Weekend Wrap Up

After making another few trips to Harris Teeter I've decided to call it quits until the end of this week when new sales start. I didn't do too bad considering that I bought over 3.5 pounds of chicken, a roast, diapers (for the baby on the way), taco shells for our entire Sunday school class (for tonight's social), all of our regular produce and milk too . . . all for a grand total of $57.84 with a savings total of $348.61!! That's an 86% savings!!!!! So now that we're fully stocked, again, it's time to live off the surplus.

On Saturday morning I headed over to Carmel where they had an awesome brunch for expecting moms. I was originally supposed to be a table leader, but had to back out when I realized that it was scheduled on the same day as our niece Madison's birthday party. They had great door prizes and a speaker too, which unfortunately I didn't get to hear since we had to head out for Mebane. So off we went in the pouring down rain to Mebane for the princess and pirate party. Savannah loved seeing a real princess and sat still for the longest time just having her read stories from the princess books.

Savannah was in awe and so was Dillon!

Maddie, the birthday princess

While at the party, I had Savannah tell her Pawpaw what she has been telling me she wants for her birthday, a tricycle or bicycle. Well wouldn't you know that Pawpaw just happened to have one of each that he wanted to get rid of!!! Happy day! So we met him on the way home and picked up a like new tricycle and bicycle for little Savannah. She and Dave are out now trying to give them a spin . . . I think it's going to take a little time to get the hang of pedaling! :)

Savannah also racked up lots of goodies from her granny. She played with a pig flashlight, bunny on a tricycle, and kept asking for jelly beans the entire way home.

We even made a stop in High Point to visit Aunt Cherry at the furniture store on our way home. I wanted to check on a couple of things for Savannah's new big girl room and of course Aunt Cherry never passes up an opportunity to show off Savannah! Somehow we ended up with yet another gift for Savannah, this big bear that she fell in love with at the store.

Now we're off to another birthday party, this one for sweet baby Jake who is turning one! Then, hopefully we can squeeze in a nap for Savannah before heading to our Sunday school class Mexican fiesta party this afternoon. Whew, it's been a crazy weekend already!

HAPPY SPRING!!!

Prayer Request

Yesterday I found out that friend of mine lost her precious baby girl at 38 weeks. This sweet family has a son who was in Savannah's WEE school class last year and were expecting their second baby, a girl, next week. I don't have a lot of details, but please just lift up the Miller family as they journey through the difficult weeks and months ahead.

Lots and Lots of Savings

This weekend has been filled with savings! It started on Thursday with a new consignment sale that I had never been to before. I went just to see what I could find for the baby and ended up with a ton of stuff! I got a exersaucer in great shape for $9 and a Jumparoo that looks practically new for $10 plus lots of other clothes for the kids. (That sounds weird already, kidS??) I got Savannah several name brand boutique dresses and nothing was over $10!!!

Then on Friday I was off to my very favorite consignment sale. I volunteer to work so that I can shop early and ended up with WAY TOO MUCH STUFF. I'm actually embarrassed at the amount of stuff I bought for Savannah as she can still wear her clothes from last year since she's potty trained now. Who can resist an adorable Gymboree outfit that looks new for only $8?? I did end up getting the baby boy (who still doesn't have a name) several things and even found some maternity stuff for me! Dave brought Savannah by to see me while I was working and bought some toys for him and Savannah.

Overall, we really got a ton of great stuff. I would have taken a picture but I was anxious to get it all washed so no picture this year. :( All I can give you is the number of things: Savannah got 9 OUTFITS, 8 dresses, 4 pairs of shoes ~ the baby boy got 15 outfits/sleepers (all the same thing when they're newborns) ~ I racked up 5 new pieces of clothing ~ all that along with 3 toys and the two baby necessities was $180.80!!

Saturday we headed to Gaffney to try to find some bedding for the nursery at the Pottery Barn outlet. We definitely struck out in terms of baby stuff, but managed to find Savannah an entire bedding set including sheets, 4 shams, and a quilt for an awesome price! I got it home and it looks fabulous with her drapes and mural that she already has in her room. As I sit here now and listen to her jump up and down in her crib, I think it's time to make the transition to the double bed . . . but we'll have to wait until daddy has time to set it up. Pottery Barn had a huge sale and we ended up with a new shirt for the baby ($1.76) and some fun new bath toys. We also hit the Children's Place outlet and scored some of their fabulous pajamas for $1.69!!

This week starts super doubles at Kmart so I'm already getting anxious about what I can get for free there. There is rumor that Harris Teeter is doing triples for an entire week starting Wednesday so that's something to plan for too.

An Awesome Daddy

Tonight after dinner I was busy picking up the house and happened to notice this scene outside. Yes, Dave is actually IN Savannah's house. She has been wanting to play outside for the past 4 days . . . even in the rain she tried to convince me that she could just take her "umbella" and wear her rain boots, but it was just too cold! So tonight she was super excited to get outside to play with her daddy. Looks like they're having a swell time too. :)

A Fun Morning

This morning Savannah's friend Cole came over to play. These two have had a blast!! I couldn't resist this picture of the two of them riding on the red car. They were hilarious. They took turns riding in the front and would fly across the floor together. What a great chance for me to catch up on things while "Sabanna", as Cole calls her, was busy playing. It is amazing how well Savannah and her friends play together now. They are all such a great age and get along so well. We are very blessed to have such close friends with children close in age.

