I'm hoping we can make some big changes in 2015. I usually don't like to make a resolution list, but this year I've come up with some things I'd really like to accomplish. Things that will change me and my family for the better. So here it is...my New 2015 Years Resolutions!

1. Drink more tea and water. And also cut back on soda.

2. Complete Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and get all debt paid off by April. 

3. Do Zumba at least 3 times a week - 20 minutes at a time.

4. Get the kids on a schedule and stick to it!

5. Go on a small vacation with just our family. Somewhere close to home but beautiful.

6. Start the 52 week savings plan and use that money for Christmas 2015.

7. FINALLY get my dream catcher tattoo I've been wanting forever and incorporate the kids' names in the feathers. 

8. MOVE! Get out of the condo and into a house. Any house will do at this point.

9. Try not to loose my patience so easily. 

10. Hang out with friends more. 

I love being sick two days before Christmas! Said no one ever!

Allie had a pretty bad cold Saturday and Sunday and I'm pretty sure she successfully passed it on to both Loren and I. Loren took some NyQuil around 8:30 and passed out, I on the other hand have been forced to stay awake with the babies while sneezy, coughing and trying to soothe this sore throat. Allie's cold only lasted for two days so hopefully ours is gone by Christmas day.

Loren and I had a pretty decent weekend. Saturday was pretty much a lazy day. I got some random chores done while Loren messed around with his bow. Sunday, Loren and I dropped the kids off tat my parents while we went out (with everyone else in town) to get the grocery shopping done. We ended up going to Aldi first and then over to Walmart. $300 later we were finally done. We got all the food we needed for the week, all the food I needed for all of the Christmas dishes I'm making, some last minute gifts, and we filled Up the car (for only 2.06 a gallon!). 

I'm starting to feel a little anxious for this years festivities. We have quite the schedule and I'm hoping it's not going to be too overwhelming dragging the twins around. I'm planning on packing bottles just in case. Raymond isn't a huge fan of formula so I'm hoping to be able to nurse him to help relieve me and bottle feed Charlie because she could care less. That way I'm not having to nurse both of them at the same time somewhere other than home. It should be fine though. My mom will be there to help.

I finally got our family's 2014 Christmas ornament in the mail today! It's adorable. I've always wanted one of these ornaments but just never got around to it. Now I'm hooked and I'll be sure to get one every year. 

Halloween was cold and windy this year, but we still had a blast. It was the first year that Loren was able to go with Allie and I trick or treating and that made her so happy. I pumped and got the twins used to the bottle this week so we could leave them with my mom and take Allie out. It was nice to have some time just the three of us again. I plan on having more dates like that in the future.

This year was fun because Allie picked out her own costume and was really excited about it. She wanted to be a pirate just like Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Like I said, it was super cold out this year so she wasn't able to wear the red and white striped tights that came with her costume. Instead she had to wear snow pants and about 5 sweatshirts under her shirt. That's ok though, she stayed warm and still had a blast.

I was so proud at how polite she was being. She got a ton of extra candy for it too!

It was a good Halloween and next year is going to be even better.

4th of July 2014

I figured I might want to get this post done since it's already the 11th.

This year we ended up having a really good weekend. It was pretty much the first really/fun weekend we've had since Loren started the business. 

The 4th was on a Friday this year and Loren had the day off. We didn't really make any plans to do anything, we just wanted to kind of do whatever and go with the flow. We ended up having a lot of fun that day though.

We took Allie Mae to see her first parade (besides the one she saw in Disney World). She LOVED it! I gave her a Walmart bag to fill with candy and she went crazy. She loved watching all the horses, firetrucks, cars and trucks, and different floats drive by It was the longest parade I've ever been too. Almost a full two hours we were there sitting on the side of the road. 

After the parade we took Allie over to a local fire station for their open house. Allie got to go into all the firetrucks and ambulances which was really cool. We got to walk around the fire house and see all the equipment too. I love that Allie gets into different things. I always had this preconceived notion that girls would only be into girl stuff and boys into boy stuff. Allie proved me wrong. She likes it all! 

Following the fire station open house we went and spent the rest of the day at a friends house for a cookout. It ended up being a lot of fun. Allie played for hours with the other kids and I actually got to sit, relax and enjoy lots of adult conversations. 

