Has anyone ever heard of Alice.com b/c I'm wondering about it? I just found it online and I have absolutely no idea how I found it. I'm really tired. They do your shopping for you and ship it for free. Plus find coupons for you. Plus remind you when you need to buy something again. Plus, plus, plus. Have your toiletries, dog food, vitamins, diapers, wipes, soap (for every room of the house--laundry, bath, kitchen) coffee, etc. sent to you at the cheapest price and free shipping? Oh, and you sign up for free too? Hmmm.... not sure what to think. Sounds too good to be true. But it's talked about on Forbes, Good Housekeeping, CNN, Rachael Ray, Redbook, ABC News, The NY Times, CNBC and the list goes on and on. If you've heard of it, good or bad, or use it, please let us know. I'm very interested!

I've seen a few blogs write things about "keeping it real," but I thought I'd SHOW you keeping it real. And I'm not afraid either. I had planned all week to really clean the house on Thursday b/c my sis-in-law and nephews are coming to stay the weekend with us and we are super excited! (I haven't reminded Christopher b/c I knew he wouldn't go to school today if he knew.)

About mid-morning yesterday Brandon called to see if it would be ok if the intern he was working with could bring his family over for dinner. I told him no problem b/c the house was going to be clean by then anyway. I took some before pics, just so you could see what I was up against. Now, remember the dog had 2 separate explosions in the same area (and of course I'd already vacuumed before he did that), so I didn't get started until about 10:00 on anything. Brace yourselves b/c it gets pretty bad:

But after all the cleaning was done, the chaos began around 4:45. (Our company was coming at 6:30.) I was just about to get up to start fixing the quiche we were having for dinner and still trying to decide whether to make the crust from scratch, when the doorbell rings and it's housing maintenance finally showing up to fix the eyes on my stove. They haven't been lighting themselves for months now, but they finally quit "clicking" and I was afraid the gas would be on and I wouldn't know it.

The sweet man comes in, somehow gets the stove out into the kitchen. Rips the top off and starts looking for the problem. He finds out that he doesn't have the part he needs (of course!) and has to go back to get it. Now, remember I'm making quiche and it needs to bake for an hour. Meaning, it needs to get in the oven umm.... NOW! I no longer have a working oven. I grab the bacon, throw it in a pan and run to Tiffany's to bake it, run back home to get the rest of the ingredients (thankful for the back up frozen crust I'd bought) and run back over to her house to throw it all together. I call Brandon and tell him what's going on and he comes home right away. I come back home to put together the spinach dip and send it back over with Brandon to throw in the oven while the two guys come back, find out the new parts still don't help, tell me I'm getting a new oven and ask if they can take the old one away now. Heck yes you can!!! : ) They laugh b/c the women always get excited to hear this. The men don't care. They haul it off and I rush around to start mopping and get the outdoor utility brush to clean the nastiness from underneath. We get it all done and here's what I'm left with when our company arrives:

They feel bad. I told them I don't care, so they shouldn't either. We still have food to eat and we are going to enjoy it. Now, I thought the guys weren't going to come back until tomorrow b/c they knew we were going to have company, but they came back with this little beauty and hooked it up in no time. I love living on base! I may not have a dream house (or a pretty house for that much--it's pretty ugly on the outside), but I love knowing that if anything goes wrong I will be taken care of.

We had a great dinner and lots of fun and we are ready to have our company this weekend. Plus it feels great to finally have those counters cleaned off.... well, at least 90% of them!

Let me just start by saying that I wanted to put a different word in there other than "crap", but I know some of my readers (mainly my mom and her friends) would be very offended by that. Now to the story:

Last night Brandon and I got the kids to bed and I was exhausted and couldn't wait to go to bed myself. Brick had been outside all day long b/c the kids and I went to Destin to hang with the cousins who are in town and then I had a meeting at church, so he was outside a REALLY long time! He was very excited to see all of us when we got home and we were happy to see him. He came running into our room and smelled like he'd been rolling in crap. It was awful! I got up and checked the floor and didn't see anything, so I followed him down the hall, where I sent him right after he came in stinking. Brandon yelled, "Stop!!!! Don't move!!!" I froze and looked down to see that Brick had shot crap, yes, S.H.O.T it, across the floor. He had just come in from Brandon letting him out to go to the bathroom. We were both gagging from the smell. We got everything cleaned up and my cleaner rinsed out and we went to bed. Brick slept outside for the first time ever that night

