Tanner is 4 months old

Another photo from the newspaper photog, love it! Look at those ominous clouds! We've been having some major rain lately...

My baby is four months old (as of Monday!). I am still not believing it. Where did the time go? We went for his check up today and like his big brother and sister, he is "off the charts" in height (27 "), that's what happens when you have a 6'5" daddy. He is in the 95% for weight (17 lbs. 10 oz.) and head circumference, in other words, he is a big boy. He was so brave getting those nasty shots, only a little squeal and a few tears. I think I cry worse than the kids do! You'd think modern medicine would find a better method to deliver immunizations. He is such a good baby, I swear if I had had him first I'd be having like 10 babies on my way to my own TLC reality show, titled something like "Addicted to Sweet Babies." I am so happy to have this little (or should I say big) bundle in my life.

Speaking of TLC shows, did you hear Jon (of Jon and Kate plus 8, a show I happen to watch a lot) is on the cover of US Weekly? That can't be good. Let's hope he wasn't being a doofus and doing something really shady. I know I'll have to break down and get a copy at the grocery tomorrow, those big headlines are so hard to resist!

don't ya just hate it when...

Don't you just hate it when something you are really looking forward to, gets all messed up? Every Tuesday, I take the kids for a treat after gymnastics. Usually I get them a donut from Dunkin' but yesterday I had a hankering for a Diet Cherry Limeaid from Sonic. I spent a summer as a Sonic Car Hop, complete with roller skates and I love their food, those drinks are da bomb! So I convinced them to get slushies instead (besides our Sonic has half priced drinks every day from 2-4, happy hour!) I considered it a bargain. On the way home, I couldn't wait to savor my huge (route 44) sized drink for the rest of the day. I am such a pop-a-holic! I took one gulp and knew they had not given me a diet, it was made with regular Sprite. I was so bummed, this 44 ounces of sugary goodness was not going to be a good Weight Watchers points selection, it was probably about 20 points at least. It took all the will power I had to dump it down the drain when I got home. Oh, such a sad thing for me, watching those limes and pink soda pop just go down the garbage disposal :( Maybe next time...

Speaking of Weight Watchers.... my total weight loss so far is 18.4 pounds! I don't think I have posted after my recent weigh-ins. I've had a really low loss for last week (only .2, whatever!) but I am thankful I am still losing. Trying to drink lots of water and get on my treadmill every night.

Corie and Bobbi Jo- send me your regular email address and I'll respond to your comments from last post :)

the five of us

Here we are... a newspaper photographer came to our house to take pictures of us and this is what was printed. Why was he here you ask? My hubby has accepted a new principal job and the newspaper felt he deserved a proper sendoff, as he does. He is quite beloved at his current school and students and staff are sad to see him leave. Now how does this affect me? Well, our house is currently for sale and if it sells we'll be packing up and moving. Probably what I consider to be an organizer's (like me) biggest challenge. Honestly, this is a wonderful opportunity for Paul, a great school district with chances to advance and long-term stability, a true top-notch place, it is an honor for him to be chosen to lead their school. And as an added bonus, it is a great district for our own children to attend. I could go on forever about how stressed I am trying to keep the house neat and tidy for showings, and how much I dread the thought of finding a new home, new friends, new schools, how emotional I am about moving, how mad I am that I just now feel like our house is "homey" and now we have to leave, how I cry when I go in my closet (I know I'll never have another like it), how I cry when I see all the trees we have planted in our yard, how I cry about this change in general, etc. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy this photo and the beautiful family it shows (despite my bad hair) how all of us gather around the kitchen for stories, snacks, and more.

a new bib

This is the newest bib I made for Tanner. Don't look too close, you'll see all my mistakes. I'm still tweaking my pattern, trying to get the size just right, but I think he looks pretty cute.

Tanner in the walker

My buddy is big enough to chill in the walker. Zoe and Parker love getting down on his level to chat with him. He is growing too fast, I hate it. Stay small Tanner!

"Who wants a clean house?"

