Easter Egg Hunt

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Sheila

On Saturday, the church, actually the young married couples SS class, hosted an Easter Egg Hunt. It was AWESOME! We were so surprised to see that it was an afternoon of fun. Enjoy the pictures!

Lily got an Egg painted on her face. She was not sure about even touching the bunny but later she did rub “Buddy” the dog!

This was one of Kendall’s favorite things ! She and Lily actually played together in this for a long time

Zach just “hung around” with his dad most of the afternoon. Lily also enjoy “tossing the eggs.

I had planned to upload a couple of other pictures but blogger is not working so I give up!

Adventures in Couponing

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Sheila

I have been debating how much information to put in this one post.. but think I have decided to keep this a general post of all things related to coupons and not include my actual trips today. I saved a ton at both CVS and Harris Teeter! I will share about these in a separate post so I can “link up ” on several of the blog I read! So this is a tidbit post!

Since posting pictures of my Harris Teeter trip on Wednesday, Lily has asked several times to see the picture. After the second time, I started wondering why…. So she looks at the picture and says “Mommy, where is THAT gum?” Since gum is a treat around here, I gave Matt a pack and hide the others. Lily has figured this out and since she didn’t know the name of the game to ask for, she figured out that she can look at the picture and ask where certain things are since she has proof I have bought them.

Yesterday on our way home from the Easter Egg hunt, which was awesome! I reminded Matt that I wanted to get a paper with 3 coupon inserts this week. We literally checked 10 different paper boxes before locating a single local paper at 4pm in the afternoon. I was totally shocked but guess that someone has figured out that $.50 for the Saturday paper with coupons is better than $1.50 for the Sunday “big city” paper!
Speaking of papers, I am still currently only buying one paper but usually I get the majority of coupons each week from my mother and several of the ladies at church have started bringing me coupons as well. On Wednesday I received a whole envelope full, this lady sent them on Wednesday instead of Sunday because she knew I wanted to go to triples. Today I had someone else bring me diaper coupons! I am definitely becoming known as the coupon lady or as the lady who used ALOT of coupons!

Matt and the little kids all went to Harris Teeter with me this afternoon. He told me last night he thought it would be fun to go as a family. He actually wanted to see what I was buying and saving! I think he was impressed! He did say that his favorite part was watching the amount of tax go down with each coupon!

I am done shopping for the week and actually think that I may skip the Costco trip in April because of the stockpile we have now! I am excited! I do plan to go to CVS weekly depending on the deals but no more trip to Harris Teeter until Supers!

Random Thoughts

Posted on March 27, 2010 by Sheila

I like to do little blurbs about our life and I also want to be able to sort blog post by labels so if I ever get some followers (don’t you want to be the first?) then you can skip the post that don’t interest you.

Matt bought and put up a new clothes line for me on Thursday. Clothes line have gotten to be expensive. So I determined that in order to make it “worth” the expense, I will need to hang up at least 100 loads of clothes this summer. So far, I have the 4th one on the line now and am planning to hang up a load of towels to decide if I can handle those on the lines. I LOVE sheets and in fact will hang them out even in snow! I remembered on Thursday how nice it is to hang “dress/causal” clothes up because they come out looking almost pressed! I refuse to hang out underwear or the little kids clothes ….too much work!

I was super EXCITED on Thursday to be featured on Caring with Coupons with my trip to Harris Teeter. I was hoping a couple of people would click over and decide to come back! I called Matt at work and Amanda at school to have them see it!

I worked 10 hours on Friday. This was an extremely long day for me and I really missed the kids. I was pleasantly surprise to come home and the house not totally destroyed, supper ready and the little kids feed. I hope not to do this again in the near future but am glad to know that I can handle it if I have to.

Zach has been eating ALOT, especially during the day and even waking every 3-5 hours at night. I was wondering if my milk production had slowed down and when I pumped yesterday after 6 hours I only got 3 ozs. So after talking to Matt last night we decided it would be best for everyone if we moved him to formula. Matt went to Walmart last night and learned that soy formula is expensive it was $15 for a week or less supply. I am planning to use up the rest of my stash and probably all of my quarterly ECB to buy up some. I also plan after a week or so to “mix in” one a day at first regular formula to see if he has an reaction. I am hoping that we can isolate better exactly what cause the reaction and not just assume it is milk. If this doesn’t work then Soy formula it will be! This morning it took almost 45 minutes for him to get hungry enough for a bottle. We are going to try several different ones today and hopefully by Monday get him straighten out!

Matt is hard at work in the big bathroom with plans to seal the gout, hang the door and finish the closet today. We also NEED to get our yard mowed and some outside stuff straighten up but we will see. The little girls have an Easter egg hunt today from 1-3 and my plan is to go back to Harris Teeter either tonight or Sunday for my final trip. It is busy but also manageable!

Wordless Wednesday Birthday Edition

Posted on March 24, 2010 by Sheila

Happy Birthday Haley

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Sheila

So today is Haley’s 15th birthday. I have been debating on what to include in this blog today. I had debated on just making this a post about how awesome and special Haley is to me right now or doing a post about her “birth” day. I decided to post the later because as each year passes I am sure I forget some of the important details that one day Haley will want to know.

