In our little world

What's going on in the world of Thomas & Parker?


Well, we are managing to stay quite busy this summer. Thomas has attended "camp" at school several weeks (just two mornings per week), though next week will be his last. He has enjoyed it tremendously; it's such a change from last summer when he cried the whole time he was there on at least one occasion. Now he doesn't want to leave when I come get him. And as much as we have loved his teacher, he will not have the same one for the school year. Oh well. We've been nothing but pleased though with the teachers at his school, so I'm not the least bit concerned that we won't feel the same about his assigned teacher for the new year.

And Thomas is a handful...but a generally delightful handful at that. He makes me laugh far more often than he frustrates me, so that is good.


For a while, I was worried he was watching too much TV (when Parker was younger and I had to use it as a babysitter while I was nursing), but he really seems to prefer reading (tv watching under an hour each day...some days not at all!). Not that he is really "reading," but he loves to look at books and he loves for anyone to read to him. I think it has really done wonders for his vocabulary and speech. People frequently comment that he is very well spoken for a three year old.

Children truly are sponges. He is always soaking up the world around him, even when I don't realize it. He still loves cars and can spot a "Nissan car," "Toyo" (Toyota), Jeep, Honda, and a multitude of others from far, far away. His current obsession is what he calls "back-up lights." He loves to watch cars back up...so parking lots are a thrill.

Parker, on the other hand, is a handful unto himself. He is not walking yet, but he is close, and it doesn't keep him from getting where he wants to go (and that's usually somewhere he shouldn't be!).
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His "language" (and I use that term loosely) has really exploded lately. He is constantly pointing to things and trying to say what they are and surprising me in the process with his knowledge. Just the other day he pointed to an apple in a book and very clearly said "a-pull." He can roar like a lion, tweet like a bird, bark like a dog, hiss like a snake and meow like a cat. I'll give a better summary of all of this on his upcoming monthly update.

When we are out, there almost always is at least one person who says something like, "She is beautiful."


Apparently a kid can't have semi-long hair and wear jon-jons around here without being misunderstood. It's not THAT long!


But to all of those out there, Parker says, "Get it right people. I am a boy."


Thomas just thinks it's funny.


These boys keep me on my toes, but I am so blessed to be their mommy. Parker has rarely referred to me as "Mommy," but the other day he pointed to a picture of me and said, "Mama." It made my day...my week.

And Thomas...the other day we ran into a friend and he asked where she was going and I told him she had to go to work. I told him that some mommies have to work. He said, "Mommy, I don't want you to work." I love my boys.

Call for coupons

I have to promise my husband that I'll quit talking about coupons in this blog ("it's the boys blog!" he says), but I thought it would be the easiest way to make a request. This week's bounty was to get all of this (well, take out the twin pack of contact solution that cost me $9.99) for $1.22.



Yes! $1.22! Granted, there was a $4 store error in my favor, but still. Not bad. I made a couple other trips as well, but don't have any photographic proof of my success.

My goal is to also get better about scoring free stuff like my friend Taryn, so that I can (like her) donate it to people in need. Anyway, to do so, I need more coupons and from papers with larger circulation. I never knew that the weekly Sunday inserts that seem the same are actually quite different. For example, the inserts in The State newspaper out of Columbia, SC, offer nearly twice the coupons that I get in The Post & Courier here in Charleston. I've long wanted to see what I could get in a large-city newspaper. And unfortunately, I cannot find anywhere that I can buy any of these papers in Charleston.

So anyway, if you do not want to use your coupons and you just throw them out, I will pay you the shipping to send them to me! Maybe every two weeks or something? I never know who is reading this thing, but if any of you out there have any you want to pass along, just let me know and we'll try to work something out. I can't help it. I'm obsessed (Thanks Taryn!). :)

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled blog now.

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

I love my boys with all my heart, but sometimes they can be Trouble with a capital T! And they know it! One evening last week while I was trying to make dinner, Parker was preparing to sneak his way to his usual daring act...climbing on the table. When I asked him what he was doing, he'd give me a big smile as if to gloat about how sneaky he could be. I grabbed the camera nearby to take a picture of his devilish grin and...


...the original Mr. Trouble kept stepping in front for his moment in the limelight. I'm not kidding, he did this at least two times! Sneaky little fellow! And then by the time I finally got a picture of Parker, the grin wasn't quite what it had been, but I'll share it anyway...


These boys definitely keep me on my toes!

Mr. Semi-independent

Parker doesn't always like to be alone; he prefers to play with someone else. But lately, he wants to be more independent when he is eating. If I'm feeding him something, sometimes he starts fussing until I let him have the spoon. And it usually gets a little messy from there...


