Day 1: Missoula Vacation - Binky Fungus??

Today was our first full day of vacation in Missoula. The kids and I started off by sleeping in which was nice. Brian had a meeting with the superintendent of the school that we are hoping to rent for the church and that went really well. We are praying that it all works out...it would be a great location. Our day started to go downhill when I realized that Brock had white spots in his mouth. Yuck! Brian said he thought it was "Binky fungus" Well close...thrush! So it was off to Walgreens for a prescription and then to Target for some tylenol and a little retail therapy for mommy. That didn't go so well with 4 kids...what was I thinking! Brian did take the kids after lunch so I could hang out with Jamie for a little while. We hit Old Navy and Dillards and found some great sales. PJ's at Old Navy for $2.94 and 75% off + an add'l 30% at Dillards. Brock's mouth seems to be better this evening so hopefully he will be in a little better mood tomorrow.

The boy is back in town!!

He is finally back!! The kids were so excited to see Brian walk through the door after being gone for a week!! He has been traveling a lot the last couple months...all totaled he has been gone 22 days since the 1st of the year. Which equates to me going crazy with 4 children at home by myself! I have doubted my mothering skills a little over the past few weeks but we made it! Tomorrow we are off to Missoula for a week of fun! Brian has some business stuff to do there but we will also get to do some fun stuff as well. I will be sure to post some pictures next week!

New haircut

Just wanted to share some pictures of my new haircut. I seem to be going shorter and shorter each time. I told Brian if he keeps leaving me for weeks at a time, he might come back to a bald wife. I can't remember the last time I had it this short...probably sometime in the 80's. It feels so light and airy...if only the rest of my body felt that way! LOL! Hope you are all having a great Monday!!

New house plans!!!!

I am so excited to share our house plans. These have been a work in progress for almost 6 months. We started with a main level house plan from the internet and made lots of changes, came up with a basement floor plan, made more changes, talked to the builder and the person drawing our plans, made a few more changes and here we are! These are still not the final plans but pretty close. This is the first of many posts about out new home we are building in Missoula. Yea!!!!!

Binky Snob!!!!

So I knew Brock loved his binky but I didn't realize he was such a "Binky Snob!" We know he likes Mam pacifiers so that is all we have bought but we didn't realize he is so partial to the silicone kind and has quite a distaste for latex. I found this out tonight as we were in his room getting him dressed for bed. I didn't have a binky and he was fussing so I grabbed one out of the binky drawer (yes he has a drawer in his little bedroom table devoted to binkys and binky paraphernalia.) He put the binky in his mouth and made a funny look, he then took it out and inspected it and stuck it back in. This went on a couple more times before he squealed (not in a cute way) and threw the binky across the room. He then looked at me as if I had tried to poison him. Next he got off the changing table and ran to the drawer in search of another one. He rifled through the drawer and only found latex binkys. He looked at me again as if to say " Find me a binky or else..." all the while moaning "binty, binty, binty." When I finally found him a silicone one he popped it in and smiled. All is good! What kind of a binky monster have we created!!! We always thought it would be great to have a binky baby, as our first 3 children wouldn't have any thing to do with them, but now we are having second thoughts. It definitely has its perks, but I find myself wondering what to do as his 2nd birthday is approaching. Any suggestions out there from MORBS (that would be short for Moms of Recovered Binky Snobs) ?? The nice thing is the binky hasn't hindered his speech which is surpising. He is such a little mocking bird and he is saying new words on a daily basis. Some of my favorites are:
binty = binky
i wug gu = i love you
oh s**t = horsey (it really does sound like he is swearing, I am nor sure why horse comes out like this but it is the same everytime, I always have to repeat "your right that is a HORSEY"
ni ni - night night
truckie - truck
elkkkkkk - elk (with a lot of emphasis on the k as if he is German)
peez - please
taint tu - thank you

A momentous occasion!!

You could have heard the clapping and cheering down the block! Why so excited, you ask??? Becuase Brock went poopy on the potty for the 2nd time today! I am trying not to get to excited about this, but for now I will celebrate the 41 cents I saved on a diaper and that is one less poopy diaper I have to change! The funny thing is this has totally been his idea. He learned the word "poop" about 2 months ago (probably from his siblings.) Him and the boys have already starting to have tooting (I can't use that other word) contests. I have never seen a 20 month old that can toot on command. Anyway, one day he was grunting and I asked if he had to go potty and off he ran. He was so excited to sit on the toilet like a big boy and do his thing. Today he wanted a book and he just sat there, took his time and read. Those men start early with their bathroom breaks! He also enjoys the flushing process as you can see in the second picture. He watches it carefully as it goes down and says "Bye bye poopy!" Oh how blessed I would be if this continues! But I won't hold my breath as this is my 4th child I have potty-trained and I know it can be a long grueling road. But for the moment I will rejoice! And if for nothing else, he looked darn cute sitting on that toilet!

Love is when...

Jordan brought this home from school today. He was given the paper with the words "Love is when..." and he had to fill in the rest and draw a picture to go with it. I just love it when kids come up with stuff like this on their own. Sometimes I wonder if anything I say is getting through and then little moments like this make me feel so blessed! It is then I also remember that it is not so much what we say to them, but the way we live out God's love that they pick up on and learn from. Thank God for His grace that covers all of my motherhood blunders. For that I am grateful!

