A Shout Out to Being Cheap!!

I am not afraid to admit that I might be the cheapest person in the world. I guess I have just had such amazing luck with craigslist that I have decided that most things that I need, I can find in perfect condition for much cheaper at garage sales, or on craigslist. These are some things I have found, and the story behind them.

This car seat was an awesome find. I paid $35 for it. The story behind it is a lady had twins. Once her kids out grew these car seats she got rid of one. She kept the other in case she decides to have more kids, but she is banking on not having twins again. So I got a 8 month old car seat, never been in any accidents and no stains, in perfect condition for an amazing deal!



This stroller was an amazing find! It's one of those sit and stand kind. For those of you with two kids, this is the greatest buy I have ever made. Lucy is old enough now that she doesn't want to be in the stroller at all times, so she can get in and out when ever she wants! I love it! And Jack's seat snaps right into the front. I don't know how I could have two kids without this. I've also found (thanks to Pam's thinking) that it can easily hold 3 kids. One in the front, one sitting on the little seat in the back, and one standing on the platform in the back. It's great! This wonderful find cost me $50.

This was a little splurg for me. I found a scroll saw for $20, had the car that day, so I went. Shawn didn't even know I got it until I called him and told him I had just picked it up. All it needed was some new blades. Craft night, here I come!!

This chair looks a lot better in person then in the picture. It looks really dusty in the picture, but it's perfect! I bought this sucker for $40 for Shawn's office. It's a really nice brown leather chair. Shawn was really sick of using our kitchen chairs which are the only peice of furniture (other than the crib and Lucy's dresser) I haven't gotten on craigslist or at garage sales, and they are by far the worst quality furniture we have in the house.

We got this rocking chair and the ottoman for $50 just before Jack was born. Out of everything I have bought, this is probably in the worst condition, but it is used the most. It still looks great, it's just the material is definately wearing. My old rocker found a new home in the dumpster. Those who once sat in it know why.

This was one of my best finds, and I've mentioned it before, but this piano, it was free.

This desk and chair was the last one I got, the whole thing was $30, and it is perfect for the family room. When we moved in we thought the room was almost too big to look good and be functional. Then we got the couches and everything fell into place perfectly! Not only did I get the desk and chair, but the lamps on the desk and the piano too, they were like $5 each.

I might be most proud of this find. My couches!!! They were a Mother's Day gift from Shawn, but I found them on Craigslist. We went to Sofa Mart, and I was really depressed when I left because anything that was in our budget was horrible quality. I just wanted some nice couches that were comfortable, and affordable. So I looked around on Craigslist and found these up in Monument, about 20 minutes from our house. We absolutely LOVE them! They are micro fiber, and we all know how great that is with the kids! Not to mention, I saved at least $700 on the set by buying them used. They were in the living room of this really nice house. We asked why they were selling them and found out they were about to move into their new house they had just built and it didn't have a living room and a family room, just one Great Room, so they didn't need both sets. We totally lucked out on that one!

Some other things that I couldn't get pictures of because it is 10:30 at night are, Lucy's toddler bed- $25, our house we are living in, just found it on craigslist, which is funny because I was actually looking through a few property management websites, and this house was through one of them, they just didn't have it posted on their site yet. We have our other couch that we got at a garage sale, and the entertainment center (thanks Pam), I have a cute little green sewing table (mom, you know the one), garage sale -$10, a changing table -$15, some toys for the kids, and some end tables that I need to refinish still- $20. Saving hundreds of dollars by being cheap, and still loving all my stuff- priceless!!!

Lucy and Jack Interactions

Jack love's craning his neck back, those of you who have seen it know what I am talking about. He is actually getting close to rolling over when he does this. I think that is what he has been wanting to do the whole time. It was so cute to come down into the family room to find Lucy playing with Jack like this. Never mind the fact that she was stalling for bed.

