He Did It!!

Day 5 in an up hill battle to take away this little guys "paci's". I'm happy to say that each day he has talked about his plug less and less. And finally last night he never mentioned it once, nor did he wake up in the night looking for it!! Thank heavens!!

Larry mentioned that since Keira isn't attached to a "paci" we should try to avoid giving it to her. I think he doesn't want to go through this again. But...he's probably right. Technically none of our kids have been very found of it until after 1 years old. Looking back, most of our kids were given one to keep them entertained/quiet during a long road trip which we were grateful for at the time!!

We are very happy for Ben to pass over this challenge and welcome him to BIG BOY-HOOD.

-potty trained CHECK
-pacifier gone CHECK
-dress up in boy clothes instead of dresses (halfway there!)

*smile*

A New Position

So far it's been a tradition with the Robert's kids
to take your first steps at 9 months,
be walking at 10 months,
and running by 11 months.

And Kiera Jane isn't far behind!
Now at 10.5 months old, she's mastered
the art of using anything near-by as a crutch to stand.

Her new favorite toy is the bouncing zebra.
She spends most of her time jumping with it,
turning on it's music and being extremely proud
of herself for accomplishing it!

This past month Keira has begun to let go of
tables and toys to stand on her own,
but has yet to gain the confidence to take a step.
I'm sure that will change in this next month!

And now she's become an old pro at moving around
on all 4's and ditching the army crawl.
I'm sure soon we'll be posting
a blog all about Keira's first steps,
so be watching!

Elated & Exhausted

HOW MUCH WOULD YOU PAY FOR ALL OF THIS?

Mind you, there are little things you can't see like...
Benadryl, 2 packs of batteries, Excedrin, 2 rolls of sausage,
2 shower cleaners, 2 hair detangling sprays and about 10 yogurts.
Not only did I buy my weeks worth of food,
but purchased WAY WAY WAY more than usual!!

And that milk is no regular cow stuff!
It's the $4 milk, fortified for kids with extra vitamins.

Normally I allocate $100 a week for food.

Today at Kroger in Texas and Louisiana they are
offering to double your coupons up to $2 instead of $1!!

My fellow coupon friends and I were ecstatic.
It's all we talked about for the past 3 days.
We even went on an excursion last night to
scope out the deals, find the exact spots,
and hide a few choice drugs we were afraid
would sell out.
(I felt a little guilty about that...but only for about 5 seconds)

All in all, I spent about 5 hours shifting through coupons
and organizing myself so I could zoom through
the store guaranteeing nothing I wanted would be
sold out.

And it was worth it!

Have you figured out how much you would spend for all that?
The crazy thing?
I had to stand on a chair and put my hand all the way up
to the ceiling to get a picture that barely caught everything
in one shot!

So here is my total:
(it's in 2 transactions because you
could only use 1 like coupon per transaction)

I spent $76.81
(less then my designated weeks worth,
with some to spare)

I saved $176.53
plus $10 more in a mail-in rebate
to Kellogg's

There's nothing like saving 70%
of your grocery bill to put a smile on a girls face!

Time For A Change

It's settled. The decision has been made. Ben is over 2 1/2yrs old. MORE then ready to let go of his beloved "paci".

For a long time he was good at sticking to the rule of "only in your bed". Although he may try to sneak it out, he would listen and run it back after he was caught. But lately it has snuck it's way back into everyday life. Ben will hide them around the house or in his pocket, just to pull it out after I've left the room.

No body said he wasn't smart.

The straw that broke the camels back was his adamant desire to find one NO MATTER WHAT. He'll climb stacks of chairs and stools just to get at his favorite comfort mechanism I've purposefully placed out of reach. Which has become way too dangerous!!

So, as of today, I've collected all of his and Keira's (because he'll even borrow one of hers if he is desperate enough) and placed them high in a closet out of sight. Every 15 mins I see him scouring the house for one and gently remind him that I've put them away for good. Hopefully this will nudge him out of his baby-like tendencies and launch him on to the peaceful, quiet actions of a toddler (yeah, right!).

Nap time should be interesting. Wish me luck, I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

13 Going On 30

I love living in my little suburban community.
We've enjoyed making friends with our neighbors.
And simply LOVE that 1/2 of our ward live within
walking distance of our front door.


This weekend we were ecstatic to find
some close friends on our front door step
to pick up something and announcing they were on a date.
So we convinced them to spend
their evening with us!


We had a blast challenging each other on the
Wii, busting up at our spastic movements
(...you know who you are...)
and stuffing ourselves with cookies!

I just wish Larry hadn't caught
some of the action on video!