It isn't often that you get to meet people who are true inspirations to you personally. Thanks to my friend, Kristin, who forwarded an email, I got to do just that! Yesterday, we (me, Paul and kids) went to a meet and greet at our local mall for the cast of "Clean House." Let me just tell you, I was lovin' it. I know, I am such a dork. I could care less about meeting rock stars or movie stars but bring on some cleaning, organizing, de-junking, decorating people and I get all weak in the knees! The cast was in town filming the messiest house in America (way to represent Cincy- ha ha). Normally, I would kind of bypass stuff like this, thinking it is too crazy with the kids, whatever but when I told Zoe about it, she said we had to go! She also said we had to wear flowers in our hair like Neicy (which we did). The cast was just as friendly and nice in person as they are on tv. They signed pictures for us and gave us lots of hugs. Matt told me we were a "beautiful" family, hey thanks big guy! Trish was lovin' Zoe after Zoe gave her a drawing she made for her and Neicy was about ready to steal my Tanner. Mark kept saying, "give the baby back!" She called him "juicy", "come see me Juicy" she said, is that so appropriate for my chubby drooling baby?!
Wearing flowers in our hair... Neicy said to Zoe, "heeeey girl, whatchoo doin' with that flower in your hair? Come 'ere and hug me."
Zoe loves Trish and I love her too, she is a Kentucky girl after all!
Don't even get me started on how cute Matt is in person... hubba hubba.

Be sure to look for us on the July 1st episode, the camera man was filming the crowd and us getting hugs from everyone. Eeeeee!!!! I love Clean House!

P.S. Why the hell is my text underlined???? Urgh, computers really piss me off!

Easter pics to share

the loot
the baskets (Longaberger of course)
chocolate bunnies
dyeing eggs
making sugar cookies

All the fun things we have been doing lately...

CVS success

I've been following a bunch of coupon blogs for a while trying to save a buck, you know me, always the frugal one! Most of them report big savings at CVS and Walgreens. I would agree that these stores do have great sales and deals but honestly I find myself so busy running around like a crazy person that I don't have time to take advantage of the savings. For the last couple months, I have been slowly coordinating trips to CVS and Walgreens with my photo developing (taking a lot with my cutie pie baby) and diaper runs (lots of those too). Today I had what I consider to be a perfect example of saving lots of money using a little preplanning/organization.

Here is what I bought:
1 Pantene shampoo
1 Pantene conditioner
1 Pantene hair gel
1 Pantene hair spray
1 pack of Viva paper towels (my absolute favorite brand, hands down!)
1 small bag of Doritos (bribe for Parker to be good)
1 pack of Trident gum (only because I had to get to a certain dollar amount)

Here is what I spent: $1.04!!! I am not kidding people! My receipt says: "you saved $33.28" at the bottom.

I took advantage of the sales on the shampoo and conditioner (buy 2 for 7 dollars), I had a coupon for $3 off the purchase of two. I had two coupons for a free styling product when you bought the shampoo and conditioner. I used a .60 coupon on the paper towels. Then I used my reward bucks (loyalty coupons to redeem from past purchases) that totalled $13.50. I had so many coupons and CVS bucks I had to spend a dollar (hence the gum) to get to use them all! AND I got another $6 in CVS bucks back to spend on my next visit. Yee haw! I swear saving money gets me higher than a hippie at a Grateful Dead show. I am so excited, just love getting good deals!

