Ballet

Kirkley started a sweet little ballet class today. She couldn't wait to wear her ballet outfit and go meet her teacher! I have no idea how she did in class -- mommies have to wait outside! Her before class moves were classic though! She loved knowing someone in her class -- she and Stirling were too cute in their pink!

Picture Day

School picture day was today, and we always wonder will they end up looking like this??

Or will she remember a big ole smile like this one she's forcing??
Either way, we scooted outside to take a few pics ourselves since you never know what those pics in the envelope will look like! We are soooo happy to see the sun and feel warm weather!

"Look! My shadow is dancin!"

Circus

Kirkley's first trip to the circus was great! She loved all of the animals -- especially the lion who wouldn't obey and sit on her chair! We've heard that story over and over, "Remember that time we were at the circus and the liwon didn't obey???"


Loved these pics from the way there! She snuggled with Dumbo, eating animal crackers, and watching Dumbo!!!

I'm all in!

Okay, when people post about couponing, I click "mark as read" and go on to my next blog in google reader! BUT since I started staying at home, we put our main expenditures (groceries, eating out/entertainment, and clothes) on the envelope budget. I love it and take our money out weekly so it's worked pretty well except for groceries -- we include diapers, shampoo, makeup, etc. in with that envelope and that one is always tight! So since this week's envelope had to last till next Wed (end of March), I decided no time like the present to figure out couponing.

I have an out of town friend doing Southern Savers and swearing by it. I could not understand how it could be cheaper than WM/Sam's. After buying four items at Kroger today for $0.88...now I do! My groceries today averaged about $1 an item from Shout to cereal to organic milk! With a little effort, I am SHOCKED at how much I can save, and I'm totally hooked.

See Exhibit A: The Coupon Binder

I promise to not post about this ALL the time, but I may do my big deasl find of the week! Like Connect Four for free! Go HERE for one coupon from Hasbro and HERE for the coupon from Target for Hasbro games -- use both and just pay sales tax!! Till 3/27 while Connect Four is $7 at Target. And don't judge me if your child receives a Connect Four game from us one day! :) Stash one to use for giving trees at Chrismtas!

At Kroger we got 6 Pillsbury items and I had coupons for all of them -- some HERE, then the cash register spit out a $4 off your next visit at Kroger for getting those 6 Pillsbury items. Immediately, I bought two boxes of butter and two bottles of coffee creamer for $0.88 total -- the guy behind me asked me to call his wife and fill her in! :) Other big Kroger deal this week was 8oz blocks of Kraft cheese for $0.99 this week (these freeze!), or $0.50 if your Kroger still has $1 off 2 coupons in the machine next to them.

Then at Winn Dixie, Windex is $2.50 this week, I had a coupon for $1 off HERE, then if you buy 4 SC Johnson products you instantly got $2 off (ex: Windex, Shout, Ziploc), then I filled out this SC Johnson $5 rebate form, and I will MAKE MONEY. Okay, some effort but still!!! Did the same thing with Shout and Ziploc bags to get my 4 items twice.

There is a little bit of embarrassment paying two (or three) times, but we (yes WE -- me and both kiddos -- it's an outing!) go early in the morning and no one cares. I now have coupon friend cashiers at Kroger and WD. :) We checked out 3 times in CVS buying Pamper's the other day. I am amazed at how much super cheap stuff she gets CVSing! I even filled out THIS and sent in Pamper's receipts to get a $100 coupon booklet -- I'm pretty sure everyone reading has a receipt or two that totals $50 in Pamper's or one of their brands!

I love how Southern Savers has the lists/work done for you -- you just check the boxes for what you want and print/find your corresponding coupons. Her Buy Price List is amazing to see what her goal prices are for things. So between printing a few coupons and keeping the newspaper inserts, it's really saving a lot of money that we can spend on something a lot more fun than Windex!! And I'm trying to only stockpile items I normally use...though Kirkley will be trying Vanilla Almond Milk this week! :)

I know you Publix people get your groceries for free...ours opens soon! Go HERE for free bowling for your kids all summer -- a fun way to beat the heat!

