Nathan has been sending me some great pictures from his cell phone. Not great quality pictures, but the scenery looks amazing.



I don't know if you can tell, but those are big horn sheep. We don't get those just scampering across the road in these parts....




This is my favorite pic so far ^ ^ ^ ^



As pretty as it is, I don't think I could ever live somewhere that cold. I'm freezing when its 70 degrees or when the air conditioner or fan blows directly on me.



Even a note to Noggie!

He seems to enjoy being in the cold weather, it doesn't bother him. As long as he doesn't bring it home with him just yet!!! Can I hang on to summer/fall just a little longer, please??

Other News :)


I got these beautiful earrings from my blogger friend Devon over at The Daily Dakin. I joined "weight loss forces" with her in an effort to raise money to Pound Out SMA. I have lost 7 lbs so far (and seem to be stuck), and every pound I lose earns money toward finding a cure for SMA. Her precious little guy, Dakin, is about to be 2! He is a Halloween baby!! You should go read about him, and wish him a Happy Birthday while you're there!

I have been doing the Grocery Game for several months now. I've posted about it before HERE. This week I did pretty well at Kroger.

That is 42 items. I spent $50.13. My coupons and discounts saved me $45.62, a 47% saving! I did even better at Randall's but didn't take a pic. I got 23 items, and spent $16.51. Coupons and discounts were $22.20, a 58% savings. So altogether, I spent $66.64 on 65 items; that's just a little over one dollar per item, tax and all :)

Now, I know that grocery shopping may not be exciting to everyone - I used to hate it. But now it is like I am playing a game, trying to see just how much money I can save, and usually I walk out feeling like I ripped them off LOL! It does take a little work, you have to look on line on the day you are going shopping and clip the coupons it tells you to clip. My biggest problem with it right now is trying to keep my binder organized; I need a better binder.

In the theme here of saving money, if you are reading this blog, leave a comment and let me know one thing you do to save money. Here are some of mine:
~One thing I do to save money is cleaning with vinegar. It is so cheap, and you can pretty much clean anything with it, and it is perfectly safe around children and pets.
~We also water down our hand and dish soaps, about 50/50. This makes it last twice as long, and works just as well.
~I don't buy the Swiffer cloths, I just use wash cloths instead. This way, I can use whatever cleaner I'd like on my floors (vinegar), and I can wash and reuse the cloth.

Thanks for checking in!

xoxox~

Lots of pictures

It has been a long time since I have updated. Not a whole lot is going on here, but I do have lots of pictures to share.
This past weekend we had two birthday parties to go to, and Raia had a blast at both of them. They both had the bouncy houses for the kids to play in and Raia just loved it!







Here is the cake I made for one of those parties; it was a two year old princess party :)




Here are some other pictures of Raia taken at the park. Nathan was so nice to take her for the day and let me work on the cakes I needed to do (like I said above, we had 2 birthday parties, but actually had 3 birthdays to celebrate).








Can you tell that someone likes to slide? She is becoming a master! And so independent, my word....she is growing up too fast.


On Saturday we went to a local pumpkin patch. I thought it would be a neat thing to do for Raia. Actually Nathan had mentioned it a few weeks ago, but it finally worked out for us to go Saturday.










Raia was really enjoying all the pumpkins; she loved touching each one, and picking up the small ones to "share" with us. They had a cute little bench for photo ops, as I'm sure you saw. Anyway, Nathan selected a nice sized pumpkin for us, and it was time to head home. Raia screamed and and kicked her legs, I had to almost drag her to the van, poor baby. I know, we are horrible. She'd have stayed there all night if we'd have let her.
Nathan worked hard carving the pumpkin, and did a great job. I don't think Raia really knows what to think of it; she keeps trying to blow the candle out, haha!





A few weeks ago I bought three of the tiny little pumpkins at WalMart, one to represent each of us. I drew faces on all of them, and the mommy one is the only one that really looks horrible, I couldn't think of anything distinctive about myself to draw onto a pumpkin face. Oh well...I guess black lopsided lips will have to do! Raia totes these things around all over, and calls them her "baby punkins".



