Barf Monster

 **Just a note.... this post COULD be a little Graphic for uneasy tummies**

I am NOT sure what the HECK I did to deserve this, BUT for the past month EVERY sunday at least 1 of my kids is BARFING sick! I am SO tired of cleaning up barf and adding to my already MOUNDS of LAUNDRY!

This morning my 7 year old came in as I was DREADING getting up to get ready for church.  She started to cry and said MOMMY I DON'T FEEL GOOD. Which means.... we are staying home! No church for us AGAIN today!

She laid around this morning never having a fever but complaining that her tummy still hurt.  Was it all an "act" I was thinking???? (My girls have struggled with WANTING to go to church lately.  We have gotten out of the "habit" I must say with all the sickies around here.  

Well just a little while later my daughter proved me WRONG! The Barf monster came out and landed ALL OVER THE BATHROOM! No joke it was more than I could handle!  So 2 more loads of laundry and bathtime for 1 little girl.

I THOUGHT the Barf monster was gone after we all took a nap... then she came out to the livingroom with a glazed over look and out the Monster came!  ALL OVER MY suede couches!  YUP! More cleaning for mom! 

Oh the joys!  

I certainly hope the Barf Monster is GONE!  Stay away from us and DON'T come back EVER!!!  I don't like cleaning up after you.

By the way.... What happened to RELAXING and ENJOYING Sunday??? Not for me I guess 

I'd love to meet new "friends"

Come follow along.  I would LOVE to meet new "friends" (followers)  I am linking up with thethriftymilitarywife.com for Meet & Follow Sunday.

Check out my blog and a little more about me Here. 

 

**BTW I am back up to 19 followers!  SAWEET!

My very OWN Blog Button

I DID IT!  All by Myself!  I am SO proud.... it's just a start but hey it's MY BUTTON!

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Thanks to a NEW Follower Monica Wright for the heads up on how to add the linky!

Silly things my kids say

Going through the drive thru a few weeks ago, it was taking FOREVER.  

Sydney (my  #3) said  "Come on hurry up!"  Then the baby (just 2 years old) followed it up with "Come on people Houwee up!"  so funny. It made me laugh. 

and a side note is the couple other times we've stopped there she says it as soon as we pull in the parking lot. 

The joys of kids.

Frugal Fridays

I am joining in the Frugal Fridays  hosted by The Frugal Free Gal.  

 You wanna check out some of my deals??    Go Here  
I LOVE saving money and finding the deals..... Thanks for checking my blog out! 

  

Blizzard Bloghop

Household6Diva is hosting a Blizzard bloghop... go check it out here

So I am jumping on the bandwagon.... I follow so many blogs that have done this so lets so how this goes.... Be patient. It's my "first time" LOL

My name is Jenifer.  I have been married to my marine for ALMOST 14 years (this May) 

BUT We have been together since I was a senior in High School... That was LONG ago!

I am a mommy of 4 adorable girls (that I wish would STOP growing)

I was born and raised in California.  After getting married, our 1st duty station was Camp Pendleton, CA where we were for almost 9 years.

Then we went to Parris Island, SC,  where my marine was a hard core D.I. (that's my opinion anyway)

(this is right after my marine re-enlisted)

( I never thought I would BUT I actually miss that place)

After we left Parris Island, we were transferred to this crappy place 

In the 2 1/2 years we have been here in the crappy  deser,t my marine has deployed 2 times and I had a baby while he was on the 1st deployment.  We are SOOO ready to get outta this place

A few more things that I LOVE:

  I LOVE the flag and my country

(my house is decorated in Red White & blue)
I am VERY patriotic.

I love being a military wife.  REALLY I do.  I look forward to the breaks deployments. It truly has strengthened our marriage. (I know that sounds weird huh? But it's true.)

I also LOVE coupon shopping and finding deals
(some who know me well say I am an EXTREME couponer. I have been using coupons LONG before that show came along LOL)

(like getting all this for about $100.... seriously)

I LOVE the scriptures and the strength I gain from them as I read them daily.

 and last I enjoy blog hopping, updating my own blog and playing with my girls.  

