Adventures

Jonathan playing at the play table with Luke - such a little buddy!

We bought some cushy chairs for our patio online - which meant we got a HUGE box to play with!  Nathan got to work right away making a fort for Luke.  And we all enjoyed playing in it.  :)

I sat Jonathan on his lion and he stayed for a little bit.  I think he tried to get off, though, and he's not coordinated/strong/talented enough to do that yet.  :)

New AWANA Year

Luke all ready for his first night of Cubbies for this school year.  He's an old pro now!

Check out his picture from last year - he's grown so much!

Big Boys

Jonathan trying out Luke's tractor (under Daddy's watchful eye!).

UPDATE:  And here's a video of Luke doing somersaults in the backyard.  Pretty fun!

One of Luke's first paintings at school - I decided to photograph him with some of his projects so I would have a digital memory of them without having to keep all of them.  :)

Best buddies - laughing and playing together outside.

Jam Session

Jonathan realized it was REALLY fun to play this "real" piano.  Then, Luke ran and got the baby piano to join him in a jam session.  :)  They have a lot of fun playing together on the mornings Luke doesn't go to preschool.

Driving Buddies

A more "recent" picture of Jonathan in his car saucer.

Compare it to the one I took when he was 4 months old - he's getting bigger!

The boys in their cars together - Jonathan is fascinated with Luke being able to drive around the patio.  :)

Sweetie

Irresistible.  Cuteness.  Sweetie Pie.
(choose your favorite caption)

30

To wrap up coverage of my birthday (which I started *ahem* three weeks ago), here's the lovely cake my mother-in-law made for me.  Yup - I turned 30 this year!  Seemed a fitting way to enter a new decade with my oldest child heading off to school.  :)

Thanks for the gifts, everyone!

Jonathan was ready to help us finish the cake and ice cream!

CVS Deals

Here's another break in my chronological update of pictures, but I had to share my latest shopping adventures.  :)

Thanksgiving morning, I took the boys to CVS (even before Nathan was awake!) to score several of their ECB deals.  That stands for Extra Care Bucks, which are coupons to use the next time you shop there.  There were quite a few deals to get stuff for FREE, so I figured I would take advantage of it!  Here's my haul:

Mars candies - FREE after ecb
CVS AA batteries, 4pk - FREE after ecb
Balance Bar - FREE after ecb
Revlon nail polish - PAID $0.01 after coupon and ecb
Corn Chex - $0.87 after ecb
Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownies - PAID $0.40 after coupon and ecb
Finish Quantum - PAID $1.00 after coupon and ecb
Kleenex Cool Touch tissues - FREE after ecb
GUM toothbrushes - FREE after ecb
Carmex - PAID $0.30 after coupon and ecb
York peppermint patties - FREE after ecb

Total Worth: $46.96 (before tax)
Total Spent: $31.70 (after coupons and tax)
Total Take Home: $32.12 ecbs to use next time

And, to make things sweeter, I spent all but $1 of my ecbs this morning.  I was 5 cents short of getting there exactly, so I figured I'd just stick with the deal scenario I created and use that dollar next time.  Here's what I got with my money:

Tide detergent - $2.60 after coupon & part of $10 gift card I earned
Puffs tissues - all FREE after coupons & part of gc
Dawn dish soap - FREE after coupon & part of gc
Duracell AAA batteries, 16pk - $6.65 after coupon & part of gc
Bounty paper towels, 12pk - $6.43 after coupon & part of gc
Welch's 100% white grape juice - $1.99 after coupon
Sodas & lemonade - $0.88 each
$10 Gift Card (not pictured) - FREE with deal from stuff I bought

Total Worth: $66.85 (before tax and CRV deposits, not counting gift card)
Total Spent: $4.46 (after coupons, ecbs, tax and CRVs)
Total Take Home: $10 gift card to CVS for next time

So, I'm pretty happy!  I spent $36.16 ($5.27 of which was unavoidable tax & crvs) for $113.81 worth of stuff, and I still have $11 dollars to spend.  The key to doing any deals is to only buy things that you know your family will use.  All of the things pictured are things we'll go through eventually before they expire (if applicable).  Not everything has to be necessary, just usable, because I'm willing to get a few treats if they're FREE!  But definitely don't get something just cuz it's free if you're not going to use it.  And always make sure you use the coupons that print off for next time, otherwise you're invalidating the "deal" you got the first time you shopped.  Happy shopping - feel free to share any deals you've found recently!

