Spook-tacular fun!

As glad as I am that Greyson is no longer in daycare anymore, I do miss all the arts and crafts projects he used to bring home. So to start off the holiday season I decided to come up with a few crafty things that he and I could make together. First on the list was a ghost tree. I figured it would be best to start off small and luckily this project went super smooth for us.

For anyone else who might be interested in making one of these it was actually super easy. We collected a couple of branches from the yard and spray painted them black to make the tree. Then for the ghosts you cut out different sized squares from white fabric, using a needle and thread make a loop in the center for the ghost to hang from, then place a cotton ball in the center and wrap and tie the remainder of the fabric around it. Lastly just use a sharpie to draw the eyes. Now to put it all together just stick the branches into some styrofoam, place them into a pot, cover with moss and hang the ghosts. For an even spookier tree you can add some cobwebs to the branches.

Greyson really seemed to enjoy making this with me. He was walking around all morning saying "mommy, the ghosts say oooooooo." Next up on the list are pumpkins out of glass jars. It will be a couple weeks before we complete that though.....have to collect some jars first :-)

Ketchup time!

So I have been a little MIA from the blog scene the past few months. Mainly because we have been so busy with the house being turned upside down in projects, so I haven't had much time to sit down and share anything.

To catch everyone up, back in July we took a trip to Houston to visit Mimi and Papa McCormick. Greyson and Rylan had a blast swimming in the pool, building sandcastles at the beach (or in Rylan's case - eating sand), and watching fireworks. Greyson even got to embark on his first ever trip to the movie theater to see Cars 2. He had an absolute blast and still (3 months later) tells me how much fun he had watching "Queen" at the movies.

After we got back, Rylan finally hit any mother's favorite milestone - he began sleeping through the night! Woohoo! When you  have a 2 year old and a 9 month old you never truly feel rested, but at least now I am not falling asleep sitting up any more. Shortly after he also became mobile. I say mobile versus crawling cause while he is moving his arms and legs, he is still flat on his belly scooting around like a little army man trying to sneak up on the enemy. Over the past couple of weeks he has figured out how to actually crawl on his hands and knees, but honestly he is faster on his belly and he knows it cause he still gets around that way 90% of the time. Being that he seems to have a different way of doing everything, it should be interesting seeing what version of walking he comes up with....

As I mentioned earlier, we started some renovations on our house back in July. We managed to lay tile in the master bath, as well as repaint both the bed and bathroom. It is amazing how just a coat of paint can make a room feel brand new. Right afterwards we tore up the entire downstairs of the house by laying new laminate flooring throughout the living room, dining room, foyer and up the stairwell. While all of the floor is laid, there are still some painting touch ups we have to finish till it is called completely done, but it sure does feel good to have something more our tastes!

As if we aren't already busy enough, next up come the holidays! I decided 2 days ago that it would be a good idea to try and make a Lightning McQueen costume for Greyson out of a cardboard box. So far so good, but I haven't gotten very far yet. I will take pictures of it to share once the box becomes a little more recognizable. I would love for Rylan to be dressed as Mater, but making one costume might be enough of a challenge, so his costume is still up in the air at the moment.

I will leave you all with some pictures of the boys that I have snapped over the past couple of months. It is getting harder and harder to get these. I feel like I am photographing wild animals because they are so darn quick!

A Kodak Moment

Sometimes when you least expect it the opportunity comes along for a great big brother/little brother moment. Tonight I happened upon one of those. I had 2 dirty little boys and I was running short on time before they needed to be in bed, so I came up with an ingenious idea - bathe them together! Now if you know my boys at all then you know this could have been a total disaster. Luckily for this tired mommy it turned out to be a great event and they even allowed me to snap a few pics of them playing nicely together. When they are teenagers and hate each other I can show them these pictures and say "look how much fun you used to have together!" And when they are grown and out of the house I can look back at these pictures and remember how what started off as just an opportunity to save time turned in to a great Kodak moment!

A last minute 4th of July...

