My Five Little Monkeys

Minivans Of The World Unite!

I'm a minivan Mom. I'm not really ashamed of that. Really I'm not. I've noticed though that people who ride motorcycles, they have like this secret wave... I want to do that.  I want to have a secret wave that I can do to all the Mom's out there who actually are in love with driving their Minivans.
When I was first resigned to the idea of having to drive my van, it was kind of like a death sentence. Jon and I both had compact cars. We had decided that with the pregnancy would come a new, more family friendly vehicle. We had pretty definitely decided on the Chrysler Pacifica. We still see them on the road today, and do a little "awww" like it's a memory of when things were easier? I dunno. Regardless we didn't end up with the Pacifica. We ended up with a Chrysler Town & Country and Triplets. Aka: The Mom-Mobile. I wasn't thrilled. Hauling my hugely pregnant butt out of it the first time though, I was ecstatic. I had been hauling my hugely pregnant butt UP off the ground of a Honda Civic. This was glorious in comparison.
So now, this all brings me to today. I'm still driving the same minivan obviously. It's only been about 4 and half years... Perhaps my expectations are just too high, or perhaps Chrysler just has no idea what the heck they were doing when they made these minivans. I've run into nearly every problem imaginable with this vehicle, and now, my love for being a minivan Mom? It's starting to turn into more of just a "like"... I don't so much loooove it anymore... I just sort of like it.
For instance, I've had this squealing coming from my back tires now for at least a month. We know it's not the tires... Oh no, that's not even possible. Know how I know that? Because I JUST replaced all four of them, before the van even turned over 40k miles. Yeah. Winner Winner. Anywho, the van, it squeals like a pig. I take it to our handy dandy auto mechanic to have a quick listen to it... For those of you who know me, I'm a pretty pride filled person. I refuse to go into a garage and be one of "those people" replicating all the noises my car likes to make... It's not pretty, people laugh at those people... I'm not one to be laughed at.
So I go waltzing in there, and I'm all "Oh Hai... yes... My van makes a squealing noise in the rear axel area upon acceleration" And of course then they say, "you mean it squeals when you brake? Like your brake pads are wearing down?" So then, THEN I'm forced to explain that no, it is definitely when I accelerate...and this leads me to making the most annoying pig like, wub, wub, wub noise... It was Fabulous. Then to top it all off, my van decided today was not a good day to "perform". Noises couldn't be replicated...
Needless to say, if you drive by me, and you give me a new Minivan Momma secret handshake sort of wave, and I flip you off? Don't be alarmed, it's just been one of those days... Because all the way home my van was singing a tune reminiscent of "sooooey"...

Pssssketti!

Oddly enough, up until last week, my children have never had spaghetti. Weird, I know. They've had macaroni and cheese, tortellini, different shaped pastas, but never have they had simple spaghetti. Truthfully, I don't know why. I think it just sort of slid under the radar. Last week, Jon and I were having it for dinner. William asked if he could sample some off of my plate. I gave him some, which then turned into him eating four plates of his own... He clearly liked it. The only one in the family who has literally no interest in any type of pasta, is Evan. He won't even look at it. Refuses to touch it. All the other kids though love it to pieces... Add it to the menu folks, good to have another meal to rotate through!

A Penny Saved.

I get a certain kick out of saving money. I'll admit it... Before I was a wife, Before I was a Mom... I had no CLUE of what the average price of a gallon of milk was. Ask me how much a certain Vera Bradley bag was retailing for currently, and I could rattle that info off in a hot second. Food prices? Not a chance. Nowadays, I'm able to tell you the average price on pretty much anything in our local grocery store. I get a real sense of pride out of that. I get a real boost out of knowing that I may not be bringing a dollar TO the table, as far as a paycheck is concerned, but the least I can do is keep the dollars we do have IN our pockets.
I've learned a lot from online gurus that tout their expertise about shopping with coupons... Getting hundreds of dollars of groceries for cents on the dollar. I'm SO not there yet. However, I'm getting there. It takes me a long time in the grocery stores, and I thank GOD that my kids love to go there with me. I don't always take them, but sometimes I need to!
Here was today's shopping trip. It wasn't my best trip by any means... However, I'm amazed still that I can save so much money without THAT much effort!!
In my order, I had:

• 1 Kix Cereal 12oz.
• 2 Contadina Tomato Paste 6oz.
• 6 Dole Mandarin Oranges
• 5 loaves of Bread
• Filipo Berio Olive Oil 51oz
• 2 Welch's AquaJuice
• 6 Friskies Cat Food
• 2 V-8 Fusion Juice
• Snyders MultiGrain Chips
• Giant Pureed Tomato
• Bleach 96oz
• 2 SoBe Water 20oz
• 2 Dole Lettuce Blends
• 2 International Delights Creamer
• 2 Johnsons Baby Soap
• 1 Jumbo Huggies Diaper
• 10 Flowering Bulbs for Garden 
• Triaminic Nasal Spray
• Giant Brand Nasal Spray
• Giant Brand Tylenol 24ct.
• Vicks Soothing Vapors Plug In
• Vicks Soothing Vapors Pads
• 5 Smart Ones Meals
• 2 Breyers Ice Cream 48oz
• 2 Bertolli Oven Baked Meals

The total for all of this...$146.69

I paid...$74.90

A savings of almost $72. I did this with a combination of deals going on in the store, as well as nearly $25 in clipped coupons. The hard work is totally worth it... Totally Totally worth it...

