Is this the cutest picture you've ever seem?

Yes. It. Is.

Birthday Party Fun!

Tucker's friend Max (well, our friends Amber and Kevin's little boy Max :), had his 1st birthday party today and it was at a fun play place called Rolly Pollies! Tucker played in the foam pit, in the moon bounce, and of course, he was mostly entertained playing with all the balls! Big ones, small ones, and really BIG ones! He was in heaven! It all ended with a yummy cupcake...Tucker liked it so much that he was literally licking the plate clean!

Happy Birthday Max! Thanks for inviting us to the party and hopefully we'll have a play date soon!

Like Mama, Like Son...

Out with the Old...

Well, Tennessee and ECU don't get put in the same categories that often, but this week they were when both of our coaches decided to move on to other teams. There's been a little more obsession with one of these over the other...but hopefully the change will be good for both schools! Tennessee named their new coach--Derek Dooley and we're still waiting to hear on the new ECU coach... Skip, we'll miss you and appreciate all you've done for ECU! Lane, not sure you're going to be missed around here...my husband and his friends are a little protective of their alma mater...

GO VOLS and GO PIRATES!

T-Pained

Weekend Happenings..

"Place"

We did some recent "refresher" training with Grey and one of the new things we've been teaching her is "place". Her "place" is on top of the ottoman (this is taking the place of our coffee table for now since it's not sharp on the edges :), and although she is "getting it", sometimes she just gets on top of the piece of furniture she's closest to... Today, that happened to be Tucker's chair! It was quite the site and I was able to get pictures before she realized she didn't so much fit in the kiddie chair.

We went to visit the Wheatleys yesterday and it was the first time Tucker had seen Baby Carter! He didn't seem to be too jealous of me holding him... Seeing this picture is great perspective of how quickly 15 months goes by!

In the car last night, Lady GaGa came on...all of a sudden, Tucker was dancing to Poker Face! He dances a lot now whenever music comes on, but I've never seen him do it in his car seat! He was clapping...raising the roof...it was a total car dance party! I happened to have my camera so here are some "in motion" pictures!

Despite the freezing cold temperatures,

we had a great weekend! I love the "slowness" this winter time of year brings...

A few deals for your Saturday...

GOOD NEWS...The Pioneer Woman Cookbook is a great price on Amazon right now... you can get it for $11.50, instead of the regular price of $27.50! If you don't know who the Pioneer Woman is, meet her here! She is FULL of talent and especially yummy recipes!

You can get a great deal on personalized stationary here at Expressionary.com. Use code MADNESS at checkout for free shipping and to take an extra 70% off!! They have stationary on sale up to 70% off so you can really find some good deals! Some of it isn't cute at all...but for so cheap, you can find something that will work! And be patient--the site is very slow. I ordered the stationary above for myself...

Get a FREE 20 page 8×8 hard cover photo book from Shutterfly with the coupon code JANBOOK. As Shutterfly has shown in the past, you have to receive the code through an email, so you need to sign up to receive email from them. This code expires on 1/13.

FREE MUSIC from Biggest Loser Soundtrack! Click Here to download the 12 song download mix! Here are the songs (they're all like a re-mix):

Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis

American Boy – Estelle

Umbrella – Rihanna

Stronger – Kanye West

4 Minutes – Madonna

Love Story – Taylor Swift

No Surprise – Daughtry

Sugar – Flo Rida

Paparazzi – Lady GaGa

When I Grow Up – The P.Cat Dolls

Second Chance – Shinedown

Damaged – Danity Kane

Thanks Frugal Coupon Living and My Frugal Adventures!

Savings at the Teeter

I had a pretty good day at Harris Teeter with the super doubles! I spent$42.14. and saved $69.64! So, I got $111.78 worth of groceries for just $42.14! I got about 8 things free (including wholly guacamole, special K bars, uncle ben's rice, and a few more!) and several things for under a dollar! This will be available through Tuesday so get out and save!

Tucker Monthly

Tucker is 15 months old today! We just got back from his 15 month appt and he's perfectly healthy! He is 27 lbs (75% percentile) and 32 1/4 in long (90%). You can tell he's starting to thin out now that he's getting more active! They did some blood work too (since he's well) to see how it compared to his blood work a few months ago and fortunately, it all looked really great! He is a little borderline anemic so we'll continue giving him the iron supplement and hopefully that will get back to normal.

Other than that, he is feeling every bit of a toddler these days...

