Four years ago…

Four years ago today, I meet our first born, Brady Olivia. My life changed so much but every single change has been amazing and awesome. This blog is going to be long winded as I review our day today, so I will let the last four years be shown by birthday pictures.

 

June 12, 2007 First Orthner ‘family’ picture

June 12, 2008

June 12, 2009

June 12, 2010

June 12, 2011

 

Now about our amazing amazing day! Brady got to plan every detail of the day, well every detail except for the ‘super special fancy surprise’ we had planned for her.

 

• Overnight we built the vanity that Grandma shipped. So this morning the giant box that had been in our living room was replaced with a beautiful white vanity. Brady asked us if Santa Claus brought it. She played with that for a while.

• Opened her gift from Beppa and chose to watch a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode.

• Then she wanted to have breakfast. She wanted a yogurt pop and bacon. She helped make the bacon. I think she ate like 10 + slices of bacon. You think that is bad, wait to you hear about lunch

• Then Grandma and Caddie wanted to web chat. So I placed the computer on Brady’s vanity. She spent the whole time looking in the side mirrors at herself.

• Next, we revealed to Brady what her super special fancy surprise is. The video was posted in the previous post. But here she is later walking around talking about it and feeling her ear lobes. Also, Reese gave Brady the present she picked out herself…ugh, we have now entered the Barbie world. However, Reese as you can tell was very excited to give.

• After we watched another episode of Mickey. We headed off to lunch. Yep, she picked ice cream for lunch. She got to have any toppings she wanted… marshmallows, gummy bears and cherries. I think that is little girl heaven, especially when put on top of pink strawberry ice cream. We sang happy birthday and put a candle on the ice cream.

• Off to the mall to get her ears pierced. They did them at the same time, smart people at Claire’s you know! Not a single tear or whine from her. She was a super super big girl. Now, lets hope I can remember to clean them 4 times a day for 6 weeks…yikes. A couple of sweet stories, first while they were marking Brady’s ears, a girl asked if I was her mom, then proceeded to hand me a ring-pop to give her. She said “I remember getting mine done and it hurts a lot”. I thought that was the sweetest gesture from this preteen. Second, after it was done and Brady was smiling ear to ear, Reese announced it was her turn. Karl said it was Brady’s special gift for turning four. Reese then responded “I am four.”

• Next Brady wanted to use her birthday money from Beppa. She used up that money real fast in Claire’s. She got three necklaces, bracelet, lip gloss, press on nails, studded brush and a new purse. This picture of the press on nails kinda weirds me out to look at!

• We ran into a balloon guy at the mall….perfect! Brady got Minnie and Reese got Mickey. The man saw it was Brady’s birthday and gave her a flower as a gift. This balloon guys was by far the best I have ever seen.

• Brady next choose to go to a park, but the weather was no good. So the next best thing….Toys R Us, especially when they give you a balloon and crown.

• Dinnertime rolled around and the birthday girl wanted McDonald’s. IT worked out because they had an indoor play place, so she got to play in a playground after all.

• Lastly, she wanted to go home to let off a floating light like those in Tangled with her friend from next door. The rain from earlier had cleared but it was still too windy so I improvised. It wasn’t as spectacular as Brady wanted but I did my best. She wanted it “to float to the next city”

 

If you are still reading this, sorry to make this a long post. However, it was a wonderful day and I wanted to get all the details. Brady planned the day and it turned out to be very special.

Happy Birthday Brady!

I will blog the details of today later, but I wanted to go ahead and share these videos from this morning.

Doesn’t get much sweeter than that…I think I am really going to like this four year old business!

Water Babies

My girls started swim lessons this week. The instructor is amazing, and I have found that the girls love the water as much as I do. The freedom of ‘swimming’ is exciting prospect for the girls. Enjoy this pictures of them in the semi-private lessons.

 

Learning to kick

The Curly Club sitting together was too cute to pass up…

This is what was going on overhead the entire swim lesson: the Blue Angels practicing their loop in form over and over again.

