Spring Fever and a New Hobby

We had the nicest weekend this past weekend! It definitely had a little something to do with the weather-Saturday was beautiful and felt just like spring here in B'ham. I know it's a tease though b/c it's supposed to get cold again soon. Oh well, it was definitely a nice change and great day to get outside and be out and about!
Saturday I had some fun girls time w/a sweet group of friends and we celebrated baby Watson's upcoming arrival. We ate lunch at Brio and sat outside for 2 hours in the sunshine. It was great and so fun to have a middle of the day girls lunch!



Then after lunch, I went to Publix ALL by MYSELF and stayed forever-thank you Nathan for a nice day off! I have to say first that I am strictly a Publix shopper. I used to try to do Publix and Wal-Mart, but now can't find the time or energy to go to both places. Nor can I pass up the convenience, friendliness, free cookies and chicken fingers for Hayes, and the helpful offers to take your groceries to the car. I used to be really good about using coupons for a while, but then dropped off and haven't had time to worry with them at all for the past year or so. I usually just shop by the sale paper and save some money by doing that. But, my new goal is to get back into couponing and save some MONEY! I see all these money saving websites about how people spend about $20 for like $90 worth of groceries at Publix and I have no idea how they do it. So for the past 3 or 4 weeks I've been searching through websites and learning a little bit. I've been somewhat discouraged b/c I still couldn't save much more than about $25 or $25 (they always put that at the end of your receipt at Publix) for the past month even after cutting out tons of coupons! And our grocery bill has gradually gotten higher and higher for the past year. So my new goal for each week is to spend about $100 on food plus diapers for 2 (but maybe alternate their sizes every other week?) and try not to go over that. Sounds pretty lofty but I am hoping to reach it every week if I just plan our meals from the sale papers and find coupons to match. SO, for this past Saturday's trip to Publix I am so happy to say I did get below $100 and after giving all my coupons and shopping from the sale paper I ended up saving $31.66 from the sale paper and then an extra $17 from all my coupons (b/c Publix doubles coupons up to 50 cents) for a total of $48.25-way more than I normally save!! I have no idea how to calculate the percentage saved like people do on the money saving websites, I really don't care I just know it was good for me!
My new favorite money saving site is I Heart Publix. It is constantly updating w/sales and new coupons and good deals. Also, I found Saving with Amy on my friend Susannah's blog and she updates a lot too w/new coupons. I'm telling you it's a little addicting if you get started looking for the coupons to match your grocery list, but now I feel way more motivated after saving $25 more this week than I normally do!!

Lastly, spring fever brings new spring and summer clothes shopping! I seriously LOVE shopping for new stuff for Hayes. Girl clothes are so fun and sweet. The consignment sale season is about to start and I can't wait! My friend Lindsey and I went to a sale yesterday and got a few things for spring and summer. I'm already ready for her to start wearing them and to start shedding the cold weather clothes!!
Lindsey gave Hayes this precious polka dot dress for her birthday and I love it-she wore it today and it was super cute-a little springy for January 31, but it's not freezing today so she was fine in it-thank you Lindsey!



Happy Monday!

Little Surprises

Yesterday the mail lady drove her mail truck all the way up our driveway to our back door. This must be something common in our new neighborhood b/c she did the same thing at our next door neighbor's house right after ours. I opened the garage and went out and found a fun package she left right by the back door! YEA!! Nothing better than a package, especially one you're not expecting.

The little girl in our house is getting way too used to opening presents lately. I opened the box and pulled out 2 presents from my VERY SWEET and KIND sister who is always thinking of others. Really she deserves the sister of the year award. 1 for Hayes and 1 for Watson AND a sweet card for the new baby. I don't know how she finds time to do things like this-getting presents, and a card, and finding time to go to the post office? That requires a lot of steps. Alyssa, I need some tips! Lately I have a hard time going from one room to the next without stopping 1 million times to do other things and then I forget what I'm supposed to be doing when I get there. Following through on tasks these days is hard for me. Nathan said this morning I'll be better about that in about 3 years and I'll start being thoughtful again, doing things for other people's birthdays, and being able to remember stuff-haha-thank you for your honesty, Nathan, but I'm hoping to get my brain back sooner than that.

Anyway, here is what we found in our fun packages...the most precious little ruffled shirt for Hayes and romper for Watson. LOVE them both!







This is on the back of Hayes' shirt-Notably You-I looked up their website and couldn't find any information


Hayes Dayes wore hers to school this morning. Precious little outfit all put together.


Thank you, thank you to our sweet Aunt Alyssa for the fun package! We love everything and we love you!

Have a great weekend-we're excited about some outside play time with this warmer weather, finally!

