Working out

Since Joey is very much into the "ain't nobody going to watch me but mommy!" stage, I have decided that I'm going to save money and quit working out at the gym. So instead I have bought a double jogging stroller (which I got a really good deal on). The boys have been wonderful sitting it there on our walks and Adriana rides her bike next to us. We have started taking weekly walks to the produce stand (which is about 2 miles each way) as well as walks to Fritz's ice cream and the park. I have also made it a point to do at least 300 crunches every night in hopes of one day loosing my baby belly since we are officially done having babies. I'm proud to say that I have lost a whooping 11 lbs this month!!!! I am so excited! I also won this months weight loss competition for the Fit Mommas group that I'm in. My goal is to lose 10 lbs a month and be back down to where I was before ever having kids and so far I'm doing good. I'm really hoping to keep up for the next month because I know the third month and last 10 lbs is going to be a bear. So as long as the weather and my boys hold on for our walks I think I might actually be able to do it! I will keep you posted for the next month!

Another lost tooth

While I was at work tonight Chris texted me and asked me to call as soon as I can because Adriana had something she wanted to tell me. So I called back and Adriana excitedly got on the phone to tell me she lost another tooth! So now she is missing both of her bottom teeth. Can we please slow down the growing a little bit!!!!!

An early Easter gift

My kids have a huge love for animals and have been asking to get a guinea pig for a long time. My mom decided that she was going to give the older two one for Easter. So we went to the pet store to see which ones they were interested in. We had no idea every pet store would be sold out of them already. So we finally found one at a Petsmart that was a little girl and Adriana really wanted it. So we went ahead and got it since we were having such a hard time finding any. Then of course Andrew wanted his yesterday as well so we went to several other places until we finally found one that he liked. Wouldn't you know it, he liked a boy one. So now we had to get a separate cage for his. So we brought them home and got them all set up in their rooms. These kids have been in heaven and spent the whole day playing with them and holding them. I have never seen them so excited. It is so much fun watching them play with them and holding them. I will post a picture of our two new pets as soon as I can.

A visit with the Easter Bunny

On Saturday morning we took the kids to visit the Easter Bunny. The kids have been so excited and have been bagging us to see him so we finally went. Adriana did really well and ran right up to him and sat down. Andrew was a little hesitant but finally went up and sat on a chair next to Adriana. Joey was screaming from the time we saw him :) We weren't allowed to use our own cameras to take pictures there, but we did buy the ones they sell. It was really cute picture even though Joey was crying.
As far what they asked for: Adriana asked for an alarm clock so she can wake up on time for kindergarten (she is very excited to start kindergarten as you can see). Andrew asked for a blue trash truck with a scoop on it, not sure how we are going to find that one though. Joey was still screaming so we will just have to guess on him :)

Meeting with the speech pathologist

On Friday morning I took Andrew to meet with a speech pathologist about his speech. When we did his dial 3 screening a few weeks ago, the lady was concerned about his speech and also with his stuttering. So we went and and she played some games with him and tested him for about 45 minutes. He did really well during the testing. Afterwards she told me that his speech was that of a typical 3 year old and she had no worries about it. As far as his stuttering, she said he has a very large vocabulary and she thinks he is just stuck on a word while his brain thinks of what he wants to say. It is not all the time that he stutters and its usually when he gets really excited about something.
So now she is going to go observe him in school one day and we meet with her again on April 17. But from the way she was talking it looks like he is not going to require any kind of speech help.
She did laugh at his obsession with trucks and the color blue though :)

Daddy's little fishing buddy!

Andrew has taken up a new obsession with fishing. We bought him a fishing pole a couple of months ago and tied a plastic fish on the end. He sleeps with it and practices his casts with it daily. Chris kept telling him he couldn't take him fishing until it got warmer out, so as soon as it started warming up Andrew insisted that Chris take him fishing. So this has become their weekly activity together. They gather their fishing poles up and head out the backyard to the pond. Andrew is so funny and follows Chris all around the lake trying to find the right spot. The two of them could probably spend all day out there. Andrew is actually getting really good with his casts and does them by himself. So here is a picture of my boys out playing hard:) I'm sure next year Joey will be sitting there with them.

St. Patty's Day!

On the Saturday before St. Patty's Day, I took the kids down to the 1st Annual Cottleville parade. I was going to run the race that morning, but Chris came down with a stomach bug so I had to watch the kids so he could rest. So we just went down to the parade. While we were waiting for the parade to start the kids got to jump in a jump house that one of the local day cares had set up. The kids enjoyed it and it was a great way to keep them busy while we were waiting.
We then met up with my friend Debbie and her husband and kids. Adriana and Andrew enjoyed watching the parade with their friend Chase. It was a fun parade and very long. We actually got to watch it go by twice since it just went down the street then turned around to come back. Here was one of Andrew's favorite floats (although I'm not sure I can call this a float). Unfortunately my camera battery died after this and I couldn't get any more pictures.It was a really fun time and after the parade we met up with Debbie and family and ate at Pizza Street.

