Please do not bring imaginary pets to class.

My almost 4 year old daughter and my niece go to ballet class together. Every Monday my Sister and I take turns driving these little 40 year old women trapped in 3 year old bodies to class. This week was my turn. This is how pick up went.

Dance teacher tells me, " I am thinking about separating those two from each other in class."

I am not surprised but I ask, "Really, why is that?"

Hesitantly, dance teacher says with a lowered voice, " Well, does your niece have an imaginary friend? Like a little animal?"

"Yes, she does." I reply, not worried because almost all my kids have had one. I am quite familiar with this little friend. "Was she talking about a little squirrel?"

Dance teacher again, "Thats the one! Well, the problem is that she makes your daughter babysit the 'squirrel' during class. So when it is Storie's turn to dance she tries to carefully hold the 'squirrel' and do her pirouettes."

I am now snorting my diet lemonade from my nose picturing my daughter trying to carefully watch an imaginary pet and dance at the same time.

" I tried to tell Storie to set the 'squirrel' down and get him after class, but your niece was yelling at her that he would get away. I think I need to separate them." the Dance teacher explained.

"I'll take care of it." I assured her. So we got in the car and I explained that dance class is not the place for pets and that the 'squirrel' will have to stay in the car.

My niece was thrilled! "Oh good, Storie was doing a bad job, now YOU can watch him!"

Growing up!

Well I am a little bummed, I was trying to keep track and do something special when it came time to post my 1,000th post. But it came and went and I missed it! So in honor of my 1008th post I am re-posting my 3rd post that I ever did!

Makes total sense right? Re-post the 3rd post on the 1008th post? Oh well, even if it doesn't make sense it is an excuse to post a shameful "look at how cute my kids is" post!

If you happen to be around a certain three year old and she utters those words it could get dangerous. Storie always says, "I'm growing up!" when she has to burp. I think that started because she thought she had to "throw up" one time, but discombobulated the words.

There was one time when she kept telling me she had to "grow up" in the grocery store. I kept telling her "go ahead but not too fast..." Well, she turned her head and "grew up" all over Paige in one of those cool three seater kid grocery carts. Paul and I pulled it off really well. We acted like nothing happened and managed to clean it up in front of 100 other shoppers that had no idea anyone just "grew up."

Tonight when we were eating dinner she was arguing about whether or not her steak was chicken and whether or not she could have ketchup on it... she scrunched her little body up and down and told us "I'm trying to grow up!" She didn't "grow up" or anything but it was hysterical.

Don't let the beautiful angelic face fool you... last week when we went to the Blue Bell factory I was getting angry and telling the kids to get in the car. Storie leaned up against the car, looked right at the big kids with her hand on her hip and said, " Get in the DAMNED car now!"

I just about died.

Choir Concert, are we this old?

Our oldest son had his first choir concert for junior high last night. Are we really this old? When did we have a kids old enough to be in junior high? The really freaky thing is that he is going to the same junior high that I did!

This is my Mom trying to give him a kiss... too cool for Grandma? Might want to rethink that kid, with Christmas around the corner!

My husband and I with Tucker. It is weird that one night he is playing football and baseball, the next he is either at choir or band. Well rounded OR over involved?? I haven't come to a decision on that one yet!

Blue Bell Ice tour and coupon.

I love it when the kids have a day off school! Even thought the weather was a little cloudy and rainy we still had fun!

I "ran" by the Coach outlet "on the way" to see if I could use the Coach coupon that expired Monday. Unfortunately I didn't find anything that I HAD to have :( Saved me a few dollars!

So we headed onto Brenaham Texas to tour the Blue Bell Factory, THE BEST Ice cream in the country!

The kids got to milk a cow. Kinda.
Take a few serious pictures. Kinda.
The most important part was the ice cream at the end of the tour...
I tried Southern Blackberry cobbler. Out of this world good! My little ones had, Snickerdoodle and Blueberry Cheesecake, which means I get to try some of theirs as well! Both AWESOME! I don't know why I always just buy my standards... Homemade Vanilla, Cookie Dough and Moo-llennium Crunch. You can't go wrong with Blue Bell!

