Decorating 101

Let me preface with a disclaimer...this being our first home, any decorating we do is sporadic and on a budget.

We'd like to do some window treatments for our sliding glass door and bay window (I'd love to sew a cushion for the window seat). Do I coordinate with the green couches in the living room? The fireplace in the living room is blue. There is blue in the flooring and backsplash. What color curtains would you suggest then? The walls are brown so I think any additional brown would be too drab. Also, the front window curtains seem unfinished. Any ideas?

The walls are lacking. I find it difficult to add one piece at a time because I'm afraid it will make the room off center. I guess it'd be better than the blank canvas it currently is. lol

Here are some photos to give you an idea of the layout and current state of things.

Henry

Here are a few pictures of the little guy. He is grinning and gurgling. I appreciate his 4-6 hour stretches of sleep at night. His hair has a light auburn coloring to it. I've noticed he really takes an interest in Bruce. As much as a 6 week old can, of course. I imagine it's gonna be like that for a long time, little brother looking up to big brother. On that front, Bruce has his sweet moments where he will actually talk to him (hooray!). Unfortunately he is still intentionally rough too.

It never fails, if Henry is in the baby carrier he falls asleep. I do enjoy how he'll stare at me until he does. I realized today that he is due for some nail clipping.

Gotta Love Him

Can't resist taking a picture of a sleeping Bruce. It seems like I take one every other month!

Where's the Construction Site?

This boy loves his construction vehicles, make that any vehicle! When we're driving he is always quick to point out whatever he sees. I didn't realize there were so many diggers and dump trucks out there! Kirk and Bruce were going to another room to play and I spied Bruce walking past with his handful of vehicles.

Month in Review

Here's a recap of the last month's events....

He's Here

Had lots of help, thanks to my moms!


Big Brother isn't sure he likes this new addition. I bribed him with a cookie so I could take some pictures.
Christmas was just the four of us.


I found a steal on a turkey around Thanksgiving and saved it for us for Christmas. This was a big deal...thanks to a new roaster, an oven bag, and some teamwork we had a wonderful Christmas dinner!


He was blessed at church.

Final Days

Excitement, nervousness, anticipation, aches....just a few of the feelings I'm having about the big event on Friday. We'll post more then!

BRUC-E and the Wiggles

Bruce loves watching Wall-E, he asks about it every day. That fact, in addition to the cute phrase he says, "I am a robot...doot, doot, doot, doot," was the deciding factor in making him a robot costume. We didn't think that he'd dislike the costume, but there was some hesitancy in putting it on. I had to entice him with promises of candy if he wore it. It worked and we enjoyed some trick or treating at Kirk's work, a church trunk or treat, and going around our neighborhood. Thanks to Kirk's co-worker he got to dress up as well.

Weekly Deals

Hy-Vee
General Mills Cereal
There is a coupon in their ad (you can pick up one in the store) on cereal if you buy 6 boxes you'll get $10 taken off immediately and a $6 off your next purchase coupon prints out. The cereal I purchased ranged from $3.89 for the Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms to $4.59 for the Honey Nut Cheerios. Not necessarily cheap for cereal, but it ends up being cheaper than what I pay at Aldi. And I had some manufacturer coupons (of course I did) to take off even more. Here's how it worked...

Cinnamon Toast Crunch 3.89
Cinnamon Toast Crunch 3.89
Cinnamon Toast Crunch 3.89
Lucky Charms 3.89
Honey Nut Cheerios 4.59
Honey Nut Cheerios 4.59

Total: $24.74 - $10 Hy-Vee coupon = $14.74
Less $2.55 in coupons = $12.19

I paid $12.19 for 6 boxes of cereal, received a $6 Hy-Vee coupon good on my next purchase, and will get one free movie ticket because I purchased the specially marked box. Look out for those if you do this deal. Unfortunately I only found the Honey Nut Cheerios with this promo.

Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls (ends today....sorry, just read about it and tried it successfully today)
They have the smaller sizes on sale for 10/$10...let's just say $1 each. If you buy 6 a $4 off coupon prints off that is good on your next purchase. I've seen the coupons for $1 off when you buy 3 located right next to these in most of the Hy-Vee stores I've been in. There are also some printable coupons out there that work for this. Here's how it worked...

5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00
5 count Cinnamon Rolls $1.00

Total: $6
Less $2.55 in coupons I had = $3.45

I paid $3.45 and received a $4 Hy-Vee coupon good on my next purchase. So I basically made $.55.

Here is the forum I check out for these good deals.

Weekly Deals

If you're not interested in going all in with this couponing thing, Coupons.com gives you 100+ printable coupons to choose from and hopefully you can find one for a product you use. Type in your zip code and get started. Right now there is a free sandwich, wrap, or salad coupon from QT. Also, those Playskool toy coupons that I mentioned last week.

Skippy Peanut Butter
Kansas City Penny Pinchin Mama has some info about snagging it at Target for $.39. I plan on going to Walgreens next week to buy Skippy Peanut Butter. They are on sale 3 for $5 and when you buy 8 jars you get $8 in register rewards, it's like Walgreens cash to use on your next purchase.

A Weekend to Celebrate

Our little guy turned 2 and is doing amazing things. He loves dump trucks, construction equipment, emergency vehicles, hammers, shovels, and flashlights. Those are the types of books he picks out at the library. With some reminding will say please and thank you. He enjoys reading and counting, he'll count up to 9 (whether that's intelligence or a good memory, we're not sure :P). He also is quick to express his frustration with being told no and is familiar with time out. He wakes up around 7 am, naps for 3 hours in the afternoon, and usually falls asleep around 9 pm though he's put to bed at 8 pm. At times he eats more than we do and usually goes for the fruits and vegetables before anything else, unless there are chips on his plate..he loves chips.



With Bruce's birthday being on the 3rd we spread the celebrations out over the whole weekend in between listening to General Conference. It appears that he was very excited over the money he received in a birthday card.


And the cake. It's amazing what you can find on the internet.