That time of year again

Today I met Mindy for our first pedicure of the season. Since Tony was working, Charlie tagged along. He really enjoyed napping on his momma the entire time.

Here's the little guy resting away. He didn't like the massage chair, so I had to turn it off.

I was telling Mindy that I needed to clip Charlie's nails and the lady doing Mindy's toes said they could do that for me, free of charge! It was nice because I get so nervous every time I try to snip those tiny little nails. Here's a picture of Charlie's "manicure".

Tiny Dancer

I believe Natalie's dance recital has been on our calendar since last fall, and yesterday the day finally arrived! I went over to Kasson early to style up a ballerina hair-do for the little princess. Charlie was pretty stoked because this meant extra aunt/uncle/cousin time! He even got to meet Connie and Duane (Mindy's parents).

Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures during the recital, so I just have some posed shots to share. I understand completely to hold the pictures: at Natalie's January practice recital, there were parents holding up their iPads to take videos. This completely blocked the view for those around them. How rude (as Stephanie Tanner would say).

Some pre-dance cousin time.

How sweet is this picture!?

The tiny dancer

I stole this from Mindy's blog, but here we are with the kiddos!

It was fun to watch Natalie up on stage. She was by far the cutest girl up there, although I might be biased...

Sunshiny Smiles

Charlie and I have been enjoying this beautiful spring weather the past couple of days. Unfortunately, Tony's been cooped up at work. Luckily he gets to take his patients outside and play sometimes.

We've utilized the extremely wonderful stroller from the Knutson/Sutter/Millard gals several times! I've also discovered the app "map my run". I hit start and it uses Google Maps to follow my route and calculates the distance, time and how many calories I burned. I have discovered it is 1.11 miles from my house to my parents house. I also discovered that stopping at Kwik Trip on my walks to get a doughnut really defeats the purpose...but it sure was a tasty treat!

I just uploaded pictures from my camera, and I MUST share some good ones of my little man.

Here's his open mouth smile!

His heart breaker smile

His cheesy smile

His bashful smile

My mom bought this pack n play for us, and Charlie just discovered the stars hanging above his head!

Since I post so many smiley faces, I figured I should show his sad face too. 

Gallery Wall

Michaels had a great sale on frames a few weeks ago, so I decided it was time to make our stairway have a wall full of pictures. Today Tony and I worked to put it all together. I'm so happy with the results! I couldn't take a picture straight on...

Save big money at...Target?!

If you know me at all, I shop for what I need when I need it. I'm not a "garage saler", nor am I a "couponer". I typically do not think about saving money until it's too late, and I just NEED the product. My goal for the spring/summer is to start being a savvy shopper!

Today I made progress towards my goal. I downloaded the Target app yesterday and noticed that it lists the sales/clearances for the week. I went through and "clipped" all the products that we typically use/eat. Today, Tony and I went shopping! My mom and brother took the little one to make it a little easier. We filled a shopping cart FULL of things we use on a regular basis or groceries we needed.

As we were checking out, I noticed the sign for the Target Red Card. You save 5% every time you shop using it. Well...I am a frequent Target shopper, so I was intrigued. Come to find out they have a Debit Red Card now. The money comes directly from our checking account. No need to worry about credit interest rates...SO, we enrolled.

To sum up our shopping experience:

Received $10 in gift cards for certain purchases made
Saved $8.09 from using the Red Card
Saved $34.23 from shopping sale/clearance priced items

TOTAL SAVINGS on products we needed to begin with: $52.32!!!

Next stop: Hy Vee and Fareway advertisements and Stewartville City Wide Garage Sale Weekend!

SLEEP!

I won't brag about this too much, but I do have to share. It is currently 4:30am and we put Charlie down to bed at 9pm. This is the FIRST time we got up in the night. We are actually starting to get some quality sleep, and so is he! I'm told we are very lucky that he is sleeping this long this early, and I know we'll have nights where this isn't the case. But it sure does feel good to sleep longer than a few hours at a time!

Here are a few smiling shots from the actual camera (not phone) from yesterday morning.

Charlie's Smiles

My phone is overloaded with smiling Charlie pictures, so I had to get them on my computer in order to take more! I figured I probably should share them with you all! If you remember, Charlie's first real smile was on Easter and it was with my dad. Now he's smiling at all of us, not just Grandpa Buck. Although Grandpa Buck sure does get a lot of smiles still...

Bath time is usually full of big smiles! He loves when I pour the water over his head to wash his hair.

I said "let's take a picture for Grandpa Buck" and he just went crazy with the smiles. 

This was for Cheryl, my Aunt Amy's mother-in law. She gave him this cute onesie!

I walked into the bedroom one morning, and I discovered this happy baby. 

He just wouldn't quit smiling and giggling away. 

Floortime fun!

Bouncy seat smiles

I love waking up to a happy baby. This was Charlie this morning during his early morning floor time. 

I just captured this one a few minutes ago. He looks SO big! 

Yes, you have guessed it. I take a lot of pictures of my little man. I just can't help it!