In our neck of the woods

Last night the girls requested that Ben lay with them for a few minutes before they drifted off to sleep. 

As he laid there with them Courtney said, "Your armpits smell good. I can tell you put yogurt on them." 

She makes me laugh.

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My favorite little boy is sick with the stomach flu. He is taking it like a champ. He is such a trooper. He has been sound asleep for a few hours now without waking. I have high hopes for a better tomorrow for him. It always breaks my heart to see my kids sick.

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Mady is getting her own fashion sense lately. Today she requested that I split her hair into pigtails, and braid them down the sides of her face. But, I was only to braid them part way down, not all the way down. After that was done, I was to curl the remaining hair at the bottom of her ponytails/pigtails in ringlets. She reminded me of someone from the little house on the prairie. She was ecstatic and asked, "MOM, aren't you SO glad I picked THIS kind of hair for you to do today!? It is SO cute!" I replied, "Yes! It IS so cute!" She is beautiful. She could rock any hairstyle.

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Myriam is our little human vacuum cleaner. Anything she sees, she puts in her mouth. The other day I caught her trying to eat the oven. Her mouth was wide open with her head tilted sideways while she was trying to put the whole thing in her mouth. She is silly. 

She is crawling everywhere. She pulls herself up to things and walks along furniture. She is so close to walking. Any day now. 

Her favorite thing to do is climb up the stairs. We have to keep them blocked off. She gets so excited when we allow her to crawl up them on her own.... with us right behind her of course.    

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I love looking through old photos. They make me smile. Here are some photos that I couldn't help but share them.

Courtney fell asleep in her dolly's car seat one night right before bedtime. This is the car seat that Marshall, Madison, and Courtney were all in when they were babies. It was too old and worn by the time Myriam came along, so it got retired and passed on to Mady and Courtney as a car seat for their dollies.

I love Marshall's little grin here. He is such a good kid. He is such a good example for his sibling, and for others around him.

Mady loves giving her baby sister loves. She is such a good sister to all of her siblings. She has such a caring heart. I have no doubt that all of my children will remain close friends throughout their lives.

I love the sweet little notes that Ben leaves for me. This one was waiting for me on the steering wheel of our car. "You are so beautiful my sweet Jamie". He also left one on the door handle just outside of the car that said "Do not forget that I love you". He never fails at making me feel beautiful and loved.

Have you ever been extreme couponing? This is from one of my first shopping trips while I was doing the extreme couponing. I can't remember the total I spent on all of these items, I just remember I got them for dirt cheap. However, I do remember only spending just about $2 for each sun block. I'm looking forward to getting back into doing extreme couponing again. I'm thankful to have a neighbor that clips coupons with me. If there is anyone in our area that would like to get together with us and clip coupons, we would love to have you join along..... Wow, I sound like a complete nerd.