Easy Bathroom Reading

I caught Sophia reading my latest copy of "Drug Topics!" Maybe this means she will want to be a 2nd generation pharmacist!! What a great career!! I think she was intrigued by the paycheck article!!

Allyson

Target Bargains

Can you guess how much I paid for all of these items??

Retail price of the above items: $26.97

My grand total: $12.07

Are you curious how I did it?

1) Pizza was $5.54, but I had a Target coupon for $1 off and a manufacturer coupon for a $1 off =$3.54

2) 7th Generation dish soup usually $3+ each, on sale for $2.49 each, had a manufacturer coupon for $2/2 and a target coupon for $1/1.

3) Kashi crackers on sale for $2.99, Kashi Bars on sale for $2.79, had a manufacturer coupon for $1.50/2 bars, Target coupon for $1/3 products

4) Kashi cereal on sale for $2.75, had a manufacturer coupon for $1.50/1

5) $0.05 off total order for bringing my own reusable bag

As some of you know, I have really been into bargain hunting and coupon clipping over the past few months! I have lowered our monthly grocery expenses $20-40/month!! I always thought they didn't print coupons for healthy and/or organic foods! I was SO wrong, they are just harder to find!! I watch the adds, print TONS of online coupons, and take advantage of coupon doubling at Meijer and Kroger.

Here are my favorite sites for watching for deals/coupons/freebies/etc!! Hope you will check them out. I subscribe to their feed so I get an email in my inbox every day!

http://bargainbriana.com/ (She also gives lots of great sites to get free samples and many freebies)

http://ingoodcents.com/

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

http://organicdeals.blogspot.com/

Here is a good link to a blog entry post on in good cents for sites with coupons for organic foods! http://ingoodcents.com/2010/04/e-course-the-rare-coupons.html

I would love to know if you have any more websites for coupons!! Please share the wealth!

Happy Printing and Clipping!!

Allyson

In Search of a Water Table

This past Thursday we had the chance to head down to the south side for another play date with the Mulder's! Thankfully we have been able to get about 4 of them in since the kids have been born! Charlie was born on Christmas Day 2008, just 4 days before Sophia! For the longest time Charlie was WAY bigger than Sophia, now they are the same exact weight and Sophia is an inch taller! Isn't it amazing how quickly things can change in 6 months time??

The kids looked so cute together. They would chase each other up and down the hallway, want the toy the other was playing with, and kind of acted like brother and sister! It was so sweet!!! I have learned that Sophia can sure stand her ground. She can be quite the brute when left alone! Nate and I are going to have our hands full with this one!! (Why would I think it would be easy when she has my personality!)

Here are some fun pictures to recap (Note: It is extremely hard to get 2 fifteen month olds to pose and smile at the same time!)

Deciding which toy to play with ....

Sophia is REALLY happy b/c she won the remote battle! Guess her future husband should beware!!

Getting ready to go outside and play in the water table!! I didn't realize her swimsuit was a 12 month. I thought it was a 24 month! No wonder it was incredibly hard to get on ... had to borrow a T-shirt! (She looked like a tom-boy in her get-up).

Sophia and Charlie had a blast splashing around in the water table. I have been searching Craig's list looking for something like it ... maybe I will be lucky at a garage sale this summer! Just a little bit of water can provide hours worth of fun!! Oh yeah don't forget the squirty toys too!!

Here is a little video of the kids playing!

Have a great weekend!!

Allyson

Bargains and deals

What a beautiful weekend! I think I would be content to have those cool mornings and warm afternoons EVERY day!! We had a great time out enjoying the weather! I never want to take days like Sat and Sun for granted!!

This morning I was able to get Sophia's hair in her first ponytail! As I combed her hair while she was sitting on my lap, I felt an overwhelming sense of joy in my heart! This is my daughter!! I have the opportunity to do "girly" things with her, such as putting her hair in a bow! I know the next few years will hold many sweet memories with my baby girl! (Who isn't much of a baby anymore although she calls every kids she sees ... "BABY"!)

