Tea Time!

Enjoying "dessert."

Ready to pour another cup.

She got this tea set for her first birthday. She loves it! The tea pot sings and talks and A dances whenever the songs play.

Using her fork, kinda.

We have tried utensils recently. She knows it's supposed to get to her mouth, but can't quite figure out why there's never anything on it. We're working on it!

Her hands just seem to do the trick! Oh well!

I would like to say, she won't go to kindergarten still eating with her hands, but who am I kidding?! This is my husband's child we're talking about here!

Playing in the Dishwasher

I don't know why we spend money on toys, she just plays in the dishwasher anyway! Her little jammies were soaked, but she was occupied while I finished picking up the kitchen. Don't worry, this time the dishes were clean. No mashed potatoes here!

Freezing in the Park

Thought it might not be a bad idea to go to the park today...turns out, it was! After having seen -27 on a thermometer or even +16, 50 sounds like a day at the Bahamas. Not the case. I'm sure it took me longer to thaw than it did the baby because after we had been in the car for a while I was still unable to feel my toes and A was screaming and drenched in sweat!

I'm back and saving more money than ever!

UPDATE: KEEP SCROLLING DOWN...I CHEATED AND BACKDATED THE BABY'S BIRTHDAY POST, SAD, I KNOW.

More than ever? I never really saved anything before! I was the one to be too embarrassed to use my coupons, whoopie saved $.65 that time, hardly worth it. Until now. The whole idea is to strike while there are sales with coupons in hand. I've learned a lot from moneysavingmom.com, but most of my inspiration has come from my very own sister.

I'm super excited about my trip to K.roger today! I save 77%! Total before sales/coupons/discounts $32.7o; total after $8.55 with tax! The baby even clapped at the checkout stand! The guy that was "observing" the self-checkout was probably just checking to make sure that I rang everything up correctly. I also made a stop at A.ldi for fresh veggies and picked up some butter while I was there, since we don't have any. I spent just over $11 there. And the last stop was at D.ollar G.eneral for canned chicken. I use it all the time and for $.66 with tax, who can beat that?! That brings my total for groceries today to a whopping $21! (total value before sales/coupons= $46.65) I've just started with coupons and I don't think I'll be stopping anytime soon! The less I spend on things we need, i.e. groceries, the more we have to put towards debt or fun stuff....OK maybe the debt first and then the fun stuff. How did you save money this week?

5 lb bag navel oranges

3 avocados

grape tomatoes

1 lb butter

3 zucchini

1 "thing" cauliflower (not sure if it's a head or bunch or what) (don't judge me!)

2 green giant valley fresh steamer bags

2 cans r.otel

2 cans turkey h.ormel chili

4 cans c.ampbell's healthy request soup

2 reg bags k.raft shredded cheese

2 reg blocks k.raft cheese

2 cans chunk chicken

Our Little Girl

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! It doesn't seem like one whole year ago we welcomed you into the world. The day was full of much anticipation and wonder. We learned so much about you that day and continue to learn more and more as every day passes!

Baby's First Birthday

A's birthday is not until the 16th of this month, but we decided to celebrate early since her daddy has to head out tomorrow. :( She's just so stinking adorable!! She had so much fun. She took a really good nap and woke up shortly before the first guest arrived, so she was quite happy for the party. She really enjoyed her cake. It took her a minute to get started, but then she got on a roll. When we sang "Happy Birthday" she was tickled. She giggled with a hug smile on her face while we sang.

Enjoying the birthday song or the attention, I'm not quite sure!

She got a headband and I put it on her head; she promptly took off her hair bow and handed it to Michele. "Only one, Mom!"

She actually got to open some presents. I ended up opening all of her Christmas presents, so this was actually the first present she's opened! Shame on me...I know.

This was the cake she got to tear in to.

She really got into it and started to shove it in pretty quickly. I have a little video...but don't have the patience to put it on right now. Hopefully I can do that soon.

Self Procaimed "Man-M.artha S.tuart"

My awesome humble husband has been making antler art. He made a lamp for my parents that I don't have a picture of right at the moment. He wanted me to post pictures of his "awesome-ness."

This candle"bra" is for a special dungeon master...hopefully I will get this in the mail soon. :)

This candle"bra" we have decided to keep for ourselves. I look forward to more antler art when he gets a chance to find more sheds.

Time in LA

Playing in the monkey grass.

The weather was not what I'm used to at Christmas time. We brought long sleeved outfits for the whole time...we pulled our sleeves up just about every day and never donned jackets! We sat out in the front yard a couple of times without shoes. I didn't mind the weather, just not around Christmas!

A slept the entire evening and this is the only picture that I snapped on New Year's Eve. I've been forbidden from posting chosen not to post about our eventful uneventful New Year's festivities. Happy New Year!!

There really is a new post!

I'm back! Boy has it been insane!! The last couple of months are a bit of a blur. I am hoping to get everyone up to speed with pictures and words on our lives...we'll see. We'll just start at Christmas since I didn't get any pictures until that point! Sad, I know. My mother has one picture on her camera that I took of Thanksgiving day. Very sad! I kept taking my camera and forgetting that the batteries were shot!

Christmas day at Court and Joe's house.

Opening her stroller from Uncle Trev and Auntie Nat.

Loving on her new doll and stealing another gift from one of her cousins...that seemed to be a theme of this Christmas!

It is tradition in my family to make sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. This year Caleb added a new ingredient to our recipe...snot! He was coughing and sneezing all over, poor kid. He coughed so hard he got sick, thankfully we shielded the cookies from that ingredient, but I still was unable to eat any of them. Even if Trevor thinks the oven "cooked out the germs."

Does anyone recognize the "dead" sugar cookies?!


This is actually not on Christmas day. We waited for a box to come from A's grandma, but didn't get it until coming home from Christmas vacation. I decided to put her bib on anyway. Hey, I did give her turkey!