Oh Happy Day!!

Imagine to my surprise and delight I open up our Sunday paper and sitting right on top is a CVS ad. Oh happy day!!! We've never had a CVS ad in our paper and after quickly pulling that out remains coupons...WOOHOO. Never do we get coupons in our paper on a holiday weekend. Way to get a girl excited!! Let's hope this trend continues!

New Room for Lucas...

After much deliberation I have finally decided to move Lucas to the basement bedroom. We've been talking about it for a long time and I finally just got sick of all the junk in the room the boys share. So off we went in search of paint in colors we both agreed on. I was looking for a mis-tint from a good paint shop. As it turned out the first shop I went to had the colors I was looking for in mis-tint'..wahooo! Only $6.00/gallon compared to the normal price of $25.00/gallon. Lucas and I painted his room Monday and Tuesday two walls brown and two a deep blue. Wednesday I steam cleaned the carpets and rearranged the dresser's. Today we moved his clothes down and all his junk excuse me stuff").

In the process of this the three of us Lucas, Kaleb and I thoroughly cleaned out what is now just Kaleb's room. We now have three large black trash bags ready to go to Goodwill. Everything feels so clean and cleaned out it's a great feeling. They both are excited to now have their own room.

Below is a before picture of what is now Lucas' room notice the pink on the walls it was more of a maroon color but still very ugly!


Lucas' new room this is the brown wall you can't see the blue to good I couldn't get it to take a good picture. If you look at the blue in the comforter that's the color of the blue walls. I thought it might turn out to dark but it looks so warm and cozy when you walk in I love how it turned out. We are looking for a new bed for him and also a desk when Craig's list has a great deal on one I'll snatch it up:)

13 Years we Celebrate!

Quite the stunning pic eh? This is never been seen before footage just so you all you know") Don't we look so young! Sorry the quality isn't that great but I had to scan this picture into my computer and the size is weird. Anyway you get the idea of what we looked at 18 and19 years old. Yes I am the older one as my hubby loves to remind me.

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. It was a gorgeous day Ben got out of work early and we golfed 18 holes and then went out for dinner. (Thank You dad for picking up Kaleb at football) We got to talking to a guy and he asked us how we met so I thought I'd relate the story for all to hear.

Ben and I lived in the same neighborhood for around 8 years although we never talked to one another we knew who each other was. I secretly had a crush on him and his older bro (sorry Esther) mind you I was 14 or 15. Anyway, my best friend had the bigger crush on Ben therefore I never went beyond my crush on him. Around 15 or 16 we'd see each other in passing and wave hello but that was about it my crush on those boys had passed. At 17 I started working at the gas station/car wash that Ben would go into a lot. We would talk and yes I'd flirt with him hey he was cute") He got my phone number out of the phone book and called me up. As they say the rest is history. Our first date was April 1st of our senior year in high school, we got engaged on Valentine's Day and then Married on Aug. 26. We've been happily married ever since. After talking with this guy last night and he complaining to us how unhappy he is in his marriage...blah..blah...blahh... we left feeling very thankful for our marriage and who were married to. God has blessed us beyond measure and I thank him every day for my dear husband!

Walgreens Deal:

I figured with a pay cut headed our way I better start doing Walgreens as well as CVS again. So yesterday I headed out to Walgreens. Here is the deal I did and I'm planning on doing two more times this week. Who can't use tissues in the winter.

Preperation H wipes are $3.99 I used a $3.00 off coupon here and then a $2.00 off one from the easy saver book at Walgreens. So I got a dollar overage on that one.

Puffs tissues with their in ad coupon are .89 limit of 3 so I bought 3 of those and used a 1.00 off three coupon.

Because I got a dollar overage on the wipes I spent 1.06 on all of it. Oh, Puffs plus are also included in the sale which are my favorite.

That's the best deal I came up with at Walgreens using a product I normally use. I don't use Preperation H but know someone who probably can otherwise they go in the donation bag for the food pantry.

Thanx to money saving mom for helping me put this deal together.

Kellogg's Deal at Meijer..

There is a great deal at Meijer this week using the $10.00 rebate form that was in the paper a few weeks ago. The Kellogg items on sale this week at Meijer are:

Pop Tarts
Eggo Waffles
Cereal: Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks, Raisin Bran, Corn Pops
Nutri Grain Cereal Bars
Cereal grab n go
Cereal Straws
Keebler cookies

Here's how the deal works if you buy 10 Kellogg's products you get $10 off a back pack at the checkout automatically. Which the back packs are 20-30% off this week even more of a deal. Then using the coupons which came in the paper two weeks ago and the $10.00 rebate you get in the mail. Your 10 Kellogg's items are almost free or very inexpensive. Plus you get a back pack. I bought Roman a Spiderman back pack which was $14.99, it was 30% off and then I also got the instant $9.99 off at the check out making it free....Yipee!!!

