Free Samples!

I was reading my friend Andria's blog and she was listing her five favorite websites, one of which was WalMart. I like WalMart I will admit, I like having one-stop shopping when I have a list of things I need and don't have a lot of time, but I haven't ever bought anything off their website. Well, she wasn't talking about buying things, she was talking about stuff for FREE! That is right, FREE! From their homepage click on "In Stores Now" towards the upper right, then click on "FREE Samples", then again on "Free Samples" on the left. (Or click this direct link) They have all kinds of items you can get samples of! So far I have received cereal, fiber, diapers, etc. She makes a good point saying these would be perfect for your 72 hour kits! You pick which product you want a sample of, enter your address, not email but mailing, and then just wait to see them in your mailbox! It has been fun I must say. Cheap, effortless entertainment for a stay-at-home-mom. I haven't received any junk mail from them either. SO, if you are bored, give it a try! It is fun to have these little packages show up in your mail!

Shhhhh........ASHLEY'S SLEEPING!

That is the way Andrew usually tells me. He says, "Shhh mom, we need to be quiet because ASHLEY IS SLEEPING!" Yes, that last part he yells so that she wakes up or jumps. Well not this time! I quickly swept Andrew away upstairs to his room when I noticed she was sleeping. Look how out of it she is! I love those rolls on her legs. I squish them all the time!

Family Night at Jack & Jill's

Andrew was watching Reading Rainbow the other day (one of the really really old retro ones) where LeVar goes bowling. I think we were only watching it for 30 seconds that morning. Later when Derick got home from work he said, "Dad, let's go play with those big heavy balls that have holes for your fingers and hit the white things down." Pretty good description I would say for only seeing it for a second! We went to Jack & Jill's, a place that has been around for a really long time. Andrew was running around looking at all the different colors of bowling balls to pick his favorite. He and Derick had a lot of fun while me and Ashley sat and watched. To tell you the truth, I think Andrew had more fun finding things to climb on!

Here is Derick with his MAD bowling skills. Andrew was pretty cute pushing his ball down the ramp and watching it slowly make its way down. We tried just having him push it down, first he wanted to kick it, the next time he pushed it and it about stopped. Derick had to go give it a little jump start to make it down to the pins.

Me and Ashley were having fun taking pictures. Actually, Ashley kept getting startled every time someone would throw their ball and it would whack the floor.

Here is a cute video of the kids. This is when Andrew tried to roll the ball by himself and it couldn't hardly make it down. Then there is Ashley making a funny face while she is talking.

The latest faces of Ashley...

I am sorry, but Ashley is the cutest. Every morning when she smiles at me when I go in to get her, I just think that I am the luckiest person in the whole world! She really has been doing well lately. She is growing like a weed! And I know how fast weeds grow because my fingers hurt from pulling them!

To answer some of your questions, yes, Ashley has a MASSIVE cowlick right smack on the top of her head. Since the day she was born her hair has been going in that circle. I try to train it everyday by brushing those hairs over with the rest of them, but it doesn't help. It is cute now, it gives her hair some personality, but I am sure it is going to be a problem when she is older!

She is slowly liking to be on her stomach for longer periods of time. She has rolled over a few times. I don't want her to start rolling or crawling, I want her to stay my little baby! We are having lots of fun with her, especially dressing her up in cute spring clothes! I will try to get some pictures of her outfits before they get covered in spit!

The latest happenings of Andrew...

Wow, it is the middle of May already? Where has this year gone?! I cannot believe how fast time is flying lately. Where to begin... In April Kara, Paul's wife, told me that she signed Ada up for a sports class at the rec center. It is called Itty-Bitty Allsport for 3 and 4 year olds. It sounded like a lot of fun so I signed Andrew up for it also. The first time they got these cute yellow shirts they wear each week. Each class begins with warm ups and stretching. It is really cute. They have done soccer, football and basketball so far. We have volleyball next time, which I don't see how these kids are going to do it, then baseball and I am not sure what else. During soccer the coach had Andrew's attention for the first little bit, but then he wanted to do his own thing. What can you expect, right? Football was a disaster, probably because he woke up at 5 that morning and had NO respect for authority whatsoever! He did better at basketball. They had shorter hoops up for them to shoot into. He and Ada like to go off together and do their own thing, but so do a lot of the other kids! There is one boy who likes to pick on Andrew. From DAY ONE this boy (standing next to Andrew in the circle) has been stealing his ball, making sour faces at him or going up and bonking him. What is up with that?! His parents are there to and just let him do that to the other kids! (Ada, Andrew's cousin born on the SAME day as him, is next to the little boy in the yellow hat in the top picture)

This isn't new...maybe just heightened. Andrew loves, loves, LOVES his baby sister. I think the only way he knows how to channel his emotion for her is to BUG HER TO DEATH! Whether it is imitating her crying when she is screaming, copying her sneezes for hours after she may have sneezed, or just trying to startle her, this is his way to play with her. I have been trying to get him to play peek-a-boo with her, but it doesn't get as much a reaction as the other things do. We are trying to encourage him to play with her (thank you John) not trying to make her cry or get scared! So, this is our challenge to deal with! Let me just tell you, we are really really really tired of his fake sneezes ALL DAY LONG.