Life has lots in store for us and I can't wait to see where we go from here. Maybe it will be here

(this is my DREAM HOME! in the Utah.... it's good to dream right?)

and....

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

I guess I am just NOT cool enough.  I lost ANOTHER follower.  Oh well, life WILL go on.  Thanks to those that are FAITHFUL.  I know my life (and blog) are NOT that exciting......

teaching this principle.....

I sure hope my girls understand this lesson.....

24 days and counting.....

Our family's New Years Resolution was to Read the BOOK OF MORMON EVERYDAY

 With 4 little girls, it could be hard to follow through with that goal..... 

But it is amazing!  We are now in a routine... 24 days in and we haven't missed 1 day..... 

Even our sweet little 2 year old gets her scriptures and sits flipping through the pages.  She even wants her turn to read.  Repeating the verse as my marine or I say it to her.  I am shocked at how well our sweet 7 year old can read already. I know it is because of the scriptures. 

I did PRETTY GOOD last year with reading them, when my marine was deployed. But man, I have got some AMAZING girls!  Heavenly Father has truly blessed me and my family because we have been faithful in our daily scripture reading..... We WILL finish the Book of Mormon before the end of the year.

I really hope that my girls gain a testimony and a true LOVE

  for the scriptures and for their Savior.  I have.

My RiTe AiD dEaLs

Some may say that coupons are NOT worth your time. Or that it's too hard to match up store sales to get the best deals.  Here are just 2 of my shopping trips last week to Rite Aid that PROVES it is TOTALLY worth it!  THIS is why I get to stay home with my girls and be a mommy and NOT have to work.  Finding and getting deals like this

 3 packages of Christmas cards for next year, 4 packages of Dixie plates, 3 single rolls of TP, 4 packages of HALLS cough drops, 2 foamies kids art projects, 2 candy canes,  (8) 6pk of Top Ramen, 1 Dove shampoo, 1 Barilla spaghetti and 1 Poppycock.

This was my 1st trip last week.  I got all this for $16.07 and got +UP rewards of $12.00 (So basically I got ALL of this for $4.07)

I saved $38.85 using my wellness card and saved $26.50 with coupons

 1 Oral B toothbrush, 2 Dixie paper plates, 3 rolls of TP, 2 HALLS cough drops, 1 Dove shampoo and 5 bottles of liquid TIDE

This was my 2nd trip to Rite Aid.  Got ALL of this for just $17.28 PLUS I got $12 +UP in rewards for my next shopping trip. (It SHOULD'VE been $15 I am not sure what happened???)  

I used my $12 +UP rewards from my 1st trip to help pay for this trip.  I saved $31.06 with my Wellness card and saved $32.00 with coupons.

These were awesome trips and I have $12 towards my trips this week.... You CAN save money and still get the things you WANT & NEED!  This is proof! 

TO DO LIST

I was talking with my sister the other day about all the normal "mom" duties.  I sometime get overwhelmed with it all and hardly sit in a day (except for when I am in the car..... oh and maybe wasting time on the computer)  There have been days that my marine has left at 4am and not gotten home til 8pm.  When he walks in the door, he kinda gets that look of what did you do all day?  YUP! That's right, even though I busted my tail end with laundry, picking up toys and feeding kids my house looks like I did NOTHING at all!

Anyways, getting back to the conversation with my sister.  She said that there are times when she gets that feeling from her husband (with no words ever spoken) So she writes a TO DO LIST for the next day

She even writes down the simplest tasks like getting dressed.... getting the kids dressed.... collecting all the shoes around the house, etc.  So yesterday (saturday)  I was in the TO DO LIST mode.  I wanted to show my family EVERYTHING that I actually do in our house.  Great start to the day..... My girls got up at 6:30am so by 8:30 I had done ALL the following

• got Delaney up
• change Delaney diaper
• got Delaney breakfast
• did 2 loads of laundry
• loaded the dishwasher
• went through all of Delaney's clothes and swapped out her clothes that didn't fit anymore (which ended up being an 18 gallon tote FULL)
• get Kelsee breakfast
• get Delaney dressed
• checked facebook
• got the kids started on their chores 
• did another load of laundry
• bathed Delaney

 and that WASN'T the end of my day.  I went to WalMart, went to RiteAid, and oh ya, made 2 other meals and 2 other loads of laundry.  It was a VERY busy day.

