Picture Overload...

You are looking at the face of the newest Vaughn family member. Smokey still hasn't come home, but we are still praying hard for him to return. I am devestated to think he might be gone. My parents are moving to the country as soon as their house leases and are going to take our cat Cassie with them. She is a great outside cat, and is really sweet to adults, but she is not fond of our dog or our kids. lol She hasn't really hurt the kids, but I don't trust her with them either.

So now we need a name for the kitten. I know this sounds terrible, but I can tell a girl cat vs a boy cat, but it is really hard to tell in kittens. So I am not sure if it is a she or a he yet. So any great names?

There is a place in Austin the boys get their haircut, and if you do a good job they put colored gel in your hair. When my nephews were here we took them to get a hair cut, and they asked for colored gel. They didn't have any, but my mom went to Sally's and bought some. So we came home and I colored their hair.

Dustin said he is practicing to be a macaw for halloween. lol

This is Brandt with his hair colored, but we were out on the boat so the wind had blown most of it out by then.


We went with a big group to the Children's musuem in Waco. Bryson was 1st scared of this bear, but after seeing a friend get on he decided he wanted to as well. His face still looks scared, but everytime I took him down he cried and tried to climb back on.

At the children's musuem they had a cool bubble maker. You get on and pull a string and try to get the bubble over your head. The boys all really enjoyed it.

Getting closer...

Got it!!!

They kept us for observation...

Bryson pushed Brandt off of a chair and he hit his head on the tile without bracing. He was trying hard to sleep and was getting hard to wake up. So we brought him in and they did a CAT scan and that looked good. However he started throwing up so they kept us overnight for observation. They were coming in every hour and waking him and taking vitals. Evidentially his blood pressure kept going up so they came and got us a little before midnight and we did another CAT scan. That looked good as well. So they brought him a clear liquid breakfast and he didn't act too hungry, but ate ok. He seems to be feeling a lot better. So I don't know if they'll wait until he eats an actual meal at lunch and make sure he doesn't throw up, and then let us go or if they'll let us go sooner, they haven't said.

Off to the ER AGAIN!!!

We are out the door, so I'll post more later. Essentially Brandt fell and hit his head and the oncall DR told us to take him to the ER. I am sure he is fine, but please pray that he is ok.

Stockpiling Class

Ok, I think I have officially been talked into doing a stockpiling class. There are some good deals coming up the beginning of August, so it would be great to get it done before then. Anyone interested? I think it would be too hard to do it at my house, since the baby goes to bed around 7:30 and then of course the other 2 would be running around. lol So does anyone want to offer their house or should we try to get a room at church? What would you ladies like? Also, what would you like me to cover, and is there anything in particular that you are looking to find a deal on that I might be able to help with?

A great video...We Bleed Maroon!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8818590190243707756

A few prayer requests

My mom woke up yesterday morning around 1 am with terrible gallbladder pains. By 5:30 she said it still wasn't any better so she woke my dad and called my grandma to come stay with the kids (she had my nephews H&C and Brayden). She finally got to the hospital around 7, but they were so swamped they didn't get her in the back and with pain medicine until 11:30 or so. She had surgery at 3:30 and they removed the gallbladder. When I talked to her last night she was feeling much better. Please pray that as the medicine starts to wear off she will still feel ok. She has been having a lot of problems wit her gallbladder, but was hoping to wait until school started to have surgery (since she has H&C all sumemr long, and any time they are not in school).

Also, please pray for our kitty Smokey. We went to Austin late Friday night and left food and water out for them. When we came home Sunday Cassie was still here, but Smokey wasn't. We haven't seen him since. We are starting to get really worried about him. He has a collar on, with his county tag, rabies tag, and his microchipped #. He is use to being an outside cat (he spends 1/2 the time inside and 1/2 the time outside). I am just hoping someone else is feeding him, and he will be home soon. We haven't said anything to the boys yet, but I can't even think about him not coming home. Here is a pic of him that I have shared before.

Stockpiling...

One thing God has blessed me with is the gift of a good deal. I am able to make our money stretch further by being very thrifty. I very rarely will pay full price. Pre kids and especially pre 3 kids I would stockpile. Meaning I would buy things that we needed when they were very cheap or free and store them until we needed them. I can't tell you the last time I actually paid for deodorant, toothpaste, Dustin's razor blades, etc. However, the older my kids get the harder it is for me to cut the coupons, match the ads, and then actually go to the store and get the items. So lately I have been running out of things and then having to go buy them regular price at Target, etc. God has been convicting me of this, because I know how to do this better, but I have been so lazy. So after looking at people's stockpiles on a different board online I check I got energized to start stockpiling again. This week we have been in Austin visiting both sets of grandparents and I decided to give it a try. I had never had to take more than 1 child with me, and my mom usually went as well (I am corrupting her as well lol). So this is everything that I bought this week (from last Thursday through today).



It is really hard to tell everything, but there is 2 things of Cascade, 4 packs of diapers, Dr Pepper, 2 wipes, 2 kandoo wipe refills, 12 generic tylenol, tons of Boost (that I am going to donate to the food bank unless anyone wants it), 3 kids toothpaste, 9 toothpastes, trashbags, tons of razors, and refills

2 Lysol toliet bowl cleaners, giant listerine, giant crest mouthwash, 2 bags of Iams dog food, 2 bags of Nutro Max cat food (from petstores), Tylenol Sever Allergy 48ct

tons more razors and refills, 4 travel aleve/bayer, 4 coppertone sunscreen, 5 softsoap wash, 3 Huggies lotion, 11 All laundry soaps, deodorant, 5 shave gels, 4 pantene shampoos/conditioners, 2 Herbal Essences shampoo/conditioner

2 Ousts, 4 Febreeze, 2 Pediacre, 5 RGX Body Spray, deodorant, 2 softsoap hand wash, 9 packs of 10 count Minute Maid Juice Boxes, 2 12 ct Fruit by the foot, 3 packs of Florida Naturals dried fruit

Now for the part I am excited about....the total was less than $55 for EVERYTHING! Not to mention I still have $35 of Extra Care Bucks to spend later (basically free money to CVS). So in essence it only cost $20 total. I took these pictures to remind myself that I CAN do this. That I need to do this. Right now I am pumped, and I hope to keep excited. I can really help our income to stretch if I apply the principles God has taught me. I know there is no way that our family can use all of this anytime soon, but I have such a strong desire to help the kids and people in Acuna, Mexico at the orphanage there. God provided me a way to be able to afford more to send to them. They are going to be getting lots of toothbrushes, deodorants, and shampoos. lol

I am happy to answer any questions I can if you would like to start a stockpile of essentials at your house too. Most of my deals came from Extra Care Bucks at CVS, Register Rewards at Walgreens, Clearance at Target, and lots and lots of coupons. lol