not so special update

hayley was sick yesterday

like very sick

thankfully i had some disposable diapers and wipes on hand or i would have been washing diapers all day.

she's much better day thankfully.

tom stayed home today to help out. i'm thankful that tom has a job, where he can not only take off when he needs to, but taking off does not affect his paycheck at all.

i wanted hayley to be able to rest all day, which wouldn't have been possible if tom didn't stay home. he took jonas to school and picked him up. then he watched the kids while i ran the few errands i had planned for the day.

harris teeter is running super double coupons.

i was able to stock up on salsa, juice, cat/dog treats, yogurt, cereal, starbucks bottle fraps, and school snacks for jonas.

i spent around 8 buckish..i cant get to the receipt right now.

i got raisin bran crunch for 34 cents. jonas' school snacks were all free, as were the cat treats, my fraps were 69 cents.

they only let you use 20 coupons at a time so i will use more when i do weekly shopping saturday, and hit it up one more time before tuesday.

we got our new washing machine last saturday. i love it! i no longer have to shop vac out a drip pan every 2 loads! it's sooo much nicer and worth the money that was spent.

colt is doing great. he has come out of his shell so much the past 3 weeks. he is still very skittish around other dogs (even little dogs) and people. he's good with kids from the start and he gets ok with adults after they pet him. puppy training courses at petsmart are in the near future. he's smart, he's learning all the commands we are teaching him, but he needs to work on his anxiety issues.

so far, weekly grocery shopping is much easier than bi monthly. staying in town to do the shopping is nice. we are staying right on budget if not way under. i've also started paying for groceries with cash and saving all our dollar bills and change. we've been doing that for years, but when you mainly use debit cards there isn't much change.

i've been trying to sneak little ways of saving money into our lives, like withdrawing an extra 20 with the grocery money and putting it in the kids bank. and when i transfer jonas' school tuition and our rent into its account, i've been adding an extra 25. not sure what the money will be used for.

last year we used all the extra cash for christmas so thats probably what will happen this year too.

not much else to report

the kids are sleeping and tom and i are watching the olympics.

men's halfpipe finals coming up

then 500m short track and 1500m relay in speed skating

i think shaun white could play tommy in a 'tommy' remake ('tommy' being the who rock opera for those who don't know)

lets go ohno!

and white!

and vito!

and bretz!

and lago!

davis already pulled gold for us in 1000m speed skating.

and von got gold for women's downhill

too bad our girls lost in curling...

i like curling

first off, totally excited for dave and jen
not as excited as they are i'm sure, but pretty dang excited!

lets start with friday
tom took the day off so he stayed with hayley while i took jonas to school, and while i went to a parents meeting. nothing really interesting to report there haha. jo and i headed to walmart to pick up a few 'supplies' before they were all gone, we had afternoon plans so i wasn't going to go grocery shopping till that evening, and i was sure, milk and bread would be gone by then, cuz you know, the sky was going to fall that night. after picking him up a happy meal we came home and left to go to an animal shelter, where we got..
COLT!

he is a 6 month old chocolate lab/aussie mix
his first night he didn't leave his bed at all.
its now monday, and he still hasn't ventured past the dinning room table
he's a sweetie, good with the kids, playful, (once he is outside), and hasn't messed with the cats, who thankfully couldn't careless that he is here
friday night of course, you would have thought the world was coming to an end
tom went to a local high school to hear a lecture from, chris mcdougall, barefoot running activist.
tom got to met him and got his copy of "Born to Run" signed.
yes tom does run "barefoot", barefoot in quote because he does wear these and has for about a year.
seriously, they are the most comfortable shoes ever. i don't like shoes, (ok i lie i LOVE shoes as a fashion accessory), i don't wear shoes in the house, and weather permitting, i tend to wear flops. my feet never feel right in shoes. anyways..
Saturday aka, the day the earth stood still
really folks, its just snow
i grew up in the midwest and lived in iceland, this is nothing. i understand that people here 'aren't used to it' and can't drive it it. but no one can drive on ice without chains or snow tires or spikes. so just stay home and off the roads. we don't need dummies that "aren't used to" snow driving in it and causing accidents, of which we had plenty.
jonas had a blast in the snow. hayley, i'm sure she remembered her faceplant in ohio and wouldn't walk in it or leave the sidewalk. colt loved it

Sunday:
Jonas went sledding with a the neighbor kids
he loves sledding, last years snow 'storm' he used our old body board, and all the kids at boxed and lids and stuff, this year kids at actual sleds. haha. jonas started out on a sled, but its really too fast for him, so he switched to a rubbermaid lid



Today, we took advantage of daddy's delay and got breakfast at starbucks
when we got home i let jonas sled a for a little bit. i figured the snow isn't going to last long so we grabbed a rubbermaid lid and i let him go at it for almost an hour. he took hayley down once.
she is not a fan of sledding.

we didn't do much else till right before tom came home. jonas wanted to wait for him outside so we did.

hayley and colt (and jonas of course!) were very happy that daddy was home.

grocery whoas..

