Frugal Friday

Ok so I know it's been a while since you've seen one of these posts, but truth is it takes me a little time to come up with something and these days I have no "extra" time to think, as you can imagine.

Here are a few tricks that can save you money around the house.

1.) If you're like us and are constantly going through roll after roll of tp, you can use less toilet paper if you slightly flatten the roll/cardboard. This will make it not perfectly round and it won't roll as easily, so great lengths of it won't automatically roll out and go to waste.

2.) Save on liquid soap! Believe it or not liquid dishwashing soap is so powerful these days that if you keep your extra plastic soap bottles, you can squirt 2-3 big squirts of soap in them and fill the rest with water and shake. The watery soap works just as well and you'll be shocked at how long you can go without buying more soap. (If you notice, dishwashing soaps are constantly on sale for buy 1/get 1 and you see coupons for soap almost every Sunday in the paper because so many people are realizing this.)

3.) If you feel you are spending too much money on printer ink, try changing your font to Century Gothic. It has slightly thinner lines and depending on how much you print things, you can almost go a whole extra month on one cartridge of ink.

4.) Save on shampoo and lotion by using a rubberband. Everyone knows I love clean and smell good babies so we use Johnson's big pump baby soaps and lotions around here. Wrap a rubber band several times around the neck of the pump's stem to prevent it from pressing down too much. You'll still get the product you need, and it will last twice as long because you will avoid getting too much and having to wipe the rest of the lotion it off.

*** I hope people enjoy and use some of the tips in my frugal friday posts. If anyone has any other tips to share please leave me message. Also, if any of you other bloggers are FULL of ideas please feel free to start Frugal Friday posts on your blog. I would love to read more helpful ways to save money. Hope everyone has a great weekend!***

First day of school

Yesterday was Maci Rose's first day of preschool and I was one proud momma!! She did so well! Only 4 kids were there when I dropped her off, but she was the only one not crying. She said "bye momma, Lub you!" My heart melted, but I'm so glad she enjoyed it! She has never been in daycare, so she really needs this interaction with other children. We only have her signed up for the minimum 2 days a week right now, but we may add more days depending on how well she handles it and how much I'm going to need her gone when my school starts back next week.

Here is my big girl!

Carter's baptism

I know I am way behind on my blogging, but I guess that's expected with 2 still in diapers!!

Last Sunday was Carter's baptism and I couldn't have asked for a better turnout! I love getting together with family and friends for ANY occasion, but especially something this special! Carter got some great presents too! Gorgeous picture frames, a cute outfit and matching hat, and teddy bear holding a cross blanket, piggy banks, money, and my favorite is this little plaque from my sister-in-law.

I don't have any up close and good pictures of Maci Rose and Carter's outfits on them, so I just pulled them out and took a pic of them by themselves. I really wanted to show them off because my mom did such a good job making them. They both had matching monogrammed bloomers that she made too. They looked gorgeous! Thanks mom!!

Everything was perfect! Thanks again to all of you who helped make that day special!

Wonderful Weekend with Emily

WOW!!! What a fun and exciting and very tiring weekend!! It all started when my cousin Emily (emilyinahaystack.blogspot.com) came in town from New York. I know she is focusing on her fashion career right now, but we are sooo ready for her to move back here for good.

On Friday, Katie, Emily, Carrie and I all brought our toddlers to a place called Splash Pad in Gardendale. This is such a great idea and it's free!! You can't beat that! I only wish it was a little closer to drive to and we'd be there at least 3 times a week. If you've never been, google it. It will show you the park and give you directions. You bring your own lunch/snacks/drinks and the ice cream man stops by too. They had a blast! I'm sure my cousin Katie will have great pics on her blog since she has a way better camera than I do so you should check it out katiebrettandthomas.blogspot.com

Friday night we all went to Logan's to eat. Thomas and Maci Rose had a great time running around the entire restaurant! And it was Emily's first time to meet and hold Carter!

On Saturday, we all got together again for Thomas's 2 year old birthday party. The balloons kept the kids entertained, however by the end of the party they were all on the ceiling of Loco's. Whoops!!

Sunday was Carter's baptism (which is another blog post in itself). I couldn't have asked for a better turnout! It was so good to get together with family and friends and celebrate once again! We ended the weekend at our favorite place to meet up on Sunday nights, Pablos!!  Thanks Emily for being a godmother to Carter!! You are going to be a great role model for him! We miss you and are ready for you to move back home!!

My BIGGG boy!!

