Oh Wow!

It is already 4 oclock! Time flies by even faster than I ever thought. My idea of blogging, basking by the pool, and long relaxing days is far from what "staying at home" really seems to be! I have yet to go to the pool, this is only my second blog (and as I type I'm trying to decide how much time I really have to write/edt/post this before I need to be making dinner), and I still get up relatively early and go to bed relatively late. But I do LOVE every minute... seriously... I do.

We had a wonderful weekend in Charlotte and Atlanta. You see, Atlanta is 4 hours from us, and Charlotte is 4 hours from Atlanta, and we are 8 hours from Charlotte. So it works for us to drive 4 hours to my dad's in Atlanta, take a break, and then continue on another 4 to Charlotte before turning around and doing it all over again. This time we left in the evening and arrived in Atlanta just to stay the night, and got up at 4:30 EST (3:30 our time)to head to Charlotte so that we wouldn't miss any of the festivities planned for Saturday. You see, my nephew turned 1 last Wed. and my sister had a bunch of stuff planned on Saturday to celebrate. We went on a safari/wagon ride at the Lazy 5 Ranch... (it turned out pretty well, had its ups and downs, it's a long story, but we got some really great photos! ...somehow we managed to take 600) we grilled out for dinner, watched Dylan care less about the gifts we all brought, THOROUGHLY ENJOYED A NIGHT OF SLEEPING ON A MEMORY FOAM MATTRESS, and enjoyed a Sunday service with the family before heading back to Atlanta. My brother-in-law's mother, sister, nephew, and niece were all there for the weekend, it was fun to see them all. They all loved Jack, and Jack surely loved them. You could just see the gears in his head turning, thinking about the days he can get in just as much mischief as the older children.

When we got back to Atlanta, around 6pm, we enjoyed spending some time with my stepmom for her birthday. Her parents, sister, brother-in-law, and their 4 boys were all there for the party. We had a great pizza dinner, and the best CAKE ever!! There is this special cake that my stepmom's mother has been making for her every year since she was 17. It is awesome... Keith laid down for about an hour before we headed back home, and got in around 1am CST. Long and tiring weekend, but we like to cram in as much as possible on these visits. Family all lives too far away, and we get to see them far to little.

Our next trip is August 7-9 as we head to Pennsylvania to mom's farm for a weekend. It will be great to see everyone, and hopefully Jack will get his first horseback ride! We are super excited for this. Then we'll probably just stay home until Christmas... We promised the Jeep we'd take a break.

Jack had his 4 month checkup on Monday. He weighs 13lbs 6oz and is 25.5 in. long. This was all good news, he is growing nicely. She also commented on his BEAUTIFUL sking and AMAZING head control! Yay, my strong and beautiful little boy. He has been changing so much, even over the last weekend. I see him watch this other kids, and then try to imitate things. He has gotten so strong and is almost sitting now on his own. He had to get a zillion shots along with an oral vaccine, we've never done that many at once before. He is also getting one bottom front tooth in, so he was quite fussy. It isn't a whiney type fuss though, more of a "mom, I'm sore and feel yucky" type whine. I felt bad for him, and gave him lots of cuddles (and tylenol).

Today I went grocery shopping again. And though no one that reads my blog may care, I feel proud and excited to announce what I saved with coupons. Mainly I do this for my own sake, because it takes a lot out of me to do this and if I feel like I can somewhat "report" what I save, it gives me the motivation to do it all again the next week... haha...

I spent $130.00 at Kroger, and saved $70. This was including a $20 box of diapers... So $200 worth of stuff for $130.00, I'll take that! :)
I spent $24.oo at Walgreens and saved $18. That's $42 worth of stuff for $24... I'll take that as well.

I tried something new this week by planning out the next 10 days worth of meals. This way we won't eat all $200 worth of food the first day... We tend to get excited with all the goodies, and we eat them all. Now that I have it planned out, we should be better about knowing what food is for what days, and it will hopefully last a little longer.

Anyways, that's what's been going on with me. Laundry, dishes, cleaning the floor, taking care of the zoo, feeding baby boy Jack, and grocery shopping. All in a days work! :) Love it Love it Love it!!!