The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Meijer: OOP $73.96, Saved $54.52

I was over budget this week...guess I was making up for some of the past weeks when I was under. :-)

Saturday

A Bass Pro Shops store recently opened about 40 minutes from our house, and I have been wanting to go there for a few weeks now. They are doing free pictures with santa, and I heard that kids love the place because there are so many animals and even a bowling alley! We just hadn't made it there yet so when my dad called saying they wanted to go there on Saturday, I wondered if we might be able to work out going, too. They came down on Friday night with my nephew so we headed over first thing in the morning. I thought for sure that it would be packed, but it was perfect. We got there about 9:45am, Santa started pictures at 10am, and we were 3rd in line. You can see for yourself how this went. :-)

After the picture, we walked around checking out all of the animals and then went to lunch before we had to head back home. We picked up my little sister, did a little shopping and then headed home to finish up our appetizers for a Christmas party at Jason's aunt's house. Drake got his first Christmas present...a Tonka tow truck!

Leta even got Aireol a neat Christmas ornament.

We got to meet Jason's cousin's daughter, Hadassah, for the first time. Drake loved her. It was too cute when he was trying to give her hugs. Good thing they were low to the ground - Drake knocked her over a few times. Hadassah's first birthday is on Monday...Happy Birthday, Hadassah!!

It was fun filled day for sure! Thankfully all we had today was church.

Christmas Card

Since our family and friends should have received their card from us, I thought I would share it here as well:

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season celebrating the birth of our Savior!

16 weeks!

We are 4 months along! I cannot believe how quickly time is going with this pregnancy. Ever since my last appointment, time is flying...probably helps that work is super busy right now. I'm still only right around seven pounds gained and some work people just found out about the pregnancy last week. Guess I was doing a pretty good job at hiding it. The clothing choices are getting really limited, especially pants, but I just got a bunch of maternity clothes that I am borrowing from friends - THANK YOU!

I haven't felt any distinct movement yet - hopefully soon, although with Drake I was almost 24 weeks. At least I have the doppler and get to hear the heartbeat every night. It seems to be in the 150s most of the time.

This little guy wanted his picture taken tonight, too. :-)

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Walgreens: OOP $18.98, Saved $23.78

Meijer: OOP $20.29, Saved $18.34

*I should also point out that my Meijer trip only used one digital and one paper coupon! "Couponing" can be done even without coupons. You just have to watch for the deals.

Target: OOP $1.44, Saved $4.32

Weekly Totals: OOP $40.71, Saved $46.44 (53% savings!)

O Christmas Tree!

As I mentioned yesterday, last week was crazy! I was signed up to volunteer at our church on Saturday which also meant I had a training to go to on Friday night. My co-worker, who I was volunteering with, suggested that I stay home and rest. It was hard to give in to that because I really wanted to be there, but I figured she was probably right. All the stress isn't good for baby, and I obviously needed the break. I slept for over 9 hours on Friday night and took a 2-hour nap on Saturday, but not before we got our Christmas tree up!

Jason brought the tubs upstairs and took out a few of the decorations. Drake knocked one of the ceramic painted santa's on the floor and it broke. Then, he went over and pulled our Chicago Bears ornament out and dropped it on the floor - broken! Not the best way to start decorating, but definitely nothing to get upset over. Needless to say, we don't have too many ornaments on our tree...just in case. 

 "Helping" daddy fix the lights.

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

This week has been absolutely crazy! Work has been super busy and our evenings have been busy, too, which meant I got no shopping in. We stopped at Meijer for milk on Friday night and that was it.

Meijer: OOP $5.05, Saved $.98