All this snow is getting old!

Tuesday we got another foot of snow. We are finally getting tired of all this snow. You know what is even worse? It is supoosed to snow another foot tonight and continue snowing through the weekend. I took some pictures on Tuesday of the snow we have so far.

The picture on the left is one I took of our yard from out deck. The picture on the right is our dog peeing on our deck. Yes, both she and our other dog Sierra are seriously confused and think out deck is a new closer pee pad! I yelled at her to get her to stop but she just continues and looks at me with this face as if she were saying, "What's your problem, it is too darn cold out here for me to march down to that yard. This is a perfectly good place to take care of what needs to be done. Better than inside the house lady!"

More pictures of our backyard. Check out those steps. I am sure after we receive a foot more of snow tonight we will be able to snowboard down them!

Here are some of the children's outside toys burried. It really is pretty though don't you think? I will try and take more pictures tomorrow or after the weekend after we are burried even more in snow. For now we are happy we still have our power.

The race against the power outage.

We have been getting so much snow lately. We were lucky enough to have it all melted away last Sunday but a new round of storms has continued to bring back more and more snow.

So this morning when it started snowing on top of the couple of inches we already had, I was in the race against time for a possible power outage. Previously when we get more than 6 inches of snow, it is quite likely that a power outage will occur. For us that means no water, phone, or power. We simply just have heat! Although if you ask me which of the four I would want the most it would be heat so I am soo thankful for our wood stove.

I quickly raced around the house this morning getting laundry done. I was so scared I would be left with a load of laundry in the washer and have the power go out. I also rushed to get the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned. I have learned from past experience there is nothing more disgusting than a kitchen full of dirty dishes in a power outage. One time the power was out for two days and we had dirty dished that needed to be washed. The second the power came back on I was in that kitchen getting those dishes cleaned. Every since then anytime I think there might be a power outage I go the the kitchen first and clean it.

Now I have to take the girls out in this weather to take Aly to a Dr.s appointment. I just know she has an ear infection. She has been crying this morning saying her ear hurt and Ibuprofen didn't even take all of the pain away. So wish me luck driving in this snow storm. I heard it has snowed all the way down to 2000 feet which normally is a 20-25 drive. I am sure that will take me close to an hour. Hopefully we will arrive at the Dr's safely and Aly will get the medicine she needs to heal.

Robert Ector's Funeral

Yesterday I made the three hour drive to go and attend Robert's funeral. I had my four year old daughter with me for the trip so I had to drop her off at a friends house while I attended the funeral. Not realizing it would be a problem to show up on time to the funeral, I was unable to get inside. I was soo crushed. I couldn't believe that there were not only people lined up in the hallway outside the service but also outside as well. I am guessing there were well over 500 people in attendance.

I tried so hard to lean my head sideways and listen for what was being said inside. It was useless. I couldn't hear a thing. Gradually over time I managed to inch my way forward through the crowd. This was due in part to some people leaving and also to some kind people who felt bad for such a short girl to not be able to hear or see anything. I missed our Superintendent's speech and I missed one of his student's speeches. When one of our fellow teachers got up to speak I finally was able to make my way to the back of the service and stand next to a fellow teacher. I was able to hear half of her speech. It was soo good and so positive. I really enjoyed hearing all of the stories that happened before my time as a teacher at Taylor and leading up to the time I taught there.

I really enjoyed hearing one of the speakers talk about how Robert made you feel special. About how he would make a point to talk to you and make you feel as if he were your best friend. How he would take out his cellphone and scroll down to call you. Lucky me, with my first name starting with the letter A, I was so lucky to receive phone calls from him quite frequently. He called me with all of the Taylor "gossip" and would also ask me about how life was for me. He didn't talk about himself that much though and I really wasn't aware how serious his heart problem was.

Robert talked of his son Michael often. Of how proud he was of him. Of how he had a good head on his shoulders and made good choices. He talked about how well he did in school and how smart he was. He said that Michael could do anything he wanted to. He was a proud father and loved Michael very much.

I can't believe how many people from all areas of his life were there. It was so amazing to see people from his church, teachers, co-workers, students, parents of students, family, and friends from other areas in his life.

I was fortunate enough to see students I had taught previously as well. Some of them are already sophomores and juniors in high school. I also really enjoyed seeing the teachers that I used to teach with, co-workers, and some of the parents of students I taught as well. I only wish it had been under other circumstances.

Robert was a great friend and will surely be missed. He is in my thoughts daily and I hope that his family can make it through this difficult time.

If you are interested in further comments about Robert and the service go to hiding place.