No More 5 o'clock Shadows

Nothing warms a mothers heart more
then seeing 2 of her favorite men
spending a little quality time together!

I remember when I was young and my father would save
a "blade-less" razor for us kids to use.
Boy or Girl, we all took our turn sitting on the bathroom counter,
lathering our faces like Santa Clause,
and dragging the shaver along our smooth faces
then shaking it clean into a sink full of hot water.

Just, so we could be MORE like our Dad.

Those were some of my favorite memories.
Side by side in a steamy bathroom, hanging out with my Dad.
And now I'm extremely happy to see my kids
getting a chance to make those same kinds of memories.

I can tell already...
these 2 are going to be good friends!

Turn That Frown Upside Down

There was only one way I knew how to make my inner zen at peace. (especially after making the mistake of the century)

And how do we, LADIES, find stable ground in a world full of fluctuation?

SHOPPING!

But the only kind of shopping I love is the kind that saves me $$. Hence a trip to Walgreens that ended with purchasing ten items.

Spending $10.49

and

Saving $37.86

Now, I feel gooooood!

One Short Of A Dozen

What can I say? I'm in love with our van. It's wonderful to have the kids spread out, far enough away that I can ignore them properly and they can't invade on each others personal space. It's a win win situation.

Of course there are a few quirks that will need to be "ironed" out over the next few months as we put the car in tip-top shape. (thank heavens for extra $$ from piano lessons)

But we couldn't have too much good luck flowing our direction. Because that would be unheard of!

On the way home from church the kids and I sweated bullets as we made the 10min ride home in 95 degree heat (+ humidity) without a working a/c. Least to say we were ALL bears by the time we pulled into the garage. With hungry belly's, little one's needing naps and sweaty church clothes...Larry was lucky to not get his head ripped off by momma bear when he pulled up. He graciously ignored my teenage rampage of ANOTHER ISSUE to deal with and let me eat lunch before entering into a heated discussion about the van's broken a/c.

Personally I wasn't looking forward to another LONG drive to the dealership for some "diagnostic" help...but what choice did we have?

So it was settled. This morning I moved the car seats back into my friends car (thankfully I still had it) and sent Larry off to work, planning on picking him up later in the day back in Arlington. Least to say, there was a HUGE frown on my face.

Flashes of "NOT AGAIN", running through my head.

But not 5 mins after he left, Larry called asking...
"Did you play with any of the buttons before you left church?"

(thinking, thinking)
"OH yeah, I pushed the button to circulate the car inside the car instead of breathing nasty, exhaust filled air and then I turned off the 'defroster'. I didn't know why we had that on."

"Rae, it wasn't the defroster button. It was the a/c button. It works fine. I'm currently driving in a very cold car."

"OH! Really? I'm THAT stupid?"

"No! Heck, I'm really, really GLAD it's the button and not the a/c."

He was very gracious for not reaming me. He had every right to. Especially since I'm usually the electronic guru and here I am shouting claims of a broken a/c when it was ME all along. So as of today I don't know who is more embarrassed...

Me for being retarded,


OR


Larry for having to drive a Mom-mobile to work.

Bite The Bullet

Is the anticipation killing you?

I know my family is MORE then
done hearing all of the "car talk"
we've been sending their way!!

So if you happen to live in
4-knee
and want to see what is sitting
in my garage right now....

you'd see this beauty!

Did you know that for the price
of a '97 Buick with 127k miles
you can get this?

A 2000 Chrysler Town & Country
with 7 leather seats, and 150k miles!

We found this "white knight" on a mega
street filled with used car dealerships in
Arlington. We've watched it drop in price
over the week and then pounced when it struck
close to our price range. But with a few minutes of
smoodging Larry got us a FAB-U-LOUS car
(tax, title, license, fees included)
for measly $2500.

Talk about squeezing every cent out of our cash!!

It took time, a lot of effort, but we found it.
Our new family car.

I'm really surprised at how many people and dealerships
were annoyed that we weren't willing to fork over
more $dough$ by taking out a loan.

It's like just paying things with the cash we had
was "blasphemous".

But we stuck to our guns,
and with the help & support
of many friends and family,
we came out on TOP!!

So now that we've had a month long crash course on how to sell and purchase a car we're thinking about writing a book or at least teaching a night class at the local community college.

Quick Tips on Car Transactions 101

While Putting Ben To Bed

Me: What does a cow say?
Ben: Moo, Moo.

Me: What does a monkey say?
Ben: Oooo, Oooo, Ahh, Ahh.

Me: What does a lion say?
Ben: Rooooaaar.

Me: What does a horse say?
Ben: Yee, Haw! Yee, Haw!