****LIFE-CHANGES****

Complete forgot about this blog, and as I reviewed it this afternoon, all I thought about is how much life has changed.

Maybe you haven't had time to walk away from your blog, or maybe you have, but  isn't it amazing looking back?

 *I pray that everyone that scrolls by this page know -Thank Youfor stopping in <3 *

**Work or Not to Work**

I'm one of the luckiest women, to have been able to pursue my educational goals, while spending quality time with the kiddos!~Thank you hubby :).

After two degrees, and heading onto my Master's, I think it's almost time for me to head back into the work force? As a mother, it might be the hardest thing you ever have to do,  leaving and trusting someone else with you kiddos. Some people have stated I'm being a bit rediculous with this, but my thoughts; is that kids should be raised by at least one parent until they reach the age of 7, realistically it's not always possible this I know, and I have respect for all the women out there doing what they have to do in life. But if your able to stay home, I think a mother should. The first 5 years of a child's life is when they learn the most, so whatever values you wanted to instill, those are the years to do it, and if you don't someone else will.


~Just the idea of leaving, makes me miss my kids :(

Here's a mom that keeps me inspired, knowing that mom's across the world are able to work and still spend quality time with fam!

Love the Holidays!!!

Nothing like the Holidays to remind us, of how lucky we are to be alive, and how thankful we should be to have the people we love the most in our lives.

So many lose sight of what's important, but so many remember the true value!

Peace and Happiness to all and a Happy Holidays to all!!

**Extreme Coupon**

Savings as a mom, is a must! I always say that because it's true, so today I saved $174.58 on groceries, I paid $146.05 on a $320.63 grocery bill. It's about finding the right store, and waiting on those sales, ensuring your coupons are clipped and ready, then going for it!!!  In one hour with two kids, and one cart anyone can do this, you save so much money. 

**Pregnant Beyonce Hates**

If you have a yahoo news feed and you need a good laugh today, check out the comments under the "Pregnant Beyonce Hated the Way Jay-Z smells Now"..Wow! that was some funny stuff, I'm in tears to what people really think of these two... I think that babies brings out the true values in a relationship, honestly in every relationship that I've notice, they fall apart or grow closer together, so lets see how everything "plays" out for these two, I hope it all works out in the end though..

~What's next(my thinking face)?~

Soccer was FUN!!! Coaching Basketball took up most of my time, definitely kept us all busy. With  kiddos, homework, house duties, planning the wedding and keeping active, before we knew it the 9-weeks was over! Now I'm trying to decide what to do next? 

**Priceless Moments**

***Value~Love***

Value each second with those beautiful wonders, because before you know it there grown and time is gone. Don't wait till it's to late to do the things you want to do, because you'll regret it later! Two year's ago, my daughter couldn't eat on her own, and was force fed through a tube, and now she's alway eating, and don't even want me to hold her on the rides. Time fly's and although they get on my last nerve sometimes, I love these two little things, with every force in my body!!!

**Rule 101**

Ladies, if your a stay at home mom, trying to balance, the finance, kids, husband, and everything else. Here's the best advice I can give you when those sales rep. are at your door. If it's a free sample let them go for it, i.e. I just got my Carpets, bed, and floors done for FREE!!! If you don't know how to say, then this is not for you! But if you do, here's what I do, "hey thanks for taking your time, really love that product, and I really enjoyed that demo, but I really can't afford it" they will do on, and try to make "important phone calls" and let them do them, as soon as their done, re-assure them you can't afford it.

Now here's the thing, I'm so in-love with this Kirby vacuum it's not even funny, so what I do? Go on EBAY and instead of paying $2700 I'm now paying $400, so now I got my floors done for the month for free, and I don't have to jump out and buy the vacuum until my next cleaning :). Leave's me with a total savings of: $300 monthly cleaning fee, +$2300 I would had paid for the sales rep price = $2,600 saved.

Stay at home mom's do your research, because "9 times out of 10" there's a cheaper price out their, just waiting goon you to click on it :). 

So lovely watching the son rise in peace ;)

**Early Morning**

Been laying in bed since 3am, so I decided to take this opportunity to get some stuff done without the kids screaming. Sometimes I have to look at this as an opportunity :), getting some work done will help get the day of to a good start and better able to give that special attention later on, especially when those little "cave people" demand it the most :). Got my "cup of joe", homework tab up, and laundry is started, looking forward to coaching this evening, until then let's get some work done, and maybe get a nap in later on with the kiddos, have a good day guys :) . 

So sweet to watch them play ;)

**GET-OUT**
somedays it's as easy as that, get out the house! Find a park or get a ball and have them go for it. I found this to be extremely helpful on those extra wired/stressful days! It seemed to help them burn off some energy and helped me to relax, especially on a cool sunny day ;).

**Making each penny count**

Savings, savings, savings, as moms it's hard not to spend money, because everything add's up with kids. So we have to make it a habit to make our money work for us, here's a quick way to get all the name brands for CHEAP!!! (foods that is). Sales, sales, and sales, it's a watching game and waiting game, here's a prime example of what I mean, I spent $158.24 today, only paid $78.74 and saved $79.50 (could had saved more if I had more coupons, I only had $1 coupon) more than half of what I spent.

