It has been very busy around our house this past month.  I haven't had a lot of time to sit and do a new post.  We've had visitors, went to my cousin's wedding, and been generally busy keeping up with the house and yard.  Lately this has been taking up my time:

We have a big strawberry patch and we were told that a lot of the plants were old and therefore might not produce fruit.  Well, they had no problem producing fruit!  I go out every 2-3 days and pick for at least an hour and then come in and cut them for another hour (at least).  Lately I have been cutting them and freezing them and then putting them in food saver bags.  I have already made 8 small jars of freezer jam too.  So I'm up to my ears in strawberries, and will probably be eating smoothies all year long.

I've done some fun stuff with the kids lately too.  We bought a pass to the zoo for Alex and I (Logan is free) and we have gone twice already.  Much to my surprise, Logan wanted to pet the goats this year and actually did it!  It's a nice zoo and we never get to see all of it in one trip so it's fun and they are currently building new exhibits too.

Kids and Their "Loveys"

It's funny how children are attracted to certain items that bring them comfort.  I often wonder what is so attractive about the items my children have picked as their "loveys" (as I would call them).  As a child I had a favorite stuffed polar bear named Snuffy.  I still have Snuffy and he is with the kids' stuffed animals.  I liked him because he had a fuzzy brown nose, which eventually wore off.  I decided to take some pictures of the kids and their "loveys" because they are just so cute with them.

Since Alex was about 6 month old, she's sucked her thumb.  It morphed into putting her fingers into the holes of her favorite crocheted blanket and holding it to her face.  We figured out she was smelling the blanket, although I have no idea why.  It was a gift from one of my friend's mother and I wrapped her in it since she was very small.  When she began to talk it was called "mammie."  As she began to speak better it was "manket," "mankie," and now  "blankie," or "blanket."  It is her trusted friend and she always takes it into the car and to bed.  It's now got some extra holes in it and isn't as white as it used to be, even after I use bleach when I wash it.

Logan likes bears as his "loveys."  His first favorite was a blue bear that was given to us by one of Ty's co-workers.  His second favorite is a dark brown one my mom gave him.  He recently found another one that he likes too.  The first two have to be in bed with him at night and he carries them throughout the house during the day so I have to go search for the bears every night.

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.