a week in pictures

Ellie's new "cheese" face

He wanted to wear his backpack all morning.  And he has cars stashed in the kleenex box.

she's loving to point at things

what, isn't this what it's for?

practicing to be a pirate?

looking sweet at church

is that some jelly on your face?

I caught him praying for a boo boo on Sam's head - awww!

a little piano duet

sibling love!!

couponing

I’ve been a pretty bad couponer since Ellie was born.  I print out coupons for my grocery trips, but haven’t done the whole “drugstore game” at all.  But I still need to pinch off a bit more in our grocery/household budget, so it’s time to start reading up on my money saving blogs.  The great news is that a new CVS just opened up about 4-5 minutes away.  I will probably make this my one extra stop each week and get back in the game.  Here was my haul from today:
Regular price for everything: $92.39
minus sales: -$30.81
minus coupons: -$5.25
minus Extra Care bucks ($ that I can spend on future purchase): -$19
Grand total: $37.33

For a savings of about 60%.  Not bad for just getting back into this.  It takes a little while with CVS to really start seeing great deals as you can stack your extra care bucks and eventually not pay anything out of pocket and still leave with more extra care bucks to spend in the future.  But I’m excited about trying to be better about this to help our bottom line.  Jenny – I have not forgotten about your request for a post on why we use a cash system.  Hoping to get that posted this week! :)

cold day activity

With the temperatures dipping way too low for our liking, we were trying to have some inside fun.  So Owen got to paint in the bathtub, much to Ellie’s dislike.  He had a fun time and Ellie had fun once we cleaned up and paint and she was able to play too! :)

  
   

Can I please get in?

"this is how you do it"

Owen’s sleep

As all of you faithful readers know that Owen has never been a good sleeper.  Since he turned 2, we have had short periods of time where he sleeps through the night, but the last couple months have been awful.  He was waking once of twice and would SCREAM or run to bang on his door.  He would get even more upset if William tried to help him, going rigid or yelling at William to hold him standing up, weird things like that.  So that meant I was doing double baby duty at night. (I’m already praying if we ever have a #3 that God would be ever so gracious and give us at least one sleeper).

Since he responded well to a sticker chart for potty training, we decided to give it a try for sleep.  Well, a sticker chart alongside yet another round of tough love. When he woke up, I put him back in bed Super Nanny style with an “I love you, but it’s time to go to sleep.”  I would repeat 2-3 times and then let him cry.  The first awful night was about 1.5 hours of crying.  But night 2 was only 25 minutes and night 3 was 5 minutes.  Then, the next 3 nights he earned a sticker by not waking up at all or crying for us!  When William got home from work, they got to make a guy trip to the store and pick out any car or truck.  Score for William showing him a clearance truck that he loved!  haha His next sticker chart, he had to earn 4 stickers which he earned in 5 nights!  We are now sticker chart free and (prayerfully) will continue with his better sleeping. PS – doesn’t he look cute in his leather jacket and corduroys?  :)

the planning has begun

Mark your calendar folks.  The kids joint birthday party planning is fully underway!  

Ok, let me back up.  Last year I felt like a bad mom because I didn't do a party for Owen.  I just couldn't throw something together with a 4 week old.  So he "needs" a party this year.  And Ellie is 1 and who could resist throwing a big bash for everyone surviving the first year.  I didn't want people to have to come to 2 parties so close together and my budget couldn't deal with that either.  So I will be doing a joint party for them in May, between their birthdays.

I could not be more thrilled with how it's all coming together (at least in my head).  The theme for the party is going to be:

"Moo Moo, Come Join the Fun.  Owen is 3 and Ellie is 1!"

 

These are just a few of the pictures I’m using as inspiration.  Love that Pinterest has hidden boards so those of you who follow me on there can’t see everything ahead of time. :) I look forward to sharing some of the projects I do as I get ready and we're so excited that I've convinced my sister to fly here to take pictures of the event!

Pinned It, Did It Monday

Welcome to pinned it, did it Monday (it’s still Monday for a couple more hours here) where I share a few of the things that have inspired me from pinterest this week. L asked for a sock monkey hat for her daughter and I had been itching to try this cute pattern:

Source: Crochet Sock Monkey Hat from Repeat Crafter Me
My picture:My review: I love this gal’s patterns.  They are easy to follow and always produce nice results.  I made a mistake that I realized towards the end and had to rip a bunch out, so the hat took about twice as long as it should have.  But that was totally my fault.  Love how cute it is and hope it fits the recipient!I had seen this pin floating around Pinterest for awhile.  It’s a site dedicated to making healthier and “real” versions of a bunch of kid’s processed foods.  Now, let me preface that I probably have frozen corn dogs in my freezer somewhere and do not feel the least bit guilty for giving them to my boys.  But I decided to dip my toe into the water of healthier cooking.  haha

Source: Corn Dog Days of Summer from Out of the Box Food
My pictures: the ingredients (I didn’t go all crazy and buy new corn meal, mine is supposedly no good nor did I buy aluminum free baking powder. I just used what I had on hand.) right after frying:My Review:  I’ll admit to not being a huge corn dog fan.  But I must say, these were pretty darn good!  I have no idea how she got her batter to look so nice and smooth.  I cut the batter recipe in half and it made 5 corn dogs.  It was pretty quick, and after frying I just heated them in the oven for about 10 minutes to get the hot dog nice and hot.  William definitely approved!  I think I’ll be checking out some of her other recipes!Since starting my “diet”, I’ve been eating lots of chicken and using my George Forman a lot!  This was a cleaning tip I found.  The tip reads: “Right after using the grill, unplug it and place a wet double-sheet of paper towel between the lid and the surface. The leftover heat causes the towel to steam and clean the grill. Wiping it dry with another paper towel is all that’s needed.”

Source: Tip of the Week from Cooking Club
My Review (no pictures):  While it wasn’t perfect, it was DEFINITELY less scrubbing than I normally have to do.  Will be doing this on all future grilling!  

Have a great week everyone!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

It was one of those days.  The kind of day where if you don't just whip out your phone to document, you might start crying yourself.  

a few Owen videos

This post is for Avery. We loved the cards you made for us. Here's a few more videos of your buddy singing, jumping, and marching.   (He’s saying the “Little Zacchaeus” song when he’s talking about “you come down.”)

Pinned It, Did It Monday

Welcome to Pinned It, Did It Monday where I show you some of the things from Pinterest I actually did this week!I’m always on the lookout for cute, free hat patterns.  Love this gal’s website!

Source: Mickey and Minnie Mouse Hats from Repeat Crafter Me Me
My picture:  My review: such a cute hat and it was a VERY simple pattern!  Perfect for a Mickey Mouse baby shower I was attending. I’ve been on a recent kick to update my makeup a bit and buy some more “grown-up” products.  But I don’t really have the budget to overhaul everything.  Enter this site.

Source: Dupes from DrugStore Princess
My Review: Amazing site for finding cheaper versions of expensive makeup.  Used it to buy the eyelid primer pictured and a new lipstick this week.

Source: How to: Woven Scarf Knot by Side Walk Ready

My Review: a short video on how to tie this cute scarf.  I used it this week but didn’t get any pictures.

Sunday, January 27

They were looking so cute yesterday before church so I decided to snap some pictures. These were the best two I got.  Sigh.

I helped out in the nursery at church.  I just couldn’t get over how big my sweet little girl looked sitting having water and cheerios with the “big kids.”