something to be proud of.

Devin's proud moments...

Devin got a couple of new pairs of shoes. He has been showing everyone. We went to Paradise Bakery, and he started flirting with the girl behind the counter...and showing her his new shoes.  He earned himself free food. Score.

Devin was proud when he cleaned the dirty toilet with his brand new tooth brush. Of course, he even used it after he cleaned. {You can gag, I did.}

Savannah's proud moments...

Savannah has been really working on those monkey bars, and she finally can get about 5 bars in.  It is a big deal, and something she is really excited about.

Savannah also received a 100% on her Mexico test. She was so nervous about it, and obviously had nothing to worry about.

{this was a couple of weeks ago. large and in charge!}

Evonne's proud moments...

I have been keeping a really clean house. {Definitely more on this later!}

I asked for help.

{this is our car guy, Wayne.  you might remember him from our last car purchase. we love him, and think he is the bestest!}

What Paul's wife thinks are his proud moments...

Paul bought us another car, and got us a sweet deal...after much negotiating. He is really good at buying new cars, if only we had to do it more often. :)

Paul is really good at running his business, and has a real passion for what he does. When things get really screwed up, he manages to still be able to fix it...even when it looks terribly hopeless.

What are you proud of?

hey 3rd trimester.

I was telling Paul that this is the best I have physically felt in the 3rd trimester EVER. Yes, that is always subject to change, but right here and now...I feel good. This is also the first pregnancy that I wasn't just itchin' for it to be done.

Savannah was our first, and with your first comes that impatience of just wanting to be a Mommy right this second. So, yeah I probably washed things too early, and packed that hospital bag way too far in advance.

I don't think I felt good one whole day in my pregnancy with Devin. So, yes...I was just about dying for him to get out of me as soon as possible.

With Sabrina, we all know it hasn't been perfect, but I am content to have her right where she is at. She is a feisty little thing, has her days and her nights mixed up, and oh my heartburn better gift her with loads of hair...but where she is at...she is protected, she is with me all of the time, and we are bonding. I am happy to have her stay until her due date {I won't wish to be overdue}.

You know what has surprised me the most about round 3 of this Mommy business...I am just as excited for her as I was for our first. I stay awake at night wondering what she will look like, how big she will be, and if she will be able to handle her crazy older brother. We all talk to her, poke her, and have a list of spectacular nicknames lined up. We have enjoyed setting up a crib, buying her a cute pink car seat, and spending way too much money on clothes. She is definitely a loved little girl.

Maybe it is true...the last is the best. :)

{if you didn't know I was the baby of my family too!}

a xia-xia easter + giveaway

We are trying to make every holiday a little more fun in our house.  When most families are getting together, and having big celebrations we are usually trying to figure out what we can do as a family of 4 and a half. Not anymore. Things are changing.

This is why we had an Easter party for Savannah to invite friends over to play and have some Xia-Xia fun!

Never heard of Xia-Xia Pets? Neither had I, but guess who had? Savannah. I guess I lost some cool Mom points, because I didn't even say the name right. Savannah quickly schooled me in all things Xia-Xia so I didn't look like a nerd in front of anyone. Phew.

We got a fun box of Xia-Xia shtuff to plan the bestest Easter scavenger hunt ever for Savannah and a few of her girlfriends. You know those cool Mom points I lost, they were quickly gained back for letting her have a party.

Xia-Xia Pets are adorable, affordable, and easily addicting. So beware.

What I noticed the kiddies liked about these little hermit crabs...

Although they are battery operated and can move on hard surfaces, it wasn't what they were crazy over...it was those darn little trinkets you store in the shell of the crab that were just so cool. Every shell came with two different and random things, and it was almost better than what the shell looked like. Of course, it was fun for the girls to compare shells, and change up the look of their hermit crab.

What made this toy get extra bonus points from me for Easter is that if you took the hermit crabs and shells out of the packaging, it fits nicely in a large plastic egg.  You could really go crazy with Xia-Xia!! We already know how I try to avoid as much candy as possible. We didn't do this for the party, but it would be a fun idea.

{I made little tags on each Xia-Xia pet with the initial of the person tied to it...worked out perfectly!}

After an exciting scavenger hunt, and comparing loot...our party ended with egg salad sandwiches, chips, and a drinks.  Oh, and a happy bunch of girls!

Here is the "egg"stra special part!

You can win a Xia-Xia Easter basket...just in time for the holiday!

Just comment on this post.

Giveaway will run until Wednesday, March 28th at Midnight...in hopes we can get this shipped to you asap.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by my Xia-Xia Pet friends, and MomSelect. Savannah's love for parties and Xia-Xia was not swayed by anyone.

a tradition kept.

Growing up my family had loads of traditions, and naturally when the grand kids came along my parents were quick to make traditions with them too.

{this was one of many trips with my Dad...look at how tiny Van is}

I was pregnant with Savannah when my Dad started the Build-A-Bear tradition. It was his thing. For those first few years that my Dad was apart of Savannah's life there were many o' trips to that place. We haven't necessarily kept the tradition like my Dad would. We have added to her already large collection in the past years, but we are sporadic about going.

Devin has obviously never been around my parents to start any traditions like Savannah did. When Devin's birthday rolled around this year, my Sista did our Dad's tradition proud...she sent Devin a gift card to go and build his first animal at Build-A-Bear.