That is my life and I LOVE it!  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  But it gets REALLY hard sometimes to do all this stuff and have everyone else sit and watch TV.  Makes me crazy!

GROSS!

I have to say that my pantry/ laundry room is yet again ready for an overhaul!  It is in DESPERATE need of a redo.  I so wish i had a HUGE room that I could dedicate to food storage.  Some would say that I am a HOARDER of food.  My answer to that is NOPE!  Just prepared.  In our church, we believe we should have a YEAR supply.  Is that a bad thing to be prepared?  I THINK NOT!  You NEVER know when you will really NEED the stuff. OR when you will need to help a friend.

I was checking out blogs the other day and there was one who was all about pantry redo's and organizing. I have the shelves to organize, just NOT the time or space.  DANG it is frustrating!

Anyways, anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE coupon shopping and getting deals. So this is the result of getting good deals and coupon shopping.....

 this is in my kitchen pantry

 this is in my garage.  YES I have it all over! (NOT just in the pantry/laundry room) Wherever I can put it.  My marine says that we need at least a 3 car garage so I can put all my CRAPOLA and then he can still have a "man garage"

Ok so this is somewhat organized.... but I still have ALOT of work to do!  

Now you MIGHT be saying to yourself... Dang! How much does she spend on groceries every week???? It MUST be a fortune.  Actually NOPE!  I have such a stockpile I usually only spend about $60 a week on groceries.  It CAN be done!

This should be my theme song

This is a CLASSIC song....  I think it should be my theme song!

Kids say the silliest things

So I go to drop my girls off at school this morning and as we pull up to the school, Kelsee says "Is my hair ok?  I mean I did it myself. Does it look ok?"  Seriously?  She is 7.  

Thanks for the morning laugh Kelsee, I needed it.

4:31am

17 years ago today.... 

(These are just a few of the pictures from the damage that was caused that day.) 

  The Northridge earthquake occurred on January 17, 1994 at 4:31 AM Pacific Standard Time in Reseda, a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, lasting for about 45 seconds.

(the epicenter was only a few short miles from where I lived growing up)

This was a holiday Monday - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The earthquake had a "strong" moment magnitude of 6.7, but the ground acceleration was one of the highest ever instrumentally recorded in an urban area in North America.Seventy-two deaths were attributed to the earthquake, with over 9,000 injured. In addition, the earthquake caused an estimated $20 billion in damage, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

 <sup>We lived in a 2 story house.  FYI The jolted is felt MUCH stronger on the 2nd story.  I remember waking up and seeing flashes of blue in the sky. Come to find out it was the transformers blowing.  Crashing and banging and of course SCREAMS! I think that is the 1st time we came together as a neighborhood. As soon as the jolts stopped we all made our way outside.  All of us kids were afraid to go back inside.  There were a lot of aftershocks. Even some pretty good jolts. 

When it was light enough to see inside, we went in to survey the "damage"  There was A LOT!   We will never know how we did NOT cut our feet with all the broken glass on the ground.  My mom lost lots of her precious moments and such in her 2 hutches. We truly were blessed that day that is for sure.  My oldest sister, Jana (who was pregnant) and her husband were living with us.  She started having contractions due to the earthquake, but all was well and the baby held out til March 4th.</sup>

I even remember that my marine came to check on me and my family when it got light enough outside. (yes we have been together THAT LONG... actually longer) He said he wasn't afraid.  The only reason he woke up is all his sisters and his daughter were screaming!  

^{For the next week or so we were wall to wall slumber party every night in the livingroom to sleep.  All of us kids were so afraid to even go upstairs.  We always had our "buddy" with us Just in Case.  We slept with shoes on and had flashlights right next to us.  It was even hard for my siblings to go back to school. (I graduated in '92 and was going to Moorpark College)  But they were at least able to put all those earthquake drills to use.}

^{This is one of the biggest reasons I "Prepare for the worst" now.  We have our 72 hour kits..... working on our year supply.  This truly was a day I will NEVER forget!}

Was it something I said??

