Shaving and a play date

One of the gifts we got for Levi was a shaving kit. I passed it in Walmart and quickly turned around to go back and get it. Levi loves to grab Matt's razors and pretend he is shaving. Luckily, we never had any bloody accidents b/c I always caught Levi before it got messy. So this is Levi's first shave.

Yesterday Levi's friend Carter came over for a play date. Oh my gosh they had so much fun! They ran and chased and ran some more! There were toys from the front door to the back door. I didn't mind though b/c they had such a blast and it was worth it to see them both so happy. This gave me an idea of what it will be like when Jax is just a bit older and running around with Levi. I am in big trouble!!

Sorry Mandie...I couldn't resist this picture. As soon as I took it Carter said he needed to go potty. Thank you for letting him play with Levi.

This is just b/c I think Jax is perfect and I wanted to put a picture of him up. This is another one of his Christmas presents. He loves his Lightning McQueen car!

Christmas Fun

This year we stayed at home for Christmas. We have been in this house since 2007 and never spent one single Christmas day here. So this year was the year! It was different being by ourselves but Matt and I really wanted to spend time with just the kids. No tv, work, or projects! It was fun and we made some great memories! Here are some highlights from our weekend.

I bought Matt a rock climbing calendar for next year. That's not all I got him though!

My new jewelry box! I've had my other one since th 5th grade. Seriously!

My new boots! Love them!!!

Isn't he just so stinkin' cute?? I could just squeeze the poop right out of him. Jax spotted me with my camera.

Now he decides he wants to walk over to me to get my phone.

Jax opening his first present. It was pajamas from Grandma!

Levi loves cars and everything about them!

Levi was a pro at opening presents. Much better this year than last year.

We went to Chick Fil A on Christmas Eve. Levi was scared of the cow so this was a good as it gets. At least I look cute!

Levi passed out watching Thomas the Train when we got home from Chick Fil A. Who wouldn't though? That movie is so boring.

My pork shoulder was so yummy! We had bbq for Christmas lunch/dinner. That's how we do it here in Texas.

We went to the mall to visit Santa but it was crazy expensive to get pictures. So we walked around for a little while and tried to get Levi to ride a train. He didn't want to ride it by himself so that was a bust too. We drove around looking at all of the pretty lights in our neighborhood. Levi loved the lights! We made cookies with Levi too to leave out for Santa. Our whole Christmas weekend was just about being together as a family. Even though it was just us we still had fun and Matt and I couldn't have been happier. We hope everyone had a great Christmas as well.

*Fixed Video* Levi's Alphabet Song

If you can't view the video in the email go to http://youngfamily1204.blogspot.com/ to view it.

Updated stocking holder

Thanks to Tanna and her wonderful suggestion I went back and added red ribbon around the frame. Now the stocking holder pops and I'm lovin' it! I used double sided tape to hold the ribbon in place. I didn't make the ribbon big and chunky like the matting from PB b/c I didn't want to squish the picture I put in there. But you could do whatever you like. Now let's compare again:

$29 at Pottery Barn

Or $2 at Dollar Tree:

You can click the picture to see closer.

Pottery Barn Knock-off

I have been looking for stocking holders for years now. Last year I taped our stockings to our counter top. Ghetto!! I just couldn't find any that I liked that were reasonably priced. So this year I was determined to not tape our stockings. So my inspiration...Pottery Barn! Pottery Barn has these stocking holders for $29 each. Pretty but no thank you for that price!

So I went to my favorite store the Dollar Tree with an idea in my head and crossing my fingers that it would work. Dollar Tree has ugly stocking holders that are silver and gold that have a plastic Santa, angel, or snow flakes on top. All I wanted was the base. You can buy 2 stocking holder bases at Target for $8. Still too much for me! Then I found a silver 3 x 5 frame that said "Honeymoon" all over it. I knew at home I already had silver spray paint that would easily cover up the honeymoon on the frame. I only bought 1 frame and 1 stocking holder just in case my idea didn't work.

I rushed home super excited that this was going as planned. I took the ugly plastic Santa off the base and spray paint the frame. There were holes on the base where the Santa was attached so I put clear tape over the holes and then spray painted over the tape. You can't even tell. Sounds ghetto but you really can't tell there is tape there and it covers the holes. I glued the frame to the base and I was finished. Make sure to glue the frame upside down so you can change out the picture. It will cost me a whopping $8 for 4 stocking holders and at Pottery Barn these would cost me $116 for 4. Hmmm....what should I choose??

