Fun with Grandma Mimi

Grandma Mimi is still here. We've been hanging out a lot, going shopping, cookies, and just playing. We had fun taking pictures earlier this week.

I know grandma wouldn't like this picture...but I love the interaction taking place here. It's adorable!

Oh, my new favorite of Hannah and I

Christmas Cookies

Monday we went to my mom's to make Christmas cut out cookies. Mom made the dough the day before and all we had to do was roll, cut out, bake, cool and ice. Nicole LOVES to help. She is such a Big helper girl in the kitchen. So, of course she loved this (of course, until she got bored)
Rolling the dough


Cutting the Cookies


More flour for the work surface

Pause for a picture


Decorate the cookies.

Nicknames

Thank you all for your feedback. I've had some interesting ideas brought forth, both on here and on Facebook. I don't know how we will spell Nicole's name. More than likely it will be Nicki. I asked Jeremy last night how he would spell it, and that's what he said....so that's probably what will stick. It has been fun reading everyone's replies. Thanks for joining in.

I have some great pictures to share, however I'm using my laptop right now so I don't have access to them. Maybe I'll get them uploaded tomorrow:-) Until then....

Nickname Help please

OK...I need EVERYONE who reads this blog to reply to me (plus I can see who all really reads this thing).

Nicole has become insistent upon us calling her "nikki" Here's my problem...there's no spell check on that name.

So, I have a poll and I need your help.

How do you spell the nickname for Nicole?

Niki
Nikki
Nicki
Nickey
Nicci
other ideas?

Also...I have some really cute pictures to share, maybe tomorrow or the next day though. Thanks for your input.

Nicole's first official hair cut

Nicole has only had one other REAL haircut (and it was a trim at home) other than her bangs. Saturday however, I took her to my mom's salon and she got the whole shabang! Nicole got her hair washed, cut (several inches in the longest area), blown out and even ironed a bit. It was so much fun. Nicole was very serious about it and I think she took in every moment. Of course, pictures to share.

She looks like she is terrified to have her hair washed, but she wasn't. I kept asking her if she was scared, and she said no. I think she was trying to keep herself up because she started complaining of her back hurting her.

She was watching everything Yaya was doing to her.

The finished product

And, we can't forget Hannah...she was oh so patient. Unfortunately, she didn't have any hair to cut:(

Bed Time Silliness

Tonight we were being silly before bedtime and Nicole wanted her picture taken. First she smiled

Then we asked for a "silly face" and immediately, this is what we got (mom...your going to crack up laughing! It's "Big house, little house" face:-)

Pizza and a movie

Tonight we had pizza and a movie night. Jeremy has been working all day programming for a very big job that is ending. So, we stayed in tonight and just chilled out. I brought a rug into our living room, threw some pillows and a blanket down and we sat on the floor and ate pizza while watching Moses, Prince of Egypt. It was fun, and Nicole really liked it. We'll have to do it again sometime. Here's the only pic I have



And, here is a fun video from yesterday. Nicole is a thrill junkie. She loves to go fast and to spin around. She kept asking for more but Jeremy and I gave out on her before she was done:-)

Black Friday at CVS

Well...I have had several friends and family ask me about my Black Friday CVS adventures. The "Black Friday" sales for CVS actually started Thursday morning. So I, along with my veteran CVS friend Teri and my "in training" friend Jami set off for CVS and opened the doors at 7 AM with an egg casserole and Turkey cookies for the employees. We had a lot of fun shopping and getting excited with and for each other. We saved so much money...it's ridiculous. Check out Teri's post. There were a lot of items that were free after ecbs...which means you get the same amount of ecbs back that you spent on the item. I walked in the door with about 40ecb and I believe $25 of coupons. Here's what I bought...

This picture is missing one of my biggest purchases. I bought myself a belgian waffle maker (it works great by the way!) I'll try to list everything else (2) bic soleil razors, (2) sally henson nail polish, (2) colgate total, (2) headphones, (1) Schick Quattro trimmer, (2) aussie hair products, (1) norelco shaver, (1) contact solution, (1) playtex, (3) G2 gatorade, (1) Maybeline foundation, (2) Loreal lip gloss, (1) Johnson's lotion, (1) Garnier Nutriste towlettes,

Now, in all honesty, most of the stuff on sale I didn't need... so it will be donated.

