TIME FLIES!

Wow! It has been months... busy, busy, busy! We had a great, but short summer. Back to school again. The kids are loving their new school. Jerome is in MIDDLE School! He loves it, and can't believe that he ever had to spend all day with 1 teacher. Kevin and Kendra are enjoying the freedom that comes with going to school at a different school than mom work's at! Kendra started piano lessons and cheer leading! FUN FUN FUN!

I am still enjoying coupons! We have never ate better!

We enjoyed our summer vacation. Visiting Washington DC, New York, Boston, Mystic Sea Port, my God parents, and the kids biological great aunt! Here are a few highlight pics :)

Washington DC

New York

Boston


Mystic Sea Port



Hope you feel caught up!

Time Spent.... Shopping

What have I been doing lately you ask... shopping and soccer... Soccer ends next week, as we have our final 3 games, and then the awards ceremony. I'll be sure to post pics next weekend. Work is coming to a close for this year... and I couldn't be happier! Summer here we come...

So what have I been doing (obviously not blogging) but I have been shopping with coupons... last week I spent $48 and saved $134... a savings of 74%! It has been tons of fun, and we have never had so much food! Take a look at our pantry.

We did take the kids to Star Wars Weekend out at Disney on Sat. It was great fun, however I could have done without the rain! I'll add the pics as soon as Lowell edits them...

Soccer Soccer, more Soccer

As promised, here are some soccer pics of Kevin. He was so thankful to be able to live with such a nice family who would take him to soccer. It was "sad" to see him sit out last weekend, but in the end a much more grateful and obedient child emerged. :)

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, Publix, and Construction

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer! I have been to 6 games in the last 8 days! Not to mention four practices... I am learning so much about the game. Good news is, it is really fun to watch my kids play. The surprise, Kendra is really good at soccer. She is not afraid to go in the mix, and get the ball. I am lucky enough to watch her practice on Thursday nights, and play in her games on Sat mornings.




Kevin practices on Tuesday nights. That is a Daddy practice so I do not have the pleasure of attending. Lucky Lowell gets to take Kevin on Tuesdays. Kevin has a great coach who has worked with kids before (you can tell!) Kevin is enjoying soccer. Many of my pic of Kevin did not turn out, because he was in on the action, and kept chasing the ball....



Jerome plays his game at the same time on Sat as Kevin. I sit between the two fields, and try to watch both games. Jerome is on a team with only 4 players, so they all play the game the entire time! He is so tired by the end of the game. He is really enjoying soccer.




After practice on Thursdays, we take a trip to Publix. I have had so much fun saving money! Here is just one of my trips...



Grandma and Grandpa were great sports and joined us at the soccer games this Sat. Kendra and Jerome were thrilled to play for Grandma and Grandpa. Kevin was learning a life lesson and was unable to play this Sat. as his consequence for several negative choices he made. He hopes to be playing again next week!



Lowell and I have been working ourselves silly making our house have 4 bedrooms. We added a wall, and cut out another wall for a door. Lowell was able to do the electric, too, and wow! we are tired! It has turned out great. All the kids are so excited to have their own rooms. I am happy that my house is almost put back together again... Almost.

Spring Break, Great Grandma's 80th, Easter

I am a little behind in my posting this month... I have just been exhausted. We had a great spring break. After 4 restful days of laundry and house cleaning, we drove to Ft. Myers for my Grandma's 80th birthday. We were able to go to Sanibel Island for one of the days. We had mud pie at McTee's and then went for an amazing walk on the beach!



Sorry, no pics of the beach, but I kicked myself all night for leaving it in the car. The tide went out fast, while we were walking around, and left the sand bar showing. The kids were so excited to see all of the sea animals on the sand bar. We had hermit crab races, saw what the kids called a sea slug, saw many critters that lived in shells, muscles, and even some other kinds of crab. We saw jelly fish (scary) and even star fish (that we helped by tossing back into deeper water). The kids collected millions (ok, probably not millions but lots) of shells to take home, and we spent about 3 hours cleaning and playing with on the following day.





After 2 days of great behavior, we went to Chuck E Cheese for Friday night fun. Cousin Kaitlyn made it to Ft. Myers just in time to join us! Kendra and Kaitlyn had a blast playing together while the boys went off to play video games.



At the end, Kendra had won enough tickets to get her and Kaitlyn a large sucker, so the wonderful mom I am, I bought one for the boys. No one could believe that they could eat them on the way home!



On Saturday, it was Great Grandmas family party! She reports that it was her best birthday ever... (more pics to come!)




Then on Sunday, it was Easter. Off to the egg hunt we go! The kids had fun having our Easter Celebration in Ft. Myers, and the retired neighbors LOVED watching the egg hunt from their windows!







Then it was time to drive back to Kissimmee, and off to another week at work. I am still recovering from the "break" but it was tons of fun!

Van's Skate Park

Grandma told Jerome for his 12th birthday she would take him to Vans Skate Park. I was hoping not to go, not really wanting to witness my son flying down a 12 foot ramp! However, I had to go to sign the release form (not to sue if my kid dies on the ramps) and as it turned out, we had a GREAT TIME! Jerome hopes to go again. He is earning money to return to Vans by reading and making his AR goal.



Thank you Grandma for taking me to Vans!



Thank you mom for buying me a $75 skateboard!



