Kids photos

We took the kids to get their pictures tonight and I am thrilled with the results! They did such a great job! Enjoy!

What's in your washing machine?

This is what I found in mine this morning, the rocks-not the sun glasses (I was just using those so you could an idea of how LARGE the rocks were) after moving Luke's clothes to the dryer.....I think it is time to start cleaning out his pockets before bed time.

Operation Christmas Child

Well- I have started gathering all of my CVS deals and other good buys and placing them in a bin marked "Operation Christmas Child". So far we have enough to fill 3 shoe boxes! My goal was only 2 (one from each child) but since I have excess I figured why not bless another child too??!! I have been able to put a notebook, colored pencils, Q-tips, a bar of soap and a package of 10 pens in each shoe box thus far. I went to look for pencil sharpeners today, but got distracted- so that is my goal for this week. I found out that we can add a personal note and photo of our family in each box, so that will be a diffenent as well. I am excited to take Luke shopping and have him help me choose the more "fun" items to add now. I hope this will be a good lesson for him and something that both of our children look forward to each Christmas. If you have never heard of Operation Chirstmas Child-here is a link:Operation Christmas Child....it is an awesome ministy that really tugs at my heart, especially since we have little ones now that are so blessed.

Good Morning!

Geesaman Visit

Kate and Aaron stayed overnight on Sunday night and did we make the most of that visit! We started out with church on Sunday morning and then took the kids to The Shoppes for lunch. We got there and it was Kids Day, so the boys bounced in the big bounce houses and we saw Tigger and a dunk tank and balloon hats and face painting....it was lots of fun and when we came home the boys both took great naps so that Kate and I could go couponing!!!! Oh and we each snagged a free paper from the mall as well! (They were giving away free copies and who can turn down free coupons??!!)

Once nap time started we left the house (and the kids!!) and went to Walgreens for some make-up deals, but decided against them once looking more closely. We ran to Aldi's and to Cub's for a few things and then came home to get ready to cook out. The boys played outside while Mick cooked for us and had a great time! Emily hung out with us in the house while we prepared the rest of the meal. After dinner we all enjoyed some ice cream! Yummy!!!!!!! The kids were all pretty tired, so we gave them baths and put them down for bed and Kate and I began going thru all of their stuff that we have been storing. Kate did a wonderful job of down sizing and was able to give 2 HUGE bags of clothes to Goodwill!! Good job Kate! We finished that up about 10:30 and headed to bed.

Monday morning we got up and I made Monkey Bread for everyone and we got the boys ready to head to a playdate- it was a messy playdate- that was the title- the boys were able to decorate cupcakes and cookies and play with a sand table full of Jell-O, slip-n-slide in Cornflour Goop and play
in a tent full of colored cooked spaghetti (red, blue, green, yellow)! Then they were able to play with some pudding finger paint and paint a giant sheet! The best part for them was probably splashing in the water at the end though to get cleaned up! Needless to say we wore those boys out! Kate had to run to meet another friend for lunch before heading to Springfield to see her family. She heads back to Texas next week, but will be staying with her mom until she leaves...thanks for the visit Kate! See you next summer!!!

.94 cents??!!

Yes- you read that right! I got all of this for .94! The Dawn was on sale for .88 cents and I had two coupons for .50 cents off. The Orajel toothpaste was buy one get one and I had a coupon for .55 off and the Crest was on sale for 2.50 earning 2.00 ECB's and I had two 1.00 coupons. The colgate was free from I coupon I had and I earned 2.00 on that as well. The sunglasses were 6.99, and I did not have any coupons for those, but Luke broke his last pair about a month ago and has been begging for a new set, and since I had to get my total over $20.00 to use a coupon I had to buy them.

Feeding Time??!!

We put little Emily in the highchair last night for the first time, she loved it but it made mommy very sad ;0( I can not believe my little girl is ready to start eating some food. Last night she just sat in it and played and tried to eat the toys on it, but we will be starting cereal with her in about a week or so. She is very ready, she loves to watch us eat and is always trying to grab at the food on our plates. Mick and I can not believe how fast she is growing up or how much she and Luke look alike!

**edited to add: I did another post about 3 minutes before this one-so make sure you check it out as well!

Go Cubs!

