A Day In The Life Of The Sandages

Mid-month update

2011-01-20T10:29:00.007-06:00

Thought I would take a few moments and update on what's been going on here. The month has been a quiet one so far. Delmar & I have both been sick but praise God Emily hasn't gotten anything yet. Well, that's not quite true, she did manage to get one bug.

Lucky for us, it was an award! On January 13th she received her first BUG award. This is an award that is given to a student for Bringing Up Grades (BUG). To be eligible for the award, students must maintain a combination of A's or B's and cannot go down a letter grade in any subject. She had all A's and B's and brought up every grade. The school had an assembly for the third graders and Delmar and I were both able to be there. We are soooo proud of her!!!

We also got to go to a birthday party. I've been babysitting this guy since he was 13 months old and now he 5!!!!! Happy Birthday Tristin!
We have gotten quite a bit of snow. Last week we were able to make snow ice cream and from the looks of things this morning, there may be a chance of another batch today. :o) That will make Emily and Delmar both VERY happy. Me, I would LOVE to be able to get up some morning when it is snowing like today and just be able to go for a walk. It is soooo quiet when the snow is blanketing the ground and everyone is still in bed.

On a final note, KitCat has taken up residence in Emily's cradle. Guess he thinks it's far enough away from the kiddo's that he won't be bothered. Emily has found it quite funny and enjoys covering him up "because he is cold". :o)

I pray that you are all having a safe month with all of the crazy weather happening everywhere.

Gingerbread cookies everywhere!

2010-12-23T21:25:00.003-06:00

Today was spent baking gingerbread cookies with Em and finishing up the Christmas crafts we started earlier in the week with the babysitting kids. I decided at the last minute that we would have a pj day for the kids (and me of course) and lunch was served picnic style on the living room floor. I think they enjoyed it!

I've decided that baking and icing Lori's sugar cookies is too stressful to add to my holiday baking so it will be reserved for Easter (her favorite holiday) and a few other times throughout the year. We used some vintage clear red plastic cookie cutters (they look like these)for some of the gingerbread cookies and now I'm on the lookout for some more of them. I love the way they imprint on the cookies!

After the hubby got home, we set out to deliver trays to the neighbors and tomorrow I will finish up trays for traveling around to Christmas celebrations with our familys.

I've been telling Delmar that I want to start pulling Em into the kitchen more and today was the perfect start to that and hopefully the beginning of a wonderful tradition.

Tomorrow we are expected to get between 3-4 inches of snow starting later in the morning so I guess we will be having a white Christmas afterall. Praying for safe travels to all of our family and friends that must do so.

Must scoot for now! Enjoy your familys this weekend.

Blessings!

Amy

Merry Christmas to All!

2010-12-23T09:21:00.002-06:00

What a year! I can't believe it is the eve of Christmas Eve already. Just wanted to pop in and send anyone who is still checking this blog a very blessed Merry Christmas. I plan to get back to blogging soon. (Yea, I know, I said that back in August but I've been reinspired to start again!)

Please remember while unwrapping all the gifts on Christmas morning that the real reason for the season is the birth of our Lord and Savior.

Be Blessed!!!

Amy

I'm back............

2010-08-23T11:39:00.003-05:00

I can't believe it's been 4 months since my last post, what a busy summer! No time or desire to post on either blog. But, fall is on it's way, kids are back in school (my baby is in 3rd grade now!!) and there is a bit more time to do some fun things for the mama!!! :o)

I have added a new fall background and done some other maintenance so now I'm ready to actually do a blog post. Be on the look out, it'll be comin' soon!!!

Have a blessed day.

Amy

Another 2.8 lbs gone!

2010-04-20T09:56:00.002-05:00

Things are moving slowly but steadily on the WW front. Down again but gone are the weeks of 2.5-3 lbs weight loss in one week. I'm ok with it though as long as the scale keeps moving and I don't his plateau just yet!!!

Another Blog

2010-04-11T13:33:00.002-05:00

I've decided to start another blog that focuses on my love of cooking, couponing and keeping the home. Please join me for my adventures at Cookin' And Savin' With Amy

Easter Fun

2010-04-08T12:50:00.000-05:00

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day, mostly sunny and just a few sprinkles. We were able to get up, get movin' and get to 1st service for church which gave us some down time between church and dinner at my mom's. Emily had a wonderful time hunting eggs in the morning at home and then again at mom's house with her cousins. She received more candy than a little girl needs and I'm sure she will be enjoying it for weeks!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

WW Update

2010-04-05T21:52:00.001-05:00

Just an update on the weight loss front since I didn't post last week about it. Last week I lost 3 lbs (got the biggest loser flower again!!!) and this week I lost 1.6 lbs for a total weight loss of 16.4 lbs in 6 weeks. I'm thinkin' that's not too bad. I wasn't sure how this week was going to play out since Easter was the day before weigh in and I almost didn't go but I'm glad I did. I'm hoping to hit 20 lbs by the end of April. I know that the amounts of weight I'm losing each week is going to slow so I need to prepare for that too and not get too frustrated.

Hope everyone has a blessed week!

Happy Resurrection Day!

2010-04-04T06:38:00.003-05:00

5And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. Matthew 28:5-7

I pray that you all have a beautiful day and remember that it isn't about the bunny, eggs and candy.

IGA steals, I mean deals!!!

2010-04-01T10:27:00.004-05:00

So, our local IGA is generally the biggest ripoff for miles around. But this week I was able to pair some great coupons with some great sales and walk out of there with a few REALLY great ~~steals~~ I mean deals. :o)

I got all of this for $3.27! I'm especially excited that the McCormick grinders were on sale again for 50% off making them $1.25. Pair that with a $1.00/1 coupon found here (type in zip code 45403) and you get a grinder for 25¢. DUDE...you can't beat that! I'm usually able to get some pretty good deals on hygiene products but I get really excited when I can find great deals on food to feed my family. Anyway, the Reames noodles were 39¢ a bag, the boxes of Green Giant were 98¢ for both of them and the bags of Steamers were 25¢ a bag. I'll be getting some more Green Giant coupons this afternoon from here and going back after hubby gets home from work.

Hope you all are having as great of weather as we are having here. Today it is supposed to hit 80°.

100 Posts!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-31T15:40:00.001-05:00

I just signed in to do some maintenance on my blog and realized the last post that I did was number 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe that I stuck with it THIS long and am still enjoying doing it. Thanks to those who read, I hope you enjoy a glimpse into our lives.

A Few Deals From The Last Week

2010-03-30T15:11:00.004-05:00

I got several more deals the same week that I got the big deal that I posted on the 18th.

Deal #1 comes courtesy of Walgreens. I got all this for $7.58 plus tax. The Planter Trail Mix was free after a Wags coupon and a MQ (Manufacturers coupon), the gum was on clearance for 32¢ each and the OB were $2.99 after Wags coupon and MQ. As I mentioned in the 18th's post, the OBs alone are normally $7.99 a box!!!

Deal #2 was a CVS deal. I got the 2 boxes of Kashi and the roll of paper towel for $1.29 plus tax. The Kashi was $1.00 a box after the sale and a $1.50/1 MQ and I got a $1.00 off one CVS paper product coupon when I scanned my CVS card so it was only 29¢ PLUS I had a $1.00 ECB from the BYOB (Bring your own bag) program.

Deal #3 was a combination of deals that I got on my Sunday shopping spree (for groceries that is). The margarine was free after sale and double coupons, the Kashi cereal and crackers were both free after purchase of other Kashi products (that I had MQs for of course), the juice was $1.00 after MQ and the Snuggles were 99¢ each after an awesome $3.00/1 MQ in the paper this last Sunday. Total out of pocket for these items was $4.46. WOW!!! I've since found out several ladies have gotten the Snuggle for free but I think they are smaller bottles-these are both 50 loads and they smell FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

The final deal was from our local IGA and THAT doesn't happen very often! I got these jars of Peter Pan peanut butter for 91¢ a jar. Save-A-Lot here in town is selling their brand of peanut butter for $1.49 right now. These were on sale for $1.29 each and I found a coupon on the Conagra website for $1.50 off 4 Conagra products. Woohoo!!!

So, that was my week of deals. Hope you all are having a blessed week!

Channeling June Cleaver

2010-03-25T20:35:00.005-05:00

When I woke up this morning I thought it was going to be a horrible day. I had a terrible sore throat and according to hubby, I tossed and turned all night long, (sorry baby!) and it was cold and rainy out. But by the time Em was off to school, my Advil had kicked in and I had downed half a cup of hot tea and was feeling better.

That's when it happened. I was checking out Aunt Ruthie's Sugar Pie Farmhouse and between her blogging and the 40s music that plays on her site, June Cleaver entered my home thru me!!!

I donned my favorite new pink floral apron from Aunt Dorothy and found an online 40s radio station and began making French Toast to get into the freezer for Em's Thursday morning breakfasts. (Thursdays are pancake/waffle/french toast day here at the Sandage house.) I got one and a half loaves of Texas toast converted to French Toast. That's enough to feed her for quite some time as long as we can keep daddy out of it. Doesn't look YUMMY! Too bad it isn't Weight Watcher friendly...4 points per slice!!!!!!! OUCH!

After the French Toast was in the freezer and the mess cleaned up and kitchen sink was shiny,

I set out to iron Delmar's work shirts. Not usually one of my favorite jobs but today it made me happy to do it. He's gotten several new shirts lately and they aren't wrinkle resistant but do come out nicely when ironed so I've decided that's what needs to be done and I'm ok with it.

I've been working this week on our bedroom per Flylady's Flight Plan for the week. Spending 15 minutes a day decluttering. I've gotten rid of 2 kitchen trash bags of clothes that I haven't wore in ages as well as some twin sheet sets. (I don't think we need 5 sets when we only have one twin bed in the house LOL) Now it is hubby's turn but he's been busy this week. I would do his myself but I'm afraid I will get rid of something that he loves.

Time to scoot, hubby just got home from his Kingdom Soldiers group I'm gonna go check and see how his day was.

Here's just something to make you smile. He's in my kitchen window and when the breeze blows in, his head bobbles all over. Just too cute!!!

Four Weeks Down

2010-03-23T11:17:00.003-05:00

Things on the Weight Watchers front are goin' good. Down another 2.8 lbs this week for a total of 11.8 in my first month. Not too bad if I do say so myself. For the month of April I would like to start adding some walking into the mix. I think that even a little activity will be helpful in keeping the weight coming off. I do need to remember that I will need to up my points to compensate for the added activity. I didn't do that last time and I stalled out because I wasn't eating enough when I added activity.

Hope you all are having a great week!

Deals, Deals, Deals

2010-03-18T13:14:00.006-05:00

Headed to Walgreens yesterday and today and got some great deals! I got all this for $25.46. I also got a thing of elastic hair ties for Em's hair but they didn't make it into the picture and I didn't feel like taking another. As best I can tell this picture represents over $70.00 worth of stuff. Regular price the cereal and tampons alone are about $31.00. So I paid about a third of what I would have without sales and coupons.

Here's what I got:
Kleenex tissues-6 boxes
Colgate Total toothpaste
Raisin Bran-2 boxes
Fruit Loops & Corn Pops-1 box each
Scope mouthwash-2 bottles
OB Tampons-2 boxes
Johnson & Johnson Q-tips-1 box
Planters Trail Mix-2 packs
Aussie shampoo-1
Aussie hair spray-1

I will probably head back to Walgreens to get a couple more OBs and also to CVS in Decatur tomorrow night to pick up some REALLY cheap Kashi Heart to Heart. I've got 4 $1.50/1 coupons and it is 2/$5 right now. Our CVS here in Clinton doesn't carry it, but for a $1.00 a box, I'll take the time to pick it up while there.

