Houseman Family

I have a blog?!?

2012-01-24T06:46:00.000-08:00

So so much has happened since my last post 6 months ago! We have been settling in our new home. It has been quite an adjustment. More than I thought it would be. This is our first permanent home in 10 year and I was prepared for how much different that would make it. We love our house. even though we are still finishing decorating and painting. But I suppose that will never be done! Thomaston is a small town. I say it has everything that you need but not everything that you want. On weekends we normally make the 45 minute drive to Macon or go up to Atlanta to do some real shopping! I do miss Target, Marshalls and CVS!! But we feel very blessed that Jordan has a job that he loves.

I'll do a quick little recap of everyone and then maybe I'll try to be better at staying up to date!

Taliyah!!! Oh my! She has been such a handful! The best way to describe her is busy. I always thought that my girls would be very similar, but I was wrong. Taliyah is very independent. She wants to do everything herself. She also wants to climb. Before she could even walk she was climbing. I'm constantly pulling her off the countertops, tables, bookshelves, stools and out of sinks, tubs and toilets....It's exhausting. I get really worried at times because it seems like she is just trying to hurt herself! She's already chipped her front tooth! Luckily I think she's starting to mellow out alittle...alittle! She hates shopping. Going to the grocery stores takes an extra helping our strength and courage! There normal is screaming, crying (sometimes by me!) and bribing. But with all this craziness comes the sweetest, most lovable little girl ever. She loves giving kisses, smasher her face into yours, huge hugs and blows kisses when you leave. She has so much love for us in her tiny little body and we love her so so much!

Jayla!! Jayla has grown up so much since we moved her. She loves having her pink room. She has become my little farmer girl and helps me take care of our chickens. We have 6. She's not scared to chase them around and try to pick them up. Jayla is a girly girl!!! She loves to paint her nails, makeup, high heals, pink, and anything that sparkles! I'm not sure where this comes from but it sure is cute! She has a love hate relationship with Taliyah. For the most part they love eachother. They are starting to really play together and sometimes I even catch them hugging and giggling. And then there are the melt downs! Where a kicking and screaming fight happens over something very small! But that's sisters! Lately she's been telling me she wants another sister, we'll just wait and see about that Jayla!

I'll be back to finish the rest of the Fam!

It's been awhile!

2011-06-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...it's been a very long time! But to my defense I've been very busy and without a computer since Easter. Here's what we've been up to, only major life changing events!

Jordan graduated from school!! Finally we are no longer students! I'm so proud of him and all of the work he did. He is now offically Dr. Houseman.

After graduation Jordan and I went on a cruise to the Bahamas. It was AMAZING! It was so nice to have a few days to ourselves, we felt like newly weds again! The beaches were crystal clear and the food was awesome.

After the cruise Jordan packed up his bags and went to Georgia to start his new job working at the Upson Regional Medical Center which is attached to the hospital in Thomaston, Georgia. For the next 6 weeks I worked on packing up the apartment and getting things ready for the big move. That brings us to where we are now! We just bought our first home!! We live in Thomaston, its a little more than an hour south of Atlana and 45 minutes West of Macon. It's a small town but not too small. Our new house is 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths with a basement and a charming wrap around porch, all sitting on 5 1/2 acres!! We've only been here a week and we working on getting settled in. Jordan's friend from Ohio came to help and he's been an amazing help. It's been fun making the house our own but we still have a lot of unpacking to do. It's definately a change moving from palm trees and beaches to pastures and horses but I'm starting to love the peace and quite that we have. I can sit on the porch and just enjoy it. That's all I got for now. I'll post more pictures of our house after we get settled. And if anyone wants to come visit we finally have some extra space and would love guests!!!

Sorry the pictures are out of order, experiencing technical difficulties!

Butterfly Garden...Day 1

2011-03-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

I ordered this butterfly garden the other day. I have seen these before and I know I would have loved one as a kid...and let's not kid ourselves I still think it's cool. Well today the caterpillars came in the mail. Jayla is so excited to watch them grow and transform. It takes a couple weeks for this complete transformation so hopefully this will teach her patients as well! We have 5 tiny caterpillars and we are excited to see what happens....keep you posted!!!!

School...on Saturday??

2011-01-30T06:01:00.000-08:00

This semester Jordan has a lot of classes on the weekend so I have to find some things to do to entertain the kids. This weekend we went to the Fountain of Youth. It's not our first time there but they were doing a School of the 16th Century! So the kids got to learn about some things from the past. For those of you who haven't been the fountain of youth is more that just a fountain, which the water is so nasty and it doesn't seem to be working for me! They own a few acres and it's very pretty land. They have a little camp set up of the native indians. There's a planetarium and a few other things like that , I think they are very dated so we didn't go to them again. They do cannon demonstrations. They also have peacocks all over (last time we went a male peacock attacked our car because it saw it's reflection in it and thought it had some competition, we still have the scratches!) The kids had fun and it was a great Saturday afternoon activity...and best of all it was free!!

If anyone wants to come visit St. Augustine we only have a couple of months left! I've turned into a pretty good tour guide and we would love to have visitors!

These are some of the original cannons! They were some of Jayla's favorite, but she hated the real ones that they demonstrated

This guy taught Jordan about weapons from the 16th century. He also like watching the guy who was making bullets. He melted down the metal and then poured it in to a mold. Seemed like a lot of work to me!

I think it's a little big Jayla!

They have peacocks all over! I don't know if I have ever seen a white peacock, aren't they beautiful?!

Jayla kept eating the bread that we brought to feed the peacocks. But she was very brave and let them eat out of her hand.

Ready...set...go!!!

2011-01-30T05:54:00.000-08:00

Jordan had his last pinewood derby this week. I tried really had to make sure we didn't wait until the last minute this year. We had been working on his car for a while and had it done a few days before. I took it the night before to test it out on the track. It was then that I found out that it was so slow! I didn't want a repeat of last year (he didn't win any races!!!) So in the morning I got out my new dremmel and made a new car. If it was faster then he could race it, if it wasn't then Jayla could race it against her friends after. It turned out to be faster so he raced Lightning McQueen! I'm happy that our ward isn't very competitive. The boys had a fun time. Jordan even won a few races!

Pictures!!!

2011-01-11T12:32:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from the last few months. Read the following post for an update (it's kind of long!) ENJOY!!
Naked Taliyah in a bucket!

I tried to get a good picture of the kids, this was the best I could get. I'm thinking the more kids we have the more impossible it will be!

We went to winter wonder land here in St. Augustine. It's at the park it it has ice skating, reindeer games, Santa, ice slide, elf village and snow (which is more like really little bubbles...you don't want to catch it on your tongue!)

All the Houseman girls with matching dresses!

Christmas Eve. Again, the best picture I could get of all of them together!

Looking out the window at the snow

Jayla and Gabby making Christmas cookies with Grandma

Beautiful Taliyah

I gave Jayla her first haircut! She looks so much better now!

Baby's First Christmas!!

New Year, Big Changes!

2011-01-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

It's been 2 months since my last post. Those are the busiest 2 months of the year but also full of the best memories that I would like to share!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with a family from our ward that we have become very good friends. This was the first year, and probably the last, that I ate Thanksgiving dinner outside! It was a great dinner full of great food, friends and fun!

Christmas came and went in a blur! We weren't sure if we wanted to make the long drive to Ohio again this year since last year the drive was an absolute disaster! But we decided to go. Normally I like to have Christmas at our own home but since Jordan had his exit exams first thing in January we needed to get back so he could study. Jayla got to spend time with her only girl cousin, Gabriella. They are a little less than a year apart but this is the first year that they have been able to be at the same level to play. They had so much fun playing princess, ballerina and zombies (with the boys of course!) Jordan got to spend some time with his boy cousins and have a few sleep overs. The kids got to see some now and Jayla liked to stick her fingers in it. Our poor kids have no winter clothes so they were cold the whole time! We had a very nice visit but it was short because we had to get back! Our kids got some very nice toys but not everything on their list...This year I've decided Christmas needs to more about spending time with family and Christ and less about wanting a $300 gaming system with $50 games. It's hard to balance the fun and excitement of Santa and keep the true spirit of Christmas as well. Hopefully I will be able to make it a fun and spiritual Christmas every year for our family.

I was very happy to welcome in 2011! We have been looking forward to this year for a LONG time! When we moved here 2011 seemed so far away. I remember holding 2-month-old Jayla and thinking she would be 3 years old and in Sun Beams when we move. Jordan will be in 4th grade! And I couldn't even think that we would have a 1 year old! In 3 months my hard-working husband with graduate and we will be moving on! He's looking into different job offers. We aren't sure exactly where we want to move, but we definitely know where we don't want to move. We have some very big decisions ahead of us and we are hoping that we will make the best choice for our family.

I decided not to make any major new years resolutions. I know there are some things that I would like to improve on. I think as a family we are going to be healthier. Recently Jordan was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disease, essentially the body is attacking itself every time a person with celiac consumes gluten. Gluten is found in wheat barley and rye. So the last few weeks I've been researching gluten free foods, recipes, restaurant menus...etc. Jordan never really liked breads and pastas but you wouldn't believe what gluten is in! Marinades, cream of chicken soup, soy sauce, even our taco seasoning had gluten in it! So this going to be a definite life style change for us but we feel very blessed that we found this early before he got really sick and that gluten free foods are easier and more accessible than they have been in the past. Jordan will be feeling better and have more energy and hopefully the rest of the family with benefit and get a little healthier too!

Taliyah has changed so much the last few months. She went from doing the worm across the floor to full crawling me and following me around like a shadow! At this age Jayla was already walking, I hardly remember her crawling. So I'm happy that Tally is taking it a little slower! She is into everything. Her favorite things are the dog food, outlets, the baby gate and knocking down all the movies. She loves loves loves to jump and dance. This week she has fallen in love with the door way bouncer. It's so much fun to she her jump like crazy in that thing. She's always smiling and we love her so much, but she does definitely keep us on our toes!

