End in sight...

So spring break is finally coming to an end...its bittersweet (mostly sweet...98.9% sweet). I had a nice time with the kids, but I think schools were created for the sanity of mothers everywhere. I can handle a weekend, even a 3 day weekend, but 10 consecutive days is a bit much. There were highs and lows, laughs and cries, and hopefully in the end not too much long term damage.

So to sum up our week:

We spent a few days in south Florida, I crammed as much as I could in, but forgot that my mini-van has exactly enough seats for the amount of children I have, so inviting other people's children was a less than intelligent idea. After loaning a few of my kids to a friend and taking back an invite from another parent, I was able to allow my girls some alone time.

While down south, I took Kaylee and her friend to build-a-bear, and only felt guilty for leaving the others home until we got to the register. I can afford 2 kids...actually I can even afford 3, its those last 2. I am going to write a book titled "you know you have to many kids when..." For example, James priced out a Disney cruise the other day, 5 nights was 19,000..yes 19,000...nineteen thousand dollars. Best part, that only included 3 of our children. How do you explain that "Honey daddy and mommy like you, we just don't love you, so your going to stay home with grandma and grandpa while we go on an awesome vacation". I did however promise Audrey that I would take her to build-a-bear another day because she was very upset. Unfortunately, she has asked me every day if its "another day", so we may have to make that trip sooner...hold on she's asking me if we can go now...OK so as I was saying, I may need to take her there sometime this week.

After doubling the water bill, eating most of the food in my parents house and breaking a bulb on my parents chandelier we decided to wrap up our trip and got home on Wednesday. When we got back, I somehow managed to get some "spring cleaning" done, while my children did some "spring messing" so basically the house looks exactly the same.

In other news...I started couponing about 2 weeks ago and saved 50% on my grocery bill this week! I would blog about it but I just steal all my skills from other peoples blogs...so it would be very repetitive. If your interested here are a few sites that I go to:

http://www.couponmom.com/
http://www.shopathome.com/
http://www.afullcup.com/


Well, James is off today so we are having family time...or daddy and kids time...we will see how it works out :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Road Trip

This year was my first Easter away from my parents, so to make up for lost time (and avoid a guilt trip) I decided to drive down to south Florida today. I planned on leaving no later than 7 am, those of you who know me, know that this did not happen. Apparently I didn't actually set the alarm, and although I had very good intentions of packing last night, the Amazing Race and Extreme Couponing completely stole my attention. Speaking of which, I actually think James and I could win the Amazing Race...another blog for another time. Anyways so I woke up at 6:41 to a tap on the shoulder and a little voice, "Alexis...Alexis...you said you wanted to wake up early". I may have wanted to...James however did not plan on waking up early. "BROOKE DON'T WAKE US UP IN THE MORNING" OK so if I wasn't woken up by the tap, I was now awake by the firm manly voice.

We got out the door by about 8:45, my best time yet. This trip was also one of the smoothest. Veronica only took her seat belt off 3 times, Lip gloss was only used on body parts not car parts, 1 bottle of water was semi-shared semi-nicely between all 5 children which then avoided having to make any potty stops, and Jacob only let out blood curdling screams for the last 20 minutes. Maybe a loss for some but a huge win for me.

We arrived at my mom's by 12:30 and were greeted with a pleasant surprise. My mom walked us to the back patio which was set up with tables, flowers and tea cups. My tea cups, that I had collected since I was a little girl. She had fancy hats and rings for the girls as well. She had spent the night before baking scones, making cucumber sandwiches and hand dipping strawberries in chocolate. We all sat down, two to a table, legs crossed, having our very own tea party. It was perfect and if you read my previous post, this is what I mean by my mother being amazing. I don't know who appreciated the tea party more, me or the girls. Either way today was a memory made.

Happy Easter!

So I forgot all about Easter, until about 10 pm last night...which actually worked to my benefit because James had already had a few drinks and was more willing to part with his wallet. We got the girls purses instead of baskets, baskets really kind of are a waste. Maybe next year I will use shoes...much more practical than a crappy basket, that I have to steal from the kids when they are at school, pack them in a box and then spend months dropping hints for that box to be "put away". And once the box of Easter crap gets put away it never come back out. I think we have enough Easter decor for 3 families...then again my family is the size of about 3 normal sized families. Regardless, every year we buy new stuff. Growing up holidays were such a big deal in our house, in fact part of the reason I lived at home for so long were for the holiday perks. My mom loved holidays so much that she would find new ones that no one else we knew celebrated, and that in the long run ended up being a let down...fun while it lasted, but I cant tell you how many years st. Nicholas forgot to fill our shoes. The good thing was that he also forgot to fill our friends shoes...so I guess it was win win. Valentines, St Patty's and of course Christmas we a HUGE deal. It wasn't the gifts, or the even the treats, it was the genuine thought and love that went into everything. I always wanted to carry on that feeling and share it with my children, I think I've lost it though. My mom is a strong, selfless woman. To think that she felt exactly how I feel on a daily basis (she had four children, a house to maintain, and well..my dad...men..ugh) but I never knew. I never remember a time where I felt like I wasn't the most important. I want my kids to grow up having amazing memories...not average, but almost perfect! Speaking of which I have about 4 dozen eggs that I still need to hide! I hope everyone has a wonderful, MEMORABLE day!