Temper Tantrum of the Year!!

And the Award goes to......

Charlotte

( I just love that picture!)

I was going to let her come to a baby shower with me. All she had to do was clean her room with the help of Aaron and Elsie.

Yes, the room was quite a disaster, but I was offering constant direction.

First task - pick up the baby dolls. Easy enough right?

Apparently not.

Aaron jumped right on it, but little miss Charlotte wasn't happy with the way that he was putting the dolls away so after yelling and whining for him to do it her way without success, she relieved him from the job. "Fine, then I'll clean it by myself Aaron. Get out of here!"

He wasn't disappointed.

Let's face it, Elsie is really no help at all, so now she was on her own with a huge mess (still hasn't actually picked anything up herself). I knew that this was a seemingly impossible task for a small child so I offered some help. All she had to do was pick up those baby dolls and I would go in and help her.

She picked up one Snow White baby doll then proceeded to scream/tell me "I don't want to clean my room" 150 times.

I reminded her that if her room wasn't clean she would have to stay home.

She then scream/told me "I don't want to stay home" 150 times

This can be very wearing on a person so I told her to take a nap.

She replied/screamed "I don't want to take a nap" 150 times

By now it was time to leave for the shower and her face was a red blotchy tear streaked mess (not to mention the mess still on her bedroom floor)

My heart broke a little for her because she really was so excited to come with me, but rules are rules and I'm a mean mom. I left her at home with Nick and she took a nice long nap for him. When I got home she had just woken up and was feeling much better. She told me that next time she would obey so that she can come to the next party.

And I have 3 of these temper tantrum throwing little drama queens?

Aaron has never done anything like that!

The Naked Chef

We like to cook naked around here! Stop by sometime, you're sure to be entertained!

New Years Eve Sweater and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

I really really want this.

If you have never looked at this blog you should, especially if you have young girls.
This blogger sews really cute clothes and gives them away. How lovely is that?

I always look but have never tried to win ....... until now

click the link to see

New Years Eve Sweater and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

wouldn't Charlotte be irresistible in that?

I really hope I win.....

Contemplating

Nick has been complaining that I have been slacking on my blog lately. We haven't been doing much outside of routine lately, and my mind has been filled with thoughts of a new house and saving money. Not my typical blogging subjects.

We have been looking for a house to buy for the last couple of months.

We would like to stay in Clovis Unified for the kids, but of course homes are more expensive here than in Fresno.

We found one that we both loved. It was a 1700 sq ft home on a 14,000 sq ft lot in a really cute neighborhood. This home was in Clovis Unified also. We bid on it, but unfortunately we were out bid by someone who offered 30,000 over the asking price. (Who does that?)

Since then we have seen lots of homes that are decent, but not meeting all criteria of our wish list.

Yesterday another one came on the market that is in the same neighborhood as the last one we bid on, but it is smaller, on a smaller lot, and on the corner of two slightly busy streets, across from an Elementary school and for the same price.

Nick wants to place an offer but I'm just not sure, though time is ticking as it will probably go quickly. I need to decide today and it is stressing me out! The house itself is is cute, the only drawback being the size of the would be girls room. (It's a bit small) The yard, though not as big as the other one, is big enough and I would have plenty of room for the garden that I have been missing since we sold our last house. It is just the location right there on the busy street that I don't like. If we buy this one I don't think we would fit in it for more than 5 years, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as we can sell it when it is time to go.

Another issue in my mind lately is the goal I set for myself of saving 10,000 dollars this year. We are already pretty frugal people, at least compared to some we know, but I want to kick it up a notch and cut back even more. We don't really have any debt other than student loans (one of which will be paid off in May!) and hopefully soon a mortgage. It should be doable, I just need to watch my spending on clothes for the kids!

I started looking into using coupons, you know, like the people you see on Oprah who get a whole cart full of groceries for $2.76! But the more I looked into I realized that generally those coupons are for processed foods which I almost never buy. My cart is usually 3/4 full of produce, so I guess coupon clipping is not for me. Also we have a WinCo here and I've never seen a cheaper grocery store than that!

Ok, I'm finished unloading my thoughts on you now (In case anyone actually made it to the bottom of this lenghthy post!)

And We're Done!!

I think it's safe to say that Elsie is potty trained!

She hasn't had a daytime accident in over 2 weeks and she is now dry at night!!

Hooray!

Girly Heaven

Charlotte was invited to Kayln's 4th birthday party and Oh Boy, it was

glitter galore!!

I'm not sure more fun could have been had by 3 little girls!

Happy Birthday Kayln

12 weeks??

Why is my baby growing up so quickly? On Friday she will be 12 weeks old.

She is quite the friendly little girl. She smiles most of the time and loves to coo at who ever will give her attention.

I haven't gotten a laugh out of her yet but she has been getting very close!

She has found her thumb, as she hates the pacifier.

( I thought the pacifier was a baby's best friend.)

Nick is determined that she will not be a thumb sucker

but I sure do find her thumb in her mouth quite a bit.

(the above picture was taken with our old camera, what a difference huh? )

This one, wishing she were still little too.

Here she is with Lila's nuk (as it is called in our house) and blankee and in her car seat as well.

We did it

We finally grew out Charlotte's bangs! You know, the ones she cut for herself last spring?

It took almost a year but they are finally gone!

Doesn't she look pretty?

Party time

We had a really small and simple party for Miss Elsie on Tuesday. When Charlotte turned two she was excited for days about her party. Elsie didn't even have a clue that hers was coming!

Because of our camera fiasco, this is the only picture I have of Elsie on her actual birthday. I woke her up to try to go potty before I went to bed and she was mad.

Charlotte and Elsie got a baking kit for Christmas from Grandma Jodi that we had to try out for the event.

Here is the happy birthday girl


look at those curls!!

Desi and I with our new haircuts! (Someday I will get a picture of the back of my hair, it's quite a bit shorter. I'm not sure how I feel about it.)

El was not very excited about her candles, she just wanted to eat the cupcakes. She would have done a good job blowing them out, (if only they hadn't been trick candles!)

After all the singing was done I caught Elsie sitting at the table singing to herself "Happy to you" and then blowing on the cupcakes . A video camera would have been handy, but of course she was done before I could get it.

Notice the wardrobe change? Potty training is going great but unfortunately she forgot to pick up her dress before she sat down that time!

I think she had a great day!