Party Being Planned...

So, my mom decided that she will throw our "Penny Pinching" party at her house. So, I just need to know what night works best for most of you. It has to be either a Thurs night or a Sat night. Let me know if your interested and what night works best for you and we will get it planned. As soon as I get the details worked out I'll let ya'll know when and where. Let the saving begin!!! :)

Pennies are being pinched!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all of you that posted ideas to help me in pinching my much needed pennies! I don't I've ever had that many comments on any of my posts before so it sounds like I struck a nerve with a lot of you! :) A good nerve of course! In fact I have had so many comments from people between blogging world and facebook world that I think I might be interested in hosting a party that can teach us how to be better with our money. I am also looking into a class that is offered (it's FREE!!!!!) and once I find out when and where I will post it for you all. So, if you SERIOUSLY are interested in attending a "party" let me know....I don't want to host one if no one shows up (you know who you are!...Ok, I'm usually that person!). I've heard so many people that are spending like $50 on groceries but coming home with $5,000 worth of groceries (OK, slight exageration....but it's my daydream, let me have my moment!). I'm so excited to learn and to be able to breath again!! Thanks again for all the great ideas! Keep them coming!!

Penny Pinchers....Advice Needed!

"Money Money Money! Aint it funny....in a rich mans world!" Thanks to my amazingly talented neices, I know this Mama Mia song well! This post is all about asking you smart money managers out there for a little help! I was reading my cousins blog tonight (thanks Kylie!) and she was talking about using coupons and being more of a smart grocery shopper. I loved reading her post and realized there are probably a lot of great ideas out there that help people save money! Keep in mind before you start shooting out too many ideas....I work 50+ hours a week and a lot of my "spare time" (ha, that's a joke!) is spent trying to be a good mom. So, sometimes I just don't have the time to clip a million coupons. But that being said I want so badly to be out of debt and to be able to be a little smarter with my money....so BRING IT ON! If you have a fantastic budget idea or a plan that helps you save money...PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!!

A Wonderful Holiday!

Awww....Christmas finally came and was wonderful! Aside from everyone being sick (but it sounds like everyone was sick this year!) we had a great Christmas! We enjoyed visiting with family that we don't often see (thank you blogger for keeping us connected!). And I enjoyed being a kid again on Christmas Eve and playing the fun kid games and being excited for Santa to come! We spent Christmas Eve this year with the Johnson Clan and we had so much fun! All the kids got new Christmas PJ's and Simon was so excited to get them on!

Christmas morning was spent at home where Santa could be sure to find us (and boy did he!). Simon ran right past all his gifts to look out the window to see if he could see Santa. My mom and dad came over Christmas morning to see what Santa brought. It was so great to not worry about work and to just enjoy the day. I wish I could say the same for Cody though....he was pretty dang sick on Christmas Day and has been sick since! Poor guy! I finally got sick on the day after Christmas and have been sick ever since as well.....so it hasn't really been a fun weekend! Anyway, here are just a few of the many many many pics that I took. And seeing as how my cough medicine has just now kicked in it will be wise for me to end this post! Nothing good ever comes from "drunk blogging!" Hope you all had a great Holiday Season!

Simon and Sienna....innocent? I think not!

Me and Simon getting our gingerbread house decorated.

Simon definatly did not win the candy bar sleigh race....but you would never know it by this pic!

Simon and Sienna at grandma Linda's Christmas party.

Just for Fun!

Just playing with "picnik" for a little while. OK, like for a couple hours! It's so addicting!

Some Holiday Moments

So tonight was moms anual "Lighting Ceremony" Christmas Party. It's probably one of my favorite events of the year! I can't believe our family is actually getting big enough that we can have our own Christmas party without joining up with cousins and such (I don't mean that to sound bad....I love the cousins party too!). Simon had so much fun and as always is attached to Sid at the hip!! We had yummy dinner and than made gingerbread houses.

Here is Simon displaying his work of art! Don't mind the "bowl hat". Weirdo!

My mom's tree this year is a must see! Apparently she asked my dad to help decorate the tree and this is his idea of decorating! The picture really doesn't do it justice! Knowing my mom she will keep it up this way all season just to prove a point!
Santa visited the mall again this year and Simon got to give him his wish list (which consisted of "a toy"....that's what he told Santa he wanted!).

And he got these wonderfully cute Christmas socks in the mail from my Grandma Downs. He freaking loves them!!!! Can you see how excited he is???

Hope you all are having a fun Holiday season so far!!!

Turkey, Christmas Lights, and Some Funny New Words!

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS A LOT OF PICTURES!!! SORRY!

So, let me start off by saying this has been one of the crappiest week ever! I have had the absolute worst head cold that I have ever had. In fact, at this very moment I am super doped up on cough syrup, Mucinex (the good stuff that you have to fill out a form to get), and sleeping pills since I have to get up for work at 2:00am (that's right, I said a.m.). So, if this post doesn't make much sense, I blame all of those things! Anyway, so....work has sucked trying to get everything ready for Black Friday (might I add, I hate all you early bird shoppers that make me hate Black Friday!!!) :) So, I have been miserably sick all week....but how cute is my kid that on his own, he asked Cody if he could buy me a flower to help me feel better! Break my heart!!! So this is a pic of the beautiful flower that he picked out for me to help me get better! The vase is huge, but it's the only one I had (and at least it wasn't an empty milk jug....that one was for you Mike!) How could you not feel better after such a sweet gesture??

With this head cold I have also lost my voice. In fact it hurts pretty bad to talk. Of course this is the time that Simon decides he wants me to read to him constantly. It was so funny cause the night he brought me the flower he asked me to read him a story. I explained that my voice was gone and that it hurt me to talk so I couldn't read a story. My cute kid looks up at me with his puppy dog eyes and says "but I bought you a flower so you would feel better!". So sweet, right? Broke my heart, so of course I cowboy'd up and read him a couple stories!!

So, speaking of funny things Simon is saying right now.....he came home from Grandma Tana's the other day and told me that he "bumped his uncle". Of course I made him repeat this numerous times cause I just didn't understand. Finally he pointed to his elbow and said again, "I bumped my uncle!". I love it when kids just can't get the word right! I laughed pretty hard (which did not feel so good on my throat!)


This is Simons "uncle".

This morning I woke up to Simon asking for his "boggels". I again couldn't figure out what he was talking about. Finally I went into his room and found him hard at work "fixing" his bed with his screwdriver. And of course he was wearing his "boggels". It was so cute! He will wear those "boggels" all day if you let him! Thanks Trayson for letting him borrow your tools! He loves them!!!

Today was also Christmas decorating day! Well, at least for the outside! Cody surprisingly loves to decorate outside for Christmas! He gets pretty excited and of course we ususally end up with some new decoration. I think this year he has decided he wants a giant wreath to put above the garage. Anyway, Simon thought it was pretty fun to help!!!

Than at last it was time for the turkey!!! My favorite dinner of all times!! This year we went to my grandma and grandpa Nymans. There weren't too many of us there this year. I can't remember a time when there was so few for Thanksgiving. But it was nice because we all got to chat. Sometimes there is just so many people that you don't really get to talk to anyone.

Simon had to show us his big "Incredible Hulk" muscles after he ate!


Simon and Great Grandpa Nyman

Simon and Great Grandma Nyman. She is soooo tiny!!!

And of course we ended the night with turning on our Christmas lights!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Be nice to your cashiers if you go out shopping!