Old Navy Sale this weekend!

From Friday to Sunday, EVERYTHING at Old Navy will be 30% off! I love to find great deals on kid clothes there! Good luck!

Organic Produce Cheat Sheet

In trying to buy more organic stuff but not being able to afford to go all organic, I'm always wondering what should be the priority when I'm at the store. I just found this awesome cheat sheet for produce and thought I'd pass it on! Click here if you want to print it and have a wallet-size copy to take to the store!

Thanks Mambo Sprouts!

Ice Cream Deals coming up...

Head over to your local participating Baskin Robbins Wednesday evening (April 28th) from 5 PM – 10 PM. It is $.31 Scoop Night. Baskin Robbins will also be donating $100,000 to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

All moms can stop by and get a free frozen yogurt at TCBY on Mother’s Day! I wish we had one close by!The majority of stores usually participate in this offer but I would call ahead just to be sure. Find a location near you HERE.

18 Months and Smitten

Sharon came into town for a wedding this past weekend and I managed to have her take 18 month pictures of Tucker :) I can't wait to share more but these were just a few she took with her Iphone! Will share more soon! Thank you SHARON...It was nice to pretend you hadn't left :)

Big Boy Hair

Tucker got his 2nd big boy haircut this weekend and although they did a good job, it makes him look so old!!! It's becoming a little tradition for Brad to take him to Sportsclips and with Tucker's love for balls, you can imagine he's easily entertained there!

In this series of pictures, Tucker is playing the "Where's Grey" game. He throws his hands up in the air whenever anyone leaves the room these days and it's so cute! He gets really excited when they come back and since Grey's all over the house, we play this game often right now :)

Life is pretty fun right now :)

And the garden is planted...

Last week, we had our dirt brought in for the garden!

The last few days, we have been getting our vegetables in the ground! We are growing:

cherry tomatoes

bigger tomatoes

zucchini

watermelon

cucumbers

romaine lettuce

bell peppers

cayenne peppers

And we're doing the herbs in the hanging baskets with coconut liners again...

cilantro

parsley

basil

rosemary

thyme

dill

chives

Tucker is very curious about the garden... He's been discovering the caterpillars and he loves to pick them up!

This is definitely an experiment since last year we only grew tomatoes and herbs, so we'll learn as we go and share tips along the way! We'll make sure to update with pictures!

Watch FOOD, INC on PBS tonight!

PBS is showing Food, Inc. tonight. Check your local listings for times...

You NEED to watch this movie... It is so informative on the food we eat, where it comes from, food you shouldn't eat, etc. You will not regret it!

View from the Kitchen

This is my view from the kitchen right now... And this is my content, independently playing child that's perfectly happy because he's playing on the screened in porch, which is OUTSIDE (I could do a whole post on why I'm thankful for the screened in porch!)! If you could see a picture of me right now, you would see a very big smile on my face :)

There are so many days in the beginning of being a mom where you can never imagine that you'll have a break...where you won't constantly have a baby attached to you (literally), or that you can actually cook dinner or vacuum while the child is awake. I'm so thankful for this stage that Tucker is becoming more and more self-sufficient! He definitely has plenty of whiny-stuck to mommy's leg-drive me crazy moments, but for this moment today, I'll be thankful...

Hang in there all you new moms...I promise it will happen!

FREE Country Music

Head over to People HERE for a FREE Country Playlist (that you can upload to Itunes).

Uncle Andy

Brad's brother came into town on business for a few days and got to stay with us... Tucker had fun showing him all his toys! It was fun to have you in town Andy!

Tis the Season of the Orange Brownies

These orange brownies are craved around here in the Spring/Summer season! Courtesy of Paula Deen, I have been making these the last few years and I can't wait to have them tonight! It is a fairly easy recipe but you do need one of these to make it easier...

A microplane zester!

Enjoy the recipe!

(you can click on the recipe card to make it bigger...)

It all makes sense now...

Brad's mom emailed me this morning after the post on Tucker's stats yesterday. She looked in Brad's baby book and at 18 months, Brad was 27 pounds (almost 3 pounds lighter) but almost the exact same height at 34 1/2 inches! Now I can finally explain where Tucker gets his height from!

FREE coffee at Starbucks on Thursday!

Head over to Starbucks on Thursday with your reusable coffee cup. Whoever brings in their own coffee cup from home gets a cup of FREE coffee. More details HERE.

How Big is Tucker?

SOOOOOO Big :)

We went it for Tucker's 18 month appt today and he was in the 90% percentile for height and 90% for weight!

At 29.6 lbs and 34 inches, he gained about 2 lbs and grew 2 inches since his 15 month appt. He is almost 3 feet tall! Let's just say our boy is in perfect health :)

This picture was taken a few days ago when I found Tucker just like this on the screened in porch...building his first fort :) That's a milestone in a boy's life, right?

