Update on my Week!

I haven’t written much obviously because there haven’t been any new posts lol. I have been focusing on spending time with Ryan this week since he is going back to Oregon tomorrow for 6 weeks.    I am trying not to focus on that part because it makes me really sad.  Big Ryan and I just don’t feel complete when he is not with us.  But we made the best of this week   & we still have all of tonight and the whole ride to Mt. Shasta with our little boy <3  This is how our week has been going so far:

Tuesday!

I got to take Ry and Scarlett ice skating!  It was so much fun and Ry is getting so good at it!  Scarlett was such a go getter and wanted to get right on the ice until she realized it was slippery lol.  Then she wanted to sit on her chair and have me push her   I love that Snoopy Home Ice gives the opportunity for chairs because they help Ry skate and they are great for the littler ones that aren’t quite ready!  The chairs would have been great the first time I took Ry when he was Scarlett’s age   We skated around the rink for about an hour and then the kiddos wanted to go.  We headed outside and played in the “forest” and by the fountain and then headed home.  That was our fun adventure for Tuesday <3

Wednesday!

Ry and I woke up and tried calling the sticker factory to reserve our spots in the tour.  Well, they never returned our call and the factory is literally 3 minutes from my house so we took off for the factory just to see if they had spots for us.  As we were pulling into the driveway of the sticker factory, I got a call from them saying they only had spots avaliable at 1 and we couldn’t go at that time because we were meeting Ry’s teacher for his Quarter 3 meeting at 1.  Since we were already there, we parked and headed inside the store to see if we could get any cool stickers for cheap.  We lucked out!  We got all of these stickers for less than 3 dollars!

Ry was especially excited about the karate stickers   After we left the sticker factory store we noticed there was a pretty reserve of water behind the factory with walking paths around it.  We couldn’t get there from the parking lot because of gates so we hopped in the car and drove down the street to find the parking lot for the Ellis Reserve.  We parked and took off down the path for a cool walk/run.  We raced most the way and it was fun having to race around the puddles that were on the path.  Here are some of the pics <3

After spending about an hour walking around, we raced back to the car and Ry won   We plan on taking Dottie back there when he comes back to California!  We headed home for a quick snack and to collect his work samples and off we went again!  We went to the Rohnert Park library to meet with his teacher!  He had finished most of his kindergarten testing on their quarter 1 meeting so she just wanted to meet with us and see his progress.  He definitely blew her away   He is so smart and I love being his teacher.  He did so good in his meeting that I got him a Mighty Kids Meal afterwards!  He doesn’t get those too often so he was excited.  Sadly, I told the drive thru person that it was for a boy but they still put a Barbie toy in it   He almost started to cry but we decided that he had enough McDonalds toys and that he would give this one to Scarlett or something.  (Sorry Scarlett, I think it got thrown out on accident lol…it was an ugly weird looking barbie anyway )  We headed home again and waited for daddy to get home!  We tried to go bowling with Andrea, Randy & Scarlett but my smart fiance told me to call to check if they’d have lanes and of course they didn’t.  League was taking over the lanes that night so we just decided to stay home and play soccer!

Ry is getting so good at soccer!  It is amazing what a little outside play can do!  We tried really hard this time he was here to play more outside and he loved it!  His soccer skills went from nothing to even scoring a goal on daddy!  He learned how to dribble the ball and how to kick hard among other things.  Daddy is such a great teacher and it just makes me sad knowing that Little Ry could be SO much better at sports if he could just stay in one place for more than 6 weeks.  Maybe one day we will move to Oregon so that he could join a little league team with Daddy as his coach.  He’d be amazing!  He is such a great kid and makes his situation the best it can be!  We always instill in him that even though his life is different than a lot of other little kids, he is just even more lucky and blessed because he has 2 sets of amazing parents that love him sooooo much.  He gets double the love!  and double the toys   He knows that he is loved by all his parents and he is doing amazing in everything he does!  I am getting sad now because I am thinking about him leaving me     On to better, happier topics…

Thursday!

