Great Old Navy Sweater!

Today I got the opportunity to go shopping at Old Navy to pick out a new sweater, and the best part?  It was free!!!  I have been using Crowdtap.com for awhile now, and through them I had a chance to get a coupon for a free sweater for me and a friend!  It came at a perfect time, because I wanted to get something new for my office Christmas party.  While we were at the store, we saw another woman who looked like she had a lot of Christmas shopping that she was doing, so we gave her the coupon for the other free sweater.  She was very excited!

Anyway, I really like this sweater - it is soft and cozy.  The weather has turned cold lately, so it will be perfect for Christmas in Iowa!

Thanks again, Old Navy!!!

Hello blogging world!

Hi again!  So it's been a couple months since I've blogged.  It's been an unplanned hiatus, but I plan on doing a quick recap on life since April!  

On April 6th, Henry turned 1 year old!  We had a big party for him with a Thomas the Train theme.  We had two different kinds of cupcakes.

 As of his birthday, he was not walking on his own yet, but between 12 and 13 months old he took off, and he's been an exclusive walker since.  He's gotten to be quite adventurous like his older brother, climbing and running and wresting!

 In June, Aaron and I went on vacation to Cancun with my mom and dad.  Wyatt and Henry stayed with Grandma Cheri and Aunt Rachael in Iowa City.

 Wyatt's birthday was right after we got back from Cancun - we celebrated with some cake and presents at Grandma Cheri's house.

 Wyatt is 3 years old now!  Wow!  He is getting to be such a big boy.  Still working on being totally potty trained...  He has some accidents every now and then - I think partially due to being focused on playing, and partially due to being stubborn!  No diapers, but still a pull-up at bedtime.

 Wyatt requested a dinosaur birthday cake, so Grandma Cheri ordered him one for his party at her house.  On his birthday, he and I made some cupcakes and a mini cake that I put some dinosaur candles on. :)

 Aaron and I had a great time in Cancun together!  We enjoyed relaxing, eating lots of good food, and more relaxing!

 We hope to get away again some time in the future, maybe in a couple years???  :)

 Fourth of July was a fun time this year as well.  We went to the Shell Rock parade and Wyatt discovered that the more you wave, the more candy you get!

 Henry had the best seat on the street!

 And our latest birthday was Aaron's on the 11th of July.  He is 28 years old!  He requested "dirt" for his birthday dessert, and it was yummy!  (notice some leftover dinosaur candles... :) )

 And today is a pretty close to perfect Saturday!  Playing, relaxing, Daddy doing some work installing a water softener in the house.  Maybe our dishwasher will finally get our dishes clean!

 Well, hopefully I can keep up a little better on the blog.  I'm trying to keep up with things more... I've scheduled household stuff like "clean the bathroom" on Wednesday and "laundry and sweep the floors" on Thursday.  It worked pretty well this past week, so I'm going to try to keep doing it.  The depressing part is that I swept the floors last night, and already they are covered in dog hair.  Sigh.  Our next dogs will not be ones that shed!

Henry is one year old!

Henry is one year old today! I can't believe how fast the year has gone by. Little man has two little teeth now, and a bit of a cold this week.

He's started to wrinkle his nose now when I tell him to say "cheese!"

Birthday breakfast of pancakes at J's...

Mommy was there...

Daddy was there...

And Grandma and Wyatt were there!

It was yummy!

Then, after lunch he had a cupcake from Scratch to celebrate his birthday.

What a silly guy! I think he liked it! Happy birthday, Henry!

Back from my blogging hiatus

Hello again! So it's been a month since I blogged last. Sorry. Life's been crazy! Wyatt and Henry are getting so big!
Wyatt's fine motor skills are really starting to improve - the other night he made an elephant out of Play-doh and it really did look like an elephant! And when we ate at a restaurant the other day, he worked really hard at coloring in the lines. Definitely a big boy!

And a silly boy... still working on that potty training. I can't wait for him to decide that he's done having accidents!
Henry's so close to being one! He's starting to stand for a little bit by himself, he's clapping, waving, and raising his arms when we say "So big!"

He's got one tooth in, and working on his second.

This is his new smile that is just adorable!

What a handsome guy!

I was trying to get Wyatt to smile - this is what I got.

This is the best picture I could get from him! He's a stinker!

Under the weather...

Well, Wyatt is sick this evening. Aaron took him to buy dog food around 5 this evening, and at the store Wyatt threw up on Aaron. Poor guys! I had Wyatt lay on the couch and I put on a movie for him on my laptop on the ottoman. Probably 30 minutes later I looked over and he was totally asleep! Sweet little boy. It makes me sad to see him sick!

