-$.16

so i went to harris teeter to buy some cheap groceries... i just did not know how cheap it was going to be!
a friend had emailed me to update me on what was cheep today (thanks wrenn!!). so i brought my 4 coupons for pert plus (we don't usually use pert plus... but if it is free... why not!!) and 1 for reynolds aluminum foil. after, kind of, sprinting to the shampoo isle (i mean it was 5:45 and i was afraid they would all be gone) i was surprised to find that there were indeed some left. so i grabbed 4 then headed to pick up the aluminum foil, which was also still there!
so i made my way to the check out and after ringing up all 5 items, the total was something like $10.45. so i handed over my coupons... well we made it to the last one and it would not scan. at this point, i only owed $1.34 and my coupon was for $1.50. so the kid called over the manager and she over-rode it. then the total was -$.16. she kind of freaked out and said "well we can't give you money back, we can't give money back." then she told me that i needed to buy something else. i told her that i wasn't going to buy anything else, they did not have to give me money back, but i wasn't going to buy anything. so i left the store owing nothing and with 5 products!! yea coupons!!!
if you would like to know how this is possible and how you can accomplish amazing feats yourself... check out hilary's blog for a step by step.

vbs

this week hana went to vbs at her preschool church. it was a nice week and she had a great time! today was the last day and they had a performance followed by a hot dog lunch. the kids were very cute and sang a few songs :) of course hana loves to sing...more of the group... love the hand motions :)

red robin

today was noah's 3rd birthday so we headed to red robin to celebrate. it was a nice dinner with friends :)

hana watching red robin :)
meeting the robin
brooke enjoying the party... and her fingers
the whole group... with pregnant me
noah eating his birthday ice cream
the folands... happy birthday noah!

quick update

last night went much better in the sleep department. brooke went to bed before hana (we are debating the best way to work it) and actually went into a deep sleep before hana joined her. hana went in, made a little noise, but finally fell asleep (the fact that she had no nap defiantly helped us achieve this!). so both girls got a decent night sleep... brooke was asleep at 7:30... hana 8:30. defiantly improving :) yea!

goings on

the girls
well we had our first weekend of hana and brooke in one room. it has been an adventure to say the least. we started saturday night (we had a babysitter friday night and didn't want to do that to her) we put brooke down first, let her fall asleep then added hana. all was well until hana started singing and woke brooke up. so for the next 2 hours we were in and out of the room, talking too and eventually spanking them. they gave up and finally went to sleep at about 9:30. of course the next morning they wake each other up very early talking and playing. sunday night was much of the same... with them finally going to sleep about 9:15. hopefully they will learn to sleep in the same room over the next few weeks so that we will have a smooth transition for madeline's arrival.

madeline
friday i had my first 'pre-term labor' test. they called a few hours later and say that it was negative and that i should not go into labor in the next 2 weeks... i sure hope not! also my placenta finally decided to move so no more c-section. yea! i will continue to go to the dr every 2 weeks, probably until the end. they will check me for pre-term labor until 34 weeks. i guess at that point it is all go.
it will be my luck that they will check me every 2 weeks for pre-term labor and i will not end up having her until 40 weeks... man that would not be fun!

camp creation

today ended a glorious 3 mornings for me :) the girls were both (BOTH!) in vacation bible school at one of the churches in town. they BOTH went each morning from 9-11:30. they sang songs, learned bible stories, made super cute crafts, and had a wonderful time!! they even got cute t-shirts.
now for the glorious part... with them in vbs... i had no children!! it was just wonderful!! the first two days i got to spend some kid free time with other moms. and today i got to run some kid free errands. wonderful wonderful :)
to cap the week off they had lunch for us today. so we all gathered in the gym to enjoy some chick-fla :) here are the girls with their friends :)

all the kids ;)

noah, josh, hana, and brooke

josh and hana

hana and brooke

what a great 3 days! thank you camp creation!!

fun song

i just heard this song on a show and had to find it. it was just so much fun and put a smile on my face... hope you enjoy it! (i don't endorse all of the words or anything... but the beat is great!) enjoy!

aquarium

jack and some friends went to go play golf for a short weekend. so the girls and i headed to the aquarium to check out the new albino alligator. we had a good time (although the alligator was tiny and not all that impressive). after touring inside we headed outside. it was beautiful, although quite hot. i got a couple of cute pictures of the girls. unfortunately it is very difficult to get any good ones of them together when i am by myself. i need someone behind me jumping up and down and making funny faces to get the girls to look my way and smile... oh well.

