Beautiful Blog Award?

Alex and I quickly learned that when you are on staff at a church (especially with students), it can be difficult to find and invest in friendships with those your own age.  Our Father, as always, knows what we need and has been so very gracious to us, allowing us to quickly get plugged into a small group Bible study of people our own age!!  Our gracious hostess every Monday night is sweet Rachel, who has given me a Beautiful Blog Award (sorry it has taken me a while to post this).  You are too sweet!  If you have a moment stop by her blog The Pughs and join her and husband on their crazy, frustrating, yet glorious, God ordained journey to become parents.  They are such a godly couple and Rachel is a wonderful writer.  I hope their story can encourage your heart.

Now, I must in turn select 7 nominees to pass the award on.
And the nominees are:

A Glimpse of Our Vapor: My dear cousin, Katie, always has an encouraging post.  Join her in her journey as a minister's wife raising two small children, tackling the world of autism, and glorifying the Father in all circumstances.

The Vaughn Family: My sister-in-law, Scarlotte, managing editor of East Alabama Living Magazine. She always has great pictures and funny stories about her two children who are 15 months apart.  They say and do the funniest things!!  She will also take you to places you never knew about around East Alabama.

The Vaughns: Elizabeth, my sister-in-law, always has a ton of pictures of her precious children.  They are too cute!!  She also just started a monogramming business, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind the plug.  If you are in the Montgomery area and need something monogrammed she does a wonderful job for a very reasonable price!

The Sprayberrys:  Kimmy's in-laws and my in-laws are bffs!  She a precious little boy, Isaac, who is a few weeks younger than Sterling and seems to be full of life and always into something.

At Home with the Pooles:  Kelly loves being thrifty and crafty, just like me.  I love looking at her projects and great thrift store finds.  She and her husband used to be our wonderful neighbors when they were first married.  We certainly missed them when they moved!

Soli Deo Gloria:  My sis, Hillary, always has a great story from a crazy adventure or something to convict your heart.  Here is some encouragement, because, Hillary, I love your blog!

And lastly I would like to nominate
Noel Piper:  I don't know her personally, but I have been deeply encouraged by her ministry.  Her book, Treasuring God in Our Traditions, has greatly encouraged my heart, and the Lord continues to use it in teaching me to be a better mother and wife.  Her blog is equally encouraging.  I love reading about her missionary excursions with her husband  (John Piper for any of you who do not know who she is), tales of adoption, tidbits on parenting, and so much more.  Thank you Lord for the ministry of this couple!!

Now I must give 7 random facts about myself:

1. I am a Texan and very proud of it.

2. My husband told my mom he wanted to marry me when he was in 8th grade, I was in 9th.

3. I am deathly afraid of bees, wasps, yellow jackets, ect.  I have never been stung, so that whole thing about them being able to sense your fear must not be true.

4. I am super close with my family.  My sisters and mom are my closest friends.  I am also very close to my cousins.  I always wondered as a child how people could not like going to see their cousins, because mine are all amazing.  I always wished that we were all brothers and sisters!  Then we could see each other more than once or twice a year.

5. I love baths!!  I hate taking showers and have probably had only a handful since high school.  When we bought our house there was no tub in the master bathroom.  But thankfully my husband agreed to increase the value of our home by installing a deep soaking jetted tub.  It is wonderful!!  I thank Jesus for my bathtub often.

6. I am very competitive and usually will not do something unless I think I will be good at it. Sometimes I think the Lord likes to keep my pride in check by making me utterly fail at something in which I thought I would be great.  (ex. snow skiing - or stopping to be precise)

7.  I love Disney movies!  We were raised on Disney, and I still know all of the songs to almost all of the movies (and all of the words to some of them).

Diaper Steal

As mentioned earlier I have started trying to really increase my savings at the grocery store by following SouthernSavers. 

