The Great Grocery Challenge

 

 

CVS: OOP $12.55, Saved $59.98!

This was actually done in two trips since I didn't have the softsoap coupons on my first trip. My oop was a little (ok, a lot) more than usual at CVS, but it was still a pretty good week there. And, I'm sad to say that my gift card I purchased a couple months ago is gone. :-(

 Walgreens: OOP $2.19, Saved $17.38!

Kroger: OOP $2.70, Saved $1.31!

 

Meijer: OOP $43.71, Saved $26.95!

Definitely not my best week at Meijer. I bought quite a few things without coupons since I want to try a few new recipes next week (from Pinterest!)

Weekly Totals: OOP $61.15, Saved $105.62! (63% savings)

Seven Random Facts

Thanks to Jamie at Sticky Feet Part Deux for the Blog Award! You might remember that Jamie is the blog friend I met in person a few weeks ago. We live about 45 minutes away from each other and went to the same RE. :-) The rules of this award are simple: list 7 things about yourself and pass the award on to 7 other bloggers.  Easy enough!

1. I love my job and working at the university, but I really want to work part-time. This is weighing on me pretty heavily. I just feel that I need more time with Drake. He's growing so quickly. So, the first thing I'm doing is starting to use my vacation days even when we don't have something planned and not feeling guilty about taking a sick day if I need to. Last week, our sitter's son had a fever so I was home with Drake for two days...it was wonderful!

2. We've been so blessed with Drake, yet I can't imagine not giving him a sibling. Here's hoping to a little brother or sister for him in 2012. I'm sure I'll be posting more about this soon.

3. I'm a saver, but there are times when I like to spend, too, which makes Number 1 that much more difficult. It's pretty obvious about my saving side, so why does it seem like the things we spend money on are SO expensive. Jason had been wanting an iPad and a sprinkler system for a long time...those are both pretty expensive items! BUt, since we've been doing so well saving, we splurged. :-) 

4. We don't have cable tv, and I don't miss it one bit! We have an antenna so we can still get the basic channels, and we have Netflix streaming.

5. Speaking of Netflix streaming...I am loving Army Wives! It was a show that I liked when I could catch it on tv, but I never watched it regularly. Now that it's available on Netflix, I'm hooked. I bet I could tear up during every episode. Jason was actually making fun of me last night when I had to watch one more episode before bed (it was already 10pm!) to see if Denise and Frank went through with the divorce.

6. I love summer and just about everything that goes along with it, but I hate shorts/capris. Okay, maybe it's not that I hate them, but I hate shopping for them. Why can I never find some that I like? I have one pair of jean capris that are probably 10 years old...no joke. If anyone has suggestions for good shorts or capris, let me know!

7. I have a major sweet tooth! I love cake, ice cream, brownies, cookies, candies, you name it! Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream is my favorite...love Cold Stone Creamery. yummy!! I've also got a new addiction to Pinterest which isn't helping - too many awesome recipes I want to try on there.

I tag Kate, Elaine, Twinside Out, Tammy, Erin, Exploring Chaos, and Tonya!

Worldless Wednesday: Car Wash

(ugh...sorry for the sideways picture!)

What we've been up to...

Jason was in Chicago last week for a training class and Drake couldn't go to the sitter's on Monday so we decided to drive up on Sunday. We spent the afternoon at IKEA and Woodfield Mall and had dinner at Cheesecake Factory. I've been looking for a table or something for our entryway as well as a new table and chairs for our kitchen. No purchases, here, but we did see a few things we liked. Our waitress at the restaurant was wonderful. After all this media about restaurants and airlines wanting to ban children, it's nice to know that there are still places that are accommodating. We're at the stage with Drake where I almost hate to order him a kid's meal because most of it gets wasted, but I don't always want to get something I'm sure he'll eat. Our waitress ended up bringing us some cut up banana, their homemade applesauce and some cooked carrots a little softer than they normally do. And, these were her suggestions! We will definitely go back there.

On Monday, Drake and I visited my friend from college, her sister, and her sister's new daughter, Demi. I got to snuggle her for a bit and feed her a bottle...such a cutie and a what a reminder of how quickly time passes. It seems like I was just holding Drake like that. We had lunch and headed home.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal and then I was able to stay home with Drake on Thursday and Friday because our sitter's son had a fever. We went to the splash park and had a picnic lunch with my friend, Melissa, and her girls on Thursday morning and Friday we went grocery shopping. It was SO nice spending that extra time with Drake. Jason got home Friday afternoon and Drake was so excited to see him.

