Snuggles

With school being back in session, Ian is back to going to daycare for a few hours a week. We really like his daycare - the ladies there are wonderful! Of course, it makes us feel good that Ian is always so happy to see us when we come pick him up. If both of us are there, he will go back and forth between the two of us at lightening speed. It definitely warms our heart!



Ian, we are just as happy to see you as you are to see us!!

Claymation

We were watching a claymation Bible story on Netflix today to see if Ian would like it (he usually prefers 3D Veggies). Ian wasn't really into it, but James was! James is a movie buff and is very interested in the making of just about any movie. I have to admit the claymation was pretty advanced, but I guess I just don't get into the same way. :-)

A few minutes later I noticed James standing at the kitchen counter with a piece of clay. He decided to make his own claymation! Without further ado, I present "The Little Guy".



Ian, you are so lucky to have such a talented Daddy! We always have fun seeing what creative projects he has for us.

This Week's Favs

I have to say, this has been a pretty exciting week in the couponing world. Earlier this week, LivingSocial had a great deal on Amazon gift cards. You could buy a $20 gift card for only $10!! One per person, so of course we got one for each of us! Kinda makes me want to have a ton of kiddos for the next time this rolls around...more people = more gift cards!


Then today, my Hip2Save lady told me about this great deal! 101 pieces of play food for only $5 shipped (sells for $33.95 on Amazon)! Ummm...yes please! Ian has just hit the point where he loves playing with food and gets an extra kick out of feeding us. I know play food is often thought of as a girl's toy, but lots of guys are chefs, right?

Lovin' couponing this month! So far we have only spent $180 to get $520 worth of products (and that's not even counting the full retail price of all the items...if something is marked down and I have a coupon, I only calculate how much I saved from the mark down price). This is one hobby that is paying off! I've still got a long ways to go though - I came across Melissa's blog last night - she only spends $40/week on groceries! I love reading how she does it and would love to be able to get to that point one day!

Last Week's Deals

Couponing and I have a love-hate relationship. I love the savings, but hate the learning curve. Since I seriously started trying to learn how to coupon well about seven months ago, I've told James at least once every two weeks that I quit. I had a million good reasons: it was too hard, I messed up, I didn't get the coupons in the right order and ended up paying more than I should have, I didn't get to the store before the week was up and wasted all that precious time gathering coupons for nothing, etc, etc.

Well, I didn't quit. I kept getting drawn in by good deals. And slowly but surely I'm starting to get the hang of it! I've started tracking my savings since January 1st and was shocked to see the totals today. $408 worth of products for $133!! Couponing (and catching clearance sales at the right time) and I are finally getting along!

Here's some of what I scored...

CVS

I had heard a rumor that the ECB coupon machine was printing out $10 off $10 purchases for Physicians Formula make-up at CVS. So, of course, I had to check it out with my CVS card and see if it was true. Unfortunately, when I scanned my card, all I got was $0.20/1 Dove candy bar. Sigh. Oh well. While walking around the store, Ian and I noticed a bunch of Christmas clearance still left. We got these cute shatterproof ornaments (I had already decided I was going with a peppermint themed tree next year, so these were perfect!), a few gift bags, bows, gift tags, and several gift boxes. (The tins were $0.30 each at Wal-Mart's 90% off clearance sale!)

Ian and I actually went to CVS several times this last week to see if I could get that wonderful coupon. No such luck. Sigh. BUT they were having a sale on Physicians Formula make-up, and I was able to get lipstick and blush for under $5 for both ($20 for both at regular price)! And I used my Dove coupon to get a candy bar, which was on sale.

Tonight Ian and I went to CVS for one more great deal. There is a coupon here for B1G1 (buy one, get one free) - pair that with CVS's sale for B1G1 free Orbit gum this week and you end up with lots of free gum. :-)

Wal-Mart

Ian and I lucked out Sunday! Unbeknownst to us, the Cowboys were at our Wal-Mart. Why? I have no idea. It was super packed though and I almost turned around and left once we got in the store and saw the lines. Instead I bought Ian a pack of cookies and decided to brave it. In the pretzel aisle, I heard people talking about storage tubs having just gone on sale for $1.50 each! As I walked to the next aisle, I started noticing people with carts piled high with red and green storage tubs. I decided it was something worth checking out and headed to the garden section. It was a ZOO!! People were being very nice, but those tubs were going fast! I only took a few...I knew I didn't need thirty million of them.

