Blurrrr

Life's a blur! Work is busy for both of us and Josh is on a very long stretch at work without any days off. 70 hours in a week makes for a happy paycheck but little time at home...we miss him and I feel bad for him because I'm sure he's exhausted. Personally, I would trade the "happy" paycheck to have my sweetie at home with us. That said, I am of course thankful for both of our jobs. Many don't get the opportunity to have more hours than they know what to do with, so I'm thankful for the blessing of that!
The cute thing is that Noe says "dada dada dada" now and was saying it yesterday at work with me. I think she misses him too!

Of course, she's a mover and shaker that little girl of ours. She was in her pack in play the other day and it has the bassinett portion (I mean had now) in it. She got up on her knees, then shortly after on her feet and then was on my desk. So, she's down in the pack n play now. It never fails, at home when she is in the LR, she crawls into the kitchen. I don't know the attraction in there for her, but she does it constatnly.

Starting in a couple of days, the dig begins for our add-on to make the kitchen bigger. I really look forward to a kitchen that suits our needs, but not the mess tha accompanies it. I'm hoping for a quick turnaround so we can be functioning in a kitchen without projects hanging over our heads!

I'm yearning for at least warm weather again. Truthfully, I yearn for the aqua water, sugar-white sand of the Gulf of Mexico! I have missed it since I left there several years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if one day Josh and I purchase a second home there (WAY DOWN THE ROAD--when we are older and possibly retired). As much as I can't stand winter, that souds more appealing all of the time! We will be the Florida snow bird retirees that take walks at the beach and play on the golf course.
I like Illinois (used to like it more), but with the craziness and taxes here...I like it less lately.

I'm excited to see our friends again. They are coming here for the kitchen build! It will be more exciting this time around with more kids!

Well, I'm off to do really exciting tasks like balancing the checkbook and maybe some laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming etc... Don't be jealous of it!

hmmm...

Yesterday and today I really got hit with the impression that big bro is out to monitor as much as they possibly can about us regular ordinary people.

Case in point...we are refinancing our mortgage. We are doing this not only for a better rate, but becase we are expanding our kitchen.

So, we did the whole refinance thing exactly 3 years ago just to lower our rate. I was kind of amazed at that time all of the new paperwork there was to sign that hadn't existed when we purchased the home 5 years prior.

Well, now there are even more papers and they are more intrusive if you ask me.

They get your bank statement for the last month which is typical, however you have to PROVE what EVERY deposit is on your statement is from. For instance, when we visit the dentist, they turn in the claim to our insurance who then mails us the check and we then pay the dentist. So, right there is two deposits that we have to prove where they came from. So, I had to dig out the stubs from the ins. check (fortunately I kept them). Furthermore, they have to know what basically every penny is coming from. Personally, I don't think it is any of their business.
It is supposedly there to catch the drug people etc...Uh-huh. Because drug dealers keep checking/savings accounts for all of their cash...right! They also need to worry about refinancing their mortgages. Why would they need that when they have tons of cold hard cash and they stash it away...duh!

They also go over your credit report with like a fine tooth comb. Not really a problem per-se, our credit is great...but now it is like details, details, details. I often use a credit card to pay for various purchases and always pay in full when the bill comes due. Why they were worried about a couple hundred dollars on a credit card is beyond me. Really?? I understand that the banks collapsed and they were very irresponsible in lending. Yes, it needed reformed and yes they shouldn't lend to any Tom, Dick, or Stanley...BUT...we are not doing anything astronomical here and our house has a good amount of equity, and oh yeah...great credit.
Why the scrutiny?? I guess this is the new norm. We have to be questioned and let big bro know everything. Ugh. Let's just say...I am a fan of TINY big bro...not BIG big bro.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the loan @pplication fee...$300. We haven't ever had that before either.

In other more fun stuff, we went shopping yesterday at none other than Target.
My friend sent me some coupons in the mail and I was ready to pick up the deals.
Target was swimming with clearance yesterday and I was smiling with delight. We picked up a box of Huggies that were marked $25.48. Josh scanned them at the price checker thing and they were $12.64!! That is 12.64 for 168 diapers! Now, it gets better...I had a $2.50 Target coupon for the diapers AND a $3.50 manuf. coupon (you can stack coupons at Target) making the total $6.64 for 168 diapers!!!! Hello...that is .03 per diaper. YAY!!
Now, if you ever wonder why I cannot be convinced that cloth diapering is cheaper, this is the reason why. It would NEVER be cheaper for us. Not to mention, as J says, "we don't clean poo". You throw it away.
Back to the deals...
The Pantene Hairspray was on clearance for $1.54 (regularly $5.99). I had $1.00 off coupons making them a sweet .54/bottle!! YAY!
We scored a few good deals on cat food with coupons. Iams for $3.04 and Goodlife for $3.00 as well.
Oh yeah, no coupons for these, but we didn't need it...they had their portable heaters on wonderful clearance also!! A 2 pack of Holmes heaters for $8.74!!! They were regularly $44.96!! Those heaters work great! I didn't need any, but we picked up a set for my parents. They said they like them a lot!
Anyone else tired of the gray, drizzly, chilly days we have been experiencing? I'm ready for my great friend Mr. Sun to return. I'm ready to plant pretty flowers again!