What's your favorite money-saving tip??

Meet Sophie

Sophie arrived in the mail a few weeks ago from sweet friends, and we were puzzled as to if she was a toy or a decoration!! Meet Sophie, a super cute teether giraffe! Jay is just starting to mess with her in the last week or so. I don't think he's teething yet, but he sure has fun playing with her. I'm so out of the loop -- I had no idea this was a hot baby toy. Sophie is supposed to be the BEST teether with lots of chewable parts, legs that reach the molars, etc!

Zoo Day

The title of this post pretty much applies to most of our days right now -- they all have a zoo feel to them!!! Some days I feel like I have this mom of two thing down then other days...it feels like a complete zoo! We hit the road again today and went to the zoo for the morning. We'd been stalking the weather and were thrilled that it was finally warm and sunny today!!!

We met several friends over at the zoo. None were interested in posing for pics -- checking out the animals was much more fun!
This little monkey was just along for the ride! He is for sure the easier half of my duo at the moment. I am certain that will change in a few short months when he becomes mobile!

Quick Visit

We took a quick trip over to see grandparents as they headed back from the beach. We were all glad to catch up even if it was quick! It was my first solo adventure out of town with both children along with the first time Kirkley skipped a nap! Both did beautifully, and I'm glad to be over that hurdle -- I'm totally chicken about stuff like that until I do it! I'm in awe of my friends that have travelled several states solo with their three kids!!! And people that can match their children's clothes -- I can barely get them out of jammies much less find something that Jay fits into that coordinates with Kirkley! :)

This was also the first time Kirkley really realized that people were cracking up at her being funny. She did her trick over and over again loving that everyone was dying laughing at her!

So tickled with herself!

St. Patty's Day Green

This is about as green as we get -- a little gardening! I don't have a single house plant because I can't keep anything alive, so I can't wait to see how we do with these. Kirkley was so excited to be planting a "gardnen"! I'm so excited if we can actually grow something!!!

Bumbo Practice

Jay has started practicing sitting up in his Bumbo seat. He doesn't last long and leans a lot but is doing much better! He's a good sport about it for a little while, then he is sure to tell us when he is DONE! :) Seeing him in this makes me realize he is getting big fast!

Hunting at the Park!

We braved the cool weather and headed to the park today for our first Easter egg hunt of the year! Kirkley stays super confused about when holidays are with decorations going up several weeks beforehand. Several mornings she's woken up and asked us if the Easter Bunny came. We put all of our Easter stuff out last week, and between Miss Pattycake and our Resurrection Eggs (these were at our Hobby Lobby), she has about half of the Easter story down which is so precious to hear from an almost three year old! We just hope to not celebrate Easter here again this year!!!

Now on to the hunt -- several sweet girls came ready to hunt too!

Kirkley totally got the running around part!!

She carefully examined her loot...

Then she was on to bigger and better things!We all loved this and will certainly be meeting again to do another!

Sleeping, Schedules, Stretching, & Scooting

This little man has been sleeping through the night 10-12 hours for two weeks now...we love him! :) He sort of sleeps with his eyes cracked -- you can see it in one of them. I always think he's looking at us when he sleeps! We still aren't on any kind of solid schedule -- I've had to loosen up with this big time with #2. We aim for the 3 hour Babywise feed/wake/sleep schedule, but many days, we're out the door right after a feeding, and he zonks out. Wish someone had told me with #1 they'd still sleep through the night even if I wasn't rigid with it (I'm sure someone did tell me, but I knew it all!).
We've also got him sleeping in one of these because he has mild congenital muscular torticollis. That's a big long name for an issue with the muscles in his neck being tight (basically). I noticed a little bit of a flat part on his head right before his two month check up, mentioned it to the doctor, and we agreed on repositioning. He wouldn't stay repositioned for any amount of time, so she sent us right on to a pediatric physical therapist three weeks ago.

