Spring Break Fun and Balloons!

This past week was the boys and my spring break and truthfully I was not doing cartwheels about it. The boys really enjoy school and need that outlet for their energy, and I enjoy the break even though I am in a class of 8 kids down the hall, other kids actually listen to what I saw when I tell them to stop usually. Anyway, the week actually turned out great. Both boys seemed to catch onto that it was spring break and decided to sleep until 9 every day...yes I said 9. We all three enjoyed being lazy and just playing around the house and enjoying the weather. Parkes pulled out his sidewalk chalk and had lots of fun. Cash had his first experience of running free in the back yard and had a blast. Brandon joined in on the fun on Saturday and we spent all day outside playing with the neighbors. Cash has started clinching all the muscles in his body when he gets really excited to the point he is shaking. Here's the best shot we have gotten of it below. It is so funny and he will start doing it for the laughs too. He has formed a love of balloons and today as we walk in Harris Teeter he started getting really excited because he could see the balloons he could hardly control himself. Parkes has decided that his favorite color is blue (everyone must have one and if you don't Parkes picks one for you....we will see how this goes as Cash starts voicing his opinion more). But anyway, Cash carries his balloon around with him for hours and gets really upset when it is taken away. Here he is eating with it because he had a death grip on it I couldn't pry it out of his hands and it was not a battle worth fighting over.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

St. Paddy's Day has become a big deal this year around our house. Parkes got to do the leprechaun hunt at school and has been looking for leprechaun's in the woods so he woke up very excited today to see what all the leprechaun has turned green, and he is decked out in head to toe green (a shirt just wasn't enough). So we have the Guiness Stew in the crockpot and I'm about to start working on some Irish soda bread to round of the festivities for tonight. Here's Cash at the pool on Saturday. We found the perfect rainy day activity to get out of the winter blues...the Bellevue Y has a great indoor pool for kids. My brother-in-law had taken his girls there and I keep meaning to go, but you know life gets busy. Well Parkes had been talking about the pool and Cash absolutely loves the bath so we decided to go and it was so worth it. The boys had so much fun on the slides and fountains, and the best part they were worn out and asleep at 7:30 leaving a nice night for mom and dad. For those that know Parkes' sleeping going to bed at 7:30 is unheard of...usually 10 is doing well. Anyway, have a great St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Cash Walks!

Well Cash has finally decided walking might not be so bad and has started taking steps. He still definitely prefers crawling, but has taken up to 10 steps. Above he is showing off his walking and his chunky legs. You can also check out the black eye which has started looking more like eye shadow. Below is his preferred method of movement. He scouts around the house like this the majority of the day.

First Shiner

Cash got his first black eye today...pretty good with how rough our boys are. It doesn't really do it justice in this picture, but you get an idea. Luckily it happened in my classroom right before he wen to his so his teachers didn't have to come and tell me and no accident report had to be written up. He cried for all of 30 seconds before he wanted down to play some more. Of course if I take Cash's picture Parkes wants his taken as well so here he is with one of his "kids" as he calls his small stuff animals.And finally this Walgreens Deal from Southern Savers is just too good not to share. I did it Sunday. Now if you printed off the $5 coupons for Huggies then it's a great deal (if you just have the $1.50 off ones then it's still not bad). I actually did this deal then took my $10 register rewards (print off with receipt) to buy 4 12 packs of cokes for $13 (so paid $3) which printed off $3 more register rewards which I then used to buy milk (so paid nothing). So when I left Walgreens I had spent $17.50 and had a total savings of $90 for 4 Glade products, 3 packs of diapers, 4 12 packs of cokes, milk and a coke for me to take to church. Now what really got my out of pocket was the deal below was $6, but the tax was $6 because it is on the total before the coupons are taken off.

• Buy:
• (3) Huggies Diapers $10 ea
• (4) Glade Lasting Impressions or Sense and Spray $7.99 ea
• Use:
• (3) -$5 off Huggies printable (will work for any type)
• (2) Glade B1G1 printable
• (2)-$4 off Glade Manufacturer coupon from newspaper
• (4) -$4 off Glade Walgreens coupon (only need one, computer will take it off x 4) from Easy Saver Rebate Book
• Total Due: $6.49
• Get: $10 RR back, you make $3.51 profit

So with Walgreens and after a $23 Publix trip (I saved $38) I am almost at my $50 weekly grocery budget which I have done great the past two weeks of keeping and that includes buying 4 packs of diapers and 5 boxes of Captain Crunch which Brandon was very excited about.

Why Play with Toys...

when the basket is so much more fun!!!!

