Gabrielle's 1st Dentist Appointment

This morning I had such high hopes and expectations of posting photos of Gabrielle at her very first dentist appointment. I thought she might be a little nervous but I just knew she would eventually do great.

Well, I was wrong! She didn't cry or scream or cause a scene but she very adamantly said "No!" to every request. She absolutely would not sit back in the chair. She would not open her mouth. She would not cooperate in any way regardless of the trick or bribery used.

So we left the dentist office today with no photos, no new toothbrush, no little prize - only a referral for another dentist who "might be better" for Gabrielle!!

A Day at the Lake

This week my best friend Casey invited me and the girls to go to her parents' house on the lake for a short trip. We had been talking all summer about going and finally now with only a couple of weeks left of summer we made it! This was my girls' first experiences in a lake and their first boat ride. They loved it!! It was so much fun and Casey's parents were awesome hosts. Gabrielle even felt so at home she started referring to Casey's mom as Granny as if she were another grandchild! Hopefully we weren't too much trouble and will be welcome back again next summer!!! {smile}

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The kids were so cute in their life vests but proved to be very difficult getting a snapshot of all four together!

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At least Gabrielle and Gus cooperated!

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No smiles but I assure you they were both very happy and excited about the boat!

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It most definitely made their day when Granny let them each have a turn driving the boat.

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Casey and Anna relaxing.

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Gus looks like he was sleeping in the photo but he was just sweetly looking out onto the water as if he were deep in thought. Precious!

Keeping the Faith

The past couple of Sundays our pastor has preached on faith. This past Sunday's sermon must have touched quite a few of us because after many requests the pastor sent out a church-wide email with a copy of the poem he read as part of the sermon. The poem had been one woman's creed, something she read every morning to begin her day, something she strived to do each and every day.

I have a feeling reading this each day will become a daily routine for many of us - I know it will mine!

Today, I will keep the faith.
I will be courageous in the face of fear,
humble in the face of pride,
loving in the face of hate,
sweet in the face of bitterness,
and holy in the face of ungodliness.
I will be strong for the weak,
faithful for the fearful,
company for the lonely,
and hope for the helpless.
I will keep the faith with joy,
so contagious and so compelling,
that Christ will be reflected
with blinding radiance in my face.
Today, I,
even if I alone,
will keep the faith.

My Latest Obsession

COUPONS!! I have always been an off and on coupon clipper but over the past couple of months it has become almost an addiction. I went from the typical small file folder full of coupons to this -

From My Little Sunbeams

a 3-ring binder full of baseball card sleeves full of coupons! Most I get from the Sunday paper and the midweek mailer and others I either print myself or receive in the mail such as Target store coupons and diaper coupons. I was amazed at how quickly they add up. I used to see other women in stores with their coupon binders and never understood where they got all of those coupons and how they could stand to carry such a big binder into stores shopping. But as my little file folder began to fill up and become more difficult to close and as I was running out of room and pockets for new categories I decided I would give the binder a try. And I love it! When I see how much I'm saving at the register and how much easier it is to find the coupons I want to use, I'm not even embarrassed carrying around such a big binder.

Some of the deals I catch I find on Southern Savers but recently it has become almost a challenge to see if I can find my own deals that were not mentioned on the blog.

Just for fun I thought I'd post my deals this week. It is super doubles at Harris Teeter. I love super doubles!! The photo below is everything I bought during my trip yesterday -

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I hit quite a few VIC specials but before coupons the total was $63 - and after coupons.....$21.06!!! Woohoo! I saved over $40 in coupons. Some of the best deals I managed to get were:

• Ragu pasta sauce, 45 oz. jar - 3 jars for $2.52, just 84 cent each!
• Chips Ahoy cookies with Reese's - free!
• Danonino yogurt - free!
• Danimals smoothies - 2 for free!

I had a couple of other items on my list that would have been awesome deals but apparently a lot of other people thought the same and they were out of stock.

At CVS I was able to get two packs of Huggies baby wipes, 216 count, for only $2.18 out of pocket plus $3.00 in Extra Care Bucks I can use at my next shopping trip.

I had a fairly decent week at Target as well. I saved $24.03 in coupons. My best deals there were:

• Pampers Cruizers diapers, 64 count & Pampers wipes, 72 count - both for $13.49 (saved $6.39)
• Kellogg's cereal - 3 boxes for $3.39 total!
• Dora the Explorer Foaming Soft Soap (Gabrielle has been begging for this soap) - just 99 cent
• Hormel pork tenderloin - $4.99

I am definitely still learning though and becoming a more efficient shopper. For instance, during Harris Teeter's last super doubles special I overbought on yogurt. Just because I can get 20 containers of yogurt for $2.00 doesn't mean I should. I ended up throwing away a few containers and I really dislike wasting food. So I'm learning to only buy what my family can and will actually use unless it is an item I can donate to the food pantry. And I am learning to buy first what we absolutely need for meals and then hitting some of the other good deals for snacks or even a special treat.

New Look for Back to School

In honor of my little girl starting preschool this year I thought I would change up the look of my blog for back to school. This will be the first year we have an actual "end" to our summer. It's hard to believe in a couple of weeks we'll be attending open house.

How did she grow up so fast?!?!?!?!?

Wasn't this just yesterday?

