Free Cards from Shutterfly

I absolutely love Shutterfly and the products they offer! I have ordered Mother's Day and Father's Day cards and prints from them over the past year and a half and have been nothing but pleased each time. They have always been the best quality and are such a great deal that I couldn't pass up using their services. Way better than the price I could get at any local place including large retail stores and smaller pharmacies. I love the selection of cards (all different types), the photo print options and the deals that they are always having on their site. Such a time saver too, to be able to upload pictures to one place and be able to place several different orders at once for different items. I especially love their Christmas card options – how unbelievably cute! I’ve linked to some below that I’m thinking of getting for our family this year but can’t decide on which one I like best!

Check out the entire selection of Christmas cards. Here you can refine your choices to narrow down what you're looking for - http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Some of my favorites are below!

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/gifted-tag-christmas-4x8-photo-card-4x8-photo?sortType=1&fa=4&storeNode=93476&fe=4&fc=1

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/love-2010-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&fa=4&storeNode=93476&fe=1&fc=1

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-holiday-cards/merry-and-bright-christmas-card-5x7-flat?sortType=1&fa=4&storeNode=93476&fe=1&fc=1

Wishing you lots of fun as you pick out your 2010 Christmas cards this year!

It's a ....

Enjoy a couple of recent pictures of Jackson, who's gonna be a big brother ....





And he's gonna be the best big brother to a ...



That's right folks, we're having another BOY!!!! We are so excited and blessed that this pregnancy has went so well. Our hearts are thrilled that God has given us another little one to love and raise in this precious baby!

I was reminded this morning of God's faithfulness in all things as I was reading the Psalms. Truly he is good and worthy of all praise in all things, not only in celebration of new life, but in loss and whatever else may happen in this life as well. Each time I feel the new baby move, I am reminded of God's presence in our lives - his faithfulness through the loss of Addison and the joy he has given us in raising Jackson is what prompted us to try for another baby.

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord's praise, for he has been good to me. Psalm 13:5-6

Happy Halloween!

We took Jackson to the fall festival at our church tonight. He ran around like a maniac for about 45 minutes, got about six pieces of candy and then we left. I think he had fun :) The first pic is with one of the Liberty Ridge residents who was dressed up as a sheriff.









And just to give you a peek back to last year in October, Jackson couldn't even sit up yet. Crazy what a difference a year makes!

Welcome Back

So, as I said earlier, it's been a while, huh? I really hope to keep up this time and use this blog to keep family and friends updated with what's going on with us and of course share pics of the cutest kid on earth! Over the next several weeks, I'm going to attempt to write a series on the last pregnancy and share our story of what happened in the birth of our twins. Not so much for anyone's sake except my own. I really feel like I need to get some details down on paper (or virtually) so that I have a good remembrance in years to come of what we experienced and what God brought us through. And he is still bringing us through the hard times, the unexpected bouts of grief amplified, the seemingly random episodes of crying - you know, life stuff. As well as the joys (and hard times) of raising a toddler and looking forward to another wee one early next year. We are blessed and pray you will be as well as you join us on our journey.

October 2010

So obviously it's been awhile since I've last posted, but hopefully the new design will keep me motivated to keep it updated and current. Hopefully. Enjoy some shots of J helping carve pumpkins last night.

Awesome giveaway

Check out this awesome giveaway over at Heavenly Homemakers blog ... hello, this is JUST what I'm needing - a blog design makeover! Go there yourself to enter if you're interested.

www.heavenlyhomemakers.com

Blog Name?

Any creative ideas for a new blog name? Totally uncreative me can't come up with anything, but my creative husband has a couple that just might work. Not sure what's in store for today - need to run a couple of errands but we'll be going out tomorrow for a doctor's appointment so maybe I should wait and do them all together ... I guess it will depend on when I get to take a shower today. I can't believe how precious my time in the shower is ... it's usually taken during Jackson's first nap, which is right now. But here I sit .. ask me later if I regret that decision. Have a great Wednesday!

Happy Tuesday

Hope you all have a great day - J is still asleep, which is highly unusual at this time. I'll be tackling another room to clean today, hopefully more like two: living room and second bathroom. We'll see how far I get. And what to fix for dinner? Hmmm ...

He is able to do immeasurably more than we can think or imagine - remember that today no matter what you're doing, whether you go to work or stay at home. Pray for his presence in the responsibilities that you have ... he'll always do more than we could ask or imagine!

