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Favorite Christmas Photo's!

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Sorry, you have to endure a post with family photos…
Christmas Eve we were getting ready to head out to look at lights when we had a major surprise, I actually screamed when I opened the door! It was SANTA!
What a blessing, we had not been able to see him at all this year and the kids had forgotten to mail their letters.
So Santa, asked them what they all wanted and relieved enormous stress from us…
Thank you, awesome neighbor!
Like a Christmas miracle the kids didn’t wake up until 7:01am! What a blessing considering we were up until 3am!
Was there ever a happier 4 year old little girl on blue police bike?
I think not!
Thanks, JC Penny, um, er, I mean Santa for the sweet ride!
Does anyone else’s living room look like this after Christmas morning???
I made cinnamon rolls the night before and let them rise in the fridge overnight, they turned out better than Cinnabon this time!
Paul made Miga’s. Oh My Goodness! It was soooo good.
I will have to post the recipe sometime, it is a mexican breakfast dish that rocks!
To make the day anymore perfect, Paul and I actually got to take a nap and the kids played all afternoon until Christmas dinner at the Grandparents.
It was really a perfect day!
I hope you had a wonderful day! If you posted pictures of your family leave a link so we can take a look!

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Tips for traveling with 6 kids….

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When you plan on being in the car for a 19 hour trip one way you must do the following…

– Pack everything you THINK you might need and see if your husband can fit it all in.
– Always bring very messy snacks, like sticky candy and powdered donuts.
– Never underestimate how often a 3 year old needs to pee, and never try to call her bluff.
– Pack the diapers and wipes together in the bottom of a suitcase and pack it first so it is hardest to get out.
– #1 thing to do, forget your glasses so your husband has to do the ENTIRE drive by himself while you play on the laptop.
Tips for getting a hotel with 8 people.
– There is a reason they charge $39.99 a room. Fork out the extra $20 for the $59.99 and you might get clean towels.
– Always say, “It’s just my wife and kids” they never could imagine you forgot to tell them about the “other” 4 kids that will be sharing the room also.
– Get 2 queens not 1 king. The king only invites ALL the kids to sleep with you.
– Bring sleeping bags and make the big kids use those.
– Lay all 4 girls the wrong way on the bed… you can only fit 2 the correct way but if you pack them in like sardines you only have to bring in 2 sleeping bags. Hey, their small, and they still think it is fun to be uncomfortable all night.
– NEVER let the baby play with the remote. This is a hotel/motel you never know what channels they have.  The 1 year old might flip to something COMPLETELY inappropriate with all the kids watching while Mom is in the bathroom and Dad is cleaning out the car…. They also charge you for the remote when it magically disappears and you can’t return it to the front.

Got S'mores?

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Breaking all child labor laws and figuring we had our own private work force, we decided to take the kids to Arkansas for Spring Break. While their friends were off to Mexico to sit on a beach or in Colorado skiing, we chose the more economical route with 6 children and took them camping. Who knew our little neighboring state has the World’s 8th largest Diamond Mine?? And I have to tell you-we were pleasantly surprised at how pretty Western Arkansas was! I apologize to you little pretty state with all the green rolling hills and beautiful chicken farms. This is what it looks like when you go camping with this many people in one SUV, in case you ever thought it might be a good idea. You might want to read my earlier post about traveling with children…
I have nothing to say about this, but I laughed for almost the first half of the trip every time I thought about it. The kids car seats might not be buckled in this well, but darn it, Paul’s Coke was going to make it unscratched. Can you see where he even duct taped it closed? Seriously??
Let me tell you what this is a picture of since you will never guess. This is us doing 78mph down the highway. Can you see the problem with that? Maybe that the speedometer says we are doing all of ZERO. That will make the trip exciting. “Actually officer, I was hoping you could tell ME how fast I was going?” I had the truck inspected the day before and nothing was wrong with it. As soon as we got on the highway it quit working. But hey, if you need, I can email you on how to figure out how fast you are going by timing yourself in-between the mile markers along the side of the road. Who says nothing educational came out of this trip?!

