Confession: I have an addiction

Any parent knows that upon welcoming a baby into your home, household expenses increase exponentially, just from diapers alone. Lucky for us, we didn't have to learn this until just a few months ago, thanks to a generous Grandpa Barker.

Upon arriving at Jacob's blessing, Grandpa arrived with a truck full of diapers, pictured below. THAT IS 734 DIAPERS. Yeah, BIG deal.

So when we finally exhausted our supply and had to actually start purchasing diapers ourselves... OUCH. We quickly learned we didn't want to increase our food/household items budget to compensate for the cost of diapers. Why not try to make the diapers fit into our current budget?

Bringing me to the real purpose of this post. :) $25 stretches much farther in our household these days. For example:

10 yogurts
7 bbq sauces
6 fuze drinks
4 apple juices
4 velveeta shells & cheese
4 ritz crackers
3 ritz chips
3 salad dressings
2 big mayo
2 small squeeze mayo
1 box capri sun
1 box granola bars
1 loaf of bread

All for $23.13, a total savings of $102.31. I may not be a coupon queen, (seeing as I'm not advanced enough where I get it all free and only pay tax) but hey, works for me!

Mommy's Little Helper

I've always heard of "good" mothers who incorporate their children into their household duties, finding ways to have them help you with either cooking, laundry, etc. I guess it's never too young to start, right? However, apparently I don't fit into the "good" mom category because my little guy is always the one initiating the "help" while you can likely find me discouraging it. :)

How can I say no to this adorable, innocent face?

Literally, TAKING OUT the recycling (and not to the curb). His favorite thing to do these days.

Obviously I still need to learn a thing or two, because I'm sure I'll be pulling teeth to get him to help with these things in another 15 years!

Future Missionary

I'm late on the announcement, but I couldn't let it go unrecognized. Two weeks ago my 'little' brother Ben received his mission call to the Brazil Porto Alegre South mission. He'll leave August 26th and head straight for the MTC in Brazil. I'm so proud of him and his willingness to sacrifice 2 years to serve the Lord. I was hoping he'd get called to New Zealand so we'd finally have a legitimate reason to fork out the cash to travel there (and then on to Tonga of course). Brazil sounds good too though!