Head Shoulders Knees and Toes?

How do you know that you sang too much rap music to your infant?  Well, today I searched You Tube for one of Emma's favorite kid songs for her to watch.  Below is the FIRST listing that popped up.

After a thorough viewing and despite Emma's protests, I decided that version wasn't "age appropriate" and instead, settled for the Wiggles.

Personally, I can't decide which version I find more disturbing.  But more importantly, what I don't have on video is Emma's dancing to version #1, and her complete disregard for the Wiggles.   Uh-Oh.

Happy 30th Jason

A few weeks late, but yes, Jason has bid adieu to his 20s.  Gone are the days of a high metabolism and healthy hamstrings--but 30 is the new 20, right?  To celebrate, we went to Nashville for the Brad Paisley concert (Thanks to our family for the tickets).  It hit me while we were there that we generally celebrate every special occasion with live music--and well, country music at that (remember the engagement after Toby Keith/Rascal Flatts?  A classic right?)   So, are we redneck? A little.  But is it Fun? TONS!  

I am 100% convinced there is NO better people watching than at Country Music concerts and Nascar races.   No where else do I see more leather on people's feet and less clothes on their bodies.  It is also a toss up whether Beer will out sell Skoal.  My only fear is that our tickets will be behind the guy with the Garth-esque cowboy hat and my entire night will be shot, well except for making fun of the teenage couple next to us making out. (This has happened so frequently that at a Kenny Chesney concert, Jason actually approached an unlucky couple, tapped the dude on the shoulder--mid face-suck--and told him "Y'all are gonna break up." Classic).  Nonetheless, Country music is the music Jason and I grew up on and it still remains our favorite!

So, to continue our tradition, we left Emma with my mom and hit I-65.  After checking in to the Hilton (thanks Dad for the points), we enjoyed some cheese fries, beer, live country cover music and EXCELLENT people watching before the concert.  It seemed that while it was only March 14, there were some St. Patrick's Day enthusiasts who were I'm sure "practicing" for the main event on Tuesday.  And judging from what we saw, they are well prepared to down lots of shots and beer and dance manically while wearing green wigs and other "Irish" paraphernalia once the big day actually arrives.

We made it to the concert where we found our seats quaintly nestled between TWO high school couples.  However, it was definitely our lucky night because opening was none other than Darius Rucker.  Some might remember him from the early 90s as HOOTIE (the Blowfish, however, were noticeably absent).  Regardless, he was . . . wait for it . . . AWESOME.  Even Barney Stinson would agree!  Among his performances was a countrified version of, "Let Her Be," (ironcially all the prost-a-tots seemed to think this was a "new song"--reminding Jason again of his age).  But by far the best moment was when he closed the show with "Family Tradition."  A black dude singing Hank, Jr.--who'da thought?

Next up was Dierks Bently.  A great show.

And finally, Brad Paisley.  I was hoping for an appearance by his wife, Kimberly Williams-Paisley (mainly because of my weird obsession with the Father of the Bride movies) but it didn't happen.  He definitely has some awesome graphics and video scenes with lots of special guests like Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, and Allison Krauss.  All in all--pretty fantastic.  

So, Happy Birthday Jason! I can't wait for the next big one--who knows what we will do--maybe the infield at Dega???????

An Official Toddler

I can't deny it anymore.  Emma is turning into one heck of a toddler.  With all the things going on lately, I've hardly stopped to notice, but during lunch today it hit me.  She walks exclusively now (with the occasional crawl up stairs) and for a kid who doesn't get hardly any refined sugar, she has UNBELIEVABLE amounts of energy, forcing me to consume insane amounts of caffine to keep up.  Friends tell me my body will adjust to running after her and I won't always feel like a narcoleptic, but WHEN people, WHEN?  In any event, below are some pictures--she's pretty big, huh?

I like to call this one "On the move"...

A favorite pastime:  looking out the window.

My wave:

Quick break to lounge...

Frugal Failure?

It was bound to happen.  I've been putting off this post because I've been discouraged this week. It turns out we needed several things for the month this week and despite still trying to earnestly save, I managed to spend $237 total. Now, before thinking I've fallen off the bandwagon completely, that included a trip to Sam's where I got wipes for the next 4-6 months and all our diapers for the month (plus some)--which at .25 a piece and 6 or 7 a day, sort of adds up right? 

So, for the sake of accountability, here is the week's summary:

Publix: (I was still pretty impressed with everything I could get from Publix. Below is the pic.)

Retail: $170.13

I paid: $78.55

Total Savings: $91.58

I also had two other earlier trips to Publix to get items before coupons expired.  So the Publix total is:

Retail for the week: $205.77

I paid: $100.78

Total Savings: $104.99

Now (Paul Harvey style) the rest of the story:

CVS OOP: $29.60 

(I scored pampers diapers at CVS for the same price as Sam's)

Savings: $16.73

MISC (Sam's, Dollar Tree and Western): $107.03

Savings: $4.45 

(UGH, Sam's doesn't take coupons...)

Total Percent Savings for the week: 34.7%

I'm still learning how these women are able to do it--with just one trip to Walmart or Sam's a month.  But I guess I'm just not ready to let go of my Pamper's Diapers (more on that later since there is a $5/1 coupon out for Huggies right now--we'll see if it tempts me to switch).  

Snowballs for Breakfast

For those of you living outside the greater Birmingham area, we in the 205 area code woke up to outside scenes like:

        

So, we stayed home this morning and Emma ate a snowball for breakfast. Yummy!