Jayla is my amazing little girl until about 4-5 and then get possessed by this crazy disobedient child! By the time bed time comes I'm ready to go to sleep too!! She really is a good girl, just going through a phase, I'm sure it will pass by the time she's 18! Jayla started Sun Beams this year. She loves it! She will be giving her first talk on Sunday, or should I say I will be giving her first talk on Sunday! She is a great big sister and I can't wait until they can play together even more.

Little Jordan is working on his pine wood derby car. This year I bought a kit. Not because we want to win....we just don't want to loose as bad!! I'm not bad a decorating the cars but we are not good at designing and making fast cars. It's hard to put on those stupid little wheels!! He will be starting baseball soon and he's getting excited for that.

Well I think that's all for now...I'll try to add some pictures sometime!

2010-11-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while....So much has happened. Here's a superfast recap! We had an amazing trip to Disney, Halloween was so much fun with the whole fam drsesing together, Little Jordan's Football is ending, Taliyah is getting teeth and crawling, Jayla hasn't taken off her princess dresses since Halloween, Jordan started a new internship and seems to like it (only 5 more months of school!!), and I've been trying to keep up with everyone else!

Tally Girl!

2010-10-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Taliyah is starting to crawl! She is getting big so fast! We just love this little girl so much! Sorry you have to turn your head to watch!

We had a blast at Disney. I've posted pictures on FB and I'll get around to doing a post on her sometime when things slow down alittle!

Fall is here...well sort of!

2010-10-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

Our little fairy princess

Jayla striking a pose!

My cute little pumpkin!!

She actually let them paint her face, she never has before!

Fall is my favorite season. I love the crispness in the air. Cool evenings. Sweaters and jeans. The leaves changing colors. Halloween. I love the smell in the air. Pumpkin patches and hayrides. Unfortunately you miss out of most of those things living in Florida. We have had a few cooler nights, we even got to turn off the AC for a whole day and open the windows! But some Fall fun has already started. We went to the unspooky Halloween party today at the library. Jayla was a fairy and Taliyah wore a pumpkin hat a shirt. Jayla had so much fun wearing makeup and acting all girly. Taliyah was just happy that someone gave her a prize to chew on!

Taliyah is getting big fast! She is rolling all around on the ground. I put her down and before a know it she across the room. She'll be crawling in no time. After I was out for the whole weekend with a breast infection (OUCH!!) I've been really pushing her to take a bottle and I think she finally is getting used to it. That means that Jordan and I need to go on a much needed date...if only we had some babysitters?!

I'm getting ready to head down to Orlando for the next week. My parents are coming in town and we are going to Disney. I'm excited for them to get to see the kids, especially my dad. He hasn't seen Tally yet and it's been 1 1/2 years since he's seen Jayla. So expect some pictures of our adventure next!

Birthday Girl

2010-10-05T08:26:00.000-07:00

Jayla turned 3 yesterday! I can't believe my little girl is 3 already. When we moved the Florida she was just 3 months old and we said she will be 3 years old when we move, it seemed so far away! And now she's 3...looks like graduating is coming up next!

For those of you who don't get to see my little curly haired tornado on a daily basis I'll let you know what she's like. First thing is the morning Jayla demands chocolate milk and cartoons. But that's about all she eats. This child does not eat or sleep...or STOP!! She's go go go. She loves story time, play grounds and running out the front door every chance she gets (and that did happen when dad was supposed to watching her and he "closed his eyes for just a minute!") She is very good with her little sister, adores little Jordan and cries for Daddy to come home all day long. She's such a girly girl and loves to dress up in her princess dresses with high heels but every night we have to frog hunting. She's so sweet and some times comes up and hugs me and tells me that she loves me, but she also has little horns that hold up that halo. She is the most stubborn, strong willed child I have ever met, but when it comes down to it we know that she loves us and she knows that we love her so so much!

This year Jayla had a Mickey/Minnie Mouse birthday party. I made a mickey cake, mickey cheese and crackers, mickey suckers, and mickey or minnie ears for all of her guests. I had some games planned to play outside but they wanted to play on the play ground. It was so cute to see her smiling and chasing around all of her friends. The we had a scavenger hunt to find the suckers, played pin the bow of Minnie and had cake! I wish we had a bigger place. We ended up having 28 people in our little apartment so we didn't have much space to move around. But Jayla had a great time. It was so nice of all of our friends to come and they gave Jayla such nice presents. She loved them all! When we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she told us a piggy band and a sword. I'm not sure where she came up with those but when she saw the wrapped presents she asked us which one was her piggy bank...good thing I got her one or I would have felt really bad!

Happy Birthday to our AMAZING little girl...We Love You!!

2010-08-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

Wow! Where did the summer go? I can't believe that school and football are starting and the weather is changing...well not here but I hear that it is in other places. Jordan had one week off of school before he started his internship so we tried to cram as much fun in that time as we could. We went to the beach, the museum of science and history up in Jax and then we went to Disney for a day. We got a season pass to disney so we will be going back as much as we can.
I don't have much time to myself, seems like there's always a little person that needs something(normally it's Jayla!!)...so that's all for now!

Info from Taliyah's 4 month check up.
Weight: 13.9 lbs 50th percentile
Height: 26 inches 95th percentile
I've heard that he can tell how big a puppy will be by looking at the size of their paws. The same must be true with Taliyah. She had the longest feet at birth and it doesn't look like she's going to be short!
We love you Tally!

For the Grandmas!!

2010-08-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Taliyah is growing so fast!! The other day she finally decided that she could push herself up when she is on her belly. She went from refusing to try to doing it like a champ in one day!
And she's rolling over!
We wish that we could be closer to family but for now sharing these special moments this way will have to do....we are so thankful for digital camera, the internet and skype!

Jayla always tries to get in the picture...sisters!

Look who's trying to suck her thumb...she's like her Daddy

Big Girl!!

I tried to get a video of Taliyah rolling over but she was being camera shy so I had to hide and try to catch her.

Where did my sweet little girl go?

2010-08-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

What could have happened to this nutty buddy?
A wild animal?
Our dog?
Nope, it was our dear little 2-year-old. She was told no but decided that she would try to eat it anyways. She has been undergoing some changes that come along with her age and adding a little sister. She's testing her boundaries and our patience. She has to have things done her way. She no longer takes naps because if she does she won't go to bed at night. She's suddenly scared of the dark (along with anything that makes noise) and has to sleep with the door open and the light on. And for some reason in the middle on the night she can't figure out how to open our door and pounds on it until we open it yet in the middle of the day when I'm trying to get alittle privacy she has no problem opening it! She whines and cries when she doesn't get her way. And the other day at the mall we caught her trying to scale the glass wall on the 2nd floor that over looks the first floor.
But.....then there are those times that she comes up to me, hugs my leg and looks up at me with the big blue eyes and says, "I wove you Mommy." I know that she's probably just gearing up for her next mischievous adventure but for those for moments she's my little angel again. She is a great big sister and amazes us with how intelligent she is.
I love you Jayla, and I'll keep telling myself that she could be worse.

Crashing after getting too little sleep!! Notice that she's refusing to wear pants...I guess they are optional around the house.

Playing in the rain!!

And on a side note...Taliyah is learning to roll over!!! She can make it but her arm gets stuck under her...give her a few more days and she'll be doing it like a champ!

Who's Who?

2010-08-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Jayla and Taliyah at the same age in the same outfit....Can you tell who is who?!

Taliyah is on the top and Jayla is on the bottom. Let's hope Taliyah gets Jayla's curls!!

A few new pictures.......

2010-07-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

Jordan's sister bought us these adorable matching outfits!! Unfortunately it's impossible to get Jayla to cooperate to take pictures...or to get her to do anything that I want lately. She's been quite the handul. How long do the terrible 2's last???

Sisterly Love?!?

2010-07-13T17:04:00.001-07:00

Taliyah had her two month check up the other day. She now weighs 11 lbs 8 ozs (50th percentile) and 23 inches long (75th percentile) She had to get 3 shots. I feel so bad taking her to these appointments. They have no idea whats happening and then BAM!! She was fine for the first few hours and then she started screaming/crying and I couldn't do anything to soothe her. I put Taliyah in her swing because I needed to get something in the bedroom. When I was in there I noticed that she wasn't screaming as loud. I walked back into the living room to find out that Jayla had taken two pillows from the couch and put them over Taliyah. The screaming was really loud and Jayla thought she had found a great way to make it quieter. I've since had a few talks with her that we don't put things over Taliyah's face. Oh the joys of parenting!!

Blessing Dress

2010-07-08T07:55:00.000-07:00

I took some pictures of Taliyah in her blessing dress. She was blessed on June 27th after Stake Conference. My mom made the dress for her and she looked like a princess in it. It's hard to believe that she already 2 1/2 months old. She has been such a good baby. If I knew that all my children would be like this we might have 8....ok probably not but I do hope that all of her siblings are like her.

Grandma's Visit

2010-07-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

My mom has already come and gone. It was nice having her here for a little bit. I think Jayla really wore her out. She just loved having all the attention and was go go go!! We tried to keep busy, as much as you can with a little baby. We went to the farmer's market, Ripley's Believe it or not, the pool, the beach, a scenic boat ride, magic show, and then a little mini trip to Orlando. Jayla loved seeing all the princess stuff and staying in a hotel, even though she slept sideways and took up the whole bed!! Little Jordan is off to Washington for the month and our house quieter,but Jayla does miss "Tordan" a lot.

On a side note, driving home from Orland we saw an alligator crossing the street here in St. Augustine...first one we've seen since we've moved here. And that's why I will NEVER go camping in Florida!!! Giant reptiles, bugs and snakes...no thanks!

Matching outfits from Aunt Meghan...so cute!!

Blessing Taliyah

Father's Day

2010-06-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!!
We tried to make Jordan's Father's day special. I made him breakfast before church. The kids made a sign for him. I got him a few gifts. The kids made a golf course through the house and I helped draw the layout. Jayla and Jordan had fun watching dad play. Taliyah's gift was that she let us take a nap!! Dad got to choose his favorite meal, Fillet Mignon, I wish that I could say that I made it but he cooked the steak, he makes the BEST steak! And for dessert I took us back to our Rexburg days. At a restaurant there we would get a "cookie monster" A pan filled with cookie dough, served warm with ice cream and toppings. Somehow we managed to eat the whole thing. Overall I think it was a good day. I love my husband, he's such a great Dad!!

