ummm...it's snowing in vegas...!

This is crazy! It's not just snowing, it's sticking!

i love these pictures!

Julia is such a big smiler! Jason can make her smile so easy! It's so cute!

christmas tree shopping!

This was from when we went Christmas tree shopping. Katey is a little freaked out sometimes on Jason's shoulders (if he's not holding her hands) so that's why she's on top of his head, holding on for dear life! Crazy head!

Here we are in front of the perfect tree--the first one we looked at! How crazy is that?!



Katey holding on for dear life again. She'll hold onto anything, in this case, Jason's face!
Unfortunately I don't have very many pics of us decorating the tree. Me and Jas were really sick so it took us a few days to get everything decorated. Oh well!

$20 starbucks card giveaway!

Yep, I'm giving away another Starbucks card on my other blog. Just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win! How easy is that?!

Go here to enter.

fun in new mexico!

We went to Las Cruces for Thanksgiving and enjoyed our time with Jason's parents. Katey especially had fun!

Crazy heads!

Nana patiently let Kate "help" her cook. Here she is cutting up some tomatoes. She obviously loved this!

Baby Julia's first smile caught on camera. She's super easy to make smile--it's so fun!

Katey and Tata playing their harmonicas. Kate loved that thing once she learned how to do it!

fun with the girlies!

Baby Julia is another crazy sleeper, though not as crazy as Katey was. Here's here in her little bassinet, NOT using the sleep bumpers!

Isn't she huge?! She's already almost 11 1/2 lbs. SO much bigger than Kate was and such a relief!

Me and Kate made this really yummy pie for when my parents were here. It's Turtle Pumpkin Pie. You can see the recipe on my other blog here.

family comes to visit!

My mom, dad, grandma, aunt and uncle came to visit last week. Kate had such a good time with them. We went to this outlet mall here in town and Katey loved playing on all the little cars and stuff, plus she just got new light up shoes from grandma and papa and she loved those!

My mom, grandma, Kate and Julia.

halloween, better late than never!

Here's our Halloween pics finally! Kate was a bumble bee princess and Juls was a lamb. So cute! We went to this outdoor mall we have here, called Town Square, where they had a Safestreet with trick-or-treating and stuff. It was pretty fun but there were TONS of people there.

check it out!

Check out my new blog: www.tosaveapenny.blogspot.com

I'm posting ways that I've been saving money the last few years and then stuff I've been learning recently. It's been super fun so check it out if you're interested and tell anyone else who might be interested!

the girls!

Katey in her Charger's hat (GO CHARGERS!) and Julia completely bored out of her mind!

Before church on Sunday. Julia's already getting huge!

Katey helping Mama vacuum. She loves to help out with stuff like that. So sweet!

Kate laying next to Juls. She's been a really good big sister (minus when she tipped Julia out of her swing trying to pick her up...)

Julia in her swing (the one Katey tipped her out of, good thing it's close to the ground!).

my cool cvs week!

Yes, I know, a cool CVS week? What the heck does that mean?! Well, let me tell you. I already told everyone a few posts ago how my favorite blog is www.moneysavingmom.com. Well, I have been learning how to "CVS" and was actually quite successful at it this week. I went last night and got several items (Colgate toothpaste, BIC Soleil razor, 4 razor refills, Lady Speed Stick deoderant and Always Infinity pads) and paid only $1.70 for all of that. Plus, now I have $16 to spend next week that the store gave me for free. "How is that possible?" you ask...well, you have to go to the blog above to find out because it's pretty complicated and since someone else has already explained it in detail I see no need to. There are also some really great deals at Target this week that she outlines on her blog. Who doesn't like getting stuff for free?! I sure do and this has been so fun!

some great pics by danielle!

So one of my good friends, Danielle, took some pictures of baby Julia when she was six days old. Here are some of them. She did a great job! There would be some with Kate too but she wouldn't cooperate at all! Oh well!

Julia Paige!

Well, she's FINALLY here! The doctor's decided I needed to be induced on Friday because baby's heart rate was dropping whenever I would have a contraction. So we went to the hospital and Julia Paige was born on Saturday morning at 10:38 am. She was 6 lbs 12 oz and 19 in long. She is so precious!

The new big sister!
We took that picture of Katey when she was 5 days old. They look identical!

and still waiting...

Yes I know, the ticker up above says I'm 41 days pregnant. No baby yet. Today is officially the latest due date I have gotten. Last Wednesday was the first so that's what I was going by. I guess it was just wishful thinking! Apparently she's not ready to come out yet, though I'm pretty much ready! Pray for me because I'm a little freaked out about the delivery part. Knowing what to expect has made this second one worse than the first! I just can't wait for it to be over and for Julia to be here! I know Jason is really excited and anxious for her to be here too! Hopefully she'll come soon....

a really cool website!