Well, Andrea and Scarlett came with Ry and I to the San Francisco Zoo!  We had such a blast.  It’s such a pretty drive there and back and the weather couldn’t have been better.  Clear skies throughout San Fran and a nice breeze.  Still chilly but amazingly pretty!  I got to connect with Andrea more which was super awesome and the kiddos had fun together.  Here are some highlights:

After the zoo we had planned on going to Crissy Field (right under the GG bridge) to take pics of the kids but my camera was dying and it was getting kinda late and cold so we decided to just head home.  As we got closer to the bridge and saw how pretty it looked we had to stop.  We pulled off at the exit that happened to have Crissy Field on it and we headed down the road.  We didn’t drive all the way to the field but we did stop in a parking lot to take pics real quick.  It was so beautiful <3

All the bridges in this area are so amazing!  They are scary lol but so amazing!  We got some In N Out for a late lunch/early dinner and dropped off Andrea and Scarlett.  I cleaned as soon as I got home because Scarlett was coming back over in about an hour for me to watch her!  We had a blast and I am so happy I get to watch her weekly <3

& now for my day today so far…

I woke up and sent Ryan off to work.  Just planning on staying home all day with my boy.  We already did some school and now we are taking a break.  We are just going to have a nice family night at home tonight with our boy <3  Then off to Mt. Shasta tomorrow morning to see him off

But to think of the bright side of things…Feburary is almost over and we get him back April 7th.  His 6th birthday!  We are going to drive to Oregon on April 5th and attend his amazing birthday party and then bring our boy back home <3  I am hoping that my daycare takes off while he is gone so that way I get used to it and he has bunches of friends to play with when he gets back home!  I don’t want him to leave….

I didn’t mean to ruin Sunday

but I ruined it . I woke up with anxiety once again and I felt like crap. I couldn’t kick it in time to go to the ferry and go to San Fran and by the time I felt better enough to go (noon), Ryan didn’t want to go anymore because he didn’t want to pay lots of money for a short amount of time.  So if I would have been able to calm down faster, we could have had an awesome day at the zoo and in San Francisco but instead we hung out at home.  Ryan made me feel better by saying it was for the best because little Ry didn’t sound too great (coughing and sneezing alot).  Little Ry was also fine and wasn’t too upset by not going that day.  I love him, he is so understanding.  He knew I didn’t feel good and he didn’t throw a fit.  We didn’t do much besides hang out at home all day.  I also got the Sunday paper in the evening to do some couponing but this weeks paper only had one insert of coupons and none were that good.  Kind of disspointing but I will still find the deals.

Sunday wasn’t good but we had a great day today

We all slept in pretty decently.  I woke up around 7:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I took a shower and got ready for the day and then took off to Kmart to get a gift for Scarlett and get Ryan some new shirts/undergarmets.  While I was at Kmart I decided to walk by the furniture department just to see my table in the store lol and it was priced at 89.00!!! We just bought it 6 days ago for 129.99.  I asked at customer service if we could get our money difference back and they said that we could.  Now I just had to find the reciept!  I got home but didn’t tell Ryan the good news until I found the reciept lol and luckily I did and we got 43.00 back on our card!   The table was a great deal at 129.99 and we got an even better deal   After that, we headed to Andreas house for Scarlett’s birthday party!  Scarlett looked adorable in her little blue dress and we all had a lot of fun <3

Now to update my list of fun things Ry and I are doing this week:

• Tuesday: Ice Skating
• Wednesday: Mrs. Grossman’s Sticker Factory Tour ! & hiking
• Thursday: Ferry ride to San Fran Zoo and then Crissy Field all with Andrea & Scarlett!
• Friday: As long as weather permits, a fun day in the vineyards with Andrea & Scarlett!

I am not going to get sick and ruin these days with Ry!  We are going to have fun!

<3

Valentines Day Rocked! Friday Didn’t!

