Snow Days!

With all the crazy weather we have been having lately, I thought I would post some pics of our snow day fun! In this pic, Rylie and Stewart are feverishly trying to make a snowman. This is a bit more challenging to us southern folk I guess, not being accustomed to all this accumulation. Rylie bailed about 2 minutes after this picture was taken, saying she was freezing. Alas, she is a lightweight, much like her mommy!

Cheesing in the snow! I loved the snowflakes falling all around us:)

My snowbunny!

So excited....she kept wondering when Santa would be here, what with all the snow we were getting!?

Throwing snowballs at daddy! She kept throwing them to our dogs, too, and they would eat them. She thought that was hilarious:)

Help!!! We need a baby name:)

So our second child will be a boy and we CANNOT agree on a name!! The one we have jointly agreed upon, we can't seem to agree on the spelling!

So give us your feedback, positive OR negative:

1) Cohen James Fox
2) Koen James Fox

The fate of our second-born's name may lie in your hands!!!HAHAHA!

New Coupon Deals this week at Publix

ok, my fellow couponers...as some of you know I have recently decided to become a coupon user and have thus saved $$$ doing so on our grocery bills. I want to share my finds with those of you who are interested in saving some cash!

A few tips to get started:

SouthernSavers.com is the bomb! This is where you will find most of the links to various coupons you will need. Just log into their site and click on Publix. There, you will find a list of their Buy-one-get-one deals.

Only choose the things you will use, not everything, so as not to get overwhelmed. Pay special attention to the coupons highlighted in blue, because these are printables and are most accessible.

Lastly, keep any coupons you may need from newspapers, magazines, etc. They are bound to go on sale soon. Also, when you walk into Publix (where the carts are) there are yellow and green flyers that can be used along with coupons you bring in the store. Also, you CAN buy only one of the BOGO items and get it at half price (sometimes this means FREE with coupon).

So this weeks Deals:

BOGO~Juicy Juice @2.49.....use $1.00 off coupon = .75 each
BOGO~Rotel @1.09.....use .75 off coupon in yellow flyer and .55 off coupon found in aisle (the kind that spits out coupons right below the rotel) = FREE plus .21 extra cents off your bill!
BOGO~Ronzoni pasta, assorted kinds @1.39....I used 2 x 1.00 off coupons and got them for FREE plus .61 cent off!
BOGO Pillsbury Toaster Strudels @2.49....use one 1.00 off coupon+ .55off coupon=.47 each
BOGO Hidden Valley Ranch @ 3.45.....use 2x 1.00 off coupons=.72 each
BOGO 8'oclock coffee @4.99.....use 1.00 off 2 coupon=1.99 each
Flinstone gummy Vitamins @6.79 + Aleve @ 1.95 + 1.00 off coupon on SS + coupon in green publix flyer for $5.00 off these 2 products = 2.74 for both
Lysol wipes@ 2 for 4.00+ 1.00 off = 1.50 each
Ground sirloin @ 3.49lb + 1.00 off 2lb coupon in yellow publix flyer = 3.19 for a little over a lb (they still took the coupon)

**This wasn't my whole list, but just the best ones:)

GOOD LUCK!

6 years of wedded bliss....oh, yeah and some great coupon deals, too!

We have a lot to celebrate and to be thankful for! We just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Sunday, got news last week that we will be having a baby boy, and today is my sweetheart's 32nd birthday...my younger man (so to speak, if you can count 4 months!). God has blessed our family so much and I just want to take a moment to give Him all the praise!

This is a beautiful bouquet of roses that my dear husband and our sweet daughter picked out for our anniversary! I love tulips!

I had to include this shot of my "couponing" scavenger from today. Everything ended up being around $125, but I paid about $72 for everything! Awesome! Some of the best things were:
4lbs pork loin for $6.96...I cut into thirds and marinated some and froze them for future meals, 2 boxes of granola bars at .99 each after coupons, 2 bags of bagels at .40 each after coupon, olive oil for $2.50, my favorite Hunts speghetti sauce for .59 each, and dental floss pics for FREE! I bought enough chicken, pork and ground beef that my freezer is full! I am going to need a deep freeze!!

Great News!!!