Now each year I can put updated pictures of us in each holder. I am going to go back and get more this week so I can put the rest of our stockings out. I know my version doesn't have the pretty red matting but that's ok. I'm actually going to go to a different Dollar Tree and see what their selection of frames are. Maybe I can find a frame with matting but if not I'm still happy with what I made. Notice my Dollar Tree hurricane too? Pretty! That cost me a whole $3 to make.

Pay no attention to the burnt out light in the kitchen. I think the wiring has a short in it.

Our Christmas tree

Goodbye fall decorations....HELLO CHRISTMAS!! This weekend we put up the tree and made the house ready for the big day. These horrible cell phone pictures do not do the tree justice. No we do not have an angel on top. I can't find one that I like and Matt hates the one that we have used in the past. The fence is to keep tiny little Jax's fingers away from my breakable decorations. Matt made this when Levi was just a baby and it worked great. Now it's time to use it again. So far so good! Merry Christmas to everyone!

What I am grateful for

I am grateful for so many things in my life. I am blessed every day by my Heavenly Father to have the best life possible. I am first eternally thankful for this guy:

Without Matt I would be lost. He is patient, caring, understanding, loving, giving, righteous, daring, fun, smart, determined, and best of all hot! The list could go on and on. He is perfect for me. He makes me want to be my best self and loves me for who I am.

I am thankful for my boys Levi and Jax. Levi is determined in every way. He gets that from Matt for sure. Levi has so much energy and wakes up every day loving life. He is high maintenance and cries a lot but I still love him. Jax is the complete opposite. Jax is laid back and cool. He only cries when he is hungry or tired. He loves his older brother so much and wants to keep up so badly. My boys are just that...mine!! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent them to me.

I am thankful for my parents. They have put up with a lot between all of us 5 kids. I'm surprised they haven't gone crazy yet. I am thankful they raised me with my beliefs and standards that I have today. I am thankful they taught me how to be a good person. I am thankful that I am stubborn just like my mom. Can't you tell she is a firecracker? Look at the red hair. That says it all!! Matt tells me that I am just like my mom so I'm pretty sure that's a good thing...right Mom??

I am thankful for my friends that I can count on and rely on for anything. I wish certain people lived closer (you know who you are) but that's ok. It makes the times we do get to see each other just that much more special.

I am thankful for modern conveniences. I love air conditioning, washing machines and dryers, blow dryers, cars, flat irons, clothes irons, tvs, computers, I could keep going and going. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and are grateful for all you have.

New Years Resolution--Food Storage!!

I am doing my New Years resolution early this year. Some people want to lose weight. Some want to quit smoking or drinking alcohol. Mine is FOOD STORAGE!! I have no food storage. So for 2011 I am going to do a "Food Storage Item of the Month" for myself and anyone else who may be inspired. My plan is that every time I am at the grocery store to grab that item of the month. So here is my break down of what I want to stock up on month by month:

January: canned potatoes
February: canned vegetables (ie. green beans, corn, carrots)
March: canned chicken
April: tuna
May: Miracle Whip (We eat a lot of sandwiches.)
June: soups (cream of chicken & mushroom)
July: dinner soups
August: cooking spray (I know I can't eat the cooking spray but I need it.)
September: syrup and pancake mix (We LOVE pancakes and french toast. It's a must have in this house!!)
October: cereal
November: evaporated milk
December: peanut butter

So there's my list! Wish me luck! I will post pictures at the end of each month showing how much of each item I purchased. Also, I will include the total amount I spent on each item. I'm excited about doing this. This list isn't set in stone either. If there is an awesome sale on something else then I have the right to get that instead. :)

Cha-Ching

I love getting good deals. Hopefully you know that by now. Have you seen the Ikea commercial where the lady thinks she stole everything b/c she got such a good deal?

This is totally me all the time!! Last night I went to CVS and scored all of this for $2.12.

How did I do it? Here's how: I had $10 worth of CVS ECB (extra care bucks) to spend. I wanted to find a deal where I could roll my ECB and get things I needed.

Transaction #1:

2 Herbal Essence shampoo & conditioner $2.99 each

Total: $5.98

Minus $5 ECB

Total out of pocket: $.98 plus tax $1.06

Got back a $2 ECB

Transaction #2:

2 Herbal Essence shampoo & conditioner $2.99 each

Total: $5.98

Minus $5 ECB

Total out of pocket: $.98 plus tax $1.06

Got back a $2 ECB

So now I had $4 in ECB to spend on something else.

