Hannahkin

As most of your know, my dad carves AMAZING pumpkins! Each year he carves one of each of his grandchildren, which means he has four pumpkins to carve this year. Here is my personal favorite from this year - Hannah! :)

Bargain Grocery Shopping

So I've really gotten into bargain and coupon grocery shopping recently. I've been using coupons (here and there) pretty much since we got married over 3 years ago, but I guess you can say I've become a coupon psychopath as of late. :) I even have a coupon binder chock full of hundreds of coupons. Anyway, I've decided to try The Grocery Game to see how it is. I've heard some good things about it, and since they offer a month free, I figured there's nothing to lose. I've only been using it a couple of days, but so far I haven't found anything special about it that I can't get for free from other websites. We'll see if I find out what's so great about it in the next few weeks to see if it might actually be worth paying for. So far, I'm not convinced, but only time will tell. After testing it out, I'll let you all know what I've determined. :)

Great Deal on Ziploc Bags!!!

***EDIT: I was mistaken about Food4Less. I was there this week and they DO have catalinas, so this might even work there. The only thing to consider is the fact that they don't double coupons like Ralphs does, so it may not be quite as good of a deal, depending on their price for Ziplocs.***

I read about a great deal on Ziploc bags at Kroger stores here. There is the potential to not only get FREE Ziploc bags, but also to actually make money on them! I've noticed that Southern California's prices are almost always higher than the rest of the country, but I was still able to make a little extra money out of the deal. :) According to the website I got this idea from, the bags cost anywhere from $1.84-$2.19. Ralphs (our Kroger affiliate) had them on sale for $2.50. So I grabbed three boxes for a total of $7.50, used a coupon for $1.50 off 2 and another coupon for $0.40 off 1 (which doubled to $0.80 off). With the coupons, I only spent $5.20 (plus tax) out of pocket, but will submit an SC Johnson rebate for $5, making them only $0.20 total for 3 boxes of Ziplocs!!! On top of that, when you buy Ziplocs at Ralphs, you get a coupon at the register for $2 off your next purchase!!! So, in all reality, I actually got paid $1.80 to buy 150 Ziploc bags! Can't beat that! By the way, if you don't have the coupons, you can go here to print one. This is even a great deal without coupons. If I didn't have the coupons, after the rebate and $2.00 catalina (coupon that prints at the register), it still would have only been $0.50 for 3 boxes of Ziplocs.

On a side note, I don't think this would work at Kroger discount stores, such as Food4Less, since they don't have catalinas. :(

From Baby to Toddler

It's official. Our little Hannah is starting to toddle around the house. On several occasions over the last week, she's taken anywhere from one little step to three or four little steps. Today she decided to try to walk about four feet by herself - and succeeded! She loves to walk around the house while holding onto our hands and gets a good laugh out of falling down, which is a good thing, because there's probably going to be a lot of that going on in the next couple of months! :)

Hannah's language development is also coming along, although it's mostly in her ability to understand language rather than to communicating language. There are a few words she does say. Right now her favorite word is "Bapa," but she also says "Bup," which in Hannah language means "book." She loves to look at "bups," although it's almost impossible to actually READ them to her, because she's mostly interested in turning the pages! I think she's also starting to learn the sign for "milk," because I mentioned something about milk the other day and she started signing it. She understands the names of objects, as we can ask her where a specific toy or object is and she'll either point to it or get it. One of her newest developments is showing us where her head and nose are when we ask her. Now we just have to work on the rest of the body parts! It's definitely a ton of fun to watch how she learns and masters each task. Watching her development has also helped me understand just how much Christ had to humble Himself to become man. He also would have had to learn these things, as Hannah does. Truly amazing!

My parents were down last weekend and my wonderful husband and dad took the glass doors out of the shower and replaced our leaky drain plug in the bathtub, so Hannah can now take baths in the big bathtub! She absolutely loves it, especially the new bath toys with which mama spoiled her! I've also been trying to be better at remembering to brush her teeth every night (I know, I should've started doing that A LONG time ago, but I usually don't remember until after she goes to bed - oops!). Anyway, I bought her a new toothbrush and some Gum and Tooth Cleanser. She thinks brushing her teeth is just the funniest thing ever! I'll have to get a video of it sometime for you.

Last weekend we also turned her around in the car. She loves facing forward, because she can look out the windows and watch Mommy drive the car. She has started babbling a lot, too, and talks my ear off in the car, which I think is so cute. We'll see how I feel about that when she can actually talk! :)

Hannah is also a big social butterfly! She makes friends wherever we go, especially with other little kids and babies. She gets so excited when we see other kids and starts squealing and waving to them. It's so cute to watch!