Next month should be busy. Our kitchen expansion will be underway. I hope I'm not without a kitchen for very long. That makes things inconvenient. It will be great to have a larger space that can better accommodate us!

Aliyah has one spelling test and she is done with school for 3rd grade! It doesn't seem possible that I have a Kindergartener and a 4th grader now...oh my!
They are looking forward to playing outside and riding bikes again.

Noelliah cannot be stopped. She crawls to whatever she feels like and we must keep small objects off the floor. Ha...my older girls don't havee any small objects...yeah right. She also likes to suck her lower lip, stick her tongue out, and suck her thumb. She is a happy smiling girl, but doesn't have the sleeping through the night thing figured out yet. My body and brain will be excited when we get to that and I'm sure Josh will agree.

Another thing we agree on with Noe, she is growing too fast. Believe me, I'm not pushing any of this stuff she is rushing into like crawling...we put her on the floor one night like 2 weeks ago and away she went! I guess she wants to be just like those big sisters. She absolutely LOVES them! The other night, they had her in their "hair salon". Pretty soon Keirah appeared and said, "your baby will be out soon". Sure enough, Aliyah appeared out of the bedroom carrying Noe. She was happy as a lark. They had brushed her hair with a baby hairbrush (Aliyah's from when she was a baby). You could actually tell it had been brushed because Noelliah's hair is filling in now. Gotta love my brown, blue, & hazel eyed girls!!!

I've rambled on enough so now you won't hear from me until I sneak on here again when I find a minute (doubtful with the way life has been running). Spring is coming!!!!!!

DOTD

Deal of the Day: I was sharing some coupons with my mom today so she could stock up on a few deals. She called me to tell me that her friend at Kroger (Kroger friend...lol) told her about a good one...

*Go to Kroger dot com. (I'm guessing that maybe Ralph's has this also)
*Create an account using your Kroger Plus Card
*Activate the link in your email
*Log In
*Select some great coupons and load them onto your Kroger Plus Card
*When you go to the store and buy a corresponding item, the money will be taken off your order once your card is scanned.

They have some great ones like $3.00 off Charmin & $2.00 off Bounty.
Both Charmin & Bounty are on sale this week for $6.49. (they are my favorite TP & PT). You would get the pack of 8 Bounty for $4.49 and the 12 Double Roll of Charmin =24 for $3.49! That's a great deal!!

Easy, no coupons to cut or anything!

Evaluating

As I sit here in the floor, I'm watching Noelliah who is apparently bent on doing everything ASAP! She is 5 1/2 months old now and sweet & cute as sugar and I just had to take my cell phone away. She was on a spot in the floor and saw it and crawled her way over. She can pretty much get wherever she needs to go by rolling, crawling...you name it. This 5 month mark is quite a month of development for her. She can sit up for short periods of time, sit up from a laying position, grab things with her hands and maneuver them however she pleases, she has been holding her bottle for quite awhile (I think sometime after 3 months). We aren't pushing her to do any of it, but if she is laying in the floor off she goes. That's how we discovered she could crawl.

With all that in mind and the lightning speed at which it goes, I sit back and think I need to drink this all in. It has gotten faster with each child so Noe is blowing us away! I'm afraid I will wake up tomorrow and she will be walking.
I checked out the Fly Lady website the other day and while I'm not in the CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome state), I thought there were many great things there. That said, I was sitting and thinking about it later and thought do I really need an absolutely perfect house?? I came to my own conclusion that while I want a neat, organized, clean house, I would much rather spend as much time as I can soaking in the season of life in which I'm in which happens to include a lot of missed sleep and drool. I love it, I love them, I love being blessed like this.
Having a perfect "fly lady" house can happen at anytime, but my baby will only be this age for such a short short while. My 4 & 8 year old won't be these ages forever either and soon my 8 year old will find many other things to do rather than talk to me at night or hang out with us. My 4 year old diva will continue to hone her fashionista skills until she will dress and choose her own things(she already likes to do that now).

So, I don't always have time to blog or write on facebook or even much else. Why?? Because I want to enjoy this time and take pictures (even if they don't get made into Shutterfly books right away). Yes, I'm guilty...I just was able to look at some photos that my aunt so kindly took and sent me at Halloween (tonight). I'm glad she took them because I don't have hardly any. Um...that was like 4 months ago.

Life has been a whirlwind for several months and I doubt the merry-go-round will stop anytime soon. For now, I'm evaluating various things and living in the important and right now. I feel so blessed and I don't want to miss this!

Where oh where??