I'm in California so it's hard to get good deals on our coupons, because they have strict laws against it, so "extreme coupon'ing" goes but so far, here's how I do it, I wait for the sales and here's the thing about it, they wont tell you, if they say buy 6 box (mix & match) if you buy 8 those 2 extra boxes are regular price, you don't get the sale just because you got the 6 (learned that the hard way).

Ralph's, although expensive, have extremely good coupons deals, they'll match up to $1, so lets say you have a 25Cent cooping they'll double that to 50cents, if you have a 75Cents coupon they'll add 25cent, they also give you 10cents off every gallon of gas at the Shells gas station, once you reach 100 point on your rewards card, which is free by the way. They also have a website, that you can register for online, with your Ralph's reward card number (on the back of your card) and download electronic coupons to your card, so next time you go to the store, you get extra savings :) Just wait for the sales, and save your coupons and go all out :).

P.S. Wal-Mart has a "match it" deal going, so if you save all your adds for that particular week, they'll match everything, save's gas and money, so you can do a one stop shop. 

He refused 2-take a nap &  passed-out anyways...lol!  

So sweet, when they're napping ;) 

**RECYCLING AT IT'S BEST**

Turn those old water bottles into something fun that the kids wont get enough off, and allows them to activate their creative side. My kids truly enjoyed making these little “shakers”, in the pictures bellow you can kind-of see how they turned out :).

Supplies needed:

Plastic bottle

Rice

Glue gun (Sticks better, but mommies please keep out the reach of the little ones :)), what ever color foam sheets (dollar tree has the multi pack for a $1)

Goggle eyes

Yarn 

 And whatever else your kiddos will enjoy, my son enjoyed drawing all over his (his personal touch)

I used Wal-Mart (craft isle) & the Dollar Tree, to purchase all the items I needed, it cost me $10 dollars and I still have tons left over.  It kept them entertain and they truly enjoyed making their personal shakers :). 

Arts and craft fun!! Shake it up!!!

Her best friend, Barbie!!!

Getting ready 2-score!!! 

What a Diva!!!

TANTRUMS!!!!!

Sometimes I would like to join in on the "fits" or even just pull all my hair out to deal with all the screaming! So I was doing some research on how US parents should handle the situation, they said the best way is "to avoid the tantrums all together" and that kids have "tantrums because of the lack of attention". I could agree on the second statement, but not so much the first, my kids are so random with their tantrums.

My daughter once cried an hour in her car seat all because she wanted out and didn't get her way, she was not wet ( 15months), she had already ate, and had her nap already ( I know I should had taken the trip while she was napping). Another time, my son knocked all the candy off the shelves because he couldn't have one, what do we as parents do in those embarrassing times? My mom said spanking him, but I'm not into hitting my kids, maybe a tap on the hand, but even that don't work anymore, tried the corner (can't really put them in a a corner at Wall-Mart) .

So after reading "the happy toddler on the block" book, I've learned a thing or two, kids act-up the most if we are constantly saying, there already losing throughout their days because their smaller, slower, and don't get a say in what goes on. So I started giving them more say in the activities we do throughout our days, i.e. picking between the park or the pool, graft or arts, and it has made a world of a difference, their now better able to deal with that "no candy" as we go to checkout :). 

*YOGA*

I've had the opportunity to incorporate yoga in our daily routine, and the kids had a hard time at first, but they've since then improved a lot. It has help me a lot, and allowed them to have more patience in the things they do. Here's an example; my daughter is only 2, so she doesn't completely understand exactly how to use yoga when she's really upset, but my son at 3 talks to her, he ask her to "calm down and breath" how amazing is that? Wish I had that kind-of patience when I was little :).

**Teething Tablets**

Hyland's Teething Tablets for Children, has been a life saver for those long teething nights!!!!!!!! If you have a child that's teething, I highly recommend this, there's no messiness to it, it last long, so your not constantly having to go back, and it's all natural ingredients.  Not saying that the other products don't work, this just seem to work a lot better than everything else I tried (And I tried a lot of other stuff), there was no fighting with my son or daughter because they're flavored, and it really seemed to sooth them to sleep :).

**Potty Training-101**

1) Get rid of the diapers

2)Entertainment, keeps them on longer (musical books)

3)stick it out

Being a mommy of two, I can say it's one of the hardest thing to do (apart from the whole no sleep thing..lol). But I learned that overtime kids do not enjoy being wet, so eliminating the diapers have been a lot of help, and the pull-ups actually set me back. You'll read a lot of post and books about, putting them in big boy/girl undies is the best way, and I'm a living proof that it works, my daughter just turned two and she's potty trained & my son has been potty train since he was 18 months. What a relief to know, NO MORE DIAPERS!!!!! If you need more tips let me know, I actually had to do a lot of entertainment to keep my daughter on the potty :).

Getting ready!

Telling her stories ;)

Kids make friends so quickly!

Soccer-time!!!!

**So sweet**

*”Little cave people”*

Best description of my kids I’ve read in a while, I use to think I was going crazy to think that the terrible twos, where more than terrible, and the 3’s were a nightmare, and here come the 4’s, how will I survive two little cave people?  She’s past the terrible 2’s stage, he’s in the I’m grown enough to make my own decision, who care’s if I’m only 3 going on 4.  I think about things to do all day, and I’ve found a solution, it’s draining, but it works, keep these little cave people entertain!!!!  If you’re a parent who’s as frustrated as I am, here’s the best book I could ever recommend by Dr. Harvey Karp, “The Happiest Toddler on the Block”.