I'm also so thankful for my own Dad. It's been a year since I've seen him and I miss him so much. He was such a good father. I remember many late night talks, asking him first because I knew he would say yes, nachos and X-files, doing science experiments, the spankings that hurt him more than me (literally), the look in his eyes when he really got mad, riding on his shoulders, how proud he was when I would score a goal, and so many more. My Dad was a good example of what I wanted to find in a husband. I LOVE YOU DAD!!!

My Daddy!!

The Golf course

The little golfer!

The kids making the Cookie Monster!

Adding the toppings!!!

Taliyah Smiling...soooo sweet!

Me and my girls!!

Smile

2010-06-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

Taliyah is starting to smile at us and it is so cute...but trying to catch it is not easy. Just as quickly as it comes it's gone! She normally smiles when we pick her up and hold her at about arm's length. I tried to get a picture of her and this was the best one...it's hard to hold the camera next to you and just wait for the moment she smiles. It just melts my heart every time and I know she is smiling at me and it's not just gas!!

Summer time is here! Jordan is done with school. It's hard to believe he will be in 4th grade next year. My mom will be coming to visit next week and we are getting ready for her. Jayla thinks that both grandmas live in airplanes in the sky and come here to bake cookies with her. Jordan will be going back to Washington to spend time with them...lucky guy! He's the only one of us that will get a vacation this summer.Taliyah is smiling if you look closely.

My lifesaver!!

2010-06-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Taliyah loves to be held and I love to hold her but I can't hold her all day. Someone gave us this little bouncer seat and a matching swing. I didn't have one of these with Jayla because I thought they were kind of stupid...but I LOVE IT!!! Taliyah loves to be bounced so I put her in this and bounce it up and down with my foot. It's been the only way I can eat dinner!!
She's such a good girl. Some nights she sleeps until 5:30 and she has never woken up crying during the night, I hope that she keeps this up! She's getting big all ready. She's smiled a few times and I can't for more of them!

Birthday

2010-05-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

Taliyah lounging by the pool

Jayla's new suit...I thought it was too cute!

This Saturday was my birthday and I'm so happy that I was able to spend the whole day with my family. We went swimming in the morning. Taliyah's gift to me was that she slept in the stroller so that I could get in the water. I'm happy that I actually felt like I could get into a bathing suit and look decent. Jordan made me a wonderful dinner and asked our friends to watch the kids while we ate...it was weird being in a quiet house. Then our friends came over for cake and ice cream. I love that my birthday is around memorial day...I always get a 3 day weekend! Thanks for planning it that way Mom!! For my birthday I got some things for my cricut and dance dance revolution. None of us are very good at it but it's fun to try it.

Jayla playing dance dance revolution

2010-05-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

Everyone says the more kids you have the less pictures you take of them...I'm going to try to not let that happen! I love that I have a nice camera and I can take pictures of her here at home. I know that they aren't professional but I'm still proud that I took them! She is such a good girl...as long as you are holding her!! The newborn stage is very special but there is a reason why it doesn't last too long, it wears you out!!!

2 Weeks already!

2010-05-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

Taliyah is already 2 weeks old. I've enjoyed having her with us. She's such a sweet little girl. She went in for her 2 week appointment today. She weighs 8 lbs 3 ozs and is in the 50th percentile for everything. What she loves...to be held, swaddled and to look around at everything. She hates to be in the car and to be set down.
We are loving having Grandma Houseman around this week, we can't believe the week is almost over. Jayla isn't going to know what to do when she leaves. They play all day long. Jayla follows her around like a shadow. That little girl has a huge imagination. She pretends to be princesses, dogs, kitties and anything else she can think of. I don't know how I'm going to keep her entertained when Grandma leaves!

Quote of the day from Jayla, " I'm a beautiful Woman!"
Yes you are Jayla, but please stay our little girl a little longer!!

One picture...many more to come!!

2010-05-07T06:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'll be taking lots of pictures...but here is one that I really like. That newborn squished face is starting to go away. She's been such a good baby. She only wakes up once a night (normally I wake her up) and she'll sleep for 6 hours. On Monday she went to the doctor for a 4 day old check up, she weighed 7lbs 9 ozs. That's only 1 oz less than her birth weight so we are really happy with her gaining it back. It took Jayla a long time to get back to her birth weight. So far these girls look alike but are different in a lot of ways. Jayla didn't sleep much and wasn't interested in eating (still isn't!!) and Taliyah sleeps well and loves to eat. We feel so blessed to have this little girl with us!

Our Baby Girl Is Finally Here!!

2010-05-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

On April 29th at 2:13 am Taliyah Lynn Houseman was born!! She weighed in at 7lbs 10 ozs and a little over 20 inches. She is a happy healthy little girl. Jayla is being a good big sister. She sits next to her, kisses her and pats her on the head. Little Jordan was invited to spend the weekend with some friends. He got to hold Taliyah a few times at the hospital and at home. I think he's starting to feel alittle out numbered! He's going to be wearing a lot of crowns and makeup in the near future!!

Our Baby Story.........
I was supposed to be induced on Friday and we were just waiting around for that to happen. Since I was induced with Jayla I didn't think that I would go into labor on my own. On Wednesday around dinner time I started to feel some contractions. They weren't too bad and they weren't very regular. Little Jordan had a pack meeting and while we were there I continued to have contractions. They were about 10 minutes apart and didn't seem to get any closer together, so we still didn't know for sure if this was it. By the time we got home and put the kids in bed, I called my midwife and we decided to head to the hospital. The contractions still weren't very close together but they were starting to get a little more intense. When we got to the hospital I was dilated to 4 centimeters and they said we could stay, this was about 11:oo. They started me on an IV to get some fluids in me before they could give me an epidural. So alittle after 1 when that was done they checked me again and I was already at a 9!! They let me rest for awhile and then after about 20 minutes of pushing our baby girl came. It all went by so fast! We are so happy that we decided to go to the hospital instead of waiting it out. My midwife asked Jordan if he was going to help with the delivery, we were both thinking she meant cut the cord. Jordan actually did most of the delivery. My midwife did the head and Jordan got to deliver the rest of her body. I think he was as scared as I was! It was a great experience for him and I'm so happy that he was able to be involved. This delivery and recovery have been so much different than the last one. I think giant baby Jayla paved the way for her sister!! We are so happy and blessed to have our little girls!

Just to compare....

2010-04-23T18:20:00.001-07:00

This was the only picture I could find with me at 39 weeks with Jayla. This was actually taken right before we left for the hospital...maybe that's why it's such a bad picture!! And we'll say the double chin is from being swollen and a bad camera angel!! So do I look the same?! It's will be interesting to do this with their baby pictures!

The waiting game...

2010-04-23T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well I'm now almost 39 weeks and ready to go! My midwife has said that if I don't have the baby this weekend then we'll talk about inducing me next week. So the end in sight!! It's such a nerve-wrecking thing...you never know when the baby will come. You can't plan anything more than 6 hours ahead of time because what if?! Every little pain you think that maybe it's time! It just totally consumes your thoughts! So hopefully by next weekend we will be holding our sweet little baby girl in our arms!!

Jordan and I have now been married 5 YEARS!! It's hard to believe. Our lives have changed so much but at least one thing hasn't changed...we are still just as much in love as we were then! Jordan and I started dating on February 15th, 2003 and since that day we have either spent time with each other each day or talked on the phone when we lived in separate states. (Jordan was out of cell service one time when he was hiking but we won't count that day!!) You figured we would be sick of each other by now but some how we aren't!

One of Jordan's classmates offered to babysit for us so we could go out...who knows when we will be able to again! We went to a movie and to a Japanese Steak house. It was so nice getting to spend all day together! Jordan was very thoughtful with his gift to me. The traditional 5 year anniversary gift is wood so he got me a willow tree figure of a mom holding a baby with another child next to her. I went along with the traditional theme and got him a new ring to wear with a wooden inlay.

Hopefully next post will be about our baby girl!!

Disney on Ice!!!

2010-04-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

This is the craziest smile I have ever seen, cute and alittle creepy at the same time!

The fireworks scared her.

Disney on Ice came to Jacksonville and I was going to get tickets when they first came out but I didn't know how I would feel and it's hard to plan something like that with Jordan's schedule. But at the last minute a friend ended up with some extra tickets we were was actually free...so we decided to go. I didn't know if Jayla would be able to sit through it but she LOVED it!! It was so cute to see her watch the show. She loved the Princesses. She got scared of the Beast and all the fireworks. It was so much fun taking the family, even Mom and Dad enjoyed the show...we felt like kids again!!

Finally...the BEACH!!

2010-04-06T05:10:00.000-07:00

It's finally warm enough to go to the beach, so when Jordan passed his test we went to the beach to have a little family fun in the sun! Jayla just loves the beach. The water is still really cold but it didn't seem to bother her at all. She loves the water and loves the sand. I don't think we are going to be able to make it to the beach as much as what I would like this summer, it's harder with a newborn baby.
And to all of our friends and family that are getting snow and nasty weather I'm sorry. We don't miss our freezing days of Rexburg. You are welcome to pack up the flip flops and come visit! We are only going to be here for another year so come on by!!

Ya! It's the beach!!

Dig her a hole and she's happy

Jordan's turn

I thought I looked pretty good...and then I saw the pictures. I keep telling myself only a few more weeks!!

Again the movie isn't anything special, mostly for the grandmas that don't get to see our kiddos that often!

Easter!!!

2010-04-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

Easter time!
We had a fun Easter morning...lots of eggs and lots of sugar!! Jordan has a big test this week so he has been studying a lot but he was able to take the morning off. It was nice to have a morning together as a family. The kids had so much fun looking for eggs and then eating breakfast together...one of my family's breakfast favorites, German Pancakes!

I was actually able to listen to most of Conference, which was really surprising! Did anyone else notice a theme of being a good parent...or is that just something that I need to work on??!
The Easter bunny was very generous this year, he must use coupons too!Going through the loot!

