Micah Video

Here are some videos of Micah from early July. He's waving and talking. Well, trying to get a word in when Cara isn't talking :)

And this is Micah crawling earlier this month. Sorry it's so dark. If you've never been in our house, that's our little hallway. I am sitting at the edge of our room. The door he tries to go in at the end is the kids bathroom, their room is on the right and the room at the other end of the hall is the playroom. :)

Some Cara-isms

If this works right, these are a couple of videos of Cara saying some things we hear ALL THE TIME :). Thought I'd record them so we can all remember them someday :)

Brown Bear. She's loved this book since she was Micah's age. She can recite the whole thing (she got distracted at the end of this video) :) I think this was back in June, right after her birthday (all these were taken at the same time. I'm going to do another post with Micah man videos!

Kids Stats & signing

Here are the kids stats for my rememberance :)

Cara, 3 years:

39 pounds (96%)

40 inches tall (96%)

head wasn't measured

Micah, 9 months:

20 pounds, 1 ounce (41%)

28.25 inches (50%)

18 inches head (61%)

It's crazy because I think of Micah as so big, but he has been increasing getting more 'average.' He started his weight in the 62%, then up to high 70s, then to 60 at 6 months, and now in the low 40s! Even Dr. L said, "wow, he looks a lot heavier than he is." It's the cheeks, and the thighs :). We had his TOO CUTE for words 9 month pictures taken today, can't wait to get those next Friday. Here's a recent picture of both of them.

Cara playing with her my little pony.

Micah and Daddy up in Dallas last weekend.

I forgot to mention, Micah is now signing milk and eat!! He's been watching Signing Times (though not as often as Cara did), but did his first sign earlier than she did. And when we sign like more and all done, we can tell he knows what we're saying! :) Yea for baby signs!

Cara turned 3!!! (yes, a month ago!)

So, I never did a recap (that I remember) on Cara's birthday party. Going to start off by saying SORRY to everyone who didn't get invited. And you're probably glad you weren't there. It was COMPLETELY crowded, but that's what happens when you're frugal and have all your parties at home....in a very tiny home :). Not unloved home, just small!

First I have to share what we found on our fridge after everyone left Eric's 30th party....funny :)

Ok, so Cara woke up on her birthday, knowing it was her birthday this year. And I was so excited. We got her a Fancy Nancy dress up dress and shoes for her party. Daddy was going to make her a vanity for her playroom, but VBS was just entirely too time consuming, so that'll be a Christmas gift! Here she is first thing. She went into the living room to find her gifts, and took them to our bed (as Micah and Daddy were still asleep). On the way there, she walked by her cutely decorated tables a la Mommy!
She loved the gifts, but even more funny, look at that Bed Head!! :)

Here she is all dolled up!

Here is Fancy Cara eating her tea party food and drinking her tea (aka grape kool-aid, which no one managed to spill!) :)

After the tea party, we went outside to find some hidden water balloons. Then had a water balloon toss....well, at least the older kids did. The 3 and 4 year olds didn't quite get it!

Here are the petit fours my best friend Trayce made for the party. Can I just say YUM!! And I was eating on them for DAYS :) Here she is opening her many wonderful gifts from family and friends. There was definitely a dress up theme, so she got lots of fun dress up clothes, as well as puzzles, drawing things, clothing, and the list goes on. She (and we) are so blessed to call so many people loved ones!!

And if we weren't crazy enough already, we took Cara to Chuck E. Cheese for her birthday dinner. She had such a good time (not that you can tell from this picture) running around, eating pizza, and playing with all the fun things. Eric's parents and sister came with us, and we all had a great time!

And don't think I threw this party without utilizing some deals!! :) One of my favorite places to shop for birthday party stuff is BirthdayExpress.com.

