Blog Title

For the past while, Brooks has harassed me on our "blog" name....who am I kidding, it's not "our" blog! Anyway, he mentioned we could've thought of something more creative then "simple surprises!" Yes, we could've, I'm sure. We spend obnoxious amounts of time thinking of creative things to do with words. But I really couldn't think of anything better. Let me explain--------
Our lives are simple. And I like it that way. I try to say "no" as much as I can to extra activities that I think we don't need...so I can keep things peaceful and functioning. I'm a make-the-home mom (as opposed to a stay-at-home) so by job description, my life is "simple". However, I think I have the LEAST boring life of anyone I know!!!! HONEST!!! Which is where the "surprises" come in. I have no clue what will come out of my kids' (or dog's for that matter) mouths, or even what language it will be in!, what they'll be wearing, what messes will be made, what ways Brooks will make us all laugh, what ways the BOYS and Aleeya will try to copy Daddy and make us all laugh, what clothes I just MIGHT fit into that day, what pictures will be drawn (paper or not) and what sweet moments of spiritual enlightenments I'll have during the day thinking of how my Heavenly Father entrusted ME with HIS children. I like it JUST how it is, because my life IS simple but never boring, therefore, full of surprises. To me, that beats "creative names" anyday.
There you have it..........not that you cared or anything.

Who in the WORLD makes garbage cans black?!?!

It's as if "they" got together in a big city council meeting and said, "I HAVE a bone to pick with those girls that run at night who temporarily take their glasses off because they fog up! So let's make the garbage cans BLACK so they practically BREAK THEIR LEGS!!!!" I swear I could find that recorded somewhere to prove my case and file for......emotional damage, or something.

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THOSE BRIGHT ORANGE ONES?!?!

Are YOU ready for this?!?

The question REALLY is, am I?!?!?

Ready or not......we're doin' this thang. Update: (4 hours later), we're 3 for 7. Not bad. The girl has been loaded up on juice after drink after juice and has perma indents on her thighs from sitting on her pee pee seat for countless books, popsicles, and a movie (what was I thinking....she hates movies......like her dad). Oh, and I HAVE been singing Itsy Bitsy Spider and Popcorn ALL morning. I haven't left her side. Infact, she's here with me admiring the picture of herself!

"She's so vain! She probably thinks this post is about her!"

Gotta love Harris Teeter!

Yes, we LOVE muffins (usually Duncan Hines though), but these will be GREAT for food storage! Brooks is lactose intolerant and this soymilk is usually 2.50-3.00 each. So I was excited to get some to throw in the freezer.
Sorry, I just MIGHT give you all a break from my couponing/wheelin' and dealin'........... just feel sorry for Brooks who has to HEAR it from me day in and day out!

The great deal!

This week at Rite Aid Pharmacy there's a GREAT deal on Diapers, etc. Infact, I ended up getting all of this for free! It takes a little work to get things in order but I basically followed this deal here

(Wow, I just made a link to another website! Awesome!)

The things you will need though is

(3) $2.00 off Huggies Diapers products

(I had the $3 ones, but apparently they're not available anymore!....so you'll end up paying $3.00 at the end....still not too bad.....WAIT! I just found a link here to get the $3 off Natural Huggies coupon.....may need access to 2 computers though)
(3) $2 Huggies Product Rite Aid coupons from their ad perks/video watching program

(bascially, you watch a 30 sec. advertisement on Huggies and they give you a $2 coupon at the end. When you go to print it, make sure you put "3" copies instead of 1)

(1) $5 off 20.00 purchase at Rite Aid (once again for watching those movies.....but you have to get 20 credits to be able to print the coupon.....it took me MAYBE 10 minutes....like I said, there's a little work, but for free diapers, hey, I'll almost do anything!)

Anyway, I also added the the wipes deal (in her blog as well) and the Cranberry/UTI stuff. Because the Cranberry drink is on sale for 6.99 and you get $6.99 back in rebates....but on top of that, I watched one of the movies and got $3 off coupon. So I MADE $3 by buying it....which went towards my diaper total.

So the diapers are $11 each and when you buy three you can submit your receipt (online....it seriously takes 1 minute) for a $10 rebate (which will come in the mail).

Rundown- $33 in diapers

$5.00 in wipes

$6.99 Proantinox

TOTAL- 44.99

After coupons, I paid 17.99 and in a few weeks, I will get a rebate check from Rite Aid for

$17.99!!!!

