The latest....

So as many of you now know, we are moving. But many of you don't know we now have a place to move to. We knew God would provide a roof over our head, we just did not know where or when. We are moving to Woodstock, the town where Groundhog day was filmed. And to think I grew up in Boring, Oregon moved to Normal, IL and will be moving to a town where everyday is the same...... I can't get a break!

We will be minutes from Jess's office in Woodstock and minutes from the cute little town square where a majority of the movie takes place. We are excited to have cheaper rent and for Jess to have a shorter commute.

We are 2 weeks away from the company trip to Arizona! Anyone want to join us! We will be at the pool!

Here is Jess's latest favorite photo of SB in her little pink hat:


We bought this high chair at a garage sale last summer it attaches to tables and counter tops and you can take it with you to restaurants or anywhere. I love it at home too!



As promised, these are SB's first Nike's that we got on sale and then 50% off thanks to Aunt Sarah's discount! Because of the great steal, we had to buy them! They are so darn cute!

Current Photos of SB

If you look closely, you can see her two front teeth coming in. Do you see how much she is growing! Crazy!

Also, listen to the Sermon on June 21st here: http://www.newlifevh.org/Sermons.html

It is the Sunday Sermon after the 2009 Conference which is also a good listen! After you listen, post a comment so I know you heard it! It is worth listening too!

6 months highlights

SB turned 6 months and has had her 6 month doctor check up and she is growing fast! Faster than most apparently!

Weight: 16 lbs 9.5 oz or 80 %

Height: 29 inches or 120%

Food: All Fruits, all Veggies, and baby cereal. She starts Chicken and Turkey in 3 weeks! And she is also still on breast milk.

Activity: Rolling over, back and forth all the time. Sitting up on her own and able to look around without falling over! While on her stomach, she can get on her knees, but has not put 2 & 2 together (hands and feet) and figured out you can use all 4! Whatever she finds goes in her mouth but she still favors her thumb most.

Mouth: She says "da da" but has no idea what it means. She says it all day long in fact. And it is always in pairs... "da da......da da.......da da". I think it is adorable. She has one tooth that has broken through and the doctor said 3 more are on the way. When I mean broken through, I mean you can see it starting to come in.

Sleeping: She is down to 2-3 naps per day. Saturday while I was out, she slept 3 hours for Jess! What a great nap!

Vacation:

August: We have a work related trip to Arizona. Grandpa and Nana Fox will be driving down to stay with us.

October: SB and I, Tricia, will be flying to Oregon from the 6th to the 13th to visit anyone and everyone.

December: Jess, SB, and I will be coming home for Christmas this year. We got a free companion ticket through the Alaska credit card deal. (We don't use the credit card, yet they send us a free companion ticket every year for having it!!!) We will be there Dec 24th to Jan 2nd. I am so excited to celebrate SB's first birthday Dec 30th, with family.

(Side note: Suzanne, can you authorize me for your blog?)

Call me Suzy or call me Crazy

The way I make money, is by saving money. I started coupon shopping about 5 months ago and am saving tons of money by doing it. I get things for free all the time by shopping and earning bucks at Walgreens and CVS pharmacy. I have links to some great blogs on the right hand column of my page and I recommend checking out the links to learn how to shop these stores. And after 5 months of shopping, I am still learning their game. I also shop the ads in the paper, usually hitting one grocery store for the week, by shopping sales and with coupons. If I don't have a coupon and it is not on sale, it doesn't usually hit the cart. I am not brand specific, and that helps too! It takes time but saves us tons of money. I average 60% savings by doing this. I am striving for the 40-90% that the moms on the other blogs save. The stores I shop at don't double coupons, and that is a huge help to them.

I recommend buying the paper and check inside for a special offer to have the paper delivered to your door. Then do it! The Chicago Tribune is $1.00 per week for 3 papers (Sunday, Wednesday & Friday) and I save about $20-$30 per week in coupons. The Sunday paper has the coupons.

I started making Savannah's baby food this week. I figured it saved $2.00 in the 6 jars of carrots and I probably broke even on the peaches. But this way, I know what is in the food and over all I should save some money.