Jayla found all the ones that were high up, they were intended for Jordan but I guess Jayla has a good eye!

Can I eat it all??

This isn't from Easter but I just thought she looked cute!! Ready for the BEACH!!

The videos aren't anything special, just the kids looking for eggs. I just thought the grandparents might like to see!

A Little Easter Fun!!

2010-04-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

(The back up Easter dress, the first one was "melting" which I think means itchy??!)

EGG HUNT VIDEO

We went to an Easter Egg hunt today at the park. Jayla is loving Easter...actually she loves all holidays lately. I guess that the newspaper was taking video and we are in the first few seconds. I'm the big lady in the pink shirt! It's pretty funny to watch me try to run along with Jayla. Jordan was on a different field, they divided them up by age.
Hope you enjoy!! Just click on the words egg hunt video above.

2010-03-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

34 Weeks and ALL baby!!

We went to the beach this weekend...first good day we have had in a long time! I wasn't very comfortable since I can't lay on my back, stomach, and sitting in the sand wasn't fun....so Jordan dug a hole for my belly so I could lay on my stomach!

How to get the deals...

2010-03-23T09:57:00.001-07:00

My target trip- saved over $50 and only spend $19 which is pretty good since the movie was $18 and I didn't have a coupon for it. And the physicians formula make up is normally $10 each....so how did I do it? COUPONS!!!

I've had a lot of my friends and family that don't live around me asking me how I get my deals. So I'll share some of my favorite websites and blogs. They do all the work for me. They go through the ads and do the coupon match ups. I just print or clip the coupon and make a list before I walk out the door. Planning is important. But using coupons doesn't that much work, just a few minutes of planning.

Tips:
-Target, Publix and other stores that have store coupons will accept a store and a manufacture coupon on the same item. This is a good way to get overage. For example the kids toothpaste that I bought in the picture was $1.50. I had a target coupon for $1 off and manufacture coupon for .75...so I made .25. I know not much but it adds up!
-When something is on sale for buy one get one free (bogo) You can use 2 coupons because you are still buying 2 products. Another good way to get overage!
-Some coupons don't have size limits so look for the smaller sizes. In the picture above I used coupons for the travel size st. ive's, arm and hammer tooth paste and the little first aid kits. These sizes are great to have when you travel and free is always good!!
-Use coupons on clearance items.
-Look for rebates..I bought the bandaids in the picture to submit for a rebate for the princess and the frog dvd, I used coupons on the bandaids and got them for free so that makes the rebate even better!
-Shop at CVS!! I never stepped foot in CVS a year ago until my friends taught me how to shop there. It takes a little learning but once you get the hang of it you will never pay for tooth paste, deodorant, body wash, shampoo...The way you do it is you find out what is on sale that week that gives you Extra Bucks. You buy that item and then use the Extra Bucks on your next purchase that gives you Extra Bucks. So the goal is to "roll" the extra bucks each week and spend very little out of pocket. Walgreens and Rite Aide also have similar programs but I just stick with CVS.

My Favorite Websites:
www.hip2save.com -She has some great videos that explain how to coupon at different stores
www.Iheartcvs.com
www.southernsavers.com
www.whosaidnothinginlifeisfree.com
www.swaggrabber.com
www.totallytarget.com

There are so many out there...these are just a few.
Happy couponing!!!

St. Patricks day and more deals!!

2010-03-19T06:20:00.000-07:00

I tried to make St. Patrick's day fun for this kids. Jordan thinks that I really get into holidays and birthdays but I guess that's because that's what my Mom did. Cut my sandwiches into different shapes on holidays and on St. Patrick's day we always had a green meal. So this year I made green pancakes for breakfast. For dinner I tried to make everything as green as I could with out making it look gross. I made orange chicken ( which I decided to leave alone) green rice, broccoli, and shamrock shaped bread sticks. And dessert was green cheesecake bars. I know it's a little dorky, but hopefully it will be fun times that my kids will remember forever.

Now on to the deals...
At cvs I got 2 crest mouth washes, 2 men's deodorant, draino, Gillette hair gel and breast pads (exciting I know!!) The total after coupons was $8, I paid with a $8 extra buck and got back $9 in extra bucks.
At Target they had lots of good crayola stuff on clearance, I love that stuff for Jayla but it can be so expensive! And I got some free air wick air fresheners, hand soap and baby soap.
But the best deal I got was at Kmart...which I normally NEVER shop at except when they do double coupon days (which is coming up!) I wanted to buy Jayla the Princess and the Frog. We haven't seen it yet but I hear it's really good. When you bought the movie and the princess doll you got $10 off. So after all my coupons I paid $1.64 (tax included) for the dvd and doll. There are 3 rebates out there and I will probably submit for at least 1...so that means after I get my $5 rebate I'll actually make money.Pretty sweet deal!
I know in a few weeks I won't be able to run out to the store as easily as I can know, so I'll enjoy it while I can.

I'm 33 weeks and can't wait for this new baby to come! I'm excited to see what see looks like and how Jayla will be when her new sister comes. I'm also excited to be able to sleep on my stomach, walk up the stairs without getting winded, fit into pants without elastic and to stop going to the bathroom every 20 minutes!! Oh what women do for their children!

Pictures

2010-03-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

Jordan doing some heavy lifting. I'm not really sure what to say other than Jayla loved it!

Jayla loves getting mail!

Watching TV from her tent

I know that there are more people in our family than just Jayla, but I spend all day with her and she is always begging me to take her picture, and how can I resist...she's so darn cute!

Is it May yet?

2010-03-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get anxious! Jordan is very busy with school so I have had a lot of time around the house getting things ready. I feel like everytime I go out I get all sorts of fun little comments. "you look like you are having triplets." "You look like you are ready to pop!" Just alittle suggestion, these comments may seem funny but in reality only one of us is laughing.
I think that I have just about everything I need, finding places to stash everything has been fun! I counted 7 bags of size 1 diapers, 3 bags of newborn diapers (they look so tiny!!) and 15 bags of wipes. I won't have to go to store for any late night diaper runs! I've found some really good deals lately. And to make the deals even better the huggies diapers have rewards codes and I've won a $10 gift card, $25 towards our electric bill and a free package of diapers. Never knew I could get diapers so cheap!
Jordan and I have been trying to settle on a name and I think we have one picked out but we just want to make sure it is right. So we are going to keep it quiet until it's final...sorry!!
Jayla has been a busy busy little girl. It seems like she never stops and with my growing tummy it's hard to keep up! She has such a little imagination. She loves to pretend play with food and other toys. The other day she spend hours in a Tupperware box just playing. It's so nice when she can keep herself entertained!
Little Jordan took his FCAT tests at school last week. It's his first real test and it will be interesting to see how he did! Jordan will be going to Washington this summer to spend so time with family and he's really excited. Seems like that kid gets to fly on a plane more than any other kid i know!

Sorry it's boring, I tried to load some pictures but it wasn't working.

The Quarantine is finally over!! or at least I hope so!!

2010-03-02T14:29:00.000-08:00

The past week has not been fun!! It started last Monday morning with Jordan. Then Wednesday it hit Jayla (in the car of course!). It finally struck me in the middle of the night Saturday night. Little Jordan was the last victim, he gave into it at lunch at school. What was it....the dreaded 24 hour Flu!!! It seems like finally our family has gotten rid of this nasty bug. Maybe now I'll be able to get out of the house. I'm getting cabin fever!! I've done a lot of organizing in Jayla's room, making room for the baby. I've even gotten out the newborn clothes. I figured I might as well while I feel up to it and I'm stuck inside!
But now the weather is starting to get warmer and we are feeling better...it's time to get outside and play before it's too hot!!

Down and Derby

2010-02-25T17:35:00.000-08:00

The car!!!
If you can't tell it's supposed to look like a football....of course it would be a ball!!

So in the last post I put that I hope that the wheels will stay on and he'll win at least a couple of races...well only one of those came true. The wheels stayed on but sadly we built the slowest car. I think that he had the coolest looking car, if only they took into account style points! He seemed a little bummed out but after the boy scout derby they did a lot of racing for fun and he did win a few races so that helped bring his spirits back up! He had a fun time and maybe next year we'll learn the secret to a fast car!

This week hasn't been that fun. Jordan woke up monday feeling sick and even came home from class. And of course he had a busy week full of tests and group projects, it seems to always happen that way. On Wednesday Jayla was complaining that her tummy hurt, but I just thought it was because she was hungry. She proved me wrong when she threw up all over in the car. She slept the rest of the day. Nothing is worse than sick kids!! I hope that our family is done with colds and flus!!

Even though she was sick she still wanted me to take her picture! Poor little girl!

Weekend Fun!

2010-02-22T04:53:00.000-08:00

What a weekend! Between a birthday party, baby shower, service project, ward party and other activities we aren't feeling very rested to start the week...but it was fun!!
My friends through me a baby shower and it was so nice to get together with the girls and go out to dinner. It seems like it's been a long time!! And you just need some girl time every so often! I'm so lucky to have such great friends here!

So since I had my shower I kind of got in a "nesting" mood. I spent saturday cleaning out Jayla's room. I don't know how to fit another person in that room but I guess we have to make it work. I know I still have 10 weeks but I'm getting anxious and excited! Now we just need to decide on a name...hmmm

Jayla had a good weekend potty training. She did 2 days without any accidents...even when we out for a few hours. I've decided that it's not the kids that get potty trained...it's the parents!

Little Jordan has his pinewood derby this week. This year I've tried not to stressed out about it as much as I did last year. He thought of the idea, we (and by we I mostly mean some friends in our ward with power tools!) cut it out, he sanded it and he is finishing painting it. So he has done a lot of the work! I just hope it makes it down the track and hopefully wins a few races! I know you all are dying to see what it looks like but you are just going to have to wait to see the final product!!