Okay, so you probably got sooooo bored with that and it was probably French and didn't make sense, but I've been excited about it all morning. So why not share on my blog, right?

Here are a few more of the deals I've been up to lately (hence, the lack of blogging) and it's not even all of them! (Harris Teeter's triple coupon week is only half over and I have big plans still!)My friend Kim and I have been asked to do a couponing/frugal living Enrichment night at the church in October, so I've been busy documenting everything. Plus, collecting a few FREEBIES to give out that night

(See, Wendy, I advertised for you....how was that?)

SOOOO embarrassing posting this picture, since I never DREAMED I would be able to buy little sweets like this before. But the boys LOVE it when I put them in their lunches and now I can send more snacks with Brooks to work so he doesn't get hungry.....but hey, it's not ALL sweets, right? :)

Too sweet NOT to post!

This is one of those moments I was glad the camera was in my hand ready and no one knew I was there. So sweet.

I WILL NOT BE A SORE LOSER!!!!

I just have to keep repeating that to myself, over and over and OVER again (and maybe a few more times for comfort)!!!!!!

Here's how we lost. We entered a Staycations Stink (meaning staying at your home instead of going on a vacation) where you could use pictures, poems, videos, etc. explaining why you need a vacation! The winner got a $6,000 vacation!!!!!!! Re-read that amount if you need to! Yes, it says 6,000 buck-a-roos! Can you imagine what my family could do with that?!?!? Anyway, they just announced the winner, and it wasn't us. (obviously....by the title of the post)

But this is what won: Clever? Yep. I like it and probably took some time to assemble too. But seriously, check out our entry and humor me in saying we should've won!

(written by: Brooks

Stage Manager: ME!)

Oh well, who needs a stinkin' vacation anyway that was paid for you. Certainly not us!

Brooks keeps saying, "Hey honey, at least we had fun making the movie!"

I have to say............he's right!

Ummm....not sure what title might pull all these pictures together...

First day of Joy School at my house! (Aleeya is not really in preschool, but she THINKS she is) First day of FIRST GRADE!

And today he has his FIRST spelling test!
How did we get this smile you ask? Well, it's a no-fail smile maker for Iris.........you make toot sounds with your mouth. Cute huh.

The frog Camden caught outside our house. Obviously, he was VERY pleased with himself.

The bones from the fish they caught (and ate) at the river.

Horrible Parenting

I can't believe I have forgotten to teach her that if you're GOING to sneak out in the middle of the night and get into the laundry hamper to put on your brother's undies, TRY to find one without skids. Just a tip.Note: I DID send her to bed with nice frilly pink pjs, but she removed them and I found her like this when I went to check on her before I went to bed.

My finger is jammed

Sorry no pics....it just happens to be my picture-button-pushing finger (and making it REALLY inconvienent to type "y", "j", "n" or "h"!!!)
"How did you jam your finger?" you ask? Well, it's actually quite an easy explanation. After teaching Joy School today my kids and Tiffany Iver's girls were playing in the front yard while we moms were talking. The kids were chasing each other around our fix-it guy's truck. Next thing we know, we hear a click and look at Aleeya in the front seat of the truck with her hand on the gear shift. ALL THE KIDS WERE IN THERE (except Iris, who I was holding)! Camden had so kindly opened the door for all of them. Since we live on a hill, the truck went rolling back into the yard across the street, barely missing the mailbox, with me running after it. Then the truck started rolling back towards us and down towards the OTHER neighbor's yard across the street again (my next door neighbor's). So I handed Iris off to Tiffany. Opened the door, grabbed Aleeya out who got tangled in the seat belt. The door slams closed on my hand. I lay Aleeya down in the grass, open the door off my fingers, jump in the front seat, slam on the brakes just FEET before hitting her mailbox and really going down the BIG hill (to which I would've NEVER caught them!).
The worse part about experiences like this is all the "What ifs" that your mind plays on you after! It wasn't until 30 minutes after that I started tearing up thinking what COULD HAVE been.
Don't worry though, Brooks scared the bee-jeebies out of the boys that I don't think they'll EVER want to get into anyone's car again. Then they prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for keeping them safe.......after they were done boo-hooing.
(seriously think of truck going FAST down the hill, oncoming traffic, running into a house, crashing this truck, deaths, etc.) I can't help but count my many blessings at this point.....I just wished I would've counted my many blessings WITHOUT this experience and a swollen, bruised finger.