Saving for Christmas

We are a family of four on a tight budget. I coupon, shop sales and clearance, and set a budget for everything. And I always try to come in below the budget amount. I also take online surveys to help bring in extra cash for stuff. So I started late this year as a test run for next year. I want to earn all of our Christmas spending budget by surveys, saving change, rebates, and gift cards. 

Let  me explain how this happened. I follow a blog called Couponing to Disney.  Its all about this mom of 2 and how she saves for their families annual trip to Disney World. I love her blog. She is always posting the best deals. I got a couple of friends to follow her too. But its so inspiring to see how she does this. I thought I want to do this but I want to start small. So how about Christmas. This blogger can save $3000 in a little over a year, I want to save about $500-$600 in a year. So starting January 1st is when I will kick off this huge Saving for Christmas 2012 campaign. I want to show you where I am at this year since I just started in Sept.

Right now, I have $138.31 in various cash flows that I will break down for you in a little bit. This is just from Sept. and Oct. alone.

So here is the break down.
$40 in Paypal cash that I will transfer to our checking account from various survey sights
$20 in Amazon gift cards from another survey sight
$10 in Target gift cards from another survey sight
$35 for carrying a cell phone around and recording my snack intake for 2 weeks from another survey sight.
$5 cash/check from another survey sight.

So right now we are at $110 for surveys in two months

Now we have $7.48 in spare change (I pay in cash and never use the change but save it)
And another $3.60 for recycling cans (we don't drink a lot of soda and we already traded in a couple times this year)
$17. 23 in various gift cards that I can use towards Christmas gifts.

So that totals $138.31 in two months. I may earn a little more before Christmas but it can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks for some things to come in. I do have some rebates that may come in but I may or may not use them this year.

I hope to share this with you every month next year on my progress.

Nathan is a Big Boy now!

At the park riding his bike!

With Nathan turning 3 its that time again that I go through all the new things he has learned this past year. First of all, my kid is amazing. I love his positive outlook on everything. And the way he encourages every one he is around.  So  I thought I would do a run down of last year and the awesome development of Nathan.

• He didn't really start talking until he turned 2. But with that came full on sentences!!!!
• He can count to 20
• He knows his ABCs
• He can recognize shapes and colors
• He can trace his name and other letters
• He has learned how to play hide and seek, candy land and memory
• He knows how to ride his tricycle
• He can sing his favorite songs from memory
• He is the greatest big brother around
• he can build sand castles
• he can swing and hit a ball with a bat
• he helps with baking
• he can paint
• and he is learning but not great at coloring inside the lines of pictures
• and his imagination has finally blossomed and I love how he makes everything fly, jump or race. 

I can't wait to see what this next year brings as we start with simple preschool lessons at home.

Just wanted to throw one in of Zachary

Helping Zachary with Tummy Time by giving him kisses

Wow! Its been a while.



Nathan playing Angry Birds on Joel's phone.

 Life has kind of taken over since I have had Zachary. I have started subbing again and getting back into the routine. However with an early start time my mornings are rushed and unbelievably crazy. But I love the paycheck again! Zachary is a tank! I can't even get my whole hand around his thighs. There is still an inch or more of space between my thumb and my middle finger! He is just 2 months and in 3-6 month clothing! Nathan is awesome. Energetic but so sweet and loving. But still not interested in potty training. No matter the bribe! L-A-M-E. Joel is good as well. Working like crazy and back to school is quieting down, holiday season is fast approaching. Which means we will never see Joel.

Along with all of that we just had some friends in town. It was wonderful to spend 3 full days with family and friends and do absolutely nothing. Kelly and Sheldon make life so easy and stress free. I wish we lived closer. That is life right now. Joel is working, when he is not working, I am working and the boys are growing.



Kelly and Sheldon with Zachary!



IT'S HOT IN ARIZONA!

In May we had this beautiful weather. I couldn't believe it. No matter how hard the weather tried it couldn't get into the 90s. That is not normal for AZ. Especially Tucson AZ. I was dreading this summer with being pregnant and chasing a toddler and trying to keep life normal, but May was gorgeous and made life a little easier. However, June came and with it we said goodbye to the 80 degree weather and we never saw the 90s. It went straight to the 100s! Y-U-C-K!

I bring that all up because I am miserable. I usually handle the heat fairly well. But this year with 26 extra pounds all in front of me I hate the heat. I can barely breath and I can barely get things done. But I am so looking forward to the phase of this summer when we finally get to meet Zachary!

Nathan has finally gotten past this terrible twos things! Thankfully in time for a little brother. And with it I have been met with an unbelievably compassionate son! I can't believe how much he cares for my well being. He is gentle and sweet. He cuddles and hugs. He never complains that I can't run or do stink bug rolls or jump on the bed with him. He asks if he can walk in the grocery store but when I say no not today, he says "ok mommy, when Zachary comes out of your tummy". Even his sleeping has changed but his happy attitude has not. He doesn't get cranky when he is tired, he now gets loopy. And just starts to giggle like crazy at nothing at all. I am loving this improved child of mine. The Lord has blessed us with a child that is easy going at the right time!!!! I believe with all my heart that God did this to help ease the pressure of being pregnant right now.

