Remember my favorite word???

FREE! And I had to share another awesome way I found to get freeeee stuff! But first- a little story :) I started reading a book when I was still pregnant with Jaxon called Enchanted Inc. And then the darnedest thing happened- I found out it was a series! Yeah!!! And the library only had the 1st book! Boo!!! So since then I've been hitting amazon to find the other 3 books. I ended up buying 2 & 3, but got held up at #4- Don't Hex With Texas. It is the last book so it is the newest and most expensive so I delayed and delayed on buying it. And then I heard about a web browser ( like google) called Swagbucks from a friend and fellow blogger ( Thanks Shelli!!) . Basically what you do is you use Swagbuck's search engine and you will randomly be awarded Sawgbucks! With these Sawgbucks you rack up you can buy things from the swag store. Well my #1 FAVORITE thing to buy is....$5 amazon gift cards! See where this is going?! I got my final book for FREE with the points I had earned just by searching the Internet like I always do!!! And guess how long it took me to get the 450 points I needed for the $5 gift card..... 1 1/2 weeks! By the end of a month I was a happy camper because I finally got to finish my series, and best of all it was all freeeeee! And now I am working on more $5 gift cards for who knows what! Christmas maybe- free Christmas presents! Heehee! Another yeah is that when you refer people you also get whatever points your friends earn! So if you end up doing swagbugs and feel so inclined, punch my screen name, megtoes, into wherever when you register! The spread the word and have your friends do it for you! Whether you do or don't you can't lose with swagbucks! AND PS- Shanna Swendson is the author of Enchanted Inc. and I HIGHLY suggest it! Awesome books! Thanks for reading my jabber! :D

July Fun, and It's Only Begun!!!

What a crazy month we've had and it's not even half way thru! Well I have tons to share so here we go! I'm going to work backwards a bit because today ( or yesterday because it is 12:43 am :) was my little girl's fifth birthday!!! Five years old! Holy cow!!!!! So here is a pic of my little baby less than a week old........

AWE!!!! she was SO tiny! Just 4lb 7oz and 17 inches long. Gotta love her big little nose LoL! But look! She totally grew into it!!!

Here she is with her birthday pancake- candles and all! And Oh the day just got better and better!!! We did ( or I rather) did a brave thing and had our first birthday party with friends, not just family, and what a blast we had! We had a water party in front of our house with about... 16 kids! WoW! We played water games, ran through a fun sprinkler, and threw water balloons! And I can tell you this I have to send a HUGE thank you out to my family and friends who helped me set up and then keep these crazy kids entertained for an hour and a half! So Marci, Der, Mom, Katie, and Shayla- THANK YOU! YOU'RE AWESOME! Below are some pics of the festivities! ( thanks to Shayla who aws maning the camers :D )

Our lil party goers enjoying some favors, punch and cake!Presents! Awesome!!!

The little girlies playing a fun water game! Everyone had tons of fun adn it was a great sucess PHEW!

But before our party we had even more water fun! Daaelynn is in swimming lessons this summer and I will tell you they are AWESOME! The things these people have thought up to get kids to learn how to swim and have fun is totally worth the $30! She has had so much fun in the 3 days we've gone so far! Here she is learning to float.....

And here is what we did today- she swam the twisty river! At one point she was like 10 feet ahead of her teacher just swimming away with her life vest. I'm so proud of her! She has just taken right to it! No fear!!!

And the last event was the 4th of July. We went to a park and had tons of fun with Riley's family- eating pizza, playing with water balloons, and watching some fireworks! Here are the Keele Men.... What good lookin' guys I have!And the Keele Women! Hot chicks right there!

And we can't post without putting a cute Jaxie Bug picture in!!! Loving eating solids! Well thanks for putting up with all my rambling! We have more family coming into town tonight,a reunion next weekend and then the 24th of July after that so be prepared for more!!! Peace out dudes!!! ;)

Savings???

Sorry I didn't quite know how to name this post LoL I'm blogging today for some advice As many of you might know, couponing has become a real "in" thing these days! I follow a money saving blog as many of you do I'm sure. With the economy the way it is, it just makes sense to try and save where you can. But, here is the question, DO ANY OF YOU FIND IT ALSO STRESSFUL???Because sometimes I just wanna throw things when I go shopping and the 2 big reasons are A: they are ALWAYS out of the deals I went in there to get! Ok maybe always isn't fair, but at least 50% of what I went to get is gone :( and B: making sure I have all my coupons together and to the cash register AND making sure they all worked out and came off just totally frazzles me! If you know me you know I am not Mrs. Organization! Then if you add in the fact that I usually have at least Jaxon with me on a shopping trip if not also Miss Daaelynn HOLY MIND MELT!!!! So does anyone else have this issue or is it just me??? And then also I wonder if I got a good deal??? I always see people saying they got $80 worth of stuff for like $30!!! So here is my shopping total for today and I need your opinion!!! I shop at Smiths- they had a deal where they would make all your under $1 coupons $1 coupons! SO I spent $76.02 but saved $12.95 with coupons, $5.65 with Smith's promotion (buy 10 participating items get $3 off) AND $33.54 in fresh value savings for a total of $52.54 AKA 41% savings!!! But is that way good or kinda good or what??? I DUNNO!!! I mean $52 bucks saved is awesome, but only $12 came from coupons. So what do you all think???? Give me some advice my wise wise friends!! :D

Your Vote Counts!!!