We left early on Saturday morning for Drake's first camping experience! My brother and his family have a camper and go regularly with some other family and their friends so we were excited to meet up with them for one night. Drake slept about an hour of the trip there and skipped his afternoon nap (I know...bad mommy!), but he did great! It was rainy when we got there but then it got hot and sunny. We swam in the pool and played in the afternoon until bedtime. We managed to get him to bed at a fairly normal time since my aunt's camper had a rocking chair (Thanks, Kelly!). He usually goes to bed on his own in his crib, but this was a different location, and we were attempting to just put him down on my brother's bed. He did wake up once but I think it was a night terror or something because he ended up going back to sleep without a problem...thankfully no one else was sleeping yet so he didn't wake anyone up. (sorry about the rotated pictures...I dropped my camera a while back and I think that's the problem...oops!)

 Enjoying a drink during a break from swimming!

Dancing poolside!

 Swimming with Aunt Kelly!

 Me and my sister-in-law Kelly

 me and Jason (goofy!)

 me with my niece, Nicole

Eating breakfast before we headed home. 

I can see many more trips like this in our future. We all had a great time!

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

 Not a great week, but I guess you'll have some of those...

Walgreens: OOP $20.28, Saved 54.08!

So, The $5/5 Kellogg's coupon that was only available for a short time last week came into good use this week. Kellogg's cereals were on sale for $2 so each box was only $1 and with 4 codes, I'll send in for a $5 gas card. The bad was the wipes...I thought they were on sale for $2.49 with a $1/1 Walgreens coupon and my $.50/1 coupon which would have made them $.99 (what I typically like to pay), but they were actually $3.49! oops...

Meijer: OOP $40.80, Saved $8.39!

Weekly Total: OOP $61.08, Saved $62.47! (51% savings)

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Walgreens: OOP $3.25, Saved $13.32!

CVS: OOP $0, Saved $3.19!
Got my free milk after buying 5 gallons.

Meijer: OOP $32.22, Saved $47.35!

We had a cookout  with a bunch of neighbors at our house on Friday so I had to get some things I normally wouldn't. Still not a bad trip!

Weekly Total: OOP $35.47, Saved $63.86! (64% savings)

Wordless Wednesday: Sprinkler

Jason was watering the lawn, and Drake thought it was the perfect time to try out the sprinkler. As you can see, he LOVED it!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Caden!

Yesterday, we celebrated Caden's 4th birthday! I cannot believe he is already four. I still remember the day he was born like yesterday - Jason was out of town working and I had a conference in town. It was a Sunday morning and Caleb (Caden's dad) called me pretty early to say that Karen's water broke, and they were at the hospital. We knew she was having a c-section because Caden was breach so I got ready for the day and headed to the hospital. He spent a week in the NICU because shortly after he was born, they realized that he had a whole in his lung. After he was home, I was at Karen's at least once a week to hold and love on this little boy. Now, look at him!

 Candy necklace! It was so funny watching him and his friends take bites off of this!!

Drake had a great time playing with the kids, too. We weren't prepared for playing in the pool, but thankfully Karen had a swim diaper and shorts Drake could wear.

Happy 4th Birthday, Caden!

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

 CVS: OOP $2.98, Saved $55.39! 

I had a 2nd trip to CVS for milk and more skittles. :-)

Meijer: OOP $18.54, Saved $20.77!

Target: OOP $30.94, Saved $18.25!

Not such a great trip, but I had to pick up some last minute items for Jason's canoe trip weekend. 

Weekly Total: OOP $52.46, Saved $94.41! (64% savings!)

Wordless Wednesday: Books

Don't you read your books upside down? ;-)

 

 

Staycation!

Yep...I had a little staycation this week thanks to some comp time and vacation days to use up by the end of the fiscal year! I could certainly get used to this. :-) Here's a little snippet of our week:

On Monday, Drake and I had lunch with two ladies who used to work in my office and then he took a 3.5 hour nap when we got home!

On Tuesday, we headed about an hour north to meet my blog friend, Jamie! I wasn't nervous at all, but I'm not sure I can say the same for Jason. lol! I've been following her blog for a few years now and feel like I know her already. All of our kiddos are here thanks for Dr. J. She was just what I pictured in real life. :-) Drake had a great time playing with the trio while Jamie and I chatted and then we went out for lunch. I didn't do so well in the area of pictures, but here are a few:

Ready to hit the road!

 Coloring with the girls!

 Bo & Drake at lunch

 An attempt at getting a pic of all four kiddos - Bo, Drake, Anna, Clara

And, an attempt at getting all of us in a picture. lol!

I can't wait to get together again and can't believe it's taken us so long to plan this trip! (Click here for her post about the trip.)

On Wednesday, Aireol spent the day with us! Drake actually went to daycare in the morning while we had our annual evaluation and then he took a great nap while Aireol and I hung out by the pool.

On Thursday, we went to State Farm pool with my friend, Melissa, and her girls. We went once last year, but the water was so cold that Drake didn't even get in. Today was perfect. He splashed around in the kiddie pool for about an hour before we had lunch and headed home for his nap.

 

On Friday, daddy was home with us! We spent most of the day at home, and then took dessert to some friends before my parents came to visit. 

I think I could really get used to being home with Drake all the time! :-)