Monday, December 3, 2012

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Hang with me!

So...it appears I have run out of storage space on blogger!

I am in the process of possibly switching to WordPress. I'm hoping to get organized and be up and running by this weekend. 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

The Great Grocery Challenge

 



CVS #1: OOP $8.63, Saved $36.20 (81% savings)
You can see the details of this trip here

CVS #2: OOP $2.20, Saved $32.30 (94% savings!)


Meijer: OOP $27.63, Saved $46.27 (63% savings)

Sam's Club: OOP $2.41

Weekly Totals: OOP $40.87, Saved $114.77 (74% Savings!)

Check out Mommy Wants Freebies and Encourage Hope for deals daily!


Sunday, November 18, 2012

The Great Grocery Challenge

 


CVS: OOP $16.66, Saved $56.36 (77%)

Aldi: OOP $5.92

Kroger: OOP $9.64, Saved $2.00 (17%)

Meijer: OOP $19.45, Saved $34.52 (64%)

Weekly Totals: OOP $51.67, Saved $92.88 (64% savings)

Check out Mommy Wants Freebies and Encourage Hope for deals daily!

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Waterpark!

I've been wanting to take Drake to an indoor waterpark for a while because I knew he would love it. Last weekend, we met my college friend, Janell in Utica at Grizzly Jack's Resort.

We got there on Friday afternoon, checked into our "villa" and then headed to the amusement park for dinner and to let Drake go on a few rides.

On Saturday morning, we grabbed some breakfast and headed for the waterpark! We stayed there for a couple hours and then went back to the room for lunch and naps.
 
 
 

After nap, we went back to the waterpark until we left for dinner and more rides at the amusement park.
 
(Yes...I was horrible getting pictures - maybe next time!)

We stayed in their villa which was 2 stories with a master bedroom (king bed and pull out couch with whirlpool tub) and a 2nd bedroom with 2 queens. Both rooms were good size, so you could have even brought an air mattress for additional people. There was a full kitchen and living area, too.  I think we will definitely do this again, but not for a while.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

The Great Grocery Challenge

 


Kroger: OOP $17.64, Saved $26.61 (60%)


Aldi: OOP $5.50

Meijer: OOP $27.82, Saved $35.12 (56%)

Weekly Totals: OOP $50.96, Saved $61.73 (55%)

Check out Mommy Wants Freebies and Encourage Hope for deals daily!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

The Great Grocery Challenge

 
Meijer: OOP $43.28, Saved $34.88 (45%)

CVS: OOP $13.35, Saved $43.03 (76%)

Weekly Totals: OOP $56.63, Saved $77.91 (58%)

I was a bit over budget this week and more than I typically like out of pocket at CVS. I got a little surprise at CVS though - when I bought 2 Robitussin, I got a $3 ECB! If I would have known this, my OOP would have been a little less because I would split the transactions, but I'll have it to spend next week now. :-)

Check out Mommy Wants Freebies and Encourage Hope for deals daily!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Halloween!

We had a nice Halloween - we ate an early dinner and then Drake went Trick or Treating for the first time. We just went to a few houses in our neighborhood, but he got plenty of candy.

 Our little lion!
 Our big spider!

 Ready to go!

Colin fell asleep in the Ergo which made for a rough night. Between a stuffy nose and this "accidental" nap, we were up A LOT last night!
 I was a little surprised at how quickly he caught on to actually saying "Trick or Treat". He had a great time!
 Checking out his candy. :-)

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Colin: 5 Months!

Dear Colin,

You are 5 months old!! Hard to believe that next month you will be half a year already. Time truly is going by so quickly.

You rolled back to belly over left shoulder on 10/5 and have been consistently going this way since! You've rolled to from your belly to back twice, but I don't think it was intentional since you haven't done it since then. Once in a while, you will roll to your belly in the middle of the night and we have to come in to roll you back over. Unfortunately, you don't generally go right back to sleep so it's been quite a process. You still aren't sleeping through the night.  Every night seems to be different - some nights you'll get up about midnight and 4am, other nights you'll wake up every 3 hours. Your momma is sure hoping you'll start getting some consistent nights soon.

