Guess How Much?

This was one of those moments where I was so excited to get out of the store it truly felt like I was stealing. You know the Ikea commercial that comes on where the gal looks at her reciept like what..??? and then runs out of the store yelling at her husband, "start the car! Start the car!" and then they take off and she is screaming in the car! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C7oqXewyCE
That was me today at the store.... I love it!! I got (6) 6 packs of Arrowhead water all for Free!!! They were $1 each and I had (6) $0.75 off coupons which they matched to $1 this week...Then I had (1) coupon for the Pasta which was $1.25 each and that coupon made the pasta $0.25 and the Dole Pineapple was $0.50 each after my coupon...!!!

Making my savings 95%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My total was $1.25 today!!

Boston

Alright I do not have all the pictures I would like for this blog, but maybe I will add them when I can figure out how to get them to my computer. :-) Boston was great, rainy start but the last day was my favorite. I had a hard time leaving because Jake had been home literally two hours before I was off to Boston, and during that two hours we noticed that Waylon was really puffy on his neck with a swollen gland or something.. So needless to say I had a hard time walking away from my boys.

We arrived late on Saturday well early Sunday Morning in a horrible storm. Wind gusts of 40 + mph and rain that had been going none stop for two days already. Then when we arrived at our hotel at 12:30 our room was not available. Luckily, exhaustion had not his any of us yet, and the hotel was great in making sure they made it up to us. By 1:30 we were in a new hotel with a pizza before we headed off to bed.

Because it was still raining we decided to do inside activities so the first stop we made it to was the New England Aquarium. There was some amazing animals here including a 550 pound sea turtle named Mertle and several sharks, eels, and well over 600 animals and fish in this tank. It was truly amazing to see. As you walked through this huge aquarium there were 100's of exhibits of other ocean or aquatic life too. My battery was dying and I did not get many pictures here. :-)

Day 2 Pam had her class to go to so it was just Larry and I. We went to the Museum of Science on this day because again it was still horrible rain and wind. Again this was another huge Museum 3 levels and about 4-5 hours of time that we spent at the different exhibits and we did not even do ALL of them. We also did not do all of the extra shows and things, so there is really a lot to see and learn here. My battery was working, although I must have been to in to reading the exhibits and did not take any pictures here either. I should have though, I have a mental picture of Larry's face at this one exhibit that shows how your face is symmetrical, anyway it was just a hysterical little exhibit..wish I had pictures of it...that will always make me laugh.

Day 3 My FAVORITE and I took lots of pictures!!! It is amazing how when the sun comes out so does the camera. On this day we did what is called the Freedom Trail, which is a 2.5 mile walk along 16 different historical sites in Boston. We started at Bunker Hill a lot of great stuff here. No we did not walk to the top here, we could have but glad we did not. Some students that had just come down from this 200 something step monument had shaking legs because of the steps...Ummm no thanks especially at the beginning of this 2.5 mile walk. Here are some pictures from the museum that was also there at Bunker Hill too.

A few of the other stops were some very old cemeteries that they had. Most were from the 1700's. It was fun to read what was on them and how they are all coming out of the ground, It looked like a movie or Halloween or something. We even saw Samuel Adams grave and some of the first victims of the Boston Massacre too.

A few other highlights that I enjoyed were Paul Revere's House. Although you could not take pictures inside of his house. I can not seem to find a link to the inside of it either..but it was amazing. A lot of letters from him to his family and just to be in the house itself was pretty incredible.

Another was the Holocaust Memorial. Not only was this amazing but I got a great picture here to. This memorial has 6 glass pillars and on these pillars are numbers of victims from the holocaust. Each column has 1 million different numbers (or people) on them to represent the 6 million lives lost.We ended our walk at the State House which has a gold dome on the top. Its most distinct feature, once made of wood was later overlaid with copper by Paul Revere. It was covered with 23 karat gold leaf for the first time in 1874 and painted black during World War II to protect the city from bombing attacks. The State House dome was most recently gilded in 1997.After a very long walk back to the hotel we then met Pam after her class and took a cab to Harvard. We walked around the campus and around Harvard square to finish up the night. All in all it was a great trip and I am very grateful that my in laws were wonderful enough to not only invite me but to have me join them on this trip. Thank you both very much I had a great time with you!

