Our New Big Toy!

Okay, I am back. I am not going to try to catch you all up at once...I may go backwards a bit...but I am just going to jump in where I am at...a lesson from flylady :)

So now that we are all moved in, we decided we needed to do something with the 2.5 acres we have....We, well okay, Mike has drawn out the plans for the whole yard....except for the front hill which we just haven't figured out yet....Included in the plans was a big toy or swing set for the kids...

Two weeks ago, Mike found a nice one on Craig's list. Of course it was more than I was planning on spending but I think it is well worth it! We picked a nice flat area out in the back ....well we thought it was flat...Turned out there was a serious slope that we just didn't notice, but it was still the flattest area and it is directly out from the kitchen so I can see the kids from the house (once they are bigger and don't need constant supervision).

So we started digging. Mike rigged up a rope and stakes and leveled them all up so we knew what we needed to hit...In some areas we had over 16 inches to dig away and in others we had to fill quite a bit as well. It took all our evenings for a week, Mike shoveling and me raking out his wheelbarrows full of dirt to level out the rest.



Then we had to set it up. The top fort was over 300 pounds and we had to lift it and prop it up to get the legs on. Oh my goodness we were both super sore and covered in bruises. But we did it.



Here we are stilling missing the monkey bars that come out parallel to the slide, but we have installed them now. Mike even pressure washed the whole thing and we are hoping to re-stain it and the back deck next week.



The kids love it. The only problem is we haven't gotten the pea gravel for the bottom yet. But seriously that is going to cost a bit more than expected so that will come. Hopefully we will be able to do a 10 yard truck this month, and then maybe another one next month...oh and we have to install all the beams to keep the gravel in place...



After it is all said and done I think this will be a toy that will be loved by my kids. I think its just great to have a playground and maybe it will give me a few moments of peace

3 months, wow

Wow, it's really been 3 months since I have blogged...That is just insane. But with Mike and I both working full-time and opposite schedules and lugging kids to and from grandma's, school, and home...blogging has sadly gotten pushed aside.

But here I am...with some updates.

We are buying a house!! Its a 4bd 2100 sq. ft 1 level house. I love it and its on 2.5 acres in a new community. It was built in 06 and was foreclosed so it has only had one owner and is in really good shape. We had the inspection done and the only thing found was a missing wall heater. Other than that we are good!

Here are a couple pictures....I don't have one of the outside because the time I had my camera it was dark outside..but its cute and kinda shaped like an L







Well I have to run Ashley out to the bus so that is it for now but you can expect more frequent updates....I promise !

Little Black Dress

Yay, Last night I was working out some reshop at work and I ran across a little black dress on clearance....The joys of working out reshop. This particular dress is only available online and thus was purchased and returned...And because we don't carry it at our store it was deeply discounted. I snagged it up for 7 bucks....whoohoooo!



It is super flattering and fits me just perfectly....mmmm, I love me a black dress....Now I just need to find an occasion to wear it!

50 Books...

Okay so my New Years Resolution for this year was to read 100 books. I have been working on it but am not quite as far as I was hoping to be.. But all in all I have hit the 50 book mark!!! It is a huge thrill for me as I don't think I have ever come close to reading that many books in a single year...Right now I am currently reading 2 books so hopefully I can pick up the pace so I can make it closer to reaching my goal. Yay! I think this is the first year ever that I have actually made a solid effort in reaching my New Years Resolution. Plus I am still working on it and there are only 2 months left....Super....Any good book recommendations?

Do the Puyallup!

Okay so this post is totally late but there were some cute pictures so I wanted to post it anyway....Oh and the pictures are in complete backwards order.... so I guess I'll start there

Mike and the kids chose the sky ride as the last ride of the day. We were waiting around to meet my mom and sister and they were getting hot. We didn't realize this was going to be the end of the fair day for us but poor little Ashley decided that for us. About 10 minutes later we decided to go and visit the farm animals/petting zoo and Ashley decided to puke on the ground....oops...Turns out she had heat stroke. It was hot and we were all getting fussy anyways and it was so crowded there just wasn't anywhere cool to stop and take a break.



The kids absolutely loved the rides. I think the airplane...being the roughest ride by far was their favorite!


Ashley loved the slides and Benny...umm, not so much...When we got to the bottom, he said...."That was wheelie scary mommy"




They loved driving the pink car too! But it was so darn hard to get a picture of them....





Our mode of transportation...I do have to say...Daddy had a sore arm after 4 hours of lugging them around ;)



The canoe ride...I remember this ride when I was little and I actually have pictures of myself riding it....but come on...I don't think they have cleaned it since then...wow yuck!

