We Have a Crawler

Cameron is finally crawling. He has been moving by flopping around and sitting up for about 2 weeks now. Yesterday after his nap, he decided to just start crawling to get to his toys. I guess we now have to watch what we have around cause he wants to get into everything already. Seems to make him happier though to be able to go where he wants. I can only imagine it won't be long until he starts walking since he wants to pull himself up on everything already.

Pittsburgh Groupon Deal

Here's a great Groupon deal for anyone in the Pittsburgh area going to get pictures with Santa.  This will be our first year doing it with the boys so hopefully they are as good as they claim getting kids to sit and smile with Santa!  Just wanted to share for anyone out there reading.

Pictures with Santa (Pittsburgh)

Funny Dream

I just had to share my dream from last night.  I was back in elementary school and we were having a talent show.  Everyone was doing great things like playing the piano, signing, juggling, etc.  I was very scared because I didn't know what my talent was going to be and everyone had to participate.  So at first I was going to play the piano, "Mary Had a Little Lamb."  But than I couldn't remember how it went.  So than I decided maybe I would try to make a half court basketball shot!  That didn't make much sense as a talent so my final decision was to show everyone how I could write my name in print and cursive with my left hand!  HAHAHA.  I couldn't believe it when I woke up that's what I chose.  Not sure what this dreams means if anything but just thought I'd share because I found it pretty funny!

Happy Halloween

I just wanted to post that the boys had a great time trick-or-treating even though the weather sucked.  As soon as it was about time, it started to rain.  We still decided to take them out to hit a few houses to experience Halloween.  Dave missed DJ's first Halloween due to being on duty so he wasn't going to not go this year.  DJ was Woody and Cameron was Buzz from Toy Story.  I was very happy that I didn't spend a lot of money on their costumes this year since they had to be bundled up anyways.  I just bought shirts from the Disney store.  They were still very cute!  DJ seemed to love trick-or-treating.  He learned that after he got some candy in his bag that I was holding, if he stuck out his hand the people would give him more candy!  This kid is too smart.  Made Dave and I laugh though.  After about 30 mins, we headed back to my moms to eat dinner and help pass out candy.  DJ loved doing that too.  Anytime the doorbell rang, he ran to the door and put a bag of pretzels in every ones bag.  He was so cute.  We had a great Halloween and I can't wait until next year when he really understands what's going on.  I will post pictures later since I'm writing from my work computer.

FREE Rite Aid Trip 10.18.11

I finally got a chance to make a run to Rite Aid today!  I have been itching to do some coupon shopping but just haven't had the time.  Well, I ended up having a little time this morning to check the ad, my coupons and make a list.  I went to the store during my lunch.  Here's a picture of what I bought.

I ended up getting this for FREE plus $5 in +Up rewards for my next purchase and $3 single check rebate that will come in the mail.  Here's how I did it.

1. Theraflu 2/$10
Receive $2 +Up Rewards when you buy 2
Use 2 $2 off coupons and use $1 Rite Aid Video Value coupon
I paid $5/2 in store but is $3/2 or $1.50 each after +Up rewards.

2. Similasan Cold Relief for Children $3.99
Submit for $3 Single Check Rebate
Use $1.75 coupon
Paid $2.24 in store but is FREE + $0.76 profit!

3. Oral B Floss $2.99 times 2
Receive $1.50 +Up Rewards times 2
Use $1.50/2 coupon
Paid $4.48 in store but is $0.74 each after +Up rewards.

Total in store $11.72

This is what I planned to buy and use a previous months single check rebate valued at $12.50.  Well I had never used this type of check before so I wasn't sure how it was going to work.  They aren't able to give cash back on single check rebates and I wasn't able to buy a Rite Aid gift card to use, so we figured out to buy something to make it over $12.50.  That's where the Reese's peanut butter cups came in.  They were $0.59 each so I bought 2 to make my total $12.90.  I used the check and paid $0.40.  Than on my receipt I got my +Up rewards totaling $5.  So with my +Up rewards and SCR I made just about $8 on these items!!  I am very impressed with myself!!  My best shopping trip yet!

