The Castle

This year we have decided to take advantage of all the "free" activities we can. Lowe's have awesome workshops for kids on Saturdays. They had a series around Christmas to build a train. I have to say that has been my favorite until this past Saturday. G built a castle! How cool is that!

Daddy & G got to spend some quality time while Sissy and I hung out. It was a win for all!




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Boring to bling !

I have always been a bargain shopper. This gift comes from liking nice things and being on a limited income. Even now that we have two incomes, there are certain things that I struggle with paying full price.

When I found we were having another baby and it was a girl, my first response was she needs new furniture. White furniture, but again couldn’t justify buying another set when the set we had from G was so nice.

I majorly shopped for deals for decorating her room. The one thing I did splurge on was her artwork, I came across this person when I was pregnant with G and knew if I ever had a girl I would purchase some of her pictures. www.serenabowman.com . I found her bedding & curtains off CL and my best buddy from Cali added some boutique finishes to them, but one thing was missing. Well I found it!!

Thanks to a gift card from Grandma Barba, Sylvie now has bling in her room! Along with adorable. Its super cute the whole time Daddy was hanging it she had to help and every time I get her out of bed she smiles and says Light Light. I think it was well worth the cost and of course it was on sale !

The old light.



The new light.

Santa Picture success & fail

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Anxiously Awaiting

Ok so I feel like a kid this year when it comes to Christmas. I am so excited. I count the days everyday. No I am not ready and yes I know the closer it gets the more hectic it will become, but I am still excited.

Just thought I would let you guys know.

Happy Thanksgiving

Things I am thankful for...

Health and Happiness
Solid Marriage
Beautiful, healthy children
Church I love
Family that I adore
Great friendships
Part time job that allows me to be a full time mom.
My home

Thank you God, for the blessings in my life.

Super proud of my little guy!

http://www.lukesworld.me/2011/11/climbing-with-gideon.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LukesWorld+%28Luke%27s+World%29&m=1




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Recycled Christmas part 2

Part two-

Doing Shopping this way is not always easy and trust me I have learned that you have to weigh in your time & gas to even know if it's worth the deal.

But sometimes a little work and determination pays off. I love Pottery Barn stuff especially their kids stuff. I have received their catalogs for years even before I had kids. About 5 years ago they came out with a stainless steel kitchen that mirrored the Viking set. It sold for over a $1000 and was a limited edition. I found one on Cl earlier this year and they wanted 500.00 for it with a ton of accessories. So I thought if I bought it I could sell the accessories and only end up paying half that. Wrong. The set ended up getting in a bidding war and went for over a thousand dollars.

About two months after that I found the pink kidkraft set with a Pottery Barn dishwasher for 140.00. So we stowed it away for Christmas.

A couple months passed and we went to my sisters and G loved playing with their set so I told Josh that we should really start looking for a more gender neutral set.

So about a month later I found another set. She had just posted the listing but had included no pictures so I called her and she said that she would send pictures and that I we could pick it up that night. I about died when I saw the pictures and it was the limited edition for 300.00 plus dishes!




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So then we decided to sell the pink set we ended up getting 275.00 for the pb pink dishwasher alone and 100.00 for the sink set. Needless to say we paid less than 75.00 for this set !! It took some work, but I guarantee it would be worth all of it Christmas morning when they see it. FYI- the refrigerator & oven both have a light in them, dishwasher makes a running sound and stove burners light up! Yes I have been playing
with it :-)

Recycled Christmas

Our children have been blessed to have many people in their lives that love them. We both come from big families and have lots of "adoptive" grandparents and Aunts/Uncles, with this being said they have been given lots of things, add having dual income parents, and a mom that loves bargains and the goodwill and garage sales... do I need to say more.

So they want for very little.

This year I wanted to keep Christmas on a budget, a tight budget, this is so simple to do when you are creative and plan ahead. I have a mental list of things we wanted to get them so I have been doing a ton of shopping on CL. I am happy to say that with the exception of a couple things that you cant find recycled, it have been a success. It has taken some work, Josh didnt necessary want to drive to Belleville after work to pick up some things, but when it saves you money my motto is you drive.

Needless to say I am super excited about Christmas. I cannot wait to see the looks on both of their faces.

We have several close friends having major health issues so the more we can save, the more we can help :-) One thing I have been reminded of lately is that life is really short and I never want to take things for granted.

Happy Halloween!

"I liked trick or treating. It makes me super super super happy. It was very cool. I liked saying trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat. You get to say Trick or treat, Happy Halloween, Thank youuu!" -Gideon



Our Strawberry Fairy



Our Spooooky Ghost!

Happy Halloween!

We love fall!

We have been busy but wanted to post some recent pictures.




-So it didn't turn out like the picture, but it was so much fun making.




Tonight while daddy was gaming we has a dinner party! It was a great night.




Today G woke up early from his nap I thought it was a great time to make the pumpkin cake while sissy was sleeping, while I was getting everything ready he disappeared apparently he wasn't quite ready!




Grandma got new chairs! Perfect!