Money Saving Monday

I have so many things to share, however my time is very short so I will have upload photos of Christmas later. For right now, I had to share my store experiences this week.

CVS
Here's what I got
1 Tide 28-32 loads
1Quattro Tour razor for women
2 bottles of Nature's Bounty zinc (BOGO)
2 Dawn Ultra (BOGO)
3 Johnson's suddies soap for Nicole
3 bags of hershey's Christmas chocolate
2 Colgate Total
2 Natur's Bounty Vitamin D (BOGO)
4 mint listerines (raincheck)

Merchandise total $67.03
Coupons $46.45
ECB used $18.98
ECB earned $15
Total OOP $1.60

Yeah..I know...pretty cool, huh? I took my mom and she did a couple of transactions. She spent all of her ecb, but she got some laundry detergent, napkins and other items that didn't have ecb. So, she did pretty well.

Publix
Today was a big trip for me. We were out of so many staple items that haven't been onsale recently. Isn't it funny that I've been so spoiled that I am dissapointed now that I have hit my budget for this week instead of being $40 under? I spent about $100 after using close to $50 in coupons and sales.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

We didn't send out Christmas cards this year (so sorry) but enjoyed receiving them:-) So, here is our virtual Christmas Card picture

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

This was taken last night at our church's Christmas Eve service. The girls were getting sleepy and not up for taking photography demands such as "smile". hahaha. Originally, this was our Christmas picture, taken yesterday morning, but I thought in 10 years Nicole would have words with me over it:-)

I want to post the lyrics of an old Christmas Carol that I'm sure you've sung before, at least a portion of it. Read the whole thing, you may never have sung the last couple of verses, which is unfortunate, it's just as good as the first.

Hark The Herald Angels Sing
written by: Charles Wesley

Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King:Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”Joyful, all ye nations, rise, Join the triumph of the skies;With th’angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Refrain:Hark! the herald angels sing,“Glory to the newborn King.

Christ, by highest heav’n adored; Christ, the Everlasting Lord!Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of the Virgin’s womb:Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’Incarnate Deity,Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.

Hail, the heav’nborn Prince of Peace! Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings.Mild he lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die,Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.

Come, Desire of nations, come, Fix in us Thy humble home;Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed, Bruise in us the serpent’s head.Adam’s likeness now efface, Stamp Thine image in its place:Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in Thy love.

Early Christmas

We have already celebrated Christmas 1 1/2 times. Jeremy's mom and dad are getting ready to go to TN to be with Tiff because she is due to have a baby ANY day (come quickly baby Susannah!). So, we celebrated Christmas with them and Granny (Greg's mom) on Sunday afternoon. I'll post another day what the girls got because I don't want to ruin the surprise for Seth and Susannah (Tiffy's kids) because they got something similar.

Then, we went to my parents house and this is where our 1/2 comes into play. Justin is going to GA with Erica and her family, so we had breakfast for dinner, read (well, listened to) the Christmas story and shared gifts mostly to and from Justin and Erica.

Here are some pictures for my snowed in family and friends. It feels like May here, so we were outside on Saturday playing in the water and kiddie pools. It's this time of the year that I love living in Florida:-)

By the way...Hannah is *almost* crawling. But, here is the BIG news....She can sit on her own now. Yesterday I actually saw her go from laying on her belly, to sitting:-) I didn't actually see Nicole do the maneuvers to sit for quite some time...I would just walk in her room and find her sitting in the crib. So, it was a treat to watch Hannah do it:-) She is starting to get up on all fours, so I'm sure crawling is coming. She's sort of lazy because she'll start to crawl after a toy, then see something else that's within arm's reach and settle for it.

And, we have a lizard living in our green room. I have a silk ficus tree, and I'm pretty sure that's where he's calling home. I hear the leaves rattling every once in a while, and I caught a glimpse of him today. Good thing I don't totally spas out about lizards...now, if it were frog...I wouldn't sleep until it was out of the house:-)

Oh, one last...well, two last statements. My friend Kathy and my cousin(in-law I guess), Jyme Beth, both had babies yesterday. They both had healthy boys, so Praise the Lord for that. Now Tiffy...it's your turn......

I Love My Family

To: Michele, Nicole, and Hannah

Love: Jeremy (Daddy)

Coupons, Coupons, Coupons

Sunday afternoon in TN, Tiffy stopped by the store to pick up a few things, including a paper. She asked if I wanted one and I said no. I forgot that my mom wasn't home and wouldn't be doing her normal "Wal-Mart" trip that morning, and I had forgotten that my in-laws no longer get the Sunday paper. Plus...I didn't have $1.75 on me to buy the paper. I was mad at myself all day long that I didn't get a paper because my friend Teri reminded me that they would probably have been coupons than we have in ours (for some reason, our papers don't receive all of the coupons available). That night when I looked through Tiff's paper (and saw all of the GREAT coupons), I whined and complained that I didn't buy one. So much so, that Jeremy just about left to go buy me a paper (hehe). Well, my friend Teri picked a local paper up for me back home, so I just had to hope that I would get a few of the good papers.

