Out with the old, in with the new

We have been busy ripping out the nasty dirty carpet from our bedrooms, and putting in new fresh carpet. It was a lot of work!!! I had no clue how much of our things are in the bedrooms. Jaime helped me move all of the big heavy stuff and I pulled up the carpet, pad and staples while he was at work. I sure hope I don't have to do that again anytime soon. We still have a few things to move back into the rooms, I wanted to go through everything and make sure that it was all things we still wanted and needed. I feel like we are one step closer to moving. We are going to try and rent out this house. We have a couple of people coming to look on Saturday, I need to clean up a few forgotten areas but other than that I feel ready.

We had to move the piano out of the playroom, and into the living room. I love having it out here because it gets played all the time. Jaime has even started playing, I think he's going to pick it up really easily, because of his music back round. I had two years of lessons, but I hardly ever practiced so I am at the same place as him. Ashlynn takes lessons in school so she loves coming home and showing us what she has learned, and Gabrielle makes some pretty songs as well.

Remember the Alamo

I am so proud to have a hard working husband; it makes life a little easier. He's not only hard working but he must be smart as well, because he chose an awesome company to work for. They are always doing amazing things for their employees; we just found out that they're sending us to San Antonio. I've never been and I'm soo excited! We wouldn't be able to go if it weren't for his great team, they all work so hard. I think that it's a rare thing in life to find something you enjoy doing and then get paid to do it. It's not like everyday is a picnic, but for the most part, he's there because it's where he wants to be. Last year they sent us to Las Vegas and it was one of the most amazing trips I've ever been on.

Anyways it's almost Valentines day, but we already did our 'thing' yesterday, I sent him a huge jar of "hot mama's" and we had heart shaped pizza the girls loved it. He gave me one of my all time favorite movies "Goonies" I was cleaning the garage when I found a box of old pictures of us, we had fun looking through them and remembering.

It was Feb 12, 2000 when we first met. I had no clue that I was meeting my future husband; I didn't even think I was going on a date at all. My friend wanted to go to the movies with her current crush and some of her co-workers and their friends; she thought it would fun so she invited me to go along as well. I didn't think too much about it when I first saw him, I had been reading a book from church about no more dating (go figure), but he seemed nice and was very easy to talk to. We sat next to each other in the movie theater and we kept talking through the whole movie. (I later found out that's one of his pet peeves) I noticed he had the most amazing smile and I loved his laugh, it was so contagious. He came over to my house on Valentines day, because he was," in the area." Which was true, because his grandma lives just down the road from my parents. After that day I was totally head over heels for him. I can't believe it's been 8 years; I still get butterflies when he smiles at me. We were looking at pictures from when we first met, it's crazy how young we were, and the insane things we did to spend time together, and still do.

My Igloo

Well our snow is melting away, slowly but surely. I think we're going to have an early spring. The weather was beautiful on Thursday so I put Julianna and Gabrielle in their snow clothes and we headed outside. The snow was perfect packing snow and we still had at least 6" on the ground, I thought it might be fun to make an Igloo, I've always wanted to make one but never had the chance, the snow was never 'right' to wet, too dry or too hard. Not on thursday though. I took one of the bins I use for toys and we packed it with snow, it was the perfect size. we stayed outside for about 45 min, and got about 3 levels done, it was getting close to lunch so we came inside and ate. I put the girls down for naptime and cleaned up the house because on thursdays we have hometeam and everyone is nice enough to let me host so that I can put my girls to bed. I was going to wait for Ashlynn to come home from school before working on the igloo anymore but I was bored and thought it would be fun to do a little more work on it before the baby's woke up. I was outside about an hour, my knees were soaked because the sun was melting the snow so much, but I got most of it done, all that was left was the very top row. Ashlynn went crazy when she got home, she helped me finish up, it took about 20-30 min but it was worth it, they had alot of fun playing in their fort. I'm not sure how structurally sound it is, but it's still up today. I'm hoping it will last a while longer. I've been showing it off to everyone who comes around, so here is my masterpeice

