It had been several years since we road our bikes on the W&OD Trail.  Since Saturday the weather was just right to go biking, we packed up the Mazda with the two bikes and the bike trailer and Michael and I piled into the Sonata.  Yeah, we had to take two cars.
The W&OD Trail is part of the 100-foot-wide Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park and has a 45-mile asphalt trail that can be used for walking, running, and bicycling.  There's also a 30.5-mile gravel path that's parallel to the asphalt trail for horseback riding and hiking.  Above is a map that shows how far the trail reaches (for a more interactive map, click here).  It goes from Purcellville, VA all the way to Arlington, VA.  For more information about the trail, you can click here to go to the W&OD Trail's website.

On this trip, we drove to the Sterling/ Pacific Boulevard access point to the trail.
As you can see, there's a nice parking lot all in its own little world.  Since we were taking two cars, we decided we had to go to a place that had lots of parking.  Where we used to go was just enough room for a small amount of cars and right off of the road.
Since Michael is still working on riding his trike, we have a nice little bike trailer for him to sit in and enjoy the ride.  We love this.  In the back, there's room to store things that you need for you ride.  Inside with Michael, there's enough room for two toddlers and each side has a little holder to put a water bottle in.
We hooked the trailer to my bike, a Trek.  I bought this bike about four years ago because my bike that I had back in school was rusting really bad.
On this trip, we decided that we would travel towards Leesburg.  Only made it for about 2 miles before deciding to head back to the cars. 
I really liked the fact that they had this.  Would really stink to have your tires loosing air in the middle of nowhere.

If you living in Northern Virginia and love to go biking, this is the best place to go to.  I know that on one of our trips in the past, we ran across a BBQ joint that you could stop at and eat.  They used to have vending machines on the trail, but looks like they have been removed.  I'm sure that we will be making more trips in the future.  It's crazy how you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, but you're actually riding through these rather busy cities.

After going to the website to look for their logo, I've found that this place has closed.  You can see why after reading Becki's review.

In reality, nothing can really prepare you for potty training.  Yes, reading as much as you can on how to make the process as easy as possible does help give you an idea of what may or may not work for you.  As with everything pertaining to kids, each child is different.

When I was told about making my own baby food two years ago I thought it was going to be really hard and time consuming.  I had been looking at the cost of baby food in the stores and was willing to try anything to save us some money.  I ended up buying a Baby Bullet since I didn't have a blender or food processor.  The ad on their website looked simple enough and it really is.  Here's the video I made the very first time I used the Baby Bullet.



My mom had bought me extra containers which helped out a whole lot when it came to making mass amounts of foods.  She also bought their cookbook which helped give me ideas on what to make and when I could start giving certain items.  I know that I saved a lot of money by doing this and it really didn't take that long to make.  For the veggies, I bought the Wal*Mart steamer packs which at the time were $1.00 each and made about 12 oz or six 2 oz jars.  The only foods that Michael rejected were sweat potatoes, white potatoes, and chicken.  He loved everything else that I made and could never be fed fast enough. 

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I'll receive compensation at no additional cost to you. 

If you're interested in getting this system, you can click on the link below.  It's worth the investment!
I had also purchased some additional storage cups that had a awesome container for when you're heading out and need to take more than two containers of food.  Click on the link below for that.


 

Last year, I was invited to two baby showers of some friends who were both having girls.  I had been searching on Pinterest for some neat and different ideas to "jazz" up my gifts.  I ran across the idea of making Diaper Babies.  So simple and cute.  Both girls absolutely loved them.


You use newborn sized diapers and roll them up, swaddle them with baby washcloths, put 0-6 month size socks on the top as the hat, and glue on googlie eyes.  Simple as can be and so very cute.

The diaper babies with all the other baby essentials.

Since our financial situation has changed, somewhat in a good way and some in not so good.  We were for years used to having an extra $100 a week (Jon gets paid weekly) for having his works on call phone every other week.  Well, things have changed and now it's an extra $100 every other week.  Last week was the first week without it and this week we had the extra $100.  We've decided that from now on, every other week we would take that extra $100 out of the account and have the cash on hand.  Our goal is to use $50 a week.  Here's the plans for the dinners for the week:

1. Sloppy Joes (had some buns leftover from last week)
2. Pizza Casserole
3. Chicken Alfredo (already have everything except for marinade seasoning for chicken)
4. Spanish Rice
5. Hot Dogs (carry over)
6. Spaghetti

We first went to Sam's because of needing toilet paper.  We used to just buy a smaller size of Charmin at Walmart, but a few months ago we were given a free roll of the Sam's brand toilet paper.  We used it and found it to be a lot softer and nicer than what we had been buying.  The next time we went to Sam's we looked at the price and found it to be a much better deal.  We got 45 rolls of toilet paper with tax for $17.88.  The Charmin at Sam's was much more and for less rolls.  We'll be good when it comes to toilet paper for a few months!