Pumpkin Patch

Last week we took the kids to the fresh fruit stand...turned Pumpkin Patch. Its pretty small (especially compared to some we visited in ND) but it was just enough to keep the kids entertained and busy without getting bored. Oh and it wasn't very cold either so that was a huge plus (especially over ND ;))



After reviewing this picture I realized that Ashley's lazy eye is still there. For some reason I never see it...not sure why...but other people tell me so. So this picture is my reminder to get her into the eye dr. again to see what should be done. Yay.


Cheezy Benny...He loved posing but boy oh boy that kid is fast. Most of the pictures I ended up with are the back of his head, so this one is a keeper!



Sitting together but of course neither is really looking at the camera


Benny picked out my pumpkin ;)


The mums! I love mums!



Oh such a pretty tractor...if a tractor can be pretty that is

Target Deal!

So I made a trip to target the other day and decided to share a picture of my goodies...Now everything in this picture was purchased at Target for under $3.50. It was so exciting! Plus it was all stuff that we would normally use...the only exception were the blueberry poptarts (which I normally wouldn't buy). Yay, go coupons...and team member discount ;)

Savings Galore

So I decided to try couponing a bit more seriously this last shopping trip.

My inspiration is a woman that shops at Target, quite frequently. She comes up with a cart full of stuff and ends up paying very little. The other day I hung around the lane in awe watching how high the total came to and then how low it went after all the coupons. The last time it got up to over 80 bucks and she ended up paying 20 bucks and got 3 gift cards totaling 15 bucks.... I was shocked and jealous at the same time.

I decided to try this and to see how well I could do. With Mike (hopefully) starting back to work our budget is going to be tight so cutting our food budget down would be great!

So today I ventured out to do some shopping...I ended up spending 122.61...but I saved more than 99.00 in coupons and sales!!! So I saved nearly half! Wow

Some of my greatest buys were:

#1. 10 individual string cheese packets from Target that ended up free
#2. 8 boxes of cereal (cinnamon toast crunch, cocoa puffs, trix, ect...all the stuff I normally don't buy) all for 2.75....drum roll....that comes out to 34 cents a box....wowzers.

So I think I am going to try to stick with this. It does take a bit more planning and more time and more printer ink but all in all, I like saving money!!!!

Next up...the New Park

On the way home from the Children's Museum we decided to stop at a small park that is being built or at least is in the planning/fund-raising process. I drive by this little park every day on my way to work and I see the sign saying the trails are now open. So we decided to take a little hike and see how it went. The kids loved it.


It took us about 20 minutes or so to walk the trails and I think there was one more loop we didn't take. The kids enjoyed not having to hold our hands and they could run ahead to their hearts content. The only drawback we noticed was that you could still hear the cars and traffic driving by..but other than that it was fun.



We also stopped and took a closer look at the sign posted at the entrance and realized that right now it is just trails but soon....(we hope) it will include walking trails, 2 soccer fields, 2 baseball fields, a basketball court, a sand volley ball court, pavilion area and a nice park area with trees and gardens.. I just can't wait.

Free Friday at the Children's Museum

So I have been on the look out for free or cheap family friendly events online and I heard about a free day at the children's museums....most of the ones around here do it too so we have a few to check out. Today was the first free day that has occurred where I wasn't working so we took advantage and headed out to play.

We picked the Children's Museum of Tacoma for our activity today and it turned out well. It was a bit smaller than I had imagined but in all reality it was plenty for the kids to do and kept us all entertained for a full hour which was perfect since our parking space was only good for an hour....

They choose monthly themes and this month was a book about coyotes and Native American history.

They also had an art room which I think was my kids favorite! But they also enjoyed the blocks and movie maker




So if you are in the area on the first Friday of the month be sure to check it out. It was not overly crowded, especially being a free day. The kids were kept busy and there were a bunch of different activities there to do! Overall this was an event that we will gladly participate in again!

FICRA FAIR 2009

Today we took the kids to the annual Fox Island Community Fair. It was pretty small but it was perfect for the time we had before I had to be at work. The kids each got to ride the pony and get their faces painted....Oh the fun times!!

Ashley chose a rainbow

Benny chose the rainbow too but then changed to curious George the monkey...poor benny's didn't last long as he was already starting to smear it before he left the booth.


Then they got to play on the toys at the park and then finally they moved on to the pony's!



Benny chose to ride on the saddle and he liked it a lot for the first few minutes and then just freaked out....this picture was right as he was starting to freak out!!