He's walking everywhere! He still reverts to the comfortable crawl every now and then, but it seems like he's "choosing" to walk more than crawl more and more!

He's a professional "skyper"... Over the last few weeks, everyone in our families got skype and web cams so Tucker can start communicating better over the distance. He has had fun seeing people through the computer and he actually said "GiGi" (my mom) for the first time while skyping yesterday!

He's also saying a few more things... He's OBSESSED with balls! Everything round is a ball ,which may deter him from saying a lot of new words... for example, an orange will never be an orange--it's a ball! He has started say "gey" for Grey and he still says Mama and Dady...other than that, he says A LOT of things, we just don't know what it all means yet :) He also really loves ELMO. Elmo on TV...his Elmo telephone...his Elmo remote...his talking Elmo...finding Elmo in the Sesame Street books... It's all about the Elmo!

Tucker has 16 teeth! He has gotten all of his 1-month molars and most recently, ALL 4 incisors... I'm SO thankful he won't be getting teeth for several months since the next ones will be his 2-year molars... teething has been a beast for him!

The temper tantrums have begun... His latest thing is laying down and banging his forehead on the floor when he's mad--I know it sounds awful but I was assured by a few friends that this is very normal behavior for this age...especially for boys! I guess this is when we will find out how strong-willed my child is :)

Tucker is only taking one nap as of the last few weeks, going to bed after lunch and sleeping 2-3 hours (hopefully 3!). The mornings are a little challenging with keeping him entertained but this week we've had some fun play dates and hopefully we'll find some more regular things to do to fill that time!

Check out his 1st tattoo! He came home with this after hanging out with the Gibbs on Tuesday!

Super Doubles!

Go to a Harris Teeter near you tomorrow for SUPER DOUBLES! They will be doubling coupons up to $1.98 (they usually only double them up to .99)--so a $1.50 coupon will end up being $3 off! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!! Check out this link from My Frugal Adventures and she gives you a link to a good list of items you can get free or cheap with coupons as well as a few links for printable coupons for all of you who don't clip coupons regularly (shame on you :)...

Good luck!

Happy New Decade!

It is hard to believe that we've crossed over to a new decade...especially one that we have to call twenty-ten! The start of a new year always causes reflection for me, but the start of the decade, even more so. My friend Lauren had the great idea of looking back at what they were doing over the last 10 years, so I'm going to copy her :) Enjoy a look back on our decade (and the funny pictures of us 10 years ago!)...

Brad and his college roommates...Blake Goodfellow, Patty Gray, and Michael Purifoy!

Stacy Marshall Davis, Charlie Heritage, and me... on our summer camp trip with high school folks to Crooked Creek!

2000... I was 19 and in my sophomore/junior years at ECU, studying Elementary Education. I had an amazing summer working and doing a Young Life discipleship program in Branson, MO. Brad was 21 and in his junior/senior year at UT....busy as an engineering major, doing an internship with SeaRay and being a Young Life leader at Fulton High School.

2001...Junior/Senior years of college for me...I was on Student Staff with Young Life and helping start ministry at Farmville High School. Brad graduated from UT after 5 years and moved to Winston Salem where he started working for Lowe's.

2002...I graduated college in May and started working for Young Life in Charlotte! It was my first year not living in Greenville and the beginning of some dear friendships that would last for many years... Brad continued working, working, and working some more for Lowe's.

2003...I was still working for Young Life in Charlotte and doing ministry at Providence High School and Charlotte Country Day School... Brad moved to Huntersville when Lowe's moved their headquarters... We met in October when we were introduced by some mutual friends--the first night we met we saw the movie, Radio!

2004...This year started off with a bang when Brad and I officially started hanging out at a New Year's party that we both helped plan (but was his brainchild). We fell in love quickly over the next several weeks and months and got engaged in June. I left Young Life staff that summer and moved to Huntersville. I began working as a nanny for the Gibbs (4 boys) and the Lee's (1 boy, 2 girls). We bought our "first house" on Spruell St. and Brad lived there until we got married... Brad decided to leave his job with Lowe's that Fall and began working for/with my dad.

2005...This year also started off with a bang since we got married on January 1st! After taking our honeymoon to the Mayan Riviera, we settled into our house in Huntersville as well as our life... we made some of our lifelong best friends in this year and found great community at our church, Northcross. I continued working for the Gibbs and began working for the Merediths (3 girls-1 set of twins!) as well. We also began volunteering with Young Life by hanging out Davidson college leaders in our area.