On Saturday, two of my girlfriends and myself went to the Westside Church of the Nazarene Garage Sale! WOW is all I can say! Those women are serious. The three of us just stood there in awe watching people shoving tons of clothes and toys into giant black trash bags! I just don't have it in me to run to tables and take things away from people! People would go to each section and just throw the items in their bag, then after the bag was full, they would find a corner and sort through all their stuff to see what they really wanted and what needed to go back. They had a huge section for just 'returns'. People from the church would sort the items and run them back to their proper tables. It was a non-stop cycle! Thank heavens we got in line fairly early b/c they were insanely LONG!! I walked away with 3 items ... the shoes Sophia is wearing in the picture above. Stride Rite walkers for $2 -- looked brand new after I tossed them in the wash! I also found this little Walmart shopping cart for $3. Sophia LOVES it! As you can see she has put everything under the sun in the basket! Notice her fridge farm takes the place of a baby doll! She likes to stop, push the little chick button, dance to the song, then start pushing it around again!!

An excellent find!

Here is a cute shot of Sophia one morning before we headed to the gym! I thought she looked absolutely adorable in her little skort outfit!! :) First summer outfit she has worn!!

Happy Monday!!!

Allyson

Relief ......

..... comes in many forms and expressions! I am at the computer right now and Sophia is standing against the chair next to me. I look over at her as she is making some serious grunting noises while bracing the chair! I just looked at her and said, "Are you pooping AGAIN?" (B/C 30 minutes ago I changed her 3rd dirty diaper of the day!) She smiled at me and started grunting again ... afterwards, she looks up and says, "AMEN."

Must feel good to get it all out and then sit in it! :)

Happy Sunny Weekend!
Allyson

"Green" eggs and ham ...

Catchy title huh? :) Well we didn't have green eggs and ham ... but we had lots of "green" grass, Easter eggs, and egg casserole! No ham but tasty turkey sausage ...

Here are a few pictures from our Easter celebration at my parents house!! Sophia is in a stage now where she absolutely LOVES balloons! If I take her in a store where there are balloons, she goes CRAZY! To the point where I have to make sure they are not in sight at all ... or else I hear constant grunting and squealing ... lots of uhhhh ... uhhhh ... and pointing!! She fell in love with her Easter Bunny balloon and is still playing with it each day at home!!

Even though I am almost 30 years old (can't believe I am writing 3-0), I STILL love getting an Easter basket!! My mom always does one for each of us and stuffs it full of tasty treats! She is so gracious to give Nate and I baskets with healthy treats! Instead of getting candy, I love getting LaraBar's, almonds, and trail mix! (Well, I should admit I look forward to my 1 package of Peeps each year too!! Nothing screams spring like Peeps!)

Although, it is fun to celebrate with Easter baskets and treats, the real reason we celebrate is Jesus! If He wouldn't have come, lived, died, and been resurrected, we would have nothing to celebrate!! Thank you dear Jesus for your sacrifice so that I might have life!!!

Each year on Good Friday, Nate and I watch the Passion of the Christ. It is just one of those movies that get you in the right frame of mind to celebrate the gift! It is hard to believe that Jesus would suffer that much for our sake!!

What is your favorite tradition to celebrate Christ's resurrection?

Getting her to look at the camera for any length of time is near impossible these days!

Great-grandpa Kiesel (91), Sophia, and Mama

"Look mommy, I found two eggs! They have quarters in them too for my piggy bank!"

Allyson

15 Month Check-Up

Monday we went to the doctor for Sophia's 15 month check-up! She is growing like a weed!

Weight: 24 lbs (75%)

Height: 32.25 inches (95%)

OFC: 19.25 (>97% which means OFF THE CHARTS again!)

Big head = big brains, right???

In other news, Sophia decided after her 14 day stretch of not eating (or bird-like eating) she was going to start back to normal again! Whew ... what a breath of fresh air for this mama!! By Sunday, she was back to the "old" Sophia. To this day I still don't know what plagued her, but I am glad I didn't fork over an extra $100 buck-a-roo's to the doctor! At our appointment Monday I asked the doctor what she thought ... she said it could have been a lot of things ... "A Phase" or GI bug or just didn't feel like eating ... I still find it hard to believe it was a short-lived 2 week phase, but what do I know ... I am just a first time mom! I guess moms of 2 or more probably wouldn't worry at things like this!! All I can say is thank heavens it is over!! Now my little piggy is back eating me out of house and home at 15 months!! :)

I am still working on Easter pictures ... those are coming ... soon ... (I hope!)

Time for bed ... almost 11:30pm ... those that know me ... WAY past my bedtime!!

Good night!
Allyson

Salsa anyone?

Yesterday evening, I caught Sophia in the act .... check it out ....

