Fun Family Weekend

We started our weekend off by going to our last concert in the park :( I'm very sad by this, because it means Summer is coming to an end and soon the COLD, COLD weather will be returning!!! It has been fun though and we have definitely had a GREAT summer!

Saturday night we went to the Maritime Festival, since we live so close to Lake Michigan, it's just a festival with food, vendor's and Awesome Sail Ships and fireworks. Of course both nights, we had to stop for Mcd's $.49 ice cream cones :) The kid's absolutely love it when we say we're going for ice cream...and it's CHEAP...lol (and we always get a cup for Bailey's because she can't eat it fast enough, so I eat the top of mine and trade her for her ice cream, so she get's 2 cones and I get the ice cream...hehehe) So after ice cream, we ended up getting home around 10:30, then unforunately ended up sleeping in way too late this morning for church :( Oh well, we did make it to our Church's Annual Corn Roast this evening though and had soooo much fun, well maybe a little too much....Johnny either sprained his foot or broke something playing football :( Other than that...the kid's loved playing with their friends and we enjoyed catching up with everyone and of course we enjoyed the smorgasboard of food :)

Bailey actually LOVED the firework's....YEAH!!!!

***This is a HUGE step for her, last year she screamed her head off and we had to go inside to watch them and the 4th of July she fell asleep...so I was sooo excited to see her enjoying them :)

Under Construction

YEAH!!!! I figured out how to change a few things on my blog and gave it a NEW look!!!

EXCITING NEWS!!!!!

So my brother wanted me to wait and make sure everything was ok, so he has now given me permission to share this exciting news!!!!


I'm going to be an AUNTIE to a new NIECE in January!!!!!!!!!



Congrats Jason and Julie....we are sooo excited and Bailey can't wait to play babies with her baby cousin (she asks me everyday if Aunt Julie's baby is here yet???)

Insomnia

UGH...so my Dr started me on a new medicine and I'm having a really hard time sleeping lately :( I'm hoping it's only a temporary side effect, but for now here I am up at midnight...lol Thankfully the Olympic's have been on to keep me company :)

So I thought I would give a brief recap of what's been going on in our family lately!!!

*** My biggest and best CVS trip was this past weekend and I saved a WHOPPING $296.32!!! Ahhh, it is sooo exciting but yet hard work organizing my coupon's and working on my deals...but it pays off in the end I suppose..lol So some of you have requested pic's of my stockpile as well...so I have somewhat oranized it for now...I'm sure it will change again later in the week. First is a pic of my weekend shopping trip, minus 3 pks of pull-ups the kid's ripped open as soon as I got home, because they had collector cards in them..lol

1st shelf in the Closet

2nd Shelf

and the 3rd...I think it's time to find somewhere else for my towel's and washclothes

This was once my linen closet, I thought it was perfect because it's really deep...but I have had to move over into the Coat closet now for extra storage

and the shelves in the coat closet

and Laundry

So there ya have it, I have given TONS away too...I just can't pass up all these AWESOME deals though...especially when they pay me to shop...it's SOOO FUN!!!

***Now back to the Family!!! Last week was National Night Out, so we went down to check it out, they had Police Car's, Fire Truck's, Games, Obstacle Course, Free DINNER :) and free fingerprinting for the kid's. It was really ALOT of fun, we ended up meeting up with a few friends from church too and Quaid's best friend Ryan :) Here's a few pics from the evening!!!

***We finally made it back to our FAVORITE summer activity, Concert in the Park on Friday night. It seems we've been soo busy lately or the weather hasn't cooperated, but this past Friday we met Grammy & Grampy, set up our chair's, set out the blanket for the kid's and just enjoyed the music and catching up :) The weather was PERFECT!!!

***We've been enjoying the Olympic's, as I'm sure most everyone is right now! It really makes you proud to be an AMERICAN, especially when our Swim team beat France...LOL (that will show them to talk smack about our team...lol) Honestly though, just to see Michael Phelps and how Proud he is, just makes you sooo happy for him...he truly is AMAZING!!! The kid's also are enjoying the Olympic's...however they think they are in the olympic's sometimes and try to do some of the gymnastic tricks off the couch....I hope we survive these next few weeks ;)

***I'm sure most everyone has heard about our dear Brett Favre :( Unfortunately he is no longer with the Packer's, but is now a New York Jett. We are very sad, but Daddy has trained his Boy and we are now Brett Jett Fan's...lol. We wish him well and hope he takes them to the Super Bowl this year!!!