We brought the jumperoo up from the basement and you seem to like it!! It's a completely different look at the world around you. You still like your play mat and bouncy seat, too, but you often roll over or try to roll out of the bouncy seat so they don't last long.

You LOVE to play "peek a boo" and sing "Patty Cake" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". We have found your ticklish spots - right at the bottom of your ribs. :-) . We can get some really good belly laughs from you.

Bath time is still a favorite. When I'm running your water and getting you ready, you are constantly kicking and smiling. I think you would lay in your tub forever if I let you. 

You are sitting up so well in your bumbo.

There are no teeth poking through yet, but you are a drooling machine! The top of your shirts are constantly soaked!

I wasn't planning to start you on baby food yet, but we gave you sweet potatoes for the 1st time on 10/23. You love sitting at the table with us and having a little snack!

You truly love people. You will smile and talk anytime someone is giving you attention.

Everyone that sees you tells us how much you look like your daddy!!

You went into the church nursery for the first time and did great. Since you are still nursing, you normally feed during the service but the timing worked out one Sunday so we gave it a try. They said you did great!

You are wearing size 2 diapers and size 6 months clothes.





Happy 5 month birthday, Colin!

Love,
Momma

Monday, October 29, 2012

Pumpkin Carving

We had no plans on the calendar for this weekend earlier in the week...then it turned into a busy one!

I had girls night on Friday night - dinner at Olive Garden - yum!!

Drake had a playdate on Saturday morning with Caitlin from Alicia's. It was so good to see them. Then, Saturday afternoon, I picked up Aireol. We all had dinner and then carved pumpkins!

 
 
Drake did not want to stick his hands inside the pumpkin so Aireol was playing with it to show him that it was okay. :-)
 
 
 
 
Poor Drake was scared to be outside with the pumpkins lit up, but we convinced him that it was okay.


We went to church yesterday and then hung out at home the rest of the day.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

CVS: OOP $2.01, Saved $16.88 (89%)

Aldi: OOP $9.01

Target: OOP $6.49, Saved $8.04 (55%)

Meijer: OOP $23.10, Saved $31.15 (57%)

FYI - Be sure to watch the catalina machine when shopping at Meijer. I have gotten a coupon for $5 off a $50 Meijer Gift Card many times, and this week was one of them! I know I'm going to spend $50 there so I always take advantage of it and buy the gift card. Why pass up saving $5?

Weekly Totals: OOP $40.61, Saved $56.07 (58% savings)

Check out Mommy Wants Freebies and Encourage Hope for deals each day! 
 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Colin: Sweet Potatoes

Well...I wasn't going to, but I did it anyway.

The other night Colin had been fed and just acting hungry before his bath and bottle. He's been very interested in what we are eating for a while and sits up pretty well in the bumbo so I thought we would give his first food a try. (I was hoping to wait a little longer - closer to 6 months - but he's not really getting much anyway.)

I didn't have any cereal on hand so we went straight to sweet potatoes. He opened his mouth right away. Of course, most of it came out with all of the drooling that he's doing right now, but he loved it.

 
 


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Rader Family Farms

Since Drake has been born, we've made an annual trip to our local pumpkin patch aka Rader Family Farms. It has changed and grown over the years and turned into a wonderful place to take kids. I know it's packed on the weekends so I convinced Jason to take today off (half price Wednesdays :-)). It was perfect weather (upper 60s when we were there) and not too crowded.

I was really glad I had Drake take these pictures on our way in instead of trying to do it on the way out since that probably wouldn't have happened. Just wish I could have gotten one of Colin, but he was sleeping on the way in and almost asleep on the way out.
 
 
 
 
 
 
We picked up a couple pumpkins on our way out then headed to lunch. It was a great morning!