Dear Santa, love Peyton

Dear Santa,

My name is Peyton and I'm 1 year old. My mommy asked for things for Christmas but I don't really want those things. I don't need toys, and I don't want clothes. If you wouldn't mind reading the attached list below with the things I would actually like for Christmas. 

1. The fireplace and its contents. 

I love it and the black stuff inside it. I could play with it and eat it all day. I'm not to sure why I love the charred taste of it so much but I'm sure it's nutritious 'cuz it's sure delicious.

2. Mama's glasses

They're big and black and I just love them. I love pulling them off and shoving them in my mouth. I also love trying to put them on. A pair of my own would be fantastic. 

3. The thing connecting my mama's computer to the wall

It's this long back thing and I love it. I'm not allowed to touch it but I want it. I want to wrap myself in it and chew on it. 

4. The gate that keeps me locked in

It's attached to the wall and I love to swing it back and forth and back and forth. And if I swing it hard enough it slams into the wall and makes a loud sound. 

5. Tea towels.

I'll take one million of these. But they need to be hanging off of something like my mama's oven door so I can just pull them down and leave them in my wake 

6. Blu ray player

Not that I know how to use this, I know if I push buttons or pull on things something is bound to pop out!

Love, Peyton 

Peyton is 1!

My sweet love able, huggable, darling baby girl is one. 

The year flew by in a flurry of activity. I loved every single minute of the 365 days The Lord has blessed me with her so far, and I wait in eagerness for the next 365. 

She says bye bye mama and papa. Her byes and hi's consist of her opening and closing her fist with a large smile on her face. If she wants to eat she shoves her fist in her mouth.

She takes steps and congratulates herself with claps frequently. She doesn't like to be held by new faces, but once she warms up she's a charmer. 

She's quick and clever. She knows what she wants and goes for it. The fireplace is frequently on the want list :) somehow the coals taste good every time to her. 

She loves her papa. So much. She may actually prefer him over mama. 

I love you sweet Peyton. You have a such a soft spirit and timid heart. 

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. 

Love Mama 

Whats been going on?

Well Ive bee MIA with no excuses. We haven't been doing a lot of travelling just hanging aorund home. However I have been working. If youre a working mom I really dont know how you do it. 
I am at home with the kids from 6 till 330 then matt gets home at 330 and I leave immediately to be at work from 4-7. It makes for some pretty busy and long days. But for now we're making it work while we help to re-establish our savings account...about that.
Our transmission went, our ac broke. Then our dishwasher broke and we managed to fix that for a lesser amount the purchasing a new one. 
On top of that Matt is taking layoff weeks for a total of 4 this year. Being laid off means he is not paid for those weeks. Hence with much more expense lately, and less income, my working just helps bring things together :)

But really, if your a working mom, all power to ya. I am so exhausted lately trying to be mom, wife, and worker.

Ellee and Peyton are still awesome though. I just cant get over them. How could God give me two crazy wonderful little beings?! I love being a mama. 

 We went to a pumpkin farm and ellee loved playing around in the corn.

 Oh my sweet girls.

Flowers, swings, birthdays

Can You believe I grew this baby from a seed!?!

It is so huge. Matt pulled the 2x4 out of the basement to help give it support as it was almost touching the ground with how big it is. 

 

In the meantime, Peyton has started pulling herself up on things. So cute and hilarious. She kind of gets stuck in the 

Super Saving

My sister in law informed me I should blog more about my savings.

Its funny, because its addicting when you find a good deal. Its literally so thrilling. I am so ridiculous I know. But when your bill is at 40 some dollars and you're waiting with eager anticipation to see if it ends up at the proper amount, it just is so satisfying :)

I always struggled to figure out the proper couponing strategies and on top of that different stores have different coupon policies. For example, some stores will give you money back if the value of your coupons exceeds your amount due, others will not. There are so many little quirks. And I am still trying to figure things out. But I do have my go to stores, CVS, and Dominicks, mainly. This week however is an awesome Jewel saving week!!!

Here is my Jewel trip this afternoon. It was soooooooooo amazing :)

This week at jewel you get $5 off for each 3 select P & G products you purchase...so I purchased

3 Mr. Clean All purpose cleaner Sprays

3 Mr. Clean  All purpose cleaner bottles

6 boxes of puffs

3 Dawn liquid soap

3 Febreze spray 

So If you do the math quick thats 6 different sets of 3 so multiply by 5 thats an automatic $30 off :) 

I also had a couple coupons including buy 2 get 1 free and b1g1 free 

This bill total was $8.00 and some change :)

After Jewel I swung by Dominicks to stock up on some cereal. The hubs loves cinnamon toast crunch and little sassy doesn't mind it too much either. :)

Dominicks is running a similar $5 off deal when you purchase certain products. \

They have $5 off if you buy 5 of the specified participating products. Cinnamon toast crunch and Cheerios are in this deal and are priced at $2.50 each.

So I bought 4 boxes of cinnamon toast and 1 box of cheerios.

I had for $1.00 off 1 box of Cinnamon toast.

5 x 2.50 =12.50

-5.00 instant savings

-4.00 coupon savings

Total (plus taxes) =3.58 :) 

 

I really like these buy so many instant savings deals :) 

So does Ellee. 

(After re-reading the post quickly I think it could win an award for the amount of smiley faces in it)

What's for dinner?

LOADED Baked potato soup! And boy it turned out great! Slow cooker too.

Into the slow cooker
6 cups peeled diced potato
5 cups water
1 medium chopped onion
1 cup celery chopped
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp salt
1/2tsp pepper

Cook on high 2 hours then switch to low for 5-6.

1 hour prior to serving add:
12 oz can of evaporated milk
1tbsp cornstarch mixed with cold water
1tbsp dried parsley
1/4lb cooked crumbled bacon

Just prior to serving add 1/2c shredded cheddar
Stir until cheese melted. Serve. :) yummmm.......

Then put out the cheese on the table for those to add more :)
This turned out so delicious I had to share. It's really quite filling!

Get your game face on

For the past couple years, late August rolls around and I am wishing  I had a team...a fantasy football team that is!! Finally, this year, I can say I've got a team!!! Yay!!! So exciting.
No more watching my hubs team.
The best part? I'm I'm a league with him so this should be fun. Or completely depressing if I receive total domination. Who am I kidding, even if I lose, I'll love it :)

On the other end of things the girls are being their usual selves. Ellee is bouncing around like a wired kangaroo, Peyton is excitedly watching her with thrilled shrieks and squeals as well as clapping hands.

Peyton seemed to have come down with something earlier this week. She had a mild fever. Then she broke out in this rash and about the same time she broke out Ellee was not acting herself. Ellee came down with a fever of 102.3 the next day and we headed to the doctors. Just a virus and all are on the mend. Hopefully, we didn't contaminate too many people along the way :(


We've slowed down our crazy lifestyle and have been trying o keep things slow. We haven't traveled in a couple weekends nod ave been enjoying the time spent at home. It's nice to take it slow and just relax. Relax in my hubs vocabulary is hard it seems, it usually is code for fall asleep.

In the meantime we've updated our laundry room, had a patio put in and got a bike trailer to increase our activity level! I love going biking with the girls!!

On other notes, I've had bout 3 more run ins with my obnoxious kidney stones. They don't seem to have passed yet so I have to get a cat scan of my belly and ultrasound of my kidney. On top of that I have to follow up with my previous thyroid problem with a thyroid ultrasound as well as blood work, and for my arrhythmia, meet with my cardiologist for a follow up.I'm a walking array of medical randomness.

I'll keep you posted though, as long as I don't keep going MIA on my blog!