2010-02-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

So Valentine's day is kind of a silly holiday, but what girl doesn't love getting a little something special from the one theyqa love?! Jordan had some very pretty flowers delivered to me today and I love them! Jayla loves them too, she thinks that they are for her. She is really loving Valentine's day. She was to give surprises to everyone, such a sweet girl! I had fun trying to take some pretty pictures, it was hard to get some with out Jayla's little hands in them. What am I going to do when I have another one!!
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

Jayla's Scam

2010-02-05T04:57:00.000-08:00

Now that Jordan is off internship and back in class we try to go out to lunch once a week. He's been very busy and we don't get to see him that much so this a time when Jayla and I can spend a little time with him. At lunch our sandwiches came with toothpicks in them. Jayla thought they were fun to play with and kept pretending they were birthday candles and singing happy birthday to herself. A nice older lady came up when she was leaving and handed Jayla a dollar and said happy birthday. I tried to tell her that it wasn't Jayla's birthday she just liked to sing but she wouldn't take the dollar back. It was a little embarrassing but funny at the same time.
We are so proud of our little con-artist!

I Heart CVS

2010-02-01T08:00:00.001-08:00

I was so excited about my last deal that I couldn't wait for my next. This week was a pretty good week at CVS. By looking at how many diapers I've been buying lately you would think I had more kids!!
The deals:
Dove men's body was: $5.49 and then you get 5.49 extra bucks back. The limit is 2...so buy one print out the extra bucks and use that to buy the next one!
Huggies and pullups: $10 and you get 5 extra bucks back when you spend $20.
Colgate: 2.99 and get back 2 extra bucks

Transaction 1:
colgate, 2 huggies =22.99
I used 2 $2 pullup coupons
and .50 colgate coupons
=$18.49
Then I paid 18 with extra bucks (I got $5 eb for taking a survey and I've made alot lately on deals)
So I paid .49 plus tax and got back 5 extrabuck for pullups and 2 for colgate.

transaction 2:
Dove= 5.49
Paid with $5 extra buck
and paid $.49 plus tax and got back 5.49 extra buck

transaction 3:
Dove= 5.49
paid with 5.49
only had to pay tax and got back a 5.49 extra buck!

I have a second card that I only use occasionally when there are good deals, I've let my mother in law use it to "learn on"! I got the candy bar because on my receipt there was a print out for a survey and the cashier said please give us 5's and handed me the candy bar! Of course I will, CVS practically lets me steal from them!

GRAND TOTAL!!
TODAY out of Pocket I paid .98 cents out of pocket and saved 37.27
YEAR-TO-DATE out of pocket 6.05 and saved 170.37
Did I mention I love CVS?!

The total above is for the transactions with my main card, With my second card I bought the other 2 bags of diapers and 2 body washes. I don't use the card that often so I only had 6 eb to it. So I had to pay around 12 out of pocket for everything, still not too bad!

Jayla is my little shopper now! When the cashier handed me the receipt and I was putting the extra bucks away she said, "yay! you got coupons!!" I'm teaching her well!

Hope this helps some of my family with how to "CVS"

My latest deal!!

2010-01-29T06:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've posted a great deal that I got, probably because around Christmas all the deals I got were for presents! This isn't for my friends here in Florida, they are all fellow couponers and probably think that I'm a dork for even posting my deals. But since we don't have much money when I can save some and grab a great deal it makes me feel good, a guess it's how I get my rush! This post is for my family members that keep asking me how I get things for so cheap. Here is a great example of how to really make coupons work for you!

Above is a picture of what I got at publix yesterday. I know that it's nothing exciting (kotex and breat pads!!) but these are things that I'm going to be needing. Nothing that I purchased was on sale, all of the savings that I got what from coupons!!
I was able to save a lot of money by using a coupon for Knox gelatin. It was in this sunday's paper. The coupon was for $4 off any one Knox products. They make other products but the gelatin is only $1.39 at publix. So that means for every one that I bought I got $2.61 in overage that went towards my bill!! So since I knew about this great deal I bought some extra coupons online from a coupon clipping website. Sounds silly but you will see how much money it saved me! Ibought 8 coupons for $.15 each and shipping is the price of a stamp...so less than $2.

What I bought: (some prices are approximate)
8 Boxes of knox- $1.39 each
2 Boxes of Huggies-$19.99 each
1 bag of pull-ups-$16
2 playtex pads- $4.50
2 kotex- $3.50
1 princess wipes- $2
1 bottle lotion- $3
1 hand sanitizer- $1

My total was a little over $90

Coupons:
8 $4 knox coupons
1 $10 off when you buy 2 boxes of huggies publix coupon
2 $1.50 off huggies coupon
1 $3 pullup publix coupon
1 $2 pullup coupon
1 bogo(buy one get one free) playtex publix coupon
1 bogo kotex publix coupon
1 $2 off 2 kotex coupon
1 $1.50 off wipes
1 free lotion publix coupon
1 free hand sanitizer publix coupon

After coupons were subtracted total was alittle over $17 plus $5 in tax...so I payed $22 for over $90 worth of stuff, that's the same price as one box of diapers!! And then to sweeten the deal I am sending in the receipt for a $10 rebate!! So only $12 when after I get that back!!

Great deal! You can see how much coupons saved me! At Publix and many other stores you can use a manufacture coupon and a store coupon for each product.

2010-01-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

My good friend Tabitha told me about a website for some fun (and free!) photo editing. Look what I did on my first try! So much fun...and easy too!

Here's the link if you are interested!
http://www.picnik.com/app#/home/welcome

2010-01-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

My calling at church is in Primary and I teach the 4 year-olds. I love how honest and completely random they can be. Last week a little boy after class came up to me and asked," Why is your tummy getting fat?" This week a little sunbeam girl came up to me and pointed at my belly and asked, "What's in there?"

Below are a few pictures of Jayla I took. She loves to get her picture taken but she smiles so big, closes her eyes and scrunches up her nose...cute but not that cute for a picture. So I have to try to get her to laugh or take a candid shot. I want to learn how to use my camera more, especially before the new baby comes. I also want to get some photo editing software. So I want to know if there are some recommendations! Easy to use and a good price are the most important to me.

2010-01-19T16:43:00.000-08:00

We have been working at potty training Jayla for alittle over a week and it's going pretty good. We are taking a casual approach. When we are home she is wearing panties but when we go out I'm still keeping her a diaper. She's done really good. Today when she was out at the playground she told me she needed to go and she held it until we made it inside. And yesterday when we were at McDonald's she said she had to go and went in a "big" potty for the first time! She's doing good and we are very proud of her!

(Since she has been potty training she's been naked...ALOT!)

And for those of you who aren't here to witness my growing tummy here's a picture. It's really started to pop out lately! Our little girl is very active and she doesn't stop moving. Jayla got to feel her for the first time. When the baby kicked her hand she quickly pulled it off and looked at me with a puzzled look. I think she is starting to understand and she is getting excited for her baby sister to "come out!"

It's Potty Time!!!

2010-01-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

I'm a big girl now!!

I kept telling Jayla that after Christmas she was going to wear panties. So I guess it's time to start the potty training!!! I've heard alot of stories from my friends about potty training, some good and some bad. So I'm trying to find out what works for us. So far we are doing a little bit at a time, she's going most of the afternoon without diapers. But I haven't tried to take her potty when we are out. She HATES adult bathrooms and covers her ears everytime she comes in with me. She has gone through a lot of panties and I'm happy that this carpet isn't ours! Let's hope that this is a good experience and that I don't decide to put her in diapers until she's 5!

P.S. Any suggestions are always welcomed!

Christmas Vacation...the good and the bad!

2010-01-04T18:42:00.000-08:00

Warning...this is a long post!

It's hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone and we are entering into a new year. It's been a good Christmas break. It was nice having time to spend with the family, especially since Jordan has been out of school since he graduated. Jayla loves getting to spend time with her Daddy during breaks and it always takes her awhile to get used to him going back to school.
On Christmas eve the weather was wonderful! We went to the park and to the beach. It didn't help me get into the Christmas spirit but it was neat being able to be on the beach on Christmas eve. The water was freezing but Jayla still loved playing in it. We had to take her pants off because she was soaked. Her poor feet were bright red because it was so cold, but she loved every second of it! She is our little beach baby
Santa was good to our kids this year. Jordan got an mp3 player that he wanted (he only wants to listen to 2 songs over and over again!), a putting mat, football, and some movies. Jayla got a tinker bell tea party set, a doll house, mr. potato head, and a little puppy dog. Dad got an Ipod touch for graduation/christmas so I got him some accessories for that, some shirts, and movies. Jordan treated me good this year and got me a label maker, rice cooker, sheets and a cricut cutting machine.
After Christmas morning we tried to take a little nap and then packed up the car and headed to Ohio! The drive started out fine, the kids weren't sleeping as well as we thought they would but the weather was good...and then we hit a road closure due to a rock slide. So we had to travel back 25 miles to get a detour. The signs were very unclear so we followed our GPS, big mistake!! We ended up on these icy windy back roads in the Smokey mountains. It was horrible! And then to make things worse Jayla puked all over. So we had to clean her up on the side of the road. I held her in the back seat until she puked all over me and then it was Daddy's turn! After smelling vomit for a few hours and having a strong gag reflex thanks to being pregnant, I gave in and had to throw up. The drive ended up taking us an extra 3 hours. It is definitely going on my list of the worst experiences of my life! And just to top it off, today in the mail we got a ticket from some dinky town in Tennessee that took a picture of Jordan speeding at like 3:00 in the morning when we were lost and Jayla was sick!
But once we made it to Ohio we had a great time! Jayla is finally out of her attachment stage and she really loved playing with grandma, grandpa, her uncles and cousins. Jordan's family always does a big Christmas party, the kids all get presents and the grown-ups do a gift exchange. I got a brownie pan, not just any brownie pan, I got the one you see on TV that slices the brownies for you and I must say it's pretty cool! Jordan got a slider maker (little burgers) we haven't used it yet but we are very exited to give it a try! We ate a lot of food and watched a lot of football! I was also able to see my brother for an afternoon which was great!
I'm making a few goals for the new year. Potty train Jayla, snack healthier, have a baby and then lose the baby weight! I think these are obtainable.
We hope that everyone had a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Jayla and her only girl cousin Gabriella
Jordan's Mom, Vicki and 2 of his brothers, Jared and Justin
Ringing in the New Year!! Don't worry it's non-alcoholic!

