Our New Years Celebration

Today I ran all over looking for New Years Eve decorations or confetti poppers. I couldn't find them at Walmart or Kmart! So later in the day I decided to call our local Longs Drugs and was so happy to hear they had some confetti poppers and horn blowers. We were able to get there in time to buy the last two confetti guns and the last set of blowers. I had previously bought some sparkling cranberry apple cider for us to have a toast as well.

Of course we celebrated on New York time--we have done that ever since we had children! I don't know who had more fun, Aly or Daddy!

The picture on the left is Aly and Mommy having their toast! The picture on the right is Aly and KK throwing all the confetti up in the air! What a mess!

My new haircut

Today I tried my neighbors salon out to see how I would like her. She is located down in town and I thought it might be nice to try someone closer. I got there a bit early as it was snowing and I wanted to leave myself extra time for the drive. She took me right away. I wanted a highlight job and a trim. The last haircut I had was 6 months ago in July. Since this salon is pretty old fashion she said she would only do the cap highlight job but the good news was instead of it costing 70-100 dollars it would only cost $30. While she was doing my hair a few other clients came for quick haircuts. They were all retired ladies and you could tell they really loved this salon. Here is how my hair turned out:














For whatever reason my hair is lighter than it shows in the picture.

A little Snow

Finally we got our first inch and a half of snow! Of course the girls were really anxious to go and play in it. I was lucky enough to get the Flip Video camcorder for Christmas so I took it outside and tried it out! Here is a video I captured of KK playing in the snow. We were just getting ready to make a snowman!

You have to click on the play button twice to play the video and you might have to turn your sound up on your computer.

Check out our pumpkin snowman, pretty cute huh!

Pumpkins in December????

Halloween is a very busy time in the Tregembo household. With all of the halloween parties the girls attend plus my birthday we didn't find time to carve our pumpkins. Since we live out in the middle of nowhere and no one trick or treats at our house it didn't really matter. Or did it????

Aly has been begging us to carve the pumpkins ever since. We had bought four and they have just been sitting outside the front of the house. So Daddy decided to take two of the pumpkins and Aly decided instead of carving them she wanted to use the halloween faces that we bought the year before. This made it much easier on Daddy so all was happy!

















Of course Aly had to have pig and pony in the pictures. Oh and I think she is holding Christmas bells in her hand. Check out the dusting of snow outside in the background!

Christmas Day in the ER

For the past two and a half days KK has been running high fevers around 105 which could only be controlled with around the clock ibeprofren. Well on Sunday, the first day she had the high fever I brought her to the doctors. They couldn't find anything wrong and told me to come back in two days if the fever continued. I told them that would mean Christmas Day. They said if I came back the next day it might be too soon to tell. So after a horrible nights sleep, KK still had a high fever. We hurried to open up gifts so that I could take KK to the Emergency Room. Unfortunately since it was Christmas day all urgent cares were closed. So I left the house at 9 a.m. and didn't get home until after 2 p.m. ER was packed and it took me 2 hours just to be put in a bed--I was in a hallway with her they were that crowded. The doctor discovered she had an ear infection and my guess is she had strep throat as well but I didn't bother asking them to test for it since they would be giving antibiotics already.

Aly was really happy on Christmas morning. Poor KK was tired and only lasted through opening two presents. She had a hard day!

Christmas Eve presents

Tonight we had a present we wanted to have the girls open. It is our yearly tradition of opening up Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve. That way we dress them in their new pajamas and they are all cute on Christmas morning for pictures. I knew that Aly would be dissapointed that her only present she would be allowed to open would be pajamas so I let them each pick one present as well.

Aly opened the remote controlled cars and as you can see by the look on her face she wasn't happy. She said she didn't want that as a present. Once we took it out of the box and started playing with it she liked it though. Although I will have to say, KK and Daddy enjoyed the remote control cars the most! KK opened up the present Aly gave her which was a Dora doll. She was very happy!

