It's Already Here!

Our little red wagon is already here! The UPS man dropped it off yesterday, so this evening we opened up the box! Kenna and Matt got to work right away, with lots of very satisfying hammer banging.
Kenna made sure Daddy was properly supervised, and helped him out with the hard parts:
All done... ta da!
We took a practice roll through the dining room... I'm pretty sure the squealing means she loves it.
Practicing her princess wave already!

Some other fun things we've been up to recently... last weekend we drove out to Cary for Lazy Days, an annual street festival/craft show that we went to last year and had a blast! Even though it was raining off and on, we had a good day strolling through all the vendors. Kenna liked watching all the people go by, and even liked the rain dripping on her toes from beneath the stroller shade.
The bakery that made our wedding cake (almost 5 years ago!) is right on the street where the festival is held. The last time we went, we stopped in for a bathroom and to get an air-conditioned break from the heat. This year, we stopped in to escape the rain! It was really fun to have Kenna with us, and we all indulged in one of their absolutely delicious cupakes. If you need a special occasion cake, we highly recommend Blue Moon Bakery!
This week, she also had her first taste of goldfish crackers (one of Mommy's favorite snacks)...
... and had a blast bathing in the kitchen sink!

Little Red Wagon

We have been able to find some really great deals this week! At Target, 8 count Juicy Juice juice boxes are on sale for $1.97 each... if you register on their website (juicyjuice.com) they will give you a $1 off coupon on two making them $2.94 or 18 cents per juice box! Yay!

Also, if you ask at the CVS pharmacy counter about their automatic refill program, they will give you a booklet of really good coupons, like $4 off a $20 purchase. If you combine these with the CVS "bucks" you get on your register receipt (if you have a CVS card) you can get $20 worth of products pretty cheap! (Especially if the items you're buying are also on sale!)

My genius husband, in the process of paying our credit card bill, realized that we had some credit card points that were about to expire. Now granted, the points are ridiculous compared to how much you're spending on your credit card to get them, but they still can be redeemed for fun and useful stuff basically for "free." We've used them in the past to get things such as a set of decent kitchen pots and pans. This time, since we finally have a baby on board, we are waiting for this to come in the mail:
a little red wagon! I'm not sure who is more excited, me or Kenna! I am having happy thoughts of pulling her around the fair or the flea market or a craft show in our little wagon. What a blessing!

9 Months Old!

Because I'm so grossly behind in updating Kenna's baby book, I hope you won't mind another post about everything she's up to. I used to laugh about people writing baby-obsessed blogs, but I find it's so much easier to update her baby book if I have everything basically done for me by writing it all in the blog! Be careful what you criticize- one day it could be you!

Kenna turns 9 months old tomorrow, and that makes my head spin! When people ask how old she is and I stop to say "almost 9 months!" I feel like I am talking about someone else's almost-toddler, not my little baby girl! It is so amazing to watch her new discoveries everyday. Each day follows a general pattern pretty closely (diaper, bottle, nap, play, diaper, lunch, etc...) but the ordinary is always punctuated with something incredible... such as watching her experience rain falling on her for the first time when we walked from the car to the store and it started sprinkling. Sometimes it's something big, like realizing she is basically crawling! Sometimes it's something small like a little face she makes at me, or when she reaches out to me and says momma. Nothing beats that.

This little girl plays hard and sleeps harder. We always have to sneak back in after she's asleep to put the covers on her, she kicks them all off while sleeping.
It's hard to believe that big, long girl in the crib was once this tiny, swaddled newborn, not much bigger than her teddy bears! (at 6 weeks old)
She usually plays on the floor with her toys while I catch up on emails and blogs in the morning while I eat my breakfast after she's had hers. The other day I saw out of the corner of my eye that she had figured out how to turn the basket over and have all the toys at once! She was so proud of herself after I "caught" her.
She still loves being in the water of any kind. She loves her floatie in the pool, and loves bathtime! Now that she's getting the hang of kicking around in the pool, she's started to kick even more in the bathtub, and we usually end up getting soaked too.
Kenna is definitely making me believe the old adage that most babies focus on developing in one area and let the others slide for awhile. She is definitely focused on the vocal! Usually this little one is only quiet when she's sleeping! A large majority of the time, no matter where we are or what else is going on, Kenna is babbling, talking, singing, or making some kind of baby noise. It also usually gets louder and funnier when she's trying to avoid falling asleep (we call it sleepfighting). It is absolutely hilarious and adorable.

