Playing Dress Up

After watching her sister change clothes and shoes multiple times a day, Theia has now decided to join in on the fun. Theia's new game is to find a sweater or pair of shoes left lying about by Xandra, and bring them to Joe or I. She then speaks gibberish to us, holding up the item until we put it on her. Her current favorite is a pair of Xandra's size 8 black dress shoes.

More Madness

It's hard to believe anyone is actually interestd in seeing pictures of my groceries all piled up, but someone actually asked me if I had any more shopping trips to post. So, without further ado, here's the info from a recent outing:

Cost – 205.27
Oop (out of pocket) – 37.39
Total savings – 167.88
Total Percent – 82% savings
Number of items - 110 items

Grocery List -
2 Reynolds Parchment Paper
3 Tabasco Sauces
2 Betty Crocker Frostings
1 16 oz. box of Purina Kitten Chow
Windex Wipes
3 Clabber Girl Baking Powders
3 Ziploc Sandwich Bags
3 Hunt’s Ketchup
4 Dole Diced Peaches 4 Pks.
2 Dole Mixed Fruit 4 pks.
5 Ortega Taco Seasonings
3 Ortega Refried Beans
2 Ortega Taco Shells
2 Wishbone Salad Dressings
3 French’s Yellow Mustards
1 French’s Worcestershire
1 100 Calorie Pack 6 ct
1 Garlic Salt
1 Grillmates Shaker
6 Pkgs. Ballpark Beef Franks
12 lbs. bananas
11 Kraft BagelFuls
2 New York Garlic Breads
4 Red Baron Singles Pizza Products
2 gallons Whole Milk
2 Land O Lakes Fresh Buttery Spread
2 Land O Lakes Spreadable Butter
12 6 oz. YoPlait Fat Free Yogurts
1 32 oz. YoPlait yogurt
6 dozen eggs
3 72 ct. Huggies Wipes
3 Skintimate Shave Gels
6 Sure Deoderants

Target Raid

Last night on my way home from Bible Study, I stopped at Target to make some extra money. Here’s what I got:

3 Cans of Powdered Nestle Good Start Formula (12 oz.)
1 Can liquid Nestle Good Start Formula (32 oz.)
6 boxes of swiffer refills (16 ct.)
5 jars of Gerber baby food (6 oz.)

Total Cost: $73.61
Out of Pocket (oop): $24.57
Rebates/Gift Cards from purchases: $25.00
Profit: $.43 (yipee!)

How does your garden grow?

Farmer Joe is at it again. As of last weekend, May 9, he officially has our garden in the ground. He’s been planting things for several weeks, but finished up with the melons and pumpkins this last weekend. To date, we are looking forward to enjoying the following goodies this summer: peas, lettuce, green beans, carrots, melons, pumpkins (2 varieties, one for carving and one for baking), peppers, lots of tomatoes, squash (2 varieties), cucumbers, and corn.

He’s also been busy planting lilies, anemones, and other wildflowers in a nice flower box he built in the back of the house. It looks as though 19 of the 20 lilies are up and the anemones are just starting to poke through the soil.

Mother’s Day 2009

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and it was a beautiful day in so many ways. We celebrated the day by picking up some chicken and going to a nearby garden for a picnic.

Here was our plan. I had coupons for two free 2 pc. dinners at KFC, however, KFC was not honoring them on Mother’s Day. Instead, a chicken joint called El Pollo Loco was honoring the coupons. Joe mentioned that there was an El Pollo Loco just a few minutes from our house that we could go to so we could use the coupons. Thus, the plan was born. Bring food for the kids, drive to El Pollo Loco, pick up the food with our free coupons, go the the gardens, eat, play.

Here’s what actually happened…
1. Drive to El Pollo Loco.
2. There is no El Pollo Loco.
3. Oh, I thought El Pollo Campero was El Pollo Loco
4. Ooops…maybe there’s another not far from here.
5. No El Pollo Locos in the GPS.
6. Now what?
7. Let’s go to El Pollo Campero.
8. Not free, but still chicken, and still lunch.
9. Turn the van around and go back to El Pollo Campero.
10. Joe & Xandra go into El Pollo Campero.
11. Joe & Xandra emerge 20 minutes later having had several miscommunications with the cashier.
12. We attempt to drive to the garden.
13. Get stuck in lots of traffic.
14. Still stuck in traffic.
15. Arrive at the garden and realize we can’t take food inside.
16. Eat on the grass outside the garden.
17. Trisha gets card from the girls.
18. Fun!
19. The grass is wet.
20. We all now have wet spots on our clothes, even though we were sitting on a blanket.
21. Visit the gardens.
22. See all sorts of people eating their lunches on the DRY grounds of the gardens.
23. See some geese, goslings, and turtles.
24. Talk to Grandma DeShon on the cell phone.
25. Pick some dandelions.
26. Return home for naps.