Last, but definitely not least, more like what is taking most of our time is POTTY TRAINING! Who knew it would be so fun..... We have the easy part, going pee down, now just trying to master the other. Poor boy has become anal retentive and won't let it out! We are trying EVERYTHING! Trust me, EVERYTHING! The doctor said to schedule a set time during the day to have a longer period of time just to sit on the potty. So, to let the time pass, I let him watch a movie while he is sitting there! Luckily he doesn't ask for it every time or else I would be in trouble!

DO NOT try this at home!

Painting a baby's toenails while she is awake! It is HOT outside, in the 90's, so of course it is flip flop time. Ashley doesn't have any, no point to get her any because she would just kick them off with how much she rubs her feet together. SOOO I thought I would paint her toenails! Why I thought it would work if I just held her foot still, I don't know. These pictures don't show all of it, what got on my shirt, the burp rag and the bottom of her feet! Next time, I will do it when she sleeps!

1st Digital Scrapbooking Layout!

I am still learning, but am pretty proud of myself for putting this together! Thank you Derick for the Mother's Day present!

100% Profits Donated to Susan G. Komen Foundation!

L'ovedbaby will be donating 100% of their May proceeds from the sale of their Think Pink Nursing Shawl to the Susan G. Komen Foundation in honor of Mother's Day!

Click here to visit their website and check them out! These shawls look great! I want to get one this month for sure! I like the coverage and the material!

Finger painting isn't just for fingers!

I have been trying to provide activities for Andrew that make him be creative and imaginative. Finger painting is our latest! I should have known with Andrew that it wouldn't just be limited to his fingers and the paper! Besides painting the counter with his fingers he decided he was going to use his nose too to spread the paint around. Who thinks of these things! I made his pick his face up off the paper before he could make a mess on his face.

Can I just say that I love my kids. First of all it is so weird to say KIDS, meaning more than one, but they make us so happy! We have our trials and moments, but Derick and I are so proud of both of them and love them to death!

Scout Expo

Since Derick has a calling in boy scouts, he had to work at the Scout Expo at Thanksgiving Point last saturday. I took the kids at the end of Derick's shift to walk around and let Andrew play. As you can tell, Andrew had fun! Right when we got there a Life Flight helicopter landed in the parking lot for the kids to go see! There were also tractors, tanks and boats out on display.

Next we let Andrew participate at one of the booths. They were learning about water safety. It was a race-he had to put on a life jacket, arm floaties and put the lifesaver around the cone. He about tied with the kid he was racing with, but then I was helping him! He got a medal for being a winner!

Next we took Andrew over to see the ambulance and firetruck that were parked there for the kids to see.

Here are some more pictures from walking around. Andrew wasn't scared of the owl mascot from the Owlz baseball team. I thought for sure he would be freaking out! The owl gave him 2 tickets to a game too!

Thankfully, Ashley just slept in the stroller for the majority of the time!

Oh how I love potty training....

Let the games begin! Actually, we haven't been working on it for a whole two weeks quite yet and he hasn't had any accidents at all this week! I have to keep the toilet paper holder empty or else he wants to just play with it and put all the paper in the toilet. Not to worry, we keep it on the counter. He has been doing great. Sometimes he is the boy who cries wolf by saying I have to go potty, then waits to see you run with him to the bathroom just to laugh at you! I am crossing my fingers, knocking on wood, etc that it continues to go well! Soon we need to venture on a longer than normal car ride or errands to see how that goes. Wish us luck!

My Lunch Date

It was pretty warm outside a couple days ago (before it snowed AGAIN) so Andrew and I had lunch in the backyard. He doesn't have any shorts on because we are potty training. The poor neighbors probably are wondering why I don't ever put pants on him! Slowly but surely he will get the hang of it. He was so cute playing outside today. He imitates whatever Derick has been doing in the yard. Today Andrew was taking dirt and spreading it out and pounding on it because Derick was doing that to prepare for our patio. Kids are cute! Oh and he is turning into Wesley because he won't look at the camera for pictures!