watch out melanie, cause look who's the working girl now

a year ago i was the mother of a four month old, and a two year old who was on a search for income making work from home. i heard about pearson (you know the textbook/testing people) looking for people to do online grading from home, so i applied. good things come to those who wait, or have no choice! they finally hired me for a job starting next month, and now that i am in the system i will get first bids on all measurement jobs. i am ecstatic, and the news came on a day that i was wondering how the world can we get by for the next two years without me working. thank you my Lord, and my Savior.

big ben

well here he is...benjamin paul ticola. our newest and cutest baby nephew, and our soon to be godson! we were so honored that both wendy and mark trusted us with such a special honor. we are hoping the date will be before we make the move birmingham. matt was able to fly in on saturday evening after his day of work so that he could meet benjamin. you know matt, he already loves him so much. he really enjoyed playing with all the boys together. i enjoyed holding sweet benjamin, and wrapping him up like a tamal in the miracle blanket. it's still got the baby wrapping touch! i was afraid i'd be rusty, and chances are i will most likely be losing my skills all together. as always, wendy is handling motherhood with patience and grace. she also manages to keep a beautiful home, and cook wonderfully yummy meals. it was such a super fast trip. we stayed most of the time at home with the kiddos in chiefland...yehaw! we hope to see some of our much loved amigos during our next trip for ben's baptism.

a whale of a good time

on thursday of last week after a long drive down to florida the previous day, pipo and i took evan to experience seaworld for the first time, and boy did he love seeing all the marine animals. the expressions on his face were priceless, and i am so happy that we were able to experience it. we weren't really prepared for the chilly weather in florida last week. now that we live up here, we expect florida weather to be an oven...we were wrong. pipo bought evan a shamu sweatshirt which has quickly become evan's favorite clothing item. he want's to wear it all the time. joel had a restful day with his mima. i hope she was able to rest too. even though he's always on the go, he's a pretty laid back boy. he loves his naps, and so do we. joel also took off walking last week and it's been nonstop. my next blog will be about our days in florida meeting our new nephew benjamin.

a 3 and a 1 equals one young chickadee

as always my birthday turned out to be a weekend celebration. oh, how i remember ten years ago i was celebrating a huge milestone with lots of legal alcohol consumption. in fact, that's when i learned i will always refuse anything which contains tequila! matt took me out the night of my birthday to indulge in sushi and to see the play "A Street Car Named Desire", which was playing at the greenville little theater downtown. thank you to mima for being a willing and wonderful babysitter. the next day (sunday) we took the boys to celebrate mami's birthday at ihop with a yummy breakfast. we then made the treck to gaffney to the outlet mall, and to visit cowpens, a national historic battle site from the revolutionary war.
a huge thank you to all my family and friends to how made the huge effort to remember my birthday...i know it's not an easy task.

it's a go!

It's been just over a month since I launched my website, and I just got my first diaper cake order...Yay! Sure, it was from someone that I know, but it still counts. I am super excited about it.
So, now I have three haircuts under my frugal mami belt. I cut Evan's hair for the second time today, and the result was much better. He did so great staying still thanks again to candy. Plus, I told him he needed a haircut to see Mickey Mouse tomorrow, no not at Disney. Matt and I are taking him to a Playhouse Disney LIVE! show at the Bi-Lo center.

ramblin' man

Joel walked today!!! Today March 6, 2010 at 3:34PM Joel walked across the living room chair to the loveseat, about seven steps. Of course, it was just so unexpected that I didn't have a camera ready. I started filming after his steps to see if he's maybe decide to do it again, but no such luck. I am so happy the his first steps were to me, his Mami.
Prior to Joel walking, Evan and I had been out to our bible study and at Chik fil-A for lunch. He continues to use the potty, and when I say potty I mean a little one. He's still frightened by large (standard size) toilets. He's say's he's "scared". The noise is what scares him.
Last night Matt finally got to enjoy his Christmas present from this past year...Brad Paisley tickets. We went to the concert last night. It was really good, but boy we must be getting old cause our ears are still ringing. We were thankful for the night out, but when your greatest treasures are at home it's hard to be away. Nothings as good as being with your babies!

perhaps snow

It's snowing today, March 2. Which is funny because last year on March 1 we had our first experience with snow up here. We woke up to no snow, so we got Evan up and ready for school and off he went happily of course. By 10 AM it was coming down, so by 11 AM we got a call from Evan's school that they were closing early.
Joel is on the verge of walking. He has taken several steps in a row already, but it has been difficult to gauge when we should actually start filming his steps. Last night he circled the couch several times. He has climbing mastered. He climbs anything he can. He's one we have to watch very closely.
I'll post some photos soon.

happy cow

the weather has been absolutely gorgeous up here the last couple of days. people are venturing outdoors after being cooped up for several weeks. the high was 62 and sunny today! mima and i took the boys to the happy cow creamery in pelzer, south carolina. it's a half hour drive. it was also the first time evan has worn big boy underwear outside of the house. we asked him to go before we left the house and he did. then he was able to hold it for several hours. he then went in our travel potty in the back of the car. no messes!!! i got the travel potty from leaps & bounds. it uses gallon size storage bags. i am very proud of the huge leaps he's been making in his development.
at the creamery we got whole milk, and chocolate milk. of course we had to down a pint-sized cookies and cream ice cream that they also make. yummo (for all you rachel ray fans)! evan loves seeing and talking to the cows. this creamery is really neat. the cows graze on grass all day long. they don't use pesticides and no hormones are added to their products. absolutely no chemicals. they have a website, and i've included it below. after eating their ice cream i can attest that i am a happy cow...hahaha!
Happy Cow Creamery

coupon codes

being a busy mom of two shopping online is a lot more productive than hauling two little ones around a store while trying to find just the right item. online shopping gives me access to specialty items and hard to find items that would normally take me lots of driving time to find. i've been doing some research on websites for coupon codes. whenever i place an order online, i first search for a discount or coupon code to go with my order. usually, i am able to find an active one. i wanted to share the sites that i use. please feel free to share any that you use too...

Coupon Cabin
Retail Me Not
Deal Taker
Coupon Album
Coupon Mom
Coupon Shack
Coupon Smarter
Coupon Heaven
Never Pay Retail Again
Sites people have told me about...
Southern Savers
Here's one on how to organize your coupons yourself...
Mom Saves

off with their hair!

so, about a week ago i decided that cutting evan, joel's, and maybe if i am daring, matt's hair would be a great way to save. i ordered the wahl peanut clipper on ebay, and it arrived today. i was like, "great, i guess i really have to attempt it."! matt has off today and tomorrow, so i am glad he's here to be my assistant. no, i'm not gonna tip him. joel has a double ear infection right now, so i will be starting with evan. i've been trying to prep him that i will be cutting his hair this time. i think he's a bit hesitant...i have no idea why though...hmmmm?
here's a great website for those of you interested in attempting this too.

click here to see the website

update...so my assistant didn't wake up from his nap till i was almost done with evan's hair cut! he's not fired yet...hahaha. the only tool i wish i had which i did not was a spray bottle to wet evan's hair. i just used my wet hands. yes, we are very archaic. i was in such a rush to start so that evan wouldn't get tired of sitting there that i forgot to take a before picture. it's been three weeks since his last hair cut, so you can imagine. my assistant did wake up in time to take a photo of the end result. let's just say the photo is from the front!!! no major disasters, but i still need a lot of practice thinning out the back with out making evan look like a patient at st. jude's.