While stopping for lunch (which takes about 90 minutes) the kids were having a great time entertaining themselves. In between the fence, down the sidewalk, trading sodas back and forth.. of course as we were leaving I noticed the sign.
This isn’t going to be the first time on this trip we paid absolutely no attention to posted signs!
Our good, brave friends came with us camping. They have 3 little kiddos. This is our Storie on the right and their little Emma on the left. They are the cutest two kids ever. They pose together every time I pull the camera out!
And here are the big boys. Don’t you remember what it was like trying to be cool while hanging out with your family? These guys pulled it off real well even while chasing the baby around and making cute noises at him!
I DON’T LIKE TO BE COLD. Everyone within earshot knew it. The only thing I ever dread about camping are the long cold nights. Every Mom who has ever camped with small children, especially ones still nursing or taking a bottle you know how it goes:

You get them all new clean warm clothes and thick socks, you put them all in sleeping bags with their blankies. Then you spend the rest of the night shoving them back in their sleeping bags because they wiggle out as they sleep and lay moaning next to you because it is 35 degrees out. Then the baby wakes up (because that is what they do), you try to either nurse them back to sleep, freezing to death as you do it or you try and give them a cold bottle, (that you tried to keep warm by putting it in the sleeping bag with you) they are accustomed to it being the perfect temperature, thanks to the microwave that you forgot to bring and somehow wire to work in a tent. Once the baby is back to sleep and you try to warm up your sleeping bag again, another child has to go to the bathroom… Unfortunately, all my kids are just as afraid of the dark and the scary woods as I am, so we run together to the bathroom and back again to the tent. Now repeat this a few times and that is how each night goes.

There is a picture of me further down after a few of these nights. WaaaaHooooo, now to the fun part! Each child was in charge of finding me a 1/2 carat diamond, or, if they worked together they could find a 1 carat diamond. I think I deserve it-it’s only a 1/2 carat for each child. That’s not asking too much? So this is the diamond field at Crater of the Diamonds State Park. But don’t let the name fool you-we dug and dug and dug and dug but alas, we found NOTHING! I was starting to consider buying a field in the middle of nowhere and telling people there were diamonds on it, charging them to get in and dig it all up. Then planting potatoes. There were 11 diamonds found the day we were there. NONE by us. For crying out loud, we had 9 children who dig up my front yard any chance they get and we couldn’t even find one! Maybe what they needed were my nice dinner spoons-those seem to work for digging up everything else.
This is that picture of me after a few long nights. I dare someone to COMPLAIN! The best part about camping in Arkansas?? We let the kids bring their AirSoft guns! We figured no one would mind! The boys quickly made friends with some other kids from Dallas a few campsites away and hooked them up with a few of the extra guns we had brought. Then we sent them off through the campground to the amplitheatre to wage war. They rotated Emma and Owen in when someone got out. I would have liked to know what the other campers thought of our army of pellet pumping midgets.
So, we switched from diamonds to quartz crystals. Funny how we didn’t have a problem finding any of these. Dig Rush, dig!!! Or no warm bottle for you!
Ummm had to throw this one in. This is the view we had of Storie all day. Who are her parents and why do they dress her in too big pants??
Second sign of the trip that we failed to see until too late. This is us…. washing all our crystals in the sluice trough. The last day we drove into Hot Springs and toured the town. It was really pretty, we had planned on taking the kids to some Hot Springs, after all wouldn’t you think there would be some?? But no, Hot Springs is named that after the hot springs that you can’t go in. There are only old time bath houses for adults. Go figure, if anyone need a bath in this group it was the kids not adults. The kids were a bit freaked out when we toured an old bath house at the idea of a stranger giving them a bath. I have to disagree, at this point in the trip it sounded like a good idea to me.
But the best part of Hot Springs was the forced march we drug the kids on to the top of a mountain with the promise of a lookout tower. Only to get to the top and find out it was $7 a person to go up in the tower and more insulting they (the little hobbit of a person behind the counter pushing the $7 trip to the top like a drug) was the promise of a beautiful view of Bill Clintons boyhood home. Really? $91 to see Clinton’s boyhood home. How about we don’t. But all in all, the view that we did have was beautiful and the kids had a blast, it was a great time and only 5 kids had ticks. Which couldn’t have been that bad because they started a “I Had a Tick” club complete with secret handshake!

Hurricane Ike Lessons learned.

