Saturday, August 29, 2009

Caleb's Past Month

Caleb has had a busy month of learning and growing, and he definitely keeps us busy! In the past two weeks, Caleb has learned to crawl and pulls up on everything! He finally decided one day that instead of moving and scooting backwards, he would just go forward to get what he wants. He's not crawling all over the house, not yet anyway! He also pulls up on everything; it doesn't matter what it is, he's standing up! He had his 9 month check up about two weeks ago and he weighed 20.15 lbs and was 29.5 inches long. He loves to eat table food and plays copy cat. For example, he will lean his head to the side, and then he wants you to copy him. He also can now say da-da, ma-ma, uh-oh, and touchdown! And of course, he has the best teacher--his big sister Abby Grace!
Calebs likes for you to copy him and lean your head to the side too.

Caleb doing his "Touchdown, Auburn!"




Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Crazy Coupon-Saving Grocery Shopper Strikes Again

Okay, I admit it... I have become an obsessive coupon saving grocery shopper, especially since we have moved to Charleston. Why? 1. Because Brian has not been able to moonlight yet. 2. There are many grocery stores just minutes from me. 3. I have found that going to the grocery store is a good outing for both of my children. 4. We have a Harris Teeter! (They even give balloons to the kids)

I usually don't post about my shopping excursions, but my trip to Harris Teeter this past week was too good to be true! Harris Teeter is a grocery store similiar to Publix. However, they can have awesome deals too, and this week was TRIPLE COUPON week!!! So, my total was $28.45, which actually included stamps that cost $8.80 + a 50 cent fee. Thus, my total for all my other items was $19.15 ($68 worth of groceries)! I thought this was such a great deal that I had to take a picture to prove it!

Okay, so for $19.15, I was able to purchase a large bag of Doritos, Muellers penne, Muellers spaghetti, bananas (3), grapes (2.5 lbs), 3 Oscar Meyer lunchables, 2 Whitehouse applesauce 6 packs, Ziploc round containers, Ziploc square containers, Ziploc sandwich bags (100 count), Fiber One toaster pastries, French's mustard, 3 Chef Boyardee, Welches jelly, Lysol toilet bowl cleaner, 2 Lysol wipes containers, Edge shave gel, Skintimate shave gel, Betty Crocker cookie mix, Colgate toothpaste, Crest toothpaste, Land O Lakes butter, pimentos, Wacky Mac, etc! Now, that's what I call a good deal!

How did I do it? I have always clipped and saved coupons. So, when I saw it was triple coupon week (only coupons up to 99 cents could be tripled), I went through all of my coupons and the HT ad for BOGO deals, etc. Some of these products, I actually made money off of. For example, I bought the Welch's jelly for $2.00--my coupon was for 75 cents off, which was tripled. So I made 25 cents! Also, many of these items were BOGO, and I had coupons for them too. Anyway, I actually went back a second time before the week was over and bought $98 of groceries/supplies for $50 doing the same thing! Thus, I am a Harris Teeter Fan (Oh, and I still love Publix too--in case you don't know, they take competitors coupons, no matter what!) Happy Shopping!!!




(Even Caleb & Abby Grace are all grins from our grocery shopping!)

Monday, August 17, 2009

Family Comes to Town!

It's always nice to have family come and visit! Brian's parents, Grandma, and Aunt Tempie all came to see us in our new house the first weekend of August, and we all had a great time! We were so glad that they got to see where we live, and we were able to show Grandma and Tempie around town. On Saturday, we did the whole downtown Charleston thing, including a carriage ride. The rides attract many tourists because they are over an hour long and really do give you great history about downtown Charleston. I would highly recommend it especially if early American history interests you. Anyway, being that it is a guided tour, I was a little nervous about how Abby Grace and Caleb would do, but they were great! Abby Grace drifted off to sleep a few times, but what 3 year old wouldn't? After walking around the market, we headed back to the house while Carl, Grandma, and Tempie toured some homes downtown. For dinner, we ate at Fleet's Landing--yum! On Sunday, the family toured Magnolia Planation, and we went to dinner at Shem Creek, which is over in Mt. Pleasant. Then, we walked around Sullivan's Island just for fun. We had a great weekend and were so glad everyone was able to come and visit!

Caleb and Abby Grace are saying hey to the horse that gave us our Charleston tour.

The following are pictures from when we walked around Sullivan's Island. Notice how amazing Grandma is--she's 90 years old and can still play chase with a 3 year old!




Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Livin' in the Lowcountry Update

Well, we have been experiencing the "lowcountry" life now for well over a month, and it has been a journey. I am not sure if we really realized how much work it takes when you move, especially out of state. However, I think we are finally getting settled in--thank goodness! It made me a little sad when the DMV took away my AL driver's license and gave me my SC one. I guess it really made our move away from home official, and I do miss my sweet home, Alabama! I am just thinking of this as our little 3 year vacation! However, there are a lot of things we like about Charleston, and I just pray that it is a fun three years.
The kids are doing really well; in fact, they are doing better than I could ever have imagined. I really feel like the move has made Abby Grace grow up a lot. She has become much more independent, helpful, etc., and little Caleb, well, he could care less where he is as long as his little needs are taken care of and his mommy, daddy, and Abby Grace are there! I will have to say the past few days have been a little rough because he is having another one of those fun teething weeks! He has been running fever, waking up at night, not napping well, etc. He finally started acting like himself today, but as I type, I hear him starting to fuss again in his sleep! So I guess he has at least 5 teeth now, some of which are still making their way in. He still hasn't officially started crawling yet, which I am secretly glad. However, he manages to move around and can pull up pretty well. He's also at that stage of where he is trying to copy things, and I swear he is trying to say different words like uh-oh, da-da, ma-ma, etc., and his new trick is doing "touchdown Auburn" with his hands above his head.
We are all working on meeting new people. I have started a Bible study with wives of husbands who are in the medical profession (I also did this same type study back home too), and I have also joined a playgroup that is also set up the same way. The pictures below show Abby Grace and Caleb at the first playgroup, which was at the James Island County Park. The park was awesome, and in these pics, the kids are playing in the sprinkler part. They both thought it was great as you can see! This was actually about two weeks ago. Today, we went to another park on James Island; anyway, it has been a good way for us to get out and meet other people. Well, my Caleb is "calling" me, so I hope to post again soon with lots more pictures. I have gotten behind again!