Dear Santa

2009-12-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

The kids got to see Santa this year. Jayla is starting to catch on to the idea of Santa but doesn't want to go near his lap. She has seen him twice and both times didn't like it. As you can see Dad was a good boy this year and got to sit on Santa's lap with Jayla! It helped calm her down alittle bit. When asked what he wanted for Chirstmas little Jordan said an Xbox 360. Santa descretly looked over at us, and we were shaking our heads no. Then Santa explained to little Jordan that a lot of kids are asking for that and the elves are working over time so don't be disapointed if he doesn't get one. What a nice Santa!

I just thought this picture was cute and silly!

Sadly this was the best picture I could get of the kids. Jordan couldn't keep his eyes open and Jayla was doing her goofy smile. I took over a dozen pictures and was late to church, thank goodness for digital!

We will be going to visit Jordan's Family in Ohio after Christmas until school starts again. We hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas.

Jordan's Birthday

2009-12-22T16:47:00.001-08:00

Jordan had a pretty good Birthday this year. It kind of sneaked up on us between Jordan's graduation and Christmas. Having a birthday around Christmas is kind of a bummer! This year I decided I didn't want to do a big party. Instead he invited 3 of his friends from church over for a slumber party. He had a blast and it only cost us 2 pizza's, a lot of patience, and a night of sleep!

Make a wish!

All of the boys slept out in the living room on a mattress, but they didn't do much sleeping!

This is what they did ALL night! Played video games. I can't wait to own a house so that we have more space.

Jayla got a little sad because it wasn't her birthday and the presents weren't for her.

Family Pictures on the Beach

2009-12-17T09:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Jordan. It's his 9th Birthday today!!

We had to take Jordan's parents to the beach while they were here. And of course they needed pictures to brag to people that while it was 11 degrees in Ohio they were on the beach in Florida. Vicki was nice enough to snap a few family pictures of us. I love the pictures, only wished I'd planned ahead and actually got ready!

Gross I know, but I think it's cute!

I need to share a story, it's one of those if it can go wrong it will stories! Jordan's parents were able to fly out later in the evening on Monday so we went downtown to walk around and go to lunch. We printed out a restaurants.com gift card to a restaurant called Florida Cracker Cafe but after we got there the waitress told us that it was only for dinner. I said I would drive to the Library and print out another gift card while they shopped around. Well when I walked into the Library all of the public computers were down. So I went to a nearby hotel and acted like a guest and used their lobby computer. I planned ahead this time and printed out about 5 gift cards. When I got back downtown I realized I had left my cell phone at the hotel so I had to go back. When I finally got back we decided to go to Crab Grabber, but when we walked up it was closed down. We only had one gift card left downtown, it was at a Cafe. Jordan ran ahead to get us a table, but it had also closed down too!! By that time we were starving and everything downtown is expensive unless you have a coupon. So we decided to go to a place along the beach called Beachcomber. When we were getting out of the car a guy came up and asked us if we were with the golfers, no, well we are closed today to serve the golf tournament. By this time we just couldn't help but laugh. Ok we'll go the "world famous" Oasis. I know it's not closed down! As we pulled us there weren't alot of cars in the parking lot and then we noticed the sign that said closed for renovations. Are you kidding me?! We couldn't be mad, it was just crazy. The first restaurant wouldn't take the coupon, the next 2 were closed down and the next 2 were closed for the day. Now we are completely out of coupons and starving!! So we went to Mango Mango's which is always delicious! It's funny out sometimes things just aren't meant to be!

Graduation!!!

2009-12-17T06:19:00.000-08:00

Jordan graduated!!! Yay! His Mom and Dad came down to watch him graduate with his Masters in Occupational Therapy. We are all so proud of him. We had a great weekend celebrating his accomplishment. Now only 4 more semesters!

Who's that handsome guy??!

Here's the proof!

Our Whole Family!

That's a good looking Family!

Jordan walking across that stage

Afterwards we went to Yamatos, a Japanese steakhouse where they cook the food on a grill in front of you. Jordan loved it and Jayla freaked out everytime there was fire, but other than that it entertained her. All of us at the Restaurant, and yes, the food was delicous!

Is it a Boy or Girl?!?

2009-12-11T10:04:00.000-08:00

Profile of head

Feet, I love the feet pictures!

Face, this one is harder to tell what it is, plus the face pictures are always alittle freaky in an ultrasound.

I had my ultrasound this morning and found out the sex of the baby. After 10 minutes of pushing on the baby to try to get it to open it's legs we found out We are having another girl!! Yay!! I'm so excited for Jayla to have a baby sister. Little Jordan is a little disappointed, I guess he's just going to have to get used to playing with dolls and putting makeup on. Now the boys are out numbered! Jordan and I did have a feeling that this one was a boy so it was a little shock when it was a girl. But the most important thing is it looks healthy and growing good! So excited!!!

Beanie??

2009-12-09T06:37:00.000-08:00

I was helping little Jordan with his first report and when I walked by the living room this is what I saw..
I guess Beanie is just getting in touch with his feminine side! Some how he managed to put this on by himself.

Jordan's Mom and Dad are coming in town tomorrow for his graduation on Friday. I'm so proud of him. I know that past 2 years have been hard but he did it! We also find out on Friday if we are having a boy baby or girl baby. So stay tuned for more posts!

We are thankful for....

2009-11-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

Our Family!

This is Jayla "helping me" Thanksgiving morning...she did get that spoon very clean!

Here's the turkey that Jordan and I made. I'm always proud when it actually turns out. Jordan did all the hard work pulling out the gross stuff inside and doing all the dirty work and heavy lifting. I just babysat it while he played football. We make a pretty good team!

This year we got together with all of the other PT families from our ward and had Thanksgiving dinner. We were worried there wouldn't be enough food but as you can tell from the picture it looks like enough for a ward party and we only had 8 families. The food was great and it was so fun getting to spend Thanksgiving with our friends, which is the next best thing when we can't get together with family. We are so lucky to have such good friends here while we go through school.

This year I'm not going to do any Black Friday shopping, which is probably why I'm doing this right now! Jordan has to be at his internship today and I've got most of the Christmas shopping done for the kids. I did get my shopping fix last night by going to CVS and getting a bagful of things for free. Since I've started couponing and deal hunting I'm hoping that this year's Christmas won't cost us that much. I would like to step away from the material stuff and get back to what Christmas is really about...our Family and the birth of our Savior.

Now it's time to start setting up then decorations and putting the tree up!
The Holidays have begun!!!

Football is over...

2009-11-18T04:50:00.001-08:00

Sadly little Jordan's football season has come to an end. I'm ready for a break from the weekly practices and early morning Saturday games but Jordan is such a sports nut that I don't know what's he's going to do with his time! He'll have to decide what Winter sport he wants to do. For their final game they held it in the High School Stadium. They announced each player's name and they got to run across the field. The cheerleader's held up a sign for the teams to run through. I got it on camera, but I don't know how to transfer it, when I figure it would I'll post it. Jordan got to play center. In the picture he has the ball. Even though his team lost in over time it was a very good game.

(Big) Jordan has good news..he passed his exits!! So that means he's good to go to graduate! He is wrapping up the last few weeks at his internship. His graduation date is for December 11th and we are so excited that his parents will be here to celebrate with us.

Jayla is...well Jayla! The past few months she's gone from sleeping in her crib to a pack and play in our room then to it in her room, then to the toddler bed and now back in her crib! We just want her to sleep! Her vocabulary is growing every day and we are always shocked at the things she says. She is such a sweet girl, always willing to give hugs and kisses. The other day Daddy had a boo-boo and Jayla went to get the "princess ice" and a napkin and then gave it kisses to make it better. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives...now if we can only get her to eat!

And I'm doing good. I'm still in that "is she just getting fat or is she pregnant" stage. I'm 16 weeks and we should find out by Christmas if it's a boy or a girl! I try to keep myself busy by taking Jayla to story time, music time and now once a week my friend is teaching a Yoga class. The kids pay attention for about 10 minutes and then the moms get a workout. Jayla can now do standing tree and down dog and she's definately more flexbible than me! I'm getting excited for the Holidays to come. We are getting together with our friends for Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming soon. I've been shopping throughout the year so I think I have most of the presents for the kids.

Ok I think that's enough for now! Next time I'll try to have more pictures, I know they are so much more interesting!

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!!!

2009-11-01T15:13:00.000-08:00

We had a great Halloween this year! Friday night we went to our ward's chili cook off and trunk or treat. Little Jordan was a ninja this year and Jayla had a few different costumes. For the church party she wore a grass skirt that my mom brought back from Hawaii and Jordan and I wore beach clothes. It was a fun and easy family costume. We won an award, Best Hawaiian costume...I think they just made up the award for us!Little Jordan got to go to his first Haunted House. Our friends took him and said that he did pretty good. One of his coaches from football was working inside and yelled his name, I think that really freaked him out! And then on Halloween we went with our friends out for pizza and then went trick-or-treating. Jordan ran from house to house with the bigger kids and Jayla slowly followed. She LOVED trick-or-treating but didn't like the spooky stuff. But she loves all the candy...now I just need to keep it out of her reach!

We went trick or treating at publix..."where shopping is a pleasure."

The only pumpkin that we decorated this year. The parts just stick in like mr. potato head...so much easier than carving!
Jayla and some of her friends from church...don't they look so cute!
And yes it was almost 90 degrees on Halloween!!

The Fall fun is beginning

2009-10-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

We made caramel apples the other day for FHE. I Love caramel apples! We invited our friends over to make them with us. Even though I burned the caramel and my wonderful husband had to make a quick trip so the store...we still had a great time!
Jayla went to a Halloween party at the library today..sorry no pictures the batteries died in the camera!! This year I didn't buy or make Jayla a costume. She has princess dresses and a hula outfit that grandma brought back from Hawaii . She refuses to wear any of it! I had to chase her through the house, put the princess/fairy dress on her wiggling body and then gave her candy to bribe her to be good. But hey, it worked! She didn't mind having it on the rest of the time. I think she will like Halloween, especially after she realizes they put candy in her bag!

