Gone Krogering

Made a trip to Kroger tonight after Mike got home. It was nice to come home to both kids sleeping, specially since they have both been sick and fussing and crying the past two days.

Went for diapers. I had a coupon for the Kroger Comforts. I am normally a Pampers or Luvs kind of girl, but for $2.99 a pack I decided to give it a try.

Spend $45.43, saved $88.31. Not too bad. Specially since I stocked up on diapers and wipes.

It would have been at least $10 less if I did not need to get baggies. I am having a table at a mom to mom sale next weekend and have some little things that needed to be bagged.

They were out of a lot of the things I needed. Guess that is what happens when I wait until Friday. My free Crest toothpaste was all gone, and the packets of tuna that would have been 3 for $2, and the Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal I would have gotten for $1 each, all that was left was the instant crap. Oh well. I did wind up with some good deals, the Nestle Tollhouse Sugar Cookie dough was a manager special for .99. I put them in the freezer to use for Easter Cookies. the Pampers and Huggies Wipes I got for .50 each.



Below are my free items. I love free items. Except for the diapers and Haley in the background, she wasn't free.

Cowgirls Don't Cry

I am sitting here on the computer checking my email while listening to the kids. Yes, they should both be sleeping. But they are laying on our bed resting. Lilah has been sick all day was fussing and Jonathan was leaning over her talking.

"It's okay YaYa(Lilah), I keep you safe. You okay".

Then he breaks out in to full song: 'Cowgirls don't cryyyyyyyy ride baby, ride".

God I love that little man.

Love me some Wags

Prior to this month, I have been using the Venus razor that I got before I was even married (I did buy new blades). A few weeks later and I have 5 new ones.

It's amazing what you get get with a little cash and a lot of planning.

I have been racking in the razor deals this month at Walgreens. I ran across some bonus coupons today and got two more. My total for all of these was $5.17. It's mostly tax. I paid about $1 each for all of my razors and earned a little less than $1 on Mike's. Gotta love good deals

Swagbucks

Come earn some free gift cards with me. Swagbucks is pretty much a search engine. You earn "swagbucks" by doing regular searches through their website. I already have 24 and when you get to 45 you can get a $5 Amazon gift card. I really use them just like I would Google.

You can join by clicking on my banner or here

Free cash, why not?

Not So - Wordless Wednesday

Special Lunch/Breakfast for the day:


Breakfast:
Blueberries and Egg Pizza (Egg with spaghetti sauce mixed in , topped with cheese, spinach, and pepperoni). I will slice it up when I get to daycare.



Lunch:
Banana Hotdog (hotdog bun, banana, peanut butter, jelly, dried mixed berries) and crackers with cheese. This is one of Jonathan's favorite lunches that Mike will make for him on his day off.


Lilah's Special Meals:
Not nearly as exciting. Two bottles of Mommy Milk and a refill for her prune juice at daycare (has it with her cereal after every feeding). Her favorite lunch, Butternut Squash (homemade) that will be mixed with a little cereal. Yummo.

Outtakes

I unsuccessfully tried to do a mini session with the kids this morning. I ended up with a few dozen outtakes and that's about it. Maybe next time.

The dress Lilah is wearing in this picture was mine when I was little. The picture looks like a remake of my baby photos.


The blurry tangled mess below was my attempt at getting a cute picture of the kids feet together.


All my little naked baby wanted to do was eat the fake leaves. The photos in my head turned out much better than these :) What more can you expect from a 6 month old (yes,Monday is her Half Birthday) and an almost 3 year old?

P.S. Notice the little lady sitting up - Go Lilah!

Wordless Wednesday

What We Do Have

Sometimes I find myself getting caught up in what everyone else has, I start to feel bad. I find myself wishing we had more money, a bigger house, better vehicles, vacation's to far away places . . . etc. I sometimes take for granted what we do have, and what is really important.

My husband told me I needed to write a new blog. When I asked him why, he said "I learn about you". We really do talk, all the time, I am not sure what he want's to know that he does not already know, but I thought I would share this list.

Some of the things that I am thankful for. Hoping that when we are having one of those days, weeks, months and even years, we can look on it and feel complete. Because we do have everything that we need.

• Love and trust in eachother
• Two amazing little children that are us, completely
  
• Two sets of parents that have been married for over 30 years each
• Parents who have gone through the same things we go through
• Trust in God and that we are right where we are meant to be
• All the food and supplies that our children could need
• A safe clean home that is not in need of any major updates or repairs
• Two full time jobs that provide what we need
• Two vehicles that fit all of us and are in good condition
• A place for our children to go while we work where they are loved and cared for
• Siblings that we see on a regular basis and that are a big part of our childrens lives
• Close friends who have been a part of our lives for years (some over 15 years)
• The ability to be resourceful and work with what we have
• A caring son that loves and protects his little sister
• A daughter whose eyes light up at the sound of her brothers voice
• A son that tells us constantly that he loves us and we are his best buddy and best friend
• The desire and ability to make healthy cost effective meals for our family
• The desire to spend every minute possible with my husband and kids
• Love for my husband that grows by the minute
• A creative outlet and a little "me" time every now and then
• A child with an imagination
• A dog that is a part of our family
• A 50/50 partnership with my husband in our marriage, the raising of our children and life in general

I could continue to count my blessings but I think I will save some for later, and some just for us. Sometimes it just takes writing it all down to feel a little better.

