New Year's Resolution

Ok, my new year's resolution is to write on this blog each and every day, no matter what happens! I hope that my followers will keep me to that and I am giving myself until January 1 to preprare myself! :) See ya in the new year!

A house divided

by college football that is! I am a diehard Oklahoma Sooner fan and of course my husband is a diehard Arkansas Razorback fan. We decided when I was pregnant that we would not buy the "baby" anything for either side until "they" were old enough to decide which one "they" liked. Well, Aunt Carrie got Dani an Arkansas cheer outfit for her 1st birthday, so when I found an OU cheer outfit I had to buy it! I told Grant I was just making it even :). So you can see that she is representing both teams in these pics, but you will notice that OU is first!

Starting a new way of life

On Sept. 21 I started my new part-time hours at the office. I will be working 4-8 am, yes, that's 4 am - 8 am! It's amazing how much work you can accomplish when there is no-one else around! I do believe this is going to work out, at work anyway, let's see how the homefront fares :)

Last day of daycare (09-18-09)

Today is a day of mixed emotions. We are excited that I am going to be able to stay home with the girls, but at the same time sad that we are saying goodbye to these wonderful people who have taken care of and loved our girls. We are going to miss seeing them and pray for blessings in their lives. They have been a blessing to ours!

Miss Angel and Miss Judy

Infant 2 room

Dani was in their room from about 7 months to 15 months

Ms. Wanda Infant 2 room with Dani

Ms. Marcela baby room with Ella

Ms. Sonya was in the Waddler room and Infant 2 room with Dani

Ms. Frances works in the baby room and had both Dani and then Ella.

Another option (09-14-09)

Well, we've been given another option. When talking to my supervisor about what was going on with daycare, she asked what it would take to keep me working for them. She would not be able to replace me in 2 weeks and they really needed me to stay. I told her that it would have to be a schedule that we would not need childcare for so I asked if I would be able to work 4am-8am 5 days a week. I would be able to keep my health insurance benefits and could do the amount of work they would me to do. She asked the "head honchos" and after a lot of discussion they decided to let me try it.
So, starting Sept 21 my new schedule will be 4am-8am Monday - Friday. Sounds daunting when I type it out. But I agreed to do it at least until the end of December. To help them out, but mostly to keep my insurance until then. We'll have a couple months to figure out other options for health coverage and I'll still get to be home with the girls!

No luck (09-11-09)

Just as we thought, we have not found a new daycare. Not for lack of trying. There are places to go, just not any that will work for us as a family. So, we have decided that for our family's sake I will be putting in my 2 week notice on Sept. 21. We feel that God is trying to tell us that I need to be home with them, we just didn't listen the first time. Well, God we're listening now! Thanks for being patient with us :)

Shocking news

The first week I was back to work went by very, very quickly! On Monday August 31 the daycare sent a letter home with the girls. It was a surprise to say the least! The letter said that Bethel Lutheran Church would be holding a vote on Sept 27 to determine the fate of the daycare center. This was shocking to us especially since I am a parent member on the board and did not know that it had escalated to this. Needless to say it put us in a tailspin and on the phone all week trying to find another child care center. For some reason I will never understand, Fort Smith/Van Buren does not have adequate child care centers for babies. There are plenty for preschool age children, but not babies.
This is not a new situation for us. When I went back to work after Dani was born, she went to the St. Edward Child Care Center. It was great, but she was only there for 2 months. Before she even started, they called to tell us that they would be closing at the end of May 2008. Since it was the beginning of March when they called, we thought no problem, we'll just find another place. WRONG! It was just by the grace of God that we were able to get into Bethel the Monday after St. Ed's closed, and we didn't get that call until the Friday before she started!
So, anyway, Dani started at Bethel in June 2008 and we have loved it! Ella has only been there a week and now we're looking for something else.

Catching up

Ok, it's been a while since I've posted anything. A long while, like almost 2 months! A lot has happened in that 2 months, so I better get busy posting about it. Since this blog is about keeping track of what's happening in our lives as it happens, I'm going to try to do the posts in order.
Now if I can remember everything that's happened....

Crazy for Crafting!