If you are lucky enough to get Blue Bell in your state click HERE for a coupon. It is up in the right hand corner.

How do you Christmas shop?

This is our little Christmas last year. We really need a bigger tree, it reminds me of the one from Charley Brown. It is better than the one we had a few years ago. Wal-Mart had some really pretty trees for a good price, so we grabbed one the beginning of December. I was so sick and tired of vacuuming the needs and watering the thing that on December 17th I drug it complete with Christmas lights all the way down the driveway and threw it on the curb half decorated.

That little incident has now gone down in Ivanovsky lore as the day Mom flipped, became the grinch, and drug the decorated tree out to the trash screaming Ba-Humbaugh!

I replaced it with that little set of three trees you can get at Michael's or Hobby Lobby for like $40. I had them on the front porch and just put them in the living room, everyone hated me but I had enough of the mess. We now have a fake tree.

With no fireplace we leave the stockings on the living room couch. Other's with no mantle where do you leave your stockings?

I start Christmas shopping on December 26th. Thats when I get all my wrapping paper, ribbon and tape for the next year. If there are Children reading this STOP now.... O.K. now that they are gone! I buy matching paper for all the presents from us. Then I get really fancy bows and paper from Santa. I never use bows, so the kids are convinced these presents didn't come from me, they know I am too cheap :)

We do presents a little like we talk to the kids about what Christmas means. The biggest (and usually most expensive) present comes from Santa. Then the kids get three presents from Mom and Dad, like the three that Jesus got from the Wise Men. In my opinion they don't need more than this. They give each other presents and get presents from Grandparents. I try and keep it simple, they need to give as much as they get.

They also get good stuff in their stockings, but you can see these aren't that big, usually a movie and for the girls a little jewelry and fun little things. A friend gave me a book one year called "Unplugging the Christmas Machine" I really enjoyed it. If I can find a copy I will give one away here on a few weeks.

I keep looking for deals throughout the year. But I am really picky. It has to be a great item or I will wait. Kids are also very finicky, I have bought a Christmas present in August for a child only to give it to another kid when December finally came! I don't really have a budget for Christmas, I also don't kill myself trying to make sure I spend the same exact amount on each child. SOme years are better for some kids and it goes there way the next year. There is no reason to spend the same amount on my 2 year old as I would my 12 year old. The 2 year old needs about $30 of toys and a nice box! The 12 year old on the other hand is going to need to get a job to get all the nice things he is asking for!

What is your Christmas strategy? How do you shop? When do you start?

Gone today, be back later!

Check back later today, I am working on the match -ups for CVS and Walgreens. I am spending the day with my friend, artist Sarah Kargol at the Bayou City Art festival. Click HERE to see her work. You might remember Sarah from a giveaway that I did earlier this year. If you are in the Houston area, the rain is gone and the weather is cool, come down and say "hi"! We are at booth #254 on McKinney Street downtown.

How to get rid of fruit flies!

I am filing this under random for a few reasons.

1. Do you really care how to get rid of fruit flies?

2. It doesn't involve a can of hair spray and a lighter.

3. It's waaaay to simple.

and the last reason...

4. It doesn't involve a can of hair spray and a lighter.

I hate fruit flies almost as much as I hate fire ants. I REAALLLLLY hate fire ants!

Every now and then, usually when I buy fruit from HEB or Sam's I end up with fruit flies. After a few days of the vacuum and fly swatter, I turn it over to my husband. Why I wait I don't know, he gets them all within about 5 hours. It involves a cup of apple cider vinegar and a narrow opening. The flies are attracted to the cider when they get in they can't get out. Most of the time he uses a baby bottle with a funnel in the top, and about 1/2 inch of vinegar in the bottom. They fly in and never come out. This time the slit in the saran wrap worked pretty well, although I would have made the hole a little smaller... and used hair spray with a lighter!

