At every party there are two kinds of people - those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other.

This weekend we had a diaper keg for our upcoming bundle of joy.  Oh that's right, I've been away so long, anyone who isn't my friend on facebook doesn't know that we are expecting a little boy at the beginning of January.  Needless to say we are so grateful and excited.  Okay by we I mean Seth and I.  Evelynn's excitement varies on the day of the week.

Anyway, because having another shower would have been tacky and greedy, we had a diaper keg, which was the brilliant suggestion of my bestie Kathy.  You bring a package of diapers, you get a cup for the keg.  Plus there was lots of great food and cake.  Here is a picture of the cake.

It was AMAZING.  It had, I kid you not, at least a inch of delicious frosting and super moist marble cake.  I'm still kicking myself for not being my grandma and bringing my own tupperware to a party to take some home.
Needless to say, from now on, I'm bringing my own tupperware to parties and I owe my grandmother an apology for mocking her genius.

But one thing I learned from the party is that my friends have kids now.  LOTS of kids.  Like when we get together, the kids take over.  So here is what I need to remember for when we set up baby boy's "Brew and View" (its like a sip and see which is a southern thing I'm told, you come see the baby and you drink tea, except in my life, you get a beer, hence, the keg).
1. Get lots of kid friendly foods
2. Have kid friendly glasses (Kathy's carpet is now permanently green)
3. Have an area for just the kids which includes toys for all ages, a tv, and a table (luckily Kathy has a swing set, unluckily it was colder than hell out)
4. Have an adult willing to look after those kids, or have it in a place the kids can be seen from the party but not heard.  (This one is actually more difficult.  But I noticed a lot of parents worrying about their kids and not enjoying themselves)
5. Party favors for kids.  Kids like when you give them shit.  Especially my kid.
6. Specify on the invite that you can bring your kids.
7. Have the party at a kid friendly time (like not around nap time or bedtime

And if you live in Nebraska, avoid having a party around the game at all costs or do, if you like people to gather around your television and ignore the pregnant lady in the kitchen demolishing the veggie tray, cheese tray, and cake.

I should have taken more pictures.

We are so grateful to our friends the Hagen's for having the party for us and all our friends for coming.  And their kids.

Hopefully this is the start of my blogging again, but I'm not making any promises, this was just way too much to write on facebook.

Love (parties with good food and friends and family),
Carrie

“Half of being smart is knowing what you’re dumb at.”

I have a feeling I'm turning into every other Mommy blogger out there, because every time I sit down to make a blog post, all I can think about doing, is complaining about the cartoons I watch with Evelynn.  You may have noticed, but I'm super cynical.  So I have all of these observations about the craziness that is these tv shows.  And the life inaccuracies they show.  Oh and the attitude of a lot of the characters.  But then the other day, our home visit nurse sent me a link that the government uses to test kids intelligence levels (ok that's not the pc term but I can't remember it right now.)  Anyway Evelynn tested at age 3.  I was blown away.  Some of the things they were testing I know I didn't teach her.  I mean we just sat down and learned the motions to itsy bitsy spider and I got exhausted after six minutes.  After our lesson deteriorated into just me singing and Evelynn dancing I flipped on Nick Jr for her.  Suddenly I found them teaching her some of the things I tested her on earlier.  There went all my critiques.  But if we are taking a moment to let me be an ass, seriously, what do I need to smoke to understand Yo Gabba Gabba?

Love (that TV can help me be a better Mom/Teacher),
Carrie

“Don't agonize, organize.”

Everyone I'm getting organized today!!  In an effort to make things easier for my visitors I've opened up three new blogs.
My first blog is where I will be posting all my pricematching information, including the weekly pricematching for Omaha and also the good deals you can find using coupons.  You can find the blog here: http://carrie-onbaggagesavings.blogspot.com/

The second blog is where you will be able to find the menu planning I do.  It is updated once a week, usually after the pricematching email goes out, since I try to use the information in the pricematching email to create recipes that are not only yummy but save you money!!  You can find that blog here: http://carrie-onbaggagemenus.blogspot.com/

The third blog is where you will find all one billion of my photos that I have been taking.  You can find that blog here: http://carrie-onbaggagepictures.blogspot.com/

I hope you will stop on by!  If you have any questions let me know!

"A man on a date wonders if he'll get lucky. The woman already knows."

The other night we went to a comedy show and the comedian asked who was on their first date and the some people stupidly volunteered that they were and even more information that they met on match.com.
I hear of people doing this more and more.  I want to make jokes about it, but I think secretly I'm jealous.  My husband I met because he told his coworker, who was my best friend's husband, that he was giving up abstinence for Lent.  So my best friend's husband told him he knew a nymphomaniac.  There were no qualifiers or warnings about each other's faults.  Sometimes I think it would have been nice to receive that email before I married my husband, it would say things like:  Seth is chronically late.  He also has a tendency to pick out large facial hairs and throw them in your sink, but not wash them down.  If you give Seth is own bathroom, he will never tell you it needs to be cleaned and therefore, makes cleaning it a hazardous task.  But worst of all, when you tell Seth you need a nap and its his turn to watch your monster child, this is what you will wake up too:

I don't think that counts buster.

In all fairness, I'm totally sure my warning email would have said things like:  loves to watch hours of tv and if not watching tv will spend hours reading books.  Will constantly whine when her technology doesn't work.  At least once a week, will call you crying begging you to come home and bring dinner because she couldn't possibly imagine putting a meal together when she can't even keep the kid from eating crayons.  Even though she spends an hour putting together meal planning lists.  Even though she is an avid coupon and deal seeker, she will go over budget at least twice a month, but will make it a big deal when she is actually under budget.  Even if she is under only a dollar.  She will also give birth to the most beautiful exasperating child on the planet earth.

Love (that my husband and I didn't meet on match.com),
Carrie

500!!!

Welcome to my 500th post!  I've been thinking a lot about this post.  I love going back to reread my old posts.  And I really want to get back to writing.  I kind of think of the first 500 posts on my blog as a chapter or a book.  And I'm ready to start the next chapter.  The first posts were about a newlywed, a working woman, my first pregnancy, and my first days in motherhood.
My life has drastically changed now.  I'm far from a newlywed, I'm an old hat at being a mother, I'm a three time miscarriage survivor, a pricematching couponing maverick, a experimental chef in the kitchen, and a facebook status update junkie.  I still watch a ton of tv, but I have less opinions on it, as I'm usually multitasking thru it.
I have odd experiences being a mom, even odder couponing experiences, I want to be able to provide my experiences with miscarriage in hopes of providing comfort and identification with other miscarriage survivors and also to help their family and friends.  I want to make you laugh, I want to make you giggle, I want to be real, but most of all, I want to write about me.
I hope I can live up to these expectations!!!
And if not, well, at the end of the day, my kid still loves me, especially when I have cheese in my hand.

Love (being able to share with you all),
Carrie