So Happy Together...

Oh how much easier my job would be if they were always like this! nonetheless it still brings a smile to my heart when they do have these moments. :)

Lincoln Log Abraham

Joshua loves coins: big coins, small coins, foreign coins, old coins and new coins. He loves collecting them, giving them away, finding them, sorting them, trading them, and trying to find extra chores he can do to get more.

His current fascination is with the "Life of Lincoln" series of pennies. (Mostly because they're really shiny!)
I honestly don't remember having a conversation with him about the scenes depicted on the back, but either I've forgotten or someone else must have done so because he seems to get what's going on.

Tonight he told me that his favorite coin is 'Lincoln-Log Abraham Learns to Read'. Yep you read that right, "Lincoln-Log Abraham"! Puts a whole new take on history, huh? That little man cracks me up!

26 Months, 6 days

...And cute as a button!

Kid Pics...

A few shots from our recent trip back to Hastings. The kids LOVED hanging out with their cousin, Liam, and some of the pics are just too cute. Although, it is nearly impossible to get three little kids all looking pleasantly at one person at one time. And, when all three of the photo subjects are mobile and in love with cameras some funny antics ensue!

Somehow the camera didn't come out until the last couple of days, so missing are pics from the GR children's museum and dinner with my college roomate "Aunt" Cathy, and playdate with Paula (including a really sweet hug between Joshua and her little girl, Ella...too cute!). I also got to sneak out early one morning sans-kids and have a coffee-date with college/blogger friend, Liz and hear about her family's upcoming adventures!

So refreshing to catch up with old friends!!! :)

Rambling through...

Ok, not enough mental organization to do a real post, but just in case any of you are wondering if we've dropped off the face of the earth, here's a quick bullet-point style update to bring us up to speed. Maybe one of these days I'll become a good blogger again...

*The weather in Wisconsin has been surprisingly un-snowy. When we moved here everyone told us how little snow south-central Wisconsin receives, but two of the previous four winters we've been here we've had record snowfall, so we haven't really believed them. But, it does seem that we've received much less snow this year than I was accustomed to growing up in western Michigan.

*Lydia's chatting up a storm and has something to say about everything! We have a high-efficiency washer and I usually use the extra spin feature to get extra moisture out of the clothes before popping them into the dryer. I set the extra spin cycle and walked away. Lydia began tugging on the washer door (it was locked) and saying "Mama, not yet, you forgot the Oxi-Clean." She cracks me up, what 2 year old watches the laundry process so carefully that she's worried when you start the washer without the usual products...

*Joshua's VERY into letters and the sounds they make and the way they go together to form words. I don't want to put any pressure on him to do so, but I'll actually be very surprised if he's not reading by the time he turns 5. He also knows the letters and order of not only his own name, but Lydia's as well. We didn't realize this until yesterday when we noticed she had writing down her arm...sure enough...L-Y-D-I-A, and he had the matching J-O-S-H-U-A on his own fore-arm. Future star of Wisconsin Ink???

*We found short-term renters for our other property during the off-market break we were taking. It sounds like such a good deal for everyone, they get a place to live, we get some help with the mortgage in a place we weren't occupying anyway. All seemed to be going fairly well for the past month. However, this week has had it's fair share of challenges and re-assured me that we do not want to be landlords any longer than we have to. It's bad enough to have something break in your own home and be stuck with the repair, but to be expected to fix something in a home someone else is occupying and on their schedule to boot is even less fun. And it's hard to plan and communicate when phone calls and emails are rarely returned in a timely fashion...So we're looking forward to this portion of our housing adventure being wrapped up (hopefully) soon!

