Cell Phone Dump

Ok, fasten your seat belts for this post.   This one is random and scattered.  There will be a ton of pictures and they will probably be completely out of order.  I am trying to get caught up without dragging this out for an eternity.  These pictures were too cute to pass up, but so random they didn't really need their own post so here goes!

 First cold day.  Trying out her new coat, hat and gloves.

 I left her alone to color for a minute and she decided to color her hands and face instead.  

 Building blocks with Daddy and her Kitty.  They love building blocks together.

 Kitty going to the playground with us.  Poor Kitty isn't going to be white for long!

 One of our visits to Mimi and Pawpaw's house she discovered a big patch of "Tickle Grass"

 She loved running in it and it made for some sweet pictures.

 This was the winter of sickness for us.  At least one of us, but most of the time all of were sick for almost the whole winter.  It was brutal.  One batch of sickness Chloe wanted all of her animals on the couch with her while she watched tv.  Daddy is always able to get a smile out of her when she isn't feeling well. 

 A quick family photo one trip to Amarillo.  Why so serious, Chloe?

 One of many trips to the pediatrician this winter.  Chloe loves to clean and apparently thought the patient room needed a good cleaning with her Clorox wipe.

 Coloring on herself again.  A common theme this last fall/winter.

 Cleaning again

 This girl is in love with stuffed animals.  She had quite a collection that she was talking to one day while were out shopping.  She has to stop and love on all the stuffed animals in the store. 

 We had to use a special heated hose this winter for our water.  One of the joys of camping in the winter.  Chloe watched daddy closely and when he was busy elsewhere she decided to help out a little.

 Cheese!

 Helping Mama make Dr. Pepper salad for Thanksgiving

 Washing the dishes

 Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 Helping me clean some more

 Creative play!

 Ready for a Daddy Daughter tea at church

 Playing outside on a warm winter day

 A new favorite game.  Empty the water from the cabinet and line it up on the steps.

 Helping mama make cookies

 I love her!

 Happy Valentine's Day!!

 Playing in the dirt

 Loves getting dirty

 Pretending she is going night night in her toy box

Sweet sleeping angel

Whew!  I told you that was going to be a crazy post!  Glad you stuck around until the end!

Generic Brands

WARNING! Pointless post to follow.

I am one of those people that really doesn't take the time to coupon.  If I find a coupon for something that I always get, usually baby stuff, I will keep it, or if it is a percentage off of a total, I might hold on to those too.  The problem I have with coupons is that I always forget them and they end up expiring before I ever get to use them.  My money saving strategy is usually to just buy generic for a big majority of my items.  Most of the time we can't tell the difference.  There are a few things, however, that I have found that generic is just not always equal.

1.  Ranch.  We love us some Ranch Dressing and I I don't care which generic I get, nothing compares to Hidden Valley.
2. Contact Solution.  This literally pains me to buy.  It is like $8-$10 a bottle. Hate it.  The Wal-Mart brand is about $3-$4.  Quite a difference!  This past month I decided to save myself the money and try the generic.  Big mistake.   I have dry eyes, so by the end of the day my eyeballs feel like they are filled with sand on a good day.  With the generic, I felt like this all day long.  I guess I am going to have to stick with my expensive stuff.  
3. Rocky Road Ice Cream.  Now nothing beats Blue Bell Ice Cream.  I know this, but when You have a craving and you try to save money you give it a shot.  My favorite part of Rocky Road is The frozen marshmallows.  Wal-Mart version has a "marshmallow swirl." Not the same. At all. The generic did have chocolate covered almonds inside which could have redeemed it a little.  Unfortunately there were only about 10 in the whole half gallon.  Bummer.  Guess I should stick with Blue Bell, at least when it comes to rocky road.   

Just to be fair and give credit where credit is due, The Walgreens version of Zyrtec, Wal-Zyr, is the best allergy medicine I have found.  I have terrible seasonal allergies and as long as I take it on a daily basis, I have very few symptoms.

So, that is just my 2 cents on generic, and these are only my opinions and no one is paying me to say anything good or bad about any brand.   I don't know who actually cares what my opinion is on this subject I just felt the need to share.  End of pointless post.  You are welcome! :)  

The Squirrls Need Somewhere to Sit Too!

While out walking the other night I spotted this tiny little bench.

I fell in love with it because I think tiny little things that look exactly like the bigger version that I usually see are so cool.  Don't ask me why, but I am quite fascinated by these tiny replicas.  Maybe because it kinda makes me feel like a giant....I don't know....I am quite curios why one would need a bench quite so small though.  Maybe at night when all the people go to sleep a little boy squirrel will bring his sweetheart here and they will hold hands and look at the moon.  I know...I am weird....you can stop laughing now....