Family Update

A week or so ago I said I was going to post updates about myself and Dave and never got to it. I got some time today so I wanted to write something. Well if you've been following along, you realize the biggest change for Dave and me was when he was let go from the Navy in May. We quickly decided to move back to Pittsburgh where we both grew up and our families are still here. Dave had a hard time deciding what to do. He didn't want to go right back into something after 9 years in the military. He took a few months off to collect unemployment and stay at home with the boys.

In the meantime, I got a job at a daycare that I thought I was going to love. It was right near my parents house so knew I could take the boys to my moms anytime Dave needed a break. I worked in the 2 1/2-3 year old class. The ratio was 6 kids to 1 adult and we had a total of 12 kids for 2 teachers. It seemed like a great place to work at first. Well, I ended up not liking it because I was still changing diapers which I didn't go to college to do. So I started looking else where. Nice thing was that my Dad's assistant was leaving around the same time. After some talking about the job and future, I decided to work for my Dad. I have been working for him for a month. Right now I'm just being his administrative assistant, but I'm really trying to learn his job. He works with teachers to set up retirement plans. He makes some good money in the financial field. He wants me to take over his clients in a few years so he can retire. In order for me to do that, I need to get licensed to sell products. I believe it's called Series 6 and 7. I'm going to start getting the material and use the time I'm not doing much in the office to study. I think this is something I can be very successful doing once I understand all the ins and out of finance. It's definitely a nice change from teaching, especially because teaching is impossible to get into right now. I just hope I can get licensed is my major concern right now.

Dave on the other hand has gone back to school full time. After applying to a few places that he knew he would like to do and not getting an interview, he decided to use his GI Bill and have the military pay for his school. He is able to collect unemployment and get paid housing each month since he is going full time. He is actually making more money than I am working full time. That bugs the hell out of me but he deserves it giving 9 years of his life to the Navy. So he's trying to adjust to doing homework and going to class everyday. It's funny how much he needs my help when he didn't think he would! He's doing so great though and I'm very proud of him. He's going into the medical field. He thinks of being an anesthesiologist. He's not 100% sure but that's what he's leaning towards right now. He has to see if he can get into medical school for that. This semester he's taking English, Computer, Math, Bio, and Bio Lab. That's pretty much it for him though since school takes up the majority of his time.

The other thing to note about myself is that I am volunteer coaching a high school volleyball team. I ran into my high school volleyball coach at the grocery store one day. After talking for a little, I mentioned I would love to get into coaching again. I did some right after college and have always wanted to get back into it. She said that if I'd be willing to volunteer this year, maybe next year it would be a paid position. So after talking with Dave and my mom since she is now watching the boys, I joined the team! It's nice being a volunteer cause I don't have to go to everything. I make most of the practices since they are from 5-8. I do not go to the away games, but make the home games. It has been something I am so happy I decided to do. I am loving being around the girls and teaching them how to improve. Plus we are a good team which always helps! ;) I really am hoping to stick with it and keeping my fingers crossed I get paid for it next year so I can really put my full effort into it.

Well that's about it for now. I'll let you know when things change again cause I know they will for us!

New Car

When I started this year out, I was planning on working on getting ourselves out of debt. I never realized that we were going to be thrown a total curve ball and have Dave get out of the military. We knew there was a possibility but were shocked when he was told and given only 2 weeks to get out. Anyways, we moved back to Pittsburgh and found a nice, small townhouse for only $650/month. What a difference from our thousands in San Diego. That was a good start to help us pay off some bills. The other major thing we just did was to trade in Dave's Tahoe. We were offered a trade in value that would help us pay off the Jetta as well and only have one car payment. That was going to save us more than $600/month in car payments. So we decided to go ahead with it and got rid of our Tahoe. As much as we didn't want to with winter coming up and it was such a great SUV to have, it was a smart move for our family. So we got an Hyundai Sonata Hybrid. I drive the car the majority of the time and I absolutely love it. The gas mileage on it is unbelievable. I totally understand why people drive hybrids now. It's such a smooth ride too. It's big enough to have both boys' car seats in the back with room to spare in the front. The only down side is that the trunk is not that big because the battery takes up a lot of that space. The other feature I'm loving right now is blue tooth enabled, which means I can hands free talk with no annoying ear piece or anything. It uses my phones blue tooth to go through the car. Love it!!! So that is our major news at the moment. I will try to take pictures in the next couple days so I can post my new baby!!!