Friday Finals

Elizabeth and I headed to Harris Teeter last weekend to get our supplies for the week.  We picked up a lot things to help us with summer grilling seasoning (hotdogs and french fries) and some things we needed in general (milk, diapers, yogurt, etc.)

Everything we picked up, this includes:

(2) Boxes of Multi Grain Cheerios

(4) Gerber Graduates

(1) Bag of hamburger buns

(1) Bag of hotdog buns

(1) dozen eggs

(6) yoplait yogurts

(2) package of hotdogs

(2) bags of french fries

(4) Bananas

(2) 4-count boxes of fruit squeezies

(1) Parmesan cheese

1/2 gallon of milk

1/3 pound hard salami

(2) 2-count of baby food

(3) bags of diapers
(3) package of wipes

(5) jars of pasta sauce

(1) bag of chips

(1) container of liquid dish cleaner

(1) 8-pack of go-gurts

Total spent: $66.36

Total saved: $57.14

Percentage saved: 46%

Life Lately

Monday morning we headed to the gym and then hung around the house.  This is Caroline after her morning nap crawling up and down my leg.  Like my elephant shorts?  I do!  I love love love them! And I got them here.

Caroline is wearing a 12-18 month romper.   

What!?!  She will be 8 months old next week.

 Hello happy baby!

 This is an Elizabeth pile I found on Tuesday morning.

She likes to make piles of the toys she hoards and place them strategically around the living room.

By strategically, I mean high enough that Caroline cannot reach them.

 Caroline woke up early from her nap and then...

 strategically placed her toys all over the living room.  :)

I'm pretty sure she loved every minute of it.
(Notice Elizabeth's piles on the couch?)

 And then... this happened.

 Caroline pulled herself up on the stairs.

I am so not ready for this.

 Once Elizabeth was up, we headed outside for fun and popsicles.

 Caroline enjoyed watching :)

This girl loves popsicles!

One night I finally got Elizabeth on video dancing to the Disney Junior "get up and move" song.
She asks us to replay this over and over again when it comes on.

Ben gave me this CD by Iron Butterfly for our anniversary
(he is very creative with the word iron).
The girls and I have been listening to it while driving around.

And that is our life lately.

Happy Thursday!

Summer 2015 Bucket List

For the past two summers, I have made a summer bucket list to complete with Ben and Elizabeth. 

Last summer, it really focused on Elizabeth because I was pregnant and wanted to get in as much mother-only daughter time as I could. 

This summer, Elizabeth helped me create our list and we focused on family activities a little more.  We also decorated a large poster board to put our summer bucket list on and Elizabeth went to town adding stickers wherever she wanted. 

Here is our finished product:

I know the sticky notes are hard to read in this picture, but I use sticky notes for a good reason.  Once we have done a particular item on our bucket list, we can remove the sticky note from the poster board.

We have things on the list like go to the pool and make s'mores.  I am sure we will do these more than once, but we still write them down.  :)

Elizabeth is going to summer camp, so she wanted to make sure that was on the list.

I want to take Elizabeth bowling, so I added that to the list.

We also have going to new parks, going out for ice cream, going to a baseball game, and feeding the ducks, and trying a few splash parks.

Ben added going to play golf and I want to do a day trip to Annapolis.

Those are just some of the things on our summer 2015 bucket list.  I am looking forward to doing all these things and just enjoying the nice weather. 

Do you make a summer bucket list or sit down with your kids/spouse to talk about summer activities?  I am so glad we started this little tradition and it's fun as a family to pick an activity from the list to do.

Happy Wednesday!

Show and Tell Tuesday: Momfessional Moments

Today I am linking up with Momfessionals for her show and tell Tuesday.  Today's link up is all about "momfessionals" or confessions we make about things we do as moms.

Life is not perfect, far from it.  I know I look at other moms and think, "they have it all figured out".  But... you know what, I think they we all have our ways of coping/staying sane/figuring it out/etc. and not everyone does it the same way.

Here are some of my mom confessions:

Early to rise

I have been waking up early most days, before anyone else in my family is awake.  

I do this not to put away dirty dishes or start a load of laundry (even though I do this), 

but to have alone time.  

I enjoy the quiet, serene minutes before diapers need to be changed, breakfast made, and a thousand other things.

Chocolate

Our main floor layout is an open floor plan.

But... the pantry is behind a half wall that you can't see from the living room.

