Preparing for Baby "Tina"

The past couple of weeks, I have been "nesting" and getting ready for baby's arrival. Organizing, washing baby clothes, and deep cleaning has been on the to-do list. The other day, I got a huge burst of energy and scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom. It was so nice to have a spotless kitchen even though I was a bit sore after doing it. I also have been trying to get some other projects done. I have been wanting to get as much done as possible before she come so I was able to make her blessing dress and with some cute matching booties. I also finished her car seat canopy and it is just waiting for her arrival.

 

 

 Another project that I finished was recovering the crib bummer. I came across some teal and pink butterfly fabric a while ago that would go really well with the decor in the girls' room. I didn't really want to buy another crib set so I took out our old bumper and unpicked the the fabric. I used the same back fabric but just changed the front and added some pink ribbon around the edges. I also measured the the spacing between ties so it would fit even better around the crib. It was a bit of a process but I really love the outcome of it. Now I just need to figure out what I am going to put on the wall above the crib.Things are coming along and we are getting very anxious to meet our baby girl.

Family Fun

During the winter, we have to get creative with thinking of activities to do with the kids. For one Friday evening, we went to Papa Murphy's and got a Chicken Bacon Artichoke pizza along with some free cookie dough and rented the Smurfs movie. We came home and got to setting up a picnic in our front room. We had a lot of fun eating our dinner that night and enjoying the movie together. That night we even got to camp out in Owen's room. My parents bought the kids sleeping bags the last time they were up and they were excited to be able to use them for the camp out. Getting the kids to relax when they are laying by each other is a major chore but we still had fun making wonderful memories.  I just love being able to spend my time with my cute little family

The kids also love helping me cook. For FHE, Vanessa choice of dessert was a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. We had a lot of fun making it and got pretty messy and sticky too! The kids love licking the beaters. I remember that was my favorite part when I was little too!  The cake turned out delicious even though it was missing some of its batter. The kids kept dipping their beaters back into the batter to get more.

I really enjoy cooking with the kids. I have some many wonderful memories of cooking with my mom and grandma.  I am very thankful that they took the time to do that with me and to teach me how to love cooking. Now, I get to do the same thing with my kids and I love it!

Macey's Grocery Store Fieldtrip

Vanessa was able to go on another field trip for her preschool class. This time they took them to the local Macey's grocery store. They got to tour the store and learn about lots of new things. She was even able to go back into the huge refrigerator and freezer where they store all the dairy items. She told me that it was very cold in there. She got to sample some donuts from the bakery and oranges from produce. At the end of the tour, they gave each child a gift certificate for free ice cream. She was super excited about that.

After the field trip, we met up with her friend MaKensie and her mom, Kelly, at McDonald's and had lunch. It was nice to be able to let the kids play while I got to talk with a friend. I have been really satified with Kiddie Kollege. Vanessa has a lot of fun going there and loves her teacher and has learned so much.

Brian Regan

For part of our Christmas present from Mark's work, his boss got all the employees and their spouses tickets to go and see Brian Regan, the comedian. So on Thursday, January 19th, we were able to go down to Salt Lake and enjoy dinner at Kneaders and then head to the show. Going to one of his shows has always been something Mark and I wanted to do so we were super excited to go. His show was hilarious! Our faces hurt from laughing so much. We love his comedy because it is good, clean, and just hilarious. We really enjoyed the night out together and were so glad to have been given the opportunity to go and see him preform. I was telling Mark that we need to make a habit to go and see him each year he come to Salt Lake.

MLK Weekend at East Canyon

We were able to go up to East Canyon for the MLK weekend. The kids always love playing with their cousins and have so much fun there. The kids and I went up with Mark's parents on Friday so we could enjoy more time up there playing. Mark joined us after work and we stayed until Saturday evening. East Canyon usually has quite a bit of snow so we like to do our sledding up there but this year it was quite bare so we didn't get the chance to play in the snow. We spent our time playing games, talking, relaxing and enjoying time together as a family. It supplies us with a great weekend retreat with our amazing family!

The kids had fun riding down the stairs on Grandpa's lap

Owen and Vanessa had fun pretending to be dinosaurs. Owen was a T-Rex with a napkin tail and Vanessa was a Pterodactyl with napkin wings. Quite creative!

Great Grandpa and Grandma Carter brought up baskets with candy in them for each kid. They are so thoughtful and sweet and we love spending time with them as much as we can.

We also got to say "Cheers" to the new year as a big family!

Our Little Munchkins

I am just in love with our two little munchkins. They are just so much fun and they make everyday an adventure and more exciting. The other day, I washed our bedspread and laid it on the floor after taking it out of the dryer. Well, Vanessa and Owen soon found themselves wrapped up in it. It was sure cute watching them have so much fun with a blanket.

