Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Sorry!
Ok, I am officially awful...I have moved my blog back to wordpress. A lot of my older posts did not copy over to blogspot very well. The captions were messed up, the pictures were cut off funny, and links and galleries were missing from some posts completely. Although the blogspot templates are so much cuter, the thought of trying to fix all of the old posts when I should be writing new ones was too overwhelming. If you know me at all, you know I am too OCD to leave the posts all messed up. I hope that you will still come see out updates over at www.emilysneed.wordpress.com.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Owen's First Haircut!
I have debated for weeks over whether or not Owen needed a haircut. He had these cute little curls on the back of his neck, and his bed head was so cute! But I ultimately decided that the majority of the time his hair looked scraggly, fuzzy, and like he had never seen a brush. With the support of several friends, Andy, and my mom, I came to the conclusion that he needed to have his hair cleaned up. Here are some pictures of Owen's messy hair...
We took him to Kim at Beck's yesterday, and she was awesome with him. He sat in Andy's lap, and my mom fed him puffs and cheerios. I was busy taking pictures. Kim cut the fuzz off the back, but she left the top and his bangs just how they were.
Kim doing her magic...
All done!
It is true that a haircut makes little boys look more grown up, but he still looks like my little boy (especially from the front!). Now he will look like a little clean-cut one year old for his birthday tomorrow and his party on Saturday!
We took him to Kim at Beck's yesterday, and she was awesome with him. He sat in Andy's lap, and my mom fed him puffs and cheerios. I was busy taking pictures. Kim cut the fuzz off the back, but she left the top and his bangs just how they were.
It is true that a haircut makes little boys look more grown up, but he still looks like my little boy (especially from the front!). Now he will look like a little clean-cut one year old for his birthday tomorrow and his party on Saturday!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Ok, so I am a blog slacker...
I know it has been a while, but things have been so busy at the Sneed household, there has been little time for pictures and even less time for blogging. Anyway, now I will hit the highlights from the past month...
Ok, so that is all I can think of for now, and I will try to leave more frequent updates. Thanks for keeping up with the Sneeds!
- On July 23, while I was out of town at a quilt show in Knoxville, Owen crawled for the first time. He started out slow, but now he is FAST and in to everything!
- The next day, Owen started pulling up. He is getting too big, too fast!
- I am still plugging away on my quilt. I have completed more than half of my quilt blocks! Pictures to come soon!
- While grocery shopping the other day, I looked at the "year to date" savings on my receipts from 3 stores (CVS, Food Lion, and Bi-Lo) from those three stores alone, I have saved $975.00 in 2009.
- I got a new sewing machine! I am so excited about this. It sews and embroiders. I also got free classes for buying it. Once I figure out what I am doing, I will be posting pictures of what I have learned to make.
- This week, Owen got to switch from formula to whole milk. This is a BIG deal for us. His special formula was $27.99 a can! Because of his protein intolerance, we had to phase milk in slowly over the course of the week, and his doctor has to evaluate him next week to be sure that he is not reacting to the milk. Please pray that we are over the intolerance and Owen can have a normal diet!
- In two weeks, Owen will be a year old. This is impossible for me to wrap my mind around! How can he have been here that long? On the other hand, I cannot even remember life without him! I wouldn't trade him for the world!
Ok, so that is all I can think of for now, and I will try to leave more frequent updates. Thanks for keeping up with the Sneeds!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Thanks for my swimming pool, GiGi!
GiGi was not going to be satisfied unless Owen had his very own swimming pool this summer. We found some on clearance, and we bought him a blow-up pool to splash around in. I blew it up today, and Owen splashed and played for a while. He LOVED it! And that may be an understatement!
Happy Birthday, Nana!
Yesterday, July 26, was Nana's Birthday. We went to the Mexican place to have a fiesta. Nana in the sombrero was the highlight, but Owen eating a lemon was a close, close second!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Fourth of July
On the Fourth, we spent the afternoon at Joe and Jonie's pool. Then we went to Tommy and Brittany's house to watch fireworks.
Daddy getting Owen ready to swim!
Owen LOVES to splash in the water. Don't worry, Andy is just outside the frame of the picture.