Well this holiday didn't turn out quite the way we had planned. Long story short, we were supposed to spend the entire weekend in Georgia with family until about 3 days ago when everything fell apart. One moment I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get a lot done to go out of town, and the next I am thinking to myself "well now what are we going to do!?" At first I have to admit I was a little devastated about the whole situation, but it did feel nice waking up every day this weekend and not having anything that we had to do.

Some friends of ours actually ended up having their plans changed at the last minute too, so they invited us to come hang out and swim with them. Greyson and Rylan had a ball playing in the pool. Despite the fact that neither of them got a decent nap, I was determined to take them somewhere to see fireworks. Since they were both so tired, we decided to just take them down the road to see the display in Mount Holly near the White Water Center. Greyson couldn't stop talking about how loud the fireworks were and all the colors he saw.

All in all we ended up having a lot of fun hanging out just the 4 of us. Next up - packing for a trip to Texas! Back to panic mode for mommy :-P

Greyson's 1st trip to Urgent Care!

Since Greyson and daddy were camping out last Friday night, Rylan and I took off to Fuquay for a secret Mimi and Papa visit (secret because we couldn't tell Greyson).  Honestly I was more worried about making a 3 hour drive with Rylan in the car than leaving daddy and Greyson alone in Charlotte to fend for themselves. Things were going smoothly until about 10:15 Saturday morning. Greyson was riding his bike on the deck while Steven was doing some much needed weeding. On several past occasions Greyson has ridden his bike over to the stairs and asked to come down in the grass with his bike. I have thoroughly explained to him how he has to be careful on his bike next to the stairs, but no matter how much you say things accidents still happen. Greyson peddled his bike over to the steps to ask for help, but got too close to the edge and down he went! He managed to cut his lip inside and out pretty badly, so daddy drove him up to Urgent Care to get it checked out. Turns out he needed 4 stitches on the inside of his lip. Poor little guy made it to the ripe old have of 2 years and 4 months before needing his first stitches, which actually impressed the heck out of me considering he is such a daredevil! "Luckily," I was in a hair appointment that morning and didn't find out about all of this until after everything had been taken care of, so I was quite calm and collected when I found out. Greyson did really well though considering his condition. He managed to eat, drink and talk fine despite his swollen/cut lip. Daddy did snap one shot of the invalid as he lounged on the couch Saturday afternoon watching lots of "queen."

Daddy/Son Chickfila Campout

Our Chickfila is by far the best! They are always doing the best events that include the whole family. Over the past couple of years they have had pajama night, silly science night, dress like a cow night and my personal favorite, mommy/son date night. Sadly they did not repeat this even this year, but they did add a new one that I was not about to let my boys miss out on - Daddy/Son campout! Unfortunately Rylan was too little to partake on this adventure this year, but Greyson and daddy had an absolute blast. They pitched a tent, rolled out their sleeping bags, and enjoyed lots of games and yummy Chickfila food. They each even got a commemorative t-shirt that says "I survived the 1st Chickfila Daddy/son campout." The event planner insisted that moms could participate in this event as well, and as much as I wish I could have seen the fun they had, I am not sorry I missed the sleeping on the ground part! Luckily daddy did snap a few pictures for me, so I could see my boys having fun!

Father's Day

Father's Day was pretty low key for us this year. Being that we are surviving on just one salary now, we don't always get to spend a lot on frills for holidays. That said we definitely didn't disappoint daddy on his big day!

We ate lunch out since we had a few errands to run and daddy got to pick. Taco Bell was his choice, mainly because we never go there due to my dislike of beans and sour cream and guacamole and...well you get the idea. Let's just say it is difficult for me to order things there. Luckily they had added a few new things to the menu since I last ate there, so I made out okay.

For dinner daddy decided he wanted to grill, which worked out great for me since I know nothing about the grill :-P He chose steak, baked potatoes, shrimp and I pitched in and made a salad to go with it! It was definitely a super yummy choice!