My favorite deal of the week:

I just HAD to make a CVS run when I read this deal that was too good to be true!  I read the add that said CVS had the box Huggies wipes on sale for 2/$5.  Good deal, but nothing to rearrange my day to make a trip to the pharmacy about.  But today I read that the refill packs are also ringing up $2.50.  That's $5.49 off!  So, I quickly changed Sterling, while noticing that this came at the perfect time as we are almost out, and rushed to CVS.  By the way, all of the refill packs are doing this not just the one pictured (Soft Skin).  That is just what they had left at my CVS store.

Apparently everyone else knew about this too, because they had only two packs left, and I got both!   But before you rush out to the store finish reading this.  I also read on SouthernSavers that if you swiped your card at the price checker you could get coupons one for $2.00 off Huggies wipes. 

I didn't even know that CVS had one of these.  If you don't know where yours is search the store because apparently almost all of them have one.  Scan your card and a pack of wipes and it will print an additional $2.00 off that makes it $.50!!  Like I said, I bought two packs, but it would only print one coupon.  But I also got a $5 off $15 purchase and some others, so scan as many packs as you get just in case.

I went to the checkout with my two packs of diapers, and my $2.00 coupon as well as two $.50 coupons I got in the mail for Huggies wipes (thanks Mom for the extra one).  For two bags of 184 wipes, I paid $2.00+tax.  That's $1.00 a piece, and I saved $13.98!!

Now go to your local CVS before their shelves look the way I left them here, empty.

P.S. - I also had $5.00 CVS bucks, but didn't use them because I wasn't spending enough money.  If they had had another bag I could have gotten them all for free!  :(

Snow Day!!

Wow, it has been a fun day.  It is not very often that we get to experience snow in Alabama.  It seems like this year is the exception though.  This will actually be the first time we have taken Sterling out while it was snowing.  It seems that he is always sleeping while the snow is falling and I hate to wake him up thinking it will last until he wakes.  Today we did not miss our opportunity.

My Dad and sisters were coming so I decided to put Sterling down for an early nap.  Of course as soon as I did the snow started falling.  After a little while of seeing that he was not going to sleep I ran in and got him dressed.  Of course Sterling didn't mind and we had a fun time playing (or looking at the snow).  Since he doesn't walk yet, there was not much playing he could do.  I didn't want to sit him down in it without any waterproof pants.  However, there was some snowball fighting before we went in. 

Now, Sterling is enjoying a fun weekend with KiKi, Colonel, and the gang, and Alex and I are enjoying our first weekend to ourselves.  (Sterling has spent the night away, but there has always been a reason for it, usually we were on a trip with the students.)  Hopefully, I can get some organizing and "spring" cleaning done.  Maybe we can even sneak in a movie.  Someone from the church gave us gift cards to the movies for Christmas, and I think they will be used this weekend. 

This makes me think of The Sound of Music.  Look at those sweet eyelashes!

I had to run by the store today and was amazed by the breathtaking views!!  I wished I had carried along my camera.  Of course that wouldn't have been very safe, so I guess it is good that I didn't!

Thank you Father for SEASONS!!

How Great is Our God?

So many posts in such a short time.  Sorry they have been mostly reading and not many pictures.  Those of us in the dyslexia community like lots of pictures, not lots of words! :)

Anywho, I was reading my sweet cousin Katie's blog a moment ago and saw a quote posted on her sidebar.  It was so encouraging to me as I have been reminding myself to remember my son's spiritual life.  Ministering to a 13 month old takes a bit of creativity, but I have been praying that the Lord would help me be intentional with him. 

Here is the quote from Katie's blog:

"Brothers and sisters, if you want your children to have a reason to sing on Sunday, you have to give them a great God. If you want them to have a reason not to sin on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - you have to give them a great God . . . Because a shrunken God will have nothing to hold them when their friends are offering them the pleasures of sin for a season. We've got to give our children a great and glorious God. We've got to hold out for them the wonder of who God is.

The importance of all of this is that if our children are going to interpret life correctly, than they've got to understand who God is. You see, it's only the being and existence of God that will ever enable our children to interpret and understand life accurately.

If you are going to help your children to see those things, you've got to be a person that is dazzled by God yourself. You can't give away what you don't posses.

Oh, let me urge you as parents, don't polish the idols for your kids. . . Help your kids see the wonder of who the Lord is. "

Tedd Tripp

Giving Kids a Vision for God's Glory 

 

Wow!  Isn't that rich?