Christmas Eve Dinner

For Christmas Eve dinner we decided to let everyone choose what they would want for dinner. Aly wanted to make a pizza from scratch and hubby was craving chicken curry. So that is exactly what we did. Poor KK was sick and running a high fever and hadn't eaten in the last day so she wasn't interested in dinner.















Aly made a smiley face out of the olives on her pizza. Of course once I cut it the face changed a bit. I took a picture of our chicken curry. It is much better than the way it looks in the picture. I can see why you need a professional photographer to make your meals look good in cookbooks! I hope to update this posting at a later date with the chicken curry recipe. It really is good, I use 1/2 can of coconut milk which makes it rather creamy and a little sweet.

Hosting the Tregembo Family Xmas

Well, this year we would be hosting hubby's side of the family for a Xmas dinner. The list included 21 people which isn't even all of the brothers. One of hubby's brothers lives on the East Coast with his three kids and for obvious reasons they wouldn't be making it.

When we first got married I had no clue how to host such a large group. Actually I had no clue how to host at all. All I was ever used to was having 1 or 2 friends over and making everything as I went along. So my first few years of hosting the Tregembo family were very hard and stressful. Through the years I watched others and how they hosted and learned a few tricks along the way. One of the best tricks I learned was to try and prepare everything before all of your company arrives. This is very valuable as I have a 2 and 4 year old and they need my attention too much to be able to be doing all of the cooking and cleaning as the party is happening.

I took a few pictures. We had to have three tables to fit everyone. Unfortunately all 3 tables wouldn't fit in the picture but you can get the idea.





















This was the center piece I chose for each of the three tables. Very simple yet elegant and each centerpiece only cost a total of $5 a piece. I was even lucky enough to find matching table clothes all for $5 a piece as well.











Check out KK having fun with her Uncle Jim. You may notice she is in her PJ's. Do you know why? She kept taking off all of her clothes like every 15 minutes and I just couldn't take redressing her anymore. She doesn't know how to get out of PJ's so I finally ended up putting her in those!

Aly's letter to Santa

Aly wrote a letter to Santa today, with my help spelling of course. She came up with what she wanted to say and I wrote it down on a piece of paper for her. Then she copied what I wrote.

You can click on the picture to view it larger. Anyway it says:

Dear Santa please bring my puppy a present he's been good Merry Christmas Love Alyssa

Aly's school Christmas party

Aly was so excited about her Christmas party. She picked out her dress and wanted her hair in a Christmas scrunchie. We even took a picture in front of our Christmas tree.

Aly posed so cute. She is getting really good at it. Now only if we could get KK to cooperate.

On the left is a class photo of the Christmas Performance. As you can see on the right, Alyssa chose to sit by her friend Maya.

Aly's picture with Santa didn't go so well. Ever since she found out one of her classmated Dylyn was afraid of Santa, she has been afraid. Fast forward to her getting a candy cane and she is all happy!

My amazing deals of the day!

I had so much fun shopping today. I got the best deals and it felt great! My best deal of the day was a shirt for Aly at JC Penny's.

The shirt originally cost 24.99, it was on clearance for 9.99, and I had a coupon for take 10.00 off any purchase 10.00 or more. So they gave me the shirt free and didn't even charge sale tax. Pretty good huh?

My next great deal was Polly Pocket from Kohls. I purchased two of them. They were originally 14.99, they were on sale for 7.99, I had a polly pocket coupon to take 5.00 off which brought it down to 1.99 plus I had a coupon to take 30% off my entire purchase from Kohls so it came out to $1.40 a piece! Pretty good huh!

These two shirts were purchased from Kohls as well. The blue one was originally 12.00, they marked it down to 3.60 and I got to take an additional 30% off which brought the price down to $2.52. The pink shirt was originally 15.00, marked down to 4.50, minus 30% off which brought it to $3.15.

This pair of shorts was from Kohls too. Originally 18.00 marked down to 3.60 minus my 30% off brought them to $2.52.

These two shirts are for Daddy, men's Xlarge tall. Originally 15.99 on sale for 7.99 minus 30% off brought them to $5.62 a piece!

