Grocery Shopping

I've always been a coupon user, but I've also been a Wal-mart shopper, which means that most generic brands are cheaper than using coupons. However, in our crazy economy, prices have gone up, packaging is smaller, our Wal-mart is a little dirty and crazy and so I started trying to shop around. The shopping around quickly came to an end when I realized that dragging a 2 year old and 5 year old around to do it was stressing all of us out. Not to mention that if feels like I have to travel all over the state of Tennessee to actually make it to all the stores with deals. Now that Camden is in school and just Rory and I at home, I've been spending Monday mornings grocery shopping in Nashville and hitting Publix, Target, Kroger, and occasionally Walgreens. If I were really committed to it, then I'd also have to hit CVS and Rite Aid as well as Dollar General. I'm starting to get tired again. I do love that I'm getting good deals, but traveling 40 minutes to grocery shop and then hitting all those stores is still hard even if I do just have Rory with me (and last week I got caught in traffic and it took me almost TWO hours to get to the grocery store). It's about a 4-5 hour adventure every Monday morning. We're headed out again this morning, but it might be the last time for a while. We'll see.

By the way, you can sign up at Faithful Provisions, Southern Saver, and Money Saving Mom if you're interested. They help you match up all the coupons with the store deals, and it's very helpful. The never ending lists are also ovewhelming. Just warning you.

It is crisp and cool out this morning, and I LOVE it! Fall is my favorite season by far, and typically Tennessee doesn't have a great fall - it usually stays warm until October. This summer we've had several periods of cooler weather and it appears that we're going to continue with the trend. Now maybe I can pull out some of those cute fall clothes I've been buying for the kids! :)

Lauren Grier/Shawna Clingerman: Float Away

Credits here

Dress Up

This is how the kids spent their Thursday afternoonIs it my imagination or does she look SO old in this picture?

Random Friday notes:

• Since I spent yesterday doing things like talking to my sister-in-law for 2 hours, making chocolate chip cookies, reading Scooby Doo books (with LOTS of words) to Camden and Rory, and watching Project Runway, I need to get lots of housework done today.

• I've been letting Rory pick out her own shoes (not all the time but when it doesn't matter too much), and she loves it. However, she seems to be having a harder and harder time making a choice. I'm sure it couldn't be because she has too many to choose from.

• The kids have spent countless hours looking at the Halloween costume catalog this week (I remember this from last year too). Camden is just fascinated by the transformers, ninja turtles, etc. Rory giggles at "the guy wrapped in toilet paper" (a.k.a. mummy) and does not like the "gay guy" (a.k.a. GRAY guy).

• Someone asked me about the rounded corners on my blog pics. You can buy the template here.

• I haven't bought a CD in well over a year, but I'm definitely picking up this one today.

• I was stopped earlier this week by a man in Walmart who commented that Rory was going to be a knock-out when she was older. I'm sorry, but is it creepy that a grown man is picturing my 2 year old as a grown-up? And this happens on a pretty regular basis. It started on the plane home from Korea. So not kidding.

• Camden informed us earlier this week that the first man to walk on the moon was Neil Strongarm.

Have a good weekend!

K Studio/Fruit Loop Sally: Sweet Temptation

Content

It seems as though being content/simplicity/being at rest, etc. is a recurring theme the last several weeks not only at church, but in my own devotions. I was telling Brian last night that I almost feel guilty when I see my friends and other families struggling because despite some inner struggles regarding personal situations and Brian's crazy schedule, I feel the most stress-free than I have in years. I finally am feeling content in being a stay at home mom; my days are quieter now that Camden is at school and I am enjoying spending more time with Rory (and also the very quiet naptimes); I don't worry about Camden at school because I am so confident we have chosen the right place for him; I don't even think evil thoughts when I drag myself out of bed at 5:30 every morning (and that's a biggie!). I'm not naive enough to think that this can last forever, but I hope that the "work" I've put in to reach this point will help me during the next stressful season of life.

I've shared so many pictures this week that I've neglected showing off my scrap pages. Here are a few from the last several days.

Emily Merritt/Audrey Neal: Going Bananas

Traci Reed: Sunny Sorbet

Zoe Pearn: Haute Spring

Rory pics

I want to plaster her face all over my walls.

Thankfully, most of the time we see this face is when she's playing!

Her gymnastic moves: a tuck

a pike

Oh, this straddle is so boring

fake smile

the real thing

Yes, she has a brother

And I'd love to show you more pics of Camden, but this is all I get out of him these days.

Gymnastic pictures

Camden and Brian both had good days at school yesterday; Rory and I ran errands, managed to not mess the house up, and went to gymnastic's class. She loved it once again. She kept saying, "I'm so exciting."

On today's agenda is numerous loads of laundry, a walk with Andrea, playing the Dora Matching Game, baseball practice for Camden, and making tacos for supper.