Yes I said YOUR vote :D We need some help from our awesome friends AKA YOU! My lil Mr. Jaxon in in the Parent's Magazine photo contest!!! Right now the voting is for reader's choice. You can go to the link once a day and vote for this cute guy! And who could resist!?!? Sweet smile, beautiful blue eyes with looong lashes, awesome cool lil widow's peak! He's a hottie-to-be my friends! We don't expect you to go everyday- you can if you want though! And maybe you'll see him in Parents Mag! Yeah!!! Thanks everyone!!!! http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/photo/356366

My favorite word...

FREE!!!! Can't get any better than free! SO I follow a site called www.freebies2deals.com and I'm addicted I tell you! The host and deal finder of the site, Melea, finds the most AWESOME money saving deals and shares them with all!!! She also does some awesome giveaways! I have found the greatest deals, gotten free coupons, and even won 2 headbands recently in the Giveaway Extravaganza she hosted!! Seriously if you haven't checked out this blog-hop on it!!! You can find her button here on my blog down and to the right! Let the $ saving begin!!!!! WOOHOO!

Where did the time go?!

My little boy is 6 mo old!!!!! Ok so he was actually 6 mo old the 19th of may, but do you ever have times where you are jsut not motivated to blog??? That has been me for the last month lol But today I just had the urge. So here I am posting a catch up blog!!! We took the lil man to the Dr and he now weight 14lb 3 oz and is 25.75 inches long! He started out at 6lb 10 oz and 19.5 inches.
Look how tiny he was! and all scrunched up! I really can't believe how much has changed in only 6 short months! So here are some things my lil bug is doing now...



* He can roll over, but doesn't like to :p Poo on tummy time!!!

* He is all about sitting up though!
Put that boppy pillow around him and
he'll have a ball!



* He is a co-sleeper. It kinda scared me before but now we're so use to snuggling with each other and as long as there is sleep being had- I can't complain :)

* we have started jar foods! Yuummmm!!! His pediatrician suggested one of the 1st foods we give him is meat ...:p But the little guy actually likes it! Go figure!



* He is such a little talker. Riley gets up at 4 am ( EWWW!) And often Jaxon is awake and bids him farewell with some cute babble. He also has discovered whisering LoL He'll lay there whispering "dahh dahh" SO CUTE!!!

Speaking of DaDa..THERE HE IS!! HAHAHAHA! And since he doesn't read my blog he won't know I posted this pic of him hehehehehe. But what a great DaDa he is. He takes care of the babies when I go to work at night time, and even gets the lil guy down to bed if he hasn't gone down by the time I have to go. I love my hubby!!!

We also had some visitors this last weekend...my mom and sister came for a visit!!! We had plenty of fun just hanging out and spending time with them. We missed our G- dad terribly, but we'll see him in July when Daae's birthday rolls around- and you will get another post about how time has flown by!! DAH- make it stop!

And speaking of the little crazy... it wouldn't be a proper post without a picture of her, would it??? :D Here she is dancing away in our front yard with her Belle dress on. I took about 30 shots of her just twirling around- she's so fun to take pics of! I couldn't resist! I LOVE that the weather has finally decided to be decent- noting like chillin outside in the spring air - or dancing in it :D

But back to the lil man-

* he hates to lay down in his bath tub now :( So we've began bathing in the sink, but I need to get a siting ring for some extra caution sooo if anyone has one

* He LOVES his sister . No one can get him laughing quite like she can. In the morning he'll here her voice and whip his head in her direction- I hope the love lasts :)

* whenever he gets frustrated, he quickly shoves his hand in his mouth. He wants to grab and touch EVERYTHING these days and it seems like his hands won't do what his brain is telling them lol He'll get it, but in the meantime it can be frustrating!

* and another person he loves... his MOMMY!!! Yeah!!! But I'm pretty sure I love him more. He is my little buggy and I can't imagine life without him :D

Well that's all folks! I actually do have some video I'll have to post soon, but my comp is being a freak so it'll have to wait :) Thanks for putting up with my catch up blog!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well I didn't intent to blog today, but then I remembered something I was thinking about at work as I endlessly vacuumed & I thought I'd share. I has thinking about my kids, and something I told one of the guys at work one night after I had had Jaxon. He has a little girl and we were talking about how fun having #2 is and how he was looking forward to that one day. I love it! Having 2 kiddos has been really great, but I had to issue Chris a warning in our conversation....having 2 is fun, but also a bit heartbreaking. It is heartbreaking because you know how fast it all goes by. When our first little baby came into our home she was a tough one, and every new thing was anticipated! She was growing and changing, and with her tough personality at that age we were ready to move on to the next step. And when Jaxon was born and as he's grown I have a different attitude because I know where it is going. He will grow and change and in minutes I'll be looking at a little boy about to turn 5 just like I'm seeing Daaelynn now- and it breaks my heart. I'm often telling her to stop growing these days. Her response is usually something like " But Mom I have to grow up and be a momma like you!" :( TEARS! With Jaxon I'm trying to absorb it all and not look so much forward to the next stepping stone, but just enjoy where we are now. I think that goes for life in general enjoying where you are in the present. I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me my children and trusting them to me. I'm trying harder each day to be a mother they will always look to with love and trust. I want to bring the spirit into my home and always give my children a firm foundation. There is a saying that goes- Give your children wings to fly, and roots to come home to. I'm working on the roots right now, but that have to wait for their wings because I'm not ready!!!! Being a mom is not easy, but it has brought me so much joy. I commend all you moms out there & wish you a happy Mother's day :D

My blessings that made me a Momma :D