Flower Power

Sorry, but my cute little flower girls are too cute today for church!!....so I had to take pictures.

Here is Aleeya getting readyMy happy Iris......or as we call her "Irisita tan chiquita"

Are you ready for this complete and utterly......

random photo post? (I knew if I had that WHOLE title for the title a few of you would find this post boring...........let me tell you something, my life is ANYTHING but boring)

Here are my boys at a HOCKEY game. Yes, you read me right. Maria in the ward here gave us 5 free tickets to go to the NHL Carolina Hurricanes (or "CANES" as they call it here.........or yell out their car windows while driving by.....) season opener. Considering they were free tickets, you would think they would be on the very back row right? Well, you're actually...........right. They were, but check out how steep it was, the boys could see everything! Bronson loved it. Camden got bored, and Emerson still didn't know what to think when this picture was taken. It was a boys outing while I stayed in a hotel with the girlies watching..........drumroll...........BIGGEST LOSER! YAY! We don't have TV so I haven't seen it yet this season. But if I DID have a TV, THIS show would definitely be the only one I watch! It was awesome. The next morning Brooks went to the temple and then I did. It's the first time being to the temple since May and it felt sooooooooo good. I seriously just feel at home there and peaceful. I like to describe it as sitting in a spiritual LazyBoy chair. My spirit feels comfortable and at home there.

The below picture is of Camden and Emerson during naptime (yes, all 4 kids still at home during the day are forced to take naps.......mean mom, I know). I was impressed w/ Camden's ingenuity. He made separations, in his bed and Emerson actually climbed down (w/o me knowing!) and they fell asleep, because they were in "different rooms"
ADIOS Mystery Gang and Hello Dragon! The whole family was going to dress up like the Scooby Doo mystery Gang this year, but due to lack of Ward Halloween Family Dress-up party, I actually decided to let the kids be what they want for Halloween. Novel idea, I know. :) Emerson chose to be a Dragon and he is always wearing this. It's so funny.

Camden and Bronson with their newly earned light sabors (from FINALLY finishing their Summer homework)

The Girls!

I took the shot of Aleeya walking by with her dress tucked in her....wait, I mean EMERSON'S undies. She's so funny. (Update: she's doing great potty training wise, thanks for asking.)

The black flower was something I just got in the mail. A friend sent me this website that had sooooo many cute bows, tu-tus, wands, flowers, party favors etc. for super cheap! You have to buy a ton per dozen though, so they would be great as gifts. I ordered a dozen of "mixed flower bows" and got 12 super cute bows of all colors. I was so excited, because it was kind of a gamble. But I'll probably order princess things from them sometime in the near future.

www.haloheaven.com

Well, Adios for now!

Meet Chi.

Pronounced: "Ch-eye"
Meet Chi, our new pet. He's a "tobacco worm" that Camden found at Brooks' softball game last night. Seriously, I have NEVER seen a caterpillar this big. It's like Chi is on steroids or something!!!!
As for his name- we have NO clue where Camden got it, but he said it's his friend's name (which I haven't EVER met, and considering I know all his friends, it's rather....um....confusing.)
Notice Camden's black hoodie. I got a bunch of hoodies from Walmart last spring for $3 each. Then we had iron-on stuff so the boys have been having fun picking what they want on their hoodies. Camden wanted a great white shark.....which is ALSO what he's going to be for Halloween. He wears that hoodie everywhere......Hmmmmm, maybe I'm onto something. If I put Great White Sharks on his shoes, MAYBE he might remember to wear them! Nah, who am I kidding.

Pee-ew!!!!

What's that Iris? You say there's a NASTY smell making you WIDE awake? Well, you can thank your Daddy for that, Iris, with the BIG ol' trailer full of "mulch". (I really don't need to go into details what's actually IN mulch, do I?)It actually smells like cedar chips times 10 and WAAAAY strong. Brooks likes the smell.....me and Iris are just fine staying inside. I can't say the same for the others though.......obviously.
The neighbors across the street always leave their front door open almost everyday to see what's going on in our yard. They're an older couple and never had any children, so they say watching my kids is better then the TV anyday! They told me this day in particular was one of the more entertaining ones.

There was sooooooooooooo much! (the city gives it out free here from the leaves they've collected throughout the year)Their feet were straight black when I brought them inside to wash up. You should've seen the water running off of them in the shower!

Here they are jumping off the big ol' pile. Brooks and the boys were spreading it well after dark, so I set up the shaved ice machine on the trunk of the car and we had shaved ice (with all our neighbors too) In the meantime............... Iris had had enough and fell asleep on the blanket in the living room. Or was it the smell that knocked her out?...........it's a toss up.

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.