Vacuuming

Brady has taken quite an interest in vacuuming.  Specifically, he enjoys using the handheld vacuum because he can hold it himself and pretend he's helping us clean up. 

Getting down low to get those crumbs!

More vacuuming.

Got to be honest; I'm pretty excited he's got an interest in helping us around the house.  I'll take whatever I can get!

Lounging Around

This past weekend provided some great weather, but outside of it, it's been a lounging-around kind of winter.  This Mom has officially hit the "feeling huge, uncomfortable, cranky and sore all the time" part of pregnancy, so when Dad is on the road, our activity level is a little low.  Fortunately, little B has been down with that.  Especially if Disney has a good movie on or Mom & Dad are nice enough to put in a movie for him.

Watching Cars, in our Cars chair.

 More Cars, but now with popcorn.  The kid loves popcorn.  LOVES.  Seriously.  The large bowl he is eating in this picture, well, he probably ate at least half of it. 

 How can you not love that? 

All Dressed Up

The child who hates hats and gloves has finally started wearing a hat thanks to the wintry weather we've had this year.  He won't wear it all the time, but some is better than none.  Still no go on the hand protection, though.  I guess we should be happy we can at least keep a hat on him!

Slippers

Brady got a pair of Lightning McQueen slippers for Christmas.  He hasn't shown a ton of interest in wearing them, however, he does have moments when the sub-zero temperatures finally make his feet a little cold and he'll keep them on.  I think he looks funny in them; they make his feet look humongous compared to the rest of his body.

More Cars

Most of The Smoller Family faithful readers know about our son's obsession with cars.  In case you don't know, little B is obsessed with cars.  Cars the animated movie Disney, cars that you can drive around and play with, trucks, etc.  Cars, cars, cars. 

One of his little habits lately is gathering all of his cars and putting them together in one spot.  A lot of times he flips his table over so it's upside down and then he places his car there, but this time he decided to do it with the table upright. 

 And after he had all his cars on the table he had but one thing to share with us, "I want more cars." 

Riiiiiight.  Because that's clearly what you need, son.  More cars.  **spoken with a heavy dripping of sarcasm**

2011 Resolutions

Yes, yes, I realize it's now February and I am just tad late in posting about my resolutions for the year.  Alas, better late than never.  Besides, I don't make my resolutions for January 1.  It's nice to take a little post-holiday time and really think about the things I need to change in myself, my life, my surroundings, etc.  I have 2 resolutions for this year. 1.  Develop and follow a consistent skin-care routine. 
Yeah, yeah, I know I should already be doing this and I kind of do, but not as faithfully as I should.  I already wear a moisturizer with sunscreen every single day and I have for over a decade now.  But I'm not quite as faithful about making sure I wash my face every single night and then put on some anti-wrinkle cream and some eye cream (because let's be honest, this face isn't getting any younger).  So, I'm going 2 weeks strong now.  I wash in the morning and then slather on my moisturizer/sunscreen.  At night I wash my face and then put on the anti-wrinkle cream and the eye cream.  Can't say that I've really noticed a difference in how I look, but the skin definitely feels better, especially around the eyes.  No fancy products or anything--drugstore brands on everything except for the Clinique eye cream that I absolutely adore and must have.  Otherwise, it's Oil of Olay, Biore, generic stuff, whatever.  I figure something is better than nothing.  Oh, and a little t-zone mask treatment once a week for my oily areas.  That's my routine.  I've followed it for 2 weeks.  Let's hope I can keep it up the remainder of the year.

2.  Decrease our household grocery budget.
That's pretty vague,but I do have more specifics.  For us, I've set a goal of not spending more than $70 per week on groceries.  My inspiration for this challenge - the $5 dinner mom cookbook.  Check out her blog here.  I already follow several blogs that give great advice on how to combine coupons with sales to maximize your budget; I just need to do a better job of following those blogs.  And so far we've been successful.  I need to get a Sunday subscription to the Kansas City Star so I can get the print coupons regularly, but I print what I can from the internet (including tons of diaper coupons!). 
Do you have a similar goal?  Here are some places to help get you started, if you so desire.
   A. Check out My Frugal Adventures - her blog is on the right, but she posts weekly deals at Target, Walgreens, CVS, Rite-Aid and other all-around good deals.
   B.  Be Centsable - this blog has links to other blogs that show coupon matchups for local grocery stores in Kansas (and other states).  Find your store and shop away (within a budget, of course). 

So, what are your 2011 resolutions?  It's February 3rd; how are you doing a month into the year?