Rewind 2011

Kathy at Four of a Kind... posted this yesterday, and I loved it so thought I would share, too. Feel free to join in!

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Got pregnant without medical assistance!

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I'm not sure I made a New Year's resolution for 2011 (at least I didn't find a post with it on my blog :-)). I probably won't make one for this year either. 

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Two of Jason's cousins, a neighbor/friend, and a high school friend

4. Did anyone close to you die? Not real close to me, but Jason's friend's dad (who is also my college friend's FIL) passed away unexpectedly this year.

5. What places did you visit? Bahamas, Grand Turk, Miami

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? a finished basement, new vehicle, a baby!

7. What date(s) from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? February 3, 2011 (and the two days before) - Drake's first birthday and the big snow storm that closed work for 2 days and left us snowed in!

8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year? Managing our family finances more wisely (still have room for improvement, of course), moving to a little more flexible schedule at work, becoming a Nursery Coordinator at our church

9. What was your biggest failure? Not being able to negotiate the option to work from home

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing major...just a cold.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Nothing comes to mind, but I'm guessing Jason would say his new 5-piece nailer kit (since it's been very helpful with our basement project)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Good question. We all have room for improvement, but I have loved watching Drake grow this year! We are doing our best to teach him good manners and it's been so cute to hear him say "Thank you" and how it has changed over the year. He's even said it unprompted once or twice. :-)

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Lots of people surprise me all of the time, but I don't get depressed about it. I can't think of anyone close to me, thank goodness.

14. Where did most of your money go? towards the house (between the mortgage and basement)

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Finding out we were pregnant, seeing the baby on the first ultrasound, hearing the heartbeat for the first time

16. What song will always remind you of 2011? I'm not sure. I pretty much only listen to Christian radio and there are a lot of songs I love but nothing that comes to mind right now.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? About the same but maybe happier since we're expecting #2!

b) thinner or fatter? Fatter (but I have an excuse)

c) richer or poorer? Richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Pinterest recipes/projects

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Eating out - even though I enjoy it and it's easy, it's such a waste of money!

20. How did you spend Christmas in 2011? With Jason's family and at church on Christmas Eve, with our family of 3 on Christmas morning and then with my family on Christmas night

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Not fall in love but I would say my love has grow

22. What was your favorite TV program? Just one? :-) I love Survivor, Biggest Loser, Amazing Race, Big Brother

23. What did you do for your birthday in 2011? nothing that I can recall (must not have been too exciting as I didn't even have a post in the blog!)

24. What was the best book you read? Too Small to Ignore by Wess Stafford

25. What did you want and get? more flexible schedule at work

26. What did you want and not get? to go part-time at work/flexibility to work from home

27. What was your favorite film of this year? I don't think I watched a movie all year!

28. Did you make some new friends this year? I don't think so, but I did meet Jamie in person!

29.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I think 2011 was pretty satisfying.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? lol! I wear a lot of what I would call staple items - things that will still be "in style" for years to come. I'm not big on spending a lot of money on clothes that I may only like for a season.

31. What kept you sane? my faith, Jason

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? none, really.

33. What political issue stirred you the most? I try not to get too crazy over any of them. Sure, I have my opinions, but honestly, I don't pay a lot of attention.

34. Who did you miss? Jason's mom and my grandparents...I wish Drake would have had the chance to meet them.

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. I still have a lot to learn - especially when it comes to holding my tongue and taking a step back in situations before saying anything. I would like to say that it's getting better, but I'm not so sure. Guess I'll keep working on it.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful New Year's Eve! As for our house, we've had a pajama day. I did a little cleaning, scrapbooking, and made dinner while Jason worked on the basement more, and we all played a little.

18 weeks!

We are 18 weeks along with this little one! Just a little while longer until we find out if this baby is a he or a she. :-) Jason swears it's a girl, but I was thinking boy earlier this week. This pregnancy seems very similar to Drake's although I haven't gained as much weight (probably a good thing - maybe I'll stay within the "normal" weight range). There are times when I don't even "feel" pregnant which seems strange to me. I am almost exclusively in maternity clothes although it seems like everything I have from Drake is too big. I'm trying to make due since I'm sure I'll be buying clothes come spring.

I'm still listening to the heartbeat every night and loving every second of it. I'm even starting to feel some random movement - definitely looking forward to the time when it is consistent.

Christmas Day!

It is my goal for Drake (and future children) to wake up in his own bed on Christmas morning...unless, of course, we're on a beach somewhere! This year, we had our Christmas when he woke up - he got a Mr. Potato Head, a train set, slippers, and stocking stuffers. We didn't do much again because I new he would be getting more than enough and his birthday is less than two months away. He did a great job opening the gifts and had to make sure every piece of paper was off. 

 Jason got Best Buy gift cards for new speakers in his truck.

I got a new cupcake tin and a KitchenAid mixer! Totally excited about that with all the recipes I want to try from Pinterest.

Drake had a little time to play with his train set while we packed and got ready to head to my parent's house. That evening we celebrated with my family.

Drake and Reid were Santa's helpers passing out presents to everyone.

