I think Spring forgot about us here in MD! On Wednesday it was around 46, and Saturday a whopping 86! Whoa! Natalie and Mom planted flowers, then the kids played in the stream. They had fun until I made them get out. I was in the garden and Natalie started screaming in such a horrible way that I was sure an alligator had her. I dropped everything and ran over, only to find that some sort of bug landed on her arm.

These are a few pics of Mason after church today. The big kids were already in their swimsuits playing in the water!

The Tooth

I'll spare you all pictures, but Natalie lost her first tooth -- that actually came out on it's own :)

The thing was hanging for days and she wouldn't let anyone near her, and tried her best to not touch it herself. On Monday night she wanted an apple. She likes to eat them whole, so I peeled it and sent her on her way, knowing what was likely to happen. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later here she came, tooth in hand!

I told her to be thankful that the new tooth is already through b/c she can't afford to lose too many at once! We're expecting the second bottom one to be out any day now, and we're anxiously awaiting the arrival of her top ones!

Both of the kids seem to lose their teeth a little early, and they had their first teeth by 4 months old.

2 month checkup

Mason had his 2 month checkup today (at 10 weeks). He is 11 lb 12 oz and 24.5 inches. (birth was 7-4 and 21 inches).
Everything looks good. He may be having some trouble with a muscle on the right side of his neck. It seems to be too tight and he doesn't like to turn his head that way. So we'll make a trip to the chiropractor to see what's going on.
Fortunately we are able to spread his vaxes out so he only got one shot and did okay. (Thanks Ed for distracting the other two!). Wyatt and Natalie were quite concerned about him but happy that they weren't getting poked, too. They asked me about 20 times while we were waiting, just to make sure!

Happy Birthday Suzanne!

bargain shopping :)

I normally don't post about my couponing and bargain shopping, but I was excited to see that CVS finally has some great deals this week so i'm sharing :)
Also, K-mart is doing double coupons up to and including $2 this week. I learned the hard way that if you don't go in the first few days then all of the good stuff will be gone.

My first trip was to k-mart. One of the things I didn't have coupons for but bought anyway. My total was $16.48. Not sure if that is considered wonderful?

I got most of the coupons links and deals below from www.southernsavers.com

Next I went to CVS....I bought 4 Aveeno products and 1 Shave Gel.
Used (2) $2 Aveeno coupons, (1) $10 Aveeno coupon, $4/$20 beauty purchase coupon.
I paid with $10 ECB, 2.01 in cash.
I got back $10 for the Aveeno purchase and $2.89 for the gel (it was free after ECB).
So I paid $12.01 and got back $12.89


Then I did a second transaction and bought 1 Crest Prohealth, 1 Bayer Crystals, and 2 Rimmel lipsticks.
I used (4) $1 off coupons for each of the items, plus a $3 off any makeup purchase. I paid with $6.49 in ECB and .88cents cash. Earned back 4.00 in ECBs.

Before and After

Remember the painting pics I posted not long ago? Well, the majority of the project is done! We (Ben!) still need to put up trim around the rest of the room and paint the other walls. But the best part is done! The next step will be redoing the hardwood floors...that will come eventually!

Ben often tells me of ideas he has for the house, and I usually can't see what he sees. But i've learned to just tell him to do whatever and it always turns out better than I could have expected! You see, everything is in his head. This was done with him taking a few measurements and then going out to the garage and building. If he could do this for a living he would :)

I can't find the pictures from when we bought our house, so I found the best I could to show the before. This is the front corner by the window....this is some hideous 'faux brick'. Not sure what they were thinking b/c this is put next to a brick fireplace....so it is obviously fake!

front window

This is the main wall in the living room, to the right of the door. Our pitiful little TV stand :)

And here are the afters!

Front corner by window

TV cabinet. And he painted the outlet cover for now--apparently the former first lady liked for her outlet covers to be painted :)

A crooked full view :)

Do you like my cat door? No? I do! We don't have a litter box inside anymore and it's wonderful! I still have to decide what to put on all of my shelves!

