I don't believe in jackets

Did you know this about me?? It comes very natural to me!! I live in South Texas. There is very little need for jackets at all so I have never been one to get all crazy to buy a jacket. You can only wear a good jacket for maybe 3 days out of the year so why I am I going to waste my money on something I will use for 3 days??

In South Texas, even on cold days, a hoodie will do or a puffer vest but a real honest-to-goodness jacket??? nah!!!! I only own 2 "jackets." I put them in parentheses because they are very thin and really don't keep me warm at all. They are more for fashion (imagine that!!)

Today, this was my inspiration picture. Totally cute fur vest!!! My mom is so sweet and actually got me this exact vest and undershirt thingy for me for Christmas. But I wanted to wear it to work today and I do not like wearing see-through things (with somehting under it) to work so I had to pair the vest with something else.

This is me today with the vest and a plain black shirt underneath. I do not think I am totally looking as awesome as the above picture but.......I do have my rules about see-through at school even with something under it. Maybe this will be a weekend only outfit. Or maybe I can try something else with the vest???

Bryan thinks I am crazy and frequently violates my no jacket policy.

My children agree with me (because I am always right :-). They like their puffers and vests and hoodies.

This morning it was in the 50s and this is what we wore. Jillian in a puffer.

Hadleigh is in a cute furry vest. I always enjoy her deer-in-the-headlights looks she gives me.

And Rocco in a hoodie. I had him all set to wear a cute red puffer and he through a fit that he wanted to wear the train hoodie. (Imagine that?? Another child of mine throwing fits over their clothes.)

Happy Monday!!

5

You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

When skies are gray

You'll never know dear

How much I love you

Please don't take

My sunshine away

Here she is at 5 years old. It doesn't seem possible that 5 years have gone by since we held her in that hospital room. She has grown into such a little lady. Most of the time she is sweet and respectful and very inquisitive. She will battle you every step about hair-brushing and teeth-brushing but we take it day by day!!

I interviewed the birthday girl. I was wondering what a 5 year old is thinking these days. These were her answers to some very important questions.

What is your favorite color? Pink
What is your favorite toy? Snow White doll, blocks, and tools (what?? what tools??)
What is your favorite thing to eat at breakfast? Cheesecake at Grammie’s house
What is your favorite outfit? Black dress with red polka dots (what?? well, it is my favorite because I am wearing it today)
What is your favorite fruit? Apples, bananas and apricots
What is your favorite TV show? Franklin and Max & Ruby
What is your favorite healthy snack? Apples and carrots
What is your favorite junk food snack? Cheetos and Goldfish
What is your favorite game? Red Fish, Two Fish (She got it for Christmas and loves it.)
What is your favorite thing to eat at lunch? Bread and fruit (which evidently is all she has been eating at lunch at school – great)
What is your favorite animal? Flamingos (of course because they are pink)
What is your favorite song? Firework by Katy Perry
What is your favorite book? Disney Princess Storybook with clock that times her reading
Who is your favorite princess? Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Belle
Who is your favorite prince? Prince Phillip (because he matches Sleeping Beauty, the pink princess)
Who is your best friend? Azure (a girl in her class at school with the same birthday)
What is your favorite cereal? Cheerios
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play on the swings and the slide
What is your favorite drink? Water (the only thing she drinks - ha ha)
What is your favorite holiday? Christmas and Easter (I didn’t think she would understand the term “holiday” but evidently she does)
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? cupcakes
What do you want to be when you grow up? A princess
What is your favorite thing to do with your Daddy? Tickle torture
What is your favorite thing to do with your Mommy? Read books
What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Chunky Monkey

That sums up my girl pretty well. The girl likes pink and princesses and water. 2012 is going to be a very big year for my sweet princess! I cannot wait to see her experience the magic of this year. It makes me want to smile, scream and cry at the same time!!!

It's working!!!!

Over the Christmas holidays, my Mom, sister and I had a major pow-wow. Both Summer and I needed a semi-makeover. After birthing these babies last year (mine being my third, eh-hem), lots of clothes don't fit, lots of shoes don't fit, things shift and change and you just feel crummy. Plus styles change....things needed a fresh new look.

For me, I can hardly think about clothes when I am getting ready for work because I have THREE OTHER persons to dress. Another problem is I have to be comfortable because I deal with kindergarten. Then I go home and play on the floor and pick up kids so how can I throw style in this equation???

Enter http://www.pinterest.com/ HELLO, HAVE YOU HEARD OF THIS??? IF YOU ARE NOT LOOKING EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE YOU ARE MISSING OUT.

It all started when I needed an outfit for a holiday party. I saw this picture.....

How cute??? A scarf with a brooch. I have never thought about such a thing. My grandmother left us a superb brooch that would be perfect. How did she get the scarf to twist? I did not have a yellow scarf but it got me thinking.

This opened my eyes to 1000s of ideas on how to dress found on pinterest. Somebody puts the outfit together and voila - you can copy their ideas!!!!!!!! Genius!!!

Cowgirl chic?? Got it!!

Seriously - I have every single piece of this outfit in my closet but I would have not put all of those pieces together. But I do now!!!!!

Look at this yumminess of orange!!!

I could go on and on and on. Lots of ideas.

We took some of these ideas to the store and picked out some key pieces that a lot of these outfits all use like gray and black and white and some new color scarfs and some new flats. Then I print out the outfits that I like and leave them in my closet so that when I am getting dressed I can look at the pictures and make myself presentable!!!

For the past three days of work, I have put together an outfit according to my guide sheets and I have received so many compliments. Who knew that dressing could be fun again???