Despite the fact that we were stuffed to the brim after all that food, we decided to have a little father/son fun outside and try making some more smores again. The boys gathered up some sticks out of the yard and put them in the fire pit. Unfortunately the rain from the night before had left the sticks too damp to catch fire :-/ Daddy quickly improvised by holding Greyson's marshmallow over the lighter to heat it up. Crisis averted! Greyson got his smores and mommy got some cute pictures of all the boys!

Super Double = Super Deals!!

Okay, so I am really behind on my blogging this month! My husband would tell you it is because I have been sucked into coupon land. While I hate to admit it he is partly right. My day is mostly consumed with taking care of my two boys. What spare time I have left is usually spent on the computer hunting down deals and coupons. Might sound like a huge waste of time till you check out some of the deals I scored on my shopping trip today!

Ask me any day of the week what my favorite grocery store is and my answer will always be Harris Teeter! Why? Because every day of the week, every month of the year they double your coupons up to $.99! Even better, about 6 times a year they have triple coupons and super double coupons. Triple coupons is pretty self explanatory, but for those of you no familiar with HT super double coupons means they will double any coupons up to $1.98!!! Mix that along with some sale prices and you can get so much stuff for free or for pennies it really is mind boggling! Don't believe me? Check out some of the deals I scored today:

Cape Cod potato chips - $2.50
$1 off 1 coupon doubles to $2
Final price - $.50

Kraft salad dressing - $2.99
Buy 1, get 1 free HT promo
$1 on 2 coupon doubles to $2
Final price - $.99 for 2 bottles

Smart Balance pop corn - $1.30 ea
$.75 on 1 coupon doubles to $1.50
Final price - I made $.20 a box on these

Dole fruit crisps - $2.29
$1 on 1 coupon doubles to $2
Final price - $.29

Triscuits crackers - $3.89
Buy 1, get 1 free HT promo
$1 on 2 coupon doubles to $2
Final price - $1.89 for 2 boxes

Cheese Nips crackers - 2/$3.00
$1 on 2 coupon doubles to $2
Final price - $1.00 for 2 boxes

Soft Scrub cleaner - $3.99
Soft Scrub gel - $3.99
Buy 1 cleaner, get 1 gel free
$1.50 on 1 cleaner coupon doubles to $3
Final price - $.99 for both

Gerber baby food - $1.00 for a 2-pack
$1 on 3 coupon doubles to $2
Final price - $1.00 for 3 2-packs

Ziploc freezer bags - $3.99
Ziploc sandwich bags - $2.69
$1 on 2 coupon doubles to $2
FREE sandwich bag wyb the freezer bags (HT eVIC coupon)
Final price - $2.00 for both

Clorox 2 - $5.99
Clorox bleach - $2.15
$1.50 on 1 Clorox 2 coupon doubles to $3
FREE bleach when you buy Clorox 2
Final price - $3.00 for both

Kettle potato chips - $3.69
Buy 1, get 1 free HT promo
$1 on 1 coupon doubles to $2
Final prince - I made $.31 on each bag

Pampers wipes - $2.99
$1 on 1 coupon doubles to $2
$1 on 1 (HT eVIC coupon)
Final price - FREE!

Pampers cruisers - $9.99
$1.50 on 1 coupon doubles to $3
$1.50 on 1 (HT eVIC coupon)
Final price - $5.50

Danimals smoothies  $2.50
$1 on 1 coupon doubles to $2
Final price - $.50

Green Giant frozen veggies - $1.50
$.50 on 1 coupon doubles to $1
Final price - $.50

Freschetta pizza singles - $1.99
$.75 on 1 coupon doubles to $1.50
Final price - $.50

Kraft cheese big slices - $3
$1 on 1 coupon doubles to $2
Final price - $1.00

Garnier hairspray - $2.79
$1 on 1 coupon doubles to $2
Final price $.79

Phew! That is just about half of the deals I score today! I think you get the idea! My hours of planning and preparation almost turned into a catastrophe during checkout when about half way through my coupons stopped doubling!! Come to find out you are limited to 20 coupons doubled per day! Trying not to panic the manager was able to look up my husbands VIC card number and split my items into 2 transactions. *Sigh* After both transactions were completed I ended up saving $135.44!!! Between the 2 transaction I ended up spending about $50, so I saved about 70% between paper and online coupons!! Now, after reading all that is it possible that you can still think I am crazy for buying 2 Sunday papers each week and scouring the internet for deals!?!? I hope not...

