10% chance!!

So what does a 10% chance mean to all of you? To me it means negligible...not gonna happen...yeah, right...don't give it a second thought.

Well 10% was the chance we had of precipitation when I quickly checked weather.com before we took off on our quickie camping trip. It was to be gorgeous temperatures and barely cloudy skies so there was no consideration of rain preparations...

So Josh got to the campsite with Carter several hours before the big monkeys and I got there (Trevor had a last-day-of-school party to attend). When we got there, Josh had everything thing all unpacked and set up...even both tents! Carter had had a wonderful time playing with sticks and rocks and bugs while Daddy worked...he's such an outside boy! We made some hotdogs and beans on the campfire, toasted marshmallows and played at the playground. It really was a gorgeous campground, right on a lake...and it wasn't even busy yet on the eve of the holiday weekend. We got all snuggled into our sleeping bags about 9:30 when it finally got dark (getting a 2yo to go to sleep in a tent in the daylight is a big NO lol) and drifted off to sleep after having a really wonderful time as a family. Then about 5am I woke to some little teensy clicking sounds, of something hitting the outside of our tent. And then it got louder and more frequent. Surely it couldn't be rain cuz the forecast was a TEN PERCENT chance?! HA on us!! Within a handful of minutes it was POURING rain. Josh stirred and tried to roll over and go back to sleep. The big monkeys got woken by it in their tent next door and started calling to me. It was raining so hard that they couldn't even hear me SCREAM to them that it was ok and to stay in their tent where it was dry! Carter miraculously stayed asleep. Third picture above is what you do when your tent starts leaking at the seams during a downpour and it's dripping on the baby's head...drape his playpen with a towel lol. It was funny...I'd really NOT wanted to go camping (even tho I love camping, I wanted to PLAN a trip), but the night before had changed my attitude and I really enjoyed my husband's spontinaety and was having a wonderful time. Josh was now groaning in the sleeping bag...and I was CRACKING up! How hilarious is this?! The downpour lasted about 20 minutes and the fourth picture is what we woke up to...everything soaked! Luckily I'd packed almost everything into the tubs the night before not knowing about animals etc...and so most of our stuff was dry.

Good idea, honey...even tho we got soaked, it was a great adventure!!

Congratulations, Emilee!!

We just got home from Emilee's 5th grade graduation. She's headed off to middle school next year...wow! Her elementary school had a very nice ceremony where each child got their diploma and a rose to give to their mom (awww!) and then a catered lunch afterward. You can see "2016" in the pictures...her class is referred to that beginning in kindergarden through their senior year...

And I'm signing off now. Josh has just declared an impromptu camping trip NOW. So I have a mere few minutes to gather what the five of us might need or I'm missing the bus hahaha. Wish us luck!! Josh loves this kind of last minute thing, he's SO happy at the moment...I'm a planner so YIKES, I'm freaking out!!!!!!

Target deals 5/10-5/16

I pulled together some decent couponing for the first time in months and hit the Target deals this morning. Here's my score...

Granola bars $1.94

Salad dressing $0.59 each

Mayo $0.24 each

Easy mac $0.27 each

Cookie packs $0.54

Total with tax after sales, Target coupons, manufacturer coupons and internet coupons...$6.02

(Full price would have been $17.08)

Watch out CVS...you're next *wink*!

Mother's Day 2009

Today is a poignant day to jump back on the blogging train. I've been a tad absent here lately and for a special reason. I was helping a wonderful woman realize of her dream of celebrating her very first Mother's Day today! One year ago this weekend, Joshua and I agreed to help Gabby and Charlie become parents. And now I'd like to introduce Mason and Ethan...the two little miracles I carried for the last nine months and then delivered into their loving Mommy and Daddy's arms just over two weeks ago.

The new family is doing absolutely wonderful! Mommy and Daddy are understandably tired but over the moon...and Mason and Ethan are growing like weeds and wrapping their parents around their teensy pinkie fingers.

My heart is so full this Mother's Day. I just spent a great month with my own mom as she came out here to help take care of my family in the last weeks of this pregnancy. I'm absolutely blessed by our own three monkeys, and so thankful to have my amazing husband who always tells me what a great mom I am especially when I feel I might not be. And I'm honored to have been a part in two other women being able to celebrate Mother's Day today when they might not have been able to otherwise.

So as I listen to my monkeys giggling in the backyard, I want to wish all of the mothers I know the happiest day imaginable...you deserve it for all that you do for your kiddos!!!

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

And for some Mother's Day fun, click on this link. A dear friend sent this to me and it just cracked me up...it was really thoughtful and terribly funny as it looks SO REAL!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=OeX_YShcZUJ5QSKcFy1YszMxNDU4Mjc-&referred_by=16307192-JeyuSTx&p=moveon

Carter's 2yo Portraits

Just wanted to share monkey #3's two year old portraits. I figured with his normal "no!" and crazy all over the place attitude that we'd be lucky if we got ONE shot that looked nice for his baby book and to share...but we got SEVERAL!

Isn't he looking soooo grown up?!

Catchin' up!

This is going to be a hodge podge post, catching up some stuff I've wanted to share for a bit that deserve much more attention but I've lost most of my energy to give a complete post to each...so here we go!


Em wanted me to take this pic...she helped pull all of the empty boxes out of the "wine protection facility" once we'd unpacked them onto the newly built shelves...and this is where we found her when we came up the stairs.

Gabby and Charlie sent us a gift certificate to Super Suppers (a place where you pre build dinners and then take them home to freeze...ready to pull out defrost and quickly cook when you want) so I could have a bit of a break in the making dinner department as I'm getting fatter and crankier so close to the end. Here's a DELICIOUS tilapia dinner I "made" the other night.
How it looks coming out of my freezer...all nicely packaged in separate steps with directions.
Cooking the fish and rice ready to reheat (and sauce ready to add to the fish once it's done).
The beautiful plate just before I devoured it! I really recommend these make ahead dinner places if you have one near you. It's about $10 per meal...more expensive than bargain grocery shopping and doing it yourself, but TONS cheaper than going out to eat...so it's a nice compromise.

Midnight...104 degree fever...littlest monkey finally passed out in Daddy's chair...too cute to pass up the photo op!

Trev helping out Emilee...she's in the middle of a science project for school...what makes plants happiest?...watering them with water, coffee or lemonade? (I'll keep you posted on the results!)

A cute shot of Carter...naked (he refuses to wear clothes most of the time)...holding his "Bear" with Blankey (yup, same blanket Trev packed around for years)...sitting on his chair (the one he drags all over the house to help him climb anything he can't scale with just his arms and legs).

Run, Forrest, Run!!!

The first of the year rolled around and Josh decided it was time to lose a few pounds and start exercising...so he started Weight Watchers and started running. 10 weeks later he's lost 24 pounds and this past Saturday he competed in his very first 5k run! I am so proud of him!!! The 5k was a fundraiser for the big monkeys' school and we all went to cheer Daddy on. He did great...he placed 16th in his age group, 151st out of all the guys and 214th for the whole race...out of about 1200 competitors. Not too shabby when 10 weeks earlier he was having trouble running from gate to gate to catch a flight! Now, I can't wait until I'm able to join him in a couple of months...maybe we'll even do a 5k together!


Josh stretching before the race

The white arrow is pointing to Josh, two seconds after he went across the finish line