Fun at Fry's 81% Savings!!

I love trips like these...wish I had a few more of them a little more often.  This trip was fun because as you can see in the pictures 2 cars (excuse me trucks!) were part of this amazing deal.

So here is what we got today:

4- Breyers Ice Creams (yeah just in time for Toni's birthday party) We paid )$0.94 for 2 of them because we had manufacture and Target coupons that we used and then $1.94 for the other two because we only had manufacture coupons $5.76 for 4 or approx. $1.44 each

2 of the Kraft BBQ sauces for $0.69 each= $1.38

2 Country Time Lemonades used Target coupon and this made them $0.49 each  = $0.99

2 Hefty storage bags we also had a Target coupon for these were $1.19 so after the Target coupon it was $0.19 per box or = $0.38 (these also had a coupon on them but I will save it for later because it expires next year...I did not get more than the two because I had to buy ten of certain participating items in order to get certain prices per their promo this week...and my budget too :-) )

Sun Drop 2 liter soda- this was something I have had a Free coupon for a LONG time from a previous order and they NEVER had it..until today which only helped my order...so this was FREE

2 Hot Wheels cars which we had 2 coupons for a $1.00 off one and got 2 cars/trucks for FREE today!

Our Total before coupons and VIP card was an insane $48 dollars and change then after all coupons and discounts it came down to $9.05 which is a total of 81% savings for today!

So not to bad for 13 items and only $9!! We would have paid that alone for the ice cream!

So hopefully there will be more of this sometime...although many of the good sales are done for the summer.  We still have Labor Day....Tomorrow Toni turns 1!! I am almost at a loss of what to say...I just can not believe it has been one year already...until tomorrow......Happy Shopping

Kids first Trip to the Beach~California

A few weeks before we got out of school Sherri had asked me if I wanted to go to California with her to see her two daughters that live there.  At first my reaction was "thanks but I have a lot that comes with me everywhere-aka my kids~so probably not"  Then I thought about it a little more and thought it could be fun.....well we ended up going and here it is...our trip to California with Sherri.

We had a lot of fun, great conversation and the kids were actually fairly well behaved.  Waylon was definitely testing his grounds during the trip but for the most part he did great.  Especially on our 6 hour drive there and back.

We left at 5 AM on Monday and had hoped the kids would sleep awhile in the morning.  Toni did and slept most of the way there, Waylon fought it but did great coloring, watching a movie and talking until well after the windmills in California before he finally crashed out.  He slept about an hour and half and then was up the rest of the day.

Once we got there we went to see Sherri's youngest daughter Megan and then checked into my hotel. There was no way (at least I thought) I could get all that to my room alone.  So they followed us, and helped unload and then the kids and I got settled in the room and had lunch.  We tried to do a quiet time, but seeing as I forgot the Binky in the truck Toni was not going to sleep for me...so she cried for 45 plus min. before I decided lets go do something....so the kids and I loaded in the truck again and then found this park with an airplane and played here until Sherri was ready to meet up again.

 So after most of the kids left and Waylon had the plane to himself he was a happy camper. He also enjoyed swinging too as did Toni.  But she did fall asleep for a little bit during our park trip..Go figure right.

Swinging at the park!

Sleeping Beauty



The kids and I in Balboa Bay



I was very impressed with Waylon because when I was planning and packing for this trip I made a prize bag to help make the ride there and back exciting for him.  I had gone to the dollar store and bought things like toys, coloring books, and puzzles for him.  I had planned to pull something out every so many hours.  Well with the TV/DVD player in the truck that seemed to be enough excitement for him along with coloring from his NEW coloring books from his birthday.  So I gave him this puzzle the night we got there to do at dinner.  I know he has done this puzzle before at Papa Jeff's and Grandma Laura's house, but WOW he put this 28 piece puzzle together quick a few times during this trip.  This was the best dollar I spent! He was even able to do it on his coloring tray in the car...awesome!

The next day was really nice not only a beautiful day but we spent the whole day with Sherri.  We first went exploring to a few places, a shopping mall that had a coy pond and then Sherri showed me where she went to college and met her husband 30 plus years ago and then we walked around Balboa.  This area was beautiful.  A lot of vacation homes right in the bay with big boats.  So we loaded the kids in the stroller and walked for a while. We managed to set the camera up and get one decent picture of the four of us.  (This is the picture up at the top) Then the lunch and nap timer went off in my kids so we headed back to the hotel for some rest time.  I was not planning on it, but both kids ate and took a 2 hour nap.  Sherri and I sat and whispered in the dark just chatting about this and that...amazingly nothing about school!

Then it was off to the beach we went...These pictures are like a series of events. Toni was very interested in the water while Waylon was cautious.

Everyone was getting a little bit more familiar with the water other than it was very cold.  Toni did have her feet down but then the cold water made her lift them up.

