Sweet Diaper Deal! Extreme Couponing!

I love coupons.  I also really love manager special prices.  Combine the two to make really sweet deals.

Took a trip to Kroger today to pick up a few things and my first stop when going there is always the Clearance Rack.  There have been many times where I match my coupons with their specials and walk out of the store with a cart full of free items.  Today there were diapers.  Unfortunately not Pampers or Huggies, but when you have two children that wear diapers, you get a little less picky.  

Gerber has a promotion going right now where when you buy a certain amount of their baby food, they give you money off your next purchase.  I purchased enough baby food to get $8.00 off my next purchase from them.

The diapers I picked up were $7.49 each for a box of 82.  I picked up two of them, as well as two boxes of pampers baby wipes priced at $1.39 each.

When I got to the register, I had a dollar off coupon for the diapers.  I also had a 50 cent and a 20 cent coupon off the wipes, both which doubled to $1.00 and 40 cents, and then I had the $8.00 off from Gerber all on top of the manager special prices.

I ended up walking out of the store with two 82 count boxes of diapers, and two 62 count boxes of baby wipes and I only paid a total of $8.42 after tax.

Who doesn't love saving money?

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Dear Ryder

Dearest little man:

You've become a world of special.  You do new things every day and I cannot keep up with all the trouble you get into.  I love you more than anything.  You are very chatty, smile all the time, and amaze us all day long with how smart you are.

You've just started a play group with other boys and girls your age.  You're very quiet and difficult when we are there.  Throwing fits, not wanting to go to the next station, and never playing with the other children.  I wish that you would let them all see what an amazing child you are.

You are wonderful with your brothers, you play well with both but tend to get a bit more jealous when Wyatt has something that you don't.  It's cute, for now.

Dada and I cannot explain the love we have for you.  Please grow up to love God, be good to your family, and be successful in whatever you choose to do.

I love you,

Momma

Potty, Words, Hospital, Couponing, & More

I feel like I don't even have time to blog anymore.  Goodness... I don't even have time to breath anymore.

We've unofficially started potty training Ryder.  We spend over an hour more in the bathroom every day now.  It seems to be working.  He went potty on the "big boy potty" the very first time I sat him up there, and he really does like to sit there.  All in all things seem to be going well.

He's also started talking more.  The boy never went through the stage of saying one word... he went straight to multiple word phrases.  He now says "One more", "Oh Toodles" (from his favorite show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), and occasionally I can get him to say "I love you momma".  He also says 'More' and 'apple' as well.  More words are coming every day, and at this rate... I won't be able to get him to stop talking in a month from now.  He makes us so proud.

Wy is doing all sorts of new tricks as well. He's started crawling instead of scooting, and he pulls himself up on things and stands.  His new thing is to pull himself up on the side of his bassinet and stand there and stare at me when I wake up.  As of this moment he is standing in there laughing at me.  I'm not sure what he thinks is funny but its such a joy to hear.  

He's turning into such a little man.  He looks so much like Shane.

Ryder was sharing his lunch.  Wyatt has turned into a little vacuum.  Anything on the floor gets put in his mouth. 

A rainbow over town the other night.  It was so bold and beautiful I felt like I should reach out and touch it.  And then the sunset at the end of our road as I was driving home the same night.  How beautiful is that?  There is one reason I love living here.  

Had to make trips to the city last week.  The city is definitely not the place for me.  I dealt with it, did what I had to do, but I felt very out of place and couldn't believe some of the things there.  I suppose I should have been wearing overalls and driving a big green tractor because of how out of place I felt there.  

My mother is finally out of the hospital and doing better.  That means no more crazy two hour trips to the city.  It wore me out.  It's taken me something like three days to finally get feeling more like myself.  I couldn't keep my eyes open and everything the boys did was too much for me to handle.  Not to mention that I was so worn out that I'm now coming down with a cold after just getting over being sick.  I'm glad its over, back on with real life... chasing after crazy boys.

Coupon King in training.  

I love my boys.

Coupons are awesome.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by them recently because I've fallen so far behind but I can do amazing things for my family with them.  I thank God every day for this gift.  At Kroger they had Special K2O water mixes on manager special for $1.09.  I had a coupon for $1.50/2.  I picked up 8 boxes and only paid $2.72 for all of them.  

At Walmart this week they are running a special for One Step Toilet bowl cleaners.  Under $4.00 for one and I had a $4 off coupon for them which made them completely free.  I ended up getting 5 because that is all the store had available.  I plan on picking up another 4 before the week is out.  

My next cooking adventure.  Chocolate Coke Cake.  I've heard of it before but never made it.  It looks delicious and I've been craving something sweet recently.  This looks perfect. 

Please vote for my guys.  They will give you drool covered baby kisses if you do!

First Play Group

We had another meeting with Early on today.  Karen brought along a speech therapist named Heather.  I liked her before she even walked through the door.  She immediately sat on the floor with Ryder and opened him right up by playing peek a boo with him.  She said she's not worried about his speech at all, but highly recommends a play group with other children his age where he can learn to be social and hopefully improve his vocabulary.  They said he is the perfect candidate for the group because of how fun and playful he is.... and how cute.

We go tomorrow for the first play group.  I'm a bit nervous, but thrilled to meet other mom's my age and hopefully get some little friends for my Ryder.  He loves to play.  We shall see how it goes.

I'm off to organize the closet, and then make a last minute trip to the grocery store.  Having a new spin on Shane's favorite dish tonight.  He should be surprised.  Taco Stuffed Pasta Shells.

Yum.

More diverse or... More something...

Pinterest has made me a more diverse chef.  If I could actually call myself a chef... I think you actually need schooling to take that title and I'm sure the 1/2 semester of cooking class I took in high school doesn't count.

Last night we tried 'hot dog in a bowl'.  Of course I put my spin in it, but this is where my inspiration came from.

With mine, I took grilled hot dog bun and laid it on a plate.  Cut up grilled hot dog pieces over top, then added chili, cheese, onion, jalapeno, banana pepper, and sweet and hot pickles. Topped it all with mustard and ketchup. Next time I will add tomato and maybe some other items.  The way I see it, the best part of the dog is the toppings.  This dish is heaven because its the dog with TONS of toppings.  

My husband loved it.

Ryder actually pulled my plate away from me, took my fork and ate about half of mine on his own.  All together it was a big success.  The best part... it took about 10 minutes.

I also found the ultimate comfort food.  This is my next kitchen adventure.  

Chicken, Bacon, Ranch Mac & Cheese.

Yum.

I'll probably give this a try tomorrow night.  Tonight is a pizza night if you ask me.  It's nice to have a break from cooking sometimes.  This way I can worry about the next trouble Ryder will get into instead of worrying about what I'm making for dinner tonight.

I have gotten more efficient.  Being the queen of the calender anymore, I have a meal plan written out weekly.  It really does help.  It makes sure I have all the ingredients available without a surprise run to the grocery store, and there isn't the hours worth of planning to figure out what I am going to feed my family for the night.  And pinning meal ideas has gotten me more creative with what I cook.

It's amazing the tricks you learn when you become a mom