*We interviewed realtors in anticipation of our re-list this week. I really liked one of the agents we met with, felt like we clicked, and think the person would be great to work with. I did not so much gel with another one we interviewed. Perhaps I'm just cynical, perhaps the generation I'm a part of has a very different vision for what selling a home looks like and what value should be attached to services provided, perhaps it was just a difference of personalities, but I came away from the meeting thinking of all the things I dislike about the real-estate commission-based process. But, we feel like we tried the limited-service/for sale by owner route last fall and are already spread as thin as we care to go from a time standpoint and don't really have the energy to do all we should/could to make a sale happen quickly on our own, so I think a Realtor is in our future. Furthermore, it would be much easier if there were general consensus about what makes or breaks sales in this market. To stage, or not to stage. To list right away, or not until the tenants leave. Pictures, websites, mailings, team-based sales, individual agent...ahhh, does it really even matter?? On the plus side, it looks like the market and sale prices have continued to improve over the winter. :)

*We're traveling next week: James for business, the kids and I for pleasure. We're excited about seeing (hopefully) everyone in my family, and having some down time at my parents place while Daddy's on his business trip. We are not looking forward to the many hours in the car that trip will require. The kids did really well over Christmas-time, but I wouldn't say any of us enjoy that length of a trip and last time Lydia didn't sleep AT ALL even thought the entirety of our travels were at nap and bedtimes. We're hopeful she'll get more cozy with the zzzzz's on this trip, but we shall see... And of course there's all the laundry before leaving, packing, loading, unpacking, laundry, re-packing, loading, un-packing, and of course more laundry when you return...

Well, I think that's the highs and lows. Again, maybe I'll be able to catch up with something more interesting and positive next week, or at least some fun pictures!

Who doesn't love a bargain?

Ok, so everybody pretty much knows I'm always looking to score a deal. Or two. Or five.

I will freely admit I get a huge rush when I know I've found a way to make a good deal even better. And this deal is pretty good, if I do say so myself. :)

So, I thought I'd share it here in case any of you a.) haven't heard about it. and b.) have an interest in taking advantage.

Walgreens is having a Friends and Family promotion today, where by printing a coupon off their website EVERYONE gets their employee discount (15%) off their total purchase. If you buy any of the Walgreens branded products, you get 20% off those items. You can find the coupon here. There's some fine print, but basically it tells you that it's not valid on prescriptions, booze, stamps, gift cards, or items prohibited from being included by law...pretty standard.

This deal becomes even sweeter if you already have coupons or take advantage of their sale prices. Yep, it works on top of whatever the price would have been, even if it's already FREE or better-than-free after Register Rewards (RR). And you can use a coupon as well. This makes a good deal a killer deal!

Some of my personal favorites:

Dove Men's (new line) body care products are on sale for $5.99 this week and a $6 off your next purchase coupon prints at the register. So, anytime this week you'd MAKE one cent to purchase it. Well today only (Feb 12), you'll get 15% off the $5.99. So, you pay ~$5.10 for the product and get $6 back!

Huggies Diapers/Pull-Ups trainers jumbo packs are on sale for $8.99 this week and at the register a RR for $3 off your next order will print. I don't know about the rest of you, but every few weeks I get coupons in the mail from Huggies. So I usually have at least a couple lying around for between $1-3 dollars off. So, all week long, $8.99-$3RR-$2 coupon means you could get these diapers for about $4/pack. Not bad. However, today with the employee discount coupon they'll ring up at $7.49, use your $2 coupon to bring the price to $5.49, and then you'll get the $3 RR, so basically you can get the diapers for $2.50/pack!!

And, if you don't have any coupons, you're not a man/mom/you only use Pampers/you cloth-diaper exclusively this could still be a great deal if you need any household items (toothpaste/deodorant/shampoo/cleaning products) especially since it seems there's always a sale on at least one of the brands at any given time. Or, re-stock your medicine cabinet with Walgreeens branded supplies (they've been just as effective as the name brands for us) and save even more. And no, Walgreens isn't giving me anything to promote this, but boy I wish they would!

Happy (Bargain) Shopping!!!

Cousins

I love, love, LOVE these pictures, taken at Christmas-time! Just a bit delayed in posting. :)