There have been quite a few high value coupons on the internet lately. Here are a couple of the sites I follow:
* Common Sense With Money
* The Krazy Coupon Lady

I need to get off here now and work on an IGA list and start planning for tomorrow night's scrapnight.

Lovin' My Aprons & My New Washer & Dryer :o)

2010-03-16T10:05:00.003-05:00

Back in July last year, I made a comment that I love the apron that I received from Delmar's mom and would love to have more of them. Now let me say, I'm not really sure how many people actually read this blog because comments are rarely left, it's more of a journal for me. But I'm happy to say that I now know that my Aunt Dorothy does read my blog. I know this because she sent to me not one but TWO vintage aprons. One is red with a fish pocket and the other is a floral print with pink pockets that have buttons on them. I love them both and they are a wonderful addition to my collection. THANK YOU SO MUCH AUNT DOROTHY!!!!!!!!! Here is a picture of them all hanging in the laundry room just outside the kitchen.

I'm also happy to report that when I now do laundry, the whole neighborhood can't hear. My new front loading washer and dryer are so quiet I forget they are running! Aren't they pretty???

I've got lots more to post about but no time to do it just now but I'll be back soon!

Down Some More

2010-03-15T20:39:00.000-05:00

Yea, you may or may not have noticed that I didn't post a weight loss report last week. It's because I was very angry. Not at me, I did EVERYTHING perfect. I was my body I was mad at! After the whoppin' loss the first week, I turned around and GAINED 4/10ths of a pound. GAINED I said!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT? I did figure out later that the WW Zero Point Veggie Soup, while low in calories, is very high in sodium if you aren't using low sodium chicken broth. GGGRRRRR!!!!!! Water weight....wadaya do...

Anyway, I didn't let it get me too down and this week it was gone. I'm down 2.8 this week for a total of 9 pounds in 3 weeks. I can live with that. I just need to keep looking at the big picture and not let the little weeks get me down. Slow and steady...

Oops I did it again!!!!

2010-03-06T15:25:00.004-06:00

So remember back in April of 2009 when I did this deal and got 10 bottles of Purex for tax only? Well, I DID IT AGAIN!! Ten bottles of Purex for $2.07~!~!~!~!~!~!!!!! I still have about 5 of those bottles left but I also went thru these bottles that were bigger than the Purex ones so I may have to go out tonight at get 2 more bottles. Hopefully that will get me thru the year until this deal happens again next year????? One could only hope.

I love saving money and I love spending it too. I spent the day with mom yesterday and went to Gordman's in Bloomington for the first time ever. LOVE IT!!! I have a wall in my hallway that is kind of my family picture wall and boy is it gonna be purdy after I hang up the frames, etc. that I bought yesterday. I'll post pictures of that later. I have to wait until Tues. when my photo ink is delivered from Staples to reprint some of my pics.

Gotta scoot, mom & Bob are coming over for dinner soon.

Weight Watchers Week 1

2010-03-01T21:52:00.003-06:00

So my first week back on the program was REALLY good. I lost 6.6 lbs!!! GO ME!!! I know this pace won't last but it's great for now.

Bad thing did happen today. A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts from a little girl across the street. They came in today. I must confess, before I left for my meeting, I added 3 of them into my etools on Weight Watchers.com. I had the points left afterall, since I always eat light on Monday's before my weigh in on Monday night. Before the meeting I had 19.5 points left and 3 doughnuts were 16.5. But I'm happy to say that after weighing in, I didn't do it. I made one of my homemade pizzas for 5 points with a glass of milk. I did have ONE Krispy Kreme and then put the rest in the freezer to be eaten SLOWLY and not only by me. With Delmar's recent diabetes diagnosis and me on WW we didn't need a box of fresh yumminess sitting around the house. I did leave a couple out for Emily's breakfast. :)

Anywho, here's to another fantastic week.

Weight Watchers again

2010-02-23T08:26:00.002-06:00

I've recommitted to my weight loss again. Feeling like crap all the time is just no good for anyone, especially me. It leaks into EVERYTHING! So last night I went back even tho I've regained ALL that I lost last year plus about 10 lbs. But, I'm excited once again and hopefully by summer I can be back to where I was in the fall of last year. I will be adding a weight tracker to my side bar again to help keep me motivated and hopefully this stupid weather will break and I will be able to get out and start walking again.

Here's to SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Procrastinating

2010-02-18T10:36:00.000-06:00

I should be working on getting my stuff together for scrapnight at church but instead I'm on here working on a new siggy for my blog! :)

Snow Day!!!!!!!

2010-02-09T20:11:00.000-06:00

The kids had a snow day today so Emily and I took advantage of the time and worked on her Valentines and her Valentine box. This is the first year she has got to make a box at home, they have always done them in school. The only thing she requested was that we were able to use my Cricut to get the job done. :)

This is also the first year that she did her Valentines completely on her own. She looked thru each one to find the best fit for the person she was giving it to. She also mentioned how hard it was to find "just the right one".

So, here are pictures of her Valentines box. She is very proud of it.

Front:

Front & Side:

Have a blessed day,

Been a long time...

2010-02-09T10:46:00.003-06:00

since I posted a CVS or Walgreens deal. At the beginning of 2009 I was really in to couponing, etc. We got pretty much stocked up on toothpaste, shampoo, body wash, toothbrushes, etc. so I kind of just let it go. But a couple of weeks ago I started clipping coupons again and this week at CVS it paid off! Here's my deal:

Transaction #1:
2 Pantene shampoos
1 Clairol Perfect 10 hair color
2 Oust Surface & Air spray

Total purchases: $24.97
Less Mfr coupons: $10.99
Less ECBs: $2.00
Less CVS coupon $4 off $20
Total OOP: $9.40 w/tax
ECBs earned: $11.00

Trasaction #2:
2 Diet Sierra Mist 12 packs
2 Diet Cherry Pepsi 12 packs

Total purchase: $11.00
Less ECBs: $11.00
Total OOP: $.74 (TAX ONLY) :o)
ECBs earned: 2.00

Transaction #3:
2 Nivea bath wash
1 Green Bag tag (every 4th time I bring in my own bag, I get a $1 ECB)

Less MFR coupon: $3.00
Less ECB: $2.00
Total OOP: $8.85 w/tax
ECBs earned: $5.00

Transaction #4:
2 boxes Ritz crackers
2 boxes Wheat Thins
1 box of Triscuit

Less MFR coupons: $4.00
Less ECB: $5.00
Total OOP: $1.10 w/tax
ECBs earned: $3.00

So I got $58.94 worth of product for $20.09 OOP and still have $3.00 in ECBs for next time. The soda and the crackers were worth way more than that! Also I just have to say, I've heard ALOT of people online gripe about their CVS managers but mine is a sweetheart. He was standing there when I was doing the first 2 trans. and he thought it was great! And, I was only gonna do the first 2 yesterday but then when I went out and saw the snow starting to come down I went back in and did the other 2...he didn't bat an eye. He thinks its fantastic!

Hope you all have a fabulous and blessed day!

What do you get....

2010-01-09T19:13:00.005-06:00

when you mix piles of clean snow and the coldest day of the year? Why snow ice cream of course!! Emily and I put our culinary skills to work this evening making this delectable dessert.

The software includes:

A large bowl of CLEAN snow
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk (preferably whole)

1/2-1 t. vanilla

Combine sugar, vanilla and milk:

Mix in enough fluffy WHITE snow until it is the consistancy of ice cream:

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Mommy to Emily): "So does yellow snow make lemon ice cream?"
(Emily to Mommy): "THAT'S DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hope you all have had a blessed day!

Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-01T21:26:00.000-06:00

Just wishing everyone a Happy and Blessed 2010. Wow, that sounds weird...2010. Do you say "twenty-ten" or two thousand ten? I think twenty-ten sounds very space odessyish.

We spent New Year's Eve at the Harr's house down in Flora. It is always great seeing them. We also stopped by to see Emily's first babysitters, Kari and Evan. Kari only has about 18 days until she will be having a little one of her own-can't wait to meet him or her.

Emily was able to make it until midnight and then was able to sleep until 9:30 the next morning thanks to us sleeping in the basement with NO windows. It was awesome!

After we got home, we ate a light supper and had a relaxing end to the first day of the year. Hope you all enjoyed your day as well.

Until next time...

Christmas Eve 2009

2009-12-24T15:22:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve to all of our family and friends. I can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas day, where has the year gone?

Emily and I finished wrapping Delmar's gifts this morning but this afternoon has been a lazy, rainy one. The boys have been gone since about 12:30 and Delmar got home from work about 1:30. He and Emily are sitting on the couch watching Eloise at Christmas.

Tonight we will go to Delmar's mom & dad's for games and sandwiches, tomorrow morning we are at home and then off to lunch at Sandage's again, tomorrow night we will go to dad's and then to Aunt Nancy's afterward. We had Christmas with mom last Sunday.

Delmar, Emily and I hope you have VERY Merry Christmas. Please take a minute out of your busy schedules to thank God for sending his son to us.

Have a blessed day,

It's time for school again!!!

2009-08-21T08:35:00.005-05:00

I think Emily was a "little" excited about her first day of Second grade. She was up at 6:20 am ready to go! Here are our annual first day of school pics. The second one is of her and her new bus driver. For the last 3 years, her driver has been Twilla and we loved her. I don't know about Emily but I was sad to not see her this morning. But, alas, change happens and now we introduce Mable. I hear that she is also wonderful and loves the kids and honestly, that's all that really matters. YEAH!!Have a blessed day,

July in a nutshell

2009-08-18T10:00:00.003-05:00

WARNING, THIS POST IS INCREDIBLY LONG AND FULL OF PICTURES-Proceed at your own risk... :O)

This summer has flown by and I can't believe that school starts this Friday (albeit, only a 3 hour day??) Anyway, since the posting has been sporadic at best, I thought a jumbo post covering July would catch us up a bit. Here goes............

The first week of July ushered in a new experience for Emily. Our local YMCA hosts a day camp called Camp Osage and Emily LOVED it! We went on vacation so early this year that I was worried Emily would have a long BORING summer at home. But never fear, Y Camp is here!!! She has learned how to fish, play lots of new games, learned several new songs, seen many friends from school and met lots of new friends. Here she is on her first day and a picture with Delaney, her friend from down the street.

Here is a song that she learned entitled, "God Bless My Underwear". Just in case you can't understand here are the words (to the tune of God Bless America):

God bless my underwear

My only pair

Thru the washer

Thru the dryer

On the clothesline

In the air

Oh, God bless my underwear

My only pair......

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Repeat until it drives your parents CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually, this time was hysterical. She was just belting it out in the shower one night after camp. Cracked me up!!!

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July also brought the first fruits from my garden, go figure, it was zucchini.And who doesn't need a little more mulch on their garden in the heat of summer? Certainly not I. And our neighbor, Emily's best friend Don, was willing to share his grass clippings with us and Emily helped him out with the rake.Still keeping with the garden theme,I am proud to say that I learned how to can. My dad's friend Mel gave me a rather large bag of green beans that I used as my "guinea pig". Back in June, I had told my step-dad Bob that I wanted him to teach me how to can as my birthday gift. So he came over one day while Emily was at camp (mom came with him to keep an eye on my little ones that I babysit) and I had my first (and only) lesson. Here are some pictures from the experience.

