Happy Halloween!

OK, I have to admit- Ben and I were Halloween humbugs this year. We didn't take the girls trick-or-treating. We didn't go to our church Halloween party. We didn't even buy candy to hand out to kids who were trick-or-treating (we do have a reason- we went to my cousin's house for dinner so we weren't even home to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters).

BUT, we did dress our girls up in the cutest costumes for pictures and to show off to my cousins:

I think Claire is being eaten here:So I guess Halloween wasn't so bad after all!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

For A Cause

One year ago today, Cici had her choking accident and the Fischer family changed forever. Now Jenny- the loving, optimistic, amazing mother of three, has also become fundraiser extrodanaire, insurance guru, and medicaid "expert." Their lives have been turned upside down and inside out, but their perseverance, love, and determination have continued strong.

In honor of their continued fight, my sister and I have teamed up in a fundraising event for the Fischers. Money raised will be donated to Cici's hyperbaric treatment fund (these are $200 a session, and in order to be effective they do large amounts of sessions in a short period of time- 60 sessions in 30 days- obviously, this is extremely expensive and insurance won't cover it at all. BUT- it is working, and Cici has greatly improved as a result of these treatments!).

From now until November 15th, you can order Mary Kay Cosmetics and Skin Care from my website* at http://www.marykay.com/cmarriott
and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the fund. Mary Kay continues to be an industry leader in the cosmetic and skin industry, with a plethera of new and exciting products just in time for the Christmas season. I can create gift baskets to fit any budget- FREE of charge! Also, shipping is FREE for any orders placed in the continental US. If you have any questions, simply contact me.

Also, any orders placed for Sandbox Creations- beautiful and fun gifts for girls- at http://www.decremer.org/sandboxcreations/ until November 15th will have profits donated to the Fischer family as well. If you have any special request, simply contact Stephanie and she will customize your order special to fit your needs!

There are a couple of ways to get involved:

1. Order gifts for yourself, family, or friends
2. Spread the word- we don't care who orders, we just want to raise as much money as possible for this wonderful and deserving family!!!

*If you already have a MK consultant, rather than ordering from me, please ask your current consultant to donate a portion of any orders you make from now until the 15th to this fund.

Birthday Fun!

Yesterday Audra got to go to a Birthday party. It was so much fun- here are some videos and pictures of the fun time:

Claire "hung out" with Daddy the whole time:

This is Audra's first Birthday cake- at least, that had chocolate in it. Our plan of only feeding her healthy foods so she will have an aversion to sweets is working- she only liked the ice-cream part, not the chocolate cake part:

Oh, and yes Audra did pick out her outfit. And, yes, we did let her go out in public dressed like that. Pick and choose the battles, my friends, pick and choose the battles!

Perhaps We've Made It (yeah, right!)

Ben and I have never had cable in our married lives. We have always said, and I still agree, that cable is a complete waste of money- you just waste a lot of money to waste a lot of your time. I have often told him "I will know we have money to throw away the day we decide to get cable."

Well, we got cable (Dish Network actually).

But we don't have money to throw away. What happened?

Ben won an award at work that came with a bonus. Normally when he gets a bonus I try to talk him into taking me to a really nice restaurant or something, but his answer is always the same: Let's put it into savings. BORING!!!!

This time he decided he wanted to do something fun with it! I wasn't going to try and change his mind on that!!! He wanted a flat panel LCD TV (hence the scam post), but I was able to convince him that our TV is very nice and only 3 years old so we didn't need a new one.

His next idea: We would each get half of the money to do with as we pleased. HELLO!!!!! Do you think I was going to argue with that plan?!? No way! I told him how brilliant he is and that it was his best plan ever- besides marrying me, of course!

So, he decided he wanted cable- but not because of the cable. He really just wanted the DVR (which is very expensive if you don't have cable- just not a market for it, I guess). We have had it for a couple of weeks now, and we LOVE it!!!! We actually spend quite a bit LESS time watching TV because we record everything onto the DVR and fast forward the commercials!!! We haven't added any new shows (except some new ones out this season- I'll do a review of them soon) to our routine, we just watch our old shows faster!!! It's great! I don't think we will ever go back!

And, what did I spend with my half of the bonus? I went from this:

And this:To this:And this:

I have been begging Ben since the day we bought the house to let me replace the 1980's glass and brass- but he thought that was a complete waste of money (he is always so practical). Now we have new chandeliers and I LOVE them!!!! Yippee!!!!

Just Saying It Like It Is

You guys all know that I say things the way it is- I don't beat around the bush and I don't give a lot of BS. What you see is what you get with me. So, you know when I tell you this, it is the truth- plain and simple.

