Got DirecTV and want to save some money?

Just a little tip for you...call DirecTV and explain that since gas prices have gotten higher you have been looking at your budget (I'm sure you have) and ask if there are any way they can help you.

I called and got $10 off for the next 6 months. My friend called and got $10 off for the next 12 months. I called back to see if they could help me the same way they helped my friend and I got the same $10 off for the next 12 months. That is $120 guys!!!!

The original operator I spoke with couldn't offer me more than $5 off for the next 3 months but they ended up transferring me to someone in the Retention department. They said since I had been such a good customer they could do this for me.

It doesn't hurt to ask, right? Let me know if you save any money!

Good friends...

I read an e-mail not long ago about being thankful for the friends God gives us because they are for all different needs. One girl may be your best friend since 7th grade, another you and her had babies around the same time, another will pray with you over the phone, another is the friend down the street, another you go shopping with, another is the one you confide in, another is the one that makes you laugh like crazy and another gives you decorating advice. I'm so completely thankful that God has blessed me with so many beautiful friends.

Tuesday night I got to spend time with some of my friends. I have been doing the bible study Frazzled Female with my friends Autumn, Candy, Michelle and Chrissy. We have the best time together, and with 13 kids amongst us, I can definitely say we are Frazzled Females so this was a very appropriate bible study. This was the last night of our bible study so we turned this into a girls night, too (any excuse for a girls night, right?).

Candy, Autumn and Chrissy at PJ's Coffee for bible study. Michelle had other plans and had to miss the last part of our bible study.

Michelle met us over at Chrissy's house after bible study for our girls night.Michelle is one of my funniest friends! She doesn't take herself too seriously and will one day probably be a comedian. This was the impossible-to-open-jar-of-dip so she was making all these funny faces while opening the jar.After seeing this picture we thought we might could make a "prettier" picture.Most of our night consisted of sitting in Chrissy's living room talking.

We ended our girls night before midnight. We are getting old I guess. When we all just had one kid we would stay at each others house until the wee hours of the morning.

My Sweetheart

I have taken over Angela's blog once again so I could post this picture of us from 1994. It is one of my favorite pictures of us. She was the Band Sweetheart on the Homecoming Court in 1994. We look so young and innocent back then. And would you believe some said we would never make it...

Tooth Fairy Update...

You read here about Hayden losing his tooth but here is an update...


Hayden was so excited to wake us up the morning when he found his money from the Tooth Fairy. He said, "Look what the Tooth Fairy left me!!!!"

Big HUGE News...

in the Mills' household at least! About a week ago Hayden started complaining that his tooth was hurting. I looked but didn't see anything and then realized that the tooth that had been bothering him was tilted forward. It was then that I figured out my baby was starting to lose his first tooth!

Chad read on the web that we shouldn't pull it so we just waited and waited. It kept getting more and more loose. Tonight it was very loose and we decided we would go ahead and pull it.

Pre-pull, with a mouth full of teeth...

Chad giving a try at pulling the tooth. It was slippery and tiny. I ended up using a Kleenex and pulling his tooth myself. It came right out!!!

He was okay until he saw the blood and then this happened...Shortly, after his tooth was pulled I got this picture of him with his missing tooth.As we were brushing his remaining teeth tonight he looked in the mirror and said, "I'm so happy!" It was so sweet and genuine. I remember that same excitement when I lost my baby teeth. This is Hayden putting his tooth under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy to come.

The tooth right beside this tooth is really loose, too, so the Tooth Fairy might be stopping by quite often.

Wasn't it just yesterday I was excited about him getting his first tooth?

Father's Day 2008...

Most of your remember this post from last year where I explained all about our Father's Day tradition. Here are this years photos...

Parker's 4th year!

Hayden's sixth year! Oh, and he told me that he only will be smiling with his lips from now on?!?

I like this one even though Hayden has a scrunched up face.

Come to my house and you will see this photo. I love it! The boys were spinning around.

So, what do you think? Could I be a professional photographer or what? NOT! Parker was 100% not in the mood to have his picture taken. For most of the pictures he was just making silly/mad faces. Hayden tried to do good and was my best subject by far but even he got tired of taking pictures and let me know when he was done.

I love to notice every year when we put the shirts on how differently they fit. I can really tell how tall Hayden has gotten since last year. The shirt was still dragging the ground last year and this year the bottom 3 inches of his jeans are showing.

We had a great weekend with the daddy in our house! Saturday we went to a birthday party and then (after a nap...that's right!) went to some friends house for a yummy dinner and playing outside. Sunday it was church, lunch with our family and Chad's dad, another nap (yep, uh-huh!) and back to church. It was a fantastic weekend!

I love my husband, love my children and am so thankful for these gifts from God!

Gas prices got you down?

Ugh! Is this affecting anyone else's budget or is it just ours? I cannot believe that gas prices are nearing $4 a gallon. It is costing me right at $60 to fill up my Dodge Caravan and I am getting right around 20 miles to the gallon and I get around 315 miles per tank. Ugh again...I can't think of anything more expressive to say than that, sorry.

I was reminding my in-laws that when I was in college, probably around 1997 or 1998 (yes, I know that was 10 years ago), that gas was right at a $1.00 per gallon. It would have cost me only $15 to fill up my gas tank back then...wow!

Not only is it affecting what we pay at the pump but also what we pay for things in general. I am a very cost conscious shopper and notice the prices of everything I buy going up.