Ashley chose the carriage and seemed to just love it. She got to go around a few times and really had a blast. I just totally love this picture.

Oh my goodness, it has been forever!

Well, I am still here! I have been MIA on my blog lately and besides working full-time and trying to keep the house together, I really haven't been doing all that much.

We did go "camping" 2 weeks ago with my sisters and their families. It was a blast. We were supposed to be camping but slacked on reserving a campsite and when we tried they were all taken. So we had to scrounge around and find something else...it turned out that Mike's grandparents owned a lake cabin that just happened to be open that weekend so we were able to take advantage of that. It was great, but I did forget my camera...But when I get the pictures promised to me from my family I will share. (okay, so here is one picture...I had to steal it off my sisters blog because they haven't shared the pics with me yet )

All the cousins at the lake cabin: (Left to right....Summer, Ben, Aden, Hailey, and Ashley





My little sister, Kerri, came to visit for a month and just left this morning. It was so nice to see her. It had been over 3 years. And I got to meet my little niece for the first time too! She is just one of the cutest and mildest tempered child. What a doll.

I am still working at Target, and for the most part I am enjoying it. I was promoted to GSA, guest service attendant. I trained last week and had my first solo night on Sunday. It was a great experience since I know if I can handle a shift like that...on my first night...I should do okay. It was pretty nuts. As a GSA I supervise all the cashiers on duty as well as those in food ave, guest service (returns), and photo. This means that I do lots of running around between the departments and am in a constant challenge of jumbling customers, breaks, and of course the bank....Oh well, its another step up at work and hopefully in a few weeks I will be more adjusted to the stress of the position and will feel more comfortable.

The kids are both doing well. Benny has become the temper tantrum boy. Oh lordy, this kid could scream the day he was born and it is only getting worse. He is really testing his mommy and daddy and is totally wiping us out. Not to mention that naps are a thing of the past for both kids thus leading to horribly cranky kids at dinner time!

We've had some serious summer weather here. Not the normal mild Washington weather but REAL HOT, REALLY HUMID weather. The type of weather that just wipes you out. Plus WA is just not set up for that type of weather. I would say that probably 75-80% of the homes do not have A/C and few of those have A/C units. When we hit the 100's this last week they overloaded the power systems and entire towns were out of power during the heat of the day. There were even a few heat related deaths. So sad. One night when I got home from work at 10:30 pm my house was 97 degrees inside....Yikes. We now have A/C units that mike stood in line for 8 hours at Sears so we are feeling much better.

Oh and today I made myself a cleaning list. I have tried to stick with Flylady too many times in the past. I think her plan is just too structured for me. My days vary so much that it is a challenge to keep up with all the routines and I never seem to succeed. So this time I did it simple. I am cleaning the kitchen daily (of course, since that is the most used room in our house) and then each day I tackle an area for a short time. Today was the master bath. My master bath looks great! So hopefully this simplified plan will work and keep our house up while I am working.

Okay, so I think that is about all I can babble on about right now. But I swear I will post some pictures soon.

changes at work

So I've been working at Target for about 1 and 1/2 months. It has been going well and I seem to fit in with the other team members quite well. Two weeks ago they informed me that I would begin training in Jewelry, and just last week I learned that I was promoted onto the Brand team. I'm feeling pretty good about getting better at what I am doing as well as getting the chance to train in different areas. Its a fun job that really changes from day to day which is really great! This will be especially true starting next week when I will be working 2 days in jewelry, 2 days in Brand, and 1 closing sales floor shift.

A date night...well kinda

Mike and I decided to take advantage of having Grandma nearby yesterday and dropped the kids off for a few hours so we could grab dinner and run some errands. We managed to get about 10 minutes into our date...literally still driving to the restaurant and we got the phone call from grandma. Our little Benny decided to be daring and try to go down the front cement steps by himself and managed to take a pretty good tumble. We turned around and headed back to grandma's house. He manged to get a pretty good gash on the side of his head. And of course this managed to happen on day 1 of our break between military insurance and the new insurance...sweet. I didn't end up taking him to the hospital because the bleeding stopped and I don't think he hit hard enough for a concussion. Plus if it scars it will be covered by hair anyway so I'm not all that concerned. But poor guy!

P.S. Don't feel bad Grandma!!! He's doing great and is already back to his daring self!

more pictures

Boca the bunny

My babies cuddling...oh and a side note....the binkie is history...I haven't heard it mentioned in a few weeks!

The Fox Island fishing pier, you can see the narrows bridges in the background

fox island sunset

storm clouds rolling in

collecting goodies

family fun!