I'm pretty sure Raia is going to be Tinkerbell for Halloween, unless its too cold and I can't find anything to go underneath her costume.



That is a handmade costume made by my friend Kim's mom. She made it for Kim's daughter Madison (Raia's best friend) last year for Halloween.

Here are a few more random pictures.






And here she is lovin' on Jayden (isn't he precious?!). I work with his Mommy at the resale shop - that's where this pic was taken. We are so lucky to be able to take our kids to work with us!



I think that's all the pictures I have for right now. I realized the other day, as I was looking through the 359 photos on my phone, that I really needed to delete some of the pictures and email some of them to myself to post here. So, sorry if all this cuteness has overloaded your computer. You know you were missing it though, since it had been so long since I last updated and all...

Raia is talking so well now. About a week or so ago I heard her singing, and realized it was the alphabet! Granted, its not perfect, but geez, the ALPHABET?! I will try my hardest to get that on video, but this little stinker stops doing anything cute the second the little red light comes on....bummer.

The other day I made waffles for breakfast, and when I came in to sit down, Raia said to me with the sweetest look (while patting the seat next to her), "Mommy, sit. Wapples!" I've told that story to everyone I know because it is just so cute, and now she says it all the time LOL! Silly goose!

Last night I was getting pretty cold, and asked Raia if she was cold, and she promptly said to me, "Git unner da cubbers, Mommy!" Hahahaha!


On another note, Nathan is out of town again this week. He says this will be the last time he has to go out of town. He is actually in Denver, Colorado.
He sent me some really pretty pictures today, but I haven't uploaded those yet.




He and I are still going to counseling, and if you've got a minute and a spare prayer, I would really appreciate it. We could really use it.

I think that's all I've got for now. It is almost 1 am, so I better get to bed! Thanks for checking in! And again, I welcome any and all questions or comments, any topic suggestions for my blog would be great, too :)


xoxox~

Quick Video

Nathan took Raia to the park while I was working on a cake, and he brought this video home for me. Let me just say for the record, my heart is in puddles on the floor, so watch your step as you exit...I'd hate for you to slip ;)




More to follow in the next day or two. Thanks for checking in!

xoxox~

25 Things You Didn't Know About Raia

1.) Raia cannot sleep peacefully with a blanket, or anything else covering her. The moment one is draped over her, she wakes herself up kicking it off.

2.) Her favorite movie (right now) is Bolt. She's good to go for about 25-30 minutes in her "movie chair" that we make out of pillows for her on the bed if Bolt is on.


3.) She is learning to brush her own teeth. I bought one of the electric ones with Dora the Explorer on it and Dora toothpaste, and she likes it pretty well. And she will even let me help now, after she's done, of course.

4.) Raia loves to color, and loves feeding her crayons to Gibson. I always know when he's had a crayon snack when I see his rainbow poo. (Yeah, too much info, but funny too.)

5.) One of Raia's favorite games is holding onto Daddy's back while he throws darts. She gets the biggest kick out of that, and always has loved the game of darts.

6.)Raia randomly runs up to me and wraps her little arms around my leg and just squeezes with all her might, and sometimes kisses my leg, too. It is about the sweetest thing ever...

7.) Bananas make her breath stinky.

8.) This child is fearless. No steps too steep, no chair too high, no shelving unit NOT climbed like Mt. Everest in record time! Just like her Daddy...


9.) Raia will spout off 30 seconds worth of unintelligible babble, but you can rest assured that there will be at least 3 strategically placed "Elmo"'s in there somewhere.

10.) She loves ice cream. Any flavor. At the mention of "ice cream" her head whips around and she comes running! She calls it "keem".

11.) Her eyes are blue (still) as the day she was born.