Zucchini Pie

Here's a great recipe to try out with all that extra zucchini we all have from our gardens. My kids love this pie it's great for lunch or dinner.


Italian Zucchini Pie

4 C. thinly sliced unpeeled zucchini
1 C. chopped onion
1/4-1/2 C butter
1/2 C. chopped parsley or 2T. flakes
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/4 t. garlic pepper
1/4 t. basil
1/4 t.oregano leaves
2 eggs well beaten
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 t. dijon mustard

1. Make 9" pie crust and place in pie pan
2. Saute Zucchini and onion in butter 10 min.
3. Stir in seasonings. In large bowl blend eggs and cheese stir into vegetable mixture
4. Pour into the pie crust
5. Bake at 375 for 18-20 min. Let stand10 min before serving.

My Favorite Bible Passage

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3:5&6

Fair Days....

This week is our annual fair yesterday I took the boys in the afternoon for rides. They do the reading club associated with it every year and get five free rides a piece from it. So off we went to use them. Ben came and met us for dinner and we then went to watch the off road car derby which was so fun. The boys loved it we saw a few cars flip over a bunch of tires go flying and cars smashing it was awesome.Here's Roman going down the slide it's the first time he's done it. He didn't realize how fast it went but he enjoyed it and wanted to do it again.

We saw several of our friends there this is Kaleb's friend from homeschooling. They went on a few rides together. Kaleb whispered to me later "Mom, did you know girls scream on rides?" "It's annoying"..hahh I of course just started laughing.

One of the cars in the derby Lucas thought it'd be great fun to drive in it someday..yikes!

Roman and his friend on the tractors. They have several different tractors that kids can sit on. Of all the rides at the fair this is Roman's favorite thing to do.

We also saw a magic show which was done by a guy from a local church. He pulled Kaleb up on stage to do a card trick with him. The boys had never seen one before so they were quite thrilled with it all.

"Blue lights flashing in my rear view"

Yes today was my day. I got my first speeding ticket..ugh..Sheriff was nice though and only wrote me up for five over instead of 13..oops. I honestly didn't realize I was going that fast until I saw the cop and you automatically hit the breaks. This is my fourth time getting pulled over for speeding I guess they can't give "warnings" forever. Maybe the cop felt bad for me Kaleb is crying because I got pulled over and Roman is saying "Yeah mommy gets a ticket". He seemed to think that was a good thing in his defense we did just leave the county fair:)

What to do?

Poor Roman woke up at3:00 in the morning on Friday with these. Of course the only thing I didn't have in my cupboard free from CVS was children's benedryl..uggh. After giving him high doses of the natural allergy meds, oatmeal baths, lots of vit. C. They just kept getting worse so finally at 8:00 in the morning I trucked to Meijer to buy some benedryl. After taking that I thought sure this will wipe em' right out and he'll feel much better. They just kept getting worse by 11 he was seriously covered head to his little toe just one big hive. He scratched himself raw in many places itching so bad.

At 3:00 I looked at him and his face and lips were beginning to swell and they were creeping onto his face the only place they hadn't been all day. I was starting to freak out a little so off to the doctor we went. I walked into the doctor's office and they took him back immediately putting him ahead of five other people waiting. The nurse went and got the doctor right away to see him. Obviously he was having a severe allergic reaction to something..says the doctor..

Doc says they only get that bad when they've either eaten something or ingested an allergen it could've also been from a virus his body was fighting off. We hope it wasn't a food if it was doc said it'll be really bad next time and rush him in immediately. We couldn't think of any new thing he ate so the doc said most likely it was from a virus. Right away he asked me if he could give Roman some more benedryl I said sure anything to help the poor thing. By the time we left we had two prescriptions for him to take. Today he's doing much better 75% of them are gone but he has scratches and open sores everywhere. He dealt with it so good he was slightly crabby but not like you would imagine. I hope he never has them this bad again but at least I'm a little more prepared than before.

AWww, the doctor who saw him yesterday just called to check up on him. It's not even his doctor I just went to a local med station yesterday which is a doctors office as well. Anyway that's really sweet.