So... I can stand at the pantry door and eat a piece of chocolate (or 3) and Elizabeth can't see me.

Oh Bliss...

Nap Time

Nap time is not for my kids, it is for me.

Yes, the girls need naps, but I need time to get things done.

They take an afternoon nap and that is when I do laundry, mop the floors, clean bathrooms, etc.

Their nap time is my work time.

McDonald's

Elizabeth has discovered the joy that is a McDonald's happy meal.

I prefer Chick-fil-a, Subway, Wendy's, and any other place over McDonald's.

So... on Wednesdays when we go out to lunch, I tell Elizabeth that McDonald's is closed and that we have to go to Chick-Fil-A.

She is too young to understand that of course they are not closed and we get to eat chick-fil-a.

Drive-thrus

Speaking of going out-to-eat.  I love drive-thrus!

Everyone is in the car, in their car seats, and no one has to get out!

We grab lunch from a drive-thru on Wednesdays and then we park and eat in the car.

I don't have to make lunch and we get out of the house (without dragging 2 kids into a restaurant)

Going to the gym

I love working out.

It's great for my physical health and my mental health.

But a huge fringe benefit... Elizabeth burns a ton of energy playing in the gym daycare.

It's an indoor playground and she spends an hour playing with other kids, climbing, sliding, and having fun.  She takes a great nap any time she spends an hour in the gym daycare.

Fake it til I make it

My cousin told me one time that I make being a mom look easy.  I don't remember how I replied but it should have been something like this, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Fake it til you make it." 

If you see me and I look like I have it all under control, 

there is a 99% chance that I am totally faking it.

I don't know if I am doing any of this right, and I worry constantly.

But as I remind myself on a daily basis, the fact that I worry shows that I am doing something right.

I love these two nuggets more than I ever knew I could.

Thank you Elizabeth and Caroline for making me a mom.

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Review

We started our weekend early on Friday.  Ben was off from work most of the day and we were able to get a lot of things done around the house.  The snow this winter ruined our yard, so Ben planted new grass seed and hopefully we will have new grass in a few weeks.

Elizabeth and I hit up Harris Teeter and did our weekly shopping on Friday afternoon.  It was nice to get it out of the way and have the weekend to spend together enjoying our free time.

Friday evening, before our cocktails, Ben cooked up a few tasty treats and I mixed up a special dessert.

 Ben made some break and make cookies

 Elizabeth loved these!

 Then Ben made two dozen banana muffins

 Don't these look fabulous?!

 After Ben was done in the kitchen, I made strawberry shortcake trifles.

 After all that, we made cocktails and watched TV

 Saturday morning, I was wide awake at 6am 

so I headed out for a 5K around the neighborhood.

I was done working out before breakfast 

and when I got home found my baby in the living room with Ben and Elizabeth

We spent the rest of Saturday with Ben's parents.  

They came into town in the afternoon and we enjoyed grilling steaks Saturday night with them and enjoying dessert and wine and relaxing once the girls went to bed.

 Selfie on the way to Church on Sunday morning

(We are still in the driveway, so don't worry, Ben wasn't driving yet)

 When we came back from Church, we had Ben's parents over for a large breakfast buffet.

Hash browns, eggs, pancakes, and bacon.  

Yum!

 After we were done eating, Ben fed Caroline :)

 And then we gave Caroline her cup.

She is learning to drink out of a cup. :)

 She loves trying!

 

 After breakfast, Ben's parents headed back to Pennsylvania.

 Sunday afternoon, I took the girls to the playground while Ben went to play tennis.

Elizabeth LOVES balancing right now.

Sunday night, we put the girls down early and grilled hotdogs for dinner.

We sat on the deck for an hour, it was great!

We had a great weekend and we hope you did too!

How much am I really saving?

 

I talk about couponing a lot and I get asked about couponing even more than I talk about it.  I haven't been a couponer very long, maybe 3 1/2 years, but I have learned a lot in that time and I am constantly updating my process.


This year I started using the Southern Savers savings tracker that Jenny has at the top of her blog.  It doesn't require any personal information, you just enter your receipt and coupon totals after you are done shopping. 

I have also started using Ibotta and Checkout 51 apps (I downloaded them straight to my cell phone).  These apps give you money back for items you have purchased (I have received money for milk, eggs, pledge, bananas, etc.).

When I get home from my shopping trip, I put everything away, and then I scan items for the apps and type in my receipts for the savings tracker.  It takes about 10 minutes to do all three.