I want to show Sterling how great our God is and not just mention the Lord as an afterthought.  I want to find ways to show him Christ and the great love of our Father throughout our everyday life.  I want for my son to love the Lord with his whole heart and yearn for him to follow hard after Him.  It is my privilege and honor as his parent to partner with the Lord and to provide an environment that glorifies Him above all others.

For all of you mommies out there, let's help one another be creative.  What do you do to "help your kids see the wonder of who the Lord is?"

SUPER Savings

I am super competitive.  Not everyone knows that about me but that is because I don't let it show often.  But I'm admitting it; it is true.  I love to win and hate to play/do things in which I don't think I can win/excel.  Remember this.

I also love being thrifty.   Anywhere I can save a penny or two, I am all for it.  And as a homemaker and primary grocery buyer I feel like it is my job to make the grocery $$ stretch as far as possible.

Well, I have been hearing rumors of people saving astronomical amounts of money on their grocery bill.  I heard to go to southernsavers.com.  So I went to check it out.  I didn't have time or knowledge to figure it out.  So I signed up for some coupons on coupons.com and went to the grocery store.  That doesn't work, you end up saving like $5.  So more determined (remember I'm competitive, if someone else can do it, I should be able to too) I went back to southernsavers and did some more detailed investigation.  It's worth spending a few hours if needed!

I'll sum up what I learned (I know those of you who are already doing this are thinking how behind the times I am) you have to change the whole way you shop.  You don't buy groceries when you need them, you buy them when they are on sale.  Apparently, grocery stores put items on sale in a six week(ish) cycle.  It's kind of like buying from Hobby Lobby, just wait and it will go on sale.   Clip coupons (online and in the Sunday paper) and hold them until the item you need goes on sale.  Then when you find a great deal you purchase the item at a sale price, plus coupons, stock up and you have just saved a ton of money. Not only on this grocery bill, but for however long those items will last. 

So, to sum up, look for great deals bogo, money off with rewards card, whatever; clip all coupons and save them; purchase only what is onsale; build up six to eight weeks of what you can.

Now you may say, I don't have time to go check out the stores or look through the adds.  You don't have to.  Go to southernsavers.com pick which grocery store you will use, and find that weeks add listed.  When stores release their adds southernsavers will post them in list form online along with all of the coupons that you may have (it will take a while for you to collect everything that they list).  They also list the prices so you can figure out what exactly you will pay.  Remember some stores double coupons up to $.50.  You can click beside the items that you want to buy and print a customized grocery list.

Don't forget to check out pharmacies!

Of course it will take me a while to get to where I can save more than what I spend, because for a while there will always be a good many items that I need now.  But I have to say I was pretty proud of myself for savings this week.

• I spent $37 on groceries and saved $31.  That's really close to half off.  

• I also was able to get a pack of diapers at Walgreens for $3.99, that is $8 off!

• Earlier this week I got two packs of diapers at CVS for $5.50 each.  

So that's like 90something diapers for $15.  That's $.08 cheaper per diaper than Walmart online (which is usally cheaper than the store).

$37 it doesn't look like a ton but remember it would have cost me $68.  Man, groceries are overpriced

 $14 plus $3 off next purchase and $4 was on the card.

I am now a bit obsessed.  Remember, I am competitive, and nothing is better than competing with yourself (you always win)!!  I am going to see what great deals I can get this week!

Keep scrolling I've posted a lot in the last two days!

13 Months

I know I am a little late with this, but before I move on to what Sterling is doing this month I need to update you from his 12 month appointment.  Sterling was 26lbs 6oz and 32inches long, which is actually a little less than he was at Thanksgiving when he was so sick.  Which means his growth spurting has slowed.  While that means he is more a toddler than a baby it also means some relief for my aching arms.  Now what is Sterling up to now a days?  EVERYTHING

He is crawling around like crazy and is walking as long as he can hold onto a piece of furniture.  He is a little bit of a fraidy cat when it comes to walking.  Which goes with his cautious, careful personality.

