Fun Weekend

We had a fun weekend of swimming, relaxing and playing! Here are a couple photos for you...

The girl is on a taking her clothes of kick.

Jake got his first hair cut Saturday... He looks SO CUTE!!! :)
We were so sleepy after swimming...

Pictures

Yes, I realize it is time for some photo updates and just some updates in general that don't include me spending money!!! So, here goes: things are moving along on the house. We had inspections done last week and are just waiting on the results from the water tests. Everything else came back pretty good. There are a few things here and there that we will have to address, but since the sellers were so generous in accepting ALL of our offer, we are not going to knit-pick these things and ask them to do more. As long as the water tests come back fine and the fuel tank is removed, we will be satisfied. We are definitely looking forward to having more space, a lot of yard and a POOL since it has been sweltering the past couple weeks! We are scheduled to close on July 15 and I have started packing, but am finding space to put all the boxes... Have I mentioned before that we currently have a space issue???

Work for me has been not so good. We had another round of layoffs last week, including a couple very great friends. It's still pretty hard to take when these things happen... Especially tough when the people let go are so smart and, I feel like, such an asset to the team. There are some other people that could have been let go (and in my opinion - should - have been let go) and it wouldn't have hurt the team at all - either emotionally or professionally by removing the talent that they provide. I'm just hoping that these things do not go unnoticed by management and that I can contain myself and not do something to get myself on the next list, which I'm sure will be coming in the next couple weeks...

Our little Isabelle is just such a crack-up these days. She is talking up a storm and repeating everything. And I mean everything you say. Including "Oh Shit!" when I dropped something... And "geez!" when I was exasperated about something. And "poop!" when asked if she has pooped. She's a ham and a half and I just love her! I am supposed to start looking for a new daycare for her, but I am so torn about the whole situation that I just haven't done it yet... I don't know how she'll handle the move and being taken from the friends that she has been with every day for the past year and a half. She knows, loves and trusts them and I am sad to have to take her away from them. I am sad to have to take her away from her teacher(s) right now too. She is learning so much with Ms. Erin and she just adores her! This girl (she is probably in her mid 20's) is so great with Belle and so responsible and caring. Today, Belle spilled some of her lunch on her outfit, so instead of just letting her sit in it (like the old teacher would have), Ms. Erin changed her clothes and washed the dirty outfit. THEN she sent home a note that said "She had a bib on, but got food on her clothes. I washed it, but I couldn't get the stain out." How sweet is that? I am really going to miss her and some of the other teachers that we have grown to love too. I am sure we will be happy with the new place too (because I won't take my daughter someplace I am not happy with), but I am going to need some pointers on making this transition...

New to Isabelle's summer program at school is water time. Once a week, they do some water activities to help get the kids used to it. Well, the first day, I was a little concerned because I got a note home that said "Isabelle was acting very shy when she got her bathing suit on and didn't want to come out of the bathroom." Well, I had just bought that particular bathing suit, and while it is a 3T (a size larger than the clothing she is wearing right now), I hadn't tried it on her to see if it would fit or not... So, I kept thinking about this note and decided I would try the bathing suit on to 1. see how she reacted and 2. see how it fit... Well, the suit fit fine - like a bathing suit should - a little snug (don't want a baggy suit). She had a fit!!! She hated it and kept pulling it and saying "Off! Off!" So I took it off... Well, I happened to have a few more suits that I wanted to try... Another 1 piece from last year (size 2T). Same reaction. She had a 2 piece suit from last year that I was pretty sure wouldn't fit, but thought I'd give it a whirl - it was really short on the top (belly showing completely) and the bottoms totally did not fit - BUT she didn't mind it at all! So, finally I tried on a 1 piece suit that Grandma got her (size 4T) and it was baggy, but it didn't bother her one bit. So, my conclusion from the whole bathing suit blitz - Isabelle does not like clothing that feels tight around her tummy. So, I might have to get some larger sizes if she doesn't get used to the ones that actually fit soon!

And I finally some pictures!

Here is the first bathing suit that she was having issues with. It was too cute not to take a picture!
Eating crackers on the (I'm sure not-so-clean) floor and saying "cheese!" for the camera

Giving me her "What the hell do you want?!" look...

Beautiful baby blues

Can't get enough of this girl and those eyes!

New favorite game - hiding under the table! I think the "fort" stage is beginning! I can't wait!

Sitting in one princess chair and eating off the other...

Deals this Week

I am pretty proud of myself this week. I totally rocked it out in the savings, unfortunately, I am also trying to pack for the upcoming move and when I keep going buck-wild buying stuff, it's just that much more to pack and find a place for!!! It's starting to be a terrible addiction... But I'm really hoping that I'll have enough stuff so that when another baby comes along and things are tighter, I won't have to buy stuff... We'll see how it goes! Here are my deals for the week (so far - just read about a few more great deals at Target that I'll have to stop in for tomorrow).

