Gotta love this age!!!

This kid is a climber. And he gets into everything!! But I am still loving this age. So much fun!

He climbed up...

Got the Teddy Bear and threw it down....

And then started to climb down. I guess he wanted the bear.

For you Bethany:-)

My sweet, wonderful cousin Bethany (my one and only faithful reader) keeps bugging me to update my blog. So here you go Bethany...a couple new post for you to read:-)

Bethany finds out in a few days if she has a match for a new kidney. Please help us pray that this is a good match and she can have the surgery and be on the mend before Christmas.

Kroger Deals

This week I made 3 trips to Kroger for their Mega sale(only two trips pictured). They have this sale a couple times a year, and I like to stock up when they do. I got a lot of things for free or almost free. Some things I do not usually buy but got because they were so much cheaper than normal~such as Jose Ole Taquitos. We love these but I almost never by them because they are 5.29 for a box of 15. I got them for 2.00 a box, with sale and coupon. I got a lot of yogurt any where from free to .49. The kids love to have these as a snack. I got extra strength Tylenol for 1.50 and Tylenol PM for .50. I also bought more snacks and chips than usual, but I have put them away to use during the holidays.
So the grand total.....
543.32 worth of groceries for...
184.39 after sales and coupons.
It still sounds like a lot, but it includes 2 packs of diapers. Since my freezer was already pretty stocked with meat from previous sales, I should not have to do much grocery shopping the rest of the month.

Tonight Chris was asking questions about the kids ages and how much older they were than him when he got this shocked, unbelievable look on his face and said "You mean you had 6 Christmas's without me!"

Blessings

I have been needing a new table and chairs for a long time and have been wanting a new table for even longer. The table we have been using is about 30 years old and the chairs have been repaired several times. The other problem was it only sat 6 so if we had company we had to send the kids somewhere else to sit.
With Tim still in school, a new one like I wanted is way out of the budget, so I have been looking on craigslist for several weeks. I prayed that I could find one like I have been wanting. The things I really wanted it to have were a double pedestal, be able to store the leaves under the table and be able to extend to about 96 inches. This one has all of those requirements and is VERY sturdy and well made. The chairs are heavy duty and should last a long time. This set would cost me at least 1,500-2,000 new....I paid $300.

This is without any leaves...42x60...the biggest our old one got.

This is with one leaf in..makes it 42x72

With both leaves it is 42x96(not pictured)

Love the pedestal.

Picture taken September 2006
Even though I am thrilled with my new table and very thankful for it, I am just a wee bit sentimental about the old one going. I grew up eating around this table and have many happy memories with my family growing and with my own kids.

I'M BAAAACK

Tim has been after me because I have not posted in a while. I am now on facebook and it seems easier to just do that, but I have been missing my blog and the more "intimate" feel here. I also know that some of my readers are not on facebook so I am going to try to post here more often.
Last week I did a little photo shoot with the kids. Here are some of the pictures.

CHRIS

CHARLIE

WALTER

BRITTANY

Easter 2009

Shopping With Coupons

My Kroger Deals

Before sales and coupons~60.63
After sales and coupons~3.70

Here is how.
Everything I got was on sale. I had a coupon for most of the things.
Krogers was running a deal mix and match 10 things get 5.00 off. I got 20 of those things taking 10.00 off my bill.
I had 5.00 coupons off any Huggies gentle care product. The wipes were on sale for 2.50 giving me an overage of 2.50 per coupon. I had 4 of these coupons so I got the wipes for free and an additional 10.00 overage off my bill.
The toothbrushes, toothpaste, butter and suave deodorant were also free after coupons.
I was bummed because I forgot 2.00 coupon I had. I could have got it all for 1.70!
Krogers doubles coupons up to 1.00. So if it is a.35 coupon it doubles to .70, a .50 coupon is doubled to 1.00 and a .75 coupon it is still "doubled" to 1.00
I did not buy meat this trip which always makes my bill more since there are very few coupons for meat.

My Walgreen's Deals.