Beans before:
Necessary tools:
Me and my teacher. Final results, MMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These jars sat on my counter all afternoon and evening and every time I walked by I just smiled and felt so proud that I had provided food for my family. And it was all free! The jars came from Freecycle. I was also blessed with a pressure canner as well as some other items needed. And I was presented with the Ball Blue Book for Canning and Preserving by my teacher. THERE'S NO STOPPIN' ME NOW!!!

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THE CHICKEN BORDER COMES DOWN!!!

From the day that we moved into our home, I've not particularly cared for the border in my laundry room. After all, what to chickens/roosters have to do with laundry??? Anyway, one day I got a wild hair and started pulling it down.

Before:
During:

After:

The aprons are mine and Emily's cooking aprons. Delmar's mom gave me the black and white checked one and I love it! I would like to get some other vintage ones. The pink one has a ladybug on it and Emily loves to wear it when we cook. As you can also see, I still haven't decided what color I'm going to paint the doors.

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Relay for Life

Most of you know that I've been participating in Relay for Life since my sister Lori was diagnosed with Kidney cancer in 2002. My first one was in 2003 and I've been doing it every year since, making this my seventh year WOW! Our team is now sponsored by our church and we had a great night this year. The weather was beautiful but cold. But, I'd much rather it be cold than hot.

This year our camp had a hippy/Woodstock/Age of Aquarius feel to it. Here is a picture of our mascots. (Thanks David, Delmar & Gene for keeping us laughing well into the night!)

What is a night being up until dawn without a little food?Kids lap (Emily is in the orange shirt right in the middle of the pic):Me and my man. Stay away ladies...he's all mine!! :o)One of the chiropractors in town was selling massages (all proceeds went to the Relay). Pat tried it out first and convinced MANY on our team that it was awesome and it was!What???? Mike is asleep and SNORING??? No way!

Each year they make a banner of hand prints of survivors. This banner is from 2003, Lori's hand print is the pink one and it overlaps our dad's (the upside down one). I take a picture of it every year.

What a great end to Relay week, the stargazer lillies that I planted in my garden in memory of Lori bloomed! I honestly didn't think they were going to this year but one day, there they were! These were Lori's favorite flower and were in all the bouquets that Mike would send her.

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Our final adventure in July was tent camping at Weldon Springs. We were invited by our neighbor Jenny to join her and some of her family and friends. What a weekend! Friday night was great but Saturday it rained almost all day. We didn't care, we stood around under umbrellas around the fire and at one point gave up on the umbrellas and sat at a picnic table in the rain playing Scrabble. Fortunately, the Scrabble game was mostly wood and plastic!!!

Here is princess Jenny in her castle. Not too bad considering she started Friday with a ridiculously small tent with a queen sized mattress in it. She was movin' on up!!!

Lilly trying to learn to ride a 2 wheeler:

Rise and shine Emily and Kyla:

Here I am helping Sal make breakfast. This covered screen room would have been a great idea BEFORE it rained. Here are a group of campers putting it up and you can't tell but it is pouring!! HA!UHHH...Delmar....Emily....everyone else is up!!

I pray that you all had a blessed summer. While it has gone incredibly fast, Emily and I are both excited that school is starting in a few days. She has already met her teacher and we've heard that she is great!

Rainy days and Mondays...

2009-08-17T20:31:00.006-05:00

can be made better with tomato soup, tamales for hubby and I and a grilled cheese for Em. YUMMO!!!!!:o)

This was my gourmet dinner after a day of tackling Mt. Washmore, paying bills, getting the house back in order from the weekend and canning my first batch of green beans solo. Aren't they pretty???

Between the rainy evening and Y camp, Emily was exhausted and said she wasn't feeling well. I hope she isn't coming down with something!! This is how she spent most of her evening.
Hope you all weathered the storms without any damage.

Goodnight all,

My new books came!

2009-08-10T14:03:00.002-05:00

I ordered 2 books from Half.com last week and now they are both in. While I am still finishing up the Left Behind series, I still need to locate the sequel and prequels. I am starting to read Home Comforts (see my sidebar) and just got in the mail today, Mary Hunt's "Debt-Proof The Holidays-How to have an All-Cash Christmas". I'm quite excited about both books and will now be torn as to how to split my reading time. :o)

Have a blessed day,

Eleven years ago today...

2009-07-29T09:34:00.002-05:00

I said "I do" to the love of my life. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MY LOVE!!!!

We are going to Red Lobster for dinner and do some Walmart shopping in Decatur. Our friend Jenny is watching Emily for us. Thanks Jenny!!! Then we will come home and watch So You Think You Can Dance. A simple evening with the one I love doing things we love~~~well, except for the Walmart shopping!

UPDATE: Here is a picture of the flowers Delmar brought home for me. There were so many, I had to separate them into two jars. More to spread around the house!!!

DUDE!!!

2009-07-21T09:51:00.005-05:00

I soooo feel like this woman some days......then I'm reminded why I do it! :smile: This one is going on my sidebar so I can be reminded everyday!

Have a blessed day,

Got my internet back...YEAH!!!!!

2009-07-15T19:00:00.001-05:00

Last Wednesday, a storm came thru that sent a surge thru my phone line into my modem and then on thru to the ethernet cards in both our computer and Emily's computer. It fried all three items and thus began the process of replacing them all. This should have been a simple thing, just call the phone company and have them send a new modem out and then replace the cards in the 2 computers. HOWEVER, my computer has Windows Vista on it...big pain in the butt!!! We were able to check email and such thru Delmar's wireless laptop and by "borrowing" a connection from a neighbor but updating the blog was not able to happen because of the spottiness of the connections.

But, all is well now and we are once again connected to the world. So, let the blogging begin!

Have a blessed day,

Menu Planning/Kitchen Work

2009-07-07T10:37:00.005-05:00

I've been working this week on getting food into the freezer and planning menus. Since Delmar was gone over the 4th weekend shooting fireworks in Southern IL, Emily and I decided to make him a special dinner last night. I loaded up 4 kids and off to IGA we went to by steaks. This was miraculous two-fold. First of all, many of you know that I don't travel too much with the babysitting kids, it just makes me nervous and secondly, I rarely buy steaks and NEVER full price... It was indeed a special day! With the steaks, I made cheesy tater tots with onions and peppers and fresh green beans - from my garden :o) - made with soy sauce, olive oil and fresh garlic. YUMMO!

I have also been freezing blueberries. Last week Kroger had them for $1.25 a pint!!! I bought 16 pints and have frozen 12 of them to enjoy later this summer and this winter. MMMMM, a cup of coffee with a homemade blueberry muffin.....sorry, I got lost there for a moment! The rest we have been nibbling on here and there.

Also, when we came back from Florida on vacation (yes, it was over a month ago), we stopped in Georgia and bought a 25 lb. bag of Vidalia onions that we split with the Shews. (I'm sure that Sharon has had hers in the freezer for weeks but I am just getting to mine.)

The time you save by chopping all at once is amazing! I've been doing this with green peppers for a couple of years now and it's so nice to be able to just grab a baggie of chopped veggies and just throw it in whatever you are making. It's also a good way to take advantage of the discounted produce at the store. Our Save-a-Lot almost always has packages of bell peppers that are on the edge, maybe with a spot or something on them. Usually they are packaged in 4's for around a $1.00 and are a mix of green, red, yellow and orange. I'll buy these, cut out the bad spot and chop, slice and chunk them for different recipes that I work with.

While working on my onions this morning, I've also prepped my onions for tonights dinner and now just have to work on the potatoes.

Gotta head for now, about time to get the kids ready for Lunch Time Bible Club!

Have a blessed day,

Vacation Bible School

2009-06-19T11:03:00.004-05:00

Emily has loved VBS this year. Thru school, she knows many of the kids, which makes her want to go even more. Tristin even got in on it a couple of days and then got nervous about going. They had theme days and were able to dress appropriately each day. We missed the theme for Monday which was hat day.

Tuesday was crazy hair day. You can't tell in the picture very well but Tristin's hair is spiked:

Wednesday was mismatched or backwards clothes day. As you can see, Emily chose to do both:

Thursday was beach day. Tristin was dressed for it but decided at the last minute, he wasn't going to go:

Today, Friday, was PJ day. (I didn't get a pic before she changed.) Emily LOVES PJ days! She was able to wear them all day a couple of days of Kindergarten and 1st grade. The fun continued into VBS.

The kids were also raising money thru offerings to help Barb O'Donohue's work with Pokot children in Africa. According to a newsletter, if their goal of $1111.00 is met, Ernie (the children's minister) will dye his hair blonde! The must be really getting behind this since as of yesterday, they were at $904.27 and the last 2 day's offerings were over $300 each!!! GOOOOO KIDS!!!!

We may have to go to 1st Christian this Sunday just to see Ernie!

Next week starts Lunch Time Bible Club at the Baptist Church, Emily is excited about this too. I'm also considering sending her to Camp Osage at our local Y several times during the summer just for something else to do.

Must run for now, she will be getting of the VBS bus in about 15 min and I like to have her lunch ready for her or otherwise she wants to go out to play and then eats too late!

Have a blessed day,

Happy Birthday Emily Rose!!!!!!!!!!

2009-06-13T10:36:00.005-05:00

Yes, today our baby is 7 years old. It amazes me how time flies. Every year on her birthday, I recall the day she was born and the horrible time she had just trying to breath. I remember laying in a hospital bed after a C-section being told that my baby, just hours old, would need to be flown from from Effingham to Springfield because they didn't have the equipment or doctors needed to keep her alive and the aweful feeling knowing I couldn't go with her. I can picture in my mind, the first time I got to hold her 2 days later, on MY birthday and thanking God for the most wonderful birthday present ever and for having the best husband in the world after hearing that he didn't let ANYONE hold her, not even himself, knowing that I should be the first. Then, after a week, the IVs came out and we got to take our baby girl home.

And now, look at her, she can read her own birthday cards:This morning, we tried to convince Emily that she should wait to open her presents at her party but she told us, "But we always have a party in the morning!" So, she opened her presents from us this morning and was very happy with her new Littlest Petshop Clubhouse and Dora Leapster game.

After unwrapping the gifts, Emily and her cousin Baylee, who is with us for the weekend, decided it was time to wrap up daddy!

I will post more pictures of the party later.

Have a blessed day,

Miami Vacation 2009

2009-06-12T09:34:00.004-05:00

Yes, we have already had our summer vacation for the year. We were supposed to go to Hilton Head, SC in August but due to Sharon's pregnancy and being due just a few weeks from when we were supposed to be gone, we bumped it up a bit. And, as you can see from the post title, we went to Florida AGAIN!!! This time, however, we went down to Miami. All I can say about Miami is....NEVER AGAIN!!! I would rather go to Disney World every year for the rest of my life than go back to Miami. It rained and rained and rained. And this was not your typical "Florida rain", no, it hung around pouring for hours at a time. Every time Sharon and I stepped foot outside in out bathing suits, within 30 min. the clouds, thunder and lightening were there, few people spoke clear English and I do not know any Spanish. But, I can say that dispite all the bad, we had a good time spending the week with the Shew's and I'm sure that Emily appreciates not being the only child on vacation with boring mom & dad.

So what did we do you say? Well let me tell you.