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A year ago today my front yard looked like this… Two of my big beautiful trees had fallen during hurricane Ike.

We hadn’t let enough water out of the pool, the back of the house almost flooded due to the pool overflowing.
The week before we knew it was coming and set out to get the house ready. We brought in all the plants and kids toys we could. Nailed down everything possible and taped all the windows.
While many people were panicking and spending all their available cash on supplies, we were comforted knowing that we didn’t need to join the rush and that we were well prepared. We ran into Walmart on Thursday evening and were stunned to see the shelves. It was a very errie feeling when your huge supercenter is cleared out COMPLETELY!
Because of couponing and my food storage there was nothing that we needed, save for some fresh fruit and vegetables.

On Friday, everything was closed, the kids were out of school and we just had to sit around and wait. Paul, myself and the DuBois, took the shotgun and hand guns down to the creek to do some shooting and relieve some anxiety! We heard reports on T.V. of all the chaos surrounding the stores closing early and people not having any food or water. I can’t understand not being prepared? Why would you live so day to day that you can’t take care of your family in an emergency with the basics of food, when you have the ability with coupons to do it almost free?

Friday was very still, it was hard to imagine what was coming. I can understand how so many people were killed in the 1909 hurricane, you really have no idea what is about to happen. That afternoon the wind started to pick up a little and by bed time we were getting a little rain and large wind gusts. At midnight we lost our power. Paul and I laid down to try and get some sleep, but at 1:30am our first tree fell on the house. We ran to see what had happened and could tell that we might loose more, so we grabbed the kids and put them all in the center of the house. I can’t describe how loud the wind was! It was amazing!
When morning came we were stunned at the damage. I guess we thought it would just pass over and we would have a few downed power lines.
We got to work quickly, cutting down trees and helping neighbors. It was a really neat experience for myself and my family. It was difficult. We were without power for almost a month. Paul had to go to Dallas for work and I was alone with the kids, two were having major asthma problems, it was HOT outside and honestly I was scared at night. Without power your world is completely different, we talked a lot more, we played a lot more and it was really nice. Psychologically it was difficult because we were some of the last to get power back. So when everyone else has it at church and school they move on, not realizing you are still struggling to prepare every meal.
Try getting your kids ready for school for two weeks without power. That is exciting.
But I am very grateful for a few things. I am grateful for all food, water, and batteries that I have stockpiled all for almost free with coupons. This is one of many shelving systems I have for storage. It may not be pretty, but I never want to have to worry about how I am going to feed my kids. I can’t imagine a more sick feeling than not having anything to feed them or wondering who is going to help us, I hope that never happens.

We were also able to donate almost a thousand dollars personally, of toiletries to our neighbors and to my kids elementary school. Many people in my subdivision were flooded out of their homes. The kids and I went to “The Ivanovsky mini-mart” in my garage and pulled together almost 40 gift bags for families who had nothing but the clothes on their backs. We also were able to make dinner and bake items with the solar oven that I had and give warm food out to friends.
I am so thankful we were kept safe physically during the hurricane last year, and that the damage to property was fixable. I am also thankful for a supportive family who helps me use coupons and tolerates my stockpiles around the house! Hopefully we never have to go through any significant power loss again, but I know that if we have to, we will be prepared.
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What a Sweet Dad

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This is one of those “I’ve been meaning to” blogs that I haven’t blogged yet. I love family traditions and think they’re important to have, and my husband started one for our family that I think it very unique (and precious). A few years ago for Valentines day we stayed home instead of going out (funny how that happens when you have six kids). So Paul got creative, gave me the night off and made a beautiful candle lit gourmet dinner for the entire family. The kids LOVED it! The next year he was planning on getting a sitter and taking me out until the kids started talking excitedly about “Are we going to do that again, Dad!?” And that’s how the tradition started.
This year was beautiful, the girls (and Rush) all went to Mardi Gras in the morning while Tucker was at practice, and then we all came home for dinner (My sister and her husband opted for dinner with us-apparently waiting 3 hours for any restaurant was not going to settle with Jeff). Paul made an amazing romantic meal, with name plates, rose petals, and candles everywhere. The kids all got a giant Hershey Kiss (Storie freaked out when she figured out it was entirely chocolate) and we got them Madagascar2 to watch together as soon as dinner was done. This year all the kids each told Dad and I something they loved about us as well! And they didn’t just say, “Because you gave us giant Hershey Kisses!”
So dinner was beautiful, and this is one of the favorite holidays for our kids because of how special Dad makes it! Do you have any ideas for unique family traditions?

