Last night I hit up our local Rhea Lana consignment event.  And “event” is the term for it.  It keeps getting bigger every year and I LOVE it!  I have no problems buying nice, barely worn clothes for my children.  I got a few things with tags on them and that made me happy.  It took me a long time and I really had to get my game plan together and dig, dig, dig, but I was happy with what I came out of there with!  I could have stayed longer, I’m sure!

Most of the longalls that I got are reversible!

Some of my favorites are all the dressy longalls that I got for Matthew.  I’m hoping he will be this size throughout the winter.  I planned this so that perhaps with some of the shopping we’ve already done, we won’t have to buy any clothes for the boys until Spring.  Oh yeah, except shoes and some shirts.  That is my goal and I’m going to try to stick to it! Luckily, because Matthew is so big, he will be wearing John Michael’s clothes from last fall.  He got his own clothes last night too, but I will definitely be supplementing his wardrobe with what JM wore last fall!  I got some really great things last night!  JM got his first rain coat and some winter coats too.

Since it was rainy today and we stayed in to let Matthew have a really good morning nap, I decided it would be a great morning to start my new “mom curriculum”!  I’m just going to start with the letter “A” and go from there!  We worked on painting an A and John Michael pretty much pitched a fit over some of it.  I helped him and we got it done.  We’ve had a fun day of block building, books, playing with dump trucks in a pan of rice, and play-doh. 

After lunch we used sesamestreet.org to learn about things that start with A, but not before we watched the “C is for Cookie” song.  I have to admit, it’s so cute and catchy!

Of course we learned about apples, alligators, and other A words.  I like how he picked up his letter A and held it while we watched and talked about some of the videos.  We also played a few of the games, which I think is great for helping him use the mouse and use his pointer finger.

Matthew liked it a lot too!  He wanted to be in on the action so he sat in his high chair and watched and laughed and laughed!

That’s a pretty big smile!

Our kids are learning things so differently than we did growing up.  They’re so used to the laptop and computers!  I’m sure it’s going to be a different world they grow up in.  What a fun day!

A few Fridays ago we decided to go to our local County Fair.  I haven’t been to many so I was really excited to go and take the boys to their first fair!  Also, Gaga and Gamps (which JM had taken to calling him Bump, and now it’s officially Bop) were in town so we all went and had a really good time! 

We ate dinner there and had lemonade too.  We saw all kinds of livestock.  Unfortunately, my camera decided not to work when we first got there so I don’t have pictures of that!  Don’t even get me started on my camera, it’s a mess right now!

Jordan rode the carousel with John Michael.  He had his pick of this or the ponies and he chose the carousel!  Let me just say that it was SO expensive.  We could have gone to Branson for what we paid that night.  Ugh.

Matthew patiently waited while JM rode the carousel.  He got some extra special attention from Gaga and Bop too!

All 4 of us, sweating like there was no tomorrow!  Even though it was way hot, there was a really nice breeze so it felt nice the whole time we were there!

Now, what we did next was way fun and exciting!  John Michael was tall enough to ride his very first real roller coaster.  I’m usually against these things because they look like they could collapse at any minute, but he pointed it out and it’s the one he wanted!

So I rode with him and I tucked him in nice and tight beside me.  It was really fun and we went around quite a few times.  He kept saying “weeeee” because all the people around us were yelling “weee!”  He had a really good time on that roller coaster and it’s something I won’t ever forget.  I was so glad I was able to ride with him for his very first big boy roller coaster ride!  We would have let him ride it again, but we wanted to have some money when we left, so we didn’t ride anymore!

Sweet Matthew riding in the wagon!

We saw some live music too.

It was so hot and the boys drank a lot of water while we were there!

I

We were so excited when the John Deere man told us John Michael could sit on the tractors.  He loves tractors and diggers and anything farm-related!  He was so excited!

Biiiiig tractor!  E I E I O!

He could have driven that tractor all night!

And Matthew got to drive a little tractor too!

We had a really good time.  We spent too much money, it was way hot, and it kind of smelled bad at times but it was really a fun memory to make with our family.  Plus, we were glad Gaga and Bop got to come and make some memories with the boys too!  I’m sure we’ll go back next year!

Verse O’ the Day:

The LORD of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.”

Isaiah 14:24

I’m so tired but I really need to make sure I make this post tonight so I won’t forget all the little things from John Michael’s first day of “school”!  He’s going to be going to his very first Mother’s Day out on Fridays, and it’s our first time to be separated for any length of time. I’m a little sad about it because it just means that time is flying on by and he’s just not so little anymore.  Sadness…

Jordan went to work a little late this morning so we could go as a family and drop JM off.

It made me feel so much better because he was so excited to go to “chuch” to go to school. 

For once in our lives we were EARLY!  I couldn’t believe we got there before the doors opened.  This will not happen again; mark my words.

Oh my, this picture is just bad in so many ways, but the main way that screams out to me is “honey, those bags and dark circles under your eyes aren’t going away anytime soon.”  It’s no surprise I don’t get a lot of sleep these days!  Anyway, John Michael ran right into his room and started playing with the cars.  He said “bye, Nana!” and so I said Bye! and off I went!

