I'm BACK!!!

Hi y'all!  Yep, I am still alive! Ha!  Don't ask me why I haven't blogged.  I really don't know.  Lol!  But I am back and that is all that matters.  So much is going on and so much has happened that there is no way I can catch you up on it all so we are going to just start from here.  :)

I have really been into upcycling and redecorating my house over the past couple of months.  I have been going to Goodwill, yard sales, and thrift stores finding things and using them in new ways.  Spray paint has become my new BFF!  I am surprised Lowes hasn't called someone to report me for buying so much of the stuff.  Here are a few goodies I found today at GW.

That is a Melissa and Doug clock and black cauldron.  The clock was missing the 5 and I looked that store over for it and couldn't find it so they gave it to me half price, $1.50.  Josh has already said he could make me one!  Score!

If you follow me on FB you might remember that the Leprechaun came to visit Tempe on St. Patty's day.  I looked then for a black pot and knew I wanted one of these trick or treat buckets for that purpose.  It was on my list to buy this Halloween so you know I was stoked when I saw this on the shelf of Halloween goodies for a buck. 

Tempe is doing great!  Growing too fast.  She is repeating and coping everything someone says or does.  She likes to list us and her grandparents.  You will catch her playing and she will all of a sudden start saying "Mommy, Daddy, Maw maw, Paw paw, Nanny, Poppy, etc."  She likes to do this when she is talking on her phone.  I like to believe she is saying her prayers because the first time she did it she was laying down to go to sleep.  She also has a bear that sings "Jesus Loves Me" that the carry's around and sings with.  She is such a sweet girl and I couldn't be more proud of her.

I can't wait to get back into blogging and recording our life's events.  I hope you will follow along with me on the journey!

Tempe's First Bday (3 months late LOL)

Well, it has been three months since Tempe's birthday party and I am just now posting!! LOL!!!  I wasn't able to as much as I would have liked because I was VERY sick the day of and leading up to.  However it was her first birthday and I will forever love it!!

This was just a small get together of Grandparents on her birthday.  We took her to Build A Bear for the first time then to Chuck E Cheese.  This will be our tradition for her Birthday from here on out!

Then on the weekend we had her Whoo's Turning 1 Party.  Most things were "Tempe" centered with a few owl accents here and there.  Here was the custom invites I made.

Each table was a different event in Tempe's first year.  They had a picture and mementos from that event.  There were also candy Kisses at each place setting.  I had a very cute saying to put with them but these were last minute and I just didn't feel up to fixing them.  ( I was in bed for a week sick after this!!)



Bath Table (had a great 8mo pic I took of her)



I also did a signature plate that will be a special plate that Tempe will eat her cake off each year.  Everyone signed the plate and I have it put up for her.  On the table with this I had her coming home outfit and blanket from the hospital.

We also had her one year picture for everyone to see and wallet size ones for them to take home.

Her cake was a gift from my best friend who's mom makes yummy and beautiful cakes as a hobby.

Tempe really enjoyed her owl cake too!!

The older kids got to do an owl craft.

And the adults got to play "Tempe Trivia"!!  They had to guess how old Tempe was when these things took place in her first year.

This is just the highlights from her Birthday!  I learn two things throwing my first party for Tempe... to have it later in the afternoon (this one was at noon) so that I can decorate and tie up loose ends, and not everything is going to be perfect.  You will miss certain pictures, somethings will not get said (her Tempe Trivia answers), and somethings you will just not have time for.  But as long as the birthday girl/boy has fun that is all that matters!!!


I have already started planning her second party!  I am so excited about it too. I am hoping that it will be even more memorable for her. 

 



Money Saving Monday

Welcome back!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  I decided last week while in the shower (isn't that where we do our best thinking?!) that I wanted to do something new on my blog.  Something that will be a little more organized and give us something to look forward to each week.  So each day of the week we are going to have a "theme" some of which will be Linky Parties.  We are going to start off with...

<center><a href="http://jennifersjoyfuljourney.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Jennifer's Journey" src="http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd331/jbowers_01/moneysavingpic3.jpg"/></a></center>

Each Monday I will update you on all of my coupon shopping trips that I made that past week.  I do most of my coupon shopping on the weekends or Monday mornings so I thought this would be a great day to post them.  Plus, if there is a great deal for the week I can share it with you and you will have time to grab it up yourself!!!