this year we are going to try weekly grocery shopping in town
instead of every 2 weeks at the base
we are starting this weekend
we didn't start on the first because we were given a 50 dollar DeCA gift check that could only be used at the commissary
i'm kinda torn on this method
the commissary is on average 30% cheaper than other grocery stores
but their prices change so sporadically, its harder to stay on a price budget
ex: hillshire farm lunch meat will be 1.99 for 3 paydays then jump to 2.35 and then to 2.65. which is still cheaper than most places
V8 splash will be 1.50 and then all of a sudden be 2.70
walmart and harris teeter's are generally consistent with the exceptions of sale prices
V8 splash is always 1.78 at our walmart
i really enjoy the savings of the commissary
but i don't enjoy the prices changes or the people that shop there
when we lived in GA we lived right across the street from the commissary
i could get jonas up at 8 30 be there by 9 30 and be leaving the parking lot before it got crazy inside
bragg is a whole lot bigger than moody and its a 3o minute drive from us
no matter what time you get there its pretty nuts, and pay day weekends (when we go) are the worst.
childless people complain (loudly) about children (even the well behaved ones!), people with kids (not all just most of them) don't pay attention to what they are doing. thus resulting in the last time we were there 4 teenage boys running around pushing each other in a cart meant to hold two, 5-8 year olds.
most of the adults are just as bad, pushing, shoving, blocking the aisles and then looking at you blankly when you or someone else would like to get through...
it take about 3 hours to get there, do our shopping, stand in line, check out, and go home
and if we want to go to the BX or the mall in town, it just take longer.
im not sure if my sanity is worth the savings.
if i keep shopping there, tom can maybe us the money left over to foot my therapy bill.
but shopping after the commissary i cringe when i go to harris teeter and see the price of somethings
3.50 for hillshire farm lunch meat and thats when it is on sale! even with double coupons, the commissary is less expensive even on their high price days.
i don't know,
i just got back from walmart where i did a little price scouting
i use a lot of coupons when i shop
i mean a lot, like at least 20 dollars worth
the prices at walmart aren't bad, and you can catch really good deals at harris teeter with double and sometimes triple coupons.
i spent 3 bucks on 20 dollars worth of groceries the other day and a few times i've spent under a dollar on 20 dollars worth of groceries.
anyway
tom will be home tomorrow!
so that will be nice to get things back to normal
kinda..friday he as off, monday is a day off
maybe next week we can get back on a normal schedule haha
tom hasn't been to actual work (he is at work now just TDY) in 4 weeks now
its been nice having him home for awhile
and now a short rant
jonas' preschool has pretty simple rules for dropping off and picking up the kids
simple
now things can hinder the process. its is also technically a 2 way alley, and the church has people that come and go. people try and do their best not to block and cause 'trouble' but it does happen
now what is not understandable is idiot parents
or one idiot father
by now the teachers of learned the cars of that belong to the parents of each kid and when you turn the first corner when the teachers see your car they call you child over and get their stuff. when you get the gate, your kid is ready to get in the car! everything moves quickly
but this guy, parks in the church parking lot, walks over the gate, in front of the cars to get his kids.
he's done it 3 times that i've seen
to get him out of the way of the cars, the teachers have to now get his kids ready to go out the gate. this makes all the other kids who are were already to go wait longer in line and the parents waiting in the car line wait longer.
he looks incredible arrogant.
it is always dressed in a suit and long coat, carrying a venti starbucks drink, wearing dark sunglasses ,and always has a smirk on his face.
i don't know why he doesn't just follow the rules like the rest of the parents, maybe he is afraid of his car getting hurt. i know that the teachers have said something to him too.
this is getting pretty long
i make a lot of stuff we use around the house (besides meals)
i make the kids halloween costumes
cleaning products
diaper wipes and diaper wipe solution
i just recently made my own olive oil sugar scrub
my only complaint... maybe next time ill just used refined white sugar
raw sugar works but it is a bit rougher
i used raw because that's what he had in the house
other than than it works really great
and it only cost like a dollar to make!

ohio was great
but it is nice to be home
new years was the quietest i think it has even been with my family
it was just us, the kids, my parents and my mamaw
usually we have at least 7 more people (though it used to be a lot more than that)
this year tom and jonas ran the beavercreek high school resolution run
tom did very well
we looked at the times from last year and knew there was no way he was going to place
tom is fast, but back to back to back 5 minute miles are not in him, not yet at least
but he was 4th in his age group and 32nd over all
the guys (and girls) that finished in the top 24 all had under 6 minute pace times
the guy that won, had a 4:55 pace
tom's was 6:25 and he was the only barefoot runner, as he usually is.
jonas ran the 6 and under 250 meter run
a lot shorter than his last half mile!
after all the festivities we came home, after a quick happy meal run for jonas, and we watched the big bang theory till about 11:45. then we watch dick clark's rockin new years eve.
wow, it kinda made me sad watching him, i had forgotten he had a stroke a few year back.

it is down right freezing here
literally it is 28 degrees outside, brr
jonas and i made these tonight critters that keep out the cold
only we made ours kitties and not snakes or puppies
they cost about 5 bucks to make, we made 4 and in the kitchen i can really tell a difference when i walk past the windows.