I just found an amazing video tribute to Robert as well. It is an excellent video showing is life. It was created by Pat Boyd.

A clean house is hard to maintain

It was fun to read a blog posted by Melody which pertained to the frantic scramble to clean the house before the Realtor would be there in an hour. It was also fun to read all of the comments she received on her post. It was amazing to see how many SAHM's struggle with keeping their house cleaned.

I too struggle with our house. I feel like I am always behind and will never catch up. It got me thinking about where the time goes and what I do with that time--besides blogging ;-) I realized most weeks are very difficult. With Aly attending preschool MWF we leave the house at 8:30 a.m. and don't return until close to 1 p.m. Due to preschool being a 25 minute commute we can't waste gas and come home. So I run errands, volunteer, and take KK to her playgroup appointments. Fridays are even more difficult as I don't get home until after 2 due to having occupational therapy right after Aly gets out of school. So this leaves me Tue/Thur. to get everything done. Let's face it by the time we get home from preschool the girls need to be fed and dinner preparations start to happen. Plus the girls tend to need attention etc.

Well this week due to Martin King Jr. holiday and Aly getting sick we haven't left the house all week. We have been home for four days straight. Let me just tell you I have been able to get a lot more done! I am caught up on laundry and all of the clutter piles are disappearing. I have even been able to get some deep cleaning done as well. Amazing. So I am learning that living where we live and having to drive so far for everything doesn't leave me enough time to get everything done that I need to! Perhaps this week will be a good jump start and I can work really hard at maintaining it.

It's just going to be one of those days...

KK woke up in the middle of the night as she had wet the bed. So I had to take care of that! Aly woke up around 6:30 a.m. crying saying she missed Daddy and she wanted him. I felt her hands and they were hot. I asked her if she was sick and she said no. She layed with me for ten minutes and then said her tummy hurt. Oh man, my worst fear, she has the stomach flu. She started throwing up and only had stomach acid to throw up. Poor gril. She hasn't had the flue since she was like 18 months old so she didn't really know what was happening. So we will be staying home today and who knows how many more days as little sister could end up getting it as well.

I really want to go to Robert's funeral so I hope all of this goes through our family in time for me to make the trip to San Jose and attend the funeral. Wish us luck!

We have at least 6 inches of snow now and it is continueing to snow. Our satelite TV is out so no television for the girls. Good thing for DVD movies since Aly isn't feeling well. Although we tend to loose power in heavy snow storms so we will see. I could be sitting at home with a sick 4 year old, no power, water, or phone. Wish us luck!

Target and Kohls more great deals!

As I had mentioned in previous posts I like to buy all of the girls clothes on clearance and I usually do this with 75% or more taken off! January is the month to find most winter clothes on clearance but I have found some summer stuff as well!

















For KK I got the stuff on the picture at the left. She got three t-shirts, one long sleeve shirt, and a black soft fleece jacket. The top purple shirt on the left was $1.92, the second purple shirt was .80 cents, and the red Dora shirt was $1.48. The long sleeve pink shirt was $1.74 and the black fleece jacket was $2.98. For a combined total of $7.18. The normal retail value is $46.97.

For Aly I got the stuff in the picture on the right. She got three t-shirts, four long sleeve shirts, a jacket, a skirt, and two pairs of red heart legging pants--one for this year and one for next. The top pink t-shirt and the blue one were $1.92 each, the pink athletic t-shirt was $1.98. The long sleeve shirts were $2.24 for the brown and the white polo shirt, $1.74 for the pink and white one, and $2.88 for the light blue one. The athletic jacket that Aly just had to have---I didn't really care for it--was $3.24. The pink skirt was $2.88 and the red heart legging pants were $1.92 each! For a total cost of $24.88. The normal retail value is $129.95. That is quite a savings!

I am consistently finding good deals and am in most cases dressing my girls for $4-5 an outfit. Now that is great!

Aly reading a printable book from starfall.com

Aly has started to have interest in reading again. One of her favorite websites for this is starfall. The great part about starfall is not only do they have online reading activities but they also have printable books. So we print these books out for Aly and let her practice. I thought it would be fun to take a video of her reading so here it is. By the way, during Aly reading, KK interups to go peepee. Such a typical day here in the tregembo household!

Yeah more snow for us!

Last night it started snowing a bit. While it didn't snow much we did have a reasonable amount by 9:00 this morning. So the girls and I headed outside to play in the snow.

KK was so excited to wake up and see the snow. She was the one begging to go outside all morning long!

Aly's favorite thing to do in the snow is to wreck it. She loves pushing snow off of things. KK likes to make snow angels and although she doesn't look like she is having fun in the picture, she is actually having a blast!

