Baby Scout

Here is Baby Scout. We went in for our ultrasound today and everything looks great, I am 19 weeks and 1 day so almost half way. It is hard to belive how soon this baby will be here with us. We are so thankful to have a healthy baby. The ultrasound technician was very good about not telling us the gender, when she was looking at certain parts of the baby she told us to look away. She does know and said that if we wanted to call back she could always tell us. Jon is completely content to not know, I am still kind of having a hard time with it. Addie and Ben came with us, Ben was tired and spent most of the time crawling around the room. Addie thought it was neat, but when we listened to the heart beat it was so loud it scared her and she spent the rest of the scan with her hands over her ears. I am sure we will have some interesting conversations in the coming days.
Here is a profile shot of our little baby, definitely looks like a Hilton baby.


Scout' precious little feet. To see these precious little feet the tech had to look above my belly button. The baby kept stretching out and wiggling around so much. Scout put both hands up near his/her face, gave us a thumbs up, and for most of the ultrasound had the hiccups. The hiccups were a first for me during an ultraound. Every ultrasound has been so different and this one was special to have the whole family there. The doctor said that everything looks great for Scout and I both. We are all looking forward to a great trip to Maine at the end of the week.

Bargain Shopping at Staples

I have been keeping up with my coupon shopping recently and I am still having so much fun. We have enough body wash, shampoo and conditioner, and tooth paste to last us quite a while. I am hoping that when Baby Scout gets here I won't have to worry about running to the store, unless I want to.
Today I had a fun day at Staples. I have always been a litte wary of rebates, but Staples has been so easy to use and the turn around time is the shortest of any rebate I have done. Right now a lot of the stores are doing back to school shopping, I still can't believe they are already doing back to school deals, it is still July. I will take advantage of the deals though. At Staples today I spent $43.82 out of pocket. The exciting part is that after 2 rebate checks and a rebate on a gift card I will only have spent $3.86. I buy our ink at Staples so the gift card will not be a problem for me to use. The backpack is going to be Ben's for his 'school' that he will go to this year and we will use the rest of the products or donate them in school supply drives.


I know some people have asked where I find some of the deals that I get and if you live in the Houston area my favorite blog is http://www.mylitterofsix.blogspot.com/. She posts a lot of deals and also talks about local deals. The two national blogs that I think are the best are http://myfrugaladventures.com/ and http://moneysavingmom.com/. There are so many blogs out there to help you save money and there is a certain amount of time that you ahve to put in, but once you get the hang of it you can save a lot of money with a minimal amount of effort. I will say for me it still feels like a hobby. I have always loved shopping and Jon is wonderful enough to let me have some time on the weekends to go and do the shopping.

We are going to the doctor tomorrow for Scout's 19 week ultrasound. We are taking the kids and Addie is very excited to see baby Scout. Hopefully we will have some cute pictures of baby Scout to show off tomorrow.

Saturdays at CFA

It seems like our Saturday lunch routine is a family trip to Chick Fil A. We used to just call it CFA when we were trying to decide if we were going there, but now Addie knows what CFA means. This week our local CFA did a Christmas in July special. They had Santa and the Cow elf and they gave away free milkshakes. It was a great day.
Ben loves to play with Addie. He usually just tries to climb up the slide and Jon or I spend the whole time pulling him back down so he doesn't get clobbered by the big kids. This week there weren't that many people so the kids were able to play.

This week we tried out the free peach milkshake, Ben was a fan, big surprise. I ended up putting some in a little cup for him, when I finally had to take that cup away from him in teh car he had a complete meltdown, he really likes his milkshakes.

Addie and Ben meeting Sanata. Addie was much more willing to meet with Santa now that she has made the connection that Santa brings presents. She climbed right up into his lap for a picture and proceeded to tell him what she wanted for Christmas, this week it is a Buzz Lightyear and a Woody. We explained to her that Santa is on vacation so she won't be getting any presents any time soon, she seemed okay with that.

