Playing Outside...

We are praying hard...we have 2 offers on our house. One is in the "Pending" stage- the inspection was done on Sat- we are in the negotiating phase. We are praying for everything to go smoothly, financing to come through, and for us to close on October 30th! We will keep you posted.

Today, Brayden wanted to play outside today- a few fun pictures around the townhome complex!

Colors...Red...Blue...Green

Brayden colored for the 1st time today with real crayons. He found his art bucket in his closet and pulled these Tadoodler crayons out- so we played with them and he enjoyed it!
And the first crayon casualties for Brayden...he decided to bite the tops off two of the crayons!

Playing and Unpacking

Brayden got a new car for his birthday and has found many different ways to ride it. Some are not so safe and yes, he got down right after this picture was taken. But, this shows how much he has started to climb on everything.
Aunt Lauren moved into her new house! We are so excited for her and love helping her unpack.

Nature Valley Giveaway Winner

Congrats to the winner of this giveaway I did last week.

WINNER!

Erin W.

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 3 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

MyBlogSpark sent me this Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters prize and sample pack below to review and giveaway one to a blog friend.

Time to catch up...Great Gammy asked for pictures

After wishing my Grandaddy a happy birthday this morning, Gammy asked for some Brayden pictures. She said "I enjoy reading about your giveaways, but I would love to see some pictures of Brayden." So here ya go!

Brayden has fallen love with his snack trap cup- he wants to carry it around everywhere! The only problem is he doesn't just grab out one snack (cheerios, goldfish, grape, etc.), he grabs a fistful and leaves a trail behind him.Playing in his sandbox- had to share his "Harper" tongue- most of the Harper's seem to stick their tongue out when they are concentrating on anything. Brayden has started to do it as well and it is precious.Brayden playing in the water at the back of our new house. His 5th tooth has broken through but has seemingly stopped coming now. It is on the top right.

MyBlogSpark- Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters and a GIVEAWAY

MyBlogSpark sent me this Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters prize and sample pack below to review.

Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters are a bite size blend of 100% natural ingredients that include select roasted nuts, whole grain oats and a touch of honey - a wholesome and delicious pick-me-up any time of the day. If you love nuts, you´ll enjoy this flavorful little snack featuring the perfect combination of sweet & salty flavors paired with a crunchy texture that you can see and taste. And with the first unique cluster-shaped granola packaged in a handy re-sealable pouch, it´s perfect for sharing on the trails or in your living room!

New Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters come in four easy-to-crave flavors: Nut Lovers, Roasted Almond, Roasted Cashew and Honey Roasted Peanut.

We loved all 4 varieties! Each bag was easy to reseal. The pieces inside were not crumbled (as I have gotten in the past with a competing brand of these clusters). The taste was delightful. They were super crunchy and yummy! My hubby and I loved all of them. The Nut Lovers variety was a bit chewier than the others, but still yummy.

With the samples, we also received a backpack, binoculars, steel water bottle and flashlight that are the perfect size for my 13 month old son to play with as he starts to investigate nature. Thanks Nature Valley!

You too can win this Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters "Snack Pack" prize pack that includes all four (4) varieties of the Granola Nut Clusters along with a sling backpack, stainless steel water bottle, flashlight and binoculars!

Just leave a comment telling me your favorite thing to do in nature with your family. I will randomly pick a winner on Friday, September 26th. (Make sure you leave me a valid email address)

13 Months Old...yesterday :)

Brayden turned 13 months old yesterday! It really seems like his 1 year old birthday party was last weekend.

He is growing and changing every day.
- He heard his echo for the first time
- He learned to walk backwards and sideways
- He is climbing on EVERYTHING!
- He is starting to say a few words that are sort of recognizable- like "kitty" and "mama", he is still saying "daddy" all the time
- He is sleeping 10-11 hours a night
- He is completly off the bottle and eating Gerber graduates meals and real people food
- He knows his name and knows when he is ignoring you :)
- He has already had to have his little hand slapped a couple of times
- He loves making LOTS of noises
- He likes playing with all of his new toys he got for his birthday (his favorites right now are the guitar, mega blocks, Cars car, Farm, and Noah's Ark)
- He knows when Daddy is coming home- and runs to the gate when he hears the garage open
- He is interacting more and more with the cats
- He loves Sunday School and nursery for small group
- He is in a play group with Grant, Ethan, Caleb, Dylan, and Marley
- He went to his first story time at the library
- And I am sure there is much more that I can't remember right now...

