Thanksgiving Recap

Well, it was a quick, but WONDERFUL Thanksgiving break. We started out on Wednesday in Big Canoe with my mom, Dale, Aunt, Uncle, Stephen's Dad and my Grandparents. LOTS of yummy food, good memories and even some Christmas Cheer! We always celebrate Thanksgiving, my Grandfathers birthday and Christmas all at once so that we can celebrate these occasions together. We always have so much to be thankful for...especially when we all get to gather together for such a beautiful Holiday!

I have discovered a blog that I absolutely LOVE!! (http://www.foodallergymama.com/) All of her recipes are Caleb-safe since they are made without milk, eggs and nuts! I made chocolate cranberry cookies that I found on her site for Caleb's daycare Thanksgiving feast. It made a lot, so we had plenty left over to bring to Big Canoe. They were very yummy and everyone raved over them! I love being able to make something that tastes GOOD and is safe for Caleb to eat. I also tried her cranberry raisin pie on Sunday and it was yummy, too. In fact, it may just be a new favorite pie for this time of year! (and we all know how much this mama loves pumpkin pie!)

Thanksgiving day was spent watching the parade, eating left overs and relaxing. I love being able to relax on actual Thanksgiving day instead of having to scramble around in the kitchen. We have all the great food waiting for us in the refrigerator to warm up! :)

I actually went out on Black Friday this year and had a fun time! Stephen and Caleb stayed at home and I spent all my Christmas money and gift cards from my family! I love to be able to shop and not feel bad about it! Gift cards are the most perfect gift for me! (for anyone who needs any ideas!) ;)

Saturday and Sunday were spent decorating and just having some nice family time together. We are always so rushed during the week that a few days off spent at home just fill my heart! It was tough getting out of bed this morning, that is for sure! Now we are back to the grind at work and daycare. Stephen and I both have some time off before Christmas, and I am sure that we will enjoy it! This is my favorite time of the year!

Parent Teacher Conference

Well, Caleb had his first parent teacher conference today. I guess I should say that Stephen and I had our first parent teacher conference today! Caleb, along with his classmates, slept right through it on their little cots!

All in all, it was a good report! For the information section they wrote: "Caleb is a very sweet, loving child. He enjoys everything that we do! He has excellent listening ears and always does what is asked of him." They also said that "Caleb does well when transitioning from one activity to another. For the part where they had to write their concerns, they wrote "Caleb is very cautious and weary to try new things. However, he often warms up to the new activity and enjoys it! Sometimes his speech is difficult to understand, but we have already noticed improvement."

Isn't he a good boy!? There were just over four pages of developmental guidelines that he should be doing and only two weren't checked. One was " Uses words or gestures indicating a need to go to the bathroom." Both teachers laughed and said, well, he didn't do that until Tuesday and he started to do that out of the blue! Stephen and I also noticed this at home on Tuesday because he asked me to go sit on the potty and then went #1 and #2! The other blank that wasn't checked was "pulls at another person to show them some action or object. They agreed with us that rather than taking us to the object, he will usually bring it to them instead...which isn't too bad. The teachers did say that SOMETIMES he will not play with two or more peers at the same time, but that really just comes with his age. The younger twos are all doing the same thing and sometimes prefer one on one play with another child.

We are proud that we got a good report on our little man! Maybe he will keep up with his "Cautious manner" into his teen years and will stay out of trouble!

THE Coupon Mama!

So, a few of you have been asking about my couponing experiences the past month or so, and I am FINALLY sitting down to blog about it. I am far from an expert (there are some people who feed large families for under a dollar a week!!!) but I will give you the tips that I have on how I have saved so much money. I owe all of this to my friend Lauren who started posting pictures of her groceries and receipts on facebook. She was spending next to nothing for a lot of yummy looking food!

So. How do I do it? Well, my main source is http://www.southernsavers.com/. This is a fantastic website that lists many of the stores (in the South!) and what their weekly specials are, and what coupons are out there that can be matched up with the deals. The key is to start a stockpile of coupons from the Sunday paper. I also get a special Thursday paper that also has coupons inside. Publix has weekly B1G1 (buy one get one) deals. You do not have to buy both products to get the savings. They actually ring up at half price. For these B1G1 deals, you can also use TWO coupons (one for each product) Publix is a fantastic store to use your coupons. They will double coupons (unless specified not to) up to 50 cents. They also accept competitor store coupons and you can use these store coupons WITH a manufacturers coupon. For instance, last night I had a 50 cents off one bag of chex mix coupon from target. This coupon was doubled to $1 off. I also had a manufacturers coupon for 50 cents off (not to be doubled, per the coupon). They had their bag of chex mix on sale for (around) $1.67. So I paid 17 cents for a bag of chex mix!

