Gage Update

It's hard to believe that our Little Man will be turning ONE on May 2nd. This year has flown by and I wanted to highlight some recent pics of him so that in the coming years I could remember him as the Little Man!!

I just love when he sticks his little feet out of the crib!

Chewing on some pizza crust...he loved it!

Enjoying the swing at the park. He didn't want to get out!

All smiles with Nana!

We went to the park for Lilly's birthday and of course the Nuk had to come along!
I try to only let him have it in the car and in the crib. He snuck it out of the car on this day!

We are working on putting pavers on the back porch and of course it got a little
dirty. On this day Pop Pop wanted Gage to get in the hole Carl created to fix our
pool leak. He wasn't so crazy about the mud, but enjoyed sitting with Pop Pop
and chewing on the brick paver!

Lilly Belle Is FOUR!

It's hard to believe that our little girl is no longer "little." Yesterday Lilly turned 4 and it nearly broke my heart. Where has the time gone?!?! We are currently in West Palm Beach for Spring Break, so Lilly spent her birthday with my family. Over the weekend Lilly went to the Miami Zoo with Poppy and Nana (and even rode the train halfway with Nana). They had a good time, but since she's been to the WPB Zoo so much, she preferred pressing all the buttons! The highlight of the trip was seeing Diego, although Lilly commented that he didn't "talk" to her!!

When it's all said and done, Lilly will have FOUR birthday celebrations this year. It started last week with a mini class party, followed by dinner and a Carvel Ice Cream cake in WPB, next will be the Canevari celebration on the 11th followed by the All Girl Pool Party. Gee, must be nice!!! I think she's taking it all in stride and enjoys all the cake (that's my girl)!!!!

Weekend Guests

Two weekends ago (yes, I know I have been very behind in posting...too busy trying to get all the great deals at the stores!!) Nathan, Amy and Alivia came for a visit. It was so wonderful to have them here. Not only is it rare that we get visitors, but it's been entirely too long since Amy (and Nathan!!) lived in the state of Florida. So it's so nice having them only 1.5 hours away!!

While Nathan, Carl and Lilly headed to the hunting lease for Saturday evening and Sunday, Amy and I tackled my very disorganized, disheveled and completely out of control house!!! Amy is a pro at organizing and pitching and she also has an eye for decorating. So, with little babies in toe we set off to make my house look good! And while we didn't tackle everything, we still managed to get a lot accomplished and wore ourselves out in the process!!

Here are a few pics from the weekend!

Gage and Alivia really enjoyed all the toys and it
kept them distracted...for a little while!

Uncle Awesome (a.k.a. Nathan) caught a gator in our pond and Carl insisted on
having the kids take a pic with him. I was in the background totally distraught.
Please notice how the gator has his head going towards Gage...YIKES!!

Poor Alivia will always think her cousins

are country hicks!!

Carl introduced Amy and I to a wonderful power
tool and we feel in love. Because it was sooo easy
to use, we were able to hang lots of things...including
my favorite old windows that have been down for FOUR years!

Amy had the idea to frame some old material
from my couch pillows. I love all things rustic
and country so these frames worked out well. It's
rather feminine and country, but Carl was okay with it.

Like he had a choice!!

I've Been Tagged

I've seen this fun activity on other blogs, but hadn't been tagged. So when my friend, Rebekah tagged me, I was quite pleased! So, the objective is to find my 6th picture folder and find the 6th picture and post it. Not sure what I will find, but here we go!!


Oh my, if this doesn't scream REDNECK! This is a picture from January 2002. As you can tell Carl was proud of his kill. The sad thing is that if this were today, Lilly would be right next to him!


Alright, I will pass along the fun to my friends Donna & Katie and sister, Amy!

FREE Coupons

For those friends of mine that are just getting into the Couponing World, here is a great way to stockpile some coupons...for free! My friend, the eBay Selling Coach (a.k.a. Suzanne) is offering lots of free coupons and all you have to do is leave a comment on her blog (click on "blog")!

And for those interested in selling on eBay, her blog is super helpful as well as her very helpful eBooks!

Old & New Friends!

Last weekend Lilly, Gage and I traveled to Lake Wales to see my Pen pal, Betsey Langford. Betsey and I have been corresponding since we were 10 years old. Betsey is from OH (her parents have a winter home in Lake Wales) and we met through a mutual friend and have stayed in touch over the past 20 years! We have seen eachother periodically over the years, but it's been 3 years since our last get together (due to having babies). The last time we saw eachother Carson was about 3 months old and I was pregnant with Lilly.

I was excited to see Betsey and her kids and was curious how the kids would do together. Thankfully after warming up to eachother, Carson and Lilly really hit it off. They played board games together and enjoyed the (fake) Parrot on the front porch and especially liked the pool. We stayed for a couple of hours and as we were driving off, Lilly told me she was going to miss her new friends!

Betsey and I decided that our girls would start corresponding with eachother. I think Lilly will really enjoy it because she loves getting mail!! Perhaps they will become good friends as well:)

Money Saving Blogs

As some of you know I have recently become addicted to couponing. I discovered this new world several months ago and thankfully also found some great blogs that taught me along the way. From day one I have been completely amazed by the women who own these blogs. Their blogs are super helpful and have helped me learn how to save all kinds of money. Because I have found them so valuable, I have added my favorite blogs to the right hand side column (and I follow quite a few)!

Now I have to do a little bragging (and hopefully convince you that couponing really does work!!). Last month I spent $310 on groceries, but I saved $205!!! Yep, can you believe it? It's all from following the blogs, shopping the sales and clipping coupons! Plus, I am able to get FREE items each week from either CVS or Walgreens. I don't think we'll need toothpaste or shampoo for a couple of years!! Of course if it's something we don't use, I just put it in my "donate pile." I figure it's the least I can do!!