18 months old!

...or 1 1/2 yrs old! I actually feel like I can start saying that now instead of always saying "months"! Tucker is such a big boy! It is hard to believe that we have been parents for a year and a half now and life has never been the same!

At 18 months...

*He loves to copy things we do! Vaccuming, sweeping, petting Grey... the most recent one happened a few minutes ago when Brad took my "neck exercise thingy" (looks like a pool noodle) and said "Tucker, look" and hit me on the back. Tucker proceeds to take the noodle from him and come over to me repeatedly to hit me on the back. Awesome. Abusive parent produces abusive child. :)

*He runs...everywhere! Walking is a thing of the past and he gets his whole body into it, causing him to trip often!

*He LOVES Grey and all dogs actually. He pets Grey all the time, tries to lay down with her, an loves to throw tennis balls for her to catch!

*He loves to be outside...his clothes and every inch of his body has been covered in pollen this week! He loves the park and is not scared at all of the slides which is really fun!

*He is talking more and more but he's honestly not saying too many really clear words. He is so expressive though, seems to understand everything we ask him to do, and is great at pointing out objects. The words are bound to come anytime :)

*He eats like a horse...literally. Some meals, he eats as much as me and for breakfast, he's known to eat a whole banana, a whole egg, a piece of toast, and a piece of sausage. He's growing and I'm pretty sure he's bigger than most 2 year olds I know! We go for his 18 month appt on Monday, so I'll be interested to learn about his stats!

*He dances to any music that comes on... He loves the Wiggles, Barney, and Sesame Street, which he dances to often! He seems to love to watch real people that do anything with music!

*Balls are still his favorite toy...He has a great throw and is also learning to catch, which is a really dramatic squat with his arms open and ready :)

*He is more and more social...he can still be slow to warm up but he loves playing with other kids and is more comfortable going new places!

*He loves to play with cars, trains, or anything that he can push and making a "whooshing sound"...it's so cute how innate it in in a boy to make things "GO"!

*He LOVES his "binkie"...he's totally attached and would hold that thing all day long if I let him. He loves to rub the tag on it and even recently settled for rubbing the tag on one of his jackets in the car when he didn't have his binkie! As soon as he picks it up, he puts his two fingers in his mouth... It's a pretty cute habit :)

*He sleeps like a champ! He sleeps 12-13 hours at night and 2-3 hours in the afternoon... Sleeping child--Happy Mama!

Here's to busy months ahead... I am pretty sure I will do nothing but chase this summer. We love you Tucker!

I've posted about a million pictures lately, so I won't share too many more, but here are a few more pics from playing on the beach! I love my POPS!

Kids Eat Free!

Charlotte Smarty Pants had a great list of places and days "KIDS EAT FREE" right now! Here are a few local places that were of interest to me...we actually got Moe's Tuesday night! See the rest of the list here.

Tuesday's

McAlister’s Deli:
Visit website for all locations.
Children eat free from 5-9 pm with the purchase of an adult meal. Two children per paying adult.

Moe’s Southwest Grill:
(see website for locations but the Huntersville location is doing this!)
Tuesday’s 5-8 pm. One meal per paying adult.

Sunday:

Zapata’s Mexican Cantina

Lake Norman Location
19905 N.C. Highway 73
West Catawba Ave., Suite 102
(704)987-8890
All day Sunday, kids under 12 eat free with paying adult.

Ever wanted someone to grocery shop for you?

I don't normally do the "express lane" shopping at Harris Teeter (you order your groceries online, they do the shopping for you, and you just pull up out front and pick them up!), but they are offering a promotion right now to use this service for free! It usually costs $5 but until April 30th, it will be FREE if you use the code HTAP at checkout! You could probably get a few weeks of grocery shopping done for you FOR FREE! A mom must have invented this... Get started here!

Also, here is another deal on FREE paper at Staples! You can grab the coupon HERE and head into Staples before Saturday to get a free ream of paper! You will need to pay for the ream of Staples paper and then go online (the form will print on your receipt with all the information) and submit for a full refund. I believe this is priced at around $4.99.

Sunshiny Easter!

It was the most beautiful weekend! We had a great time at the beach with my family...Tucker got to play in the sand 3 days in a row, hang out with his little cousins, get spoiled by those that love him the most, and play with his first Easter eggs!

Enjoy the pictures!

Decorating eggs with my cousins!

Opening his sesame street eggs...

and his first Thomas...

He loves his new trains and even makes sounds effects for them!

Pops and Gigi!

Hunting for eggs (or kind of...)!

My 2nd cousins...Emma Ann, Duncan, and Jones!

Aunt Bethie!

I love my family! Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!