So I know you are probably going to ask what I was wearing......soooooo here is a self-portrait in my classroom bathroom hiding behind one of the penguins. Ha!!! But you get the gist,

cute gray sweater with belt, black boots like the brown ones in the top picture, and cute jewelry that you can't really see.

Not too shabby!! It is one of my goals this year - to present myself in a better manner!! It has made me feel better this week knowing that I am trying to feel better about myself!!

First birthday of the year

He rarely gets blogged about but it was Bryan's day yesterday!! He turned 35 and had a great day!!! He started out the day getting me flowers. Awwwwww!!!

Daddy got french toast for breakfast and then chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. Everybody had a picnic in Mommy and Daddy's bed. Isn't that fun?? It actually went pretty well and nobody spilled anything all over our bed!!!

January 1, 2012!!!! Daddy and his bunch!!

Bryan got to go shoe shopping!!! (Have you shoe shopped lately for tennis shoes?? Everything was very neon. When did that happen??)

Finally, his Mom had everyone over for dinner. Bryan got a new coffee cup and some new Longhorn shirts.

What a great way to start the new year! I can't wait to see what the rest of 2012 has in store for us!!

Coming Out of the Christmas Fog....

Sorry for the absence!! I was recovering at a Christmas overdose facility!! Ha!!

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST HAS PICTURE OVERLOAD!!

Our family had a wonderful Christmas and the kids were evidently on Santa's nice list because they got some of the things they asked for!!

Christmas Eve with Papa Cheese and Grandma Strawberry - Rocco played Santa

Santa without pants.....That boy was crazy Christmas Eve. Its like he went a little nuts realizing he could rip into that paper and find a present. He ripped all kids of presents that weren't even his!!! He was sooooo wired!! This is him belting out "Santa Claus is coming to town" by Bruce Springsteen. (That's his favorite Christmas song - he also will play the sax in the song). Hilarious!!!!

He still does not have any pants??? He loved climbing under Grandma Strawberry's tree to find more presents.

He got a golf set so now he can golf with Poppy and Daddy!!!

Jillian got Rapunzel!!

Christmas morning at our house - The kids woke up at 6:00 am. Grammie and Poppy and Uncle Bill-Bill and Aunt Mashure were not coming until 7:00 so we watched Snow White upstairs until everyone was present and accounted for!! The funniest thing happened....we couldn't get Rocco to come down the stairs. I think he was a little startled that everyone was over and watching him. Finally he decided to come down when he heard Jillian going bananas!!

KK was busy crunching the paper!!

Hadleigh got a present!!! She looks thrilled right??

Rocco got a train table!!

Jillian got a lot of princesses!! In her words, "just what she wanted!"

A Buzz Lightyear umbrella!!

A Belle dress up costume (with accessories)!!

A Buzz Lightyear dress up costume with power wings!!!

Then he changed into his new Woody pajamas!! (Please ignore the pink sparkle shoes. Those did not come with the pajamas. Those are Jillian's.)

We went over to Grammie and Poppy's for lunch! Hadleigh and KK were playing so well together.

Until Hadleigh got very rough with poor KK and bopped him over the head with one of her toys.

Rocco spent the rest of the day in his Buzz Lightyear costume and opened more presents!!

Jillian spent the rest of the day in her Belle costume and showing off her new furry vest with tattoo!!!

And don't forget a pink sequin purse to go with it!!

A Buzz Lightyear to go with the "real" Buzz Lightyear!!! (do you see the BL obsession we are having at our house??)G & P got her a mini-castle to go with her mini-princesses (do you see the Princess overload we are having at our hous) :-)

Finally, the day after Christmas, Roy and Gavin arrived!!!

Hadleigh wanted to play with paper and goldfish!!

Rocco got a superhero cape and goggles!!

Not to be outdone, Jillian got a pink superhero cape and goggles!!!

And we are DONE!!!!

Thank you to Grammie and Poppy, Mashure and Bill-Bill, Papa Cheese and Grandma Strawberry, Uncle Matt and Aunt Lisa, and Aunt Kelly for the wonderful presents. We are lucky to have you!!!

Saving $$

This post is dedicated to Summer!!! She gets so annoyed when I save a lot of money!! This year with the birth of baby #3, I quickly learned that it takes a lot of money to run this ship. So even though I did use coupons before Hadleigh, I really got serious about consistently using coupons for everything - groceries, diapers, clothes, toys, restaurants, etc. Everybody has coupons. You just have to take the time to find them and then use them!!!

The other day I scored a deal at BRU - when you bought 2 boxes of diapers, you got $35 in giftcards plus they will let you use coupons on the two boxes of diapers. That is a great savings and I can use the $35 to buy more diapers or whatever.

The deal that I got this morning was unbelievable. When my body failed me and poor Hadleigh, the doc put Hadleigh on this formula.....normally around $20 depending on the store. I use 1 big can a week. Add it up and that is a lot of money every month on formula!!!

This morning, my Mom called me and said hang on to your britches, you are not going to believe this but the sign says the formula is on clearance for $4.99!! What?????? Could this be right???? I high-tailed it over there and yes, she was right and I bought every can on the shelf!!

Here was my savings this morning!!! Isn't that awesome???

I always take a picture of my receipt and send it to Bryan so that he knows just how much money I am saving him and how much he should appreciate my hard work!! Ha ha!!!

Here is my record-setting receipt....back in November I saved $86.58. That was a lot of coupons in combination with our HEB discount!!!

Yay to saving money!!!!