Christmas

Wyatt's first steps!

We were sitting with the boys on the floor, watching Trevor open all his wonderful Christmas presents when Wyatt stood up and walked two feet on his own with no support over to where Ryder was playing with Playdough.

My jaw dropped.  What an amazing little boy I have!  He's so strong!

My little man will be walking before I know it.  Then life will really get crazy.

So, advice from a momma... if you want your child to walk, put Playdough in front of him.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ryder!

Newborn

 First Birthday

Second Birthday

It's so amazing, and so hard at the same time to watch my little man grow up.  He is so special.

Here's some things you may not know about him at his 2 years of age.

1. He hates wearing socks, but always wants to wear his shoes.
2. When he wants something to eat he says "nack" (snack)
3. He's extremely dramatic when he gets upset about things.
4. If I give him a drink without a lid, he pours it into something else.  Usually a toy.
5. He loves to go bye-bye.
6. He has his own tools that he learned how to use by copying dada.
7. He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
8. Whenever dada is around, Ryder likes to be in his lap.
9. He smiles really big and squints his eyes whenever you want to take his picture.
10. He loves fruit.
11. He's so smart and picks up on everything so quickly. 
12. He isn't talking yet, only small words like 'nack',(snack) 'ooce'(juice) and 'more'.  
13. When we're at the store, he'd rather help push the cart then actually sit in it.
14. He waves and blows kisses goodbye to everyone.
15. When he wants something, he grabs you by the hand and takes you to it.
16. He likes to put things in the toilet.
17. Sometimes he will just run up and give me a kiss and then run away.
18. He helps me cut coupons, and likes to help me with them in the store. 
19. He loves his older brother very much, but beats up his little brother.
20. When we blow bubbles, he gets excited and says "poh, poh, poh" (pop).
21. If he sees the babies bottle laying around, he will pick it up and try to put it in Wyatt's mouth.
22. He makes us so happy.

Blog? What blog?

Oh, right.  This blog.  Sorry.  Life has happened so quickly recently I haven't even given blogging a thought.  Between birthday parties, Christmas, first steps, sick boys, and a miserable break from couponing, who has time to blog?

So, to make it up to all of my... three or four readers, I will give you a gazillion posts today on everything that has happened in the last few weeks.

Babies and Coupons

So, I'm totally aware of that fact that recently my baby blog has turned into a bit of a coupon blog.  Forgive me.  It's just that, having two boys, a small income, and lots of expenses has made couponing a large part of my life.

Lets break it down a little bit, besides my everyday gas, electric, tv, and phone bills, I also have the expenses of two little boys.  Diapers, wipes, clothes, bottles, formula, food, toys, and the list goes on and on.  I know out there somewhere is the break down of what it costs to raise a child in the first year and the numbers aren't low.   Couponing has already saved me $200 a month on my food bill.  I'm not at my goal yet, eventually I hope to pay only $200 a month for my family of five on food.  I get all of my personal care items for free, and I've saved so much on diapers and wipes!

Couponing is how I take care of my family, and who doesn't want to get free things?

McDonald's Caramel Mocha - Favorite Thing Friday Post

So, this week, I think my favorite thing is McDonald's Caramel Mocha.  I've gotten quite a few of them, they are just so yummy!  And the cold weather that hit makes me want something warm and chocolaty!

Wy got ahold of an empty cup and was trying to drink it.

Sorry about all the blurry photos.  I take all my pictures with my phone.  I have a really nice camera that my husband bought me last year, but its so much quicker and more convenient to take it on my phone! 

Birthday and Meijer deals

My little man will be two soon!  I cannot believe it has went by so quickly!  We are planning a very small party.  I went all out for his first birthday party and no one actually showed up, so this will just be small.  I found the cutest birthday invitations for him too!  They are so perfect for him because his favorite thing right now is tools.

The best part about them, I only paid .49 cents for the whole package at Goodwill!

I went to Meijer yesterday as well.  I walked out of the store with two bottles of sparkling water, 6 Nivea lip balms, a box of tin foil and a box of cheese filled pretzels all for $0.76 out the door.  Meijer offers a program called MPerks which allows you to stack an MPerk with a Manufacturer coupon which makes for free items.  There was a coupon for 0.50 cents off the pretzels which doubled, and an MPerk for 0.50 cents off the pretzels which stacked, and they were on sale 50% off which made them free.  There was $1.25 coupon off the tin foil, which stacked with a $1.25 MPerk, which made the tin foil 0.50 cents.  There was a $1.00/1 coupon on the water, which made them free because they were on sale for 0.70 cents this week.  (Meijer does not give overages) and the Nivea were on sale this week 2 for $3.00 which went perfectly with the $3.00/2 coupon that was in this weeks paper.  Hope that helps, these deals are still good until the end of the week!