Have you ever been married?

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Photo by the best Photographer in the world.. Maureen Light!

My sweet little red head just walked up to me and asked, “Have you ever been married?”
“Yes, honey I have!” I laughed.
“Who did you marry?” She asked.
“Your Dad silly!”
“MOM! You can’t marry someone in your family!” She yelled at me.
Hmmm, I never thought about it that way… 🙂

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Ask Paul August 7th…

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It’s only a secret from you Ben. Tonia had some great coupons and asked me to hold it until your birthday.
Inside the family joke- It is a well known fact that butterscotch has been the fave candy of stars such as Liberachi, Elton John, and Lance Bass, well you get the picture.

What happens when you have borrowed someone’s trailor to haul compost from a mushroom farm and the tire blows in Huntsville, TX on a Sunday? WWPD? From Suzanne D.

I cannot bear the pain to relive this. For those of you that need to feel better about your day… click here.


Meagan,
Excellent question, this is where I can really be some help. Once Tiff took these 3 steps everything in our house ran a lot smoother.
1. Lower your expectations. Most men marry above themselves.(and we’re the dumb ones)
2. Spend less time on the computer and other frivolous activities.(you probably could have finished whatever you wanted done by the time you are done reading this post)
3.Don’t wear yourself out , your man might need you for something later. 😉

Okay seriously,
Work together on a plan where everyone (including Mom & Dad) in the household is assigned a specific duty and/or area. The key to this is give him the basic idea but let him take charge and assign the duties. Call a family meeting and let him assign the duties to each member.(if it is our plan we are more likely to want to see it work.. MALE EGO!)

According to the Paul, what is the best line from Holy Grail besides, “But I don’t want to, Fathah, all I want to do is sing!” From Taylor Clan

I know this is not what people want to hear, but for me the best line is
“The End”
I’m not a huge monty python fan. Sorry!

Do you dog-sit? And can I send YOU to the store with my grocery list and coupons? 🙂 You rock! From Hillori

Sorry Hillori, you will have to find your own village idiot.

So…what are you wearing? From Alissa Warner




All this and a personality.
Tiff is a REALLY lucky girl!

I hope you know what you are talking about. My boyfriend just broke up with me and wouldn’t tell me why. I am so heart broken and cry all the time. What do I do? How can I get over him? Why do guys do that? I gave him everything he could possibly want. Why? He won’t even talk to me or acknowledge me. Why? What did I do?
Help me understand, Janice

After posting the picture above, Tiffany says I may be available.
I unfortunately have no real idea what I am talking about. Tiff breaks up with me all the time and I cry a lot too. Its good to know I’m not alone, maybe that will help you too.
Seriously, we are all idiots I’m sorry that happened to you. Don’t ever give us everything we want, we are too dumb to know you don’t have any more to give.

So…who wears the pants in the house??? Do fess up… 🙂 From -Katie Lake Placid, Fl

Obviously not me!


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Ask Paul…

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I’d like to introduce my husband Paul, who is now taking questions….

I would like to thank my wife for allowing me to pontificate in her forum. I am sure she is just hoping that I get it out of my system before she and the kids have to hear it. Anyway if any of this advice seems to make sense or you feel you are really getting answers to tough questions, please see a professional before it’s too late. And with that, here we go!
~Paul
Paul,
How did you handle your last proctology exam? From Taylor Clan.
I am glad you gave me the opportunity to let men in on the sure fire secret of  a pleasant to mildly discomfortable proctology exam. You can make sure you have the best proctologist in the area by interviewing them all and asking them just one simple question; “Can I see your hands?’ Find the doctor with he smallest hands and he is without a doubt the best proctologist in town.

I am a single male, do women find it hot that I coupon? From Brett C.
Brett, The answer to that is Yes and No, here is the breakdown. All of the women that are married and are couponing  to keep from filing bankruptcy will think you are smoking hot. The single women that you should be more interested in will probably think that you live in your Mom’s basement and have a cat. Whatever makes you happy brother.