Don't let first glance fool you. The prices look a little up there. However, if you are a savvy shopper like myself (stifled laugh), you know the best way to shop. I ended up getting 2 mylar balloons, some party plates, dessert plates, napkins, favor boxes, etc for $2!!! It's awesome. I did a quick shop (for the plates and napkins) and it was around $11. BUT, as Carrie has taught me, ALWAYS sign up for trial offers (and remember to cancel if you don't like it), and there was a trial offer for something (can't even remember now) that said if you sign up (and got a free month membership), they'd give you $10 back on your next purchase. Well, having used things like these in the past, I knew it also offered a $10 monthly rebate on a past purchase. So, I signed up, went and got the balloons and party favor boxes, and again the bill was around $11, then input the code for $10 off and paid $1. Then I submitted my previous receipt (as simple as forwarding the email you got as a receipt to a specific email address provided by the trial company) for the other $10 back. So, I paid $12, then got a $10 check back in the mail within the week (and then promptly called to cancel my membership). YEA, see deals and birthdays go hand in hand! :)

Micah is 9 months!

This is a late night quick post. Just wanted to say Micah is 9 months old today!! (and Happy Birthday to my friend Ashley!!) ;) We took a QUICK trip to Dallas. Drove up last night, drove back tonight. Cara stayed at my parents and we took Micah man. He did great. Between 8 months and 9 months he got 2 teeth and started crawling. He is starting to understand the signs we are using with him. Occasionally it'll look like he signs eat or milk, or momma or daddy. He can say mamamamama now and it's Definitely for me, and dadadad and it's for Eric. And tonight he somewhat signed it as he was talking to me. I absolutely love this stage. The crawling hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be!! :) Cara never crawled in this house, she was walking by the time we moved here. I have some really cute video and pictures, I will post soon, but I need to get to bed so I can make it to church tomorrow!

Raking in the deals!

So, I'm sorry I have been horrible posting on family lately. It's just so hard to dig through the pictures, when I could just post deals and have it be easy! So, I promise that sometime next week I'll do Cara's 3rd birthday party post ;). Only 5 weeks late!

Great news, I should be getting my $1,500 check from my 3rd online offer I completely in 4 weeks!! Yea, I qualified, did my 2 months waiting, sent in all my information and got word yesterday I've been approved!! :) Yea! I put it in the budget for either August or September, so it couldn't come at a better time!! If you haven't checked out Carrie's webpage, DO IT. Once this comes in, we will have made $2,500 from spending maybe 6 hours time!!

Second, who would like a free $20?? I know, it doesn't sound like much, but since the beginning of this year, and doing quite a few bank offers, I've made $375, not bad for a couple of clicks!! Here are the details:

I now have a savings account there. Here are the details how you can get $20 for signing up, then $20 for every friend you refer:
Open a new eMoney Market Account ( cannot have been a past customer )
Minimum opening deposit of $100
No minimum balance requirement in account
No monthly fees
Must open account within 30 days of receiving the welcome invite email
Up to 1.87% interest on your account currently
$20 Bonus will be deposited within 30 days of meeting requirements
Click Here to receive your invite for the free $20

Happy 8th Anniversary My Love!

Today, back in 2001, Eric and I were married! It's hard to reflect back to a time before kids, before a house, before cross-country moves, when we were still in Waco, TX finishing school and acting like newlyweds!! What a ride it's been, and thank the Lord that He was along for it! See the picture....we both knew what we were getting into...I am still the same weight today, and well, I knew what was happening with his hair ;)

Eric--I truly do love you more today than that day 8 years ago. You, behind our heavenly Father, are what I live for each day. I love being your wife and the mother of your beautiful babies! I can't wait to see what the next 8, 18, 58 years bring!!

Happy Birthday to me.

Today is my birthday. I'm 29! The first time I'm turning 29 ;). I had a great girls night last night with my girls from church. I love those girls (and miss the ones that have moved away). I SO look forward to that night each month. And since I plan and host it, I always get to go! ha.

Anyways, it's bittersweet. I miss my Mawmaw. It's still weird to me. I look at pictures of her often, and since she was never sick or anything, it's like I just haven't seen her :(. My mom is leaving her house today, she's been staying with my pawpaw, and my sister picked her up. They are all sad and called me and made me even more sad. Today is my birthday and tomorrow is my cousins. I think it'll be hard for both of us, but I am also calm in the fact that my God is all the Comfort we need.

Random, my daughter just came to me and is naked. She took her PJ shirt off all by herself. She has issues with that, so GO CARA!

And here is Micah's 8 month shot from JC Penney.