***Next week we will be off to OHIO...YEAH!!! My best friend Stephanie is FINALLY getting married in October :) So next weekend is her bachelorette Party weekend, which includes a day at King's Island!!! Oh how I miss King's Island, for some of you who don't know...it's an Amusement Park and Waterpark....soooo much FUN!!! I can't wait :) So the kid's and I will be heading down there on Wednesday, unfortunately Daddy had 2 of his employee's off during that time, so he can't come with us :( But the kid's will get to spend some time with their Grandma and we all know...they LOVE Grandma's house...and they will get to spend some time with their Aunt's & Uncle's and Cousin's....while Mommy get's a much needed break and some FUN :)

So that's been a bit of our live's lately, so I leave you with our lil Bailey and her FAVORITE Summer Food (well except for candy or cookie's...lol) She loves CORN ON THE COB!!!! I love how she eats it...so I had to snap a pic and cherish this memory of my sweet lil girl nibbling away at her corn ;)

$25 Gift Certificate's for ONLY $2!!!!!

WOO HOO, you all know I am a LOVER of BARGAINS!!!! Well here's one that got me WAY too excited today :)

Restaurant.com is having a SPECTACULAR sale today only!!! So check them out and see if there are any restaurant's in your area, I got $75 in gift certificate's for a whopping $6!!! LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!!

5 Minutes for Mom Summer Photo Contest

Over at 5 Minutes for Mom along with The Skinny Cow are hosting a Summer Photo Contest!!! Here's our entry:

Summer Update

WHOA...has it been a busy, but FUN summer :) I still can't believe school starts in 1 month :( Actually Quaid is sooo excited to go back to school, but Mommy isn't!!!! Although I'm going to enjoy getting back into a routine with Bailey and having our "girl time", it's just hard to see your baby go to school ALL day! I ask him constantly if he would just stop growing and be my baby forever and ever...lol, of course, I get the whole...you know I'm never going to be your baby again and besides I'm Daddy's boy (really, he is turning into a LITTLE JOHNNY...kinda scary..lol)

So I haven't been able to blog lately, I'm really just trying to stay off the computer and spend a little more time with my babies (cause Summer really is flying by as well as their lives) So here's a little bit of what's been going on:

* Bailey has become a GYMNIAST...she literally finds a way to climb or swing on everything, I can't even imagine what she will do after seeing the Olympic's...OH DEAR!!! Maybe we'll be signing her up sooner than later for Gymnastic's :)

* Unfortunately we've only made it to the Pool once so far, but it was interesting to see the changes in how both the kid's were in the water...of course they did get some swimming in Chicago, but Bailey was VERY BRAVE and decided she was going to go down the kid's slide (I really don't think she realized there would be water at the end...thankfully Mommy ran over to catch her just in time, however the whole experience scared her to death :( Poor girl!!!) Quaid absolutely loved the slide and just being in the water. The pool is like a shore, so it gradually get's deeper, Quaid showed Bailey how to swim along the shore and they were having soo much fun, until Bailey saw Aunt Haylee and started getting a little deeper and ended up going under, then she was terrified AGAIN!!!!! This time, she didn't really wanna get back in, so I took her over and sat down with her, she says to me, "Mommy I was scared because I didn't see you under the water"...lol Finally she got up the courage to get back in and not even 2 min later the whistle blew for everyone to get out...the pool was closing for the afternoon :( Oh well, we will definitely have to get back there before Summer ends!!!

* We had a Rummage sale a few weeks ago and unfortunately was quite slow :( We had it at our Neighbor's Mom's house (because it was off a busier street, however there was construction on the next stree over...so I'm thinking that slowed us down a bit) But I had gotten a Free Sunkist Lemonade stand earlier in the summer, so the kid's had a GREAT time selling Lemonade and cookies :) All proceed's went to our friend Nicky, who is now in Papau, New Guinea doing missionary work for the next year, they raised a little over $25....every little bit helps :)

* We've had some really "WICKED" weather this summer, lots of rain, lots of crazy storm's, then NO RAIN, Hot day's and chilly nights....it's really just a huge mixture of just crazy weather!!! Thankfully no more flooding!!!