Our first desination was an overnight in Nashville then up at the crack of dawn to set out for Savannah, GA. Delmar made a point to allow time for us to be able to eat at Paula Dean's restaurant, "The Lady & Sons". Sharon and I were so excited and I think Delmar was too. Well, we got there and the first thing I notice is the sign saying that they were taking no more reservations for the night. :o( BIG DISAPPOINTMENT! But, we did end up eating at Uncle Bubba's Oyster and Seafood House which is her brother's place and then we went back to downtown Savannah to have our pics taken in front of Paula's place and shop in her store.

The next day, we headed to Miami. While there, we went to Miami Beach (it was cloudy the whole time), went to Key Largo and road a really big glass bottomed boat out to a coral reef and saw a bunch of coral, fish and even a shark. I believe that night I came down with food poisoning and spent the night nausious and vomiting and was out the next day too. While I was down, everyone when swimming. We spent a day at a really cool indoor/outdoor mall-of course it was sunny while were there in the morning and we went back to get into the pool and it started storming again. GGGRRRR!!!!!!! One night, the resort offered a sitter service for the kids and we adults went out to eat. Emily and Alexis enjoyed spending time with Gloria, the lady that was on staff to do crafts and stuff with the kids. They got to do face painting, make a wind chime and several other things. She was really good with them and would just come out of her room to the pool and ask if they wanted to come in and do something.

By the time Friday rolled around, we were ready to head home. Delmar also arranged for us to have extra time in Chattanooga, TN to stop at Ruby Falls and Lookout Mtn. We had talked about doing it for years but we were always too tired to stop. So allowing time to do that was good and we all had a great time going down into the cavern and then walking up to Lookout Mtn.

Here is a video I put together of our trip.

Sandage/Shew Vacation 2009
Click the above link to see video.

Have a blessed day,

Emily's Photo Opportunities

2009-05-01T10:42:00.006-05:00

Over the course of the last few weeks, Emily has had many professional pictures taken for one reason or another. Thought I would share them.

This first picture is from casual picture day. For some reason, getting your picture taken in the fall at school is not enough these days. Now they have spring pictures taken too and they are allowed to bring in props. Emily's theme this year was her frogs. We tried to follow thru with her clothing too.

The next picture was from dance pictures. She is in her bridal costume for recital. This picture is a candid shot, we won't get the actual pictures back until recital day.Finally we have a picture that was actually not scheduled but we happened to be at the church when they were doing them. This was another fundraiser for Ted & Kim Treadway, our missionaries to Guatamala. They did a similar one back in July of last year when we had the old fashioned photos taken.

ENJOY!

Have a blessed day,

My new baby

2009-04-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

Ok, so it's not really a baby but I still love it! Our old van was slowly starting to nickle and dime us AND it had 125,000 miles on it. And since we are driving to Miami in 4 weeks we decided that it my be time to trade 'er in. And, here she is:(This picture makes it look silver but it is actually a light blue, kinda aqua color.)

I've loved my last 2 Dodge Grand Caravans and did not want to stray from them but Delmar brought me home this tonight. It is a Chrysler Town and Country. Same layout of the Dodge just a "step up". Yes, now we have StowNGo seating, all the doors are electric and Emily loves the built in DVD player. These things will all come in handy during our many days in the van on our way to and from Miami.

Have a blessed day,

CVS & Walgreens Deals 4/12-4/18

2009-04-18T15:41:00.005-05:00

OK, so I had no intention of going to do my coupon deals this week. There really wasn't much going on. UNTIL, I read the iheartcvs.com blog entry about the Purex coupons. This week at CVS, Purex was B1G1 free. The entry had a link to a B1G1 free coupon making BOTH bottles free except for the tax-which was $2.62 for all 10 bottles!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then, Wags had Colgate toothbrushes for $3.29 with a $3.50 RR and I had a $1 coupon for each one also making them a moneymaker. I used the RRs to turn around and buy some boxes of the individual drink mixes that you put in bottles of water for Emily's lunches. She loves them but I just can't share my Crystal Light White Grape flavor! I know-bad mom!

Here is the rundown:

10 32-load bottles of Purex
7 boxes of drink mixes
5 Colgate toothbrushes
1 Physicians Formula moisturizer

I paid $10.63 out of pocket BUT ended up with $7.00 in Wags RR and will submit a $10 rebate in for the moisturizer. Some of the purchase was made with my Wags gift card from rebates from last month. So I will end up MAKING $6.37 after my rebate goes back on my Wags gift card at the end of the month AND I have enough laundry soap to last the rest of the year.

Have a blessed day,

It's (Was) Girl Scout Cookie Time!!!!!!!

2009-04-06T12:56:00.003-05:00

Many of you know that in the fall Emily joined Brownies. With this came the opportunity to sell Girl Scout cookies. Our goal was to sell enough to pay her membership fee for next year and we went well over that. Here is a pic of Em last month and her 176 boxes of cookies!!!!!!

Thank you to all who supported her in this project.

Have a blessed day,

Hey Baby Let's Go to Vegas!!!

2009-04-06T11:03:00.006-05:00

THE CHAPEL OF LOVE (Dixie Cups)

Spring is here

The sky is blue (whoa-whoa-whoa)

Birds all sing

As if they knew

Today's the day

We'll say I do

And we'll never be lonely anymore

Because we're

Goin' to the chapel and we're

Gonna get married

Goin' to the chapel and we're

Gonna get married

Gee, I really love you and we're

Gonna get married

Goin' to the chapel of love

Bells will ring

The sun will shine (whoa-whoa-whoa)

I'll be his and

He'll be mine

We'll love until

The end of time

And we'll never be lonely anymore

Because we're

Goin' to the chapel and we're

Gonna get married

Goin' to the chapel and we're

Gonna get married

Gee, I really love you and we're

Gonna get married

Goin' to the chapel of love

On Saturday, Emily and I went to Heyworth to pick up her costume for the dance recital. As you may have guessed, this year's theme is "Hey Baby Let's Go To Vegas". Emily's class will be dancing a tap routine to The Chapel of Love. Click here if you want to hear the song. Just click on the gray/black music player in the upper right hand corner of the page. Enjoy!!!!

Have a blessed day,

Shopping Deals Mar 31-Apr 5

2009-04-06T10:39:00.003-05:00

Not much happened at CVS last week. We are pretty much stocked up on shampoo, toothpaste, etc. for awhile. So this week the concentration was on all the great Pepsi deals. Combined with my rebate coupons that I received from the Super Bowl rebate promotion back in Feb. I'm set with soda for the time :) This shopping was done at Walgreens and Target.

Here's what I got for just about $31:

6-12 packs Diet Pepsi

1-12 pack Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi

1-12 pack Diet Dr. Pepper

1-12 pack Diet Sierra Mist

4 boxes of Target brand fruit snacks

2 boxes Fiber One Poptarts

2 Johnson's Bath Buddies soap

1 pack of socks for Delmar (I just don't understand how a man can be so hard on SOCKS!!!!)

2 boxes Quaker Chewy granola bars

1 Fusion Gamer Power razor

1 Gillette shave cream

Have a blessed day,

CVS & Walgreens Deals 3/22-3/28

2009-03-28T14:38:00.005-05:00

Kind of a pitiful week in the land of CVS & Wags deals. But I did get these items for a total of $1.53 (after rebate).

WAGS:

Hunts Tomato Sauce-11 @ .99 = $10.89

Use Wags flyer coupon-11 @ .39 = $4.29 + .11(tax) = $4.40

Submitted a $5.00 rebate off of a $10 Conagra purchase = $5.50 back (10% added for putting on a Wags gift card)

Total purchase = $1.10 PROFIT!!!!!!

CVS:

B1G1 Campbell's soups (not a great selection) - 8 for $6.56

Used 4 $1/2 Campbell soup coupons - $4.00 off

Total OOP with tax - $2.63

Again, sad week... But it was nice to actually get some food for my pantry instead of shampoo and toothpaste! :-)

Have a blessed day,

Emily's New Doo...

2009-03-27T09:15:00.000-05:00

And a crazy face!

We love Emily's new haircut but I would have never considered using a flat iron on her stick straight hair until the hairstylist did. It really worked! The curl at the ends actually stayed in for the whole day. Amazing!

Have a blessed day,

CVS & Wags Deals 3/15-3/21

2009-03-19T19:25:00.006-05:00

I only spent $2.48 OOP today at CVS but I didn't leave with any ECBs :( Oh well, heck of a deal for less than ONE of the Colgate toothbrushes I got!!! Here's the rundown...

Deal #1
Dry Idea deodorant (2)
Colgate Max White toothbrush

Less:
$2.00 Dry Idea coupon (2 of them)
$4.99 ECB from prior purchase (discounted to $4.97)

OOP: 27 cents
ECBs earned: $4.00 for Dry Idea & $2.99 for toothbrush

Deal #2
Hello Kitty Bandaids (2)
Kotex pantyliners

Less:
75 cent Kotex coupon
$1.50 CRT (CVS coupon from coupon machine) off Kotex pantiliners
$2.00 Bandaids coupons ($1/1 X 2)
$4.00 ECB from #1
$2.99 ECB from #1 (discounted to $2.92)

OOP: 3 cents
ECBs earned: $3.00 for Bandaids & $2.00 for Kotex

Deal #3
Diet Cherry Pepsi 12 packs (3)
Gumdrops (2)
Suave Body Wash

Less:
$1.00 of 2 Gold Emblem candys (CVS brand)
$3.00 off any Suave product
$3.00-Buy 2 get 1 free Pepsi product
$2.00 ECB from #2
$3.00 ECB from #2

OOP: $2.18
ECBs earned- ZERO

Total of $2.48 for $44.88 of stuff. YEAH ME!!!!

I am still considering doing the Hersey's ECB offer and I still have another Pepsi coupon for the buy 2 get one free I may do.

I wasn't going to go to Walgreens this week but then found out about a coupon that is in a magazine in the pharmacy area that goes well with a RR deal. Here it is, all this for $9.95 OOP. Not too bad considering the Pullup (Wags brand) alone are almost $9.00 by themselves!!!

Have a blessed day,

CVS & Walgreens Deals 3/8-3/14

2009-03-13T18:40:00.008-05:00

Another AWESOME week at CVS and Wags!

CVS Deals**********

Total OOP for this picture is $8.49 and represents $85.64 worth of product!!!!!!!!!

Note that I started with the $1.98 ECB earned at the end of this post.

CVS Deal #1:
Palmolive dishsoap
Clairol Perfect 10 Haircolor kit-on clearance for $6.99!! (not my color but will be used this summer for highlights!)