Maybe now we'll get our Christmas stuff put away. :-)

Target

Last week, Target did their semi-annual (unadvertised) 75% off toy clearance sale. I went to my first one back in July. This time, I knew I didn't need anything and didn't want to spend the money, so really wasn't planning on going. The way our errands worked this week, Ian and I ended up at Target on the day of the sale. Just for kicks, we went to the toy aisle. Yeah...nothing left!

One aisle over, where everything was only 50% off, I saw this cute little monster toy for the tub. You squirt the monsters and they make fun little noises. I decided to window shop instead of getting it though.

Half-way through the store, I realized my shopping list and envelope of coupons was missing! I just about had a heart attack! There was at least $30 worth of savings in that envelope. I prayed hard and retraced my steps. Fortunately, I had left it on the Hanes shelf back in the Big Sale section of the store. Whew!

Back home with all the goodies. $76 worth of groceries, diapers, and clothes for $40! Would have been less, except for I couldn't stay out of the clothes in the Big Sale section.

Ian had fun helping me stack everything.

Staples

While we were out, we also ran by Staples. I had $25 worth of rewards money from getting brochures printed for a workshop last year and decided to use it to buy myself an official couponing notebook (now that we are getting along) and baseball card inserts to put my coupons in. All of this was free for me using the rewards!

Naturalizer

I have definitely been needing new tennis shoes. Mine are probably four years old now and in desperate need of replacement. I've been looking for a while, but haven't been able to find any in colors or styles I liked or at a price I was willing to pay. This week, one of my coupon ladies posted a deal about getting $10 off at Naturalizer just for signing up for their newsletter. I decided to look around on their site and found these shoes for only $30 (normally $100)! They are the toning style, which I have never worn before, so hopefully they are comfy! With the $10 off, I got them for $20 (plus $6.50 shipping).


Couponing is still very time intensive for me, but it is starting to pay off! I'm excited to see what other deals come our way this year.

P.S. For those that are interested, I get most of my deal scenarios from www.hookedonbargains.com and www.totallytarget.com.

19 & 20 Months

Well, Ian's nineteen month update on the blog didn't happen. I meant to, but I was right in the middle of the Days of Christmas posts and just didn't get to it. And then I forgot what I was going to post. Terrible, huh? Everything started running together with the next month. And now Ian is TWENTY months old! No longer a teen toddler. Sigh. My baby is growing up. After some serious thinking, I did manage to remember a few of his nineteen month updates, so I thought I would just throw them in with the twenty month ones. Without further ado, here they are!

At nineteen months, Ian:

* Now signs "eat" and "drink". In fact, that is how he greets me every morning. I go in to pick him up out of his crib and he immediately starts signing "eat" and "drink".

*Has all of the sudden started verbally responding to his movies at appropriate places. If something crashes (even off screen), he will say, "Uh-oh!" If something funny happens, he laughs! And this is with no prompting from us or from a laugh track on his movies. It amazes us - he almost always laughs at the right time and often it is when a joke is being told. He seems much too young to understand all that yet, but perhaps he does. He is at least picking up on musical and character clues to know what the intended response is.

* Loves, loves, loves the song "If you are happy and you know it..." He and I were driving one day and I heard a "doo-day" from the back seat. I didn't think anything of it, figuring he was talking to his book. A few seconds later I heard it again, followed by a third "doo-day" another few seconds later. I started tuning in to the music playing and realized he was "shouting hooray!" along with the other Veggies, who were singing "If you're happy and you know it". We had not sung this song to him except maybe once a long time ago, so I was pretty surprised to hear him singing along! It is now his favorite song though and he will clap, stomp his feet, point to his cheeks (for the "your face will surely show it" part), and shout hooray. We love singing this song with him and watching his little face light up.

* I'm sure there are a bunch of other things that happened this month, but I can't remember which month was which! Sorry buddy - Mommy didn't do a good job keeping track this month!

Moving on...at twenty months, Ian:

* Ian holds Mommy's hand from the car in the parking lot all the way inside the store!! This is a huge change and I love not having to carry him in to the store any more!

* STILL loves "If you're happy and you know it...". We sing this song A LOT! It almost always gets him in a good mood. :-)

* has really developed an interest in reading (if you can call it that...haha). When we came back from our trip to Grandaddy and Grammy Jen's house the last week of December, the first thing he did was sit down and read ALL of his books. Even if he pulled it off the shelf and just looked at one page, he had to touch every single one of them. We thought for sure he would have missed some of his other toys more! He's also getting to the point where he will let us read a whole book to him. His current favorite is "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (which has several verses). He often sits in his wagon in the living room to read his books.

