Ready for what I paid out of pocket for all of this goodness??

$8.76!!

Here’s the breakdown:

CVS:

-2 Gallons of Whole Milk: $2.59/each, used $4.00 I had in ECBs=  $1.18

I got three HIGH VALUE Catalina coupons:

-$5 off a purchase of $15 or more (it expires tomorrow, which is kinda lame, but we’ll see if I use it)

-$2.00 off any Huggies Baby Wipe Tub or Refill

-$4.oo off Huggies Box Diapers

The total at CVS should have been:

$5.59

Target:

-7th Generation Dish Washing Liquid: $2.49, used Free coupon c/o Recylcebank= FREE

-Gilette Men’s Bodywash: $1.99/each, used $4/2 Gilette Men’s Body wash or Deodorant= 6 FREE BODY WASH, 2 FREE CLINICAL STRENGTH DEODORANT!

-Right Guard Travel Size Deodorant: .99¢/each. Used $2.00/2 coupon=FREE

- Iams Premium Cat food: $7.99, used $5.00 off any size Iams Premium coupon: $2.99

-Apple Juice: $3.74 (Price Cut for Target Brand Apple Juice)

-Kashi Cereal: $4.99, used FREE coupon from Freecycle= FREE

-Teddy Grahms: $2.00 each. Used Target Coupon for $1.00/2 and a Manufacturer’s coupon for $2.00/2= $1.00!

I also had a gift card with $2.01 on it (we bought drinks and popcorn when we started shopping).

So…the total at Target could have been:

$44.56!!

So, for both trips it should have cost me:

$50.15!!!

When we got done at Target, Josiah gave me a thumbs up and said “Good Shopping today, Mom!” It made me smile pretty big. I had to text Nichole and let her know what he did and she texted back part of Proverbs 31: “Her children will rise up and call her blessed!” That made me smile, too.

Just a friendly reminder to Moms out there: Remember to have fun. I was vacuuming the office today and then proceeded to vacuum my children. They loved it. It’s cliche, but kids won’t remember how clean your house was, but they will remember these types of moments.

P.S. Would you just look at those beautiful kids??

I love having a phone that takes quality pictures. I thought I would put up a few of my favorites from the last few weeks:

On the way home from Havasu.

Nadine at the vet's office.

This is Tigerlily. She's getting puffy, so I call her Alec Baldwin.

Josiah and the Meat cat. In the office waiting for new flooring.

Today we were in the car and I was listening to a sermon from Mark Driscoll. Josiah now recognizes his voice and asks:

“Mom is this about Princesses?”

(He’s talking about The Peasant Princess sermon series that Cameron and I have been listening to.)

I say :

“No. Not this one. It’s about Jesus.”

I pause for a moment and ask him, just to see what he thinks the sermons are about:

“Who is he talking about when he talks about a Princess?”

Josiah replies:
“Oh, you are a Princess Mommy.”

My son is going to make someone an incredible husband one day.

Cameron and I lost our minds on Friday and decided to go shopping. We were going to be committed to an asylum and headed to Toys R Us at midnight, fearing for our lives we turned around and left. We came back around 9:30 the next morning. We tromped through aisles, waded through crazies, and chased down those deals. We made it out of Toys R Us with about $50.00 in savings. I bough stuff that was on sale and took coupons. I’m intense.

We headed over to Target and jumped into that party. The front of the store was deceiving. Relatively quiet we felt a false sense of hope. To the toy section! Ack! All 2,000 people are in those few aisles. The treasures we found! We got Josiah a power wheels quad for $44! It wasn’t on his list, but I saw it and had to have it for him! It fit in our budget because we had spent so much less than expected.  We got his Santa present… an RC Car from Toy Story. Josiah has been waiting to ask Santa for this present since last month. He is focused in his hope for Jolly St. Nick to bring R.C. down his chimney.  I must pat my husband on the back for getting this R.C. I can’t wait for Christmas morning.

