SUPER great deal!!

Before you read any further ask yourself, How much would I pay for this vase and filler combined?  I am so very excited about this great deal!  I am a bargain hunter but it's only a bargain to me if it's still really great quality at a really great price.

I have had this in table in our hallways upstairs, for quite some time, just waiting for the right something to put on top.  Many many times I have seen just the perfect thing, but on a dental students budget, I had to pass.  My wait is over and I did better than I possibly could have hoped for.

It all started Friday when I went to Kohls.  I went looking for some pajamas for Lane's birthday.  I went to Kohls because I got this $10 gift card in the mail.  I think it's their marketing attempts to get people in the store.  IT worked.  I didn't find pajamas but I did find this vase.  Normally it costs $39.00.  The sign on the table said it was 50% off.  I thought $20 was pretty darn good for this vase.  When it was rung up it was $15.99, even better.  What's even better than that, I had that $10 gift card.  So I paid $5.99 for this vase.  Can you believe it?  Seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better deal!
Oh but the deal did get better.  I had remembered seeing these green spheres at pottery barn over the summer.  Fortunately they still had them.  I was even happier to discover that on clearance they were $0.99 a piece.  It took 12 to fill the vase leaving my total at

Only $18.86        Wooohooo!

One of a Kind

Jeremy just cracks me up.  He is so his own person.  He has always been a kid that knows what he wants and stands behind it.  Agency is very important to him.  He has recently been wearing his hats inside out.  The only thing I can gather, he's exercising his right to chose where he can.  Every time in the past couple of weeks I hand him a hat to put on he reverses it and wears it with confidence.  It always makes me smile.

Now for a super funny story about Jeremy, or at least I think so.  It's just so typical Jeremy.  I had made hard boiled eggs and put them in the fridge.  A few hours later I opened the fridge.  Gotta love that sulfur smell.  I said, "Whooohhh!  Those eggs are stinky!!"  Then Jeremy  says,

"No!  That smell is me!"  

He wasn't even stinky.  He just makes me laugh!  About 15 minutes later, Riley and Jeremy are sitting on the couch and Riley says,  "Jeremy is stinky!"  Power of suggestion you know.

Jeremy  quickly replies, "Nooo!  I"m not stinky!"

Now for....

Return of the spiders 3

If you are a newer reader to the blog, Jeremy use to use spiders as an excuse for anything he couldn't explain.  If you so desire you can check out those earlier posts.  This time Jeremy saw a little scratch on my hand and  asked me how it happened.  I said I didn't know and then I showed him the scrape on my other hand.  This is what Jeremy had to say,

"Oh!  A spider came and ate one of your fingers!"

me:  He ate one of my fingers?

Jeremy:  "Yes!  The spider ate right there too!"

Bucket head Part 2

Like I said in the previous post, Tyler loves to put bucket, bowls, hats, whatever, on his head.  He is always so pleased!

Tyler loves to put things on his head.  He thinks it is so funny!  It all started with this yellow bowl.  He would put it on his head and walk around and just laugh about it.  He will use other things too like the strainer.  By far my favorite one, which I unfortunately don't have a picture of is the Lego Duplo bucket.  One day when they were all dumped out he picked up the bucket and put it on his head.  As you can imagine it went down past his shoulders.  He proceeded to walk around laughing, bump into things, fall and laugh.  It was too funny.

So today I decided to put a hat on him since he finds so much enjoyment out of putting things on his head.  He loved it.  And he's just so darn cute!!

I was tagged twice for this, so here goes...

I am-  5'6''

I want-  to MATCH this year to an Ortho residency

I have-  a shoe fettish but since we're poor students, I don't feed into it.

I wish-  we would run into a boat load of money to pay off all of our student loans.  

I dislike-  seafood and fish except halibut, tuna, and cod

I fear-  my husband dying before we're old like in a car accident or something.

I hear-  Jeremy playing and Riley getting into the pantry.

I search-  clearance racks for good quality clothes at a great price.

I wonder-  if we're going to have another great depression.

