Neum's Go Go's

Neum LOVES his pajamas!! He calls them Go Go's because of the cars on them. He wants to wear them constantly and has been for quite some time. Don't know what I'm going to do when he outgrows them!

Sam wants to Be Bert...

Sam watched Mary Poppins this morning and afterwards said to me, "I want to be Mary Poppins boyfriend when I grow up!" I asked him why and he said, "because he's very handsome that's why!" Ha ha, Silly kid! He likes the way he dances.

Sam Boy

This one made me LOL...

Sam (my 4 year old) sitting on the couch picking his nose, taking the bugger out then putting it back in the other nostril. At the same time explaining what he was doing! So gross! At least he's resourceful!

6th grade!

Can't believe my little boy Tate is starting sixth grade today!! Seems like he just started Kindergarten the other day. He's going to a new school (ALA), which is right outside our community! I think he's excited, and I'm going to miss him:-)

Baby Hannah

12 years ago today we had our first child... A girl. She was still-born. She had anencephaly (a condition where she had not developed a brain). It was the hardest day of my life! Yearning to be a mother, yet not having a baby to bring home was hard!Accepting that this trial (infertility/still born baby) was part of God's plan for me was even harder. But I trust that someday we will see her again. Families are forever! Happy birthday Hannah!

We had Rebecca and Anson over for a sleepover the other night. They all had fun! Super funny though: Just when I thought that all the kids had finally gone to sleep, Tate came out of his room and said that he wanted to sleep on the couch. He said that he didn't want to sleep with Rebecca in his room... Just because she's a girl and that it's not appropriate to sleep in the same room as her. I explained to him that it's okay because they're cousins. He stood firm though and ended up sleeping on the couch. Ha/Ha. I'm glad that he wants to do what he believes is right!

June 2011

My baby eats everything-even grass!

8 Months old!

Dressing up like Daddy:)

Missing teeth

This is one of Tate's favorite hobbies. Yes, it's dangerous (he actually started a cracker box on fire once)... But I let him have fun with a magnifying glass under my supervision.

Me and my baby sharing a licorice

Mexico!

We (Bryan, Tate, and I) went to Rocky Point this last weekend. It was amazing, not at all scary! I don't know what everyone is talking about being too afraid to travel there... but I felt safe there and that's saying something. Anyways, we had so much fun playing at the ocean for 3 days. We rented a jet ski on the first day and got to go riding out by the dolphins. They were swimming all around us and it was too cool! The second day we drove downtown and went shopping. We got a bunch of sombreros. The third day we rode a boat out to bird island where there is a colony of sea lions. We got to go snorkling with them. It was amazing! We will definitely want to repeat this vacation sometime.

In the Merry Month of May

Samuel learned how to drink from a sippy cup on his first try. Surprised me and drank it all gone!
Playing ball-already.

Cinco de Mayo

I couldn't find Tate one day, so I checked out front and

this is what he was doing... He even had put his face and head in the running water. YUCK! I guess boys will be boys. My sister Christina, her husband Joseph, and their two boys came to stay with us for a few days. It was awesome! Samuel got to meet his cousin Tyler who is only 3 months younger.

Tate tells me that he is already a scientist. He's ALWAYS performing experiments. Here he is trying to make electicity with water, a copper wire, and aluminum foil. Notice the gloves and goggles? He told me that he didn't want to get shocked or hurt.

Sam loves his toes. He plays with them constantly and even sticks them in his mouth sometimes.

Adorable!!! I love this picture of Sam.

I got a bike trailer for Mother's Day:) It is my newest favorite thing and we use it all the time. Samuel enjoys it. Tate prefers to ride his own bike which I'm glad about. It's less weight for me to pull and a great energy releaser for him.
We went shooting as a family in the Superstitions. It was only my second time shooting because I'm kind of terrified of guns. Anyways, I was proud of myself because I faced my fears and was the only one to hit a bullseye.
Playing in the dirt. Actually he was looking for cool rocks.
Bryan teaching Tate all he knows about shooting.
Sam and Bryan hanging out on the tailgate.
Our little family.

The entire Manning family (all 27 of us!) I can't believe how much we have grown.

Tate survived T-ball for his very last time!

Brothers playing together (Oh it makes me so happy!)

Easter

Wow! It seems like Easter was forever ago and I'm just playing catch up now. Sam was obviously too little to find his basket and eggs, but Tate enjoyed not being the only kid and having him Sam there nonetheless.

