"I know Karate..."

"and I'm not afraid to use it! But I promised sensei that I would only use my skills for good, so you're safe mom." Ah, good to know! Brennan is so proud of his skills that he wants me to watch him practice {usually in the kitchen while I'm cooking dinner}. BUT, all of his practicing paid off last week when he tested for his Gold Belt and GOT IT!! Brennan was really proud that he skipped getting his Jr. Gold Belt and went right to his Full Gold (some kids in his class don't have a full gold yet even though they have taken classes longer than he has). Receiving his gold belt also means that he gets to start sparring with other students in class... not too sure how I feel about that one... I had to purchase his sparring gear tonight and I about died when I handed over then money. I didn't realize that Karate was so expensive! Oh, well, Brennan loves it and is good at it so it is totally worth it!
Brennan and Sensei Schutz




Different Topic:


Funny Story/Conversation:


Brennan has been "babysitting" his friend Carter's WebKinz pets for the past few days (feeding, playing with, and playing games on Carter's account). When I noticed that he wasn't using his own screen name, I asked what he was doing.


"Carter is out with his family and can't take care of them so I told him that I would be a good friend and take care of them for him."


"Okay~ you are a good friend."


"Not really... Carter's been kind of mad at me."

"What for?" (I'm thinking something happened at recess or Boy Scouts...)


"I told his ex-girlfriend about his new girlfriend..." (insert really sad face looking at the ground)


"oh, I think he'll forgive you. Do you have a girlfriend?" (I'm one of those moms... nosy)


"No, girls are gross"


"Do you have an ex-girlfriend then?"


"I don't even know what that is!"


Ahhhh.... that what I love to hear!

Coupon Clipping Part 2

Stephanie has now gotten me hooked! And I have to post about my awesome deals this week at Target. This is everything (42 items) I got for 19. 04 + Tax. Amazing!

Here is a breakdown of what I got:

3 Aveeno bath bars: Free

3 Aveeno body lotions: Free

10 Johnson's Buddy Bars: 2 Free, 8 @ $.22= $1.76

2 Johnson's Baby Lotion: 2 @ $.44= $.88

2 Johnson's Take Along Pack: 2 @ $1.04= 2.08

2 V8 V-Fusion Juice: 2 @ $.99= $1.98

4 Market Pantry Fruit Snacks (large bag): Free

6 Market Pantry Fruit Snacks (box): 6 @ $.52= $3.12

2 All Small and Mighty: 2 @ $2.99= $5.98

4 Kraft Easy Mac: 4 @ $.39= $1.56

2 Mini Teddy Grahams (bag): 2 @ $.52= $1.04

2 Teddy Grahams (boxes): 2 @ $.50= $1.00

* In case you were wondering where I found the coupons, they are all online. You can get them by clicking on the link on the sidebar under "Sites I Blog-Stalk" that says "Attention Target Shoppers". Oh, and these deals are all good through Saturday April 25th. *

Up, Up, and Away!!

This past Saturday, while Don stayed home with the little ones, Brennan and I went to Scout Camp to shoot off model rockets. I'd spent most of the day Saturday gluing Brennan's rocket together (did you know that they take FOREVER to dry and you have to hold the piece in place until it's dried?!?). I was actually quite pleased with the way it turned out~ please note though that it was a $3 model, nothing fancy~ until we got to the launch site and saw all of the other rockets. Oh well, you can't be the best at everything :)

Launching the rockets was really fun and even more fun to watch. If you've never been, you should try it sometime. The other scouts were laughing and chasing each rocket as it glided down with its' parachute, while others chutes didn't open and the rocket came down so hard, they got stuck in the grass. Brennan's rocket did 2 really good launches~ the parachutes opened and they didn't drift too far. On the 3rd launch, the parachute caught the wind and the poor rocket ended up in a tree! Brennan was so sad! So I told him that we'd do it again with his friends Fletcher and Brooks (both of whom lost theirs to a tree too!).

Cousins

I just thought these pictures were too cute to not post.

Ian just loved being held by Tara~ I even think he preferred her to me!

And Tara, thank you for watching the boys while we went to dinner and a movie~ we really appreciated it!