Mae is fun to shop for- she loves clothes, she loves shoes, she loves PINK. It’s almost too easy. We didn’t mean to, but it ended as a very Disney Princess Christmas. There will be many Tiana presents under the tree for Princess Mae.

We also managed to shop for new Christmas decorations, just a few things. I had wanted a little tinsel tree for the kid’s room. I finally got one. They decorated it Saturday morning. Instead of fixing the ornaments, I left them the way two very excited little kids had done it.

Sunday we hit the mall- I knew where the deals were. Crazy 8. It’s my favorite clothing store for the little ones, especially Mae. They have excellent sales and they are cute! I’m not really into preppy clothes for Josiah (Wow. I know, big shocker), and Crazy 8 tends to have more of what I like for him. Their Christmas outfits were on sale and had 25% more off the price because of the Black Friday weekend shopping.  I got a $26.00 jacket for Mae for $10.00!! The kids now have their holiday outfits for pictures with Santa and Christmas. BOOYA!

Did I mention that I have most of my Christmas cards written in, addressed and ready for mailing? Oh, I do. I can’t believe it! I don’t know what I’ll do for the rest of the month!

I’m gearing up for the “kid” part of Christmas for sure, but don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten why all this hustle and bustle started. Every night at dinner we’re reading a different part of the Christmas story. I’m glad I’m getting all this stuff done now. I can focus on Jesus more the closer we get to Christmas. I love instilling the real meaning of Christmas in my kids. Josiah was worried last night about Jesus laying where the animals ate out of. Can you blame him? Since I became a Mom (three years ago tomorrow!!), I’ve often wondered what Mary felt as she couldn’t offer her new baby the safety and warmth of her own home. I’ve even thought (as odd as it may seem), if she needed help breast feeding, or how they changed a baby then.  This girl was a teenager, with the responsibility of motherhood lying in a manger in front of her. For every bit of knowledge that she had about Jesus being the son of God, she probably had just as many worries about him from a Mother’s viewpoint.

Ok. That blog went from being incredibly light to very heavy. I guess that’s the balance we have to strike every Christmas. Remembering why we celebrate and celebrating in a meaningful way.

Maybe I’m setting Josiah up to be the coolest kid on the block. Maybe I’m setting him up to the be the biggest nerd on the block. I’m stuck between the two. If it wasn’t for his love of other kids and his socializing skills, I would go with nerd. I’m contemplating my son’s level of nerd because of this:

The kid comes running to me while he’s playing Star Wars Lego and says “Boba Fett has to fall in the Great Pit of Carkoon.”

Preschooler gibber-jabber? Hardly not. Here’s what he’s talking about:

The Sarlacc Pit in the Return of the Jedi

Boba Fett will kick your rear.

I’m not sure at what age I discovered Star Wars. I know that we had a copy of A New Hope on the end of VHS tape that my Aunt DeeDee made us. I was pretty young and that VHS  included several Gumby shorts before the Star Wars part. I’ve loved Star Wars for a long time, in high school I was way more open about it. I had a couple shirts, sported an Obi-Wan postcard on my locker. I had a light saber. Don’t judge me.  I can feel you all starting to judge me. Gah. That’s why I haven’t shared my nerdy Star Wars side with the internet… the judgement…

Anywho… I’ve passed this love of the Wars in Space to Josiah. The kid knows his stuff. He’ll even tell you: “Don’t get cocky kid!” He was Luke Skywalker for Halloween, we must go look at all the Star Tours merch in Disneyland. We watch the Star Wars Jedi Training Academy when we go. He gets what the hype is about. He can name every major character from every episode. While most kids his age are busy with Mickey Mouse Club House, Josiah is concerned with the Empire.  It’s pretty intense.

It’s like they say, the force is strong in this one.

Fun weekend, kids! Just kidding. I had wanted to do lots of Halloween-y things with the kids and do epic amounts of laundry. Guess what got done? Nothing. I watched a few documentaries on Netflix and caught up on my SNL episodes. Friday night held promise when we headed out to the drive-in theater to see “Wild Things” and “Astro Boy”. “Wild Things” is not a kid movie, it would hold Josiah’s attention for a few minutes at a time and he liked the movie. I’m guessing in about 14 years it will be a favorite of his. I ended up in the back of our CRV playing with the kids and occasionally watching the movie. That was alright.