Cole is John Robert's older brother. You may remember from a previous post that sweet John Robert was having surgery to check out his trachea. God is good and it turns out that there is only one hemangioma in his airway, which they were able to shave with a new laser. So far there has been minimal swelling, but the steroids are making this little baby extremely fussy. Please keep praying for the Ezells as they journey through 2 weeks of steroid reduction.

Busy Week

This week has been insane! Just today for the first time I'm starting to get a few things checked off of the list . . . still not caught up, but heading in the right direction. We've had two play dates with Savannah's friends coming over this week, I had a doctor's appointment (glucose test normal, praise God), hosted Bible study here Wednesday night, ventured to the library for Savannah's music and movement class this morning, I shopped and then volunteered at the Divine Consign Sale during Savannah's WEE school time, closed on our refinance (finally), and have run a ton of errands. Whew!

This brings me to my next issue, Walgreens. They drive me crazy! Just curious to see if anyone else has had issues this week. They advertised this great special where you buy $25 of Huggies products and get at $10 register rewards printed back. Apparently, even the managers weren't sure how the sale was working because when I shopped on Thursday the guy told me you had to buy $25 of the same Huggies item to get it to work, but if I bought 3 containers of wipes they would give me a $6 register rewards coupon. Long story short, I ended up with 4 packs of diapers and 3 containers of wipes for only $1!!! Thanks, Donna for the coupons.com diaper coupon!

I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing Saturday now. Dave is taking Savannah to her My Gym make-up class tomorrow so I should have some nice free (and quiet) time. We have a birthday party in the afternoon and have already planned to have dinner out! Yippee! Now if it would just warm up and stop raining.

A March Getaway

This past weekend, Dave's parents invited us to join them at Hilton Head. We ventured down Saturday morning, a little hesitant with Savannah in panties for such a long trip, but she did awesome. We met up with Dave's sister and her family at the Sandbox children's museum first.

Here are Savannah and Alyssa playing on the big ship in the museum

Next was the building area . . .

At the museum I probably missed the best picture, the one where yellow paint sprayed all over me! I was trying to get Savannah some paint out of this pump like jar and didn't realize it had a major clog in the spout. As I pressed down really hard the stuff squirted all over my hair, eyes, face, and shirt. What a mess! Thankfully it all washed off! We then headed to the condo where Savannah proceeded to unpack her suitcase while I was busy in the kitchen. By unpacking I mean throwing every item out! Susan came downstairs and said "um, Savannah is upstairs throwing everything out of her suitcase". Yep, when I got up there she had thrown every last thing out and then wanted me to "wrap" (she meant zip) it up! :)

Dave's parents rented bikes for us to ride and I calculated that we rode a total of over 2 hours on bikes alone.

Here she is all ready to ride in her cart!

We decided to take a picture of the "kids" before anyone got wet and dirty, good idea!

Savnanah loved the beach as usual and insisted on wearning her bathing suit under her dress . . . what a difference wearing a bathing suit is without a swim diaper! She ended up getting soaked the first day so her wonderful daddy gave up his shirt for her to wear.

It was just a little too big!

The second day we didn't let her even put a bathing suit on.

On the way back from the beach the last day we saw a huge alligator just out on the grass. How neat! The weather was awesome the entire trip and we truly enjoyed spending time with family before heading back to the routine of Charlotte! Thanks mom and dad Bachmann for such a wonderful trip!

Prayer Request

Many of you may remember over a year ago when I sent an e-mail asking everyone to pray hard for my precious friend Elaine and her son Ethan. Ethan had a very rare condition where hemangiomas (a collection of blood vessels) were blocking his airway making it difficult (actually, impossible) for him to breathe on his own. After a long and scary road of multiple surgeries and a tracheotomy, he is now a healthy 2 year old boy who is no different than any other 2 year old.

This week these memories have all come back as another one of the girls in Bible study is travelling this same road with her 3 month old son, John Robert. It's hard to even believe that a condition so rare with only a few children in the country having it has hit our little Bible study group twice! Right now all we know is that little John Robert's airway is 25% blocked by one hemangioma. They are trying to get him in ASAP for a full scope of his esophagus and airway to determine whether there are other blockages and if so, the extent of them. Once this is done, the doctors will make a recommendation for a course of treatment which could include steroids, laser surgery, or possibly even a tracheotomy. This sweet family has a difficult road ahead of them and I know that they would appreciate all of your prayers.

I Said a Little Prayer . . .

and once again God helped me find Savannah's lovey B!!! This very worn bib that she can't live without was missing once before and I found myself in the Wal-Mart parking lot at some crazy hour of the night in tears searching and searching for the thing . . . and it wasn't until I really started to pray for help in finding the bib (and calling a friend to ask her to pray too) that God led me right to it. Now why can't I remember that lesson day to day??? God understands how important B is to Savannah and I truly believe He waits for me to turn it over to Him before I can find the stupid thing. So, once again, I was reminded today that God is not too big for anything, even finding a nasty old worn bib.

Thank you Lord for helping me find B. Thank you that I didn't' have to go searching through a weeks worth of trash (already on the curb) to make sure Savannah didn't throw it away. Please help me remember that you are there, able and willing to help me even in the smallest of details!