Savannah birthday trip!

In celebration (maybe more like avoidance) of turning the big 3-0, we went to Savannah for a short getaway.  We ended up leaving around Sam's nap time on Friday and got to our hotel around 4.

Howie was quite tired from his uber driving Thursday night, he was out from 10:30 to 3:30, so I drove most of the way.

We stayed at the same hotel as the last time we came up here, used to be Fairfield inn and suites now it's Baymont inn and suites.

We've discovered that Sam does not sleep well in the same room as us so sometimes we have to rig things so she can't see us while trying to go to sleep.

After getting settled in at the hotel, we headed into the historic district for an early dinner.  I wanted to eat at Wild Wing Cafe, also ate there the last time we came and ended up at the same table as then!  They have the most amazing toasted club sandwich and fries!

Howie had a fried chicken sandwich, he said it was really good, and Sam had some chicken fingers and Mac and cheese (which she ate every bit of!)

After dinner we walked around and looked in a few shops, walked along the waterfront and just enjoyed being together:)

Sam was so tired, it looks like she fell asleep here but definitely not!

I shared my chocolate covered pretzels with her:)

We got back to the hotel around 730 or so and got Sam in the bath and then bed where as I'm typing this at 8:10 am on my phone she is still asleep!  She did not wake up once last night, she is so tired from this week of late nights and short naps.

After eating breakfast and getting packed up we headed to Forsythe park.  It was a gorgeous morning to be outside playing:)

Her face doesn't look it here but she loved this merry go round.

She wanted in the fountain.

Family selfie

Love these two so much!

After playing and walking around we headed to lunch at Paula Deen's Lady and Sons.  The last time we ate here I was 6 months pregnant and couldn't eat much so I was excited to go back and completely stuff myself!  

Sam loved the corn (so much butter on it).

After lunch we walked around more and came across this random play boat that Sam loved playing in, we finally had to drag her away!

After that it was time to head home, it was a quick but fun trip.  We decided next time we go we will splurge on a hotel downtown that's within walking distance of everything.

After everything happened with Howie I didn't really want to spend the money on this trip but we had already paid for the hotel and it was Howie's birthday present to me so we decided to go and I'm so glad we did!

19 months old

The months just fly by with this girl!

At her dr appointment this month she weighed in at 23 lbs 12 oz and 30.5 inches (however at her WIC appointment they said she was 32 inches).  She's in the 50th percentile on both.

She has become so much more independent recently.  She throws her diapers in the trash, puts her plate and silverware in the sink when she's done, and is using a spoon/fork really well. 

We have recently transitioned Sam from a bottle to a sippy cup for her milk when I'm at work.  It took 3 different cups to find one she would take the milk from but she hasn't had a bottle in over 2 weeks, in fact I just packed all her bottles up:( 

Right here -->

                                        

This is what she's having for lunch today, she loves grilled cheese and peaches.  I recently bought some spinach for her to try at home because anytime we go to the Chinese buffet she loves the spinach there so we'll see if she eats it.

Some funny things she's started doing is randomly putting her fingers in her ears.

Dragging boxes around telling us "bye"

We also decided to finally cut her bangs, I was so tired of them always being in her  eyes so we just had the lady who cuts Howie's hair trim them.

Getting rid of her bottles, it really hit home that she's not a baby anymore:(. Time goes by so fast, we are trying to soak up every moment.  

Now time to get ready for grandma and grandpas visit tonight and tomorrow!

Christmas weekend recap

I already over loaded Facebook with pics from Christmas morning so I'll try not to go too crazy here;)

This was one of my favorites though.

Christmas Eve we ended up spending the day and night at Howie's parents, I get homesick around the holidays so it's nice to be around his family.  My mom does usually try to make a trip down to see us either before or after Christmas which is always fun.

It was so warm down here this is what she wore on Christmas Eve!

So many bubbles

We really didn't do much except wrap presents, lots of presents!  And after  Sam went to bed, I got to catch up on one of my hallmark shows "When Calls the Heart", Howie loved getting to watch it with me;)

For some reason we stayed up until almost midnight!  Not smart since we knew Sam would be up at 7 as usual.  After breakfast we let Sam open her presents from us before everybody else came over.  She took forever to open them, she kept getting distracted!

When the rest of the family showed up, Howie read the story of Jesus' birth then it was time for gifts.  It was a bit of a madhouse with the 4 grandkids but so fun.  The 3 youngest just wanted to play with each other's gifts, funny to watch.

