If you think you’re in shock, you should’ve seen my face when the test came back positive. Denton’s grounded for eternity.

The kids think it’s a girl and they want to name it Leo. But then Fischer asked me, “When Rocky grows up, can we name him Fischer?” Sure, now that we have one hundred children, you guys can do whatever you want.

She’ll be here 11/11/09 – at least she’ll have a cool birthday. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to see the little sucker.

Pretty much every day the kids and I have a dance party, and we do it to any Beyonce song.  Our latest groove is “Single Ladies” and if you ask Fischer was his favorite song is, he’ll tell you “Single Ladies” – I’m so proud.

The other day we had a dance party and Leo didn’t want to dance.  I said, “Leo come and dance!  Look at your mom and dad, you were BORN to dance!” So a little white later, Leo hands me this note she had written:

“Dear Mom, I wasn’t born to dance.  You know how you were born to dance?  I was born to swim.  Love, Leo xoxoxoxoxo” 

I laughed my ever-lovin face OFF!  I’m gonna frame that note and keep it FOREVER!   

Yesterday Denton accepted a job at MeadWestVaco (MWV) as Senior IT Auditor in Richmond, VA.  Now, this hasn’t been a cake-walk, so sit back while I tell you the drama:

When Denton lost his job in January, we felt peace right away knowing that we would be taken care of.  We had savings, food storage, and we were really good about soaking our beans overnight and baking lots of bread!  It wasn’t actually until we received the offer from MWV that the stress set in.  Ya see, Denton has to travel 2 weeks out of every month and WE ALL KNOW that I don’t do well when Denton is on sabbatical.  So my first reaction was to NOT accept the job, I felt like if he did we would not be putting family first, which is the most important thing.  On the other hand, Denton felt like he should take the job.  So we were and still are very grateful to even have a job offer, we just didn’t know what to do yet. 

So we fasted and prayed, and prayed, and prayed.  We knew we couldn’t go forward w/o a definite answer.  Last Sunday I was talking w/my friend’s husband who use to work at Circuit City as well – he said to me that having talked to many people who have lost their jobs,  what we need to do is take what jobs we can get and grow our careers from there.  Now, this wasn’t anything overly poignant, or overly spiritual (sorry Skip, but thanks) but it was what I needed to hear and then it clicked for me.  At this time in the economy, we need to sacrifice time away from Denton to provide for our family.  And in that way we WOULD be putting family first.  Make sense?  It finally does to me.

So we’re trying not to be big brats and be grateful for what we have been given (there were 200 applicants for the position), and we really are.  But we aren’t excited about the travel part of the job.  I don’t think Noah was really that thrilled to build an ark, but he did it.  I wasn’t excited to wear skirts for 18 months on my mission, but I did it.  I’ve always said that Denton traveling would never be worth any amount of money.  And it’s not, but it’s worth providing for our family and having a job in troubled times.

Another perk – we have a great friend John Pilch who works at MWV and was the one to send this position to us right when it opened up.  We recently found out that a few other people in our ward work there and like it.  

So there you have it!  My next project after Denton starts his job:  build up to ONE YEAR of food storage!

You’ve only got 3 days left to make your Valentine Aardvark pouches! For those of you who don’t know what the heck I’m talking about, let me give you a run down:

As most of you know, my Dad passed away two years ago. He had great enthusiasm for many things, including family traditions. One tradition my father invented (being that avid Biologist that he was) which our family has been celebrating for more than 30 years is the Valentine Aardvark. When I was little, on Valentine’s Eve my brothers and sisters and I would make and decorate Aardvark Pouches and set them out that night. While we were sleeping, the Valentine Aardvark would come in the night and fill our pouches with little treats and presents. I never understood why my friends at school didn’t get a visit from the Valentine Aardvark. My extended family has been busy creating a website to share this tradition and help us remember Dad – consider it our free therapy. It has brought back so many great memories of Dad and I love that I have carried on this tradition with my children. You can visit the site at www.valentineaardvark.com.

Yesterday, I was able to go into Leo’s class and share the legend of the Valentine Aardvark with her classmates and make pouches with them. They had a BLAST and were so excited! It was really so fun for me and Leo to share this tradition with the kids. Makes it all worth while.

I hope that by sharing this with you, you and your family will consider adopting it as a tradition of your own. Let us know what you think and feel free to spread the word about the Valentine Aardvark.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

If you’re wondering how I paid for Disney World while being unemployed, this is how: I Heart CVS

My sis-in-law Lindsay is a fellow Coupon Cutter… the other day she asked me if someone could be cheap and classy at the same time. 

My reply: no one has to know I paid fitty cent for my class!!!!

Yep, that’s right… we went to Disney World last week suckers!!!!  ha ha!  Let me tell you the WHOLE story:

I’ve been obsessed with, researching, dreaming about, talking about, threatening and bribing Denton, and DYING the last 6 months about going to Disney World.  Well, Denton is an extreme homebody (and homeboy) and said maybe in 5 years.  Yeah right. Well last Monday was his last day of work – Circuit City went belly-up and Denton and the whole company were laid off.  At 2pm that afternoon I was talking w/my in-laws about DW and how we’d never be able to go now that we’re unemployed.  And by 3pm, I had an epiphany, changed my mind, booked DW tickets, booked the hotel and when Denton walked in the door said, “WE’RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!”  Well, needless to say he was very salt-licker about it.

