sand, swim, salsa & stuff



playing on the train



Dylan, Jakey & Kyra R. (The 3 Musketeers!)

sand and trucks are so much fun

boys will be boys

Kyra R. the movie star!

Dylan takes his turn as the bus driver

Jakey's turn as bus driver!



chugga chugga choo choo

Wow, what a fun, busy weekend! On Friday, Jakey and I took a "field trip" to our favorite local farm with Janice and her twins Kyra & Dylan. We had a great time checking out and feeding the farm animals, and the kids had a blast playing on the wooden train and bus, and getting dirty in the large sand box! That night while out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, Jakey reached for my salsa. Knowing that he likes spicy food (blackened chicken and Cajun fries are among his spicy faves!), I showed him how to dip a chip in salsa. He loved it and started drinking the salsa from the chip! I am so happy that he takes after me on this one! Gotta love a 20-month-old who loves salsa :)



Saturday morning was Jake's first swim lesson! He seemed to be excited while we were getting him ready (we were talking it up!) and stayed excited until he hit the water! Then he freaked. I knew he would. New class, new kids, new instructor, he hadn't been in a pool for a year, he has never taken a class with Daddy before, etc. It was all too overwhelming for our little guy. Even having his friends (Dylan & Kyra) in the class didn't help. He cried and clung to Joe for dear life for at least 10 minutes straight! Joe was ready to give up after the first minute :) It is really important for Jake to get comfortable in the water - and eventually learn how to swim, and we had already paid for the class, so...they stayed in the water. And by the end of the lesson, Jakey was having a great time! He was smiling, splashing, playing with the water toys, laughing as Joe helped him "swim" through the water. Hopefully Jakey remembers the fun that he had and sheds less tears next week!

getting Jakey ready for his 1st swim lesson

he's ready

checking out the pool

spying some water toys!



"knuckles" with friends before class, and now he's ready to go!



all smiles by the end of class :)

On Saturday afternoon, we went to visit Geoff, Jackie and their little cutie pie Kyra one last time before they move farther away :(  The kids had fun playing separately* at a park near their house. (*Jakey is in a "I need my personal space" phase and doesn't like strangers or other kids getting too close to him while he is playing. I hope this phase passes quickly because it is not fun to have to explain why he is in tears when the other kids aren't doing anything except getting near him! This is so weird too because he is around other kids all the time with our classes, play groups, and regular trips to the park. It seems like Jakey gets something stuck in his head and just won't let it go. He goes too fast and lands too hard at the bottom of the slide once, and won't go on another slide for weeks! Maybe one kid upset him and now he is afraid of getting too close to all the rest? He's a stubborn one, just like his mommy. Wish he would have taken after Joe on that one!) By the time we got to the restaurant for dinner though, Jakey was perfectly happy sitting next to Kyra. They shared a chicken quesadilla, and Jake inhaled it and everything else we gave him! Lately, he is either eating anything and everything at meal time or almost nothing at all. It can go either way.


hangin' by the bench



spinning in the swivel chair

Jake's dinner date with Kyra T.


Yesterday (Sunday) was my mom's birthday, but Jake ended up getting a birthday present too! :) Jakey barely touched the dinner I made but he was somehow able to wolf down an entire piece of birthday cake in like 9 seconds flat! Apparently he likes my baking but not my cooking?! My parents had already purchased Jake's birthday present (I wanted them to give it to him early so that Jake could enjoy it all Summer), and it had been sitting on our side yard for a few weeks waiting to be put together. I convinced Joe and my Dad that yesterday was the day for it to be assembled! What is it? A play house! A really cool wooden play house with a sink and a mailbox and windows and a door to open and close (see below). As soon as Jakey saw it, he said "wow!" and you can't really ask for much more than that!


And last but not least, I have to share my most recent couponing outing to CVS and Staples. I purchased a Jumbo pack of Huggies diapers, a Revlon ColorStay concealer, a Coppertone Kids sunscreen, and a pack of Twizzlers at CVS, and a bag of coin wrappers at Staples (we have a change jar that needs some serious attention). The retail on all of these items was $33.75 + tax. How much did I end up paying after coupons? Less than $9 total out of pocket! Here's how: I did two transactions at CVS. On the first one I bought the diapers and used a $3 manufacturer coupon, plus received $2 in ECB (Extra Care Bucks) for purchasing the Huggies. I also bought the Revlon concealer and made money on it! I had a CVS coupon for $6 off a Revlon Color Cosmetic from scanning my Extra Care card in their coupon machine on a previous trip. Upon scanning my card on this trip I also received a $3 off any $10 cosmetic purchase. Plus I had a $2 manufacturer coupon for Revlon. While at CVS I notice an unadvertised ECB deal where you got $4 in ECB if you spent $10 on Revlon products. For my $10.49 concealer I used $11 in coupons and received $4 in ECB so I was able to score the concelaer for free and make $4.50 on the deal! On my second transaction I purchased the sunscreen and the Twizzlers. I was able to use a CVS coupon for $2.50 off Coppertone and a $0.75 manufacturer coupon on the Twizzlers, and use the $6 in ECB I had earned from my first transaction! At Staples, I used a $3 off of any purchase coupon to score the coin wrappers for only $0.49! I love being able to get the things I need (ok, I really didn't need the Twizzlers but I do love them!) and would be buying anyway at bargain prices! If you do a little homework and pay attention, CVS practically pays you to shop there! And no, I do not watch Extreme Couponing (saw it once, and those people are crazy!) and I do think it gives us un-extreme couponers a bad name. I'm not clearing the shelves or buying 100 bottles of salad dressing just because I can. But if I can save a lot on things that I need or will use, why not?