Chris, thank you for choosing me! I’d marry you all over again and again. You light up my life. I love you!

I quickly realized that I was much too big for the job, not to mention not nimble enough. Savannah fit perfectly though, and couldn’t have been more thrilled to dig in the depths for treasure. Thankfully, there were no creatures in there (other than the little girl), and the job got done.

After cabinet excavating, we had play-dough time. Savannah wanted to make mommy and daddy. We turned out like this:

Poor, poor us.

So, do any of you have caves in your kitchen? What do you put in there? The only thing I could think of was things we never use, but then why keep things we never use?

Saying goodbye to Joshua broke my heart, and I felt in despair for days and days. I truly didn’t see how I could rise above. But God… Isn’t that they way it is when we are lost? But God, in His mercy and lovingkindness, endured my questions and accusations against Him and has lifted me out of the miry clay. I am truly and deeply grateful to Him for giving me four beautiful, precious children. Two here with me, and two waiting for a hug in eternity.

I cannot imagine enduring grief without my heavenly Father, who gave His Son Jesus to die on a cross of shame for my sin. He did this knowing that I would rant and rave at Him in my heart, even when He endured much worse pain than I go through.

Thank you all for your prayers for us and your sweet encouragement. It’s up and down every day you know, but the path grows brighter.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!

Savannah and Caleb and any little Overby’s to come got a new swing set and sand box for Savannah’s birthday. They LOVE it. Thank you Jesus and grandparents for giving it to them! There are some pics here in a gallery. I made Savannah’s cupcake cake. She loved it. Daddy, Pawpaw, and Grandpa stayed up very late to put together the swing set. They did a great job. Nana made Savannah a beautiful new quilt set, and she got a guitar to play like Daddy’s (only small and pink). She also loved her new baby pony toy, Candyland (her first game), and clothes. She is very happy to be three.

Caleb was tickled to bit to see a HUGE John Deere tractor in our yard to deliver the sand. He got his picture taken too.

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Coming soon, a post about the last two weeks, which will include details on a flood, a makeover, yucky sickness, camping, and maybe other things.

Paw-paw and Savannah found baby frogs in the garden, a highlight of her week! Paw-paw caught them and put them in a jar for her. She put the jar in a doll stroller and took the babies for a walk. Here is the proud mommy with her frog babies.

And to wrap this up, here is a message for Daddy from Savannah and Caleb.

And I love you too, dear hubby!

On Saturday, we had a Perkins family get-together with aunts and uncles and cousins. It was fun to see everyone, and hug necks, and eat boiled crawfish!

We also got a little pool for Caleb and Savannah to play in. They love it! Well, Caleb took a little while to get used to the idea. For the longest time he would only stand on the slide and bounce. I guess once he saw how much fun Savannah was having, he “dove” in!

Other than swimming, we’ve been enjoying relaxing together and shopping. Caleb and Savannah have mommy and Aunt Sarah’s old toys to play with and “new” cars and blocks to play with from their cousins!

I will try to be better at taking pictures the rest of this week. Tomorrow we’re headed to the zoo, then Thursday my grandma is coming to visit for a few days!

I love you Chris, and I miss you so much!!!

So here is my attempt at telling you how that worked out.

Saturday trip to CVS:

The Aussie shampoo and styling mousse were on sale for $2.99 each and receive $2 reward bucks for each. I also used a coupon for buy one Aussie shampoo, get $2 off an Aussie styling product. So I paid $4 plus tax for the hair products, and got back $4 reward bucks, making them free excluding tax!

Today’s trip to CVS:

Transaction 1 – Gillette men’s body wash was on sale for $4 and receive $4 reward bucks. I used the $4 reward bucks from Saturday to buy one body wash and used a buy one get one free coupon for the second body wash. The two bottles rang up free and I got back $8 reward bucks.

Transaction 2 – Little Swimmers were on sale for $6.99, and I also used a $1 off coupon. BBQ sauce was on sale for $1.50 and I used a $1 off coupon. Mentos were 99 cents (see story about mentos below). So my total was $7.52.  I used $8 reward bucks from first transaction. So, I got paid 48 cents! YAY!

All in all, out of pocket for everything in the picture, I paid $3.52 plus tax.

The mentos would not be in the picture if it wasn’t for my sugar loving genes passed on to Savannah. She picked them up and opened them while I was figuring out everything at the cash register. She knows better now, and mommy enjoyed the chewy munchies on the way home! Daddy enjoyed more of them while I was taking the picture. Here’s a rabbit trail, Savannah got new markers today for staying dry and clean for 2 days! Yay, Savannah!

So really and truthfully, does how I explained everything above make any sense? Not about the mentos – about the shopping at CVS? Here’s a link to the first article I read about it: Money Saving Mom – CVS 101. I’m very grateful to the Lord for introducing me to Money Saving Mom’s blog. I come home from grocery shopping excited! Thank you Lord for teaching us new things, and for Your sweet provision!