In case you haven't heard...

Curtis won the NEATEST prize at the USS Olympia Christmas party raffle!

Check it out - you'll need your sound turned up:

Glaciers

Bathtime in our house has gotten a bit more fun lately! Introducing... GLACIERS!

First, you fill some plastic tubs with water. Then you add a drop of food coloring - DON'T stir it, just swirl once or so, so that the color doesn't mix all the way. It looks cool, trust me. Then you throw in a small toy or two. Here we have a pirate, a mideval guy, and an alien. Then slide them into the last available free space in your freezer; right next to the hot dogs and the frozen beans. Don't be like me and forget to wipe the freezer down first - its embarrassing ;)

I do this part first thing in the morning, so it'll have a chance to freeze before bathtime that night.

When the kids are in the tub, bring out the glaciers!

They're cold, they're fun, they float, but they melt FAST! I've been using bigger tubs than the ones shown here lately, to extend the melting time a bit. If you use bigger tubs, pour in only half of the water, freeze it for a few hours, then add the toys and top off with more water. That way your toys won't melt out in the first 15 seconds LOL.

The kiddos love to see what cool toys will thaw when the glacier melts LOL.

Last step: eat the toy!

Make some glaciers for your kids today :)

First Visit from the Tooth Fairy

As some of you know, Conner was born with a tooth. You read that right. I remember gazing at my minutes old infant and saying outloud, "Is that a tooth in his mouth?!" and the nurses just shrugging me off, saying it was swelling LOL. Well, it WAS a tooth! They call it a natal tooth, or a milk tooth. Its rare, but it happens! Conner's tooth has always been loose, since it was lacking much of a root to keep it in place. It was also almost always yellow, because there was no way for it to get nourishment to stay healthy.

We always knew there was a good chance he'd lose it before the normal age of 6 or 7. I made it a point to never tell him his tooth was loose, so he wouldn't mess with it. Leave it to a kid's tv program to inform him about what happens when you lose a tooth LOL. As soon as he knew about that tooth fairy, he set out to get that tooth out! All day he was messing with it, and by the time Daddy got home from work that evening, the tooth was lying on its side. He realllllly wanted a visit from the tooth fairy! hahaha

This is the face of a kid who can't contain his excitement LOL

Before bed on Tuesday night, I set out to pull the tooth. He was SO excited. I tried to explain that it would hurt a little, but he didn't care! He was grinning from ear to ear :)

He was very brave, indeed. After a few attempts, the tooth was out!

And BOY was he proud! "Am I big now, Mama?"

We cleaned up the little thing, and put it in our very special Tooth Fairy Pillow that my dad had bought for him a long time ago. At the time I thought it was a little silly to give it to us soooo many years before he'd lose his teeth. I'm glad we had it on hand though, since we ended up needing it a couple years earlier than expected!

In the morning, he came running into my room, "MAMA! The tooth fairy came and brought me a GOLD COIN!"

This video is posted mostly for the grandparents, but you can watch if you'd like. Turn on your speakers and click below :)

Cohey's First Haircut

Random people tell me almost daily how much they love Cohen's hair. Many liken him to a surfer-boy.

I love the long look, but it was getting a little outta control. His bangs were SO long... down to his nose. This created problems when he had a runny nose, as boogers aren't easy to clean out of little boy hair!

He constantly shook his head back and forth all the time, trying to shake the hair out of his eyes.

It was TIME.

So, I took him in last week for his very first haircut. Ohhhh how hard it was for me! In the end, I chickened out. I just couldn't have them cut off that beautiful hair! Its so pretty and wavy - I want it for myself!

So, they trimmed the front and the sides a little. And took about 2 inches off the back. They left most of the length alone, so it was much less scary to me than getting a real haircut LOL.

Its still long and purtiful, so I'm happy. And he no longer has to shake the hair out of his eyes, so he's happy :)

Look! I can see his eyes!

Oh my stinkin' heck... I love those eyes :)

And this, my friends...

THIS is why you don't leave your pumpkin curry on a low simmer while you step outside to chat with a friend for 10 minutes.



Please friends, don't be like me... cover your curry! I didn't even realize until hours later that there was a far worse mess lurking under the stove's hood. It was bad enough that it took 2 of us half an hour to clean up the disaster that covered my entire kitchen, the floor, the ceiling, the walls, etc. *shudder*

Does anyone else think my soup has an uncanny resemblence to breast-fed baby poo? Oh good, so its not just me?

I assure you though, it tasted DELISH!

A Spooktacular Week!

Shout out to Tip Junkie readers :)

WHEW! Where to start? Two weekends ago we went to a little Halloween party that was put on by the Navy MWR. Dubbed "Trunk-or-Treat," I thought the party was going to be crap-tastic because the children would be trick-or-treating from car trunks. Turns out, it was pretty fun in that the car owners went all out decorating the backs of their SUV's and mini vans.

