A craft in progress...

(I always want to start each blog with so)

As the craft bug continues to bite, I came up with a craft to make a toy for Ryder. Here is the pictures I took, but I am not done yet because I want to fill it with more treasures.

I got an empty water bottle and took off the label (what a pain!) And I filled with with fun stuff for Ryder to shake and make noise and then to look at.

I'm using beans (pinto and black) and popcorn kernels as my filler

Here are the "treasures". I just looked through my scrapbooking stuff and picked out things that I will probably never use.

I also decided I was probably never going to wear this necklace again so I cut it up.

This is what I got from it.

Some marbles from when we had our fish from our very first Christmas together.

After you gather your fun items, fill bottle and glue shut so it doesn't accidentally open. Make sure you leave room to shake.

This is how mine turned out, Not very colorful. I didn't glue mine yet because I want to see if I can find brighter things. I'll post when mine get complete.

Any ideas on things to put in would be great!

Handmade cards

A few years ago (who knows how long) I went to a card class at Scrapbooks Etc. it was a lot of fun and the cards were way cute! After my second time going I thought to myself, "I could totally make these!". So I decided to have a card night with some friends and family.

What is a card night you may ask? It's not poker although that would be pretty fun too. A card night is where all who attend bring a homemade card and all the supplies for everyone else to make their card.

The first one we did wasn't as successful as I hoped. We had each person make a station with their completed card and all the supplies. Everyone then went to all the different stations and worked on the card. It was nice because you were able to work at your own pace, but you had to explain your card 10 different times.

I then developed a new method and I think it works a lot better. We all sit around a table, one person show their card, we make it and then the next person does their card. It has been a lot of fun and we get a pretty good turn out (this next one is 15 people!). Lately we have done themes which are fun and sometimes we don;t and it's still fun! It's so much fun to get your creative juices flowing!!!

Below are some of the past cards I've made. Some are cuter than others. I'm not that creative I just like to pretend I am. I hope you get some ideas and if you're creative and would like to participate, let me know!

This one is neat! That's a real candle!

Graduation card!

Wedding reception

I want a girl!!! hehe

This one is generic, but you can add a title to the front. I actually made these for my nephews birthday invites and this was extra.

Fun with cousin Emma!

You'll want to turn off the music if you have it on. Ryder's laugh is to die for!!!

And Kaden took initiative to narrate. And Emma doesn't even realize how funny she is. Hahaha




Apparently it wasn't as fun when Kaden played...

Bubbles, bubbles are so fun...

This is the fastest blog ever! We seriously finished like 5 minutes ago.

Since Ryder is a big boy now I decided to see how he'd react to bubbles. He seemed to have a lot of fun watching them. They weren't really going in his direction, but that is ok. Hopefully we'll do it more.

Forget about bubbles, I'm going to pose for the camera!

Bubbles, bubbles for everyone!!

Walgreens 8/16

One of the things I hate about couponing (not sure if that is even a word) is that if it's a really good deal then you better be the first one in the store Monday morning or you'll miss out. Ugh!

2 examples this week at Walgreens:
PERT 2 in 1 shampoo= FREE after coupons and Register Rewards
Expo 6 pack markers= FREE after coupons

I may try back later to see if they stocked their shelves.

Here is what I did get.

Trans #1
Aussie mousse= Pay $2 received $1 RR

Trans #2
2 Hefty zip close bags= b1g1 $1.15 each after coupon
Batteries= $1.99 after coupon


Trans #3 (it was actually number 2 but doesn't really matter)
Sand and water play table.
Originally $20 in clearance for $10! I used $5 RR so I payed $5.91! I'm hoping to save this and use it for an Easter gift or something. Hahaaha I know way early,but I wanted it and it was a good price. That's how the smart shopper does it right?

Diapers & Wipes at Target 8/16

Ryder is out of size 3 diapers and size 4 is too big. So I returned some diapers to Target and a few other things I bought that haven't used so I received a gift card for $27 and some change.

Target has a deal going on that if you buy 2 of the big boxes of diapers you get a $10 gift card. I had coupons that was $2 off if you buy diapers and wipes. This is what I got...