Wouldn't you know that on the last weekend of my "vacation" I would find something that I want to stay home another 8 weeks and have fun doing? Since starting this blog, I've been checking out all the other blogs and found the crafting ones. BIG mistake!!! I think I was born a crafter. I've always had ideas running through my head of things to make. My friends and family have always called me "Martha" (I acutally DVR her show!). I love going to arts and crafts shows, but I rarely buy anything. I go to get ideas and have so much more fun trying to figure out how to make them myself. And now I've found the virtual Motherload of crafting ideas and I have to go back to work, when will I have time to try them out?

I went to Walmart on Friday (the one in Alma) to see what kind of stuff they had in the craft dept. I found the "Bowdabra" and the mini "Bowdabra". I bought some pretty ribbon and decided to make some bows. Now, those of you that have little girls know that "Boutique" Bows can get very expensive! I bought the "Bowdabra's" for about the cost of 2 fancy bows, $20. The ribbon I used for the bow above cost maybe $1 and I have a ton left!

The burp rag I saw online and knew I could figure out how to make it. This was the first one, and it turned out OK, but I know how I can make the next one better. I could make these things all day long and never get bored.

The girls already have so many bows they probably will only wear some of them once, but I guess bows are a bit like shoes and purses....a girl can never have too many of either one! Too bad I couldn't make money and have great health insurance with making bows....(might have to do a little research on that one :)

Back to work

Today was my first day back to work after being off for 8 weeks maternity leave. I've been trying to figure out how that 8 weeks went by so fast. The only explanation I can come up with is the fact that our baby girl has her own schedule. Unfortunately, it does not coincide with the rest of us :). It is 10:oo pm right now, and she has just woken up. She will be up until about 3 am or so and then sleep the rest of the day waking up for a bottle maybe twice until 10 tomorrow night. The good thing about that is that she was not aware that she was in a "new" place today, the bad thing about that is that mama and daddy get to go to work exhausted! We have been totally blessed with a daycare center that is filled with loving caregivers and is a block away from mine and Grant's offices.
Anyway, back to my first day of work... It went pretty well considering I slept a total of 4 hours last night. I was definitely missed! I was greeted with a great big pile of work on my desk. Don't get me wrong, I love the work that I do and the people I work with, but it's not the same as sitting at home and snuggling with my baby girls!
I went at lunch to see how Ella was doing and of course she was asleep, so we sat in the rocking chair for a bit. On the way out though, Danielle caught a glimpse of mama trying to sneak out without a scene. That didn't work out so well for me. I made it about 2 steps past her door before I heard the cries :(. I had plenty of time, so I went back and played with her for a little bit until it was nap time. Which is what I did when I came home, and now it's time for Miss Ella to wake up and want to be entertained. The things we do for our kids :). I wouldn't give up a single minute of it!

Walgreen's trip

Well, I finally made it out of the house by myself last night and I went to Walgreen's (of course) here are the deals I found:

(coupon lingo: WC=walgreen's coupon, MC=manufacturer's coupon, RR=register reward)

First Round I bought:

2 gallons milk $5.28
2 glade plug-ins $4.58
6 24 ct. Extra Strength Tylenol $13.47
1 Conair Brush $2.99
1 Walgreen Children Coloring book $.99
2 Listerine Smart Rinse $9.78
1 Softsoap body wash $3.99
Total before coupons: $45.07

I used:
1 try me free glade plug-in (MC)= $2.29
1 buy 1 get 1 free glade plug in (MC) =$2.29
6 $2 off Tylenol (MC)= $12.00
1 buy 1 get 1 free Listerine Smart Rinse (MC) = $4.89
1 $1 off Listerine Smart Rinse (MC) = $1.00
1 $1 off Listerine Smart Rinse (WC) = $2.00
1 $1.50 off Softsoap (MC) = $1.50
Total coupons= $25.97

Total Out of Pocket = $18.02 ($2.91 tax)

Received: $5 RR for spending $25 before coupons
$2 RR for buying brush
$4 RR for buying Softsoap
$3 RR for buying Listerine Smart Rinse
total RR= $14.00
So, I actually paid $4.02 for all these items! I went back and bought:

2 Pampers diapers $20
1 Aquafresh toothpaste $3.49
3 Bic 5 pk. highlighters $1.17
1 Papermate 10 pk pens $.49
Total before coupons = $25.15

I used:
$14 in RR
1 $2 off Aquafresh (MC)
2 $1 off Pampers (MC)
Total coupons = $18.00

Total Out of Pocket: $8.76 ($1.61 tax)

Received: $2 RR for buying 2 Pampers
$1.50 RR for buying Aquafresh
So, I actually paid $5.26 for my second trip!