Easter 2009

Now I know that the Easter Bunny is different at every house, so I'll tell you what our Easter Bunny does at the Borchert House. The night before, we leave our Easter Baskets out, filled with our dyed eggs and empty plastic eggs. Then we go to bed because the bunny never comes if we are awake (and the bunny checks!). While we are asleep, our bunny fills and hides the eggs and fills up our baskets with all kinds of goodies (sometimes toys, sometimes just candy). Then we wake up in the morning, look at our baskets and find all of the eggs that he hid!

Brennan's, Nolan's, and Ian's baskets~ can you guess which one is which?

Hidden eggs...

The only downside to this bunny is that Easter morning starts off so EARLY!! This year it was 6:30. Brennan and Nolan were the first ones up, followed shortly by Ian and Marissa. Micaela and Tara weren't to be seen until after 9. Brennan was super excited to get his basket and toys. Nolan had no idea what was going on, but could feel the excitement from Brennan so he was happy! After a quick peek at their baskets, it was driving Brennan nuts to see all of the eggs in the living room/kitchen/dining room and not be able to collect them. We let Nolan go first. It was a total repeat of the egg hunt... find a few, pick up a couple and then just walk away. Such a silly kid. Then came Brennan and Marissa. It was really fun to watch them run around, screaming and laughing. Totally worth the early hour!

The boys checking out their baskets.
"I can just reach it!"
Brennan and Marissa reaching for the same egg when there are still plenty to be found!

Then in traditional fashion, I made breakfast. French Toast, a real treat! The rest of the day was spent just lounging around playing until Easter Dinner. Usually I make ham (as tradition dictates), but I really wanted something different, so I made Tammy's Root Beer Roast, and it was a total hit! Dinner was followed by homemade caramel popcorn and a movie. What a great Easter!

My Great Coupon Outing

So Steph told me about this great website to get some great coupons and I found another one that was just as great, so I decided to try my hand at getting some free stuff. Here's a rundown of what I got:

6 boxes of Fruit Snacks @ $.52

2 boxes of Cheddar Popcorn @ $1.29

2 bags Cheetos @ $1.69

14 bars of Johnson's Buddies Soap @ $-.03 (that's right, they paid me to take them off their hands)

Total: $8.66 + tax

Not so bad huh!?

Nashville Children's Discovery Center

Since Marissa and Micaela were here for Spring Break, we decided to go to the Children's Science Discovery Center in Downtown Nashville. It was really fun! We arrived shortly after opening and got through the entire bottom floor before it got really crowded. The kids really enjoyed learning about physics and space. Nolan really loved the sound and pitch area... we couldn't get him to leave the piano! We coaxed Nolan from the piano to the wooden train set, were Ian and I sat and watched him while the others played in the giant 4 story fun house type thing (I didn't get to go inside because I had a stroller, so I couldn't really say what was inside it other than the kids were there forever and were really sweaty when they came out!)

By the time we completed the first floor and the playhouse, the place was getting really packed. We rushed through the human body because everyone was getting hungry. After they saw almost everything (we skipped the bee exhibit), we decided to go home. When we were walking outside, the lady at the front desk warned us that we were under a tornado watch and that the storms were to the North and moving North-East, so I thought we were okay to go. Totally should have stayed! We got everyone in the car and started on the way home.

We weren't in the car for five minutes when it started to downpour and the tornado warning sirens went off. I looked for somewhere to go, but where can you stop when you're on the freeway? So we continued to drive through the rain and traffic. It seemed to go on forever when all of a sudden it was gone. I'm not kidding... from total darkness and rain to bright blue, clear skies. The rest of the drive home was uneventful. When we got home, we found out that that storm had spawned 4 tornado's and destroyed 97 homes, killing 2 people and injuring hundreds of others. Scary stuff.

I'm just glad that we were okay and we got home safe.

Here are the pictures of the day:

Nolan and Marissa at the sound, pitch and frequency station.

Brennan and Nolan at the piano.

Nolan playing with the trains~ can you believe how big he's getting?

Brennan digging up balls with a hydraulic shovel.

Brennan moving the ball with his mind!

Brennan testing his reaction time~ he wouldn't make the best goalie, but he was a pretty good shooter!