Just finished a good book....

I have read a few of Richard Paul Evans' books now and I have really enjoyed each one. He seems to create characters and settings that just pull me into the story. I finished 414 pages of The Locket this evening and loved it. I started yesterday and just couldn't put it down. So needless to say the laundry did not get finished and I didn't get my bathroom cleaned like I planned to do today!

At the beginning of each chapter there is a quote from one of the main characters in the story. Each quote is quite thought provoking. On his website you can get a free copy of an e-book called The Quotable Evans, Diaries, Letters, and Lessons from his books. Also, when you join his email list he donates $1 to a children's charity.

I am going to look for more of his books on the www.paperbackswap.com where I trade my books!

Just needed a gallon of milk.....came home with a deal!

We needed milk for the morning and for Emily's 3 am snack! (No, she is not sleeping through the night yet!!!!!) and I just didn't want to drive to Winco at 11:38 pm. So I ran to Albertsons to get one gallon of milk for morning. It seems like I JUST bought 6 gallons of milk and somehow we went through the last two gallons in the last two days! You would think these kids are growing....

So on to my deals....

When you walk into the foyer of Albertsons, where you pick-up your cart, there were baskets of discounted items. I didn't pay attention to the amount of the discount, I just had a take a quick look. I LOVE a good deal! There were lots of vitamins, shampoos, misc. cold remedies, etc. I found a package of 8 bars of SafeGuard Antibacterial soap. It was marked $5.49 and I when I checked out those 8 bars only cost $1.37!!!!!! And I did buy both 8 bar packages that I found in the baskets! As I was leaving the store I noticed that the discount on those basket items was 75% off!!!! I think that I will go back and check out the baskets a little more closely!!!

Also, there are quite a few cereals on sale for $1.99. I don't normally buy the boxed cereals, especially at Albertsons. But right now if you buy 4 boxes of specific cereals that are $1.99 right now you will also get a coupon for a free gallon of milk!!!!

Wahoooo.......I will get my free gallon tomorrow when I go back and look at those 75% off carts!

Did I mention that I LOVE a good deal????

Overheard....

Overheard from Logan to Carson:

"Everyone has to do things they don't want to do, darn it! If you're like this when you're grown up, you'll never get married... I'm talking about your personality. People just don't like it when you act this way."

Almost all put away......

I have finally got everything from Christmas packed back into their boxes and put away. This only took a week to get it all back out to the garage. As I was un-decorating, the children all complained and said how they wished we didn't have to take down the lights. They also didn't want me to take down our new nativity set. They thought that we should leave this up all year. I had thought about doing that too, but put it away anyhow. We had excitement each night at our house as we awaited the arrival of a new surprise each night for the 12 days before Christmas. Our Secret Santa brought so much joy to our home. Each night a new treat of some kind would appear at our door and one piece of this nativity set was also included. Their gifts were fun and generous! I would place each piece on the shelf in the hallway. The children would take turns opening the gift each night. We even left a treat out for them one night. That was fun! I will always cherish this nativity set. It represents what Christmas really means and the example of Christ-like love that we need to remember each day. We don't know who our Secret Santa is and I am a little sad since I cannot express my love and appreciation for their generosity and kindness to us. It means so much to me and my family!
While putting away the rest of the decorations I pulled the little box out and replaced this special nativity back in the hall where it was during Christmas. A little later Logan came and gave me a kiss and said "Thanks for putting the nativity back!"

I too was a little sad to take the trees down and put away the lights. The light of hope that we received from so many this Christmas season will light my heart all year long! We are grateful to all who made our Christmas so merry!

Happy 11th Birthday Carson!!!!

Carson has the hardest time waiting for his birthday. It seems like is birthday is last even though it is in January. All the other children's birthdays start with one in September, one in October, and 3 in November. Then he has to wait through Christmas. All of this waiting is painful for him. I have to be sure that his birthday doesn't lack any of the excitement given to the other kids.Carson had a very specific request for his cake. He wanted a layer of strawberry cake, a layer of chocolate cake with strawberry frosting between these layers and the entire cake frosted in chocolate frosting. This was quite a yummy combination. And after all that he only ate one piece of the entire cake!The newest craze is Bakugan. Carson received some of the Bakugan game stuff for Christmas and so it was easy to add to that new collection and he was thrilled.Steve happened to hit the 1/2 off sale at Sam's Club and got some good deals on Spy gear and a few other toys too. This boy had Christmas all over again! Many times a day you can hear the warning alarm of the motion sensor before the spy gear shoots little blunt arrows at the offender. Emily is her mother's daughter and loves chocolate cake and chocolate frosting! She was all too happy to sit with Aunt Tami and help her out in cleaning her plate!

Christmas Day 2008...

We had a wonderful Christmas with my sister and all the grandparents over for the day. This children were delighted in all that they received. Even Emily got into the unwrapping of gifts. The family room floor was quite a disaster and took a few days before I could really say it was all picked up.

Christmas Jammies

Each Christmas Eve the children get to open one present, their Christmas Jammies. Emily got some too, but she was already in bed when we opened the jammies, she had been sick with ear infections. This is another fun tradition. A few years ago, about 6 yrs, I made everyone bathrobes. I think I will need to do that for this next year. Their bathrobes now look like wrap around shirts they are so short! Their jammies, with the excluseion of Jonny's, each cost $4 from Walmart. They had this big display of $4 jammies one day, so I grabbed them, $35 for jammies for 6 kids, not bad! The only downside, the boy's needed the bigger size that was all gone. Logan has a grimace on his face as he is sure his jammies are WAY to small and therefore he can't wear them.

The Children's Christmas Tree

We have two trees at our house each Christmas. One for the children and one for me, more formally decorated. Jonny's first Christmas he was given and ornament from our friends/Grandparents, The Manns. The next year or two they continued to do so. So I decided to do the same and continue that tradition for each of my children. So now each year the children get a new ornament to put onto their tree. As you can see their tree is filling up. You can't see the ornaments on the sides and towards the back of the tree. The children also have ornaments that they have made at school and ones they receive from Primary each year, as well as any that we have made as a craft project. There are about 65 ornaments altogether that they put onto the tree. The children have so much fun decorating their tree. They love pulling out their ornaments and reminiscing each year.
I am afraid, with 6 kids adding 6 ornaments a year, I am going to need a larger tree before they all move out and take their ornaments with them. I might just have to trade my 9ft tree with their 7ft tree before too many more Christmases. This is a fun tradition!!!!

I Did NOT take this photo....

While uploading pictures from my camera recently I came across this photo. Hmm....why would I take a picture of this? I DIDN'T!!!! Some little elf(Katie) got ahold of my camera!!!!! It makes me laugh!

The best gift .....

Each of the children comment on a regular basis on how lucky we are to have Emily. They will tell me how lucky we are to have this little miracle in our family. And I must agree! Emily is the best gift we have received in a long time!