More Savings!

Ok, so i have procrastinated big time getting myself some shoes. I desperately needed some black dress shoes and brown would be nice too. Well, I hit the jackpot at 6pm.com. They have great selections for up to 90% off mrp!! Crazy! So, I got the above shoes for only $9.98 each with flat shipping of $6.95. Gotta love a deal!!

The ART of couponing

Yes, this IS an art. I got my first taste of true success today. I have piddled in couponing, but today was a great day for savings!

Let me break it down for you:

BabiesRUs

Organic Green Puffs: reg $2.84 -
Free Trial Coupon
Final Cost: FREE!

36 Earth's Best 2nd Baby Food Jars: reg $.89 each
BabiesRUs sale: $2.50 off per 12 jars
Manufacturer Coupon: (3) $1 off per 10 jars
BabiesRUs coupon: $5 off purchase of $25
Final Cost: $16.54 (~.46/jar) practically 50% off!

Musical Sit 'n Spin: reg $24.99
BabiesRUs Sale: $5 off
BabiesRUs Coupon: %15 off one item
Manufacturer Coupon: $10 off
Final Cost: $6.99

Pampers #4 Diapers: reg $40.99
BabiesRUs coupon: $4 off jumbo box
Manufacturer Coupon: $1 off box
Final Cost: $35.99

Koala Playettes: reg $12.99 & $9.99
BabiesRUs Sale: 30%off
BabiesRUs Coupon:25%off
Final Cost: $6.81 & $5.24 = $12.05
BabiesRUs Savings of $52.27!!!

Target

Tag Junior: reg $39.99 -
Target Price Cut down to $28.99
Target Coupon - $10 off
Manufacturer Coupon - $5 off
Final Cost: $13.99

Tag Junior Book: reg $10.99
Target Price Cut down to $8.99
Manufacturer Coupon - $3 off
Final Cost: $5.99

Found a Target Giftcard in my purse!

Target Savings should have been $31.00 but with Target Gift Card my purchase was FREE! So a true savings of $50.98

Total Savings today: $103.25 (I only spent $71.57!)

This trip totally made carting the kids worthwhile! In fact I have one more $5 off for a $25 purchase at BabiesRUs to use and it expires today, so i am going to get ,more baby food jars! What a killer deal! If you can use the 2nd foods instead of the 1st foods its definitely a better deal! For Jace i will just half the jar and use more the next day. The 2nd foods are 4oz over 2oz for the 1st foods and the jars are only 10 cents more. Definitely not worth buying the smaller jars.

What made this day even better is that we budget every month for certain items like $40 for diapers and $20 for clothing. We also budget for baby food. So, the $71.57 that I spent today was in the budget to spend. It came out as cash. So, with our budget, not only did I get the diapers, clothing and baby food, I got much more baby food than budgeted, more clothing & toys for Christmas! It doesn't get much better than that!!

Halloween

What do you dress up a family of four with two boys? Why, the Three Blind Mice and the Farmer's Wife of course! Yes, that was our theme this year. Very simple and easy to dress. Rylen didn't care much as to what he was, so this year was still Mommy's choice. Robby didn't care as long as it didn't cost much, so thanks to Walmart's sweatsuits (Jace $5, Rylen $11, and Robby $7), I just sewed some ears on and voila we had costumes! I can also remove the ears and have outfits for the winter. Recycled costumes!

We went to our church's Pumpkin Patch for the festivities. They have a carnival type atmosphere and hand out candy for prizes. It was a nice couple of hours and then we headed home to sleep off the sugar!

More Pictures of Games and FUN!

Rockin' and Rollin'

Jace has already been rollin' around all over the room, but now I have official proof of his rockin'. These moves have picked up quite significantly over the past week. I can't believe he is already on this track! I think he has too many big brother toys he wants to discover!

Pumpkins

It's that time of year for Pumpkins. We made our annual trip to take some pictures of the kids with the big orange balls and to bring home a few for Fall decor. Rylen couldn't help himself and threw quite a few while Jace just had fun getting lost in them. I do love FALL!

Happy Birthday Grandmommy!

Happy ??? Birthday Mom!

I am so grateful that you were a mother to me first and a friend to me second. Though I have wonderful memories growing up, I am enjoying the best part of our relationship now. I hope that I can be the mother to my boys that you were to me.

I Love You!

My boys!

Two is a lot harder to capture than one for sure!
But they are so much fun!

