Dick's house. I think that will be so excited to go back next year.

We did have a very long trip home as well. There was on and off again icing and in VA they had 77 closed! We had to sit in traffic a little while then were able to get off and go straight, and I mean straight, down the mountain another way. We finally got to my parents at about 1 am Christmas Eve. We had a great time there on the 24th with my family, as you can see below. The kids were wild as usual, but had lots of fun.

We then came home on Christmas Eve just in time for supper, bath and bed. The kids totally crashed!! They slept until about 8 Christmas morning and then were totally pumped to see that Santa brought them their guitars they wanted! Mommy was also so excited that Daddy came through and got me a wii!! We have been playing for two days straight! I have killed Andy at everything. I think we have had lots of major technology advances in the past month. We had to get a new HD TV, I got Andy a GPS, which was really helpful on our trip, and we finally have a wii. The wii really is a workout and I am so excited about it!! Anyways, the boys loved everything they got and of course have way too much. We have really enjoyed sitting at home doing nothing today. We have two more days of this and then back to work and regular activities.

Holiday Express!

On Friday night we went to this event put on at a park near our house. This park is really neat. It has a carousel, train and little boats. For one weekend at Christmas time they put on a big holiday event with lights and singing and Santa. This was the first year we have been and I forgot about it until last week I got an e-mail with the link. They were suppose to also have it Thursday night and that was the night I bought tickets for, but it rained all day and therefore was cancelled. So we went Friday night. We got there early, just after 4, and it wasn't too bad outside. Then the great mom that I am totally forgot their hats and gloves! By the time we had done the train a couple times and Santa and had a popcorn snack they were ready to go. They had Chik-fil-a there at tents, but it was cold and we have coupons so we went to go to the Chik-fil-a. When we left Cale was excited that we were going to the restaurant where it would be "warm and cozy." I wonder where he heard that?

This brings me to the picture below. We did not visit Santa last year because the visit the year before was so terrible. This year however the boys were very excited about seeing Santa and said they were going to ask for guitars. That is until we were about 5 people back and then they were like no way am I going to sit on Santa's lap! So the nice people working at the Santa tent volunteered to take a family picture. Carter did very lowly say he wanted a guitar as we were leaving. Santa is coming to their class at school on Friday, so we will see what happens then. Maybe the peer pressure will get to them, I doubt it though.

After we left the Holiday Express we did a little Christmas shopping. We were able to buy the boys Christmas presents while the were with us. They were totally oblivious! It probably had a lot to do with the craziness at the Toys R Us and the fact that they hadn't had a nap that day and it was getting late. I don't know, but I do know I feel so fortunate that they are as observant as their father.

Here are the boys in this years Christmas pjs. They had them on last night before going to a fun kids movie night. Kids watching time downstairs and parents socializing upstairs is always a great way to spend a Saturday night!

Busy Saturday

Yesterday we had a very busy day! I had my first and Last outside holiday market. It was VERY cold. I don't know what I was thinking. I did sell a good amount of stuff, which was surprising considering it was so cold outside. Andy's parents were nice enough to come up from Charlotte and watch the boys for us to be at that and then that night Andy's work had their Christmas dinner. The boys really enjoyed them coming. They went to the children's museum and the park. Today we celebrated Andy's dad's birthday a little early since we don't live in Charlotte and won't be there for the big day. We had a Boston creme pie Andy's mom picked up at the Whole Foods and it was surprisingly very good. Andy tries to steer clear of that place because he doesn't like anything trendy or granola, but he loved the cake. We may have to buy our bakery goods from there from now on.

As for Christmas dinner, it was at Ruth Chris which is our favorite nice restaurant. It was so very yummy! Unfortunately I filled up on the stuffed mushroom appetizer and barely ate my dinner, but don't worry I brought that bad boy home! I ate it for lunch today and still have the dessert in the fridge for tonight. I can't wait to eat it! I was really looking forward to being done with my last holiday market yesterday so that I could finish my Christmas shopping and clean my house, but I have received so many orders since Thursday that I will be busy working for a few more days. I am glad though, because it is Christmas time and I do have a shopping addiction, so I need to pay for all those presents!

Here are some pictures from my fair yesterday. This is my booth. I lucked out by having a end spot right in front of the food and at a walk way cut through and in front of the information booth. I think that helped my sales. Notice the tent behind me, it was this really old couple selling paintings. There tent was probably from 1980 or before. It took a ton of volunteers to get it put together. I felt so bad for them because I think they said they didn't sell anything. It was a cold, long day and then to not sell anything would be terrible. Hopefully they will recover. I think my next market will be in March and then I have also applied for one in April, so hopefully the weather will be nice!



Here we are before heading out to dinner. We are in our usual Christmas dinner attire. Andy in his suit and me in my black dress, that I bought when the boys were 6 months old and bought a size smaller just to make sure I could keep wearing it. We only wear these items at Christmas dinner because we never do anything nice. I did buy a new necklace, that I bought with my free money from black Friday at Kohl's, a cute sweater from Target, and a new pair of black heels, which I got a while back on clearance at Old Navy.com. My other heels were old and I needed a newer cute pair, also there is nothing to make you feel more like a woman than 3 in heels. I really wanted some red ones, but couldn't find any my size and affordable.

Christmas Time!

Well we got our tree up and decorated on Friday (sorry Mom I am just now posting these pictures). I think that the tree is a cute little tree, could have been bigger though. The branches have dropped some since I took these and it looks very symmetrical, which makes my OCD self happy. It did take me forever to decorate and the boys sat and watched very patiently. I do have to have it perfect, so the boys have a tree in the playroom that they get to decorate. We will hopefully have that one up today or tomorrow, it is a fake one. I am so excited about my nice new Pottery Barn tree skirt and stockings! I hated how the other ones didn't match and looked tacky together. Although it did hit me the other day that what IF we have another child then what am I going to do? Oh well Pottery Barn doesn't change too much. Which is what I LOVE about that store! It is so classic.



I do have a wreath to go on that wreath holder, but didn't have it when I took this picture. The boys are very confused as to why the ornaments are in the class holder and not on the tree. We have to explain it to the daily. They also keep asking every morning if it is Christmas morning and when can they open their presents. They have been really good about leaving the tree alone. I did get a little ornament from Hallmark that is an elf that says stuff like, "Step away from the tree." Whenever the tree branches move. It is really cute.

We had to move the living room around to fit the tree in and the boys have also had a hard time understanding why we did that. They ask us who moved the couch and table and why everyday as well. We kind of like it this way. Andy and I like change, which is good.