A Big Day and Night

Yesterday was finally Hayes' actual birthday! I say finally because I feel like we have celebrated quite a bit for the past week, and now we are ready for some downtime, at least this pregnant mama is! So just to document what all happened on her special day, here is an account of her 2nd birthday. And I promise this is the last birthday post for a little white, at least until Mr. Watson makes his debut.

First, Baker Man and Aunt Lindsey came to visit on Sunday afternoon. We always love when they come. And if you read Lindsey's blog you will see that they played together very sweetly. Hayes loves her Bakerboy and calls his name ALL the TIME and looks for him around the house.



Sweet gifts from her cousin-this one makes mama VERY happy-an electric toothbrush. I cannot even begin to explain the drama we have w/brushing this girl's teeth. It is crazy and has been since we started brushing them a long time ago-I am talking HUGE tears and major meltdowns and it's a definite 2 person job. But, she loves this new fun toothbrush that spins-why did I not get one of these earlier? Thank you Lindsey for saving our baby's teeth. She loves it so much and so do we!



Birthday pancakes that her Daddy made-he is the official pancake maker in our house!



Yummy birthday breakfast



Loving her stickers from her birthday card



Opening some presents



Yea-new wooden blocks-These have brought lots of fun already!



All ready for school!



After school I decided we needed to run by Publix and then I thought, hmmm I'll get her a b'day cookie and balloon while we're there. Well, let me say for the record that cookies and an approaching naptime do not go well together. She had a major fit after she ate her cookie and screamed all the way to the car. Then I lost her shoe. Then I could not find my keys. Then the lady beside me was waiting for me to move my buggy with my melting child in it so she could back out. So I scooped her limp little self up (who is actually very heavy when she's pitching a fit b/c she always goes limp-please tell me your little ones do this to?), and carried her to put the buggy away, and then finally got her strapped in the car. And guess what, my keys were in the ignition the whole time w/the car running. Crazy trip to Publix. Lesson learned-if the clock says 1:30 p.m. GO HOME and do not stop for errands!!

Moving on, we decided last week we would take her to Chucky Cheese on her birthday night to eat pizza and play (thank you Chris for the fun idea.) She's been talking about pizza lately-which is funny b/c we never eat pizza. It's so funny what they know that you are not aware of. Our good friends, Lindsay and Adam came with us and brought little Caroline to play w/Hayes. They had a ball. And they LOVE each other!



Giving Chucky a hug!



They had some fun little rides for the little ones. She and Caroline both loved climbing the steps and sliding down the little slide the best though. They did that at least 100 times each!





Posing w/Barney-she has no idea who he is!



We took a cute family pic too-but since I am looking quite whalish these days I will not be posting that one on the www! Sorry Regan!! Seriously I was SHOCKED when I went back to look at the pictures. I'll just save that one for the baby book.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Miss Hayes!! We had a wonderful time celebrating your special 2 year old birthday! We love you SO very much!

The Mother Goose Birthday Party

We had Hayes' 2nd birthday party last week and celebrated with Mother Goose. The music teacher from my school dresses up for parties so she suggested Mother Goose for 2 year olds. It ended up being SO precious and entertaining for the kids! She sang nursery rhymes and did the motions-Itsy Bitsy Spider, Jack and Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Jack be Nimble and lots of others.




Hayes was so excited the morning of the party, singing happy birthday to herself, running around screaming and playing with her balloons, but you would have never known that once the party started! She immediately clammed up when everyone got there and would not take her thumb out of her mouth or play! Oh well, that is a 2 year old, very unpredictable!

the invitation


the cupcakes


party favors for her friends


all ready for the party!


I have so many pictures to share-just a warning for non-family readers! I just don't want to leave any out because they're all so sweet and I want to document everything since this is our scrapbook.I tried really hard to get a picture of all the guests, but then I got sidetracked and I know I missed some people. We're so thankful for all the little ones who came to help celebrate the BIG TWO!

catherine ellis and megann


chris, harrison and chambers


wyatt and ryan


camilla


anna leigh


emma kate and kara


ashley and parker


tate and caroline-good helpers for mother goose b/c they were the oldest!


collier


Then look who showed up, Mother Goose!




She was super entertaining and loud which surprisingly kept their attention really well.








Caroline jumping over the candlestick


Cupcake Time!!
Hayes had her eye on that purple cupcake from the time she saw me putting them out!







Hayes and her boyfriend (aka Daddy)


christine, jack and lillie


jennifer, chris, and little ones


lindsey and anna leigh, allison and lily, ashley and parker


ryan and wyatt, megann and CE


collier and shannon


Thanks Mother Goose for coming to play with me and my friends!


Family pic with the birthday girl. She was really busy with her chocolate cupcake here!


It was a really sweet and special day for her. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate-and we really missed those who couldn't be here. Her actual birthday is not until Monday, so we still have some celebrating left to do! Only 1 more day as a 1 year old!