COUPONS

So, a lot of people have been telling me how they have been saving with coupons. I thought it was a great idea. So, I ordered the Sunday paper to get all the coupons, plus I've collected some from my favorite websites and at the grocery store. Today was my first attempt. I thought I did pretty good for shopping at the commissary on base. I would have originally spent $72.29 without the coupons (sad because it doesn't even look like that much). But I only spent $44.06!. That is a 39% savings. Now, there is a large bag of dogfood and a gallon of whole milk missing from this photo. And, I normally don't buy all this stuff at once, like all of the air fresheners. But what I am learning is that you stock up! I plan to go to Fry's Market and get their VIP card. I think I will be able to save even more there because they have more sales than the commissary. Hopefully next time I can save even more! It is kinda fun going through the isles with your coupons and seeing how much you are going to save! If anyone has any tips for me, I'd love to hear about them!

SPLASHING AROUND

my friend alyssa and i took our kids to this little splash fountain area in this shopping/movie/arena area. i saw it last summer when we went down there but calvin was too small. so i was so excited to take him. he LOVES the water and even though the fountains splashed up in his face, he loved that too. i'm so glad he enjoyed it. i enjoyed just watching him and the excitement on his face. here are a few pics of our afternoon.

CALIFORNIA

So we had a wonderful time in california last month. it was quite a busy week. we got into town on friday morning. saturday we took a trip to san francisco to visit joe's sister, rachel. it was a fun day. we started down at the pier, walked around. looked at sea lions, took a ride on the carrousel and then went to ghiradelli's square where i ate the most delicious of cupcakes.

we then went back to rachel's place for presents and a brownie cake. one of the presents was this awesome bubble blower. i think checkers enjoyed it more than calvin. it was a lot of fun. thank rachel.

then we went to the beach with calvin and that was a lot of fun. it was his first time there. he ate a lot of sand. dad let him get wet in the waves. he loved every minute of it.

i also got to visit with some friends this week. thursday was wendy's baby shower. that was a great turn out. friday we headed to the park with joe's folks. calvin loved the tunnel and the swings. but mostly he loved to pick up leaves off of the ground and any garbage he could find.

i got a surprise that becky was coming up with litty maddy. it was fun to see her with calvin. they did pretty good together but they both liked this giant toothbrush. so we had to let them take turns.

here's a cute picture with calvin and my dad. we went to d'boni's for pizza with my family and my grandpa. don't they look so cute in their hawaiian shirts. my dad took calvin out to see all of the old cars in the parking lot. they were having autumn cruise night at the plaza.

joe's mom gave joe a bag of clothes from when he was little. here is one of his outfits. it's so dang cute on calvin. what a little 80's man in his little shorts and tank top!

saturday we had calvin's first birthday party. it was a lot of fun and quite a few friends and family came to celebrate it with him. he enjoyed all of the people. when it came time to opening up his gifts he could care less and just walked around with the balloons in his hands. it was cute.

here he is eating his yummy cake. it was a mickey mouse cake (his favorite cartoon). he got most of it on the floor and all over himself. boy did he like it!



well, that's a quick recap of the great week we had. i am hoping to get lots of pictures from everyone else that was there this past week. i was so busy having fun that i didn't take as many pictures as i wanted. so hopefully there will be more to come in the future. but i did have a great time and was so nice to see everyone again. hopefully we'll get to come back soon.

BIRTHDAY BOY

Calvin turned the big 1 yesterday. I can't believe how fast he is growing. We had a great time watching him eat his first birthday cake. I might add he definitely takes after me. He sure does have a sweet tooth. Here are some fun facts about Calvin.
1. He loves to feed the dog his food. He thinks it's the funniest thing in the world.
2. His favorite game is playing peek-a-boo with his dad
3. His favorite toy is the remote control for the tv. We tried buying him a toy one, but it just isn't the same i guess
4. He can say "mama" "dada" "baba" and now he says "cha cha". that is what he calls our dog, checkers
5. he thinks he's superman and just flies off the couch (getting hurt of course)
6. he loves bath time.
7. he loves our dog and loves to jump on him
8. he has learned how to pinch (which i do not like one bit)
9. when he laughs it's like he can't breathe and tries to suck in a lot of air. it's so cute
10. his favorite cartoon is mickey mouse. he loves the songs and loves to dance to them in the mornings.

his one year pictures

getting ready to eat some yummy cake

it was soooo good. he would have eaten the whole cake if we had let him. love you buddy. Happy birthday!!!