We've also discovered the joy of a webcam! It's much better than having her talk to people on the phone, because she usually gets distracted by the phone and doesn't talk. With the webcam, however, she gets really excited to see someone and is more interactive. She even got to have a lunch date with her twin cousins in Northern CA, and was also able to talk to her Grandma in Oregon! We were laughing today, because James was watching a Mark Driscoll sermon online. Hannah walked up to the computer, stood in front of it, and got really excited and started talking and pointing to Mark. She thought it was someone on the webcam! :) She'd love to chat with any of you, whenever you have time. Just let us know and we'll schedule it. :) We're looking forward to seeing Papa and Grandma next month in person (we're working on how to say, "Papa."). :)

Paul's Trials are Still Producing Fruit

James and I received a great reminder yesterday at church. The sermon was about missions, but there was something (not about missions, per se) that really struck us. Our pastor was speaking out of Romans 1 and was discussing Paul's desire to go to Rome, but was prevented from doing so. However, because he was unable to visit the Romans, he had to resort to writing them a letter, resulting in the book of Romans. If he was able to visit Rome, the book of Romans would not exist! Think about the rich theology and doctrine that we get from this amazing and wonderful book of the Bible! If it weren't for Paul's imprisonment and other circumstances which prevented him from traveling at times, we probably wouldn't have ANY of the Pauline epistles! What a great reminder of how God takes our trials and uses them for HIS glory! Of course, we often don't understand why He's allowing us to go through trials while we're in the midst of them, but it's so encouraging to see His hand at work even in our darkest and most difficult hours. I'm sure Paul would have rather been able to give his messages to their recipients in person, but because he was unable to do so, everyone for all of time to come would have access to his God-inspired wisdom and teaching and would be able to learn and grow in the knowledge of Christ! While the fruit of my trials most likely won't ever have an impact of this magnitude, they can definitely be used for God's purpose and glory. This is something we can be reminded about every time we pick up His Word and read one of these letters!

As I write this, I am reminded not only of the great encouragement we have in trials (and God's sovereignty), but of what Paul's attitude and actions said about him and his faith while he was undergoing trials. Even during times of trial, he continued to have a Christ-ward mindset.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:18-30)

Paul was always thinking about Christ and the hope that we have through Him, and He was always reminding others about this hope. Can I say the same about myself?

Life With a One-Year Old is Anything But Boring!

It seems that everyday brings something new with little Hannah. She definitely keeps me on my toes! Today I caught her playing with some raw chicken pieces that I had thrown in the garbage. Thankfully I caught her right away, so she didn't have any time to eat any of it or stick her icky hands in her mouth. Nevertheless, I'm a bit of a foodborne pathogen freak, so this really grossed me out! You better believe that we scrubbed her hands well with soap and warm water!

On an unrelated note, I saw her munching away on something, so I stuck my fingers in her mouth to fish around for whatever she was chewing on. I didn't find anything, but I did discover that she has two little molars in her mouth! I knew she was getting some teeth in the front, but I had no idea she was working on some molars, too! That brings her tooth count to seven, which is pretty incredible, considering that a month ago, she only had two! She's been working hard to push out all of these teeth!

Also, Hannah has recently developed an utter fear of the vacuum. One day while vacuuming, I looked down to find Hannah screaming her little head off and shaking. Poor thing! I can't even pull the vacuum out of the closet without her losing it - it doesn't even have to be turned on for her to get scared. This is something we're going to have to work on. In the time being, however, I have resorted to vacuuming while Hannah's in her highchair, occupied with food. And even then, I have to look at her and smile at her when I turn it on, so that she knows it's okay. Hopefully she gets over this fear quickly. :)

James had the privilege of going to our church's men's retreat this past weekend. I'm glad he was able to go and have fun, but it sure is nice to have him back home! I am so proud of my husband for all the work he's putting into learning his new job. It hasn't been an easy path for him, but I'm so proud of his attitude through it and his diligence in learning. He's amazing and I thank God that He brought him into my life!

Last post I mentioned that I was doing a new running program. Well, I made it through the first two weeks and the first day of the third week before the treadmill decided to give up. So, I'm quite bummed that I've not been able to run for the past week. :( Tonight I told James that I start to eat more junk when I don't exercise, so it's a double whammy! I guess I'll just have to figure out something else in the meantime.

So, that's about it for now. Here are some pictures of the little cutie for your viewing enjoyment!

The cashiers like to give balloons to Hannah when we go to the grocery store now. Usually she just gets the regular latex balloons, but on this particular day, she got a mylar balloon that was bigger than her!

Check out my cool monkey bib!

Hannah often puts her face into this toy and talks/squeals/giggles/yells into it. She also does that with cups and basically anything that will sound funny when she talks into it.

What? You mean this isn't for me to climb on?

Hannah takes after her daddy. This is where he sits when he reads his books.

Just cute!

This is how Hannah crawled for about a week. We couldn't figure out what she was doing. Maybe she was trying to figure out how her legs worked - we really have no idea! Anyway, we would often hear a thud when she was crawling around and it would be her running into a wall, or a door, or furniture. I guess that's what happens when you're not watching where you're going! She has given up this silly habit of crawling while looking at her legs, only to be replaced by her rolling around the floor, giggling. Like I said, life with a one-year-old is anything but boring! I LOVE IT!