A truly wonderful day!

Coupon Craziness

We’ve a new obsession brewing in our home. Couponing. I am learning how to save BIG money, and even make money, by pairing coupons with sales at local grocery stores, pharmacies, and department stores. Here’s an example of my Mother’s Day trip to CVS.

2 boxes of Raisin Bran
2 boxes of Rice Krispies
5 toothbrushes
2 bottles Crest Pro Health Mouthrinse
2 packages of candy
2 Jumbo Packs of Huggies Diapers
1 4 pk. Bayer Aspirin Crystals
3 boxes of 60 Ct Puffs Plus with Lotion
3 Quattro Razors for women

*Note: CVS has a program called Extra Care Bucks. You can earn Extra Care Bucks each week by purchasing specific items. When you purchase these items, they award you Extra Care Bucks (ECB) that print out with your receipt. These ECB are money off of your next purchase. They work just like cash at CVS.

Total Cost: $103.39
Out of Pocket (the total I paid the store): $4.78
Remaining ECB (like cash toward my next purchase): $8.00

Bedtime at our house

A few nights ago at bedtime Joe started singing, “It’s bedtime, it’s bedtime, it’s bedtime at our house.” He sang the words to the tune of our bathtime song and simply exchanged the word bathtime for bedtime. Theia immediately lifted up her shirt and headed off for the bathroom. I told him that she thought he was singing the bathtime song and that she was going to go to the bathroom to wait for bathtime. He was sure that she wasn’t headed there or would forget all about it by the time she walked "all the way" to that part of the house. However, as we followed her, we watched her walk straight to the bathroom, continuing to lift up her shirt and then stand by the bathtub in expectation of her bath. She was not a happy camper when he picked her up to change her clothes with no intention of bringing her back to the bathtub.

Dinosaur Oatmeal

An excerpt from our breakfast table:

Xandra is eating oats and I’m roaming around the kitchen putting dishes away, taking bites of my cereal and feeding Theia.

Xandra: “Mommy, mommy, I don’t want to eat the dinosaur.”

Mommy: (total confusion) “Uh, okay, don’t eat the dinosaur.”

Xandra: “But it’s in my oats.”

Mommy: (Unsure what to say to make it better, trying not to laugh) “Oh, well, stir it up and then it will be all gone.”

Xandra: “But, there’s a dinosaur.”

Mommy: “Okay, let me see.”

Xandra then points to a piece of stem from the banana that is mixed in her oats. I remove the stem and all is right with the world again.

Panda Umbrellas and Cheese Sticks

Two quick tales from the world of Xandra:

1. Xandra recently placed her panda finger puppet on a play fork from her play kitchen and informed me that it was an umbrella. I suppose it might operate as an umbrella for an ant.

2. I’ve been doing a bit of shopping in the evenings the last few weeks. It’s so much easier to get out without all three kids and now that I’m trying my hand at couponing, I’ve found I need any and all of the brain cells I’ve got left focused on the task at hand. No energies to quell arguments, requests to get up or down in the cart, or shove pacifiers in the mouths of squawling infants.

Joe shared with me a few days ago that whenever I leave and he tells Xandra that I'm going to the grocery store, she always asks if I'm going to buy cheese sticks. Really cute and kind of sad (we haven't had cheese sticks in the house for about three weeks because I keep forgetting to buy them at SAM's Club). I guess when cheese sticks account for 82% of your diet, you become concerned when there's a scarcity of them in the house.

Couch Potatoes

We have a couch that has pillows instead of cushions along the back. I never dreamed when we were given this couch how much entertainment these pillows would provide for our children someday. Xandra loves to throw the cushions on the floor (usually on top of Theia, who is on the floor below) and then push the bottom cushions off too (also onto Theia who is already buried beneath the aforementioned pillows) and run back and forth along the empty sofa frame counting, “1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…1, 2, 3…” laughing, giggling, and talking to Theia. Theia laughs in return, plays in the cushions on the floor, sometimes join Xandra on the couch, and other times scales the back of the couch to look out the window. This is how I found her a few days ago when I walked into the living room. Happily looking out the window from atop the back of the couch.

Two Dollies

Xandra has a habit of bringing dolly to do whatever sister Liyah is doing. She's been to doctor's appointments to be examined by the doctor, she's taken naps in sister's basket, swung in her swing, sat in her bouncy seat, and had tummy time on her blanket.

Naptime

Tummy time