Vanessa continues to amaze me. She is super smart and has even started to read. She has some princess books that we read at night before bed and just in the past month, I've been having her read them to me. She has them mostly memorized but it is helping her connect the words on the pages with what she is saying. She has progressed a lot over the past 6 months. She loves going to preschool and has made lots of cute little friends. She is such a bigger helper around the house. We have started the kids with doing chores. She loves to clean the bathroom and does a good job at it. She especially loves cleaning the mirrors. She also loves wiping the table after dinner. She is very excited for her new baby sister to come. She asks me each day when the baby is coming. She loves to watch any Barbie themed movie. She could watch them all day long if we let her. She also really enjoys being a big sister to Owen. She loves to play with him and I am glad that they get along so well.

Owen is just the cutest little boy ever! He is now 2 1/2 years old!  He is definitely a Momma's boy. He loves to be cuddled and I love to cuddle him. He has such a fun personality. When he gets excited, he prances while walks. It is just too cute. He also loves to pretend that he is a dinosaur and will roar all around the house. He is very active and loves to run, climb, and jump whenever he can. Just these past few days, getting him to sleep at night has been easier. We have finally had to resort into gating his bedroom door so he can't get out. He hasn't figured out how to climb over it yet and we hope he doesn't for a while. He will cry out for either Mom or Dad at first but then within a few minutes calms down and goes to sleep. Hopefully we can get it down before the baby comes. He says the funniest things and loves to tell stories. He likes to use his hands to help tell the stories. He will move and shake them about. It is fun to listen to him. 

We are grateful to have been given such wonderful kids!

Finally Some Snow!

Yes, we finally got some snow! It is crazy to think that we didn't have snow on the ground until January. Vanessa and Owen were super excited to be able to go and play in the snow. Vanessa could stay outside all day long if we let her. The cold doesn't seem to bother her much. But Owen on the other hand, can only stand playing outside for about 30 minutes. He must get that from me.

Vanessa and Owen wanted to build a snowman. The snow wasn't packing very well so we built a baby snowman. Vanessa was very good at getting all of the supplies needed for the nose, eyes, mouth and arms. She also wanted to put a hat on it. She told me while building the snowman that we needed a hat so it could come alive just like Frosty. When we finished and she put the hat on it, she sat in front of it waiting for it to move. I had to explain that snowmen don't actually come alive. She was very disappointed and sad. If I could have made it come alive, I sure would have.

It was sure fun being able to play outside in the snow with the kids. I love every moment I get to spend with them. 

She was quite disappointed when it didn't move.

Extreme Couponing?

Guess how much I paid for all of this...$20.00!

So the start of this new year, I have decided to learn something new. I have always been interested in using coupons and trying to understand how to use them correctly to really save some money. A few months ago, we had a frugal night for Enrichment and a lady came and talked about using coupons and saving a ton of money. Well, saving a TON of money would be very nice now that we will be a family of five in just a few weeks.  She suggested using this website www.grocerysmarts.com to find deals on groceries. This website is so nice because it lists the deals going on that week and also lists the coupons you can use to even score a better deal! I also found a website www.freebies2deals.com which lists daily deals and freebies. It also gives the grocery deals each week. It was from this website that I decided to finally invest into saving money and get a subscription to the Sunday newspaper.

The key to really scoring the deals is to get 1 paper per person in the family and to use your coupons when items are on sale. Because I am new at this, I just got four papers just in case I couldn't do it. Couponing takes a bit of time especially at first when you are trying to figure out how it works and to get organized. Getting four papers really seems like a lot of coupons but I have saved so much money this first month alone.  I was able to bring our monthly grocery bill down to $200 that is including diapers, personal hygiene items, food, clothes, and etc! I was so excited the first time I came home with $100 worth of items and I only had to pay $25.00 for it! That's 75% in savings! I have been able to increase our 1 month food storage to 3 months just this month alone! I love couponing and I can't wait to see what our food storage looks like in 6 months.

I am getting better each time I plan my shopping and it is getting easier to score the deals and freebies. Now, I hate going to stores every single day to get a deal. Who has time for that! So, what I have found that works best for me is to wait until Wednesday when all the stores have their new ads out so I can go through them and find which store has the best price on items. I make a list of the items and where the deal is and then I take it to Wal-mart where I can price match and still use my coupons to score the deal. It saves me time and gas in the long run.

Overall, couponing has been a great experience and I am excited to be able to save our family money and to develop a new talent. If any of you are interested in learning about couponing, check out the freebies2deals website. It has great tips on how to get started. 

34 Weeks

I had my 34 week check up on Thursday. Things are looking good. Baby "Tina" is still measuring about a week big. She weighs about 4 lbs 14oz and is still head down. What a good little girl. I have one more 2 week visit scheduled then it is down to 1 week check ups. I can't believe she will be here soon! We are starting to get things prepared for her arrival.  We are getting anxious to finally get to meet our little girl.

Layton Park Lights

We weren't able to get down to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square this year. The month just flew by! So instead, we took the kids to the Layton Park to see their lights. The kids loved it! There was lots of different kids of light animals and Owen especially loved all of the dinosaurs. Vanessa really like the Little Mermaid one. I was glad that we were able to take them to some lights this year. Next year I am definitely making it a priority to go and see the light at Temple Square.