My new love affair

I am in love with coupons. I have recently discovered a group of blogs run by here in Alaska, who keep people updated with all the good deals, and where the coupons are. So, I decided to give it a shot.

In the above picture, there is:

3 containers of Dawn dish soap
2 bags of Halls throat lozenges
2 Herbal Essence shampoos (well, one shampoo, and one conditioner)
1 Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion
1 EmergenC Dual Pack
1 Chapstick (the fancy kind even!)
4 cans of chicken broth
1 Reese's Peanut Butter Cup
1 Peanut Butter M&M's
1 bag of gummi worms (for Megan)

Grand total? Da-da-da-da!! $8.96!! It should have been $38.74, for a grand savings total of $29.78. I think I'm addicted....

At long last, tumbling pictures and videos!

The school hike to the chapel on St. Sergius Day. I'm behind the camera with Marina, Megan is with Ellen Dyal, who is standing to the right of Josh (who is holding the icon). It was a fun hike!
Marina and I on the hike....and yes, it is cold enough to need winter hats. Grrr....

Marina and her Godmother, Hillary. What a great shot! Hillary packed Marina back for me, since Megan was a giant ball of whininess.
Megan at tumbling. All my pictures are a little blurry because she was so excited that I couldn't get her to stand still. She is doing her "TaDa!" finish.
Pom poms!



Marina trying to do everything the big girls do....and more.

The Jolly Rogers

The last few days have been a whirlwind of emotion, let me tell you. The hardest part was the funeral for Seraphima. She was so tiny and beautiful. I have always had a hard time with bodies; I've never been able to touch them, which has been frustrating to me. I really wanted to kiss Seraphima good-bye, but I didn't know if I'd be able to. I am so thankful that when I saw her, she was just the beautiful little baby I'd held a few days ago. I was able to touch her and kiss her without a second thought, which was very healing for me.

The funeral service for children is an amazing thing. I've never been so sad, yet so filled with hope, all at the same time. Seeing Danielle (her Mom) was the hardest part. Please continue to pray for this family. They have so much faith, which is pulling them through this tragedy, but they are all suffering.

Dn. John continues to plug away on the entryway. The priority now is getting the siding done before frost. It is doubly hard because 1) the pieces he has to cut to finish are complicated, time consuming, and annoying, and 2) he has about an hour and a half of daylight to work on it from the time we finish dinner until it's too dark outside to see. Last night was a sunny (but COLD!) evening, so I bundled Marina up in a snowsuit (no, I'm not joking) and plunked her in the stroller. She hung out next to Megan and I while we planted 80 tulip and daffodil bulbs around the yard. They will be so beautiful in the spring! I can't wait.

My kids continue to baffle me. Parenting is hard! Who knew? Megan waffles between being such a sweet little helper, and a screaming, whining whirlwind of madness. Today was the third day out of about the last five where she's begun the day by throwing herself on me in bed and screaming. What a way to start the day. Of course, right now, she's just playing with her baby dolls and being fine. Marina is having a massive growth spurt. For breakfast, she ate an entire banana, two eggs with diced ham, and a handful of cheerios. She's eating more than Megan these days. It's crazy. I took her to the doctor yesterday (she's been having some intestinal problems) and he's sending us to a gastro-endrochronologist for a check-up. He's not overly concerned, since she's growing and happy, but she's pooping bile salts (whatever that means) which apparently isn't a good thing.

As for me, I am sooooooo close to my savings goal for my new super-fancy sewing machine. I'm hoping to order it this weekend! I just have to get my bakery paycheck tomorrow, and I'll be there! I can't wait.

Prayers for the Hartmans

It breaks my heart to tell you that my friend Danielle's baby daughter, Seraphima Rose, died in her sleep early this morning. She was a month old, which is a few weeks longer than she was expected to live, thank God. She passed away quietly, in her mother's arms. Please keep the whole Hartman family in your fervent prayers.

Why we're broke

So the other day, I happened to walk by the trash. I did a major double take--on top of the pile of trash (thankfully, the can was almost full, so I didn't miss it) were two crumpled up five dollar bills. I pulled them out, and looked over at Megan, who was sitting at the table and eyeing me curiously.

"Megan, did you put these in the trash?" I asked.

"Yes Mama."

"Why?"

"Because I was done playing with them."

I thought about this for a minute, then another--much more important--question came to mind.

"Where did you get these?"

"I took them out of your purse."

Yikes.