Playing with masks

A few years ago our dear friend Terry bought us an ancient civilizations book that came with a bunch of masks. Aly found the book on the shelf and took it out for Daddy to read to her. They decided to take the masks out and try them on. They had a great time. There were quite a number of masks but I only managed to get these two pictured. I tried to take a picture of KK with the mask on but she wouldn't keep it on long enough. So the picture on the left is Aly in her mask and the picture on the right is Daddy in his mask.

KK tries to fill her Mommy's shoes!

This picture was just too darn cute and I had to share! KK loves to go around and put other people's shoes on. Today she had mine on and had a great time walking around in them. If you come over to our house and take your shoes off, chances are she will put them on!

Aly paints her own nails!!!

Aly has recently formed a bad habit of biting her nails. She has been asking to paint her nails but I have been telling her she can't because she bites them. She has made an effort to try not to so I thought that perhaps if her nails were painted she would be less likely to bite them. So I let her paint her own nails outside. She picked the colors and she 100% did it herself.

Of course it happened to be about 35 degrees outside so I had her come in so I could dry her nails with the hair dryer. She thought that was fun! Check out her first nail job done by herself!

Is my dog a cat?

Last week my dog was outside. When I called her in I saw her struggling with something in her mouth. I told her to drop it. When she did it was a mouse, barely alive. I thought I better just let the mouse go and see what happens. She kept picking it back up. Poor little guy. She finally managed to kill it.

I started thinking to myself, how did this not so smart dog catch a mouse. My theory is that our cat actually caught the mouse and our dog went and picked it up. Our cat likes to just play around with animals when it catches them. He doesn't always kill them. My guess is he was playing with this mouse after he caught it and our dog went and got it.

The worst part is when Nevada went out later to go to the bathroom, without me knowing she picked the mouse up and brought it in the house. GROSS!!!!! So, I had to clean that up!

KK's visit to Santa

KK's playgroup had a visit from Santa a few Wednesdays ago. Unfortunately I am way behind on posting the event.

Anyway, it was really cute. On the way to see Santa I asked KK if she wanted to go see him. She said, "No thanks mama, I don't want to see Santa. I don't like Santa!" This year KK has made no attempt to even come remotely close to Santa. I dressed her all up cute hoping I would get some type of photo opportunity. When we got there we saw that Santa had two chairs sitting next to him. One for Mamma and one for your child. So I thought I would try sitting next to Santa with KK. She still didn't like it. She cried. So, I tried afterwards to take pictures of her next to the tree.

The Credit card game

One of my favorite things that I was taught from my friend Parag is how to get the most of your money through credit cards. Now this game can only work for those of you that have control and pay off your credit card in full each billing cycle. Parag taught me to find a credit card that gives cash back and use it for all of your spending. This includes anyone that will take a credit card--gas, groceries, fast food, etc. I have been doing this without any problems for more than 5 years now. Sometimes I have to flip between credit cards when I meet the max reward. I am earning at least 700 a year in cash back rewards. I always put this money aside for our vacations.
I just recently came upon a credit card that gives you 3% cash back on your top three earning categories and 1% back on everything else up to 675 a year. When I signed up I got an additional 100 cash back after my first purchase. Although right now they did drop it down to 50 cash back. Here is the link for you to check the card out: http://www.chasefreedomnow.com/home/?CELL=6QKM&MSC=T3011122&utm_source=Chase.com&utm_medium=marquee&utm_content=Marquee1

If you are good with your finances you win! You actually earn money by using your credit card. I highly recommend creating an online account so you can check your daily balance each day so that you know you are staying on budget. This credit card is really good at posting right away and most things are posting to my account the same day. Good luck!

Babyshower cake

My friend Kristi had a baby shower last week and I was lucky enough to be able to do her cake. It was a hippo themed party so my friend Annette found this hippo and gave it to me to use on the cake. Kristi's favorite cake is funfetti with funfetti frosting so most of the cake consists of that, except for the blue water.