12.) Most of the time, if I lose track of her when I am at work, I can find her over in the girls' shoes section, trying on shoes. She just loves shoes!

13.) She is becoming a "Daddy' Girl". Not that its a bad thing, he eats it up. She really misses him when he is gone, and completely ignores me when he comes home, LOL!

14.) Loud barking scares her and makes her cry. Our friend has a really big Golden Retriever named Boudreaux, and Raia just loves him to death, but when he barks it sends her to tears. The same is not true for our Gibson, he could bark all day, and she doesn't cry. Boudreaux's bark is just so loud and resonant, I think it just goes right through you...it really is kind of scary, but she just loves him (as long as he isn't barking!)


15.) Raia has an Elmo seat cover for her car seat, and MUST kiss Elmo before going anywhere.

16.) Most of the time, Raia will kick off her shoes in the car, no matter how short or long the trip. It drives me nuts LOL!

17.) Lately, one of Raia's least favorite times of day is naptime and bedtime. She fights it like a champ!

18.) She has become QUITE the mimic! I am really having to watch what I say. I've never been one to have the cleanest language, especially when frustrated, so now I am really having to watch it! But the mimic thing goes for everything; she is feeding her baby dolls, and trying to diaper them, and all sorts of other things too.

19.) I am teaching Raia how to blow her nose. When I was younger, I had major ear infections, and blowing my nose hurt terribly because of the pressure, so I am trying to teach her the "proper" way, (close one nostril while blowing out the other, then switch. It minimizes the pressure.) I didn't learn this until a few years ago!

20.) After a recent event when Raia cut her finger, I think she may have become a Band-Aid-aholic. No, really....We are down to only the giant sized ones, and I've had to hide the box for now.

21.) She is yet to be sleeping in her own bed, much less her own room. For the past few weeks we have been dealing with night terrors (I'll blog about that another time maybe). She wakes up and has NO CLUE who I am, all the while kicking and screaming, and it usually takes me about 15-20 minutes to get her calmed down, so maybe it is a good thing she is in my bed and not all the way across the house?

22.) She is in size 6 shoes, size 18-24 month and 2T clothing, but there are still some 12 month pants and shorts that she can wear because she is so thin. She is really tall, though! (34.5 inches tall!)

23.) Raia is (so far, and probably will forever be) right handed.

24.) Raia was named after her grandfather, Ray (Nathan's dad). We wanted to have the name "Ray" in there, but I wanted to make it more feminine, so I spelled it with an '..ia', as opposed to 'Raya'.

25.) I am sure for some of you, the name of the blog itself has raised a question or two. Noggin Berries?? Well, that is Raia's nickname. After putting a beaded teether on her head, I said to her "You have berries on your noggin!", and it just kinda stuck. She became Noggin Berries, or Noggie for short, or Nogs. It really does suit her!


And there you have it, 25 things you didn't know about Raia before you read this post :) Thanks for checking in!

xoxox~

My Beautiful Daughter

My beautiful daughter
You cannot know
How much my heart breaks
As I watch you grow

In time you'll become
Independent and free
Always my daughter
And special to me

As you grow older
You will see
Through the eyes of a mother
Reflections of me

Past, present and future
All intertwined
My mother, your mother
All daughters you'll find

Our reflections, not vanity
Mirrored lives we share
Always a daughter
Your mother, who cares.

