Lincoln and Anna and new words

Click here to see a picture of Lincoln and his friend Anna. It is really fun watching him interact with other kids. Don't let this scene fool you though. Five seconds into it, Lincoln needed his own space and "scooted" Anna over!

Today we had lunch with my Dad and as we were leaving Lincoln said "Bye Memer". So cute. Here are a few more of the words he is saying these days. He is transitioning away from his sign language and using the real word. I miss his little signs, though.

Bite
Eggs
Cheese
Juice
Orange
Please (sounds more like Plas)
More
Elmo (sounds like El-mewwwwwwwwww)
Help
Out
Mine
No no
Gigi (sounds like ga ga)

Divine Consign

Divine Consign is just around the corner. I went to my first DC sale when Lincoln was just a few weeks old. This is a HUGE baby and kids consignment sale at the Plano Center. Check out their website for dates and times and mark your calendar. You won't want to miss it. First time Mom's get to shop early, so if that's you make sure you sign up for early shopping. Happy Shopping!

Welcome Garrett!

Heath and Carla were some of the first friends we made at Cottonwood Creek Baptist Church. We've known them a little over 2 years. Friday afternoon, Carla delivered baby Garrett at only 25 weeks. You can read more about this little miracle on Carla's blog. If you get a chance, stop by and read about baby Garrett and add him to your prayer list along with Heath and Carla. I know they would appreciate your thoughts and prayers. This is a super sweet family who is now a family of three!

Park time

We had gorgeous weather yesterday, so Lincoln and I met up with Connor and Megan for a walk and some play time at the park. Lincoln loves playing with Connor and they always end their playtime with a high five. Connor is one of Lincoln's favorite friends.

Sliding

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I own this playground!

No, seriously, Get Down!

Weekly Shopping Trip

Wednesday is my weekly shopping day. After reading Money Saving Mom's blog, I decided to do my shopping at Kroger this week, rather than my usual trip to Super Wal Mart. Here is a picture of what I bought. My total was about $66, but after an in-store rebate and my stack of coupons, I left paying $36. Combined with some staples already in the pantry and some fruit I bought at Sprouts last weekend, this will last us until my shopping trip next Wednesday.

And for the record...the Cap'n Crunch is for Ryan, but I admit the Tollhouse cookie dough is for me:) If you think coupons don't add up, they saved me over $20 this trip.

Score!

If you see me and you notice my moisturized, wrinkle-free skin and super lush lashes, it is because I scored some HUGE freebies today.

To make a long story short, a civil suit against major department stores was settled and part of the ruling required soem major cosmetic companies to dole out 175 million dollars in free merchandise. The freebies had to be full-sized, current items that will not be discontinued anytime soon, among other stipulations. So, check out what I got after a quick trip to Stonebriar Mall's Macy's, Dillard's and Nordstrom this morning.

That's a Clinique Moisture Surge, Lancome Mascara and Lancome Cell Defense Moisturizer. I actually got 2 of those because my sweet husband went to the Neimen's in his building. Hooray for pretty skin!

Out with Mommy

Yesterday, as I was lovingly correcting and consistently redirecting my adorable, yet strong-willed child from taking his milk cup onto the carpet, (for the millionth time I might add), he looked me right in the eyes with a pleading sense of urgency and hollered....

"My-y-y-y-y-y Da-a-a-a-a-ddy"

I guess it's out with Mommy and onto Daddy. So much for being a mama's boy.

Woohoo!

American Idol starts tonight...yippee! This time last year Lincoln was only 4 months old, it's hard to believe he's old enough to be a part of 2 Idol seasons!

Fightin' Texas Aggies

There are a million reasons why I am so proud to be an alumnus of Texas A&M University. Those of you who haven't experienced the excitement of Aggieland and the spoken and unspoken kinship we share with other Aggies won't understand, so I won't bother with an explanation (outsiders not "getting it" is part of the aforementioned reasons). I can now add this to my already growing Why I Love Being an Aggie list.

Texas A&M University now ranks No. 1 in "Smart Money" magazine's national ratings for "payback ratio"—the earnings levels of an institution's graduates compared to what they paid in tuition, fees and related costs for their undergraduate educations.

In other words, Harvard Smarvard. Even though other colleges charge much more in tuition, Aggie grads will make high salaries.

You can read the story here.

Can I get a Whoop!

Mmmm, water

Lincoln loves playing with the running water and I guess he got thirsty, so he got creative! I guess it's better than trying to drink the bath water, which he has tried to do.

Cha-ching

Since I started shopping at CVS in July I have racked up some pretty impressive totals! You can download a free spreadsheet here. Here is what I spent/saved just 5 months.

Total value of merchandise: $1,116.16

Total spent out of pocket: $94.92

Resolutions

It's been years since I've made formal New Year's Resolutions. Since I am a planner, a list maker and detailed oriented by nature, I'm always looking for ways to make things bigger or better. Early last year, I did decide to make some "green" changes and I realized this week that I have done a really good job. Here are some of the changes our family has made.

*We take reusable shopping bags to the grocery store, Target, the mall, etc.
*We haven't bought paper plates all year (except for the few parties we hosted).
*We recycle significantly more than we throw away.
*We stopped buying bottled water sometime around March.
*The last time I bought paper towels, was an 8 pack at Costco sometime in February. We are still working on that same pack. We use dish towels instead.

I know there are bigger problems and better ways to exert energy, but for us, these changes have been natural and easy to implement. Plus, you'd be suprised how much you can save by not buying bottled water, paper plates and paper towels. It really adds up!

Our second change involved the TV. After Lincoln was born, we decided not to have the TV on when Lincoln was awake. We really, really stuck to it and in fact, Ryan was more disciplined than me. Once Lincoln was in bed for the night, we would watch our shows, American Idol, The Office, Prison Break and a few other favorites. The biggest change was not having the constant sound of the TV in the background. Back in November, we introduced Lincoln to Sesame Street, he was about 14 months old. He loves to watch Elmo, but only for the first 10-15 mintues. He gets bored. So, several times a week he gets an Elmo fix and the rest of the time the TV is off. It's made a big difference for Ryan and I and I hope it will have a positive effect on Lincoln. (Oh, I will confess that if the Aggies or Cowboys were playing on TV, we had that on, asleep or not!)

We'll see what changes are in store for the Blakes in 2009. Happy New Year!

16 months

Lincoln is 16 months old today. He woke up in a great mood and as I was changing his diaper, I handed him a metal A&M decal that we have decorating his room. I said Lincoln, "we love the Aggies". He looked right at me and said Aggies as plain as day! Whoop!

Hooray for the proudest member of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2030.

My My My

Lincoln has figured out how to put a few words together. His favorite phrase is "my dada, my dada, my mama, my mama". It's always combined. Everything is "my ___" these days. My night night (blanket), my ball, etc.

His other new trick is signing multiple signs. Today he looked right at Ryan and signed "more crackers please". So cute.

Finally, he says "I love you" to us when we say it to him. But, he will now come up and kiss us unsolicited and give us the sign for love. It's the sweetest thing he does. If I can catch it on video, I"ll try to post it.

Happy New Year!