A Long 10 Days

The past 10 days have been very long and busy for our family. Monday, March 23rd, my brother, Kevin and I traveled to St. Louis for our Uncle Bill's funeral on Tuesday. The last time I saw him was at Uncle Al's funeral back in January. We were sitting at Aunt Ella's dining room table and he looks at me and say, "Is that husband of yours still a Cubs fan?" I told him "yes", to which he ask, "what are you going to do about that." "I think I will keep him" was my reply. Tuesday was a long day with a long drive home that evening in the pouring rain.

Me and Kevin -- my cousin Jessica on the side - Our next trip to St. Louis will be for her wedding.

Wednesday night was the clothing sale set-up. Thursday, Friday and Saturday was the clothing sale. In addition to the sale on Thursday our new couch was delivered! Here is Allie sitting on it.

Our old couch is still sitting in our living room. I have given Raymond a deadline of getting it out of my living room. I have 2 couches, 2 chairs and an ottoman in my living room as well as all the toys.

Also Thursday was the girls first soccer practice. Both girls did great. They are learning to play without using their hands. After the first break, Allie kept saying she needed to take a break every 3 minutes. I was really wet on the field but fun was had by all.

My best find at the clothing sale was a Dora playhouse. The girls LOVE it.

Sunday after church I took my mom back home and I can home on Monday. Tuesday I worked on getting my house back together again. It is still not back to normal but getting close. I am also looking forward to getting back to sewing and scrapbooking again. I have lots of projects that I want to do.

Abby's New Glasses

Abby first got glasses in March 2006. She did not like them as seen here.


She worn them for a while but it was always a battle. I eventually gave up and lost the battle.


Last week we went back to the eye doctor. Abby worn them to the eye doctor and has worn them ever since. Her old glasses were getting to small for her face so we had to purchase new ones for her. Here is Abby wearing her new glasses. She looks so cute & smart.

C-USA Tournament Time

Friday Raymond took off work and we went to the CUSA Semi-finals at the forum to watch the Tigers play Houston.


Pre-game


Final

Saturday we went back for the Championship game against Tulsa. History was made on Saturday by this team. 61 consecutive conference wins, 25 wins in a row and 4 consecutive conference titles in a row.

Pre-Game

Pouncer

4 in a Row - 2009 CUSA Champs!

Banner for Robert Doizer, Antonio Anderson and Chance McGrady - these 3 players have the most wins in NCAA history. They will place the final number on the banner after the NCAA Tournament. We hope they add 6 more to the 135 they already have!

Doizer cutting down the nets

Now we are a #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and I am awaiting to fill out our Annual Homesbuilders Bracket challenge! Let the games begin and GO TIGERS GO!!!!

21 States

I saw this on Facebook and thought I would make a blog post out of it instead of a Note on FB.

Put an X by the states you have visited. The average is 8. How do you match up? Some were driven through to get to and from "somewhere"... I've been to 21 States in the Union.
* Alabama (X)
* Alaska ( )
* Arizona ()
* Arkansas (X)
* California (X)
* Colorado ( )
* Connecticut ()
* Delaware ()
* Florida (X)
* Georgia (X)
* Hawaii ()
* Idaho ()
* Illinois (X)
* Indiana ()
* Iowa ()
* Kansas ()
* Kentucky (X)
* Louisiana (X)
* Maine ( )
* Maryland (X)
* Massachusetts ()
* Michigan (X)
* Minnesota ( )
* Mississippi (X)
* Missouri (X)
* Montana ()
* Nebraska (X)
* Nevada (X)
* New Hampshire ()
* New Jersey ( )
* New Mexico ()
* New York (X)
* North Carolina (X)
* North Dakota ( )
* Ohio ()
* Oklahoma ()
* Oregon ( )
* Pennsylvania (X)
* Rhode Island ()
* South Carolina ()
* South Dakota ()
* Tennessee (X)
* Texas (x)-if driving thru counts, the airport should count as well
* Utah ()
* Vermont ( )
* Virginia (X)
* Washington ( )
* West Virginia (X)
* Wisconsin ()
* Wyoming ()

Also have been to Canada and The Bahamas. These are the only 2 places I have been outside the U.S. I hope to change that one day.

FREE Shampoo

My friend Tommie has taught me some great tips on how to use coupons and when to use them to get the items you need for free or very close to free. You have to give up some of your brand loyality to items but if it is free, or close to free, it is ok to use it. Here is what I got and how I got.

Free Shampoo at Wal-Greens

Fructis Shampoo & hair care products are on sale this week for $2.99 a bottle. In the Wal-Greens Easy Saver Coupon book there is a $2 off coupon (which you can use again and again all month long), this makes the bottle $0.99. I had 3 $1 off coupons from the Sunday paper that I could also use. Which made 3 of bottles free and the 4th bottle (because you have to have the same number of shampoo & conditioner) 99cents!

Free Rice at Kroger
Riceland rice was on sale for $1.79 for a 2lb bag. I had a buy one get one free coupon. So I have 4lbs of rice for $1.79.

These are just a few of the great deals I found Tuesday.

Old Friends

Saturday afternoon I went to see an old friend from high school, Jennifer. It has been about 14 years since we last saw each other. We were the best of friends for such a long time and her parents were like second parents to me. We reconnected earlier this year via Facebook and were about to catch up in person this past weekend. I was able to meet her husband, Chris and her 4 boys and she was able to meet my girls. I had such a great time and I hope that our families will continue to stay in touch.

Jennifer & Chris


Me & Jennifer


Jenn's dad, Billy and the girls


Abby & Matthew

1st Paid Haircut

I have always trimmed the girls hair myself but it is getting more difficult the older they get. It is also getting harder to comb the tangles out of Abby's hair. I have asked her a few times if I could cut her hair and every time she says yes. We went to Savannah this weekend and I made an appointment to get her hair cut by the same lady (Judy) who cut my hair when I was in high school and college. (I still have not found anyone who cuts my hair like she did.)

She was very excited about going to get her hair and would tell anyone who would ask. But when it was Abby's turn, she changed her mind. After a few minutes I finally got into the chair. I think she was a little scared about what was going on but made she it through just fine.

Here is what was cut off.

Finished!

Booster Seats

We have finally moved the girls up to booster seats. They are so excited about their new seats. They seem so big now. Allie can unbuckle herself and Abby is not far behind. They love the cup & snack holders on each side of the seat. Now they think they have to have a cup everytime we go out.

Snow Days

Saturday afternoon it started to snow around 2:00 and did not stop till sometime in the middle of the night. We got 10 inches at our house, according to our unscientific measurement on Sunday morning.

Starting to snow

Less than and hour later

Sunday morning

Saturday evening playing in the snow

Sunday morning Abby was up at 6:55 to see hoe much it had snowed. I was able to go out without the girls to take some pictures before breakfast. Our street was a little icy this morning.


Abby's snow cake

Icicles on the house & rose bush

My snow bunnies

It was so deep that the girls could not get up without help when they feel down to make snow angels.


Allie dug around and found her sand shovel to help Raymond shovel snow from around his car.

Sunday afternoon we went back outside one more time. This time we were able to get daddy to help us build a snowman. Our snow family.

The girls have had so much fun in the snow this weekend. I have had a hard time picking which pictures to post today. I have taken over 125 pictures over the past 2 days!! Those will be on Shutterfly soon.

Who can believe that on Thursday it was 70 degrees and that by next Friday it will be 72 again.