The Kavanaugh Report

Part of our recent trip to Eau Claire was to celebrate my Mom's birthday. I won't tell you how young (see what I did there!) she is, because I got the number wrong last time (added a couple to many years), and she was not too happy. As part of the celebration, my Dad, brother Alex, and I made sunflower cupcakes from scratch and they turned out too cute not to share... Homemade cupcakes. Buttercream frosting, with Oreo as the center. Final product! My Mom was impressed - and frankly so was I!  

I'm changing the blog layout, so things may be changing around for the next couple days. I hope you like it.

Last Friday, Morgan's younger brother Cory came home to visit! He is in the Army and currently stationed in Bamberg, Germany so visits are few and far between. Cory flew in late Friday night to MSP from Georgia where he had been for a few weeks at an Army Airborne school. He then stayed the night with us, before we drove him down to Eau Claire for his couple weeks of leave. Cory and Henry met for the first time! Jocelyn still fits into the Bumbo seat, she thought it was the perfect place to read. Morgan, Henry, and I stayed Saturday night with Morgan's family after spending the day visiting with Cory and all the Eau Claire family. (Morgan and I also took this free babysitting opportunity and went and saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - which was amazing, awesome, and basically everything I hoped it would be for the last 10 years!) Kavanaugh Family! All together finally! Morgan left Eau Claire on Sunday, but Henry and I stayed with my family unt

Its about time I finally update! Henry turned four months old (I just wrote "one month old" and had to correct myself - I think that's enough said for how fast time is flying by) last week! I need to step up my blogging game. Anyway, I have a four month old! Ah. And boy is it fun. Henry has suddenly turned into Mr. Personality; he laughs, smiles, screams, talks, and screeches at just about everything and everyone right now! It's amazing how responsive he is. We spend the day chatting and having all sorts of little conversations. I love every minute of it. His special elevated bed to help with his acid reflux - Fisher price Rock 'n Play. Henry now naps exclusively in this in his bedroom. This month Henry met his Great Aunt Patti! At four months, Hen is 25.75 inches long (the 81% for his age - that's right it's possible that two short people are going to have a tall child!) and weighs 14 pounds 12 ounces. He is still in size 2 di

Since I'm not currently working (outside the home!) I have been looking for some ways to cut expenses and save some money. So, I decided to start clipping coupons. I was inspired by Extreme Couponing , but I'm certainly not taking it to that level (yet). I used to clip the occasional coupon, or used them if they were mailed to me, but I never went looking for coupons or for the best ways to save the most money using them. That has changed, and now that I can see real savings, I think I'm going to have a hard time going back to the way I used to shop. Henry "helping" me clip coupons. Boy's got to earn his milk. Over the last 3 weeks I have clipped coupons, started a coupon binder, and started shopping around for the best deals. And the savings are really adding up. So far this month, I have saved $61 on our groceries at Target, $10 at Walgreens, and $8 at Walmart - that's a total of $79 on items we would normally buy full priced - and the month

We didn't kill it! Or, I should say we didn't kill most of it. For the third year in a row, I managed to kill all the cilantro that I planted...damn you cilantro and my unending love of you. Poor cilantro. The basil is not doing much better. But is still technically alive. We have harvested two weeks worth of romaine lettuce and more raspberries than we know what to do with. Seriously, we have a ton. You are welcome to come over and take as many as you can before you are throughly creeped out by the large Japanese beetles who have taken up residence on them. The beetles. :shutters:   I'm tossing around the idea of making raspberry jam with them. But I'm not sure I have the time or energy to actually make jam (or the time and the energy to acquire jam making skills), especially since I bought a jar of jam for $1.78 today. But I have a feeling that making jam isn't about the money, but about the "experience" or some B.S. like that. What

The 4th of July means one thing around here - Deda Family Cabin with the Kavanaugh's! As always we had an amazing time, ate way too much food, took too many pictures, and came home more exhausted than when we left (this especially applies to Nettie and Lexi).       It was great to take Henry this year! He loves to be outside so 4 days at a cabin in the woods, near a lake were right up his alley. He was in heaven with the constant stream of aunties, uncles, grandparents, and cousins lining up to hold and entertain him. Plus if it got too hot, he could just jump in the lake with his Daddy.     The cabin is starting to get pretty full with 8 adults, 4 kids, and 5 dogs! It was also SUPER hot this year, which I love. But our first day there the temps were in the low 100's and that was even a little warm for me. Thank God for the a/c unit we brought for our bedroom window.     Despite the high temperatures, the long car ride with the screaming baby, and