the kids had a follow up appointment today
about 3 and a half weeks ago they both and colds
hayley also had an ear infection and had to do a breathing treatment
hayley's biggest problem is they don't make cold medication or decongestants for babies anymore. shoot, they don't make anything over the counter for kids under 6 anymore (though jonas still takes the same dimeatapp and triaminic he did when has since he was 2 even though the box says he "can't" no worries, his doc says its cool)
she wrote us a prescription for some new stuff that hayley (and jonas) can take, just to keep around the house
her colds get horrible, simply because there no way to dry up all the mucus in her sinuses and chest. and if you can't dry it up, that's what can turn a cold into pneumonia.
jonas' old doc put it like this 'its like a puddle or bucket of stagnant water, if you don't drain it, then all the mosquitoes come to lay eggs, and when the eggs hatch you have problems.'
hopefully we won't ever have to use the new stuff, but it is good to know that if she does get a cold, it doesn't have to drag out to, 2 weeks and we won't have to do another breathing treatment.

i bought us a new printer and external hard drive tonight
thank you sear heroes at home program!
now i can print my coupons at home again!
our new printer is wireless which will be nice since all we have are laptops
sears says it will be here by the 19th but i'm hoping sooner

i can't find our sd card reader and it has our sd card in it :(
oh well
Christmas is over, but the mess is still here
all the kids gifts are still under the tree since we really can't put them away here at my parents
they were of course spoiled rotten
Jonas' gifts included
2 of the ever elusive zhu zhu pets, plus the wheel and the car, i have to admit, the things are pretty cool
the bop-it he wanted so badly
books with corresponding character stuffed animals
more matchbox cars (yay...)
uno-moo
2 big GI Joes (snake eyes and storm shadow)
a bakugon battle dome
a painting of a train from my grandmorther
cash
and the biggie, a luddwig drum set
and i know im missing a few gifts of stuff we opened up in NC
Hayley got
a rocking horse
another baby doll, this one says a little prayer
the crayola color me a song tablet
crayola begining crayons
a disney princess 'cd' player
a little purse
fisher price stuffed learning toys
a doll house
a farm that goes with the doll house
a giant my little pony
a painting of a kitty from my grandmother
puzzles
cash
and more stuff haha

tom and i don't exchange gifts
we haven't for 3 years
it doesn't bother us, we would rather spend the money on the kids and getting home for christmas.

though we did get another deposit on our heroes at home sears card
im thinking a new printer..
my parents continue to pay for our XM radio and our AAA membership
they also give us a little cash
we gave them a flag tom had flown while he was deployed, folded and put in a box along with a certificate saying where and when it was flown
the kids gave them gifts they made at our paint your own pottery place and my dad of course got his annual bottle of mennen skin bracer

most of our family left sunday
my uncle is still here, though i think he leaves tomorrow
and my other uncle and aunt and cousin will be back for new years eve
it gets pretty crowed here around Christmas, we used to have 17 people sleeping in the house at christmas, with 1 bathroom and 3 bedrooms.
im not really even sure how sleeping arrangements worked back then. except 6 of the grandkids were crammed into the family room.
now we are down to 11 staying in the house this year, still a bit crowded but we also have an extra bedroom/living room added on since then, and an extra bathroom.

hayley had her first romp in the snow yesterday
she did not like it
she took 2 steps and face planted right in the snow
as soon as we hunt down the sd card ill post those pictures

thursday night tom has another race he is running. jonas is running the 250 meter 6 and under race.
its going to be chilly, 34 with a windchill of 29 and snow...
its 11 degrees outside right now
yikes

how cute are my children





i need to scan the santa picture, but i don't know how my parents scanner works

i wish i had taken snow pictures this morning (no snow in our part NC, we are at my parents)
there was a good 3 inches but now at 11 20 at night there is none!
it snowed all day too, big fat snow flakes
not so fun to go out to the mall in
but very fun to look at the window and watch

the kids saw santa today
jonas actually talked to him this year!
hayley cried. of course
but she fell and bumped her heard, literally 30 seconds before we they called us for our turn
i'm really not sure if she wouldn't have cried even if that didn't happen though
when i picked her up of his lap she stopped crying and then stared 'talking' to him
she touched his beard and his glasses and she held his hand
when we left he blew him a kiss and signed 'love you'
then he gave them each little christmas mouses.
maybe he should have gave hayley mouse before we took the picture

i got all my hair cut off this morning
i mean all off it
like a good 15 inches
i have a baggie of hair to mail out tomorrow
2 year of growing out my hair
the last time i got it cut was dec 11th 2007
ill take and 'after pic' tomorrow after its washed and fixed
right now its just in pigtails since we left the salon and went straight to the mall to get the kids pictures.

family comes in tomorrow
not sure what time though

tom is very content in playing madden 10 all night
i think all be content in going to bed shortly

more race picture

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5k/sets/72157622829766523/

thats the link to the whole 428 pictures!
but if you don't want to pic out the ones of tom and jonas ill post them
thanks sayer photography! and thanks barnes photography!