Grab your winter gear!

2009-10-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

This is the time of year where it is hard for me to live in Florida. The Fall is my favorite season. I love the leaves changing color, caramel apples, hay rides, pumpkin patches, cool crisp evenings...but that doesn't happen here. You see the sweaters in the stores but realize that you don't have a need for a new sweater because you only got to wear the one from last year 4 times. But something amazing happened today! It got below 90 degrees! I think I heard that the high is only supposed to be in the low 70's. This morning for Jordan's game it was actually chilly outside. I got to dress Jayla in a cute little sweatsuit. I'm used to seeing her in a t-shirt and shorts so it's cute to see her in something different. You should have seen everyone at the football game, wrapped up in blankets, hats, scarves, and winter coats. And after the game Jordan wasn't dripping with sweat. Don't get me wrong there are some great advantages to living in Florida during this time of year...we don't have to scrap windows in the morning, kids can play outside year-round, and for halloween the kids can actually wear their costumes without a coat over them. But I'm thankful for these few Fall days that we get, I know soon it will be over.

Big News!!

2009-10-07T16:29:00.000-07:00

Read My Shirt!!

...If you can! When Grandma got off the airplane this is the shirt that Jayla was wearing. It says "BIG SIS" It took a second for her to get what that meant. We are going to be having another BABY!! We are very excited. Jayla is going to make a great big sister. I had my first doctor's appointment and the due date is May 5th....Cinco de Mayo. That means that I miss being pregnant during the hottest months in Florida.

Here's a picture of the first ultrasound. I know you can't tell what anything is but when it was being taken you could see the baby's little legs moving around and dancing on the umbilical cord. If this one is anything like Jayla it won't stop moving for the next 8 months!

Grandma's Visit

2009-10-06T13:17:00.000-07:00

My mom was able to visit for the last week. It has been a fun and busy week. We have gone to the farmer's market, the beach 3 times, down town St. Augustine, Jordan's football game, the mall to get Jayla's 2 year pictures taken and do build-a-bear (both of which were not a success!), we went kayaking and got to see dolphins and sea turtles, climbed up the light house, and went out to eat a few times (ok I tried to cook as little as possible!)
It's too bad that we don't get to spend more time with family but we try to make the most out of the time we get!

Happy Birthday to Princess Jayla!!

2009-10-05T16:33:00.000-07:00

Jayla is 2! It's hard to believe that my baby girl is already 2. She has grown up so fast! Everyday it seems like she is learning something new. She is such a happy girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family.

For Jayla's birthday we had a Princess Party! She had all of her favorite little friends over and they had so much fun running around screaming and giggling. Thanks to everyone who came!

Right now Jayla loves Dora, Princess and Tinker Bell. Her favorite presents that she got was tinker bell bubble bath, a Dora umbrella, nail polish and pretend tinkerbell make-up. She's definately a girl!

Football

2009-09-19T08:15:00.001-07:00

Jordan(#6) had his first real football game this week, he had a practice game last week. And I'm happy to say that he is doing pretty good! Since he played last year he has a little advantage over some of the players that are new this year. He has the heart but sometimes lacks the guts, so before the game I tried to bribe him with McDonald's for lunch if he did good. And it worked. He recovered a fumble. His team was down 12 to 6 with only a few minutes left so they did a Texas Tie breaker. The losing team gets 4 chances to score and then if they do the other team gets 4 chances. His team scored on the first try and got the extra point! So now they are winning but the green team has 4 chances to score. And guess who made a tackle to save the touch down from happening...JORDAN! I was shocked when I saw him take the other kid down. It's big improvement from last year and I hope he keeps it up. His coach told him that his picture was in the paper last week but I couldn't find it online but if I do I'll have to post it. Sorry I don't have any other pictures. I was on my own this week and Jayla whined the entire time saying.."i wanna go home" She's such a homebody.

...found a few pictures!

Now that I'm in...how do I get out?!?

2009-08-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

The other day we got Beanie a cage to sleep in at night to help with the doggie potty training. I wasn't paying attention to Jayla until I heard her screaming. She had crawled into the cage, curled up and had no idea how to get out. As you can tell from the size of our dog the cage isn't very big. I have no idea how she fit in it. My first reaction should have been to get her out but mine was to grab the camera! Hmmm I wonder if that makes me a bad mom?!?

School is Back...FINALLY!

2009-08-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

Jordan and I were talking last night. We never understood why our Moms were so excited for us to go back to school....now I understand! Summer seems so long as a Mom and so short for a kid! Little Jordan actually is excited for school. He is excited to see all of his friends again and I think he was starting to get bored at home with Mom all day. He also won't miss going to CVS! Here comes the big 3rd grader!

Football season has begun...

2009-08-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

On saturday night Jordan and little Jordan got the chance to go to a Jacksonville Jaguars preseason game! Jordan was going to be the only one going but at the last minute he got another ticket and little Jordan was able to go which made both of us happy! They didn't just go to the game, they did the whole "game experience." Went up at 3 to go tailgating and stayed for the entire game not getting up until 1 in the morning! But they both were up in time to go to church!
Jayla and I enjoyed a girls night. We went to target where as soon as we got there she said "ready to go mommy" but she was still a good girl and that's rare at a store! Then we watched a movie and shared a candy bar, which was Jayla's favorite part!

Our new little man...

2009-08-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

On sunday we got a new member to our family. His name is Beanie and he's a morkie...a maltese and yorkie mix. He is so adorable and the kids absoultely love him! Jayla tries to carry him around and he sleeps in Jordan's room. Jordan has bonded more with the puppy than he ever did with the cat. He takes him outside first thing in the morning and throughout the day. Beanie is 16 weeks old and only weighs about 3-4 pounds. He should only grow to be about 5-6 pounds. The other day I took him to petco in my purse!! So cute! I almost bought him a little sweater vest and then I came back to my senses! I don't want to be another crazy dog person...if you ever see me pushing him around in his own stroller help me!!!

Jordan started football practice this week and his school starts next week! FINALLY! He's excited to go back to school. We are going to meet his teacher on Tuesday. It's hard to belief that he's going to be in 3rd grade.

Jayla is growing up so fast...and yes she still sleeps in our room. She's such a little stinker when we go shopping but at little cutie when we are home. Lately she's been crawling on my lap, wrapping my arms around her and then saying "I'm so happy."

That's whats new for now!

A great day at CVS!

2009-08-03T06:49:00.001-07:00

Remember the coupons I ordered from eBay? I got to use them today. I have 10 boxes of electrasol/finish...that's 200 loads! I'll give a quick recap of the deals I got. When you bought $20 worth of electrasol you got 10 extrabucks back and with the coupons it only cost $10. But to make the deal even sweeter at the pharmacy there are coupon booklets with a $4 of $20 purchase...so that means I made $4 in extra bucks! I did that deal twice. The softsoap was $5 with $4 extra bucks, and I had a coupon for $2 off. The blink tear drops were $8 with $8 extra bucks, and I had a coupon for $3 off. The notebooks were $1 with $1 back. That's the only school supplies they had left this week, so I got more rainchecks. The lotions were free, a coupon printed on the bottom of my receipt. I also got a coupon for free batteries but wasn't able to get them because Jayla wasn't in a shopping mood. After 4 transactions she had had enough!

So to sum up! I started out with $14 in extra bucks, paid around $4 out of pocket to cover taxes, and I ended up with $29 in extra bucks and everything above!!

Summer time!

2009-08-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

Our family has spent a lot of time at the pool this summer. Jayla is starting to turn into a fish! I bought her some arm floaties and she loves them! It gives her freedom, which we both like. She still unsure about putting her head underwater but She'll get there!

Since Jordan has to be at church early I have to try to get the rest of us to church on time looking our Sunday best. This morning I picked out a very pretty dress for Jayla. I said "Jayla, you look so pretty in your pretty dress." Then Jayla ran out of the room and came back with a pair of new shoes that I got her at Target. When we got them I told her they were pretty princess shoes. Well Jayla was set in her ways that the pretty shoes need to go with the pretty dress. I guess I decided I need to choose my battles and this isn't one that I need to win. So with her fancy dress Jayla wore sparkly pink tennis shoes! She already has her own fashion style!

Jordan went to football camp this week. He is in PAL football, the police athletic league. He did this last year and we were really impressed. The police officers take time out of their lives to coach and teach these kids about football and leadership. It's perfect for Jordan. At camp they did a punt, pass and kick competition. Jordan got 3rd place! They only gave out 4 awards and Jordan got one. He received the Hussle award! Because he's always ready to volunteer and help out....now if only that were true at home! But take a look at the trophy, it looks like the Hulk in a football uniform!

Fun Weekend!

2009-07-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend our ward had a pioneer day party. It was fun. We ate a pot-luck dinner while sitting on blankets on the floor, played games, and ate smoores by the fake fire. The kids had a lot of fun. Jayla even played some of the pioneer games..she's getting so big! On saturday we went to the beach with some friends. We got a little sunburned but had a lot of fun. Jayla loves the beach...mostly the sand! She could play in it all day. She loves to be buried in a hole

Sunday was relaxing. Jordan and Jayla love to play together. Jayla chases him around and tries to do everything he does. Jayla is starting to get a little imagination. It's cute!

Little Jordan has football camp this week! I'm hoping this will help toughen him up for football season. Since I was out early I did my cvs trip early! It was a good sale week!

Let's see this week I got 4 mini staplers, 4 composition notebooks, 2 index card cases, 2 packages binder clips, 2 boxes of tampons, 2 packages easy touch pens, and 2 packages of pencils (from a raincheck.)These were all the sale items from the week that printed out register rewards to make them free. I made money on the toothpaste because of a coupon. And the BIC triumph pens were BOGO at $3.99 and I printed out 2 $2.00 coupons so they were free!! Jordan likes nice pens for church. The manager rang me up and after I used my register rewards and coupons he was confused because the balance was $-.26. So I bought some gum that was on sale and ended up owing 5 cents! I did a few transactions and all together I spend around 80 cents and I have alittle less than $14 in register rewards. Next week more school supplies and dish detergent.