Make sure you check the printable sites often because the good coupons go quick! 

www.coupons.com

www.smartsource.com

www.redplum.com

Those are just a few of my favorite!

Over the weekend the boys and I did some fun things. We made some ornaments for the Christmas tree, and make cookies.  We also used cake decorations to decorate our Pancake Sunday pancakes.  I'm trying harder and harder to fill our days with fun and educational things to do.

Ryder's Pancake

Tops ones are Trevor's, Bottom ones are Ryder's... obviously.

I've got to find something better to do than baking goodies, I've gained 10 lbs already!

Tonight's Dinner on a Budget

Yum!

Tonight's dinner was a last minute thing due to the fact that I've been gone all day and have yet to meal plan for the week.  

Ingredients:

1 package Private Selection Organic Broccoli and Carrots ($0.55 on manager special)

1/2 Package chopped fresh mushrooms ($0.35 on manager special)

8-10 Tyson chicken breast strips (chopped optional) (the whole package cost $5.99)

1/2 box pasta ($0.49 on manager special)

1 Can Campbells Cheddar Cheese soup ($0.30 with coupon)

1 Cup Milk

Shredded Sharp Cheddar and Parmesean cheese (optional)

Boil Chicken for 1 hour until tender (I added garlic cloves to the water for flavor), then place in frying pan with veggies.  (I put a small amount of butter in the pan as well)  Cook on medium heat covered, stirring occasionally.  

Cook pasta.

When veggies are cooked and chicken is brown add soup, milk, and optional cheese topping.

Add noodles, stir and serve.

This whole dish was enough to feed our family of 5 easily and cost me much less than  $5.00.

Four Eyes

I cannot begin to tell you how cute I think my sons are.

Ultimate Christmas Present

After heading back from the doctor's office this morning, my husband calls me and asks if I could come up and see him, he wanted to see me and the boys.  That set off a red flag... that man had something up his sleeve, I just knew it.  So I went up there, he came out and said hi to the boys, and then smiled at me and handed me a set of keys.

My husband bought me a car for Christmas.

He has definitely topped any present that I might get him.  

The thing is, I have a wonderful car now, but we pay a very big payment for it each month and we can barely afford it anymore.  We were hoping to be able to pay off the car at tax time, sell it, and buy a minivan for more space.  Today he handed me the keys to a minivan, paid in full, and tomorrow we sell my car.

What better gift is there then getting us out of debt?

Thank you, Shane, for the best Christmas present ever.

Doctor's Office and Kroger Couponing

I had to run Wyatt to the doctor this morning.  Last night he spent most of the night awake screaming, and seemed to be in too much pain to sleep.  The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with him so he sent him in for blood work.  I had to sit and hold my poor boy while a woman took three vials of blood from his little bitty arm.  The results were normal, and the doctor said to call if his symptoms do not change.  My poor boy, its so hard to see him in pain!

I wanted to do some shopping while I was already going to be out in the area.  The store by his doctor's office doubles dollar coupons and makes for some great deals.  I ended up getting a total of $120.00 worth of items all for $16.98.  I drove home with a trunk full and still had change left from my $20.

If you haven't started couponing yet, I beg you.  Go out, buy some newspapers, a binder, some baseball card holders and a good pair of scissors.  Those few items make it so my family has food on the table each month and I know they can do great things for yours as well.  I would love to answer any questions about couponing and do anything I can to help you save as much money as possible!

Life with a two year old

Currently, life with a two year old is a never ending, exhausting, adventure.

During nap time today, somehow Ryder found an orange permanent marker which he decided to color with.  Oh, no, he did not color on paper.  He colored all over himself.  Both hands, both feet, one sock, and a pair of jeans, all completely covered in orange marker.  I suppose it's better than on the walls, but the adventures keep coming.

Later, I put him in his room with his toys for a few minutes so that I could do something without him under my feet. When I went to let him out, he came walking out wet diaper in hand, with his free hand he was holding up his pants which he had put back on backwards.

