purple slide park

This is the boys' new favorite playground. It's really called Glen Lake Park, but the boys call it "Purple Slide Park", because, you guessed it, it has purple slides. :)

Paul and Sakina came too. The boys were SUPER excited.

This day we also met up with some of our new friends, the Wallace family and the Roger family. They both have boys in Matix's sunbeam class. All 4 boys became fast friends and now we hang out quite a bit. Hooray!

Typical Hawken. Eating.

Typical Matix. Pondering.

Typical Lullaby. Sleeping. - This is Tracy by the way, she is a baby lover, and Lullaby loves her.

Sunday

Well Matix is officially a BIG KID! He read a scripture in Primary on Sunday. Actually, I read it and he repeated it... I was so excited, he was so excited... really, it was a huge moment for him. We practiced a few times before and even though the microphone wasn't working, he did a good job. I thought maybe he would be nervous, but he wasn't at all. You're amazing Matix man.

Also, it was fast and testimony meeting and both boys got up to share their testimonies... Matix went first and started with "Hi people!" He got a few laughs which made him happy. Hawken gave a more real testimony and said "Jesus says don't fight with each other". Neither boy was prompted to say what they said. I was so proud.

look-alike

Guess who this is? It's NOT Lullaby, although it looks almost exactly like her...

It's baby Matix. He looked a lot like her when he was a baby, although she definitely has her own look going on, I think she looks more like Matix than Hawken, except her eye color, which is more like Hawken. I make cute babies. :)

Lullaby

This is my new favorite picture of Lullaby.

She has been loving being down on the ground, playing with or at least near the boys. She is such a happy baby. She looks like this most of the time. So sweet.

Kids Workshop

Each month Home Depot does a "kids workshop". I knew about it for a while, but we didn't end up going until December. I thought it would be too challenging for my little guys, especially since I wouldn't be able to help much with a baby strapped to me. :) Buuuuuuuut, we went there on the day they were holding the workshop for some other things, and the lady at the door greeted us and told us where the workshop was... So we tried it out. Hawken sat in the "car cart" most of the time Matix was making his snowman napkin holder, but then at the end decided he wanted to make one too. The employees were SUPER helpful and good with the boys. These ended up being Christmas presents. They were very proud of them.

Since then, we have gone every month. They got a free In January they made banks, which they love and use all the time. That one involved painting, which was messier than I thought it could be, but the end results were great.

In February they built and then painted little heart boxes. We were planning on sending them to Emmy and Ellie (their betrothed) for Valentine's Day, but time got away from me and now they want to keep them. (Sorry girls.) Paul came this time too, which was fun. Lullaby enjoys the view from a foot higher, I think. :)

And, of course, balloons to end the day...

March was our favorite so far. They built CARS! If you know my boys at all, you know how much they LOVE cars! For some reason this time there were lots of companies at Home Depot promoting their products and services too. They all had little freebies, so besides their cars, we got ice cream, face paint, 2 levels, 2 tape measures, 1 mini screwdriver set, balloons, and more I think. They were SO happy. :)

Matix asked for "a princess with blue eyes like Cinderella, and blue hair too, PLEASE" The very nice face painter obliged and painted him a princess. Matix was SOoooooo pleased. He walked with his cheek forward to show it off. Then he asked how to kiss his princess... Hmmm...

What kid doesn't love ice cream?

April 7th will be the next kids workshop, and we can't wait to go. It's super fun.

Study study study

Paul finished his pediatric rotation with Dr. Flowers (perfect name for a pediatrician, right?) a few weeks ago. He loved every minute of it and got a TON of hands on experience. This has been one of our favorites so far. Then he decided to take off the next 6 weeks to study for his STEP 2 test. This is ANOTHER big one. He was supposed to be doing his psych rotation, but thought it would be best to be able to concentrate on just studying. This is his study schedule:

5am - wake up, yoga, read scriptures, eat breakfast (alone, so sad), and start question banks

7am - boys wake up, paul juices a few veggies, kisses his kids good bye and leaves to go to the library to study for the day.

7pm - Paul returns home, tells the boys a good night story (some nights) and kisses them good night, eats dinner and spends some much needed time with me.

9pm - Bed.

That's almost 14 hours of studying EVERY DAY (except Sundays) minus only a few minutes for a break here and there. He is very regimented.

Impressed? I am. Paul is such a work horse. He is so dedicated and amazing. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers for his upcoming test in another couple weeks. This test is crazy hard and very stressful, and although I know he will do just fine, all the extra well wishes would be very nice. :)

peas for Lullers

Lullaby eats peas for the first time, and this is what she thinks...

Now it's time to clean up. She likes to bite on the wet paper towel, just like baby Matix did. This day, apparently, it didn't taste very good. :) I love her expressions!!

couponing

I think I am done taking pictures of my loot. I have figured out a good system, and am consistently bringing home free stuff, so the pictures would just get annoying... A recent friend/acquaintance who throws away old newspapers gives me the ones with the coupons in them. Sometimes I get quite a few. I look through them, and then read online ads, blogs and coupon forums to see if any of my coupons match the sales. For example, the "got2b" hair products which are normally priced for $5.99 each, were on sale buy 1 get 1 free at Walgreens. According to Walgreen's coupon policy, you can you use 2 coupons in a buy 1 get 1 free deal, meaning the coupons that I had for $3.00 off 1 got2b product made it FREE if I bought two products and used two coupons... So, thanks to old newspaper guy, I had 40 coupons, which equaled 40 free hair products if I used them all. The idea of couponing is to hold onto the coupons and use them in conjunction with a sale to make the best deal for you.

This last picture is from a haul that I made at Walmart, one of the only stores that allows overage, they paid me $1.39 to leave the store with contact solution, cans of dog food, toothpaste, etc... see the picture. It was awesome. The best sites that I have found for freebies and coupon sale matching are: couponmom.com, thekrazycouponlady.com, wildforwags.com, and mrcouponer.com... there are a ton more too. All worth checking out if you have a printer for the online coupons, or if you can get your hands on some Sunday inserts (red plum and smart source). Try it out, it's completely addicting.