Can't decide if she learned those hip salsa moves from watching me practice Zumba moves? Not sure where she learned the little conductor moves either?

Hopefully you can't hear me cracking up in the background while filming it .... it was hilarious!!

PS> More to come about Sophia ... Gotta work today, hopefully more detailed blog tomorrow with her updated stats from 15 mon check-up!

Allyson

It's MIDNIGHT ....

Well, it's MIDNIGHT and many say the Cinderalla story has ended ... but I feel it has just BEGUN! I felt so honored to be in the presence of my boys last night as I watched the biggest DAWG fight ever!! They played with so much heart ... put it all on the line .... left it all on the court. They should have no regrets, only pride of their great accomplishment! Those Butler boys proved money doesn't make a program great -- hard work, discipline, selflessness, and pure heart can get you just as far if not further! I am extremely proud to be a BULLDOG today (and everyday) although my heart aches!!! I feel like it is in a million pieces right now! I have that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach that I just can't kick! I hardly slept at all last night! Every time I closed my eyes to rest, I kept seeing that fade-away jumper bouncing off the rim and the half-court Hail-Mary that ALMOST went in! I can imagine I am not the only one with those visions!! I can only hope that Brad Stevens will remain with Butler, Gordon Hayward will realize that a college education is MUCH more important than heading to the NBA early, and that those seniors will have an incredible memory of their journey their last year as a college athlete!

Here would be my few words of advice to Brad:

Dear Brad,

Please stay and continue to allow the Butler program to excel and reach new heights each year under your watch! Please don't be lured by money and "big names" to go to another team!! Remember, we here at Butler LOVE you ... you represent what we represent!! You left a great paying job to come to Butler to follow your dream! Please don't go back and chase the $$. Butler will reward you! We all know $$ can't buy happiness! Happiness = Staying at Butler! You and those boys made it possible! Let's keep this winning streak and NCAA tourney record in the forefront of our minds and use it to press on to a 2011 Championship!!

PS> If you need a good reason to stay ... remember that it didn't work out so well at Iowa for Todd Lickliter ... bad season = "see ya."

Cheering on the 'Dawgs since 1998,

Allyson

Here are a few shots from last night's experience .... So many to choose from ... so little time and not a lot of mental energy today ....

Check out those crowds ....

Nate caught the fade-away jumper that "almost" was our Hollywood ending!

(Click on the image to make it appear larger)

Here are a few of my favorite articles thus far .... I might add more as I come upon them ... The first one is a real tear-jerker!!

http://tourney.si.com/2010/04/06/the-legend-of-butler-even-without-a-miracle/

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100406/SPORTS15/4060330/Kravitz-Butler-s-ride-over-but-dream-lives-on

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament/2010/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana%26id=5059508

I can write no more ... need more Kleenex ... and Tums!

Allyson

So much to say ... so much to say ...

Where to begin??? Let me think ..... Ummmmmm .....

How about here?

BUTLER IS PLAYING FOR THE NATIONAL TITLE!!!

(Picture courtesy of Indystar.com)

I am so proud to be a BUTLER BULLDOG!! (Sallie Mae sure likes it too since we are bonded together for another 23 years!) Nevertheless, I am beside myself and can barely contain my excitement for my dawgs!!! No one thought we could do it, but ALAS we proved them wrong! After the game Saturday night, I immediately began searching for tickets to the Title game. I was shocked that they weren't outrageously priced ... so we bit the bullet and bought TICKETS! Tonight, in 9 hours, we will be watching the best basketball team in the country(BUTLER) beat #1 seed DUKE!! Look for us in section 543 row 1 or 2!!

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately ... there has been so much going on with Butler's continued success!! Friday we headed downtown to watch Butler practice ... since we thought it would be the only time we could see them play at Hinkle South Campus (AKA Lucas Oil Stadium). We had such a great time. We met Nate's dad for lunch and then all 4 walked over to Lucas. WOW is all I got to say! That place is AMAZING!!!

Here are a few pictures:

It was surreal driving into Indy on I-70 seeing Butler's logo on the Final Four banner!

Sophia having fun eating her "Yum-Yums

"

Me and my sweet baby girl! :)

Much more to blog about ... so little time .... Look for us on the big screen! I will be the one wearing a Butler Blue Final Four shirt ..... HAHAHA!!!

PS> Easter Pictures coming soon .... here is one to wet your taste buds and to get you to check back in a few days!