He is Risen!

Easter is always a fun holiday to spend with family. I was at a volleyball tournament yesterday, so I missed the egg hunts, but it seemed like the boys had a great time, especially after Jakey realized there was candy inside. I guess Noah would pick up and egg and shake it, if it wasn't heavy enough, he would throw it aside and keep hunting. This was his last year at the top of the food chain...next year he'll be with the "older kids" and actually have to hunt for his eggs.

Here are a bunch of pictures, all in random order. I'm not even going to try and move them all around, so I'll just put captions by them so you can see what they are. We didn't bring our camera, thinking we'd just use my parents, but there flash isn't working, so we didn't get a ton of good ones, but enough to capture the memories.

Look at that greedy little face...
Daddy helping Jakey-boy.
Nicole with her heart pillow. Please note how big those jeans are on her...she's down over 70 pounds!!!
A boy and his ball...
A little excited about the bean bag toss...obviously playing it the correct way;)
This is all the "hunting" they had to do:) But they still loved it!
Jakey looks so old here in this picture...he was so focused reading a book:)
Papa and Noah doing our "traditional" Easter basket hunt. We get a map with directions on it (ie. 5 steps North, 3 steps East) which lead us to our baskets.
Look at these traditional eggs Noah did with Nana! lol...no mess!

Daddy and his boys...
This sums up Jakey right here...
Since my parents lived in Germany before I was born, we have had a lamby cake and take our picture with it ever year...I never eat it, but the tradition is always fun. It's to remind us that Jesus is the lamb of God...
The boys got some Canadian hockey jerseys from my parent's recent trip to Canada!
Having an awesome lunch with amazing people!
Our growing family...and by growing I mean getting older...
Jakey is obsessed with candy, he will be going through withdrawls...
Marveling at all the eggs...
Love that face...

With Auntie Hannah!

We had a good Easter celebrating our Risen Lord! We watched a clip of the old school "Jesus" film, and it's so interesting to see Noah absorb in some of the true Easter story. Doing the "worldly" Easter celebration is fun, but it's so special to get to see the true meaning of Easter being passed down to our children. Hope you had a great one!

Our Life...

Lately, our life has consisted of a lot of this:

Wiping graphite (aka. marker) off the walls. It probably happens 3-4 times a day...will he ever learn? Patience....

And this kid...putting lots of tooth paste on all his tooth brushes...He does them for all of us in our family...even though he uses them all himself. Notice all the toothpaste all over the counter...nice.

Have a great week!

Scrappin' Weekend

This weekend was a scrapbooking weekend at my extremely creative friend's house. I've shared her blog many times, but in case if you haven't seen it...go here! So for the past few days I didn't scrap a single page! But, I did manage to finish up Jakey's invitations, make a "boys" wall hanging for the boy's room, make two family birthday banners, and trading for some more canvas's I did last month. Here are some pictures:
Jakey's completed birthday invitations...

The colors above are too bright, this picture below is more the actual colors. It was dark and late at night, but I wanted to get these up because I worked so hard! I had to take the pictures down on the wall behind this because you couldn't see the sign...hence the white walls with nails in them:) And the two people falling in love too...


I'm planning on saving the banner and using it for all our birthdays instead of those cheapy ones...I think it's a little cuter!

This is one of Nancy's kits, I had her cut boys instead of love because I needed something for their room. I will get pictures up here soon, I promise! But what a cute idea she had...she's so creative...

Thanks for a fun weekend fellow scrappers...if you want to come and join us next time it's April 23rd-24th, and only $5!!! Let me know! She has lots of great ideas and kits, but is so patient and helpful with teaching newbies...like me!

Which one?

I am almost done with Jakey's invites...I just need to pick up the pictures from Costco. So what I need to know, is which one do you like better? The yellow or blue background?

This is the picture I'm using on it....I don't really have anything fabulous of Jakey lately.

I should have known...

I was getting the boys dressed this morning and picking out their shirts. It was such a nice day, why not short sleeves? I can't resist a little boy in a Nike dry-fit shirt...so picked out two. The same size mind you. I gave the red to Noah, the white to Jakey-boy. I should have known better! I think in my mind I was thinking Noah has some red Nike Shox to match...but still. White? For an almost two year old? Well as you can see, there is some smoothie (although not very much), avacado, strawberries, and I'm really not sure what the rest of it is on his shirt...but there's a lot! I love his little belly in that shirt...it makes me want to squeeze it! Now to see if I can get it all out in the wash...

I really do love my furniture. It's not dream furniture, but it's great for having kids, and it still looks pretty nice and is comfy to snuggle on watching movies with my man. This being said, we do not care for our furniture like we should. But this is Oregon. And it rains. And I want my kids to be active. And burning up some of their tireless energy. So I let them jump. A lot. They climb up on the the arms like so:

Say something like, "To infinity and beyond," and away they go!