First Day of School Birthday

Growing up, I would occasionally have my birthday on the first day of school, since school always started the day after Labor Day.  Currently, where we live, most schools start in early August (crazy? yes!), but Luke's preschool stuck with the traditional calendar - which meant he started on my birthday!  Here's my little big boy all ready for his first day of preschool!  We're sending him to a small, Christian preschool three mornings a week and he's really enjoying it.  :)

Walking to school with Daddy.  Nathan decided to go in to work late that day so he could be there for this milestone.  :)  I especially like their shadows in this picture.

Wearing his name tag at school.

Silly little brother playing at home - he'll have more focused time with Mommy now that big brother is in school.

Opening birthday gifts that evening - thank you everyone!  I'm especially blessed to be a part of such  wonderful families, and to enjoy the little family God has given me to love and take care of.

Labor Day Shenanigans

When I came down from feeding Jonathan or something, this is how I found my two oldest boys occupied - setting a trap for Cinnamon!  It didn't end up working, but it was sure fun to see their efforts.  :)

My three boys reading a book together - be still my heart!

How do you occupy 4 antsy kids while you're getting a party set up?  Angry Birds, of course!  :P  As the only one in our group who DOESN'T own an iphone, I find it kind of funny that all these kids can navigate these things better than I can.  :)

It's becoming a tradition to have a Labor Day swim party at Brian's house, and this year, Luke did SO WELL!  He wanted to be in the water almost the whole time, and gradually developed more and more independence and confidence in the water.  So proud of my growing boy!

UPDATE: And the next day, I finally got a video of Jonathan sitting up from laying on the ground.

September Silliness

Whenever we go to Babies 'R' Us, Luke always wants to sit on this Elmo car.  Well, this time, he asked if Jonathan could try it!  So, here's a picture with Jonathan's first time trying the Elmo car.  :)

UPDATE: Here's a video of Jonathan throwing me a ball.  Pretty fun!

Trying on Luke's old shepherd costume.  So cute!

Luke fits in the box our new toy organizer came in.  :)

Wrapping Up August

Pulled up to his knees on the back of this chair!

UPDATE: Here's a video of Jonathan army crawling the day before this - super cute!

Riding in the car outside for the first time!  His feet don't touch the ground yet, and I totally wouldn't leave him in here alone yet, but it makes for a cute picture - and he had a blast in there!

Cute little baseball baby trying to not sit on the grass.  :P

Playing soccer with Daddy!  Yeah, we've been kicking around this Lakers basketball, since we only had one actual soccer ball, but it worked for our purposes.  :)  We now have a second soccer ball because I collected cereal box points to get one for free that has the Cars 2 logo on it - probably the sweetest thing I've gotten from a cereal box - free shipping, too!  We also got a free Cars 2 toy from collecting points off of toilet paper and diapers - they sent us a coupon and we got to pick out the character we wanted in the store.  Pretty nifty!

Baby feet!

Backyard Pool

This summer was kind of mild, all things considered, so even though we had this blow-up swimming pool the entire time, we finally got around to trying it out the last weekend in August.  (Other very hot weekends were when we were in Oregon or celebrating Luke's birthday, so there were other things to take up the time).  The first day we had the pool up, Luke was tentative at first and spent most of the time just walking in it.  (And yes, we set the pool up in the shade - have you seen the lightness of our skin?)  :P

But, eventually, he warmed up to the idea and started getting his whole body under the water to try "swimming" around - more just glorified crawling, but progress!

Warming up!

We kept the pool up to enjoy again the following afternoon, knowing that it would be warmer, and therefore much easier to enjoy.  :)  Luke was like a little fish this time - even putting his face under the water sometimes!

And, we brought out Jonathan this time!  He was really not too crazy about the whole thing, but we couldn't pass up the chance to give him another exposure to water outside the bathtub (which he loves, by the way).

Sitting hilariously on the grass, trying not to be touched by it.  :P

Helping Daddy let the water out!

Brothers and Friends

I believe this is probably the first time I found Jonathan sitting up by himself in his crib (end of August).  Note the first picture: Luke wanted to hold his hand through the crib bars - so sweet!

We hung out with Joanna and her kids later that day and they older ones played a form of ring-around-the-rosy and had a blast together!

Jonathan had fun smiling and standing at the couch!