Rylan - 6 months old

A year ago I was just beginning to feel the little taps of my tiny baby inside of me. Now I have a 16 pound 11 ounce little boy who is inhaling his solid foods and jabbering our ears off. I know I have said this before, but it is amazing how much your life can change in just a year. Things you thought you knew, or thought you wanted, or thought you had all figured out can get manipulated in the blink of an eye.

But enough with all the sappy reflection stuff! My little man is 6 months old now! It really didn't hit me till this week, just how far and how fast things have gone. Rylan is sitting up on his own now, playing with toys and screeching and jabbering new sounds every day! He has also become a champion eater like his brother Greyson always has been. We had a rough start with the solid foods about a month and a half ago. He wasn't too crazy about the plain rice cereal. We were ready to give up and try again later, but as a last resort I offered him some pears. That seemed to do the trick! Now he eats pears, apples, bananas, peaches, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas and squash! We have even given him tastes of fresh watermelon and blueberries, and mommy's mashed potatoes of course, all of which he loved as well. I keep telling him he needs to learn how to crawl now more than ever. With all this food he is consuming he could easily turn into a little Michelin baby.

All the good eating aside, he is still some what of a cranky little thing. While he has gotten eons better than where we were at 4 months, he still isn't quite as happy-go-lucky as brother Greyson always was. I keep telling myself that he is just getting all of his anger and frustrations out now, and will be a peaceful easy going 2 year old. I now you all are laughing at me now, but hey a mom can dream right!?

Speaking of dreaming, Rylan has gotten a LOT better at night (crossing fingers I didn't just jinx myself). We have had multiple occasions now where he has slept 10 hours straight and on average now he really only wakes up once. I still blame a lot of it on the fact that he has seemed to be trying to get his bottom 2 teeth for 4 months now! All that chewing and drooling and still nothing! Not that I am trying to hurry the growing up process at all, but I know the poor guy has to be frustrated and he doesn't even know what is making him frustrated!

Next check up - 9 months. Pictures below were snapped over the last week or so, so they are pretty current.

Memorial Weekend

The McCormicks had a fun filled family Memorial weekend that started off with a visit from Mimi and Papa Jones. We had a nice relaxing afternoon hanging out and trying on souvenirs from Uncle Michael's graduation from boot camp. That evening we headed out to Birkdale Village for dinner on the patio at Brixx followed by a nice walk around the shops with everyone. One of the local zoos just happened to have a booth set up for everyone to get their picture taken with a tiger cub and a joey. This was an opportunity Greyson and I couldn't pass up! He really enjoyed talking to and petting both of the sweet babies.

Sunday morning started off with our family portrait session. We were lucky enough to have Chris Goddard doing our pictures again and as always he did a phenomenal job! It isn't easy getting pics of my boys since they are moving and growing so fast! The rest of the afternoon was way too hot for anything except some pool fun. All of the family put on their sunglasses, hats and swim suits to enjoy our new pool on the deck.

Thanks to daddy's new promotion he now actually gets some holidays off, so we had the privilege of spending all day Monday as a family as well. Instead of doing a typical cook out, we decided to pull out the turkey that has been in our freezer for 6 months now and fry it! It was definitely a super yummy idea. It is always nice to have turkey a different time of the year than just at Thanksgiving. After turkey time we broke out the fire pit, marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate. That's right, we taught Greyson how to make smores! If the mess he made is any indication of how much he enjoyed it, then I think it is safe to say we will have to make some more again sometime.