Sooo….while brother’s away, Matthew will play!  After we dropped JM off Matthew and I headed home for some breakfast and tea.  My big hope was that I was going to put Matthew down for a long morning nap and I was going to clean, clean and clean some more.  Basically, that didn’t happen.

Matthew played pretty hard and made a general mess of things….

He spilled a TON of water out of Jack’s bowl.  That took two towels to clean up!

He creates general mayhem wherever he goes.  He’s awesome!

“Who, me?!”

John Michael did great today!  I wanted to make sure I wrote down the things he told us because I know that tomorrow I won’t remember:

-We asked him all about his day and even though he can’t really tell me tons of details in sentences, he did tell me he went “night night”.  He also kept saying “shhhh” after he said that and I finally figured out that the teachers were probably telling them to shhhhh at naptime!  Tonight, he kept getting on the floor and laying down and saying, night, night…shhhhh!

-He told me “eat” and that he had ketchup; which he did!

-We asked him what friends were there and of course, he said Sarah Kate.  I was so glad to see her in his room this morning.  He also kept saying “night night Sarah Kate!”

-JM also told us he played today!

-They said he ate great and he also colored a picture that they sent home with him.  He is becoming a little artist lately!

I think in this picture below he’s thinking about his day at school!

I’m so glad he did well, it’s a load off my shoulders.  I’m going to have to come up with another way to get my house clean, but I’m just thinking it’s not really going to happen on Fridays with Matthew around.

All summer long John Michael has been pointing to the slide at our pool.  I usually have my hands too full to let him go down AND go catch him so I never have let him try.  Well, this time around we had back-up…grandparents!  Gamps held Matthew and Gaga took pictures so that Jordan and I could help him with the slide.   He loved it!

We had to wait for the bigger kids to clear out, but he was oh-so excited to try!

A lot of anticipation going up the slide for his big shot!

Jordan helped him up the slide and I caught him!

The look on his face was so funny as he came flying down the slide.  Just in the last few weeks he’s gotten a lot more adventurous as far as trying new things and not being afraid.  He’s growing up so fast!

A big family hug of congratulations (minus Matthew!) and to comfort him just a little bit too!

Matthew looks very uncertain of all of this!

A few times he would cry when we got to the top of the stairs, but he loved it when he went down!

This picture says it all:  He had a blast!  It’s so fun watching him explore and learn new things!

Put Baby Matthew in the dump truck and push him around?!  Sure!

Why not?!

Both boys loved it so much!

I know John Michael felt so big that he could push Baby Brother around!

But, JM wanted a turn too!  Daddy obliged.

The look on his face says it all!

Uncle Judd even got in on the action!

I’ve got so many pictures to upload from the County Fair on Friday!  We had a blast and I was so glad we braved the 103 degree weather to go!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  We sure have!

Verse O’ The Day:

Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9

Some lovely young lady is going to thank me one day!

I’ve been letting John Michael vacuum, sweep, and swiffer.  I’m starting his home-trainin’ early!

He truly does enjoy it and it’s so nice to have a little helper around the house.  Oh yeah, and he also loves to help with laundry so of course I let him!  I’m starting him early!

A few times a year our Sunday School class does something called “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?” and it’s always so fun.  You never know who is going to be at the house that you’re assigned to go to.  You just show up and find out.  We always have so much fun!  Laurie and Steve hosted and two other couples were there besides us.  Laurie is always the perfect hostess and we had some great hot dogs and hamburgers.  All the kids had fun playing too.  I was wondering if JM was going to be able to find any toys to play with amongst all the pink, bows, and dolls, but alas, he found a Barbie car and he was happy with that.

He also kept wanting to go outside and I couldn’t figure out why until I took a look and saw they had a Barbie Jeep outside.  JM loooves Jeeps and he really wanted to go outside and drive it!

How precious are these two?!  JM drove Sarah Kate around and it was so stinkin’ cute!  I just kept thinking, if they get married one day, this picture could be in their wedding picture slide show!  I’m just kidding, by the way!  They’re two.

Matthew was good and hung out with us in the dining room.

And I brought a homemade chocolate pie and I bought an apple pie. 

The older kids helped take care of the little ones.

Sweet Emily eating a hot dog.  She’s always telling funny stories!

And the two cuties once again!

We had a really good time and enjoyed the surpirse of who we were going to be eating dinner with!

Last week I did a Walgreens run and I did really well, but I was too tired from John Michael having the stomach bug to do a post about it.  So, this week I decided to take a picture and show how I make Walgreens (some weeks) work for me. I have been away from my coupons and my Walgreens ad for a few months now, so I have been ready to get back into it! 

We mainly use Register Rewards in combination with coupons to be able to get great deals on diapers.  With two in diapers it’s essential that we not spend a ton on diapers if we can help it.  Here’s how I do it:

This week I had $5 in Register Rewards lefover from last week’s transactions added into this transaction. 

