Wild Weekend

Friday we had Xander's 15 month check-up. He is doing great!

"A picture of us cuz we are girls" Gabriella said. 

Xander!

On Saturday Munchie and I ran by to visit Grampa Ace in his new house. He is at a memory care facility now. He was very happy to see us and gave Gabriella lots of candy. 

In the car on the way home from visiting Grampa Gabriella made some crazy faces....

Our adopted outside cat had kittens a week ago. They are very cute!

This one Gabriella named Lucky (from a Dora episode)

Kids playing in the dirt in the flower bed. 

Xander signing "please" because he wanted to pet one of the kitties. 

He loves them!

Matt holding one of the gray ones. 

Gabriella petting it. She won't hold them because she says their paws are too pokey and they hurt her. 

Giving it kisses!

Sunday we headed to Medford at 8 am when Matt had a call for work. We did some couponing over there and then headed to Zac & Naomi's house for a visit. Zac suggested us girls head out and have a nice time by ourselves while he and Matt kept all the kids. Such a nice time! It was fun to go couponing (again!) and to lunch by ourselves! We have some great hubbies!!!

Eliana showed Gabriella how funny it was to talk into the fan. Gabriella sat in front of it for a long time laughing and yelling into it. 

About 4 minutes down the road she crashed out in the car!

Mmmmmm, quinoa-etti (quinoa with spaghetti sauce on it) for dinner!

My couponing for the day. 

All of this is regularly $157.29 (at Rite-Aid and Walgreens)

After coupons, rebates, and register rewards I paid $11.93

(Just to show how awesome that is, the razor is priced $11.99 by itself. So its like I bought the razor and got everything else for free!)

It includes 2 boxes of Clear Eyes, 2 Neosporin Wound Cleansers for Kids, 2 bottles of Almay oil-free eye make-up remover pads, 2 Covergirl Lash Blast Mascaras, 4 Covergirl Outlast Nail Polish, 3 boxes of Always maxi-pads, Maybelinne New York eye shadow and eye liner, 4 packs of 5-count Zyrtec, and two boxes of 12 count Maxwell House K-cups. 

Saturday Fun

Saturday we spent most of the day outside working in our garage and around the house. Here are some of the silly things we did!

Xander was trying to push the lawnmower while Gabriella was "fixing" it with one of Matt's screwdrivers she found. 

I took Xander for a ride on the hand-truck. 

Xander pushed Gabriella around in the stroller. 

Gabriella got out of the stroller and said, "Xander, now you get in!" 

So he did!

 

Then she took him for a ride. 

Then we watered some of the plants in the front yard. 

Xander loves to do anything he sees you doing.

Munch loves the water!

And after dinner the kids helped me with the laundry....

Long Days are Still God's Days

Some days seem longer than others. I am well aware that every day is precisely the same amount of time, but  I am certain that some days those seconds CRAWL by and other days they sprint past. 

Today was a LONG day.

It has been filled with frustrations and tears. 

There have been lots of screams and temper-tantrums. 

It was a LONG day. 

But today, as every day, is the LORD's day!

It was also filled with smiles

silly things

giggles

family time

and my favorite little people. 

I am so THANKFUL that each day is a promise fulfilled

 and filled with bright HOPE for tomorrow!

A Wig Cap, Pretzels and a Smooshy Face

Under my wig I wear a little cap. It helps the wig from slipping around or making my head itchy. One of the kinds of caps you can use is a nylon one. Gabriella got a hold of it on Sunday night and put it on her head. 

Then she got a hold of Xander 

He loved it and got really upset when we took it off him. Matt and I had such a great laugh! 

Xander wearing my sleeping cap and glasses

Taking a good-night picture to send to gramma and grampa

I don't even have words for this picture....

Sweety pie!

I made homemade gluten free, dairy free, egg free pretzels. Mmmmmm!!

Smooshy Face!

Fun in the Garden

On Saturday it was surprisingly nice weather and we headed out to my parent's house to plant some seeds and visit with my family.

We went in to give the kids a bath after breakfast but Xander's bottle of baby wash had spilled and half the bottom of the tub was covered in it. I turned on the water and we had the hugest bubble bath ever! 

We rode out in Matt's new to him car with the windows down. Gabriella's hair was going crazy!

Silly Roo!

James picked a bunch of birdbill flowers and was very proud of them

Matt made a ramp for the kids to play cars on. They had a blast!

A big ol lizard my mom found

Jonathan was using the tractor to till up the garden and James got to drive for awhile.  

Gramma came out and was watering her roses. 

When I told Gabriella it was time to head up to the house to get lunch started she said, "Come on, great gramma, its time to go!"

Some lettuce starts we got from the Scotts (an awesome family from our church with an organic farm)

Two weeks ago Jonathan and April and James planted a bunch of chard, kale, lettuce, spinach, onions and carrot seeds. 

The other raised bed and strawberry plants behind it

Mom and I planted 4 types of tomatoes and three types of peppers in the greenhouse. 

Farmer Roo

Matt was installing a cold air intake valve on his car and James was "helping"

For lunch we roasted hotdogs and tried out mom's new fire-pit. It was a little smokey! We told April she must have been the most beautiful one there because no matter where she sat the smoke was blowing in her face!

Waiting for our hotdog!

A picture with no smoke!

Eating hotdogs!

We roasted a few marshmallows. Gabriella was super excited because she got to hold the roasting stick for the first time. 

About three minutes down the road on the way home she fell asleep holding her rice cake with almond butter.