happy birthday john bear

today is an incredibly special day in my family's life. today, two years ago, my nephew john was born. besides the obvious, you may wonder why it is so special. you see, this boy wasn't supposed to make it this long. he has surpassed so many odds. he is OUR miracle boy. and i love him more than words can be expressed.

you see, john has menkes disease. menkes is caused by a defective gene that regulates the metabolism of copper. most babies are not diagnosed at birth because there are no signs. somehow, we received some signs. my sister and my mom were diligent in getting an answer and while it was not the answer we wanted, he has received copper infections almost all his life. and he is walking, blowing kisses and loves his new baby sister.

and we love him. so much. and he has touched the lives of so many people. his smile lights up the room. his laugh is adorable. and he is and always will be my inspiration. he is a fighter. i always say he got that from his jones side : )

thursday shopping success

I thought I would start with my shopping trip today. Guess how much all of this cost me?

$20.19!

This includes:

8 boxes of cereal

Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate

Activia Yogurt

Breathe Right Strips

Sundown Vitamins

My bill before coupons and store savings was $70.55. I then saved $25.84 in store savings and $24.52 with coupons.

Here are the big ticket items I was able to receive:

• Special K Cereal was on sale for $2.99 and with the purchase of 4 boxes, the store offered $4 off. This would total: $12.oo-$4.00 = $8.00. I also had two b1g1 coupons. My store took for $2.99 for each coupon. My out of pocket for 4 boxes of special k was $0.50.
• Kashi Cereal was also on sale for $2.99 and with the purchase of 4 boxes, the store again offered $4 off. With this purchase I had 4 coupons: $3 off 1 and then 3 $1 off 1. This made my out of pocket expense just $0.50
• Breathe Right strips were $5.79 and I had a catalina for a FREE pack!
• Swiss Miss on sale for $1.48 and I had a $2 off coupon (coupons.com)...BETTER than Free!
• 2 vitamin waters for $1 each and I had a $0.75 and $1.00 coupon (catalina)
• Sundown Vitamins were on sale b1g1 and they had a coupon attached to the bottle for $1 off. Received these for $4.44 (originally $10.88).
• Quaker Oatmeal for $1.99 and I had an internet coupon for $1.00 off
• Activia was on sale for $2.00 and I had an internet coupon fro $1.00
• Everything else was either on sale or no coupons used!

Pfew...that was a lot of information, so I hope that I didn't overwhelm anyone. I am pretty happy with this purchase as we eat a LOT of cereal in our house. I hope this helps someone and if you have any questions, let me know : )

new year

it's a new year and it's time for a mini face lift for this blog. nothing fancy, just updated some pictures and my goal is to post much more frequently....life with 2 two year olds changes so fast. I am also going to start using this blog to post deals that I have found. I have started to get really into couponing and want to share the wealth.

Alex and Keegan are thriving and doing everything in their power to drive me crazy =) They really are amazing little things. Will post soon, nap time is about over and I need to get dinner in the crockpot!

All class...all the time...

Last week was Rob's birthday and he went fishing with my brother in law and a friend. They wanted to take a couple beers and could not find any plastic cups....

So, this is what they took....

All class here...all class.

Our new favorite activity...

Be warned: this is not for the faint of heart =)

The girls think this is the funniest thing in the world...It scares the crap out of me.

Irritations...

So many, but here are a few from the past couple of days....

• People who think that because I didn't go full term in my pregnancy, I don't know what it's like to be 40 weeks pregnant....Um, hello? I was carrying two babies and measured at 40 weeks when I was 28 weeks pregnant... THIS is my biggest annoyance!
• People who come up to me and say "Oh, I wish I had twins...get it all done at once!" Umm...what? I love having twins now, but it is HARD work (to say the least!). It was terrible at first. People act like it's a novelty.
• People who ask, "which is better?" What does that even mean?
• The old: "were they natural" or "do they run in your family" I then tell them everything about how they were conceived and that identical means completely random.

Overall though, I can't complain. People are so nice to me about having twins and wanting to see them!

2nd Birthday

I thought I was going to be ready for this...ready for my girls to turn two and become little girls. I was ready to officially say good bye to the baby stage. Or so I thought.

I am SO not ready. I realized that last night after having a fun day of playing and running around. I love where my babies are right now and I really don't want them to get bigger. I know..I am being a selfish. I can't help it though.

I remember last year being so excited for the girls to turn one. It marked Rob and I making it. We had made it through the TTTS surgery, the NICU, the up all nights with screaming babies (to say our first 6 months were awful is an understatement). We made it in one piece and were a stronger couple because of it.

This year we faced numerous challenges and frustrations, but our babies were starting to become individuals. Amazing personalities and love for each other. At times, I didn't know if we would all make it out alive, but we did. And we are better for it.

Now, the girls love to play with each other and be independent....but they LOVE their Mommy. And you know what, I love that they Love me so much and want me to hold them and love on them. I am afraid with the end of their baby stage, this cuddly stage will also end.

I may be a little dramatic here, but I love the stage my girls are at right now. I just want to freeze them and keep them here.

I love you Alexandra and I love you Keegan.

Thank you for giving your daddy and me the best two years of our life. Can't wait to see what your future holds!