My baby boy Boog is 4 today

I cannot believe that 4 years have passed since giving birth to my first baby. He is turning into such a little boy. He makes me smile and laugh everyday and keeps me on my toes just about every waking moment. I love him so much and know that God has given us a wonderful person to raise. God gave Boog to us on a very important day. Exactly one year before on July 13, 2003 we lost our first baby at 13 weeks. When I found out I was pregnant again and that my due date was July 20th, God told me that my baby would be born on July 13th. God is so very good, in that on the very same day I had to experience a terrible loss, he blessed me with life one year later. I love Boog and cannot wait to see how he grows and matures into a young man.

Boog and Baby Girl today














Boog and me today.

Some of my favorite songs

Divine Romance by Phil Wickham





Hold Me Now by Jennifer Knapp--- I could put up many of her songs, this one is older, but I love it:





There are others that I like, but these two were on my heart today. There are times that I have a hard time accepting God's grace and love. I feel totally undeserving. It is at those moments that He reminds me that I am his daughter and he loves me no matter what. Just as I love my children unconditionally. They may not always do the right thing, but I help them and love them just the same. God has an even greater love for us. Praise be to you my Father God!

The weeks have just flown by...

Sorry, I have not blogged in such a long time. We have finally moved from our apartment. We had lived in that apartment since getting married 6 years ago. Gus had lived there even longer, 7 1/2 years this month. We moved just across town into a townhouse. We have been here 2 weeks now and have been busy getting everything organized. We are hoping that this is a one year temporary stop between our apartment and buying a home. This was a good move, we have nice landlords and we have been able to purchase our very first washer and dryer. We also have a nice private patio out the back door. We are very happy with this move.

I have had some bittersweet moments since moving. Although I was ready to move out of the apartment, it was the place I moved into with Gus and the place where we brought our children home. I will miss it just a little for the memories that our family made there. Moving has also given us the opportunity to move the children into their own room. For those who do not know we have slept with the children in our room and the plan was to move them out once Baby Girl was old enough to go into a room with Boog. Well that time has come and I was so nervous. I am happy to have them sleeping in a room of their own, but I really miss their presence in our room. They have transitioned wonderfully and have been sleeping great with out skipping a beat. It was a much harder transition for mama than my babies.

I am hoping to be posting more often soon and to get some photos of the new place up as well.

Exciting Morning

I got a jump start on excitement this morning. After the kids and I roused from the bed, we were doing the regular stuff. I changed Baby Girls diaper and sent Boog to change his pull up and put on some undies. As Baby Girl and I were walking to the living room, Boog comes running and screaming down the hall "A BUG, A BUG, A BUG, mama!!!!". He is crying, so I am like WHAT kind of bug did he see? He usually likes bugs and likes to sit and watch what they do. So I am a bit afraid to go and see what bug he had seen. Anyway I build up my confidence and head to the bathroom. I did not see it at first, then Boog starts screaming again, "There it is mama, the BUG!!" I jump back to make sure that it does not have a chance to touch me, then I see it. A huge, gross cockroach!!!!! It is on the bathroom door and decides to fly to the ground (note: the flying thing is one of the reasons I am afraid of this creature). I tell Boog to get back, then Baby Girl dashes in and is trying to catch it. "NO, don't touch it!" I yell, then scoop her up and put her back in the crib. I go and grab the weapon of choice, a shoe, then head back to exterminate. Of course, the thing has moved and now I have to find it again. All I can keep thinking is that it was going to fly on me, but I kept pressing on. Just seconds later it is all over with, the bug is dead and flushed down the toilet.

Now, I want to know where in the mothering hand book, it warns of you having to be an exterminator before having your morning coffee?

CVS deals of the week

I have learned through some friends of mine, how to CVS. It is a wonderful thing, that helps me get household things cheap with money gained back. Here is my deals from today. I usually do about 2 deals a week, today I did 3 different transactions to get what you see in my picture.















So I got:

7 boxes of cereal (it was suppose to be only 6, but I messed up my first deal)
1 Huggies 232 count wipes refill
1 Huggies Jumbo size 4 diapers
1 Gas-x
3 boxes of band aids


I spent right at $15 out of pocket
Used $19.98 in ECB's
Use Q's on the cereal, wipes, diapers, and gas-x
Then got a gain of $21 in ECB's back to use next week.

I love CVS and how much it helps my grocery/household budget. I have to give a big Shout Out to Carlie over from Why Ask Why and Teresa at A Life at Home. With out them I would have never known that this kind of thing existed. Thank you ladies so much, for introducing me to coupons and CVS!!

Triming Down the Budget

I have been trying to think of ways to trim down our spending. I feel I have been doing pretty well with menu planning and doing CVS deals. One of the huge hurdles that we/I need to overcome is the eating out syndrome.

I have been planning the menu and making sure we have everything we need for meals, but on lazy days I will still run out and pick us up something to eat. This is not only extra money spent, but less healthy than home cooking.

So I wonder, is there any practical ways to get this done? Or is this going to just take plain ol' self control? I have asked Gus to tell me "no" when I ask to go pick up food, but he is just as bad as me and loves to have Micky D's or Cane's pretty often. So, we are really no help to each other. I think we are just going to have to buckle down and make eating out a special treat, instead of being a regular meal.

As you can see I need help, if you have had the eating out syndrome before and overcame it please let me know how you accomplished that! :)

Blueberry Picking

Last Thursday we went and picked blueberries. The kids love them and this is a easy and cheap way to stock up on them. Only costs us $1.50 a pound and a little sweat. The kids had a great time and I got to visit a little with some lady friends, which is always nice. We plan on going again before the season is out, to stock up a little more.

So what I do need is a few recipes to use my blueberries in. If you have any great ones that you would share, please let me know about it.