It is freaking cold outside

Yes, you guessed it--it is FREAKING cold outside. There is snow on the mountains, and it was 39 degrees when I got into the car this morning. Plus, this evening I had to drive home IN THE DARK. Stupid winter is coming. I usually try to make it until October before I get out my winter coat, but I suspect I will cave this year. I bought Marina a super-cute winter coat today (for only $10, yay for used kids' stores), but Megan doesn't have anything. She needs the works...boots, coat, gloves. Ugh. Oh wait, that means I get to go shopping! I love shopping! Hooray!

Tomorrow is Dn. John's birthday. Megan has been telling everyone she meets about how he's going to turn "Firty" on his birthday. It's very cute. Although, this also means that I will be married to a thirty year old. Oh, excuse me--a "firty" year old. Weird.

A Star Trek Universe

I think if I lived on Star Trek, today would be the day to have a parallel universe. And in this parallel universe, there would be no dishes, no vacuuming, no laundry....heck, if we're fantasizing, then I just have a maid (and while we're fantasizing, I'm also 40 pounds lighter). This universe also involves babies who don't eat deodorant, and toddlers who don't delight in making gigantic messes when I'm not looking. Here in La-la Land, I am the perfect housekeeper, and there is always time to do things that I enjoy, like scrapbooking and sewing. Also, my novel is also in the Top 10 of the New York Times Bestselling List. Plus, I am so good at couponing that I only spend $30 a week on groceries, and all children are potty trained at 12 months.

*Sigh* A girl can dream, right?

Videos

Entryway Pictures

Sassy little girl!
Our new sliding door
From the front door, looking into the entryway
Dn. John doing important things (I have no idea what, though).
Notice the new paint on the dormers! They match the rest of the house now.

Marina's Birthday Pictures

Fair pictures

Nicolas and my killer cheesecake that should have won, but didn't. Oh well.
Waiting for the judging...


Petting goats with Aunt Jess. Notice Megan's "one finger" touch. That's as much as she would do, which is actually a huge step for her, to ACTUALLY TOUCH A LIVING ANIMAL. (That isn't a cat or a puppy).



They were soooooo tired!
I'm pretty sure Marina would've eaten the goats if we'd let her.
Megan attempting to dunk a policeman.
In Aunt Jess's fire truck!
Kind-of speaks for itself, doesn't it?

Megan's traveling

We bought tickets to go to South Carolina right after Christmas today. I told Megan about this, and she went and packed her little Elmo backpack (full of baby dolls and toys), put it on her back, and informed me she was ready to get on an airplane to go see her Grandparents. It's going to be a long wait for my little girl until December 27th!

Megan's Tumbling Class

Megan had her first "Tumbling and Creative Movement" class today, which basically means she and five other little girls get to dance around with fun toys (tambourines, ribbons, pom poms, etc.), then learn how to do somersaults and the like. Basically, it is the cutest thing I have ever seen. But the best part is that the teacher says they need to wear leotards. So, before Megan's next class, we are going to buy her a "pink leotard with sparkles" (Megan's request) to tumble in. *sigh* I was so meant to have little girls....

Another football season began this week, which just means that all Chicago fans will have an extra reason to be depressed for the next five months. (Gasp, did I just say that?) Poor Dn. John (and Breandan, Fr. Philip and Fr. Gregory, for that matter). Ah well. Hope springs eternal, right?

Julie & Julia

I went and saw Julie & Julia today with Kari and my sister. What a great movie. Definitely go see it! All about cooking and food...made me want to buy 50 pounds of butter and cook until the cows come home!

Another fall day

Well, our friend Michael made it into town last night from Chicago. He's here visiting for the week, and is currently painting the eaves with Dn. John outside. Next stop, siding! Yay!

We are really into fall here, in good ol' Alaska. The weather is crisp, with a tiny bite to it, and all the leaves are starting to change. My cranberry bushes are a brilliant shade of red already. This is leading me to want to be in my kitchen, creating delicious fall foods...pumpkin breads, jams, leaf shaped cookies...the works. Anything with cinnamon and nutmeg reminds me of autumn.

Marina had a great first birthday. We celebrated for her, with lots of hugs and kisses and presents with lights and sounds. Megan had a harder time, since she was pretty upset that it wasn't her birthday, but she eventually got over it since she got to play with all Marina's loot. Pictures to come soon, as well as a couple fun videos.

A year in pictures

Happy First Birthday Marina! I love you.