Everything's bigger in Texas. Don't Mess With Texas...

I just had a HUGE weight lifted off my chest... I got my tickets to see my family for Christmas.

Well, NOT Christmas day, the day after. Here's what Christmas will look like for me -

1. Josh gets off work 12/23 and we drive up to Seattle to spend actual Christmas there. Oh, yeah - not moving there til next year (WOOT!). Too much stress over it so we decided to wait. So far the best decision we've made in a long time.
2. Annual "stocking stuffer spending spree" on Christmas Eve. Josh and I do this every year.
3. Christmas day. Babies' first Christmas! Party it up (baby-style)
4. Christmas night - Josh is driving us to the airport to meet my sister and fly to Texas. Her flight gets in a midnight and she and I and the babies will fly back together. Did you really think I would be flying alone with two kids under a year old? Silly....
5. Flight gets in at 7am into Houston where my mom will be picking us up and I will be with my 5 other siblings for the first time in about ten years! And all of the cousins - my nieces & nephews and my children - will be together for the first time ever. Let the chaos ensue!!!

Did you notice that Josh won't be joining me? Yeah, I'm not happy about that but there isn't much we can do about it. He has to work, there's no getting around it. But at least we will be spending the holiday together... I did not purchase my ticket back yet - I will be staying for 1-2 weeks and my mom will be flying back with me to help with the twins on the flight. I was insanely lucky to get a direct flight there, but odds are slim I will get a direct flight back... And I am hoping a redeye flight will work in my favor and Dylan & Riley will just sleep most of the way... They are phenomenal little car travelers, so I hope that an airplane won't faze them. But I will probably have a couple of screamers for 4 hours.... we shall see!

New pics!

This might be one of my favorite photos ever (so far)...

Yes, we have a thumb-sucker!

Story time!

Fell asleep playing in the play yard..

It's amazing how much they grow and change each day. It seems like only yesterday they were itty-bitty, now they are sitting up and playing together like the old chums they are...

Yes, it's the holiday season...

Ahh... Christmas shopping.... What should I be getting for those on my list? Whatever I get I know that I will be shopping at CSN - they have everything from cookware to the perfect briefcase to kid's stuff...

Speaking of which.... 

Prince Lionheart Wheely Mouse

Super cute... they have a bee, cow, and ladybug too!

It's a Trike built for TWO!!!

I can see taking a walk with Dylan and Riley scooting along on this.....

It's now kind of freaking me out that before long Dylan & Riley will be using these like little pros...

I have shopped with CSN before and have been very happy with the product selections, prices, and my overall experience! Have you checked them out yet? CSN would be a great place to get all of that Christmas shopping done!

I am excited to be doing a CSN review soon! Stay tuned for that!

 

blooming...

So reading other blogs of twinners I am so happy that I am sometimes not alone in feeling overwhelmed at times. I put on a happy face and say "oh, twins aren't so bad. I guess I got lucky".

It is true that I got lucky. I got incredibly lucky with Dylan and Riley. I couldn't have chosen better babies if I had the choice to make. They are amazing, wonderful, overall easy babies, and I am so happy to have them in my life.

Which is why when they both get upset at the same time, I sometimes lose it. Sometimes it's just too much for me to take. Probably because it is so rare that it happens, I'm not prepared for it.

Today I have had a nasty cold, I'm tired, achey, my head hurts, etc etc. Josh has been so great today taking the babies and handling it all, but the mom in me comes out and I have to take control (or try to). So I start playing with them and they are fine until they are done with playing and start crying. So I am trying to console one while the other is getting jealous (seems to happen a lot lately). All I want to do is take a bath and relax, but I can't if they are both upset.

Josh offered to take them for a walk, which he did, and so I took a long soak while they were out. I hear them come home, I get out of the tub, get my jammies on, and come out to flowers and a card.

"I know things are tough right now,

but just remember - 

every flower that ever bloomed

had to go through a lot of dirt to get there." 

So true! I love my husband :)

Wordless Wednesday (video edition)

Pumpkin Patch!

Over the weekend we went to Heritage Farms Pumpkin Patch! We had so much fun :)

The kids seemed a little overwhelmed - they both had "serious face" going on. They were also enamored with the hay on the ground and kept trying to eat it! We met another Rylie who was a month older than Dylan and Riley and very cute :)

Enjoy the pictures! 

my trip to Safeway paid off big time..

Thank you to Jason and Amber for inspiring me to show my savings!

Ok, I am a couponer. Most of you know that. I am not one of those hoarders though (I don't have the room!) BUT I will get things like shampoo and toothpaste if it's a good deal. I have found that things like that we tend to run out of and end up paying full price... well no longer :)

This week's grocery trip (excuse the junk food - I usually buy fresh produce from a stand or I get frozen, which I have a ton of right now...)

The breakdown... (reg price in BLACK, sale in PURPLE, saved in RED)

2 - Pepperidge Farms Cookies $3.69 each
BOGO + .60 off coupon = $1.55 each/$2.14 savings

3 - 12pk Pop Tarts $3.29 each
SALE with in-store coupon $1.88 each + $1/3 = $1.54 each/$1.75 savings

1 - Oreo Cookies $3.49
SALE + $1 off coupon = $2.00/$1.49 savings

2 - Similac Ready Made $5.99 each
SALE $3.99 ea + $6 in coupons from Similac AND $5 Similac gift check = $0/+3.02 MONEYMAKER

1 - Celestial Seasonings Tea $3.59
SALE $2.00 + $1 off = $1/$2.59 savings

1 - Bounce Dryer Bar (2 month) $5.99
SALE $3.99 + pgesaver ecoupon and $2.50 off coupon = .49/$5.50 savings

15 - Friskies cat food .65 each
SALE .45 each + $1/15 = .38 each/ .27 savings

6 - Stouffer's frozen dinners $2.79 each
SALE $2.25 each + 10% off all frozen in-store coupon = $2.02 each/.77 savings

2 - Marie Callendar's Dinners for 2 $5.69 each
SALE $4.76 each + $1.50 off coupon + 10% off all frozen = $2.78 each/$2.91 savings

2 - Lysol Disenfecting Wipes $3.99 each
SALE $2.50 each + $1/2 coupon = $2 each/$1.99 savings

2 - Glade Plugins Twin refill $5.99 each
1 - Glade Relaxing Moments Spray $3.99
SALE - Plugins $4.99, Spray $2.50 + BOGO Plugins, $1 off Plugins, BOGO Spray, $1 off spray = Plugins $2.00 each & Spray FREE + $1 off = $3 for everything!/$12.97 savings They let me stack coupons Woohoo!

1 - John Frieda Redhead Shampoo $5.99
SALE Clearance $2.99 + $2 off coupon = .99/$5.00 savings!

2 - Balance Bar $1.25 each
SALE $1 each + BOGO coupon = .50 each/.75 savings

The only thing I bought reg price was hairbands for Riley for $2.79 ;)

TOTAL REG PRICE: $112.33

TOTAL SPENT: $43.26

TOTAL SAVED: $69.07 (62%)

I find most of my coupons in the Sunday papers and have them organized in a binder so I can see them all easily as I go down the aisles. Today Riley slept through the entire shopping trip and Dylan charmed the pants off of everyone he saw. Not literally. Thank goodness.

I'm awesome. You can say it.