The quality of these gymnastic pics are seriously bad, but I'm posting them anyway for Rory's fan club (a.k.a. the grandparents).

they start out with ribbons

the group (look how much taller the other girls are)

practicing jumping arms in the air

the girl totally took off on the balance beam, and I didn't touch her the whole way!

working on keeping her arms straight

a forward roll (she kept saying "I do it myselss, mommy"

A Good Weekend

What a great weekend! I was able to have several unexpected hours alone at home when Brian decided to take the kids on a quick Walmart run and then took both kids to Camden's baseball practice. Camden did so well during practice too. He hit nearly every ball pitched to him, and not just hit it, but hit it really well and into the grass. He'll be playing first base, and Brian says he did a good job with that as well. His coach says he's ready for a new bigger glove so there was yet another Walmart trip yesterday for a new glove.

Saturday afternoon I went consignment sale shopping with Mayme and Andrea. It was so fun, and we squeezed in a birthday (for Andrea) lunch and Krispy Kreme donut as well. I bought several Dora items and Rory couldn't be happier. She's also pretty excited about the cute leotard I bought her. I realized after I got it home, that it's actually a ballet leotard instead of gymnastics, but that's okay - she's only 2!

Our weather has been unbelievable - highs in the 70's and cool at night. I know that we're being spoiled and will hate it when 90 degrees rolls around later this week.

It's back to school this morning. Rory and I are running errands today - my goal is to do all major errands on Mondays so I'm not making multiple trips all during the week.

Here's what I did Saturday during my kid-free hours!

Shabby Princess: Twirl

Shabby Miss Jenn: Egg Huntin' Time

Traci Reed/Meghan Mullens: 10 Things

Finally Friday

Anyone else glad it's Friday? I'm discovering that this whole school thing/schedule makes us all tired. In fact, after working yesterday, Rory with no nap, and Camden just in general exhausted from school, I put them in bed at 7:00 and settled in for Project Runway and scrapping. It was quite nice!

Camden said to me on the way home from school yesterday, "Hey, teachers have to know alot of stuff. And daddy must know even more because he teaches at school and at church."

Somehow we live in the same house as Brian, but by the time he gets home tonight, it will have been 48 hours since he's seen the kids! He's had either church/youth activities or school activities every night this week (and he'll be gone after supper tonight too). I'm telling you - I could not keep up if I had to work his schedule (and it's a prime reason why I need to be a stay at home mom to help keep us all sane).

Our weather is supposed to be perfect this weekend - 83 and low humidity. Camden has baseball practice tomorrow morning and then the rest of the day is free so we might look for some outdoor activities.

Amy Hutchinson: Firecracker

Funky Junky Old School

Crazy Love

I've been reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan over the last several weeks, and I find myself making mental notes (on almost every page) wanting to share it on the blog. I've decided, however, that it's too good - I could never share it in the way I want to and I think rewriting the book verbatim would be fairly illegal (LOL) so I'm just recommending you buy it and read it for yourself. And the accompanying website is pretty amazing as well.

I usually save this post about the kids for Friday, but since it's my blog and the whole point of it is for me to remember kid stuff, I'm posting 2 days early. :)

• Rory has always been pretty imaginative, but the last several weeks she has begun to make up stories. She will not only retell something that happened to Camden, but she'll embellish it and then act as if it happened to her. She also creates long (as in VERY long) stories about things that happen to her baby. Her favorites seem to involve the baby getting in trouble and needing discipline. The other night during our family prayer time I was helping with her prayer, and she would repeat what I said and then add an embellishment. For instance, I said, "help Uncle Micah as he starts med school" and she added "so he not be so tired." When I said, "and help Grandma's tests to be okay" she added "so she not be sick so long." When I said, "thank you for this day" she added "cause I play outside and take nap."

• I caught Camden "teaching" Rory yesterday afternoon. He had pulled out all his school papers from his folder, and she was sitting in front of him as he taught her how to count. His teacher must do alot of repetition because he would say, "1. Okay, 1, 2. Now 1, 2, 3." And so on. He then moved on to music lessons. It wasn't pretty, but it was joyful.

• I know I've mentioned this before, but she's still doing it about 600 times a day. "Mommy, you be the baby. I'll be the mommy." (by the way, Camden lets out a dramatic sigh and throws his head down every time she does this - he's pretty tired of the game as well). We moved on to "Mommy, I'll be Dora; you be Boots" a couple of weeks ago. Last week she said, "Mommy, you be Mayme; I'll be Emma" and "Mommy, you be Angel; I'll be Mason." (both kids and mommies from church)

• Rory's new phrase is, "ummmm, I don't tink so." Unfortunately, it is occasionally in a very smart alecky manner.

• When I picked up Camden yesterday, I asked him about his day, favorite thing, yada yada. I noticed he was a little cranky and asked what was wrong. Turns out he was quite miffed that Rory had not ooohhed and aahhhed when he got in the car and he thought she didn't miss him.