What a little character I have.

Stovetop Stuffing deal

I went out searching for deals again today.  Just to Kroger, after my adventure last night I was way too tired to brave the bigger better sales.

My first stop when I go to Kroger is always the manager special carts.  The deals there paired with coupons can lead to free items 80% of the time.  There was a gentleman there buying some things for his wife and him off the cart.  Nosy as I am I watched as he placed the items in his cart.  I have the manager special shelf memorized so I knew exactly what he was putting in.  I immediately pulled out my coupon book and handing him the coupons I had for the items he was purchases.  He was thrilled to be able to save a dollar on all of his purchases, and him and I spent 10 minutes talking about all the wonderful deals there were in the store, and where to watch out for the best ones.  It makes me smile that saving money really is a universal language.  Then I left four coupons on the shelf above some boxes of hair dye.  After the coupons, whoever found my special present first was going to walk out of the store with hair dye for $1.99 a box.

On to the good stuff... there were bottles of Herbal Essences conditioner there marked on manager special down to $1.39. I had a stack of dollar off coupons (which don't double at this store) which made each bottle .39 cents each.  Not as good as free but I'd rather pay the .39 cents then full price, plus they might make a good addition to the gift baskets I'm making for all of the family members this year for Christmas.  What better Christmas present is there than not to have to purchase shampoo and other household items for a month?

And, my favorite deal of the week is on Stovetop Stuffing.  I've been stocking up on it the last week because the deals have been so great, but today I found the best one.  There is a pealing pad above the stovetop this week that reads "buy 4 get one free".  Kmart has a coupon book out that include a manufacturers coupon for .50 cents off two boxes.  Kroger currently has it on sale for $1.25 a box, and has a catalina deal where you get $1.50 off your next purchase when you buy five boxes.

I bought five boxes at $1.25 each.  I used two .50/2 which doubled to $1/2.  Then I used the Get One Free coupon, and after paying I received a catalina for $1.50 off.  In the end I paid .30 cents a box for stuffing.  Makes a great addition to family meals, and it's an all time favorite comfort food here.

Hope I was able to help.  What kind of deals did you find this week?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope yours was as blessed as ours was.  It was Wy's first thanksgiving, he really enjoyed the turkey dinner as much as everyone else did.  Ryder was very active all day, but seemed to be sick tonight.  He's very restless and doesn't want to stay asleep.  Poor boy, I hope hes not sick.

Dinner was great, I'm really too tired to go into details, but it was the first that I've cooked by myself ever, it was the first that I have cooked since having my own home, and it was the first that I have cooked since having my boys.  It's a nice feeling.

I dared the local Walmart store tonight for their 10pm sale.  I must have had a crazy moment.  It was absolutely  nuts.  I didn't get everything I went for, but I did get some, and that's plenty.  The boys got nice new warm pajamas, so even just that is enough to make me happy.

Off to bed.... after a late night leftover turkey sandwich.

Wordless Wednesday - We have to get this boy a fish tank.

Short and Sweet - Pre-Thanksgiving finds

I realized recently that I haven't posted in a pretty long time.  It's been even longer since I've actually posted about my two amazing little boys and how busy they keep me.  That can wait for now... for a time when my eyes aren't drooping and I'm not doing three others things at the same time I type this.

Kmart had one of their double coupon deals going on that ended today.  (I will post more about Kmart later as well)  I went in to pick up a few things before the sale ended.  To my surprise, everything I wanted was stocked and I didn't have to fight anyone to get to it.  I was able to pick up 12 packages of Nesquik Chocolate Milk mix, and 5 Coffee Mate coffee creamers all without paying a penny out the door.  (the picture doesn't match the number that I got because I gave some away before I got home)

Then Aco Hardware was having their Pre-Thanksgiving sale today.  They had 9 roll Charmin toilet paper on sale  for $4.44.  Normally not the best deal, but my local grocery store had a coupon machine in the store last week printing $2/1 Charmin product coupons.  I snatched up a lot of them because a coupon for that high value doesn't come along very often.  So with my nice coupons on top of their deal I was able to get a pretty good price on toilet paper.  So while everyone else's carts in the store were filled with things like heaters and appliances, I was the only crazy one with a cart full of toilet paper!  I walked out paying $2.44 per pack, really it's not the best deal I could have gotten, but we go through a lot of paper products in this house, so until a better deal comes along, I need to keep up with my family! (again, i gave some of this away before I got home too)

Thanksgiving on a budget

Kroger has some really great sales for their Mega 10 events.  They are something to watch for when you are a couponer because some of the prices are worth stocking up on.  This week, I went to the store with Thanksgiving in mind in hopes that I could get a good start on our thanksgiving meal (plus some) for a price anyone can afford.