So Haley was born on a Tuesday. I was employed with Health Focus and at that time, it was a perfect job for a working mother and especially one that was pregnant. I actually started this job on the day I found out I was pregnant. I took a test in the bathroom of one of the facilities I worked at because my bf bought it on our lunch. You were paid for full time as long as you were able to cover all the patients at the 3 facilities I covered. So I just didn’t feel great that morning and decided to hang out at home until after Amanda’s nap. I only had 2 patients to see that day. I was laying in the bed watching “All My Children.” My plan was to drop Amanda off at daycare and go to work at 2ish. But Haley of course had different plans. My water broke during the show. It was not the gush you hear about. I called my mom and she insisted that I go to the doctor. In fact I called and she and Dad met me there.

Amanda and Pawpaw went to go find Destry because even though I had already called and asked that he met me at the hospital we didn’t think, he would get the message. Of course we were correct and Pawpaw drove in behind his cement truck just as he was going out on another run.

I was admitted to the hospital and IMMEDIATELY wanted pain medicine. Unfortunately the meds slow and almost stopped my labor. The meds began to wear off at 5 pm and Haley was born just before 6pm. After Destry arrived I sent my mom and dad home with Amanda and Destry’s mom home as well. It was during this delivery that I realize I like to be left alone.

After Haley was born, Amanda arrived back at the hospital within half an hour to see her new sister. We had done a good job preparing Amanda that I would have to stay in the hospital but we forgot to tell her the baby would too. The nurses were awesome and took a polarid picture which Amanda took home and carried with her for the next 3 days to show anyone what her new sister looked like. I still have the picture and you can see the finger prints from where it was carried around. This was also the beginning of a tradition that has continued with all 5 kids. Haley brought Amanda a purse with crayons in it!

Haley is super excited today because she got the call last night that she starts the driving part of Driver’s ed today. She was awake before 6am to start celebrating. Hopefully tomorrow I can post a couple of pictures.

Monday Menu Post 3-22

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Sheila

I know I have not posted in 6 days but man have we been busy! I am planning to catch up with several post today as well as a very special post tomorrow in honor of Haley’s birthday! But first is the Menu Plan for this week. Angel Food arrived on Saturday so we have A LOT to chose from. Most likely things will change this week as it goes along but at least now I can say that I have a plan. I am planning on using some of Haley’s favorite food this week as well! The goal is to have a fruit and veggie with each meal to keep us a little bit health.

Monday- Grilled chicken, slaw, potato salad, pasta salad and a new fruit dish( secret apple salad)
Tuesday- Chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, applesauce, birthday cake and ice cream
Wednesday- Spaghetti, garlic bread
Thursday- Bacon wrapped Turkey fillets (angel food) Not sure of the veggies to add in yet. Maybe a broccoli rice casserole.
Friday- I am working ALL DAY! So I am thinking either we pick up pizza or we could have the frozen pizza or pizza bites depending on what the girls have for lunch as well!

Back to Work

Posted on March 17, 2010 by Sheila

Yesterday I found out that I had won a $25 gift card to Outback from one of the blogs that I stalk (ooops I mean follow on a regular basis). So I am excited maybe Matt and I will go out for a date night?

Now on to the other news in our world, I am officially returning to work part-time. The not so good news is that it starts today instead of May when I first agreed. On Monday morning, my bff called from Lexington Hospital to tell me that I need to first decide how much I was willing to do and then call the department head because she was going to “ask/budget” for more OT hours.

I love being a SAHM, it is what I wanted even before Lily was born. I have been able to completely stay at home for several months at a time when each of the little kids were born. With Lily I was completely at home for 9 months and then worked around Matt and the girls schedule for about 6 months to cover a long maternity level. From that point on I worked one morning a week, Lily had discovered a wonderful mother’s morning out at Tumble tots. Sometimes I would work 2 or 3 days but no more. After Kendall, I requested and was promised a 12 week leave with no work. That changed when she was 4 weeks old and the OT that was at the hospital was leaving. I knew that eventually (probably 4 years from then) I wanted to work at least school hours and the hospital is the one of the best places to do so. So we decided in order to keep that as a possibility I would again start part-time (around 10 hours a week). We were lucky enough to find Nana Carol to watch Kendall. She was awesome and I could not have been more loving or taken better care of Kendall as an infant myself. After 6 months almost exactly a year ago , I realized this was not working and with Zach on the way, I just could not handle the stress of running a department. So luckily my bff took the job as the full time OT at Lexington Memorial Hospital. I have continued to do some prn (as needed) work and took an entire 4months off after Zach was born.

