a random picture

Here is a picture from last december when I had Brent.  Ellie is trying to help him talk on the cell.  She looks so young here wow. 

Neither of my kids slept last night they took turns waking up every three hours.  what is this madness? 

This is my son

here we go... picture time.  I'm not getting too crazy just putting one picture on here.  Here is Brent as we were putting up the lights on the tree the other day.  his hair sticks straight up all the time and I love that. he is also obsessed with anything electrical and has already pulled our christmas tree over.  Ellie was not amused, she got pretty ticked off actually.  haha.  I wonder how many times he is going to pull the tree over before christmas actually comes (it's a small tree.)  He also took his first steps the other day.  This boy is going to be walking soon!

Lets keep in touch

So it may seem like I am MIA.  I'm not really I just have a lot of stuff I am working on.  Somebody is getting a home made doll house for christmas!! What!  I promise I will take pictures. I wanted to write this telling you guys if you want to see what I am doing more recently then follow me on instagram.  My username is behindthebokeh I get on there a lot more than the blog.  I still want to keep in touch but it's so hard to get on here.

And speaking of social media I've also been debating about deleting my Facebook.  Facebook has turned into a big garbage hole time waster, not that it wasn't before but in 2005 it was a lot different than what it is now.   I feel like all facebook is now is just a bunch of spam, forwards, brags, and hates.  And 99% of the stuff on there is from people who are are not really my friends.  The only thing preventing me from deleting it is the contacts I have on there.  But I still find myself logging on (why? idk), and after my little facebook fix I find myself feeling worse than when I started.  So my goal for the past while is to only log on to facebook once a week and I have been doing good but I would love to make that once a month, or never (haha).  Realistically though, once a month should be about good.

So long story short if you want to find me I'll be on Instagram, I'll try to be a little better about this blog thing too but that will be few far in between.  Or just call me, text me, or hang out with me in real life and we can catch up, have a play date, make christmas cookies or something.

ciao!

Long time no see... (Video update)

Hi world,
It's been a long time.
There's been someone else, actually there is two someone else's.

My beautiful, sweet kids.

So if pictures are worth a thousand words than a video is worth a zillion times more than that.  Enjoy!

Here we are at the beach, this is actually a compilation of several beach trips put together.  Some highlights, playing in the waves, the rides and dancing at the boardwalk, and just hanging out.

And around the house...










Sorry for my annoying baby voice in this one

Songs

I love this song, and this song.

More mature than most

Some say that my son is more mature than most.  I happen to agree.

Life

There's nothing that will get you blogging faster than actually having real computer work that you don't want to do.  Which is probably why I blogged a lot more in college.  haha.  I have been up most nights until 2-4am preparing for this a wedding I am going to shoot on Sat.  I'm actually mostly excited with just a dash of nervous.

So here is my little shadow.  The kitchen is her go-to place.  If we have guests come over she high tails it to the kitchen.  I don't really know why.  She is always wants to watch, touch, taste, and "help" with everything I do in there which frequently results in a mouthful of flour, handful of egg, or fingers coated in raw chicken juice.   

 She is so high energy, but I wouldn't want her any other way. :) 

 See, she doesn't even know what it is, but she wants it anyway.

 I asked her if the green onion tasted good and she gave me an ecstatic "Yes!"

 She spit it out a minute later.

Brent on the other hand just busy being super adorable.  His favorite activities are laughing, being held, crying, eating, and sleeping.  Basically he has a rough life.

 What a cutie.

Baby giggles

I love how each of my kids are so unique.  It is so easy to make Brent laugh (and also cry haha).
I hope this video makes you smile.

Recipe & Coupon

So when it comes to couponing I'm not one of those ladies who end up with cartfuls of stuff for free.  I'm more like a not-so-extreme couponing lady.  But hey, it adds up.  I just put one or two things on my radar and focus on those, not the whole grocery store.  So I found a really great deal I would like to share with you so maybe you can get these deals too.

Store: Safeway

Item: Triscuts- on sale for $1.75

Use: This coupon ($1 off 1) (print it twice if you want to get two boxes)

        and claim this week Checkout 51 rebate ($1) 

Final Price:  .25 Money Maker!! on one! YAY! 

See? It's like you HAVE to buy it.  haha.

The second box will cost you .75 but that still is a great deal considering they are usually 3ish dollars normally.

So after you get this deal you can make this Cheese Ball recipe and use the crackers to dip into it.  My friend Katie made it for a party and it is SOOO good.  

Store: Safeway

Item: Lucky Charms and Reese's Puffs- on sale 3 for $5

Use: .60 off 1 coupon printed from Pillsbury.com website.   Safeway will double the coupon :)

Final Price: .46 cents per box!!!  Your welcome :) 

(you have to sign in to Pillsbury.com to get coupons and you can print two of each coupon per day so stock up before you go to the store)

Last week this cereal was even cheaper and I got it for .20 cents each but I didn't know about it in time to share with other people but I would still consider .46 cents a box cheap. 