I was going to sit down and write in my blog last night but I was really tired and so was Ryan so it felt nice to just lay in bed together and fall asleep rather than type haha! Plus that would have pissed him off <3  Now I am making breakfast and typing. Multitasking   Anyway, Valentine’s Day was a huge success.  Ryan and I had agreed that we would celebrate this weekend because he hadn’t had time to get me anything with work and school.  His work changed from 7 hours to 8 hours which is awesome! but now he can’t come home on school days because there isn’t enough time   :(.  But hey! We will take the extra hours

 

&& that’s where I stopped typing earlier this morning! haha..I was multitasking, until the bacon started not turning out right so I needed to put more focus on that then this.  Now its 3:30 and I am home again and ready to type   So as I said, we are planning on celebrating Valentine’s Day this weekend, most likely tomorrow in San Francisco and I am super excited.  Even though he told me not to get him anything until then, I still had to surprise him when he came home from school.  I have been a pretty crappy girlfriend/fiance when it came to holidays/gift giving in the past and I am starting to fix that!  I had gotten some goodies at Dollar Tree and CVS that neither Ryan’s knew about so I was excited to surprise them.  Little Ry didn’t wake up to anything special on Valentines Day because I was waiting to surprise him when I surprised big Ryan.  I felt bad for the whole day until the end!  It was worth it!  This is what the boys were surprised by Nothing too special but enough to make their days!

&&& to kill two birds with one stone…that’s our new beautiful dining table & bench   as said before, chairs to come soon lol.  But the bench is perfect for now!  I set up little Ryan’s surprise when he was upstairs doing school and he had no idea when he came down to greet daddy that he had a surprise too   He just thought we were surprising daddy.

Ry colored that picture frame for daddy earlier in the day at Andrea’s house!  We had so much fun there lunch and craft date with my new friend Andrea and Ry’s friend Scarlett!  I made two wreaths!  One was heart shaped and I didn’t really give it to Ryan as his gift or anything lol but I set it there so he could see what I made for us.  He especially loved the one I made thats hanging on our front door I love it too!

I am just worried now because we are looking around the complex more closely and no one else has anything on their doors!  I am hoping it’s not a rule or something because I already put a nail in my door hahaha   oh well, Ryan is okay with it because he really likes the wreath!  He looked really proud when he saw the wreath because I never really do anything crafty but I am going to start! It’s fun & neat!  While I was at Dollar Tree I saw these really cute yard decorations so I got them and I am very pleased! They were pretty sturdy for $1.00 I love the way my entrance looks now! We will see how long it looks like this!  Cross your fingers that my complex isn’t mean!

Valentine’s Day was a success and both Ryan’s were very happy I was very happy! & I can’t wait to see what Ryan surprises me with this weekend   Little Ry also got two things in the mail!  Something from my grandma & her husband Ron and something from his grandma Saunders in Oregon!  He sent off Valentines to them earlier in the week and he didn’t expect anything in return but he was so happy!  Grandma’s are awesome! <3

Thursday was great but…

Friday sucked!  I was supposed to meet with Ryan’s teacher that we meet with once a quarter but I woke up with really bad anxiety!  I was feeling like crap, worse than crap, & I didn’t have my medicine.  I had to call her and reschedule and luckily Ry slept in pretty late.  I was in and out of the hot shower because it calms me down.  I know it shouldn’t and I know it’s not helping and making matters worse and I should just lay in bed and relax but my stomach hurts so bad when I have anxiety.  My doctor said that panic/anxiety attacks should only last about 3 minutes if you calm down and relax but clearly I haven’t figured out how to do that on my own because mine usually last between 2-6 hours   THANKFULLY my phone rang about 15 minutes after Ry woke up and it was Andrea asking if we wanted to go to the beach!  She could tell I didn’t sound good and offered to take Ry and that was awesome!  He got to have a fun day at the beach with Scarlett and Andrea instead of being stuck at home with sick Christy.  I was able to get my medicine shortly after Andrea picked up Ry and I slowly started feeling better.  Big Ryan got home around 3 and little Ry got back around 3:30 and everything seemed okay again!  We all took a nap because we were all exhausted and when we woke up it was time for dinner!  Check out Christy’s Kitchen page to find out what we had