Last time I posted it was the beginning of February. Now, it is near the end of Feb! This has been the busiest and fastest winter I can remember in years.

I'm sitting here with a glaze almost over me...it was quite a day at work. Normally, February isn't anything like this, but this year it is C-R-A-Z-Y!!!!

Noelliah is quite the little girl and growing faster than I can keep up. Part of that is I'm in a sleep-deprived haze. She has started crawling (when she's in the mood). I think she just wants to be like her older sisters so she has to try to keep up. She also is on a kick of getting up 5-6 times per night. I know this won't last forever and sleep will come one day. I'm just behind. Behind on stuff at the house it seems and trying trying to get the girls wrapped up with school.

We are working on plans to expand our kitchen. Of our house, the kitchen is too small. The older the girls get, the more cramped it will seem. On holidays and such, it is hard to work with since there's little counter space and we have to eat elsewhere. The plan is to knock out a wall and build some more... I hate to have my kitchen in an a mess, but we need to do this sometime or move and this is much,much, much cheaper than going to a different house. The problem with moving to a different house...I would want to change so much. We have already changed and remodeled so much, I don't feel like starting over.
So far, plans are going well and we may get this going/done in April. It will be nice to have extra space!

The girls are close to finishing school for the year. We are looking into a DVD or streaming method for next year for at least Aliyah's schooling for some subjects. It is really getting to the point where Josh and I don't have enough hours in a day to spend all of the time necessary for subjects like math. It isn't that we can't teach it, but the time just isn't there. She likes the idea so we probably will go for it.

Well, I have some things that need done in my house so I had better get my posterior up and off the couch. Have a wonderful evening and week!

Noelliah's Dedication

Sunday, January 30, 2011

We all got up very early! Our church has two services on Sunday morning due to the large size. We typically go to the later service, however they only do dedications in the early service because the 2nd service is televised.

It was a lovely January day for which we had prayed...no blizzards, no snow on the roads, and decent temps. Grandpa's, grandma's and great ones too, aunts, uncles, sisters, friends, & mommy & daddy. We missed those who couldn't attend due to illness or other obligations.

Noelliah means "now all is well" and is French
Hayden means "hedged valley" and is English

Yes, we go for the names that are a tad bit different for sure. When we chose her name, we obviously had no idea of what her exact birthdate would be and certainly didn't expect a September 11th baby. That said, the names and the meanings are so fitting in celebrating a birth on such an eventful day in our lives & nation's history! How is that for unique?? I highly doubt many will forget her birthday...

The verse chosen by Pastor Bob for Noelliah to coincide with her name is Psalm 73:28 "But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my REFUGE, that I may tell of all your works."

Two things that stuck out...when Pastor Bob mentioned that Noelliah was a gift, she started kicking excitedly and making noise. The other thing (which we have a picture of) is of her looking at him intently like she is soaking in every word that he is saying.

Our desire is to raise our little girls to love Jesus, put their faith in Him, and serve Him. If they learn that above all, then the rest will fall into place.

Afterwards, we ate lunch and had cake and enjoyed time with family. It was a wonderful day. Enjoy the pictures....
Sweet little photo album to put her pics from the day...
the invit adorable little 23rd Psalm lamb
her very first Bible
Cutie pie with her cake
pink & aqua like her nursery
King family

Notice this picture...she is hanging on every word Pastor Bob has to say...

Well Versed Kid & More Blessed To Give

So, for the 3rd year, Aliyah is a Well Versed Kid at church. She said all of her verse passages, chapters, Books of the Bible, the Lord's Prayer, and the cumulative verses to do it! We are so proud of her and the work that she put in!! One that I was particularly excited about was the Luke 2:1-14 passage that she memorized. She was able to recite the Christmas story this Christmas!

At church, they put a little blurb in the bulletin with their picture. They then put their picture on the video wall during the annoucements. The cool thing was we had family there last Sunday for Noelliah's dedication when they put it up! Aliyah got a cute little grin when they put it up there.

Today, I remembered that we were nearby the Christian bookstore where Aliyah had a gift certificate to use for being a Well Versed Kid. She was all smiles as she held my hand going into the store. We went to the kid's section and looked around. She picked out two books. After that, I proceeded to ask her if she wanted any DVD's, music, other books, toys, etc...She answered "no". She wanted to get Keirah and let her pick out something as well. Not only that, but she picked out the sweetest little pink Bible for Noelliah. She had another big smile on her face. I had a smile on my face and in my heart. She spent well over half of her gift certificate on her sisters. WOW!! I have a feeling that blessing will be far more than what she would have gotten if she had kept it to herself. I am sure that daddy will be so proud of her as well when he gets home and hears the story!!

Oh yeah, a footnote to the story that I forgot to put in...Aliyah received a little card from her one of her SS teachers from last year with a picture of her from the bulletin and a note and a $2 bill congratulating her on being a Well Versed Kid. She was so excited and got that smirky grin that she gets when she feels special albeit shy about it at the same time.