Where has August gone?

Before the month is over I had to post. We went to Arizona for a week. Nanna and Grandpa Fox drove and met us down there. We had a great time on vacation. We have also moved! Granny and Papa Schwarz are here and they helped us move. We are all headed to a Cubs game tomorrow! Go cubs! We have some great pictures of Arizona that I will post soon. I am currently working on unpacking and we have also decided to paint the downstairs. And it would be nice to get the garage in order so we can park both cars in the garage. Ugggh.

Jess and Sb in the Airplane.

SB in Arizona in her cute sundress from her Aunt Lindsay! Thanks Auntie!

Granny & SB in the new house. We are buried in boxes!

A NEW Car.....

Okay, more like a steering wheel. It honks too! And Savannah is already asking for the keys!



I went garage "sailing", as Granny Schwarz calls it, this week. And got many things, here are a few of the things I got. The toys you see below totaled $8.50! The stand up kitchen has all kinds of sounds that it makes. It has a phone that rings, a timer that ticks, water sounds for the sink, toast that pops, eggs that sizzle, popcorn that pops, and soup that boils. Yes, Jess and I had to test it all out! So much fun for adults too! :) We also test drove the car, it zooms, screeches to a halt, shifts and honks. It is a smooth ride! :)

New dress from Ron & Holly! So adorable! Thanks! She loves it!

Daddy Daughter Day

Since I have been continuing to work, but only on Saturday for 3 hours, we call it Daddy Daughter Day. There is bath time, nap time, play time, feeding time (where daddy gives her vanilla pudding with bananas or pears and squash- only the favorite foods on daddy daughter day! Leave the greens for mom during the week!) I was able to take a video before I left last week of the start of Daddy Daughter Day. You can see that they really miss me when I am gone.

When we move to Woodstock however, I am going to stop working because the drive time will be an hour one way. And since it is our only day to do whatever we want as a family, it will be great to spend it together doing something fun together. Woodstock's historic square has a lot of happenings that we are looking forward to. Farmers markets, concerts, lighting the square festival, and the famous Ground Hog Day Festival are just some of the fun things we are looking forward to.

There were also a couple other photos of SB having fun! She is my silly B!

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.