2 Months!

So i'm a little late, but better than never! Right?

Mason turned 2 months on the 10th (friday). It is really hard to believe and just reminds me how fast he is going to grow.

I love this little picture of him :)

He lost most of his hair and it's already growing back so fast--it almost looks like it's going to be dark! His eyes have stayed blue so far. Natalie has blue eyes, Wyatt's are a greenish color like Ben's.


He is so smiley! This is the first good smile i've caught on camera, though. (He scratched his nose so that's what you see in the pic).

Right after he turned 6 weeks he started rolling from front to back. He's been really strong in holding his head up from the beginning, so he likes tummy time.
In this next picture he was talking to Natalie. He spent about 15 minutes doing this--he loves to watch her and hear her sweet little baby talk!
He has found his hands and they are in his mouth a lot! Sometimes he even gets his thumb :)

No, he still doesn't sleep 'all night'. But he often gives me a 6 hour stretch which is nice. One of the coolest things is that I put him in his cradle and he goes to sleep on his own! I was never able to accomplish this with the big kids, so I am thanking God for answered prayers for this!

Last night I put him in his cradle b/c he was so tired, and Ben had the TV on. Mason fussed and fussed so I told Ben to turn the TV off--Mason immediately went to sleep! He loves for it to be very dark :)

Wyatt and Natalie still just love him and get so excited when he smiles and coos. They will definitely be great entertainment for him, and you can bet Natalie is going to be a 2nd Mommy--she's already trying hard!

Wyatt told me the other day that God gave us Mason because He knows that boys need a brother :). Wyatt had been praying for a brother since he was about 4, so he knows Mason is definitely answered prayer!

Swagbucks

I want to share this link with you all, in case someone is interested :)

I signed up for Swagbucks a few weeks ago and really do like it. It's just a search engine that you download to your toolbar (IE, Firefox, etc)...and you use it when you are searching for something. Every so many searches you earn 'swagbucks', and then you redeem your bucks for gift cards and such. I have earned enough for $5 from Amazon, but i'm saving to get a $10 one.

Anyway, if you use my link i'll earn points from you :)

http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=351997

What have Wyatt and Natalie been up to?

The two 'big kids' have been pretty busy lately. Mostly they are just trying to find creative ways to stay busy inside, or are doing silly stuff to entertain Mason (he doesn't really pay much attention yet, but they don't care).

Last weekend they helped Dad paint--we are almost finished with our living room and i'm so excited to post before and after pics! Ben has worked hard and it looks good!

We also went bowling with some homeschool friends...this is once a month and I think we'll do it regularly--it was fun!

And when Grace was here, Grammy took the girls to the tea room. They both insisted on dressing up in what you see--we had absolutely no part in any of it!

And this past Saturday Wyatt had his first soccer game of the season. He and Ben went alone since it was very cold and windy. He loves soccer!

We are excited for this weekend's Easter activities. We still aren't sure what we'll be doing on Sunday--we're watching the weather to see if we will be able to picnic. And of course hunt some eggs :)
I am so ashamed to admit that i've never dyed eggs with my kids. I just never wanted to tackle the mess, but I think this year we'll do just that.

Mason

Just a few random pictures since I haven't posted any recently :)
We are still so in love with him--the kids more and more every day. This morning I had to kick them out of my bed b/c they were fighting over who was going to lay beside him and talk to him while he woke up.
He turns 2 months this week...absolutely crazy!

I love his feet :) and his really long toes!

His serious look

spring

Where oh where is spring? We get a day or two of such nice weather, then it's cold and rainy again. Today the sun is shining but it isn't too warm, and the threat of rain isn't far away.
There is so much arguing, yelling, fighting, teasing, and just craziness in our house. The kids are going stir crazy and I think I am, too! And i'm on the verge of turning into mean mom--if I haven't already gotten there!
I can't wait for the warm weather so I can just turn them loose outside first thing in the morning!