I woke up the next morning to a very cranky Mae Baby in bed with me (which is weird, she’s a crib kid or the opposite of her brother). I picked her up to go change her and BLAM! BARF!! She gave me back several ounces of milk that I had given her earlier. Thanks! She quickly added a fever, snot nose and the stinkiest, leakiest bottom to the list of sickness. (Shout out to Fisher Price diapers: They are cheap but work incredibly well). That afternoon I started to feel like scratchy throat, stuffy nose death. I spend Saturday and Sunday taking care of her and myself (sort of). Cameron spends his weekend being Mr. Mom to Josiah.

Even though I still don’t feel good, I had a plan for today to go smoothly with the Sicky Mae, Josiah and I. Cameron obviously had to go back to work. My plan goes nowhere because I wake up to… PROJECTILE VOMITING IN MY FACE. Thank you Reagan from the Exorcist/my son. At least he wasn’t speaking Latin or levitating, because then I would have needed a couple of priests. Mae is still sick with a fever and she pukes on me as I go to get her ready for a trip to the doctor’s office. I have been thrown up on more times this weekend than ever before. I go to Urgent Care smelling like barf and not caring. I don’t care if you don’t like me smelling like stomach acid and the few animal crackers Mae ate before spewing on me. That’s your personal issue. Not mine.

Urgent Care is empty. That surprises me because apparently the flu is a national emergency and I heard there were people piling up in the streets who had died of swine flu. What? Oh, that’s just hype… Sorry. I believe everything TV tells me. They weigh Mae and swab her nose for Swine Flu (which is funny because I pictured a piggy nose getting swabbed). Guess how much Mae loved being swabbed? About as much as she loves her brother stealing toys from her. We are given a prescription for Tamiflu (which I’m still waiting for a call about). I come home to a husband slipping in and out of consciousness and a three year old who, despite the proclamation earlier of “I’m barfing!” and a 101.4 fever, is all over the place and can’t simply watch a movie. I clean and organize everything to help keep order during our bout of fun with Mr. Flu. I get both my children down for naps, I eat a little left over food, watch a little TV and now I’m writing this while I’m a little bit “buzzed” from cough meds.

That’s all for now. I think I might try to get a little rest before anything else happens.

Being a Mom is awesome.

Dear Readers,

My husband is going to be a rock legend for Halloween:

Can you guess which one Cam's going to be?

Is it just me or is there a level of creepy resemblance between Cam and Jimmy?

Here’s my terrifying, horrible costume:

**Refrain from Screaming***

I’m dressing as my crazy nemesis: Courtney Love. Look out world!!

I just found my favorite new Mommy blog! www.tulipgirl.com

Here’s a “Mommy Inspiration” that she had on there:

We’ve forgotten what Luther said. We don’t parent to demonstrate the Gospel — to show those around us how beautifully we can do it all. No, we parent because it is the Gospel — because God takes us in as foundlings, lifts us up as His own, loves us even when we stink, puke, and screach, and He dresses us, carries us, and loves us.

It’s not about showing. It’s about loving. It’s not about beauty. It’s about serving the smallest and the littlest in the darkest part of the night when there’s no one is up except us and that wee one and God.

– Camille

Thank you Jesus for my babies, my children that you so graciously gave me. Even when it’s hard and exhausting I will try to remember to extend the grace you gave me to them. Thank you for their messes, their creations, their hugs, their words. Thank you that you gave them a Daddy to love them and be a protector to them. Thank you for their innocence and creativity. Thank you for knitting them together inside of me. Give me the strength to give to them what they need to become the man and woman that you want. Let me teach Josiah to be a Man after your own heart. Let me teach Mae about true beauty. Don’t let me worried about my image as a mother to the outside world, let my only concern be my children’s hearts.

Amen.