The rest of the weekend was pretty easy going. Allie spent the day swimming with my mom one day, we went to see fireworks, and pretty much just hung out.

It seems like all the weekends have been ending so fast lately so it was nice to have the whole weekend to be each other. 

Memorial Day Weekend 2014

We had a perfect Memorial Day Weekend. We didn't make any plans, we just kinda went with the flow and did whatever we wanted. It was nice to finally have a weekend where we had nothing to do. Saturday Loren and I took a trip out to an ultrasound place to find out the sexes of the babies! We just can't ever wait until the 20 week appointment. Well, we found out we're having a...

and a...

We are seriously ecstatic! I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I always wanted Loren to have his little boy and for Allie to have a sister. Well we got one of each so I guess I couldn't have asked for anything more. Now I've got some major organizing and shopping to do. I at least have some girl stuff left from Allie to give us a good head start. As far as boy stuff goes, yeah, we're gonna need to work on that.

I don't even want to start thinking about everything that I need yet. I just started to feel a little better so I want to enjoy these next couple of weeks with Allie. I feel like I've deprived her of fun. I mean we haven't even had a park day yet!

Besides all that business...

Saturday night my parents took Allie for the night so Loren and I could go out for dinner and I could get a good nights sleep. They set up the pop up in the backyard and had a little camping trip. I guess Allie LOVED the camper and kept calling it "Allie's House". I was hoping to be able to go on a couple camping trips this summer so it's nice to know that she'll at least enjoy it.

Sunday I got to sleep until 9 (you know you're a mom when your body only lets you sleep until 8 or 9, but you still wake up feeling like you slept until noon)! Loren went North for the day to get some tools and I spent the day with my mom and Allie antiquing.

Monday was the best. We got up at about 8, went to breakfast with my parents, came home and watched a movie, all three of us took a three hour nap, we got up and went to Walmart, came home ate dinner and went to bed for the night. It was fantastic.

Now it's Tuesday and once again didn't really do much. I got some cleaning done, but nothing major. I pulled out the pool for Allie this afternoon and she swam for a good 3 hours. It was nice to get some sun!

Other than that.... nothing much going on around here. 

In other news, I received an email today saying that I'm being sent the TLC VoxBox from Influenster. I'm pretty darn excited for that. I received one other box from them last year and I really really liked it. Can't remember what the theme name of the box was though. 

Well, I'm off to bed. I've got a couple houses to clean tomorrow and then it's hopefully another lazy day after that. 

I'm feeling terrible today and have no desire to get up from this couch so I figured today is as good as any to get a couple posts done.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Mother's Day. I did. We went to see both our moms and I had the chance to enjoy my day also. I got some planting done and spruced up the patio a bit.

I got some Rosemary and Lavender to plant in pots.

I also got a couple hanging plants. One Strawberry plant (very excited about this) and one Pansy plant.

I decided I'm not going to plant anymore veggies this year. I've got two broccoli plants and three sweet pea plants that I've had since seedlings, but other than that I'm not really interested in planting anything else. I still want to do some canning throughout the summer but I decided that instead of planting everything I want to can, I'm just going to hit up the farmers markets for some deals.

Other than planting, I ran into Ulta with my mom. She was looking for some shampoo and conditioner, I was there just to keep her company. I did find some pretty good deals though! They had a big sale on their Ulta products...

I got 4 nail polishes (normally $6 on sale for $2 each  ) and 2 eyeliners (normally $5 on sale for $1 a piece) for $10. I never go to Ulta, but I'm glad I went this time.

That's pretty much all we did this Mother's Day and I was happy with that. It was nice to have a day where you can do whatever you want and nobody expects you to do anything.

I wish there was at least one day a week like that...

It's been 4 years! Today, Loren and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. I sometimes feel like it's been way longer than 4 years and then other times I feel like we just got married yesterday. It's crazy to think that we've already been together 9 years. I think back to when Loren and I first started dating, I knew right away that he was the one I was going to marry. I remember after our first date coming home so excited telling both my parents that I was going to marry him. Dad laughed and told me to shut up and mom bet me $5 I wouldn't. She has yet to pay me! Anyway, the past four years have been amazing, hell, the past nine years have been amazing. I married my best friend, how could it NOT be amazing??