This past week all four of us have had colds, though I think Wyatt had the least of it. Henry had a little bit of a fever, and Aaron and I both have been stuffed up and just a little run down. I'm feeling better today, but Aaron still has a cold. Both of the boys still have a bit of a cough, and now Wyatt has a stomach bug! This is the first time all winter we've been sick, so we've been blessed.
And here's Henry tonight - this is his latest adorable smile!

Henry is 10 months old!

 And what a big boy he is becoming!  He is really becoming more of a toddler and less of a baby.  He loves to play now.  He and Wyatt play together - sometimes Henry will crawl as fast as he can, chasing Wyatt down the hallway.

 He had his "9 month appointment" a few weeks ago, though he was closer to 10 months at the time.  He is at 20.5 lbs, and he is close to the 50th percentile for weight, height, and head circumference.  He is a pro at pulling up and standing.  He also walks around things if he can hang on to them.  He mostly wants to get into the stuff he shouldn't, like Mommy's glass of water, or Wyatt's supper, or the water in the toilet.  We're starting the fun stage of being a toddler. :)

 He is starting to sleep through the night.  Last night he did not sleep through the night, but before that he did about 5 nights in a row.  I am loving the nights that I sleep uninteruppted!  What's ironic is that the first night he slept through the night, Wyatt woke up.  :)

Henry, you are such a sweetie with a big personality!  You definitely make your voice heard, and I'm excited to see what you will do with your energy!

My extreme couponing

So, my latest hobby has been couponing. Not to the extent of the extreme couponers on TV, but enough to make it kind of fun! Tonight I ran to HyVee after the kiddos went to bed so I could catch some deals before the sales were over. Here's what I bought tonight:

3 boxes of Multi-grain Cheerios x $3 each

4 boxes of whole wheat Ritz x $1.68 each

4 boxes of Hamburger/Chicken Helper x $1 each

1 box of Kashi Go Lean cereal x $1

4 Yoplait Greek yogurts x $1.19 each

and...

1 package of Golden Oreos x $3.29 (these weren't on sale - they were requested by the hubs).

Before coupons, I spent $30.77. Already this is pretty decent for all of these items, but I also used $9.65 in coupons. So all I spent was $21.12! I think this is pretty good! If we lived down south where they double coupons, this would have been much more impressive!

So this is what I do with my some of free moments at work - I check out the weekly ads and then match up deals with coupons. Later this week I plan on going to Target because they have DiGiorno pizzas on sale for 2 for $9 - I have a $2 off 2 coupon, so that would make it 2 for $7. It's a few bucks here and there saved, but it's also fun to plan it out and see how much I can save.

Anyway, I promise real blog posts to come about the kiddos. They are keeping me busy, especially on the nights Aaron works late!

My little lovies

Wyatt didn't want to smile for the camera. Stinker. :)

Henry enjoying cheerios and animal crackers. Big boy!

Tonight I cooked dinner with the boys. We made "chicken nuggets" (basically homemade chicken tenders) and penne pasta with garlic marinara (from a jar. Don't get too excited :) ). Since we made "chicken nuggets," Wyatt decided he would eat them. And he declared them "good."
Henry enjoyed the chicken tonight, and he also had some of the penne pasta. I cut them in half, and he could pick it up and feed himself.

I think he likes it! I love the messy face.

So... then it was bathtime. I really like bathtime lately since Henry doesn't need Mommy hovering right by him anymore.

"I guess it's time to wash the marinara sauce off my face now, Mom."

Henry is 9 months old!

So this is almost a week late, but Henry is 9 months old! Lately I can't believe how big he is getting. He is learning to do so many things... crawling, pulling up, holding on to things and walking around them. He really hasn't been truly crawling for that long, but I think he will only briefly stay in the crawling stage. Now that he's discovered the world, he is always on the go!

Tonight he and Wyatt took a bath, and it was the first time I didn't hover right next to him to make sure he didn't fall over. He did great! He was crawling all over, splashing, and pulling up of course! I kept making him sit down, and he'd crawl over to the edge and pull up again.

Anyway, I'm not sure what he weighs yet - I have to take him to the doctor next week on my day off. But I think we are going to have to switch him out of his bucket carseat soon. He is eating all kinds of foods, and getting pretty good and feeding himself finger foods. He has quite the silver palate as he will not eat baby food. If I'm eating it, that's what he wants. He's still nursing, and wakes up once or twice usually during the night to eat. Last night he woke up at midnight, but that's it until I left for work this morning. So he's definitely starting to sleep longer stretches. His latest trick is waving hi or good-bye. Very cute!