It turned out really good. Of course Aly saw me making the cake and wanted to go to the baby shower but it was adults only. I promised to bring her back some cake and she was definately eagerly awaiting. Both Aly and KK sat down and dug right into their pieces of cake!

Dora hat

Last Monday I had to go out and buy some snow clothes for Aly as she didn't have any that fit her and we are due to get snow anytime now. I stopped in at Kmart and was lucky that they were having a 50% off sale on all outerwear. So I got Aly ski bibs and jacket as well as a hat and gloves. She was with me so she got to pick it all out. She picked out everything in her favorite color, pink!

KK didn't really need anything but they had a cute hat/glove set in her favorite Dora. When I brought home the hat she was so excited to put it on since it had Dora on it. I took some pictures. The first one I managed to get without her posing but once she realized I had the camera out she went right into her posing mode and her eyes were closed.

Spiderman shirt

A couple of weeks ago Aly came home from school and said, " Mommy, I want a Spiderman shirt because all of the boys have Spiderman shirts and they like them. I want them to like my shirt." So I thought it was cute and I went out and bought her a Spiderman shirt. She told me she hoped the boys would notice her shirt and like it. She was really excited to wear the shirt and even tried making spiderman webs come out of her hand just like Spiderman. We made sure to put the Spiderman shirt with sparkly red pants. Unfortunately they only sell boys Spiderman shirts so this one had to do.....

So when she came home from school I asked her if the boys liked her shirt. She said she forgot to ask.

Poor little Aly

Aly came down with croup on Sunday night/Monday morning so I kept her home from school. We stayed home all day Tuesday and she appeared to be feeling better. Wednesday she begged to go to school and since she looked like she was better I sent her. Around 4 p.m. she started complaining her ear hurt so I called the doctor to get an appointment for this morning. She had a bad night of sleeping last night and a fever. I brought her to see the doctor and her fever had rose to 104 degrees! I was shocked. She tested positive for strep throat and now has both strep and croup. She is miserable and has been laying on the couch since we have gotten home from the doctor. She cried periodically in pain and won't even eat a Popsicle or ice cream. (That is when you know she is sick!)

I have given her an antibiotic and hopefully she will start feeling better tomorrow sometime. It is sure sad to watch her not feel well. It breaks my heart and I wish so much that I could make her feel better!

Getting clothes for my girls cheap

For those of you that know me, you know I can be really thrifty or should we say darn right cheap! I work really hard at it and it becomes quite like a game or hobby for me. I manage to get both of my girls brand new clothes usually for around 2-3 dollars for each pair of pants or shirt. I have actually gotten brand new shirts as cheap as 50 cents before.
I am sure you are wondering how I do it. I have gotten to know the sales pretty well and when they typically happen. At least for seasonal clearance that is. Old Navy happens to be my favorite. My most favorite of their seasonal clearance is the one that happens in January. Typically on January 2nd they mark all of their winter apparel down 50% off. Now this is a good deal but if you have the patience to wait two more weeks--typically the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. birthday they do a special sale where you can take an additional 50% off already clearanced merchandise. This is where my great deals truly happen. In February, typically around Presidents Day weekend both Kmart and Sears do the same thing.
I shop these sales and buy the next size up for my girls so they can have new clothes next year. Since they are out of the infant stage they are growing one size a year and it works out great!
I highly recommend it. Mark your calendars and don't be afraid to call the stores around these times and ask before making that trip!

Let's go see Santa...

Today we got a chance to go and see Santa at a Gold Country Moms event. They did a really good job at having activities for the kids to do, a potluck, and even some music. We were all told to bring a gift for each of our children for Santa to hand out. We were able to sneak the gifts through a separate entrance. It was great. Aly got to meet her friend Maya there so that made her happy. KK pretty much clung to me like glue. It was a large crowd of people and she was overwhelmed by the amount of people. I have to say, even hubby and I were overwhelmed by how many people were there.

When it was Aly's turn to see Santa she was a little scared. She wouldn't sit on his lap. She only walked up to him and took her present.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a good picture of KK. That's the way it goes I guess!

"You should have....."