As I said above, we just got home!  Today we took a decently long drive to Bodega Bay and then up the coast a bit and then back inland toward Guerneville.  It was a very pretty drive and we were hoping to find some cute thrift shops but only found a flea market in Guerneville and there wasn’t anything special.  We did see a motorcycle down on the coastal drive and it looked like he was wedged in the guard rail and people were all surrounding him….didn’t look good and ambulance wasn’t there yet… hoping he or she is going to be okay!  I think motorcycles are so fun and they are so awesome to ride but just too dangerous on most the roads in California.  I have my motorcycle license but Ryan would never let me get one and I’m okay with that   Dirt bikes are just as fun! We have big plans for this weekend/week since it’s little Ry’s last week here with us for a while   but we are going to make the best of his last week!

• Sunday – San Francisco Zoo & San Francisco Activities
• Monday – Scarlett’s bday party
• Tuesday – ice skating
• Wednesday – trails & hiking? not sure yet
• Thursday – day in Sonoma with Andrea & Scarlett
• Friday – UGH idk yet but something fun!
• Saturday – drive to Mt. Shasta and drop Ry off countdown starts now: 5 weeks & 6 days till we drive up to Oregon to have Ryan’s 6th birthday party and bring our baby back home!

Off to get some food!

<3

Yesterday & Today

Well I just didn’t find time to write yesterday because I got tired and fell asleep!  So, I will backtrack and tell you about yesterday and then today   Yesterday was exciting! We got a dining table!  My first one!  We had an apartment together for over a year down in Southern California and never got a table, as we never really needed one.  I didn’t cook much as you know by now so we hardly ate at home and when we did, we had a couch.  I have always wanted one but Ryan could never justify spending 400+ on a table and chairs when I didn’t cook dinner or anything for that matter.  Well, now we have dinner pretty much every night and we have been using our bar stools and counter top.  We have two bar stools so I usually stand in the kitchen and eat   but now we have a table and bench!  We are getting the chairs in a couple weeks since the bench seats 2 adults or 3 kids and then I have the 2 bar stools.  YAY!  We also wanted to get a table that was good for kids since I am going to be doing daycare   I have my first client that I got today but more about that later.  We got our table at Kmart because it was on sale and it was very sturdy!  Its big!  & I love it.  I had originally wanted a pub style table but that’s just not ideal for kids and I love my huge table Its great for crafts and just about everything!  As you can probably tell, I am thrilled.  Thank you Ryan <3  I will post pictures of it once I finish the wall behind it..should be within the next couple days   While we were at Kmart, we also got another table.  Basically we got the same table that we now have in our dining room, except kmart brand and we got an amazing deal.  They brought it out on accident but told us the price and we couldn’t pass it up.  We are going to sell it because we have no where to put it but it was being sold for 120 dollars on black Friday last year so its not a shabby table   We will see how much we make on it   I dropped Ryan off at school and little Ry and I went to Target . It wasn’t a coupon trip, so I didn’t really save any money but I did use my 20 dollar gift card that I got for making a wedding registry.  My total came to 40 but I spent 20 out of pocket because of that gift card   We picked up Ryan after school, came home, put our table and bench together & went to bed!

Now for today!

I woke up with Ryan to see him off to work.  I was feeling a little nerves because I knew I was meeting with my potential client later in the morning so I set my alarm for 8 so I could wake up and finish cleaning up before she arrived and I went back to bed!  I magically woke up and looked  at my phone to find out it was 8:58am and she was supposed to be here around 9!  OMG!  I got up and went downstairs to clean up and then went to the bathroom to throw my hair up and then I heard the door knock.    Anyway, the house wasn’t perfect at all by all means but she was super nice and understanding and her kids were so cute! I’m so excited!  That’s all I am going to say because obviously I am going to keep things confidential   But it’s a go and I’m excited!  So excited that at Target the night before I bought a baby doll and barbie cell phone and today I got two girls coloring books at Michaels!