This is Lucy and Jack playing after church a couple of weeks ago. Lucy has a lot to say, and it's so cute, but if you listen you will hear Jack's little coo's too.

Lucy's Latest

After a full year of coaching, and bribing, Lucy's has learned to jump. I think moving into our new house with stairs really broke her in. Now she jumps off of everything. It took me about a month to unpack this box, and she didn't mind. She now jumps from the top of the stairs (don't worry, we are in a split level, so it's really only like 6 or 7 steps), off boxes, off the deck, basically off anything. Now I just have to make sure she knows not to jump if someone isn't there to catch her. But she has been such a pansy about jumping for so long that I'm not too worried.

So as mentioned before, Lucy can be a bit of a pansy. Here we are just walking on a deck by the lake (a dock technically I guess?) and she realized that we were actually a little off the ground. Suddenly she couldn't walk anymore, she wasn't safe unless she was on all fours. When we finally convinced her to walk, she was sure to be extra careful not to step on the cracks. She does the same thing on the play grounds.

We've been getting so much rain this week and it is finally showing. Everything (including our once dead lawn) is so green. Driving up to Highlands Ranch one day we looked out and we decided we felt like we were in Ireland. It helped that it was really really foggy too, Shawn said "I feel like we should be seeing herds of sheep instead of cows."
But Lucy is pretty cute too ;), check out these faces.

The Many Faces of Jack

Jack is honestly so adorable! He has more facial expressions then any baby I've ever come across. This post is full of some, but honestly, you can't catch the precious moments on film, they know when that camera comes out, it's time to stop and stare. But considering that fact, I've done pretty darn good. So to start thing off, we have one of my favorites,
The "Surprise!!!" Face.



The "Oh yeah, I'm a stud" Face
(Is his little suit not adorable? Don't mind the drool, that is a current issue.)

Ok, these are just cute faces of Jack, he had a really fun little photo shoot.

The "Cat Walk" Face

"That was good" face

The "Whatcha talkin' 'bout Willis?" Face

The "corny fake laugh" face

The Cabbage Patch Face
(wish you could see the dimples in this pic, they are there, I promise)

The face of concern

And last, but not least, the pacifier face.

This One is for Shawn

You will not find a more excited person in the world about the NBA playoffs than Shawn. He has been lucky enough to go to one game of each series since the playoffs started, and I am praying that they don't make it to the finals for $ reasons. But Shawn has earned it. The Nuggets haven't been to the Conference finals since 1985, and if they do make it to the finals it would be a first. So as much as I don't want them to make it because it is so darn expensive, it would be a very big deal to someone in this house. On the positive side for me, these games have taken care of Fathers Day, Shawn's Birthday, our Anniversary, Christmas, and Valentines Day. That makes those usually stressful days much easier on me, and honestly, Shawn is every bit as happy as he would be if I spent months stressing about what to get him.

A night with the fam. Shawn went with his family, I stayed home with the kids. Could have gone if I wanted to, but I have 3 reasons why I didn't want to go:
1- Late night game with a 2 year old and a baby, no thanks.
2- Playoff games turn out to be a little more expensive then regular season.
3- Not so much a Nuggets fan, more on the Jazz side.

But they all had a great time, and I'm glad they did.

Lucy's Funny Phrases

Ok, Lucy is back at it. She has said some of the funniest things this week, I have to share!

-Lucy:"What is going on with my legs? They are all bumpy!"
Me: "Those are goosebumps Lucy."
Lucy: "That's crazy."

- (This was during the Swine Flu scare, and I swear she didn't hear about this from me, the news was on and they were talking about it. This is what I heard Lucy saying while I was making lunch.)
"1 Swine Flu, 2 Swine Flu, 3 Swine Flu..... Ready or not, here I come!!"

-Lucy: "I'm sorry mommy!" (so sincerely, too, with her eyebrows going and all)
Me: "It's ok Lucy, it wasn't your fault, I just dropped it."
Lucy: "Oh, it's Daddy's fault."