So on Tuesday at MOPS one of the other moms at my table and I were talking about couponing and price matching at Walmart and budgets and all that good stuff. She gave me this website www.moneysavingmom.com and it is SO cool! If your family has any kind of budget, if you like saving money, this website is totally for you! One part that I'm particularly excited about is CVS. I had no idea CVS could be so cool! She explains all about how to get stuff for free there and I just can't wait! Another way we save money in our family is to shop at Wal-Mart for our groceries (Super Wal-Mart or Neighborhood Markets) because they price match other grocery store's prices. We have saved SO much money by shopping there, mainly on produce and meats! I'm a big fan!

just one of those days!

So, yesterday was just one of those days. I'm sure those of you with two-year-olds will understand. Every thing was a battle or caused a meltdown of some sort. Part of it I'm sure was my own mood and the fact that I was really hurting yesterday (I feel like I did after I had Kate, really sore, it's wierd). Katey has this thing where she loves to put her baby (and herself sometimes) into the carseat that we're storing in our room or into a bouncer seat that is also in our room and buckle either baby or herself in. That's great, except she can't do the bottom part of the buckle on the carseat so she needs help with it because everything has to be perfect and she can't undo the buckle once it's done. She wanted this done over and over and over yesterday and bending over was not on the top of my list of things to do! So we had some issues. I finally just made her take baby out and leave her out. This caused another meltdown. Anyway, that was our day! Oh and then she woke up an hour early from her nap, just when I was about to take a nap myself. She's done that maybe once before. Oh well! Needless to say, I was really really really happy when Jason got home. That seemed to cure her (and me) of her bad mood! I am so thankful for a hubby who loves his daughter and loves to play with her! What a blessing!

umm...can somebody say "brush?"

So this is what happens when we put Katey to bed without putting her hair in a braid, ponytail, bun, etc. Complete chaos in the morning! I bought her some kid detangler spray for wet or dry hair and decided to see what would happen if I didn't put her hair up before bed. It worked great! I'm pretty excited about that!

mom!

Well, the last couple of days Katey has gone to calling me "mom." It sounds really wierd coming out of a two-year-old's mouth. She used to, and still does sometimes, call me "mama." It just sounds so grown-up for her to call me "mom." Really precious though!

baby wipes!

So one of Katey's favorite things is playing with baby wipes. She loves to get them and clean her baby. Jason cleaned off baby once with a wipe so now that's the thing to do. Also, we sometimes will clean her feet with a wipe before putting her in bed so now she cleans her own feet AND our feet. She just loves wipes! So today at Target, I bought her the little Kandoo container for toddlers. Now she can have her own special little wipe dispenser. The new rule though is that she has to ask before she gets any wipes so we don't use the whole container in one day! It's nice right now while her likes are fairly inexpensive. We'll enjoy these fleeting times!

nesting syndrome!

So, this pregnancy has been pretty different than the first. Because of that, I was pretty sure we were having a boy, until the ultrasound technician assured us it was a girl (I sure hope she was right, we have nothing boy!). Anyway, some of the differences have been stuff like I was way more sick this time at the beginning (I got the sickest I have ever been in my life one night when we were driving to New Mexico, migraine headache, nausea, it was aweful, and great timing I know, in the car!). The only thing that helped me feel better with the morning (haha, morning! yeah right!) sickness was orange juice (which I was told usually makes your stomach more unsettled...) and mint gum, thank goodness for those two things. Also, I have been WAY more hot this time even though they're birthdays are both in the summer. My sleeping has been way more uncomfortable, etc, etc. Another difference is this thing called nesting syndrome. I'm not sure if that's the technical name for it but that's what I'm calling it. I have this great desire to make things organized and clean (hence the new vacuum maybe???). This is not my normal tendency! I like things to be organized and clean but getting motivated to do it is another thing (as my parents will tell you from growing up, and my husband too). I actually like this symptom of pregnancy though. Somehow I missed it with Katey but I'll take it this time! Our home is becoming cleaner by the day!

ahhh...the weekend!

I love weekends. A lot. And it's always sad when they're over. For some reason they seem to go much quicker than the rest of the week. Weekends are my favorite because Jason doesn't have to go to work so we get to spend two whole days together! We also get to stay up later than usual which we both love! Lately we've been doing a lot of shopping for the new baby. I love shopping! Yesterday we bought a new vacuum after church. For some strange reason this was really exciting to me! Our last vacuum was, shall we say...cheap and didn't work very well anymore. So I'm really excited to have one that actually picks the dirt up! Pretty exciting, I know!

crazy thunderstorm!