So for the next 5 hours, I gave Denton his space while the kids and I went to Costco for “FHE” and got food for the trip.  I gassed up the car, packed all our suitcases, sent out a million emails, and the next morning we were off by 7am!  Denton finally came around, but really I gave him no choice.  And it was AWESOME!!!  We had such a great time, I’ll never regret that we went.  Although I promised Denton I would never do a surprise trip again, he doesn’t like it.  (we’ll see) 

Day One:  Magic Kingdom 

Leo, Fischer, and I spent 8 hours at Magic Kingdom.  It was the coldest day in Florida in the past 20 years – but we had lived in Ohio so it was nothing to us.  The lines were short so we went on a ton of rides.  Leo’s favorite ride was Goofy’s Barnstormer – she sat in the very front car by herself and had her arms up the whole time!   We went on the Speedway and both the kids got a chance to drive the cars – I thought I was gonna puke cuz they hit every single bump.  Fischer put his head down the whole time we were on the Haunted Mansion but at least he went on the ride, and no nightmares!!!  We went to Mickey and Minnie’s house, Winnie the Pooh ride, Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, Peter Pan, Small World and Fischer even went on Thunder Mountain!!  My kids are very brave, I was scared on some of the rides. 

Day 2:  Magic Kingdom w/Denton and Rocky 

We went back the next day w/D & R cuz there was still a ton left to do.  (Remember, Denton has the soul of a grandpa so he only wanted to go to DW one day.)  He took the kids on lots of rides and said it was fun remembering when he went as a little kid.  Rocky loved all the rides and didn’t even get scared on Pirates of the Caribbean.  We hit the Aladdin ride, saw a couple shows, had pics with characters (Fisch was scared of Captain Hook), Swiss Fam Robinson, Thunder Mountain with Dad, and a ton more.  Denton, Leo and Fisch even watched the closing parade while I got the car.  Our feet were really tired by the end of Day 2 so we all went in the hot tub when we got back to the hotel — aaaaaahhhh!!  nice.   

Day 3:  Animal Kingdom

You would think that the Safari ride at DW Animal Kingdom would be just like going to the zoo, but it was SO MUCH better then that! Plus, it’s an Animal Reservation that’s larger then the Magic Kingdom, good cause. The animals were so close – they could’ve eaten Fischer! The kids loved it and their eyes were like “deer in headlights” the whole time. We saw the Nemo Stage Show which was really cool – the actors did a great job with the “Nemo” puppets. Then, off to Dinosaur Land, Fischer was hyperventilating from sheer joy!!! So we went on the main Dinosaur Land ride which takes you back in time to when the dinos were alive… OK, I had NO idea how scary it would be! The kids were FREAKING out and Leo kept yelling, “Let’s get out of here!” I was so scared but laughing so hard cuz the kids were screaming! In fact, Fischer told everyone at church, “I was freaking out on the dinosaur ride!” Good memories. We played at the HUGE Dinosaur play place and dug for fossils, rode tube slides, took the train to the animal reservation, and said goodbye to DW after that day was over.

I’m SO glad our family could take this trip. No matter what happens in the future with Denton’s career, I’ll never regret it. I highly recommend you going, even if your husbands don’t want to. :)

Our family took the day off from normal life today.  We all ditched our responsibilities and spent the day together, we really needed it.  Especially today. Everyone slept in a little bit then we got up and had breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  After that Leo and I spent three hours doing Christmas shopping.  If I had done it w/the two boys in tow, it would have taken me three days.  Both Fischer and Leo earned money to get each other and Rocky Christmas presents, so Leo picked out one for Fischer today and will get Rocky’s later.  Fischer bought his presents the other day and even paid for them himself to the cashier, it was really cute.  They can’t wait to wrap them.

Later on I spent time at home w/the kids while Denton did some Christmas shopping.  It was a nice, calm day, exactly what we needed.  I think it’s worth getting away from it all for one day just to be together.  It’s my all-time favorite thing to do. 

A couple weeks ago, Leo and I had a girl’s night and saw Disney on Ice!  Due to Thanksgiving and my camera being on the fritz, I’m just now getting these pics up.  Anyways, I bought the tickets back in July and I think I’ve been WAY more excited for this then Leo. 

My favorite part of the night was just watching Leo, she’s hilarious.  We went to dinner before hand, and when her platter of Grande Nachos came out, her eyes were as big as the platter.  I laughed while she downed the whole plate and talked about Kindergarten drama.  Then at the show when the characters came out, leo’s eyes about popped out of her head!  That look was worth it all!  I actually got a little emotional watching her excitement (I’m old and turning into my mom) cuz I’ve been waiting 5 1/2 years to be able to do something like this with my daughter.  So while I give Disney on Ice about a B+ having that experience w/Leo was awesome.  Now if I can just convince Denton to let us see Disney WORLD!