I am planning on going to thrift shops this week and next to find some good deals on toys   Yay!  Well after she left I wrote for Sweet Shopping Deals ( the site that hired me to write for them).  I wrote about my Safeway trip that I had taken the other day.  After I posted it, I remembered that I was supposed to return the Uhaul Cargo Van by 11am that we had rented to get the table!  It was now 11:45 and I was freaking out becasue I didn’t want to be charged another 25 dollars or something.  I called and told them I was on my way and they seemed real nice.  Luckilly I was going to be hanging out with Andrea and Scarlett today and so I called her and they were nice enough to come get Ry and I at the Uhaul place.  They were super nice and only charged us for one day   Then we headed to Michaels!  I forgot my coupon but at the checkout they were nice enough to scan the coupon they had at the check stand for me.  I spent a little more than I wanted but I got 2 awesome wreaths with letters and flowers and I am excited to do crafts with Andrea tomorrow!    While I was in Michaels, I got an email from my “boss” from sweet shopping deals giving me some bad/sad news.  The lady that created the site watned to buy it back from him and he was okay with it becaue he isn’t a big couponer and the site didn’t have too much traffic.  Anywho, he is going to pay me for my two articles but there will be no more writing for me and getting paid.  I am still happy though because I have my blog and there is no pressure there   I have to think of the bright side and realize that this will give me more time to focus on my blog and I wasn’t trying to make money off of it, it kinda just happened and then it went haha   Oh well, I took a screenshot of it saying that I am a lead writer and it will forever make me happy haha

Avrom was super awesome and put no pressure on me to write   It’s just not his thing and she wanted her site back so that’s that   Anyway, after Micahels, Andrea dropped us off and we have just been hanging out at home since.  I cleaned a bit and made dinner.  I also did laundry and some is still in the dryer.  I had 3 loads supposedly done drying and when I went to get them only 2 loads were dry & this seems to happen to me every time.  I have a feeling someone opens the door to see if there are clothes in there and then doesn’t press the start button again like they should!  UGH..whatever it’s drying now.  Off to go clean up the house some more and post some stuff on craigslist to sell!  Go to Christy’s kitchen to find out what I made for dinner yesterday and today <3

Thinking Positive Works!

I have always been a very negative person. I never think the best is going to happen. Ryan has always told me that I needed to think more positively and that maybe if I wasn’t so negative, more positive things would start happening for me.  I hate to say it but I say it quite often…he was right!  Today was such a great day   Ryan took off till Wednesday so we got to spend some great time together today!  Auntie Kristi was nice enough to watch Ry for a few hours today while Ryan and I got to MAKE some money Ryan’s tribes casino!

BACK STORY:  First off, for those of you who don’t know, Ryan is native American and his tribe has a casino that is local to us   Second, they send us promotions every once in a while and this time we took advantage of it!  A couple weeks ago we each got free play and free food credit in the mail.  Ryan has been a member to the casinos rewards program for longer than I have and gambled much more money there than I have so he received $30.00 free play and $10.00 in food comps that we could use Feb 1-15.  I got $10.00 in free play and $5.00 in food comps.  That alone is great but Ryan got lucky and also received another special offer in the mail stating that if he came on Monday Feb 11th and Monday Feb 25th he would receive $25.00 in free play on those days.

Anyway, we thought we would go to the casino and see if we could combine the offers and get some free food while we were there!  It worked!  Today we had a total of $65.00 in free play and $15.00 in food.  We also received 12 tickets into the car and cash giveaway!  We got there and ate some lunch.  We paid $5.00 out of pocket for tip and bill after comps.  Then we went to play!  We played together, taking turns to make our money last longer!  The machine in the corner called to me and we went and played it and won 76.00!  We played it to 70.00 and cashed out.  So all in all, today we had fun, ate lunch and gambled and walked out with 70 in hand!  65 if you deduct the lunch we had

We headed home with the money and other excitement!  While at the casino I received a call and a text for my childcare ad from craigslist!  I am pretty sure one is going to work out and I am so excited!  Ry is super excited too!

