I Probably Shouldn't Share This...

but I will anyway. :) It's just too funny!

A couple of weeks ago, Tristan was blessed with the opportunity to go to the lake with his MiMi, PaPa, and cousin, MRK (who he absolutely loves). He went down, had a blast, and came back to tell us all about it. During his sharing, he filled Channing and me in on some information we didn't know up until that point. I don't know how, but somehow Channing and I managed to get through life without realizing an important "fact" about girls.

Here's the story Tristan shared:

Tristan: Guess where I got to tee, Mommy? (tee- pee, pee)
Me: Where?
Tristan: IN THE LAKE!!! MiMi let me tee in the lake! laughter
Me: Oh, really? Wow. That's a big deal, huh?
Tristan: Yeah, MRK didn't tee in the lake.
Me: Yeah, girls don't tee outside like boys do (ok, like some boys do).
Tristan: Yeah, because girls' tees are their hineys.

Soooo...for those of you out there who had no idea, girls "tees" are their "hineys". Are you as enlightened as Channing and I were???

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HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

To all you mothers out there...I hope this day has been as great for you as it has for me. Today I have reflected on the blessings my boys have brought into my life, and I wonder what I ever did without them. Although some days get tough, my boys are worth every trial!

Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there!!! May God bless you today and always!!!

My Heart is Full

Today I picked Tristan up from school, and he surprised me with a Mother's Day present. He wanted me to open it immediately, and I was happy to oblige. This is what was inside:
I LOVE it!!! The amazing thing is that God keeps leading me to Proverbs 31. I started a new Bible study a few days back, and God keeps teaching me from that chapter. I have so much I want to share about that but little time right now. Hopefully I'll do it soon! :)

Inside Tristan's folder, he had more goodies. This is what he handed me next. Isn't it precious?!
After I read the poem, I literally started to cry. Tristan said, "Mommy, if you love your present, why does your face look like that?" Too too sweet! This is what the poem says,

A Little Boy

His feet will always find a puddle,
his knees must rest in dirt.
And though you've changed it twice today,
he may need another shirt.

His hands alone don't show the grime,
but also cheeks and chin
He'll never know his sparkling eyes
reveal the mischief he's been in!

But when you tuck him in at night
and after prayers are said,
no greater joy than this to see--
pure innocence in bed.

And here is another super special gift. Mrs. Karen asked the kids questions about their mommies, and this is what Tristan said:

In case you can't read it,
It makes my mother happy when I poo-poo in the potty. My poor little boy! He knows me too well!
I love my mother because she takes me outside to play. Awwww....
My mother is 8 years old and weighs 28 pounds. THANKS, BABY!!!
My mother's favorite thing to wear is dinosaur shirts. Well...I would if I had one, I guess. I think that's a little wishful thinking on his part. Maybe if I wear them, I'll be cool in his eyes. What do you think, Fashionista?
My mother's favorite television program is commercials. The funny thing about this is that Tristan calls any adult show a commercial. He likes when the commercials are over so that he can watch his shows! :)
My mother's favorite food is vegetable pie. Ok, sure. I think he's talking about chicken pot pie.
My mother loves to go to the zoo. I sure do, especially with my favorite guys!!!

And here is my sweet boy. Tristan, I love you SO SO much! You, Asher, and Daddy are my true Mother's Day gifts!!!
And here are my two favorite little guys. What blessings you boys are!!! Thank you, God, for entrusting these special boys to me. May you lead me in all my days of raising them so that they will grow to be leaders in a world that begs to be followed.

Saving the Bucks

A few months back, I decided to start trying to save my family money...by learning how to use coupons and store sales effectively. I had hoped to learn from a master at our church, but due to several setbacks, I was unable to do so. Even though I was unable to learn via the route I had planned, I was blessed even more when I prayed to God to lead me to places where I could learn how to provide for my family by reducing our food and personal need items budget. I prayed, and He provided.

I was led to THE MOST FABULOUS MONEY-SAVING BLOG OUT THERE...becentsable. It is truly amazing. Through this blog, I have learned how to save money using coupons, sales, hidden deals, everything! They have so many awesome links to sites that offer freebies, tips, coupons, and more education! AMAZING! Before finding this site, I thought coupons were kind of a waste of time (kind of like the people who impatiently wait behind me in the CVS lines). Now I know they are a FANTASTIC way to save LOTS of money. And who doesn't like having extra money???

Proverbs 31:15 says, "She gets up while it is still dark; she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls." Then verse 20 says, "She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy."

If any of you are like me, you have wanted to help people but never have the extra money to do it. By learning the tricks of saving money for grocery and household items, you'll have that extra money/stuff to give to those in need.

A couple of you have asked about the CVS deals. I found this super great post from Money Saving Mom (via a link of a link off of becentsable). Check it out, and you too could be getting stuff for free at CVS. I, myself, have become a CVS stalker. I've been every day this week waiting for them to restock their shelves and to continue to pick up FREE items...and even to get paid to take a couple of items out of the store!!! YEA! If I can learn, you can too!!!

CVS 101

After I first read this, I could have kicked myself for telling the CVS employee that "No, I don't have a CVS card, and that's ok. I don't need one." I was giving away FREE stuff!!! Oh well. At least I know now. Who knew? Me...someone who uses no medication (99.9% of the time) is an avid CVS shopper. Kind of ironic, huh?