After Sam's, we went next door to Walmart.  Michael was starting to act up so I wasn't able to price compare like I had planned, but was able to at Wegmans.  Here's the list and the Walmart (in dark blue) and Wegmans (in yellow) prices:

• rinse aid  $5.97
• loaf of whole wheat bread  $1.48  $1.99
• Man which  $1.00  $1.09
• pizza sauce  $0.98  $1.49
• small stickers  $1.00
• sugar  $2.38  $2.49
• travel toilet  $9.98
• travel size hair spray  $0.97

Not all the items we bought at Walmart could be found at Wegmans or in the same size that we purchased at Walmart to be able to compare.  I added the hair spray while at Walmart because Jon had ran his arm into my pen.  Yep, spraying hair spray on ink marks and then scrubbing the area will remove the ink!  We ended up paying for the travel toilet seat with our debt card (yep, potty training in the near future - stay tune for potty training posts) and the remainder of items with our cash.  The total spent at Walmart was $24.99.

On our way to Wegmans, Michael fell asleep.  So, we went home and I hopped in my car and went to Wegmans on my own.  Here's the list and only the Wegmans prices:

• lemons  normal price was 4/$3, I only bought 2/$1.50
• 3- 1lb hamburger packs  $3.51, $3.95, $3.99
• pepperoni  $2.29
• mozzarella shredded cheese  $2.79
• Grill Mate seasoning packet  $1.19
• gallon of whole milk  $3.59
• OJ  $2.49
• half pound of provolone cheese from the deli  $3.84

It was nice to go without a toddler being cranky and I was able to see if we were saving money by buying certain items from Walmart instead of Wegmans.  I knew that I was going to be going over our budget just because of the fact that I was buying 3 pounds of hamburger.  We were lucky that we had some money available in our checking account, but in the future that may not be the case so we'll need to budget/plan a little better.  The total spent at Wegmans was $29.87.

When I got home, I earned $0.50 for the gallon of milk through Ibotta and $0.50 for the sugar through Checkout 51.  The total amount spent for this week's grocery trip was $72.74.  Making us go over our budget by $22.74.  The overage was mostly due to the toilet paper and the travel toilet.  Not too bad with buying 3 pounds of hamburger.

With this weekend being a holiday, how did you do with staying in budget?

There are many different versions of this cleaner, but the end product is basically the same.  What you'll need is the normal blue Dawn dish soap, distilled white vinegar, and a spray bottle.  Yep, the only thing I had to go out and buy for this was the spray bottle.  It only cost me a little less than $1.00 at Walmart.  Here's how I made this:

I put 1/2 C of the vinegar in the microwave for 1 minute.  I believe this is to help it mix with the Dawn.  Pour into the spray bottle.  Then add to the spray bottle 1/2 C of the Dawn dish soap.  Put the lid on and gently mix the solution together.  I evidently was not gentle enough because bubbles started coming out of the lid.  You can make more if you would like.  Just remember it's a 1:1 ratio.

This is the before shot of my shower.  I can never seem to get the glass to ever look clean and have no idea how to get the bottom of the shower looking clean.
I might have spread a little too much.  I ended up making the solution 3 times to make sure I covered the shower.  After wiping it off, I realized that a little goes a long way with this cleaner.  The smell was not too over powering like most bathroom cleaners.  It smelled more like Dawn than vinegar.  Some people suggest to let it sit for a while.  I don't think it makes too much of a difference.  You'll want to take a clean rag or clean sponge, wet with warm water, and just start scrubbing.  Since I put so much on, it took me a long time to clean the solution off.  I ended up taking my shower head and hosing it down that way.
Here's what it looked like afterwards.  All the soap scum was off of the glass and all the chrome was nice and shiny.  I still need to figure out something to make the floor look better.  I'm thinking maybe taking some bleach to it.  Thoughts?  I'm pretty sure I will be using this for Michael's bathtub.  Very happy with getting all the soap scum off and not using harsh chemicals.  When Jon walked into the bathroom, he about fell over.  He was very surprised at how clean the glass was.  Try it out for yourself.

I know several first time mommies-to-be and thought that I would share about the things that I've found helpful to have on the baby registry.  When I was pregnant with Michael, I registered at Babies R Us, Walmart, Target, and JC Penney.  That way all mine and Jon's family members had at least one or two stores they could choose from.