Raisin Filled Cookies

Over Christmas Mark and I went to TN. It was such a great time! We got see Mark's Grandparents in Virginia and all of our neices and nephews. Let me say the 2 year old and 3 year old are just wildmen! They are so cute and fun, but they never stop for 1 second.

Mark's dad and I made these wonderful cookies called Raisin Filled Cookies. Pops can I give the recipe out? If you like raisins you'll love these cookies. I add the recipe if Pops says its OK. I'm not sure if it's a family recipe or not.

On our way home from TN Mark and I stopped in Michigan City to do Christmas on 12/29. It was fun. Christmas was at my brother's house and we had Prime Rib and Lobster tails for dinner. That was Greg's present to everyone. I think it was an AWESOME present since I love Prime Rib and Lobster tail.

I might also say I do not think being pregnant during the holidays is the the brightest thing. I ate so much and I couldn't help it. Over all Christmas was wonderful.

First Scrapbooking Pages

For Christmas I asked for scrapbooking tools and supply to start scrapbooking. I got what I asked for, so tonight I put together two pages of my cats. I think they turned out great for my first time. I'm sure there are rules and proper ways to put the pages together, but I thinking using my imagination worked just fine. :) Here are a few pictures of my first pages. Next scapbooking projects are the ultrasound pictures and my pregnancy pictures. I may need to think these out a little bit more. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas

Mark and I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We are in Tennessee and it's absolutely beautiful out about 45 degrees :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Love

Mark and Beth

25 Weeks

Yesterday we for our level two ultrasound. Doctor has confirmed that the baby does have a hole in his upper chambers or ASD. Its a smaller hole so that is a plus and the baby will not need any surgery right away. On January 2, 2008 we go and she a Pediatric Cardiologist to see what our game plan will be once the little guy arrives. Doctor said the little guy weighs 1 LBS and 13 OZ. All I know he is a kicker :) We received a few ultrasound pictures. Doctor gave me blackmail picture of him. I'm sure he'll appreciate that when he is older :) Hope you enjoy them.

To Uncle Butch

Aunt Bernie make sure Uncle Butch sees these pictures of my little Maine Coon. My Aunt and Uncle have a Maine Coon named Buster. I told them I would get a few pictures of mine Maine Coon Annie. She is very pretty and as you can tell from the pictures she is a Princess!

By the way Uncle Butch, it is 245 miles from your house to my house. :)

Love ya,

Sissy

Christmas Cookies

This weekend I went to my Aunt Bernie's house to make Christmas Cookies. We made traditional cut out sugar cookies. We also watched the the movie The Notebook. I still cry while watching this movie, even though I have seen it quite a few times. On Sunday morning we went to church and out to breakfast with my Aunt's friend Mary Ann. It was such a great time. I hope my Aunt and I can do it again. Maybe next time we can not slave over cookies :) Aunt Bernie remember it was FUN and it's about the TOGETHERNESS :) Here are a few pictures of our hard work.

Budget

Mark and I have put ourselves on a budget. We figure we might as well get use to living on a budget prior to the baby arriving. Here are some of the things we have done.

1. Cut coupons on the items we use, which I like cutting coupons. If a manufacturer wants to give 25 cents I'm all for it.
2. Move money into our savings account prior to spending
3. Use our pig points from Piggy Wiggly. We have received up to 54 cents off a gallon of gas. You can get up to 15 gallons at the reduced priced. We figured at least once a month we can get savings on gas.
4. Make dinner menu prior to going to the grocery store and sticking to the list.
5. Buy generics and compare prices between grocery stores.
6. Only buy things that are on sale, is the item a want or a need.
7. Make dinner at least 3 nights a week, left overs for the other evenings.
8. Only go out to dinner once a week
9. Make coffee in the morning, do not stop at the gas station or buy coffee from work.
10. Reduced the heat in the house from 73 to 70. I can use a blanket if I am cold.

No we are not in any money crisis's, but we thought we should start getting used to living a little tighter and not be such compulsive shoppers. Some of the above items are very easy to do, but others are harder to do. I have a hard time asking myself if it is a want or a need. I have gone for so long without worrying about anyone else, that I just bought something if I wanted to. Target and Kohl's are my weakness.

Only time will tell if I can stick to these rules, but some of it has become a game for me. The Pig Points! I love to see how much I save between Pig points, coupons, and stores sales. Last weekend I saved $21.00 and the week before that I saved $14.00.

Mark thinks I'm crazy and out of control with the whole coupon/Pig points, but then I show him my savings and he just smiles.

Christmas at the Lawson's

Mark and I decorated and put up our Christmas Tree last weekend. Here are some pictures that I thought I would share with everyone. I actually figured out how to do self portraits on my new digital camera. :) Of course Boo and Sly enjoy sleeping under the tree.

I hope you enjoy!

Baby's Nursery

Mark and I bought the baby's crib. I was struggling with spending anywhere between $500 to $1,000 on a nursery set for the baby. Everybody was telling me to buy a convertible bed, one that converts from a crib to a toddler bed, then a full bed. Just for the crib is was $700. I was like are you crazy!!!! I didn't understand what I would do, if another baby came along in 2 years. I converted the crib to a toddler bed and now I have to buy another crib. Then a course I would want the dresser to go with the new crib, so pretty I would buy a new nursery. I didn't like that idea. Also, the side doesn't go down on the convertible crib, I really disliked that part. Do not get me wrong they are beautiful beds, but not for me. Plus I know myself in 2 years I'm going to want to buy a new toddler bedroom set. I love my baby, but for real, this baby will not know if the crib came from the speciality shop or Wal*Mart. Not sure if you are aware, but I am not a Wal*Mart fan. Just remember I work for Kimberly-Clark and I see a lot of things happen that the everyday consumer just does not realizes happens. So, Mark finally convinced me to go to Wal*Mart. Guess what? they had a Nursery in a Box set. The set included a crib, a changing table, and dresser. It was only $199.99. I was very skeptical of the set, but we bought it. My rational is after 2 years the baby will most likely be moving to a toddler bed. All I need to hold up is the crib. It will be nice if all 3 pieces hold up, but its the crib that is most important. Well, to my surprise they turned out very nice. They are sturdy and I like them. I'm very impressed. Now the test will come when little guy gets here and becomes mobile. I have included a few pictures for everyone to see the nursery set.

Spoiled or just loved?

For awhile now I have been telling Mark that I would like to have a new digital camera. I told him with the baby coming that a new camera would be nice so we can send our family nice clear pictures. There is nothing wrong with the digital camera we have, but I wanted a 8.0 megapixal. Last Monday we were off and Target had a 8.0 Canon digital camera on sale, plus you got a $30.00 gift card. I told Mark about it and I looked it up on consumer report to see the ranking. The ranking was very good! Well, guess who got the digital camera -- ME!!! I'm not sure if I am spoiled or just loved, but either way I love my new camera very much! It can video tape and do panoramic pictures, and it has a settings on it for fireworks, snowing, and pets and kids. Don't worry I have figured out how to reduce the pixels and have nice clear pictures without sending 1MB emails. :)