by Julie Copeland 1999

Nathan has been hospitalized ~~ UPDATE ~~

On Tuesday evening, Nathan was outside checking on our cats. Apparently we have a stray hanging around and Nathan, being the 'cat-whisperer' that he is, picked him up. The cat was cool with that until Nathan started walking. The cat promptly bit down on Nathan's hand to let him know that "Hey, dude, I'm not fond of walks!" It went pretty deep, Nathan said it went all the way to the bone. Stubborn as he is, he waited almost 24 hours to go to the Dr. to have it looked at, and by that point there was not much they could do but send him to the ER. He needed IV antibiotics.
Here we are two days later and he is still in the hospital. I haven't even been able to go see him because he doesn't want me to bring Raia into the swine flu infested hospital (neither do I), and as of yet (until tonight) I've had no one to watch her.
All I know is that he has been getting lots of antibiotics, there was an orthopedic surgeon that came in this morning to talk with him about possible surgery, but said that it looked "pretty good" but they would know more when the swelling went down a little more. They also had to call an Infectious Diseases Dr. in yesterday to talk about releasing him, but I guess he said no :( Since I have not been up there, I don't know much. Nathan keeps telling me not to worry, and I think he tells me as little as he can get away with to keep me from worrying.
A friend of mine up the street has offered to keep Raia for me for a few hours tonight so I can at least go check on Nathan and take him some clean underwear. I will update if I find out anything more.

Thanks for checking in!

xoxox~


~~ UPDATE~~

Nathan came home this morning, and will be on antibiotics for about a month.

A Quick Update

Not much is going on here, just trying to avoid the swine flu as much as possible, I guess. Every little sniffle scares me, and I am always worried that Raia has a fever. Blame the stupid media. I try to keep my composure around Nathan, though, I don't want him thinking I'm freaking out too, because he totally is. I don't think I have ever had the flu, and I have never had a flu shot, nor will I ever get one. I don't mind if you get one, or if your kids get one, just don't make me get one...
I am in a grumpy mood today, I'm sorry if that is coming through in my post here. Raia has been really cranky today, and I can't figure out why. She doesn't have fever or any symptoms of sickness, so I don't know what is going on, we've just had a rough day.
This past week I did a cake for one of my very dear friends. Her little girl was turning 10 and wanted a cake that looked like presents stacked atop each other.


And here is the finished product... (sorry for the crappy cell phone pic.)

How did I do? The little cupcakes that were on the sides of the board were really pretty, too, but they were hard to see. The birthday girl loved her cake, and all of her friends thought it was neat that they got to actually meet the person who made the cake! Talk about an ego boost!
Last week Nathan had to be out of town for two nights. As I was doing laundry one of the nights, I walked out of the bedroom for maybe 3 minutes to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer. When I came back, I noticed blood everywhere. Trying not to freak out, I search Raia top to bottom, and only find a small cut on her finger. She had somehow managed to pull a glass from the backside of the vanity off onto the floor, and it broke, and all the little pieces of glass must've looked pretty! She wanted to play with one of them and she cut herself. A week later, she is still asking for band-aids and Neosporin, and she gets this sad look on her face when she realizes that the band-aid is on her finger. Such a drama queen!
I am still doing a little babysitting for a friend of mine, but we are to the point now where we are just swapping hours. I think she is done for the summer - her swim lessons are pretty much over, so my daily babysitting is over...boohooo, the money was nice! But over the summer, we made some really great friends in these gals. I already work with Kim at the little resale shop I work at 2 days a week, but the babysitting was extra. Her 2 girls are 6 and 2, and her youngest, Madison, has become Raia's best friend. (They were the 2 girls pictured in my previous post about the bake sale in the yellow chair together.) Here is Madison and Raia together, and really, they are the best of friends.

Well, this post has gotten a little longer than I thought it would. I DID say "quick update" didn't I? Oh well...
Thanks for checking in! And if anyone has any ideas for me as far as blog post ideas, fundraising ideas (for SMA) or any questions, please leave me a comment! I know I've got a few readers out there, and I don't want you all to be bored to tears! I might have to steal Devon's idea and do '25 Things You Didn't Know About Raia'...hope you don't mind, girl! That's a great idea and I know my family out of state would love to read it!

xoxox~


Raia's cute word for the day:

This is a two-fer!
1.) "Boo-boo-daid" - Can you guess what that is and why? Our episode last week with the fallen glass and the cut finger makes her want a "boo-boo-daid" (boo-boo band-aid) with.......
2.) "Keem" - Cream, or Neosporin. Gotta love it!