Our first assignment was rearranging his world so he had to look to the right more and trying to force him to look to the right -- he much prefers to look left, thus the tightness. We went back again today and assignment two is stretching! So now we stretch his neck to the right a few times a day -- he's a good sport about it all! We can't for the life of us figure out how he scoots himself off of the head support pillow at night! Love waking up to this gummy smile!
Okay, and a cereal question: When did you start spoon feeding cereal?? Since he's been sleeping through the night, he wants to nurse like every 2 1/2 hours. I'm a big believer in nursing, but that feels like all day long! :) The dr said wait till 4 months (which is only 3 weeks away), but did anyone else find that sleeping through the night = hungry babies all day long? He doesn't look like he's missing a meal!!

Little Mommy

With every glimpse of sunshine, Kirkley wants to know if we can head outside for a walk. Sometimes she rides in the double stroller, but a lot of times she looks like this right behind me. And while she's in charge of pushing baby, she'd like to be called Mommy please.
This one is along for the ride chewing on his fingers he found a few weeks ago before falling asleep!
We don't get too much exercise waiting for sister to catch up with us constantly, but it sure is nice for ALL of us to get out of the house!!!

Sibling Love

The sibling dynamic has been interesting. Kirkley was totally enamored with him for the first month or so. Then this last month I think she realized he's here to stay! Some moments are great like last night when she begged for him to take a bath with her or when she talks about when he's big how they will play tag. Then there are other moments that are more challenging with statements like "You're not baby Jay's mommy" or "Jesus doesn't love baby Jay." Oh yes, she's about said it all! But they were super sweet in the tub tonight -- he endured his first bath with his sister!

Don't know how she can resist these cheeks!??! :)

Fishing Fun!

We took full advantage of the good weather and went fishing! Kirkley caught one right off the bat....

The boys were jealous -- it's the Barbie pole guys!

Saturday Morning Plan

Alex loves to have a plan for our Saturdays. There's no lazying around the house with him! :) This morning was no different, and Kirkley got very serious about making a plan....

Then she got very annoyed that I wanted a pic and it turned into two year old heartbreak....

Then seven seconds later she was fine and cracking up again!
Jay is pretty content hanging out just doing some tummy time....
Kirkley's new favorite activity is sitting on our back steps. She's got some major spring fever, and we keep thinking that the 43 degree 8am temp will bring her back inside but not so much. She headed out to read a magazine to her baby.

Meanwhile, we got brother ready for our Saturday morning outing! He was pumped at first....
Then he wasn't all that impressed when we got there. This is pretty much what he looks like still on every family outing....

Kirkley on the other hand was thrilled to get to wear a helmet and ride a horse! Can't you tell by her fake smile!? :)Then {much to my family's relief} my camera battery died. We had a great time at the equestrian event and will head back to one of these {awesome free events} again! Good plan, Daddy!

They sent us one of her riding!

Look-alike Meter

I should be doing all of the laundry on my bed {and in the dryer}, but this sounded more fun! Everyone is always asking who my kids look like...the answer is always Alex! If you haven't seen this before, this site analyzes facial features to determine similarity. You can also have it analyze you to see which celebrity you resemble -- Shirley Temple came up for Kirkley!

Not sure how accurate this analysis is. This is opposite of what most people tell us.

Donuts with Daddy

Alex and Kirkley headed out the door early this morning for Donuts with Daddy at her school. She was beyond excited all morning and kept asking, "Now is it time for us to go eat donuts??" After school she was sure to let me know she ate two donuts, the powdered kind, and "They was good!"

Anyone else counting down??

The time changes on March 14 and our household is counting down the days!!!! Now we finally have both children sleeping till almost 6am! I say finally because since this time last year, Kirkley has been a struggle to get to sleep, stay in her bed, etc. And she never adjusted to the fall time change. She had us well prepared for a newborn! This week has brought us to a new era -- both in bed till at least 5:30am and some days 6:00am. I am thrilled that in just over a week, this will be 6:30am or 7:00am!!

Surely our house isn't the only one that looks like this when the sun is barely up! Kirkley is having a dance party in the living room. Her current favorite's are "Who let the dogs out" and "Move it." Very old school of her! :)

Even Jay is bright eyed in the early morning hours!