Ok to most people the "follower" number on your blog is NO BIG DEAL!  But for SOME reason it means PEOPLE LIKE ME!  I know that is totally DUMB.  I get it.  I have been at 19 followers for about 6 months now.  I got so excited when I made it to 19.  But today I logged onto the blog and I am at 18.....

WHAT?  

WHAT DID I DO TO LOOSE A FOLLOWER? 

 DID I SAY SOMETHING WRONG? 

DID I NOT WRITE ENOUGH? 

IS MY BLOG NOT INTERESTING ENOUGH? AM I NOT COOL ENOUGH? 

WHAT?   

 I know that is totally dumb.  But I LOVE having followers.  I LOVE blog hopping and checking out others creativeness. Man there are some AWESOME blogs out there.  I follow Military wives blogs, craft blogs, church blogs and family blogs. I LOVE them all!  I have spent HOURS on the computer today checking them all out. (what better thing to do on a sunday when you are home with a sick kiddo, right?)

Oh well.  I will get over this silly thing.  MAYBE 1 day I will hit 20 followers.... someday!  

I need some help.....

I have been doing A LOT of blog hopping lately.  There have been days that it has consumed a FEW hours of my day (Ok I WON'T admit it's been more like 5 of 6 hours)

I am so grateful that there are SO MANY talented and Crafty people WILLING to share of their talents!  There are so many ideas out there that I WISH I came up with (or could even do for that matter)  

On facebook a few days ago there was a post going around about paying it forward in 2011 and MAKING something for 5 people that signed up to pay it forward too.  Well I guess I am pathetic or something because out of my 282 friends 3 signed up. YUP just 3.  And the sad thing was the three were my 2 sisters and 1 cousin.  WTHeck is up with that?  I AM crafty (in a way) I have a SUPER idea to send to people.  I SOOOO want to make it and noboby wants my gift. Boo Hoo.  Ok so enough feeling sorry for myself.  

So I am passing this offer onto any of my 19 followers..... ANY of you that want to make something HOMEMADE and PAY IT FORWARD and want to receive a HOMEMADE gift from ME just leave me a comment.  (If I don't have your address you can email me that if you'd like or leave it here too)  PLEASE don't let me DOWN! 

My GOAL for 2011 is to make it a HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS.  My marine and I are planning on this and so that means I gotta get to work. YES ALREADY!  I need to figure out some fun stuff that is just the right thing for our family. And YES my goal is also to get CHRISTMAS gifts done and mailed BEFORE CHRISTMAS this year.  I sure hope that starting NOW I can accomplish my goal!

I just can't get enough

 I just can't get enough of this sweet girl.  

 

She makes me smile.

Do I get the MOTHER OF THE YEAR AWARD?

So this morning after dropping the girls off at school, the baby and I came home. It is the "norm" that I get here "twomies" (Lucky Charms as she calls them) while she sits to watch Mickey mouse Clubs.  I jumped on the computer for a minute BEFORE getting her breakfast.  Next thing I know she is bringing me this

She wanted Peanut & butter and dip crackers.  She even showed me the picture like on the box.  So YES I gave in and gave her what she wanted.  It's good for you right?  Peanut butter is Protein, right?

She LOVED her breakfast so it was worth it.  So what if I DON'T win MOTHER OF THE YEAR.... my 2 year old LOVES me :)

TRYING to find the beauty

you know I have been told by A LOT of people out here in the nasty desert that it is beautiful!  You just have to LOOK and you will find the beauty around you.  

WELL, I have tried HARD for the last few weeks to find that beauty.  And this is the thing that I find "beautiful" out here

 the sunrise yesterday morning

This is the sunrise this morning.  The colors are amazing and yes it kinda even makes it worth getting up at the crack of dawn to see this!

 

Curlers galore

My girls LOVE to get their hair curled.  Well NOT Haylee (she already has curly hair) she LOVES to straighten hers.

The other day Sydney wanted me to put curlers in her hair before bed.  Of course Delaney had to follow along and "copy" her big sister.  

 Sydney's "before"

Delaney's "before" (this is all the curlers lasted for.  Just long enough for a picture)

My Shirley Temple. She got tons of compliments on it.  Doesn't she look adorable???