This is monsoon season in Vegas...I didn't know until we moved here that the U.S. even had monsoons...apparently we do! Anyway, yesterday this huge thunderstorm rolled in to our neighborhood. It POURED for a good 15-20 minutes. This is very very unusual for here. Rain was gushing off of everything. It was pretty awesome. Me and Kate watched some of it out our patio window. There was also thunder and lightning. Kate wasn't so sure about the thunder (especially once I put her down for her nap). I called Jason at work just to make sure he wasn't driving or didn't have to drive anytime soon and while I was talking to him I saw lightning strike the ground, or at least it looked that way. It was accompanied by a huge boom so I'm pretty sure that's what I saw. Then later on the news that night they said a mom and her child had been struck by lightning in our area...I'm wondering if that's what I saw? Pretty creepy. This thunderstorm just reminded me of the awesomeness and power of our God. He's the One that commands the rain, thunder and lightning...pretty amazing!

hmm...obama?

The other day we had the tv on and a McCain commercial came on attacking Obama. When they showed a picture of Obama Katey said, "Obam." No idea how she knows that! I'm not sure if she's putting in her vote or what but I think we have some work to do!

katey's actual 2nd birthday!

For Katey's actual 2nd birthday we took her to Chuck E. Cheese and to ice cream. She loves all the games at Chuck E. Cheese and pizza's her favorite!

Enjoying the pizza!
Some yummy ice cream afterwards!
We got her her first little storybook Bible. It's a really good version that is actually the Bible, just shortened. We read a story every night before bed!
I think Dada's tickling her or something!

one of my favorite places to shop!

So, a couple months ago I discovered Children's Orchard. It's a used kids store that has just tons and tons of stuff. I used to be a little anti used anything, but now, well, it just makes sense to me with some stuff. For one, onesies for the baby. With Katey my favorite onesies by far were the Carter's 5 packs, actually any Carter's onesies were good. They just fit better. Some of the other ones have wierd shapes (such as short and fat) or wierd material. Anyway, those Carter's 5 packs are usually around $15. At Children's Orchard I can get those exact same onesies for $1 or less. Yes, they're used, but the ones I bought looked brand new. That just makes more sense to me. With Kate, we went through clothes pretty quickly, lots of stains from blowouts and spit-up, etc. I am just so excited for places like this that help us spend our money with more wisdom! Oh, and the other really great thing to buy there...shoes! Baby/kids shoes are so expensive to buy new. But you can get them for a few dollars at used places. And newborn/baby shoes are practically unused since the babies don't walk. That was an exciting find! PLUS, they have awesome sales and promotions. Just thought I'd share my thoughts on used clothing stores for kids...I'm pretty thankful and I know they have Children's Orchard stores all over the US. Maybe someone else will be just as blessed as we were!

potty training!

Oh the joys of potty training! Yep, we've embarked on that new adventure. Actually, Katey's been doing really well. The second day we really tried, she peed (?) in the potty. I was pretty surprised and very happy! She still forgets sometimes and goes wherever she is but she always comes and shows me where the accident happened at least! Potty training has been one of those things I've been dreading for a long time but the prospect of another baby in diapers in 7 weeks has motivated me to try my hardest to get her potty trained. So far so good!

katey's 2nd birthday party!

Last Saturday we celebrated Katey's 2nd birthday with some friends and family. I can't believe she's already two! Crazy! Time goes so fast. What a joy she's been these past two years though. I never knew what a blessing motherhood could be.

Getting into the chips!

I made a chocolate/mint chocolate chip ice cream cake for the party. She loves ice cream!
This year's cake was much better than last year because last year we still thought she was allergic to egg. Ever made a cake with no egg? Yeah, well, it doesn't turn out quite like normal cake, even when you use a supposed egg substitute. Thank goodness she grew out of that allergy (or maybe never was allergic?...who knows?!...obviously not the doctors!).

baby shower!

Last Friday night, two of my best friends here in Vegas, Danielle and Abby, threw me a baby shower. They put a lot of work into it and it turned out really special! Thank you guys!

At the shower, several of the ladies had gotten together and bought us the double stroller with matching carseat that we wanted. That was such a huge blessing for us because as most of you know that is one of the more expensive items to purchase for a baby. We are so thankful for the generosity of everyone at our church, they have just showered us with love and gifts. It helps make this time so special to share it with friends and family.

Abby, me and Danielle