All grown up

It seems my baby is getting bigger by the minute, and little things like getting a new booster seat for the car, instead of his normal car seat, and getting his new big boy twin bed help me to realize it even more. Tyler finally got a Twin bed, and he loves it. He feels like such a big boy..he tells me all the time..I Love my bed so much! We are so proud, and he does so well in it. As well as his new seat in the car, he loves to wear a seat belt, instead of the straps on his old car seat. Our next goal is to get Emily in his toddler bed...but I think I am just going to wait for her to attempt climbing out of the crib first...she seems to like her crib, so Im not in too big of a rush.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

So I havent posted in a bit, but I made a goal to be more Betty Crocker like and to attempt making new meals. Tyler and Chris love hamburgers so I found a really yummy recipe to make your very own buns and I had to try it because I love me some bread. Thought I would share it with you. Look at how yummy it turned out.

Ingredients

4 1/4 cups unbleached bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons instant yeast1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups buttermilk or milk, at room temperature
sesame seeds for the tops (optional)

Directions

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Pour in the egg, butter, and buttermilk and mix with a large metal spoon until all the flour is absorbed and the dough forms a shaggy ball. You can trickle in a little water if the dough seems very stiff, until the dough is soft and supple.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop, where you’ll do your kneading. Knead for about 8 minutes, until the dough is soft, supple, and tacky but not sticky. You can test if you’ve kneaded it enough by pulling off a little piece of dough, gently stretching and pulling it with your hands until it’s paper thin, and holding it up to the light: if the dough stretches and holds its shape without breaking, to the point where it’s translucent, it’s done. This is called the windowpane test.

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Roll it around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel and let it rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until doubled in size (I use an electric heating pad under the bowl, as we keep our house on the cool side.)
Remove the risen dough from the bowl and divide it into eighteen 2-ounce pieces (for slider buns) or twelve 3-ounce pieces (for standard size burger buns.) Shape the pieces of dough into rounds, transfer them to baking sheets lined with Silpats or parchment paper, and cover them with a towel. Let the buns proof at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until they’re nearly doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk together 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of water, for an egg wash. Brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash, and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like. Bake the buns for 15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. Remove them immediately from the pans and cool completely on a wire cooling rack (cool them at least 1 hour before slicing.)
Makes 18 slider buns or 12 regular burger buns.

Important Step to Follow!!

Well except on this particular day the Baker only made one bun, and the pictures above are fake. There is only one bun in my oven, and wont be seen til September 20th, 2010. Did you really think I could make something that yummy? Ya right..We are excited to announce we are excpecting baby #3!!

Hurt Elbow

So as if stitches at 2 werent enough, Tyler had to make turning three just as memorable. He left the 2 year old age with a bang on the head caushing him to get 5 stiches right in the middle of his forhead. So he thought he would start off his new year as a 3 year old with something almost as exciting..A very injured elbow. Poor guy landed the wrong way on the trampoline, and hurt his elbow pretty good. Thankfully he did not break or fracture any bones, but it hurts him just as bad. Doc is not quite sure yet if its a torn ligament or just a really injured muscle. We are waiting it out and see how he does, and then see an orthopedic doc. It's so difficult to see your baby in pain, I wish he would stop getting hurt, I feel terrible for him. Boys will be boys I guess. He has been such a trooper though.

Tyler turns 3

Time sure does fly. Tyler James turned 3 on January 20th. What a big boy he is. He was my tiny little baby boy, who sprouted to 42 lbs and who knows how tall these days. He is becoming too big for me to even lift anymore. He had a wonderful birthday. Small, but filled with tons of fun and smiles. He was so happy for his "balloon party" as he called it. Thats all he wanted pizza, cupcakes and balloons. He loved all of his presents, and we had a fun time just playing in our awesome neighbors backyard on the trampoline. I think this had to be one of the easiest parties I had for him. But he loved it so much.

The day before we visited Sea World with his cousins and they had a blast. It never gets old there. There's always something fun and new to see. The boys loved all of the shows, and rides.

My baby is 1

I have been slacking on posting blogs lately. So this is almost a week late, but on Tuesday July 21st my baby girl turned 1. I can't believe it. Time really does fly by when you have two. I am excited for the new things she will be able to accomplish with turning older, and I can't wait to see her personality grow. She had a wonderful time, and loved eating her cupcakes. She recieved great gifts from all her friends. We thank everyone for them! I think it wold be nice for her to just stay at this age though, she will always be my baby no matter what.

PLease..Stay Still

These are the only two pics I could get out of the million I took of this speed racer. She wont stay put for me to take a picture of her. I am trying to get one for her birthday invites. Wish me luck, thought I would share these. She is my cute little princess.

My Love for Coupons

It has become my new hobby/second job. It takes determination, and dedication, but is so worth it in the end. I never thought so much went in to saving coupons, and being a smart shopper, but it does. It is the greatest feeling in the world, when you see how much stuff you get for so little. I am starting to get better at it, and I am glad I have my partner in crime, my sister to do it with me. It's our new world, we dont shop for anything anymore with out a coupon, and unless we are getting a great deal, we dont buy it. Well this last week was one of the best/worst times I have had with couponing. WEll I say the best because I saved the most to date, and worst.... b/c my sister and I did save so much, I felt that my integrity was questioned and it left me with a bad feeling all week.

My sister and I saved alot at Publix, and we were just given an extra hard time by the manager because she wasnt sure how we were doing what we were. I understood that she had to check and make sure the cashier was doing things properly, but its the manner in which she did it that had me feeling upset, we were looked at as if we were criminals. And although I have a temper, I usually dont use it in such instances, I was as pleasant as I could be smiling and asking what I could do to make things easier, as if I hadnt done so already. I felt so uncomfortble, only assuming that when I did return to shop there again my sister and I would be viewed as girls who try to scam the store or something. So I returned to speak to the manager. I apologized for anything, and I told her I understood she had to do her job, and that I would do the same in her position, accept for the way that she made us feel. I explained everything about what we do to save money, and assured her and explained that we were not scamming the cashier, and that I did not want to feel uncomfortable shopping there. Long story short anyways I called corporate the next day and spoke with a district manager to get the specifics on the rules for using our coupons, and I also called the same manager from the previous night to ask her what she may have noticed wrong with our reciept. The issue she had I addressed with the district mgr, and she apologized to me, and said it was no problem. I just felt good that I stuck up for myself, b/c normally I am timid in these situations, but this time I couldnt let it slide.

So this was my great savings at Publix this week..

My total should have been $175 and I paid $52 savings of $123

My List:

4 Sara Lee Cheesecake Bites

2 Sara Lee Cheesecakes

4 Boxes of Post Banana Crunch Cereal

1 Hungry Jack Pancake Mix

1 Hungry Jack Syrup

3 Bags Bird's Eye Steamfresh Vegtables

6 Hefty Ziploc Bags

2 Land O Lakes Spreads

4 Jars of Claussen Pickles

2 Kraft BBQ Sauce

2 Frenchs Yellow Mustard

3 Raid Bug Killers

2 Arm and Hammer ToothPaste

3 Reach Toothbrushes

3 Reach Floss

2 Kotex Tampons

1 Dove 6pk Bar Soap

2 Sara Lee Pound Cake

1 Peperridge Farm Bread

Produce

Beef

1lb Deli Meat

1/4 lb Deli Cheese

I also saved at CVS with just a small purchase of the same item, but a great deal. I got 16 Soft Lips Organic Lip Conditoner which are normally $3 each.

I got them all for FREE for a savings of $60...Total was free, how cool is that?