We are incredibly blessed by this sweet good-natured girl!

The Greggs are in Town!

While we were serving in Randleman, we had the great pleasure of meeting and getting to know the Gregg family. This godly couple would often be found helping out with the youth, baking goodies for events, praying for people, encouraging others, and trying to find new ways to spread their love for Christ to others.

(Matt and David. One time in Randleman, someone asked us if we were brothers in a Food Lion.)

This past Tuesday they made a special trip to Wake Forest, from Asheboro, so that we could spend some much needed time together playing in the pool and enjoying each other. While we didn't get to hang out for too long, it was a great blessing to have these godly friends up to visit and we can't wait to see them again soon!
This beautiful family is headed to Tokyo on a missions trip in just a few weeks! Please pray for their safety and for God to move mightily through the whole team.

Ways We Try to Save!

Having a baby has been one of the most fulfilling and joyful experiences of our lives and marriage. But as most parents know, a child can put a strain on almost any budget! Matt and I would be the first to tell you that we are not always the best with money- we are both pretty big impulse buyers, and for me, shopping can be not only a fun/social hobby but also a stress reliever at times! Since I'm a nerd and get excited over things like coupons, I wanted to share some of the fun and easy ways that I try to save money in our everyday lives. As a mom who does not work outside the home, I look at trying to save money on our everyday basics as a way to help provide for our family.

1. Big-store shopping

We've been blessed since day one of our marriage in having a Sam's Club membership! It can be a bit of a pain sometimes since it is hard to make quick in-and-out trips, but we try to use this to our full advantage by stocking up on anything that we use very frequently (diapers!) or that won't go bad if we stock up on a huge amount of (cleaning supplies, tp, paper towels, etc). We have found that diapers and wipes are a great deal here. Pampers here average 25 cents per diaper, and Huggies wipes are a steal at 2 cents each when you buy these ginormous packs. Sam's has the best deal on baby formula we've ever seen (19 cents per ounce) and has almost exactly the same ingredients when compared side-by-side to Enfamil which averages more like 78 cents per ounce, even on sale! I had hoped to breastfeed exclusively and never need to buy formula, but had lots of difficulties and am so thankful that we could find an affordable way to buy formula! Sam's also now offers multi-packs of Gerber's fruits and veggies which average 50 cents per container. For a little over $100 we bought the following, which will last us about 2-3 months (longer for the wipes!).
2. Online Free Samples

There are LOTS of companies online that will send you coupons/free samples just for signing up or requesting them. The good ones here are all the baby websites- Gerber, Enfamil, Nestle Good Start, Pampers, Huggies, and Beechnut all have online memberships where you can sign up and receive freebies or earn points based on the products you buy. Wal-Mart.com has freebies that change monthly on their website. I went crazy one night googling "free sample" and requested them from probably 50 different sites. These are all the freebies I've received in the past 3 months or so:
This idea is great for mostly toiletries and houseware items. Two suggestions are to be careful to keep your computer's spyware up to date in case you run across a "bad" website in your searching, and also to set up an individual email account (or use an old one that you never use for real stuff anymore) to keep from cluttering up your inbox. That gives you the freedom to let them send whatever they will, but you don't have to deal with it on a daily basis unless you want to. Then enjoy finding surprises in your mailbox! (By far, my favorite part!)

