Eat this: my wife's the shiz!

This is Brandon. I toss that out right away since I'm not usually the one who blogs even though I started the blog... ironic, isn't it? I don't remember what percentage of posession is law, but by now Sarah has legal ownership of it! I can still freelance from time to time if I think of something important.

This is one of those times.

There's some prevailing theory out there, to this day, that my wife is some spend-happy and one need look no further than her thousands of pairs of shoes.

I debunk this theory and sit in defiance of anyone professing it.

You see, this theory probably stems from when she did have many pairs of shoes - in 1996! As a fashion-conscientious teenager, she was probably doling out more on Dr. Martens than she was saving for college. Though, in her defense, she probably owned shoes in the 20s, not thousands.

Then, she met and eventually married me. This led to:

1. Not much money in our three years of undergrad.
2. Even less money when Sterling was born and we were saving for grad school.
3. Borrowing money in grad school at a private university in New York.
4. Having to repay loans all while making less than a pauper's wage during my minor league baseball broadcasting career.

People are allowed to change. Hopefully for the better. This includes those who think lots of shoes is excessive. So shouldn't it also include my wonderful wife, who responded to our lack of money by earning extra money? In North Carolina, she did childcare for awhile. She also sewed the baseball pants that were torn, as tedious and thankless of a job as it was.

And she learned the art of couponing.

I've used a handful of coupons in my whole life. She uses handfuls every time she goes to the grocery store.

Last week, Sarah sent me to Albertsons. She sent me with a bunch of coupons. I got four jars of peanut butter and two boxes of chewy granola bars, all name-brand and paid $1.30. When I got up to the line, the girl asked me "Do you have an Albertsons card?" She looked down at the coupons, right back up and said "Of course you do!"

This morning tops 'em all, though. Sarah sent me to the store with some coupons. To Albertsons. The same girl saw me and both of us witnessed something that would go down in the annals of history as awe-inspiring, unless you're the owner of Albertsons.

Here's what I bought:

This includes:

Gallon of milk.
Two quarts of ice cream.
Two Sarah Lee Oven Bake pies.
Four jars of peanut butter.

My grand total: $.35.

Read it again... I didn't say 35 dollars. I said 35 CENTS!!!

That's right. You know that girl who had lots and lots of shoes? Well, she grew up. She's not a girl anymore, she's a woman. As I write this, I've loved her for 10 years, 2 months, 2 days and 21 hours. But as of this morning, she's my hero.

Hurray for our Sterling!

Sterling has done a great job in school. Half day has been the best thing for him up until now. But, as of Monday, he was ready for full-day kindergarten.

To celebrate this accomplishment, Sterling said on Monday afternoon when he got home that he wanted to go to Burger King. And he didn't just want something from the dollar menu, by golly, he wanted a B.K. Kids Meal!!!

We said that was OK. He also wanted to invite Papa and Gram.

So we went to Burger King and had a good time, even though Gram was already in Olympia and couldn't join us. The boys had a great time nonetheless hanging out with Papa. And at some point, when Sarah said "Norm," Hyrum decided to be the family clown again and he yelled "NOOOORRRRRRMMMMM." It was really funny!

Here we are, enjoying the meal:

It was a great dinner for all of us and a good reason to celebrate!

Am I doing the right thing?

I need some feedback. If you read this, offer an opinion. Any and all will be taken into consideration. Blunt honesty, please.

We went to Sterling's parent-teacher conference last week. (He's doing great, in case you're wondering.) I was pretty positive the subject of full-day K would come up and of course it did. Fortunately Brandon was sitting next to me. He always knows what to say. He said we'd talk about it. We brought it up with Sterling and he was very excited at the prospect of having lunch at school and being able to play with his best friend at afternoon recess. So, we said ok. (I just realized we didn't pray about it!)

Today was his first full day and I have to say after picking him up I have a knot in my stomach about... something. Not sure what, but it generally means something isn't right.