Since just about all of our friends are competitive, we see lots of competitions when we are at the pool...especially diving. Kyle and Joe have perfected their "gainer" dives. This is a dive where you face the water, jump in the air, and do a back flip before going into the water. Kyle wasn't there yet when I had my camera out, so Joe decided to challenge Cody.
Joe's Gainer
Cody's Gainer
These pictures are the funniest, but by the end of the day, Cody was much improved.
After a while, we headed home for Owen to nap before we went to the Richmond's for fireworks. We all pitched in and one person went and got the fireworks. They were AWESOME! Definitely the best non-professional fireworks I have seen. Some were a little scary, but I am blaming that on my "mommy nerves." The whole time I was devising ways to shield Owen in case of a wayward firework! I couldn't get any good pictures of the fireworks, but I did get a couple of Owen. I was afraid that he would hate the fireworks because he startles so easily. I was surprised, though, because he actually liked them. He was pretty enthralled by the first few, but then the glow sticks the older kids had caught his attention!
Owen waiting on the fireworks to begin.
Daddy held Owen once the fireworks started.
Joe and Jonie, thank you so much for sharing your pool with us. Tommy and Britt, we really appreciate you guys having us out for fireworks. We really enjoyed our day!
Daddy getting Owen ready to swim!
Owen LOVES to splash in the water. Don't worry, Andy is just outside the frame of the picture.
Since just about all of our friends are competitive, we see lots of competitions when we are at the pool...especially diving. Kyle and Joe have perfected their "gainer" dives. This is a dive where you face the water, jump in the air, and do a back flip before going into the water. Kyle wasn't there yet when I had my camera out, so Joe decided to challenge Cody.
Joe's Gainer
Cody's Gainer
These pictures are the funniest, but by the end of the day, Cody was much improved.
After a while, we headed home for Owen to nap before we went to the Richmond's for fireworks. We all pitched in and one person went and got the fireworks. They were AWESOME! Definitely the best non-professional fireworks I have seen. Some were a little scary, but I am blaming that on my "mommy nerves." The whole time I was devising ways to shield Owen in case of a wayward firework! I couldn't get any good pictures of the fireworks, but I did get a couple of Owen. I was afraid that he would hate the fireworks because he startles so easily. I was surprised, though, because he actually liked them. He was pretty enthralled by the first few, but then the glow sticks the older kids had caught his attention!
Owen waiting on the fireworks to begin.
Daddy held Owen once the fireworks started.
Joe and Jonie, thank you so much for sharing your pool with us. Tommy and Britt, we really appreciate you guys having us out for fireworks. We really enjoyed our day!
Owen with the Animals
When we were in Murfreesboro, Pappy had a home show at the Rutherford County Association of Realtors. Someone had decided to get farm animals as an attraction, so we took Owen to see them. There was a camel, two ponies, a goat, and a couple of sheep. I'm not sure if Owen would make it as a farm baby!
[gallery link="file" columns="2"]
[gallery link="file" columns="2"]
For Brittney...
We all know that Matt Nathanson can rock the Faux Hawk. Tyler can even pull it off. Now we know that Owen can, too!
Nine Month Pictures
I cannot believe that my baby is 9 months old. He has been with us for longer that I carried him! Denise got to spend some time in Cleveland in June, and she came to take some more pictures of Owen. This was the first time she has taken pictures of him since his newborn session. He has grown so much!
Denise, I don't even know where to begin trying to thank you for these pictures. They are absolutely precious to me!
I have picked out a few favorites to post on here, but you will have to go to Denise's website to see them all. If you see one that you would like a print of, please let me know and I will get it printed for you.
http://skeltonphotographyblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/sneed-family.html
[gallery link="file" columns="2"]
Denise, I don't even know where to begin trying to thank you for these pictures. They are absolutely precious to me!
I have picked out a few favorites to post on here, but you will have to go to Denise's website to see them all. If you see one that you would like a print of, please let me know and I will get it printed for you.
http://skeltonphotographyblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/sneed-family.html
[gallery link="file" columns="2"]
Pigeon Forge 2009
A few weeks ago, we went to Pigeon Forge for a long weekend with the Gobbles, Womacs, and Hinsons. We had an awesome time and an incredible cabin. Check out the gallery below to see some of the good times we had.[gallery link="file"]
Friday, June 5, 2009
My Quilt is Coming Along!