Our summer has been full of baseball games in the last few weeks. Pretty much one a week-Luke loves going to them and Emily is happy to be outside. It is making some great summer memories for Summer 2008! Luke loves dancing to the music and yelling "Home Run!". We get the "cheap seats", but have a blast and some seriously fun family time ;0) Luke has a Cub's jersey that he loves to wear and when we tell him we are getting ready to go to a game he says "okay, me wear my baseball shirt!" Here are some pictures from the last few games we have attended. Oh and the fireworks afterwards are great and the kids love those too! Emily just stares at all the pretty colors and usually falls asleep about half way thru them! LOL

The kiddos

I am watching a friend's little boy this week and here are he and Luke playing in the band!

Today Emily is 5 month's old! Happy Birthday Little Miss! Here are some of the pictures from her photo shoot!

Pepsi, diapers and more!!

Well- here is my find at CVS this week! I know a ton, right? LOL-And to think I pulled this off with both kiddos on a Monday morning. So here is my list of what all you see: 2 bottles of ALL, 2 packages of diapers, 2 containers of wipes, 2 bottles of Loreal shampoo, 1 bottle of Gillette shampoo, bottle nipples, 4 12 packs of soda, 1 box of tampons and 1 box of pads! Oh and this super cute little blond boy too! (hehehe!) So my total before coupons and everything was $70 something and afterwards I spent $30.32!! I know, I know- not my best work, but for all of this stuff I am pretty happy with the results (and I did not have a coupon for the cute little blondie! lol) He just told me-"mommy, you no pay for me, I wit you!" ;) I have $14.00 in ECB's for next week, and I am stocked on diapers and shampoo for quite awhile.

And she sits.....

Little Emily is sitting up so big now! I am so proud of her! She even beat her big brother with this trick by about a month! Go Emily!

Wisconsin Fun!!!

The kids I went to Minocqua WI for a few days of fun in the sun with my mom, sister and Aunt and Uncle and cousins. We had a wonderful time, but missed daddy quite a bit. Luke really enjoyed fishing and playing with the worms as seen in the first photo. Jamie's fiance' was great with Luke and Luke loved rough housing with him all 5 days! Between boating, swimming, fishing, jet skiing and "peeing on fish" Luke had a blast and was exhausted when we headed home on Wednesday. Luke thought it was so neat that he could pee in the water, especially when we told him that fish live in the water, so that is where "peeing on fish" came from! Emily enjoyed hanging out in her swing in the shade on the dock while we swam. She didn't dig wearing her life jacket at all, but who can blame her?? She looked so funny in it, as it was as big as her and she could not move her arms at all. She stayed back on shore aloft of the time with one of the adults when we went boating-maybe she will like it better next year? Luke and I went on the tube also, but that didn't turn out so well....we started taking on water so I had to roll the 2 of us off into the water and it was pretty chilly at 10 in the morning! Luke did not go back in the water the rest of the day. All in all the children did really well with having schedules messed up, a 6 1/2 hour car ride and being away from daddy for so long. I am very proud of my 2 little troopers! Here are some more pics from our trip!

CVS this week...

Here is my CVS trip from this week...I just got back into town last night so I didn't make it to CVS until tonight...but boy did I do good!!! I did 2 transactions tonight and I had both children with me! The first transaction was the Olay deal they have going this week. If you spend $20 get $10 ECB's back. I bought 3 Olay bodywashes and 1 Gillette bodywash (those were in on this deal too!) I had my $4 off of $20 coupon ready this week, and I had $6.98 in ECB's from my last trip that I used. After my coupons and ECB's I was down to oweing $5.38 out of pocket. And I earned $10.00 for my next transaction! Not too bad for my orginal total being $23 something! Transaction #2 went super smooth as well! 4 bottles of Dawn dish soap on sale 2 for $2.00 and giving back 1 ECB for every 2 bottles you purchase and Febreeze products which have a deal going of spend $10 earn 5 ECB's. My total was just shy of $20, so I couldn't use another $4 off of $20 coupon. But I used my 10 ECB's from the previous transaction and I had $6.00 in coupons for the Febreeze products. After all my coupons and ECB's I owed $2.88. I earned another $7.00 ECB's for next time too! The Hershey bar was for Luke since he was so good while I ran thru CVS with him and Emily. ;0)

4 short months

What a difference 4 short months make! Emily is getting so big and as you can see she is doing wonderful holding her head up! She loves to smile and "talk" to her big brother and gives her daddy the best smiles ever! She has her 4 month check-up today and that means she gets a few immunizations ;( I am excited to see how much she weighs now. And can I just say that having a little girl is so much fun! Dressing her up in her little dresses with all of her matching hairbows is the best ever! I love you Emily!

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http://blog.thenatureschild.com/2008/06/beat-heat-summ-