And here is Cara's :)

Happy Things

Updated to add: When we came home on Sunday, our lawn had been mowed! We assumed it was my neighbor because he was out mowing his when we were leaving on Wednesday and I had told him what happened and asked him to bring our trash can up. We've since asked him and he said no, it was some white truck with a trailer on the back. So if you did it, or know who did, please let us know! We are so thankful!!

Original post:

Lots happened while we were out of town. Lots of sad things. Lots of happy things. We were so blessed by the outpouring of love and support from everyone....from people my mawmaw and pawpaw went to high school with (they just attended his 60th high school reunion in May back in Alabama!), up to friends of mine who have (and have not) met her!! God's love was shown through. I had just read 2 Corinthians chapter 1 in my quiet time last week, and that is the scripture the pastor focused on at the graveside service. What a sweet rememberance of what a comfort God is in our time of need.

Onto happy things....Micah broke his 2nd (bottom) tooth through yesterday. That may have explained the screaming for 2 hours each night while we were out of town (sad thing!). He also started crawling!! He has been going backwards for awhile, but first thing when I plopped him down in the floor when we got to Pawpaw's house on Wednesday, he started going forward. Each day he goes further and further. Cara really has to keep the playroom cleaned up now! :).

Cara was so sweet through everything. I told her that Mawmaw was in heaven with Jesus and that we wouldn't get to see her anymore on this earth. She asked, where's Jesus? I said he's in Heaven with God. I told her lots of people were going to be sad, and that she just needed to give lots of hugs and tell them she loves them. I think she and Micah brought joyfulness to what could have been a much more depressing time. She was ALL OVER my mom, didn't want to leave her side. And Micah was just so smiley! Everyone loves that little boy.

Since we've been home, they've both slept great, which is a relief. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've been EXHAUSTED. Like, I take a nap every day (which is not normal). Sometimes I wake up, do my quiet time, get Micah up, nurse him, then when Cara wakes up, I hand them off to Eric and he lets me sleep an extra hour. I just can't seem to get caught up. And yes, for those wondering, I took a test and it was negative. I just need some rest and relaxation time, but that's hard to do when you walk into your living room/kitchen and it's a disaster, and the last thing you do is feel like cleaning. UGH. I did get lots of laundry done today, so that was good. My mom said to focus on one thing a day this week.

Anyways, I was just going through my 'deals' email account, and man do I have a lot of free food coming! I will NOT use all the coupons I got, because I HAVE to start living and eating right, and these foods would NOT comply with that (however, I will have one of the ice cream things). Here is a list of things I've got coupons for free items, so go to their website and sign up!

Free medium sonic drink (ok, I cashed that one in last week!)
Free appetizer at Texas Roadhouse
Free Like It Creation at Cold Stone Creamery (this is calling my name!!)
Free Blizzard (with purchase of one) at Dairy Queen
Free dessert with purchase of any entree at Chilis
Free dessert with purchase of any entree at Carinos

Now I'm off to do some things that will make me happy....make photo books! CVS has a deal this week, order one (I think it's the 6 x 8 size) for $7.99 and you get $7.99 ECBs back!! :)

Barbara Ann Gamble

Mawmaw as she's known to us. Bingie to her lifelong friends. My grandma passed away early this morning suddenly. We are in Georgetown right now making arrangements with my extended family. She was such a blessing. She LOVED her family and completely lit up when her 'kids' were around. I was SO blessed to have visited numerous times, especially since the kids were born. I had lots of quality time with her. When I was in college, I came down quite often to do my laundry and get a free meal. She and my pawpaw were married 58.5 years. It's so weird to be here, and she's not. I'm so extremely saddened, and even more so when I see how sad my grandad is. Please keep my family in your prayers. We love you Mawmaw!


May 23, 1932 - July 8, 2009

Cloth Diaper Super Store! :)

I love Nurtured Family! I've mentioned it a time or two :). I was there last Wednesday getting some Allen's Naturally. It's the laundry detergent we use. I bought some the first time last June for the cloth diapers, and when I ran out of whatever I was using for my normal clothes, I just kept using it for everything. It comes in a huge box (they have powder and liquid, I used the liquid first, but the powder is more cost effective, so I use it now), and for $19.99, it lasts me on average 4-5 months!! And I wash a lot of clothes AND diapers! :) It was only my 4th time to buy laundry detergent since last June, I'd say that's pretty good!