* cracks up at the puppets on the "My First Signs" dvd. He'll actually sit all the way through this dvd now. James put it on one day last week to see if he would watch it or if we should put it up for a while, and Ian watched the whole thing!

* has been on a wonderful sleeping schedule. After Christmas at Gramma K's, he started going to sleep around midnight and getting up about noon. This schedule worked GREAT for us and allowed James and I to catch up on some much needed rest! He usually sleeps through the night too (as long as James and I change his diaper before we go to bed).

* also has his morning routine down. When he wakes up, James will usually go get him out of his crib. He then runs into our room, hands me my glasses from the night stand (soooo cute!), grabs my finger, and pulls me out of bed to the kitchen for breakfast. I'll open the freezer, hand him a frozen waffle, and then pick him up so he can put it in the toaster. He'll also try and push the toaster button down, although he still needs a bit of help. He also knows when his waffle is done just by the sound of it popping up!

* is learning to sign "movie" instead of hitting the TV when he wants to watch something. We're making progress on him remembering to sign instead of hit!

* will eat Yogos any time day or night!

* helps with Mommy's chores. He's actually pretty good at stacking plastic plates from the dishwasher and putting wet clothes that I hand him into the dryer. I've decided we need to add "laying still during diaper change" to his chore list. Too bad he doesn't understand (or care!) that we would give him gold stars if he did this!

* loves to drink from "big boy" cups. He will carry a cup of water to and fro, set it down, take a sip, set it down again, take another sip, etc. He can be entertained for quite a while with a cup!

* has another new favorite snack - popcorn! He loves watching it pop in the microwave and will settle in with a big bowl to watch Veggie Tales or just chill with Mommy or Daddy. We've done a good bit of relaxing this month, so this picture sums up last month nicely!

I'm sure there is more, but these are the main things I can think of right now. Ian - you are growing and changing so quickly! You are definitely turning into Mommy and Daddy's little boy - you are not a baby anymore! We still love all the little hugs, snuggles, and kisses though! I don't think we will ever get tired of those!

Do the Monster Bath!

I really do love my coupon blogs I follow. I've already found some great deals this month! They are very dedicated to posting new deals and it is amazing how much money we can save by doing what they do. Unfortunately, there are so many good deals that we can't take advantage of them all. This Kohl's deal was one of those.

Remember this cute monster towel that Noah and Ian got for Christmas?

Well, unbeknownst to me, Kohls carries a complete monster bath line. Cute towels...

Tons of bath coordinates... (I love the two lotion pumps and the toothbrush holder!)

A monster shower curtain with Mom friendly messages...

Adorable hooks to hang the shower curtain by...

And the cutest bath rug ever!

And it was all 30% off already marked down prices! Sigh. I really blame Libby for getting me hooked on monster cuties in the first place! But I was a good girl and didn't spend a single penny on any of this great stuff. Maybe one day though. Ian turns two in just a few months and it might be time for a monster bath redo... :-)

Letters

This past Sunday night, Ian had such a great time in the bath with his letters (last year's Christmas present from Mommy and Daddy). Mommy was at work, but Daddy did a great job taking pictures of our littler speller.

Hmmm...where should this one go?

Apparently he figured out how to get all his ducks in a row. :-) Now if only Mommy could do that...

Ian often sticks one or two letters on the wall, but James said he did all of these by himself! I think he must have been playing his own version of Scramble with Daddy.

Well, little buddy, keep it up and you'll be beating Mommy and Daddy at spelling games in no time!

Sometimes...

...everything just goes your way.

Yesterday it snowed.

Beautiful snow that didn't stick in our area, but snow nonetheless.

Daddy got an amazing school schedule today!

Because of a few advisor meeting requirements, James wasn't able to register until today. That's fairly late in the game...many of the classes are full and the best class times are taken. We've been praying about his schedule and God totally answered that prayer! His earliest class is at 11am!! AND he got into ASL II, which tends to fill up very quickly. (There were only three seats left when he went to school to meet with the advisor this morning.) Most of his classes are on Mondays and Wednesdays with just a short one hour class on Friday. That means he has two days off every week for subbing and Fridays for drum lessons or whatever. We are super excited about his schedule! (Ha - especially me! I am really looking forward to him being in ASL II.)

When he got home from school this afternoon, Ian couldn't jump into his arms fast enough. After some good hugs, Ian pulled Daddy into the bedroom for some good snuggle time while they watched Veggie Tales. (Ha - in case you can't tell, our bedroom is our winter cleaning project.)

Ian sure loves snuggling with Daddy while watching Veggie Tales.