3. Coupons!

There are LOTS and LOTS of websites out there that have done a much better job and much more research than I on the subject of coupons. Some of my favorites are: Mommysavers.com, babycheapskate.com, and smartsource.com

I had given up on coupons in the past because a lot of times they are for expensive items that I would not normally buy, but would just because I had a coupon for it. Then I would come home with an expensive grocery trip, and no "real food." Now I save them only if I know for a fact that we buy the item on a regular basis. I try to "stack" the savings by using a coupon for an item that is already on sale, and shopping at places that will double or triple coupons (Harris Teeter!). I've also found good deals at CVS and Walgreens.

I think the true trick to not getting frustrated with coupons is to have an organizer, use them on items that you always buy and that are on sale anyways, and make your list and THEN search online for a coupon for a specific item you want to buy... I ended up wasting money if I made my shopping list based just on items I had coupons for. For example, the other day I knew we needed dog food, so I googled "Purina" and ended up finding a $5 off coupon that I printed and took to the store, which ended up making it cheaper than the store brand!

I also have an organizer so I can see what I'm working with. I took a little $1 plastic photo album (and of course, stamped it up a little pretty downstairs in my craft room just for fun!):
This way, if I have multiple coupons for the same brand or same item, I can put them all in the same pocket. I put the ones that will expire soonest on top so that I remember to use them first. To save room, I also pair things that go together in the same pocket (ie: men's deodorant and razors or ziplock bags and trash bags).
Two other pluses: I can flip through it easily to see what I have coupons for, and Kenna sits and plays with it in the cart while I grocery shop and the coupons don't fall out easily! I also tuck store coupons inside the front and back covers (such as Michael's 40% coupons).

4. Have a "rock bottom price" list

This is something I just did recently that I am really happy with! A lot of times I see something on sale but have no idea if it is a truly a good price or not (example: I bought a huge pack of coffee filters at the dollar store and got really excited. Then I found a pack twice as big at Wal-Mart for 96 cents. Then I got home and realized our coffee maker uses a resuable, washable filter). I read online that you should try to pay 20% less that the least expensive, non-sale price you can find. So I made a list of things we use on a daily basis, and researched the best prices I could find for them, and wrote the price to beat next to each item- I try to find the item for that price or less. I typed them up in an Excel spreadsheet (only because it is a quick way to have all the info in nice, pretty columns!) and now have a quick and easy list that I can add to easily, or print off and keep in the back cover of my coupon booklet. Yay!

We also love consignment sales for baby clothes, toys, bottles, and other items that can be bought and sold gently used. If you are local to Raleigh/Wake Forest, the Kidaround Kidsale is a really good one (coming up soon!) that is great if you get stressed out by the ginormity of the Kids' Exchange out at the fairgrounds.

I hope these little quick tips are of help to you! I'd love to hear your tips or questions too.

Happy Birthday, Leanne!

Last week the Broglis all got together to celebrate Leanne's birthday! It was the first time in awhile we've all been able to have dinner together since we are all having such busy summers! Matt's mom and dad cooked an awesome meal (as usual!) and Leanne made a delicious blueberry and white chocolate cake:

Ansley helping her Mom blow out the candles!

For as long as I've been a part of the Brogli family, we have always had crab legs on Leanne's birthday, since they are her favorite. I have never seen people put away some crab legs like the Broglis! They always have fun stories to tell, including the one about Sandy's first meal when meeting Leanne's parents, when her dad called him Scott the whole night! Luckily, he toughed it out and has been a part of the family for several years now. If you try to steal a bite of somebody's crab legs around this family's table, you're likely to get stabbed by a fork!

Three generations- trying to sing happy birthday after we stuffed ourselves on delicious crab legs and shrimp!

It's fun to see how much our family is growing. Beckley is almost a year old, and Kenna is right behind him by 2 months! It's incredible how fast these babies are growing. Ansley started school this year- I remember how much she loved watermelon the summer that she was these little ones' age!

Kenna, Grandaddy, and Beckley

Matt and I are both blessed to come from such wonderful families! Happy Birthday, Leanne!