Blessings,
K

Before and After

So for some reason one of the pictures didn't get downloaded from my camera - I have a feeling that it could have been operator error but we'll call it a fluke instead :)

Here is the before picture of one half of the room (which coincidentally doesn't even look all that bad) and the after pics. I'll try to do better next time. I guess if you were able to see the inch of dust on the furniture that would have helped my case. I was even able to get all of our drawers reorganized and cleaned the baseboards as well. And of course, one pic of a little guy who didn't want to smile today and one from last week. Poor fella is in need of a haircut - his hair is so unruly and gets so much static it's hard to contain!

Three posts in two days - WHAT is going on??

So I figured that if I was going to try and make money with this blog then I might as well starting posting more often now. The hope and goal is to have it redesigned and revamped within the next month or so. I want to start posting the Lexington deals that I find, along with sharing stuff about our family and ministry as well. Today I am doing a before and after - my goal is to get our bedroom and bathroom cleaned and then I'll post before and after pictures. For those of you who still think my house is spic and span even when I say it's a little disheveled, I assure you it needs some help at the moment :) So I'll be back later with some photos of my hopefully clean and relaxing bedroom!

And how about some pictures of J and fam too?

Deals

So this week was a good one for a couple of good deals. The first was at Rite Aid for the P & G rebate (spend $100 in P & G products, get $35 back.) Here are the scenarios:

Transaction #1
1 Olay bar soap at 2.50
1 Ivory bar soap at 2.50
4 Bounty paper towels at 1.99 (7.96 total)
1 Duracell battery at 6.00
2 Pantene shampoos at 4.99 (9.98 total)
2 Dawn dishsoaps at 1.99 (3.98 total)
32.92 total of P & G products
1.98 tax
34.90 total

Used the following coupons:
5.00 off 25.00 purchase
1.00 off Olay soap
1.00 off Ivory soap
1.00 off two Bounty paper towels
.25 off Bounty paper towels
.50 off Bounty paper towels
3.00 off two Pantene products
.25 off Dawn (used 2)
1.00 off Duracell (Rite Aid peelie coupon from package)
.75 off Duracell

Spent 21.15 (Used 20.00 Rite Aid rebate earned previously and 1.15 out of pocket)

Transaction #2:
4 Old Spice Red Zone deodorants at 3.99 (15.96 total)
1 Secret deodorant at 4.99
3 Olay face washes at 4.99 (14.97 total)
1 Gilette Fusion shaving gel at 4.49
40.41 of P & G products
2.42 tax
42.83 total

Used the following coupons:
5.00 of 25.00 purchase
.25 off Secret
3.00 off Olay cleanser
1.00 off Olay cleanser (used 2)
1.50 off Fusion shaving gel
4.99 off with free Secret deodorant when you buy two Old Spice
1.00 off Old Spice deodorant (used 4)

Spent 19.67 (Used 20.00 Rite Aid rebate earned previously)

Transaction #3:
1 Olay moisturizer at 9.99
1 Pampers jumbo pack diapers at 11.99
1 Always at 6.99
1 Always at 3.99
32.96 total P & G products
1.98 tax
34.94 total

Used the following coupons:
5.00 off 25.00 purchase
3.00 off Pampers
6.99 off with free Always coupon
1.00 Olay moisturizer

Spent 18.95 (Used 19.00 Rite Aid rebate earned previously)

P & G product total = 106.29
Total spent after coupons = 59.77 (used only rebates that I had earned previously and 1.15 out of pocket)
Will get back 35.00 P & G rebate, 2.00 Pampers rebate and 1.00 Fusion rebate
All in all, I spent 21.77 for all that!


The second great deal was at Meijer - stocked up on cheese!

Transaction #1 (did this same one three times):
6 Kraft cheese (shredded, cubes or snack) at 3 for 5.00 = 10.00
Get 1.00 off instantly when you buy 3 in one transaction = 2.00 off
Used 3 1.00 off 2 coupons = 3.00 off
Total = 5.00
Used 5.00 Meijer coupon from last week's trip
Got 5.00 Meijer coupon for buying 5 Kraft products

So I did the first one and paid with the 5.00 coupon I already had and then used the 5.00 coupons I got each time to pay for the next.

Then I bought 6 Philadelphia cream cheese blocks at 1.25 (7.25 total), used 1.00 off 3 cream cheese Meijer mealbox (used 2) and used 1.00 off 4 cream cheese manufacturer's coupon. Paid with the 5.00 Meijer and earned another.

I also bought a paper so for 2.00, I got 18 bags of cheese, 6 blocks of cream cheese and two candy bars!

We definitely won't need cheese for a while :)