How do you get rid of fruit flies??

The. Best. Day. Ever. Period.

No more complaining about bad photos.

No more complaining about not getting video of giveaway drawings.

I have a new secret weapon...

I finally got it.

My Nikon D90, it is beautiful!

This is the back...

This is a side view...

And, just incase you needed another look, this is the front.

What does this mean for you?

More pictures of my kids of course!

Muuuhahahahahah!

This is my sweet little girl at my Son's football game. She dressed herself and insisted on wearing her older sisters clothing.

Noticed the uncombed hair? You would think her Mother wasn't a hairstylist.

Look at the dirty face, the magic of my camera, it was actually much dirtier in real life!

See these "pants" they are actually capri's.

All the chaos aside. A perfectly happy child.

To think I almost ruined it all for her by getting her dressed in proper clothes and fixing her hair. Mom's, we just get in the way of fun!

Restaurant Review, Wings 'N' More

For a while now I have been thinking about doing some restaurant reviews. I think that we really have a unique dining perspective. When you review restaurants for a living or for a news article you don't usually dine with 6 children, I think this makes us uniquely qualified as I have noticed and entirely different atmosphere when we are with the children, versus when it is just two adults eating alone. Don't you agree??

After my Son's football game we gave him the option of where to eat. He chose Wings 'N' More. My husband frequently ate here when it was closer to his office and it had been a while so we agreed and off we went.

Trying to get seating for all of us is an adventure itself. Telling the hostess we needed seats for 2 adults and 6 kids was much harder than it should have been. She kept trying to add extra adults, we eventually gave up asking for a high chair and booster seat and went off to look for them on our own. When our server came, after introducing himself we explained that the kids were really hungry and could we order an appetizer of fried pickles ( don't ask...) right away.

The drinks came, we had to send them back no syrup in the soda and waited, and waited. No big deal, we were ready to order by the time he got back. We ordered and as he was walking away he asked if we wanted an appetizer. Um, yea. Can we have the fried pickles (again, don't ask :)) that we ordered when we first got here?? He had forgotten and went to put the order in.

The pickles came, dinner came, during this time we only saw our server once. Fine with me, we didn't need anything, well refills might have been nice but I figured that was saving me trips to the bathroom. The food is really good here. They ( in the nicest way possible) really know how to make fried food. My chicken salad sandwich was really good, and the kids chicken fingers were super. Very little breading and lots of chicken. Makes me not feel so bad they are eating chicken fingers!

But the deal breaker? THE WAITER ADDED AUTOMATIC GRATUITY TO OUR CHECK!!!! We were Furious! I can see adding it to a group of teenagers or a large business group. BUT TO A FAMILY WITH 6 LITTLE KIDS, 2 THAT DIDN'T EVEN ORDER ANYTHING!! What a joke! My husband, much to my dismay, always tips very well. This waiter by doing this actually hurt himself. He charged us 18% and I know my husband would have left at least 20%. We even complained to the Manager who did nothing but said it was up to the discretion of the waiter. Then the waiter got really mouthy and ugly. We just paid it instead of arguing and left.

We will never be back.

Do you think they should add automatic gratuity to a single families order, even if there are 8 people?

Too bad I am only 5'2.

Wow, I am totally bummed. I am calling discrimination on this one. The fine print says, "must be a U.S. resident, 18-30 years of age and 5'8 inches in bare feet". I mean, not only do I not qualify in the age range but I am only 5'2 inches tall. In heels.

I was really looking forward to walking down a runway, on T.V. in front of millions of people in my underwear.

Maybe they will do a special episode for us old, short, chubby girls?

Here's to hoping :)!

Texas weather?

Seriously? The weather is messing with my head. We have had a lot of rain lately but much cooler weather. Yea! Today, I leave at 8am for baseball, and a few softball games and it is so darn humid and hot, we are back up into the 90's today. What the heck?