Not bad if I say so myself. And everyone wonders why I'm totally addicted to this stuff :)

(disclaimer: I'm sorry if this all seems like jibberish, but it really does make sense in my head!)

My daughter is driving (by herself!)

Brigette bought her first car last week! Yes, SHE bought it with her own money! Isn't it cute? I still can't believe that she is old enough to have her own car and drive it by herself, but I keep telling myself they have to grow up sometime. I just didn't know it would happen so fast!

CoralRidge Mall

Saturday afternoon we headed to CoralRidge mall, in Coralville, Iowa. In all the years that I lived there, I did not know that it is the largest mall in Iowa until I read it on the web last week. Anyway, it is one of the funnest malls I've been to and we always have a blast there.

We had already been to the outlet mall in Williamsburg (Dani got her purse there at Children's Place), but the girls were rip roaring to go shopping again.

Dani was cracking us up with her purse! She didn't even have anything in it. (Now that we're home it has her play cell phone in it and it goes everywhere with her, even to daycare!)



Ella hung out with mama all day. It was almost like being in the belly again, almost but not quite :) She slept most of the time and I've never had so many people come up to me and ask to see "The Baby" :)

This is on the carousel at the front of the mall. We weren't sure if Dani would stay on it, but I think it was over before she actually figured out what was going on.

Brigette and Katelin had to get a picture on the race car, they get one every year!

They have an AWESOME playplace for the little ones and Dani had so much fun we had to drag her out when it was time to leave. (It had a padded floor we would love to have in their bedroom)

This is the next morning, they were TIRED girls!

Road Trip

Last Friday we went to see Big Sis Brigette in Iowa. It was Ella's first Road Trip and she did so well! We left at noon so of course she slept most of the way. Dani took a couple of naps, but I crawled into the backseat to play when she was awake and Ella needed a bottle.

Dani had a little trouble going to sleep that first night. We stayed at my friend Stacy's house and there was just a little too much action going. So, even though it was 1:00 am she was still awake. Amazingly, Ella slept all night. We let her sleep in the carseat and I think that was the trick. She slept for 8 hours straight!

On Saturday morning we woke up and loaded into the car for a little shopping. It was a snug fit, but we had a lot of fun!

Being a good steward

I am an avid "couponer". My husband would say "obsessive". But, I look at it as being a good steward of what God has given us. I absolutely LOVE finding a good deal! My coupon binder keeps me organized and I take it with me everywhere:


I follow a lot of the "Frugal" blogs and get a lot of info from them about saving money on the everyday things we need. I'll share what I learn here on my blog. There are a lot of websites that are great resources for saving money, www.hotcouponworld.com is a great one to start with. I've also learned the art of "stockpiling" or as Grant calls it, my store. I'll share pictures of that in a later post. The great thing about all of this, is that I get great deals and also get to "share the wealth" by donating and helping others and not spending a lot out of my pocket.

My favorite place to get my deals is Walgreens. I had never shopped there before I started reading the blogs and found out about the "Drugstore Game". You would not believe the free and almost free things I have gotten in the last year! Just as an example: Last week I went to Walgreens and bought 8 suave deodorants and 6 tubs of Huggies wipes, I paid $3.91 and got back $10 in Register Rewards to spend there the next time I go. All by using coupons and knowing how to work the deals! Now you can see why I'm hooked!

I'll be sure to share all my great deals and how I got them, so you can get them too! First you have to start getting coupons and then the fun begins! I get them from the Sunday paper and if there are really good ones I'll get more than 1 copy. It takes a little time to cut and file them, but it's well worth it. I'll post later about my filing system, but if you have any questions or comments just leave them below and I'll get back to you.

Starting a new adventure....

Well, here it is, my first post on my new blog. I've been reading blogs for about a year now, and finally decided to start my own. I want to use this blog as a way to remind myself of the goals we have for our lives. We want to live a simple life, loving God and our family with all of our hearts. But, I also want to keep track of all the happenings and milestones in our family. This will take the place of all the sticky notes I've written and tucked away to be added to baby books and scrapbooks someday :). I hope you'll join me on this adventure and enjoy the crazy circus we call "Simply Symonds".