We FINALLY hung up some of the pictures and sports stuff we have today The place is starting to look like a cute home!  I can’t wait to post pictures of the finished product!  It won’t be for a while but it’s coming along!  We went to Kmart tonight to get an amazing deal on a dining table but they were out of stock at our local one We are going to check the others around here tomorrow and if not, get a rain check for the price!  We don’t have a dining table yet because we have a counter/bar with stools that works out great for us but with more kids around I need a place for everyone to sit!  I’m so excited!

Yay!  Everything seems to be working out and falling into place…think positive!

<3

Sunday Funday!

I woke up naturally at 7am today like normal!  Today it might have happened for a reason though…coupons!  The first thing I did when I got up was go get two papers for the coupons.  I got home and started clipping! I actually enjoy doing it and finding the deals!  It’s pretty awesome.

I clipped away for about an hour and then got ready for the day.  I took off to CVS and Safeway a little later by myself since Ry wanted to stay home and hang out with daddy.  I missed having my coupon helper by my side but on the longer trips, he gets bored and starts to ask why we have so many coupons lol.  I know he appreciates it though because the more coupons I use, the more food I buy for the house and the more we eat at home!  He loves eating at home and I love cooking for him.  Even big Ryan has noticed and mentioned to me that I am doing so much better about cooking at home.  Whenever Ryan gets the itch to go out to eat, I calm him down and go make dinner!  It doesn’t happen too often since Ryan loves eating at home too!  After I got done at CVS and Safeway, I came home and hung out with my boys!  We just had a boring Sunday at home but sometimes, those are the best!  After a while, we got hungry and I started cooking dinner!  I had an idea for a new page on my blog called “Christy’s Kitchen!”  I figure that I am a creeper and like seeing peoples kitchens so you probably are too!   Just kidding, but I will post about what I cook or make that day in my kitchen and periodically show how my pantry/fridge look!  Lastly, last night I updated my couponing page about my CVS and Safeway trips!  Check it out if you haven’t already because the deals just started at CVS & I got lots of good stuff!  Now to go sleep on my cuddly fiancé!  Goodnight!

Santa Cruz & Today

Well, I had a relaxing Friday in Santa Cruz with my boys   We didn’t do too much and nothing too exciting, but we did relax and destress!  Ryan had school Thursday night until about 8, but once he got home we hoped in the car, dropped Dottie off with Aunti Krisit (thanks Krisiti!) and then hit the road for Santa Cruz!  It only took us about 2 hours to get there and when we arrived at the first hotel (we booked two different hotels because going on Thursday night was a last minute thing, but we figured rather drive at night and wake up in Santa Cruz, then sit in Friday morning work traffic!)  ANYWAY, we arrived at this quiet little inn with a deer outside of it!  I felt really bad because when I pulled up I scared the deer and it walked into where the highway was!  It didn’t go down by the highway ( I hope) but yea I felt bad lol.  We checked in and got into our room and it was really nice!  Especially for 40 dollars!  Name your own price really does work on Priceline   Here are some pics from the first hotel:

We basically just slept there but it was nice and I wouldn’t mind going back there again   it was a little farther away from the boardwalk and fun Santa Cruz stuff than I wanted though, so when we go back to Santa Cruz, I think we will stay at the Best Western that we stayed at Friday night!   It was super nice!  So, we woke up Friday morning, got ready and then went to the lobby to check if they would print out some coupons for the Winchester Mystery Mansion for me and they did!  I had found them the night before on my phone and wanted to print them to save 8 dollars and luckily the front desk lady was nice enough to find them for me on google and print them.  We left the hotel and headed to San Jose. We were all hungry & there happened to be a nice large mall on the same exit as the mystery house so we headed to the food court to check it out.

It was almost lunch time anyway so Ry got to get a happy meal   He was happy, go figure!  Ryan and I shared some Sbarro and then we headed to the Winchester Mystery House!