Joel is doing really well. Work is crazy right now with a remodel but his improvements as a manager has been noticed. Now we prayerfully hope that with that acknowledgement will come the pay raise. Our goal is for me to not to have to substitute teach to help make ends meet. And we our hoping that goal can happen by next April if not sooner! Joel is trying to survive the remodel at work and we are actually seeing the birth of Zachary as a two week vacation from the remodel and the crazy long hours that Joel has been putting in. He will go back to work and there will only be about a week left of the remodel!!! That's going to be nice.

We are hosting a small group at our house this summer. We did it in the spring and loved it. I hope we can continue to serve in this way for a while. I love how the Lord is moving in people's lives. Including ours.

Sorry there are no pictures, just an update.

May was busy!!!

I hate that whenever I go some where special I stink at taking pictures. But I have a few to show of my busy week in May. One of my awesome friends (Kelly Jarvis) got married and she asked me to stand up with her as a bridesmaid. I was completely honored to be there for her. She was the last of my college roommates to get married and I was able to stand up as a bridesmaid for every one! It was so special. I cried my eyes out. I loved being able to spend time with her and talk about her special day and all the stuff that was going to take place and dream with her about how awesome her marriage would be.

Getting our nails done the day before the big day and having a lot of girl talk!

We also spent some time with Joel's 96 year old grandma. She is amazing! I mean it. She still teaching Bible Study, plays piano for worship services and does a whole bunch of other awesome things. And Nathan loved her! She did treat us to McDonalds so I am guessing that's part of the reason for the love! :) We talk about his Ama so much that Nathan felt right at home with her. It was a truly special time.

Not the best photo but trying to get a toddler and timer to work together is hard!

It was also my 30th birthday while we were in CA. We stayed with my sister and spent a lot of time with them just hanging out. Nathan loves them. Especially Ethan who was always ready and willing to go swimming with Nathan. I love spending time with my sister. And she and my mom joined us for dinner at Chilis that night to celebrate. Although Nathan was exhausted and melt down city occurred so not that enjoyable but it was good to see my mom.

We also ended out trip with a night in Scottsdale to celebrate Joel's youngest brother's college graduation. And we got to see some cousins that were in town along with Nathan's other great grandmother that was in town for the graduation too. Whenever we go some where spending time with family is always our priority and we got to do that in abundance. It was a tiring (for being 8 weeks away from my due date at the time) but wonderfully special trip. So glad we did it!

One of my main reasons for wanting to be a Stay At Home Mom full time!

I love subbing. I also love doing childcare. I love that at this moment both are part time. I also love that at some point both of these things will be out of desire and not necessity. Joel and I are working towards that goal to be reality. And we are hoping for it to happen in the next 12 months.

But something hit me today that made me want it all the more sooner. I was sitting on the couch researching out our (hopefully) annual vacation. When Nathan woke up from his nap. Nathan wakes up differently each day from his nap. But one thing is always the same. He needs a good 30 minutes to be fully awake from his nap. During that time, I usually put in a little video and give him some strawberry milk and we sit and cuddle and talk on the couch. Today was a little different. I went into Nathan's room and found him sitting on his floor in the dark hugging his stuffed animals just waiting for me. He had no desire to leave his room so I just sat in the rocker and put him in my lap.

We were rocking for a good 10 minutes when I asked him if he was ready to go have some milk. All he did was turn around give me a hug and laid down against me. Not in any hurry to go to the living room. So we rocked for a good 30 minutes and just cuddled. This is the reason I love staying at home.

We had no where to go. Nothing to do. There was no rush. We were able to just sit and cuddle for as long as he wanted. I love that about our life. We are never in any rush. We play cars, trains, read books, race, build sand castles, color, play with playdough, take a bath, etc. all with no rush.

I know that when school starts and I need to get lunches ready, backpacks organized, and kids taken to school things will get crazy, but for right now I am enjoying the life of going with the flow.

Its Almost April

The time has flown! I realized that I have 3 months to go before giving birth. So not ready. Plus, with the waiting arrival of baby #2 I still have two trips to CA in the works and lots of cleaning, organizing and planning to do.

Joel's schedule at work is about to get crazy as well because of a super big remodel that is taking place in his department. Have you noticed produce sections coming to all your near by Targets? Yup, that's Joel's department. So he is getting prepared for being in charge of a whole new section.

Nathan is great. Except for the normal 2 year fits we get with his new found opinions! But his vocabulary astounds us daily since he barely said 10 words at his 2nd birthday! But now we get full fledge sentences 5 months later! We love it. Potty training is pretty much non existent right now because we are too tired to put the effort into it. But I have a feeling Mr. Nathan will be getting big boy underwear in his Easter basket! :)

And I am doing good. Getting more and more excited about another little baby in the house. But also enjoying my time when I get to work. Its been really nice to not to have to sub as much as I did but also when I do sub, I don't pay a sitter. That has been a really blessing! The Lord has been providing the jobs when needed and that has been wonderful.

Ok, its been a while so I just wanted to give every one an update on our lives. Not much going on but I couldn't believe how fast the time is going!