Bribary

I was in getting Olivia dressed while the boys were cleaning up their room when I heard this "transaction" take place.
Logan: Porter if you make my bed for me I'll give you a chocolate bar.
Porter: Okay Logan, Super fast! (he then proceeds to go and make Logan's bed for him.)
Logan then came into Olivia's room and said, "mom you need to buy Porter a chocolate bar for making my bed for me."

Yes bribary is a tool I have used a many a times with my boys, I wonder if it's rubbing off.

Favorite Things Tag

I got this tag from my cousin-in-law Tiffany, and I thought it looked really fun. It has taken me a little while to think of this and to remember it all, so here it is. (I'm really looking forward to anyone else who wants to do this, I love new ideas for doing things.)



We all have things that work so well for us and might even work for other people - if only they knew! So here's a new "tag" - your 5 best tricks or current favorites. ANYTHING: recipes, finding deals on clothes or groceries, favorite websites, projects that turned out great, how to get your kids to do jobs, practice the piano, whatever...if you love something, share it! Right?!



1. Being Frugal is Fabulous- This is a website that lists coupons matching sales like at walgreen and rite aids and other places. It also lists freebies, and the red box code (see below). I can do the coupon matching thing on my own, but it's always nice for me to just be able to look and see if there's anything I need from there. Like last week Walgreen's was having a sale on Huggies diapers for $9.99, if you spent $25.00 you recieved a $10.00 coupon to spend there. This website had $5.00 off coupons on Huggies so I used 3 of those with the $10.00 coupon I got 3 jumbo packs of diapers for $5.00, YAY! (I have a link on my side bar)

2. Deal Seeking Mom- (Freebies section) Here this lady lists all of the "freebies" that you can get. I have recieved quite a bit of formula that I may or may not use. A free Playtex bottle that I love, and lots and lots of free sample diapers, pads, coupons, and sippy cups to name a few. So if you like free things check it out. (I also have a link to this on my side bar).

3. Red Box- For those of you in Utah this may not be so exciting for you. But Michigan is finally catching on to the Red Box craze. There was one but it was like 20 minutes away. Now the store that's 5 minutes away has one. It's new release's for a dollar a day. You can reserve them online or go and see what they have there at that store. Monday they have a free code to use for free rentals, (see frugal is fabulous). I love this system that way if we rent a movie that's not very good I don't feel like I wasted my money.

4. Sugardoodle.net- I love this website to get good ideas for church lessons, handouts and kid activities. It has a little bit of something for everyone and everything. It makes me wonder where these dedicated people come from who run these websites. I don't know if I could keep it up. (I have a link for this on my side bar too:)

5. Babysitting Co-Op- In Iowa we had a group of us in our ward who would switch kids off every friday night for a date night. I loved it, and it worked out great. I've talked about doing that again here in Michigan but Brandon's schedule is always crazy so it hasn't worked. So I got together with 2 other mom's in my ward and we switch our kids off every wednesday for 3 hours. It has helped with my errands so much to just take Olivia with me and not 2 whinney boys who are constantly asking how many things we have to get at this store. I think the other mom's like it too.

So there's my 5. I hope some of you will do this. It's always fun to see what works for other people.

Yea, Yay, Yeah, Yeay... Which is it???

Brandon and I have been talking about this word and its correct spelling. I just saw a new spelling for it. So which spelling is correct? And which one is the right word usage for excited? Do they all mean the same thing? I know this is VERY RANDOM, but I am really curious. Anyone know?

Other business, we just signed Porter up for FREE preschool. Honestly I am so stinkin' excited and so is Porter. That boy needs to get out of the house more than I can offer him. He will be going Mon-Thurs in the afternoon for a few hours. It will be great for the both of us:) When I was signing him up they asked about the other children in the home. She asked me where Logan was, since I hadn't brought him with us. I told her he was over at a friends house. She was pretty surprised and said, "really, how have you met people here already?" Me a little more surprised said, "oh we know people through our church." She just gave me a "wow, that's great," response and it ended there, (nope no missionary moment). But it made me think how lucky I am to be a member of the church. Since moving away from family that has been one of the biggest ah-ha things for me. There's always a friendly face and people who will invite me to everything, and befriend me. So no matter how many places I have to move to, hopefully not too many more. I have a group of friends. Okay, I know I'm so cheesy. To me it's just so nice to have that knowledge and to be apart of this great network. (No this is not a thanktimony or a testimony per se, just a ah-ha-mony:)

Just had to show a picture of the "Porter Pout"

More weekend pictures

Eveyone came out for the blessing (see previous post) and we did do some other things while they were here. The pictures are a little jumbled, so here goes. The Bishop's came in late thursday night. We visited for a little while and then went to bed. Friday we went to Cranbrook Science Museum. They had a little Dinasour exhibit, and then the regular museum stuff there. My mom and brother came late that night. The next day we went and spent some time at the park. The weather was so beautiful and warm. Logan started "cheating" people (racing and winning) and saying "I cheated you dad", etc... Grandma Bishop gave the boys giant bubbles and I think the grown-ups had more fun with them then the boys, Brandon especially;)

Sunday was the blessing. We took my mom and sky on a little sight seeing tour of Detroit, on the way to the airport. Then Brandon took everyone (his family) to Port Huron and walked around on the beach area there. Monday we went to the zoo. We love having family come out to visit us. It was a great weekend. We can't wait until we can go back to Utah too, maybe this summer.

