Nothing better than lending a helping hand.

There's no better reward than helping people in need.

This is a short article on what my family & I did for this family in need.

My first couponing experience

I'm trying to save money where ever I can so I'm going to try and coupon! Of course I've always used coupons here & there, but I've never really taken the time to try and really coupon & get anything for free.

I follow a bunch of different websites & they tell you exactly what to print and how to do it- it can't get any easier! I don't have the time to figure all of this out myself since I have an incredibly active 9.5 month old.

I got all of this for FREE @ CVS!

So it's not that much, but it's a start, right?

Don't make fun.

I'm quite proud of myself for doing this.

I was actually going to link back to the sites & coupons but since it was an e-coupon they are all out of prints. BOO!

I printed off 3/$1 coupons for Softsoap & CVS had them on sale for $2.00..
then if you bought 3 or more you got back $3 in ECB's to use towards your next purchase.
That means this was FREE &
I still have $2 ECBs to use for next time since I didn't use all of them!

This is addicting :)

My luck is turning around...I think.

I think my luck is really turning around- or at least I hope.

I won a $100 gift certificate to Mod Tots a few months ago and I was going to wait until I had to redecorate Rylees bedroom, but once they came out with the cutest little onesies I couldn't resist & I still have $50 left over. I think $23 for a onesie is ridiculously expensive, but oh well.

 

Then over the weekend I found out I won Krystal's rolled canvas giveaway! WOO! Now I'm having a hard time deciding which picture to get...help!

 I realllllly love this one.

Which one do you think #1, #2 or #3?

it's FRIDAY!

This is going to be pretty random..butttt

I only owe 10k on my car! WOOHOO! That may still seem like a lot, but it's better than the 20k I once owed..ha ha.

Rylee is into EVERYTHING. She's constantly pulling up on everything & crawling everywhere.

She LOVES climbing on Diesel & torturing him :)

Don't mind her leggings that don't match ;)

Today we are suppose to have a mini photo shoot down at the park, but I think it's going to be nasty & stormy.  : (

My mom is coming over to spend the night & bake brownies ..yum! Then we are heading down to the river tomorrow to spend the weekend.

 The sweetest kisses ever.

My beautiful baby

Day #7..Home at Last!

We were both so thankful to be going home today! After being gone for 7 days it starts to wear on you & not being in your own house with your own bed and everything else.


We had to be out of the house by 11am and not at the train station until 2pm so we did a little shopping at the mall. I never shop at Gap for myself, but we decided to go in & they had a bunch of tanks on sale for $10! Super light weight & perfect for the dreaded Florida summer.

I couldn't resist Baby Gap & once again- another huge sale so I bought Rylee some cute outfits for $3-$5! Score! I love a good sale.

The train ride back home wasn't as bad as the train ride home. Rylee went to sleep around 8pm (her normal bedtime) and slept until 3am & then went back to sleep until 6:30am. SO much better than the 1st night. Unfortunately, we were stopped on the tracks for 2 hours so we ended up not getting back until 12pm (it was suppose to be 8am!) That part sucked.

Know what else sucked? We had a 2 person sleeper & somehow our nephews decided it was the cool thing to stay in our room so it looked like this:

$4.00 Shutterfly photobook? YES, PLEASE!

Friends- who doesn't want to score an 8x8 hardback 20 page shutterfly photobook for $4.00? Originally $30.00.

Go here register for an account and they automatically give you $5.00 credit, that brings the photobook down to $5.00, then they have a promo code "funfun" for another $1.00 off and that brings the total down to $4.00!

GRAB YOURS NOW!

D.C. Day #6- Georgetown Cupcakes

I've been dying to go visit Georgetown Cupcakes- which is home of the show "D.C. Cupcakes" on TLC. We tried to visit a few days prior, but the line was super long and we had a cranky baby.