What are some of the things you are thankful for?

Happy Hallmark Day To Me!

I am so excited! Not only is today Friday, but it is my Hallmark Day. My Father's Day card is premeiring on their website today. Check it out if you have a chance. You can also see it on their blog. As an added bonus, I received my card proof and check in the mail last night. I am hoping my NILMDTS received theirs as well. I'l have to frame the proof for our wall. Everyone keeps asking, the card will be on sale in May at select Hallmark stores.

For my photography blog, I will be running a contest that will be announced the day voting begins. Keep your eye on my photoblog for more details.

My good friend Stephanie is also a finalist, you can check our her card on their website and blog as well. She premiered on Wednesday.

Go us!!

Wordless Wednesday

Vote for us!

Not Hallmark time yet, but we are a finalist in the "Horsing Around" photo contest on a blog I follow. Winner get's a $100 gift certificate. Please take a moment each morning to vote for us. If we win you can come over and play with our new toy, we're good at sharing. Checkout my previous blog from when we entered the contest. You can vote once a day, from each computer. Click on the "Horsing Around" link to vote. Thank you!!

Edited: Opps, we're number 12, Through The Canon
That's what I get for posting before 6am

Jonathan = Mini Mike

It's kind of funny that I have a mini husband around the house when Mike is at work. He "fixes" things that don't always need fixing, lifts the "heavy" things for me, heck, he even tells me where to go when we are driving. We left daycare yesterday and this is what I got from my Mini Mike:

"No mom, go the other way"

"No sweetie, we are going this way home"

"No, we need to go through Holly mom. I need to"

"We're going home this way"

"No, I need to go through Holly mom, Nana lives in Holly, I need to go see Nana in Holly"

"Nana's still at work babe. We have to go home and let Haley out"

"Okay"

He sure has Mikes sense of direction. He's not even 3 yet and he knows our whole drive to daycare and back. He knows where the pumpkin patch is, the firestation, Ms Di's road, Mt. Holly (where Santa lives and he wants to go skiiing with daddy, not mommy), where daddy's light is, his light, and where our house is.

Heck, I don't need a navigation system. Take him there once and he knows where to go. He can barely see out the window but he knows where he is at. That is sooo my husband (well, he can see out the window, but he always know where he is at).

Let's Go Krogering!

I love the fact that Kroger's ads start on Monday. Gives me a chance to use the new Sunday coupons on the current ad one more time before the new sale starts. I showed off my coupons skills with Becky and Marjie today showing them how to shop. I spent $35.73 and saved $61.57. My goal is to save at least as much as I am spending. For those of you that think coupons don't make a difference, I saved $33 in coupons alone (the remainder was from Managers Specials and my Kroger Card).

I have a pretty good stock pile going at home now from the past few weeks. We have a good 10 boxes of cereal, 5+ boxes of snack bars (Fiber One, South Beach . . .), and 8 tubes of toothpaste. I love it because I am buying the things we need, just not when we need them. By getting them on sale and using coupons, I spend an average of $1 on those items now instead of the $3.99+ they normally cost.

A few things you can't see real good in the picture are 3 packages of hotdogs, a bag of Fresh Express salad, Organic Vanilla Almond Cereal, Deli Ham, Organic Tomato Paste, Purex Laundry Detergent and there are two boxes of the Multi Grain Cherrios.

Our bill would have been a lot lower but I did get a some things I needed, Organic Rice Milk, Venus Embrace Razor, Johnson and Johnson No Tangles Leave In Conditioner (Jonathan), laundry detergent and some Coke Zero.

This saves us so much money. I am getting to know how much I can get normal items for and I find myself passing by stuff because I know I can get it cheaper. This is where the stock pile comes in handy, I can be picky and wait for the good sales. I basically only need to get milk, eggs, fresh fruit and vegetables and a few other items on a weekly basis.

Wordless Wednesday

If I Didn't Know Any Better . . .

If I didn't know any better I would think that someone was sneaking in my house in the middle of the night and swapping out my baby with an updated version. Good thing she is right next to me all night and I awake every few hours to feed her. Despite a nasty cough both of the kids came down with last night, she is in pretty good spirits. We'll as long as I am holding or looking at her she is. She's quite the social butterfly. Her newest athletic ability is sitting up. She loves to sit with her Boppy pillow behind her. I would say she is a supported sitter but she can sit without anything supporting her for short periods of time, then she topples to the side or falls face first. You can't tell from the picture, but she is supporting herself here.


I made the mistake on Saturday when we had friends over saying that we have been healthy for a long time. Never again. Here's to sick days. I think someone forgot to tell the kids they are sick.