Transaction #3

1 Suave body wash $2

Total: $2

Minus $2 ECB

Total out of pocket: $0

Transaction #4

1 Suave body wash $2

Total $2

Minus $2 ECB

Total out of pocket: $0

I received the $10 in ECB b/c I signed up to be on the CVS Advisor Panel. All you have to do is go here and sign up. I completed a survey recently and I received $5 ECB. They will email you a survey to complete and if you qualify you will get different amounts of ECB for completing the survey. FREE MONEY PEOPLE....FREE!! My sister completed the survey and received $5 in ECB but she doesn't have a CVS nearby so she sent it to me. Thanks Jessica! So I went shopping.

**Note**

I had to do so many transactions b/c the ECB were not only under my name but my sister's name as well. So that meant my sisters card had to be scanned in order to get the ECB so that's why the cashier had to separate everything into different transactions. Even though I did so many transactions it didn't take long at all. Very easy!

Hot glue and burnt fingers

I have a big furniture redo that I am starting this weekend. This piece of furniture will eventually end up in our dining room. Hopefully everything will turn out how I want it to. I have a vision in my head and I am going to do my darndest to make it happen. But in the mean time, Matt went out of town this week for work so I had to do something after the kids were asleep.

So I made this:

This is going to go in our dining room as well. I have a very special place for this big guy! You can go here and see how I made it. I went to Goodwill and bought a book for $2 and at the Dollar Tree I bought a wreath for $1. I picked out a book that had older looking pages and was thicker. I didn't want plain white pages. Most of the wreaths that I have seen made they used a 10 inch wreath. For mine I used a 13 inch. I didn't think that 3 inches would make that big of a difference but it did. It's ok though...I'm still in love. This project does take time and patience and you will have burnt fingers from the hot glue. But it is so worth it.

Master bedroom art

So a couple of months ago I bought some flowery art from Hobby Lobby. When I bought it I knew it really wasn't my style but we needed something in our room. We had empty space above our nightstands. I wanted color but flower art just isn't me. I want our room to be romantic, relaxing, 5 star hotel like. So the flower art had to go. Maybe I will find another place for it in our house. Not sure yet. I will have to add colors in other ways to our room. Anyway, I saw in blogland a lady made "art" from sticks. Sounds weird and hard to picture, right? You can go here to see where I got the idea. Our neighbor beside us has a huge willow tree and sticks are always falling in our yard. Perfect! So I grabbed the sticks I liked and spray painted them black and stapled them to my Goodwill frames. Easy, quick, more my style and FREE!! I can't show you the whole room...well...b/c....my bed isn't made and the nightstands are dusty and it for sure doesn't look 5 star hotel like right now. But trust me this works better than the flowery art. This could work anywhere in your house. Have fun!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have not bought laundry detergent in over a year. Not b/c I don't wash my clothes but last year I was able to score 8 bottles of laundry detergent for FREE!! Well, now all of that laundry detergent has been used so I recently bought my first bottle. But detergent is so darn expensive when you add up how much you buy it for and how much you use. Now that Levi is potty training I am doing a lot of laundry... A LOT....A LOT!! So I thought I would try to make my own detergent and see how it turned out. If it turned out ok then I could have more detergent for a lot less than what 1 bottle costs. So I found this recipe here. I followed it exactly and it made enough to last me for a while. Then I also found this site here and they did an experiment (non scientific) between Tide and the homemade stuff. Pretty interesting. I bought all of my ingredients at Kroger for a total of $8. The next time I make a batch it will cost me $1 for the Fels Naptha soap. $1!!! Here is a picture of how much I was able to make.

Good luck and I hope you can enjoy saving some money too!

**Note**

There are many different variations of homemade detergent. You can even add other scents to your detergent if you want. Most recipes have the same basic ingredients though. Just do a search for homemade laundry detergent and find one you like.

Missing you

Today is a day that I will remember for the rest of my life. I remember the moment, the pain, the sadness, the emptiness. I remember it all as if it were yesterday but it was 5 years ago. Paul Granada is not forgotten. He is remembered every time I listen to Blue October, pass a Wing Stop, or happen to see a black Honda CRX. I have so many memories with Paul that I hope to never forget them. Paul made me laugh and he made me cry. I feel blessed that I knew him and that we were able to spend so much time together. I know that he is with Heavenly Father in a better place doing the Lord's work. Someday we will see each other again and I can't wait to hug him and tell him how much he has been missed. I love you Paul and you are missed every day.

Random Thoughts Today

1. I realized while eating lunch today that I only like carrots cooked in the crockpot with steak. Weird...I know! Just the flavor of the potatoes, carrots and steak together is just irresistible.

2. I didn't like white rice until I had Jaxon. My friend Mandie brought over chicken and white rice for dinner after I got home from the hospital. For some reason I just couldn't stop eating the rice. I think I must have eaten about 95% of the whole bowl of rice. Now I love it. Maybe it was the hormones running crazy after giving birth.