Carter is one big boy!! He was in the 90th % on weight at his 2 month dr. appointment weighing a whopping 13 pounds!! And he was 23.5 inches long which was in the 75th %. Wow!!

After having a baby as small as Maci Rose I definitely can say I've experienced both big and small babies!! Maci Rose is only 24 pounds and in the 20th %. And according to her baby book she was 13 pounds at 5 months old. So, in other words, I feel like I have a 5 month old right now! I can hardly lift his carseat anymore so I just leave it in the car and pull him out. She was only 18 pounds when she was a year old and I have a feeling Carter will be 18 pounds by 6 months!

He is a trooper though!!  And lets his big sister torture him.

Maci Rose is still not acting as well as I would like her to around him. I guess the jealousy thing is a big factor. I thought she would want to be the "big girl" and let him be the "baby", but she seems to still want to be the baby. If he needs a diaper change she will say she does too and if he is crying she will fuss too. She loves to be carried out of the bathtub like a baby now and used to beg to do it by herself. We're trying as hard as we can to make her realize he hasn't taken her place and that we still love her just as much. I'm hoping it gets better in the next few months. Hopefully by Christmas they will be best friends AND *fingers crossed* she will be out of diapers!! We shall see!

Pictures

These are pictures from all the events that took place last week! Enjoy!

Complete Randomness

Wow!! Where to begin?? I got on here Friday to type a post and ended up changing my layout a little and then being bombarded with 2 dirty diapers and a child begging me to play tea party, so obviously there went the post. So here I am again this morning trying to attempt typing a blog post and uploading recent pics without (*fingers crossed*) any interuptions!

I must give warning....this may be a long and rambling post! I don't even know where to begin or end or what to put in the middle, but here is an update on our life lately.

By the way, I have read 4 other blogs this past week about updates and busy schedules. What's the deal?? I guess it just hit everyone that July was ending and school month & football season was starting and summer is coming to an end and it made us all pack everything into a few days?? Well at least for me that is!

This past week we have gone to a new park (that Maci Rose abolutely loves and so do I because they have a great shady area with a fan for me and Carter to hang out while she plays). We went swimming 4 days (2 being the normal weekend hangout at my aunts pool). I brought my 3 youngest cousins to play with Maci Rose and we all had a really great time. I'm going to do it again this week since they will be starting school on Monday. I don't know why I didn't do this at least once a week all summer. I got some awesome and much needed sun and entertained/wore out 4 kids at the same time! Can't beat that!

We also had a playdate with my neighbors little girls. I had 4 kids all under the age of 3 at my house. One 3 year old, 2 two year olds, and Carter! It wasn't as hard as I thought because Carter slept most of the time and the girls played very well together. The hardest thing was keeping them all upstairs in the playroom because it made watching them a lot easier!

Ok, don't laugh! But Jeremy and I are on a co-ed softball team! We had our first practice on Thursday night and (this is pathetic) my arms are so sore from the batting! Haha! I really hope I can quit being a wimp and muscle up for the team!

And one more thing.....I'm sure all you moms out there will cringe when I say this!! but Maci Rose has always watched tv at bedtime to fall asleep. Lately though, she will STILL be up at 10 or 10:30 watching tv! It used to aid in her falling asleep, but now I think it is making her stay up later. So, as of last Monday night, we decided NO MORE TV AT BEDTIME. We have read books and then turned out the lights by 9:15 EVERY SINGLE NIGHT (except Saturday) and it has worked like a charm. Knock on wood, but so far she hasn't even asked or tried to get out of bed. I will go back in there about 30 minutes later and she is out! She has asked for her tv, but we tell her no and go pick out a few books or we'll sing songs and she loves it. I'm shocked at how easy this has been!

She is talking EXTREMELY well these days. Many people have commented on what she says. She will copy anything we say. We were playing the "what sound does this animal make" on the way home the other night and Jeremy and I could not stump her. If she doesn't know one, she'll make it up. It was so funny! Like what does the turtle say?? Who knows?? Instead of her saying I dunno, she made a creepy  crawly sound. Same with sharks and crabs! Too cute!!

Well, there is what we've been doing in the past week! A LOT I KNOW!! So if you're still reading this post, thanks for hanging in there!

I think I'm going to end it here today because Maci Rose is wanting breakfast and that's my job! But I'm hoping to post another one with new pictures from all that's been going on.

Also in the next few weeks to come, we have Carter's baptism, my cousin Emily is coming in town from New York, we have a wedding and 2 baby showers, and hopefully a few births along the way. Oh....and I start school back so wish me luck!!!