Good times

My Mom let me know tonight that it has been too long since I posted pictures of the kids. Forgive me if any of these are duplicates, I am feeling a little scattered lately.

Addie has loved having her nails painted ever since her Aunt Laura did it over Easter. She had just taken a bath and I had painted her fingers and toes and she was waiting for them to dry. She is such a little princess when she gets her nails painted.

Addie and Ben both love 'helping' me do laundry. Addie has gotten really good about helping me put clothes in the dryer, Ben usually just stands in the way, but he looks so happy and proud of himself doing it.


Our church celebrated their 40th anniversary last week. They had a little carnival for the kids. This was our first attempt to get Addie on the ride. She waited in line with Jon and then screamed when he put her in the car, we did not make her stay on, but we did try again with another ride.

The next ride started out a little bit better, but

by the end she was screaming. All of the parents standing around were looking for the parent of the little banshee. I felt kind of bad when I kept snapping pictures, but there was nothing else I could do so I thought I should document her misery.

Ben is such a sweet little boy. I can't believe he is almost a year old, but I love that he is such a cuddler. He loves his blankets and when he is sleepy he will snuggle up and suck his thumb. It is so nice to just cuddle with him. I try to enjoy these moments because they are going so quickly.

The kids love books and being read to. Ben likes to do whatever his big sister does so when she brings me a book he settles in to listen too. I don't know what I am going to do when my belly gets bigger, I guess we will have to move to the couch to make sure we have enough room. Yes, Addie does seem to spend a lot of her time almsot naked. I try to keep clothes on her, our rule is that she is not allowed to go outside without clothes on.

Jon's friends, Jerry and Martha, invited us over to their house to go swimming. Addie and Ben both love water so we knew we would have a great time, we were lucky enough to meet two great new friends. Addie and Ben loved Jerry and Martha. We had a ton of very yummy food and a lot of fun conversation.
Addie thinking about getting in the water.

Ben having so much fun riding around the pool. He kept getting cold and his little lip would shiver, but he would still be smiling. He is such a happy little man.

Everyone having a good time talking and playing.

This is my new favorite picture of Addison. I have such a hard time getting a good picture of her with a genuine smile so this picutre makes me happy. She was playing with Jerry, he was splashing her and she kept running away and giggling. It was great.

Ben and his new best friend Martha. They were having fun singing and dancing.

Jon and Ben shared some ice cream and it was so funny to watch. Ben's little mouth would open every time Jon lifted the spoon, even if the bite wasn't meant for him.


We have been staying pretty busy, I have not been feeling that great, but thankfully it comes and goes so we are able to get things done in between my bouts of not feeling so hot. Addie's 'school' is out for the summer so now we are planning more playdates with our friends. Right now we are looking forward to a visit from Grandma and Poppa this weekend! I hope everyone's summer is starting out as fun as ours.

Saving Money

If you have talked to me in the last couple of months you have probably heard about my new hobby, coupon shopping. I love to shop. I love to shop for all kinds of different things and there is a community of women out there who love to shop too, and they find amazing deals. I have always loved to bargain shop, but these women take it to a whole new level. I did my usual Sunday afternoon CVS and Walgreens trips. I wanted to show you all that you can save money on the things you use everyday. Yes, it takes time, and you have to find a system that works for you, but I love it. It is such a challenge for me to see how much money I can save and how much good stuff I can get that we actually use.
I went to CVS first. Here is a pic of everything I left with.

I spent $3.80 for everything in this picture, and I still have $13 in Extra Care Bucks to use next week. I used a combination of manufacturer's coupons, store coupons, and extra care bucks that I earned last week.
Then I went to Walgreens

I spent $.87. That is right, not even a dollar. Today's paper has the gillette coupons that you can combine with a deal on the body wash and I had Register Rewards from last week too.

I first got into this when I stumbled on a website called www.Moneysavingmom.com. My friend, April, had the link on her blog. I spent some time looking around and realized these ladies were on to something. Money Saving Mom had some links on her blog that led me to www.myfrugaladventures.com. Those are still 2 of my favorite blogs to check. There are other store specific blogs, www.totallytarget.com and www.wildforwags.com. They don't just talk about couponing either. They give links for freebies, free magazine subscriptions and a lot of great deals out there on the internet. There are hundreds of different money saving blogs out there. Depending on where you live and what you are trying to save money on there is a blog for you. These ladies can be a little crazy about 'stock piling' and buying coupons, but after reading their blogs for a while you will see that they have good hearts. Some of the families have been able to pay cash for their house, manke it through law school with no debt, and they all donate a lot to their communities.

I know this post is a little different than what I normally do, but I was so excited about today's trip. They are not always this good, but if you keep up with your coupons and the sale flyers you can find some great deals. I hope you are all having a great weekend. We are going to take the kiddos to our church for a carnival, our church is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
And here is a picture of the kids, because I don't think I can post something with out a picture. We went to a local fountain with some friends. The kids had so much fun playing in the water.

Our newest addition

You may recognize this picture from our Easter post. It is one of my favorite pictures right now of the kids. In case you can't read what is across the bottom it says "We had a great time at Easter but guess what Santa is bringing us for Christmas!" That's right, Addie and Ben are going to get a little brother or sister for Christmas. We are so excited and slightly overwhelmed that we will be a family of 5 by the end of the year. We had our first ultrasound this weekend and they saw a healthy little baby with a heartbeat of 156. My due date is December 19. We are so excited to be able to share this exciting news with all of you.
I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.

11 Months

It is so hard for me to believe that our little man is 11 months old. I am planning his party right now, but it doesn't seem like his first birthday is just around the corner. He is still a very sweet little boy, but he has had a harder time sleeping through the night this month than he has since he was a baby. He seems to be getting back on track this wee though. He has 6 teeth, but more are on their way. He likes to bite me to get my attention. He doesn't bite Jon, but he chomps down on my neck or my legs, whenever he gets the chance.
He has started cruising, but he is still not ready to start walking. I am okay with him not walking yet. He loves to play in the play area at Chick fil A and at the mall. I don't remember Addie playing in those places until she could walk, but Ben loves them. He climbed half way up the slide at Chick fil A the other day. He loves when you sing, he starts clapping when you sing. It is so precious.
He is such a sweet boy, we love him so much.

Happy Birthday Addie!

I know it is cliche, but I can not believe that our little girl is three. We had such a fun day celebrating Addie. Friday morning Addie got a cookie bouquet from her Nannie and GeeGee and Aunt Laura. Addie loves the cookies.

She dug right into a butterfly cookie.

Later that day a package came from Nana and Uncle Bim in Maine. They sent the cutest gardening set. Addie decided she wanted to try it out right then. Thank you so much Nana and Uncle Bim.



That night after Daddy got home we let Addie open the rest of the presents from family. Here is a picture of Addie ripping into her present from Grandma and Poppa.

She was so excited to find a Tiana doll! She loves Princess and the Frog, we are actually watching it right now while Addie eats another butterfly cookie and plays with her Tiana doll.


Uncle Chris and Aunt Rene sent a beautiful Sleeping Beauty dress and crown. Addie is in princess Heaven.

A super cool lap top from Aunt Wendy, Uncle Joe, and Mikey.

Ben got a couple of special treats too. Nana in Maine sent him a teddy bear that he gave some loving to and Grandma and Poppa sent him a set of keys. He loves them and thinks they taste really yummy.

I am one hapyy Momma! Thank you to everyone who made our little girl's day so special.