Anyway, it was raining, so the boys couldn't wear the costumes that I made for them (they're made from posterboard). So we made a last minute stop at the Navy's thrift shop and scored some super hero costumes for $.50 each! And at that price, I also stocked the boys' dress up costumes stash. NICE!


Shootin' webs at you!


And how CUTE is my little Batman??


You know you want to squish him :)


Then this week at preschool, Conner's class had a Fall party (not to be confused with a Halloween party). Curtis was off from work this week, so he was able to tag along as well.


Decorating sugar cookies


Aren't those paper bag pumpkins such sweet centerpieces?

After the cookies were devoured, the kids listened to a Fall-themed Bible story. Then they all stood up and performed a cute little song. I think you'll have to click the video at the end of this entry to play it. And don't forget to turn up your sound!

On Thursday, the kids played dress-up. Here are the Garnette's... my adoptive daughters. Conner was in school when I took this photo, and when he saw it later on, he was not too pleased to see his Jordie wearing his costume hahaha :p


Fast forward to Friday night - HALLOWEEN! And NO RAIN! WOOT!



Conner had long ago requested to be a chocolate chip cookie for Halloween. Then it morphed into him being a "silly cookie" (NO idea where that came from). And then one day he says to me, "Mama I want to be a silly cookie that plays trombone! Brrrrrr!" For probably 2 weeks he insisted that he would play trombone on Halloween. Curtis totally fell for it, and we exhausted ourselves one evening driving all around town trying to find a dang trombone - or any darn horn, for that matter. Turns out, toy horns are SO last year. The hot musical toys are guitars. THANKS Guitar Hero. We ended up getting him some kind of bike whistle/horn thingie. He called it a trombone and all was good.

My adorable little M&M


Yes, he's wearing little girl's tights. And a turtle-neck in Hawaii. And a shabby little home made costume. But gosh darn it, he's freakin cute if you ask me. Who knows how many more years my children will allow me to subject them to such torture ;)



Here we are with those pesky Garnette's again. They were all SO excited by this point!


Look how sweet Jordie's Belle costume is (from Beauty and the Beast). Her mama sewed it from her own old sub-ball maternity gown. Neat, huh?! When I grow up, I want to be able to make cool costumes like that ;)


Trick-or-Treat! Smell my feet! Gimme something good to eat!

Look at my -er, ummm- THEIR loot!

And to cap off the weekend, we went to see Wall-E at the dollar theaters, then headed to the carnival at Hickam AFB. The kids had lots of fun, but oh man my wallet is still crying. I took Conner and Jordie on the Scrambler (a big-kid ride!) and they had a blast! After that they got their faces painted.

PUMPKINS! :)

Click this video!

I've Been Tagged!

10 Years Ago, in October 1998, I was:
1. a sophomore in high school
2. dating a sweet kid named Doug
3. babysitting most weekends
4. getting ready for Homecoming!!
5. going to football games on Friday nights

Five things on today's "To Do" List:
1. Go to work
2. Take Conner to speech
3. Realize there is no speech today when we're already there
4. Go to the commissary and FINALLY use some coupons!
5. Work on our costumes

Five things that I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Invest
2. Travel Europe with my hubby
3. Buy a nice but modest home
4. Visit family more often
5. Save

Five places I have lived:
1. Anchorage, Alaska
2. Poulsbo, Washington
3. Silverdale, WA
4. Bremerton, WA
5. Honolulu, Hawaii

Five jobs I have had:
1. Custodian
2. Busser in bowling alley restaurant
3. Caregiver to developmentally disabled adults
4. Nanny
5. Newborn photographer

Okay the five people I'm tagging are:
1. Lea
2. Chas
3. Rachel
4. Rochelle
5. Amy Jo

Need Some Inspiration!

'Tis the season to think about Halloween costumes! I'm a frequent reader of Tip Junkie, and they recently discussed family themed costumes, so it got me thinking that I need some input! I like to do a family theme, but unfortunately this year, the hubster has duty on Trick-or-Treat Eve, so he won't be joining us this time.

Last year, when Conner insisted on being Buzz Lightyear, I decided we'd be a cast of characters from Toy Story. Our costumes weren't super awesome, but they were good enough to win us a costume contest at the mall LOL!

See? Conner was Buzz, I was Jessy, Curtis was Woody, and baby Cohen was one of those little green aliens from the arcade grabby machine hehehe. Can you see it? Most people couldn't figure out what Cohen was...

Maybe this split-screen will help. Seperated at birth, no? Freakin cute, either way ;)

ANYWHO...

So I need some inspiration for this year. I was throwing some ideas at Conner a few weeks ago. One of them was cookies and milk. So now he's got it in his head that he'll be a chocolate chip cookie. I figure I'd make 2 big cookies out of poster board and hang them over his shoulders by twine? Clearly, I'm only capable of VERY easily assembled costumes LOL (as seen by our Toy Story ensembles). Any other ideas? I think I'm going to be a carton of milk. Cohen... I know he won't tolerate a real costume. I thought about just pinning a bunch of cut out cookies to his clothes? But that's dumb, right? I dunno! Thoughts please!!