2 144 count Diapers
2 72 count thick wipes tubs
Total was around $65

I used 2 target coupons and 4 manufacture coupons that equaled $10. Then I used my $27 giftcard. My out of pocket cost was $31 and some change and I received a bonus $10 giftcard to use on a future purchase. Seemed like a good deal to me:)

Flower clips

If you read my last post then you know that I bought a hot glue gun which I'm sill very excited about. With this new tool I obviously wanted to give it a whirl. I have never been a hot glue gun girl. I was always scared of it. (I received a huge blister on my hand in 5th grade for touching my sugar baby's hair too early.)

On my to do list for crafts was flower clips. I know, I know I have a baby boy, but they are darn cute and I have nieces! So I made these below for my niece Emma. Turned out cute... well at least the black and white one did. Not bad for a spur the moment craft using what I already had.

Let the crafting begin!

I know this sounds silly, but I am super excited! Yesterday I went down to Joanns Fabric and bought me a hot glue gun. I can't wait to do some crafting. I have a lot of ideas of things I want to create. Now to test the skill of moderation so we don't go broke:) thank goodness for weekly coupons:)

I think my first big craft is going to be a Halloween decoration. I saw it on the site pinterest.com. Seems easy enough. I'll be sure to post pictures.

PS about pinterest; if you haven't checked out that website yet, do it! I love it! It has so many great ideas about everything!

California Trip

A few weeks ago (Aug 6th-8th) we joined with Chase's mom and went to California to visit Stephen, Jodi, and Jaxon! It was so much fun and so relaxing! They live in Temecula California. We didn't make plans to do anything, but spend time with them. We played some games which included Risk and the females dominated the world! We also watched The Incredible Mr. Limpet. It was... interesting... ! HAhaha!

The last time Ryder & Jaxon saw each other was Ryder's baby blessing the end of March. They have changed a lot since then. Jaxon is crawling all over the place and Ryder, well Ryder likes to sit, but we are working on it.

On Monday morning they were playing together in their jammies, it was the perfect opportunity to take some pictures. They had so much fun together.

Look Ryder, that is a frog... a frog goes ribbit, ribbit!

Funny thing about this picture is that we did not pose them. Ryder put his arm around Jax all by himself. So cute:)

We also had time to stop by and visit Chase's Dad near Palm Springs. It was so great seeing him. He fed us lunch, it's amazing how delicious a sandwich can be!

Goodbye Summer:(

Chase started back to work today at Mesa Public Schools doing bus driving. It's nice being back on a schedule. (Please don't hate us!). But at the same time I will miss having Chase home with me all day! He would go shopping with me so if Ryder got fussy he could entertain him. We'd watch Smallville together (so sad it is almost done), and just do whatever we pleased.

Ryder is so darn cute! I can't stand it! He makes me feel so good. Like when he reaches up for me or Chase to hold him. How could I not? He is in a phase (hopefully just a phase) where he doesn't want to be left alone. He'll be sitting playing, not a care in the world and then if Chase or I leave the room he crys bloody murder. I'm not sure if this is normal or if there is something I could do so he isn't so scared of being left alone or if I should really enjoy it while it lasts?

Over the weekend we went to visit family in California. I'll post separate eventually:) It was nice.

We made a summer to do list and haven't finished much on it. Some of it I'm wanting to put a hold on to see what happens down the road because...

dun dun dun da!!!

We are going to be looking for a house to buy!!

We are so excited and cannot wait! I guess that is one plus to summer being over. Now that Chase has an income we can be approved for a loan.

So some of the projects I want to do I'm putting a hold on. For example, the Mom's Crafts letters that I got for Mother's Day. I'm wanting to wait to see if maybe we do a color scheme in our new house that I could match the letters to. Stuff like that. I know, I know buying a house takes time and chances are we wont get in until next year, So it is silly to put things off, but I don't want to have to do the same project twice. We'll see though, I may just end up doing a neutral color like black and white or something.

Anywho... Chase says summer doesn't end until he goes back to school so we still have a little more time to get our summer to do list done. Better get to work... :)

Shopping this week wiped me out!

I felt like I spent the whole day shopping! I'm hoping the deals I got and the money I saved makes it worth it.

First off, here is my stockpile. I was going to post this at the end, but this is how the pictures came up. (On a side note, blogger makes doing pictures so hard. I wish they game you a bigger window to work with. I hope you understand what I mean.) So here is my STOCKPILE. Kind of exciting for me to see.

Wipes
I have about 20 packages of wipes:)

DIAPERS

Water for this hot Arizona desert!

Here is my real stockpile. It's not a whole lot of room so hard to really organize it. Tried my best though.

