Fun With Oma and Opa

Dave's parents, Oma and Opa to the kids, arrived safely last night. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather today to go to the Chattahoochee River Nature Center. I forgot my camera, so all of the pictures below were pilfered off of Dave's mom's camera.

Dave pushing an empty stroller
Caleb running up ahead

Our family

Caleb liked all the butterflies

Oma and Opa with the kids

Alexa walking with Mommy

A picture Dave's mom snapped on the way home

When we got home, we ate lunch and put the kids down for a nap. Then Dave and his dad left got Home Depot to get Dave a new drill for Christmas. Dave's mom is upstairs wrapping presents, and I am enjoying some peace and quiet.

Saying Hello and Goodbye

Dave is gone to the airport right now to pick up his parents who are coming to celebrate a belated Christmas with us this week. I bet you can guess what I spent my day doing - grocery shopping, cleaning, washing laundry, and cooking. Fun, fun. Dave took the kids to the library this morning while I ran my errands alone, which was nice. And he also helped with the cleaning today, too.

My brother Phillip moved to Tampa today. He's already called once to ask me if Walmart or Aldi has a better price on ground beef and if Aldi has batteries. Because I am the queen of bargain shopping, after all, and his favorite (and only) big sister.

Menu Plan Monday

Tonight - Barber chicken breasts, noodles, green beans
Tuesday - BBQ sandwiches, mac and cheese, coleslaw
Wednesday - Homemade pizza, wings, Savorings, chips and dip, cheese and crackers, brownies, etc. for New Year's Eve
Thursday - Out to eat
Friday - Soup/sandwiches
Saturday - Orange Teriyaki chicken, rice, mixed veggies
Sunday - Lunch at Church

Our First Visit to a Doc in a Box

We made our first visit to an Urgent Care doctor with Caleb today. He's almost 3.5, so I guess we're doing pretty well if this is our first time. Anyway, I went to get him up from his nap today, and he told me his nose hurt. When I inspected, I found something stuck up on of his nostrils. We tried to get him to blow it out, and we tried to get it out with the booger sucker otherwise known as a nasal aspirator. It soon became apparent that it wasn't coming out on its own. I did some more investigation on and around the bed he was napping on and decided that it was probably a wadded up string from the blanket on the bed. I put in a call to our pediatrician (as well as to Dr. Mom/Grammy), and he said we need to go to Urgent Care to get it out. I knew there was a Children's Healthcare facility about 10 minutes from our house, but when I called, it had been permanently closed. So instead we drove to one about 30 minutes from our house. When we arrived, there was a sign that said the estimated wait time was 2 hours. Fortunately, though, things moved much faster than that, and we were in and out in about an hour. When we got in to see the doctor, he strapped Caleb down in a papoose board and used long handled tweezers to pull out the offending object, a rather large wad of blanket string. Caleb was very good and only fussed right when the doctor put the tweezers in. Afterwards, he got a popsicle and coloring book and markers, which were wrapped in Christmas paper. I hope he didn't have such a good time at the doctor's that he wants to go back again soon! When we got home, Caleb walked in to where Dave was and told him, "I go to doctor to fix my nose." I'll spare you the details, but later on in the evening, Dave discovered that Caleb has also apparently been eating blanket strings during nap time. Caleb is on the verge of dropping his naps, but he still has quiet time every day. He has books and puzzles on his bed to play with during naptime, and yet he either spends his time stripping (we often find him half dressed or even naked after naptime) and playing with strings off the blanket. Oh to understand the mind of a three year old boy!

Grammy Wins the Prize

While Caleb jabbers all the time, he still is not very conversational. Anyway, we've been trying to get him to tell us what his favorite Christmas present was, but when we'd ask him, he'd just mimic what we said. Finally today, I asked him what new toy he liked. He replied, "I like bat and ball." I asked him what other new toy he liked, and he said, "I like my computer." Both of those presents were from Grammy, so she wins the prize from Caleb for the best Christmas presents.

Grocery Totals for December 21-27

I didn't post or even calculate my grocery totals for last week. It was a busy holiday weekend, and I needed to send in one receipt for a rebate. Oh well! Here are my totals for this week. I realize the week isn't finished, but I don't have any grocery shopping to do tomorrow (only bargain hunting with Molly at the mall).

Grocery Store Spending - $71.01
Grocery Store Savings - 57%

Drug Store Spending - $8.29
Drug Store Savings - 93%

Total Amount Saved - $205.65

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Here are some of the best pictures from today. I'm not sure why there is a blurry spot, perhaps a smudge on the lens of my camera. I just cleaned it off in case that was it.

At our house

At my parents' house

A Few of our Favorite Things

Here are a few of our favorite Christmas presents from today. No offense if yours did not make it on the list; we all got TONS of wonderful things for which we are very thankful!