I always-  lock the door when we come in the house.

I usually-  don't feel thirsty.  I have to make a conscious effort to drink water, otherwise I'll go almost all day w/out drinking anything.  I try not to do that.

I am not-  a funny person but I love being around people that are.  I wish I was but I'm just not.

I dance-  in my memories.  I love dancing!   Someday when our life slows down I want to get Lane to take swing lessons with me.  I love swing.

I sing-  with  the music I"m listening to but i"m not very good.

I never-  mow the lawn, Lane does it.

I rarely-  watch tv.

I cry-  when I'm really worried, mad, sad, or hurt and sometimes when I"m happy.

I am not always-  patient.

I lose-  board games occasionally.  I am a good sport but I do love to win.

I"m confused-  at times but I can't think of anything right now.

I need-  to go to the cannery.  

I should- go to Target tomorrow.

I dream-  about when Lane is done with school.

I love-  My husband with my whole heart!!

I tag whoever want to do it.

This evening, from about 3 O'clock on, the boys were VERY naughty!  I don't want to relive the evening so I will spare you the details.  The evening ended by me sending both boys to bed with out reading books (which is the routine) and the threat that if they got up I would give our video games away.  Riley knew I was serious and chose to stay in bed.  Jeremy on the other hand got up and started coming downstairs.  So I headed for the remote control for the ps3 and said, "Okay, I'm giving it away!"  Jeremy turned around and kept saying no no no no no!!  So I went closer to him and told him, "Okay this is your LAST chance!  If you come down one more time, it's gone!"

From that point on, I didn't hear a peep out of either of them!  About an hour later I went upstairs to switch loads.  At this point Lane was home.  When I walked past Riley and Jeremy's room, I saw that Jeremy's bed was empty.  I figured he was in our room.  It is not unusual to find Jeremy asleep in places other than his bed.  Sometimes we find him asleep on the floor next to his bed and no he didn't fall off, he just chose to sleep there.  I have found him asleep in the doorway of his room, in numerous different places in the hall, the floor in our room, and our bed.  So expected to see him when I walked into our room.  But he wasn't in our bed or on the floor.  So I went back to his room and looked all around.  Then I checked back in our room and both bathrooms upstairs.  I called Lane up telling him that I couldn't find Jeremy.  Before long I took a closer look in our closet and then I started to laugh.

On the floor under Lane's close we have some file boxes and there is Jeremy fast asleep.  Lane had to wait for me to get the camera before I'd let him pick him up to move him.  

Oh and on a side note, I did put pajamas on Jeremy.  He has a habit of taking them off.

Halloween

I'm sure it's not a shocker that Riley and Jeremy chose to be Jedis for Halloween.  What is a pleasant surprise....

Yes!  That is Jeremy with his eyes OPEN for the picture.  He kept them open in every one, might I add.  So it's one of two things.  He's either over the eye shutting picture phase or it's just the sugar and the excitement of Halloween.  Either way, I will take it!!

As you can see below, Tyler was a cow.  the costume was a little big for him, but it's one we already had.  Riley and Jeremy have both been a cow in their earlier years.  On those occasions we painted their cute little nose black.  This year it just didn't feel necessary.


Tyler was so excited when he saw the cow costume.  I think he thought it was a stuffed animal and he grabbed it and hugged it.  Then when we put it on him he got so excited and started walking around and jabbering non-stop.  It was too cute!

The 16 days are finally past!!

On Friday at 11:25 am, I picked up my darling husband from the airport after his 16 day trip.  Let me just say, It is so WONDERFUL to have him home.  The kids and I missed him beyond description!  

I'm sure you all know that Lane will be completing dental school this June. Yay!!   Since he wants to be an orthodontist, our schooling doesn't end there.  So for those 16 days he was gone,  he was flying all over the country going to ortho residency interviews.  So far he has been to Indiana, Missouri, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Ohio, and Kentucky.  Next he interviews here, Texas, and Wisconsin.  The good thing, MATCH day is December 3.  So on that day we will know if and where we matched at.  Acceptance to ortho residency programs is not done in a traditional way.