* Last week was the County Fair...WOO HOO!!!! One thing I LOVE about summer is the Fair...the main reason is the FOOD!!! I know, oh so greasy, but good ole fair food :) In Wisconsin they have "Cheese Curd's"....mmmm, deep fried cheese curd's...ahh, and the footlong corn dog's, funnel cakes and Cream Puff's!!!! Oh and can't forget about the cotton candy :) Sure, I wake up with a tummy ache the next morning, but it's sooo worth it!!! This year we went with the in-law's...(could be in-law's if Quaid's marries Danielle, like he tells us all the time...lol) and our other could be in-law's (if Bailey would marry Trent...LOL) Oh how Mommy's think...lol Either way, we had a great time and the kid's rode MANY, MANY rides, one of which made me scared to see my little boy climb on was called "The Cliff Hanger"....his first big boy ride!!! He loved it soo much he wanted to go on a 2nd time ;) He survived and I survived, so we're all good now! Last but not least, we came home with a NEW member of our family (unfortunately I accidently deleted the last bit of pics from the camera not realizing they didn't get downloaded...so I don't have a pic of him) Bologna has joined our family, that's right...we have a goldfish named Bologna!!!! Who know's where kid's come up with these names???? And so far so good, he's still alive...who know's for how long, but for now he is the center of attention...poor weiner dog...lol

* Yes, I'm still having soooo much fun shopping at CVS and saving TONS!!!!!!! Since I started back in June, I have saved a little over $2,000!!!! Each week it vary's, but usually I spend less than $5 with several transactions, Extra care Buck's and COUPON's!!! I have resorted to a BINDER (I actually found a school binder on clearance at Walgreen's for $2.00 and got some Baseball card pocket holder's along with a few zipper pocket's for under $3 at Office Max) for my coupon's...and it has made life soooo much easier :) I am however running out of storage room even after I have given lots away to family and friends....it still makes me soooo giddy to get such AWESOME deals on stuff I normally would have went without because we didn't have the money before...little did I know how I could get so much stuff for little to NO money!!! Just AMAZING really!!!!

Well it's getting really late and we have storytime in the morning, playgroup/picnic in the afternoon and National Night Out (family night where kid's get to climb in the Police car's, learn about safety and free food and ICE CREAM) tomorrow, so I'd better be getting to bed. Just wanted to give you all a lil update of what we've been up to lately. I will try to blog a little more, usually I'm just wiped out by the end of the night...so we'll see ;)

Oh and I FINALLY finished the "Camp Grammy Week" post...so check it out below :)

Camp Grammy

Better late than never...lol A few weeks ago we went to Chicago with Grammy to Camp Grammy (my Mom and her sissie's like to get together with their grandkid's and have a week with the Grammy's) I went along to help out with Bailey still, because she's a little young and obviously you've read she's very mischevious lately!!!! Also my cousin was coming with her Mom too, so I was excited to get some girl time too ;)

We arrived in Chicago around 2ish on Sunday at my cousin Chris's house ( he lives in the suburb's of Chicago) We had a great afternoon of chatting, the kid's in the basement just warming up to their cousin's, but yet still a little shy about it. It really didn't take long before they were playing the Wii, talking and running around the house just as if they had known each other forever.

(my cousin's and I used to get together every year for "Family Reunion's" at our house in Tennesee, some would come from Ohio, Florida and Illinois for a week of just good family fun...it was always a BLAST and our Mom's (the Grammy's now...lol) would always make up some of the silliest things for us to do, but it really was the best time in the Summer was when the cousin's were coming. So I'm glad my kid's get to experience a week with their cousin's every so often)