St. Patrick's Day aka: Green Day

Well today was Green Day at our house! I am leaving to go to Boston tomorrow and won't be home until St. Patrick's Day but wanted to make sure Waylon and I did something fun! So we did this early and boy was it FUN!

My neighbor Amy and I started thinking about this a week ago and between the two of us this turned out awesome. Waylon and I made green cupcakes and small green cake this morning with some FREE cake mix we got last week at Fry's. Waylon loves to help me in the kitchen. He loves to help where ever he can but he is like his mother and hangs around just for the "bites" We both eat the whole time we cook or bake. Once we got the baking done, it was a long morning until the boys arrived for lunch. I managed to keep Waylon busy with some coloring pages of leprechauns, rainbows, and clovers for a little while. Otherwise we just waited around until the boys arrived.

When the boys finally arrived we quickly got lunch together, ALL GREEN- Amy had made green bread for their sandwiches and then we both compiled all the green food we could think of and put them in these muffin tins...(an idea I had gotten a long time ago from another blog!)

When lunch was all set we had green fishes, grapes, bell peppers, broccoli, green ranch, celery green milk , green jello, and green peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!! What a hit!!! I hope the boys loved this as much as Amy and I did...We thought it was super cute and fun.

Then once lunch was done we had the boys decorate a cupcake and eat it... They had fun as did Amy and I. Thanks to Amy everyone had green plates, napkins, utensils and everything to make it truly all green. We tried to get a picture of all the boys, but as usual that did not happen. It is quiet and nap time here, just as it should be after a fun filled morning! I hope Amy gets the quiet she needs as well this afternoon- :-)

Well I am off to Boston tomorrow afternoon for the first half of my Spring Break! I am going with my in-laws and Jake and Waylon are staying behind. Why? Because that seems to be the schedule we have this month. Jake literally comes home and a few hours later takes me to the airport, he will be home about 24 hours with Waylon and then he is off to Havasu again for the week. Waylon is looking forward to spending time at Gammie's for a few days until I come home. I am feeling well and can't wait to blog about something that is all me...I love Waylon but he gets most of the blog space here.

Happy Spring Break everyone- and Happy Green Day from the Pickard's!

Party NIght~2010

Sorry this one is so late, but we needed to wait a little while to post...you will see why...It was party Night here at the Pickard's a few weeks ago and man was it a party....not the kind of party we usually have here but it was full of fun laughter and Love...

Waylon was so excited to see Cooper and even more excited when Cooper spent the night too! It breaks my heart that these two are not closer together and live in seperate states, because they sure love each other..Oh well maybe they will become best buds like their mommies!

We had a lot to celebrate at this party night, Ahna recieved a promotion in her company!!! We are so excited for her. However, this promotion takes her a little farther away..Portland Oregon. That just means that their visits home will be even more treasured. We also found out this week, that they are expecting a Girl too!!! So we now have our boys and soon our girls together...Ahhhh how I wish she was closer, I miss you Ahna...

The most exciting part of the evening, however, was when Courtney and Jon announced that they too are expecting!!!!!!!!!! I have known for a long time, and am so thrilled that they are past the 3 month mark to finally share it with the world. So not only am I pregnant with my Best Friend, but also with my sister (who is my other best friend)!!! How great is this... We do not know what Courtney will have for about another month...so we will soon find out if this too will be another girl or....a buddy for Waylon...














Now I know....it looks like I am the only one pregnant here...but I tend to be huge..Just you wait, if you have never seen me pregnant before I get huge..But all in all here we are in order. Me who is due July 8th...Ahna due August 8th and Courtney who is due September 11th (our grandfather's birthday)
Another cool fact is that we are naming our girl Toni after my grandmother and my sister's due date is my grandfather's birthday...so you tell me that my mom's parents are not working on these babies for us and we will find it hard not to believe you...Little miracles are all around us...
Love,
The Pickard's