MATCH needs some description:  It's a computer generated theoretical best fit analysis.  After interviews you rank where you want to go the most.  Likewise the schools rank who they want the most.  Somebody hits the magic compute button and then somebody tell you where your going.  

You can only MATCH at one school, and only 40% of applicants MATCH so saying that it's competitive is an understatement.  We feel very blessed to have so many interviews and we will rank our schools prayerfully.  So the way we figure, we've done all we can do.  So if it's meant to be this year, we will MATCH, if not, we will reapply next year.  I really hope that doesn't happen though.  I also really hope we MATCH here.  

Riley: "This is My Very Best Day!"

So Riley's soccer season is over.  Tonight was the party.  Riley got a bobble head trophy!  Riley was so excited!  After we left, in the car, he told me it was his very best day.    Riley said that his favorite thing about playing soccer was scoring goals.  Riley's coach said, "Riley has such a great personality.  He's such an easy going guy!  He's really good at soccer to!  He'll  go a long way!"

Riley was just so pleased!

Jeremy walked around the corner this afternoon and announces, 

"Look!  Chicken Feet!!"

I couldn't help but laugh, a lot!  I love the imagination of children!  Those are soccer cones that they boys had used in the hall.  

Why carve.......

when you can paint?!!!  After carving pumpkins with the kids, for the first few times, we discovered that kid involvement only lasted a very short period of time.  The end result was Lane and I carving pumpkins while the kids were well past done with it.  So a couple of years ago we threw carving out the window and started painting the pumpkins.

My favorite things about painting the pumpkins:

1.  They enjoy the entire thing!!!

2.  They do it all themselves which makes them very happy!

3.  Way less mess!

4.  It's much quicker!

So until our kids are old enough to start and finish their own pumpkin, I'm sticking with painting them.

Goldfish

Yesterday I served the boys this soup for lunch.

While I was making something for myself.  With glee Jeremy proclaims, 

"Aaaaand coming up next- GOLDFISH- On TV!"

It just made me laugh.  It was so random and so cute.

This picture is an old one but I was hard pressed to find a good resent picture of Jeremy since he keeps closing his eyes when we take one.  Lane has been out of town for ortho interviews.  I think Jeremy is upset with him for leaving.  Every time he has had the opportunity to talk to Dad he takes the phone and sternly says, "GOODBYE!"  It's kind of sad and a funny all at the same time.  Poor Jeremy and poor Dad.  I know if it were me that would be hard for me.  He seems to have a hard time when one of us is away.  After I had gotten home from the hospital after having Tyler (I was basically at the hospital for 7 days) he wouldn't hug me for almost 2 months.  The good news he does eventually get over it.  I suspect that once Lane is home he won't hold on to it for too long.

More pics from one of Riley's games

Riley is such a handsome boy!

Once again, here is Jeremy trying to keep us from taking his picture.

Look at this frowny face!  : (  I know it's not a good picture because of the hand obstructing the view but I coudn't resist.  He looks so sad, and I'm sorry he's sad, but he is just so dang cute no matter what he does.

And here Tyler is back to his normal cheerful self!

He is so darling!  I can hardly stand it!
 

Jedi Knight Riley

We have a lot of costumes.  We don't have any star wars costumes though.  Riley has made due without.  He came up with it on his own.  Much brighter than the traditional brown Jedi robe but it's what we've got.  I was loading pictures off of the camera and found these.  Lane must have taken them while Riley was playing.  What a poser!  There were like 15 of them too.

My boys are boarding obsession with Star Wars.  They absolutely love it!  It's all very ironic for me.  You see, I have never been much of a sci-fi fan.  As a kid I never liked it.  In fact I never made it through an entire episode of Star Wars until I was dating Lane and we went and saw one of the new ones in theatre.  This is also the funny thing, I remember going on a date with a guy when I was 16.  He had a Star Wars ship hanging from his rear view mirror.  I remember thinking, and I guess I actually said it too, "ugh!  You like Star Wars?!"  I remember it being such a turn off.  I'm still not a big sci-fi fan, except for Twilight  (OOOOH how I love Twilight!!  Which was completely unexpected too), however it's not bad like I remember it being.