Here is my shopping trips I did. It was a total of 6 stores, YIKES.
OS= On sale
MC= Manufacturer Coupon
SC= Store Coupon
Store #1- Safeway: (All coupons were = to $1)
Fruit Snacks SC making them $1.49 ea- 2 MC- $1 = $1ea
Granola Bars SC making them $1.49 ea- 2 MC- $1 = $1ea
Brownie mix SC making them $.98 - 1 MC-$1 = FREE


Store # 2- CVS:


Chicken Salad OS for $.88
Tuna Salad OS for $.88
Dawn Dishsoap OS $.99 - MC $.50=$.49 ea
Huggies Diapers ON 2/$18- SC $4.00 - 2MC $3.00= $8.00

Savings= $24.04***

***This ended up being wrong. The diapers were only 2 for $18 If you bought 2 of the one kind and my SC was spacific to the jean diapers so I returned them.
Plus it says I saved $1.31 on each of the salad kits, but really only like $.20 cuz they are $1.12 at Walmart at the normal price I've boughten them.


Store # 3- Albertsons:





Hunts tomato sauce OS .77 ea when you buy 13

Frito Lay Products OS $1.57

Mars single size candy OS .29

Snickers OS $2 - 2MC $1= $1 ea
(stocking up for Halloween already)

According to reciept
Total Spent= $19.06
Total Saved= $16.90


Store #4- Walgreens:
I did 3 transactions because of "register rewards" I should have done them in a different order, but I thought I was getting register rewards for the toilet paper.

Trans #1:
Contact Solution $8 get $8RR

Trans #2:
Toilet Paper $5- 2SC -$1= $4 ea

Trans #3
Mini Wheats OS 4/$10- 2MC-$1=$2ea and $5RR

Plus with the Cereal I can enter codes online for $5 concession gift card to use at AMC.

So really it was "like" being $2 moneymaker.



Store #5 Target:

Milano Cookies $1- 2MC- $1= FREE
Zyrtec 5ct $5.29- MC -$5= $.29
Ziploc 120 ct OS 2/$5- 2MC- $1= 1.50 ea (not the best deal, but seemed good at the time.)









Store #6- Fry's: (Not pictured) All coupons = $1
I bought a bunch of Kroger frozen veggies that were $.88 each.
Michellina frozen entrees $.88 ea
Crest toothpast OS $.98- MC= FREE
Edwards frozen dessert OS $2.79- MC= 1.79
Toaster Strudle OS 1.79- SC = $1.29 ea

Total Spent=$17.43
Total Saved $14.39

6 month check up!

On Monday Ryder turned 6 months! Can you believe it??? Neither can we. It has gone so fast. I know everyone warns you that it will but you don't really understand until it happens to your own.

Today we went to his check up and he is doing great! His head is 45cm (75 percentile), Height is 26 inches (50 percentile) and 18.5 lbs (50-75 percentile). Dr. said everything looked good and kept commenting that Ryder was really strong. He even made the comment that Ryder will probably walk early. Lets hope not, I'm not ready to chase him around. Haha.

He doesn't really look like he is interested in crawling yet. He loves sitting! He also, loves to eat. Veggies he has had so far; carrot, avacado, greenbean, and potato. Fruits are banana, peach, and apple. His favorites are banana and apple and carrots! He does so good and when it's one he likes he doesn't make that big of a mess. So far he has only had the real stuff. It is so EASY to make! I would recommend it. I know he'll have the jarred stuff eventually, but it's nice to make as much as I can.

Last weekend we went to Show Low and visited with Gma & Papa. It was nice and cool! they loved having Ryder visit them.

We also attended our ward campout. It was a lot of fun! We were so glad we went. There were about 11 families that came. They did a little program and families did some skits and whatnot. It was fun being with the ward members in a different enviroment. We had a little car trouble but it ended up being fine. It was our idling fan. And the same thing was making our a/c not work so great. So now our car is in tip top shape... I hope!

this weekend we are going to California to visit Stephen, Jodie and Jaxon! We are also going to stop and see Chase's dad. We are so excited it has been so long since we have seen any of them. Jaxon is getting so big! We can't wait!

I have a shopping trip (more like day) I want to blog about, but I'm kinda not in the mood to do the whole picture loading thing. Our computer takes forever!!! I'm hoping that with all the money I'm saving using coupons that we can afford a new computer.