It's a Girl!

We are so excited to announce that a baby girl is on the way! I'm thrilled that Anne Parks will have a sister. Emily and I had so much fun together when we were young, and I don't know what I'd do without her friendship today. I'm overjoyed that Anne Parks will get to have that experience.

Here are some of our first glimpses at Baby Girl McQueen.

That's her skinny leg in front of her face (She hasn't put on her fat yet.) and her little hands up by her head.

Don't Eat Pete!

When Maggie was visiting a few weekends ago, we played our new favorite game, Don't Eat Pete! It's so much fun for toddlers and a great way to get them to eat, too! I found the game and a download for the board on a cute blog called Sparkle Power I printed it out and laminated it, and we were ready to go!

The game board has 12 squares with a picture in each one. You put a small treat (We used Cheerios.) in each square. One player leaves the room or covers his or her eyes and the others decide which fellow on the board is "Pete." When the person returns, they start eating the Cheerios from the game board. As soon as the player tries to pick "Pete," everyone yells "Don't eat Pete!" That players turn is over. Refill the game board and play again with the next player.
You can keep score by counting how many Cheerios are left, but don't worry with that yet.

The game board:
Maggie (who rarely eats anything) got into the game!
Anne Parks - trying not to "Eat Pete"

Sunday School

Jason and I kept Anne Parks' class at church last Sunday. We had a great time. I had to snap a few pics of Anne Parks while we were there. She loved the dress-up box. With the cape on, she told everyone that she was Mary, and she took care her "Baby Jesus" for the entire class.
Here, she is (still holding Baby Jesus) in the postman's outfit.

A Saturday with Family

On Saturday, Jason's mom and dad, Jennifer, Aaron, and Maggie came for a visit. We ate lunch at P.F. Chang's, then played for the rest of the afternoon. We had a great day!

Anne Park's made a "happy bowl."

A Pretend Nap

The other day, I found Anne Parks under my bedside table (for which I still haven't made a skirt), and she told me she was taking a "pretend nap." Cute, huh?

Ready for School on a Cold Day

It has been extremely cold lately. Here's Anne Parks bundled up for the ride to school and ready to go with her Pop Tart and legwarmers. Grandma and Papa gave her the hat for Christmas, and we just love it!

Do You Clip Coupons?

I do. Well, I do now. I always thought that clipping coupons was too much trouble. Why take the time when you're only going to save a few cents? Now, I know it's totally worth it. Thanks to the following sites, I've saved over $25 each of my last three visits to the grocery store:

Money Saving Mom
Money Saving Methods
The Simple Dollar
Thrifty Jinxy
The Grocery Game

Here are the steps I've learned to take that have drastically reduced my grocery bill:
1. Clip coupons. I do this in 3 ways.
1.) The old fashion way - Clip them from the Sunday paper, magazines, or "junk
mail."
2.)Print them - There are tons of sites out there where you can print your own
coupons; just google "coupons," and you'll see.
3.)Electronically - this way has to be my favorite! On ShortCuts.com, you can click
on the coupons you want, they'll be loaded onto your Kroger card (or
whatever store you use), and then you can print out a list of the coupons and their
expiration dates. You can also do this through Kroger.com.

2. Make a plan. Using the sales flyer (found at the store or on your store's website) to see what's currently on sale and my coupons as a guide, I plan a week of meals. Then, I write out my shopping list.

3. Stick to the list. This is a biggie for me. It's hard not to drop extras into my cart, especially when I see something that I think Anne Parks would love or when I'm hungry (which, lately, has been pretty much all the time), but having a meal plan, a list, and the challenge of saving more than last week has made it much easier.

4. Have fun! It is such a great feeling when the cashier starts swiping those coupons, and the total begins to go down little by little. This has become a game for me, and the receipt showing my savings is my little trophy.

On my last trip, my total started out at $162, and after the coupons and my Kroger savings, it was $135. That's a savings of $27 or 20%! If I can save that much each week, that's a savings of $100 a month! A little bit of planning goes a long way!

So, give coupon-clipping a try, and let me know how it goes!

An Honor

Before Christmas and my holiday from blogging, I received an email from Janice Tracy, a woman who maintains Attala County Memories, a lovely genealogy blog. She had happened upon my blog, seen the post about Ganne's birthday, and asked if she could re-post it on her blog. I felt honored! She's since posted the poem here and more about Ganne here. More recently, Janice has awarded our blog with the Proximidade Award. Honored again!
Receipt of this award requires me the to pass the award on to eight bloggers who share the qualities listed above. These charming blogs are ones that I visit and enjoy regularly. Please visit thesm, and you'll see why I've chosen them for this award.

Rhonda Yates-Rogers - Dwell in Possibility
Laura Tomlinson - My Little Life...
Shannon - Rocks in My Dryer
Carly Long - The Long Family
Darby Stickler - The Stickler Family
Emily Stringer - The Stringers
Danielle Thompson - Thompson Family Life
Erika Powell - Urban Grace

Christmas at the Cabin

Here we are at the cabin. ( I wasn't kidding about Anne Parks wearing her tutu all day.) We arrived on Christmas Day and spent 3 nights together. It was so much fun for us all to be together!
Ganne, my uncle Glenn, his wife Tammy, and my cousin Ethan were all there for brunch. We opened presents; then Ganne brought out her dominoes, and we played Mexican Train. If you've never played, you should try it out. It's so much fun!

Ganne and her "greats"
Rambo Reed, Smith, and Sissy
Uncle Drew chillin' with AP's baby doll and microphone
Anne Parks loved throwing acorns into the pond.
The boys hunted some despite the blazing temperatures for December.
One night, Uncle Dan, Aunt Debbie, cousins Hannah, Allen, and Kaitlyn and friend Gary joined us for dinner and games. We played Catchphrase which is probably the most fun game ever. I'm not sure if we spent more time playing or laughing until we cried!

Kaitlyn got a new puppy for Christmas. Here's Emily's dog, Stella, with new puppy, Bella. She's just precious!
Anne Parks and Bella really hit it off.

Ganne came back later in the week and brought us some of her yummy chicken spaghetti for lunch. Then, she took some time to tell Anne Parks a "face story." Ganne's "face stories" involve her telling a story (they're different every time) and "illustrating" it by moving her fingers over your face. Your nose may be a hill the characters are climbing, or your hair may be dark woods that they walk into. At one point during this one, I noticed that Anne Parks' arm was the tree in which a cat had gotten stuck! Emily and I couldn't get enough of Ganne's "face stories" when we were small and neither can Anne Parks!

Here's Smith in his "camphouse" duds. One of Emily's friends gave him a pair of Carhartts, and they were perfect for the cabin. Aren't they funny?
My dad finally got Anne Parks to ride on the 4-wheeler with him. He'd been tring for a while, but she was afraid becuase it was loud. Well, once she got on, she didn't ever want to get off!

I can't wait until we all go back again!

Christmas Morning

Anne Parks got some great dress-up clothes from Santa. Here she is in the Snow White dress...
and the Cinderella dress...
and in a tutu (that should wouldn't take off for the rest of the day).


After playing for a little while then packing the car, we were off to the cabin!