Less coupons used:
$5.00 off Clairol Perfect 10
$1.98 ECB from prior purchase

Regular price-$15.58
My OOP-$1.94
ECBs earned-$1.00 & 2.00

CVS Deal #2:
2 Herbal Esscenses Shampoo

Less coupons used:
$3.00/2 Herbal Essences
$1.00 ECB from Deal #1
$1.00 CVS coupon for hair care product

Regular price: $9.38
My OOP-$1.01
ECBs earned-$2.00

CVS Deal #3:
2 Herbal Esscenses Shampoo

Less coupons used:
$3.00/2 Herbal Essences
$2.00 ECB from Deal #2

Regular price: $9.38
My OOP-$1.01
ECBs earned-$2.00

CVS Deal #4:
2 Garnier Nutrisse Hair Colors

Less coupons used:
2-$2.00 Garnier Nutrisse Hair Color
$2.00 ECB from Deal #3
$2.00 ECB from Deal #1

Regular price: $16.98
My OOP-$2.41
ECBs earned-$5.00

CVS Deal #5:
2 Garnier Nutrisse Hair Colors

Less coupons used:
2-$2.00 Garnier Nutrisse Hair Color
$5.00 ECB from Deal #4

Regular price: $16.98
My OOP-$1.34
ECBs earned-$5.00

CVS Deal #6:
Mentos Gum
Palmolive dish soap
Crest Pro Health Mouthwash
2 bags of candy

Less coupons used:
$1.00 Mentos
$1.00 CVS coupon
$5.00 ECB from Deal #5

Regular price-$9.25
My OOP-$.78
ECBs earned-$1.00 & $2.00

Also thrown into the picture above is a Glade Lasting Impressions fan that I picked up at Wags for 53 cents after Easy Saver Catalog coupon and a coupon that I had. :-)

**************************************
WAGS Deals

Total OOP for this picture is $35.30 and represents $215.23worth of product!!!!!!!!!

The stuff shown above cost me $35.30 OOP. The diapers will be a shower gift and will come out of our gift giving budget. This leaves the remaining $12.60 actually coming out of our grocery/toiletries/laundry budget. That $12.60 consists of:

4 rolls of Tuf paper towels - .59 @ after Wags ESC coupon - $2.36
4 Sambucol Cold & Flu Remedy - after coupon and Wags ESC coupon, I MADE $10.04
4 Glade Sense & Spray - after coupon and Wags ESC coupon, I MADE .04
4 Kleenex w/Lotion - no coupons -$5.34
1 Kotex pads - $2.00 after coupon
1 Cuddle Soft Softener sheets - $2.99 (should have rung up $1.99)
4 bottles Xcel Vanilla and Lavendar laundry soap - $7.96
4 jars JIF peanut butter - after sale - $8.00
4 bottles Garnier Fructise hairspray - after coupons and Wags ESC coupon, I MADE .04
3 packs Pure American water bottles - after Wags ESC coupon - $2.97
2 tubs Smart Balance margarine - after sale and coupons - .99
2 Kotex liners - after sale and coupons - $4.50
2 Garnier Fructise shampoo - after coupons and Wags ESC coupons - I MADE .02

I was also able to deduct 2 $10.00 Register Rewards from the transactions above from a deal that was made buying the diapers, Kleenex and pantiliners.

Have a blessed day,

CVS & Walgreens Deals 3/1-3/7

2009-03-07T09:54:00.013-06:00

I have been blessed to find several websites that have tought me how to be a bargin hunter at CVS and Walgreens. Consequently, I've been doing alot of CVS and Walgreens deals lately. It's truly amazing what you can get for practically nothing. I've been doing this since the first of the year and have saved alot of money on hygiene, hair care, cereal, dish washing detergent, laundry detergent, etc. freeing up my grocery budget to actually spend on groceries. Here is my most recent deals done yesterday...

CVS deal #1:

Carnation Instant Breakfast

Glucerna Cereal-2 boxes

Less coupons used:

Glucerna Cereal-$5.00 off

ECB from prior purchase $5.00

Regular price-$14.17

My OOP (out of pocket)-$1.94

Extra Care Bucks earned $4.99

CVS deal #2:

Gilette Fusion Gamer Razor
Glucerna Cereal-2 boxes

Dawn

Less coupons used:
Glucerna Cereal-$5.00 off
ECB from purchase #1 $4.99

Dawn-50 cents off

Regular price-$18.14

My OOP-$1.69

Extra Care Bucks earned $4.00

CVS deal #3:

Cascade Liquid Dishwasher soap

Act Total Care mouthwash (2)

Almonds (2)

Less coupons used:

Cascade-$1.00 off

ECB from purchase #2 $4.00

Almond coupon from CVS coupon machine-$2.00 off

Regular price-$6.95

My OOP-4 cents

Extra Care Bucks earned $1.98

Walgreens deal:

Orbit gum-3 packs-clearanced to 65 cents @

Less $1.00 coupon in March Walgreen's rebate booklet

Regular price-$3.87

My OOP-98 cents

So, today I spent $4.65 for $43.13 of stuff and stuff that we will use! I also have $1.98 in CVS ECB's to use for my next trip.

To learn more about how this process works visit Money Saving Mom she'll explain it all to you better than I ever could!

Have a blessed day,

Still updating

2009-02-15T12:41:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm still working on the holiday season updating. For journaling purposes I want to keep it in chronological order, so you will have to go backwards to see the posts. Hope you all are enjoying a glimpse into our lives.

Have a blessed day,

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

2009-02-14T10:17:00.005-06:00

As we usually do, we got Emily a couple of gifts and Delmar got me a couple of somethings...poor guy, he only got a card. However, one of the gifts he got me was really for both of us.

Emily received some candy, a book-Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink and a Dora the Explorer earmuff and glove set that she has been eyeing at CVS.

My Valentine got me my FAVORITE candy-Ferrero Rocher and the movie Fireproof. He did good!!!

Today is a quiet day, nothing planned. Just spending time together with nowhere in particular to go. However, at this moment, I am enjoying a silent house and a little mom time. Daddy took Emily to go to see a basketball game that one of her classmates is playing.

Last night we were able to go out with some friends for dinner and a comedian. Emily enjoyed getting to play at Kyla and Lilly's house. They have seen so little of each other thru the winter, they got along really well.

Have a blessed day,

Facing Resistance

2009-02-09T16:57:00.006-06:00

As you may know, I've begun baking my own bread. I began with a simple loaf of white "farmer" bread. A recipe that was in my bread machine cookbook. It was OK but not great. Next I went with an oatmeal recipe. I LOVED it, my mom LOVED it, my family did not. My grandiose idea of making healthy bread for my family has taken a nose dive. So, today I baked another white bread recipe. It is an Amish recipe and was so simple. And, I got to use my new baking pans that I bought at Beachy's last week. BONUS!!!

A few simple ingredients:

Proofed yeast:
Ready in the bread machine:

Risen and ready to bake:
A beautiful loaf of white bread:

I'll let you know if the family approves.

UPDATE: The family LOVED it. First thing hubby noticed when he walked into the kitchen was the loaf of WHITE bread.

Have a blessed day,

Open windows!!!

2009-02-09T13:26:00.005-06:00

Big deal you say?!?!?!?!? Then it must not be February in the Midwest where you are right now. You can't imagine what a blessing it is to be able to have your windows open in February. Right now it is 62 degrees and tomorrow is supposed to be 65. We are supposed to get thunderstorms tonight but for now, I'm just enjoying the sunny, breezy, warm day...with my windows open.

Have a blessed day,

A Day in Amish Country

2009-02-06T20:18:00.002-06:00

Today I was able to spend the day with my mom. We've been saying that we need to spend a day together since my babysitting job became temporarily part time back in June of last year...ok so we are a bit behind. Anyway, we decided to take a trip to Arthur and go to Beachy's. Now, I've heard of this Amish store quite a bit over the last couple of years but had never been. It is basically a bulk food store where you can buy practically everything under the sun! Some of my purchases included:*dehydrated marshmallows-the kind you find in packets of hot cocoa

*mini animal crackers-Emily loves these!

*ice cream sandwich cookies for making your own ice cream sandwiches

*dried cilantro-will be nice to have around

*a new book for Emily entitled "We Should Be Thankful" about a little Amish girl who learns to be thankful after having the mumps and not being able to play outside for weeks
*spice gumdrops for Delmar
*mustard pretzels for me :)

*steel cut oats in bulk-I've paid over $4 for a 1 pound bag of Red Bob's steel cut oats but these puppies were only $2.65 for 3 3/4 pounds!!!!! CRAZY!

Now, not everything was a great deal but it was worth the trip just to see all of the unique stuff. Of course they had the usual Amish fair, noodles, homemade bread, pies, etc.

My other purchase/investment was a set of new stainless steel bread pans. I'm so excited to be able to use them next week!

After shopping, we had a great lunch at Yoder's Kitchen-an Amish buffet. YUMO!

Thanks mom for a great day!

Have a blessed day,

Being Productive

2009-02-04T10:16:00.014-06:00

I LOVE when I have been productive. As I type:

*My tea is brewing.

*I have high-fiber oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes for Mufin's (Emily) breakfast tomorrow cooling on a rack. (Wednesdays are pancake/waffle day.)

*I started a batch of whole wheat sourdough starter to make the Ultimate Amazing Bread that Candy from Keeping the Home makes (see link to her blog on my sidebar). *I have Oatmeal bread dough going in my bread maker. I only use my maker to do the dough. I then remove it into a regular loaf pan for the second rise and bake a traditionally shaped loaf. I just don't like the shape of the pan in my breadmarker nor do I like having a hole in my loaf from the mixer paddle.

*Dinner is planned and thawing. Today's menu is grilled pork steaks, tater tot bake and probably steamed cabbage. Dessert/snack will be fresh fruit. Sidenote: I got a great deal on meat at Cub Foods last weekend. Ended up being about $1.41 per MEAL! Woohoo!

I've been making my own bread again for a couple of weeks now. I'm just starting to have a need to know what is going into the food I am putting into my family's bodies and making an effort to make from scratch anything that I can.

I spoke with Bob and mom yesterday about plans for a garden this year. I told Bob that I want him to teach me how to can as my birthday gift. I'm not sure exactly what will be in the garden but I know that tomatoes, green beans and turnips will most likely make the list. I would also like to try growing dried beans.

Must scoot, bread will be ready any minute for transfer to pans.

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Later that day....

Ready for the rise: Heading to the oven:

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, can you smell it? Fresh baked bread. The loaves in the picture look a little dark and they are somewhat but they aren't burnt. The recipe that I am using has molasses in it so it is a darker bread. Now, this batch was kind of an experiment. The recipe calls for 3 cups of bread flour and I substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour for 1 of the cups of bread flour. Haven't cut into it yet but we'll see how much of a difference it made texture wise. The last loaf I made was soft & fluffy. This one may be more dense. Have a blessed day,

Titus 2-At the Well

2009-01-31T14:15:00.001-06:00

Just ran across Titus 2-At The Well and can't wait for it to be up this Monday. Check it out for giveaways and more info!

Playing Catch-up

2009-01-29T17:44:00.006-06:00

OK, so I'm a bit behind on my blogging. Over the next couple of days (or however long it takes) I will be updating my blog on the happenings in the Sandage family over the holidays. Enjoy!

Have a blessed day,

Another Lost Tooth

2008-12-18T12:33:00.000-06:00

Emily lost another tooth today. She is up to FOUR for those keeping track!

Have a blessed day,

Emily's Dance Christmas Party

2008-12-16T12:04:00.001-06:00

Unfortunately, Delmar and I neither one were able to be at the dance Christmas party this year but thanks to the blessings of a good friend like Jenny, Emily was able to go and we were able to see pictures of the great time they all had!

Emily & her bff, Lilly:

Emily's dance class and one of the teachers, Miss Sarah:

Have a blessed day,

TOY TIME at HCC

2008-12-15T14:17:00.002-06:00

Our church had a Christmas production this year written and directed by our youth pastor. Emily was blessed to be in it and we were blessed that she actually did it after the long Wednesday night practices and horrible Thursday mornings we endured because of getting too bed late.

Emily was able to be Abby Cadabby again (recognize the costume from the Halloween posts?) so she was thrilled! Harrison was also in the play and played a Howdy Doody type cowboy and also had a couple of speaking parts.