-Lysol toilet bowl cleaner - buy one get one free for $2.99 (plus a coupon for $1.00 off when you buy two)

-Venus razor system -$8.99 then $3 in Register Rewards (plus a coupon for $2 off)

-Duracell batteries - $5.99 plus $1 in Register Rewards (plus a coupon for $0.75)

Total: $10.84 with $4 in Register Rewards on our next transaction

Onto the next transaction:

We then took our $4 in Register Rewards and applied it to:

-Pampers - 10.49 (plus a coupon for $1.50 off)

-I also had a coupon for “buy any Pampers, get a Pampers wipe FREE!!” so the wipes were free

-Total $8.91 for 2 packs of gum, Pampers, and Pampers wipes.

One important thing to remember is if you are laying down what I call “pieces of paper” you have to have at least that many items .  For example, we had 2 separate Register Rewards coupons, plus 2 different Pampers coupons, so we had to make sure we checked out at least that many items.  A lot of times I’ll add in paper clips or a pack of gum to have enough items for how many “pieces of paper” I’m presenting the clerk with.  I hope that’s not too confusing!  I get so confused half the time when I do this!  On this transaction I added in two packs of gum for Jordan to make it 4 items that we were checking out!  After our transaction the computer printed out a $1 off Pampers coupon for me to use next time, so that was a plus!

A lot of weeks it’s not really worth it, but then some weeks they really have some good deals that work for us.  One thing that helps us a lot is that my grandfather faithfully sends me all of the coupons from Sunday’s paper every week.  This helps so much because he gets multiple papers, so a lot of time I get multiple coupons and I can do the same transaction twice to get a great deal plus more register rewards!

Have a happy weekend!  I hope I’ve inspired you to pick up a Walgreens ad on Sunday!

Our town has First Friday on the Square.  I love that we have a cute downtown square.  We like to go and just walk around or go to the Farmer’s Market.  This was our first time to go to First Friday this year.  The boys had a good time in their Radio Flyer Wagon.  This month’s theme was “Dog Days of Summer” so of course, we took Jack with us!

He was SO happy to ride in the wagon with the boys.  He’s always been the best dog to them.  Jack got lots of pets.  People just gravitate towards him because of his fluffy hair!  Kids especially want to pet him!

JM jumped in the bouncy house and of course, cried when his turn was over.  Oh the emotions of a 2 year old!

It seemed like half of our Sunday School class was there!  It was pretty crowded!

Me with all three of my boys!

Braxton, Baby Ben, John Michael, and Matthew all putting their little toes in the fountain.  John Michael loves this fountain and now Matthew does too.

My two sweet boys!

I just love this picture.  I might have to frame it! 

Before we left, we asked JM if he wanted to ride a pony and he said “naaaay!” so we figured that was yes!  He loved it.  He was super-serious the whole time, which means he’s taking everything in and thinking about it.

I thought he might freak out once I put him on it, but he was just fine!

I had fun showing him a new animal and talking about the pony’s mane and eyes and his fur!  After he got off we got to pet Alex the pony!  Meme will be so happy that JM likes horses because myself and my brothers really don’t like them.

Last week John Michael came down with the stomach bug.  I went into freak out mode.  I HATE the stomach bug and the last one we had was by far the worst I’ve ever had, so I was really nervous that we would all catch it.  So far, we’re all good.  He didn’t feel good for about two days.  All of this happened to fall right on our four year wedding anniversary!  We thought for sure there would be no way we would be going anywhere to celebrate because we figured JM would still be sick or we’d be sick with it too.  Luckily, by the end of the second day JM was much better!

Because Uncle Judd is still here visiting, he offered to watch the baby monitors for us so we could go out to eat.  We were so excited to break free for just 2 hours or so!  We thought we wouldn’t be able to go out to celebrate at all so we were thrilled to be able to go eat together.

Poor JM didn’t feel well at all!

My brother has a friend that just happened to move up here this week so I got Robin to make her some cookies to welcome them to our area.  How cute are they?!  I know she liked them and was so surprised to get cookies her first week in a new place.  It’s hard to move somewhere where you don’t know a soul.

Even though JM was still a bit sick I let him go out and play in the rain.  I asked him if he wanted to go out and watch the storm (no thunder or lightning in sight!) and he said “Papa!”  I’ll tell you why: While we were back home visiting there was a horrible storm that blew up.  Dad had been outside working in the yard and garden so he just stayed outside and sat on the back porch to watch it.  I don’t know if this is normal or not, but I do the same thing.  Bad weather coming?  Oh, let me go outside and see what’s happening with it!  I guess I get it from him.  Back to my story, so JM sat outside with dad and eventually got brave enough to creep out from under the porch and he played and played in the rain!  He had the best time.  I’m glad that even though he’s young, he’s starting to make connections and remember his grandparents!

He had a great time and it was nice to get out of the house for just a little bit!  It cooled everything down too!!

So, we did end up getting to go out after all.  We have been married for 4 years now!  We dated for nearly 7 and every year just gets better and better.  God has been so good to us and I can’t wait to see what He’s got up His sleeve for us in the years to come.  I’m so lucky to have found my guy, and such a great guy at that!