Our little worship leader!

I turned on some worship music this morning and came out of my bedroom to find Abby with a microphone and a guitar in the living room. She was singing along with the songs and raising her hands! Talk about melting my heart...I love watching kids worship! Sometimes she stands on the ottoman to lead worship. The only problem is sometimes she can be a little bossy. Once she yelled out "Lift your hands." After a while we started to put our hands down and she yelled at us again, "Get your hands up everybody!" She lacks a little finesse but that will come with time! Watch out River City Church Missoula - here comes Abby!

Deal of the Day

Today I did a little shopping...I know some of you think that is all I do but really I am just very efficient when I go. I walk into the store and immediately scan the clearance racks. I am not talking about the 25 or 50% off. They must be at least 75% off to peak my interest. So, I have been keeping my eyes out for a leather "cigar" chair for Brian's office for a while now. They range in price from $500 - $1000 generally. I did see a pair of chairs at Costco for $700 but I really only wanted one. Well, today I hit the jackpot! I walked into Shopko and found a faux leather chair and ottoman set similar to the one in this picture that was originally $280.00 on sale for...$59.98. That is 79% off! I bought the last chair but they have more ottamans for $19.99. They are so cute and the open up for storage. They have some other really nice furniture at great clearance prices. I really tried to find a reason to by a cute coffee table with wicker baskets underneath but we just don't need a coffee table right now. So if your in the market head over to Shopko! I also found some great deals at Eddie Bauer...lots of 70% off right now!

Boys and their Toys!

What is it about boys and their toys? It seems that when I decide to spend money for fun it is on something small like a new $10 shirt at Eddie Bauer or a new pair of Old Navy flip flops for $2.50. However, when my husband decides to spend money it is in the $100's or the $1000's. Men say they don't shop as much, which I admit is true, but when they do, they make up for lost time! Thus the pictures of Riley with his new bow. He got this for his 9th birthday from us. I thought we were getting him some new Legos and new underwear or something of that nature. But Brian decided he needed a hunting bow, not a toy one, but the real deal. This in spite of the fact that he can't legally hunt with it until he's 12 but the argument is he needs the practice. So several hundred dollars later here he his. All this said, I love the fact that he shares this passion with his dad. They both love the woods and would spend all their time out their if I would let them. Riley hikes for miles and miles with Brian in search of creatures and will sit still for hours on end if they think they have an elk in their sights. When Riley was about 4, Brian had taken him out and he got too cold and told us he didn't want to ever hunt again. I told him maybe some day when he was a daddy he would hunt and he quickly replied "Not all Daddys have to hunt, mommy." I told him that was ok and Brian quietly mourned. Not long after that Riley had a change of heart and he hasn't looked back. He tells us after college he is moving to Alaska to live and hunt. I tell him that is not acceptable and he has to live right next door to mom.

Deal of the Day

This was my bargain yesterday. I went into Payless shoes because Brock is quickly growing out of his shoes and is in need of some new ones. As I walked into the store I noticed the BOGO (Buy one get one half off) sign and then upon further inspection I found that quite a few of their children's shoes were on clearance. So the end result was this:

• 6 pairs of shoes
• Original price $142.31
• I paid $26.10
• Average price per shoe $4.35
• 82% OFF!
  

I love deals like this! I was able to buy a pair for Abby and Jordan and 2 pairs for Brock and Riley. And all for the price that I would have paid for one pair of shoes. You may at his point be asking if they really needed 6 pairs of shoes (that would be what Brian is asking.) and my answer is yes, they do. Well maybe Abby's were a splurge. If you can call $4.35 a splurge. She is always well stocked in the shoe department because girls shoes are so cute! I didn't even get a chance to look in the women's section because I had 2 kids with me so I might have to go back to see what I can find for me!

It was definitely time for Brock to get a haircut. I had been putting it off with him being the baby. After taking yesterday's Valentine's pictures, I decided the time had come. So today we went and got his 1st haircut. He did so well! And this was after a visit to the doctor for his 2nd flu shot (he didn't cry for that either!) The haircut was bittersweet...he just looks like such a little man now! They grow up too quick!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Losing my virginity on Valentine's Day

Yes this a G rated blog so just bare with me. I have given this decision careful consideration for a while now...I mean so many people are doing it these days, they say it is therapeutic but it is just such a big commitment and I only want to start if I can keep up with it. So I finally decided this was the right time. I prepared ahead to make sure I was completely ready and then just did it...I am no longer a "Blogger" virgin. I would hardly call myself experienced, however I have been reading a few other blogs and I find myself thinking throughout the day "If I had a blog, I would definitely blog about this." So this is it...a place to share about all of the blessings in my life namely my wonderful husband and 4 beautiful children. I also might use some space to share about bargains I find. I am a self-proclaimed bargain shopper. I have had many friends tell me I should have a website to share all of my bargains so here it is. If I happen to find something around town or on the internet for 90% off you can guarantee I will be blogging about it. There are also so many other exciting things to share with friends and family like info about the house we are building, the house we are selling, the church we are starting and so on! So that is it, the big moment is almost over...it wasn't that bad. Thanks Jamie for all of the inspiration!