I do find that Kroger usually has the better price on meats. If I am buying a lot of meat (and milk...they usually have great milk prices!) then I will make two trips. I live one mile from Publix and less than a mile from Kroger, so this is economical for me and still save money, rather than spending gas money to get from one to the other! That may not work for everyone!

I now try to only buy things I have a coupon for and, unless I have coupons that add up to make a product free, I won't buy something JUST because I have a coupon for it. I will also still comparison shop. For instance, I had a 60 cent off coupon for mayo last night, but that still made the name brand more expensive than store brand so I bought the Publix mayo instead.

Publix does have a Sunday and Monday special every week. It is their mystery coupon and most stores do not require you to have the actual coupon...check with your local store to see if you need it. Last night, I got a pack of hotdogs for 1 penny! The week before was a container of oatmeal. I have also gotten four rolls of toilet paper for only 1 cent.

The website I mentioned saves YOU from having to go through each weekly ad and comparing what coupons you have, etc. AND, it also gives you links to printable coupons. She will only write out the best deals of each weekly and will list what items you can walk away with for FREE! Last night, I got two packages of gravy mix, a container of softsoap, some zantac, and a box of cereal for free. I also paid next to nothing for the hotdogs, chex mix, BATTERIES!!, juicy juice and produce, to name a few.

Going to the store is actually quite fun for me now! I love hearing the total, then handing over my coupons and just watching the savings add up. I spent $34 last night for a weeks worth of groceries (plus some!) and spent $43! So nice!

Like I said, I am far from an expert....but these are the tips that I use. I do still have to be loyal to some name brands because of Caleb's allergies. In fact, I have emailed some of those companies complimenting their products and they have sent coupons in the mail! let me know if you have any questions, and I will be happy to try and help you save as much as I have!!

Shake Shake Shake

I am not quite sure what song Caleb decided to sing last night, but he was very into it. They must have learned a new song at school because I took Caleb to his room to get him ready for bed last night and he busted out in a song and dance! It was adorable. I think he sang something along the lines of "Shake Shake Shake" (and he pounded his fists together with each "shake" and then said something like "Shhhh--oooo--oooooo!" And rolled his arms around each other. He repeated this over and over and also added a clapping section in there. I wish I had the video camera upstairs when he was doing it! Such a silly boy! I will have to ask his teachers if they have recently learned a new song!

Cuteness

This blog post is dedicated to the cuteness that Caleb has been lately!

So, Caleb has decided that he loves to feed his Kitty Cat! He will pick out her bowl, bring it to us with the can and a spooon and wait for us to fill up the bowl. He then proceeds to take it to Lucy's mat. Lucy is always in the way, so he says "Scuse Me Sucy!" and bends over to put her bowl on the mat. Then, he pets her on the back and tells her to enjoy her meal. He loves his kitty. He will also tell her bye every morning the whole way out of the subdivision. "See ya Sucy!" "Bye bye Sucy" Today I think he even said "Miss you Sucy!"

I also just love all the cuteness from him in the morning. He will wake up and call out for us. Once we open his door, the sweetest little voice say s"Heeeeeyyy!" and he stands up to get picked up out of his crib.

Caleb really enjoys any of the little chores we ask him to do. For instance, he loves to put his dirty clothes in the hamper, throw his diapers away in the diaper pail, check the mail, put his shoes where they belong in his room and help Mommy or Daddy when we are in the kitchen. I love having a cute little helper!

I will finish with a cute little picture of Caleb's class at the Pumpkin Patch. He went on his first field trip yesterday and Stephen and I were both so excited to go along with him. He loved the pumpkins and the animals they have at the farm! We also got to go on a hayride!