I was able to get 4 jars of gravy, 11 cans of veggies, 8 cans of cooking soup, 5 cans of chicken broth, 4 cans of cranberry, 5 boxes of stuffing, 3 boxes of hot chocolate, and 8 packages of breath right nasal strips today for only $15.60 after sales and coupons.  My beginning total was over $70.00.  Thanks enough food to get a good start on thanksgiving sides for three families all for less than the cost that it would cost one family.

Toilet troubles

It's a very scary sound when you hear the toilet flush and the only people in the house are you and a two year old.

See, the problem is, if he sticks something in the toilet that is large... a toy, a soda can (it has happened), or a piece of clothing (yep, that's happened too)... it's not too much of an issue, just a bit of a mess to clean up.  If he sticks something small in there... momma's chap stick, a sock, or his breakfast... it's much more flustering because I have no idea if there really was something in there and we've just lost it forever or if there really was nothing in there and he just did it to hear the toilet flush.

And forget trying to get him to tell you what he put in there because he will just smile at you and go find some other fun object to put down the toilet.

Life with a toddler... there should be a warning label.

Project: Organize - Day 2

Today we moved my stockpile.  Talk about a job, considering I was doing it all alone.  I had it all store in my son's bedroom walk-in closet until yesterday when we decided to convert the closet into a built in bunk bed.  My boys are thrilled, and I cannot wait to have this unique bed added to my house.

My boys have a very long and narrow room, so removing the two twin beds and building the bunk in the closet will make a lot of extra room for them to play.

My stockpile before, we are building bunk beds in half of the closet, and the other half we are turning into a storage closet accessed from right outside the bedroom.  I am so excited about this project.

 Temporary stockpile location after.  I refuse to let these items stay in my kitchen for long, did I mention this is only half of it?  I still have to find a spot to store all of the shampoos, body washes, toothpastes, etc.

 The boys room now.  Ryder doesn't sleep in there yet, but he will very soon.

This is my inspiration.  Hopefully in the end we will have something like this and a very large space for my boys to run and make messes in. 

Favorite Thing Friday

My favorite thing this week is my back yard.  I'm so blessed to have found a house in the country (but also a mile away from town) that has the most amazing yard.  I can honestly tell you right now that I bought this house for the yard first.  I took this picture last night.  I promise you, these six deer are no more than 30 feet off my back deck.  How peaceful is it to sit and watch deer eat apples in your backyard?

Boudreaux's Baby Kisses Review

Now, I know the box says infant and kids, but this stuff has been on my lips more in the last week then it's been on Ryder's lips.  I'm in love.  I've never found any lip moisturizer better than Boudreaux's Baby Kisses.

The first day I wore it I put it on, ate lunch, took an hour long nap, and two hours after I woke up I realized that it was still on my lips, and they still felt soft!  How amazing is that!

I'm not one to normally wear anything on my lips, usually it has a terrible smell, or a bad taste, or makes your lips feel sticky, or dries your lips out, or leaves that nasty residue on your teeth.  My promise to you, Boudreaux's Baby Kisses didn't do any of those things.

It truly is the best lip product that I've ever used.  Even Ryder will bring the tube to me and point to his lips!

Please go out and try some for yourself!

Extreme Couponing: Kroger Steal

I went to Kroger tonight for cheese to make homemade pizza for dinner.  They are currently redesigning our Kroger store, and they had the cheese section torn to pieces.  So no cheese for us tonight, but I did walk away with a really great deal from their 10 for $10 sale.

I got 1 2 litter bottle of Sun drop soda, and 6 packages of Kandoo Flushable Wipes all for a grand total of .68 cents.  So all in all my trip was worth it.

There was also a wonderful deal in the 'Manager's Special' bin this week.  They had two pack bottles of Old Spice body wash on sale 50% off, making them $3.49 for two large bottles.  With a dollar off any one Old Spice product, it would have made them only $1.25 a bottle.  Great deal!  

Have I convinced you that coupons are well worth the effort yet?