Almost an extreme couponer!!!!

I just wanted to brag about my shopping trip to Target today. I know many of you don't really care, but I'll do another post later about the family. Just so you know everyone is doing great.

On with my Target trip. I had some coupons that were expiring and I wanted to use them. Dave's mom wanted to have the kids so I decided I would go to Target. This is what I purchased......

The picture is not great-I don't know what I did. Anyway my total before coupons was around $138.- and after all my coupons I spent 64.45. My receipt says I had a total savings of 77.49 . I had 22 Smart One meals-Dave and I love the Santa Fe Rice and I love the 3 cheese ziti- 3 boxes of poptarts, I think you can see the rest. If your wondering about the bathroom stuff. Dave did start the demo of the downstairs bathroom ( beginning of April) and that is where we are today. I guess I will get to use it sometime. That is all I will say-this would be a much longer post if I got in on our house.

Hope to write again soon!!!!

Have a great day and enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!

Dave's First Post

Snow Days and Wrestling Sundays... Hope all is well for you and yours. Since we had a reasonable snow fall, I actually used leave and gave myself a snow day. I forgot how much fun shoveling snow can be! Throwing snow balls at Brooke and Nolan and helping the kids build a snowman was truly a blast. They can get pretty aggressive with it and dad likes to see that. I always tell them not to bite off more than they can chew... Our 4 of a Kind are doing well and I can't imagine our life without them.

By the way, Amy is really attached to our cat Sylvester (Vester, Panther). She tries to deny it, but she likes him! The kids love animals in general. Nolan and Vester have a special bond. Vester lets Nolan do whatever he wants, it is neat to see. It makes Nolan happy to have a boy cat since he has 3 sisters.

Brooke is growing up too fast. Daddy took her to Buffalo Wild Wings a couple nights ago after ballet practice and she was so excited. It dawned on me how lucky some man will be to someday have her as a wife. She is full of energy, sunshine, and wit. She can still be a brat at times, but she will always be my girl.

Nolan has really improved in wrestling. He is really tough and competitive. He likes to win and dad tries to challenge him with some of the best competition so he will continue to get better. He now has a record of 7-3. Most importantly, he is learning discipline, sportsmanship, and how to face adversity. As most adults have learned life is full of adversity and if you can develop the skills to deal with it, you are ahead of the game. Of course I have a one sided opinion about wrestling since I am the coach of the little guys, 5-7 yr olds... Wrestling is a great sport and I am glad Nolan enjoys it. He seems to be a natural. Every Sunday we spend several hours in a high school gym watching little boys try to execute the moves I try to teach them... The days can be long to watch your boy wrestle a grand total of 10 minutes or less! But this gives me and the kids time together to bond and watch lots of wrestling. You can learn a great deal if you pay attention and try to figure out what makes certain kids successful.

Lily is so cute... What else can I say... She hasn't changed much lately. I dread the days ahead when she grows up. Lily can adapt to almost any situation. She can play with the big kids, her little sister, her cousins, her classmates, or whoever. Everyone seems to enjoy Lily. It's hard to put her into words. She loves bologna, chips, and snacks. Not sure if she will ever enjoy cooking since she could care less about good home cooked meals. She likes them, but I think she is thinking about bologna, chips, and snacks!

Baby Belle always reminds me of God's Grace. He has given us a miracle baby. I can't believe she will be 2 this year. I saw a picture of myself the other day at my grandmother's house and stopped when I realized how much Isabelle looks like I did at this age. It's amazing to see how much Isabelle resembles me, Amy, Brooke, Nolan, and Lily... When she was a preemie, it was hard to imagine what she would look like as she developed. She has been used as tool to teach us all. Often I have conversations about our journey through the NICU and how blessed we are not only to have Isabelle, but to share her story with others. I'm not sure if we will ever be able to express how God guided us throughout the first few months of her precious life. We are forever grateful. Just looking at her or thinking about her puts everything in perspective for me... How can someone so small and a little faith teach us so much? Some things just can't be figured out in this lifetime...

God Bless you all and Montani Semper Liberi,

Dave

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas. Dave and I didn't wrap the big gifts from us. We wanted to see the surprise on their faces as they came down the stairs. Santa likes to push the presents back under the tree and mix them up. Nolan and Brooke were pretty quick. Lily wanted everything opened as she went along. Belle liked opening her presents and loved her broom. She loves to sweep the floor.

Brooke was the first one up, as you can see she was so excited.

Nothing but trouble!! Brooke was so excited to get her own game (Nolan doesn't always

share his)

Belle and Lily were so excited this year.

Nana, Uncle Jimmy, Trish, Tyler and Logan came over before we headed to Aunt Oletta's for breakfast.

Brooke has a new best friend. Nana couldn't resist. Brooke called Nana a few months ago and told her Lanie was on QVC and she wanted her for Christmas. My mom is a big QVC fan and has turned many family members into QVC shoppers.

Tyler and Nolan were taking a break.


Lily, Logan and Leah had fun in the paper. We had so much paper in the living room. With seven kids and five adults what can you say.

I didn't take any pictures during breakfast at Aunt Oletta's. We had a great time and the food was delicious this year. The kids got spoiled some more.

We went to Granny and Pa's and had a wonderful meal with family.

Brooke got a special locket from Granny and Pa.

Nolan got some original Star Wars movies.

Princess Cinderella, I mean Lily got some new barbies and a car.

We had a great Christmas with family. Lots of love!!!!!!!!