Life is good...

Ahhhhh. Finally things seem to be falling into place. No one has been sick here in almost two weeks. Andrew is finally sleeping through the night in underwear, which is an enormous accomplishment for him and an equally huge relief on our budget. Zack has recently come to the realization that it is more comfortable to sleep in a bed than on the floor; hopefully this is a giant leap towards taming my little wild beast.

The new 'dime system' I am using with my older kids is working fantastically. I have finally found a way to put their instinctive selfishness to work in my favor. Now, when someone disobeys or refuses to help, all I have to say is "You lost another dime." That usually whips them back into gear, and now they are rarely hearing, "Ooops, now you have lost two dimes." For those of you unfamiliar with my dime system, allow me to explain (this will save you from reading older posts. However, if you know what it is go ahead and skip on past this part of the blog). A few weeks ago Madeline was complaining that she didn't get allowance like some of the kids in her class. Well, I didn't want to just toss her some money each week for nothing. So, Maddie and Andrew now have the opportunity to each earn $5 a week, made up of 50 dimes. However, anytime they disobey they lose a dime. We have been implementing this system for the past few weeks and so far Andrew has earned more than Maddie. Still, Andrew's biggest payout was 33 dimes, so we're not breaking the bank here. They each have a glass jar to store their coins in.

Monday, for Family Home Evening we took the kids to a store that sells Jibbitz. They each purchased to Jibbitz for their crocs using their own money, which was very exciting for them. For those of you who may have missed the episode of Oprah where we learned about the mom who came up with the idea of Jibbitz and sold it to the Croc company for over $1o million, Jibbitz are the charms you can get to decorate your crocs. My older three all have crocs and they are the greatest shoes known to moms! I don't have to look for their socks for them any more, which truly had been such a hassle since my kids inherited their dad's knack for taking off a sock in one room and the other sock in another room. I also love that they don't involve laces, velcro, or anything that needs to involve me.

Maddie bought some flower Jibbitz to go along with the Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty jibbitz she already had. Andrew chose a soccer ball and Tigger to go along with his Mickeys and his turtles. Zack has Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, and a crocodile in his. Monday, he got a fiery pirate skull thing:





For Family Home Evening, we made banana bread together. It was fun and delicious.

Ben is training for another marathon. He is planning to run the Richmond marathon in November. I would love to run a half-marathon in January. Ummm, I have never enjoyed running, so I find it amusing that I just wrote that I would LOVE to run a half-marathon. In reality, Ben consented to a trip to Florida without the kids in January provided it involves me running the half-marathon. Doesn't January seem so far away? That's what my lazy body keeps telling me whenever I tell it we should start training. I got some pretty sweet new running shoes yesterday. OK, all of this talking about me, running, and running shoes is cracking me up too much. MUST MAKE IT TO FLORIDA THIS WINTER WITHOUT THE KIDS.... (our last trip without the kids was our honeymoon, so pretty much we never have taken a trip without the kids, isn't that about pathetic enough to make a runner out of someone?).


Our house is finally ceasing to like it has been ransacked by a burglar with muddy feet and sticky PB&J hands. Maddie is making her bed routinely and has been working to teach Andrew how to make his. Now that the kids' outgrown clothing isn't clogging their drawers, putting away the laundry has become so much easier! Today Maddie even washed the windows and Andrew cleaned the trash can. Amazingly, Zack has figured out how to bring his dish to the sink. Actually, that startled me quite a bit, because I heard a loud crash and it turned out that it was just Zack tossing his glass plate into the sink. Fortunately, it did not break, but I can't figure out how it stayed in tact with the amount of force his discus throw demonstration made. This is why I tend to usually stick with plastic plates for him.


Do any of you like fatwallet.com as much as I do? I am always up for the challenge of a good bargain hunt. I have been in the market for another Britax carseat for almost a month now. We moved Mylie into Zack's carseat and bumped him up to a belt-positioned booster. However, it turns out that Zack is a contortionist and can somehow bend his body in unnatural positions to escape from his booster as we drive along. For a short time, we have had to resort to using a real clothing belt to belt him to his seat and then put on his seatbelt. However, the little weasel (I mean Angel, you know I do) was even able to get out of this. So, I have been scoping out Craigslist, eBay, Freecycle, you name it... I knew there had to be a good deal out there, my budget and the life of my third born hung in the balance. Well, on Fatwallet.com (a fabulous site for those looking for a deal on just about anything on earth), I learned that Sears was phasing out carrying the Britax roundabout carseat. So, they had marked these new seats down from $220 to $55. Let me tell you, a deal like that does not wait. I called multiple Sears stores through out the states of Virginia, Maryland, and Utah and spoke with many people who must be using their job as a way to learn english. They were all sold out of this phenomenal steal, but I was undeterred. Finally, I was able to track down the last remaining Britax carseat at a Sears location 45 minutes from where we live. With a bit of luck I was able to convince the employee at the other end of the phone that they should hold the carseat for me whether or not I am a Sears card holder. Oh, and this carseat was still for sale at $220. So, we loaded our kids up into the car and drove through a torrential down pour to this Sears, bought the carseat and drove to the Sears store by our house and returned the carseat to their location and re-purchased it for the $55 clearance price. Sure, time is valuable and we probably chugged a ton of gas in the process, but hey I still ended up with a dang good deal on something I really needed. Now if only they had extras for me to sell on craigslist or ebay.... I must admit, it isn't the cutest pattern, but I am sure I can track down another cover for it at a good price.





By the way, I saw Jessie's engagement ring today in person. Let's just say her left arm is going to be far more buff than her right from all the weight lifting involved in lifting a ring of that size. It is huge!!!! She told me several times that yes indeed it is real. I will have to take her word for it, since I don't own a jeweler's eye.


Jess arrived this afternoon and we were very excited to see her. Maddie and Andrew even choreographed a dance routine in her honor. I really wish that Andrew hadn't cut the cord to our video camera charger, because I am missing recording these sorts of gems. Taylor arrives tonight. We are very eager to meet him and to see for ourselves what he's like.