Both kids got several new books, and I did, too. We all love books!
Caleb had lots of fun putting together his Elmo K'nex.
Alexa loved her new purse, and Caleb loved his new tool box. Caleb kept telling me he had to "fix it."
Both kids loved this ball popper. So did Daddy and Uncle Phillip.

Both kids had fun playing with Caleb's new laptop.
Dave got some computer gadgety things.
Aunt Andrea sent the kids a two-sided easel. It has a chalkboard on one side, and a white board on one side. It also came with magnetic letters and numbers.
I got a new purse (which I picked out when I was shopping with my mom the day after Thanksgiving)
I also got a new area rug for the living room. It looks great!

Merry Christmas From Our Family to Yours

Christmas Eve Festivities

This morning the kids opened their jammies so I could wash them for them to wear tonight.
Alexa got Cat in the Hat pajamas.
Caleb got Thomas the Train ones.
This afternoon, Caleb helped me make sweet potatoes and sugar cookies for tonight. We went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner.

Alexa made the rounds from Granddaddy
to Uncle Phillip
to my cousin.
Caleb hung out with Daddy for a bit since he was scared of the dogs (so was Alexa).
Alexa showed Grandmother the new doll she got.
Caleb helped Grandaddy open his BIG present (a new TV from my parents).
Here are the presents the kids got tonight. Alexa got a doll and two stuffed animals, and Caleb got lots of cars.
Then when we got home, we put the kids right to bed and started stuffing stockings and getting out presents.

Stuffing Dave's stocking.Dave's presents and my presents
Alexa's presents
Caleb's presents

Christmas Questions

I have absolutely nothing interesting to say today, so here are twenty-five random Christmas questions and my answers.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I wrap if possible, but I did use a few bags for oddly shaped items.
   


2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial. I love going to cut down a live tree, but I like being able to put the tree up whenever I want. I bought a new tree that is prelit, which is a huge plus.
   


3. When do you put up the tree? As soon after Thanksgiving as I can talk Dave into it.
   


4. When do you take the tree down? It varies. This year it will be up for awhile because we are not opening presents with Dave's family until at least the 30th.
   


5. Do you like eggnog? No


6. Favorite gift received as a child? Umm, I know I'm not that old, but I really can't remember. Maybe my Easy Bake Oven?
   
   
7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad or Dave's dad
   


8. Easiest person to buy for? The kids
   
   
9. Do you have a nativity scene? We have 2. They both were gifts.
   


10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail


11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can't think of anything in particular.
    
    
12. Favorite Christmas movie? Elf. We even watched it last night.
    
    
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever I see something on sale that someone would like.
    


14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes, especially gifts I have gotten from my students.
    


15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies.
    


16. Lights on the tree? Yes, white.
    


17. Favorite Christmas song? I like them all. Caleb's favorite is Angels We Have Heard On High.
    


18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We stay in the area, but we do go to my parents' house for lunch. We sometimes go visit Dave's parents after Christmas.
    


19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Maybe.
    


20. Angel on the treetop or a star? A cheap gold star from Target.


21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? The kids get jammies on Christmas Eve, but we open the rest on Christmas morning. Before kids, we were known to open our presents whenever we felt like it.
    


22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The long lines at stores especially with two wiggly children.
    


23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I don't really have a theme or color scheme, just an eclectic mix of ornaments.
    


24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Dessert. Does that count?
    


25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Nothing in particular, which is good because Dave and I are only exchanging one gift each.
    

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Daddy/Gramps. We love you!

$8.00 at CVS

Here's what I got today at CVS (well, actually 3 CVS stores) for $8.00. I would have paid that much for just the 12 packs of Cokes if I had purchased them at Publix this week, so I basically got everything else for free! And I ended the day with more ECBs than I started with.

The haul:
4 12 packs Cokes
1 2L Coke
4 bottles Listerine
2 tubes Crest toothpaste
1 Physician's formula concealer (for my carpet burn from a few weeks ago)
2 Loreal eye shadows
1 Sally Hansen nail polish
1 bag Halls cough drops
1 box Zantac
2 packages Rolaids
2 bottles Complete contact solution
1 package Benefiber

Poker Party

This weekend was our annual poker party with some of our friends. We don't play for money or anything except for the lovely trophies that Nick purchases/makes. I came in first two years ago, second last year, and completely last this year. Oh well. At least that I meant I got to bed early and got more sleep than everyone else. :) And I didn't have to find room in my house for another trophy. You'll understand when you see the pictures of the trophies. Dave did better than me, coming in third, but still not high enough to take home one of the 2 trophies.

Here are some of the pictures -

Enjoying some snacks before the game
Most of the gang. I think this is the first tournament where several players were wearing their jammies the whole time.
Nick in his pink shirt
Dave concentrating
Molly playing with her coupons after she got out
The winner with his two trophies