Ben's new love

Bennett has mastered an important new skill this week, no he isn't walking yet. He has learned how to use a straw. Last night we needed to run to the store and while we were out we got a couple of milkshakes from Chic Fil A. Ben was very tired and was being kind of whiney. When we got home Jon gave him his straw to see if he could get anything and Bennett was in Heaven! He drank as much as Jon would let him have, it was adorable. We are going to have to start buying another milk shake for the kiddos to share when we do our favorite yummy treat.
Here are the kids posing for a cute sibling pic. Jon was right there to catch them if they started to wobble.

Ben and his new love.

Ben practicing his new skills with a spoon. He is learning so much right now it is hard to keep up.

This is something I am excited about. I have been looking for a new table for our breakfast nook for a while now. I loved our old table, we bought it shortly after we bought our first house and it has been a great table, but it was just too big for this space. I am already having trouble making my way around the table to clean and it is only going to get harder. When I found this little table on Craigslist I was so excited, it fit perfectly in the back of my wonderful mini van. Jon laughs at me because I love our kitchen and breakfast area so much more now, it is the little things for a stay at home mom.

4th of July

We were lucky enough to get to spend the 4th of July with our good friends the Landes Family. We drove up to the Woodlands Mall and parked our cars next to a nice grassy strip and then we headed over to the air conditioned mall for a little while.
On the way to the mall Ben had his first piece of watermelon.

The girls took a trip to Pottery Barn Kids, this is one of Addie's favorite stores to visit. Addie and Sarabeth had a great time checking out all of the cool toys and beautiful bedding.

From the mall we headed over to the fountains to let the kids have some fun.



We get asked all the time in Addie and Sarabeth are sisters. Addie is about 6 months older than Sarabeth, but they are almost the exact same size and they have very similar personalities.

Addie posing for the camera.

The girls were headed off to get balloon animals made.

We had some time to kill while we waited in line, I love their facial expressions.

After the fountains we headed back to our cars to wait for the fireworks. Ben dug into some more watermelon. We did feed him other things, but he makes such a mess while he enjoys his watermelon, it is too cute.

Sarabeth's little brother Nathan. He was such a good sport with all the heat. He was happy to stretch out on the blanket. I love little baby giggle and smiles.

While we waited for the fireworks we let the kids watch Toy Story 2. Addie loves the Toy Story movies right now, every day she tells me she wants a Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Penny doll for Christmas. The movie kept the kids happy while the adults got to visit.

It was a pretty late night for all of us, the fireworks didn't start until 9:30. Ben started to get a little worn out, but as long as he has a blanket he is a happy boy. It was a little stuffy in the back of the car and that is why the kids all look so sweaty, that and we live in Texas and it is just HOT all the time.

They did a couple of practice fireworks and each time Addie would cover her ears and keep them covered for a while.

Both kids ended up with me in the back of the car, they seemed to feel a little safer in there than out in the open. Once they got used to the fireworks they seemed to enjoy them.

Last year Ben was so tiny we didn't attempt to leave the house, this year we had so much fun celebrating the 4th with our good friends.

Fun times in Florida

My mother has collected hedgehogs for years. She has all differnt kinds and they are all over her house. Addison loves to find the different hedgehogs. This little tea set is always one of her favorites. This trip she brought another hedgehog to the party, so cute.

Addie helping Nannie to water the flowers. I don't know why Addie looks so mad, you would think she was used to me taking pictures of her by now.

Nannie has lots of beautiful flowers to water.

Addie loves the wind chimes, the wind never does a good enough job though, she always helps them out.

My parents were amazed at Ben's banana eating. He puts away a banana so fast you think he must have dropped part of it on the floor, but no. When Jon and I were at the beach I found this outfit for Ben and thought it was so apporpriate.
And he is not walking yet. He has taken a couple of steps, but crawling is easier so he is sticking with that for now.

GeeGee and Bennett having a talk after work one night.

We were able to have a playdate with some of our friends. We had such a fun time catching up with our friends.

Ben having his morning banana with GeeGee.

Here Ben had put almost the whole banana in his mouth, he was having a good time.