I love the one sock on, one sock off here. I took him out like this to Costco without even knowing. In his dirty shirt. Yes, I am a great mom.
We just got the new Toy Story 1&2 bluerays (for a killer deal I might add, thanks to couponing;), so Noah is pressing his buttons and letting out his wings like Buzz. He's a pro.

You're Lucky You're Cute...

***Yes, that is a bruise on his head...they are all over this wild man. I added these pictures from the playground tonight...they are nothing special, but thought I should get some pictures of where this crazy boy is at...

Jakey is driving me crazy these days! He is such a sweet boy, he really is. But last week we got rid of Jakey's binkie...no big deal, right? By the time our kids are two, the controversial binkie is gone. Well he has been going through withdrawals...big time. Or maybe it's me going through the withdrawals. I loved being able to "plug him up" when he got cranky, tired, or put him to bed at night. I know, isn't that the reason binkie's were invented? No? Shoot. Well that's all gone. So now I hear whining all day long.

"Mama, mama, mama..."

Or maybe it's just that he's almost two. He has an opinion about EVERYTHING! And he makes it known. He also does everything that Noah does, good or bad. He says every word, fakes every fall, and follows every step. My sweet boy used to be a source of pride when people came over and couldn't believe he fell asleep in seconds after being in bed for his naps. Now it's hours! He and Noah just play and play. Even with both of their heads on their pillows, they still find a way to play. Nap time is no longer a break for me...it's a chore.

Or maybe it's that we need to focus on obedience. Noah is getting much better at obeying, and is really enjoyable to have around! He is capable of reasoning and understanding things. He still needs parenting, but some of the training is already done. But since Jakey is around Noah, we treat him very similar to Noah...even though he hasn't had a lot of that training...hmmm...problem there.

So for now, we are dealing with a moody-almost-two-year-old. And I love it. I love my boys, and even though Jakey is driving me crazy right now...I wouldn't trade it for anything. Well, maybe a massage and a night out....

Brothers...

Ready....jump!

Trying to tackle Daddy...

Jumping off the slide...do you see a theme with jumping?

Looking up at airplanes...

another one!

Chasing after Noah...following in his footsteps...and yes, that is a very full, messy diaper right after we got to the park...nice. The other day after a bath, Jakey went over to the toilet and peed in it...weird. Maybe we should let him walk around naked more? lol

Love that smile...it's an evil smile, he had escaped out of the playground area and knew it;)

Andrew and I were talking tonight about all the big changes that have happened our boy's lives lately...

-Jakey is sleeping in his big boy bed

-No more binkies

-Noah stays dry for naps/night...which is another story in itself...one day he wanted to wear an old pull-up he found in the closet from when I potty-trained him last year. I said no because he doesn't stay dry at night. He said he would...yeah right I thought, he still leaks out sometimes and we've never talked about staying dry...I've always thought the more water the better, so never limited it at night. Well, he stayed dry ever nap and night since then...crazy! Guess he was ready:)

Those are all big changes for little boys, and I guess a little cranky is ok:)

Couponing...

Well it's no secret around here...I've lost my couponing virginity. I've read a lot before, and thought it would be great to try...but I just haven't! Thanks to the help of lots of different websites like The Krazy Coupon Lady, I've joined with the other money saving mom's out there. I am determined about a few things:

1. Not to buy things we don't normally get. (there are so many things out there that are great deals, but either super un-healthy, or medicines we don't need/use, etc.)

2. Not to sacrifice health for saving a buck or two.

3. Not to waste my time running all over town looking to save a few bucks...I'm trying to simplify my life here, not waste more time.

So, there is what I have gotten all for just $10!!! Plus there was a bar of buddies soap that the boys have already started using, so it's not pictured. I have gotten 2 Monopoly Deal's (one of our favorite games that we misplaced), 2 KY yours and mine (that will last us a long time, but is something we normally use!), baby soap & shampoo, bandaids, desitin, and Connect 4. I probably wouldn't have normally bought connect four, but the boys were excited about it. That's a good deal for $10!

I also have found some good deals on diapers, but here is the best because it's on whatever brand you want!

Go to www.diapers.com if you are new customer. Get whatever diapers you want totaling $49+. That's how you get free shipping. Then enter this code at checkout (NADI0359) through March 31st to get $10 off. That brings it down to $39. Place your order. Then print it out and go to here for a $14.97 rebate! That brings it down to $25!!! Plus, I get $10 off for each new person's order, and so can you after you sign up, you'll get a referral code for $10 off for you and your friend when they place an order:) It makes it cheaper then Costco. (Don't worry, Costco, I still love you dearly.)

So that's what I've been up to. Oh, and this, a sneak peak at Jakey's birthday invites: