HomeLand

I just did a small couponing trip to HomeLand (small because that was all we had in the budget!) and I got some pretty great deals. I am still not where some people are, but I am getting there. I spent $32 in all and saved 40% off of my bill! I was wanting to spend less, but considering in that were a large box of trash bags, hair putty, 4 packages of meat, 4 boxes of Helpers, and 4 cans of soup, I think I did a good job!

Fall Break

Last week was Fall Break for TPS so Cadence was off Thursday and Friday. I took those days off too so we could spend sometime together. Here is an overview of our 4 day weekend:
Wednesday night
My little sis came over to spend the night with us and also to get her belly button pierced. I went with her and mom to do that. I don't think she expected it to hurt so much!
Thursday
Cadence and I had eye doctor appointments in the morning. KK's school had done a screening and suggested she have her eyes checked. Sure enough she has an astigmatism and is near sighted. I was kinda bummed she needed glasses at such a young age and also that she has my bad eye sight. The doctor said her nearsightedness will only get worse with age, as mine has done. However, I am thankful to get the glasses now instead of in having problems learning to read. She loves her glasses and looks great in them. It really looks like she was always meant to have glasses, like her face was waiting on them! After about an hour, she took them off for a minute and was having to squint to see, so I know they must be helping her. After the eye doctor, we went and got Henry and Liv and met Ben at McAllisters for lunch. Then Liv, KK, Henry, and I went to my favorite thrift store and found 15 items for the kids, 8 books, and one toy for $46! We then drove Liv back to C-more for a football game, stopped by mom's store to see her and headed back to Tulsa. As soon as we got back to town, I got the kids ready and picked up Ben and we all headed out to Oktoberfest.
Friday
I actually slept in a little bit, which was amazing! My goals for the day were to clean house, do laundry, and grocery shop. We decided to meet Ben for lunch, but he got caught up and after wasting two hours, we finally ate chinese at home. I spent the rest of the day cleaning and laundry (no groceries :( ). As soon as Ben got off, he headed out to Oktoberfest to work. I enjoyed the quiet and put the kids to bed early and relaxed.
Saturday
The kids and I joined Katie and her family at the Carmicheal's pumpkin patch. This was a really great one; KK and will got to ride a camel! That evening the 4 of us went to a friend's house for a birthday party.
Sunday
Our family along with mom and Liv went out to Oktoberfest for the last time. Mom and Liv had never been and they both had a lot of fun.

Today I am headed out of town for a women's retreat with my sis and mother in law. I am very excited for the retreat. I have not been out of town without both of the kids or without Ben since Henry was born. I can't wait to fellowship, nap, and just relax. And not cook!

Infancy

Its amazing how fast a baby changes in the first year, especially that last half of the first year. Henry is now 7 months old. He started crawling not 3 weeks ago and as of today he can crawl VERY fast, sit up by himself, get himself into sitting position, and pull up to a standing position. These are all great and fun things to watch and experience but they all come with a price. My floor has to be much cleaner than before, which means that I have to clean my floors once a day. If KK is being extra messy, or Henry is spitting up alot, or one of the dogs spent alot of time inside, then I have to mop once a day also. Pretty soon I will have to figure out how I am going to corral Henry. When KK was little, our living room was the perfect set up and shape. I had two baby gates on the entrances leaving the living room. The enterntainment center had lower shelves that I filled with toys for her. Now my living room has three entry ways to other rooms and one of those would require an extra large baby gate. We have a different entertainment center with no room for toys. But I do now have KK. She is a life saver because I can have her check on him, or tell me if he is getting into things. She is not too keen on entertaining him though, because tv is much cooler than her baby brother for more than 5 minutes.
Pulling up to standing is actually one of my least liked periods of infancy. Don't get me wrong, this is such a great and exciting time and I know this is part of the process. But during this time, babies fall. ALOT. Henry already has a huge bruise on his forehead that I don't think will ever go away because he keeps falling. Also, he has learned to stand up in his crib, but hates to get down. Last week he did not even know how to get down. Now he knows, but that requires him to fall, which he is not too keen on. Ben walked at 9.5 months, and I have a feeling Henry will do the same. He is going through these all a lot faster than KK did. He does not yet have any teeth though, although the doctor said he could see some "buds" so it will probably be any day now. He is getting so big and growing so fast. He lookds nothing like he did as an infant and as of today is only 2 lbs lighter than KK was on her 1st birthday! He really is not a chubby baby, in pictures she actually was chubbier, so he may just not gain any more weight. We will see. Let's just pray for now more bruises this week!

Hootie

Does everybody remember Hootie & The Blowfish from the 90's? Well, the lead singer, Darius Rucker, has a new single out. A country single. You can't even tell it is him, and it is a pretty good song. It's called, "Don't think I don't." But its just weird. I guess going country is the cool thing to do know. I like country music, so this doesn't hurt my feelings, but usually country is not "cool" music in the mainstream music media. If you find his song, see if you like it!

Today, I plan to do my first big coupon/sale shop at Homeland. This stores doubles your coupons and had a sale start yesterday, so I am very excited to see how good I can do. I was planning on doing this anyways and when I got on myspace this morning, a girl I went to high school with posted a blog and she had gotten over $77 worth of groceries at Homeland yesterday for $11! And she got alot of the same stuff I am getting! So now I am really excited and am going to see if I can do as good as she did. I'll let you know!

I love blogging

Or rather, I love reading blogs and the idea of blogging. Our lack of internet at home hinders my ability to blog, but I am trying to get better. Here is an update on what we have done in the last couple of weeks:

• I started working 5 days a week
• Had a very successful garage sale at my mil's house
• Found old papers and letters that belonged to one of the previous owners of our house, while cleaning out the attic for garage sale
• My sister turned 14!!!
• Helped mom unpack some more boxes
• Watched ET with KK for the first time (for her)
• Had a productive labor day weekend
• Henry started crawling!!! Just a few tiny crawls, but still

I have been saving up my coupons and will today be scanning the sales that will start and see what coupons I can use. Ben thinks I am nuts, because I have been clipping and organizing like crazy, but I am determined to start doing it and help us save some money in a much needed area. I have figured out that the key to coupon-ing is not just using coupons, but using them while at item is on sale. Then you stock up on this item while it is really cheap, so you don't have to purchase it at regular price. My problem is going to be that my pantry is kinda low, so I will have to be purchasing some items that will not be on sale or have coupons, but hopefully I can make up the difference with other items. Wish me luck!

Week & Weekend Review

Last week was a trying week. Ben was away for work and Henry, bless his heart, decided to give up sleeping through the night, which he had been doing no problem for 3-4 weeks. I was averaging 3-4 hours a night, sometimes less. I think (know) he is trying to get a tooth and that must have been keeping him up. On top of that, it was KK's first week of school and she was exhausted (aka cranky!) every night. It was one of those weeks that was not really awful, but just trying. Ben got home early and was able to pick KK up from school on Friday. All day at work on friday, I was having some horrific sinus pressure and feeling really crappy. So that evening I gladly stayed home while KK spent the night with Will & Bella and Ben went to listen to some music with a cousin he has not seen in 5 years.
On Saturday, I got up feeling better and went an got KK to run some errands and get some (facial) waxing done. We stopped at a garage sale where I found a brand new high chair for Henry. He has been eating 1st step baby food for a couple of weeks now and feeding him in the bouncy chair on the floor was just not cutting it. This chair also has toys to play with, so after he eats he usually plays in it for 20 minutes. It was a great investment. (No matter what I do, I can't seem to get the pictures to post where I want them, so the pictures is up above!). Then I got a call from my mom to go shopping at Plato's Closet and the mall. I went home and fed lunches and loaded us up. We ended up closing down the mall. I never go out South and only go to Woodland Hills Mall twice a year. But I love Plato's Closet, I love thrift and consignment stores in general. I don't usually buy new clothes any more for a couple of reasons: 1) I am cheap. It started out as necessity but became a way of living. 2) I am really not that trendy. Most of the clothes I like are pretty simple. Even when I do like the current trends, they don't usually look great on me. Most clothes designers are not designing for my body type, so I usually find more of a selection at second hand stores. 3) There always seems to be something better to spend my money on. Although I have recently realized how much I am lacking in my closet (especially dress clothes), so I am going to try to get some more stuff when we have the budget.
While at the mall, shopping in a junior's store that i frequented in high school, a sales clerk (maybe 17-18) stopped me and commented on how cute the baby was and asked how old he and KK were. She then said "And your pregnant again?" I wanted to melt into the wall. I know I don't look like I did 10 years ago, that's okay, I have had 3 pregnancies and 2 children in 4 years. And just to brag a bit, I only gained 10 pounds with Henry and lost 16 after his birth, so what I have left is simply extra skin. When I said, no, I'm not pregnant, she then replied, "Oh, its just the leftover?" Even though it really made me feel bad about my body, I can now find it a bit funny and know that she will probably never again ask someone if they are pregnant, at least until it is completely undeniable.
Sunday was a day spent playing catch up and helping Henry with his teeth. We were supposed to attend my cousin's 10th birthday party, but Henry was simply too fussy to make the trip to Claremore.
Here lately I have felt very behind on a lot of things. Laundry, money, relationships, etc. Feeling behind makes me feel out of control. I know we have had alot of changes in our life, but it is still frustrating. So I am trying very hard to get caught up. One of the things I used to do is couponing and price watching on grocery items. I am working on doing this again regularly, so I am sure you will here more about it. In the meantime, here is a great site that is actually run by my director's daughter in law.
www.tulsacouponqueen.com Check it out!

Blah, Blah, Blah

Yes, it has been forever since I have blogged and I want to do it more often, so instead of excuses, here goes.

KK started Pre-K yesterday. I can't believe I have a child this old! She really likes the program so far and seems to have made friends. Starting school creates alot of changes for all of us. This is the first time Cadence has been in school 5 days a week. No more nights off from the "night before school" routine. Every night of the week is now a school night. My work schedule also changes back to school hours. Since I have the freedom now of working any day of the week, I am experimenting with a m-thurs schedule. Usually if Ben has a day off, it is on Fridays, so I figure this would be a good day. We will see how it goes, as Friday is the one day we don't have any volunteers at the office. Hopefully it will all work. Cadence and I both do better with schedules and monotony and I have already found that I feel more productive at work being her a couple days in a row instead of having a day off in between.

Since it officially the end of summer, here are the events of this summer:

• Amber's hand surgery. This surgery ended up being more painful and debilitating than I originally thought it would be. I still do not have full movement back and will find out this week if I have to have physical therapy.
• KK took gymnastics.
• We found out Ben did not get into the Tulsa Fire academy, but he is still working on getting in next time (getting his EMT) and/or getting on with a smaller department.
• We moved my mom into a new house.
• Henry ventured into the new world of eating baby cereal, step 1 baby foods, rolling over, pushing up from his tummy, sleeping through the night, and giving up breastfeeding.
• I experienced some major changes at my office. It was a stressful time and when all was said and done, I had lost a really good friend. I am still very sad about it, but at this point, I have accepted it. I know God has a plan and I have to let him be in charge.
  

I know it was a crazy/busy summer and more has gone on, but that seems to be all I can think of. Till next time,
a