PS...

I miss fall...

I miss sweaters, and cute stocking caps, and cider, and cold noses, and pumpkins, and boots. Its just not the same when its 80 degrees in Hawaii ;)

It Has Been Brought to My Attention...

That I am a boring blogger. My dear, darling, beautiful, and (most importantly) frugal friend Lea recently left this comment on my blog:

"Ok....so let me get this straight... I teach you overage, learn you the art of Coopon Recon, take you to Five Star Sunday Brunch, Car chase law breakers, and steal things from peoples back yards and you post about a ... R U G!! Seriously!?"

So to appease Miss Thang, here you go. A little more about myself you might find interesting.

Or disturbing.

Did you know that lately I've been saving an average of 80-100% off of my grocery bill? Oh yes, I do. Its delicious. I do it with coupons, if you must know. Just don't ask me how I get so many coupons, ok?

I said don't ask! Twist. My. Arm..... YEOWCH! UNCLE!!! OK, OK... Jeeze! Here it goes... its called Coupon Recon, or better known as Dumpster Diving!

THERE! I said it! I get into recycling dumpsters voluntarily and collect as many coupons as I can at a time. I go with 2 other friends (and I'm only outting YOU, Lea... mwa hahahaha!) on Sunday nights. Its a BLAST. Its an art-form. Perhapse one day maybe Lea will send me the pics we took at Candy Mountain. Leeaaaa?? You hear me? EMAIL! Blogs are better with photographic evidence, don'tya know? ;)

And yes, we've been busted before. The stories I could tell you would have you pee your pants with laughter. Or maybe only I pee my pants when I laugh... hey, I've had 2 kids, don't judge me. It really is good fun. Call me trashy, whatever... I walk out of the commissary with $80+ in free groceries every week, do you?!

And to touch on the other things that Lea talked about in her comment earlier...

* A couple weeks ago, Lea took me to a 5-Star brunch at a super swanky hotel on the beach. It was pretty much the most glorious day of my life (well, besides the times I pushed 2 little blonde monkeys into existance). I cried tears of joy atleast 12 times, the food was THAT good. We both went back for probably 5 plates of food. Oh yes, we did. And then she pushed me in her stroller back to the car. Because I was too fat/sick to walk. It happened.
But not the stroller part. I pushed HER.

* On our way home, we chased bad guys in our car (hey, we witnessed blatant child abuse, we weren't gonna let it slide). A couple of vigilante moms, doin' what was right. We made a police report and everything. I hope they caught that lady...

* And YES, I take things from curbs and back yards. Wait, wait... don't throw stones just yet! There was a SIGN saying I could! We kind of have a habit of driving the nice neighborhoods once a month to see what kinds of treasures people put on the curb for the bulk trash guys to pick up. Some things I've scored: a matching (but smaller) buffet to the one I already have, an outdoor climbing toy with slide for the kids, brand new bookshelves, an eliptical machine, stroller, a Razor dirt bike/motorcycle (!!!). Those are the main things, but there have been many more. Its great fun, if you ask me. Call me a cheapskate, I don't care! Those things would go to the dump if we didn't save them!

SO. There you have it. All my dirty little secrets. Did you learn something new about me? Did you lose some respect for me?? Hey, don't forget to lose some respect for Lea too... she was in on ALL of it!

Now, back to my regularly scheduled programming.... RUGS.

His birthday was dino-mite!

Ok so his birthday was on the 4th, so I'm a bit late in posting this. Better late than never, eh? Here he is posing in front of our family's birthday flag. Too bad we don't have a flag pole to fly it on! He started his day at preschool, where he got to pass out the home made chocolate chip muffins with icing and sprinkles on top that we made together. He was SO proud, and got to wear a birthday crown while his classmates sang "Happy Birthday" to him!

Conner asked for a strawberry dinosaur cake, so that's what his mama made for him! I kept it hidden from him, so he was seeing it for the first time here. Awww, I love this pic :)

There was no big party; instead we had a few close friends over for cake and ice cream after dinner that day. It was perfect! Here's Jordie and Conner, the betrothed LOL. She's his bestie :)

Me and my boy... gosh I can't believe how fast he's growing up. FOUR already?! Since when was I old enough to have a FOUR year old?!

Oh, and here's my creation. Nothing super awesome, but I think he got a kick out of it! Maybe someday I'll actually put my Wilton cake decorating classes to use and make a fancy shmancy cake. We'll see...

Conner was thrilled to get all these cards from his grandmas and grandpa's!! And look at the neat pop-up dino book he got from my dad... we only read this one when Cohen's napping, otherwise he'd destroy it LOL. Last but not least, his new dinosaur tshirt from Grandpa! I think he wore this for... oh... 4 straight days? It was washed, and now he's wearing it again haha.

Happy 4th birthday, Conner Allen! We love you so much!!