Adriana's 1st meetup at Kindergarten

On Tuesday we took Adriana out to Borromeo for her first round of kindergarten testing. They had split the kindergarten class into two groups for the testing, one on Monday and the other on Tuesday. It was fun and Adriana got to sit in her kindergarten class and meet a few of the kids she will be going to school with. While the kids were testing, the parents got a information meeting on what to expect for sending our kids to the school. I got a little more sticker shock on more expenses than I thought, but I think we will be able to make it through it. Adriana also has one more round of tests to do at the end of May. This time it is more one on one. They also have an ice cream social at the end of summer for the kids to all meet before they start school which will be really nice I think for Adriana to meet more of her friends before she starts. After all these kids will be with her through 8th grade. I still can't believe my baby is getting ready for kindergarten! It is all going so fast now :(

Our cheap vacation

I know my last entry was super long so I thought I would add this one onto a separate post. We have been debating taking a vacation this year with our budget but I really wanted to do something since vacations are what I live for. So we sat down and set up a budget. With still not taking any money from our savings and just stashing some dollars away each week from our budget we have managed to find a vacation we can do for our family of 5 for $600. This is amazing. Of course we did have a little extra help from my mom and dad, but we still have a really cheap but fun vacation.
We decided that this summer we would just take our camper down to Branson for 10 days. Our total cost for full hookup spot for our camper will be $240 for the week which my parents graciosly picked up for us. They are staying in their RV in the spot next to us. So our housing is free. We figured it would cost on the high end of $200 for gas to get there and back and all of our driving there (as long as prices don't sky rocket before then). We bought season passes to Silver Dollar City for $215.00. That leaves us with almost $200 for food and anything else we would like to do. We are staying on the lake and my parents are bringing their boat down. We figured we could spend a couple of days riding around on the boat and go to Silver Dollar City a couple of days. That left us with a few extra days to hang out at the campsite riding our bikes and just relaxing. For the kids spending money we are saving soda cans as well as my parents and inlaws and we will cash those in right before we leave. We are also saving up all of our change at the end of each day and setting it aside. I figured with these two things we should have close to $100 for the kids to buy suveniers and do a few extra things they would like to do.
So I'm very excited to know that we will still be able to take a fun vacation and it won't be close to breaking the bank.

Budgets, budgets, budgets

I have to mention that I had no idea how much money we actually spend each week until we are put on a budget. It is amazing how much money you can save. The past several weekends we have had great family weekends and haven't spent over $20. There is so much free fun things to do in the St. Charles area its unreal. Although we do spend a lot of time skating at the rec plex, but thats alright because my kids love it and of course its free. We also have been to the zoo, St. Patty's Day Parade, and fun park days.
I have my food budget down to $75 a week for a family of 5! Thats huge compared to what I used to spend. I still buy almost the same amount I used to but I have been working hard on savings with coupons and stocking up. I haven't paid for toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, Chris' hair gel, or hairspray since this started and I've got probably 6 months worth stashed away. We have so much that Chris actually tells me to quit getting it, but its hard when its free. At least I can save some for friends or people who really need them. I also have enough diapers stored up for Joey to last a couple of months from several really good deals.
I finally sucked up and bought a pair of tennis shoes since my current pair has heels that are so worn out the plastic is actually cutting my feel. I kept putting it off because I had an issue with spending $60 on a pair of shoes. Well I was able to find a website that had a huge sale on shoes. I found an awesome pair of Adidas shoes that were 50% off plus an additional 20% off from a coupon on Mr. Rebates. I also got a 12% rebate from Mr. Rebates for buying them. When all was said and done I got an $89.00 pair of shoes for $23.00 that will be shipped to my house. Now this price I can live with.
My next big purchase I was really wanting to buy was a double jogging stroller so I can start running with the kids. I've been looking on Craigslist for the past two months and it seems like everytime I find one that looks in good condition and in my price range it is already sold. So I've been looking at once upon a child and they never have any. So I finally saw a brand new one at once upon a child that I liked for $199.99. It was more than I wanted to spend but I had saved up the money from selling kids stuff in the consignment sales so I would just have to fork out a little money out of pocket. But I knew I would make this up if I sell my breastpump and infant car seat. So Chris told me to go ahead and get it, but I wanted to wait and read reviews on it and research it first. So I began looking at reviews on it and the only bad ones I found was a couple stating that you couldn't fit an infant car seat on it (no issue for me) and that it was too wide to fit through a normal door frame (which most double jogging strollers don't) so you have to take the back wheel off. This one also has a swivel front tire which will be great when I take it to the zoo and other places that I don't want the wheel locked. So I began researching other prices for this stroller. I saw that babies r us had it for $189.99 but it was only online. I finally found the deal I was waiting for. It was listed at $175 with no taxes and free shipping! This was the best price I had found but wait it got better. If I choose to pay for it with eBill (which is bill pay on my online banking) then I saved an additional $15. So after all was said and done I got the stroller for $160 and it will be shipped to my house within 1-2 weeks! It was still more than I was really wanting to pay but its brand new and I still won't have to use any money out of our budget after I get more of my baby items sold!
To be honest when we started our tight budget I thought I was going to have a really hard time doing it, but it is honestly really easy and makes me appreciate what I do buy a lot more because I know the sacrifices I am making to buy that purchase. I can't believe how much money I used to waste before. Without Chris' bonus' we are still able to put money into our savings account each month which is something I never thought we would be able to do. I am very proud of how far our family has come!