Sisters

I got my mountain fix a couple weeks ago and boy did I need it.  Myles and I got on a plane, his first flight, and headed to Colorado Springs to see my sister. Of course, leaving the girls and Spencer was really hard for me and I had a lot of anxiousness about leaving. Ironically, we drove all the way to the airport on for my evening flight only to pull up to find it had been delayed almost 4 hours. Knowing that traveling with exhausted children is a terrible idea, I was able to get a flight for the next morning. As we were driving back home I couldn't believe the relief I felt about the flight change

and even though I was sad about missing a few things we had planned for my first morning there, I believed that it was all for the better. Myles was a dream child for the flight and security went well, since MCI is such a small airport. We packed a lot in during my short stay and as I knew it would, it went faster than I wanted. April is in full "nesting" mode and I got to see a clear picture of Baby Bear during her ultrasound. My vote is now for a girl and she looks a lot like April and even has at least one dimple! While we were there,

she treated me to a hair make-over by a good friend who does awesome things, I really needed it.
It is so much fun to be "moms" now and share this experience that is drawing us closer together. I wish we were in the same city for play-dates and babysitting swaps, but I can pray that someday we can share the same zip code. 
Baby Bear, at this point, will come sometime on the 27th of this month. We can't wait to come back to meet this little one!
Love ya sis, thanks for such a great time!

7 months

This is such a fun stage. Myles is truly a wonderful baby. So grateful for his easy-going nature and ready smiles. He has slept 12 hours on average for almost a month and is now working on teeth 9 and 10. The 8th one took awhile, but it wasn't like I was hoping he would hurry. His bite is painful! He crawls around like a snake at this point and likes to get up on all fours and "rock". He sits up when placed that way and loves to get to the entry-way or kitchen so he can pound his hands on the hard floor to make noise. Usually, he enjoys adding his little squeal to the fun.

He follows me whenever he can and I do my best to not step on him when I am cooking or doing dishes. Mostly, I've learned to avoid the light colored shirts so I am not reminded how dirty my floors are. ha!
Because I am not on top of things, these pictures were taken a few days after he turned 7 months when I took a trip with just him to Colorado. This is at Aunt April's house, where he thoroughly enjoyed the soft new carpet. It was so wonderful to have time alone with him. A great oppotunity to bond in a special way without the distractions older sisters. He really missed them though, they bring him such great entertainment.

Z double 'o'

The girls get so excited about going to the zoo, I often spell it out when talking about it the possibility of going. Heaven help us all, if they think we are going, but aren't able to. All Haydee talked about this winter was, "when the weather got hot we would go to the zoo and see the animals." The weather is quite nice, though in the back of my mind I am fearful of another dreadfully hot summer.
Last Sunday, a video camera that we had been looking at went on sale so I used my Christmas/birthday money and splurged! We had fun testing it out this weekend, at swim lessons and then at the zoo this morning.
Myles is also 7 months today, March 20th. His first year is going by way to quickly. I will hopefully, take some better pictures tomorrow to post.

It's a Princess thing

Both girls are really into dress-up, I mean really into it. It seems they live in
their princess clothes. Haydee often falls asleep in part or a whole dress-up outfit. Of course, it is cute and many family members indulged her love with birthday gifts that would give her more wardrobe options.

The Snow White cottage is from Aunt April, who is thrilled with their love for the Disney Princesses.

Our neighbor's (landlord's) daughter turned 6 this last week and invited the girls to a Princess tea party. You would have thought it was their party and they were looking forward to it from the moment they heard about it. Thankfully, I had to only endure questions of it's pending arrival for 2 weeks. They had a blast, but being a bit younger proved to be a little difficult for them. They adore this little friend and I really appreciate her including them in this celebration.