So, my question to you. Do you call me Suzy (Homemaker) or do you call me crazy? I am also looking for ideas on organizing coupons. As you can see I am bursting at the seams.

Our piece of the recession pie....

The recession is effecting us all somehow. It may be the price of gas, the price of cheese (holy cow... ha, ha), lack of a job, the mortgage. For us, it is the house we live in. Our landlord is in the process of foreclosure and has our rental house on the market for a short sale. Having agreed, I am now showing the house 3-5 times per week. And like my mother, I cannot feel right about showing a dirty house. And since I watch all the sell your house shows, I also feel the house should be staged, especially in this competitive market. We had one realtor comment, "you are such good renters!" And for what, to be forced out earlier than we want. Don't get me wrong, we agree that the land lord has to do what he has to do, but even I scratch my head as to why I go to all the trouble.

The hard part is that land lords hear that we have a Great Dane and say no before we can even spit out that she is extremely friendly and sleeps 17 out of 24 hours. Literally!! As you can see in the photo above. It is one of her many "spots". Even my dad, who was sceptical about us getting such a large dog, recently told me, " people just don't know anything about Great Dane's". And it is so true. They are milder than any little dog I ever met. Lab's are more well known and are so much more hyper than a Great Dane. Give a dog a break.

So it sounds like the end of our lease may be it for us. August 31st. The other hard part of it is, we don't know how much longer we will be living in the Midwest and really did not want to sign another year lease. The Lord knows what is in store for us. Jess and I truly are excited to see how God is going to work. Every move we have had so far has been amazing to see how God has worked everything out! Either way, we know that the moving date is soon. Start collecting those boxes.

Open mouth......Insert foot & Happy Fathers day!

Savannah just recently found her foot! And seems to love the taste of it! Now it is a regular occurrence to see her sucking on her toes! Silly girl! It is amazing how flexible babies are!

I put Savannah down to bed around 8pm and she is usually awake around 6am and talking in her room and ready for breakfast. I go and get her out of her crib and after a quick change I bring her in bed with me. Since I am not yet ready to fully get up, I nurse her in bed. We have gotten in a routine of this for quite some time. Now after SB has some warm milk, she will usually go right back to bed! Ahhhhhhhh! She will sleep as late as 11 am sometimes. I don't sleep in that long. But 9am... 9:30ish is fabulous! Wrigley is always in bed with us by 6am, so as Jess is getting ready for work, his girls are just getting back to bed. Sorry honey! I do all the housework for you though! No toilets, laundry or dishes for you!

This last week was our church's conference. And yet again, it was GREAT!!!! We had 3 pastors from all over come and preach the word. The sermons will be posted on our churches website. When they are, I will let you know. Take the time and listen to one or all of them. Amazing! The last day of the conference was Saturday, but they usually wrap it up on Sunday with a great message and a huge meal. So, needless to say, Jess and I have not gotten to officially celebrate fathers day yet. He had to go up to a managers meeting in Wisconsin and will be coming home tomorrow afternoon. He doesn't know it yet, but Rib eye's are on sale at Dominick's (aka Safeway). I will be heading to buy a couple for dinner tomorrow to celebrate a great new dad! I have been trying to teach SB "da da" I think she is still months away from it, but she is quite a talker and it is a part of her gibberish.

Thank you Jess for being a great dad. It really warms my heart to see you interact with your daughter! I love to see her smile wide for you. And it makes me so happy to see that when she is upset, you can calm her as well as I can. It means that she knows you well and loves you! And I hope you know that I love you too! XOXO Happy Fathers Day!

Aunt Lindsay came to visit the "nieces"

Aunt Lindsay always talks about her two nieces. What she means is: Savannah and our dog Wrigley. Last summer, after Lindsay graduated from college, she lived with us for a couple months while she was studying for the final test with the state to become a nurse. It was great having her around while I was pregnant and exhausted! Last summer Wrigley sure enjoyed the company while Jess and I were at work. I don't know who was more excited to see each other: Lindsay to see Wrigley, or Wrigley to see Lindsay! (Since Lindsay has lived with us, she had to go and get her own Great Dane- Aspen, Wrigley's cousin, is now 7 months old. Our breeder is www.eastwooddanes.com )

Thanks for coming to visit Lindsay! We love you!