Just in case your wondering what I'm going to do with 4 mini staplers...the school supplies that I get for free that we don't need are going to be donated to someone who does need them!

Free Picture Package

2009-07-24T14:33:00.001-07:00

I took Jalya today to get the free picture package at the Picture People. She did pretty good. It's hard not to want to buy all of them! Here's a picture of the picture I picked. It's probably not that clear but I'm too lazy to scan it!

A special thanks to Aunt Kirsten for the flower clip....she does wear them!

CVS Trip

2009-07-20T09:31:00.001-07:00

More free school supplies this week! I got 2 binders, 2 packages of pen, 2 packages or filler paper, and 2 memo books. They were out of the pencils so I got a rain check, Jordan needs like 5 packages for school. I bought 2 speed sticks. I gave one to Katie, who went with me. She's learning how to CVS! I actually made a dollar from the deodorant because it was on sale for $3 and you got $2 extra bucks back but there was a coupon you could print for $1.50 off. That means I made .50 cents each! And then 8 packages of nuts. You can scan your CVS card at the price check machine and it prints coupons. One of the coupons I keep getting is $2 off 2 packages of nuts...well these are only $.99 each so that makes them free!
To wrap it up I went in with $10 extra bucks, spent around $.30 out of pocket (I just read you have to pay tax on extra bucks now!) bought everything above and I got back $11 in extra bucks!! Yay a profit of .70!

I also did something today and I've never done before....I bought coupons on eBay! I know what you are thinking, I'm starting to go crazy! I saw than the first week of August at CVS Electrasol is going to be on sale where when you spend $20 you get back $10 in extra bucks. Last week there was a $2.50 coupon in one of the newspaper inserts. In order to get them for free I needed 5 coupons. So I bought 10 off eBay for less than $2.It's illegal so sell coupons so you are basically paying for their service of clipping and sending the coupons to you. I can never find dishwashing detergent on a good sale so I guess I'm going to be stocking up! No more hand washing the dishes for me!!

Next week more school supplies and even tampons for free!! I look ahead at http://www.iheartcvs.com/ it's a great site and explains cvs and walgreens for newbies!

Locks of Love

2009-07-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

BEFORE.....

AFTER.....

Today was a big day for me. After years of growing my hair out I finally cut it!! As I look back at some of my high school pictures I realize that I do NOT look good with short hair. So it's hard for me to make a big change. I had to stop the stylist a few times before I actually went through with it. But I have always wanted to donate my hair to Locks of Love and I decided this was my chance. I Love my long hair but I was ready for a change, plus it's really hot here in Florida!

Beach Trip & CVS Trip

2009-07-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

We went to the beach last night to watch the shuttle take off, but it got delayed...again! We just love the beach. We feel so blessed to be able to live to close. It's so relaxing to be able to drive on the beach and get out to take a walk in the sunset. We are going to miss it when we move.

On a funny note...Little Miss Jayla has a new name for her Daddy. She chases him around the house yelling "Honey!!! Honey!!" Since we have two Jordan's in the house I normally call big Jordan Honey or Dad around the kids to try to cut back on the confusion. I guess Jayla has picked up on this and now thinks she can call him that. It's quite cute. Now Jordan has two girls nagging at him.

Now onto my CVS trip....

So last week I had $10 in extra bucks. This week more school supplies were on sale. I got 2 notebooks, 2 scissors, 2 glue and 2 folders. I paid with the $10 extra bucks and owed $.06. And I got back $10. And I used some of those extra bucks to pay for the photo book that I made which was $8 and I got $8 extra bucks back. These make a great christmas present! The limit in the ad said 1 but I've read online it's 5 but I haven't personally confirmed that yet. The store was out of the pens and rulers that were on sale so I got a raincheck! I'm determined to spend less than $5 on Jordan's school supplies for the year. I don't know what it is about school supplies, but I love buying them. As a kid I just loved a new box of crayons (I still do!) and now as a Mom school supplies means summer is coming to an end and school will start again!! Horray!

So to wrap it up I got everything picture above for 9 cents and I still have $10 extra bucks.

Cow Appreciation Day

2009-07-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

Today was cow appreciation day at Chick-Fil-A. If you dressed like a cow you got free food!! Last night we made cow masks and cut out spots. Driving over to Chick-Fil-A we were wondering if we would feel embaressed, but as we drove up and saw everyone else and we weren't embaressed at all! Some people went allll out! Painted faces, tails, and even utters! Is there any thing our family won't do for free food?!

My CVS Trip for the week!

2009-07-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

This week I got school supplies and Febreeze, so that means my house should be smelling good! I got 2 tapes, 1 package of pencils, 1 pencil sharpener, 1 febreeze noticable, 2 febreezes, and 2 febreeze air effects. The total would have been $27.50 but after coupons and $6 in extra bucks from the items I bought last week I paid $1.99 and the best part....I got $10 in extra bucks back!! yay! Next week photo books are on sale for free, meaning they are 7.99 and you get 7.99 extra bucks back.

This week was also double coupon days are Kmart. My total was over $80 and I only spent $15. We are stocked up on axe shampoo, dove deodorant, floss, toothpaste, and visine...just in case anybody needs some let us know!

What's this? Lacey's actually posting!

2009-07-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's been a long time since I've posted anything. A lot has happened! Little Jordan played baseball, he went to scout camp and he's going to be going to football camp soon. Jayla is becoming a big girl! She's starting to talk and tries to say everything that we do. Jordan started is internship. Right now he is in a hand clinic in Daytona and then a hospitol close to daytona and then in December GRADUATION!!! I've started a new hobby. I see how much I cen get for free or very little $$! Maybe I'll start posting my deals of the week!

2009-06-02T12:41:00.001-07:00

Pine Wood Derby

2009-04-22T18:09:00.000-07:00

Jordan had his first pine wood derby today. He won best in show for his skateboard idea and best of all his wheels didn't fall off until after the last race!!! Pretty good for our first try.

New Camera

2009-04-10T15:33:00.000-07:00

After 3 tries I finally got my camera! I got a nikon d60. This is the first time that I've used a slr camera and I really have no idea what I'm doing...but I'm having fun trying! We went to the beach today and I took the camera. Here's a few of the pictures that I thought were good.

Long Day

2009-03-26T20:00:00.001-07:00

I know that I haven't been that good at this blog stuff but I'll try to get better!

Jordan woke up yesterday with a pain in his stomach and by the night time I talked him into going to the emergency room and by the morning he no longer had an appendix. The surgery went good and he should be coming home tomorrow. Hopefully he'll make a quick recovery so that he doesn't miss too much school. Let's hope we have a less eventful weekend!

My newest creation!

2009-02-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

I decided that I need to find more ideas of things to sell at the farmer's market....this is what I came up with. It's an itsy bitsy teeny tweeny baby bikini!!!

Jordan's School Play

2009-02-26T17:08:00.000-08:00

Jordan had a play the other day at school. It was about which nursery rhyme character pushed humpty off the wall. Jordan played the guitar ( fake guitar) during a song number. He was very excited for this part. Jordan also had his first blue and gold banquet. He got his bobcat award so now we are one to bigger and better stuff! He's keeping us busy. He has already started baseball practices and soon we'll be going to games!!!

Free Food!

2009-02-17T16:54:00.000-08:00

My friend posted this link for a free meal at TGI Fridays when you buy a meal. Just print the coupon, ends on March 1st!

http://www.in-gender.com/cs/forums/storage/151/677652/fridays3.PNG

Jordan's Baptisim

2009-02-15T14:49:00.000-08:00

Jordan got baptized today after church. It was a very nice ceremony. So many people from church came to support him. We are very proud of him for making the right choices.

2009-02-14T15:46:00.000-08:00

We all had a day off so we decided to go to the park...it was so nice to be outside and together

Here's Jayla's first juice box

For Family Home Evening we made Valentines for eachother. This is Jayla's new smile...she likes to cheese it up!

Stitches

2009-02-14T15:41:00.001-08:00

Jordan got in a fight with the wall and the wall won. He was at cub scouts playing baseball and he ran forehead first into a wall but after 17 stitches they put Jordan back together again!

What makes Jayla happy...

2009-02-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when we leave the pantry doors open. I counted 4 different types of crackers and more goodies!! She loves her elmo chair

2009-02-02T15:58:00.000-08:00

Here's what I've been working on learning to make. I've sold a few on e-bay, but for friend's and family no charge! If you would like me to make you one please just let me know what colors!

The newest member of out family!!

2009-02-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

We have added to our family. We adopted Lynx a few weeks ago. He's a Siamese kitty. He seems to fit in very well with our family. He puts up with Jayla pulling his tail but he also likes getting the crumbs she leaves behind. When we were looking for a cat we looked online and the ad about Lynx said he was a love machine and they weren't kidding!

2009-02-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

Here's some pictures from our trip to Ohio. We had lots of fun getting together with family.

2009-02-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

Jayla's first experience with Santa....I'd say it went rather well.

I'm taking over the blog...

2009-02-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

We finally have internet now and so now I'm going to try to take over the blog. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it updated and cute! Everything is going good with the family. Jayla is finally starting to say some words. Elmo (her favorite thing in the world) is now "mo-mo". Little Jordan's started cub scouts and he plans to get baptized on Feb 15th. Jordan is busy with school but found time to go to the Cleveland vs. Orlando game and see Lebron play. I'm trying to find time to do some crafts. I've sold a few things on e-bay. I'll try to figure out how to post pictures and video....and then the Houseman's will finally have a blog going!!!

2008-09-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

We all feel a little tipsy after to many cheerios. Next time we should cut her off or get her a designated walker or something!!!!

2008-09-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Jayla enjoys long walks on the beach with her daddy!!

2008-09-26T17:09:00.000-07:00

Jayla loves to color!!

Jayla is getting so BIG!!!

2008-09-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Jayla is growing up so fast. Her first birthday is next week and she continues to amaze us with her motor skills and wonderful personality. She is so much fun, but quite the handful.

Jayla loves her daddy!

2008-06-12T19:16:00.000-07:00