Before sales and coupons ~99.12
After sales and coupons ~23.32

The shampoo was an sale for .99 cents. I had 1.00 coupons getting them for free. Everything else was on clearance some of which I had coupons for. The crest pro-health is normally 5.00-6.00 but was on clearance for .95 I had a 1.00 coupon and two .50 coupons. which means I paid a total of .90 for all three.
The cookies were.32, the Karo syrup was .49, pizzas were 1.09, and the napkins were .75
I also got a good deal on Huggies diapers at Walgreen's. If you bought 25.oo you got 10.00 back in Register Rewards.(a "coupon" on your receipt for 10.00 off of your next purchase) The diapers were on sale for 10.00 a pack and I had some good coupons. There was a mix up on the order and I did not get my Register rewards, so the manager gave me 10.00 cash. So I got three packs of diapers for a little over 3.00!!

Some tips for shopping with coupons

• Always try to match coupons with sales. Hang on to the coupon until the item goes on sale.
• If it is a good deal, stock up enough to last until the next sale. It is cheaper to buy it on sale and to have it on hand than to need it and have to pay full price for it.
• Don't be Brand Loyal. If you are willing to try a different brand you can get some good deals. I hardly ever pay much for Cereal, Shampoo, Toothpaste, deodorant, Air fresheners,etc.
• Just because you have a coupon does not mean you need to buy it. Sometimes it still is not a good deal, or may not be something you will use. If it is not going to be used it is a waist of money
• Get multiple coupons if you can. I buy the Sunday paper at the main office when I go into Cincinnati on Tuesdays (I usually buy tw0), and a dear friend gives me her extras. If a great deal comes along it is nice to have extra coupons for that item.When I first got started I posted an ad on Craiglist asking for coupons people did not use. I had 2 people respond and sent me coupons for several months.
• Get online coupons. Coupons.com and smartsource.com are two good sights.
• Keep your coupons organized. It is frustrating to miss a good deal because you can't find a coupon. I used to keep mine organized by category in a recipe box. It was easy to file them away but frustrating to look through them to find what I needed. Now I use this:

It is more time consuming when you cut them out and put them away but is much quicker to find a coupon when you need it. Any 3 ring binder will work. I use baseball card holders to put the coupons in. It will hold 9 per page.

• Let others do the hard work for you. There are many web sites and blogs that look at the sales and match up the coupons for you. Here are some of my favorites moneysavingmom.com, becentsable.net and cincinnaticents.blogspot.com. You can also do a google search to find some that do stores for your specific area. But most of them cover the biggies like Kroger Meijer CVS and Walgreen's. Becentable.com has something called the grocery gathering where many people post deals found at many different stores. I also have links on the right side of my blog to more coupon sites and frugal blogs.
• Load your store cards with coupons. shortcuts.com and cellfire.com are two sites that do this. You put in you storecard number and then when it is scanned at the store the coupons come off your total.
• Always take your coupon book/box with you. Some people just pull the coupons for the items they are going to buy. I have found that when I do this I come across something an clearence or a sale I did not know about. I even take mine into Wal-mart even if I am not shopping for groceries. I once found Halls cough drops on clearence at Wal-mart and I did not have my coupons with me. I made a trip back later and got the Halls for .25 a bag. I would have saved myself a trip if I would have had my coupons with me.
• Don't expect your bill to always be a couple of dollars. That happens sometimes, but I usually save 40-60% off my bill. Every little bit helps.

If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment. I am by no means an expert, these are just some of the things that I have learned that have helped me save some money for my family.

My Nurse

Tim is starting his clinicals in school so he is starting to look the part. He does not like the all white scrubs but he does not get a choice. He is doing really well with his studies and grades and I am SO proud of him.

I always thought that the men in white suits would come get him someday but instead he IS the man in a white suit....:-}

Olivia

We have been able to see Olivia a couple of times lately. We got to go to her adoption in December.(can't find the card with the pictures right now) And we got to see her last week to celebrate her 2nd birthday. She is growing up so fast and has an unbelievable vocabulary. She puts thoughts and sentences together like much older kid. She recognizes us when she sees us and comes right up to give us a hug.~Makes ya feel good~But you can tell that she is very bonded with her new family and is happy ~Which makes us happy.

Olivia's Baby sister Kylee

Chris making her laugh

She loved holding Nathan ~ She said "He likes me"

When it was time to go She sat down on the bench and said "NO"