Olivia's Blessing Day

On Sunday Brandon blessed Olivia. It was such a beautiful day. Brandon's mom and dad and sister (Holly), my mom and brother (Skyler) all came out for the weekend. I was so proud of Brandon. He did such a great job blessing her. I am so proud to be married to a man who honor's and uses his priesthood. It was a beautiful blessing. We almost were forgotten, the Bishop forgot to write down that we were going to bless her. When they went ahead with the sacrament we kind of panicked. Brandon wrote a note and took it up to the Bishop and Brandon did the blessing after that.
We were so grateful that some family could come out. Where we live so far away we really didn't expect people to be here. So thanks everyone that could come. The dress she wore my mom made for her. I tried it on her about a month ago and it was too short. Luckily my mom was able to fix it. Here are some of the pictures of our fun day.

Brandon, Holly and Olivia
A kiss from Papa

The Boys

Proud Daddy

My mom and me and my girl

2 Months

Wow, where does the time go? To quote a friend of mine, "pregnancy seems to last forever and then you have the baby and time just zips by", so true. Olivia is still the most fun little girl. She's getting her little personality and is just all smiles. She loves to be held and cuddled.

Look at these eyes aren't they just gorgeous. I love them, someday she's going to use those beauties to melt her daddy to get what she wants. I took her to the doctor today and he said that she looked so "mature" for her age because of how much hair she has. I get a lot of comments on her hair and she's got a mini mullet in the back where it's super long and then every where else is shorter.

I had to post this picture it's part of my 365 project which isn't going as strong as it was. But I took it because this was her first blow out and I thought since it hadn't happened before this she wasn't going to be a blow outer. Well boy was I wrong. It's rare to go a day where she doesn't have a blowout of some sort or another. Gotta love that yellow baby poop stains too.

These next two pictures are of her sunday dresses that are quickly becoming too small, this one above is one my sister gave her, so precious. Another funny thing she does is when she's really mad she'll grab a fist full of her hair and pull, and scream her guts out and it's all I can do to get her to loosen her grip before she pulls it all out. Crazy girl!

So as I mentioned we went to the doctor today for the dreaded shots. Not my favorite day, but I do like to see how she's growing. She's 23 inches long, (75%) 13lbs 5oz (97%) and 39cm (70%) for her head. We love having Olivia in our family. She has definately brought a specail spirit into our home and we just love her.

Can I get a woot! woot!

I know it's probably a fluke but Olivia slept 8 1/2 hours last night. It felt wonderful!

What's goin' on

Porter, Porter, Porter! This boy causes me so much joy and so much grief. He can be such a little stinker. He's started blaming his stuffed animals for everything he does that's naughty. He'll say "I didn't do it, it was monkey." Then he just giggles. He's also taken his 3 stuffed dogs and named them, Oscar, Kody, and Vidi. They also seem to be the ones who cause a lot of problems, like painting with tooth paste on the counters and slapping his brother until he wakes up. At the same time he is so cute with his sister, I don't think he could love her more.

Porter with Kody, Vidi, and Oscar
Last night was our ward ice skating party. We debated whether or not to even go since our kids are so little, but ended up going, they were giving us dinner and a free activity:) To say that our boys are natural ice skaters would be lying but it was fun, and we are all a little sore today. Olivia was with us but she slept the whole time and a friend of mine watched her for us.

Kindergarten Orientation

Logan had his kindergarten orientation the other night. According to him it was, "totally awesome!" Although when Brandon came home he said it wasn't for the kids, oops! It's crazy to think that he'll be a kindergartener in the fall. Where does the time go? Brandon was very impressed with the school and teachers. It will be all day kindergarten and that makes me nervous. I'll no longer be the one who he spends the most time with, and influence. But with the all day it gives him more exposure to everything that is him, art time and music and math. It will all work out, right?! Now to just figure out the bus system, (groan).

*** The last post most everyone got it right, Olivia, Logan, and Porter. I guess it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, oh well it was fun.

Can you tell who's who???

I've been asked almost by everyone who see's me with my kids if Olivia looks like her brothers did. So here goes a little test, can you tell which one is which?? Do they look alike to you? I think they look very much alike. In video's of Logan and Porter I can't tell them apart as babies, thank goodness they're labeled. So take a guess.