If you are a faithful reader, you know I'm going to homeschool next year, so there is no way I want him away from me for longer during the day, but they do some different curriculum in the afternoon like splitting into reading groups that are level appropriate, they do math on the computer, PE, art and the like. His teacher also said there is some in class education he is missing since she can't teach it all in the morning. She said she has to pick and choose what she thinks is most critical to teach when everyone is there.

Also, one of the other kids that was doing half-day is now doing full-day, narrowing the pool of half-day kids to four. Now with Sterling switching there are three, but if no one else is going to switch maybe I won't feel so bad about going back.

Please give me some opinions to consider. I don't know what to do and I'm worried I made a mistake!

Halloween!

I found some Halloween pics! Good thing, huh.

This year Hyrum and Jonah wore the dino costumes I made a few years ago for Sterling and Hyrum. I like to do a theme and so I'll try to make that last as long as possible. And while it would have been really fun to have three dinos, Sterling wasn't really into it, so he was a paleontologist. It worked. The last time these were worn Brandon and I were Jurassic Park keepers. This year that was Sterling's job.

T-rex Hyrum. Isn't this a great shot?

Brandon, in case you were fooled by the eye-black.

Me showing my true colors and Jonah as a triceratops.

And my handsome Sterling. I couldn't find a safari hat, so I crafted this one. Add a polo, khaki shorts and long johns. One fab paleontologist.

Thank goodness someone took some pics of us at the ward Halloween Party!

Look out, world, here I come!

Jonah is on the move. He is not crawling, but that does not stop him from getting where he needs to go! Sterling was a roller, Hyrum crawled pretty early, and Jonah just uses brute upper body strength to pull himself everywhere.

Case in point:

Oooh, that looks like a nice a nice piece of loose linoleum I can play with.

I got it!

Oh, she caught me!!

And just so you have an idea, he started on the blanket in the background, went for his brother's snack bowl, that got taken away, so he proceeded to the kitchen! Yes, my kids are still in their pjs and I admit I need to stop posting pictures of Hyrum in his underwear.
And these are just because he's so stinking cute!


PS- did you notice the flooring in the living room? That is the finished product. It looks amazing. Maybe I'll take a pic of my entire living room now. I love it.

I'm in love

I just realized my last two posts were real downers! That's no way to portray my life. Obviously its not always easy, but I am totally in love with my boys. I was just perusing Brandon's facebook page (which I will never have, sorry) and ran across an old high school friend's page. It was kind of sad. I'm so blessed to have a beautiful family and wonderful boys who are, in consecutive order from oldest to youngest, playing with Legos, watching Diego, and napping. It is a wonderful moment.

Also, I am in love with my parents. They are so fantastic. We have been so blessed to live close to them. My boys have tons of grandparent dates and yesterday they came over and helped me finally finish laying the next thing I'm in love with.

My floor! It has been a project, and when I say project, I mean a laborious, tedious, expensive, and year-long ordeal. But it is gorgeous! Absolutely amazing. I love it, love it, love it! Now the only parts of our house that don't have new floors are the bathrooms and the kitchen. The kitchen is next. We're going to try our hand at tiling. We'll see how it goes.

And of course, I'm always in love with my husband. Some of our very close friends are separating and threatening divorce. It has helped us remember that our relationship with each other is just as important and our kids and all the other stuff. In fact, it is more important. If we fall apart it all falls apart. So, we are spending more time at the end of the day just laying on the couch together. It is really nice. I love him.

Life is great. Little boys are great. Parents are great. Grandparents are greater. Husbands are amazing and blessings are abundant.

One of these days I'll see if I can find some Halloween pictures to post. I think I forgot to take some. Oops! But the Dino crew needs to be documented!

(I feel like my blog is totally bipolar!)

Is is just me...

...Or is daylight savings the WORST! And why, oh, why would ANYone put combine Halloween into the same weekend! I'm trying so hard to remember that the whining and grumpiness are a result of a lack of sleep and that an ENORMOUS amount of patience is necessary when really I'm hoping the time on my watch (which I forgot to set back) is the correct time and there are only two hours until honey-bunch gets home and can give me a tiny reprieve.

Oh, the joys of parenting. (I think I've used that line a time or two.)