We only had 3 or 4 inches this morning but I will say, it is the perfect amount for small children. Just enough to have fun but not too much to make it hard to walk!

Death and birth in the same day...

This morning I got a call from my friend Kristi at 10:30 a.m. that she was on the way to the hospital to have her baby boy Travis. I was so happy for her and at her request began spreading the news to our joint friends. As I was finished spreading the news I went upstairs to check my email. It was then I got the grave news that my teaching friend, Robert Ector, had passed away.

I knew he had went into the hospital on Tuesday and I knew he had a massive heart attack. Somehow I just thought he would make it through. I just thought he would awake from his coma and beat it. Am I just at that stage in my life when I still believe everyone's invincible? My heart ached hearing the news he was in the hospital but I just couldn't imagine it would come to this. I didn't want to go there. I didn't want to believe he could be gone.

So then after hearing of his passing I had to get on the phone and pass the news on to some of my teaching friends that knew him as well. When I called one of our mutual friends Jeanne, it helped to reminisce of our times with Robert. Of how he would make us laugh. Of how he would call us up while we were teaching and bring a smile to our face. He was such a positive, happy person and it was a joy to know him.

Our quick beach trip

Hubby decided last minute that he would love to go to the beach for the weekend. So I got online and researched what would be one of the closest beaches to go to and booked a hotel for Saturday night. I am not really into the whole drive to the beach and drive home in one day. The beach is about a 4 hour drive for us. It would probably be a three hour drive but with a recently potty trained 2 year old you have to make some extra unplanned stops!













We tried Muir Beach but it was soo small and rocky so we drove to Stinson Beach instead. Or should I say shark beach--ha, ha...there were signs posted everywhere warning about sharks. KK probably would have nicknamed the beach garbage beach as there was garbage washed up along the shore everywhere!! She loves the movie Dora Mermaid Kingdom and in the movie the mean old octopus dumps garbage everywhere so she kept saying, "That mean old octopus, don't dump garbage on the beach!" It was cute because it was as if that movie came to life for her. At one point she even decided to clean up some garbage but was a little confused as the where it should go.

Aly's favorite thing to do was to chase seagulls. It was so cute, she actually thought that if she kept trying she would catch one!

It was nice to go from a cold snowy climate to the nice warm beach. We were so lucky the weather cooperated and kept us warm at 60 degrees. Unfortunately we when came home our house was freezing at only 51 degrees since our only source of heat is a wood stove!

Old Navy--Deals Too Good To Pass Up!

Today was one of my favorite shopping days of the year. I look forward to it each year and mark it on my calendar. It is when I buy the girls clothes for the next year at amazing deals. I didn't need as much as most years as I had plenty for Aly for next year and all I really needed for KK was tops since most of Aly's hand me down tops are stained up. I managed to buy things for everyone in the family and only spent $56.83. This lot orginally retailed for $227.00. Here is what I got:

I bought 24 items which makes an average of $2.37 an item!

Aly got four things. The T-shirt retails for $7.50 and I got it for $1.25. The cream long sleeve shirt retails for $10.50 and I got it for $2.50. The pants retail for $7.50 and I got them for $1.25. The white hooded sweater retails for $16.50 and I got it for $4.00. Spending a total on all four things for Aly: $9.00. KK got five things. The 3 long sleeve shirts retail for $10.50 each and I got them for $2.50 a piece. The short sleeve shirt retails for $7.50 and I got it for $1.25. The pink fleece pants retail for $10.50 and I got them for $2.50. Spending a total on these five items of: $11.25.

I had been looking for next years Xmas pj's so that was a great find. Originally the PJ's were $14.50 each and I got them for $4.49 each spending $8.98 for both pair which retails for $29.00. The girls can always use more tights. The tights and socks were originally $6.50 a pair and I got them all for $1.00 each spending $5.00 on what retails for $32.50.

I was lucky enough to find myself 3 t-shirts for this summer. The were originally $10.50 each and I got them for $2.00 a piece spending a total of $6.00 on 3 t-shirts. These shirts would have originally cost 31.50 for all 3. Hubby's boxers were originally $8.50 a piece and I got them for $1.74 a piece spending a total of $8.70 on 5 pairs of boxers which would have originally cost me $42.50.

And the storm brings snow....

Woohoo!! We finally got a good amount of snow to play in! We received somewhere between 6-8 inches over the course of Saturday afternoon and night. What a great way to wake up on Sunday to soo much snow to play in. I don't know who was more excited, the kids or Mommy and Daddy!














KK's favorite thing to do is to throw snowballs at the dogs. The dogs love catching them in their mouths. KK doesn't always aim well but the dogs enjoy it!