I have been working on my own quilt for a couple of months now. I have 2 of my 10 fabrics completed, so I guess I am about 20% finished with the piecing of the quilt top. Here is the pattern that I am making. Obviously, I am using different fabrics.
The first two fabrics I started with were these:
Since cutting and marking the pieces is not as much fun to me as actually sewing them together, I decided to do the blocks for these two fabrics before moving on to another fabric. Here are the types of blocks I have done so far. I have finished 14 of the 70 blocks that will make up the quilt top. The white fabric is the same even though it looks a little different in the pictures.
The first two fabrics I started with were these:
Since cutting and marking the pieces is not as much fun to me as actually sewing them together, I decided to do the blocks for these two fabrics before moving on to another fabric. Here are the types of blocks I have done so far. I have finished 14 of the 70 blocks that will make up the quilt top. The white fabric is the same even though it looks a little different in the pictures.
Organizing Coupons
Okay...I am by no means an expert on the use or the organization of coupons. However, a friend of mine who lives out of town, Denise, wanted me to post some pictures of my system so that she could get some ideas on organizing her own coupons. I started out with a small, index-card size accordion file. I had the it divided into several different sections (e.g., dairy, frozen, household, etc.). Within the section, I put the coupons in order of expiration date with the coupons that expired the soonest in front. This system worked well, and I think it would probably work best for people who are only going to keep a few coupons from each weeks paper for items that they know they are going to buy. I, however, am a pack-rat, and I am afraid to through away coupons because I might decide I want to buy that product even if the chances are close to zero that I will actually use it. Sometimes that random coupon for something you think you will never buy will get you overage that will reduce the price of an item you will use. Case in point, I am seeing people making $5-$15 a week buying diabetic blood sugar testing machines. I am not sure what the non-diabetics do with those machines, but if I ever buy one, I am sure I can find a place to donate it.
Anyway, I found myself getting frustrated with the accordion file system because I had SO many coupons. Every time I needed a coupon, I had to rifle through dozens of coupons to find the one I was looking for. This was especially difficult when I was at the store and I felt like I was in the way and I was trying to keep Owen entertained. So, when my accordion file broke, I decided to go to the "notebook" system. This was not my idea. In fact, I usually see at least 2-3 other people using a notebook similar to mine a week while I am shopping. This was the system that the ladies who taught the coupon class that I attended used. You can check out their blog at www.time2save.blogspot.com.
What you need to start a coupon notebook...
1) A large 3 ring binder, preferably one that zips close so that you do not loose any runaway coupons (another bonus is that you have an easy place to stash any blinkie, peelie, or catalina coupons that you get while you are shopping). This is what mine looks like. I got it at Wal-Mart.
2) Some sort of pages that you can use to organize your coupons. I have photo album pages designed to hold wallet sized photos or baseball cards. I got them at Hobby Lobby. They are working pretty well for me. I couldn't get a good picture of a page with nothing in the slots, so here is a picture of one of the pages with my CVS coupons in the slots.
There are 9 slots on the front of each page and you can use the 9 slots again on the back, but you have to load the coupons from the front side, but face them back-wards. I know that is confusing, but you will understand when you actually get the pages. If you have any other ideas for sorting the coupons, let me know. This one can be a little pricey if you have a lot of coupons. One of my friends, Kristy, had a good idea. She thought to just put paper in a notebook and the tape the coupons to the pieces of paper. We decided that this would be particularly nice if you had a way to laminate the paper so that you could tape and untape a lot before you needed new pages.
3) The desire to organize and put some effort into it. I still have my coupons organized by category. I got some stick-on tabs that tape right on to the photo album pages and act just like subject dividers. My categories are: Health & Beauty, Medicine, Refrigerated, Dairy, Frozen, Meat, Boxed/Canned, Baking, Snacks, Baby, Household, and Paper. I say that you divide your coupons in whatever way makes sense to you. Within the categories, I also still have my coupons in order of expiration date. Keeping the coupons in order of expiration date is probably going to be the most time consuming part of keeping up my coupon notebook. I am OCD and won't be able to stand it if there are gaps or if there are things out of order. I plan to pull out expired coupons 1-2 times a month. Here is a picture of my tabs:
4) Time! I probably spent 4-5 hours getting my notebook put together the first time. Obviously, with a baby, I broke that time up. I would definitely say that the final product was worth the effort. I can now flip through my pages and see every coupon without having to flip through stack after stack to find what I am looking for. I have gone through once already to pull out expired coupons and close gaps from where I had used coupons. This only took about an hour, and I can handle that. Here is a picture of what the coupons look like in the notebook.