What is the average air speed velocity of an unladen swallow? Love your favorite Sister-in-law Anna
Without getting into the quantum physics that I know you aren’t that interested in, the age old question posed by Monty Python is 24 MPH. Next time come stronger than that, I eat those weak trivia questions for lunch.

How do you feel when your wife sends you to the store with a list and an envelope of coupons? From the checkout guy at Kroger
I am thrilled that I have a wife to send me with an envelope of coupons and that I’m not the guy checking people out at the Kroger. Do you live in your Mom’s basement and have a cat? Brett, next time only one question per session.

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11 Gifts for $11

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I was asked last week by Sherry Williams of KHOU Channel 11 to put together 11 gifts for $11 and under… the catch? I could NOT use sales or coupons!
WHAT!?!
That goes against everything I have in my body! But, I sucked it up and came up with what I think are some great gifts.
In this picture are:
Teen Girl Gift: all kinds of toiletries, makeup, brush, body wash, and a shower caddy to carry it in. $11
Tween Girl Gift: $10 at Walmart a craft set for making bracelets and headbands.
B-B-Q: A1 sauce, marinade, basting brush, beef rub. $8
Family Game Night: 2 board games from Toys-R-Us. $7.98
Throw blanket and Book: One of my favorites! Throw at Walmart $5, Book $2.99. Total $7.99
Roaster Pan: One of those things you never buy for yourself! $9.98
Baking Basket: $10.50
Family Movie Night: Always a big hit at our house, $11
Simple Start: Mini car starter, clearanced at Walmart for $10 (was $22) they had a TON!
Grandparent potted gift: $4.50
Lunch Box: filled with camping supplies $10.48
This is a gift I did for a teen boy. What do you buy them under $100?
This basket has a Sports illustrated, notebook, sunglasses, shampoo, deodorant, playing cards, and mouth wash. Is it just me or are they obsessed with smelling good? This basket was the most expensive at $11.50

The Grandparent flower pot was the cheapest and I think turned out the cutest!
I took a $1 terra cotta pot from the $$ store. Painted it white, took my 3 year olds foot and painted it brown, turned it upside down and stamped it on the pot. Then I took her hands and painted them brown to make the antlers of the reindeer and stamped those on. Gave him some eyes and a red nose, wrote Merry Christmas on it, got a $3.50 poinsettia from Walmart and you have a cute gift!
The Family Movie basket is another favorite. It is so easy to do. I got the cute popcorn basket from the $.99 store. But, you can get a clean one from the movie theatre as well. Filled it with movie candy, microwave popcorn and a good family movie, so easy and cheap. My kids love getting things like this, they make sure we use it.

The Baking Basket was my girls favorite. From the Dollar Tree I got the mixing bowl, and utensils. At Randall’s I grabbed any cookie or cake mixes that sounded yummy and threw in a pot holder and you have a very nice gift for what I thought was an adult. I have changed my mind however, and I think I am going to be giving these to all the little girl birthday parties my kids get invited to!

The experience with Sherry Williams and her photographer was awesome, she was so professional and accommodating with all my kids everywhere. They didn’t phase her at all! If you want to see the program segment that Sherry put together it will be on this Friday (November 20th) on Houston KHOU channel 11 between 5am-7am, then again at 5pm and again on Saturday morning from 7am-9am.
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Use up those coupons!

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So the kids and I went to Kroger to use up the last of my coupons for the Mega Event…
Good thing my oldest was too good to come with us, he would have never fit in the cart!

This is my favorite, my 3 year old was “shopping” for “ketchup, and wools (rolls) and ice cream.” Notice the ad is upside down, and her foot propped on the door. Seriously.

At one point the baby escaped… we can’t have any of that now can we?
You must know he was screaming bloody murder at this point. Fun times.

Total before coupons, $68.08

After coupons, $15.73
 Sweet.
Driving home, we found this guy, who like greased lightning jumped into my lap when I opened the door to grab his collar. I was sad to see him go, I like dog butt in my face, after all. But his owners were glad to have him back. I guess they like dog butt too!

Obligatory purchase picture…

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