That nameless stuffed dog has slept in his bed with him every. single. night. since making him. He calls it his baby, and most of the time Devin has him wrapped in a blanket in a car seat toting "baby" around during the day.

Thank you Auntie for keeping a tradition alive in our family...I didn't realize how much I loved it.

snail mail + giveaway

We started Operation Snail Mail close to a year ago now. It started off as a simple complaint from Savannah wanting more fun mail, and grew to be one of our biggest, most fun, ongoing projects! Believe it or not, we still have not made it through all the people from our original Facebook list.

We have gotten a lot more organized, and creative since the beginning. It has made me want to send all the original recipients more mail now that we have more experience under our belt.

Here is some of the things we do to make our letters and packages cute, more special, and hopefully make the person feel like we really thought it out.

We ordered some of these from Tiny Prints awhile ago, along with that I bought one of those huge sticker books with like 1,000+ stickers in it, I let Savannah go to town decorating the outside of the package/envelope. Sometimes it is just one simple sticker, and sometimes that girl does a million. I like to think people feel extra special when the package/envelope is all dolled up.

This year we went against tradition, and did Valentine cards instead of Christmas. Who doesn't love unexpected snail mail. Which leads me to tell you about this...

I am never on time with birthdays, Christmas, etc. I always say I am going to be better, but it just doesn't happen. I am starting to think I like my personality flaw. I love that when my Alice in Wonderland gets her Christmas present, it is at the end of January...and it is way more exciting because it is out of the blue.

This idea is just one our Sell quirks...we have always done this...we ask the post office if they have cute stamps. None of those boring love stamps.  They look at you kinda crazy, but I love looking through the huge book of unique stamps to put on my snail mail.

Okay, so those are just a few of my ideas. What do you do to make snail mail fun or do you even send any out anymore? 

Tiny Prints would like to offer one of my lucky readers 4 sets of 24 address labels {plus free shipping} to make your snail mail more fun!

Just comment and you are entered.

Winner will be contacted via email...so make sure I have that information so that I can do so. Giveaway will end March 26th at Midnight.

You can find Tiny Prints...
On Twitter
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On Facebook

Disclosure: Tiny Prints is sponsoring the giveaway, and will be giving the winner and I address labels. Operation Snail Mail is all me.

seeing positive in all things...

Let's start in December just for fun...

A couple weeks before Christmas someone decided to plow into the back of our car while Paul was driving, with kids in tow. Scary yes, but the positive my cute family was not hurt.

While that car was in the shop {so within the next week of the first wreck} someone hit into our rental while Paul was out and about. Uh, it was a poopy situation. The positive, the person that hit in to Paul was a gem. She helped us a ton, and we ended up paying zero to the rental car company.

The entire month of December I was sick. I went to the Dr to figure things out, and found out I had a cyst that is over 5 inches in diameter growing on my ovary. It was determined I will have surgery on this, and may lose my ovary.  The positive, I found out I was pregnant too! Yeah for baby girl!!

About the same time we found out we were having a baby, we also found out we don't have maternity insurance. Not cool. The positive, we were able to sell one of Paul's expensive arcade games and the monthly payments from the buyer help pay for my medical expenses.

I had plans of returning back to work after the baby was born after 12 weeks of FMLA. After further research, I don't qualify for FMLA because I am short on the hour requirements. The positive, I will stay home with my 3 kiddies and be a Mom, a Wife, and the best darn housekeeper ever. ;)

At 20 weeks pregnant I started having what I thought were braxton hicks...but I felt they were a little stronger than they should be. I ran it by my Dr, and she quickly checked me to make sure they were not actually doing anything.  Oh yeah, I was starting to dilate. Bummer. The positive, I actually thought to ask instead of dismissing it, and I am being way more careful.

Yesterday while Paul and I were on our way to pick up our brand new car, someone plowed in to the back of our other car. The positive, we didn't have the kids with us AND it wasn't my brand new car.

We had a business deal go bad. Hey Evonne, try not to stress out too much. The positive, I don't see much positive in this yet...ask me after I am done being really mad.

Although I can see the positive in most situations, I am ready for our bad luck to move on to someone else. I don't want to see how much more I can handle, because Paul and I feel like we are already at capacity. My days are slurring together, my emotions are a mess, but guess what?  Paul and I are holding strong together, just like we always do.

If you wanna send us some good vibes, we will gladly take them.

preparing for baptism

Savannah turning 8 has kind of snuck up on us. Wasn't she just born!? She was invited to a baptism preview a couple of weeks ago, and I almost couldn't believe she was old enough to go.

Savannah wants to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but she just doesn't want to do the baptizing part. That poor girl hates water, and has pretty much worried about everything.  The baptism preview ended up being so awesome for her to attend {kudos to the Primary Presidency}. She was able to see the font, hear how to prepare herself, and her favorite part was listening to the leader talk about Activity Days!

Even with my really awful memory, my baptism day is a day that is burned into my soul. It was such a special day for me...from my wrist corsage that my Dad gave me, to the really pretty dress my Mom made me to wear. I couldn't help but feel emotional as I talked to the Primary President about witnesses, who will watch my other two kids while I help Savannah, and making this day extra special for my Savannah. I am hoping it is a day that she will never forget, just like my baptism day.