Happy 13 month birthday, our son!
Love, Mommy and Daddy

Free Picture People Package

Once again Picture People is offering a free package...one free 8x10, two free 5x7's, and eight free wallets. We are hoping to use this coupon for Brayden's Halloween pictures! We have used Picture People for all of Brayden's professional pictures since Christmas and love them!

Print a coupon for a free portrait package that includes one 8x10, two 5x7s, and eight wallets at Picture People through October 4. Mention the coupon when scheduling your appointment, because different locations will handle the coupon differently.Call your local Picture People studio and ask them if they will honor this coupon - some studios will only do it for existing Portrait Club members, others will do it for anyone. I recommend that you call Picture People to make an appointment because you have to schedule it before October 4 in order to use this coupon.

Here are a few of the ones they took for us...

Cheap Eats in Houston

I found a new blog the other day and thought my Houston foodie friends might enjoy it as well!

http://cheapeatsinhouston.blogspot.com/

Ciao!

October 5th....Possible Close Date!

Ah! They have set our close date on the new house for October 5th. We are super excited on one hand and super frustrated on the other because we still haven't sold our current home. We have received 2 offers, but both were way to low for us to accept. The new house is coming along beautifully. We have our 1st walk through this Friday. Brayden on the staircaseCompleted KitchenWood floors

Video of Brayden hearing his Echo for the first time- we couldn't figure out why he was talking the entire time we were in the house- until he started looking around after he would scream. Too cute!

Brayden's 1st "Art" Project

"Art does not solve problems but makes us aware of their existence. It opens our eyes to see and our brain to imagine." ~Magdalena Abakanowicz

Art is a subject that I was never good at in school...I cannot draw, can't really paint well, but I love doing arts and crafts! Give me a jar of random things, some paper and a bottle of glue and I am a happy girl! I am praying that Brayden also enjoys art projects as well.

For his birthday Brayden got many art supplies...finger paints, TaDoodler colors, TaDoodler stamp markers, sidewalk chalk, an art smock, and pads of paper! I can't wait let him play with all of that...but he is still a bit young! So...I got out his first TaDoodler art pad and Etch a Sketch- He LOVED both of them! (and now I can't find the TaDoodler anywhere to show you what it is...)

This TaDoodler is awesome. You fill the little "paint" thing with plain tap water and as Brayden touched it to the pad, the colors appeared. As soon as the water dried, the pad turned back to white and he could do it all over again.

And Brayden went to color on his Etch A Sketch the other morning and found this sweet note from his Daddy...

Cook Through a Book

Some friends of mine from church are cooking through a cookbook together (like the idea from the movie Julie and Julia). I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am always looking for new recipes to try and usually never have the guts to try many of them out. I was very excited to start doing this. You can read about the premise of the group here. Cook a Book

I cooked my first 2 recipes last night for dinner...and both Danny and I thought they were a success!

Roasted Fennel with Parmesan

Baked Virginia Ham with Mango Chutney Sauce

The Flu...

Well...the Boyer's didn't expect this visitor called the flu to come knocking on our door, but that he did and with a vengeance! Here is the whole story up until now of Brayden getting sick this past weekend.

B got his 1 year shots last week. The doc said to expect a fever 7-10 days later. He woke up Friday morning (7 days later) with a 102 fever. With Motrin and Tylenol it stayed around 100-102 all day.

Friday night he was super fussy and went to bed early at 7:45 a.m. He woke up screaming at 12:30 a.m. and I knew something wasn't right. When I got down to his crib, he was sitting up, shaking and VERY VERY hot to the touch. When I took his temperature it was 105.5! We were super scared! Danny immediately called the pediatrician and we had decided if we didn't hear back in 15 minutes we were calling my Dad who is in Oregon this week. The doc called back in 5 minutes and said that he thought it was probably the flu at this point and not just temperature from the 1 year old shots. He said to give him a tepid water bath, continue with Motrin and Tylenol, and he felt we didn't need to go to the E.R. He would only be in more harm being there and maybe catching something else.

The fever stayed from that point until last night- going up to 104 and down to 100 with Tylenol and Motin for 3 full days. He was not eating well at all Fri and Sat, but ate much better yesterday and today.

This morning he woke up fever free and has stayed that way so far! Hallelujah!

My Dad and the pediatrician said that since he now has a runny nose, sore throat, and slight cough, it is definetly the flu.

So...he is doing better so far! Now we just have to wait and see if we all get it too. We all started the flu medicine and are praying that if we do get it, it won't be as bad! Thanks for the prayers! It was a very scary weekend for us!

Restaurant.com is 90% off!!!!

Starting today, 9/9/09, you can snag a $25 Gift Certificate from Restaurants.com for 90% off! WOW, That’s only a $1!

This is the lowest price that I have ever seen them so you will definitely want to STOCK UP!!
The gift certificates are good for one year so you can print them out immediately and have plenty of time to use them with all the holidays coming up. I still have some left that I purchased awhile back but I’ll definitely be buying some more at this price.

Need help during the checkout process? Use coupon code: NINETY

Here is a list of steps to show how simple the process is when you’re maneuvering on their website.
Click on the button for Restaurants.com
Enter your zip code or select your city or state and click GO
Find a Restaurant and select the quantity of certificates you want and click Add to Cart
At this point you should see your shopping cart with all the certificates listed at $10.00 each
Type in your special discount code in the box at the top and click Apply code is: NINETY
Your certification total should drop and you can click "Proceed to Checkout"

Simple as that!

Coupon Clipping...Kroger Mega Savings Event

Were you able to hit the Kroger Mega Savings event this year? I finally had the opportunity to take advantage of this awesome sale, and I have to say was a bit frustrated. This was my first My Blog Spark event and I thought I had my lists ready and all prepared- My Blog Spark had graciously sent me a $30 gift card to use at the event!Here is some info on the event: The Mega Savings Event is taking place at the Kroger Co., Family of Stores Aug. 16th thru Sept. 2nd – Click here to see a list of participating stores

If you are not familiar with this promotional offer, here is how it works: when you buy 10 participating brands (see list below) and use your Shopper Card at check out you instantly save $5. And there is no limit on the number of rewards per transaction! Look for the double yellow tags in-store.

Participating brands include: AMP Energy, Aquafina, Betty Crocker Baking Mixes, Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks, Cascadian Farms Cereals and Bars, Cap’n Crunch, Cheerios, Cheetos, Chex Mix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, Dole Juices and Juice Drinks, Fiber One, Fritos, Gatorade, Golden Grahams, Green Giant, Hamburger Helper, Life , Lipton Tea, Nature Valley, Old El Paso, Pepsi family of 2 Liters, Pillsbury, Progresso, Propel, Quaker Instant Oatmeal, Quaker Chewy Bars, Starbucks, Sobe Life Water, Totino’s, Trix, Tropicana, Yoplait and MORE!

After shopping for over an hour and a half, for food for 2 weeks, I was very frustrated to find that although I was able to save over $30 through clipped coupons and Kroger sales events, but hadn't stocked up on enough items to get my $5 Mega Savings Event giveaway.

I hope next time I do one of these events, I am able to take more time and figure things out better so I can show you what all I saved at the store. I am pretty good with coupon clipping and save an average of $30 every time I go to the grocery store.

And if you are a coupon clipper too, you can go to shortcuts.com and have the coupons automatically downloaded to your Kroger card so you don't have to actually "clip" them :)

"I Like To Be Loud"

In honor of his Daddy's love of drums, Brayden's new pajamas have bears playing the drums!

And a cute picture of Brayden petting Allie, our smallest cat. Brayden and Allie play together all of the time- the other two are still staying far away!

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears! Oh My!

Brayden went to the zoo for the first time on Monday. We were all a bit surprised how much he really was interested in the animals and looked at each of them. He had a tough time seeing the smaller ones and the birds that were camouflaged so well, but he loved the big animals.

(Don't miss the video at the end)

Pointing at the Sea Lions in the waterDoing his Daddy duties- mapping out our path through the zoo!Listening to Story Time with MommyThey read "Don't Say Boo to a Goose"- so the kids got to pet a real duck :)He also wasn't so sure about the goats he was supposed to pet. Maybe next time!

Brayden's 1st ride on a carousel and he was not going to sit or be anywhere near those fake animals! He was not a happy camper- so Daddy held him standing up.

Video of Brayden riding the carousel for the 1st time