Aly is trying to go down the slide! See how she is pushing all of the snow with her! KK loves to do what big sissy does and she has learned from Aly to make snow angels! Isn't that cute!

Here is Mommy's favorite part---making snowmen! Aly and I had a blast rolling the snowballs and making our snowmen. I think her favorite part was putting the decorations on them.

Dinosaurs Live!

Today hubby and I were lucky enough to find a friend to watch the girls. Let me just say the girls were really lucky too! They got to go over to Aly's best friend Maya's house while hubby and I went to the Dinosaurs Live show! If you click on the link you can see a youtube video of the show! It was great and I am so glad we had the oportunity to see it! It was nice to spend a few hours alone without children too. Hubby was in heaven watching the show. He really loved dinosaurs as a child. It was so cool to see all of the dinosaurs and to be able to see how big they would be.

Hubby will be going again next year of the show comes back. He wants to bring Aly with him. Some nice father/daughter bonding time. KK won't be ready to see that show as the T-Rex in the end was pretty scary!

If the show comes to your area I highly recommend you go and see it!

Power Outage

Today our power went out at 7:50 a.m. It was out all day and didn't come back on until 7:10 p.m. Do you know what was the biggest bummer? We had tickets for hubby and I to go see the Dinosaurs Live show. There was no way we could go without power out our house. We couldn't leave the girls with a babysitter in the dark. So I was pretty bummed. The good news was that we could use our tickets for another show during the weekend...we just have to find a babysitter!

KK didn't handle the power outage too well in the beginning. For the first 45 minutes she cried asking for the lights on and the TV on. She didn't really understand what was going on. Aly didn't care, she thought it was kind of fun! We were lucky enough to go over to a friends house for a few hours. Just as we were getting ready to leave their power went out as well.

When we got back home KK was upset again for the first 45 minutes. Then she relaxed and her and Aly began making their own fun. They played chase in the livingroom and even jumped off of furniture!

Look at them having fun! Too bad the picture of them jumping off the furniture is blurry but you can get the idea!

Luckily we have a wood stove so we were able to heat them up a can of spaghetti and meatballs. I had made hamburgers the night before so hubby and I heated those up for dinner. The one bad thing when our power goes out is we loose phone, internet of course, and water. Yes, we are on a well that needs electricity to pump the water into the house so when our power goes out, we loose everything except heat thanks to our lovely wood stove!

More cute snow pics from Daddy's camera

Daddy has a much better camera than I do and he brought his outside to catch some action shots of the girls! He is also much better at taking pictures than I am. My philosophy is just keep hitting the button and eventually a picture will turn out good. He is more patient and likes to frame his subjects and wait to click until that perfect moment....

Isn't that picture of KK great? I was throwing snowballs up in the air for our dog Sierra to catch and KK thought it was the funniest thing!

Check out Sierra as she is jumping up for a snowball. It is one of our favorite ways to play with her! I will have to video tape it on my flip video camcorder!

KK amazes me!

KK has me totally amazed. I can't believe how well she is doing with potty training. I decided to take the girls out to Walmart for a couple of hours. It took me awhile to prepare--I packed 3 changes of clothes for KK, the little potty toilet in the back of the car, and extra wipes incase I had a poopy accident. So I left the house at 11:00 a.m. and didn't get back until after 2. Guess what? She didn't have any accidents and even went pee at Walmart. I am so shocked she is making it this easy.

What was even more shcoking was while I was in the kitchen doing dishes, Aly runs in to tell me KK is going poop on the toilet. Sure enough I go in and check and she is pooping on the toilet. She went in by herself, took off her clothes and went poop. Wow, if only potty training all kids could be this easy!!!

KK Starts The New Year Out Right!!!!!!!

Yesterday when we were at Walmart we found KK's favorite character on underwear. She loves Dora Mermaid Kingdom! So I bought them! This morning she asked to wear the underwear so we put them on. You are never going to believe what happened. She wore underwear the entire day and up until bedtime and you know what? She never had an accident. She went peepee in the toilet all day!!! I was shocked. We had been trying previously and I had never gotten her to go more than once or twice in a day. She had always peed through her underwear in the past and didn't care.

Now there is no turning back. I will keep her in underwear full time, I learned my mistakes of the back and forth game with Aly. The only challenge to come will probably be pooping in the toilet. I got her to poop a little in the toilet yesterday but only because I noticed her squeezing her legs and I ran her to the toilet.

I am so excited! Guess what we decided to do with the $40 we will save on diapers and wipes??? Put her in gymnastics class, she will love it and it costs the same as her diapers did.