After Sam went down for her nap, it was time to get some baking done.  Of course I didn't get any pictures but I made an Oreo dessert and Hershey kiss/pretzel/m&m treats.  

We headed to one of Howie's cousin's house for dinner with his extended family.  Sam enjoyed running around with the other kids and the food was delicious!

On Saturday Howie had worship practice at noon so we just had a lazy morning until he left.

When Sam woke up from her nap we went to the church to meet Howie and head to St. Augustine to see the lights.  There were SO many people there!  But it was fun just walking around and showing Sam the lights.

After church on Sunday, had leftovers for lunch and dinner and another lazy afternoon/evening.

Tried to get a pic of these two cousins in nursery but Sam was not having it.

And that was our fun weekend, so glad I was able to have a little time off work to enjoy it with Howie and Sam.  We would also like to thank everyone for their prayers, words of encouragement, and support this past week. It has meant so much to us!  Feel free to share, like or subscribe to our blogs:)

Saving money

My finance degree has proven somewhat useful in that for the last few years, I've set up my paycheck so that 10% goes into an emergency savings account.  While we do use that every 6 months to pay car insurance we do have some saved up for emergency situations.  We are hopeful that Howie will find something soon so that we don't have to dip into it but it is nice to know its there.  

Thankfully I had most of our Christmas shopping done before this all happened and I don't think I spent more than $7 a piece on any one gift for Sam:). 

We've always been somewhat frugle but we've been brainstorming ways to save even more money.  Here are some things we've come up with so far.

1.  Howie found a deal on our internet to downgrade and save around $15/month.

2.  Going back to cloth diapers (provided we can figure out why they were giving Sam a rash.)

3.  No more eating out on the weekends.  As you can tell from my weekend recap post we tend to eat out a lot on the weekends, usually never during the week though.

4.  Eating leftovers better.  Utilizing all the food in our pantry to lower our grocery bill.

5.  Packing snacks from home better so I'm not making impulse purchases at work.

The other thing we're contemplating doing is the cash envelope system to help stay within a budget.  This would especially be important with our grocery budget because I tend to impulse buy when I do the shopping and end up spending more money.

Anyone have other money saving ideas??  

Like A Child

I took this picture of Sam this morning as I looked at her and realized she doesn't have a care in the world.  She doesn't know that daddy just got laid off from work, she just knows mommy and daddy will take care of her.  And it gave me hope in my heart because I know our Father will take care of us no matter what.  I realize He has plans for our life just like everyday I have a plan for Sam and would do absolutely anything for that girl.  

Matthew 7:11

“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

So while yesterday was one of the toughest days we've had in awhile I know our Father has a better plan for us.  Please pray for us to have faith and wisdom as we walk through this trial and that we would have a great testimony to glorify Him!

Weekend recap!

Friday night we went and had dinner at China Buffet, love buffets with a baby, no waiting on food!  Sam loves the spinach there.  Her reward...cake:). 

Then we headed to Christmas on Crystal Springs, it's a house that does an awesome light/music show.  This was our second year seeing it and this year they shared the gospel as well, so cool!

Saturday was a bit of a wash as Howie had worship practice and then he's also helping the kids with the Christmas song they're doing Sunday so they had practice for that as well.  Sam and I did make it to the park for a little while, it was cold!

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Then went to La Nopelera for dinner with Howie's parents and ice cream at Steak 'n Shake.

Sam actually slept in until 8 Sunday morning which made us run late but so worth it! 

 After church we headed to Gator's for lunch (we ate out a lot this weekend!)  I had hoped to do something Sunday evening but we ended up being lazy and just hanging out at Howie's parents.  Although we did take Sam around their neighborhood to see the lights.  

So our last weekend before Christmas was not terribly productive, but did get some good family time in and that is more important anyway:)

Pinterest win or fail?

I found this little project on Pinterest last year and wanted to give it a shot.

Nativity Scene

 It was definitely a lot more work than I was expecting!  The first day I was doing it all freehand (not an artist AT ALL) so the stable, manger, tree, and star were all done that way.  The second day I decided to print out the templets, way easier!!  Still took a third day to finish it up.

All different colors of felt.

Templetes

Work in progress...

Last step!

All Done!!

I used a hot glue gun instead of sewing like the original person did because, to be honest, I don't have the patience for all that! 

My favorite part ended up being the wise men, I was dreading making them but they actually turned out the best.  I'm hoping this will last a few years so Sam can tell us the story of Christmas using it:)