And then...my favorite moment happened. The water came up a little close a little fast and I told Waylon to run..I don't think I said it in a panicky way, but needless to say he turned around and tripped and fell flat on his face in the sand.  With the water around his body and that feeling of the water feeling like it is pulling you back in, to say he was scared would be a little bit of an understatement.  The look on his face here was classic, I am so glad this moment got captured on this trip.  So needless to say after that Waylon hung out far away from the water up in the sand playing with his new sand toys from his birthday.



Toni and I...notice how Waylon is far in the
background playing in the sand.  Too Funny!



Toni and Sherri with their toes in the sand.

Another picture I love from this trip!  Toni was so vocal at the beach. So when I took this picture I said "Yeah!!!" and she said it right along with me.  This is one of the first pictures I look at and think she really does look like me :-)



A little note we made for Daddy in the sand!

I still have not decided how crazy I was to do this trip in the first place.  I was so exhausted yesterday that as soon as Jake made it home, I crashed and slept for 12 hours.  I have not done that in I don't know how long, especially with the kids home.  Sherri thanks so much for including us on this trip with you although it was exhausting it was one I will never forget.  We made some great memories

Waylon's 4th Birthday Party!

Waylon's party was awesome!  This is the cake that Melissa made for him, it was a Monster Truck cake and it was amazing.  She may have more jobs in the future!

 Here is a picture of Melissa and Waylon with the cake. We met her half way to pick it up right before the party and he was so excited as you can tell by the look on his face!

We had so many people join us for Waylon's big day.  I believe there was over 30 plus people there.  It is amazing to me each time we have these parties, how many people come and just hang out with us!  Our family is so blessed to have so many wonderful people around us.  We had grandmas, grandpas, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and many close friends there.  Thank you so much for coming to the party.

 My poor Toni girl was not herself during the party.  She had a slight fever and not much of a nap that day and was just exhausted.  Luckily it was cured with lots of hugs and kisses and much needed rest the next day. 

                                   Just a few pictures of those that were at the party this year.

Waylon got a lot of great gifts.  Everyone knew Cars items were the thing to get and coloring.  I am excited because he has enough coloring things to keep him busy most of the summer.  Brandy and her family were able to come to the party this year and the picture above is what her son Nick gave to Waylon.  A little background info is that when Waylon goes to Brandy's there are two large buckets FULL of Nick's old matchbox cars for the kids to play with.  Waylon has grown to love many of these cars.  Nick decided that he was going to go through these buckets and give Waylon all the cars he really loved and pass them on to Waylon.  These that you see above are only half of them!  Such a great gift and so thoughtful.  I hope they know these cars will always be well loved.

Everyone singing Happy Birthday to the BIG guy!

Waylon eating his delious cake.

Thank you so much to everyone that came to the party and all the amazing gifts.  Waylon has played with so many things this week and is completely happy with all the toys and clothes he got from everyone.  We definately felt the love from our amazing friends and family and are so lucky to have you all be apart of such a wonderful day!

Toni is 11 months

Toni in her party dress for Waylon's birthday yesterday.

I am just shocked when I sit here and think we have one month and she will be 1 already!!! I just can not believe that much time has passed already.  Toni has done more this month than the past month and she is progressing along just fine, although she is still not crawling.  Waylon had hoped she would yesterday for his birthday but it was a no go.  Maybe before she is one?

This is how we see her most often. She loves to be on the floor and is very mobile, just not crawling.  She rolls and scoots from one place to another just fine but hopefully she will catch on that crawling is the faster way to go.  She no longer stays on the blankets with her toys for to long anymore.  That is always where she starts and then a few minutes later she is off to explore something else.

The other day she got to ride in brothers firetruck.  He was still asleep and I was cleaning the bathroom.  This was a great spot where she was so happy and loved being in his truck all on her own.  I don't think brother would have been so excited to see her loving his truck this much!

One thing Toni did start doing a couple of weeks ago, was go from laying down to sitting up on her own.  She has figured this is a somewhat easier way to get from place to place instead of rolling but it still takes a lot more effort than getting on all fours and just going.

She is also just starting to pull herself up too.  The objects need to be just the right height and very stable in order for this to work for her, but she is figuring it out pretty quickly. She loves to stand at this table because this is where all of our library books are so she likes to pick them up and check them out.

I do not have a picture but literally today she started to play peak a boo...She loves this! She sat at her highchair this morning for the longest time with her fists in her eyes. It wasn't until I said "where's Toni" that her hands quickly moved and her big brown eyes LIT UP with that super smile of hers.  As soon as her hands moved I said Peek-a-boo and she laughed.  We will have to get that on camera soon.

I had a hard time this morning getting pictures as she is moving all around and really does not want to sit and be all cute and pretty for me.  So this crazy shot will have to do for the month.

We take Waylon to the Dr. today for his 4 year old check up and then she will go next month for her 1 year check up..where does the time go?

Sedona, AZ June 1, 2002

PS-Today is Jake and I's 9th wedding anniversary....no blog about that just a picture.  I wrote something out, but it is just for Jake.

Happy Anniversary!