So... going back to what I was originally talking about- people asking me about couponing.  Some of the most common questions I get are:

How much do you really save?
Is it really worth it?
How long does it take you to coupon?
How do you know how much you are saving?
Do you use all of your coupons?

I will do my best to answer these:

How much do I really save?/ How do you know how much you are saving?
Since I am using the southern savers tracker this year, I know exactly how much I am spending and saving since January 1st of this year:

At Harris Teeter; I have spent $844.10 and I have saved $862.45 or 51%

At CVS; I have spent $98 and I have saved $194. 43 or 66%

AT BJs; I have spent $228.09 and I have saved $53.71 or 19%

At Toys R Us; I have spent $2.99 and I have saved $86.38 or 97%

That savings adds up to $1196.97 on groceries, household items, and baby supplies.


So to answer the question "is it worth it?"  I reply with my own question, who doesn't want an extra $1200 in their pocket?  :)

All of these items are things we have to use or need anyway- diapers, formula, milk, mac n cheese, yogurt, granola bars, green beans, toilet paper, cereal, tooth paste, etc, etc.  I think having an extra $1200 is worth the time it takes to coupon and shop.

Which leads me to another question How long does it take to coupon?

The answer varies depending on the week.  We get the Sunday paper only for 79 cents and the coupons come on Saturday.  I take about 30-40 minutes to cut the coupons I think I will use and then sort them into my binder.

Throughout the week when I have extra time, I will also go to coupons.com and check for new coupons and print them.  I will cut them and sort them into my binder when I have free time.  The searching, printing, sorting, and cutting of those takes about 20-30 minutes.

So we are about 1 hour for the week.

On Saturday, after I cut the coupons, I make my grocery list and match up what we need/want with the sales that start Sunday.  This takes about 20-30 minutes depending on how much we need.  So overall, the coupon and shopping list process takes me about 60-90 minutes each week.  You can check Southern Savers for faster ways of doing this, this is just my process.

And the last question, do you use all of your coupons? 
No.  I don't.  I don't even come close to using all of them and I don't know what percentage of cut coupons I use.  But, I cut coupons only for things we might use and I try to only buy what we need or what we can use or donate.  For example, we don't have any pets, so I don't ever cut cat or dog food coupons.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions and maybe convince you to start couponing.  :)
It's super easy and you can save so much money!

Happy Friday!

Life Lately

We have been enjoying the warm weather, hitting the gym, and enjoying time with family and friends. 

We kicked off our weekend last Friday night by having our friends Vicki and Gordon over along with their daughters Jordon and Lordon.  Elizabeth had so much fun playing with the big girls and Ben and I enjoyed a nice dinner and drinks with other adults.  It was a great night and we sat on the deck for hours eating our burgers and hotdogs and enjoying the beginning of summer.  We had so much fun hanging out that I forgot to take pictures.

Saturday and Sunday was spent celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary and Mother's Day. 

Monday, we headed to the gym in the morning and in the afternoon I took Elizabeth to her eye doctor appointment.  Ben and I have super bad vision, so we wanted to start taking Elizabeth to see how she is progressing.  The doctor gave her a good report and said she doesn't have to come back for two years.  Yahoo!

On Tuesday, we headed to the gym again and then spent the afternoon in Georgetown.  The weather was warm (high 80s) and the girls and I enjoyed our stroll at the waterfront and cupcakes after our walk.

 The girls checking out the Potomac River

 Some ducks (and some trash)

 Elizabeth is very into balancing on the things right now

 First trip ever to baked & wired.

Hands down, way better than Georgetown Cupcake

 Elizabeth wanted a purple cupcake, but settled for blue

I got vanilla vanilla

 She ate all the icing and sprinkles

On Wednesday, we headed back to the gym and then hung around the house.  After the gym, Elizabeth got a little spa treatment from her mom.  In the late afternoon, we put on our jackets and went for a walk around the neighborhood before stopping at the playground for a bit.

 A little mani-pedi in the morning.

Don't you love her smile?

 Selfies with my baby

 Before she grabs the phone

 Some playground fun on a windy, chilly day

 Have stroller, will travel :)

 Action photo

 This baby loves her some selfies

 And this big girl could care less

 Time to slide

My little loves

This morning we skipped the gym because my leg is sore.  We have lots of shopping to do today (milk, formula, etc) and we have started decorating for Memorial Day/4th of July.  We hope you are having a great week.

Happy Thursday!