___________________________________________________

So enough about that, I went outside and went running for the first time yesterday and I felt like I was going to die. I'm so out of shape :(  I hope that my motivation will stay strong and I will get rid of this baby weight.  It has been four months and I still can't fit into any of my clothes.  It's really depressing. 

Ellie is also kinda jealous of Brent.  When she's in a bad mood she fake cries & tantrums when he touches her and says that he "kicked her" or "hit her" and sometimes when I'm not watching she will go up and smack him.  I'm trying to teach her that she has to be nice to the baby and I try to give her just as much attention but she isn't an only child anymore.  Idk what to do.  

Ellie is a pro @ going potty now which is awesome.

Brent is good. His head is so fuzzy, skin so soft, giggles and coos.  He still wakes up 2-3 times a night though, but cest la vie.

Well, I gotta go.  I got laundry to fold, a shower to take, babies to bathe, floor to mop, meals to make, a house to clean, a yard to TLC, bugs to kill, and some work to do on the computer.

Brag Post!

Sorry for being MIA the past month, the kids are keeping me busy.  Brent is still not sleeping through the night, we successfully potty trained Ellie, and am constantly cleaning up messes.  I'm starting to believe that my new hobbies are sweeping and mopping. ha ha. 

Even though they are a handful I think my kids are so cute! I love them soooooooo much!

So I don't think you all are aware but I am now an official crazy coupon lady.  whoo hoo!  A combination that TLC show and wanting to pay off student loans sparked this little obsession.  And once I got started I learned that it is actually pretty fun! I see why some well-off people do it just for fun and then donate it to the needy.

So I'm going to take a moment to brag about some of the cool stuff I got at awesome prices! I am now proud to say that I have enough TP to last the whole year, and I bought it all for less than $10!  That's 132 rolls, say whaaaaaat! You better recognize!

Seventh Generation dishwashing detergent: -$1

Finish dishwashing detergent: FREE

Finish Jet Dry: FREE

Ammonia: .10

Kashi Cereal: $1.00

Quilted Northern TP 30ct: $2.47ish

Angel Soft 36ct: $4ish

Laundry detergent: FREE-$1.00

I also get other cereals like Cheerios for $1 pretty frequently but they are not in the pictured. 

oh yeah... oh yeah... you jelly! you jelly! 

The ice that happened a couple weeks ago

Ice storms are one of the most beautiful things in the world (at least I think so.)  This one came through a couple weeks ago, and I just love how ice storms encase every leaf, every blade of grass, every piece of bark, and every recycling bin (lol) in crystal. Yes, it also super dangerous, while I was out taking these pictures I heard snaps of tree branches breaking all around me and falling to the ground every five mins.  Trees can't hold up that much ice (see third picture down the tree in background) Power lines can't holdup that much either. but yeah so here we were...

During sunset (and also melting)

pic from my cell. (my instagram)

My family staying cozy-warm with their little human heater :) cuddles anyone?

Crazy rocker bathtub baby

Have you ever seen a new baby be this crazy in the tub?
I haven't.

Christmas

Christmas with a newborn is pretty much summarized in this picture.  The toddler is up and crazy while the grown-ups are ready to die.  Our Christmas was pretty pathetic.

Just so happens that I developed my bout of mastitis overnight and was full blown christmas morning.  Talk about feeling like death... The best way I can describe it is it feels like someone shot you in the chest with a shotgun at point blank range and every move and shift in weight is like rubbing salt in the wound.  If that's not enough the high fever and headache amplifies sound so when your trying to take care of a crying baby it's like someone is blowing a airborne right next to your ear.

I tried to spend some quality time with these two, they are funny.  Ellie is afraid of heights and she clings to McKay for dear life.  I took a couple pics but for the most part I stayed in bed.  We didn't even have dinner that's how pathetic it was.  

It's had been snowing too, and Ellie went out to help McKay shovel

These two bonded over some popcorn and a movie.  It actually happened a lot during those first few weeks.

A few days later after taking antibiotics I tried to take some more pics.  Our four ft tree didn't provide the amount of cool background as I was hoping for though.

This picture of Brent ended up being what I used for his baby announcements, and I put some of the pictures Lindsay took on the back. I like how it turned out.

I'm glad this Christmas over.  It was hard but I guess we survived... barely. I would never re-live it again.  But at least the rest of the Christmas' from here on out will be fun!

Random pictures of newborn life

Chicken legs!!

Cute hospital pics

My friend Lindsay, the one who takes wedding photos with me, came to the hospital and took pictures for us. Thanks Lindsay!  They are so cute and love them so I wanted to share.