Kitchen Update

Good Morning, ya'll. We are having a lazy morning around our house, and I am thankful for it. Ada is busy watching cartoons and drawing with a pen. Drawing with a pen is a little "treat" that I pull out to buy myself a few minutes. In this case, I was hoping for a few uninterrupted computer minutes before the day gets going.

This past Friday I finally ordered Ada's kitchen off of Amazon using a combination of birthday money, swagbucks, and an Amazon discount code. Between the code and the swagbucks, I thought I was getting 90.00 off!!!!! I was thrilled because the kitchen only cost 40.00 out of pocket, so I planned to use the extra birthday money to buy Ada two good pairs of fall shoes.

Well...I got an e-mail yesterday telling me that the Amazon code was a mistake, and my order was cancelled. Bummer. Scott and I are now waiting for about 25.00 worth of swagbucks to go through, and then I will order again. I should still have some left over birthday money for at least one good pair of shoes.

I don't usually invest in shoes because we tend to misplace them (I am probably one of the most scatterbrained people in all the land), but I think Ada needs a quality pair. She is constantly running and wearing her shoes out, so I need to step it up and buy some nice ones that will last all season.

Give us a week or two and the kitchen should finally be on its way. I can't wait because I think Ada is going to love it.

Remember, you can get in on all the swagbucks fun by clicking here (and you'll be helping me out in the process!!)

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my two favorite people. Has it really been two years?

Birthday Gifts

August is birthday month at our house. That is until the new little munchkin comes along in February.

Scott and Ada share August 5th as their birthday, and my birthday is a few days later on August 12th. My due date with Ada was August 8th, so we knew she might come on one of our birthdays. Scott was the lucky one (as was I because she came a few days early).

Ada's main birthday gift is her wooden kitchen, of course. Both sets of grandparents gifted Ada with money to go towards that purchase (as did my aunt Mary Ann, mom's sister), and as soon as I get back home I will promptly order the kitchen.

Ada also received a couple of books from Ann. I am so excited about these.

We (my sisters and I) grew up reading the bigger of the two books you see above--Read Aloud Bible Stories, by Ella K. Lindvall. It is a great book full of truth that is simplified in such a way that it is interesting and understandable for young children. Plus, the illustrations are delightful. In fact, the illustrations from that book are a very vivid childhood memory for me. Now Ada has her very own copy.

Ann also gave us The Bible in Pictures for toddlers by the same author. Ada absolutely loves it. She sits in my lap as I read it, and she asks for more after each story. I am so excited because we have tried several bible story books, and so far none of them have held Ada's interest. This one seems to do the trick. It's so cute, and it remains accurate to what is really in the bible.

And the other item--the shoes. Those are my birthday gift. Scott's parents also gave me a little birthday money to spend, so when I found the shoes you see above at Target on sale for 12.00, I thought they were the perfect birthday gift to myself. Ann bought the exact same pair. We have both been saying that our wardrobes need a major revamp, as we are feeling rather frumpy, and we thought those shoes would be a nice start to the revamping.

There are many more pairs on sale for 12.00, so I am tempted to go pick up another pair to add to my fall wardrobe.

She's Two

well, she'll be two on Wednesday, but we have celebrated her two years of life. That's for sure.










The birthday party was a success. I think Ada was a bit overwhelmed by the fact that all of the people she loved the most (minus a few very important people) were gathered in one place. She didn't say much during the party, but as we drove back to mom's house from Ann's house, she made Scott and me sing "Happy Birthday to Ada" all the way home. And when I ask her about the party she replies, "Happy, Ada, like that." (Whenever she is telling us about something that happened in the past, she adds a "like that" to the end.) So, I am fairly certain her favorite part was when everyone was singing to her.

She is my precious, precious girl. I am overwhelmingly thankful for her and the fun we have had over the past two years. I remember when she was only two or three weeks old, and I was in the midst of what I like to call "the baby shock," I turned to Scott in my emotional, hormone out-of whack, sleep deprived, state, and I said, "this is how it is going to be for the next 18 years."

I was wrong, of course. We have returned to sleeping at night and eating regular meals and talking to each other, and it turns out that parenthood is quite the fun experience. Ada is a hoot, and she has made our life rich, rich.

We love you, our sweet girl. Our first born.

Near's House

This is what we have been doing over the last two days--Playing with our old "My Little Ponies"

Stickers. Stickers are always a hit in Ada's world.

Taking so many pictures that Ada has learned to clothes her eyes tight when the camera comes out.

Coloring pictures of Elmo in preparation for the 2nd birthday party.
Riding my mother's old rocking horse.
Cooking meals on the toy stove. Little does Ada know that soon she will have a wooden kitchen of her very own.Playing with the original Little People toys. They don't make them like they did when I was a child.
And getting so tired of the constant photography that Ada says, "I've had it, mom."

And after her nap today, the fun moves to Mae-Mae and Pop's house. And I will take advantage of the time away from Ada to head to Huntsville and to Party City to stock up on the last minute Elmo items needed to make the party complete. (Wal-Mart was seriously lacking in the Elmo department).

I don't know if Ada is more excited about seeing Mae-Mae and Pop or cow and horsie that live in the back yard. Every time I say, "we're going to see Mae-Mae and Pop today," Ada says, "and cow and horsie?" And I assure her that yes, she will see cow and horsie. Then she says, "Yea...Mae-Mae and Pop, Yea...cow and horsie," and she claps her hands and cheers.

And then comes the Elmo party. I think Ada slightly knows what is going on because yesterday when I said, "Ada, did you know that your birthday party is on Saturday?" she replied, "Melmo?" And I said, "yes, Elmo will most definitely be there."

Weekly grocery post

The couponing continued this week. Publix was a huge success. Kroger was a huge flop. But you live, you learn, right?

Here's how Publix went.

2 bags of Wise potato chips
4 packs of Hefty plates (I feel guilty a/b this purchase b/c I am thinking the styrofoam plates are terrible for the environment, but washing dishes is terrible for my pregnancy exhaustion, so I decided to stock up)
1 bag of hostess powdered donuts (again, I blame this impulse buy on the pregnancy)
4 bottles of Lawry's marinade
4 cans of Bush's baked beans
4 boxes of Starkist Seasations fish (I have never had these, but they were free after coupons, so we are giving them a try)
6 kiwi
1 loaf of Arnold whole grain bread
2 bottles of Mott's apple juice

I paid 25.74 OOP
I saved 59.71

So then we headed to Kroger, and things went very down hill.

Kroger

2 4 packs of Dannon Activia
2 bags of Kraft cheese (part of buy 10, save 5)
1/4 lb of Boars Head White American cheese
1/2 lb of Boars Head honey maple chicken
3 bottles of Juicy Juice apple juice (buy 10, save 5)
1 lb of ground beef
2 bags of Kroger brand frozen chopped onions (I cannot cut up onions. My eyes burn for hours afterwards, so I just buy frozen)
2 cartons of Daisy sour cream (buy 10, save 5)
2 bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies (buy 10, save 5)
1 box of Velveeta shells and cheese
1 box of Kroger brand peanut butter and crackers
1 carton of strawberries
Oatmeal breakfast bars
Jimmy Dean frozen sausage and biscuits (buy 10, save 5)

I paid 41.88 OOP
I saved 15.43

So, 142.76 worth of groceries for 67.62.

Much of what I planned to buy was out of stock, but I needed to buy 10 of the sale items to get the 5.00 off, so I ended buying lots on impulse, which caused my total to sky rocket. Plus Ada was tired at this point, so she was whiny, and I couldn't think. It was some what of a disaster. Luckily I still stayed around my total goal price, but I wanted to spend less than that at Kroger.

Here is what we are eating

Sunday lunch= slow cooked pinto beans, corn casserole
Sunday dinner= BLT's with fresh tomatoes (yum!!)
Monday= spaghetti, bread, salad
Tuesday= chicken and rice in the crock pot, squash

And Wednesday, Ada and I head to Alabama so I can finally finish with the dental work. This also means that I officially begin second trimester on Wednesday--woo-hoo.

We will conclude the weekend with the big 2nd birthday--Elmo birthday cake, balloons, and all. Actually, the celebration will be quite small. I think Ann and I are going to take all the cousins to McDonalds (Ellie, Luke, Andrew, and Ada), and then we are going to eat cake and ice cream at Ann's house afterwards. And since they are all so young, I will be bringing a gift for Ellie and Luke so that everyone can share in the party. I actually never gave either one of them a gift on their actual birthdays, so that's what the gifts are for. And I thought it would be more fun for everyone. One big cousin celebration. Of course I will post pictures.

Ironically, I also spent my second birthday at McDonalds, followed by a Cookie Monster birthday cake (can you confirm that, mom?), so the tradition continues with the new generation. McDonalds and Sesame Street, does it really get any better for a toddler?

Oh, one last thing.

After the grocery trip on Saturday, Scott and I cleaned out and took inventory of the pantry. In doing that, I discovered that I have 13 boxes of pasta and 9 boxes of cake mix. So...does anyone have any good pasta recipes or cake mix recipes? I don't really love to just make a cake, so I am hoping for recipes that use the cake mix. Seriously, please send recipes my way.

Ada's birthday gift

We are closing in on Ada's second birthday, which I can't believe, and I have plans going in my head. I am not planning anything big because she will still be excited over balloons and elmo, and that's all we need really.

I will actually be in Alabama for the last of my dental work (had to put it off while I made my way through first trimester), so I think we might do a little party at my parents' house and then at Scott's parents' house, and that will be enough celebrating for us.

The big birthday hoopla is the gift.

We bought Ada a tiny little kitchen for Christmas, and it's a sad, pitiful excuse for a kitchen. We like to think of it as her starter kitchen. We decided that if she played with it, we would upgrade for her second birthday. Well, she does play with it. And she plays with other friends' toy kitchens when she has the chance, so we do think we need to invest in a good one. I had my heart set on a cute, wooden kitchen so that it would look good in her room and be more than just another plastic toy.



Well, here is what I have my eye on.

I thought that red was very gender neutral in case any brothers come along in the future. Plus, red is just so darn cute, I think.

Well, this wooden kitchen is 125.00 on Amazon, plus 10.00 shipping. Already a good price for a wooden kitchen. But, I plan to use swagbucks to get quite the discount. So far, I can take 35.00 off the price, so that gets us down to 100.00. Well, I really don't have to order until August 1st, so I have a month left to collect those "bucks."

And you can help me. Go here to sign up for swagbucks. Use the swagbucks page just like you use google, and you can win points for doing everyday stuff. Then you can trade your points in for gifts cards to places such as Amazon, Target, or Starbucks. Plus, if you sign up under me, I win points when you win points.

So, start searching!!