My New Coupon Fun

So, I am very excited to take my couponing and saving to the next level! I have been trying to increase my coupon use for about a year... it has been going pretty well, but I recently met a group of women who regularly spend $30 -$40 and save at least $400. Crazy isn't it? So I am working on reading through materials and websites and organizing all the hundreds of coupons and then setting myself up to save a lot! I will let you know how it goes. And I am going to post tips and tricks that I learned. :)

As for the family news, things are still about the same. Josh loves his job, I love staying home with Madi, and Madi is doing great! She will be TWO in December!! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. We will be having a Disney Princess birthday party, since she has a slight obsession with princesses. :) I am thinking for halloween she is going to be a ballerina... i think that would be fun. I still can't believe how smart she is. Just yesterday she began playing a memory game on my computer and within minutes she was finishing matching 8 cards in a matter of seconds. How can she learn so fast? She has a HUGE vocabulary (over 300 words, yes we counted... :) ) and is just very very smart. Madi does something to amaze me every day. What a wonderful daughter she is.

Well, thats all for now. I will actually try and post pictures soon!

Its been a while....

Wow.  Its been over a year since my last blog.... life has been a whirlwind and things have changed a lot.  Madi is now 19 months old! I can't believe how fast time passes.  She has a HUGE vocabulary and the best memory I've ever seen.  You can tell her a word or show her something once and she remembers it forever.  I can't believe her 2 year old birthday is just around the corner.  She has been taking swimming lessons this month and absolutely loves it.  She doesn't mind going underwater at all, and my panic attacks are lessoning each time she goes in! :0) 

 We are back in Lakeland and Josh is the High School Pastor at FBC @ the Mall (www.fbclakeland.org).  He absolutely loves it.  He loves the Student Ministry Team and is just having the best time of his life.  :) It is nice to be home.  I am loving getting to know the students and trying to plan events and hang out with everyone.  We stay so busy and fall into bed each night exhausted, but its a good busy! I will try to post some pictures of Madi in the next couple of days.  I have about 3 months worth waiting to be uploaded.  Haha.  

We are definitely learning lots of things since arriving and most of all I think the dreaded patience.  We are having to wait on purchasing a home and its disappointing, but our faith and trust in God is growing and His timing is perfect.  I am trying not to be a "worry wart" and leave my anxiety on God's shoulders.... and I am getting better. :) 

Family Vacation

We took a trip to Naples, FL for a family vacation! :) We had a great time.  Here are some pictures of our adorable daughter in her adorable bathing suit.  

(if you have trouble opening the link, try copying and pasting it into your address bar)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=134573&l=25f24&id=717065018

We are on our way to Virginia... Josh left last week and Madi and I head up on Wednesday.  We are very excited and can't wait to begin this new chapter in our lives! 

Madi is growing up soo fast! She is already 7 months old.  I just can't believe how quickly time passes.  

Well, please keep in touch with us... we will now rely more heavily on the blog, facebook, and email to keep up with everyone.  And we'd like to know what all is going on in your lives! 

New Pictures :)

Well, once again my friends Kellie and Clint have outdone themselves...

I have 127 beautiful pictures of my baby girl and I settled on 40 to upload and show everyone... I think these are my favorite so far. :) I tried to upload some onto the blog, but they were taking forever, so please go look at them using this link... :) you won't be sorry. Madi is growing so fast and its hard to keep up on pictures. These are her 5 month ones... hopefully I'll have some 6 month ones soon.


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127426&l=d83cc&id=717065018

Well, Madi had her six month shots last week and everything went well! She is 16lb 2 oz and 28 inches long! I can't believe that Madi is 6 months old. She is rolling all over the place... can say Mama and Dada... even though she chooses to say Dada most often. :0) She can turn around in circles on her belly and even though she tries really hard to crawl forward, ends up scooting backwards. Madi can also sit up on her own... which she loves. She is still obsessed with Baby Einstein too. I love those videos! haha. Madison also loves several foods now, except peas... how do i know that? because she spits them on me every time i put some in her mouth... not funny Dad... :)

For those of you who don't know, Josh was called to be the Associate Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Richmond, VA and we are moving there the first week of July. We are very excited and can't wait to be used by God to do great things in this church. We definitely could use your prayers as we embark on this journey... also, please pray that our house here in Lakeland sells!

Just to keep you updated, her is a link to some pictures of Madison... these aren't professional, but they kinda show what she's been up to lately... :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=126724&l=ac1dd&id=717065018

Its been a while...

Ok, so we all now know that I am a terrible blogger... :) It has been almost two months now since I've posted... I am ashamed. :) Well, Madi Grace is getting so big, its mind boggling. She is almost 6 months old now... I can't believe it. She can roll from belly to back and back again... She can say Dada and Mama... she can almost sit up on her own for more than a couple seconds... she can scoot herself a little bit across the floor... she eats rice and oatmeal cereal... loves bananas, sweet potatoes, and applesauce... talks to me all day long with several nonsense syllables... is learning sign language and laughs at me when I sign "more, eat, milk, and all finished"... laughs out loud at anything Luke does... and I am sure lots more that I can't remember. Madi loves to watch baby einstein and, now that we have 8 videos, is happier than a clam. She can't get enough of the puppets and a big grin splits her face when she sees them. I spent some time looking at photos from when she was born, and i can't believe how fast she is growing. Josh and I thought she was big when she was born... being 8lbs and all... but now looking back, she was so tiny! And she really isn't that big now, she is just soo tall! She has a very trim figure, but those legs go for miles. She will be running around the house in no time.

Well, that catches you up on a lot of what Madi has been doing... here are some pics that Elle (aunt lauren) has been taking for me... aren't they great?? Yes, they are two months old, but cut me a little slack... :) To see more go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=120044&l=02710&id=717065018

Madi just had a doctor's appointment this week and everything is wonderful! She weighs 13 lb 3 oz and is now 25 1/4 inches!! She is in the perfect weight category (on the small side) and is tall for her age... she is sooo long! The doctor was a little concerned about a pop (or click we don't know the difference) that he heard in one of Madi's hips, so she had to have an ultrasound done, but everything is great! So no worries... praise the Lord. She is growing and growing faster than I would have imagined! This week she discovered her feet and you will see her playing and laying on her mat in a ball. :) Its very cute, but does make diaper changes a little more complicated... as you would know if you could hear dad's disgruntled mumbles during the early morning diaper changes. :) haha. But she is sooo precious. She even started trying to bring her knees up as if to crawl and lifting her chest off the floor today. SO AWESOME! I just celebrated my 24th (OMG) birthday yesterday and it is also the 1 year anniversary from when we discovered we were pregnant with little Madi. Time sure does fly.