Good & BedFellas

A few months ago we moved William into a big boy bed. Our other two boys, we decided just weren't ready for the transition at that time. Part of it was because they truly weren't ready, and part of it was because their big baby of a Momma just wasn't ready. Having them sleep in anything other than cribs seemed far too grown up... Far too, big, scary... I just wasn't ready for it. Fortunately for the boys they were able to show me that the world isn't all scary, and helped me to transition them into a big queen size bed on the floor. Remember we were finding them sleeping together ALL. THE. TIME. in a baby crib? Too sweet... Anyway, the bed on the floor has been very practical. I haven't been afraid of them falling to the floor with a crashing thud. No worries of them jumping on the bed until the slats underneath come crashing to the floor below. Also, the boys have been able to sleep together whenever they choose... There's nothing more heartwarming than going in to check on them and finding their small bodies intertwined, hands clasped, both laying in the same position... This past weekend however, Jon's parents got a great deal on two toddler beds. Since we already had our mattresses, it seemed logical to make the next step to try to offer them their own beds. If they would like to continue sleeping together, they could, albeit they'd be a little squished... But if they didn't choose to do so, they had their own separate beds, as individual little boys should. The beds are perfect, and I think the boys were in love with them. I took some photos of them seeing them for the first time, but honestly they all came out looking like crap... When going to check on them last night I found Jack curled up in Williams bed (which is where we have found him on many of the recent nights...This is what has prompted the idea of separate beds!) and Evan on the floor between the two new beds... It was if he couldn't decide where he wanted to sleep. Poor fella...
I will leave you with a photo though... This little guy has been under the weather, along with his brothers and sisters for about a week now. The past few days with the holiday and all seem to have gotten the best of him, and he's taken a nap 2 days in a row... Today I allowed him to nap peacefully in my bed...While I sat in my chair and enjoyed some peace and quiet. I enjoyed seeing him doze, his obvious need for his body to rest. What I didn't enjoy was when he woke, he peered up at me wordlessly,  playing a sort of peek a boo around our bedroom wall... He then looked at me, and said "this piece here?" Pulling at the hip area of his sweat pants, "it's wet."
UGH.
My sweet, slumbering, baby boy...pissed in my bed. That little... UGH... Well you win some you lose some right?

A Fresh Start...

Hi. My name is Jessica. You might know from such places as, this blog and perhaps Facebook. I have been a little lax over the past few months, I seem to have lost my passion for writing. I'm not shocked really. It seems to happen to me every few months... I go into a bit of a writing depression. I fall behind on what I feel are "noteworthy events", and then I begin to kick myself for not journaling them all. I try to continually tell myself that it's my blog, that I'm not doing it for anyone other than me...But that's not really the truth now is it? I mean you're reading it, and it's likely that you know a few other folks who pop by on occasion. So really I'm not just writing for myself... I'm writing for a select group of people who are genuinely curious about what's going on in my world...
As for what's been going on? To sum it up briefly... Lots. We've had lots going on. Really, it's far too much to backtrack on now. And really let's all be honest, the past is history. I'm not going to flip through my datebook and try to rehash the most noteworthy events of the past 6 months and try to fill in the gaps. Nobody enjoys that. My writing previously has been pretty spontaneous, and I'd like for it to continue that way. I will say though that I've been happy... I've been content... And most importantly, we've all been healthy. I'm an incredibly busy Mom to five incredibly adorable, intelligent, nearly perfect (in my opinion) children... I am going to do my best to hold myself accountable for this blog again. It's important to me, and I know that it's important to some of you as well...

This Baby? Happy!

Thanks to the great folks over at Team Mom, my Kids and I were given two new books to read. Never being one to turn down a good book, especially a new one... Who can turn away that new book smell? We jumped at the opportunity!
Leslie Patricelli, is the creator of seven board books starring the adorable bald baby. We had the pleasure of meeting this adorable bald baby, up close and personal in one of Ms. Patricelli's books named Baby Happy, Baby Sad. In this adorably sturdy board book, our bald baby tells his tale of what makes him happy and sad... Losing his balloon, squeezing his cat, being sick, seeing his Daddy! All of these things make baby happy and sad...
We were thrilled with this book because of it's fun illustrations, as well as the easy to read format. With a new reader in the house, it was great for us to see Evan associate the word to the picture... Even occasionally making the baby cry and sound sad.
Leslie didn't stop here with Baby Happy, Baby Sad... She is also the author of 7 other board books, and 2 delightful picture books. Ms. Patricellli has an awesome knack for illustrating her books just perfectly, enabling little minds to be silly, and really to just let imaginations run wild...