We are in the eastern Texas area and I run my air conditioning from the end of February to at least middle October. It is not unusual to have the air on for Halloween. I love my mid-west family that likes to exclaim how hot it might get that day, "we might have to turn the AC on". Yep, and I might have to sell a child to afford my bill in August, $683.00 this August for electricity. We even have a newer AC unit. We yell constantly to shut the doors, and I leave it up at about 77 degrees.

I just really am looking forward to some cooler weather. I would like to live somewhere that I can open my windows and let the fresh air in. Somewhere that my kids can play outside in the summer.

Alright, I am done, enough complaining. Someone email me in January when you are -10 and we are at 55. I will be glad to be here then!

Lets play a game...

Do you like word problems?

I hate them. But lets try one anyway.

Two parents have put their 6 children to bed. It is almost 11pm and the parents are getting ready for bed when the Mother (the smart one) realizes a sticky situation ahead.

1. Son has to be at football practice at 6:30am.

2. Husband has to be at a meeting downtown at 7:30am because of traffic it will take him over an hour to get there.

3. Three daughters have to be at school at 8:00am.

4. Wife and 2 small children have to be at Wife's work at 8:00am.

5. They are out of milk, the horror!

Problem...

1. It is too late at night to call for anyone to carpool with.

2. The 3 daughters have never ridden the bus in the morning before EVER, so the Mother has no idea what time or where the bus can pick them up at.

3. There is no bus for the Son at 6:30am

4. WIFE JUST REMEMBERS THAT HUSBANDS CAR IS IN THE SHOP!! THEY ONLY HAVE ONE CAR IN THE MORNING! Due to the fact that she backed into it, and it is having body work done... but lets not factor that in shall we?

Oh, I sure hope your morning will be as fun as mine!

We are not a weird family...?

I posted a little post HERE a while ago about one of my kids who catches flies. Live. With her fingers. Strange, I know.

We call her Little Miss Miyagi.

Cue, cool Karate Kid music...

Anyway, I told her to go clean up the playroom the other day and I found her, playroom uncleaned, working intently on a "project". Ignore the large band aid on her forehead, it saved hours of screaming and therapy for a scratch from a sibling barely visible to the human eyes but clearly needed stitches if you are 5.

This was her "project" a animal sanctuary for the rehabilitation of common household flies. Complete with skateboard facilities, and wading pool. The fly might look dead, but I promise the little guy was still buzzing around, on his back, weirdly flapping and all that.... he looked like he loved his little resort vacation?
This is her explaining the value of rehabilitating flies that she has caught and why she doesn't possibly have the time to clean the playroom when the insects of the world are in such desperate need.

How do you argue with that?

Another good question!

This baby has nothing to do with the post, I just think he is darling....

Thankfully he has grown into his ears!

This is a question from Tracy and I think people have asked me this before and I have not understood what they were asking!

So, you do shop with your binder? I am still embarrassed to pull out all of my coupons. I have been thinking about getting a binder, and this encourages me to go for it. Do people stare at you?

YES! I shop with my binder. I put it right up in the front of the cart where you would put a little one and buckle him in! Honestly, and this could be a post in itself, I am used to people staring at me when I shop because I have 6 kids. I am also very conditioned to very rude stares and comments. But, in the beginning I was very embarrassed to be shopping with that many kids AND using coupons.

I also live in a very affluent area. Let me assure you we do not qualify! But, for good and bad we happen to live in a very wealthy community. That being said, not many Women coupon, which is good for those of us who do! No one would be caught dead in our Walmart shopping, so I am fairly safe there :) At the grocery stores people are very curious, I ALWAYS get asked about my binder and the kids. I love it now, people are very impressed and I have had only positive coupon questions from people. Comments on the number of children I have on the other hand... are still rude and pathetic.

** If you are a single Woman and looking... I have more Men stop and talk to me and look through my binder than Women!! They are super curious and think it is brilliant to use baseball card holders! I have had men follow me around the store chatting about coupons and how they are interested and how they wish their wives would do it! They stay around and will watch me check out. It is really funny.