What is he doing?

Trying to avoid having his picture taken.  About 3 weeks ago Jeremy started squeezing his eyes shut when he doesn't want his picture taken, which is about half the time.  

I have more but you get the idea.  He cracks me up.

Messy Messy

Tyler has discovered my cupboards this week.  I'm surprised we've made it this long.  I thought I skipped it.  Not so.  He can't crawl past this cupboard without opening it and pulling everything out.  There are a few problems with that.  first of all there are glass things in there.  Second there is just too much stuff and it makes way too big of a mess.  That's what their play kitchen is for.  He does this dozens of times a day.  I know it's perfectly normal, but it makes me crazy.  If I had more cupboards I would devote a smaller one to him so he could do it.  Since that is not the case, it leaves this big cupboard with way too many things in it.  In 15 seconds he has it cleared out.   Then my kitchen is a disaster.   In my haste I have resorted to just throwing everything back in the cupboard- another big mess.   I have to have Lane put up the locks.  We didn't need them with Riley and Jeremy but we need them now.  Look how cute he is doing it!  Although I don't enjoy the mess, I do love seeing how much joy he finds in doing it.  

Below, he has discovered the sifter.

Football Game

Tonight we went to the high school football game.  Every year, for the home coming game, our awesome preschool is a part of the halftime show.  They lead in the home coming court.  Jeremy was excited up until he was suppose to go do it.  Then he burst into tears until he realized Riley was going to go with him.  It's so nice to have a big brother.  It was pouring rain, but we were warm, and we kept mostly dry until our umbrellas.  It was fun. 

7 Weird/Interesting Things

My friend Elizabeth tagged me and said to list 7 weird or interesting things about myself and then tag other friends.  So here goes.

1.  I have a method  for vacuuming.  The lines all have to go in a certain direction and in a certain way.  If I missed something and I have to run over the lines in the process, I will re-vacuum over the entire area so all the lines are just right.  I use to vacuum everyday because I love to see vacuum lines, but life got in the way with 3 kids 5 and under and a husband in dental school.  But someday, ooooh I love to just think about having a house that is vacuumed every day.

2.  I LOVE being pregnant!  I don't love all the aches and pains and nausea.  I love the feeling of expecting this new life and  I love to feel the baby move.

3.  I don't really like rose bushes.  Don't get me wrong though, I LOVE ROSES!  I just like them cut and in a vase.  I don't like the look of a rosebush itself.  

4.  I have always had anxiety over my family or friends dying.  As young as I can remember, until about high school, I had huge anxiety over spending the night.  Why?  Well I was seriously worried that while I was gone something would happen to my family.  Like a fire for instance.  I didn't think that it wouldn't happen if I wasn't home, but I seriously thought that if my family died in a fire, I didn't want to be left.  I wanted to go with them.  Now, if Lane is super late I really worry that he's been in a car accident.  I try to keep my worries under control but from time to time there are tears.

5.  Speaking of fires, I was a volunteer firefighter for almost 5 years.

6.  I love homony.  It's not my favorite food by any stretch of the word, but I do love it, and I don't know that many people who do.

7.  When I was little, I honestly thought that my middle name was Princess.  I wasn't given a middle name.  Since my brothers all had middle names I thought surely I must have one.  My dad always called me Princess.  I was sure that was it.  It made my brother Tom so mad.  He would tell on me.  "  Mom just listen to her.  Sarah what's your full name?"  

me:  "Sarah Princess Boyle!"

Tom:  "Tell her it's not!"

me:  "Just go ask Dad!  He will tell you!"

Since it's 7 things, I will tag 7 people.  Natalie, Erica, Melissa, Michelle, Kim, Cindy, and Kristi your it!!