pickin' blueberries

groupon

Have you signed up for Groupon yet?  I have and I've found some pretty good deals for my area through their daily emails.  What they do is send you a coupon each day in an email and it's usually for a restaurant or local service and it's typically 50% off or more.  For example, today's deal is a $50 gift certificate to an excellent fine dining restaurant in our area for only $25.  Last week I bought one for a mosquito fogging service that I was probably going to sign up for anyway and it was 60% off.  Great idea, in my opinion.  Sign up today for your city's Groupon!

now and then

some pictures of Jules just before she turned 9 months old:

some pictures of Josh just before he turns 9 months old:

I am surprised at how similar they look when I compare pics from the same age.  What do you think?  Do they favor each other?

Don't I have beautiful babies?

for my sister

Thinking about the Google post the other day made me think about good commercials.  My sister and I grew up loving commercials just as much if not more than we loved television.  We often talked about careers in advertising just because we loved singing jingles so much.  So Whitter, this post is for you.





I searched forever for the Mr. Clean and Oreo's ones that we used to sing, but for some reason I couldn't find them.

And finally, speaking of amusement parks and commercials.  Anybody remember this one?

notes from Jules and Josh

Dear Mamaw,

Thank you for taking care of me while my family went to that Carowinds place without me.  I was glad you gave me a nice place to sleep (instead of in that hot sun) and kept me well-fed.  I hope I get to come play at your house again soon!

Love,
Josh


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Dear Uncle Seth and Aunt Whitney,

Thank you for the week at Oonie Koonie Cha.  Oonie Koonie Cha was very fun.  I didn't know it would be fun but it was.  I had a lot of fun and I still love singing the songs I learned.  There was this big organ pipe there.  I hope one day you will play the xylophone, keyboard, and pipe organ with me since I LOVE instruments.


Love,
Jules




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Dear Jackson,

Come play with me!  Do you want to come to my pool?  Or do you want to go back to the big pool at the train park?  I miss you.

Love,
Jules

one time at dance camp

Julianna went to dance camp the week before last.  I heard about it just after school got out and I figured that after the enthusiasm she showed for her real dance recital then this week-long camp would be perfect for her.  It gave her a chance to be a girly girl which is something she rarely has an opportunity to do since most of the kids she's around are boys.  Plus, the only other girl from our church small group was going to be attending as well and I thought it would be great for them to have a chance to play together outside of Journey Group.

As far as I could tell, she really loved the camp.  It was held at a nearby church.  There were only a small group of girls that came and the teachers really crammed the week full of activity.  They did all kinds of arts and crafts in addition to learning three dance routines (including one cheer-leading routine) and practicing splits and back bends, etc.  I loved that it exposed her to a variety of activities since she may or may not want to continue taking dance lessons in the fall and now she knows a little more about other options (even though I thought we were going to run a one mile road race for the Winston-Salem Rescue Mission later this month and now all she'll commit to doing is getting some pom-poms and being our cheerleader on the sidelines).  We continue to discuss that I suppose.

The little show they put on at the end of the week was great fun to watch.   I know that she expected a big stage and large crowd like there was at her other dance recital, but after we talked about it she was fine with it all I think.  Although I also know that she would have LOVED to have another trophy like the one Extravadance gave her.

brought to you by Google

I saw this commercial the other day when Jonathan and I went to see Eclipse and I immediately fell in love with it almost as deeply as I love Edward Cullen.  Apparently it is old.  It aired during this year's Super Bowl but since I didn't watch that I wouldn't know.  TV (for me) has been exceptionally scarce around this house since Josh was born.  Anyway, here it is.  If you haven't seen it yet I hope you enjoy it.