One more thing...another SUPER GREAT blog is Taylor Town Preview. Check 'em out! This site has links to TONS of FREE stuff and has lists from every week's coupon books (SUPER GREAT if you set up the coupon filing system that becentsable explains. It is the only way I could do coupons and have any sanity. I'm not a coupon clipper).

One of Those Days...

So today has been one of those days. You know the kind, right? You know. You take your two kids to work with you. One thinks his job is to see how loud he can be, and the other, well, he also thinks his job is to see how loud he can be...while making you hold him, put him down, no wait...hold him, no put him down, no hold him...

That's the day I've been having. I overbooked at the office, by accident. I overbooked on a day where Asher woke up early, and thus was cranky much earlier than usual. Fun! Then, I decided it would be a good idea to take my boys to load up on my CVS deals. GREAT idea, Annie! While there, Tristan seemed to be on mission to see just how many times I could run over him with my buggy. Let me tell you, it happened A LOT. Asher's mission was to see how much he could scream before I would join him. It didn't take long...not today.

While searching for my CVS deals, running over Tristan, and trying to tune Ash's screams out, I hit wall after wall of sold out products (thus, messing up my exact plan for ECBs). AAAGH!!! Then, once I finally had all my stuff ready and pull up to the counter (with my screaming baby and jumping bean four year old), I realize that somewhere along the way to the counter, I misplaced my coupons. I searched everywhere...the buggy, my diaper bag, wallet, the sales paper....NOTHING! So then I had to retrace my steps.

The nice CVS lady found it....on the counter...above the breath mints I was buying so that I could earn $2 in ECBs (not because I ever have foul breath). Ok, so now I had the coupons and was ready to check out. I wheel my screaming baby back over to the counter, while running over Tristan's feet, only to get there and to have lost my check card (that I had JUST BEEN HOLDING). Seriously! That's the kind of day I've had.

The poor lady must have thought I was crazy. She said, "I saw it. You just had it in your hand." I looked everywhere...my wallet, my buggy, the counter. NO CARD. Again, I retraced my steps and found it on the floor at the front of the store. Thank God I found it!

Ok, back to the counter. I got to the counter, paid for everything, got my wild wooly kids out to the car, buckled them in and sat down to take a deep breath. I then decided to look at my receipt (I love to see my savings). That's when I saw it...I had been overcharged for one of my packs of Pringles!!! Talk about STRESS! I couldn't believe it. They were supposed to be on sale for .88. They charged me .88 for two of them and then 3.29 for the third!!! I even had a .30 off coupon to save. How could this happen?!

At that point, I saw that Channing had called, and I called him back to unload all my happenings. He told me to just come home (there was no way I was taking those boys back into the store to fix the price...no way!).
So later tonight, I'm sure I'll be heading back to CVS to fix my Pringles deal.

The good news is that since all of that happened, I've been able to come home, relax, and to regain my sanity. I spent some time in the Word and that helped immeasurably. Praise God! Now I'm gearing up to take my boys back to work...Asher post-nap. This afternoon has got to be better, right? :)

Do You Hear Them Singing?

That's right. I know the angels have got to be singing right now. Why? Well...because it FINALLY HAPPENED! It only took four years, one month, and two days. I have anxiously waited for this time... I know, you want to know what happened, right? Let me fill you in...

TRISTAN FINALLY POO POOED IN THE POTTY!!! That's right. I'm putting it out there. My son is four years old (four years, one month, and eight days old to be exact), and he's just now going.

I know what you must be thinking. Ummmmm, hello...he's FOUR! You're proud that he's using #2 in the potty when he's four? Seriously?! At least, that's what I would have thought (pre-kids) if someone told me their four year old was pooing in the potty. Before I had kids, I thought kids who were three and older in diapers had serious problems, or at least their parents did. But that was before kids, specifically before Tristan (you can check out some of my other pre-kids beliefs on this previous post).

With Tristan, I have done everything I could possibly think of to get him to poo on the potty (except cutting a hole in the pull-up. Who does that?! How is that even possible?). I have rewarded, I have punished. I have applauded, I have fussed. I have even cried...a lot. NOTHING worked. You see, last year he did poo in the potty...once. Let's just say he had a traumatic experience, and it never happened again.

But now, by some miracle of God (and many prayers from many people), he has pooed in the potty twice!!! I CAN SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL!!! He is actually getting it. He is realizing that he feels better after using the potty, and he's SO proud of himself.

I must admit, this journey to poopidom has been littered with selfishness on my part. I mean, whose four year old still wears pull-ups? I don't know many. Whenever we would be places, and he would inadvertantly pull his shirt up (and thus reveal the top of his pull up), I would always try to rush over to pull his shirt down. Or like yesterday at t-ball...he had on soccer shorts (I know it's t-ball, but it was hot, and he's only four), and he had them all hiked up to scratch the top of his leg and was revealing his pull-up to the world. I wanted to crawl under a rock. However, it appears that pull-ups are on their way out at our house. His last two poos have been in the potty. Praise God!

So next time you see a four year old in diapers, give that parent the benefit of the doubt. She/he may have tried everything imaginable to get that kid to use the potty, and they may have just refused. Who knows? All I know is that my four year old seems to have finally gotten it!!! Proof that prayer works!!!