Happy Anniversary baby! I love you!

New Year's resolutions. I guess I'll join the club and share mine. 

I don't like to give myself hard core resolutions. Every time I do, I quit them in about a day. I like to give myself "goals" more or less. I came up with a small list of things I will be working on throughout the year. Some right away and some later on. 

For some reason this year I am actually ready to work really hard on some things. I want to change my life for the better. I think having Allie really helped me realize that life is indeed short and I can't just waste time like I used to. I need to cherish every moment and use them to the fullest. 

1. Just like most people I will be including weight loss in my resolutions. I'd really like to start working out at least 3 times a week. I plan on starting Zumba again. I'm not a gym person and I'm not into the typical workout. Zumba is fun and I can do it right at home on the Xbox without 8 million people watching my every terrible dance move. 

2. Start drinking more water. 

3. Stop drinking soda. 

4. Get Allie Mae potty trained and off the binkie. Potty trained first and binkie last. I really could care less if she wants her binkie so that will just be a very slow wean.

5. Pay off ALL our credit card debt by summer and start Baby Step #3.

6. Start paying bills twice a month instead of little bits weekly. I want to get to the point where I have the money in our account to pay the bills every other week and then put away a certain amount from the paycheck to cover the bills coming in the following month. I figured out our budget and that we'll need to put aside about $400 a week for bills. The rest of the money can go towards food, spending money, savings, etc. 

7. Start a savings account for Allie and contribute $10 weekly until our credit cards are paid off then $20 a week. 

8. Join in on the 52 Week Money Savings Challenge plan and use the money for Christmas shopping. 

9. Blog once a week. 

10. Worry less about the small stuff and try to enjoy the life that I have been given. Who cares if there are Little People all over the damn house and the floors havent been vacuumed at least 4 times this week. I just want to be an awesome wife and mother and have a ton of fun with my family. 

11. And last but not least, build a better relationship with God. Pray more and go to church. 

Christmas and New Years were a blast this year. Very busy, but very fun. December in general was a super busy month. With all the parties, company, and running around we had to do, we were all exhausted by the end.

Our friends Kevin and Beth were home from Tennessee for about three weeks in December. Kevin just deployed to Afghanistan for nine months so we tried to spend as much time with them and their kids as we could before he left. We went out to dinner a couple times, went skiing, played around in all the snow and just spent some really nice quality time with them.

Christmas went really well. Allie got a ton of stuff, as usual. We ate tons of food, got to see our families and we even got some gifts.

As for Allie Mae’s gifts from us she got the Fisher Price Servin’ Surprises table with most of the attachments, the Lady and the Tramp and Bambi Little People sets, and a ton of dress up stuff in her stocking. From my parents, she got the Fisher-Price Little People Disney Princess Klip Klop Stable with some extra horses, some new pots and pans, a Minnie Mouse table and chairs set, clothes, an adorable snowsuit, a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse music set, and a bunch more stuff. From Loren’s family she got a bin full of new art supplies, a new baby, some pjs and sweatshirts, and a really cute doll bed that Loren’s dad made out of barn wood.

She is such a spoiled little girl and I love it.  

The only thing that sucks about Christmas is, it always ends up being such a tiring day. We spend Christmas Eve night with my family for a party then around 5am Christmas morning my parents and sister come over to open presents with us and have breakfast. Then around 8am we pack up and drive out to Loren's parents house (an hour away) for presents and brunch. After his parents we leave, drive another hour back home and head over to my parents for dinner. It's absolutely exhausting. While I love spending time with family, I think next year we're going to have to make sure we have some downtime to enjoy with Allie. 

After Christmas we moved on to New Years. We had a massive snow storm so Loren and I decided ahead of time that we weren't going to be out late. We had the night to ourselves so we decided to go out to dinner and see a movie. We saw American Hustle and it was really good, actually better than I thought it was going to be.

After the movie, Loren and I came home, watched a couple more movies on Netflix, drank a whole bottle of wine and it was nighty night for us. It was a great way to end the year 2013.