Anyways, the ladies who work there are so nice. It was awesome because I got to go by myself! Eric was watching the kids because I met a friend for lunch that I used to work with. Anyways, I got to browse. They answered questions. The problem with going there is that it's hard to just get the detergent :). I of course got a $10 on clearance Happy Heiny in yellow (they have some diapers cheaper in the store!). I'm glad it's just far enough away that I don't go very often.

I wanted to post this for my friends who are pregnant, or who are considering cloth diapering! They have a VERY easy to use online registry. I used one with Micah's birth and Christmas. It was great because our families/friends were able to see what we wanted. I had an amazon.com registry, but they had limited styles/colors/brands of what I wanted, and nurturedfamily.com had everything!! Even more than I knew I wanted :). There are other online stores I've shopped from, but I've had such excellent customer service from this store that I wanted to do a bit of a 'review.' Especially for those 'younger' folks who are starting to think about 'trying' for a family. You know who you are! ha. Ok, enough of that. I promise, I will take my laptop on vacation and will make up some posts about the kids. I promise. :)

Menu Plan Monday

We are going camping with my parents this weekend, and I told mom I'd do the food planning since she has lots of work coming up. So I sat down Saturday and did our 2 week menu plan...first time this summer! I'm only posting dinners, but I planned breakfasts and lunches too, and I baked 3 dozen muffins for our trip for easy breakfasts and snacks, and have 2 more to go! Lots of items the 2nd week are coming from our freezer meals! I linked to the monthly meal for them, and you can click on where they found them. I love http://www.onceamonthmom.com/ :)

Monday: tacos with leftover roast I made yesterday, homemade tortillas and black beans

Tuesday: Salmon, brown rice, squash/zucchini (got the salmon--wild caught, fresh, ALASKAN--on sale at Kroger for $2.99 a pound!)
Wednesday: Brown rice, chicken, broccoli stir fry

Thursday (at campsite thurs night through sunday lunch): grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and veggies

Friday: grilled porkchops

Saturday: grilled chicken

Sunday: grilled cheese/sandwiches at home

Monday: Chipotle Chicken and Corn Chowder

Tuesday: Meatballs and hoagies with steamed green beans

Wednesday: Asian Flank Steak with brown rice and bell pepper

Thursday: Chicken Pita Pizzas

Friday: Spaghetti Pie with green beans

Snapfish for pennies!

I know I'd say I'd post one each Friday, but this one expires on Friday!!

In celebration of all the red, white, and blue pictures you took this weekend, Snapfish is offering 50 print for 1 penny each!! Just use code PENNY at checkout. As always, their normal price is 9 cents! This deal is for mail-order only, so you can't have them printed at Target. Click here to go to the offer on their webpage! :)

Yea SNAPFISH!

Photo Savings!

If you know me personally, you know I LOVE photos. I take my kids photos 'professionally' every month their first year, then every 6 months. I tried to not do a 30 month photo of my daughter (to go to a yearly session), and the grandparents threw a fit! :) So, I've been asked, how do you afford it frugal Misty? Well, there are many answers. First of all, pictures are important to me, so it is a line item in our budget. However, for most months, it is only $5. How do you ask?? Enter: JCPenney!! They have coupons (EVERYWHERE) that have either $3.99 a sheet, or $7.99 for a package (2 8x10s, 2 5x7s, 4 3.5x5s and 8 wallets). On the 'off' months, I do that package. But wait, that still isn't $5!! They also have this great thing called surveys. Every time you visit their studio, you get to take a survey on their site. Once you do, you can print off a $3 off your next visit coupon, which you can ALSO use with the other coupons. So on Micah's 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, and 11 visits, we use this. It ends up being $7.99 - $3 + tax = $5.41! On 'big' portraits (3, 6, 9, 12 month and year birthday visits), I put $40 in the budget. This allows me 10 - 11 sheets if I use the $3.99/sheet coupon (plus it comes with a free 8x10)!! I did go over a little on Cara's 3 year visit, but it's because we also did family portraits. Still only spent $55 and we got over 60 photos!! Here's a sampling of some of our shots: Another way I save money is by signing up with the various Free photo ads! I am continually finding more, and just 2 months ago signed up with CVS Photo!