Monday was our "BIG" day in the city!!! We got up SUPER early to catch the 7:40 train to the city. Poor Bailey didn't sleep so well and was up at 3am and did NOT go back to sleep, I think it was being in a different place and sleeping with me. So on our way to the train station, she falls asleep :( But quickly awakes because we're at the train station...YEAH!!!! On the train we go and we're off to the Windy City!!! We arrive at Union Station and follow my cousin (if it weren't for him...we never would have made it out there), he works downtown..so he was going to work and we were going to Shedd's Aquarium. On the search for a bus that would take us to the Aquarium, one bus driver offered to take us all on for free and would help us find a trolley that would take us there. We were THANKFUL for this bus driver!!! Until, he stops just a few blocks away and points to a trolley and say's "Shedd's Aquarium people, that trolley will take you right there"...Awesome!! No...that trolley cost $20 and I think it was even a tour one...ugh!!! So here we are with 7 kid's and 6 adult's going through Chicago during rush hour with everyone else going to work and here we are lugging all these kid's down 6 blocks. Oh my, if kid's weren't so BLATANT and HONEST...whatever would we do??? There were all kind's of remark's I heard along the way, "Hey, why are they blowing that smoke in my face, don't they know second hand smoke is bad for us" or "Hey, let's go there and get some donuts" or "Hey, I just saw Spiderman on those building's" or "Hey, I NEED MY STARBUCK'S"...lol (Yeah the last one was really what my Mom was thinking everytime we passed one...lol) ;) It's really funny to try to see things through kid's eye's sometime's...gotta love em!!!! Anyway, needless to say we made it to a bus stop that DEFINITELY went to the Aquarium, so my cousin got us there and caught a Taxi to work...he was only an hour late...ooops :( And we arrived safely at Shedd's Aquarium :) The kid's were assigned "Buddy's", they had a kid buddy and an Adult buddy they were to stay with the whole time. (if you look in the pic, you can really tell who's buddies...lol)

We are finally in and ready to see some fish or more!!! This place was sooo AMAZING and really, really COOL!! They had a Dolphin Show, underground viewing of course so you can see the dolphin's swimming underwater, The AMAZON, a theatre, reptile's, shark's, sting-ray's and a HUGE fishtank in the center of this room and there was a real live guy underwater feeding the fish and talking about all of them...it was sooo cool :) The kid's absolutely loved it!!!

After we left the Aquarium, we caught a Water Taxi over to the Navy Pier. Once we got to the Navy Pier, I think we were all too tired to do anything there, so we got the kid's a drink and took a break. Then hopped back on the Water Taxi over to Union Station (which took us right through downtown...it was actually a pretty long ride, but nice) I got to see the Trump Tower being built...you know the one where Bill won and he got to oversee this operation, from one of the first "Apprentice's". That was pretty cool!!! And we had to drop off some people on Michigan Ave....but they wouldn't let me get off :( If you don't know, Michigan Ave is the "Magnificent Mile" in Chicago and has ALL the store's on it...it really is MAGNIFICANT!!!!! Oh well, I would get to go to some outlet's later in the week...lol We finally make it back to Union Station and there is Chris waiting for us...YEAH!!!! Please tell us where to go now??? He led us right to the train, we all hop on and breath a sigh of relief that we all made it. WHEW!!! We head back to Chris' house to eat dinner, then go back to the hotel and swim and do crafts. That of course was the Grammy's plan for the kid's, Laura and I had some other plans and just relaxed with some spa treatment's and got to catch up :) Finally, it was off to bed...after a VERY LONG, FUN, but EXHAUSTING day!!!

The rest of the week, we stayed around our hotel and didn't go back into the city...I think we all had enough of the city..lol We took the kid's to see Wall-E, which was really, really cute :) More swimming, more crafts and the Grammy's took them bowling one day. While they were bowling, Chris' wife Sue took Laura and I out to the outlet's, including the Crate and Barrel Outlet!!! I got some wine glasses for $.95 each and a White Leather magazine basket for $2.00...I was quite happy with my BARGAINS!!!

It really was a GREAT week and sooo nice to get away and enjoy spending time with family, I know the kid's had such a great time and keep asking when they can go back to the hotel and see their cousins...lol Thankfully about a week after we got back, CVS had a great deal on Kodak Photobook's, they were $7.99 and they were giving back $7.99 in extra care bucks....so I made one of Camp Grammy. It's so cute to see Bailey looking through it and just smiling and saying, I memer that Mommy and memer when we went on that boat...lol Ahhh...memories, I hope they will cherish them forever ;)

Here's a lil slide of our Camp Grammy Week: