Pics from the week...

Cameron has been asked to be on the demonstration team at Tae Kwon Do! This is a really big honor, especially because of his age! Most of the members are teens or adults! I decided to be "that mom" who stuck around for practice to take pictures. Next time I'll drop him off and leave, but I REALLY wanted to get some pictures of him in his new red uniform! :)

I wanted to get a picture of him doing one of his flying side kicks, but I couldn't quite get the settings right on my camera. :( I'll have to mess around with it a little more to get it right. This would've been a really cool picture!

I love his stance in this picture. He stood like that the entire time the other team members were practicing their parts.

We took the boys to the park today since it wasn't raining! Yesterday's weather was awful and I think the boys were getting a little stir crazy!

My sweet little boy! :)

Cheeeese!

Cameron and his football. He's got quite on arm on him!

Black Belt!!

It's official!! Cameron is a black belt!!
Black belt testing was long and difficult. It's 2 hours of choreographed form, back-to-back sparring matches, multiple board breaks and a real show of strength and endurance! Cameron did excellent! I was so impressed with his determination and the respect he had for his opponents and Masters. We are so very proud of the amazing young man he's becoming!

Bo black belt form.

This was the first break of a 3 part break. I've never seen him break with his hands before and I was a little nervous when I saw what they were gearing up for. You can't see in the picture, but there are another 2 Masters behind them with more boards. He broke all the boards on the first attempt!


Here he is (in blue) getting ready to spar one of his best friends.

The belt ceremony!

Bowing to his Master

His congratulatory hug. :)

Cameron and his Master; Grandmaster Yong Jun Lee, 7th Dan Black Belt.

Joey's Birthday!

My baby is growing WAY too fast!! I can't believe his 2nd birthday has come and gone already! It seems like just yesterday we brought him home in his little infant carrier. Now he's running and jumping and starting to talk. He knows what he likes and what he thinks is funny. He has his own little funny personality. I guess my baby isn't really a baby anymore!

We had Joey's birthday at Millennium Park on Saturday and it turned out great. The weather was perfect; 68 and sunny! Joey had a blast playing on the playground, eating cake and opening all his gifts!

I didn't get a whole bunch of pictures, but I know there are a lot more coming from family!

He didn't want to open anymore presents after this truck! He just wanted to play with it!

Daddy helping Joey blow out the candles!

Poking his fingers in the cake!

Me and my sisters!

Here's a better picture of the cake. This was not the cake I intended to make. I had an idea for a cute little owl on a branch with little pinecones and trees, but Joey had other plans. I was looking through cakes on www.cakecentral.com to get some last minute ideas when I clicked open a picture of a Mickey Mouse cake. Joey started pointing and saying "yeah, yeah" and "mmmm", so I guess he made the decision. Mickey Mouse it was! I think it turned out really cute! Some unsuspecting person will be getting an owl cake this year!

Sweetheart Cake!

I made this cake for Gina's birthday, which just happens to be the day after Valentine's! I thought this cake would be fitting. I saw it about a year ago on one of my favorite blogs, www.bakerella.com and I've wanted to make it ever since! Gina gave me explicit instructions to make a CARROT CAKE!!! She fell in love with the carrot cake I made for Thanksgiving! It's a fun cake to make too. I actually like shredding all the carrots and grinding the almonds into flour. Really feels like cooking. :) Anyway, here's the finished product. It's carrot cake with lemon-cream cheese filling and chocolate cake balls on top for the carrot haters (Joe & Cameron... not to name names or anything).

Cupcakes!

Today I made some cupcakes for Alpha House, the local shelter for homeless teen moms/pregnant teens. I usually make a cake, but I made cupcakes this time and they turned out really cute! The shelter was really happy to receive them! I also brought a bunch of jars of baby food, maternity clothes, baby clothes, blankets and towels. I found a really good sale on baby food and just happened to have some good coupons (surprise, surprise), so I was able to get 20 jars for just over $2.00. I'll keep looking for good deals like that so I can keep donating whatever types of things they need.

Week 3 & 4 Totals

Yeah, I'm that far behind. :(

Week 3 (ending 1/23/10)

Total spent - $77

Total saved - $94

Total value - $171

Percentage saved - 55%

YTD spent - $231

YTD savings - $265

YTD percentage saved - 53%


Week 4 (ending 1/30/10)

This week I found some really good sales at Winn Dixie on chicken, pork and potatoes. I loathe Winn Dixie, but I'm willing to go there to save this much! They had chicken thighs on BOGO, so I got 10lbs! I prepped them, divided them into meal sized portions and froze them. They're great for crockpot recipes! I also bought 10lbs. of potatoes and a few lbs. of pork chops. Meat doesn't go on BOGO very often, so I bought way more than I normally would! Anyone with good recipes for chicken or potatoes, please help me!!

Total spent - $138

Total saved - $145

Total value - $283

Percentage saved - 51%

YTD spent - $369

YTD savings - $410

YTD percentage savings - still 53%