& if you can believe it, those are the only two pictures I have from the mystery house.  They don’t allow you to take pictures there but luckilly they did take a cute family photo before the tour and since I don’t often get family photos and this one was kinda cute, we bought it   I love it!  <3  We only had two tickets for the tour because Ry was free   & as I said above, we saved 8 dollars with a coupon!  Couponing on vacation..woot woot   The tour was fun, the mansion wasn’t quite as Ryan and I remembered from when we visited it when we were younger but hopefully little Ry got a kick out of it.  We know he liked the stairways to nothing and ceilings and the doors that led to drops lol.  The tour lasted about an hour and the entire mansion was freezing so we were kinda glad to get out and back in the warm car!  After the mansion we headed back to Santa Cruz to check into our next hotel, Best Western!  We checked in a little early and were again pleasently surprised by the room and the hotel.  Here are some pics:

We were very excited (especially Ryan) when we saw there was a jacuzzi tub with two shower heads!  He jumped in with his clothes on!  haha   The room was really nice and we just hung out and relaxed for a while!  We did check out Santa Cruz before it got dark though.  We drove down to the boardwalk which didn’t look to appealing since it was rather chilly and there were bums everywhere because it was shut down because it was a week day.  The arcade/mini golf was open but we thought better of it because we knew we could do that in Rohnert Park so why spend money on it here.  We drove down the coast for a bit and stopped to check out the view!

We got cold pretty quick so we hopped back in the car, drove around Santa Cruz some more & then headed back to the hotel (which was like 3 blocks from the boardwalk) to relax.  We ordered some pizza and watched some tv and just had a nice time.  Ryan fell asleep super early because he has been exhausted.  The whole reason we got out of town was to relax him so I didn’t mind that he passed out so early clearly he was relaxed.  Luckily the Best Western had a boardgame program where you could rent them out and play them in your room for free. I rented Life since the others seemed either too young for Ry or just plain boring.  I narrowed it down to Life or Monopoly and I thought Life would be more fun!  The box says 9+ for age and of course, Ry played it with ease.  He understood investments and he already knows how to count past 100,000 so the money was no problem for him.  I love my boy <3  He loved playing and we had a lot of fun together

After playing, we hit the sack!  Woke up the next morning, got ready, packed up and headed down to the lobby for breakfast.  Best Western had a pretty nice breakfast!  I was impressed!  Anyway, checked out and headed home to go to my cousin Kristi’s baby shower!  I had to get her a gift and she had called and wanted me to get my nails done with her before the shower & I definitely couldn’t say no to that!  Had a blast at the shower and I am starting to get baby fever.  I even bought another thing for my collection of baby stuff because I couldn’t resist!  It was at Ross and you never know when you will find that thing again!  It was adorable and worth it.  Air Jordon stuff rules and my baby will be decked out <3

Kristi looked beautiful! :)  <3

Got Dottie from Kristi’s after the baby shower and she had a fun weekend with her cousins lol.  I got her home and then made some dinner for the boys.  We had our go to soup and grilled cheese and it was delicious!  I need to go to the store tomorrow for my weekly shopping trip because I am out of bread and milk!  After dinner, Ry and I gave Dottie a bath & now she smells amazing <3  Off to go relax with Ryan <3

Love <3

Thursday’s almost over….& off we go!

I had another good day today! Did my updating to my blog and made the boys some brunch! We had sandwhiches/pizza! Ry also had yogurt After brunch I helped Ry finish his Valentines and got them ready to send off & we are happy to say they are now in the mail and on their happy way to Oregon and Southern California! After that, Ry and I took off to San Rafael to meet with Andrea (Ry’s old babysitter and my new friend ) and her adorable daughter Scarlett for a play date/ice cream date! The kids played and we chit chatted which was awesome! I need more girl time! I hope we start hanging out more because she’s awesome and Ry likes her and Scarlett alot too! Here are some of the pics

 

Had lots of fun but then came home to see daddy off to school   That’s where he is now & I am home with little Ry.  I just wrote up a draft for my first post on the Safeway Deals site   I promise I will link it once it is up and posted  yay!  Now here is my list of things to get done before Ryan gets home!