Delmar was the only adult in the play. Our youth pastor thought he would be perfect to play the grumpy shopkeeper. HHHMMMM.....

We could not have been more proud of Emily and the way that she behaved. It was a long morning of two performances and hot lights. She did beautifully and participated fully.

Also, we were honored that her 1st grade teacher Mrs. Durbin came to enjoy a performance. She's a REALLY good teacher and Emily LOVES her. She has recently told me (and Mrs. Durbin) that she wants to do 1st grade again so she can have her as a teacher again.

Have a blessed day,

Brownies on Parade

2008-12-05T11:44:00.003-06:00

The Clinton Christmas parade was a COLD one. But our Brownie troop weathered the snow and sleet to have a wonderful time being the parade. The theme was "It's A Wonderful Life" and you can see from the pics that our girls were angels! Ready to go!

And what's a parade in the winter without a snowball fight!!!
Have a blessed day,

First Snow of the Year

2008-12-01T10:00:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, Emily was dying to play in the snow that she had watched falling all afternoon and into the evening. She finally convinced Delmar that they needed to go out and play in it after supper. I choose to stay inside where it was warm and take pictures from an open dining room window.

So, since we had our first snow on the 30th, does that mean we'll have 30 snows this season????

The Stomach Flu & Riding the Polar Express

2008-11-30T11:00:00.006-06:00

Emily has been throwing up again. This happened about a month ago and she threw up for almost 36 hours just about every 20 to 40 minutes. So, this experience is all to fresh in her mind. But let me tell you, the girl can aim. Not one mess made by her. (We won't talk about the one that dad made when he forgot that the bucket had about an inch of water in the bottom of it.)

Anyway, this time it only lasted for about 24 hours so we were all most grateful.

The bad part about the timing was, we had purchased tickets almost 6 weeks ago to ride the Polar Express last night. Emily threw up about 8:20 yesterday morning and started to perk up throughout the day. So, we decided to take a chance and go.

We met Mike, Sharon, Bryce and Alexis there. The kids were all able to wear their pj's just like in the movie. It was awesome and we are both grateful that she didn't have to miss it. Here are some of the highlights:

All Aboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We go NOWHERE without Woobie!
The Shew'sThe Sandage'sDancing to the "Hot Chocolate" song.

Emily receiving her bell from Santa

The trip was awesome! The music, the dancing, riding a train for the first time, hot cocoa and cookies, the reading of the story, all of it. We could not have asked for a better evening. Perhaps the beginning of a new tradition? Next year will tell.

Thankful for....Family

2008-11-28T21:11:00.006-06:00

My dad and Carole have had Thanksgiving dinner for the last couple of years at their house and we always have a fun time. My step-brothers are great as are their family's. It also usually gives me time to chat with my sisters two oldest boys whom I don't see very often.

You know how sometimes with "step" families, the two sides "stick with there own", not at this dinner. Carole has us draw numbers for seats so you don't get to pick who you sit by. The first year we we all complained but now I think we all enjoy getting time to talk to people other than our immediate family. Except for Delmar and Angelic, somehow they manage to sit by each other EVERY year...hhhmmmm.

Chow time! Emily & Grandpa JackThanks for letting the kids play on your computer Christopher!
Me and my buddy Angelic.Emily has had about as much fun as a girl can have.

The whole clan...

3rd Lost Tooth

2008-11-24T14:00:00.001-06:00

This one was knocked out with a little help from her friend Lilly. Apparently they were fighting over a toy and Lilly just let go and Emily popped herself in the face with her own hand and knocked out the tooth! The toothfairy was gracious and left another 2 golden dollars and the tooth.

Cuttin' Firewood, Hair Cut & A Christmas Parade

2008-11-22T17:46:00.006-06:00

I have decided that I LOVE my fireplace, after living in this house for nearly 4 years! So, when Bob (my step-dad) posted a bunch of firewood on Freecycle, I jumped on it. We have a friend of a friend who has a friend that has a log splitter that we were able to borrow. Delmar and Emily spent the early part of the morning splitting wood. Emily was having a ball operating the hydrolics while Delmar did the heavy work.

After resting for a bit, Delmar headed off to be on a float for the bank in the Decatur Christmas parade. Meanwhile, Emily and I headed off to get her hair cut. It had been getting a bit unruly and was in desparate need of a trim. We ended up getting about 5 inches cut off of the back but not too much cut off of the front. The picture isn't real great since I didn't actually get the back of her head...gggrrrr. Anywho, we all love it.

We met up with daddy on the parade route and prepared to freeze our rearends off. It was soooo cold. I got to drive the truck and Emily got in about half way thru because she was too cold. Recognize the Jack in the Box?

My First Scrapbook Crop Night

2008-11-09T13:39:00.005-06:00

I've always wanted to go to one of those crops that they have at scrapbook shops, etc. but time never really allowed for it. I'd dreamt of scrapbooking into the wee hours of the morning. So, when I was approached by our pastor's wife to work with her to host one at our church for our ladies ministry I thought HECK YEAH!

So there we were lost in paper, adhesives, embellishments and 3 Cricuts having a ball. It was supposed to last from 5 PM to midnight but I called Delmar at 12:30 AM to let him know that some of us were staying a little longer. I got home at 2 AM!!! I was so wired, I didn't get to sleep until after 3! Of course, I was dog meat all day on Saturday but it was so worth it. Tori and I were actually supposed to go to the Assembly Hall in Champaign for Chris Cringle but we decided not to go.

We decided that we are going to try to get together once a month and scrap as a group. YEAH!!!

Here are some pictures of the night. I'm going to post my pages after I get the pictures on them.

Also, not sure why but I'm missing pictures of 2 of the other ladies that were there...I'll get them next time.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2008-10-31T09:42:00.006-05:00

Emily and I spent Tuesday evening carving her pumpkin while daddy worked at the church's Grand Palace.

Before...

During-she loved putting her hand in it this year....last year, not so much....

After...

PUNKIN' HEADS...

The whole time we were carving, she talked about the yummy roasted pumpkin seeds. After the were done, she tried them and decided she didn't like them afterall. Oh well, mommy LOVED them!

Pumpkin Patch 2008

2008-10-04T16:30:00.002-05:00

This year we went back to Black Bart's Pumpkin Patch in Warrensburg. Last year we went to the local patch and weren't impressed to say the least. Owners were not expecially friendly and not much of a selection or things to do.

Here are some pics from the outing-ENJOY!

The end result.

Praying Mantis

2008-09-15T11:19:00.003-05:00

I was walking to the kitchen Friday night and happened to look at the window in the dining room and saw this little guy on the screen. It was dark outside but if you look really closely, you can see it is a praying mantis.

M-Squad Clinic

2008-09-14T14:11:00.000-05:00

Every year, the Clinton Maroons M-Squad (cheerleading squad) has a mini-clinic for K-6th grade girls. They learn a dance, get a t-shirt and get to perform at half-time during the first home game. This is Emily's second year and last year she did great. This year it was raining ALL day so they decided to have the girls perform in the school gym rather than having them go out onto the muddy football field.

The practice before the performance was great but then Emily decided that she didn't want to perform with the girls during half-time stating that "she had never seen them do the dance" and wanted to watch instead. Oh well, I got some pics of the practice anyway!

This one is kinda grainy.

Lauren & Autumn's mom said that Emily MUST have sparklies in her hair! What kind of mother am I that I didn't even think of it! :)

HMMMMM.....

2008-09-13T22:18:00.003-05:00

Well, I've managed to jack up my blog layout! Going to bed now, maybe a new day will help.

EDIT: Well it didn't turn out to be as bad as first expected.

Lunch-September 5

2008-09-10T11:10:00.001-05:00

Yesterday's lunch got out the door without a photo session but I am pleased to announce that it too was enjoyed and eaten completely.

Feeling that there must be more to a 1st grader's lunch than peanut butter and pudding, I went again to the internet for inspiration. I got this egg idea from my Freecycle friend Erin. Emily loves boiled eggs but not the yolk. On the side she had 2 slices of turkey bacon, sliced apple soaked in diet Sierra Mist (to prevent browning) and 2 graham cracker and strawberry icing sandwiches. I couldn't believe it, but she ate all but one bite of a graham cracker and one bite of turkey bacon. WOOHOO!

Lunch-September 3

2008-09-03T19:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the hot lunch was corn dogs so Emily chose to eat that. She didn't come home starving so I guess it went ok.

Today, since the heart shaped sammy was so popular, we went for another shape-A STAR! It was accompanied by more starfish/goldfish crackers, grapes and chocolate pudding. I am happy to report that the sandwich was eaten in it's entirety in the school cafeteria as was the entire meal! YEA EMILY!!!!

Lunch-August 29th

2008-08-30T19:00:00.001-05:00

Today's menu: heart shaped PB&J, broccoli trees with ranch dressing, grapes and vanilla pudding. Emily thought the heart shaped PB&J was the best ever! However she only ate about half of it at lunch and apparently ate the rest of it on the bus on the way home. (She assured me that Twilla didn't see her. But I explained that she wasn't supposed to eat on the bus and just because Twilla didn't see her do it didn't make it OK.) The grapes, pudding and about half the broccoli were eaten in the lunch room.

Lunch-August 28th

2008-08-30T13:30:00.002-05:00

Today's lunch consisted of turkey & cheese pinwheels, starfish & goldfish crackers, apple soaked in lime juice and sugar free chocolate pudding. Emily ate 2 of the pinwheels and all of the crackers and pudding. The apple didn't go over as well. She normally likes granny smith's in lime juice but this was an apple picked from our neighbor's apple tree and was an extremely tart apple to begin with. The lime juice was just too much. Not bad for a first attempt.

Emily & School Lunches

2008-08-29T10:26:00.002-05:00

Many of you know that Emily is not a big eater. So, I began wondering how eating lunch at school was going to be. Not being able to know what she ate each day started to bug me and I started thinking about doing mostly bagged lunches from home. But I knew that Emily wouldn't sit down and eat your traditional lunch of a sandwich and chips. I began to explore other options when I ran across Lunch Nugget.

We bought a cute Princess lunch box from Walmart and a bunch of reusable containers in different sizes and the journey began. My long term goal is to purchase a Laptop Lunch System but they are quite pricy.

Anywho, I will be making Emily's lunch each day that she has no interest in the hot lunch at school and posting the results here.

EDIT: It is now the 9th day of school and her Princess bag is already splitting a seam. Perhaps we will be going with the new lunch box sooner rather than later!

First Day of 1st Grade!!!

2008-08-27T14:44:00.001-05:00

Today our baby started 1st Grade. I can't believe the summer is over all ready. So much happened this summer. Emily learned how to ride her two bike without training wheels, she lost her first (& second tooth), she started swimming without floaties in the pool. She is growing up so fast. Here are a few pics from the first day of school.

Emily & Daddy:

Emily & Mommy:

Emily & Harrison:

Emily & Twilla the busdriver. This is her 3rd year riding Twilla's bus.

4th of July Weekend

2008-08-02T14:35:00.001-05:00

WARNING: THIS POST IS INCREDIBLY LONG...AND FULL OF PICTURES...ENJOY!