Like my husband always reassures me, who cares if they stare, you are the one saving the money you should be staring at them for being so dumb as to not be using coupons!

Oh my goodness, Fekkai shampoo!

My husband just got home from work... he stole my son's half used bottle of Pert this morning and drove 20 miles out of his way into downtown to first a Nordstroms, only to find out they weren't doing the free shampoo. Then to have to re park and pay for parking, again, at Saks to trade in the Pert for the bottle of Fekkai!

Wow! And I was just considering getting rid of him :) Just kidding, that was really thoughtful! He knows my addiction to hair products and my obsession with trying every single brand out there! I get so much free shampoo that even though I get a great deal on professional stuff I have a hard time paying for it even at reduced prices lately.

This was a nice surprise!

Hurricane Ike Lessons learned.

A year ago today my front yard looked like this... Two of my big beautiful trees had fallen during hurricane Ike.

We hadn't let enough water out of the pool, the back of the house almost flooded due to the pool overflowing.
The week before we knew it was coming and set out to get the house ready. We brought in all the plants and kids toys we could. Nailed down everything possible and taped all the windows.
While many people were panicking and spending all their available cash on supplies, we were comforted knowing that we didn't need to join the rush and that we were well prepared. We ran into Walmart on Thursday evening and were stunned to see the shelves. It was a very errie feeling when your huge supercenter is cleared out COMPLETELY!
Because of couponing and my food storage there was nothing that we needed, save for some fresh fruit and vegetables.

On Friday, everything was closed, the kids were out of school and we just had to sit around and wait. Paul, myself and the DuBois, took the shotgun and hand guns down to the creek to do some shooting and relieve some anxiety! We heard reports on T.V. of all the chaos surrounding the stores closing early and people not having any food or water. I can't understand not being prepared? Why would you live so day to day that you can't take care of your family in an emergency with the basics of food, when you have the ability with coupons to do it almost free?

Friday was very still, it was hard to imagine what was coming. I can understand how so many people were killed in the 1909 hurricane, you really have no idea what is about to happen. That afternoon the wind started to pick up a little and by bed time we were getting a little rain and large wind gusts. At midnight we lost our power. Paul and I laid down to try and get some sleep, but at 1:30am our first tree fell on the house. We ran to see what had happened and could tell that we might loose more, so we grabbed the kids and put them all in the center of the house. I can't describe how loud the wind was! It was amazing!

When morning came we were stunned at the damage. I guess we thought it would just pass over and we would have a few downed power lines.

We got to work quickly, cutting down trees and helping neighbors. It was a really neat experience for myself and my family. It was difficult. We were without power for almost a month. Paul had to go to Dallas for work and I was alone with the kids, two were having major asthma problems, it was HOT outside and honestly I was scared at night. Without power your world is completely different, we talked a lot more, we played a lot more and it was really nice. Psychologically it was difficult because we were some of the last to get power back. So when everyone else has it at church and school they move on, not realizing you are still struggling to prepare every meal.

Try getting your kids ready for school for two weeks without power. That is exciting.
But I am very grateful for a few things. I am grateful for all food, water, and batteries that I have stockpiled all for almost free with coupons. This is one of many shelving systems I have for storage. It may not be pretty, but I never want to have to worry about how I am going to feed my kids. I can't imagine a more sick feeling than not having anything to feed them or wondering who is going to help us, I hope that never happens.

We were also able to donate almost a thousand dollars personally, of toiletries to our neighbors and to my kids elementary school. Many people in my subdivision were flooded out of their homes. The kids and I went to "The Ivanovsky mini-mart" in my garage and pulled together almost 40 gift bags for families who had nothing but the clothes on their backs. We also were able to make dinner and bake items with the solar oven that I had and give warm food out to friends.

I am so thankful we were kept safe physically during the hurricane last year, and that the damage to property was fixable. I am also thankful for a supportive family who helps me use coupons and tolerates my stockpiles around the house! Hopefully we never have to go through any significant power loss again, but I know that if we have to, we will be prepared.