3. I love Levi's crazy fingers! He is doing crazy fingers as I am writing this post. Crazy fingers is when he moves his fingers all crazy and makes a funny noise while moving his fingers. Unless you have seen it it is hard to explain. It's hilarious to watch!!

4. I hate laundry and doing the dishes. I still haven't realized that if I would just fold the clothes that have been sitting on the couch for 3 days my house would feel so much cleaner. If I would unload the dishwasher right when it finishes the dishes wouldn't pile up in my sink. I despise laundry and dishes.

5. I have the cutest boys ever. They make me smile and laugh all day long. Levi has such a fun personality and Jax is following in his footsteps.

6. I love the smell of fresh cut grass. I don't know why but it is a favorite smell of mine.

7. Why do the trains have to honk their horns so freakin' loud at 4:30 am every day. I thought Wylie was a "quiet zone". So much for quiet!

8. My dining room is the "play room" and I don't really like that. I need a play room so I can have my dining room back. That means a bigger house. Which means we need to sell our current house. Which means that someone has to want to buy our house. Any takers??

9. I'm glad Oprah is going off the air. She interrupts people all the time and doesn't let them finish their sentences or thoughts. Why is that Oprah? Let the person speak dang it!!

10. Will somebody please teach me how to make my bed? Well, I know how to make it but I just never want to make it. I like the way it looks when I do make my bed. Mom, sorry I failed you in that department. I will try better I promise.

11. Yogurtville...I am in love! Thank you for opening so close to our house. I smile when I drive by you. You are amazing and I will be visiting you frequently. See you soon.

Fun & funky artwork

I love it when I come across something cheap and creative to do. I only wish I could be the creative one to come up with the idea. Recently I read somewhere about making cheap art using your last name. I read all the details on how to do this so of course I had to do this too. It's funky, different, interesting, and just plain cool!! If you want to know how I made it then just ask me. It's too long to write out but it is really easy. I'm thinking this will go in our hallway or dining room somewhere. Let's just say the possibilities are endless on how you could make your last name or any other phrases. Hope you like it.

My version of a book makeover

One of my favorite decorating sites is Decor Chick! The things that she comes up with are just amazing. If only she could come and decorate my house then I could just sit back and relax. Well, Decor Chick did a book makeover. I would have never thought to do this idea. You can see Decor Chick's version HERE

I thought I would give this makeover a try. So here is what I did. I bought a plain hardback book from Goodwill for $2. Now, Decor Chick spray painted her book and at first I thought that is what I wanted to do. So I bought Ivory colored spray paint. I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and found the exact stamp that Decor Chick used. It was regularly priced $10.99 but was on sale for 50% off. I couldn't justify spending $6-$7 on a stamp that I will use probably just once. So I went looking for a cheaper idea. In the same scrapbooking area they have all of the cool scrapbooking paper. I found this beauty for $.59 a sheet. Sold!! I bought 2 pieces and a package of glue sticks for $.99.

I glued the paper to the book and I was done in 10 minutes. No waiting for paint to dry or making sure I perfectly stamped the book. Nope...not for me!! I folded the edges on the inside and glued them down. I did have to cut off the extra paper. The paper was 12 x 12 and my book wasn't that big.

Since I had to use 2 pieces of paper to cover the book I made sure my seam was on the back side of the book. You can see my seam on the left side. You will never see this part.

I do need to go back and add some ribbon but overall I am pleased with my book makeover. My cost was $4.17. And the cool thing is the selections of scrapbooking paper is endless so you can do so many cute things all for CHEAP!! Enjoy! (Sorry for the horrible cell phone pictures. I needed something quick before Jax started screaming.)

On Fire!

Our front door is on fire this year! So I know it's not cool outside...yet...but it will be soon. I couldn't wait any longer to bring out my fun fall stuff. I have a wreath that I bought at Michaels a few years ago. It is just plain and doesn't really jump out at you. I wanted a wreath that screamed FALL IS HERE!! Our front screen door and entry door are both black. I went to the Dollar Tree and they had 3 choices of colors of leaves. Brown, a deep dark red (looked almost brown too), and yellow with red tips. I had a winner with the yellow!!! I figured the brown and red wouldn't stand out since our door is dark too. So here is what I did. I bought a wreath ($1) and 5 packs of leaves ($5). I used super glue that I already had since I haven't bought a glue gun yet. Then I went to town just gluing the leaves down. Oh...I did crinkle the leaves too since they came flat in the package. An hour later this is what I have. I might go back and add some berries or pine cones later. But for now...I love it!!

To die for

Enough said!