Gone Fishin'

Well, Caleb's birthday party has come and gone. (I knew it would take me too long to finally sit down and blog about it...) A great time was had by all. Caleb was a little unsure of why so many people were in his house that day, but he got over it quickly with some yummy food and juice. It was a fishing theme, complete with fish shaped finger sandwiches, a tray of worms crawling around in dirt...OK, so they were really gummy worms in crushed up oreo cookies :), shells that we collected at the beach and his stuffed animal fish caught up in a fish trap. He loved all his food, but he especially LOVED his cake. In fact, the days that followed his party, Caleb would attempt to go in the kitchen by himself, stand on his tip toes and peek over the counter top at his cake. We would catch him and he would turn around and say "CAKE!" We were blessed that Pat Sheppard made him another beautiful AND allergy free birthday cake!

Another highlight for Caleb was when everyone sang the Happy Birthday song. He looked all around at everyone singing and got a huge grin on his face. Here is just a sampling of the pictures from the day...

Happy Birthday Song...told you he loved it!

Mommy decorating the table...

All this birthday stuff makes a boy thirsty! (See his little fishing vest?)

Waiting on his new car to be put together....think he was excited??? :)

His yummy and CUTE birthday cake!

Happy Birthday, my sweet boy!

Happy Birthday

I figured I would go ahead with the Happy Birthday Caleb post...by the looks of my blog, I have become slack and an event as important as this should not pass by without a posting of it's own!

How can I be a mommy of a 2 year old already? Time has gone by so fast. Sometimes I wish I could just slow down the time and bottle it up. I don't want to miss anything and yet feel at the same time like I miss so much! I figured I would write a little letter to Caleb today as my post...

Dear Caleb,

Happy 2nd Birthday! Not a day goes by that I do not thank God for you. You really are my sunshine. I know I may sing that to you a lot, but it really is true. Even on dark bad days, all I need to do is see your smile and things are ok, if only for a moment. I cannot get enough of your sweet hugs and kisses and will drop anything I am doing if you shout from the other room, "mama?" You have learned so much this year and I am so proud of you. You have made friends and love to talk about what you did on the way home from school. Your favorite things to do at school are singing songs and going on walks with the blue rope. I say blue because you always make sure to remind me of the color when you talk about your walks at school. I am pretty sure that your best friend is Kate. If I ask you what you did that day, 9 times out of 10, it has something to do with Kate. You two love to play together and I think it is so sweet to watch you play with your friends. I think you will be a good friend as you grow up because you seem to already have such a big heart for your friends!

You also like to play outside in our back yard with Daddy and get very excited when you get to pick cherry tomatoes from the garden and eat them straight from the vine. Another favorite thing of yours at home is Lucy, our kitty cat! Many times you will go in your play room, look around for her and if she isn't in there, you will pat your legs and say "kitty, kitty, kitty" and when she finally comes running into the room, you will get so excited! Your vocabulary has grown and I have a feeling that you will soon be speaking in complete sentances. Your current favorite phrase is "I want more! (moe!)" Needless to say, we hear that just about every night at dinner! You do love to eat! :)

My favorite part of the day is going in to your room each morning. Your face lights up, and you quickly get to your feet, scoop up your blanket (which you call Kee or Kit) and say "Up!" I pick you up and you always lay your sweet little head on my shoulder. That is one of those feelings I want to bottle up so I can keep it with me and open it up whenever I want to! From there, we will go in my bed and you will drink your milk (moke) and watch Blues Clues on TV. Those 5 minutes of snuggle time really do get me through the day!

You are so smart, Caleb. You love shapes. In fact, you can name off pretty much any shape, from oval to octagon and you are usually correct! You are also great with puzzles and no longer need my help to get them put together. Another sign that you are gaining your independance. It makes me so proud to watch you learn new things and do things by yourself.

I could go on and on about the silly things you do to make us laugh, make us smile and even make us cry tears of joy! This letter would get long, and the few readers that I have on my blog would probably get bored!

I really am so lucky to be your mom! I am so honored and humbled every day to think that God chose Stephen and Me to be your mom and dad. We must have done something right to deserve the title of "Caleb's Parents" because we could not be more proud of you, our sweet Little Man. My heart is so full of love for you and skips a beat when I see you playing outside at daycare, or discover your scent on a blanket you have left in my car or just hear your name. Thank you for being you, Caleb. I hope you have a wonderful birthday, full of all your favorite things!

XOXO,

Mama

Then: October 5, 2007

Now: September 2009