WE did it! We survived 2 birthday parties this weekend. Not as many people showed up as we planned so that really cut down on the stress of too many people in our little house! I am so wounded up from this weekend i can't sleep! And probably the 10 cups of coffee i drank through out the day. I am sure my grammar is going to be horrible but bear with me!

This week was a whirl wind of stuff going on and getting ready. Monday was our normal Monday at Mike and RaeAnn's house. Tuesday Hayden and I got into it during the morning and he was VERY upset when i went to work. He cried and hugged me telling me not to go. He hasn't done this since September, very werid. But Emily watched him during the Day and Auntie Em watched him at night so Mommy and Daddy could actually get some shopping done for the party. Wednesday Jason worked late and we met for dinner at our normal Wednesday place, East End Cafe. $2.19 tacos! Hayden's dinner is the most expensive usually at $2.50 for pancakes, sausage and milk. We go almost every week with my mom and dad. Thursday was cleaning day! Friday was cousin Crystal's 8th birthday and we went over to Big Gram's new house just 2 blocks away for a little party. Saturday we woke up very early and brought Brandon to Basketball and watched his game, breakfast at Mcd's, Hayden's favorite! Pancakes and Sausage, always! Auntie watched Hayden so mommy could run and get food and balloons for the parties. I stopped at Jcpenney's too, they are having some good sales. I bought Jason some nice pants and Jessica's birthday present, which i want for myself. Then Hayden and i came home and worked our hinney's off. We got all ready for the party and had nothing to do for a few hours so Hayden decided to cry, and Cry, and CRY! I had to call Jason at work and beg him to come home because at that time it was time to start making the food. So Jason came home an hour early and took Hay for a car ride which ended in a sleeping birthday boy. I got everything done and then it was 5 and my family all came. It was a nice evening, yummy food and good Curious George cupcakes. Hayden received so many nice gifts both days. A Trike from Uncle Brandon and the Kitchen set from Big Gram might top the list but he has been playing with everything i can't honestly say there isnt anything he didn't like. Sunday's party was just as nice. Football, pizza, cake and playing. Jessica was a cutie she makes me giggle. I remember when i was little and i was bossy, she is a little bossy too at the grown ups but she has nothing on me! I was trying to sleep(She told me to lay down and close my eyes!) and i couldnt physically keep my eyes shut it was funny. She helped Hayden blow out his candle on his Diego cake and sang to him too. I am glad he has her! I am sure this summer those two will be in lots of trouble exploring and playing together. They both are blooming with personality. Hayden was a super chatter box on Sunday. I haven't really seen anything like it before. He just talked and talked and talked. I don't know where he gets that from. I will get a bunch of pictures on here tomorrow. Jessica's birthday is next weekend and we are heading to the cities for her party and for Elmo Live! We are staying at a hotel, Hayden's favorite thing to do. Have a great week everyone!

Okay I lied i am wired and am posting the pictures. Some from Zoo Year's Eve and New Year's Eve. Enjoy!

Another busy weekend came to an end, sad. OH well its back to work today! Hayden's birthday parties are next weekend so i have been busy, busy, busy. I also have been planning Sarah's baby shower taking place next month. She found out last week she is having a boy. We both thought she was having a girl, we were wrong. But she is happy and can't wait to be a mommy in May. I love planning parties!
Hayden has gone just about 2 weeks without the Buffy. He is doing good still asks for it and is sucking on EVERYTHING. Fingers, mittens, jacket, shirt collar, shirt sleeve, his fringes, etc. I hope it stops soon, gross. I am proud of him for doing so good.
I don't have any new pictures of Hayden. I have been working on a photo board for his parties. Its weird! I will have some i am sure by the end of the week. Have a great week!

Everyone who knows me knows i like to shop! Especially online. I HATE to pay full price for anything, and rarely do. Thats why i have a hard time at Christmas, i pay full price. I thought i would share with you a few of my favorite websites for finding items at a great price. Click the name of the site to be brought directly there.

• Zenni Optical. This is where i buy all my eye glasses. I have bought 4 pair in the last year from them and can't complain about anything. I buy the $8.00-12.95 pairs. Shipping is $4.95 and takes around 2 weeks to get them. They ship them in hard plastic cases with glass cleaning clothes inside a box with bubble wrap. I love this place!
  
• Lands End Overstock. I always thought Lands End was for old people! The quality of their clothes is amazing. 100% guarantee too! I buy all my swimwear from them. They have a promise it will never fade, stretch or lose its shape, if it does you can return them for a full refund. Check the "On the Counter" section on Saturdays. They post items with deep discounts then. Every other day they mark them down even more. But they sell out almost always before Wednesday.
  
• Airfaredig. Okay the website has drastically changed in the last month and i don't really like it. But they use to have daily updates on the cheapest airfare with direct links to purchase it. Hopefully this will come back. But they still have good deals posted on the site.
  
• Amazon. I always check Amazon lately. If anything you can get a idea on the price. They have so many people/websites that you can see from a list where you can get it cheapest. Also Amazon has all of its own products it sells Free Shipping if you spend $25.00 or more. I love this!!!!! Towards the bottom of the page it will give you a list of what other people bought who looked to this item, i find cheap things here too.
  
• Craigslist. I do check it everyday but its really hit or miss. I did find my babysitter on Craigslist and a few other Hayden things. I have sold Baby items here and get a great price for them. A lot more than a Rummage Sale.
  
• When shopping online make sure and search for coupon codes first. Just search the store name and discounts or coupon codes. You will always find at least a free shipping if not some percentage off.
  
• Find someplace that gives you Cashback or some type of Rewards. My Credit Cards both do and so does Upromise, which goes into a College Account for Hayden, we have like $30.00 for him, not much but something.
  
• Picasa by Google. Its free photo editing and storing. I LOVE this. I do all my photo editing with this FREE program. Its a one time download from Google. I upload all my favorite pictures to my online web albums. I can access this anywhere, anytime on the Internet. Its my piece of mind if something happens to my computer the only thing of value i have on it is my pictures.
  

So those a just a few of my favorites. I didn't give the address for my favorite site yet! Someday. You can add something to my list if you'd like to leave me a comment. Have a great weekend. Back to work on Monday.

A Year in Pictures. Happy 2008 to Everybody.

Well we are home from a great weekend in Brainerd. We stayed Friday night at the "WaterFall Hotel" (Holiday Inn Express-Waterpark). Hayden was lucky enough to get some waterparking in. He knew once we hit Aitkin where he wanted to go, all of the sudden we were driving around Aitkin and he said "I want to go to the Waterfall Hotel." I don't know if he associated Aitkin with Brainerd or what, but we hadn't told him we were going there. Smart Kid! He swam like a little fish and went up and down the water slides a couple dozen times. We stayed in a Kid Suite and Hayden got his own bunk bed. He loved it! He kept telling us he was going to sleep in his own bed. We went to 2 drive through Christmas light displays. One was at the "This Old Farm" where Paul Bunyan Land moved to 5 years ago. It was beautiful. However Hayden fell asleep and didn't see anything! Then we went to the Brainerd Arboretum. It was a mile of lights to drive through ranging from Teddy bears to Santa Golfing to Nativity and bells. It was amazing. It was so good we went on Saturday night too! Hayden got to see this time. I tried to get pictures but they didn't come out so great! If they do this next year we will be going again.
Saturday we moved on to Cragun's. We ice skated, played in the snow, and made a fire in the fireplace. We love Cragun's! We swam Sunday morning and built a snow sculpture, a Christmas Tree with beads and a snowflake topper! We won 1st place, out of 1 team, us! We still would of won! Hayden didn't really participate but when we weren't by the tree he kept asking "Where is our Christmas tree?" We rode on the Horse pulled Trolley too! We had lots of fun!
I am going to post "Our Year in Pictures" either on the side bar or a separate post so be watching for it! Happy New Year's to everyone. I know we were blessed with another great year i hope you were too!