The green grass grows all around

 Even though Sam is only 3 months old, I decided it was time that he get used to the great outdoors.  His first camping trip is scheduled for August!  Here's hoping he likes dirt and decides to sleep through the night- God bless the other campers, in advance, for putting up with a noisy baby.

  

 Sam oversaw my weeding efforts and Gilligan helped clean up the weeds by throwing them around the yard.

Our poor, neglected garden.  Between the heat and the infant, it's hard a rough go this summer. 

Sam worked on his core strength while Gilligan gazed longingly at all the flowers he wanted to trample. His on backyard probation since he ripped Nick's thriving grapevine out of the ground.  Naughty doggie. 

I was clearly more amused than Sam by our backyard adventures. 

Found out, rather quickly, that someone is not amused by the hose.  So we sat on it instead.  Take that, hose!

Happy belated birthday!

Happy birthday to me!

And Nana!

And Uncle Matt!

Make a wish!

Fiscally frisky

What a difference three weeks makes!  I went back to work on July 2.  I gave my notice on July 9 and Friday, July 20 was my last day!  Craziness.  I'm so grateful that I get to spend this time at home with Sam.  And now it's especially important to me to keep costs down now that I'm not bringing in the big bucks.  I'll do the usual cost savers- walking instead of driving, more library books, turning off the A/C when it's not super hot, etc. 

I'll also use nap time to do some planning...

  And couponing!  I tried to get into coupons a few years ago and just didn't have the patience for it.  But now it's kind of a like a game for me- how much money can I save?  The trick for me is to only use coupons for things we really need.  It's easy to find a deal on random items and think, "score! a direct hit!" but if it's something we never use (air freshener?  kitty litter?  doritos??) then I gotta show some self control and move along. 

This week I found two coupons for cereal- each for $1 off 2 boxes of General Mills cereals.  I combined the coupon with a deal at Star Market that gave $6 off 4 boxes of General Mills cereals.  Total cost for 1 giant box of Cheerios, 2 boxes of Wheat Chex, and 1 box of Peanut Butter Cheerios (a girl has to have some fun!)= $16. 47.  Price paid= $8.47.  Love!  While we don't normally eat a ton of cereal, my sister and niece are coming up next week and I hear wee ones with teeth love Cheerios.  So excited to see them!!

I also had a coupon for formula.  Despite my best efforts, I wasn't able to convince them to give me the best deal, but I still saved $5 on 2 cans.  And I got to annoy all the other people in the express line while I sent the assistant manager to double check the price!  Sorry, folks.

 

So while I'll try my best to stick to my budget, it's so important to me to keep Sam in good food.  He is chomping at the bit to get after some solids!  Last night at dinner he was royally ticked off that we were all eating and he wasn't, despite having just had a bottle.  

I plan to make most of his food and I've got Baby Led Weaning on hold at the library.  He's just now starting to develop his fine motor skills and I can't think of a better way for him to practice than by squishing some food in his chubby little hands.  

Plus, he already likes carrots!