However, Teri gave me a tag from a Christmas Tree at a local business that collects gifts for seniors in the area who live in nursing homes and don't have family to celebrate Christmas with. I have a man, and all he requested was "mens personal items". Pretty broad. Anyway, I had a coupon for $5.00 off the norelco shaver, plus it was 50% off. So I thought I would give him that, along with items like tooth paste, shampoo, etc. What do you think?

Here are my general numbers

I purchased just under $150 in products

I spent $8.59 out of pocket (this should have been $3.59...my first transaction, I was so excited that I forgot to give the cashier enough ecb...I had another 5 to give...oh well).

I walked out with about $25 in ecb.

Here we are, after our big purchases.We figured that we spent around $14 between the three of us (again...that should have been $9 if I hadn't messed up my first deal, doh!)

Baby toys and Softball

Yesterday I walked into the kitchen and saw Nicole playing, not with, but IN one of Hannah's toys. This is a jumperoo. Nicole never liked it when she was a baby...she seems to like it now though.

Last night we went to Jeremy's softball game. Nicole's little buddies, Peyton, Caulder and their cousin Noah were all there. Aren't they cute?Mom and grandma came to the game as well. Nicole is so worried about seeing the picture after it's taken that she forgets to smile for the actual photo. Silly Hannah. I think she looks good with blue hair...what am I kidding, she looks good with ANY hair :-)

This video has Nicole jumping in Hannah's toy, and one of Jeremy's hits from last night.

Hannah is not crawling yet. I keep saying she's close, but really, I think it'll be a few more weeks. However, she can push herself backwards, which of course can get her in quite a predicament sometimes. Today she ended up under the sofa chair (she doesn't seem to be to bothered by it though).

I have a big praise! The A.C. in my car has been slowly going down hill, and this weekend it finally bit the dust. Jeremy called me this morning because there is a new automotive place near his office who didn't have any cars this morning, so I took mine down. The guy was really nice and it only cost us $110. He charged us for the part ($70) and 1/2 an hour of time, even though he drove a total of an hour to go get the part needed. My AC is freezing cold now and we may have found a mechanic. Let's hope he's always that nice. But, I'm thankful for cool air again. And...bonus, the girls got to spend the morning with Grammy and Gramps, and we all went out to Cracker Barrel for Lunch. Thanks Gramps!

Money Saving Monday

I'm pretty happy about my shopping this week. I feel like all the work I've been doing clipping coupons, using them and stocking up on supplies is starting to pay off.

This week, CVS had a deal where you buy 3 American Express gift cards then you get 10ECB and a $15 mail in rebate for a gas card. Well, I purchases 3 $25 gift cards (I did have to pay a handling fee...but it still worked out in my favor). I then used those gift cards to go grocery shopping this week. I also have 10 more ECB to use during CVS's black Friday event:-)

I was just shy of $30 under my budget this week (can I get a woot woot! Well...I did go and buy frozen chic breast and ground beef at Sams, but that put me right at my budget and will last me several weeks). I saved $51.51 at publix. This was a 40% savings:-) There weren't any crazy wonderful deals, but I had lots of coupons for items that were bogo.

This was the best deal:
Bird's Eye Voila family meals $4.69 BOGO
I bought 4 (paid for 2) I had 2 $2/2 Q
So I got 4 meals for just over $1.00 a piece
There is also a mail in rebate for a free Charlie Brown movie when you purchase 3 meals:-) So, 4 dinners and a movie for less than $5.00...not bad.

Well, I'm looking forward to CVS shopping this week. Their "black Friday" stuff starts on Thursday (yes I know it's Thanksgiving, but I'll be there and back before anything needs to go in the oven). I have $40 in ECB and a $10 off $50 purchase and $5 off $25 purchase. Maybe another one will print that day. Not to bad, huh? I don't know what I'm going to get besides a waffle maker for myself, haha.

So...anyone else have a good grocery week?

Circus

Tonight, Grammy and Gramps took Nicole to the Circus. We got the run down from them, and it sounds like they had a blast! Nicole got to ride an elephant, eat a snow cone, watch gymnast on the flying trapeze, watch elephants and see a man shoot out from a canon, along with many other amazing stunts. She's alseep, so I haven't gotten to talk to her about it. However, I've heard that the elephants were her favorite. I can not wait to talk to her tomorrow. She has been looking forward to the circus all week.