This morning Christopher came in and woke me up saying, "Mom, you gotta come see this." Thinking how in the world could he already have something for me to see I crawled out of bed to see. This time I shouted, "Stop!!!! Don't move!!!!!" and Sophie started crying. I wanted to too. Brick had done it again. This time it wasn't as bad, but it was still there. I ran out of floor cleaner and had to call Tiffany and used the rest of hers too. Christopher informs me while I'm cleaning, "It looks like chocolate!" He's laughing. I'm thinking of who would want to adopt our dog.

He will be spending the entire day outside. He needs a bath. I do too.

I was listening to Rick and Bubba (on computer b/c we don't get them on the radio here) and I heard that the two guys got their hug from Taylor Swift yesterday. If you didn't know about this, here's the little I do know.

Two guys (apparently go to AU) started a plan to try to get a hug from Taylor Swift. T-shirts have been made. Videos pleading for a hug have been made. They've been on radio talking about it. They have been working hard. And it all paid off.

Yesterday, Auburn had a huge karaoke party and the two guys were up front leading everyone in, nothing other than a Taylor Swift song. Towards the end of the song, the video cut out and up popped Taylor Swift on the screen. Everyone went nuts. She told the guys how much she appreciated them and she wished she could be there. She really wished she could be there. Then she said she had an idea and she got up and walked away. Next thing you know, Aubie comes walking out. People are going crazy. Then two big guys walk out with Miss Taylor Swift right behind them. You can only imagine how insane it was in that room at the time.

The guys got their hugs. They also got a kiss on the cheek. And front row seats to a concert. Everyone else got a free mini concert b/c she brought her band. How awesome would it have been to be there??? I've never wished I was back in school again (purely for class and study reasons), but today I would have LOVED to be back at good 'ol AU again!!! War Eagle!!!!

Here's the link to the video if you want to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnBtN4cdanY

The first thing I wanted to try to make with all my strawberries was this homemade fruit roll up recipe I found on Darby's blog. Her stuff always look so amazing and I have to admit, a little (ok a lot) out of my league, but I really wanted to make these. I loved the ones you could buy at the store as a kid and could eat a whole box in no time flat. I knew that it wasn't good for me, but oh so delicious!

She suggests making them at night since she puts them in the oven for 8-10 hours and that was my original plan, but around noon today I found myself with time to spare and thought I'd go ahead and get started. I am SO glad that I did! I already had the berries cut up and ready to go so I started blending them with the rest of the ingredients and put them in the pot to start cooking. The recipe says to bring to a boil, then let it simmer and stir frequently for 30-45 minutes, then continue doing this until it's the right consistency. Me, being the person I am, thought it might take me an hour to do this. I was WAY off! At 5:30 I was finally able to spread it on the cookie sheet and stick it in the oven. That's right, five hours later it was ready. Now I just have to set my alarm to wake up at 2:30 a.m. to turn the oven off. But I'd much rather do that then have to stay up until 2 stirring the pot. Wouldn't you?

I'm sure a lot of it has to do with our supplies we have to work with (and the fact she's much better at these things than I am, ok, much more experienced--I'm not stupid), but I'm really hoping that this isn't a flop. I just wanted to post this in case any of you have made this before, or want to try it yourself and let you know it could possibly take longer than you plan. Please let me know how your experiences with making homemade yummy treats like this has gone in the past. I'm very curious to hear about them!

Today, the kids and I went strawberry picking with Tiffany, William and baby Regan. We didn't get to go with our MOPS group on Monday, so we decided to go later in the week. I had no idea what it was going to be like, but was up for the adventure. I also had no idea just how many strawberries we would end up with. They told you grab a box and go picking until you wanted to stop. Everyone had a box and we headed down the rows and started picking.