This weekend I made trips to Walgreens and Rite Aid.  And I plan on going back!  Deals are awesome this week!!

 Above is my Walgreens trip. TRV for these items is $60.83.  I paid $12.16 before tax and after RR from last time used.  I also earned $13 in RR for my next trip.

This is my Rite Aid trip.  This was a quick trip in just to see if they had items I had rain checks for.  Tempe was fussy because it was her nap time and so it was short.  TRV for these items is $11.96.  I paid $3.48 before tax and after RR from last time used.  I also earned $7 in RR for my next trip.

Now, all of my blogger buddies out there join my Linky Party!!! 

Grab my hot new made by me button! Blog about a deal, then come back and link it so that we can all read about your fantastic finds!  Make sure you link your post and not your home page! This is so that if someone comes back to it after you post again it will take them to the correct post.  It doesn't have to be drug store deals.  It can be anything from a great pair of heels you found on sale to something wonderful you found at the Dollar Tree this week.  I wanna hear about it!!! (Linky Party will only be for today)

Tomorrow we will have "Tempe Tuesday".  Be sure to come back and check it out!!

Mother~Daughter Day

Today was such a fun day as mother/daughter.  The hubby had to work and it was our first time out since the snow just us girls.  We met a few of the ladies from my MOPS group for breakfast at Cracker Barrel this morning. It was so much fun!  I love having all of the ladies as a part of my life but it was nice to be just a few of us so that we could talk and really get to know one another.  We were there for two hours so I am sure they were ready to get rid of us!!!  Haha!!! (I took a pic but didn't like the way it came out)

Then we went and paid a bill, dropped off some goodies for friends, picked up a bow,

picked up a lunch bag for Tempe,

and when we got home as I was driving in the driveway I noticed something.......her new car seat had come!!!!  I am very much a stickler for car seat safety.  I would have left her in her rear facing Chicco forever if I could have.  Although it goes to 30 lbs, which she is no where near, she was getting too tall for it.  I asked a lot of moms and did a lot of research on car seats and decided to get a Britax.  As many of you know marriage is all about compromise and this was going to be one of those things.  Britax car seats can get to be very costly.  And my hubby had set a limit on how much he was willing to spend on a seat.  So I jumped online and did lots of searching.  I knew I was going to find it!  I went to the site that I had ordered her Chicco off of and I was in luck they were having a sale!!  I was able to save over $150 on her seat. 

Of course the first thing I did when I came in the house was run to the front door and bring the box in. 

One of the things I was worried about was the manufactured date of the seat.  Car seats are only good for 6 years.  And ordering from an online company I was so afraid that it would have been made over a year ago and I would loose that time.  I was very happy to see that it had just been made in May.

We installed her seat and off we went!  We went to supper with Poppy and Nanny and she got to ride in her seat.  She LOVED it!!!

Oh and just check out that cow print!!!  Don't you just love it!!!

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend and I will be back to share something new with you on Monday! I can't wait!!!



Busy Busy

It has been busy, busy around here the past few days.  Yesterday I had to get a whole new set of tires.  We knew one was bad and had ordered it but when the hubby took it to be replaced we found out 3 of them were bad!!!  So they had to put a whole new set on.

Today we took it to be aligned because we figured that is what was causing the tires to wear so quickly.  The dealership claimed that they aligned them last time but come to find out had not.  Hopefully that will help.  While we were getting it aligned we took a trip to my favorite place, Wal-mart.  HAHA!!!  I had to get food.  But while there I also pick up a new book...

I am very excited to read this book.  I have heard a lot of great things about Beth Moore.  I am coming to realize I am not as confident as I would like to be. Hopefully this book will teach me how to be more in my life.

This afternoon I made a crayon wallet for one of my friends.  I had made one for Tempe and she asked me to make her one.  I am still not 100% happy with it but considering I didn't have a pattern to go by and I did not have anyone helping me as I have always in the past I think it turned out ok.  I may begin to sell these soon so keep checking and I will let you know!!

Don't forget to head on over to Andrea's Mommyhood Adventures to enter her giveaway for some great bows!!!



iPod test

Test blog from iPod touch!

Fellow Blogger Giveaway

One of my great friend's, Andrea, is doing a giveaway of some awesome bows on her blog!  The bows she is giving away are by the same lady that make's almost all of Tempe's bows.  Go here to check it out and enter!!  Good luck!! I hope one of my readers wins!!!