Now back to the phone call, so after discussion with Matt and a look at financially what I would have to get to make my part-time return beneficial for us. I decided that I could go back for a minimum of 4 hours per week with a maximum of 15 hours per week. I had said this would start the first of May when Amanda would be able to watch the kids and then the plan this summer is to split things up with Lily and Kendall going to Tumble tots and Haley with Zach and/or Amanda and Haley watching all 3. Next fall, Lily will start preschool 3 days a week and both Zach and Kendall can go to Tumble Tots if needed or stay with Amanda. The department head was very happy with this arrangement so I thought I would wait it out and deal with the change then.
Yesterday, I got two calls one is for a class/workshop on Thursday night that I need to finish my continuing education hours for the year. The second, they NEED me to work today and start helping with in- patients. So after picking up Haley from school this afternoon it is off to work I go!

Not so Manic Monday

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Sheila

Today is exactly what I needed it to be a nice, quiet, routine day at home! This weekend has been so hectic starting with Thursday night and then through yesterday. So since I want to keep this almost as a journal, I am going to try and hit the highlights of the weekend.

Thursday night I made a quick but profitable trip to CVS and Food Lion. At Food Lion, I found stage 2 baby food on closeout for 39 cent a jar. I also had several coupons for $1 off 4 and 6. I ended up buying 14 jars of food for an average cost of 13 cent each. I also picked up 64 ozs of Apple Juice for 50 cent. Diet Cokes were also on sale 🙂

Friday, Amanda and I went to Winston after I saw a patient at North. We hit Harris Teeter and Costco as well as the Verizon Store where Amanda is going to be getting a new phone. This phone is the 3rd one in 10 months that has broken so she got to chose a different phone to replace this one! I also went to CVS where I had a great transaction spending 32 cent and saving $22. I had a 5/25, a 4/20 facial items and 16 in ECBs. I still brought home 6ECB from my first transactions! Matt’s brother Dave and his family arrived from Disney around midnight, I was asleep!

Saturday, Matt stayed at home to visit with the kids. I went to help with Angel Food distribution, came home ate lunch and then went back to church for quizzing. Matt and the babies brought Pizza Hut pizza for dinner!

Sunday was a church day as usual and I got a much needed nap!

Today, I have caught up on laundry, emptied cat litter, caught up on the internet and hopefully will get my coupons cut out from the past 3 weeks that Mom saved for me! I also need to get a new calender for March put together!

The biggest news is that Kendall used a spoon to feed herself Applesauce for lunch !

Kendall’s Appointment

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Sheila

We started to notice several weeks ago that Kendall’s left eye was starting to cross(turn inward). The more we watched it the more often we saw it turning in. Because of Lily’s extremely poor vision we decided to have her checked immediately. So yesterday we both took her to the appointment. I have to say that she was absolutely amazing! She is so cooperative with all the tests they had to do. It was really obvious to the tech that she was far-sighted. Her vision is not as bad as Lily’s but she does require glasses. We are in prayer that she will not need surgery. After receiving her glasses, she returns in 3 months to make this decision. Because Zach was with us, they decided to “check” his vision as well. Because he is so young this may change but his eye “look” normal now. One of the main things we were so worried about was finding glasses to fit Kendall. Lily was a year older but around the same size and it took 3 months and multiple visits to different place to find her glasses. So we decided to go ahead and order a pair if we could find some that fit. We did find and order a pair from the doctor’s office. they are pink and brown and have the “cable” /wrap around ear pieces. They are not the best but they did look cute on her so we decide to get these as well as keep looking. This office does not accept our vision insurance so this pair is full price. After coming back to Lexington, I took her to the office I use and where our insurance is accepted. I was able to find an adorable blue pair of glass that she LOVES and looks great it. So I ordered this pair as well. I was also able to order myself a new pair of glasses. I will post pictures when both pair come in!

I did make my first trip to Harris Teeter for super doubles yesterday before Kendall’s appointment. I am upset with myself, first I have lost my envelope that had my extra coupons to use. These were the ones I had pulled if an item was out of I couldn’t find it at the store. I had probably 16 or so coupons in this one. On top of that I lost my receipt. I know that I had over $50 in coupons but no clue how the totals actually are. I am planning a second trip tomorrow hopefully I will do better.
The playhouse arrived and only took Matt about 30 minutes to assemble. I will try and get pics of this as well.
Matt and I are going to build raised garden boxes for our square foot garden this year. I ordered the book today and he is planning on building 2 4×4 boxes for me!

Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Sheila

The most important event of today was Lily playing Hand bells at church this morning. The way they learn to do this is by following colors on a card. Lily does not always play the same colors so she is watching not just going off memory. In fact this morning she told me she was playing yellow bells. Today the entire group (ages 2.5 – 5th grade) played Jesus Loves Me with the bells. They also sang and recited John 3:16. Lily has been practicing on the verse for about a month. I am so proud of her for learning it in KJ with those “long” words! This group meets on Wednesday nights. The “theme” for this year is “Jesus cared for us so we care for others.” They are collecting one item a month to make Samaritan purse boxes in November, and collect change to donate once a quarter. I am really excited and glad to see this group focus on others at this young age! A friend sat up front today and got some really good shots of Lily.
Isabella is Lily’s favorite friend