I think the kids lasted about 5 minutes and then they were done. Tiffany and I were going to fill up our two boxes no matter what the kids said. Sophie was more interested in eating them than picking them. No surprise there. And there was no hiding that she was doing it. Her t-shirt was covered in red juice, right along with her face and hands. I still don't know how I didn't get a photo of it. I kept telling her to stop eating the berries, but every time I looked up she would have her chin down and her hands under her chin hiding something. When I'd ask her what it was, she'd start to giggle and show me the biggest, reddest berry you could find. I'd swap it for a tiny one.

After we filled our boxes we headed back to have them weighed and pay for them. I ended up with 24 pounds!!! But at $1.25 a pound, you just can't pass them up. Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with all of them, but we will find something. We finished off the trip with some strawberry frozen yogurt and then headed back home. Christopher helped me wash one box and I even let him help me cut them up. He did a very good job! I've got one bowl for eating, another bigger bowl for making "fruit roll ups" and another spread out on a baking sheet freezing as we speak. (Tiff's mom said this way was the easiest if you don't want one big ball of frozen berries... very good to know!) I definitely recommend going if you never have!

This morning we had William and Della come over and play. If your kids are like mine, they love to have other kids around to play with because they get tired of me. We put on costumes, played with playdough, jumped on the trampoline, colored, rode on the swings, played with the bikes, squirted water with new water toys, ate lunch, played legos, etc. I think you get the idea. And surprisingly, the house was not a disaster like you might be picturing. Yes, it was messy, but it was made because fun had been had by all. And I got a Lenny's sub out of it and got to eat it with two friends. So, it was totally worth it! (Just a note, the sandwich and friends were a surprise, not part of the deal.) I'm just glad I can help. Everyone's gone now and my kids are starting to fight so I best be going now. Hope you are having a good day wherever you are!

Last week the kids and I watched Keenan and Moriah while their mom had to go somewhere and to thank us she treated us to Mcdonald's and the Gulfarium. We hadn't been there since we moved here so the kids were really excited about seeing the animals. I only got a few photos and most of them didn't turn out. Here are the kids watching the sea lions do their stuff:

Saturday we went to a birthday party at the bowling alley. It was the first time our kids had ever been bowling. They weren't real sure at first, but the got into it. We had a lot of fun and will have to do it again another time.


Even Sophie got in on the action. The kids loved their bowling shoes too, which I thought they'd hate. Only problem was they think kids have skinny feet and the velcro wouldn't stay.


That afternoon we walked over to the Ramages house to help them put together their new swing set, or "playground" as the kids were calling it. We ordered Chinese and hung out for hours. It was lots of fun, no surprise though, we love these guys. (Fingers crossed and hands together praying they find out where they are going soon, hint: Tiff and kids might be staying here!) We went home around 7:30 to get ready for bed and Sophie had been very congested for a couple days, causing her to throw up on occasion. She started again around 10:30 that night and did about every 30-45 minutes, so I slept with her on the couch. Sort of. Then it hit me. Later it hit Christopher. He had climbed in the bed with Brandon who didn't know he had company, until Christopher threw up all over him. I felt horrible! He had taken a Lunesta to help him sleep (coming off two weeks of nights and totally thrown off) and we were all keep him up and needing his help. Thankfully he never got sick and everyone was "better" on Sunday. I'm keeping the kids home from school today b/c they both still have runny noses and every now and then say they don't feel good. They typically say this for about a week after getting better, but I didn't want to take any chances.

This morning I have tons of laundry to do and the windows needed washing and the kids LOVE to wash windows. We got the inside finished and then headed outside. We played out there for a while (Brandon is home sick today) and we are trying to stay out of his way, but not being very successful. Here are my new favorite shoes for outside. I got them at Target in the gardening section for $10 -- full price -- and LOVE them!!! Been trying to find some I liked and for a decent price. They were definitely worth the wait.


Sophie kept trying to take her stroller (holding her cup) in and out of the back door. She wants it to stay open like a regular door. Doesn't happen. Tried to help. Got yelled at. On her own.


And finally, Christopher doing what he loves most, making mud puddles. He told me that about 40 times while he was making them. Thankfully the ground soaked it up pretty quickly.

Hope you all had a great weekend. We loved the weather and hated the throwing up. But it's done and over with and now everyone has clean sheets. My book for the book club just came in today and I can't wait to get started on it! Now I just need some clean clothes. Better get on that. Later chicas!!