As most of you may already know, we are expecting our second child later this year...(Praise God!) This is truly a blessing, because I have had fertility issues and as most of you know, lost my last baby early last year due to a miscarriage. God has proven faithful and full of rich blessings and has allowed us to walk through that tough season and go on to rejoice as we found out (after about 8 more months of trying) that we were again expecting. Rylie ( our 3 year old) is the sweetest, most precious gift God has ever given me, and I think Stewart would agree! Now we are happy to announce that we went in for an ultrasound this week, and the baby is healthy and growing strong (All praise to God!!!!) and it's.....a BOY! This is quite a shocker (in a good way) to Stewart and myself, because we both fully expected to have 2 girls. You can imagine our surprise when the ultrasound lady said "ITS A BOY!" Rylie went with us to the appointment and she is thrilled to be having a little brother. She has been telling everyone that has asked her all along that she was going to have a little brother...uncanny coincidence! I think all children are truly blessings from the Lord and I thank him daily for entrusting us with the one that we have and the one we are expecting. They are little miracles from God. I am a bit nervous because apparently this is a big baby already (the Dr. said I am measuring a week ahead) and I have gestational diabetes which requires me to take insulin each night by injection. If you remember, I would ask you to please continue to pray for the health of this little one I am carrying and that I will be diligent in watching my diet. I thank you for all the prayers and encouragement that you have offered my family and we cherish our friends and family. You are all blessings as well, and we love you. So, with that, I will leave you with the promise to keep you posted as we progress ever closer to the expected arrival of our newest little Fox!

Rylie's 3rd Birthday and other fun things

Decorating the Christmas tree was fun this year. A vast majority of the ornaments were hung about 6 inches off the floor by my little "elf" who was helping me. She was so proud and she absolutely LOVES decorating! She has only been busted once so far for trying to unwrap gifts under the tree!

Here she is with her BFF Kaylen.....those two love to play dress up and get all decked out. Girly-girls through & through!

Here is Rylie getting lots of help from her friends while opening her birthday gifts. We celebrated her 3Rd birthday and what a blessing...it was warm and sunny outside for the kids to play! Great day for all:)

Here is the birthday girl blowing out her Strawberry Shortcake candle.

Can you spot the 4 children in the leaves? This was by and large the hit of the party! A last minute decision by her daddy to leave the mound of leaves in the backyard proved to be a success! I had a ball pit and a tent with a tunnel that all but got ignored! Just proves that free is usually the most fun to kids anyway!

Rylie sporting the "3" shirt I made for her!

We made little trinket boxes in the shape of strawberries and filled them with goodies for the kiddos to take home.

One of the posters I painted for her party

Yummy strawberry cupcakes and homemade strawberry cookies....all things strawberry for this party girl!

Here is Rylie's birthday cake. It was my first time to use fondant, and was a lot easier than I would have thought, although dying it proved to be a bit messy. It is Strawberry Shortcake's hat, in case you were trying to figure out what it was! I made a red velvet cake and slathered it with cream cheese icing before applying the fondant, because I personally think fondant is for aesthetic purposes only (not all that tasty).

Tasty Tuesday 2

This is a savory fall dish that I ran across on ALLRECIPES.COM......(love that site). It was submitted by JRLJACKSON, just so credit is given where it is due, but I tweaked it a bit and it was still delish. So here it is in case you are feeling exotic....it is a Moroccan dish!

Moroccan Tagine

I tablespoon olive oil

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves,

cut into chunks

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small butternut squash, peeled & chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1 (14 oz.) can chicken broth

1 (14.5 oz. ) can diced tomatoes & chilies,

with juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 dash cayenne pepper

1) Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook the chicken, onion, and garlic about 15 minutes, until browned.

2)Mix the squash, carrot, tomatoes & chilies with juice, broth, sugar, and lemon juice into skillet. Season with salt, coriander, and cayenne pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, and continue cooking 30 minutes until vegetables are tender.

*This is really good served over brown rice. It is pretty healthy and tasty. The original recipe called for 1 (15.5 oz) can of garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed, but I didn't have this. It also called for canned tomatoes with juice but I only had the ones with chilies (like rotel) and I used chicken bouillon instead of vegetable broth, as the recipe stated. Stewart said he didn't love this, but he is a traditionalist when it comes to meals. I thought this was both tasty & healthy & Rylie liked the butternut squash, so I would say it is going in my recipe box!