If you click on this ad, you can get 50 free prints for signing up (make sure you enter your CVS Card # to get the extra 25). I signed up in April, and used some of the prints to print a recent baby shower invite I did. I think they turned out great!!

I think a lot of my readers are photographers/scrapbookers/crafters, so I'm going to try to make it a weekly thing. Every Friday, post a new, free prints, photo place! I already have one in the works for next week.

And here is Micah's 7 month photo (taken in May, sorry I'm late!), Go Astros!! :)

Entertainment Book 2010!

2010?? Yes, less than 6 months from now, can you believe it?? Wow. Anyways, I purchased my 2009 Entertainment book in February, when they were on sale for $12.50. I went through cashbaq.com and they were running a promotion for $10 back on it, so I really spent only $2.50 (I got my first cashbaq.com cash out in June for $46!!)! And the best part about it is, there are 4 coupons for $5 off a $50 total at Randall's (before coupons), so that's $20 right there. Most people have seen the entertainment books before. They are filled with coupons and come with a dining card that you can use.

They are running a special now, if you reserve your 2010 Entertainment Book, you can get a 2009 for free!! I know the Randall's are by quarter, so probably 2 or 3 of the $5 off coupons have expired, but you can't beat free!

Click here if you want to beat the rush, and get 2 books for the price of 1!!

Here are some of the features of pre-ordering from the website:

-No price increase on your reserved 2010 book - a savings of up to $10!
-Free shipping on all books you receive through the renewal program - a savings of $5 per book!
-10% off additional books purchased each year!
-The opportunity to buy additional Fine Dine Membership cards for 50% off!
-Exclusive book, online, and merchant offers!
And here are the details of membership:
Program Details
1. Order your 2009 Entertainment book and pay only $4.99 for Shipping and Handling. Most of the offers in the Entertainment book may be used up to November 1, 2009.
2. In August or September of 2009, your 2010 book will be shipped to you and you will be charged the 2009 retail price for the book (between $25 and $51 USD, depending on the edition--side note, I looked and Katy's zip 77450, it's $25). Shipping and handling are free!
3. Each year following, we'll send you a notification approximately one month prior to shipping your new edition ("New Edition Notification"). You'll get a New Edition Notification from us in July or August that contains the approximate ship date, the date your credit card or debit check card will be charged, and instructions for canceling the order, should you choose to do so.
4. If you don't cancel, Entertainment will charge your Credit Card or Debit Check Card when your book ships. You'll be charged the retail price for the book (between $25 and $51 USD, depending on the edition). Shipping and handling are free!
5. If your Payment Method reaches its expiration date, your failure to cancel after receipt of the New Edition Notification will constitute your authorization for us to continue billing that Payment Method.
6. For your convenience we will continue to send you the book each year until you cancel.
7. If you cancel within the first year, your credit card will be charged a $5 cancellation fee.

A Couple of Great Finds!

This one has been around for awhile, but I've been putting off trying it. I've had a few friends try it and they liked it. If you click on the above, you can order one free bakeware, and only pay $1 shipping I think. I plan on doing it this month! I think I've read that you can do it EVERY month!

I downloaded this e-book a few days ago. There are some super cute things in there. I like the little bag you can sew, and of course, if you don't use the stars and stripes fabric, you can make the bag with any kind of color schemes. Click on the little banner above if you'd like to download your free copy!

Cash is King!

Swagbucks has new thing you can earn with swagbucks....MONEY! As of today they are now offering $5 to your paypal account for 80 swagbucks. Now, it may not make as much sense as the 45 swagbucks for $5 to amazon.com, but they are doing this for people really suffering from the economy. Amazon can't pay rent or your car payment, so they are offering a way to cash out what you earn online! I think it's another great thing this GREAT company is doing. If you haven't heard about swagbucks, please read this old post of mine. And if you are tired of hearing me talk about it, then click this link to sign up :). And, if you do so before July 6th at 12 pm, and use code: CASHISKING , you will get 5 swagbucks to start!!

Breaking News....literally

Micah's first tooth broke through today!!

