I am a bad blogger

It's unfortunate how neglected this blog has become. I wish I would think to post to it more, but it's easier to post a quick photo or update to Facebook, so that's usually what happens. Truth be told, this old blog needs an overhaul. Notice the header at the top? Yeah. Brick's not even in there, and Calla's pretty much a newborn. I don't think I've had my picture taken since then! We need to remedy that.

As always, there's lots of new, fun stuff going on in the Tucker house. Quinn just turned 10 months old. She's amazing. No teeth yet, but the girl loves to eat! She's standing fully unsupported, and has just started getting herself to standing without pulling up on something. She's a tiny little thing though, at her last checkup, she nearly fell off the growth charts. We're working to remedy that! Her demeanor is to die for. She's rarely unhappy and just loves to be held and snuggling and cooing.

On the homefront, I may be heading "back to work" soon. I've launched my photography business and have quickly started booking weddings and assisting other local photographers. The whole experience has been amazing. I still can't get over the fact that people are paying me to do what I love. I've had good jobs before, but nothing compares to the freedom you get from following your passions. I've just started advertising on a nationally recognized wedding-planning website, so I'm excited to see what kind of leads that'll bring me.

If you've been keeping up with me on Facebook, you know that I promised some pictures of an impromptu photoshoot with the kids, and that was really my intention for this post in the first place. So, without further ado, here they are:

My new skill

I know I usually take time on my blog to comment on the kids new skills (for the record, Quinn's crawling - I have pictures and stories to confirm - I just haven't been able to post them yet). Anyway, I thought I'd take a minute to brag about my new skill... COUPONING. Oh, I know. When I hear the word coupon I think of some crazy cat lady who spends hours scouring the newspaper ads clipping every coupon she sees. But I'm much more resourceful, I have the Internet, so I just read blogs from those crazy couponing ladies, print the coupons they tell me to and buy the things they tell me to buy.

Normally, I walk out of Target with like 2 things and manage to spend $50. Never fails. I have never spent less than $50 in any single Target trip (unless I had a gift card). But not today. Today, I spent just $29.16 and walked out with $75.75 dollars worth of merchandise. Plus, I have another $15 coming my way in mail-in rebates. WHAT?



Here's something I didn't know before a few days ago, you can use TWO coupons for the same product. One has to be from the store (ex. printed from target.com) and the other has to be from the manufacturer. And another fun fact, you can use an identical coupon multiple times if you've bought that item multiple times. That means I can print 3 $1 off Popsicles and use all three coupons so long as I buy 3 boxes of Popsicles.

So, here's the breakdown of my shopping trip today:

Huggies Little Swimmers Swim Diapers
(this was where most of my money was spent, but I needed them anyway)
$9.99 Target Price
-1.50 Printable coupon from target.com
-1.00 Coupon from Huggies
$7.49 And it came with a bonus travel size sunscreen. Who doesn't need that?

Scrubbing Bubbles Power Sprayer + 2 Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner
$12.77 Target Price
-3.00 Target coupon for the sprayer
-5.00 Coupon from Scrubbing Bubbles (for the sprayer)
-2.00 Coupon from Scrubbing Bubbles (for the bathroom cleaner)
-5.00 Mail-in rebate from S.C. Johnson
+$2.23 (technically I just made some money)

2 Shout Stain Remover
$1.97 Target Price
-1.00 Target Coupon
-0.55 Shout Coupon
$0.42 each, so $0.84 total, plus this is part of the S.C. Johnson rebate, and you can have 3 per household

Eggo Waffles, Eggo Pancakes
$4.18 Target Price
-1.00 Target Coupon
-1.00 Eggo Coupon
$2.18 (I missed a dollar on this one 'cause the Target coupon was when you buy two. If I'd printed 2 Eggo coupons before it expired, I could have saved an extra $1)

Dove Body Mist
$3.64 Target Price
-1.00 Target Coupon
-2.00 Dove Coupon
$0.64

Dove Travel Shampoo
$0.97 Target Price
-1.00 Dove Coupon
FREE

2 John Frieda Shampoos
$9.98 Target Price
-3.00 Target Coupon
-3.00 John Frieda Coupon
$3.98 for 2

2 Glade Fabric & Air Freshener
$6.98 Target Price
-2.00 Target Coupon
-2.00 Glade Coupon
$2.98 for 2

2 OFF! Insect Repellent
$9.88 Target Price
-2.00 OFF! Coupon
$7.88 for 2

And those last 2 qualified me for my third $5 S.C. Johnson rebate! I'm pretty happy with myself.