Here are some things we are trying to do to save some money (and some other ideas I found online):

*Price match at Walmart...did you know that Walmart will let you bring in other stores ads and will match the price? Overall, I do believe Walmart has the best prices and when you price match on top, things are even cheaper. Last time I went shopping I price matched a ton of things like eggs, tortillas, peanut butter, milk and MORE!

*Combine trips to town...okay so some of you might live right in the middle of town and this may not be a big deal but for me it is 20 miles just to get to the nearest big town and then 20 miles back so that is nearly $8 in gas just to get where I'm going. This doesn't even take into account the 10 or so miles I may driving getting from point A to B.

*Turn off the car AC and use the vent whenever possible. This is becoming harder and harder to do with the Louisiana heat, especially with my kids in the car but when it is cooler outside (like early morning) I will just use the vent.

*3 cents off gas...did you know if you purchase a gift card at Walmart you can get 3 cents off the price of gas at the gas station in front of Walmart? I know, I know...what is 3 cents when gas is nearly $4 a gallon? It adds up!

*Don't carry around a bunch of extra stuff in your car that could weight it down. I know as mom's we carry around all kinds of stuff for emergencies...blankets for when it is cold, extra clothing, and array of strollers. Figure out what is truly necessary to keep in your car.

*Pay attention to the different octanes at the pump...the other day I was at a different gas station than I normally use. Typically the lower octane gas is on the left or right. Would you believe the lower octane gas at this Texaco was in the middle? I'm so thankful I was paying attention or I would have probably put a more expensive gas in my car than needed.

*Fill-it if you've got the money...are we the only ones that will put in $10-$15 here and there (laughable right...won't get very far with that, huh?)? It is better to go ahead and put as much gas as your pocket book will allow. If you have to stop multiple times to get gas you are wasting more of your gas by pulling to the gas station and sitting in line to get gas.

Let me know if you have any other ideas. I'm off to get the blankets out of my van :).

Friday Night Fun Night...

Friday afternoon one of our deacons and his wife invited us over to their house on the lake. Mr. Walter and Mrs. Gayle are very sweet church members and we enjoyed our time with them.

We started out on their dock fishing. Mr. Walter is so nice that he "baited" the fish so they would be really easy to catch (I even caught something).
We then went for a ride on their boat. Hayden decided he liked Mrs. Gayle's sunglasses and with her being so sweet she let him use them while we were on the boat. Below is Hayden and Mr. Walter.
After our boat ride, we went back for dinner of ribs, chicken and sausage off the grill, grilled veggies and corn on the cob. Below Hayden is eating ribs...this kid, all of a sudden is eating all kinds of foods that he didn't used to eat. I'm glad he is out of just eating chicken and french fries!
After the dog jumped on Parker last week at my grandmothers he was VERY fearful of this little dog, Sassy (like screaming like a girl scared). Finally, he realized that little old Sassy wasn't going to jump all over him and fell in love. He was concerned about Sassy the whole night...funny boy!We had a great weekend! I have more to post from Saturday so keep checking back!

What would you do with this thing?

My mother-in-law, Eloise, gave me this organizer thing. It is really nice and in good shape. She had some bathroom stuff in it and kept it in her bathroom. The only place I have room for it is in my laundry room/entry from the carport. I just stuck some stuff in it for now but what could you imagine going in it?


Just so you'll know, I couldn't really keep my washing powder in there, the shelves can't hold anything that heavy and when I open the "drawer" it nearly falls out. That is an unopened box of powder.

Any thoughts for this challenged organizer/decorator?

Time stood still...

even if it was just for 5 hours. Don't you just love grandparents? What is it about being at a grandparents house that makes time stand still? Is it the fact that their television doesn't have to be on all the time? Is because their cell phone doesn't ring right in the middle of a meaningful conversation?. Maybe it is because instead of wanting to search the internet, grandparents would rather talk to their grandchildren and find out about how they think and feel about things. Whatever the reason...I have always loved being with my grandma. I love visiting with her and enjoying her slower pace.

The kids have been begging to see my grandmother, who I, oh so affectionately refer to as Sugie (pronounced Shoogie). They kept saying "we haven't been to Sugie's house in a long time" and "when are we going to see Sugie" so I knew I wanted to take them soon. We have seen her recently but not really got to visit with her like we can when we are at her house.

When we first got to Sugie's house we set up the slip-n-slide. One of the other grandma's, Nannie, bought this for the boys but this was the first time we got to play on it.
The kids never did do the Slip-n-Slide like they were supposed to. You know, you are supposed to run and then slide on your stomach but don't we spend all our lives trying not to fall and hit our faces just when we are walking? I can see where this could be confusing for my guys and think I probably had the same overly-cautious thoughts as a child, too. So, Hayden opted to just run and fall to his knees...
...and then Parker just pretty much drank the water. Oh well, he was having a great time!After water time, we went in and ate lunch (porkloin, purple hull peas, fresh squash and cornbread) and it was was better than any restaurant, I promise! After lunch we went back outside for a little more water time and then we just sat outside under a big tree and just talked.I snapped this photo of Sugie with the boys. Hayden was spoon-drinking Koolaid (see it down his shirt) and Parker was looking a puppy that came up from the neighbors yard. Unfortunately, that puppy (big puppy) would later think that Parker wanted to play and would jump all over Parker with his big claws and scratch his chest and arms up. I was there to rescue him pretty quickly but it still scared poor Parker.I absolutely love this photo! It took four tries to get Parker to look at the camera but once he did he gave a really cute smile. It is so sweet to my grandma with my kids. It reminds me of all the sweet things she did with me as a child.

If your lucky enough to still have your grandparents alive, I encourage you to visit them. Life is short and I'm so thankful for my time today with my Sugie.