I swore I would never...

...get a minivan. But now with 3 kids, I get it now now. We still drive the Pilot, but this video is enough to give me the final push to convert:

A Little Obsessed

Since his birthday, Scott has been a little obsessed with Super Mario Brothers Wii. Fortunately the 24/7 desire to do nothing but play Mario has subsided a bit in the past couple weeks. That's since I implemented a new rule that he has to earn time to play Wii by reading. If he reads 30 minutes one day, he can play Wii 30 minutes the next day. One of my more brilliant parenting moves. But I thought I would share the evidence of his obsession that he brought home from school a few weeks ago:


If you can't read it, Scott's sentence using the word "up":

I got a 1up on Super Mario Bros.

He did use the word 'up' correctly, so I guess he gets full credit.

What has gotten into me?

I am not naturally domestic... When I received a calling as "Homemaking" counselor at church (back in the day), my family and friends laughed. I am not crafty. My idea of making homemade bread is using the Rhodes frozen rolls. It even took me several attempts to figure out how to make those. If I have anything that needs to me hemmed, repaired, or otherwise mended with a needle and thread, I pass it off to Mom.

But for some reason, the past few weeks have brought out a new side in me...

For Charlotte's birthday party, I had the girls make cute frames to take home. And with Charlotte's thank you note, we included a picture of the girls to put in it. Scott was so disappointed he didn't get to make a frame that we had to go get more stuff for him to make his own. Frames are $1 at Michaels and we bought scrapbook stickers to decorate after paining. Go ahead and say it -- SHE'S CRAFTY! (Beastie Boys)


Then the other day, Charlotte brought a bread pan to me and asked to make bread. Why not? So I did, and it turned out pretty good for someone paranoid of yeast. The first loaf looked like this:



And the second one looked like this. Don't ask what happened. There is room for improvement, but I was very proud of my first attempt.


I tore out some boring bushes and Scott, Charlotte and I planted all these beautiful flowers.


Our garden is all planted and our seeds are starting to grow.


And I am now obsessed with the world of coupons! Thanks to my friends and some very helpful blogs I follow, I am saving a ton of money and my pantry, freezer and bathrooms are STOCKED! I know my stockpile would be put to shame by some of my friends, but I'm getting there! Anyone need body wash? I probably have 7 or 8 bottles that were all free. Same with Windex. It is fun game to play, and rewarding to get so much stuff for so little!



And if you are wondering what has gotten into me, no - I am not pregnant. There is no explanation for this madness, but I don't expect it to last forever.