I lost 3.5 lbs last week by following Weight Watchers! (I hadn't lost anything the week before and thought I wasn't going to lose anything this week either, so that was a very nice surprise!) And I got to work out today while my boys were watching Veggie Tales.

And to top it off - Ian is still sleeping in until noon! How we got so blessed to have our baby on a little teenager schedule, I have no idea. But for the first time since he was born, I'm getting to sleep for seven hour stretches at a time. I had just about given up on getting quality sleep like that! We're going to have to adjust his schedule a bit, but since Daddy doesn't have early morning classes, we can keep him on a later schedule and all get some good rest this semester!

Sometimes, just sometimes, everything goes your way! We're having one of those days and I am loving it! And I hope everything is going your way today too!

Playdoodle Messages

The other day I walked in Ian's room and saw this:

Isn't that sweet? Ian hearts Mommy. I heart him too! And this afternoon, I walked into Ian's room after a wonderful three hour nap (courtesy of my wonderful hubby since I only got three hours sleep last night due to our teething buddy) and saw this:

It says, "Mommy iz prittee and nise. I luv her varee much." Melts my heart! What sweet boys I have!

Poor little munchkin has had a very hard two days. He has a slight cough and is teething. makes for some good post-bath cuddles!

Poor little Ian. He was crying inconsolably earlier. Nothing worked - Veggie Tales, another bath, going outside, his sippy cup. Finally we thought to give him orajel and he quit crying instantly. Thank goodness for orajel! He was snuggling with Daddy after that watching Veggie Tales chomping on his fingers. And, of course, right before I took the picture, he took his hands out. Better for his fingers though...don't want those things gnawed off!

Thank you boys for my wonderful playdoodle messages! I am so blessed! Ian - we hope you feel better soon!

Simple Things

In the midst of post-holiday schedule, gearing up for a new semester, and trying to fit in all our extra projects, we got a bit of family down time tonight. Shrek 4 and vanilla ice cream.

I tell you what - it's the simple things in life that make it all worthwhile! Thank you, Daddy and Ian, for a wonderful evening together. I love you both more than words can say!

Wagon Ride

Earlier this week we took Ian on a wagon ride. He loves his wagon from Nana and Pop-Pop and this was his first outdoor ride in it!

He did very well. We weren't sure if he was going to want to get out and walk, but he was quite content sitting there.

He loved looking down at the ground and watching everything go by.

It was so cute how he would carefully hold on to the sides, but crane his head over as far as he could to watch the sidewalk whizzing by.

This wagon even comes with four sippy cup holders! After a bit, Ian decided he was a pretty good sippy cup holder himself.

Once we hit the park, we got Ian out to play. Of course, at that point, all he wanted to do was run!

With such a good grip on his sippy cup, Mommy is already dreaming about having a little football star...haha.

Thank you again, Nana and Pop-Pop, for the wonderful wagon! I know we will spend many hours with it!

Blessed

As the end of one year has drawn to a close, and the beginning of another has started, I've thought quite a bit about how blessed we are. God really has done a lot in our lives this past year. We've made and grown some great friendships, been able to move into a house, and both been able to go back to school. We have wonderful family, most of whom we've gotten to see within the last month and a half.

If this last year is any indication of what is in store for Ian as he grows up, he's set for a wonderful life. I'm sure he will have his hardships and struggles and will have to do without many times, but he has wonderful supportive friends and family.

Being the first of the year, we have several projects we'd like to tackle. Some are rather large in scope, some are as mundane as getting the house clean. Today we started on the latter. While James and I cleaned and put away Christmas gifts, Ian chilled on our bed watching Veggie Tales. He's starting to sit for longer periods of time, so it's cute to watch him veg out.

James had him propped up on our bed...I don't think these picture show how cute it really was!

We also got out his play tent and tunnel we got him for Christmas. He was less than thrilled about it. I guess we'll have to see if he warms up to it. Not even Daddy sitting in the tent with his favorite cookie jar could convince him to give it a try.

Our neighbors had invited us over for pizza, so got to share a yummy dinner with them. Ian did great and wolfed down a huge dinner. James, Serina, and Isaac sure know how to make our little boy happy! After dinner, the Jameses and the boys sat down to play toys.

One of Ian's favorite features of their house is their stairs. He climbed up and down them several times. In fact, he wore himself out so much that he fell asleep in his high chair at 7:40pm! This is only the second time ever he's fallen asleep in his high chair!

James, Serina, and Isaac - thank you for a wonderful dinner and play date! We'll have to have you over soon! Happy New Year, everyone!