From My Little Sunbeams

From My Little Sunbeams

August

Our August has been fairly uneventful. It is too hot to spend much time outside and if the heat was not enough we've had some crazy thunderstorms lately. I have spent most of my days getting caught up on cleaning after being gone so much in July. We are finally back into a somewhat normal routine but of course in just a few weeks our "normal" will change with Gabrielle starting school and all of the other many fall activities. Already seeing how busy our fall will quickly become I'm trying to keep most of our days as relaxed as I can.

Samantha had her 15 month appointment last week and it did not take long for our pediatrician to guess that Samantha is quite the climber. She can get on anything and everything. Just the other day I entered the living room from the kitchen to see this -

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I guess Samantha had some emailing to get caught up. She was clicking away with the mouse.

Playing dress up has been a continued playtime event since getting home from my sister's. In cleaning last week I straightened up the dress up box and added another basket to store stuff in. Everything had been stuffed and crammed into one little box making finding the perfect matching shoes and outfit difficult. Now that all the shiny glittery princess and ballerina outfits, shoes and accessories are easier to find the girls are enjoying it all much more.

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We have a new visitor at the house. Well, I guess she really is not a visitor anymore since she has been around for about a month now. Each time I go out to our freezer this is who I see -

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Ed says she is harmless and a "good" spider to have around. I'm still not convinced. She is scary looking and is getting really, really big and fat. I'm afraid there will be babies soon which means more of these!!! When I figure out how to get a photo of Miss Spider near something for size comparison without having to get that close to her I'll post another photo but for now you'll have to trust me when I say she is enormous!!! I'll be happy when she decides to move!

Our Concord Trip

After being at my mom's we were home for just a little over a day before heading back out on the road. This time I took the girls to visit my sister and her girls. I have done this every summer since Gabrielle's first summer. I hope our schedules always work out that this can be a yearly tradition as well - and that this is ok with my sister too! My girls love Faith's girls and I think the feelings are mutual - at least most of the time - smile.

Our family visits must be cursed this summer though because while we were visiting Faith's girls also came down with a stomach bug. Despite all that we had a good time.

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Oh, the stairs!! I'm so glad we have a one story home! I think I spent 90% of my visit getting Samantha off the stairs. She is pretty good at climbing up and not too bad about going down, especially considering we don't have stairs for her to practice on. But I am so, so happy I don't have to deal with that on a daily basis. I was trying to get a photo of Samantha simply sitting on the bottom step above but as I was taking the photo she decided to jump up and nearly fell off the step!

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Above, playing dress up while the two older girls were quarantined in Faith's room. I guess Gabrielle is a singing cowgirl cheerleader???

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From My Little Sunbeams

4th of July & Fireworks

Ha!! I just realized I never finished posting about 4th of July. To make a long story short on the 4th we made one more attempt to see fireworks. Our view was slightly better this time but still not great. The girls saw enough though. Samantha would say "boom" with each one that caught her eye. While we were at Busch Gardens one of the reasons we stayed so late was to catch the fireworks show. That show was amazing. However, both of the girls were ready to leave about two minutes into the show!! Oh well!! Maybe it had been just too long of a day to enjoy fireworks or maybe they were too loud or maybe a combination of both. Either way, our girls have seen fireworks and we don't feel so bad about the 4th now!

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How cute are these little girls????

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Another Fun Week of VBS!!

We were home from our vacation barely a full day when it was time to pack up again. This time the girls and I were going to my mom's for a week to attend her church's VBS. The theme was Saddle Ridge Ranch and both Samantha and Gabrielle had so much fun.

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While we were there we were the unlucky victims of a nasty stomach bug. Samantha threw up just a little bit the first day. On Wednesday I was miserably sick and we missed VBS that night. Then late Thursday night through early Friday morning Gabrielle was sick. Some of our plans like going to the beach a couple of mornings were canceled. I had promised Gabrielle we would go to the beach though so on Saturday night after dinner we went. It was incredibly windy and we didn't have much time at all. But the girls did get to play in the sand and put their feet in the water. Gabrielle LOVED it! I'm hoping we can get back for a short trip before it gets cool so that Ed can have fun playing at the beach with the girls too.

From My Little Sunbeams

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Vacation Highlights

I am way behind on blogging and I know at this point it is probably pointless to get caught up. Because I still want to share some photos from our crazy busy month I'll just post those with a few highlights.

We went on our first family vacation this year - the start of a new yearly tradition I hope. We took the girls to Busch Gardens where they now have Sesame Place. We had lunch with Elmo and friends, got wet at the splash pad and rode some rides. We all had so much fun!

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Samantha only liked the characters if they kept their distance.

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Elmo cupcakes after lunch.

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Ed was in line to ride this one with Gabrielle but she informed him she wanted to ride by herself.

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Samantha did not want to get wet I guess.

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Gabrielle's favorite character Zoe. She had already met Zoe earlier but after buying her 'little Zoe' from the gift shop she insisted on going back to show 'Big Zoe'.

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Yes, Samantha was on vacation with us. As I mentioned earlier she did not like the characters to get too close. While Gabrielle was meeting everyone in the photos above this is what Samantha was doing -

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I think we definitely will have to make another trip to Sesame Place - maybe next time the original and bigger Sesame Place in PA. Hopefully next time Samantha will be as excited to see the characters in person as she is when she sees photos or Sesame Street on tv.

It was a very long and very hot day - we were at the park for 12 hours, literally from the time the gates opened until they closed. We had no catastrophes - no meltdowns, no injuries, no lost stuff - the day could not have gone better. OK, well maybe it would have been better if it had not been so hot but other than that a perfect day and perfect first family vacation.