TAX REFUND PLANS

With January coming to an end, a lot of people are looking forward to Tax Season. And yes we are among the many Americans who eagerly await out Tax Refund. We had a lot of plans this year with the tax money. Since we have been hosting a lot of family gatherings and holidays, we thought about getting a bigger table for our dinning room. With the in mind I went to look at amish furniture online. I went in search for a dinning room table but instead, I feel in love with the "BAY HILL DINING NOOK". Its beautifully crafted and finished. That dinning nook set would open up our kitchen and leave a big space. I can envision it already in my head. When Ralph's see's it I am pretty sure he will want to replace the table set we have in the kitchen. It will have to wait until we get our tax money. But, I am hoping to get my hands on the dining nook. If not this year maybe the following year...

CHOICES

Jeez! It's almost the end of the month already? It was just yesterday that we welcomed the New Year. Time flies so fast. With Christmas over and out of the way its time to look forward to another occasion. The next big thing for Ralph and I, is our upcoming 5ht wedding anniversary on Valentines Day. Yes, it will be a double celebration. I have to be quick on my feet this time though. We really didn't get anything for each other last Christmas, instead we focused on the kids. This time around want to surprise my husband of 5 years with something special. Googling gifts for him sounds like a good idea. I already know what he wants but I can't afford it. But going thru a list of gifts for him will broaden my choices of what to get for me. Time is on my side, all I have to do is bide my time and try to get it out of him what he wants.

WHAT AM I?

It was one of those family night where we opened some of the toys the girls got from Christmas. They had been antsy waiting for us to play this game. We actually had so much fun playing this game the first time. It was Ralph, Grandma, Kayla, Kaitlyn and Me in the family room. We were just laughing our heads off trying to guess the card on our forehead. We had to help Kaitlyn out on asking questions. We really didn't follow the whole set of rules of the game. It was so fun to see us all together playing as a family, my girls thought it was the best night ever! Do you guys have a family night?What games do you play?

BRONCOS HAR

Thanks to Wm Rowe

This past Christmas, my siblings and I decided to draw names instead of getting gifts for every person. It saved us a lot of money since our family has grown so much in the recent years. We all still buy presents for our parents, but I think it was a lot less stressful not having to shop for each person. I drew my brother’s name, and at first I had no idea what to get him. Then my sister told me that he was talking about wanting a Denver Broncos hat. It is a good thing that we have a clear TV bundle because I went home that day and searched online until I found the perfect hat for him. My brother is picky about hats, so I knew that he would want one that is adjustable on the back and also has mesh on the back. There are not that many Broncos hats that fit that description, but I was able to find the perfect hat and had it shipped to my house in time for Christmas day. My brother was so excited when he opened it and wore the hat all day on Christmas.

FLEXING AT GYMNASTICS

Kaitlyn is the only with dark hair.

My little girl during Tuesdays at Gymnastics. Last year we decided to enroll both girls in gymnastics. Kayla did Girls Scouts for 2 years and wanted to try out gymnastics. Seeing that Kaitlyn will want to follow in her big sister's footsteps we also enrolled her. Both of my girls are actually doing very good. Kaitlyn is improving every session but has a tendency to get distracted and not pay attention to what the coach is showing them. She gets so amazed at what other older children can do that she stares at them. Still, she is almost ahead of everybody in her class. I am so proud of my girls and I hope they do better and work harder.

FROM MILD TO WILD

I thought we were going to have a mild winter, wrong!!!!! Mother Nature was just tricking us into thinking that. We have had a warm weather for winter and it has allowed me to walk to my favorite store and enjoy my hobby of couponing. Then Bam!!! All of a sudden temp drops down to the 20's and its get so freaking cold out. I am not such a big fan of winter. I guess the only consolation is that I don't have to wake up early in the morning and go to work. My husband does though. I worry about his health and his safety. I specially get worried about his health and safety when they have escort assigning riding the police motorcycle. My worries are if he is wearing a hat, is he warm enough, is his hand freezing, does he have gloves and so on. My gift to my husband should have been an alpinestars gloves for him to wear while he is on this assignment. His hands have to be warm and comfy in the cold so he has a good grip on the handle while they are riding. Since I didn't really give him anything for Christmas I could still get him one. I am pretty sure I can find one for him and of course for me as well. I just hope that my husband is warm and comfortable on days that he has to be at work in the freezing weather.

HIS SONGS

Christmas has come and gone but I want to take this time to share some of the photo's taken last Christmas morning with my two beautiful girls.

This year was our turn to have Kayla from Christmas Eve until Christmas day morning. On Christmas eve the kids were so excited for morning to come so they could find out what Santa got for them. We had the kids sleep in our room and we had a sleepover. Ralph got up to go downstairs and put all the toys under the tree. I was so exhausted! I really was and it probably showed when I tried to get up. My husband offered to do it all himself and I just laid back down with the kids. Come morning the kids were so antsy to go downstairs. I had to wake up my MIL first and make sure she was going to be in the playroom before the kids started opening gifts. Both girls almost ran down the stairs and screamed when they saw the many presents under the tree. They waited patiently as their dad handed them toys one by one. Both kids got big toys and little toys. They all oohed and ahhhhed when they opened presents.

This was one of the highlights of the gifts they got. A Justin Beiber singing toothbrush!! They were so happy they got it. They could not wait to try it out and brush their teeth to his songs. All in all it was a great day for us and the kids.

MAKE IT HAPPEN

Before anything else I want to say a big shoutout:

HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!!

I have been extremely busy and preoccupied. My cousin and her family from Chicago flew in right after Christmas. We have just been catching up and just spending quality time. We also went to our NJ relatives to welcome the New Year. We got home at around 5 am. in the morning. It was all worth it since I got to bring home some very delicious Filipino food.

Tonight, I helped my cousin pack since they will be leaving early tomorrow. I am going to miss them. Convincing my cousin to move here to DE won't be as hard. She is a registered nurse for 16 years and I am positive that she can get any Licensed Nurse Jobs in our area. All she has to do it move here and we can be closer. The main reason I give why she should move here is we have no tax! And we can go couponing together! We have a big thing in common now that we are couponing. It's to early to tell if she will move but I am pretty sure that within 3 months they will be back again for a visit.

DEBT NO MORE

Christmas has come and gone. It's not time to clean up all the mess and start loosing some holiday weight. Scratch that! For parents with kids like us, its time to call on debt free solutions so we can start out new year with great ideas on how to be debt free. With the holidays so close together one can't help but spend not just on gifts but also on food for family dinners or parties. We are so broke that its not even funny. Ralph has been talking to me over and over about his plan on being debt free or at least financially stable in 8-10 months. He still needs work on trying to buy to much, he is slowly getting there with my help. Cross our fingers and toes, that next year will be a great and fruitful year for all of us.

DECKED OUT

After 2 years of not being able to take the kids to the Christmas lights we finally took them back again this year. There is this house somewhere in the city where he decorates his whole land with lights. You can even see his house and lights from the road, that is how bright and big it is. The girls were both so excited to be back. Kaitlyn was less than 2 years old the last time we went. The expression on their faces is priceless. They all ooohed and aahhhed at all the lights. The girls also got an extra treat when Santa came out and sat down for all the kids. It never gets old seeing the joy and wonder in your kids faces. I know that they will remember and maybe one day they will also bring their kids to this house like we did to them.