I thought we were in the clear

We have been hit! I really thought that we were going to avoid the nasty sickness that has been taking down everyone we know. But alas we have been struck as well. Gab's was the first to be hit, she usually is. I put her on the nebulizer right away, but she still had the "issues" she usually does, the doctors say she will probably grow out of it, not soon enough for me! I hardly get any sleep when she is struggling to breath, I feel helpless, and then I get mad because I'm doing all that I possibly can and it's not good enough. Everyone else gets the blunt end of my anger during this time, not pleasant I'm sure. Ash started feeling sick on Sunday, I knew she was really feeling bad when she didn't want any breakfast, she can eat more eggs and bacon than anyone I know. Ashlynn’s is a bit easier to handle as far as sickness goes, a little Tylenol and some rest and she was feeling well enough for school on Monday. Gabrielle is feeling better now, she's able to catch her breath and the snot factory we call her nose has stopped gushing, she still has a cough, but that I can deal with. Unfortunately I started to feel like crap on Monday but I'm on the mend. Juliana came on Tuesday, and she is sick as well. Her mom doesn’t want me to give her anything for her cold so she is a little crabby and all plugged up. I'm sure medicine wouldn't help that much anyway. Jaime refuses to succumb to the "sickness"; we'll see how his mind over matter thing works. He got us fancy tissues with lotion in them, they really do make a difference. I figured they were just an excuse to charge more money, but when you have a really raw nose every little bit helps. Well I think my pity party is over, maybe my next blog will be more upbeat!

Groceries

I just got back from grocery shopping; I cannot believe how expensive everything is. I spent $171 on everyday crap!!!! Now I'm trying to figure out where I can cut back. I'm kicking myself for encouraging the girls to be "good eaters" They expect protein, veggie and starch for lunch and dinner, along with a couple of healthy snacks throughout the day. I'm sure they would gladly eat junk but I just can't bring myself to stuff them with candy and chips. They're great treats, but not all the time! I wonder if eating out everyday would be cheaper. We would also die a lot younger, that is cost effective as well! Really though, I think we are just going to have to eat more seasonally, meaning not so much fruit and veggies in the winter and cutting back on dairy products. Milk and cheese cost as much as meat these days. I have heard that the price of food has gone up 6% this last year. I believe it.

Holy Snow!!

I thought we had a lot the last time, but this is ridiculous!! I measured in our backyard around noon, 12 inches!!!! I kept Ashlynn home from school, I figured if the snow kept coming like it was we would have trouble in the late afternoon. I've been watching cars in the subdivision getting stuck and having to be dug out; it's insane. We started a new bible study with our home team last week and I think it will be good. We also are happy that Zach and Andrea were able to make it along with their friends Cherie and Walker, we're hoping and praying that they will be able to come again.

Ashlynn recently preformed in a Shakespeare play entitled "The Tempest" she was so cute as a Nymph. I was inspired at how well her class understood and preformed the play, they really worked hard. Ashlynn's favorite part was when Juno was talking to Miranda and Ferdinand and she said,"honor, riches, marriage, blessings, and hourly joys." It was during the celebration for their marriage.

Well it looks like the snow has let up so I better get every one ready to head outside. We are going to make a "snowfriend"

Golden Birthday

Well I am officially in my mid-twenty's. I've sure had a lot of ups and downs these last few days. The builder REJECTED our offer on the house, it really sucked, I've been venting to anyone with ears about it lately; that's all I'll say about that. I had a good birthday I worked at Birch Elementary in the resource room, it was a slow day because of the snow. The kids in there were so sweet, today the lesson was manners, it was fun to watch them being so kind and considerate to us and each other. I think we could all take a lesson in manners once in a while. Jaime got me flowers and snuck them into my car while I was working. ( he's so sweet!) After I picked up Gabrielle, Matilda called and said that Jaime had arranged for her to watch both girls overnight so we could go to dinner. Her and Bud picked them up around 4 so that gave me 3 full hours to myself before Jaime got off work!! I went shopping : ) Then we went to dinner and browsed a while at best buy, they are so friendly there, it just makes me happy. Tomorrow we will head up to McCall bright and early for the winter carnival. Lots of snow and funnel cakes!!