Then he starts thinking maybe he can do it a better way...


Until he remembers that he doesn't really like to have stuff all over his hands...


I guess it's good that he likes to try...and hopefully practice will only make him better!

First fish and other fun

Two weekends ago, Thomas spent the weekend with Umpa & Nana. He had a great time, as usual, and Nana & Umpa shared some great pictures from the weekend.

The most momentous part of the weekend was that he caught (and released!) his first fish:


If you can't see it there, here's a better view:


And in typical "fish story" fashion, I asked Thomas how big the fish was he held his arm up tall and said, "This big!" Starting young. :)

While at the Josey's, Thomas showed off his swimming skills:




And back at Nana & Umpa's house, Thomas really enjoyed the new, neat "horse" swing they hung for him:


Thomas had a great time and can't wait to go back soon!

Swimming friends

I still cannot get into a blogging groove. I think it's because Thomas is not really napping anymore, so my free time is much more limited. I can't seem to find the energy to come up with coherent sentences. It's far more work than it should be at this point in my life. Right now I'm letting Thomas watch a rare bit of TV so I can sit here and have a small amount of computer time. If I have to read The Polka Palace Party or Red Fish, Blue Fish one more time today I might go insane!

One of the highlights of last week was pool day on Tuesday. We invited over a few friends and ended up having our neighborhood pool all to ourselves! It was cloudy at first, but the sun finally came out and a good time was had by all (or so I think!). I didn't take many great pictures, but here's a few of what I have...


Let's see...two adults (Casie & Taryn) with six kids (Ava, Lily, Autumn, Thomas, Margaret Anne and Abigail).

And lots of strollers for the littlest ones!

They had lots to keep them entertained.


Thomas tried out his new goggles for the first time (with Jack to his right):


Meanwhile the babies watched from the side, Parker with his usual feet-up pose (and to his right, Sarah Ellen and then Olivia)...




Taryn really had her hands full there for a while...


And by the time the sun came out, Thomas and Abigail were the only ones still in the pool (everyone else got out to eat lunch!).


We had a fun time and hope everyone will come back and join us again soon. It's fun when I take Thomas and Parker, but even more fun when there are four other babies to hang out with Parker and five bigger kids to swim with Thomas (and most of all, four adults to chat with me!).

Water, water everywhere!

After two nights of horrible bedtime drama because Thomas took a wonderful nap each day, I decided to keep him up today in hopes of having a peaceful night for a change. I decided instead of reading a million books (which is great, but we all need a break from reading every once in a while!), we'd wash my car instead. Thomas had a ball. I didn't get the camera until we were finished though, when he decided he'd like to see if he could fit in the bucket:


Goofball.


And then he proceeded to play with that bucket and the water hose/sprayer on the front lawn for probably and hour. And super bonus, he went to bed without much drama at all. HOORAY for a happy house....and a clean car!

And speaking of water, I took a few pics of the boys in the bathtub last night. Such a crazy time it is, but they are cute.

Coupon crazy

I have to confess to a bit of a small obsession I am developing (no thanks to my friend Taryn!). Couponing. Yes, apparently it is a verb (at least in the "Q" world). A few weeks ago, I had great fun making the Harris Teeter Super Doubles event work for me (they doubled coupons up to $1.98).

The first trip I was content, but I knew I could have done better. I got all this for $12.10.


That is:
Jack Daniels BBQ sauce (free!)
French's spicy brown mustard (9 cents)
Lawry's herb & garlic marinade (39 cents)
Dannon Danactive (free!)
Two boxes of Earth's Best organic graham sticks ($2)
Berio EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) ($2.99)
Bertolli spaghetti sauce (89 cents)
Two bags of Synder's pretzels ($3)
Three boxes of Uncle Ben's rice ($2.77)
Kellogg's Frosted Miniwheats (14 cents)
Klondike krunch bars (got this because it was free! Couldn't resist!)

And I realized when I went to the Commissary a few days later that I could have done better on the pretzels and rice, but whatever. It was still good! I used $31.81 in coupons (and doubling) and $10.86 in VIC savings.

And then I went back a couple days later and got all of this for $6.80!