I have been busy with the coupon adventure... Got 4 packs of Prevacid (14 count) for .99 and 2 FREE scrubby bubbles cleaners. I am trying to keep tabs on what I am spending while I "save" money. I'd like to see what our budget ends up averaging out to over a few months. I'll keep you posted.

Cheap Cheap Cheap

Coupons! I have had a blast playing with the coupons! THANKS mom for saving them for me! I have them organized in a system that I think will work for me (thanks to Heather's system, mine is similar!)



Here are the deals I got today.... I can't wait until I have a few more weeks of coupons saved up, and a few duplicates so that I can get more than 2 boxes at these great prices.... Drum roll please....



Ritz Munchables .83 per box, complete care tooth paste .25 per 6 oz tube, Herbal essences shampoo 1.50, cheerios 1.15 per box, FREE yogurt... and my fave 3 boxes of ziploc bags in which I will MAKE .50 owning... :)

I was sad that my store did not have the chips I should have for a dollar a bag, or the automatic shower cleaner I was hoping to get for .99, or the right kind of pasta for .33 a box, but do not worry, I will try again at the store across town tomorrow!

If you are interested in this kind of savings, please see www.symphonyofsavings.com, a website my friend has started.

***Update****

Well the 2nd Publix trip was Wonderful! It was a much better experience, and next time I will start at that Publix. They had many of the "blinkies" and even had some coupons taped to the items they went with! I enjoyed the strawberries, pound cake, and cool whip deal was my fave, $1.14 for 2 packs of strawberries, 2 cool whips, and 1 pound cake. I even had enough coupons to do that deal TWICE :) Fun! The picture shows what I took home for $12 and I saved $32!



I was able to get several things for FREE, and that was too much fun! Walgreens, CVS, and Mail-in-Rebates = FREE!

Field Trip!

The weather was beautiful this week... mid to lower 70's. I joined Kendra on a field trip on Monday. I was told we were going to be learning about worms. Kendra was so excited to see me "hold a worm", but when we arrived at Langford Park, due to some mistake, we learned about fish. It was nice. The kids got to "cast" a fishing pole (minus the hook) at several targets in the park after playing a Jeopardy game answering fishy questions. We had a nice day together.



On Saturday our family took a field trip of our own, and had family dinner night at Magic Kingdom. What fun!



We went on Carousel of Progress, had dinner, went on Buzz Lightyear Star Command, walked over to Toon Town and saw the Princesses, then went to see Lowell at work in the Mickey Tent.



Aunt Amanda and Kaitlyn ended the night at Its' A Small World, while the Deese's and Grandma and Grandpa continued on with a Coke break, and then Hall of Presidents. We then joined the wall of humanity that stood to watch the fireworks. We said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and went for one last ride, Space Mountain. Then for the trek to the car.... It was a nice night had by all.

Happy

My mom has been working on a surprise gift for my Grandma's 80th Birthday.... while doing so, we have been gathering old photos. How fun to look back at pics of my grandparents when they were young. I remember hearing many stories about my Grandpa playing basketball.



These pictures just make me smile.... I am so thankful that my kids know my Grandma, and wish they could have known my Grandpa.



I look at this picture, and see the face of my Mom in my Grandma. How beautiful :)

One Busy Week!

Kevin was the Soccer Star this week, as Kendra and Jerome's soccer practice was rained out. Kevin can't wait for Lowell's day off for a soccer photo shoot!

Kevin did a nice job at school taking the FCAT this week. Fingers crossed for a 5 in reading and math this year...



I was thrilled to let Lowell take Kendra to the salon to get her hair done. He was finally able to experience the 5 hour wait for her hair to be done. I giggled to hear that Kendra requested beads be put on her braids... that's my girl! As soon as they got home (just hours before Kevin's first soccer practice) Lowell set up the photo equipment, and Kendra had her smile on!



Jerome was cute as a button (not that 12 year olds like to hear their moms' say that) but he was so sad when a staff member from his school moved back to CA to be near her family. He burst into tears while telling me. My sensitive young man... He is over the moon about soccer practice starting this week... hope he still likes it after a week of practice. Kevin seemed concerned that it might require some work, and practice. :)

Weekend Fun!

Sadly another weekend has come and gone. However, we had some fun to share with you. Saturday Night was spent at Aunt Amanda's new house. Kaitlyn learned to roller skate with the kids in the court, and then showed them how to play on her new swingset.

Kevin had a full hour of Emily fun as he played with her in the basement. They went "shopping" as Emily pushed the shopping cart. Emily loves her cousin Kevin as she was heard laughing and laughing with Kevin!


Then the shows began as the girls had rehearsed all evening a ballet routine. The wood floors and a pair of tights will cause even the most reserved to spin, spin, spin!


On another note, Lowell and I have now been happily married for over 10 years as we celebrated our 10 year anniversary last December. We loved getting away and spending time alone on a 4 day, 3 night Disney Cruise. A big thanks to my mom for keeping all 3 kids for us!

Saturday Night Live

Each Saturday night we have family dinner. My parents, sister and family, and myself and family all get together for dinner. We started eating out at restaurants for family dinner night, but have grown into a family of 11, so we now cook in. Each week we take turns hosting the dinners. You never know what might happen at family dinner.

A photo shoot for ballerina's...



a display of brotherly love...



a wii showdown...



or Grandpa in Lizzie McGuire pajamas!



But one thing is for sure, we enjoy each others company and have tons of fun!