hana checking out the albino alligator... you can see it to the left of her
outside checking out the "view finder"... but from the wrong side :)
the one halfway decent one of them together... and i know it is not great :)
hana
brooke
checking out... something :)

very impressed...

jack called me on thursday and i could tell he had something to say. so i asked... he said that they had thrown him a shower at work. how cute!! this is our third child and the third shower that jack has had. how nice and thoughtful it is for people to think of the father to be. i was very touched and i know he was too!
here are a couple of pictures of the "cake" from the shower... ahhhhh... got to love baby stuff!

news from cornwall land

i thought i would give some updates all around :)

madeline-
i am now 28 weeks! in some ways it is going SOOO fast, in other ways i feel like i have been pregnant FOREVER! i mean in the past 4 1/2 years i have been pregnant 3 times (well 4)... that is a lot!! so anyway, next week they start checking me for pre-term labor. i guess with brooke being so early they are not taking any chances. also my placenta is low, which means that unless it moves i will have to have a c-section. being my third (and final!) i don't really want this. they will continue to check and hopefully it will move out of the way :)

brooke-
i think we are going to wait on potty training. she was doing really well, but since we are gone most every morning (and i put a diaper on her when we go anywhere) it was setting her back. and with so many new things coming very soon... she may be wearing the diapers for another couple of months :)
brooke is defiantly 2. she tells you what she wants and expects you to do it... now! she is still a great talker. i don't even really think about it any more. but people who are not around us much are always amazed. the other day i counted and she said a 12 word sentence (something like... "i don't want to do that hana, i want to do ..."). she still sucks her two "rock star" fingers. i am not sure when that will stop... kindergarten maybe??!

hana-
hana is her typical hana self. some days she is wonderful and will do whatever you ask and plays great with her sister. other days... not so much :) she is sleeping well on the top bunk- hopefully that will remain once brooke joins her.
we have been swimming a lot and she is doing well (i don't blog it, because i don't bring my camera). she (and brooke) have swim lessons coming up in july. i look forward to seeing how much she improves :)
hana likes to be in control. she very much enjoys telling brooke what to do. i have to remind her (a lot!) that she is not brooke's mommy. they play very well together, as long as brooke is happy doing what hana tells her.
she doesn't have any new "skills" to speak of, but she is defiantly growing up :)

well that is our family in a nutshell ("help how did i get into this nutshell...").

wonderful weekend

jack and i had a wonderful weekend because... nana and poppy took the girls for the weekend!! it is amazing how much you can do (and how much energy you have to do things) when there are not two little girls dictating your schedule. jack and i had the perfect balance of spending time together and getting some important things done around the house. did i say already that it was a great weekend?? well it was!!
i think the girls had a great time too. they went to the natural science center, saw a movie, ate ice cream and lotsand lots of chicken nuggets.

brooke enjoying some ice cream

hana swimming in the blow up pool with... swimmies (a little extra safety i guess :)

*note* brooke is brushing the sheep...

hana-ism

tonight at dinner we had another hana-ism. both girls were showing us the food in their open months. jack said "do not open your mouth with food in it". hana was quite for a minute then thoughtfully said "but we have to open our mouths to put the food in" yes, hana that is right :)

here is a picture from after dinner. both girls ate most all of their dinner so they go to have popsicles :) (there would be more pictures, but i am kind of funny about putting up shirtless pictures of the girls)

more new pictures

ok the photo from the shoot on saturday are up :) check out the photo blog

unfortunately this will most likely be my last shoot until the fall... madeline keeps getting in the way :)

the weekend update :)

as always we were busy beavers this weekend. saturday i had a photo shoot downtown... more on that to come :) then i rushed home changed clothes and headed to gavin's 2nd birthday. they had a slip n slide, sprinkler, and kiddy pool set up for the kids. they had a blast. they also had a super yummy ice cream bar! yea calcium (i mean madeline needs that right??!!).

hana with the cool slip n slide
hana and sprinkler
brooke at the pool
many kids (and adults) gathered around the pool filling up water guns... nice
hana and taylor

then sunday, after church and naps, we went to feed the ducks. only the ducks where not hungry. the girls did not quite understand that. i mean we went to feed the ducks, shouldn't they want to eat?? apparently not.