Life surrounded by Boys

Well this Valentine's Day we decided to do something a little different and spend some family time away from home where the laundry, dishes and various other to-do list get in the way (Brandon and I did go to dinner alone together last weekend). So where did we go...to a cabin off the Natchez Trace. Brandon had gone there growing up and said how much fun he had there hiking and fishing so since I am destined to be a mother of boys I should just embrace it. So we packed up the car and left Saturday morning. Luckily it was nice the first day and a half so we got some hiking and fishing in before it turned really cold. The cabin, as Brandon put it, hasn't changed at all since he had been there as a child so you could imagine there was not much. We were told no TV which when we explained this to Parkes his response was with a big bottom lip stuck out, "But I love TV." We all survived though with no technology (it did turn out there was a tv in the cabin but it only got a few home shopping channels and we tv). So here's some pictures from the past few days (I left our camera at my class so we only had Parkes' camera and the pics are a little grainy, but it is fitting for the trip).

Learning to Cook Pistaches

Last night Brandon's dad, Happy, drove to Nashville to bring Patricia and Julie to the airport so they could fly home to Aruba. Brandon requested that they teach us how to cook Pistaches and Johnny Cakes a childhood favorite of his from when he lived in Aruba. A Pistache (which I could be spelling that completely wrong) is a dough that is rolled out and stuffed with gouda cheese alone or with anything else you want and enclosed then fried. Johnny Cakes are the same dough but flattened out and fried kinda like a fried pancake...both are really yummy. Brandon used to get them on the playground during school for a snack, and I got to enjoy them when we went down to aruba 3 years ago. It will be nice to get to share them with Parkes and Cash and share that part of Brandon's childhood. I think it is definitely time to have a theme dinner around the pistaches maybe with some plantain chips too...I'll have to fit it in between Mardi Gras and St. Paddy's Day. Here's some pictures from the evening (I really don't know why I can't get the font out of italic...it has a mind of it's own). We are enjoying this nice weather and our new front porch. Cash wants to play out on the porch all day.

One more good thing...

Flowers from my husband for no reason.

We are still here...

just haven't left the house in awhile or taken pictures or much of anything that I will mention here. It's been a rough time around here lately with Parkes pressing every button I have. So here are some good things that have happened around here lately... Parkes decided to try a hot dog and liked it so he now will eat three things...hot dog, peanut butter and jelly and cheese sandwiches. Parkes finds every reason to remind me how much he loves me, Brandon and Cash. Cash is self entertained with a ball for hours and thinks it is the funniest thing when he throws it across the room. The sound of a quiet house at 9 at night...Parkes has been going to bed so much better. The sound of delight out of both boys as they watched the firetruck and NES truck in front of our house tonight fix a transformer that blew. Parkes with his arm around Cash pointing out the man on the ladder and Cash yelling "ight, ight". I think we've made a break through today so hopefully next weekend we won't be cleaning 10 pairs of underwear and have 6 showers in two days.

Circus

My parents and sister took Parkes and Abby James to the circus on Saturday which was a much needed break since Brandon has been traveling almost every weekend to do the Alabama interviews and I am definitely about worn out right now. Parkes had so much fun and has shown me the book he got there about 30 times to tell me what all he saw there. Thanks Grammy, Grandad and Aunt Hayley!!!!!!

Free Photo Album

I just ordered my free photo album from HOORAY. Click here to find out details from www.mommysnacks.blogspot.com. It was valued at $42 and I just paid $7.99 for shipping.

It's cold outside...

and we are staying inside. This has been where Parkes has stayed since Monday afternoon with perks of getting up when the medicine has kicked in and his fever goes away for 30 minutes or so. The good news is that they don't feel it is anything contagious just from extreme constipation...yes potty training has been a fun year and a half experience with Parkes and he is very stubborn and it has finally taken it's toll on his body. The bad news is his fever still isn't going away. So hopefully he'll get some relief soon. We aren't used to him feeling bad for so long as when he gets sick he usually gets over it in just a few hours.

What a Year

We had the boys yearly check-ups today and with that in mind and the fact I have cleaned out almost all the pictures from the computer onto disks and have few to chose from I put a picture of the boys from a year ago for your enjoyment. Cash looks great and is doing everything he should at this point and I'm sure will be walking before we know it or he'll decide to enjoy being carried around a little while longer who knows. He weighed in at 23 lbs (55%) and measured 28" (still below the curve). Parkes had a traumatic doctors appointment as he is having some tummy issues and was in a lot of pain this morning and a low fever, but luckily with the magic of some medicine is doing better this afternoon just not 100% yet. But he weighed in at 36 lbs (75%) and measured 39" (25%). So what the doctor did predict is that Parkes is going to be the giant and be close to my brothers height about 5'7" (yes this is very tall for us) and Cash is going to be the short one and probably be shorter then Brandon, but Cash has the personality to pull it off. It's been a crazy year with adjusting to life with two boys, Brandon working for himself and me starting to teach preschool....I can say I feel completely worn out most days trying to keep up with the boys energy, but that's just life as a mom and it's so worth it.

