Christmas

Wyatt's first steps!

We were sitting with the boys on the floor, watching Trevor open all his wonderful Christmas presents when Wyatt stood up and walked two feet on his own with no support over to where Ryder was playing with Playdough.

My jaw dropped.  What an amazing little boy I have!  He's so strong!

My little man will be walking before I know it.  Then life will really get crazy.

So, advice from a momma... if you want your child to walk, put Playdough in front of him.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ryder!

Newborn

 First Birthday

Second Birthday

It's so amazing, and so hard at the same time to watch my little man grow up.  He is so special.

Here's some things you may not know about him at his 2 years of age.

1. He hates wearing socks, but always wants to wear his shoes.
2. When he wants something to eat he says "nack" (snack)
3. He's extremely dramatic when he gets upset about things.
4. If I give him a drink without a lid, he pours it into something else.  Usually a toy.
5. He loves to go bye-bye.
6. He has his own tools that he learned how to use by copying dada.
7. He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
8. Whenever dada is around, Ryder likes to be in his lap.
9. He smiles really big and squints his eyes whenever you want to take his picture.
10. He loves fruit.
11. He's so smart and picks up on everything so quickly. 
12. He isn't talking yet, only small words like 'nack',(snack) 'ooce'(juice) and 'more'.  
13. When we're at the store, he'd rather help push the cart then actually sit in it.
14. He waves and blows kisses goodbye to everyone.
15. When he wants something, he grabs you by the hand and takes you to it.
16. He likes to put things in the toilet.
17. Sometimes he will just run up and give me a kiss and then run away.
18. He helps me cut coupons, and likes to help me with them in the store. 
19. He loves his older brother very much, but beats up his little brother.
20. When we blow bubbles, he gets excited and says "poh, poh, poh" (pop).
21. If he sees the babies bottle laying around, he will pick it up and try to put it in Wyatt's mouth.
22. He makes us so happy.

Blog? What blog?

Oh, right.  This blog.  Sorry.  Life has happened so quickly recently I haven't even given blogging a thought.  Between birthday parties, Christmas, first steps, sick boys, and a miserable break from couponing, who has time to blog?

So, to make it up to all of my... three or four readers, I will give you a gazillion posts today on everything that has happened in the last few weeks.

Babies and Coupons

So, I'm totally aware of that fact that recently my baby blog has turned into a bit of a coupon blog.  Forgive me.  It's just that, having two boys, a small income, and lots of expenses has made couponing a large part of my life.

Lets break it down a little bit, besides my everyday gas, electric, tv, and phone bills, I also have the expenses of two little boys.  Diapers, wipes, clothes, bottles, formula, food, toys, and the list goes on and on.  I know out there somewhere is the break down of what it costs to raise a child in the first year and the numbers aren't low.   Couponing has already saved me $200 a month on my food bill.  I'm not at my goal yet, eventually I hope to pay only $200 a month for my family of five on food.  I get all of my personal care items for free, and I've saved so much on diapers and wipes!

Couponing is how I take care of my family, and who doesn't want to get free things?

McDonald's Caramel Mocha - Favorite Thing Friday Post

So, this week, I think my favorite thing is McDonald's Caramel Mocha.  I've gotten quite a few of them, they are just so yummy!  And the cold weather that hit makes me want something warm and chocolaty!

Wy got ahold of an empty cup and was trying to drink it.

Sorry about all the blurry photos.  I take all my pictures with my phone.  I have a really nice camera that my husband bought me last year, but its so much quicker and more convenient to take it on my phone! 

Birthday and Meijer deals

My little man will be two soon!  I cannot believe it has went by so quickly!  We are planning a very small party.  I went all out for his first birthday party and no one actually showed up, so this will just be small.  I found the cutest birthday invitations for him too!  They are so perfect for him because his favorite thing right now is tools.

The best part about them, I only paid .49 cents for the whole package at Goodwill!

I went to Meijer yesterday as well.  I walked out of the store with two bottles of sparkling water, 6 Nivea lip balms, a box of tin foil and a box of cheese filled pretzels all for $0.76 out the door.  Meijer offers a program called MPerks which allows you to stack an MPerk with a Manufacturer coupon which makes for free items.  There was a coupon for 0.50 cents off the pretzels which doubled, and an MPerk for 0.50 cents off the pretzels which stacked, and they were on sale 50% off which made them free.  There was $1.25 coupon off the tin foil, which stacked with a $1.25 MPerk, which made the tin foil 0.50 cents.  There was a $1.00/1 coupon on the water, which made them free because they were on sale for 0.70 cents this week.  (Meijer does not give overages) and the Nivea were on sale this week 2 for $3.00 which went perfectly with the $3.00/2 coupon that was in this weeks paper.  Hope that helps, these deals are still good until the end of the week!

Make sure you check the printable sites often because the good coupons go quick! 

www.coupons.com

www.smartsource.com

www.redplum.com

Those are just a few of my favorite!

Over the weekend the boys and I did some fun things. We made some ornaments for the Christmas tree, and make cookies.  We also used cake decorations to decorate our Pancake Sunday pancakes.  I'm trying harder and harder to fill our days with fun and educational things to do.

Ryder's Pancake

Tops ones are Trevor's, Bottom ones are Ryder's... obviously.

I've got to find something better to do than baking goodies, I've gained 10 lbs already!

Tonight's Dinner on a Budget

Yum!

Tonight's dinner was a last minute thing due to the fact that I've been gone all day and have yet to meal plan for the week.  

Ingredients:

1 package Private Selection Organic Broccoli and Carrots ($0.55 on manager special)

1/2 Package chopped fresh mushrooms ($0.35 on manager special)

8-10 Tyson chicken breast strips (chopped optional) (the whole package cost $5.99)

1/2 box pasta ($0.49 on manager special)

1 Can Campbells Cheddar Cheese soup ($0.30 with coupon)

1 Cup Milk

Shredded Sharp Cheddar and Parmesean cheese (optional)

Boil Chicken for 1 hour until tender (I added garlic cloves to the water for flavor), then place in frying pan with veggies.  (I put a small amount of butter in the pan as well)  Cook on medium heat covered, stirring occasionally.  

Cook pasta.

When veggies are cooked and chicken is brown add soup, milk, and optional cheese topping.

Add noodles, stir and serve.

This whole dish was enough to feed our family of 5 easily and cost me much less than  $5.00.

Four Eyes

I cannot begin to tell you how cute I think my sons are.