Not all of us have the ability to see ourselves on camera so that we can see our bad or annoying habits. Although I must say, if I had the ability to see myself on camera I certainly wouldn't want it on TV for the world to see.
My four year old daughter offers the next best thing. She mimics my behaviors so many times I can see myself through her. Sometimes it is cute and other times--not so cute! Recently she has began saying things such as, "You should have brought my drink in the car........you should have gotten me something to eat.....you shouldn't have broke that.....you should have let me have it first....and so on." I began to realize after hearing her say these things that I am guilty for starting it. I can hear myself saying, "You should have gone to the bathroom before we left.....you should have asked me for something to eat before we left the house......you should have shared that with your sister.....and so on."
So, now I am trying to think of other ways to say the same things so I don't sound so negative or judgmental. All from the help of my four year old.......I haven't told you what she repeats from Daddy;-)

Carpool Day1---not so good......

One of Aly's preschool friends lives within a mile of our house. We have talked on occasion about carpooling to save on gas and time. Well this morning Grace's mom called and asked if I wouldn't mind giving Grace a ride to school and home. Of course I was glad to do it. Grace is one of those little girls that is so well behaved and you just know she will be a complete delight in your company.
The drive down was great. The girls chatted a bit and had fun. After school I had to run two quick errands. The girls were thirsty so I bought them some juice boxes to drink in the car. I decided to take a short cut home which is a bit more of a curvy road than the normal way. Not knowing what Grace's stomach could handle I purposely went slower. About 3 miles from home Grace said, my mouth hurts I can't talk. Before I could find a turnout she was throwing up all over in my car. Poor little girl was so sick, cold, and wet from all of the throw up. She had me take her saturated dress off. Since I had no towels in the car I had to use hubby's work jacket and Aly's jacket to try and soak up all of the vomit. I didn't get it all but I did the best I could.
At this point I had vomit on me, all of the car seat, the floor of the car, and some on the seat. I brought Grace to the door carrying her lovingly as if she was my own daughter. She was sad and cold and you could tell she just wanted the love and comfort of her mom. I felt so bad handing Grace over to her mom all drenched in vomit and shaking from the cold. Her mom quickly took her to get her cleaned up and apologized for the mess she had made in my car.
I wasn't sure if it was due to my driving so I was totally feeling bad all afternoon. I didn't want her mom to think I was some crazy driver or anything and I certainly didn't want to be the cause of Grace getting sick.
It turned out she had some kind of flu bug with a really high fever. She was over it by the next day though. Hopefully she will not associate getting sick with driving in my car. Poor thing.
I spent the afternoon cleaning out the car, using the shop vac, the steam cleaner, and fabreeze. I seemed to get all of it out of the car. The seat belt was a challenge as that was saturated. I ran the steam cleaner over it dozens of times and sprayed so much fabreeze it finally took it away. The car seat cover was another story. I wasn't able to get it out until I bought downy with fabreeze and soaked it for a couple of hours.
Hopefully it will be a long time before we have to experience that again!

Rejected already.....

Today was my volunteer day at Aly's preschool. Usually she totally looks forward to it and sticks to me like glue. Of course now, Aly is getting really social. While the children were lining up Aly grabbed her friend Maya's hand to hold while they stood in line. Usually she requires me to hold her hand as well. So I reached out to grabbed it and she pulled her hand away! Can you believe that? 4 years old and she is already getting embarrassed of her Mother. I know, I am not a cool mom and I will probably continue to get less cool as time goes by. But hey, Aly is only 4 years old. I wasn't expecting her to start rejecting me till 10 years old or so.....

Hubby's ankle Day 2 &3

I took some pictures of hubby's ankle. It is pretty bad and he is quite bummed about it.










He has a lot of bruising on the outside of his ankle as well as a ton of swelling all around his ankle. Of course he is refusing to see a doctor. He is doing the R.I.C.E method though so that will probably help in his recovery.


This last picture was taken this morning. He hasn't been taking any pain meds and has just been planted on the couch all day with his foot elevated. Hopefully that will help in his recovery.