The Big 1st Birthday

Another picture from Mary Alice. Cash turned one yesterday and even though we did his bday with Parkes we woke up the morning and had some cinnamon rolls to celebrate the occasion. We had our first day back to school so Cash got tons of attention on his special day and lots of singing which I made him clap the whole day in delight.I can't believe he is a year feels like such a fast year. And with how Cash spent his first few months with us he definitely has become a different child. He is now very laid back and happy, and he cracks himself up all the time which is so funny and really makes Parkes laugh. He started out rolling over at 6 weeks and trying to pull up and scoot at 5 months, but now is very content with crawling and doesn't make any attempts to walk on his own and really doesn't like to walk holding my hand because he would rather just crawl by himself. He does not want to be rocked or cuddled which can make it harder at night when he wakes up becasue if we pick him up he thinks it is play time, but after a few trips to put his paci back in he finally usually settles back down. He loves food, most anything unless it is plain veggies he prefers them seasoned to his taste. His favorite game right now is "How big is Cash?" And his favorite toy is a ball...he could spend hours throwing from one side of the room to the other. He has defintely brought so much joy to our family especially Parkes who doesn't understand he can't hug and kiss him all day long. Parkes believes Cash is "his baby"...it will be fun to see what happens as Cash gets bigger and can really tell Parkes what he thinks about the nonstop hugs.As for Parkes since he just turned 4 and never wrote what he was doing now, he too is quite independent and has become quite the chef. He loves to cook and watch the Food Network which works out well for me so we can compromise on shows. He loves Power Rangers and Transformers. I was told by him yesterday after he told me he had to sit in timeout at school yesterday for the first time that the reason was a boy was running by and his "tiger powers" just got him. The things that he says are so funny and he asks questions all day long. He is overly affectionate...I get at least 200 kisses and hugs a day from him. He doesn't sleep near enough, but when he comes out of his room for the 7th time at 10:30 because he "just had to give us a kiss" it makes us smile and forget that we are frustrated. He will talk to whoever will listen to him even if it is the person walking their dog down the street. So that's the boys this year. Brandon too celebrated a birthday on the 6th, but I think he'd appreciate it if I didn't tell what he's been up to and saying....could be pretty funny though.

Savings for 2009

I've been asked several times about the coupon lessons I have learned from my sister when she went to a class given by a local friend of hers and if it really saves that much well according to my cvs receipt I have saved almost $700 for 2008. Of course if you don't have young children in diapers and eating formula then your savings would be less as I buy all that good stuff there with my extra care bucks (ECB - their savings program that print off at the end of the receipt when you have their store card). So as I start over for 2009 with no roll over ECB since I used them to buy some household staples before Christmas I added a sidebar that shows what I am buying at CVS. If you look at the pages of deals on the webpages they can be overwhelming so this is just a easy way to see how you can make it work for you (don't know why it went italic there, but I can't fix it). I will show the coupons I use from the newspaper inserts (there are two in the Sunday paper, Red Plum (RP) and Smart Source (SS)). So it will show a date and then which insert which saves you from ever clipping a coupon until you are actually going to use it.

Family Pictures

Since everyone was in town my mom wanted to get family pictures done. We had Mary Alice take them and she did a fantastic job...here's just a few of the many we got. Also, the one at the top of the blog she took as well. Have a great and safe New Year's Eve...ours is pretty low key this year which will be nice.