OK, so it's almost a month late. But we had such fun I couldn't NOT blog about it. Delmar was asked by someone at church to be on a pyrotechnics crew this year. The guys all went down to the St. Louis area Wed. morning and worked their butts off. Emily and I were asked to go down too. We rarely saw Delmar except when he slinked in bed at night (actually early morning) and for a few minutes before he left at the crack of dawn to start his day. The crews were responsible for setting up the firework displays, running wires and setting off the fireworks themselves. Delmar's first night was in Metropolis on a barge on the river. Those fireworks were set off by a flick of a switch. Here are a couple of pictures that he took that night.

On July 4th the crews were setting up fireworks in and around the Belleville area. That night at the St. Claire Country Club, he set off fireworks himself with a flare. He came in that night and said he had sooo much fun. He was like a kid in a candy store! I'm sure if I could have seen him, he would have been beaming.

So, what did Emily & I do for fun while daddy was working? Thought you'd never ask!

We spent the 3rd at the St. Louis Zoo with the wife and sons of the friend from church that asked Delmar to help. Trena and I went to Jr. High together and our moms when to school together too. Small world. Anyway, here are some pics from the zoo...

This is Timmy, Emily & Connor at the zoo entrance. We had the hardest time all day trying to get all three of them too look at the camera at the same time!

Did I mention my daughter is a ham! She has really gotten into doing the posing thing for pictures lately.

I ran across these flowers and they were just too pretty to pass up. Not sure who has the bigger mouth here...

All of the kids enjoyed brushing the goats. Not sure how the goats felt about it. This one seems to be trying to get away but Emily was very persistent!

So, for the 4th, Trena, I and the kids spent the day just hangin' until it was fireworks time. We started out at a little park area at Horseshoe Lake. The kids played and we had a great view of the St. Louis skyline that I'm sure most people around here haven't seen before.

During the play time at the park, I took time to play with some of the settings on my new camera.
The St. Louis skyline.

This is one CRAZY mushroom! Looks like a burnt carrot coming out of the grass.

After playing, we went back to the hotel to swim a bit and get rested up for the big night. Emily loved the pool and the hot tub was just close enough for mommy!
This fish tank was in the hotel lobby. All three kids like watching the fish.

We got to go up close and see the fireworks set up. I was kinda cool.

These are called "cake boxes"

We thought it was funny that all 3 of our kids had on Walmart 4th of July shirt then we ran across these kids...

Finally, we got settled in to watch the fireworks themselves. I wish I could insert the video here because it was AWESOME!!!!

HAPPY BELATED INDEPENDENCE DAY EVERYONE!!!

Survey From Roni

2008-08-01T15:35:00.002-05:00

I have several blogs I read everyday. And Roni's Weigh (see link on the right) is one of them. Here is a survey that she posted and I thought it sounded fun. For some reason tho, when I copied and pasted, the numbers didn't come along and I'm too lazy today to fix it.

What time did you get up this morning? 8:30
Diamonds or pearl ? diamonds
What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Alvin and the Chipmonks-don't get to the movies very often.
What is your favorite TV show? Army Wives
What do you usually have for breakfast? a flakey cereal (raisin bran, Curves), Fiber One and milk
What is your middle name? Renee
What food do you dislike? nothing really
What is your favorite CD at the moment? I rarely listen to just one group, have a lot of different ones on my MP3
What kind of car do you drive? Dodge Grand Caravan
Favorite sandwich? PB&J
What characteristic do you despise? a smart mouth (expecially on a 6 year old!)
Favorite item of clothing? PJs
If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Australia
Where would you retire to? Don't really care to leave Illinois-sad ain't I
What was your most recent memorable birthday? BIG 40
Furthest place you are sending this? it's on my blog, hopefully it will be seen around the world...hahah
Person you expect to send it back first? I have know ideaWhen is your birthday? Jul 24
Morning person or a night person? morning
What is your shoe size? 9.5-10
Pets? fish and a cat
Any exciting news you’d like to share with us? No
What did you want to be when you were little? a truck driver
How are you today? wonderful
What is your favorite flower? lilac
What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to seeing? Aug. 27th-first day of school baby!
What are you listening to right now? the hum of my pc and birds chirping
What was the last thing you ate? Lean Pocket with some raw veggies and dip
Do you wish on stars? No so much anymore
If you were a crayon, what color would you be? yellow
How is the weather right now? Sunny and warm
Last person you spoke to on the phone? Tori
Favorite soft drink? Diet Dr. Pepper, but I don't drink it very much anymore
Favorite restaurant? Red Lobster
Favorite color? Yellow
What was your favorite toy as a child? my bike
Summer or winter? neither
Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
Coffee or tea? Coffie
Do you want your friends to email you back? yes
When was the last time you cried? Last Tues or Wed, had a "Lori" moment (Lori who was my sister who pasted away 3 years ago-I miss her)
What is under your bed? Storage boxes with sweaters and one with wrapping paper
What did you do last night? Spent the night with my hubby in a fantasy suite for our anniversary
What are you afraid of? never being a healthy weight
Salty or sweet? Salty
How many keys on your key ring? 6
How many years at your current job?3
Favorite day of the week? Wednesday right now, it's my Friday for the summer!
Do you make friends easily? No, not really
How many people will you send this to? Anyone who reads my blog
How many will respond? not sure

You may be asking yourself...

2008-07-30T14:27:00.004-05:00

how did she do that? Yes, that is her head and those are her feet. I decided one day that it was time to get her toybox out of her room. Afterall, the only things that were supposed to be in it were her dressup clothes. But, all of this other "stuff" kept finding it's way to the bottom of the box. So, out it went. I drug it to the living room and left it there for possible Freecycling. She came in from playing and draped herself over the top of the open box. Her belly fell into it and up popped her feet. I about died laughing and ran to get the camera.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

2008-07-29T21:25:00.001-05:00

Today is Delmar and I's (is that proper grammar? oh well) 10th wedding anniversary. Here are the beautiful roses he had delivered this afternoon. Ironically, I had an almost identical arrangement sent to him this morning. But I won, I remembered a card and he didn't. Love you anyway baby!

We aren't doing anything special tonight but if you read my post a couple of months ago, I booked a fantasy suite at the Sunset Inn here in Clinton for Thursday night. Here is a link to pictures of the room.

http://www.sunsetinnandsuites.com/south.html

Yummy Lunch!

2008-07-25T13:30:00.006-05:00

Figures I would break the non posting cycle with something food related but I couldn't wait to share! Many of you know that I started Weight Watcher in June. I've been trying alot of new recipes and making up some of my own. Here is what I had for lunch today. It is a pizza-mushroom, onion, spinach and feta cheese. It is so good and only 2 points for the entire 8 inch pizza! I could have ate 2 of them if I would have had more mushrooms!

Our Beautiful Girl

2008-07-09T11:16:00.010-05:00

I know, I know....behind again. But I couldn't wait to share these gorgeous pictures of Emily. Our church had their annual 4th of July celebration on June 29th and a company from Tennessee came and took pictures of the kids. (It was actually a fundraiser for our Guatemalan missionaries). Without further adue...

More of Emily Rose

2008-06-20T10:21:00.006-05:00

2nd Tooth Gone!!!! This tooth was loose at her dental appt. over a month ago and Dr. Larkin said it really needed to come out since the adult tooth was all ready coming in. We tried getting her to wiggle it, we tried to wiggle it, we tried everything to get it out of her mouth. I even had Jenny & Tori try to sneak in for the pull, but it didn't work. So Monday I called and left a message with the dentist to schedule a pull and guess what? The sucker fell out Monday afternoon when she bit down on Fruit Loop!

I personally think she has some kind of separation anxiety with the teeth in her mouth. When she lost the first one, she wanted to write a note to the tooth fairy asking her to leave it. And she asked to do the same thing again. So we did and Emily was relieved that it was still here when she woke the next morning. And she got TWO GOLDEN DOLLARS!!!

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Here is a picture of the kids coloring on our new deck. They all seem to like being in the the fresh air without actually being outside. It also helps keep the toys contained and not scattered all over the yard!

June 16th Moon

2008-06-20T09:48:00.005-05:00

I woke up in the middle of the night to pee (as I usually do) and Delmar opened his eyes long enough to notice this HUGE moon blinding him. He asked me to close the shade and went back to sleep. But I couldn't stop admiring it so I grabbed my camera and started snapping pictures. Apparently I was bothering him cause he woke up again saying, "What's that beeping sound!" Sorry honey, I couldn't help myself.

Go Emily, Go Emily!

2008-06-18T16:04:00.006-05:00

As of June 10th, Emily is now able to ride her 2 wheeler without training wheels. She is so proud and we are proud of her. Now we can't keep her off of it. She has had a couple of accidents but she just gets right back on. She started out on her small bike but as of today has graduated to her big bike except for when the chain comes off. She may need to use her birthday money for a new bike if it keeps happening.

Emily's Birthday Party

2008-06-18T15:54:00.003-05:00

On Saturday we had Emily's birthday party. Last year, Emily's friend Lilly had her party at Kiwanis park here in Clinton and it seemed like a good idea so we tried it this year. What an awesome idea! I didn't have to clean my house and we didn't have to worry about all of the dirt in the backyard (from the pool installation). You can't reserve the parks here so you do take the chance of someone else being there but it worked out for us this year. When we were done, we just folded everything up in the table cloth and threw it away!

Emily's theme choice this year was Hello Kitty. She's all about it right now.

Here is the cake:

Playing before her friends got there:

Her BFFs:

The motherload:I think she had an awesome birthday party. She got lots of neat presents and some money too so we will have to go shopping soon.

With Friends Like This...

2008-06-18T15:36:00.004-05:00

So, while we were away on vacation, the neighbors thought it would be fun to have a party in our pool before we were able to be in it ourselves. Here is the evidence:

We found out later that it was staged. Notice how none of the adults actually have their arms in the water? That's because it was FREEZING!!!

They also enjoyed our new deck:

So Far Behind!

2008-06-17T14:44:00.010-05:00

Since all of the kids are sleeping right now (Emily, Kyla and Lilly went to a slumber party last night-Tristin is taking his normal nap) I thought I would catch up on my blogging.

Vacation was WONDERFUL!!!! We went with Mike and Sharon. Most of you know that Mike was my sister's husband before she passed away and Sharon is his new wife. This is our 3rd vacation together and our first without kids. I love my little girl, but a week away was just what the doctor ordered. (Even tho I did get sick the 2nd day). Orlando isn't Hawaii but we had a blast anyway, even tho Mike was a little bitter about the whole deal.

We spent the first day of vacation (9 AM Sat. to 3 AM Sun.) on the road and spend the night in Jacksonville, FL. This enabled us to spend about 7 hours Sunday in St. Augustine so we could go to the World Golf Hall of Fame before heading to Orlando.

Our first full day in Orlando we spent at Epcot. We had been before with the older girls 10 years ago but they didn't want to go to thru the countries that are at the back at the park. As adults, we loved it! We started in Mexico and worked our way thru each country sampling most all of the food. There were a few we weren't interested in but over all it was YUMMY!

The next morning, the guys got up and went golfing at the resort. Our building was right by the golf course and by the time Sharon and I were ready, the guys were passing by and picked us up to ride the last 11 holes or so. The course was beautiful.

Delmar's trip thru the desert: An adult Orlando vacation just wouldn't be complete without a drip to Downtown Disney and all of the clubs. We were able to get free tickets from the guy we got our Epcot tickets from. Good thing, 'cause we decided "clubbing" isn't for us. We did end up at a club called 8 Track. They played music from the 70s, we stayed there for a couple of hours and just watched people. Our final trip was to Cocoa Beach. We first stopped at Ron Jon's Surf Shop to get the guys a boogie board to ride the waves on. That was INTERESTING to watch :)

That's Delmar in the middle and Mike's head just to the left:

Could have posted the other picture of Mike & Delmar but it was a bit graphic!