Jace Alexander - 5 months

(weighing ~13lbs)

Jace has turned 5 months! I can't believe we've been a family of four for almost a half a year! Jace has shown us quite a personality in these past 5 months. We are definitely wondering if he is going to be a very opinionated toddler. Jace is typically pretty easy going as long as everything is going his way. At this age that isn't hard to provide. Just food, sleep and attention. He absolutely LOVES Rylen. He smiles and coos in his direction all day long. Even if Jace is fussy, Rylen can get him to calm down and smile and talk. Lately, Rylen has been going into our room when Jace wakes up from his nap and starts crying. Rylen will sit on our bed and talk to Jace to keep him company until I get in there. That sometimes gives me another 5-10 minutes to finish up a project! How wonderful is that! They are so cute to walk in on when they are laughing at each other.

Jace has accomplished the belly to back roll, though it is typically done at random. His back to belly is much more intentional as it has been for months now. He also chews on EVERYTHING and if you take away the toy he is chewing on? Watch out and plug your ears for the wails of disapproval. Jace can definitely bust an ear drum if he is not happy. It doesn't happen often, but ears beware when it does. Naps with mommy are pretty drama-free, but with daddy they sometimes take a bit more preparation. We are hoping this will slowly change so that naps and bedtime without mommy aren't so traumatic. As for sleeping? We are STILL working on that. We are definitely getting better, but some nights I just don't have the energy to force him to sleep longer and I end up taking the easy way out and nursing him. We are at least getting consistent 4-5 hour sleep sessions with him and rarely have a 3-hour one. This is just all new territory with us since Jace is not on formula. Jace typically eats every 3 hours and I have introduced some rice cereal to him, but he is definitely not as eager to eat it as Rylen was. Rylen was ALL about food, whether it was nursing, the bottles or baby food. Jace is a bit more social and sometimes causes nursing sessions to be a fun struggle. I have to tell him often not to worry about what everyone else is doing and just EAT! So, typically Jace goes to bed around 9:30 and wakes up again at 1:00a to eat and then sleeping again until 5 or 6 in the morning for another nursing session and back down until 8:00a. Not the best scenario, in my opinion, but one we are trying to work with. As for other milestones, Jace is sitting very well with help, but loves to stand and jump. He loves his bumbo for better viewing pleasure of his sibling. Jace also loves to hold toys, especially his paci, and pull it in and out of his mouth. I have tried to let him play on the boppy with toys to grab but he ends up catapulting himself with his feet over the boppy to the toys on the other side. Here are some more pictures of our cute little 5 monther. The outfit is compliments of Evi from Hungary. Rylen has a matching one as well. I will try to get some good pictures of them together. Notice the tag on the leg of the outfit. It is the hungarian flag colors. So cute!

Happy 3-year Anniversary

Just a look at the past....what a beautiful day!

October 7, 2006 - 6:00pm

Celebrating!

I would do it all over again in a heart beat!
LOVE YOU ROBBY!

Paths Unknown

3 years ago tonight I self injected with a dose of Humira to help my arthritis for the last time. It was the eve of our wedding and I made sure that my scheduling allowed me to take it before we went on our cruise the coming Sunday. I gained a horrible 10 pounds on that cruise eating so much ice cream and pizza and rich foods... and well, if you've been on a cruise you know! Two weeks after our return when it was time for me to take another dose, I had a sneakin' suspicion that I was probably pregnant. So, I skipped the dose until I could take a test. A week later, low and behold, the test turned positive so fast that my head spun. It was official, no more medication until after the baby was born. At the time, I had no idea the path that our family would be taking for the next three years. I look back on that time and it seems like it was forever ago. Our family has been through so much mentally, spiritually as well as financially and I have been through so much physically. Tomorrow will be our 3rd anniversary and though I have been blessed with the two before, this is probably the first one that I have truly anticipated and been excited about. The past two are memories of limping into a restaurant to spend a short amount of time with Robby while my parents watched Rylen. Then heading back home to fall into bed and sleep away the pains that were constantly plaguing my body. In a small way I feel that the pain and struggle of my arthritis over the past three years has cheated me out of time with my family, but it was a path that I needed to go down to be where I am today. The past few months, I have not had the aches and pains to sidetrack me from the joy that my family brings me. Robby was the reason for my path down a healthier road. Neither one of us knew what that path would entail, but we did it together and tomorrow I will celebrate the wonderful man that God placed in my life. I will celebrate it without a pain in my body to distract me and know that I would travel the path again because Robby was there beside me the whole way. I definitely had a lot of support from my family and friends, but it makes a huge difference to have your husband holding your hand and taking the path with you even though he didn't have to.