Meet Josie

My brother James & his wife Julie just had their first baby and she is a little doll. Makes me want a girl next. They came over the other night and I just couldn't stop taking pictures of her. She's one BEAUTIFUL baby!

Free Groceries!

Couponing only gets better over time. I've learned a lot of things so far... Like Fry's is my favorite store. Walgreens (almost always) makes me mad because they usually mess up! I always seem to blow the budget when I shop at Walmart, etc.

Here's my latest shopping trip...

4 Bags Mahatma rice

2 pkg. Dole salads

2 Reach toothbrushes

1 Butterfinger bar

4 Jars Ragu

2 Boxes Cheez-its

6 Bars Safeguard soap

For a grand total of -$.01!!! Yep, they actually owed me a penny! Of course Fry's isn't allowed to give money back. But that's okay! I'm pretty much extatic over couponing and everyone probably thinks I've gone mad or something since that's all I've been talking about lately:):):):)

The Coupon Game

Want to know my newest hobby? I'm learning how to coupon! So far it's been fun. I'ts opened up my eyes to the savings available out there and I don't think that I'll ever be able to pay full price for something ever again.

Here's some pictures and a break down of my last two shopping trips.

Purchased:

• 16 rolls of Scott toilet paper


• 2 Pinesol


• 4 GE Flood Lights


• 2 Pkgs. Foster Farms chicken breast


• 2 Pkgs. Stay Free pads


• 2 Small boxes Bounce


• Garbage bags-45 count


• Margarine tub


• 2 Kit Kat bars

Total Price Paid: $32.35

Total Saved: $51.01

Purchased:

• 4 Tubs Breyers ice cream


• 2 boxes Magnum ice cream bars (Have you tried these? They are to die for...)


• 4 bags Kroger cheese


• 4 boxes Goldfish crackers


• 3 pkgs. Gummy Bears


• 2 boxes Beach Nut baby oatmeal


• 2 boxes Beach Nut baby rice cereal


• 6 bars Ivory soap


• 2 Reach floss


• 2 Crest toothpaste


• 8 Reach toothbrushes

Total Price Paid: $19

Total Saved: $74.72

Okay enough of my bragging! I'm just so excited!!! Have I convinced you to coupon? Would you like some pointers?

The top three blogs that I check for good deals. http://www.thecentsableshoppin.com/ , http://thekrazycouponlady.com/ and http://www.iheartthemart.com/

I get a lot of really great coupons through facebook. When you LIKE a company, a lot of times they will give you a coupon towards their product or even free samples. I usually find out about the facebook deals through the blogs above.

Here's a few links for some online coupons... http://www.grocerycouponcart.com/print-coupons , coupons.com , http://www.couponnetwork.com/ , http://shortcuts.com/printablecoupons .

I mainly shop at Fry's. For a limited time Fry's will match every coupon up to $1 and they will also match other store coupons. Click HERE for a link to Target's online coupons. Just print, take to Fry's and they will accept it. HERE is a link for Fresh and Easy $10 off of $50 spent. It works until May 2nd. Fry's will also accept this coupon.

6 Months Old (as of yesterday)

Sam has changed A LOT in the past 6 months. He went from being a tiny baby with tons of dark hair, to a big chubby blonde/baldish baby. Oh how I love him!!!

Feeding Time

Here's me attempting to feed Sam some oatmeal. He has NOT figured out how to work his tongue properly when eating. It mostly just comes out of his mouth again. Here's Bryan feeding him backwards. Too cute!

All Wrapped Up

Even though he's six months old... I still swaddle Samuel. He almost always gets out by the time nap time is over, but he is still very content with going to bed all wrapped up.

IronKids Triathlon (Turned Biathlon)

Tate recently participated in the IronKids Oro Valley Triathlon. It was a neat experience for him. I'm proud of him for completing it even though the weather was not helping one bit. It was 50 degrees something and pouring down rain-total opposite of what you think of AZ weather being in April. They ended up cancelling the biking portion of the race due to safety reasons. Even though it was a VERY short race... (50 yard swim, 500 yard run) He was totally proud of himself. Afterwards he said to me "I didn't think I was going to really make it"!

Sunday Afternoon :)

We have lots of fun together as you can see. My favorite picture is the one of the boys attacking Bryan.