What real Couponers Do

I just have to say that I do care for that new show Extreme Couponers at all. I bothers me that people will stock up 3 years worth of diapers, when they are unmarried and don’t have kids. I have watched the show twice and I just keep thinking, why can’t these people drop it off at a food shelter. I know they must have food on their shelves that expire soon.

 

So I have to share with you what I think is the right thing to do if you are able to get your hands on good deals.

 

Here is my shopping trip to Walgreens today. I paid $15.07 for $69.20 worth of groceries.

 

There are things in here, like the 6 bags of Chex Mix that I paid very little for (AKA 43 cents a bag), but 2 are going to be kept for my family the rest is being donated to the Ronald McDonald House (RMH).

 

Or there are things that I just got for free (after coupons) like the toothbrush. Again, this is going to the RMH.

 

Lastly, I even had a few moneymakers… meaning I had more in coupons then the item costs. There are Women’s soy supplement pills in there. No, I don’t need them, but I ‘made’ 50 cents by putting them into my cart. I don’t know who I am going to donate them to yet, but I will find someone.

 

We are gathering items for the RMH again for Brady’s birthday gifts this year. So I have been using my weekly Walgreens trip to stock up for them. This week they are getting everything in the picture except two bags of Chex Mix, curling moose, and those menopause pills   Anybody need menopause pills?

 

I love being a couponer because I can save money for my family, but I can also donate to those in need on a family friendly budget!

Fun with Fiesta

So I have to tell you about my dishes that I LOVE! My MIL introduced them to me (thanks Kim!) and I am so glad she did. I still get excited about them everyday that I use them. If you are looking to update your dishes, look into buying Fiesta.

 

If you don’t know what Fiesta is, it is high quality everyday china that comes in several colors, like over 20. I have chosen six different colors to mix and match and I have yet to get tired of it, years later.

 

Here is my cabinet of colorful fun!

 

And since I took the cabinet pictures after dinner, I had to snap a couple pictures of the dishwasher. They even make the dishwasher pretty!

Now here is where the real fun is for me. See if you can tell what I like to do…Karl has never noticed that I do this, I finally pointed it out to him today.

 

Did you get it? I like to match my food to the dish. Makes a bowl of peas more exciting to me.

 

FYI: this dinner pictured is Reese’s night to cook. She STILL chooses pancakes every week. I don’t mind a breakfast dinner though because my girls love it!

 

I was thinking of adding a 7th color to the mix…a deep purple. What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday: How to Kill Time When Sister is at Preschool

“You’ve Got a Friend in Me”

I know this post is LONG over due, but I was just making sure I had all the cutest pictures of the event…

 

Brady was in her first ballet recital May 22, 2011. She performed to the Toy Story song, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”. It was a sweet dance because the costume included a doll that had on the same tutu as her, thus ‘her friend’. Brady loved getting to wear makeup and that may have been her favorite part. However, when she got all those flowers at the end, she had a huge since of pride on her face.

Here is a family photo before the big show.

Brady was lucky to have her Auntie Andi and Grandma to come and watch the show. Thanks for making the trip down guys.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my mom.

I will have to admit, I am proud of the bun.

Her favorite part…

Now time to go to the auditoruim.

A good shot of the matching doll.

Waiting backstage.

Brady was also lucky enough to have her BFF come and watch her.

Future Singer/Songwriter?

Brady has really gotten into singing anything and everything. She loves making up her own song. After dinner one night, she asks if we would like to hear the song she made up. So I grabbed the video camera and here are the results.

I love the inflection in her voice and also that she changes genres throughout the song. Also, my favorite part is that she goes out into the ‘audience’ while singing to hug her family. Yep, I’m guilty I let her watch the last few weeks of american idol.

 

Well, Reese still likes to mimic Brady so we got a second performance. I like the Ace bandage in her hand which makes her look like a little rhythmic gymnast.

 

 

Okay, so maybe they are future singers, but I definitely could see the songwriting!