He is a big explorer and loves going new places.  Unfortunately with this bitter cold he hasn't gotten to do too much outside the house.

Sterling has been waking up uncharacteristically (that sure is a long word spelled out) early in the mornings and not taking much of a nap.  So we have been trying one nap this week and it has been working well so far.  Which means more time to get errands done, sleeping later in the morning, and longer concentrated nap time.  YAY!  

All of a sudden our little Sterling has become quite the chatter box.  As I mentioned earlier he is able to sign to us many things describing his immediate needs: milk (his favorite), more, all done, eat, please.  He has also made up a few of his own.  He reads a Winnie the Pooh book at my mom's house and I guess when Pooh says "think, think, think" she would tap her head like Pooh would.  He loves doing this, so if you see him beat his head, he is not hurting himself, but saying "think, think, think," sometimes he will even verbalize the phrase sounding something like "/thee/, /thee/, /thee/"  He also, will wave his hand (sort of a raise the roof with one hand) and say Tay Tay.  Meghan used to do this because it would make him laugh so hard.  We told her he would probably start calling her Tay Tay, and sure enough, he now calls her Tay Tay every time he sees her.

Sterling has also added to his verbal repertoire consisting about a week or two ago only of MaMa (sometimes still NaNa) and Daddy and sometimes thee, thee, thee, now to /ba/ or /buh/ (ball or balloon his favorite toys and now his favorite word), /ks/ (box), /pa/ or /puh/ (Pop or Pooh), /muh/ (moo), /uhuh/ (uhoh), /i/ (eye), /kee/ (KiKi), /tay/ /tay/ (Meghan) always with hand waving, and my favorite /tree/.

The last word is not in reference to the large plants in our yard, he hasn't gotten much of a chance to see those.  I still have my Christmas cards hanging on my pantry door.  Whenever we walk by them I see Sterling stealing a glance in that direction with a big smile on his face. So I started stopping for a moment to let him look at them.  He loves looking at small children, real or pictures.  I started noticing he was starring and pointing at our nieces' and nephews' cards.  So I started thinking, well he is recognizing them so we started pointing and going through each name.

About a two days ago when we were doing this he started saying /tree/ which is the first sounds in cousin Tripp's name.  So I said Tripp and pointed to his picture.  Sterling did the same.  Now every time we are in the kitchen he starts getting really excited and saying "Tri" - /tree/ and pointing at the Christmas card.

Sterling loves Tripp.  He is always so sweet with him.  Here is a precious picture of them together when Sterling was six months.

Cookies

I have discovered I really love baking!!  Unfortunately my family cannot live cookies and cakes, and I don't love cooking nearly as much.  My sister-in-law, Elizabeth, made some precious cookies for her son's second birthday, and they were so yummy.  So I got the recipe, which came from our other sister-in-law Scarlotte (thanks girls), and decided to make Valentine's cookies last weekend.  There were so many cookies that I decided to make some for the super bowl as well.  Here are some pics.  I thought they turned out cute.

 Rolling out the dough makes a mess especially on a black counter top!!  I still have some flour in the grout that is going to have to be scrubbed out.

 

 

Thanks Nanie for the cute cookie cutters!

Georgia Aquarium

I know it has been a while since I have updated.  I even got a call from my grandmother the other day to make sure we were all doing ok because I hadn't posted in a while.  Well, we have been a little busy and sick.  Alex was sick all last week and now Sterling has gotten a cold as well.  I have so many things that I need to post so stay tuned and I will try to get it all done soon!

On Friday, all of the Vaughn's headed to Atlanta to go to the Georgia Aquarium.  The kids loved it!  Even Sterling was mesmerized by the fish swimming around everywhere.

Playing with cousins

 

Playing with Pop

That's a lot of kids under the age of four!

I love this picture of Georgia and Max holding hands

 I think all the kids liked the alligator best!

I was afraid Sterling would be scared of the whale shark.  I was right!After all that fun Sterling just couldn't keep his eyes open anymore!  I was impressed that he lasted as long as he did

Thank you Nanie and Pop for a fun day with the fish!!