Target (okay, so I made 3 trips to Target in the last 3 days, so this is kind of just a total here and the list is long... SORRY!):
4- J&J Baby Body wash
2- J&J Baby lotion
2- Wii Classic Controllers (these were father's day presents - NOT on sale...)
1- Candy
1- Welsch's Grape Juice
1 - Can Campbell's Spaghetti and Meatballs
2- Boxes Quaker Oatmeal
1- Box Lipton Tea
3- 10 packs Ivory bar soap
4- Olay Total Effects Body Wash
2- Boxes Kleenex hand towels
1- 3pk Scotch packaging tape
1- Roll Scotch wrapping paper
1- Pack Huggies Little Swimmers
6- Renuzit Air Freshners
2- Glade fabric freshners
1- Real Simple Magazine (just for fun... No coupons here)
2- Aveeno Body Wash
1- Satin Care shave gel
1- Nivea Q10 Men's shave gel
2- Pine sol cleaner
4- Scrubbing Bubbles cleaners (various types)
10- Sobe lifewater (these are SOOO yummy!)
8- Littlest Pet Shop toys
1 - Clean and clear face wash
1 - Bag Caribou coffee beans
Weekly stuff: Loaf of bread, milk, lactaid milk
Total Spent: $114.60 (damn Wii remotes totally threw this off!!!)
Total Saved: $109.38

Rite Aid
1- Gillette Fusion Proglide Power razor
6- Sample packs of Tugaboo diapers (12 diapers)
2- boxes U by Kotex products
2- Orajel toddler toothpaste
2- AirWick iMotion air freshners
1- Finish Quantumatic automatic dispenser
2 - Physician's Formula makeup
Total Spent: $15.11
Total Saved: $84.05 (I love this store!) OH! AND I'll get $8 in refunds from this stuff...

CVS
1- Colgate Total toothpaste
1- Gillette Fusion Proglide Razor
2- Off Clip On repellants
Total Spent: $3.54
Total Saved: $32.92 (started with $8 ECBs, ended with $7 ECBs)

And I think we are offically going to have a delicious smelling new house with all the air freshners I got at fabulous deals this week! :)

Thanks for the Toots!

I was giving Belle a bath yesterday and as I was washing her hair, she "made some bubbles"... So I said "Oh no! Did you toot?" And what did she say????

"YOU'RE WELCOME!"

stuff

We finally got the signed contract back from the sellers on our house. They accepted everything as is!!! We will be getting inspections done on Thursday. I'm hoping everything goes well... If so, we will be closing on July 15!!! :) Will keep you posted.

Our silly little girl is doing an awful lot of talking these days! She repeats everything... and I mean EVERYTHING!!! from "Geez!!" to "no" to "not important" and everything in between. She's so smart and just plain hilarious! I sure do love that girl!!!

New Banner

So, the new banner is my first attempt at photoshop! Not the greatest, but not too shabby for a first try!!! :) I'm going to keep working on it so I can start working on some scrapbooks! :)

And here's a pretty picture from today...

A House! A House!!

We finally heard back from our realtor... Looks like we will be getting a house!!! The other realtor said that they made no mention of changing anything and it sounds like they are just going to sign it as is! But we won't have the official paperwork back in to see this until Thursday, so she said we can be excited, but not OVERLY excited... I think what I'm feeling qualifies as overly excited! :) hehehee Thanks so much everyone for your thoughts, prayers and well-wishes! :)

Diapers Galore

Okay... So - I went to CVS Thursday because I heard that they had diapers on clearance... And they did - I got 4 packs of size 5 diapers for $2.37 each!!! Well, then I thought it through and decided I should go back and get a bunch of these in smaller sizes for the next baby... Well, I went back Friday and they were no longer marked down! :( Bummer deal!!! Well, today I had to go do my weekly CVS'ing, so I price checked the diapers at my normal store - and they had them marked down again! But only in sizes 4 and 5 and they only had 1 pack of these left... Well, they had larger packs marked down to $6.99 which was still half price and I needed to spend $10 more to get my $10 off $50 purchase coupon. So I picked up a couple packs of these diapers... Later in the day, I had to go to Annapolis to do my Target'ing and thought I would swing by CVS there and I checked their diapers... And I found the larger packs that I had just paid $6.99 for at my normal store were $3.49!!! $3.49!! For 46 diapers! However, these were only for the size 5... So, I bought ALL 7 packs that they had and then I found refill packs of wipes for $1.44-$3.69! So I bought all those too... :) And then I needed another $8 for my $10 off $50 coupon so I grabbed a pack of pampers swaddlers newborn that were on sale and I had a coupon for them... So this is what my two CVS trips looked like today:

1- Johnson and Johnson baby bubble bath

1- Johnson and Johnson 20 oz shampoo

2- 30ct Lactaid pills

1- John Frieda Root Awakening Shampoo

1- John Frieda Root Awakening Conditioner

2- Colgate toothpaste

1- 34ct pack CVS brand size 4 diapers

9- 46ct pack CVS brand size 5 diapers

1- 34ct pack Pampers Swaddlers Newborn diapers

4- 216ct CVS brand wipes

2- 144 ct CVS brand wipes

Total spent: $56.23

Total saved: $188.08

AND they overcharged me by $2.49 for my shampoo so I will have to go get my money back! :)

The loot and receipt from my second trip...

New House? Maybe...

Well, we finally did it... We put an offer in on a house! Keep your fingers crossed for us! We should find out by Friday if they accept our offer or not...