Spinach Quiche

Here is a new recipe I tried last week. It got rave reviews from Ben and the boys so I will be making it again. It had great flavor nothing low fat about it but it was really good.

Pepperoni Spinach Quiche

1 Tube crescent rolls
1 red pepper chopped
1 garlic clove minced
1 tbs olive oil
5 eggs
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
1/2 C frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/4 cup pepperoni cut up
1/4 c. half and half cream
2 tbs. Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs. fresh parsley minced
1 Tbs. fresh basil or 1 tps. of dried basil

* I didn't have the fresh herbs so I just used Italian seasoning.

Separate cresent dough into eight triangles, place in an ungreased pie plate with points toward the center. Press onto the bottom and sides to form a crust.

Saute the red pepper and garlic in the olive oil. In another small bowl combine the remaining ingredients and stir in the red pepper mixture. Pour into crust.

Bake at 375 for 25-30 min. or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Let stand 5 min. before serving.

** This recipe came from the my new Taste of Home magazine I just got.

What's actually in those french fries!!!

Check out this experiment on YouTube using McDonalds french fries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEM0T1Ar5Qo

Can you say gross...disgusting...makes me wonder how many chemicals and other "things" are actually in those fries...YUCK! I may never eat another one ever again:( Yeah right:) I'm sure I will someday it'll just be awhile and I'll definitely think about what it is I'm stuffing in my mouth. I think I'll have to go rent the movie "Super Size Me" again I didn't eat fast food for awhile after watching that. Check it out if you never have.

Check out Kelly's blog for more fast food yuckies!

http://www.kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/05/fast-food-dangers-you-should-be-very.html

You know your the baby when...

You get this for your birthday and your daddy searches the internet for it. After finding one on Craig's list goes out and buys it at 9:30 at night the night before your birthday. Yes little Romeo made out like a bandit this year thanx to his papa.

As you can see from the picture he was a little shocked by it all he was very excited to say the least. It has a squirt gun on the side and boy is he having fun with that. Pumping it up and chasing his brothers spraying them in the process. Yes indeedy they are all having a lot of fun with it.
I couldn't get him to stop for a picture he was so excited to drive it. Thanx to all who came and made his birthday special!!

Confessions of a Homeschooling Mom:

What I said to my kids this morning..


"PLEASE NO MORE QUESTIONS FOR FIVE MINUTES!"


I think it lasted all of two minutes :)

My baby is FOUR today...

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby I can't believe that he's already four. Looking back at these pictures makes me sad they grow up so fast! This top picture Roman is around 2 weeks old.

Roman at 3-4 months

Roman at 7 months he was just the happiest baby so content and always had a smile on his face.

This is right before he turned a year old he turned into a toe head:)

My favorite lighthouse

Here is a picture of my favorite lighthouse I've ever toured. Lighthouses along the Great Lakes is one of my favorite things to see whenever we're on vacation. I've only gotten to tour a few of them but they are so cool the history you learn is amazing. This one is a museum and it had a lot of artifacts from ships that sank in the Great Lakes. Lucas is somewhat of a history buff like his mama and really enjoyed going through it with me. The innkeeper of this lighthouse was one of the longest living innkeepers of any lighthouse in the U.S. It was neat seeing his living quarters and everything as it was back then. You can go all the way to the top of the lighthouse to where the inn keeper would light the bulb every night. Below is the spiral staircase you take to get to the top.
The hike up those stairs is worth it below is the view of Lake Michigan that you can see.
Lucas posing for a picture in front of the lighthouse.

A walk on the beach...

On Monday night we took a walk with the kids along lake Michigan. This is my favorite place to be I absolutely love swimming in it, walking along it etc. We actually took a really long walk the lake was 74 degrees so the kids had a lot of fun splashing in it that night it was so warm. It's not to often the lake is that warm. Above is Romans footprint in the sand Ben and I both thought it was so cute. When the boys were running ahead of us and his little footprint compared to his big brothers...well...I just had to take a pic of it.:)

Below here is my favorite lighthouse that I've toured. I really enjoy lighthouses and going through them so much history..more on that in a later post. Anyway, a nice couple took a family picture in front of it for me.
Below a rare picture indeed Lucas took this one for me. My babe and I.

Kaleb posing on one of the big white rocks the boys had fun climbing all over. Look at those legs he's getting some really long longs. He grew five inches last year must've been all in his legs.:)
One of Ben and Roman they both have the cutest smilies on their faces..so adorable!