CRICUT CAKE

Ahhhhhh! You won't believe what I've just discovered!!! It's a cake decorating made by the company Cricut. Yes, this machine will actually cut out your gumpaste (fondant-like dough) into different font words, pictures, so many coooooool things. I'm in love with this new machine. Too bad it costs way toooooo much. Very fun idea though.

CAKES BY MELANIE

So I decided to create a blog with all of the cakes I have made and also include some fun ideas I have found that I would like to use one day. I also plan on adding cake and cookie decorating tips for all of those who would like to learn a bit more about cake decorating. Check it out. It's www.cakesmelanie.blogspot.com.

EASTER EGGS

We went over to a friend's house today to dye some Easter eggs. Unfortunately my son was mr. grouchy after his nap. So I got one sticker on one egg. and then the fits began. poor guy. well, it was fun to attempt. hopefully next year will be a bit more successful!

PENELOPE ALYNN

We had our ultrasound today and we found out we are having a little girl. Joe was right. I was pretty sure it was going to be a boy again. We are super excited and can't wait to meet our little princess!!!!

Comin' to Cali

Okay, just a heads up!!! We're coming to California in May. We should get there on the 7th and be there until the 16th. Planning on having a b-day party for calvin while we're there so I'll keep you informed about that. can't wait to see everyone. keep your schedules open friends!!!

WALKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My baby is walking!!!! I can't believe it. It's so cute to watch him go. He's doing really well and walks all over the house. He took a few steps the other day and since then he's just mastering it. I love him and so excited to see him grow up!

5 YEARS

So, I've been really bad at blogging lately. I'll blame it on the pregnancy because it makes me lazy. BUUUUTTTTT, I can't not write about my husband and the fact that we have been married for 5 YEARS! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. I really wanted todo something nice for our 5 year mark. However with moving all weekend it just didn't work out. So we waited until the next day. I worked all that day, so we just headed out to a fabulous sea food dinner and ate to our hearts content. Shrimp, lobster, crab an much much more. No pictures were taken (again blaming pregancy brain). So, instead I thought I'd reflect on the past five years....Joe and I were sealed in the Oakland Temple on Feb 5 2005. We moved to Gilroy where Joe got hired at his uncle's machine shop. I got the glamorous job at In n Out burger and BBB. After a year, we moved back home to escalon. Joe worked at Hogan manufacturing and I workd at DBoni's pizza. We lived there for 3 years. Now, joe is in the airforce, we've moved to Arizona and have one amazing little boy calvin and one on the way. Together we've been sky diving, camped and hiked, gone for drives on streets we had no idea where we were going and didn't care where we ended up. We've lived in 6 different houses, owned 3 different cars, 3 motorcycles (yes crashed 2 of them), had 2 dogs. i've had 5 jobs, joe has had 6. it's been a crazy 5 years and after each one i wonder why time has to fly by so fast. I love being married to my best friend. I can't wait for him to get home every day. And I am so happy to spend many many years to come with him. Happy Anniversary honey.

playtime gone awry

So, yesterday, I was at our old house doing some last minute cleaning because we have to be completely gone from there by friday. I had to bring Calvin with me. I put up a baby gate in his old room and threw in some toys to keep him occupied. I was going along doing my thing when it got just a little too quite. I peaked around the corner to see why..........

.....yeah. word of advice.....never leave the diaper bag around with a can of formula in it. I wasn't even thinking he could get into it. And to make it even funnier, he acted like what he had done was perfectly fine, almost like he was expecting me to join in the fun. Oh, Calvin, you make me laugh!!!!!