Just the 3 of Us

Well tomorrow is the big day and we tried to make today very special for Waylon and us too! I can not believe that tomorrow we will officially be a family of 4! We spent the entire day together and went out on the boat. Even though it was 115 out today we still went and had fun. Waylon and Daddy did some driving on the boat and some fishing.

Mommy and Waylon even got a picture together...what a cutie!Sorry this one is just funny! Even though Waylon is in 1/2 of the shot the "cheese" he is giving is great!!! LOVE IT

I can not believe how much things are goig to change in the next 24 hours. I am so excited to be a mommy all over again, and nervous all at the same time. I know everything will be fine, this is the life I was meant to have and soon the family part of it will be complete. I have certain different loves for each of my guys and have a hard time imagining what the love for my little girl will be like, and also the love for my children will be like now that there will be two. There is so much I could write, wonder and worry about in this post....but I am just going to end it here...and close by saying no matter what, this is MY life and I LOVE IT completely. I don't doubt or regret any part of it otherwise I would not be where I am now. All I wish for in life is Happiness....and I know I have achieved that already. So life is perfect.

My Frugal Man!

We all know how frugal I am but I bet you did not know that Jake is REALLY great at it too. He often calls me from places to see if there is a coupon he should use before buying something. His best efforts though have come from Craigs List. He seems to know just the right things to look for and finds just the right people to get this great . Over the past year we have gotten some amazing things to really finish off our home. Some that I can think of are Christmas trees, leather couches and chairs, racks for above our garage doors for storage and this weekend he found some patio furniture.

I did not get a before shot of this furniture, but as you can tell it is pretty amazing all finished. Jake got this table and six chairs and a bar too for our (almost done) patio. He restained and clear coated them and they look great! He got all of these items valued at over $1400 for $250! Way to go...I bet the lady would have kept these items if she could see them now.

Jake continues to work very hard on the yard and it still has a little ways to go, but it sure is coming along very nicely. A couple of weeks ago he mowed the yard for the first time! The yard is holding up really well. We are struggling with some of our trees but all in all it looks amazing. It is so nice to go out on the back porch and actually look at our yard we have been talking about for so many years now.

A few FUN days for Waylon

As the summer goes on Waylon and I have been doing as much as we can, while we can. Although we are both very excited to have Toni here we also know that we will be spending a lot of time at home when she does arrive. So we have kept ourselves pretty busy the past few weeks and here are some of our fun days.

This is the pool Waylon got from Gammie, Uncle Jon and Aunt Courtney for his Birthday! He loves it and spends quite a bit of time in it..Wish we would have had slides like that when I was little.

We have also done some swimming in a big pool too. However, due to me being pregnant we have skipped swim lessons this year. So Waylon has resorted to being a step swimmer this year. He still loves the water, but not like he did last year. I guess it makes a huge difference when Mommy and Daddy are not in the water with you. Next year we will pick back up on the swim lessons and I am sure he will soon be a great swimmer.

Last Friday we went to AZ Mills Mall to an Aquarium that had just opened this summer. It was alright, not something I would jump back and go to again. Waylon, I belive, had more fun being with his cousins than he actually did at the aquarium. There was a lot to see, but a lot of people too. It was a good adventure for the day! Waylon was able to touch star fish in this tank! That was cool.
Waylon inside one of the tanks. My nephew Hudson and niece Hailey in the same tank.

Then finally the past few weeks, we have spent a lot of time with my niece Hailey. During the summer she comes and hangs out with Waylon and I because she is just two doors down. (which is awesome) She has been a wonderful help this summer, helping me get everything ready for Toni and just helping with Waylon in general. He adores her anyway. So the other day she made a fort in his bedroom with sheets and everything and it was huge hit. Something I am sure Daddy and Waylon may do once Toni gets here as well. I mean who doesn't love a home made fort in your bedroom, I still remember some of the ones I made as a kid too.

This was the first fort she made and look at that smile!

Then we pushed it back to make it more stable and LARGER...He loved it.

Toni's Baby Shower

A few weeks ago we had Toni's baby Shower. This was the third weekend in a row where we had had people over for things and by the end of the shower I was ready to just do nothing for a while. Sorry for the delay in this blog.

