Vacation 2011 - Part 1

In September, our family took our very first FAMILY VACATION.  Yes, I know.  Jack is 2 and we are just now getting to it.  Since it was our first, we didn't want to go too far from home.  We picked San Antonio as our destination.  I had a blast and have already asked if we can go back in the Spring!!  Jack LOVED Sea World and all the fun things that they had for us to do at the hotel.  We got a pretty good deal on Sea World admission - Josh and I each got kid's price admission (which only saved us $10 a piece), but we got a second day free.  Jack got in free because he's 2.  I'm going to miss the free things he gets at that age!!

Here's Jack and Shamu.

He LOVED watching the fish.

 

 My two favorite "cookie monsters".

 J got to ride a few of the rides with Daddy.

 

At one of the shows in Sea World - it really kept his attention!!

 

That's a sea otter standing on a HUGE walrus, waving at the crowd.  I'm amazed at all the things the trainers are able to get these animals to do!

 Photo with Pete the Penguin.

 

 J had so much fun!!  Here he is showing off his shark.

 

Part 2 to follow...

Today's CVS Trip

I was really proud of this trip and thought it was blog worthy.  Here's what I purchased:

(1) Jumbo Pack of Slip-on Huggies - On sale for $8.99

(5) Dove Shampoo/Conditioners - On sale for $3 each

(2) Covergirl Eye Shadows - Not on sale - $3.89 each

My total should've been about $34 with tax.

After several coupons and $3 worth of Extra Care Bucks, I spent $1.40 out of pocket.  THEN, I got back $6 worth of Extra Care Bucks back.  So I made a little money today.  My hubby will be proud.

Here's what I used:

-$4 off of $20 CVS coupon

-$2 ECB for pledging to not be a "money trasher" - CLICK HERE

-$1 ECB that printed at the kiosk

-$8 off of 2 Covergirl face items coupon

-$2.50 off of Huggies Slip-on CVS coupon

-Stacked a $3.00 off Slip-on coupon I received in the mail

-(2) BOGO Free Dove Hair care product coupon

-$1 off a Dove hair care product coupon

I just noticed that they took off the regular price instead of the sale price of the Dove shampoo and conditioner for my BOGO coupon.  Interesting.

YAY for making some money!!

Contest for Single Moms or Dads

Hey friends!  My sweet friend Liana at Liana Randel Photography has set up a contest for single moms and dads.  She grew up in a single parent home for part of her life, so this is very near and dear to her.  Her heart is wanting to BLESS a deserving family with a free session and a package of photos.  And get this.  ALL participants will get $50 off of a session fee!!  You can enter personally, or send an entry in for someone else.  Check out her contest rules on her blog here:

http://lianarandelphotography.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/giving-back-to-single-parents/

Contest ends September 21st, and the winner will be announced October 1st.

GOOD LUCK!!

Slip and Slide

J and I recently had a play date with some friends that involved a slip and slide.  J had SO much fun, so this week I decided that I would go on a hunt to find one for us to use in our own backyard.  My friend Courtney said she found her's at Marshalls, so I had Josh take me and I found the exact same one on clearance for $4.  Hot dog!  What a deal!  From the videos below, I hope you can tell that it was the best $4 I spent this week!!  Enjoy!

Jack's 2nd Birthday

I know I'm about 2 months late at posting these pictures, but better late than never, right?  I've got the rest up on facebook, so if you already seen those, you've seen these.  Jack turned 2 at the end of May and we had the party in our backyard.  His party was construction themed - he LOVES "bump bumps" (that's what he calls tractors).  It was super windy and super hot, but we still had a blast! 

We served popcorn from Le' Popcorn in Southlake - had TONS of leftover!!

I made popcorn cups with leftover scrapbook paper from his banner shown in another picture below...

The kids' tables were wrapped with plan sheets from one of Josh's old projects.  We wrapped the food tables this way, too.  We also used a TON of caution tape - tape around each of the chairs and also around the posts of the pergola.  What's a construction party without caution tape??

 

 I made a '2' sign out of cardboard and wrapped it with more plan sheets.

This is one of the banners I had hanging.  I used construction themed paper (brick/lumber/yard stick) and strung them with ribbon.  I H-E-A-R-T ribbon.

The treat table.  We had cupcakes with oreo icing, brownies in a dump truck (to resemble dirt), and some candy as part of favors to take home.  The cupcake wrappers and toppers were from ETSY.

 

For the party favors, I made chocolate dump truck lollipops.  I got the molds off of Amazon.com and they were super easy and fun to make!

I had my friend Catherine Harvey at Everything Design make some labels for me to use on the favor bags below, treat bags for the candy bar, and labels for water bottles.  You can check out her website HERE.  Aren't the labels great?!  We stuffed the favor bags with Home Depot aprons (donated by Home Depot - I love free things!), Cracker Jacks, the dump truck lollipops, and little construction worker rubber duckies.

I made an applique for his birthday shirt... a houndstooth tie on a yellow t-shirt from Target - I also LOVE Target!!  I also made tablecloths with the houndstooth fabric and used some of it on the serving tables.

Here are some of Jack's best buddies playing in the sandbox Daddy made.

His buddies playing with the blocks.

Jack having his birthday cake.

Playing with his new toys with C and B.

P.S. If you are planning on having a construction themed party any time soon, I have a ton of leftover items that you might be able to use!! :)



Bluebonnet Pictures

In early April, we took Jack out to a bluebonnet field to take some pictures of him, since that's the thing to do here in Texas.  We were supposed to go with some friends, but their little girl got the stomach bug.  STINK!  Jack had JUST recovered from the stomach bug, so we totally understood what she was going through!  It was NO FUN.  We grabbed one of his desk chairs and his rocking horse to use as props as we headed out the door, and I'm so glad we did.  He was not wanting to sit in the field!  Anywho, between the wind and NO COOPERATION from J-Dub, we still managed to get a few favorites out of the 200 million shots we took of the little guy.  Please excuse the crazy hair.  ENJOY!!

By the way, he is turning TWO at the end of the month.  I can't believe it.  Can you??