Happy Birthday Logan!

Here are a few pictures from Logan's birthday.  He was really excited about the cake which is no surprise since he loves sweets.  He kept pulling on my legs when I was trying to write Happy Birthday on the cake, so that's why the lettering is so bad.  Oh and in case you are wondering what his shirt says, it says "Notre Dame Fighting Irish."  I know, I'm shameless :)

Our Yard

The other day it was actually sunny so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures of my favorite things around our yard right now.  Our yard is changing daily and it's so much fun to walk outside and see what's new.  

Rhododendron:

These cute little bell shaped flowers:

I don't know what the next two are called, but they are the same type of tree, just different color flowers:

Elvis' favorite plant, the catnip:

This is our garden, it isn't much yet, but it should be fun this summer:

Erin's Confession...

I must confess...I am a couponaholic... I have been wondering lately if I should share this with the readers of our blog and today I got such good deals, I just had to. It all began last year when I realized our local grocery store matched coupons up to $0.55 and it was an everyday deal. So I started buying the paper and keeping coupons. Pretty soon I was online figuring out how to make the most of sales and coupons. Needless to say I now have a great stockpile of toiletries and am working on the food pantry as well. Now it does take time to get great deals, but luckily I have found a website where they post the ads early and others go through it and match up the coupons to the sale items. It makes it a lot less confusing for me. So below are the deals I got today:

These items I got at Rite Aid.  They have a rebate program that runs every month and you get a check in the mail (after entering your receipts online, etc.  etc.).  Before coupons my total was $32.47, I used $13.25 in coupons and will get $17.72 back in rebates, so I essentially paid $1.50 for everything pictured.

This stuff I got at Walgreens.  They have what is called "Register Rewards", which are like coupons that print out after your purchase and can be used on your next purchase.  Of course there are rules and conditions to using them, but not too hard to learn.  My total was $43.95, I used $14.00 in coupons and got $27.00 in "Register Rewards", so I essentially paid $2.95 for everything.

It's amazing how much you can save when using coupons.  Some of the items I bought today I actually got paid to take them home.  For example the box of Mini Drops from Rite Aid was $6.49 and it had a $2 off coupon on the box, plus I'll get back $6.49 in rebates.

If I have piqued your interest with this, send me an email and I'll answer any questions you may have.  Happy shopping!!

Busy Bees

To say we have been really busy lately is a huge understatement.  Two weekends ago I drove to Idaho with Alex and Logan and then flew out of Boise on Monday to coordinate movers at our house in Illinois.  They got everything packed and loaded without incident and I then flew back to Idaho where I picked up two kids and two cats and drove back to Oregon.  We moved out of our apartment last weekend and into our house.  It is so quiet and dark out here, it's amazing.  The movers showed up on Wednesday and unloaded all of our stuff and we have since been busy unpacking.  So far only minor casualties from the move, one of which makes for a funny story...  Ty has a bear rug and when they were done uncrating him, I noticed his tongue was missing.  So I told the gentlemen this and they said it might have fallen out of his mouth and they would look in all the paper he was wrapped in and I should keep an eye out for it in case the movers found it and threw it in a box somewhere.  The people crated the bear the day after everything was boxed up, so I figured if it did fall out before reaching the crate it  would most likely be in the garage stuff or a desk drawer.  So Ty and I were tackling the garage and I saw it on one of the shelves.  Now it's a very odd sight to see a plastic tongue sitting on a shelf.  I don't know what the movers thought when they saw it.  So the next day I get a courtesy call from the company that did the crating and the lady asked me how everything went with uncrating and I say it went fine.  I then said "This is going to sound odd, but my husband has a bear rug and they noted on the paper work that it's tongue was missing.  We found it, so we don't need to make a claim for the tongue."  The lady proceeds to laugh, and I'm trying not to laugh too.  I said "You will probably never have this conversation again in your life."

We are thrilled to be in our new house and we got a nice weekend without rain to do some yard work and look at all the plants outside. Logan loves to walk outside and begs me every day to go out even when it's raining.

Portland Children's Museum

I bought a pass to the Portland Children's Museum and we went for our second time a couple weeks ago.  They have a traveling "Bob the Builder" exhibit which Alex loved.  The kids have a great time exploring the museum and they have classes too.  Alex really wants to paint so I'll probably sign her up for the painting class.  This trip Alex really explored her future career possibilities:

Maybe a Dentist....

Or a Grocery Clerk...

 Or a Bulldozer driver...

No, a Draftstman...

Possibly a  Plumber...

Alex had fun in the "Water Works" area.  Logan didn't have fun there, he wouldn't come anywhere near the water and stood in the corner.  Logan did have fun in the "Dig Pit."  It's a pit filled with chips of recycled tires that are coated in color.  There are lots of dump trucks and shovels and they both love playing there.

Children...

The other night I was wide awake thinking "this is one of those things they don't tell you about before you have children."  The reason for this thought...I was wide awake at 4 a.m. with a 21 month old in my bed with a runny nose.  No one tells you that when your child has a runny nose and can't breathe, they cry and want your comfort and only sleeping with mama will do.  Inevitably you take the child to bed with you thinking maybe that way you and the child will get sleep.  But you don't get any sleep because a) you are worried the child will fall off the bed or you will roll over on the child, b) the sound of the child snorting and rolling around, c) the child wakes up when the medicine has worn off and after the action of giving more medicine, the child is wide awake and wants to talk, play and touch your face-at 4 a.m.

Ah the joys of children.  All you can do is shake your head and laugh at the situation.  Which I have done many times, several of which were this week and involved Logan.  He is a little too curious these days...

My new favorite quote...

"Martin Luther King walked so that Barack Obama could run," said one boy. "Barack Obama ran so that all children could fly," added another, standing a few feet away from the first African-American ever elected president.

This was said at a morning church service in Washington D.C. where children recalled the life of Martin Luther King Jr.   and Barack Obama and his family attended services.