He got a cot, sleeping bag, blanket and a pre-recorded book from Grandma & Grandpa. He slept on the cot that night and really well. He loved the blanket! Drake also got a bunch of puzzles, cars, and the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics.

We stayed through yesterday, and I was able to get some much needed scrapbooking done. Our ride home was pretty uneventful. We did have another deer run in front of us on the interstate but luckily we didn't hit this one.

I'm hoping to get more scrapbooking done this week and get all the Christmas decorations put away...sounds exciting, huh?

We hope all of your had a wonderful Christmas holiday spending time with loved ones!

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

CVS: OOP $1.10, Saved $14.23!

Walgreens: OOP $2.56, Saved $19.82!


Meijer: OOP $35.63, Saved $27.51! 

Weekly Totals: OOP $39.29, Saved $61.56! (61% savings)

Christmas Eve

We have had a wonderful Christmas Eve! We celebrated with Jason's family this morning. Again, Drake totally impressed me with opening presents. He knew exactly what to do.

He got a nice Nike outfit that will be great for next spring and a floor puzzle.

After celebrating, we came home to take a nap and then went to church. Drake is in bed now, and I'm sure we won't be far behind. Tomorrow is another busy day! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Eve!

"Project"

This morning, I asked Drake if he wanted to help me with a "project". I wasn't sure how much he could actually do, but he impressed me!

He took the wrapping off of the kisses...

put the kisses on the pretzels...

and then he put on the M & M's.

I was quite impressed with how well he did, and he loved helping mom with a "project".

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Meijer: OOP $73.96, Saved $54.52

I was over budget this week...guess I was making up for some of the past weeks when I was under. :-)

Saturday

A Bass Pro Shops store recently opened about 40 minutes from our house, and I have been wanting to go there for a few weeks now. They are doing free pictures with santa, and I heard that kids love the place because there are so many animals and even a bowling alley! We just hadn't made it there yet so when my dad called saying they wanted to go there on Saturday, I wondered if we might be able to work out going, too. They came down on Friday night with my nephew so we headed over first thing in the morning. I thought for sure that it would be packed, but it was perfect. We got there about 9:45am, Santa started pictures at 10am, and we were 3rd in line. You can see for yourself how this went. :-)

After the picture, we walked around checking out all of the animals and then went to lunch before we had to head back home. We picked up my little sister, did a little shopping and then headed home to finish up our appetizers for a Christmas party at Jason's aunt's house. Drake got his first Christmas present...a Tonka tow truck!

Leta even got Aireol a neat Christmas ornament.

We got to meet Jason's cousin's daughter, Hadassah, for the first time. Drake loved her. It was too cute when he was trying to give her hugs. Good thing they were low to the ground - Drake knocked her over a few times. Hadassah's first birthday is on Monday...Happy Birthday, Hadassah!!

It was fun filled day for sure! Thankfully all we had today was church.

Christmas Card

Since our family and friends should have received their card from us, I thought I would share it here as well:

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season celebrating the birth of our Savior!

16 weeks!

We are 4 months along! I cannot believe how quickly time is going with this pregnancy. Ever since my last appointment, time is flying...probably helps that work is super busy right now. I'm still only right around seven pounds gained and some work people just found out about the pregnancy last week. Guess I was doing a pretty good job at hiding it. The clothing choices are getting really limited, especially pants, but I just got a bunch of maternity clothes that I am borrowing from friends - THANK YOU!

I haven't felt any distinct movement yet - hopefully soon, although with Drake I was almost 24 weeks. At least I have the doppler and get to hear the heartbeat every night. It seems to be in the 150s most of the time.

This little guy wanted his picture taken tonight, too. :-)

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Walgreens: OOP $18.98, Saved $23.78

Meijer: OOP $20.29, Saved $18.34

*I should also point out that my Meijer trip only used one digital and one paper coupon! "Couponing" can be done even without coupons. You just have to watch for the deals.

Target: OOP $1.44, Saved $4.32

Weekly Totals: OOP $40.71, Saved $46.44 (53% savings!)

O Christmas Tree!

As I mentioned yesterday, last week was crazy! I was signed up to volunteer at our church on Saturday which also meant I had a training to go to on Friday night. My co-worker, who I was volunteering with, suggested that I stay home and rest. It was hard to give in to that because I really wanted to be there, but I figured she was probably right. All the stress isn't good for baby, and I obviously needed the break. I slept for over 9 hours on Friday night and took a 2-hour nap on Saturday, but not before we got our Christmas tree up!

Jason brought the tubs upstairs and took out a few of the decorations. Drake knocked one of the ceramic painted santa's on the floor and it broke. Then, he went over and pulled our Chicago Bears ornament out and dropped it on the floor - broken! Not the best way to start decorating, but definitely nothing to get upset over. Needless to say, we don't have too many ornaments on our tree...just in case. 

 "Helping" daddy fix the lights.

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

This week has been absolutely crazy! Work has been super busy and our evenings have been busy, too, which meant I got no shopping in. We stopped at Meijer for milk on Friday night and that was it.

Meijer: OOP $5.05, Saved $.98