Today we went back to Portrait Innovations out at Sandhills. I really like this studio because they give you so many sheets for a good price. We normally get pictures taken Christmas, and Easter, but since Abigail is a baby and changing so much I wanted to get them taken again since it has almost been 4 months since our last photo shoot. We got a lot of good ones of Abigail, but Jackson was having a hard day and stomach issues so we did not get many good ones of him.
Which picture is your favorite? I am trying to decide which ones to give to family members first.
"But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the great and first commandment."
Love the Lord your God with all your heart. How does this look for a stay at home mom who is always thinking about what their babies need? Praying constantly, thanking him constantly, worshiping Him, being fed by His Word daily. This also includes teaching our children how to love God above all else. Dr. Estep preached a great sermon last week on generations. He warned parents of the dangers in honoring our children above God (referencing Eli in 1 Sam) Are we making our children our number one focus and not God?
It is so basic, we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind. So many times we get all wrapped up in issues and all upset over things that will not matter in eternity. What are your thoughts?
Last weekend one of our best friends, Andrew Winburn, got married. Charlie was in the wedding and did their marriage counseling. It is so wonderful to see how God grants us the desires of our hearts in His perfect timing. God is so good! Charlie was fraternity brothers with Andrew and then he was at seminary the same time we were and lived real close to us. Charlie and Andrew have been through a lot together.
My parents came up for the weekend to keep the babies, and Kelly, my sister, was here throwing a bridal shower for one of her close friends. It was such a fun weekend!
We love Chick Fil A and go there every Tuesday night (the one on Bush River Road) for Family Night. On Family Night Jackson gets a free kids meal with a purchase of a regular combo meal. He also turns in his toy (not opened) for a free kids ice cream.
We are so excited about the new Chick Fil A opening in West Columbia. It is located on our exact way to church! Chicken Mini's are one of my favorite things to have for breakfast.
People are already lined up outside of Chick Fil A to be one of the first 100 people to get free food and a chance to win free food from Chick Fil A for a year. I can't believe people are camping out.
Go here to see pictures of people already lined up!
"Do not withhold discipline from a child;
if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
If you strike him with the rod,
you will save his soul from Sheol" (ESV)
Proverbs 23:13-14
Correction is Sanctification.
Points Come Straight from the Text:
1. Don’t withhold Correction
2. Don’t worry about the possible negative effects of spanking/correction
3. Spanking/Correction may save your child’s life (physical and spiritual)
I really have been holding off writing about spanking again, since one of the last times I did I got 19 comments and had some upset women commenting. You can click on my label spanking to see past posts on this issue.
However, yesterday in my daily reading, this was the Proverb for the day.
The Bible does not command us to do crazy forms of discipline where we make our children, eat soap, etc. The Bible commands us to use the rod.
The rod in our house is a wooden spoon. Jackson is warned he will get a spanking if his action can hurt himself or others. Many times now, all I have to do is bring out the wooden spoon and he chooses not to sin. I always give him one warning so he knows his action is harmful. I give him three spankings on his bottom each time I spank him. If we are in public we go to the bathroom and into a stall. The point of spanking is never to embarrass him and correcting him is between me, him, and God.
One day he did get three spankings pretty close together and after that, I put him in his room for 10 minutes. My personal limit is no more than 3 spankings in one day, but he has only done that one day. That particular day he was really bored and I had planned nothing for him to do. It is important when disciplining a child, to direct them on what they should be doing instead. This will probably mean that I will need to play with a toy with him and work on his speech and stop what I am doing.
Once he turns 12 year old we will probably have a coming of age party for him, and he will no longer be a child and the rod will no longer be an option for correction for us.
The key after spanking is to restore Jackson. He says he is sorry for his sins and feels remorse for it. I tell him a love him, and I want him to train him to have a heart that loves me and God by his actions. I try my best to be completely focused on his heart
This Thursday or Friday I plan on going to Kroger since they are having their Mega Event this week. You get $5 off instantly when you buy 10 certain products. I plan on buying five cinnamon roles, and using one of my coupons I have for it and buying five boxes of General Mills Cereal. I have one coupon that Kroger sent me for a free box of cereal so I will be getting good deals (they keep up with what I buy there through the Kroger Plus Card). I will buy their generic 12 pack drinks for us as well. They are good and on sale for $1.99 a pack this week.
The above picture is of Mimi, Zach, and Abigail celebrated Lauren's birthday at California Dreaming. Zach and Abigail are exactly 2 months apart in age. Below is Abigail eating her first cracker. She wants to eat whatever her brother is eating. Jackson is obssessed with the Doddlebops again and I only have one DVD of it. All day long he says "Doddlebops as well as "daddy at church work (for) Jesus."It is so great to finally know what is on his mind all day long.
Here is Sandi and Rylie at my cousin Mitch's reception
In other exciting news in the Wallace household, Jackson is signed up for SOAR soccer this year. His first practice is August 31st and his first game is on his birthday. We got him signed up real late and then somehow Charlie is now the head coach (he is excited). We are excited to have an outlet to get some of Jackson's energy out. SOAR soccer will be over at the end of October so works out good for us.
Got 4 Packs of Coke for $3.25 each and got $3 in extrabucks 2 Packs of Huggies Diapers for $9.00 each and got $4 in extrabucks Bath Sponge $2.99
Had Coupon for $1.50 off on Huggies Diapers found Here Test Your Health IQ Here and get $5 off $25 Purchase. I did this test and it was only about 10 questions and did not take very long CVS Extra Buck Coupons I had $4.00 off CVS Extra Buck Coupons I earned last week for $5.00 Earned one $4.00 extrabuck coupon Earned another $3.00 extrabuck coupon
So really out of pocket for me was only $15.74 I also picked up a coupon book that I asked for at the pharmacy (thanks money saving blogs!). It had two coupons for $4.00 off a purchase of $20 or more that expires September 12th and a Zertec coupon. Yay!