There was a lot of family and friends there and each time we have everyone over, Jake and I realize how great life really is! Thank you so much to all of you that came and for all of you who sent your warm wishes if you could not be there. We are so lucky to have all of you in our family and even more thrilled for Toni to join our amazing family.

This time there was a lot of little ones running around and a lot of adults too. You all brought amazing things for her and we feel completely prepared now! Waylon had a great time too. I had not told him about Toni's Party until after his nap... (super idea on my part) He was thrilled when he saw all the decorations, friends and family there when he woke up.

Thank you so much. Here are a few shots from the afternoon.

The Three Preggers~Due in Aug. (Ahna)- July (me) and Sept. (Courtney) all growing nicely~
Ahna and Cooper, who made a visit at just the right time from Oregon~ Yeah...

Some of the great gifts we got from all of you! I had a lot of help this year from the kids. So nice, because the attention was no longer all on me!

Pima Air Museum

Waylon and I took a small trip down to Tucson a couple of weeks ago to see daddy "out of town." While we were down there we went to the Pima Air Museum to check out some planes up close. We could have spent so much time there really checking everything out, but we did not have a lot of time and it was smokin' hot that day. So we raced around and looked at all of the important planes with daddy and got some cute pictures.

An old Air Force One Plane
Daddy's favorite the B-58A Hustler
Another of Daddy's favorites the F-86 Saber

All in all it was a fun short trip and one of the first "hotels" Waylon remembers staying in...He loved it! We will definitely go back when we have more time and he is older, but he still really loved all the planes and of course seeing daddy "out of town"

Here is a short video of Waylon in a small air traffic control center, which he also loved! Fun day!

Just Waylon!

My little man only has a few weeks left of being an only child. All of our lives are about to change so much soon, but we are ALL very excited. So in honor of Waylon turning 3 and in a sort of an only child closing, I wanted to write down some thoughts I have about just Waylon and his amazing year!

There are so many things I want to remember about this year with Waylon that it is very hard to narrow it down to just a few things. The first thing I must say is that there was nothing "terrible" about his 2's! He grew up so much this year and accomplished so much and just continues to prove to all of us what an AMAZING individual he truly is!

A few things I LOVE about Waylon right now are:

1) He is so well behaved and polite. The smile you see in this picture is one that I see A LOT throughout the day. Those beautiful eyes light up when he smiles and laughs throughout the day.

2) He is still such a love bug. Now there are times he is too much of one and uses it in the wrong way...Like when he is upset about something he has to have a hug and often that leads to another and another until you find your self cuddling with him. (which is fine, unless he has gotten in trouble for something, then it is just annoying) I cuddled with him today for the longest time because he had one of his first true accidents and woke up in the middle of his nap and did not make it to the potty in time. Luckily he made it to the bathroom and just made a mess on the tile, which is easy to clean up. But he was SO upset and embarrassed about it that he really needed some cuddle time today. ( I love that he still needs me for little things like that and that I can still make him feel better, he even fell back asleep in my arms for a little bit, which almost made me cry today because he is so big in my arms anymore) And last night he even shouted out after I put him to bed without any prompting "Good Night Mommy I love you!"- God I love that little guy more than I could ever put into words!!!

3) Waylon is going to be such a great big brother. For a long time he has understood what is happening and knows that soon he will have a baby sister to help mommy with. He is constantly talking to my belly, giving my belly hugs and kisses and just loves to help me when it has to do anything with Toni. His face lights up when he talks about Toni and you can see the excitement in his face. He even made up a song many months ago that he calls "My mommy's baby" Now it is almost annoying right now and I should video tape him but I know he will not sing that song forever. He gets all silly and has to sing this song right after his bath and in front of the mirror too! It is cute and you just have to let him do his thing because each night it is a little different but totally him.

4) He is drawing trucks with trailers and wheels on paper. He loves to sit down and watch you draw things for him and try to draw them himself too. You can draw a truck for him and he will gladly draw the wheels of the truck and "stuff" in the back of the truck on his own. He can recognize his name on paper too, which is really cool.

5) He has accomplished so much this year. At the beginning of the school year he started daycare at Brandy's house. He has learned so much there that in itself is a huge accomplishment. Brandy does so much with him, and treats him like family which in turn Waylon does amazing with her. Also early in the year he moved from his crib to a big boy bed and a new room all at once. Super easy transition and he did amazing. No falling out of the bed or wandering around at night. He never once came out of his room or was difficult to put to bed for too long. Another huge milestone is potty training! Again he did amazing! I think these two transitions just show what type of a person he is becoming. He learns well and is confident and therefore does well.