Well, my mom called me when she got off the plane from her trip to Ohio yesterday and told me she had to pack a second suit case because of all the coupons she brought home (she was kidding by the way, she definitely could have carried them on ; ) You wouldn't believe it, but she brought back a zillion coupons for me. I seriously spent an hour last night just cutting them (didn't even sort em then!) You know all of those coupons I was whining about NOT getting in TN? Well...now I have 4, 5 and even 6 sets of most of them. Here is what my dining room table looked like today when I was filing them away (remember, most of these have multiple copies underneath)

So...a GIGANTIC THANK YOU goes out to my Mama Pat and my Aunt Julie and whoever else so graciously handed over their coupons for my use:-) I'm so thrilled because some of these will come in very handy this week at CVS...BIG BIG weekend (Sun/Mon) sale. Check it out here.

Our trip video

I have compiled several segments of our trip into one video. There are a few things I forgot to mention in the previous post. Most importantly....Nicole got to chew her first piece of gum. I wish I had the whole thing on video, it was pretty funny. At first she simply sucked on the end of the the stick of gum. Eventually, a small piece was in her mouth, which she swallowed. The video picks up just after we got her to put the rest of the piece in her mouth...watch to see what happens...

We're back....

We got back last night from a WONDERFUL trip to Tennesse to visit Aunt Tiffy, Uncle Chris and Seth (baby Susannah wasn't ready to be born yet, so we missed her...Tiff is due Dec. 26:-)

Nicole was very excited about riding on an airplane. She was a great little traveler. Both Nicole and Hannah did great traveling. The ride home was a bit difficult because of missed nap times, but it certainly could have been much worse. We are really proud of them.

Nicole's little cousin, Seth, is about 7 months younger than her. They are finally getting old enough to play together a bit. In all honesty though, their "playing together" consisted mostly of watching videos together. Both have a love for Curious George:-)

Hannah got to see snow for the first time. It was cold and rainy for a few days, but one night the rain turned into snow:-) Here are some fun pictures. I would guess it snowed a couple of inches by morning time.

We got to meet a lot of Tiff and Chris' friends from church. They have a nice church family with great fellowship and community. We had dinner one night with their pastor and his family (7 kids between the ages of 9 and 19). It was neat to watch this large family of mostly teens and pre-teens interact with each other and their parents. Jane, the mother, has homeschooled all of her children (and because she is English, they all enjoy a cup of tea after dinner).

We went to a parade on Saturday morning. Let me tell you...if you live in this town, you are either IN the parade or WATCHING it. It's a very small town, but I couldn't believe how long the parade was:-) Their high school football team had just won state in their class, so this was the highlight of the parade.

Waiting for the parade

I love this look of Nicole, it makes me smile:-)

Most of the time though, we just spent enjoying the company of family. We had lots of time to talk, cook...and of course, I found a Publix and CVS to shop at:-) Acutally, I'm trying to give Tif some tips on shopping at both stores so we went to a nearby town and got her started. It was fun:-)

I have several videos to show. It takes a while to upload videos, so I think I'm going to compile them all into one video with segments in between. It'll be up later for you viewing pleasure:-)

I'm happy to be home, but also very thankful we were able to visit them for a few days. It was good for our family to get away (Nicole savored every moment with her daddy) and it was fun to spend time with Tiff, Chris and Seth. We have never really been able to visit with them like this before. I would have to say, it was one of my favorite trips we've taken as a family.

Oh...last picture. Yesterday morning, Hannah was quietly playing on the floor while we were all getting ready. When I picked her up, I finally noticed she was playing with a ballpoint pen. Pretty funny...

Thank you Tiff & Chris for opening up your home for us. We enjoyed spending time with you all.

Pink Hats

Our neighbor gave us two silly pink hats that we often play with. They are a lot of fun. The other day, we got them out and I spoke with a silly southern accent and Nicole and I sang "I'm a little tea pot" (the song that must only be sung with the pink hats on). Of course, Hannah needed a hat as well. Our names were (cue southern accent) "Happy Hannah" "Pretty Nicki" and "Merry Mommy".

I thought this was pretty artistic. To bad the lighting wasn't better.

Unfortunately for Jeremy, when he came home the other night, Nicole asked him to sing "I'm a little tea pot" He did not know the rule about the pink hats. Nicole quickly began searching and even got him to wear it (if only for a moment). Now, I would have spared Jeremy the embarrassment of this photo except....look at Nicole's face. I don't think I've ever captured a split moment of joy and excitement the way I did in the picture. She is SO excited that her daddy is wearing her pink hat. I LOVE IT!!!

Hannah "found" herself in the mirror. Again...I think it's a cool "artistic" shot.

Papa Sam...this picture is for you. I remember how neat you thought it was when Nicole ate from a mesh feeder, so I wanted you to see Hannah eating her bananas the same way.

Hannah has a new trick. She can stand up and play if I prop her a bit. This is a big accomplishment...especially since a month ago when I took her to the doctor and she wouldn't bare any weight on her legs because she was "to lazy" too. Way to go Hannah. Oh, by the way, Nicole looks happy in this picture, however in reality she is Not excited that Hannah is beginning to play with some of "her" toys, proven by some not so nice things she's done in the past few days. Any ideas and more importantly, prayers, about this would be appreciated. Anyway...if you look closely, Nicole is actually covering the keyboard section of the toy because it is "mine"

Finally, here is a video with three segments.

a) a wonderful moment of Nicole entertaining Hannah and making her laugh hysterically.

b)Hannah & Nicole playing

c) a triple Jeremy hit the other night.

I've been busy posting today, so keep reading. I believe there are two other posts that are new.

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.