• Rory still cries every day when we drop off Camden.

• Rory constantly changes p.j.'s, shoes, and has added socks to the mix. Her favorite are a pair of clearance knee socks I bought her although some of Brian's socks pulled up to her thighs work too.

• For a little girl who used to eat more than some adults, Rory is seriously slacking in the food department these days. I'm sure it's all developmentally appropriate, but she is getting so picky and just doesn't eat much. She's especially decided she's not a fan of sweets. She'll pass off her dessert to Camden and he'll hand her his vegetables. I always take a snack for her in the pick-up line at Camden's school to help keep her busy while we wait for him, and the last several days she hasn't eaten it at all, but just hands it to Camden when he gets in the car.

• Camden informed us yesterday that his favorite part of the day is lunch.

• Brian has started a new routine this week. He's leaving the house at 5:30 in the hopes of getting alot done before his school kids arrive in the morning and then planning to be home by 4:00. Anything that gets him home earlier in the day sounds good to me! The kids still haven't gotten used to having him gone after the summer. Camden bugs me every single day from the time he gets into the car after school until Brian gets home at 5:00 or so wanting to know every 10 minutes how much longer it will be until his daddy gets home.

For the first time this week I have no plans to leave the house (outside taking Camden to school and church tonight). I'm very happy to have a slow day at home, especially since I'm working tomorrow.

Lauren Grier: I've Got Alot to Say to You

Lauren Grier: Silly Sprout

Another busy day

Rory LOVED gymnastics last night. The girl beamed and giggled her way through the class last night and kept saying, "I just wub this, mama" and "this is sooooo fun." And I have to say that she kept up very well. The instructor asked me several times if I was sure she'd never taken a class before. Rory's age is right in between 2 classes so we decided to go with the class that's a little older instead of the class with kids who are 4-6 months younger, and I think we made the right decision. I was so proud of how well she followed instructions and can't wait for next week! There are no pictures, but I have a good excuse! It's a mommy and me class and let me just say that we were in constant motion the entire 30 minutes. There was absolutely no chance for me to drop everything and take a picture! Brian has promised to come along next week and take a couple of pictures.

Yesterday was busy and today promises to be busy as well. I'm dropping Camden off early at school to rush to a doctor's appointment (for my blood pressure) and then Rory and I are hitting up Kroger to take advantage of their triple coupon week. This afternoon I'll get Camden, take the kids to the library to return books, Brian is picking his parents up from the airport so we'll have a late supper, get the kids in bed and collapse! Oh, and did I mention it's laundry day? :)

Credits here

Credits here

Etsy

Anyone up for some shopping?

Cute camera straps.

We don't need bibs anymore, but how cute is this!


I love the dresses and outfits in PrettyMe's shop. A friend bought Rory a dress from here and it was one of our favorites!


I LOVE the prints in this shop. In fact, we have one framed in Rory's room.



I've heard really good things about this seller's lotions and body items.


I happen to think this metal wall hanging is really cute.

This really cute family necklace (which I hope is in my birthday or Christmas future - hint. hint).

This tutu and matching leg warmers is so cute. This might be on Rory's birthday list.
These Funky Dot hairclips are adorable.

Obviously, I don't have a newborn. But if I did, I'd be all over these hats.
These bow holders are so cute! And I'm considering decorating Rory's "big girl" room in cupcakes.


I think that's enough for now. I am not responsible for any money you may spend after browsing these Etsy sellers. :)

Gymnastics

Today starts off a busy week. I'm still trying to get used to the extra busyness that having a school-age child brings.

Our weekend was uneventful. We went out for dinner Friday night and had a fabulous waitress, got our pics from Kellie framed at Hobby Lobby. I've been having neck and shoulder problems and Saturday they hurt so bad it was hard to move. Still sore on Sunday and now this morning, but not as bad.

Rory and I are going to her very first gymnastics class tonight. One of the very first things I remember thinking after we got her referral (right after I started planning her wardrobe LOL) was how great it would be for her to take gymnastics class at the local school. As a little girl, I can remember watching the Olympics and those little gymnasts (figure skating would be a close second, by the way) and thinking they were the coolest athletes ever. So while Rory is excited, let's be honest - this whole gymnastics thing is probably more about me than her. I'm living out my childhood fantasies through her. Camden and Rory and I watched the U.S. National Gymnastic Championships Saturday night, and they were both riveted to the T.V. Camden was in awe. He said, "wooooowww, is Rory going to do all that?" Yep, all at her first class! Well, maybe we should start with a somersault although Rory is convinced she's going to be doing "fwips."

Here are a few recent pages.

Traci Reed: Kissable

Dani Mogstad: Picasso

Dani Mogstad: Life in Technicolor

Lauren Grier: I've Got Alot to Say to You