I could go on and on about Waylon and how amazing he is and will become....but that is just a proud mama thing! I am so sad that I will not get JUST Waylon anymore here very soon. I know everyone who has more than one child has felt this way, but I do indeed wonder how I could love another child as much as I love that little guy. I also wonder how different it will be... But this is a post of just Waylon so those thoughts will have to be another post.

Waylon I love you and everyday we have spent together over the past 3 years! You are my BABY and ALWAYS will be. I am so proud of you and knew from the moment you were born you would be perfect for us! Thank you for a wonderful first 3 years of JUST YOU!

Almost Free at Safeway!

Alright a quick post for my coupon nerds and those that are curious as to how I do this..! I love days like these...There is not really any good deals out there this week, but when I came across this senerio I thought it was worth a try and it worked like a charm.
I got everything in the picture above with tax included for $1.42....I did get was is called Catalina coupons (these are coupons that print up at the end of the transaction and are good for future ones) from 3 of these items and I can use those on my next purchase at Safeway...but I did subtract it from the total here (because it makes it sound better and whatever I end up going back to buy will be free anyway thanks to those coupons)

Like I said I copied this from someone (literally this is what they did) I just added the fruit and the icing to the transaction. So here is the breakdown:

Free & almost Free deals this week at Safeway 6/2/10
Cheerios $1.49 (B8 Save $4 Promo Price)Use $.50/1 S210 (there are many other coupons for cheerios - do a search in "My Shopping List")
Stack with $.55/1 ecouponFinal Price: FREE + overage

Kraft Salad Dressing $1.49 (B8 Save $4 Promo Price)Use $.55/1 R265
Or Use $.55/1 printable
Receive $2 catalina wyb 2
Final Price: FREE after coupons and catalina*note: this catalina deal is good through 6/27/10

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese $.49 (B8 Save $4 Promo Price)
Use $1.00/2 printable after you play the game
Final Price: FREE after coupons

If you missed the Ziplock Container deal here it is again.
Ziplock Containers - $1.99 wyb 4
Use (2) $.55/1 T252
Use (1) $1.50/2 T253
Earn 2 $2 catalinas
Final Price: $.12 each after coupons and catalina

Then I added the icing which was on sale for $1.19 and used a coupon for it that doubled to make its final price $0.19 and then I also had a coupon for the Del Monte Fruit which were 10 for $10 so I bought one can for $1 and used my coupon for $0.40 off which doubled making it free!

So all in all it was a good deal...my percentage was about 81% today!

Waylon turns 3!

I can not believe how fast the time goes when you truly are "having fun!" Waylon turned 3 yesterday and it was so much fun. I love this age, because everything is so exciting for him, which makes it exciting for everyone else too.

Now leading up to the birthday this month was a little much, everything was "can I have this for my birthday?" But once the big day got here he was thilled. Here are some highlights of the day yesterday.

We had some special breakfast donuts followed by a special bag that had three cars in it for him!

Then after a long morning getting ready for the party and "trying to take a nap" we finally had a birthday party! I have to laugh because he was wonderful about staying in his room during nap time and truly did try to fall asleep the first hour. Then quickly decided at the turn of the second hour it was time to get up and he tried everything to get up to have the birthday party. I must have heard 100 times yesterday, "Mommy!!!! It is time for Birthday!!!! I am ready to get up! Come and turn the light on!!!" over and over again. Thankfully, his party was early and we were able to have a great time without any meltdowns and were in bed right on time that night!

Here are some pictures from the party...and the awesome cake that I made!!! I am so proud of myself...It actually loooks pretty amazing in the pictures because it looks RED...where in person it was more of a pink fire truck. Waylon loved it and that is all that matters, although it was A LOT of work and effort to do. (no I am not that crafty- I found a video on how to do this cake on Betty Crocker.com) Here are just a few pictures of present time! He got a lot of cars and trucks. He got so many things that were from Cars he was thrilled! Thank you so much to everyone who came out to make it a special day for Waylon and Jake and I too! We all love you so much and love that you were here to help celebrate 3 years of just Waylon...