We went today and the line was out the door & up the block, but it was only about a 20 minute wait & they gave us free water. Let me just skip to the best part: the cupcakes. They are SO good! Creamy, fresh and soft...yum! The best part? They are only $2.75! I could have ate a million of them. It's a very small shop- which surprised me because they sell around 5,000 cupcakes in ONE DAY! Holy cow!

We also went & had a private tour of the US Capitol. That place is huge and so beautiful!

D.C. Day#5/ Holocaust Museum

By this time- I'm pretty exhausted and ready to head home.

Tired of not being in my own house, own bed, own bathroom.

I didn't take any pictures today because we visited the holocaust museum. 

What a sad, sad place. This was the best museum.

You learn so much and you can literally stay there for hours and hours.

We also figured out the Metrobus- and it's the best and only way you should see D.C.

It's affordable and has A/C- which is a must after walking around for miles and miles.

Today- Rylee turned 9 months old!! Where has the time gone?

D.C. Day#4

Although, Rylee didn't get to bed until after 11pm last night she was still wide awake at 6am! Did I mention how vacationing with a baby is hard?

Today we went to more of the monuments & walked around. 

 Washington Monument! HUGE!

This wall makes me sad. There were SO many names on here. 

 I loved how this wall was etched and it you could see the actual persons face.

It was incredible.

Jeremy and I had a really nice, quiet dinner with just the 3 of us at

Occidental Grill & Seafood 

 It was pretty pricey, but oh-so-good 

and worth it after walking around all day long.

9 month checkup

We had no shots today- woohoo! 

No more until she's a year old! :)

My 'little pumpkin' isn't so little anymore. : (

She's 19lbs 4oz and 28in long! 

She's above average on weight & height

& her head is average. : )

Her pedi said that she will probably be tall! 

Daddy says "taller than me" and i told him "i was still the boss!" :P

Her pedi also said that she will probably be 

walking before she's a year old because of

how well she stands up..ahh!

We'll see though- that's just his thoughts.  

I asked about her still waking up in the middle of the night to nurse and he said to just let her do it if she seems hungry- I'm still trying to break her of it, but it's so much easier to nurse her rather than fight her to go back to sleep without eating. We will see. I don't know if I could even sleep through the entire night because my boobs would probably burst. 

He also told me I didn't have to start feeding her anymore solids if I didn't want because she is doing so well with what I'm doing now and that breast milk is more nutritious than anything until she's a year old. So for now I'm continuing with breakfast, a couple snacks & dinner- I'm not adding lunch until she gets closer to a year because I don't want to risk damaging my supply. :) 

D.C. Day #3/ 4th of July

Rylee had 3 4th of July outfits thanks to my mom & I. 

It's like you see something, you grab it & then you just keep grabbing & grabbing.

 This is Morgan- she just turned 2 and is a little devil!

I guess most 2 year olds are? 

I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.

Starting out the day!

We decided to go see the White House & go to The Natural History Museum.

I'm thinking Obama or someone important was leaving because it was roped off and the secret service agents were all out & was not letting anyone get close. 

I loved seeing all of the dresses that the First Ladies wore.

 

And this kid- what was up with this outfit?!

I'm fierce, be afraid.

ooo- la la la

I love this building.

We had enough of DC for the day so we went back to the house & took a swim!

 This picture makes me sad and happy. I hate that I'm so pale, but now I think twice about tanning because of the little darling I'm holding in my hands. I want to be pretty for her and be around when she grows up instead of with cancer.

 hehe- she loved playing with the ball and smashing it in her face.

I love, love, love my family.

After nap time it was time to watch fireworks! I kept debating on it because it was WAY past her bed time- as in 3 hours past her bed time. But what the heck- we're on vacation. So she had a nice, long late nap and we headed to fireworks at 8:30pm. 

If you know me- you know I had to take a few pics before :)

The fireworks didn't end up starting until 10pm!! She was getting cranky so I just set her in the stroller & she ended up sleeping THROUGH them! Even through the finale! What a crazy girl.

 This is my "wtf jeremy" face and this is her "what are you doing dad?" face.

They were the best fireworks I've ever seen!