So what do you do with your Preschooler who is bored after cooking a yummy Dream Dinner? Take him to CVS and teach him how to be frugal with what God has so richly given you!
Check out her hair. Everywhere we go, we get a comment on her hair that sticks straight up in the back. It matches her vibrant personality.
She is growing up so fast. At this rate, she might be walking by 10 months old. She even had one of a Jackson's french fries tonight...oops. Because she is into everything, I set a timer and she rotates from the pack n play for 10 minutes, the hair chair with puffs or toys for 10 minutes ,and the exsaucer for 10 minutes. Do you have any other suggestions for containing her? She does not want to miss out on anything and wants to do whatever her brother is doing. She is a lot of fun as you can see!
Many Target stores have apples priced at $1 per pound. Buy one pound and use this $1/1 coupon to score free apples.
Bananas are reportedly priced at $0.57 per pound. Buy one pound and use this $0.50/1 coupon to get them for $0.07 per pound! (Thanks, Thrifty in Dallas!)
Thanks Money Saving Mom! Trying to eat more fruits and veggies. To see more great deals at Target this week go to Money Saving Mom's post here.
Books: Peek A Zoo, Baby's First Bible, Good Night Moon, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do you See, Dora's Egg Hunt, Read-Aloud Bible Stories Volume 1 (my favorite book)
DVD's: He LOVES dvd's. He likes Dora, Mickey, Little Einsteins, Wonder Pets, Oso, etc., he likes most educational dvd as well like Brainy Baby and Brainy Baby ABC's which help him talk. He really enjoys all Cedarmont Kids dvd and I like them too. They have kids singing songs (mainly Christian songs) and he likes to sing with them (he really likes to do the hand motions...I wish they did more hand motions in these dvds). He still likes Signing Time and still likes to sign some (but he always says the words that he is signing).
Toys: He likes cars, trains, Doctor Elmo, The Farmer Says See N' Say, balls, balls and more balls (we can't wait for tee ball!)
Favortie thing to do: JUMP (especially on the couch, bed, etc), play with balls, or he just loves to be outside!
Favortie thing to talk about: Abigail! Baby crawl, baby sleep, baby goes night night, baby's bottle. If Abigail was not here, I do not know what he would say all day. He loves her so much!
Major Praise is that he is saying little sentences all day long. I cannot believe how much progress he has made in the last month. He is so proud that he can talk and that he can successfully go potty. He is almost 100 percent trained! He daily sings his ABC's and counted to 20 today by himself! He knows all his letter when you put a random letter in front of him. His therapist cannot believe all the progress he has made in this last month. God gets all the glory! He has graciously answered our prayers. I am so appreciative of every time Jackson says something over and over again until I say it. It does not bother me it all. I will sing ABC's all day long and love every minute of it. Looking back at the beginning of the year, it seemed like he would never ever be able to talk. His short frenulum did not grown with him from 15 months old to 2 and half years old. Now that his is not tongue tied anymore, we are just making up for that critical year that was lost but fortuntaly Jackson will be 3 years old the entire year that he is in a 2 year old class. God is so good!
What is your little one (2-4 year old) favorite book, toy, or dvd. I always love to hear what other little ones like especially since Jackson has a birthday coming up soon!
Trying to make time for date night is challenging with two babies under the age of 3 right now.
Ideally, it would be great to have weekly date nights but many weekends we have stuff going on at the church and that is just not a realistic goal for us right now.
Instead, we have monthly date night. Every month I pick a Friday night out and call Lynn and go ahead and schedule it weeks in advance. On date night, we usually go to a restaurant (sometimes even one without a waiter like Moe's) and usually go shopping for clothes for us or for picture frames or something to buy for the house. We really cannot go shopping together with two babies. If we do it is rushed, and usually pretty hectic.
On date night we try to tell each other our favorite memories that we have had in the last 3-6 months. We also try to talk about our goals and what goals we have met recently or goals that we are working on. We really try to make memories and have a meaningful conversation at dinner when we have our date night.
Making time for your marriage is so important!
Do you have any tips or suggestions on what has worked with making your marriage a priority while raising small children?
Prayer:
I forgot to mention on last week's post that if you have a girl friend who wants you to pray about something, if it is not too awkward, pray with her right then about it. Many times I just pull my friend into a room that is empty or a place that does not have many people around, and we pray right then and there for my friend. I always feel the Holy Spirit working in both of our lives whenever I do this. I challenge you to do the same with your girlfriends!
Miralax for Jackson at $9.99 get $2.00 in extrabucks back
Pampers Diapers 2/$20 use two $1.00 off coupons found in last week's paper so out of pocket spend $18 get $5.00 back. It is so great only buying diapers for one baby!
2 Boxes of Stayfree for $10 I think there is a Buy 1 get one free coupon from last week's paper. Getting $5 back in extrabucks (if not I can use the printable couple of $1.00: Here)
Buy 2 Boxes of Nutri-grain bar for $5. I am also going to use one $1.00 of coupon for nutri-grain bars that was in last weeks paper. In case you have not noticed, there were a million coupons in last week's paper!
Conclusion: Spend $50.99 out of pocket meeting my goal of spending no more than $50 at CVS but really paying $34 because I will be getting $16 back in extrabucks. Let me know if you have any questions or any more deals I could use just spending $50 this week. I might do 2 transactions so I can use some of my extrabucks on the second purchase.
Space is limited so I would go ahead and register now.
I would recommend selling most clothes for $3. I am not sure if I want to check the box mark down or donate. What do yall think? Also do I need special paper for printing the tags? Love to hear your advice on the Tot Trade from moms who have sold items in the past!