We had a great time visiting with our family. On Friday I loaded up the car and packed the kids in and we headed out for the trip home, just the three of us. Everyone was nervous about me making the drive by myself, but we had a good time. We only stopped once, to get gas and eat lunch and we were able to make the trip home in just 11 hours. I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and she told me not to do that again, thankfully I don't have any plans to make a trip that long by myself for a long time. It was defnitely worth it.

The Adventure begins

I know this post is way over due, but I have had my hands full here at home, better late than never, right?.
At the end of June we packed up the kiddos for an early morning start and left for our 12 hour drive to Florida. We had the kids in the car and we were on our way by 5 AM. We thought the kids would go back to sleep, but they were so excited they just wouldn't give in. I thought it would be a really long hard day, but the kids did great.

It did help that we had the built in DVD player as well as the travel DVD player. Addie got to watch Toy Story 1 and 2 on the trip.

Ben finally gave in and took a rest that morning.

He woke up hungry as usual. It was hard to give him snacks so I just handed back the whole container of puffs. He was so happy.

While Addie took her afternoon nap Ben got to use the DVD player for the first time. He is used to watching the built in movie in the van, but this was his first time with head phones. He didn't seem to mind them too much.

An hour from my parent's house we had to make an emergency stop. Ben was stinking up the van and when Jon went to change him we realized it was a big problem. Jon had it all under control, he is such a good dad.

How is it that kids know when you are getting close to your destination? Ben lost it about 20 minutes from my parents house. He was so ready to be out of his car seat. I gave him my cell phone so he could "talk". This is how he holds the phone, that or up to the back of his head. He does say Hi, it is too cute.

We finally made it to Nannie and GeeGee and Aunt Laura's house. We were all happy to be out of the car. Jon and the kids headed right for the pool.
This picture was taken the next morning. Everyone was up bright and early and ready for more water. I think my kids were part fish that week.


One more shot of all the kiddos in the pool.

Addie and Aunt Laura love watchign Princess movies together. Laura was a complete princess girl when she was Addie's age, it is so cute to watch them watch movies together now. I am not sure what is with the hamper on Addie. It is what all the toys go in so of course the first thing she does with it is dump all the toys out, she is such a little nut.



Here is Aunt Laura being a rock star and changing a very potent diaper that Ben had. Jon and I knew we were leaving our kids in very capable hands as we left them to have a weekend, just the two of us! This was my first time to leave Ben with anyone, and I think only my second time to leave Addie.


Our first stop once we left the kiddos was the new Panama City Beach Pier. I was a little surprised that we had to pay just to walk out on the Pier, but it was a beautiful day and the view was beautiful. We got to see a lot of people fishing and a few people even caught some fish.

The view from our hotel stairwell. The beaches were gorgeous.

This is how we spent quite a bit of our time. It was quite hot, but the pool was so nice and refreshing.


One of our goals of this trip was to get some good seafood. We found a great All you can eat crab leg buffet. Jon was in heaven. I really enjoyed myself too. We did talk quite a bit about how much Addie would love to get as many crab legs as she could eat. Isn't funny how much you talk about your kids when they aren't around?

Here is my first belly shot. I am 15 weeks in this picture. I have a little bit of a bump, but it depends on what I am wearing. Little Scout is growing strong.

Here we are on one of our evening walks. The beach is so beautiful and so peaceful at sunset. It is one of my favorite times at the beach.
It was so nice to have a weekend for the two of us to relax and have fun. We are so thankful that we have family that take such good care of our kids.

We had a great weekend together and on Monday morning Nannie and Aunt Laura brought the kiddos out to the beach for some fun. Unfortunately that was the morning that a terrible storm blew threw. We waited for the rain and lightening to stop and then we ran out the beach so that Addie could look for shells and play in the sand. She had been talking about it all weekend.
Here Addie is using a shovel that I used when I was a little girl. That shovel has played in sand and snow and been a lot of places. It is so neat to see Addie play with it now.

The weather was pretty bad that morning and my camera was not cooperating so I didn't get many good pictures. Ben did not like the sand at all. Every time we tried to put his feet in it he would get so mad. He was happy to sit with Nannie and Aunt Laura while Addie played.

Jon had to head home, but it was definitely a fun trip. The kids and I got to head back to the house for a fun filled week with family.