Reynolds wrap (75 feet) - 97 cents
Jack Daniels BBQ sauce (free)
Hefty tall kitchen trash bags, qty 45 ($3.15)
Two boxes of Hefty one-zip gallon size storage bags ($1 each)
Two Lawry's marinades (39 cents each)
Bounty paper towel roll (free)
Lipton family size tea bags (29 cents)
McCormick's ground cinnamon ( free!)
McCormick's dried oregano (55 cents)
McCormick's dried parsley (free)
Uncle Ben's jasmine ready rice (free)
J&J Reach dental floss (59 cents)
Borden Sensations pepperjack cheese (free)
Dannon Danactive (free)
Band-Aids (55 cents)

That was $38.03 in coupons (and $7.56 in VIC savings). :-) Trey was pretty impressed. I love saving money.

Without super coupon events, I still do okay. Like today, for example, I don't do nearly as well as my friend Taryn who pays $20 to get $90 of groceries...but I paid $20 to get over $60 in groceries. So not bad, right? I got this (oops just realized I forgot to include the cold stuff)...


(Items bought but not pictured are three cups of Stoneyfield organic yogurt (cost about 75 cents for the three) and a 16 oz bag of Kraft shredded cheddar cheese (for $1.99)

It's getting late so I'll skip the individual prices, but the highlights were that Publix paid me $1.43 to buy three boxes of Band-Aids, the three boxes of crayons (24 count) were $1, humongous mayonaise (which at the rate we use it will never get used, but oh well..) was 85 cents; 1.5 liter Listerine for $1.99 (retail price$5.19) and five Propel fitness waters for FREE!

I don't like to think I've ever learned much from reality TV, but I remember watching an episode of Jon & Kate plus 8 (before they were wealthy), where Kate said that her job as a stay-at-home-mom is to try to save money for her family. I've enjoyed this new challenge. And the boys enjoy all the free balloons when I drag them along!

The key is to be prepared and organized...and that's a good challenge for me, too. I'm thankful my friend Taryn got me on this kick and I hope I can continue to save money that can be much better spent (or saved!) elsewhere!

Little climbing monkey

Parker has become a little climber. We have the small children's table downstairs and the other day, I took my eyes off Parker for about a minute and when I turned around, he was grinning ear to ear, so proud of himself. He was sitting on top of the table! Since then, I've tried to keep him confined to the chair, but he's equally proud of his new feat.




He can sometimes get himself down without incident, but I'm not overly confident that he has mastered this skill. So when he is sitting at the table, I'm usually right next to him. If I can't be there, I have to take the chairs away and put them somewhere out of reach. I'll be glad when he can always get down without falling!

Until then, he loves the table. I think it makes him feel like a big boy. :)


I took Thomas to get a haircut today and I debated letting Parker have the appointment instead. But then I decided I just am not ready to mess with the crazy curls just yet!


Thomas didn't have his first haircut until 18 months. Think we can wait that long with Parker?


Probably not. :) And certainly not if his Daddy has his way. To be continued...

Water bug

We've been spending more time at the pool this summer.


In fact, this is the first summer we've ever ventured to our neighborhood pool and Thomas loves it. He asks to go all the time. He took swimming lessons at the beginning of the summer and they really have helped. At first, he only wanted to stay on the steps, but last week, he finally got brave and started swimming out in the pool. He still wears his swim vest, but he's doing really, really well. I took these pictures just before he started swimming out. His last days hanging on the steps...



He's never afraid to blow bubbles (and this is something he has taught Parker. Parker does it in the bathtub.).






That was a rare day with just the two of us. Parker was home napping (not by himself, of course). I'm glad to see he has taken to the water so well!

July 4th at the lake

We headed up to my parents' house to spend July 4th at the lake. Its funny. Sometimes when I'm down there with the boys, I can't help but remember the many times I spent down at that very beach (there's much more beach now though!) when I was young. I especially remember many Memorial Day and July 4th picnics. Now my boys get to have similar experiences. Parker enjoyed chilling out...


While Thomas tried his hand with the boogie board (not that there are waves enough for using this properly...he just liked floating on it and dragging it around):


And sometimes there was the occasional flop...


Parker just sat back and watched from his comfy seat...


Thomas had a ball. He loves the water now. He cannot stay in long enough...




I never can get him to look at me though...




I was impressed with how long Parker was willing to wear the sunglasses. He thought they were pretty funny.


The night before we enjoyed a delicious cook out with my parents and their neighbors (who feel like family) and their oldest daughter and her husband. The oldest daughter is a great friend of mine whom I don't get to see as often as I like, so it was great to see everyone. I stole picture from Mrs. B's camera that she took of our family that night. It goes to show you what happens when you try to take a family photo next to a plate of cheese and crackers...


Parker took the cheese, Thomas preferred the crackers. :)

One of these days we are going to get a decent family photo!