Good blogs on Blogger for coupon tips:
Frugal Coupon Living
Surviving the Stores

weighing in news

So I don't have a photo to share but I will share my news... I just reached one of my Weight Watchers goals... I got my 10% key chain today! That means I lost 10% of my body weight. I am super excited. I was literally bouncing in my chair, I couldn't wait for the leader to ask if anyone had any successes to share. I felt like a kindergartner who knows the answer to her teacher's question, my hand shot up in the air and it took all I had not to say, "ooo ooo ooo" like that Horshak kid on "Welcome Back Kotter." I missed my normal meeting because of another thing we had to do so I went this morning (with the intent of just to weigh in and go home, Parker was really, really crabby) and I was half way there when I realized I forgot my pass and book. I thought, I'll just go home, forget it, Parker was crying and a wreck from our late night. So I went home, the whole way, mad at myself for being so disorganized. When I pulled in my driveway, "I said, just go, get it over with, you'll have to start over anyway," I got my book and said, "I'll just weigh in since I had the boys all strapped in the van, I won't stay for the meeting." I fully expected to gain this week because of the Easter dinner, candy and general lack of time to hit the treadmill. When the receptionist said I lost 2.4 and I hit my 10% I let out a yelp. Kind of a woo hoo actually. I came home and put my new key chain, a small token to remind me of my journey this far, on my keys and I can't stop looking at it. Funny how a little thing can mean so much.

My Boys

Paul and his mini-me

My guy, Parker is 3 and 1/2, today. How can it be?
Easter pics to come later...

Happy Easter

We hope you get lots of candy and treats!

sharing

I've got nothing new to share today... just a cute photo. Look at that concentration! This is the quilt made by my awesome aunt Desi (her real name is Thespena, isn't that pretty?). She has made one for all my kids, sewing each stitch by hand. They are perfectly spaced and placed, I don't know how she does it. I treasure them and I have visions of my kids using them with their own children someday. Something about a quilt makes you get all nostalgic.

sewing projects

Here are my recent sewing projects... a couple bibs for Tanner and a tooth fairy pillow for Zoe.
lovin' these monkeys
OK, I am a self-taught seamstress so you'll see that on this cowboy bib, the pattern of the fabric is upside down. Lesson learned. I generally don't follow a pattern, choosing to make my own, hence goofy mistakes such as this. Oh well, I have plans to use the remaining fabric to make some burp cloths. I luv this baby flannel, it is so soft and so cute.
Now if the tooth would just come out...

Go Reds!

In honor of Opening Day today a picture of my baby wearing his first baseball hat! I am sooooo.... excited for baseball season to begin. I have been a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan and despite their lackluster seasons as of late, I get the ballgame bug every April. Today, I will be glued to the local news watching the parade through Findlay Market and the game afterwards. My favorite local cutie pie, Nick Lachey is throwing out the first pitch and I definitely don't want to miss that. There is just something magical about a baseball game. I'm not sure if it is the crack of the bats, roar of the crowd, the smell of hot dogs, standing up to do the "wave," the organ playing or just relaxing for a few hours in the heat, but I can't get enough of major league baseball. I think maybe it is because it evokes some of my happiest childhood memories or maybe it's just those tight white pants they wear! Opening Day is the official start of warm weather fun around here and everyone gets in the spirit. It's a kind of rebirth, after the cold long winter, everyone is excited for summer and the hope of a winning season. I can't wait to go to a game.

I am so done with winter!

It is finally spring here and wouldn't you know the weatherman is calling for snow tomorrow?!

Clean House on the Style channel

Zoe's hair doodles... We sorted these a long time ago and she recently asked me to help her redo them, you can imagine my jubilation. She's actually kept them like this for a couple weeks. I can only say that the show, "Clean House" has been my incentive. I watch it all the time and so do the kids. If it gets really messy I tell them I am callin' Neesie (the hostess) and they are going to come and make the kids sell their stuff at a yard sale. It works every time! Go "Clean House", Neesie and crew, we love you!

For Sarah V.

These are for Sarah... I wish you were here to squish this chub! You'll be enjoying your own little one's chubby cuteness soon...

redirecting myself

-3 pounds this week... total loss is 13.8, feeling good about that so I spent some time trying on pants. I can wear about half my old stuff, not any of my favorites but I'm getting there. I have found some time for small sewing projects, will post pictures soon. This is something I am doing to take my mind off stress that usually causes me to eat. With the Easter bunny coming soon, I know there will be challenges that will be hard to overcome, namely chocolate and cheesey potatoes. I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of crafts to compensate!