2006...Life was much of the same... We traveled to Boston in the summer and Brad helped lead the charge of building our family mountain house near Blowing Rock, NC, which required him to be away from me most weeks towards the end of that year. We continued to help out with Young Life in our area and I began helping lead the girl leaders Small Group.

2007...I began solely working for the Gibbs after Taylor was diagnosed with Leukemia in January. I walked through quite a journey with them as Taylor fought cancer and for the most part, beat it well! Brad and I went on the trip of our life (or so far at least) to Italy, Paris, and London in the Fall. We also came on the Young Life committee this year.

2008...We had the crazy idea of getting a dog and the even crazier idea of getting pregnant a few weeks later! Due to pregnancy yuckies, I was no help with training, bathroom trips, or much of anything when it came to Grey! We put our house on the market, sold it 3 weeks later, and bought our "second house" on Spruell St! I was yet again not much help with that process since I was pregnant, but we made it and even had our friends, the Clarks, live with us for 3 weeks after we moved in while their new house was being remodeled! We also started going to our current church, Life Fellowship. I worked for the Gibbs right up until I had Tucker... He arrived in October and I do believe the last months of this year were a blur... Brad would like me to end this year by calling it the "year of the pregnant card".

2009...It's hard to remember what happened this year besides Tucker, Tucker, and more Tucker. This is a good reminder to take time for ourselves in the midst of being busy as parents! We did have a lot of great time with family this year since family is so excited to be around Tucker...we even made 2 long road trips to Missouri (wow is right)! We have continued to be involved with Young Life and I still enjoy helping lead the girls Small Group. I also started volunteering on the Women's Leadership Team at our church which has been a fun new role for me!

It is hard to believe we were still in our "teens" 10 years ago and even harder to believe that we'll almost have a teenager in the next 10! A lot happens in a decade and I'm excited when I think about all that will go on in this upcoming parents-of-young-kids-thirtysomethings-chaotic years...

CHEERS to 2010!

5 years of us...

6 years ago on this day, I was still giddy after hanging out with a fun new guy at a New Year's party...

5 years ago, I said yes to being his bride...

It's hard to believe we've already spent 5 years living together, laughing together, going through challenges together...getting a dog, having a baby, living in 2 houses, starting traditions, graduating from a queen to a king, making lots of new couple friends, arguing over who's right, traveling together, and just going through the daily grind together.

So thankful to be in this with you Brad...even though there are those moments when we can't believe we were "made for each other", I also can't imagine being created more perfectly for one another!

We have the unique gift of starting the New Year on our anniversary each year. Since the New Year is such a great time of reflection and looking forward, we are always reminded to take the time to talk about these things in our marriage. Tonight during our dinner date, we talked about our hopes for this year and even started a "bucket list" of things we hope to accomplish individually and as a family this year... I have great hope and anticipation of what this next year holds.

The beautiful thing I'm learning about marriage is this... It's all about the process, and it doesn't come quick or easy... Hoping for strength and courage to enjoy all the steps along the way!

Holidays with Friends

Yesterday, Brad went to the Tennessee bowl game in Atlanta (I decided I would start the New Year off with some good wife points) so I was planning on hanging low with Tucker for New Year's Eve. It was such a fun surprise when I found out my friend Jen and her little boy had to come into town for something (without her husband as well) and needed a place to stay! So, we spent the afternoon with our other college friend Rebecca and her family and then Jen and I ended up at home with our boys for the night--Micah is just 3 months younger than Tucker! We tucked them in, put on our comfies, turned on a girly movie, and talked the night away. What a sweet way to ring in the new year!

Us with Rebecca and Luke and Jen and Micah

(P.S. Rebecca just found out she is expecting another little boy in May! By May, between the 5 of us college girlfriends, we will have FIVE boys! Guess we already had enough estrogen in this group :)

Tucker and Micah!

Hard at work together...

Last week, I also had my annual get together with some of my old Young Life girls...now that they're all working in the real world, it's a little harder to find a day that works for everyone, but it was great to visit with a few of them! I met these girls when they were 15 and I was 21... EIGHT years later, I'm so thankful to call them my friends! Love you girls!

Cameron, Melanie, and Madalyn!

And finally, it was fun to see some friends while we were in Missouri... we don't have pictures of everyone, but we did get a picture with Jim, Rose, and Adrian--Jim was like a brother to Brad growing up and it's fun to see them when we're in town at the same time! Rose is expecting a little girl in a few months! Great to see you guys!

So thankful for this time of year that seems to allow for seeing old friends!