So her

The moment I snapped this photo, I knew I had a keeper. Fierce, sweet Calla. At two and a half, she has more personality than a kid her age really ought to be allowed. She's an amazing big sister, even if she loves Quinn in a way that makes me think she's channeling Elmyra Duff. I just adore it when she says, "Oh, Kinny. You're my BEST friend!" She's an even better baby sister who absolutely idolizes her brother. She follows him everywhere and essentially repeats 90% of what he says, changing only the intonation so that it actually seems like they're having a genuine conversation. You'll never hear her refer to him as just Brick. It's always "my Bick" or "our Bick." I'm dreading the day that "Kinny" and "Bick" and "nana" (banana) and "lello" (yellow) are retired for their proper pronunciations, but I know that day is creeping up on us FAST.

Calla is no doubt a determined child. I can't really blame her though - the apple didn't fall far from the tree, you might say. She'll throw a fit without really understanding why she's throwing one. And she LOVES to scream at the top of her lungs. Sometimes I think she does it just to see how loud she can get. She also knows the weight a well-timed "I love you, Mom," can carry, but always says it with sincerity.

Happy Father's Day

Poor, neglected, blog. I actually have a decent amount of pictures to process and share with anyone who's still reading, but I can't seem to find the time to get to them. I had to get to this one though 'cause they're all just too cute. Happy Father's Day, Bryan. We love you!

Lock up your daughters

FOUR

So, I'm a little behind in my blogging because it's already been more than a week since Brick turned 4, but I just couldn't let this milestone pass us by without sharing a little bit of who our boy is at 4.

A few days after his birthday, he agreed to do some exploring near our neighborhood and taking some "4-year-old" pictures in exchange for skipping his "nap." We had the greatest time. I haven't spent time with Brick alone since well before Calla was born. Let's face it, in a family of 5, there's not really a lot of opportunities for any of us to have one-on-one time. We're definitely going to make more of an effort to do that. During our walk, I thanked Brick for spending the time with me, and he responded, "Yeah. I'm really glad we did this."



At 4, Brick's a pretty interesting kid. We've come a long way since this. Sometime this year, we told us he wanted his own Twitter (after finding the Twitter application on Bryan's iPhone). I'm tempted to take him up on it, because some of the things he says are just priceless. Although, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before he was posting updates himself. He LOVES the computer. In fact, when Bryan got me a new laptop for Christmas, we moved my older computer into the playroom for Brick to use. His favorite website is by far Boowa & Kwala.



He's all boy and loves things like Star Wars, superheroes and, most recently, Scooby Doo, but he's sweet and gentle wherever his sisters are concerned. He's extremely helpful with Quinn. Much more than I would expect a kid his age to be. Sometimes a little too much, like the time he carried Quinn upstairs, all by himself.



His favorite food, according to him, is "cheesy rice casserole" which is really nothing more than a packet of store-bought cheddar & broccoli rice mixed with some EXTRA broccoli (because it's good to eat your vegetables). He just recently given up his naps, a sure sign that he's growing up, in exchange for "quiet time" in his room.



All in all, we expect big things for Brick this year. It's his last year as a "baby." Soon enough, he'll be 5 and heading off to Kindergarten and impressing us with a whole new set of tricks. We love you, little man!

Statistics 101

When we were in the hospital, I was certain Quinn might be our first brown-eyed baby. Her eyes just seemed darker to me than I remember the other kids' being. Bryan and I had several discussions about the likelihood of having ANOTHER blue-eyed baby. The funny thing is, we're no more or less likely to have 3 blue-eyed children just because we ALREADY have 2 blue-eyed children (anyone remember the penny-probability theory).

Secretly, I'm a little happy Quinn has blue eyes. Don't get me wrong, I love my big, brown eyes (no one, and I mean no one, enjoys a "Brown Eyed Girl" sing-a-long more than I do), but in a way, I feel like those beautiful baby blues are a uniting characteristic among the Tucker kids.