Let me give you a quick recap of our week since last Tuesday. Cara woke up fine. By nap time...102 fever. Took to doctor: bronchitis and RAD (reactive airway disease...aka, too young to diagnose with asthma). Micah woke up Wednesday fine. After first nap, 100.0. Gave motrin, within an hour at doctor, was at 102! Also bronchitis. Guaranteed me it wasn't contagious (as we were visiting a 4 week old thurs-sunday!). Both kids on antibiotics, Cara has to do inhaler 3 x a day for 5 days, and eye drops, because C always gets goop in her eye when she's sick, and M ended up getting it to, so glad we had it. Anyways, C was fever free by Thursday night, but M's kept persisting. It'd go down to 99.6, then back up to 101 yesterday. Today, day 8, I took him back to the doctor. Double ear infection. FUN. Poor kid. If it weren't for the fever, you'd never know he felt bad (until he lays down for bed, I think it hurts worse then). But, I think the persistent fever was possibly related to that little pearl that broke through sometime today! It wasn't there this morning, and tonight, when he bit me and it hurt a little more than normal, I felt around and sure enough, he had a tooth. It's his central incisor, on his right side on the bottom. I can't wait to take pictures ;).

Speaking of pictures, I got Cara's 3 year photos, and our red, white, and blue family photos, and OH.MY.GOSH, they are so precious. Here's a teaser....only one that would scan before our printer started driving me crazy last night and I gave up :).

Sewing projects--frugal dresses and gifts :)

Ok, I just wanted to do this quick post to show pictures of what I've been doing the past 2 days. Bailey came up yesterday and since we really want to do a t-shirt quilt (or 4), but neither of us have ever done one, we decided to start small. While we were up in Dallas this weekend (more on that to come in a future post), my friend Jen had made and sent our friends Justin and Ashley this adorable baby doll quilt. So on our way home on Sunday, I text/emailed/harassed her and said, TELL ME HOW YOU DID THAT! :) Besides it being a great gift idea for little girls, it's a teeny tiny way to try all the quilting steps!! So she sent me this link for a sew-along! Great, another blog to read....oh well! So I sat and looked at it Monday evening while the kids were in bed. And I linked off it to other things and other things and now my mind is racing with all the things I want to try to sew!! I mean, why did I put my sewing machine up after I made the cute superman/batman capes??? Making them reminded me how much I like sewing, and how much better at it I am now than a couple years ago! :)

Ok, so we went to a few stores (with a few coupons) :) and got some essentials. Rotary cutter and mat, some fat quarters for each of our baby doll quilts (which, hers is going to be a puppy blanket for her 3.5 pound toy yorkie!). Let me start by saying, Bailey has never sewn!! :) She tried once...it wasn't pretty :). So, we started by ironing. I started, then got bored and she finished. I started cutting the squares, then got bored and she finished (see a trend) :). Anyways, she did however bring up this brown bag that she wanted to add ribbon to. So I did that while she finished cutting, and of course I took a picture, because I was so stinking proud of myself! I've never done anything like that, on my machine, that turned out that well!!

Anyways, since Bailey doesn't have a machine at her house, we started on her quilt. We layed out both of ours, then she started piecing hers together. I went over the VERY basics on how to use the machine, and later she said, "this is the day your taught your sister how to sew." Haha, I didn't really think I did much, but she was doing great!! Here's Bailey hard at work:

Here's her top part pieced together.

I started once she left, and it was so much fun!! Here's my top part pieced together. As you can see in the picture from my last post, I hand embroidered a name on it. It was my first time doing that. And it's not so great, but if you don't look close it's ok :). I've got it all ready to do the machine quilting part, which I'm petrified of!! I've been looking at tutorials online, but I'm just not ready to jump in.

But I wanted to keep sewing, so what did I do?? I went to Katy Christian Ministries resale shop tonight and found two cute pillow cases for $.50 each. I came home and made this:

I used this and this and this tutorial. Eric helped pick out the fabric for the ties. He wanted me to tell you that on the blog...haha. I thought it turned out pretty good for my first time. Not a bad little dress for $.50. I had everything else already at home (the ribbon was scrapbook supplies, the ties were leftover scraps of fabric from the quilt, and I already had the elastic!).

I promise to post pictures of Cara'a party, the Dallas weekend, and other things asap! And I will post a separate post in just a few minutes about Micah Man!! :)