Now that we have beat that subject into the ground, I now I have something to inspire you to clip your coupons and get them organized. In the past month (May), I bought $759.70 worth of groceries, household, and health & beauty items. I paid $389.56 for all of it. That is a savings of $370.14, or 48.72%! And I only started using coupons in February. The savings start fast. In February, I saved 11.50% off of my total purchases. In March, I saved 19.15%. In April, I saved 43.25%. In just 4 months, I have gone from pretty much paying face value for everything we bought to getting almost $2 worth of merchandise for every $1 I spend. I think that is pretty awesome!
Anyway, I found myself getting frustrated with the accordion file system because I had SO many coupons. Every time I needed a coupon, I had to rifle through dozens of coupons to find the one I was looking for. This was especially difficult when I was at the store and I felt like I was in the way and I was trying to keep Owen entertained. So, when my accordion file broke, I decided to go to the "notebook" system. This was not my idea. In fact, I usually see at least 2-3 other people using a notebook similar to mine a week while I am shopping. This was the system that the ladies who taught the coupon class that I attended used. You can check out their blog at www.time2save.blogspot.com.
What you need to start a coupon notebook...
1) A large 3 ring binder, preferably one that zips close so that you do not loose any runaway coupons (another bonus is that you have an easy place to stash any blinkie, peelie, or catalina coupons that you get while you are shopping). This is what mine looks like. I got it at Wal-Mart.
2) Some sort of pages that you can use to organize your coupons. I have photo album pages designed to hold wallet sized photos or baseball cards. I got them at Hobby Lobby. They are working pretty well for me. I couldn't get a good picture of a page with nothing in the slots, so here is a picture of one of the pages with my CVS coupons in the slots.There are 9 slots on the front of each page and you can use the 9 slots again on the back, but you have to load the coupons from the front side, but face them back-wards. I know that is confusing, but you will understand when you actually get the pages. If you have any other ideas for sorting the coupons, let me know. This one can be a little pricey if you have a lot of coupons. One of my friends, Kristy, had a good idea. She thought to just put paper in a notebook and the tape the coupons to the pieces of paper. We decided that this would be particularly nice if you had a way to laminate the paper so that you could tape and untape a lot before you needed new pages.3) The desire to organize and put some effort into it. I still have my coupons organized by category. I got some stick-on tabs that tape right on to the photo album pages and act just like subject dividers. My categories are: Health & Beauty, Medicine, Refrigerated, Dairy, Frozen, Meat, Boxed/Canned, Baking, Snacks, Baby, Household, and Paper. I say that you divide your coupons in whatever way makes sense to you. Within the categories, I also still have my coupons in order of expiration date. Keeping the coupons in order of expiration date is probably going to be the most time consuming part of keeping up my coupon notebook. I am OCD and won't be able to stand it if there are gaps or if there are things out of order. I plan to pull out expired coupons 1-2 times a month. Here is a picture of my tabs:
4) Time! I probably spent 4-5 hours getting my notebook put together the first time. Obviously, with a baby, I broke that time up. I would definitely say that the final product was worth the effort. I can now flip through my pages and see every coupon without having to flip through stack after stack to find what I am looking for. I have gone through once already to pull out expired coupons and close gaps from where I had used coupons. This only took about an hour, and I can handle that. Here is a picture of what the coupons look like in the notebook.Now that we have beat that subject into the ground, I now I have something to inspire you to clip your coupons and get them organized. In the past month (May), I bought $759.70 worth of groceries, household, and health & beauty items. I paid $389.56 for all of it. That is a savings of $370.14, or 48.72%! And I only started using coupons in February. The savings start fast. In February, I saved 11.50% off of my total purchases. In March, I saved 19.15%. In April, I saved 43.25%. In just 4 months, I have gone from pretty much paying face value for everything we bought to getting almost $2 worth of merchandise for every $1 I spend. I think that is pretty awesome!