And here is what I have to say: I have, without a doubt, the cutest little baby in the world!!! And, I'm not biased at all:)

Two Quick Things

I found out about a FREE lunch at Ted's Montana Grill. You just go to this website http://www.tedsmontanagrill.com/ and answer their trivia question and then they e-mail you a gift certificate for a free lunch (well, you'll probably want a drink and then the cost of the tip- so an almost free lunch at a really yummy restaurant!). Anyway, I thought if you are a SAHM inparticular and you wanted to get together to go to lunch with our free coupons (getting baby-sitters, of course) that would be fun. E-mail me if you want to go! I took the quiz yesterday- I'd give you the answer, but I feel like that's cheating- you should have to go to ask.com to find the answer for yourself (but, if you really don't want to, just e-mail me!).

Also, my friends' husband started a conservative political blog, and I thought since you all get to read my liberal rants from time to time, and I also promote the Political Moms site which is more liberal, I would give you guys his site to check out as well: http://thewtfreport.blogspot.com/

Now you can't say I'm totally one-sided!

Too Funny!

Audra: What are you doing?

Daddy: Getting soup for lunch.

Audra: We're eating poop!

I guess we need to work on the "s" sound!

Three Months!

Clarie turned three months old yesterday- the newborn phase is over! She is still the cutest and sweetest thing- her smiles are so big, and she has the most adorable dimples. She hasn't figured out her voice box yet, so she will open her mouth real big in excitement and look like she wants to laugh, but doesn't make a sound- it is pretty funny. Audra still thinks she is the best thing ever, and will constantly say, "I wanna hold Dare!"

But, the best thing thus far about Claire is her nighttime routine. Here is how to put a Claire-bear to bed:

1. Swaddle Claire

2. Put Claire in swing

3. Turn off light

That is IT! She falls right to sleep. Then, she sleeps until about 3, but all I have to do is put her in bed with us and we both fall right back to sleep. Then, at 5 she wakes up to nurse, and we both fall back to sleep again. I am amazed that I am really not sleep deprived anymore. Granted, she may sleep in our bed until she turns 5, but if I get sleep, I don't really care.

Quick stats:

Weight: About 12 lbs, 8 oz

Height: About 24 inches

And, of course, still practically perfect in every way!

Seeing The Bright Side

The last couple of days have been very frustrating. Audra is becoming very good at trying my patience. Generally, she is a wonderful toddler- very few tantrums and usually very good at following directions. But the last few days have been...hard. She thinks it is funny to go into time-out, run away, and have mommy or daddy carry her back. I checked out the Supernanny book from the library, but that didn't help. She just laughs and laughs while I scream inside out of frustration. I called my sister to ask how she kept herself from breaking things and she said, "sometimes, you just gotta give yourself a time-out." So, after trying to get her to stay in time-out for over 30 minutes (again) with no success (again), I went into my room, shut the door, and cried and prayed. I don't like being angry at my daughther. I don't like contemplating putting her in day care (not me going back to work, just putting her in day care) because I can't handle her.

The next time, with the next time-out attempt, I decided the time-out area was not going to work. I decided to have a "naughty room" instead. This actually seems to be working, thank goodness, but there is one problem: the "naughty room" is really Claire's room. Good thing Claire is still in our room, but what happens when Claire needs her room back? I guess, like most things involving raising children, I will take it one day at a time.

Anyway, back to being frustrated with Audra. She is having problems- like all 2 year olds- listening. I know she knows exactly what I am saying, and she will give me this look that obviously says, "I'm going to do it anyway- what are you going to do about it?" and then does whatever she was not supposed to do. I hate the disciplining part of parenting- I hate feeling out of control and unsure of what to do. It has been so difficult.

But then, on the other hand, how can I not love this:

And this:Her absolutely fun and eccentric personality that now requires her to wear a dress to bed at night, the way she says, "help, please, mama", begs me to let her hold Claire, and gets strawberry juice all over her face- I love her so much, and I know I really will miss these times- no matter how frustrating they are right now. We were watching some video of her last night (Audra's favorite thing to do- look at pictures of herself) from last Christmas, and I was reminded again that she really is growing up so fast, and I am grateful for this time I have with her- even if I need to give myself a time-out to cry every now and again.

My Favorite Girls

With a little morning hair...

Great Deals!

For those of you in the CO area, I found a great website: http://springsbargains.com/

It is based in Colorado Springs, but seems to work the same here as well. It is a group of moms (I am guessing) who put together lists of all the great deals at local grocery stores and shops. I am starting to be a coupon-er and this has been a huge help because it tells you what is on sale and what coupon to use with it to get the best deals. You have to search a little bit to find whatever store you go to, but go and check it out- it is pretty cool!!!

Also, October 7th is a free day at the zoo. If the weather is nice, I think I am going to take the girls down. It's a Wednesday, so I don't think it will be too busy (hmm...we'll see). E-mail me if you are interested in meeting us there!!!!