Since we pushed so hard to get down there, we decided to take it easy coming home and drove to Nashville the first night only leaving 6 hours for the 2nd day. Much more relaxing! But before we left, we were able to spend a nice couple of hours in pool with no kids in it. NICE!!!!

Vacation is always so nice but getting home is good too. We were excited to see Emily, who according to my mother, was a perfect angel the whole time we were gone.

Well, I started this post at about 2:45 this afternoon and as I complete it, it is 7:10. And all I got thru was vacation!

Happy Day!

2008-06-15T17:30:00.001-05:00

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful hubby! And, Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

Our day was spent lazily floating in our pool. I floated from 11:30 AM to 3 PM. I just kept saying "this is the best birthday ever..."

After a brief thunderstorm, we had a cookout with my mom & Bob, Chris & Tori, Jenny & Daryn, Mike & Sharon, Dan & JoAnne and all of the kids.

What a great day!

Our Baby Is 6 Years Old Today

2008-06-13T21:55:00.005-05:00

I can't believe that Emily is 6 years old! It just seems like yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital after a week in the NICU at St. John's in Springfield. She is growing like a weed. We measured her this morning and she has grown 1 3/4 inches since November. But, true to herself, she has only gained 6/10ths of a pound. We still haven't figured out where she gets her build.

We spent the morning just hanging out waiting for daddy to get home from checking in at work and then went to CiCi's pizza for lunch. She got a free buffet and a bunch of tokens for the game room there. Too bad most of the games weren't working. We then went to Menards and to Walmart to pick up her Hello Kitty birthday cake.

Here are a few pictures from today.

Birthday breakfast:

Favorite birthday gift from mommy & daddy:

Birthday brownie (we are having cake & cupcakes for her party tomorrow):

Last Day of School!

2008-05-29T08:15:00.006-05:00

Today is Emily's last day of Kindergarten! She will be an official 1st grader when school lets out. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. Here are some pictures before school. I will also post more after school with all the babysitting kids. Today is the last day here for Antonio and Lauren but I will be picking up 2 more after we get back from vacation.

Harrison, Emily & Antonio:

Harrison & Emily:

Emily & Twila the bus driver:

Wordless Wednesday

2008-05-28T21:13:00.003-05:00

Anniversary plans...

2008-05-27T21:41:00.005-05:00

This July, Delmar and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary. So, as I scanned the Clinton "free paper" from Saturday I noticed an advertisement for the Sunset Inn and Suites here in town-only about 2 blocks from our house. They have Fantasy Suites and I booked one today. Check this out!

http://www.sunsetinnandsuites.com/south.html

It was recommended by the lady who took my reservation that we order ElRey's to go (a local Mexican restaurant) and bring in margaritas...YUM! Perfect addition to the Southwestern feel of our fantasy suite don't ya think?

Happy Memorial Day!

2008-05-26T13:52:00.011-05:00

Just catching up on my blogging. Quite a bit has gone on this week.

Bree graduated from Meridian High School on Friday.

L to R: Dennis, Bree's step-dad, Jill, her mom, Bree, Delmar & me.

Sam, Emily & Bree:

Sam & Emily:

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On Saturday, since we didn't get home until midnight Friday night, we did nothing. I thought Emily was going to take a nap but a friend from her bus called and wanted her to come over for a playdate and she was there for 5 HOURS!!! Delmar mowed and worked on the deck and I finished piecing in the carpet. Then he put together the jungle gym that we bought at Sam's back in February.

Delmar & Chris working on the jungle gym:

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Sunday was CRAZY. We had nursery duty at church, then ate lunch at CiCi's Pizza with Tori and Harrison, went to Graceland to put flowers on Lori's grave and bought 2 cemetary plots. Then we were off to Bryce's birthday party back at the church, to Elwin for a graduation party for our nephew Christopher, to Mt. Zion to drop off tables to my dad for a rummage sale and then to Walmart where we bought a dining table for our deck. We didn't get home until 8 PM.

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Today has been very relaxing. We put the table and chairs together and Delmar finished his part of the deck, so all construction is complete. I still, however, have staining to finish. Don't know if it will be done before vacation or not.

Delmar working on the table.

The completed deck!!!!

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Other misc. photos of the week:

Emily & Lauren making Caterpillar Stew. Didn't want to know if it was stew FOR caterpillars or stew MADE FROM caterpillars.

Emily must have gotten a hold of the camera. This is her best friend Lilly.

A wall hanging on our deck that I bought for Delmar a couple of years ago.

My pie safe from the dining room. Had I known how good it was going to look with a coat of Poly on it, I would have done it years ago!!!

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That's about it! This coming week includes the last day of school for the summer and the end of my babysitting for 2 of my kids. Antonio is moving to Bloomington and Lauren and her sister will be going to Y-Camp for the summer. Looks like the neighborhood will be quiet for the summer!

Off to have dinner with Chris, Tori & Harrison!

Recital Was Good!

2008-05-20T20:27:00.007-05:00

Emily and her class did an awesome job at recital. During rehearsal, we just weren't sure how it was going to turn out.

It was such a long day. We had to be in Bloomington by 1 PM or so to have her hair done and costume on by 1:45 so I could go get a seat to watch the performance. After that was done (2 hours later), I went back to the dressing room-where Emily had been the entire time-got her changed and then we went to dinner with the Black's. We had to have the girls back to the school by 6:15 or so to get them redressed, makeup and hair touched up. Jenny and I were stage moms for the 2nd performance while Delmar and Daryn watched it all over again. Last year, after the 7 pm performance, we could pick up the kids and go home after their turn. But this year, they decided to have ALL the dancers in the finale so everyone stayed the whole time. Can you say LONG DAY!!!!!!

Here are some pics from the day:

Emily with daddy & mommy:

Emily & Grandma Dora:

Emily & Miss Megan (student teacher):
Emily with Grandpa Jack and Grandma Carole:

Emily with Grandpa Bob & Grammy:

Emily & Lilly:

Emily's Birthday

2008-05-16T08:49:00.004-05:00

Last night I was up until 10 PM working on Emily's birthday party invitations. I was originally going to just go with a "generic" invite like we did last year which actually turned into a theme. But, Miss Em has decided that she wants a Hello Kitty birthday party this year. Here is the invitation I made.

It is still going to be a simple party. Just cake & ice cream. We are having it at the park up the street so the kids can play on the playground equipment for the entertainment. Hopefully, the weather will be nicer than it was last year for her party. I think I will try to make the cake again like I did with her Barbie one but this one will be much simpler. Emily wants cupcake and I will do that too if I can find some kind of Hello Kitty topper for them at the party store tonight.

Feelin' Like A Yo-Yo

2008-05-16T08:03:00.006-05:00

In another blog that I frequent, the lady said that she feels like a yo-yo. One day she is up and the next she is down. While I pray that I never experience her type of yo-yo (her daughter drowned in a swimming accident last July-see "Life With Hannah and Lily" blog on the right), I can still relate to the up and down thing. Last night and this morning we are on a yo going up.

These next two days are ALL thing recital. Last night we practiced the hair. Emily sat perfectly still while I rolled her hair on these really cool spongy type rollers that look nothing like a roller at all. Thought I'd take a picture and show you:

Here is her hair "on rollers":

She started out sleeping on her tummy, saying the rollers hurt her head. But, by the time I went to bed she was comfortably laying on her back.

I thought this picture turned out cool. I didn't use a flash and it was actually completely dark when I downloaded it onto the computer. I went into my photo editing software and fixed the levels and contrast and came up with this....kinda cool I think!

As I usually do on the eve of important events, I had a dream. This one was about the hair. In this dream, we took the rollers out and her hair was still stick straight.

This morning she got up about 3o min. early wondering when we were going to see her curly hair. So here is the end result.

I sprayed it with hair spray 3 times and we shall see how it looks for dress rehearsal tonight. Tomorrow, I'll wait until we are just ready to leave to take it down and hopefully it will last for the two shows at 2 & 7 PM.

Also today, I must fix her costume. I have been procrastinating for over a week. All I have to do is tack the tassel to the costume in two spots. The way I've been putting it off, you would think I was having to make the whole silly costume!

One of THOSE mornings

2008-05-15T08:32:00.004-05:00

What a difference a couple of days make. Saturday, Emily and I had such a great morning and this morning was totally opposite. There are days when I wonder why God thought I was fit to be a mother. I wanted a child so badly and now I don't know what to do with her. This was not the way it was "supposed" to be. In my mind I was going to be the perfect mother. You know the one-playing games, taking her to the park, fingerpainting, reading EVERY night before bed.... But who am I now-the angry, some days can't stand to be around her, saying things that I can't take back mom. I'm crying as I write this, who have I become? I know there are others out there like me, angry. My friends just say it is normal, they all lose their tempers with their kids. I don't think they understand the feelings I have. I don't think it is normal-the things I say and do sure don't feel NORMAL!

I'm reading a book right now entitled "She's Gonna Blow-Real Help For Moms Dealing With Anger" ......hoping to find the answer. Can't read it fast enough, need help today.

Please don't get me wrong, I LOVE my daughter with all of my heart and would give up my life for her but there is something there, something missing between her and I, some missing link....

A Great Mother's Day Weekend

2008-05-12T13:55:00.003-05:00

Emily and I had a great Saturday morning and have decided that we will do the same thing every Saturday that Delmar has to work at the bank. First we ran all of our errands (postoffice, bank, Walmart) and then we went to the Farmer's Market on the square. We bought 2 yummy breads, some cookies and a cinnamon roll. We also took our first trip to the public library and checked out books using Emily's very own library card.

Saturday afternoon, my mom took me out for a Mother's Day luncheon at La Tea Da. It is a tea room here in Clinton. It was so neat! We started out with Strawberry soup and a Sweet Cream Scone with vanilla custard-delicious! Then we moved on to Salad Greens with plum-peary passion dressing. The main course was a bunch of little sandwiches and nibbles-Cherub's chicken salad on a croissant, Ginger peach salsa bites, Praline turkey tea sandwich, Cucumber tea sandwich, Prosciutto mozzarella roll-up and a chicken puff that was out of this world!!!! We ended with desserts-Carrot cake, Chocolate raspberry bar, Fresh fruit bar and Snickerdoodle truffle cookie-cake.

The entire luncheon was awesome and we met some lovely ladies from Bloomington, Lincoln and Champaign. After lunch, mom treated me to a movie and we saw "Made of Honor" with Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy. It was a cute movie.

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Sunday morning we woke and went to first service at church so we could get home to fix lunch for mom & Bob. But before we went, Emily brought me my cards and gifts. She got me a $50 giftcard to Hallmark so I can buy another piece to my Willow nativity. I can't wait to go shopping! Also, she made me this awesome butterfly with her hands and it has the best poem on it that really made me stop and think...

The poem reads:

Sometime I'm like a butterfly, I flutter to and fro. I just can't seem to be content, I'm always on the go. I can't stay still in my cocoon, I'm struggling to be free. I want to please you every day, But I can't hide from me. I guess I have a lot to learn, Just need to try my wings. And as I flutter all about, I'm learning many things. This time I have a purpose, I'm fluttering your way. I want to wish to you, A HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

WOW!!! I have decided to frame it and hang it in my bedroom to read every day and remember how special my little girl is.