-make dinner

-clean kitchen

-tidy up house

-pack for Santa Cruz

Now off to do what I gotta do! <3 We are leaving for Santa Cruz when Ryan gets home yay!

Good Morning…Doing some updating!

Even though neither Ryan nor I have work today, I still woke up at 6 like clock work and now can’t get back to sleep! It must still be the excitement from yesterday Basically I thought I would just write a quick blurb here to let you know I am updating my couponing page, my sweepstakes page and I will be adding a couple more categories! Any suggestions, let me know! What do you want to read about? I am hoping for much more traffic on my blog once I start writing for Safeway Deals Yay <3 Have a great day!!

Unexpected Opportunities!

It’s getting kind of late but I am still up becasue I am so excited about what happened to me today!  I will get to that in just a bit but first I will tell you a little about my day   I slept in with little Ry and sadly, we didn’t do much today except hang out and do some handwriting for school.  I had a pretty unmotivated first part of the day.  I just felt lazy…but big Ryan got home and we decided to go outside and play soccer and take Dottie on a walk!  Dottie loves getting out and running!  Ryan and I tested out her racing skills today We figured out that if we enter her into the Sonoma County mini dog races this summer, I have to be the one calling her at the end of the race because she comes to mommy the fastest!  Yay!  I wonder why?  Who feeds her and walks her and lets her go out to potty? Me! lol So that’s why she comes to me.  Plus I use that super annoying squeaky dog voice when I call her name and she loves it!  After soccer, I posted ads around my complex for a little daycare I am trying to start   I am just looking to help out fellow parents with reliable and affordable child care.  While doing that, I am also going to have playmates for Ry and make some extra money watching children!  Doing something I love!    Anyway the ad I posted looked something like this:

Hopefully it won’t get taken down by the apartment complex people!  I posted a similar ad on craigslist also.  As of right now, no calls for my ad but I have gotten 4 emails!  3 spam haha and 1 seems legit!  I am excited!  Ry is super excited too!  He was excited that he might get to play soccer with the kids that I babysit.  Anyway, that happened today and I will keep you all updated on how my daycare business is going!  Ryan doesn’t work tomorrow or Friday but he does have school tomorrow night so we planned a small getaway for Friday to Saturday.  We would have stayed somewhere the whole weekend but I have my wonderful cousin Kristi’s baby shower to attend on Saturday so I have to be back in town for that.   We decided on Santa Cruz since we have all wanted to go there!  They have a super nice boardwalk with rides but sadly we will only be there Friday and they are closed Friday   luckily the bowling, lazer tag, mini golf & arcade are still open on Fridays so we will be hitting that up for some cheap fun!  We will also try to do some nature walks and go to the surfing museum!  If you have been to Santa Cruz and you know of anything fun to do, let me know!  I am super excited about this trip and can’t wait to go.  Now, on to my GOOD NEWS!  but first I have to tell you a little background.  I shop at Safeway and so far that is where I have found the best deals with my coupons and there JustforU program.  I wanted to try to publicize my blog to readers who shop at Safeway so I went to a site I found on facebook called Safeway Deals.  I posted a link to my blog and invited people to check it out.  I got a response saying ownership of the site had changed and to contact the new owner because he was looking for writers.  I contacted him and low and behold…me..Christy…is a new writer for Safeway Deals!  I will post a link to it after I do my first post for you all to see!  Yay!  I now get paid to do something that I love doing!  And I get to help tons of people save money!  I am so excited!  Yay!  Ryan is so proud of me and it feels amazing!  Well, he is always proud of me, but it feels super nice tonight!  He keeps mentioning it so I know he is excited it about it too!  Ugh I am really happy right now   & lastly before I go to bed, I would like to mention my fiance who has been my fiance for one year this month!  I love you so much Ryan Valencia Sr.!  You’re my rock and I can’t wait to get married! <3

I love my ring <3  My rock got me a rock

Today was a good day!