Enough Room in the Inn

So I have A LOT of complaints about my house, but I am grateful SMALL is Not one of them. I am so glad that we have such a large home! If our home was any smaller we would not be able to do as much as we do!
When we first moved in (and making the mortgage was hard) we were able to have a renter to bring in extra income- someone else paid $600 of our mortgage, How cool is that? Then we were able to have our missionaries live with us. Since neither of us served a mission this was a great experience for us. Now that we have kids we have PLENTY of room for them to roam and play. They each get their own bedrooms, and their own bathroom! We are able to do lots of playdates and babysitting because there is lots of room for kids to play and plenty of places to take naps.
If someone (like a cousin) needed a place to live(to go to PLU or something), we could clear out our basement and turn it back into an apartment. That's why our house is so versatile!
For our first home it is Perfect- I wonder what our next house will look like?

First Day of School...Already!

It's school time again...they were WAY excited! He woke up at 6 (two hours early)....She has afternoon Pre-school this year so she had to wait even LONGER- So hard to be patient! I am not sure how I feel about their new schedule.... He has school for 2 1/2 hours in the morning and she goes in the afternoon and doesn't get home till after 4, it take up my WHOLE DAY, but I get to spend some One-on-one time with each of them, that is nice! But She is going without a nap...I am not sure how that will work out, but we wanted to try it!
Happy First day of School!

He Passed!!

Malachi is currently a Maintenance Technician, but has been offering to work extra (for free) to learn how to be a Service technician. A few months ago they gave him a new Van so that he would have the parts to do some service work. Part of him being promoted it becoming certified to do different types of systems with different chemicals and electrical stuff. So he had to take a test. I don't know all the technical jargon...but I do know that Malachi has been studying every night for over a month! I read some of the questions and they were REALLY hard- I'm glad I wasn't studying! He took it Sunday morning and PASSED!!! WAHOO- he was so stressed out and SO glad it's over! Hopefully he will be promoted SOON- and get a raise!

At the Tail end of it...I hope!

So remember a few weeks ago (go ahead and re-read the post if your don't remember) how I said we had to do 4 visits and then our "Adoption home study" would be done by the end of August....well HAPPY news, we did all our visits in record time and our social worker got done this week- 2 weeks AHEAD of SCHEDULE! That never happens with DSHS, I was so happy I was practically gitty!
So Only ONE more form to fill out then we can schedule our court date- I am SO happy to finally be at the end of this WHOLE process!
I will tell you all as soon as I have a date! I think we are looking at NO-LATER than Early- mid October, Hopefully sooner... cross you fingers, and pray for us!

Nobody's sleeping!!

This Picture courtesy of Malachi- Why he took a picture while I was sleeping???I don't know??? but it works well for my story... On Wednesday I was asked to babysit a 1 year old and a 3 month old all day and it was kinda tricky! But it was easier than I thought! I just changed diapers, fed kids, and rocked babies to sleep all day! The hardest part was naps....Everyone was on a different schedule! When the 1 year old was sleeping, the 3 month old was awake, and vise-versa! I kept having to tell my kids SHHHHHHHH, SHH, be quiet, SHHH baby is sleeping! We had a very Quiet day!

So both babies left around 4 O'clock and for the next few hours I let the kids be AS LOUD AS THEY WANTED!!! We all ran around yelling

"Nobody is sleeping!!"

"Nobody is Sleeping!!"

"NOBODY IS SLEEPING"

I felt bad that they had to be quiet all day, but I think they got over it quick!!

A Mommas got to shop!

I Love to shop....and sometimes I don't really even "NEED" anything...but I just have the urge browse the stores!!! So I left the kids with Malachi for the night and I had a night out, just me and my coupons! So I got A TON of Good deals- but these are my favorites...

Walgreen's- "Ban deodorant" Normally $3.49! Walgreen's coupon for $1.49+ $1.00 OFF manufactured coupon= $.49 each!

Albertsons- Kellogg's Cereal/fruit cereal bars/ Fruit snacks On sale for $2.88- When you Buy 6 you get $6 OFF- Making them $1.88 Each+ $1 OFF when you buy 2 =$1.38 Each

THEN I bought a marked down bouquet of flowers for $2, a bag of carrots (with a FREE coupon), 3 Deodorants for $1 Each, and conditioner with ($1 off coupon) and used a $5 OFF when you Spend $25...
Making my Bill 19.16 for 20 items= $.95 Each

Office Max- $.01 (yep, you read that right, ONE penny) Fill paper

Fred Meyer- Twislers- Fred Meyer Coupon for $1.25 + Manufactured coupon for $.75 OFF= .50 Each
Spiral notebooks $.10 each

Target- Five-star Notebooks on sale for $1.00+ $1.00 Off when you buy 2= $.50 Each
Roseart Colored Pencils- $.50, Buy Colored Pencils get 24 pack of Crayons Free- So bought 4 Colored Pencils and 4 crayons = $.25 Each

Walmart- Air freshners- Normaly $.94 reduced to $.50+ Buy 2 get one free= $.33 Each

K-mart- Zyrtec Allergy medicine (that we use a TON of) 24-count normally $19.49 on sale for $14.49 and a bonus pack of 40 count+ $6 OFF manufactured coupon= $8.49 Each!!

ANYONE ELSE FIND SOME GOOD DEALS- SEND THEM MY WAY!!

Our Daddy the "Fixer Guy"

A Few months ago we noticed that our Brick work on our mantle was looking a little crumbly... I was worried that our whole chimney was going to fall down on us so I called a "Chimney fixer guy" and had him come out and look at it right away...
He explained that it was not that big of deal and we just needed some repairs- Old Chimney, crappy brick work, leaky fireplace! Then he gave me an estimate- $2,000.--Uhhh, For What?? So Malachi looked at what the guy said he was going to do and went down to Home depot and bought the stuff- He is not a professional mortar guy, but it ended up looking pretty good! He repaired the cracks, re-put in some bricks and put New Caps over the Chimney- and the supplies were only $200.00!!!