More Holiday Fun and Birthdays

So the boys did wake up after Brandon had to go back to Parkes room and yell "Ho Ho Ho" a couple times. And like last year Parkes was a little slow waking up and really giving us the reaction we thought, but he did warm up after about 10 minutes and get excited that he got his "Lightning McQueen" bike (I use quotes as Brandon and I decided to buy him a bike a few weeks ago, but he had never mentioned wanting one until two days before Christmas he started telling us how he wanted a Ligtning McQueen bike so we added some stickers to the one we had rather then get out in the holiday mess...yes I know great parents, but he was happy with it). Cash was more interested in Parkes toys which usually Parkes would push him down, but here's them actually opening a present together. Parkes got really into the opening of presents and never really looked what he got until all the presents were opened and he could stop and check things out. After our family Christmas we headed back to my parents for lunch and more presents and fun. Here's Parkes showing Uncle Brad the power ranger he got. Jim and Sarah Beth who have not been back to Nashville since last Christmas so this was the first time they got to meet Cash. Then if Christmas wasn't enough we have Parkes birthday on the 27th. So the 26th we cleared out all the Christmas decorations and put up the birthday decorations for the boys family birthday party (Cash's is Jan 7 so we just did them together...I told Parkes he could have a friend birthday in the summer since he shared his birthday with Cash). So here are the cousins and Uncle Jim at the kids table. And Cash really enjoyed the cake....he had 3 slices, but luckily slept great that night not waking up until 8:30 the next morning. So after the boys birthday we had a surprise birthday party for Sarah Beth the next day...her birthday is the 31st, but her parents were in town only until the 30th so we wanted them to be there for it. She did however catch on when she noticed a line of cars not too far from the party house that she recognized. So here's all the Stevens family. I don't have a picture of Sarah Beth's side, but a side note her cousin was my good friend growing up and we introduced Jim and Sarah Beth several years ago so now we get to be somewhat related. And Cash was happy to get more cake.So after all the festivities we all crashed last night. Well I say all, that is all but Parkes. We tricked Cash into bed at 6 since he had missed his afternoon nap. Then put Parkes in his room with a movie. Brandon was watching football downstairs, and I went upstairs to watch Food Network. Well about 8 Brandon and I both fell asleep while watching our shows. Then about 9:30 I get woken up by Parkes asking why Daddy is sleeping on the couch. So Parkes climb in bed with me and Brandon woke up around midnight to realize his spot was taken and went back to sleep in Parkes bed. The whole family sleep until 9 in the morning so we might need to keep up this pace to keep the boys sleeping.

Brown Christmas

Well it is Christmas morning and yes I'm blogging. I know there's a grandmother in Michigan that will want to see some pictures of the boys, especially being Cash's first Christmas. So here's some pics from the 23rd were we spent the day hunting down Santa. Christmas has creep up on us and we completely missed our church's Breakfast with Santa so after a log failed attempt at the mall we went out to a house in Brentwood that had a huge light display and Santa was there so the boys got to see him and Parkes was very excited...Cash, however, was not. Then Christmas Eve was not white, but muddy. So Parkes and one of the boys next door instead of having a snow fight had a mud fight (very much encouraged by their dads). We had lots of good mud were the dumpster had been sitting until last week just waiting for boys to jump in. So after Parkes got cleaned up we headed out to my parents for Christmas Eve. Here's Uncle Brian and Cash. My brothers, Brad and Jim. Parkes and his cousins, Abby James and Draper. And now it's 8:30 and we are waiting for Parkes to wake up and come see what Santa brought him.

Parkes Christmas Program

Parkes had his school program on Sunday night. Last year he swayed through the whole performance, but never opened his mouth. This year they put him in the front because he is the loudest singer....I think he has come out of his shell. If he already wasn't social enough he now loves to preform as well. On Fridays at school he goes to Sing and Sign and it is amazing to see what all he has learned. Working at the school where Parkes is has really been such a great thing since I actually have learned some of the signs even though my class is too young to go to Sing and Sign we still get some of the songs and seasonal signs. So they preform their song and also signed the monthly Bible verse that they learn each month. Parkes has found a new crush at school...a little girl named Parker who as he has told me he "just loves so much." Cash is now 11 months, and got his first fever yesterday. I got called out of my class to go hold him...another advantage to working were the kids are I could go ahead and give him medicine while I waited for Brandon to come get him. But not a bad record so far 11 months before he got anything, and today he is acting completely fine....just laughing and following his brother around who at the moment is watching the food network by his request.

Thanksgiving Part 2, Christmas Part 1, and Baby Luke

Okay lots been going on. We had Thanksgiving with Brandon's mom and Step-Dad and my parents and half my brothers and sisters. I took no pictures since I was cooking...I should of given the camera to Brandon so he could of captured the day. It was lots of fun and lots of food was eaten so you can imagine the pictures. Then we went out the day after Thanksgiving and got our tree...a real one this year. We celebrated Christmas with Brandon's parents on Saturday so Cash got his first present to unwrap by himself. Parkes is an old pro by this point when it comes to opening his presents and this year he is all about power rangers and transformers. We then headed out to Opryland Hotel and walked around and enjoyed the lights. Then we have enjoyed watching some football...even though Brandon is a little sad Alabama lost on Saturday. He's still excited about the promise of next year and a BCS bowl. Of course I'm excited about Ole Miss' bowl game too!!!!! Hotty Toddy!!! So after all the fun of the weekend we got to meet Luke Engesath shortly after he was born today to Keri and Matt. The family is doing great. Another boy to join the crew...Cash is glad to have someone closer to his age.