Free Christmas Cards

Have you ever tried Shutterfly? They are a great online photo storage/ printing site that also does cards and photo gifts. They have really nice photo books as well, probably my favorite of any that I have made. Right now they are apparently giving 50 Christmas Cards to bloggers who write about them on their blogs... You should check them out if you need Christmas gifts or cards!

If you are a blogger, give them a shout and maybe get some for free for yourself?

click here for details

And thanks for humoring me!

Maybe I should write about my kids soon?

Finally, a Two-fer!

My parents bought Alyssa a big Radio-Flyer wagon for her first birthday. She loves to ride in it when we go for walks, but I've been longing to use it with two kiddos, the way it was designed. There are 2 seats that face each other to allow the kids to play... we finally got to do it a couple weeks ago! Andrew is finally stable enough to handle it. Check it out!

Quote of the Day, and a Pic or two

Best thing I've heard in a while... gave me a good laugh

"Mommy, I need to be naked right now. I need to put the sunshine on."

-Alyssa, 3-year-old streaker


Aaaaaaaand, if that weren't enough, here's a couple cuties!

Look Who...

can sit up by himself!

And in other, BIGGER news, look who is COMPLETELY POTTY TRAINED!!!!!


And, just because I think he is very handsome and I love him and this picture of him, look who is my bestest friend...


I'm a happy Mommy! Now, if we can just start sleeping through the night...

I'm in Love!

Mike and I have been working very hard to get our bills down over the last couple of months. We have both read Dave Ramsey's book "Total Money Makeover" and are committed to getting ourselves out of debt before the kids even know what they were missing. We have cut cable and Netflix subscriptions, changed phone and cell service, raised the temperature in the house... you name it, we have done it! Or, if you can think of something we may not have tried, please shoot us a note and let us know about it!

Most recently, we have started full-force couponing. I have always clipped coupons to some extent, but I tended to forget that I had one for something I needed or I found that the store brands were just cheaper. I never thought I could make much of a dent in the grocery bill, especially since we now have 2 little mouths to feed!

Boy was I wrong! I took a class at work from a coworker's daughter who is the master and has been saving her family tons of money every month for several years. She says she typically spends about $50 a month on groceries! it sounds impossible, right? WRONG! With the right info and mindset, we have already saved over $500 in the last month!

Already, we have more food to snack on and more choices for dinner every night. We are stocking up on cheap or free stuff using sales and coupons and having fun in the process! I've even been able to share the spoils with friends and family and am looking forward to being able to do that regularly.

As a super side effect, Mike and I have been having a blast working together on this common goal/ hobby and have been having the most fun we've had in years! We're so into this that we're even guilty of stopping by drugstores for freebie trips on a couple of recent dates and giggling in various clearance sections! Who'd have ever thought that working to get our family in a better financial situation would result in us sharing a new hobby that we enjoy and bringing us closer together? I'm newly in love all over again... both with my husband AND our hobby, hehehehe!

Baby peek-a-boob ... er, I mean boo

Gotcha with the post title, huh?  Thing is, what I'm about to relate isn't that far off.  Now that Andrew is slightly over 4 months old, he has decided that we just aren't giving him enough attention.  I mean, who doesn't literally stick their foot in their mouth when given the cold shoulder treatment?  Amazing as this feat is (no pun intended), baby Andrew has an even better trick in store.

First, some background.  Since babies are notoriously selective about what they would consider funny, I've had to resort to the time-tested activity of peek-a-boo to make him laugh.  Over and over again.  Cheesy wide open mouth and eyes and everything. But hey, it works and I'm a sucker for repetition.

Anyway, the other day, Jennie and I were preparing to herd the kids upstairs for bedtime.  Alyssa had already raced up the steps (no doubt so that she could prepare her stalling tactics), so I picked up Andrew and mentally prepared myself for the 30 minute "calming down" routine.  Only, I looked down to see that Andrew was acting ... hungry.  As usual, I started joking to Jennie that he was going to be severely disappointed, but then I noticed something different about this situation: he wasn't trying to eat, he was hiding.

Yes, hiding.  What I had mistaken for dinner time behavior was actually the beginning of several minutes of baby peek-a-boo.  He would hide his face in my chest, then whip it around towards us with wide open eyes and a huge smile on his face, then whip it back into my chest.  The more we laughed, the bigger his smile got.  Such an attention monger.  Of course, by the time Jennie was able to get the camera over to me to record these antics, he had grown bored and quit. 

Oh well, maybe next time.  Uh, and sorry for the long hibernation. Maybe I'll actually start posting again ...

3. Wow.

Well, Alyssa is 3. We are definitely treated to her "theatrical threes" already! She's incredibly imaginative and creative. We're having so much fun watching her play Mommy to her baby dolls (and, of course, her baby brother!) She's coloring every day (and "in the lines," too, thanks to some careful tutoring by Tula!) and drawing things that we can actually recognize. Look how much she's changed...

Halloween

Halloween was fun... the attached album has pics from the office when a few of us brought our babies. Alyssa refused to wear her costume of course (when, exactly, can we expect the terrible twos attitude to be over?), but Cheyann and Thomas were good sports. Allison and Ashleigh came up to the house for trick-or-treating and even dressed up with us. Alyssa wasn't sure what she thought of it at first, but was completely on board once she saw the candy in her basket.

Allison brought her projector and were player the Thriller video and Nightmare Before Christmas on the garage doors for the trick-or-treaters. Everyone thought it was so cool, including the Rolesville Chief of Police who pulled up on his segway to tell us we had the coolest house in town!



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October '09

October was lovely... my favorite month of the year, as always. The weather is so nice, the colors are beautiful, and it doesn't hurt that my birthday is in October, either! The attached album has pictures from the pumpkin patch where we went on my birthday. Alyssa points it out every time we drive by, even though it is long gone!

The first 2 pictures in the album are of Alyssa in her Greek "booty-shakin' " belt from my parents. The girl has moves! I hope to put up a video once I learn how.

The last bunch are from the trip Allison, Ashleigh and I took to Asheville for the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair... sounds riveting, I know, but it was so cool! We all love knitting and really enjoyed looking at all of the different yarns and projects. We had a great time eating out, watching movies and enjoying each others' company in the beautiful mountain weather. We even went "apple-picking" at Sky Top orchard. We had to buy apples that they had picked because there were none left on the trees, but the view was worth the nearly terrifying drive to the top of the mountain.

I hope we can do it again!



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Remember Me?

I had almost given up on posting! It is amazing how quickly life has flown by these last 8 months or so! The pregnancy was great once I got past the first trimester, then things really started rolling when Andrew arrived. I think I'll get back into the swing of things on here by slowly catching you up to speed.

In September, we went to Myrtle Beach with Mike's family. We had a great time! Alyssa was very brave the first time we took a walk on the beach... she was quickly soaked from head to toe from the waves. I guess she decided it was a bit too much, however, since she was nervous about the water for the whole rest of the trip.

She really enjoyed spending time with Grammie, Grandy, Jeff and John... so much so, that she STILL talks about going to the beach with them. She can't wait for their visit next week!



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