Big Sister!

Lilly is going to be a big sister!  We are due June 9, so we still have quite a few months to go.  We are so excited about a new baby! 

I am super excited for Christmas this year.  Lilly is loving all things Christmas: our tree, lights, advent calendar, even seeing Santa at the mall!  She is going to be so excited on Christmas morning, and I am just so ready to share that with her.  Every morning when we come downstairs, she sees the tree and says "Christmas!"  I have been doing tons of online shopping this year.  It is so easy and addicting!

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday...who knows when I will post again :)

Great Deals!

I know I am a bit of a blog slacker, but I've decided to start recording all of my "bargains".  For 2 reasons: I want to know how much I've spent monthly and how much I am saving overall and also because I get so excited, I just have to tell someone!  About a year ago, I started reading the blog: moneysavingmom.com.  At first I was hesitant.  It sounded fun and interesting, but also time-consuming and kind of embarrasing to use coupons.  Now I read both moneysavingmom.com and frugaladventures.com.  I print coupons online and sometimes buy the Sunday paper for coupons.  I also have my mom and a family friend save their coupons for me.  I also started buying All You magazine, which also has great coupons! 

In the last couple days, here are the deals I have gotten:

Kroger: 3 tubes of Crest toothpaste (on sale for $1, had 3 .50 off coupons-Coupon doubles up to .50)=FREE

Walgreens: 3 tubs of Huggies wipes (on sale $2.80 each, used 3 $1 off Walgreens coup + $2.50/3 manf. coup.)=$3.00

JCPenney: Cute sandals for Lilly for next year (on sale 10.99, used $10 online code + free shipping)=$1.06

CVS: Buy $25 P&G participating items, get a free 8 pack Bounty paper towel
Tide-$5.94 (use $2 coup.) =3.94
Pampers Easy Ups-$8.88 (use $3 coup.)=$5.88
4 Tampax Pearl-$2.97 (use 4 $2 coup.)= $3.88
=$26.70 WITH COUPONS= $13.70
$13.70 for Tide, Pampers, 4 Tampax, and Bounty paper towel!  Awesome!

• I haven't purchased this yet.  I am hoping to get a $5/$25 coupon in CVS email, to make this an even better deal.  They usually come at the end of the week, so I am hoping!

I also found some great clearance at CVS this week: $4 pampers (52 count), $3 Energizer batteries (16 batteries + free Schick razor for women!) 

CVS is my ultimate favorite for great deals!  I roll my Extra Bucks (basically CVS cash) every week, meaning I use ECB (extra care bucks) to purchase things, and then get more ECBs in return.  So I can continue to do this every week.  It does require some planning on what to buy and how to buy them to make the most of your ECBs.  Right now I have $16 in ECBs!  I have been rolling these over for the past few months and have gotten TONS of great stuff.  I always use coupons and scan my CVS card at the coupon machine inside the store.  Last week, every time I went in and scanned my card I got a coupon for .79 off a Dove candy bar.  Lucky they were on sale for .50 last week, so I got about 7 free candy bars plus .29 overage on anything else I bought!

Okay....done for tonight.  I know I am a huge dork, but I am loving getting these great deals!

So...

Apparently, I stink at posting pictures now!  I just realized I posted the pic of Lilly & Kyle 3 times...ahhh!!!

Lilly Kay

This girl will be 22 months old tomorrow! 

Lilly is getting so big!

Eating lunch in the trolley at Hap's!

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Trying on mommy's shoes

Miss Lilly will be 22 months old tomorrow! 
I can't believe she is almost 2!

Lilly loves:
Dora the Explorer
Caillou
Animals
Noodles
Apple Juice
Making funny faces
Playing with other kids
Her Paci, unfortunately...
Swinging
Hide and Seek
Her toys
Her mama & daddy
:)
We love her more than anything and
are SO lucky to be her parents.

Funny Faces!

Loves her mommy...

Summer To Do List

I have a few things I want to get accomplished this summer...

• Get Lilly potty-trained.  We have started, but have fallen behind since we went on vacation.  My goal is to have her in pull-ups by her 2nd birthday (Sept. 24)
• Start teaching Lilly.  I want to start working with her for about 1/2 an hour a day on colors, numbers, and alphabet.  I have all sorts of workbooks....I just need to get started!

To be continued...

Finally Summer!

We are loving summer!  I only have 5 sales to work in June, and 2 in July....which means that the majority of my summer is free!!  I LOVE being home all day.  Granted, I am home most of the day when I have sales, but it is SO nice to not have to worry about showering, dressing up, and getting Lilly ready to leave all in a rush :)  And it is always a rush for me to get anywhere.  So I am loving these long summer days :)  I have to admit, a small part of me feels guilty.  I feel guilty because kyle is going to work, and I am staying home with Lilly all day. 

Good news: We don't have to move to Louisville!  We are leaving our house up for sale, hoping it does sell. 

Lilly is talking so much now!  She even says a few sentences.  Her first sentence was, "Mom, I shut it." (talking about the bathroom door).  She then said, "I'm the baby!"  Which then we taught her to say, "I'm a big girl!"  My favorite things she says are: "Careful mom", "Rock a baby (singing to her baby)", and "love you".  She is the most beautiful, polite, caring, sweet, and funny baby EVER! 

Catching Up!

We have been busy, busy, busy lately!  I hardly know where to start! 

We decided to put our house up for sale at the end of March.  There is a chance we may have to move to Louisville if Kyle gets transferred.  We HOPE that does not have to happen.  We did not want to end up with a mortgage and a rent if we have to move.  If we end up staying we would like to move to either Carmel or Westfield.  If our house happens to sell, and we don't know where we are going, we are moving in with Kyle's parents until we find out.  The only good thing about that is that they have a finished, huge basement complete with full bathroom, kitchen, and a few rooms.  Our house has been on the market for about 12 days and we have had about 5 showings.  It is beyond crazy trying to keep our house "show ready" constantly, especially with a 19 month old running around!  To make matters worse...Kyle has been in Connecticut for the past week and a half, so I have to do everything myself!!!  I'm not complaining...I have actually worked incredibly hard this past week, and it feels good...and our house looks great!

I flew to CT last Friday morning to see Kyle for the weekend.  We took a train to New York City and had the best time.  I think everyone needs to visit NY at least once in their life to experience it.  It is constantly crazy and everything is HUGE! 

Lilly had her 19 month check up last week.  She is doing so well.  She is in the 75th % for height and only 15% for weight.  She is a light-weight, but very busy all the time!  Lilly can say a ton of words. 

She loves:

• her many babies
• pushing them around in their stroller
• fastening the buckle on her high chair
• Jack's Big Music Show
• The Backyardigans
• her books
• saying 'hi' and 'bye' to everyone she sees
• chocolate
• playing outside
• kitties & dogs
• etc, etc...

Mommy & Daddy in NY!Miss Lilly eating lunch!

Lilly and her grandparents