Monday, May 11, 2009
My first Mother's Day!
I have the sweetest two boys in the whole world! For starters, Andy got up with Owen on Saturday morning so that I could sleep in and be lazy ALL day! It was magical! Then, late on Saturday night, Owen and Andy walk into the room like this...
They walked in to surprise me while I was on the computer.
Owen handed me my card. How sweet!
Then he gave me my gift...
It was the lens I have been wanting for my camera since February! They are on back-order everywhere, and I have been saving up to buy it once I can find one that is available. My boys found me one, and I LOVE IT. Here are some pictures taken with it on actual Mother's Day.
I would like to wish a very Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there...especially GiGi, Nana, Annie, and MacMommy!
They walked in to surprise me while I was on the computer.
Owen handed me my card. How sweet!
Then he gave me my gift...
It was the lens I have been wanting for my camera since February! They are on back-order everywhere, and I have been saving up to buy it once I can find one that is available. My boys found me one, and I LOVE IT. Here are some pictures taken with it on actual Mother's Day.
I would like to wish a very Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there...especially GiGi, Nana, Annie, and MacMommy!
Owen's First Trip to Chuck E. Cheese!
Last Friday, Taylor and Terra decided to surprise Grey with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. Emma was spending the night with a friend, so they decided to do something special just for Grey. They invited Cody, Kristy, Ryder, Owen, Andy, and I to join them. At first we were a little hesitant that Owen would like it, but we decided to tag along. Owen LOVED it. His eyes were as big as saucers as soon as we walked in. Here are a few highlights of Owen's nights. All of the pictures from the night are posted on Facebook.
One little side-note: I have to hand it to Chuck E. Cheese. They stamp your arm with a glow in the dark number as you walk in. Your entire family has the same number. Before you leave, they check your number, and only children that have the same number as you are able to leave with you. And, they had a really good salad bar!
[caption id="attachment_378" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Owen and the Chuck E Cheese animatron."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_379" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="Owen riding a Bob the Builder ride"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_380" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="I LOVE this one!"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_381" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The full view"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_382" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Owen and the "real" Chuck E Cheese!"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_383" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Get me off of here!"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_384" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The last picture of the night"]
[/caption]
One little side-note: I have to hand it to Chuck E. Cheese. They stamp your arm with a glow in the dark number as you walk in. Your entire family has the same number. Before you leave, they check your number, and only children that have the same number as you are able to leave with you. And, they had a really good salad bar!
[caption id="attachment_378" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Owen and the Chuck E Cheese animatron."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_379" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="Owen riding a Bob the Builder ride"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_380" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="I LOVE this one!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_381" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The full view"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_382" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Owen and the "real" Chuck E Cheese!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_383" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Get me off of here!"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_384" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The last picture of the night"]
[/caption]
Dinner with the Carroll Fam
John, Ashleigh, JAC, Charis, and Jones came in from Memphis the same weekend Owen and I were in Murfreesboro. Ashleigh was going to run in the Nashville Marathon, but she got a viral infection, and she couldn't participate. So, we went to MacMommy and Granddaddy's for dinner instead. It was a good partial family reunion, and a great time to celebrate Uncle Alan's birthday. Here are some pictures...
[caption id="attachment_366" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Mac and Owen"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_367" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="John and Jones"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_368" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="JAC"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_369" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Charis"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_370" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="Alan was cleaning out the gutters for Granddaddy."]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_371" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="John and Dad were manning the grill"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_372" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="JAC playing with Uncle Tyler"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_373" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="Brittney holding Owen...what else does she do?"]
[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_366" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Mac and Owen"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_367" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="John and Jones"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_368" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="JAC"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_369" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Charis"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_370" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="Alan was cleaning out the gutters for Granddaddy."]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_371" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="John and Dad were manning the grill"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_372" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="JAC playing with Uncle Tyler"]
[/caption][caption id="attachment_373" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="Brittney holding Owen...what else does she do?"]
[/caption]
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