Deep freeze

So, I know if you look at all on my facebook account you can tell one thing about me, I like a good deal. I am always posting something about the latest bargain I have found or purchased, mostly because in the deal site world they make it super easy to post the deal on fb. I just push one little button and bam! it's on my facebook status and I haven't even opened a fb page. Anyway, I digress. There was no easy one button push to put this deal out there, but I had to share the fun of saving money, plus Payge might have been more excited about this than I was!
Hy-vee is a local grocery store and when I first moved here I thought they were super expensive to shop at. I have another friend who saw it and the sign reminded her of an off-brand and therefore refused to shop there. Another friend, actually cousin-in-law, who worked there and it still keeps her loyalty. In the two years of living here, I have found a special place in my shopping week for Hy-vee, especially on the day they double coupons up to $.99.
For a few years we've been talking about buying an extra freezer to have out in the garage, just for more space or in the rare occasion Spencer goes hunting and we have meat to store. Now, it seems with 3 kids and trying to stock up on good deals I was really running out of space and hoping somehow we could squeeze buying a freezer in our budget. Just as I was getting desperate, Hy-vee had their yearly deal, buy a freezer for $200 and get $200 in coupons. Hmmm, was this a deal too good to be true? After some research it seemed perfect, but could I use our grocery money to buy it so I really got the freezer for free?
When we got the freezer Payge was so excited she had to be next to it every moment Spencer took it out of the box and set it up. She desperately wanted to put it in her bedroom; she begged, pleaded and gave puppy dog eyes, but we didn't think that would be a good idea. I promise we haven't let her watch "King of Queens". She has settled on putting all her latest works of art on it, once she figured out it was magnetized our inside frig was suddenly bare.
Now for the real test, stay on budget this month with half spent on the freezer? Well, last Saturday I went with some of the coupons on hand. It was too overwhelming to think of taking all the coupons in at once, plus even with all that extra room, I didn't think there could possibly enough room. I should add we bought the freezer on a Saturday when they give $5 in gift cards for every $50 you spend. We spent $200 on the freezer and therefore got another $20 in gift cards which, covered tax plus $3 extra. So, I picked up items that were free with coupons and did some additional shopping that were good deals with coupons, I walked out there paying $22 out of pocket for $96 in groceries and got a $5 gift card (kicked myself for not picking up $4 more in good deals) for next time. I tried it again this last Saturday, with better calculating and payed $41out of pocket for $124 in groceries and got a $10 gift card for next time. So, this is looking pretty good. I still have over $80 left in free coupons which I will probably use most next Saturday with other "coupon match-ups" and my $10 gift card. Hopefully, I can make out the same. Obviously, it is not even half way through the month, but I have enough in our stockpile that if I only bought fresh fruits and veggies, we would be fine. Hope you don't mind me sharing, I was just so excited to see my good deal really be a good deal. Call it bragging, but I prefer show-and-tell.  

Moving

Myles is moving a lot these days. It is exciting, but really, I wish he would stop growing so quickly! It is all too much too fast. I've given him two haircuts already and today I really chopped it. Daddy says it looks good, but I think the Bieber hairdo was working just fine. He is enjoying all sorts of foods these days, though I am not always consistent on how many times a day or when. He just kind of gets something when I can work it into our craziness. He doesn't like much the first time he tries it, but after a few go's he warms up to the idea. I'm needing to restock my baby food freezer supply soon though because he is plowing through it quickly! He has 7 teeth so far and is working on 3 more, thank goodness for teething biscuits, Orajel and baby Tylenol. I just found out our pediatrician, who I loved, is no longer with the practice, so our 6 month visit was canceled, but I bet he weighs around 18 lbs. This is amazing to me because neither of the girls weighed that much at a one year!
I'm so grateful for technology, really. I spent the other night looking at old posts and videos of the girls. It is a time that is a bit hazy, but suddenly alive with captured footage. How quickly it all goes and what fun they were then and are now.

Happy Dirtbay!

I couldn't think of a better title for Haydee's third birthday, since this is how it sounds when she and Payge say, "Happy Birthday". The excitement this week from both girls was both overwhelming and contagious. My precious "dd" is a whole 3 years. Unbelievable, yet she has the maturity, at times, of a young woman ten times her age. Beautiful, charming, imaginative, dreamy, joyful, full of energy,eclectic,sensitive and loving; these words just begin to describe my fascinating youngest daughter, second and middle child. Her position as unique as she is!

Testing out the new (to her) scooter.

Dress up time! Usually, several times a day.

Now, understand, she did get several of her own gifts, but I found a great deal on Craigslist and we've needed to add to our riding options. The girls have been doing a great job of sharing them, thankfully they both hold equal enjoyment!

The birthday outfit gift! She loves to wear dresses, so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to add to her wardrobe.
What a week. Glad it is over, but sad as well. The Lord has blessed us so much. I am grateful for every moment He gives us.